Sunday night pasta

The final of the Australian Open is on tonight and my Djoko is up to grab the title, fingers crossed and I'm not prepared to miss one little bit of it. So am I being lazy or what? Yes, probably but with good reason. Here's what you need to do for a stress free night when you can put your feet up and enjoy this quick pasta dish - tennis and all. 

Cut a whole heap of washed baby tomatoes in half and place them in a microwave proof dish.

Chop up two garlic gloves in tiny pieces and scatter over the tomatoes.

Then scatter on some dried chilli flakes.

Add some washed and dried salted capers.

Sprinkle on a teaspoon of sugar (I use raw).

then add 3-4 chopped anchovies (optional).

Finish with a good grinding of black peppercorns but go easy on the salt if using anchovies.

Tear up a small handful of fresh basil leaves and give the dish a generous slug of extra virgin olive oil.

Microwave on high for 20 mins. Set aside to cool.

Add to cooked pasta of your choice - fettuccini or spaghettini work well -  turn the tomatoes gently through the pasta to incorporate.

Serve with freshly grated Parmesan, a little more torn basil and add extra anchovies if desired.

Eat well and enjoy with a nice glass of red. Here's to Djoko. Cheers!

heirloom tomatoes with lemon and caper dressing

What has the world come to when the only good tomato with any taste at all is one we've grown ourselves or bought from a farmer's market. The past couple of decades has seen emerge new and exciting foods, rare and unusual products, extraordinary cooking techniques, a bombardment of exotic recipes. The food revolution with its celebrity chefs hasn't exactly passed us by yet we still can't find a good tomato.

My heirloom tomato recipe below with lemon and caper dressing is a taste sensation but please only make this if you have access to sweet, perfect tomatoes. There is nothing like them. Supermarket ones will not do this justice.

Ingredients:

2-3 handfuls heirloom tomatoes,

2 lemons, peeled to the bare fruit (all pith removed), filleted with the membranes squeezed and juice reserved

Dressing ingredients:

2 tablespoons spring onions, chopped

2 tablespoons salted baby capers, washed and drained

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

100ml extra virgin olive oil

Method:

Mix together the dressing ingredients and lastly add the lemon segments taking care not to break them up. Carefully mix the dressing through the cut tomatoes. Sprinkle with a little sea salt and serve immediately.

good health!

What could be more tasty and good for you than grated raw beetroot, a scattering of salad seeds, a dollop of creme fraiche, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and some chopped green parsley?

Simple, healthy, fresh and delicious!

Sweet potatoes chips are so easy to make. Cut them into any length you fancy, mix through a couple tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, season with Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place on a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray. Bake for 20 minutes on 190C.

Kale is loaded with vitamins A and C, folic  acid, calcium and iron - it's attractive too. Chop a quantity and either steam it or toss in a little olive oil. It's especially lovely served with a couple of poached eggs on top.

garlic purée with parsley sauce

Persillade is the classic French flavouring of finely chopped garlic and parsley added to the pot moments before cooking is complete. A dish finished this way is often described or referred to  as persillé.


Persillade is also used as a stand alone garnish, liberally scattered over vegetables or meat or a handful thrown into a salad just before serving. However, the mixture dominates and other more subtle flavours get lost in the mix.

Italians add grated lemon or orange rind to the chopped parsley and garlic - and call it Gremolata (greh-moh-LAH-tah). The classic Italian dish Osso Bucco or slowed good lamb shanks are good examples of its use as a garnish where it works superbly in both cases.

So, back to French cooking and a variation on a famous theme. What could be more 'French' than puréed garlic floating in a parsley coulis especially if one has a supply of freshly sautéed frogs legs...ready for the dipping.

But, not many of us happen to have frogs legs standing by so perhaps tiny baby lamb cutlets 'Frenched' and cooked 'pink' would be just as delicious and just as complimentary. Whatever your choice this is an eye catching dish. Vibrant green coulis, almost pure white islands - so fresh and pleasing to the eye.

