I have had a few weeks recently when I haven't been feeling very inspired as far as cooking is concerned. I have excuses: a cold followed by a chest infection does rather rain on the cookery parade. Next week I hope to be getting my mojo back, but for tonight comfort food was in order.
I made an Ottolenghi recipe which I had bookmarked from his column in The Guardian - Mejadra. Its a Levantine recipe which can be eaten hot or cold. It reminded me a little bit of kedgeree; warmly spiced, and a good combination of soft texture and crunch. Tasty. Also easy. Ideal for a "can't be bothered" evening.
Here's where to find the recipe.
PS I hope to meet Ottolenghi - I'm off to Alex James's Harvest festival in a couple of weeks' time and he will be there on the same day. Could be interesting - I hope to garner some top tips.
Showing posts with label Ottolenghi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ottolenghi. Show all posts
Friday, August 26, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Getting my 5 a day
Recently I've been feeling like eating super-healthily: Lots of vegetables, salads, vegetarian dishes. This week's new recipes were excellent examples of the kind of food I've been craving.
A Vietnamese Crab and Asparagus soup made a delicious lunch (even though it doesn't look that great!)
It was quite unusual in that it had a beaten egg stirred through to form thin eggy strands. That really enriched the soup and made it taste quite indulgent. The recipe was extremely easy to make. I battled with my 'food miles' conscience since asparagus isn't in season in the UK anymore, but in the end greed won out! Here's the recipe:
Vietnamese Crab and Asparagus soup for 2
1 tin crab (or 120g cooked fresh crab meat)
200g asparagus spears
500g chicken stock
3 shallots (finely sliced)
1 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 egg
salt and pepper
chives
Warm the stock in a saucepan, add the shallots and simmer for a few minutes to soften.
Meanwhile chop the asparagus spears into bite sized pieces and cook in simmering water for 4-5 minutes until tender.
Add the asparagus, crab, fish sauce and seasoning to the stock mixture. Mix the cornflour to a paste with a little water, add it to the soup mixture and stir until the soup thickens a little. Beat the egg lightly, add to the soup and stir briskly to form strands of egg. Sprinkle with some snipped chives and serve.
For dinner the same day I threw together an Ottolenghi salad recipe of broad beans and radishes, which was excellent served with a piece of haddock and pitta breads, with a tahini sauce for dipping.
See: It looks like the book's picture!
I never used to like radishes, but thought it was high time I revisited them to see if I like them now. This combination of salad ingredients was lovely and the radishes gave a great textural contrast with their crunchiness, as well as being a wonderful colour against the grean of the beans. I actually used half and half broad beans and peas as I didn't have enough broad beans for the recipe. That seemed to work just fine.
One revelation is that I don't know why I never thought to pop broadbeans out of their skins before. I have always hated those tough outer skins that they have, but they're very easily peeled off!
Fresh and healthy summery dishes feel exactly right just now.
A Vietnamese Crab and Asparagus soup made a delicious lunch (even though it doesn't look that great!)
It was quite unusual in that it had a beaten egg stirred through to form thin eggy strands. That really enriched the soup and made it taste quite indulgent. The recipe was extremely easy to make. I battled with my 'food miles' conscience since asparagus isn't in season in the UK anymore, but in the end greed won out! Here's the recipe:
Vietnamese Crab and Asparagus soup for 2
1 tin crab (or 120g cooked fresh crab meat)
200g asparagus spears
500g chicken stock
3 shallots (finely sliced)
1 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 egg
salt and pepper
chives
Warm the stock in a saucepan, add the shallots and simmer for a few minutes to soften.
Meanwhile chop the asparagus spears into bite sized pieces and cook in simmering water for 4-5 minutes until tender.
Add the asparagus, crab, fish sauce and seasoning to the stock mixture. Mix the cornflour to a paste with a little water, add it to the soup mixture and stir until the soup thickens a little. Beat the egg lightly, add to the soup and stir briskly to form strands of egg. Sprinkle with some snipped chives and serve.
For dinner the same day I threw together an Ottolenghi salad recipe of broad beans and radishes, which was excellent served with a piece of haddock and pitta breads, with a tahini sauce for dipping.
See: It looks like the book's picture!
I never used to like radishes, but thought it was high time I revisited them to see if I like them now. This combination of salad ingredients was lovely and the radishes gave a great textural contrast with their crunchiness, as well as being a wonderful colour against the grean of the beans. I actually used half and half broad beans and peas as I didn't have enough broad beans for the recipe. That seemed to work just fine.
One revelation is that I don't know why I never thought to pop broadbeans out of their skins before. I have always hated those tough outer skins that they have, but they're very easily peeled off!
