My early Summer: Stuffed tomatoes with wild garlic and Poitou Charente

Red ripe tomatoes are the epitome of Summer to me.  The bright red and the fresh taste.  Joy, especially when another colour, or colours, come along to increase the excitement.

In this recipe I'm using large red and yellow varieties, together giving that summertime feel-good factor.  With the wild garlic, nothing goes unused, and if you fine it a little limp on your return to the kitchen, just leave the tips of the stalks in a glass of water for 30 to 40 minutes and it will be just as luscious as when you bought it. 

Any small pasta can also be used for this recipe, I've used orzo because it was readily to hand.  Green lentils or black eyed beans could be used too, but if using the latter, only use half the amount and roughly chop them before they are put in the mix.

This recipe also works particularly well with fresh mint instead of flat leaf parsley and if this is your herb of choice, add the same amount as you would parsley, but also add a half teaspoon of dried as well.  It give this dish a little heat, so great as a dinner dish.

The proportions are just right for a main for two or a starter for four people.

Ingredients:

• 4 good sized tomatoes ("topped" and contents removed)
• Knob of salted butter
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin oil
• 6/7 sprigs of wild garlic, including flowers (stalks and flowers, finely chopped and separated from the leaves, which are chopped more roughly)
• half a medium white onion, finely chopped
• half a yellow courgette, chopped into quarter-inch cubes
• 4 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 6-7 tablespoons of cooked orzo pasta (cold)
• Pinch of salt
• 4oz of good semi-hard sheep or goats' cheese (I've used Poitou Charente) (chopped into quarter-inch cubes

In a frying pan over a medium heat, melt the butter and add the olive oil.  Add the wild garlic stalks and flowers along with the onion.  Heat through and then add the courgette and continue to cook until the mixture is slightly softened, leaving the onion with a little crunch.  Set aside and leave to cool.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 170 degrees centigrade.

Place the tomatoes on a baking sheet lined with kitchen foil, dull side up.

In a large bowl add the cooled vegetables and the remaining ingredients, combine well, ensuring the orzo pasta are still separate rather than clumped together.  Then, using a dessert spoon, add the filling to the tomatoes and place in the oven for approximately 30 minutes.
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Serve with salad and/or with grilled fish.  This time around, I've served with sprouting broccoli and chilli flakes.

Roll on my Early Summer

I'm writing this in blazing sunshine in mid April, sitting in a park in Beckenham, on the fringes of the South London.  So forgive me for me wanting Summer to begin right now.

Summer days, albeit a very warm April, will be with us soon and my mind and taste buds are looking forward to the abundant fresh produce and the bright colours that Summer always brings to our meals, life and gathering of friends.  After all, what better way to enjoy the good weather than to entertain friends or to organise an impromptu banquet at a local park or beach?

I've turned to my diaries and notebooks for inspiration, what were my partner and I doing for the last few Summers, what get-togethers did we arrange, what food did I cook, what made Summer?

Some of the spices and herbs, the smells and tastes, evoke memory and I can't help smiling, sunshine, good food and great company, can do this. 

Bright tomatoes and oregano came immediately to mind and then lemon zest merges with orange and then this morphs to more exotic combinations and flavours.  Yellow courgettes with caraway, especially those only a few inches long, if that, stuffed with cheeses or a fish medley and baked in an oven ready to be served with a luscious green salad and griddled ripe tomatoes, halved and sprinkled with ground pepper, perhaps some seared orange segments served with toasted almonds.

Already the smells are coming through with colour and I turn back to green salad and think of coriander, both seeds and herb and think of thick Greek yogurt gorged with them, with fillets of monkfish or chicken marinating overnight in the fridge only to be cooked over a charcoal embers the following evening, surrounded by friends with glassed of wine and beer.  To the side I see feta salad, perhaps Greek, perhaps just with melon or cucumber and fresh bread served with tapenade.

I have other dreams of Summer, some from 1976 and 1977.  The Summers of the great drought that made the summer holidays just that bit more fun and the Silver Jubilee year just a little like being on a film set.  The Brotherhood of Man won for the UK in 1976 with "Save all your kisses for me" and in 1977, Marie Myriam who represented France, won with her song "L'oiseau et L'Enfant".

I remember people smiling a whole lot more, especially when I think of the Winters we had all in a row, I remember one of them being so bad Dad had to dig our way out of the house (it was mid-Wales and I think it was the 77-78 one.  I can remember one of them without electricity, thank our parents for being a coal and wood household, we certainly weren't cold.  Friends in town had to stay with relatives because they lived in houses with only electricity.  The plus side to this, for us kids anyway, was not being able to get to school. snow fights and teasing your little sister about snow monsters and frost giants. 

But my dreams of Summer prevail and they always borrow facets from other places, namely other places where I've seen happy faces and experienced warm sun really.  Our holidays in Thassos, my visits to Malta and most recently our visit to see Susan and her family in Australia.