To make the garlic purée:

1 head of garlic per person, separated into cloves
half cup cream for every 4 heads of garlic
Salt and white pepper to season

Method:

Place the unskinned cloves in rapidly boiling, salted water for two minutes. Drain. Cool and skin - the skins should fall off easily OR peel the garlic first then continue with the method as follows:

Boil the garlic in six changes of fresh water for ten minutes each time or until it is soft enough to purée.

Slowly combine the purée with enough cream so you have a fairly stiff mixture that holds together well. Season with salt and white pepper and set aside in a warm place.

Parsley Coulis:

2 whole bunches of continental/Italian parsley
water to thin
dash of olive oil

Method:

Wash the parsley thoroughly. Remove all the stems. Boil all the parsley in slightly salted water for about 5 minutes. Drain and refresh in cold water. Purée the parsley in a blender to a coulis consistency by adding a tiny amount of oil and water to help 'lengthen' the sauce. Season and set aside.

To serve:  


Gently warm the parsley coulis and pour it into a serving dish. Float a quenelle of garlic purée on top and serve the meat of your choice on the side.

Frogs legs can be sautéed  for a few minutes on each side in hot oil and butter while baby lamb cutlets are lovely grilled or sautéed to your liking.


NOTE: I came across this unusual way of serving garlic and parsley on a tv show last year. The show was about a famous French chef of yesteryear, this was one of his signature dishes.  No recipe was given in the show so I came up with my own (above).

Researching the dish on the web at a later date I discovered a very recent recipe so perhaps it's not such an 'old' recipe after all. The recipe I found was similar to how I made it though I added oil to the coulis and I used cream with the garlic, not milk. The whole thing is very simple when you stop and think about it!

kumatoes with goat's cheese and mint

My kingdom for a good tomato....

Wherever you live I'm sure you will agree that a really good, sweet testing tomato is hard to find. Nigh on impossible actually unless you live near a farmer's market or grow your own. How I long for the heirloom varieties seldom seen and there's nothing but nothing like a real true blue green tomato!

For me, the nearest thing to offer in lieu of the above is the Kumato, developed in Spain where it is known as the Olmeca. These tomatoes are green to reddish brown and are sweeter than our usual red varieties due to their high fructose content. They have a long shelf life and are considered gourmet tomatoes.

I've married them with fresh goat's cheese, torn mint leaves and a splash of extra virgin olive oil and a little vinegar. The result is a stunning, fresh, sweet tasting salad reminiscent of days when 
all tomatoes tasted good!
printer friendly recipe                          

watermelon with feta and black olive salad

This lovely fresh colourful salad will be well known to many and is just perfect to make over the Christmas period.

Be sure to use seedless watermelon, pitted olives and the best plain feta you can find. Feta marinated in herb oil takes on the strong flavour of dried herbs and is a no no for this recipe.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1/2 seedless watermelon, chopped into small even pieces
1 Spanish red onion, very finely sliced
2 tablespoons pitted black olives
1 300gm pk of plain feta cheese, cubed
1 handful fresh mint, small sprigs only
salt and pepper to season
olive oil
dash of vinegar

Method:

Carefully combine the ingredients and lastly drizzle over about 1-2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and a dash of red wine vinegar. Serve immediately

Watermelon Salad recipe printer friendly version click here:
https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/watermelon-salad

black and purple carrots - the new SUPER food!

black carrots

purple carrots in a stir fry of garlic shoots, red peppers, red onion and cherry tomatoes

I discovered the wonder of black carrots in our local market, when we were in southwest France this summer. According to my source at the Carrot Museum they have been around for thousands of years but my find was certainly a first for me. Black carrots have a unique taste, all of their own, quite different from the common orange variety. Split in half, gently cooked in butter until just past the al dente stage, ideal served alone or as a side dish - they are quite delicious! Do not boil them, this leaches out the colour losing the flavour in the process.

