Bursts of Summer, Ultra Red Tomato Salad

This is a vibrant salad for any Summer table.  Remember to leave the tomatoes out of the fridge if that's where you normally store them as you will want as full a tomato flavour as possible.  Add sweet red peppers or fresh red paprika and slice them as thinly as the red cabbage.  Lay all the salad ingredients in a bowl, nicely mixed together.

The dressing, with its raw garlic and chilli needs to stand in the oil and vinegar for an hour before being poured over the salad itself so that a certain amount of "cooking" is done.

The salad

• 250 grams of ripe medium tomatoes (left out of the fridge for a least half a day and thickly sliced)
• One large red onion (halved and thinly sliced)
• One Quarter of red cabbage (thinly sliced)
• Sweet peppers/paprika to taste
• Two large bulbs of beetroot (roasted with olive oil for 35 minutes in a 180 degree C oven, allowed to cool, skinned and thickly sliced)

The dressing 

• Two large cloves of garlic (crushed)
• Two teaspoons of capers (preserved in salt and rinsed - chopped finely
• A small red chilli (deseeded and chopped finely)
• Three dessert spoons of red wine vinegar
• One teaspoon of honey
• Three dessert spoons of extra virgin olive oil

Bring on the Summer

We've moved house recently and I'm still finding notebooks with recipes and references to who inspired them.  I don't think I've ever thrown out a cookery book so some of the references that have been made in sometimes very old note books have been great reminders of how my role models have changed over the years.

Elizabeth David, a great cook and writer, really influenced me in my earlier years, especially for her almost casual way of describing recipes.  In a her book an omelette and a glass of wine, I was fascinated by her travels and her people watching skills but, not only that, but by the title of the book itself.

It inspired almost 20 pages of notes, on a Spring day in April 1992, on the omelette but not, unfortunately for Elizabeth (sorry Elizabeth) of the French kind.  It was the Spanish omelette that actually drew me in.  As a tapas or as a picnic contribution or as a meal in itself, this humble food appears in my notes dozens of times over the years.

The basic recipe is simple:

• a good glug of olive oil
• four medium potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced and par boiled or precooked from the previous day's meal
• a large white onion, halved and thinly sliced
• four large eggs
• a good pinch of salt

In a eight inch /20 cm hot pan put the oil, potatos and onion.  Turn the heat down and flip the potatoes until cooked.

Whisk the eggs with the salt and add to the mixture, using a fork around the base to help the egg cook through.  Once the base is cooked, place a dinner plate over the top, flip it and slide the omlette back into pan and cook for a further five minutes or so.  Alternatively, place under the grill.

In much of Spain this recipe is the base of many a left over feast - as in households in many other countries I have no doubt, left over cooked vegetables, meats and fish are added wherever you are.

Great for breakfast as well as for the aforementioned picnics, this is an all year Summer feeling dish.

As you can see in the picture, breakfast can be great with left over peas, beans and roasted potatoes, especially with some great smoked bacon on the side!  This particular omelette also had a pinch of smoked sweet paprika, good pinch of dried thyme and a small finely chopped clove of garlic.  Fantastic with a glass or two of Bucks Fizz.

The great people of the Wine Pantry in Borough Market have suggested a number of British wines for both picnics and simply to drink on their own.

Here's what they suggested for their top five:

• Avonleigh Brut Sparkling - used in the great Bucks Fizz mentioned above
• Camel Valley Rose - a great social wine, they also have a Sparkling Red from the same label
• Balfour - a fresh British alternative to Champagne
• Biddenden Ortega - good "sipping" wine and good with spicy food
• Pheasant's Ridge Bacchus - a great social wine and great with one of my favourite foods - Cheese!

Cheddar Caesar Salad

Well, when you think you know what's in your fridge and actually you don't, but it turned out great anyway!

SO impressed with Marks and Spencer for stocking baby red salad onions that this Caesar had red jewels in its crown.