Although my body (heat and sun-stroke) isn't too keen, I am happier on a Summer day.  I have to go and sit in the shade on a regular basis, and I have learnt that even if I am in the shade but temperature is over 35 degrees, I need to go indoors, no mater well I feel, and drink plenty of liquid.  But it doesn't stop me watching others enjoy the heat and it gives me respite to go into the kitchen and prepare something light and tasty for others to enjoy.

With all this said, I want Summer to happen sooner, so if the weather doesn't hold out, at least we have the food and the smiles to look forward to.

Over the next few weeks, I will be endeavouring to bring forward Summer and the enjoyment it brings.

Bear with me, I may miss a few times, but hopefully the spirit of Summer will be felt along the way.

Welcome to my Early Summer

Tomatoes - keeping it simple

As the first flush of ripe tomatoes come through what could be better than a fresh tomato salad, served at room temperature and with all the flavour of Summer?

When tomatoes are in season, you simply want to celebrate their taste.  So any accompaniment should be a partnership to the tomato's natural flavour.

• four large ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges (if you've bought these from the supermarket, leave them on the side to bring to room temperature - this will maximise their flavour)
• one small red onion, halved and sliced thinly
• a handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped roughly
• two dessert spoons of salted capers, chopped roughly
• 2 good glugs of extra virgin olive oil

In a large bowl, add all the above and using your hands, make sure that everything has a coating of oil.  Cover with clingfilm and leave on the side for an hour or more.

Use as salad on its own, as a filling in crusty bread or, add olives and feta and gorge yourself whilst sitting in the sun...

Preserving Summer - Passata

Passata, a word that, for me at least, evokes the feeling and smells of a preserved Summer.

A classic Passata, I'm told, includes tomatoes, onion, a little garlic and basil.  Other suggestions leaving out garlic and basil to keep it "plain".  Other additions to mix include red peppers, celery, oregano or bay (instead of the basil).  I have also made it in smaller batches, with chilli, additional garlic and dill.  But label your jars or freezer boxes accurately!

The Passata that I make, is more inclined towards the former classic rather than the paired down version and I do tend to add a little more onion than is, I gather, the norm.  For each five measures of tomatoes and I use one measure of onion.  I also use celery as I think it complements the basil very well.

Another difference is that I tend to freeze mine rather than bottle it.  But the method of actually making it remains the same.

For about two and half litres of Passata the following quantities should be sufficient, but if you like to make your Passata slightly thicker, obviously the remaining quantity will be less than this.

• 5 Kg of ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 Kg of onions, roughly chopped
• 100 grams of celery
• 5 good sized cloves of garlic, chopped
• 60 grams of basil
• 25 mls of good olive oil

In a deep pan, a preserving pan is ideal, add the onions and oil over a gentle heat.  You are aiming to release the onion's own juices without them evaporating.  As the onions start to soften, add the chopped garlic and continue to cook gently, being careful not to burn the mixture.

Add the tomatoes and mix thoroughly and allow to warm through, add a little water if your tomatoes are not quite the end of season - so this assists in their pulping down.  Once warmed through, you can turn up the heat to moderate and allow tomatoes to come to a gentle simmer.  Keep watching though, if the heat is too high it will catch.  If this starts to happen, take the pan off the heat immediately, add half a cup of cold water, mix thoroughly and return to the heat, but on a lower setting.

Keep simmering until the mixture is reduced by a quarter and a third and then add your basil.  Keep on a low simmer until the basil has completely softened (stalks and all) and then take off the heat and cover and leave to cool.

After about 30 minutes, and using either a sieve or a mouli work the mixture to a thin paste.  Using a mouli is very quick, but a sieve will need a little more patience.  At this point you will have an idea as to whether you want to reheat and reduce further, or to leave as is.  This is also the point where you taste the Passata for seasoning. 

Seasonings:

• Black Pepper
• Salt
• Cayenne Pepper
• Chilli
• Paprika

Using these seasonings for your Passata is completely up to you.  I prefer not to add any of the above with only one exception, Paprika, and this is only if I make a very thick Passata and intend to use it more as tomato concentrate, rather than a Passata. 

Once you have your initial puree, simply pour back into a clean pan and add your seasoning(s) and heat again to either reduce the liquid further or to bring up to a sufficient temperature to bottle up (in sterile jars/bottles in a similar way to jam making).

Personally, for this amount I normally add one full teaspoon of sweet paprika and I reduce the sieved amount by a further quarter or so, just enough so I have enough Passata to fill two 1 litre jars or (when cooled) four 500 ml freezer boxes.  Any surplus, I use on the day for pasta.

Post Eurovision recipe - number two

Tarragon Parcels

I love this recipe because so many different combinations can be used.  I originally used the filling recipe to go with pasta and then altered it to use for pastries when a vegetarian friend came round for supper unexpectedly one day.  I had already made a chicken pie so there was left over pastry in the fridge. 