Back in Oz, I recently came across purple carrots – they too were a surprise! I found them at the Kings Cross Saturday farmer’s market in Sydney and then again in Woolworths (who would have thought it!). The Carrot museum tells us the UK reintroduced purple carrots into British supermarkets just recently after five long centuries but had no takers. (So, good luck Woolies). However, I am sure local farmer’s markets in the UK who specialize in heirloom varieties will supply them like our markets here do.

Purple carrots lend themselves to the same cooking process as the black variety but they are both equally delicious chopped into small rings and served raw in salads.

Both black and purple carrots are high in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties so they are extremely good for you. They are something very different and provide an attractive, colourful accompaniment to any dish or salad.

Please note: Yellow and white varieties exist too. Keep an eye out.

black and purple carrot recipe, click here for printer friendly version:

https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/black-and-purlpe-carrots---the-new-super-food

beetroot mushrooms

This is a rather spectacular way to serve beetroot. To do so, you must own a Japanese Spiralizer Turning Vegetable Slicer. Just for the record, this is a fantastic machine if you like to make sushi or if you are a raw food enthusiast or vegetarian.

At the blade end of the machine, stick your whole, raw, uncooked beetroot into the round short cylinder then push the handle end, which has several short prongs attached to it into the beetroot so it stays in place. Rotate the handle continuously until all that remains of the beetroot is the very end 'tip' and ‘stork’, which has come about by continuous turning against the round short cylinder. You will not only have a pile of beetroot peelings, good for salads and other uses, but also my magic mushrooms and no waste!

Brush the ‘mushrooms’ with melted butter or a little oil, place them in a greased roasting pan and cook until just done, about 20 minutes on 180C. They make an interesting accompaniment to any dish where beetroot is called for.

Beetroot Mushrooms, click here for printer friendly recipe:
https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/beetroot-mushrooms

beetroot soup

This is my friend Claudia’s recipe and it makes a wonderful change from borscht. Not that there is anything wrong with borscht, it is delicious, but when I think ‘beetroot soup’ borscht usually comes to mind. I just love the taste and texture of this soup especially the intense tarragon flavour – it marries so well with beetroot.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

500g beetroot, baked, peeled and moulied or chopped

2 red onions, sliced

1litre chicken stock

3 tablespoons, brown sugar

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

50ml red wine

8 large French tarragon spigs, leaves only.

Natural yogurt for ice cubes

Method:

Add leaves from 4 tarragon sprigs to the yogurt and freeze in ice cube trays until solid.

Melt onions and sugar in a covered pan and sweat for 10-15 minutes. Add the vinegar, the wine and reduce to half the volume. Add stock, beetroot and the rest of the tarragon (leaves only). Bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Season, then blend well until smooth. Chill in the refrigerator until cold.

Serve in bowls with a yogurt and tarragon ice cube in the centre of each

Click here for printer friendly recipe: 

https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/beetroot-soup/beetroot-soup

globe artichoke hearts

The wonderful thing about artichoke hearts is they are available all summer and just one large heart per head makes a substantial starter. I like to cook them from a cold-water start on a gentle simmer for 45 minutes, give them at least an hour to drain and cool down then get rid of all those tiresome leaves, clean up the choke and serve them whole in all their glory. I cannot see the benefit of going through the slow process of peeling off each bract (leaf), dipping it in melted butter or vinaigrette with the net result of a tiny nibble of each and a huge mess. I just do not have the patience.

It is interesting to know that when the artichoke flower is still a bud the whole head can be consumed but once the flower forms and the bracts become tough then their bases only become edible along with the all important heart. Artichokes are a member of the thistle family and their flowers alone are things of great beauty.

Artichoke hearts can be a daunting thought unless you know how to prepare them properly but once this is established they are one of the best and most versatile vegetables available.