Cos lettuce with the aforementioned baby red salad onions roughly chopped and with, very untraditionally, chunks of sweet cucumber.  A rough Caesar dressing of finely grated strong cheddar and warmed fresh egg (90 seconds in water which has been brought to rolling boil before you place egg into it - yes it cracks but there for only 90 seconds) and a good pinch of dried thyme and a crushed garlic clove.

In this case, topped off with some grilled chicken marinated in thyme and olive oil.

A one egg wonder

Amazing how you get to remind yourself that simple is great!

Breakfast one morning and we realised that there was very little in the cupboard.  It was raining and there was not a lot of motivation to set foot outside the front door.

Two eggs, three bread rolls and an assortment of larder items in the cupboard, so what to do.

Individual one egg omelettes with shallots (one each - the cupboard really was bare)

A few pinches of mix herbs - we were getting desperate

The last gratings of parmesan and the heat of a small green chilli.

A great sandwich, a great breakfast and happy tummies until the rain stopped.

Quick Summer Supper - Haddock Loins

One of my favourite white fish that needs so little cooking.  The flavour is great and so all you need is to keep everything simple and fresh.

If you keep to bright colours, it also makes a very cheerful supper on a rainy Summer's evening.

• A 150 gram loin per person
• One red and one small green pepper per person (cut into strips)
• One heart of chicory (cut into strips)
• A small red onion (halved and sliced thinly)
• Lemon slices (and the juice of the remaining half a lemon)
• Olive oil
• Thyme
• Salt

This was so quick - less than 30 minutes including preparation time and cooking.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C

Place a sheet of baking foil, shiny side down onto the baking sheet - this should be twice the size of the baking sheet so that it forms a parcel around the fish.  Brush some oil onto the base and place a few slices of onion on the base, and place the loin on top.

Place a couple of lemon slices on top.  Sprinkle a little salt and thyme on top of this and then close and seal the foil.  Making sure there is mini-tent of space above the fish.

Put in the oven for 15-18 minutes, depending on whether there is just one loin or a more in the parcel.

With the remaining strips of pepper, the strips of chicory and slices of onion, place in a bowl and add a little salt and thyme and toss.  Keeping a the remaining lemon and a little oil reserved to the side to dress the salad once the fish is ready.

Once the time is up for the fish.  Take it out of the oven and leave in its parcel whilst plating up.  Dress the salad with the lemon juice and oil and toss once more.  Place the loin on top of the plated salad.

Great fresh flavours in under 30 minutes,

Summer's here - cheese part two

Blanket Banquets are almost here!

With (hopefully) some hazy sunny days ahead of us and if not sitting in the park or our gardens, have a chance picnicking by the beach or in the grounds of some local stately home, I thought some top ideas for eating on the hoof or simply sitting on a blanket may help for the coming weeks.

A great start is cheese, especially some Camembert or Brie with crusty bread.  For lazy afternoons what could be better than a cold bottle of fizz or rose.

The great people at Only with Tilia have recommended some great summer cheeses.  Here are their top five:

Montgomery Cheddar, a Somerset cheese with a 70 year pedigree and made from Manor Farm's heard of Friesian cows.  Great for on its own or for an almost endless list of snacks and suppers.

Hoe Stevenson Red Leicester has a  slightly nutty, sweet and peppery flavour.  Great for macaroni apparently, but great on its own.

Gorwydd Caerphilly has won many awards, Best British Cheese, Best Welsh Cheese and Best Traditional Cheese. It has a lemony taste, creamy texture and as with all cheeses in its family crumbles well and so is great for cooking.

Beenleigh Blue is one of the few British ewe cheeses and is based on a Roquefort recipe.  This softer cheese means it's great for spreading on that crusty bread!

Stinking Bishop isn't for wimps so perfect for outside picnics.  Try it as additional topping for a walnut and green leaf salad or on its own with some good pudding wine or a cold long beer.

