Simple Asparagus rolls

Preheat your oven to 180 c.

Take one large day old, white bloomer, ideally leave in a plastic bag overnight on the side - carve the crusts off and then thickly slice lengthways,   You should have five, large, thick slices.  Butter on one side.

Take some Parma ham and lay these on each slice of bread, you will need four, possibly six slices of ham for each slice bread, depending on the size of your loaf.

Take your asparagus which has been blanched and slice lengthways.  Place these end to end and side by side from about an inch from the long edge of each slice of bread.  Roll the lengthways and fasten with cocktail sticks. 

Place on a baking tray and brush with olive oil and cook until brown - this should take no more than 20 minutes.

Allow to cool and cut into appropriate lengths.

Also see:  Baked Mediterranean Asparagus with Parmesan

Food Snap: Green Sauces

There are all kinds of variations of green sauces, including ones that aren't so green.  The most famous I guess, are the Italian/Spanish salsa verde but South and Central America also have their share as well as German and UK contributions. 

Two of my personal favourites is a German style sauce which is made from finely chopped hard boiled eggs, sour cream and a lot of chopped chervil and sorrel.  There seems to be an "English" version of this which is served with boiled ham which I tried in Norfolk a few years ago made with lovage and sage, although I had suspicions of a Gallic influence as caper berries were also used.

My other, and I must admit, and most frequently used variation is made with mint, thyme and flat leaf parsley.

• 20 grams each of mint, thyme and flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• Two heaped teaspoons of caper berries
• 50 mls of good olive oil
• a good pinch of salt
• a good pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• two large crushed and finely chopped cloves of garlic
• a dash of cider vinegar

All mixed together. 

This is such a no brainer as a dressing for hot new potatoes or freshly cooked pasta (of any type).

Paccheri Rigatai with Chorizo de Leon

Paccheri Rigati with Chorizo de Leon and Mahon cheese

 

A fantastic way to bring Italy and Spain together on a plate.   The warmth of this dish really brings the Mediterranean sun into your home.  Great for sharing with friends and so easy to size up for parties to serve cold alongside other treats.

Ingredients:

250 grams of Paccheri Rigati
220 grams of chorizo, 1/2 cm (or slightly less) slices, the chorizo is only a couple of cm thick
500 mls of passata
25 grams of lovage, roughly chopped
three small to medium red and green peppers, thickly sliced
five small onions, quartered
five small aubergines, halved lengthwise
125 grams of Mahon cheese, thinly sliced
100 mls of cold water
50 mls of olive oil
50 grams of sun dried tomatoes in oil, roughly chopped
100 grams of roughly chopped Spanish olives

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180 c

Cook your Paccheri Rigati in salted boiling water for only half the 10-12 minutes it normally takes, drain and use half your oil to coat the pasta and leave aside.

In a large, hot frying pan, add the remaining oil, the onions, chorizo and peppers, until the chorizo has started to release its spicy treasures, the onions have started to brown around their edges and the peppers have started to soften only slightly. 

The aubergines go in next and these are added to just warm through.  Set the pan aside and retrieve a large oven proof dish, about five centimetres deep and 25 to 30 centimetres square/oblong.  Add the pasta and the chorizo/vegetable mix to it along with the passata which has been combined with the cold water.  Mix well and add the olives, lovage and sun dried tomatoes evenly on the top.   Arrange the cheese on top of this and place in the middle of the oven for approximately 30-35 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly before serving.

This should make a generous starter for six, or a main course with braised lettuce for four. Also, incredibly good cold with sour cream on the side.

Kitchen diary: Herb Butter

"Herb butter", a term that either makes us, as food lovers, cringe or tingle with joy.  Is it really that simple and does the combination really provide added benefits to the cook.

Soft butter mixed with chopped herbs and then reset is great to serve with cooked vegetables, grilled fish and meat as well as simply served with fresh bread or crumpets for afternoon tea.   But then, most would say this isn't cooking, just presentation.