Artichokes should feel heavy for their size with closed bracts. Select fresh deep green or purple artichokes.

Cut off the stem as close as possible to the base of each artichoke then snap off any really tough outer bracts – by doing so you will fit more artichokes in one large saucepan. Slice off the tops too thus getting rid of any spiky ones (see photo) and place all the artichokes in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water and add the juice of one lemon. Place a bowl over the top to keep them submerged during the cooking process. Bring the pot to the boil, turn down heat to low and simmer gently for 45 minutes. Remove from the heat, drain well, upside down, for at least one hour or  when cool enough to handle.

Now you have two choices depending of your preference.

One is to remove all the leaves and the choke, keeping only the hearts and serve them with melted herb butter as in the photograph.

Alternatively, cut into the centre of each artichoke, remove the choke but keep a lot of outer leaves intact. Pour melted herb butter into the cavity and serve. This gives the choice of a nibble of the bracts ending with the prized heart.

Whole artichokes hearts are lovely stuffed to accompany any meat dish but eating them on their own is truly a wonderful way to experience their special taste and flavour. Robust food, I think!

globe artichoke hearts printer friendly recipe:
https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/globe-artichoke-hearts

Castilian spinach with pine nuts and raisins

There are only a few ways to vary this national dish of Spain, but here are a couple of good tips that make all the difference to this old time favourite. Include a lot of garlic and plump up the raisins or sultanas with boiling water before frying them. It is important to turn off the heat before adding the spinach and to undercook it.

Ingredients:

1-kilo fresh baby spinach leaves, washed and dried

100g dried raisins or sultanas or combination of both

4 tablespoons pine nuts

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic crushed to a paste with salt

Cracked black pepper

Method:

Pour enough boiling water over the dried fruit to cover and leave for 30 minutes. Drain and set aside. Heat the oil in a frying pan and sauté the garlic for a few minutes, careful not to burn it. Add the fruit and pine nuts to the oil – turn to coat well and warm through for a minute or two. Season with pepper (there should be enough salt content from the garlic crushing). Turn off the heat, add the spinach to the pan with the fruit and nuts - turn it twice with tongs and serve immediately before it wilts. Serves: 4

Castilian spinach with pine nuts and raisins printable recipe, click here:
https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/castilian-spinach-with-pine-nuts-and-raisins

bocconcini & fennel salad

With the aid of a mandoline, fennel, shaved, takes on a completely different guise. Deliciously palatable sliced wafer thin it transforms this otherwise hard, course vegetable. This recipe, is similar to my last but with two important changes: substitute bocconcini mozzarella for gruyère and add raspberry vinegar to the olive oil, for an extra sugar hit. Pears provide freshness while fennel provides sharpness and bocconcini mozzarella with prosciutto go hand in hand. This salad makes a lovely, simple but interesting lunch. Garnish with a few chopped herbs for extra colour and flavour.

Serves: 2

1 large ripe pear, diced

1 small fennel bulb, shaved on a mandoline

1x100gm packet prosciutto, chopped

4-5 baby bocconcini mozzarella, halved

1-tablespoon raspberry vinegar

1-tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Parsley and fennel fronds to garnish

Mix together all the above ingredients and ENJOY!

bocconcini & fennel salad recipe, printable version, click here:
https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/bocconcini-fennel-salad

mushrooms with verjuice

Verjuice is the juice of unripened grapes picked just before verasion, the stage at which the colour turns, generally about two months before harvest.  Verjuice is made in the following way:

Carefully wash and de-stork 1.5 kilo of grapes and drain thoroughly.

Whiz the grapes in batches in a food processor then press them through a fine sieve to remove the pulp and seeds. Pour the extracted juice into a jug and fill ice-cube trays. Freeze immediately to avoid oxidization. Yield = 700ml = 40 ice-cubes. Defrost and use as required.