Some fine blanket banquets have been had with a range of cheeses and a few well chosen spreads and salads to accompany them.

One of my favourites is this very easy Spicy Onion Jam enough for a few of you but you can make as much or as little as you like.

• One large onion (cut in half and sliced thinly)
• Two tablespoons of olive oil
• One large clove of garlic (finely chopped)
• One small (but hot) chilli (deseeded and finely chopped)
• A two inch stick of ginger (grated)
• One firm green apple (cored, peeled, cut in half and sliced thinly)

• Three heaped tablespoons of brown sugar
• 50 mls of malt or cider vinegar

And spices to be ground together:

• one teaspoon of coriander seeds
• one teaspoon of mustard seeds
• one teaspoon of black pepper corns
• one good pinch of salt

Once you have all the ingredients together, in a medium saucepan, add the oil, onion, garlic, ginger and chilli along with the ground spices, to a medium heat.  Cover with the lid and let the mixture sweat slowly.  Once the onions have started to soften add the remaining ingredients and bring to just under the boil.  Cook for 10-15 minutes and set aside to cool.  Store in clean, sterilised jar.
A really good standby and also very easy is coleslaw (yes you get it in a tub at the supermarket but in this case, fresh really is best), using white cabbage (the hard round kind, cored and sliced thinly) and onion (skinned, halved and again, sliced thinly) and grated carrot, for the dressing try using half mayonnaise and half crème fresh and adding some extra cider vinegar and olive oil to loosen the mixture up a bit.  For an extra bite add a crushed clove of garlic and a finely chopped chilli.

Carrying on a theme, Red Cabbage Crunch, is slightly cooked version of a coleslaw.  Sweet and spicy at the same time.

• one large red onion (halved and thinly sliced)
• A quarter of a red cabbage (cored and thinly sliced)
• one large mild chilli (finely chopped)
• one large clove of garlic (finely chopped)
• one heaped teaspoon of sweet smoke paprika
• two tablespoons of runny honey
• two tablespoons of olive oil
• one tablespoon of poppy seeds

In a medium sized saucepan and over a medium heat, add the oil, onions, chilli and garlic and let them warm through.  Add the paprika and stir thoroughly. 

Add the red cabbage and mix through and then cover the pan tightly so that the moisture in the pan steams the cabbage for approximately 5 minutes.

Then add the honey and poppy seeds into the mixture and leave to cool off the heat, with the lid on.

Watch this space tomorrow for some suggestions from the Wine Pantry and a few more ideas for the park!

Summer's here - cheese part one

Feta, the king of the Eastern Mediterranean, is one of the most loved cheeses of the region.

Use Feta for spice loaded lentil salad or for the traditional Greek salad.   Feta pastry parcels with pine nuts and fresh oregano are a must for picnics and daytime snacks.

Greek Salad

To many, Greek salad consists of chunks of sun ripened  tomatoes, succulent and cool cucumbers, sweet and sharp red onion, black olives soaked in peppery extra virgin oil and, depending upon the island or parts of Greece they've visited, the salad may also have slithers of fragrant fennel or bitter green pepper. A sprinkling of dried oregano seems to bring back memories of sun, sand and blue skies. 

When making your own, remember to leave the tomatoes out of the fridge, so many of us rely on keeping them there, but if they are left to bring up to room temperature, they're original full flavour may not return, but at least the flavour that's left will be more apparent.  When choosing your onions try the largest and firmest of the red varieties and remember to peel your cucumbers (again at room temperature) before adding them.  If you do like a little fennel in your salad, remember to slice them as thinly as you dare.  The olives should be ones you like the most, so don't worry if you prefer green as opposed to black, dry verses those steeped in oil or brine.  And then, the crowning glory, the creamy sharp taste of Feta.  Incredibly heady, the flavours are enhanced if again left out of the fridge for a little while. 

I buy Feta by the block and cut into cubes and store in olive oil in a jar in the fridge.  Naughty, but heaped simply on bread for a sneaky snack on coming home from work is just a reminder of Summer in a jar.