Most of us don't think of taking the idea any further, but if you take a moment, especially if you're planning on a larger than average dinner party or get together, then actually it can pay to think ahead.  After all butter is relatively good preserving agent in its own right and will preserve your fresh ingredient a little longer than if left to their own devices.   Even without the large party, what if you're just busy, full stop.  Preparing a batch of garlic and parsley butter, portioning it and freezing it has a number of uses.  Whilst the pasta is cooking, a portion of this melting on a medium heat is all you need, with no additional peeling or chopping, as precursor to adding your vegetables of choice.

How about adding plain flour and freezing portions of that as well.  Great for instant thickeners for soups, gravies and stews and if you add your herb of choice as well, there will also be added accent of flavour brought to your dish in the final stages of cooking, that can't be a bad thing.

The formula works just as well with some spices, although not all.  Try smoked sweet paprika, perfect with game and even better for Tagines.  Fresh butter mixed with cumin, paprika, garlic and lemon zest is a particular favourite.  Marinate the meat overnight, the effect is lush.

I also use herb butter in bread dough along with feta and goats cheese the above tagine combination works particularly well.

And finally, combining butter with olive oil in tapenade is an old favourite of mine that, when used in moderation is a great and effective stuffing for an array of traditionally dry mean dishes,  Try it with large turkey breasts and you'll see what I mean.   

Kitchen Diary: Saturday, 1 August 1992

Today, twenty years ago, I bought my first le creuset, blue and the largest I could afford.

I had twenty people (I had invited thirty-one) to my little flat in Kennington, for food and drinks, for a Saturday chatting and intermittent shouting at BBC coverage of the Olympic games.

The dish I cooked in my new purchase was ratatouille.  It was the first time I had had invited more than a dozen people. 

Apart from the aforementioned "rats", I also fed the hordes with homemade bread sticks, tarragon chicken parcels, Greeksalad, tapenade, bean dip and stuffed aubergines.

I had borrowed another telly, so there was one in the living room and another perched in the bedroom and last person left a little after midnight.

As well as the Olympic games being held in Barcelona that Summer other major news over the previous weeks included:

• Iraq had refused a UN inspection team;
• Denmark had (narrowly) rejected the Maastricht Treaty; and
• Two skeletons had been discovered in Yekaterinburg, they were later identified as being Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Tsarina Alexandra

On lighter news…

• The first nicotine patch was released publically
• And the Space Shuttle Endeavour successfully made its maiden voyage.

This was also the year that the Queen paid taxes for the first time and also the year when Windsor Castle caught fire.

Three best dips

These are great to have on standby and very straight forward to make.

Three dips which are great to make and full of flavour.  Using three types of bean/pulse.  Use a large tin of chickpeas and butterbeans for ease rather than all that soaking overnight.

For roasting:

One bulb of garlic, three large red peppers, a large white onion and some good olive oil.

 

To a medium sized baking tray add:

• the garlic cloves, but don't peel them
• the peppers (whole but de-stalked)
• one onion, peeled and quartered
• olive oil to coat the above
• a couple of pinches of salt

Bake in medium to hot oven (190c) for 25-30 minutes.

 

For the dips:

• One tin (220 grams) each of chickpeas and butterbeans.
• 300 grams of cooked broad beans
• 20 grams mint
• 20 grams parsley
• three dessert spoons of honey
• one teaspoon of ground cumin
• the juice and zest of one medium lemon
• 50 grams of freshly grated parmesan

For the chickpea dip:

In a food processor add the drained chickpeas, the garlic (which should easily come out of their skins), onion, parsley and honey.  Process until smooth.

 

For the butterbean dip:

Again, in the food processor, add the drained butterbeans, the roasted peppers (after putting them in a plastic bag to cool, the skins should easily come away), salt to taste and the cumin.  Process until smooth.

For the broad bean dip:

 

After first shelling the beans and using a potato masher, add the mint and parmesan.  Add the lemon juice and zest.