Herbs

October 17, 2014 FrontPage

Giant couscous, vegetables, herbs, pea-shoots

This dish is based very loosely on another Ottolenghi dish from Plenty – in it he combines rocket, onions, couscous and herbs. It struck me that it’s the perfect sort of dish to adapt based on what you love, or have available. Whilst rocket is peppery, for me pea-shoots impart a sweet freshness to the dish, that echoes the sweet and savoury shallots and cumin. I rustled Hubby up some blackened chicken to go with his dish, and the whole thing was done and dusted in the time it took to roast – no more than 25 minutes from beginning to end. This is one dish I’ll make dozens of variations of, and will treat as a method, rather than a recipe to adhere to rigidly.
Ingredients:

2 shallots
1 medium courgette
100g giant couscous
200g boiling water
1 tsp ground cumin
1 large clove of garlic
A handful each of parsley, mint, chives and chervil (whichever you have to hand or love)
80g pea-shoots
50g dried cranberries
olive oil, to fry the shallots in
Juice of one lemon, to dress
Extra virgin olive oil, to dress

Method:

Measure one mug of giant couscous into a bowl, and measure two mugs of boiling water, at the same level, pouring into the bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film and set to one side (the couscous will cook in the residual heat of the boiling water – this method is sometimes called the absorption method, and will take around 15 minutes).
Finely slice two small shallots, and add to the pan with the olive oil. Gently fry until they are golden brown. Add a scant teaspoon of cumin powder, and lightly toss the mixture together.
Add the crushed garlic to the pan and soften without browning.
Cut the courgette into diagonal slices (if it pleases you), and if large, cut those slices in half. Cut the broccoli into manageable sections, and add both the broccoli and courgette to the pan. When lightly cooked, set the pan aside to cool a little.
Finely chop (or mince) a large handful of mint, parsley, chives, and chervil – or whichever herbs you prefer.
When everything is ready, combine your pea-shoots, drained couscous, herbs and vegetable together in a bowl. If you don’t mind fruit in your couscous, and I realise it’s not for everyone, add around 50g of dried cranberries, or sour cherries.
Drizzle with a little good virgin olive oil, and the lemon juice

October 13, 2014 FrontPage

Crusted pumpkin wedges, with soured cream

This dish is from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty, and he’s quickly becoming my go-to chef… Though I still blog meat and fish dishes, I’m increasingly eating vegetables, and you can guarantee his recipes still pack enough punch to make up for that. For some reason, an onion squash has appeared in my kitchen… No doubt one of the children has spotted it somewhere, and convinced that halloween is on the way, coerced Hubby into buying it. Little do they know it’s just become my supper… Well, after all, they can always buy another… Though the recipe calls for a larger squash than mine, it still tastes magnificent.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

700g pumpkin (skin on, or any other squash)
50g Parmesan, grated
20f dried white breadcrumbs (panko in my case)
6 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
2½ tsp finely chopped thyme
grated zest of 2 large lemons
2 garlic cloves, crushed
60ml olive oil
120g soured cream
1 Tbsp chopped dill
salt and white pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/Gas Mark 5. Cut the pumpkin into 1cm thick slices and lay them flat, cut side down, on a baking sheet that has been lined with greaseproof paper.

To make the crust, mix together in a small bowl the Parmesan, breadcrumbs, parsley, thyme, half the lemon zest, the garlic, a tiny amount of salt (there is salt in the Parmesan) and a little pepper.

Brush the pumpkin generously with olive oil and sprinkle with the crust mix, making sure the slices are covered with a few millimetres of the coating. Gently pack the mix down a little.

Place the tin in the oven and roast for about 30 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender: stick a knife in one wedge to make sure it has softened and is cooked through. If the topping starts to darken too much, cover loosely with foil.

Mix the soured cream with the dill and some salt and pepper. Serve the wedges warm, sprinkled with the remaining lemon zest with the soured cream on the side.

Notes:

If you have a combination of herbs you prefer, do feel free to use them. On my counter I had chervil, parsley, dill and thyme, and as I like that aniseed hit, I went with that
It would have been nice to use a larger squash to give a larger surface area, but the onion squash worked perfectly well. It also has the advantage of having a delicious skin when cooked
The smell of the garlic and lemon, as soon as this hits the oven, is ridiculous. It’s worth doing as a side-dish for that alone, your kitchen will smell amazing… For vegetarians, this is enough of a dish to satisfy your taste-buds
We dressed ours with a little extra-virgin olive oil, and some lemon juice

October 12, 2014 FrontPage

Fregola Sarda, with Salsa Verde

Fregola Sarda is a form of pasta from Sardinia, similar to Israeli couscous, or giant couscous, but toasted in an oven which gives it an additional dimension. If you can’t find fregola sarda, you could substitute giant couscous.

Cook as per the cooking instructions – in my case it was simmering in boiling water for around 10 minutes. Make sure you drain the fregola well, allowing it to sit in a sieve over the pan for 5 minutes, to let off a little of the steam.

Salsa Verde Ingredients:

4 anchovies (in olive oil)
4 large handfuls of herbs (I used parsley, chervil, basil, coriander, and mint)
2 Tablespoons of capers
Extra virgin olive oil (as much as it takes to emulsify the sauce, about 200ml for me)
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves of garlic

Method:

I much prefer to chop my herbs and capers by hand, as I hate the texture when I process them, but that doesn’t stop me whizzing my anchovies, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic into an emulsion. When it’s a near fine consistency, pour over the hand-chopped herbs and capers, and season to taste (it should already be pretty punchy, but don’t forget you’re going to use it to sauce the fregola, so that will dilute it somewhat.

When you’re ready to serve the fregola, mix in the salsa verde thoroughly.

This is an excellent accompaniment to any dish, though I’m not sure I’d have it on its own.

October 11, 2014 Bruschetta

Heritage Tomato Bruschetta

Heritage tomatoes have so much more flavour than the industrial variety – sure they may be a funny shape, or sometimes a little ugly, but beauty occurs in the mouth too. I’ve been reading an amazing book about umami recently, which is why my timeline is flooded with things like tamarillos, but I wanted to use tomatoes too. Both have high levels of glutamate, which is a key component in umami – probably explaining why so many of us like them. By far the most popular tomato dish in our house is the simplest, but with perfectly good ingredients, simplicity really is key.

I’m not really going to give you any more than a cursory recipe – as that’s all it requires. Cut a ciabatta in half lengthways, and pop it into a hot oven (200ºC or so), and let it become golden. As you remove it from the oven, smear it with a whole clove of garlic, the roughness of the ciabatta will gate it over the surface. Concentrate particularly on the crusty edges. Chop your tomatoes by hand, not in a machine, and include some herbs.