Feta pastry parcels

These can be made with filo pastry or thin short crust.  But traditionally would have been with the former.  The filling is simplicity itself.

For eight parcels of Greek gorgeousness:

• 150 grams of Feta
• 2 teaspoons of dried oregano
• 4 dessert spoons of chopped fresh mint
• 4 dessert spoons of pine nuts
• 1 large egg
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 1 packet (yes I know not fresh!) of short crust pastry

Crumble the feta into a bowl, add all the other ingredients (saving a little of the beaten egg) and mix thoroughly with a fork.

As with the tarragon chicken parcels, roll out thinly, use a dessert bowl or a saucer as a template and cut a number of rounds.  Divide the filling between them, seal and crimp the edges and place on a buttered baking tray and brush lightly with the reserve egg.  Place in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C, for approximately 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Southern Mediterranean slow cooked pork

Entertaining and socialising through food creates strong bonds of friendship and, if done well, lasting ones through positive shared experiences.

The turkey pappettes which my friends and family enjoy at parties are just one small variation of a theme. The original recipe for pappettes uses leftover slices of cooked meat which is rolled and placed in a shallow baking dish and covered with various sauces (depending on meat and or region of France the cook, or the teacher of the cook, is from) and then baked for thirty or forty minutes in a medium oven.

For this particular dish I've used pork neck fillet cut lengthwise so that it opens like a book. Beat the flesh so that it is about, or just under, a centimeter in thickness. Cut the meat in half.

Use the same filling as the turkey pappettes and roll in a similar way - although these rolls will be somewhat larger!

Place the two rolls in a casserole dish.

Then take a medium aubergine and slice lengthwise into half cm thicknesses. Brush with olive oil on both sides and roll in a similar way but with just a few mint leaves in each roll. Place these in the dish.

Add roughly chopped red and green peppers. Add chopped garlic and a scattering of smoked sweet paprika.

Sprinkle two good pinches of dried tarragon and thyme and a good pinch of salt.

In a small bowl add the juice of half a lemon and 5 dessert spoons of olive oil and whisk together and pour over the casserole and add a cup of cold water.

Then take a couple of dozen leaves of mint or 8 or 9 tips to insert into the top of the dish.

Heat your oven to 165 degrees and when ready, cover your casserole with foil and fit the lid tightly on top.

Cook slowly for an initial hour and a half. Uncover, then stir and season further if needed. Recover and bake for an additional 45 minutes.

Along with some savoury rice this should feed four with some further steamed vegetables on the side or a very generous supper for two.

Five uses for Sweet Summer Basil

• for a Summer morning after remedy why not try six or seven large basil leaves in a mug of boiling water with a teaspoon of honey
• slow bake eight or nine halved medium sized tomatoes, a large red pepper cut into strips and laced with some good olive oil.  Once cooked and slightly cooled, tear a dozen leaves of basil and combine together. Great as vegetable with grilled lamb chops
• a Summer vinaigrette for mixed leaves and cucumber wedges. Tear a dozen leaves of basil with two dessert spoons of fresh lemon juice and a little zest and four dessert spoons of first pressed extra virgin olive oil. Great with grilled fish or sliced poached chicken
• a dozen basil leaves torn with a small finely chopped onion and four dessert spoons of Greek yogurt. A wonderfully fresh and quick filling for a baked potato
• a few dozen basil leaves, the juice of half a lemon, 4 dessert spoons of extra virgin oil, a generous pinch of salt and a handful of green olives. Blend into a paste and mix into freshly cooked linguini

 

Post Eurovision recipe - number three

Bloody Mary Tomatoes

Makes 24-30

Easy and very alcoholic

Take 24-30 small vine tomatoes (I know, technically all tomatoes are…)

For the filling

• two dessert spoons of tomato puree
• a 200 gram can of drained chopped tomatoes (or another 10-15 skinned small vine tomatoes chopped and drained)
• a dessert spoon of tabasco
• two dessert spoons of premium vodka
• two dessert spoons of dry sherry
• a level teaspoon of celery salt

Combine and leave aside for at least 2 hours

Cut the top off each of the tomatoes, extract the seeds and excess pulp.  Fill each one carefully with the above mixture.