Sometime afterwards we were having a Summer party and I wanted something other than the regular snacks, dips, chicken pieces and tarts, so I had the idea to make these in large batches. 

Once you've done it once, it's very easy to scale up for large amounts of people.

Try this with pork and sage and use the white part of leeks for the vegetable.  The stock should be made of half vegetable stock and dry cider.

Alternatively, try with salt cod and using smoked paprika  and thyme and using sweet red and orange peppers as the vegetable.  To the stock add three crushed cardamom pods.

For the pure veggies amongst you, use chestnut mushrooms or, if in season, puff balls and use the same ingredients (bar the meat of course) as the recipe below.

***

• 50 grams of fresh tarragon
• 200 grams of chicken breasts
• 150 grams of asparagus or artichoke hearts
• 100 grams of single cream
• Plain flour
• Olive oil
• 1oz of salted butter
• Pepper
• 1 medium sized onion
• Two pints of vegetable stock
• Pre-bought short crust pastry (500 grams)
• A large egg, beaten and a pastry brush.

***
First poach the chicken in the vegetable stock and allow to cool in the stock.

To make the cream sauce, first melt the butter in the olive oil, add finely chopped onion and ground black pepper on a medium heat until the onion has softened.  Then add two heaped teaspoons of plain sifted flour and combine thoroughly until the mixture becomes "sticky".

Add approximately a third of the remaining vegetable stock and keep stirring until the mixture has started to thicken.  Turn the heat down to low and add the single cream a little at time whilst continually stirring and maintaining the thickness of the sauce.   Then remove from the heat.

Cut the asparagus into 3 cm lengths, including an additional top 3 cm of stalk if early in the season and/or artichoke hearts into slices of approximately the same dimensions.  Blanch in salted water that has been brought to a rolling boil for about 3 minutes.  Drain, and allow to cool

Chop the chicken, the cooled vegetables and tarragon and mix into the sauce mixture well.  Set aside to steep and marinade.

Creating the parcels:

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface to a 2-3 mm thickness.  Using a tea plate as a template, cut out a number of circles of pastry.  Bring together the remaining pastry and re-roll out for further rounds.

With a buttered baking tray ready, take your first round of pastry and add a desert spoon of the chicken mixture to its centre.  Depending on the size of the round you may get a little more filing onto it whilst still leaving one and a half cm around the edge.  Using the a little of the beaten egg mixture on the edges for "glue" and taking bringing the folding furthest edge over towards you and pressing into a half moon.  Crimp the edges between thumb and forefinger and place on baking tray.  This should make up to eight good sized parcels. 

Use either the remaining egg or rub olive oil over the top of each pocket before placing in 200c pre-heated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown.

Once cooked leave on the side to cool.  Freezes well.  Defrost completely and then reheat gradually on a baking sheet with paper underneath in a medium oven (160/170c).

Summer in March? Receipe to Oz - Feta salad

Just sent this to Sue in Oz. It reminded me that you can always have Summer... and talking lentils and feta is always a good way to start...

Puy lentils (they call them "French Style" in Oz);

For 250 grams of lentils:

o 4 medium/2 large onions
o 4 large capsicums (how southern hemisphere am I?)
o 6 large cloves of garlic or one small bulb
o 2 generous sized teaspoons of smoked sweet paprika
o 2 "normal" sized teaspoons of either ground cumin or ground coriander (or one of each).
o Veg or chicken stock.

o Sweat onions first, then add garlic and capsicums together, sweat, then lentils, then dried spices. Five minutes covered, then the stock (to 1 cm above the mixture).
o At the end of cooking along with the feta, dried oregano or marjoram (same thing but one's wild, one's cultivated, apparently) to taste - for a the traditional fare.
o Otherwise, as I've done - which is I think what you would have had at our parties, 250 grams of rough chopped parsley mixed through whilst warm (it doesn't get cooked - just wilts in the mixture) and then covered until almost cool, and then the feta on top.
o Additional bits and pieces if in a spicy mood - one good sized medium chilli (finely chopped) and 4 cm stick of ginger (grated) - gives it a little kick.

I don't think I've forgotten anything. Although I've now tried the above with wild rice as well (half wild and half brown actually) and the mixture works great with smoked fish and green capsicums - same quantities.

Sunday, Sunday

An amazing day in many ways. Saw a cabaret act that I haven't seen in 20 years, Maisy Trollet.

We/my partner and I had arranged for a number of friends to come to a Spanish Restaurant and enjoy a Sunday lunch, plenty of wine and Ms Trollet.

It was pretty amazing, not for the old jokes and dirty humour, but that Maisy, who seemed older than my mother even 20 years ago, when I used to frequent the Royal Vauxhall Tavern on a Sunday, doesn't seem to be any older.

The face, even with the make-up hasn't changed. Still as energetic and the voice still booms out numbers, and still makes people laugh until there are tears in their eyes.

What a way to spend a Summer Sunday.