Verjuice is used to deglaze the pan after cooking fish or chicken as an alternative to lemon juice. Also excellent in a salad dressing when a little tartness is required. It is both acidic and tart without being harsh and when heated it gets very sticky – great for an instant sheen! Verjuice is available commercially but it’s fun to make your own.

After cooking sliced mushrooms and garlic in a little extra-virgin olive oil, I add a good splash of verjuice. I rev the heat up to its highest point and cook them until the liquid is completely reduced and the mushrooms have taken on a brown sticky sheen. The subtle flavour of lemon juice compliments the mushrooms making the dish more interesting and adds a refreshing taste sensation. Parsley over the top after cooking is a must. Mushrooms, parsley, garlic, extra-virgin olive oil and lemon is one of the TOP 10 dishes in the world for health and well-being.

mushrooms in verjuice printer friendly version, click here:
https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/mushrooms-in-verjuice

tomato confit

The use of the word ‘confit’ seems to have etched itself into our modern day recipe language and is used to describe all manner of things. Once upon a time it only related to a method of preserving duck or goose. The terms means: ‘to cook (something) in its own fat’. The ancient way, still practiced, is to salt duck or goose legs overnight to extract as many juices as possible then slowly cook them, submerged in their own fat, for a very long time on a very low flame. Once cooked the meat must remain under the liquid flat until the fat sets solid. A sterilized spoon is used to dig out each portion of duck then they are cooked in a very hot oven for about 10-15 minutes until hot and crisp.

Confit tomatoes are quite another story and I use the term purely because the dish is considered to be one of those universal dishes and is more likely to attract attention than simply calling it ‘tomatoes in olive oil’! The tomatoes, once cooked must stay submerged in the olive oil. Using the same principle as above: to keep air out.

Preheat oven to 180°C

20 whole, ripe, vine tomatoes

Olive oil to cover tomatoes

Sea salt

White pepper

1-tablespoon thyme leaves only

1-tablespoon fresh rosemary, needles only

1 bay leaf

1-teaspoon sugar

3 cloves garlic, sliced

Method:-

Wash, dry and cut tomatoes into quarters and remove the seeds and membranes. Place the tomatoes, cut side down, in a baking dish large enough to hold them in one layer. Pour the olive oil over the top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, slivers of garlic and herbs and sugar. Cook for 45 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Pack the tomatoes into a container/jar and pour the oil over them ensuring they are completely covered. The tomatoes keep for 4-5 days refrigerated.

Suggestions: great in pasta, salads, with goat’s cheese or ricotta.

tomatoes confit printable recipe version, click here:
https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/tomatoes-confit

mushroom soup

the mighty mushroom lends itself to many dishes and is particularly wonderful as a soup

I like to use a variety of mushrooms for this dish but if you have access to just one variety that's okay, too. The addition of rice is optional here but helps in the thickening process and the cream gives it a lovely smooth velvety texture. Make a statement: create an island in the centre of each bowl with a little mound of cooked spinach topped with a cooked quail leg and carefully spoon the soup around the outside. Eat the quail leg in the fingers and spoon the spinach through the thick soup. Serves: 4

Ingredients:

500g mushrooms

2 medium onions, chopped

50g butter

2 tablespoons plain flour

1L chicken stock

1-tablespoon long grain rice

1 bay leaf

3 tablespoons thick cream

Method:

Wipe the mushrooms carefully to remove any grit or soil. Cut the stalks level with the mushroom caps and chop them up. Peel the mushrooms, save the peel and slice the mushrooms thinly. Set aside.

Place 25g butter in a saucepan, add the mushrooms, peelings, stalks and chopped onion and cover with a cartouche (a piece of baking paper cut into a circle to fit the saucepan size). Press the cartouche down over the mushrooms and place the lid back on the saucepan. Cook on a low heat for five minutes, shaking the pan every now and then. Remove from the heat and discard the cartouche. Add the remaining 25g butter, sprinkle the flour over the top and stir to blend in. Add the stock, season and stir until boiling. Add the rice and the bay leaf, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove the bay leaf, add the cream and blend the soup until you have a smooth, rich finish. Serve immediately.

mushroom soup printable recipe: 

 https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/mushroom-soup

Black Garlic - the new wonder!

