Roll on my early Summer: some old favourites

I thought re-introducing some favourites from a couple of Summers ago wouldn't go amiss.

Who likes black olives, the ones which are stored dry in salt.  Such a great salad for this is this salted black olive and tomato salad, just something really salty and fresh tasting at the same time.  Try serving this as another topping for bruschetta or with a green salad with some cold meats and cheese.

Or, to go with the olive theme, how about some tapenade, this is rather a luxurious recipe and not for the faint hearted.  The butter alone will clog your arteries, but this is a great recipe for entertaining, although it really needs to be eaten on the same day as chilling it and then softening it again, makes it loose its fresh taste.

If you want a good bean dish this baked peppers with mint and black eyed beans is extremely versatile, a great alternative to vegetables and potatoes to go with roast meat on a Sunday or as great packed lunch.

How about the ultra-red tomato salad - a very good dish to serve with some pan fried fish, and it looks just the picture for entertaining, perhaps lunch on a Saturday with friends?

My final one from memory lane, at least for now, is a five part hints and tips for sweet Summer Basil, from tea to a great sauce for a quick pasta supper.

Roll on my early Summer, a few suggestions

Roll on my early Summer

Now for some tricks and suggestions to make your fresh ingredients taste a little fresher.

Try buying your fresh vegetables, fruit and herbs from a greengrocer or an independent store that doesn't automatically chill everything.  Although cold preserves the shelf life, it diminishes the flavour and, even if these early harvests have been forced and then travelled in a cool lorry, the fact that they aren't in a chilled isle or in a cold cabinet means that when you buy them, their flavour will approximate fresh.

Tomatoes, herbs and green vegetables will certainly benefit and when you bring them home do not put them into your own fridge.  For example, put your tomatoes in the bowl on the counter along with your lemons, courgettes, peppers, limes and garlic.  You will use them all in a few to four days so there is no need to store them in a fridge.

If you buy olives - marinated or otherwise, taste before you buy if you can.  The disappointment will be avoided when you get them home.  How many times have we all brought them home and they have been too waxy or the lack of flavour has tempted us all to just throw them away?  If you are in this position, a possible way to eek a little flavour out is to marinade them overnight in some extra virgin olive oil and some chopped fresh herbs, but this will only help flavour them, if they are hard and waxy, you may want to soak them in brine with a little added cooking soda for a couple of days, then marinade them over night.  Not perfect, but better than simply throwing them away.

Fresh herbs should be bought in bunches larger than you think you need, especially parsley and mint.  Add them to a shall vase or tumbler out of direct sunlight with fresh water every day (and again, not in the fridge).  You will use them in less than three days and if for any reason not, on the third day chop finely and freeze in small portions or, my personal favourite, mix into softened butter and then place in the fridge.  Use as a simple dressing for hot plain pasta or for that quick baked potato one evening.

Whole spices, dry fry first before you pound them, they smell and taste so much better this way and along with many seeds, this is a sure way of invigorating the taste buds ready for the warmer months.

Roll on Summer!

Simple Olive and Garlic pastry twists

These are so simple and quick and are so good with a G&T or martini any day!

Using both Olive and Smoked Garlic butters, this is a sure fire way of starting a get together at home to a great start.

Using pre-made puff pastry, simply roll to a half centimetre thickness, cut in half, spread some olive butter on one piece, cut into one centimetre strips and twist them a couple of times.  Lay on an oven tray with grease proof paper.

Do the same with smoked garlic butter and then place in a pre-heated oven at 190c for about 10-15 minutes, keep checking them in case they burn due to the high butter content of both the spread and the pastry.

Roasted baby vegetables with olive butter and feta

Roasting baby vegetables has never been so tasty, a great side dish as well as a main or starter, this can be used in so many ways.

Using olive butter in particular (as well as many other forms of homemade favoured spreads) to enhance the sweetness of vegetables is an old culinary trick.  But this works particularly well in this recipe as this also provides a further use for roasted tomatoes - also naturally sweet when roasted.

 

·         Take 150 grams each of baby leeks, carrots and fennel.   Top, tail (if necessary) and cut lengthways
·         100 grams of roasted tomatoes
·         Three good dessert spoons of olive butter
·         75 grams of feta, crumbled

Pre-heat your oven to 200c.

Place your baby vegetables on an oiled oven tray and place in the oven for about 10 minutes.  Then take this out and add your olive butter, tossing the vegetables before returning them to the oven, reducing the heat slightly to 190c, for a further 15-20 minutes.

Toss the vegetables again and then add the tomatoes and feta evenly over the top and bake for a further 5 minutes or so (remember the tomatoes only need to heat through).

The result is a rather sexy, savoury/sweet experience, which is really good served as a starter with toast, served with penne or lentils or with grilled fish or meat.

Olive butter

This olive butter is very good and always a good savoury standby for breakfast toast if you are so inclined.

The addition of the extra virgin oil in this recipe gives, like the smoked garlic butter, a good soft consistency even when stored in the fridge.  Very useful if you are adding either, with some plain flour, to thicken a sauce or soup.

