Recipe

November 2, 2014 FrontPage

Wild Rice and Roasted Vegetable Soup

Autumn is a glorious time for cooks, although we’ve had the bounty of spring and summer, it’s now time for pumpkins, squash, and spicy soups in front of a roaring fire. This recipe is very definitely a two for one – it begins as a roasted vegetable and wild rice salad, and the following day becomes a delicious soup!

Ingredients:
1 tsp garam masala
2 cloves garlic
300g soffritto or mirepoix (2 red onions, 2 carrots, 2 large celery stalks, all fined diced)
olive oil to fry the vegetables
1kg mixed vegetables (king oyster mushrooms, butternut squash, heritage carrots, heritage tomatoes, 2 courgettes)
1 large lemon, cut into wedges
1 large bunch of chervil or parsley
100g mixed salad

Method for the salad:

If you’re using wild rice, you’ll need to put this on first, as it takes 40-50 minutes to cook. The ratio for rice to water is usually 1 part rice, to just over 2 parts water or stock. My one cup of rice was more than sufficient for four portions of salad
Fry the soffritto in the olive oil, with the garlic and garam masala. If your using mushrooms, you can cut the stalks into dice or matchsticks, and add them to the soffritto, as I have done
Prepare your vegetables into quills, or a shape of your choosing. For quills, cut your carrot, for example, into a slanted wedge, then cut that into half
Incorporate your vegetables with the fried mixture, and pop them into a 180ºC oven for around 30 minutes – you’re not looking to roast the colour or flavour out of them, just to add some additional flavour through caramelisation. I also added the stalks of the chervil, finely chopped, and lemon wedges
When the rice is ready, combine the salad, roasted vegetables and rice into a bowl, and dress with a little more chervil. You may need to rinse the rice in a little water, if it looks as though it is going to become too starchy

Although I was eating the salad on my own (Hubby having cooked meat for the others), I made a full portion so that I could make soup the following day. You do have to be careful using pre-cooked rice, as it can contain bacteria. I blended mine in my Thermomix for 10 minutes, 100C, initially at speed 10, but then reducing it to speed 4. If you’re blending it normally, you will need to bring it back to the boil as a precaution. Swirl a little creme fraiche onto the top and snuggle up!

November 2, 2014 FrontPage

Pink Peppercorn Salad

I adore the scent and tang of pink peppercorns. I can distinctly remember the first time I tasted them in a sauce in Frederick’s Restaurant in Islington, nearly thirty years ago. These little berries of the South African baies rose plant aren’t related to peppercorns at all. Their flavour is very complex, both aromatic and sweet, and though I can’t find them listed at the Umami Information Centre, I’m certain they have a high umami level. I’ve used them in everything from panacotta’s to venison stew, and their scent and flavour profile are immediate identifiable… Here I wanted to enliven a warm green salad with a spicy little dressing, but not overwhelm the flavour of the veggies in the way, say, chilli might. The crushed peppercorns were a vibrant addition to the salad.

Ingredients:
100g of mixed green salad
200g of green vegetables (I used broccoli, and asparagus)
1 small shallots, finely diced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 clove garlic, minced
1 little olive oil

For the salad dressing:
1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons pink peppercorns, crushed in a pestle and mortar
1 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method:
Fry the shallots, cumin and garlic in a little olive oil
Prepare and cook your vegetables (c’mon, you don’t need me to tell you how to cook broccoli!)
Crush the peppercorns, and then incorporate the remaining vinaigrette ingredients
Toss all of salad, vegetables and dressing together in a bowl

Et voila! Welcome to the wonderful world of pink peppercorns… Now you can use them to infuse cream for a panna cotta, to impart flavour to white chocolate, in marinades for meat, even in cocktails – a pink peppercorn martini anyone?

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 16, 2014 Cheese

Butter and Sage Gnudi

I’m such a lucky gal, I’m so lucky to have a Hubby who likes to cook as much as I do. Normally it’s curry (and he makes fabulous curry), but he was recently captivated by Jamie Oliver’s gnudi recipe. He likes the combination of multiple cheeses, and lemon particularly. So lucky me, he undertook the two day task as earnestly as I would have done. Don’t let the fact it’s a two day recipe put you off, you really need the drying out time to allow the gnudi to set-up.

Ingredients (for 3-4 portions):

500g best-quality ricotta
50 g Parmesan cheese
½ whole nutmeg, for grating
Zest of one lemon
fine semolina, for dusting

Method:

Put the ricotta into a bowl with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then finely grate in the Parmesan and a few scrapings of nutmeg, along with the lemon zest. Beat it together, then have a taste to check the balance of seasoning is right – you want the nutmeg to be very subtle.
Generously cover a large tray with semolina, then roll the ricotta mixture into 3cm balls, rolling them in the tray of semolina as you go until really well coated. You should get around 20 gnudi from this amount of mixture. Shake and cover really well with the semolina and leave for 8 hours or preferably overnight in the fridge (don’t cover the tray) – the semolina will dehydrate the ricotta, giving the gnudi a lovely fine coating.
The gnudi will only take 3 minutes to cook, cook them in 2-portion batches to take care of them. Shake the excess semolina off 2 portions-worth of gnudi and cook them in boiling salted water while you melt a large knob of butter in a frying pan on a medium heat and pick in about 10 sage leaves to crisp up. Remove the crispy leaves to a plate and scoop the gnudi directly from the water into the frying pan, adding a spoonful of the cooking water. When the butter and water have emulsified, take off the heat and grate over a layer of Parmesan, add just a few drops of lemon juice, then toss together. Serve in warm bowls straight away with an extra grating of nutmeg and Parmesan and the crispy sage leaves, while you get on with the next batch, wiping the frying pan clean between batches.