Black garlic is a new and exciting product that has finally found its way around the world. Once only used in high-end cuisine it is now readily available if you know where to find it. I bought mine on the web through Oliveria.com in Melbourne but there are plenty of stockists, worldwide.  Sometimes referred to as fermented garlic it has a taste reminiscent of sweet balsamic vinegar and tamarind. Uniquely individual and setting itself apart but nothing at all like the garlic we all know and love. It has a multitude of uses and would no doubt be a very lucrative thing to produce if you are a garlic grower with plenty of time on your hands! Growers should read this link to ehow  if they are interested in fermenting their own ‘Black Gold’.

For me it is very exciting as I love to make terrines and I love truffles but rarely get my hands on one. In a funny way sort of way, it is almost a substitute (for me) - imagine black garlic running through a pink salmon terrine, It would look stunning. I have my one and only remaining bulb under lock and key but had great fun trying the first one with scrambled eggs and fresh salmon as you can see in the two photographs. The recipe I used for the salmon came from the  blackgarlic web site - check it out!

courgettes with mint and sea salt

Middle Eastern food has long taken my fancy and never more so since discovering Julie Le Clerc’s gorgeous book, Taking Tea in the Medina. Chicken kebabs with toum; olive and parsley salad; lamb and hummus pizza and this simple method for preparing courgettes with mint and sea salt are but a few of my favourite dishes from her exotic collection.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

800g courgettes thickly cut on the diagonal

3 cloves garlic

4 tablespoons fresh mint, leaves only

80ml olive oil

Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

Method:

This is a painless operation if you have a mini food processor – in which case place the garlic cloves, chopped in half; the mint leaves, torn up and the olive oil inside and give them all a good whiz. Otherwise, pound the garlic, mint and salt together to form a smooth paste then gradually add the oil. Pour the mixture over the courgettes and coat them well, use your hands to ensure a good result.

Bake the courgettes in a moderate oven 180C for about 45 minutes until tender. Allow to rest before serving and sprinkle liberally with sea salt and a few grindings of black pepper.

courgettes with mint and sea salt - printer friendly recipe, click here:
https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/courgettes-with-mint-and-sea-salt-1

Padron with love

Sauté until soft in your best extra virgin olive oil for three to five minutes, sprinkle with lots of sea salt and ENJOY!

Click link for printer friendly version of this recipe:
https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/padron-with-love

Villa Rita's sweet and sour zucchinis

Piero's cabbage patch

The restaurant's vegetable garden at Hotel Villa Rita www.villarita.it is lovingly tendered and nurtured by the owners themselves, Piero and Rita. The result of their hard work is evident in the dishes produced by chef Vincenzo and the following recipe is an example of how important it is to use the freshest vegetables available and not to overcook them.

I used a Japanese mandolin to ensure the vegetables were all the same size. If you do not have one try and slice the zucchinis 10cm long by 3/4mm thick. I used long, sweet and what I call, summer onions.

Ingredients:

2 kg zucchines

500g sweet white onions

250ml extra virgin olive oil

150ml white vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

2 dessertspoons sugar

Spread the vegetables in a wide shallow pan. Mix up the rest of the ingredients and pour over the vegetables.  Cover with a lid or foil and cook on a medium for roughly fifteen minutes or until the vegetables are cooked but still al dente. This could be done in an oven at about 180c if preferred. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Serve cold.

Serves:  6-8 as part of a buffet

Click this link for a printer friendly version of this recipe:

 https://sites.google.com/site/foodvineprintablerecipes/home/hotel-villa-rita-s-sweet-sour-zucchines

Broccoli Souffle