This is also a good butter to add an undertone of slight bitterness (depending, obviously, on the olives that used) to roasted vegetables which can be sweet, and this in itself, provides balance.

• 100 grams of green and black olives
• 50 grams of chopped flat leaf parsley
• 25 mls of good extra virgin olive oil
• 100 grams of softened salted butter

Whizz these through in a food processor and this will store quite nicely for a couple of weeks at the top of your fridge. 

Adding vinegar, anchovy and/or capers to this recipe will technically make it a form of tapenard.  Tapenard is also good to cook with, especially as a roasting base for asparagus and French beans, try it spread on toast too as with this olive butter.

Baked Mediterranean Asparagus with Parmesan

This is a great "reserve" dish.  Equally good as a starter for a dinner party or, as I normally serve it, a supper dish over fresh tagliatelle.

The fresh favours in this dish really do lift you up after a long day.  Great for that feel good factor on a rainy day!

For two people:

Use a portion of my black olive salsa verde or the more classic green variety, either is a great base for this dish.

• Twelve to sixteen asparagus spears, trimmed and blanched briefly
• Two large ripe tomatoes, thinly sliced across the lateral
• A couple of tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan or your favourite hard cheese of choice

On a lined shallow baking tray, spread half your black olive or classic salsa verde and then place your spears on top, adding remaining amount on top.

Place in the top third of a medium to hot oven (190-200c) for 10-12 minutes.

On your serving plates, if using these as a starter, arrange tomato slices.  Add half the hot asparagus on top with a generous sprinkling of cheese.

If serving with tagliatelle, chop the tomatoes roughly and add to the drained pasta so that it is warmed through just before putting on the plate. Lay the asparagus on the top of the pasta, adding the cheese to taste.

This is also extremely good on some toasted rye bread.

Garlic Pork with Pinto beans

This is my first late Summer, early Autumn, dish and one that has a number of really good attributes. 

 

The favours in this dish hit you on so many levels.  Try for the large chops or thick steaks for this dish as the portions really do work out wonderfully for four people.   No additional vegetables are needed as a main course and, as this is relatively low maintenance recipe, this is not only great for a supper dish after work (as you can cook it the previous day and then re-heat) but also a great reserve for dinner parties as, unerringly, this is quite a light dish so can be twined with starters, a fish course and a dessert if you feel so inclined.

As you can see from the photographs, I've used Fragata olives and capers for this dish.  As the cooking time is quite long, the waxy quality of black olives helps them hold their shape even when sliced.  The capers are a great way to cut through the earthy favours of the beans and these particular ones were large and juicy!  Always a good thing.

The garlic I've used this time around is elephant garlic and the cloves are huge!  Brilliant in this dish, if you can get a hold of them, as they have milder, almost sweeter flavour, so I've used two.

I've also used what I've knicknamed sour peppers (which are pictured separately), please let me know if you have the proper name for them.  Helpfully, they are described as "Eastern" peppers in my local market.  As my descriptive knickname suggests, they taste sour, rather than bitter and with their seeds they are actually a little spicy.

The reason I've added the Tarragon in two batches during the initial cooking of the vegetables is that it seems to give a deeper flavour.  The addition of sherry or vermouth to the stock just prior to putting this in the oven is optional, but this also enhances the tarragon and is well worth it.

• 1 Kg of Pork, ideally four large chops or thick cut steaks on the bone
• 700 grams of cooked Pinto Beans
• Six plump garlic cloves, halved and sliced thinly
• One medium onion, chopped roughly
• Two medium red paprika, chopped roughly
• One medium white paprika, chopped roughly
• Two medium "sour" peppers, chopped roughly
• 50 grams of black olives, sliced
• Three good teaspoons of capers
• 15 grams of tarragon, roughly chopped
• 500 mls of veg/chicken stock
• 50 mils of dry sherry (or vermouth)
• 25 mls of extra virgin olive oil

In a deep oven/hob dish (at least five litre capacity), warm the oil through on a medium to high heat.  Brown the pork on each side.  You will need to do this in two batches.  Put aside.

Turn down the heat at notch or two and add the chopped vegetables, and only adding half the tarragon  Cook until softened and then stir in the capers and olives and remaining tarragon and stir thoroughly.  Then add the cooked beans and again, stir thoroughly, ensuring the mixture is warmed through completely. 

Then, take two thirds of mixture out of the dish and place the two of the chops/steaks on a base of the mixture, adding a further third of the mixture on top and then adding the final two chops/steaks on top these.  Using the remaining bean mixture to finish off the layers.

Take the stock and sherry (or vermouth) and pour gently into the dish.  Depending upon the dish itself, you may need to add a further 100 ml of water just to bring the levels up to just above the top layer of pork.

Cover the dish and place in a medium to hot oven at 180c for an hour and 30 minutes.

Again, many thanks to Fragata for the above ingredients, please see go and visit them at http://www.facebook.com/FragataUK/ or fragata.co.uk