Notes:

Do not place the gnudi in boiling water – bring it to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, carefully put the gnudi in, so that they don’t break up
The size of Jamie’s gnudie is a little too big, in our opinion, we think they should be about half the size.
Jamie doesn’t include the zest of a lemon in his recipe, though he did on the TV episode. Hubby included the zest, and we do think it’s necessary, to offset the richness of the ricotta
In his new book, My Perfect Pantry, Geoffrey Zakarian has a gnudi recipe with mushrooms – that looks amazing!
They are quite rich, but they’d make an amazing starter… We’re already trying to work out combinations… It would seem sensible to have a category of variations that were light and herby, others that were meaty and full of depth, like the mushroom, and others that might include spices and a little heat… Think of it as your new pasta..

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 12, 2014 Baking

French Apple Tart…

Another weekend, another tart. This time Ina Garten‘s apple tart. Another incredibly simple recipe, this one is a combination of apple slices and puff pastry. If the quantity of sugar looks a little daunting, I have to say, it did all absorb into the apples, and didn’t taste too sweet. Total prep time is minimal if you use shop bought puff pastry – I think I had the whole thing in the oven within ten minutes!

Ingredients

for the pastry

300g plain flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
170g cold unsalted butter, diced
150g ice water

for the apples

4 Granny Smith apples
150g sugar

55g cold unsalted butter, small-diced

½ cup apricot jelly or warm sieved apricot jam (see note)
2 tablespoons Calvados, rum, or water

Method:

For the pastry, place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter and pulse 10 to 12 times, until the butter is in small bits the size of peas. With the motor running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse just until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 200ºC and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
Roll the dough slightly larger than 10 x 14 inches. Using a ruler and a small knife, trim the edges. Place the dough on the prepared sheet pan and refrigerate while you prepare the apples.
Peel the apples and cut them in half through the stem. Remove the stems and cores with a sharp knife and a melon baller. Slice the apples crosswise in ¼-inch-thick slices. Place overlapping slices of apples diagonally down the middle of the tart and continue making diagonal rows on both sides of the first row until the pastry is covered with apple slices. (I tend not to use the apple ends in order to make the arrangement beautiful.) Sprinkle with the full ½ cup sugar and dot with the butter.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the pastry is browned and the edges of the apples start to brown. Rotate the pan once during cooking. If the pastry puffs up in one area, cut a little slit with a knife to let the air out. Don’t worry! The apple juices will burn in the pan but the tart will be fine! When the tart’s done, heat the apricot jelly together with the Calvados and brush the apples and the pastry completely with the preserve mixture. Loosen the tart with a metal spatula so it doesn’t stick to the paper. Allow to cool and serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes:

Judging the diagonal line is a little harder than it appears – I score a faint line along the edge of the chopping board to ensure you get the first line in correctly. The others are then a little easier to judge…
Even if you’re not keen on Calvados, do use if for the glaze – the smell is ridiculous, your kitchen will smell fantastic! You could also scent some creme fraiche with Calvados too…
Ina is keen to point out more than once that you should take the apples to the point of slightly blackening them – it’s this additional caramelisation with adds to the flavour – don’t be afraid – keep an keen eye on them, but push it a tiny bit further than you think. I did rotate mine several times, but the colour was still darker on one side than on the other – looking at my photo, it’s possible that I had more butter on one side of the tart than on the other – try to ensure it’s evenly spread

Core the apples with a melon baller, and nick out the root

Scatter the apples slices with sugar and butter

The tart, glazed with apricot preserve and calvados

October 12, 2014 Baking

Tamarillo Tart Tatin

I’m crazy about tamarillos, but since I’ve tried them cooked, I’m coming up with all manner of ways of using them… Their high glutamate content particularly suits the roasting or caramelisation process, which makes me think of tart tatins. I’m not crazy about the apple version, which can be very sweet, but I have made plum and tomato versions quite often. Tamarillos seem like the perfect variation, especially as their tartness lends itself to the process.

…

October 12, 2014 Baking

Doughnuts, the Justin Gellatly way…

Amazingly, I’ve made doughnuts several times before and the results were very disappointing, and certainly not worth repeating. I knew I’d followed the instructions properly, so something else was going wrong. Hmmn. Maybe doughnuts weren’t for me.

I became aware of Justin Gellatly on twitter (of course) – famous for his doughnuts at the St John’s Bakery, he left after a decade to set up his own Bread Ahead in Borough Market. Soon the twittersphere was flooded with instagram pics of his ridiculously good combinations, and though not a huge doughnut fan, I became quietly obsessed with checking out the pics. When he released his book earlier this year, it quickly made its way to the top of my pile. But still – no doughnuts.

…

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.