Dress with chopped parsley.

Great with vodka Martini's … HIC!

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).

Post Eurovision recipe - number one

After a busy Eurovision weekend, I'm catching up with recipes that people have been asking about.

The turkey papettes are a take on a French left-overs in which rolls of cooked meat are given a filling and then recooked in a gravy or sauce.

These particular "rolls" are dry and make really good party food.  The rolls once cooked and cooled are cut on the diagonal and served with cocktail sticks and a Dijon mayonnaise.

Turkey Papettes

The turkey papettes are easy.  The filling is for about 700 grams of turkey meat (which have been cut into steaks and beaten thinly).

• One large onion
• 150 grams of pork liver pate
• Three or four generous pinches of dried herbs (an equal mix of tarragon, thyme and sage) and a good pinch of salt.
• A good glug of olive oil and a generous knob of butter.

Slowly melt the filling ingredients over a slow heat for about 20-30 minute and allow to cool.  The onions will have needed to soften and pate amalgamate into a rough paste.

Take approximately two dozen thin asparagus spears (or slice thick ones lengthwise) and cut to approximately 8-10 cms in length.

Spread a two generous teaspoons of the pate filling onto the thinned turkey steaks and arrange two to three spears down the centre.  Roll the meat and pin together shut with cocktail sticks or tie with string.

Once all the rolls have been done, rub olive oil over the top and place in a pre-heated oven (@200c) for between 30-40 minutes - or until the rolls are bronzed.

Take out and cool and once they have rested for 30 minutes or so, slice on diagonal to serve. 

An alternative that I've used is a neck lamb joint - sliced along its length and opened up butterfly fashion.  Beat to very long, thin (about a cm or less).  The filling is along the same lines as the one below, but using a layer of cooked spinach instead of the asparagus and using three times the amount of herbs - albeit a fresh mix including tarragon, thyme and flat leaf parsley.  I roll this length wise - quite tricky - and tie it with string - putting this in a medium oven 165-175c - covered for the first 30 minutes of cooking and then a further 30 minutes without.  The final 30 minutes I put a mix chopped sweet peppers and courgettes around the meat.

For a light supper (with no carbs) this would serve two easily.

Random thoughts about food

• Supper - something not too warming... after all its way too like mid-Summer than late Spring.  The last things I want (after my cravings this morning) are meatballs and pasta. 
• So thinking more chicken ceasar salad and the more I'm thinking it, the more it makes me smile.
• Second thoughts - we have an onion tart in the fridge or the extra spinach and riccotta quiche I made on Saturday.

Ah decisions. 

After lunch, the sun seems cooler and the skies are filling with clouds.  It may even be time to be thinking of pasta again... ahhh

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.

Brighton Saturday

Great day, Al and I went to Brighton.

Got there for just before 11am. Sun was hot and it wasn't too windy! The beach was just getting started and people watching the loud families was a treat! Especially the ones who didn't realise that people a hundred yards away could hear everything they were saying!

We had to have fish and chips - well you do at the sea side don't you?

We found a great bookshop but I was conscious that if I spent anytime at all in the depths of its basement, Al would be left hanging around, not his thing really.

Found the shop of choccywoccydoodoh - although I think it was just the cafe we found - because it looks a lot smaller than the one on the telly http://www.choccywoccydoodah.com/index.html.

We returned to the beach, found some more rays of sunshine, stayed another couple of hours, chatting people watching. Ending up at a beach bar for some very cold cider and more people watching. I don't think either of us could believe some of the ladies shoes (six inch heels on Brighton beachs - Really?).

All in all though, FAB, FAB, FAB.