Fresh and healthy summery dishes feel exactly right just now.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Summer eating
Our freezer is full of lamb. I mean, literally FULL. We were (extremely generously) given a whole lamb by Dan's parents a week or so ago. However, roast lamb isn't exactly what I fancy during a period of scorchingly hot weather! With the freezer groaning under the strain I had to find a way to have roast lamb on the hottest day of the year without feeling a bit sick and heavy.
I was actually very proud of my solution - spiced roast leg of lamb, with a fennel, pomegranate and feta salad, new potatoes, and a yoghurty minty dip.
I slathered the leg of lamb with a mixture of Ras-el-hanout spice, olive oil, a good squeeze of lemon and some salt and pepper then left it to marinate in the fridge overnight. I then slow cooked it so that I ended up with wonderfully tender lamb, almost falling off the bone.
The real star of the dinner was the salad;
An Ottolenghi masterpiece of fennel, tarragon, parsley, sumac, feta and pomegranate seeds. With this and a spoon of yoghurt (with chopped tomato and mint leaves mixed in), the lamb made a lovely summer meal. Not stodgy at all.
Speaking of Ottolenghi, I'm working my way through the salads in the Ottolenghi cookbook. I've recently made the French bean, orange and hazlenut salad
Which I had with new potatoes and grilled halloumi
and the Peach and Speck salad (I used parma ham instead of speck)
My lunches have been more interesting than usual this week!
Ottolenghi is my favourite person. Really. He makes my lunches and dinners so much more interesting. I hope I get to see him at
Alex James's Harvest festival. If he's there the same day as us Dan plans to tell him that its OK if he fancies coming round to cook for us sometime (and that he's willing to overlook the vegetarian cookbook).
UPDATE: Richard Corrigan, Monty Don and Yottam Ottolenghi will all be at the festival on the day we're going. The music line up sounds fun too. Marvellous!
I was actually very proud of my solution - spiced roast leg of lamb, with a fennel, pomegranate and feta salad, new potatoes, and a yoghurty minty dip.
I slathered the leg of lamb with a mixture of Ras-el-hanout spice, olive oil, a good squeeze of lemon and some salt and pepper then left it to marinate in the fridge overnight. I then slow cooked it so that I ended up with wonderfully tender lamb, almost falling off the bone.
The real star of the dinner was the salad;
An Ottolenghi masterpiece of fennel, tarragon, parsley, sumac, feta and pomegranate seeds. With this and a spoon of yoghurt (with chopped tomato and mint leaves mixed in), the lamb made a lovely summer meal. Not stodgy at all.
Speaking of Ottolenghi, I'm working my way through the salads in the Ottolenghi cookbook. I've recently made the French bean, orange and hazlenut salad
Which I had with new potatoes and grilled halloumi
and the Peach and Speck salad (I used parma ham instead of speck)
My lunches have been more interesting than usual this week!
Ottolenghi is my favourite person. Really. He makes my lunches and dinners so much more interesting. I hope I get to see him at
Alex James's Harvest festival. If he's there the same day as us Dan plans to tell him that its OK if he fancies coming round to cook for us sometime (and that he's willing to overlook the vegetarian cookbook).
UPDATE: Richard Corrigan, Monty Don and Yottam Ottolenghi will all be at the festival on the day we're going. The music line up sounds fun too. Marvellous!
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Fishy Otti
By chance rather than by design I ended up cooking a lot of fishy meals this week. The star meal of the week was definitely Tuna with a Pistachio Crust and papaya salsa, taken from the Ottolenghi cookbook. I used tuna chunks instead of a loin piece simply because it was cheaper! Instead of coating the piece of tuna with a crust of pistachio and mustard I scattered the crust over the top of the chunks. It seemed to work just fine that way.
The salsa was really very pretty, and tasted just as lovely as it looked.
I served this dish on steamed new potatoes with peashoots. It was a good dinner, but the salsa does take quite a while to prepare because of all the peeling, chopping and mixing. On the otherhand, you could make it a day or two ahead. Next time I may swap the mustard in the crust for wasabi which I have a hunch may work a little better with the salsa.
A close runner up in the week's favourites was fillets of fish served with green tahini sauce and pomegranate seeds. I dished this one up with roasted aubergines and couscous. Another Ottolenghi special. It seems I'm cooking my way through the book! Again I used a cheaper piece of fish than was recommended; haddock worked perfectly OK so who need sea bream?!
Papaya Salsa
1/3 Papaya, diced
1/3 Mango, diced
1/3 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and diced
1/2 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3g fresh ginger, grated
1/3 red onion, finely chopped
grated zest and juice of 1/2 lime
2 tspn thai fish sauce
2 tspn olive oil
1 tspn caster sugar
Mix everything together, season with salt and pepper, then chill for at least an hour before serving.
Super quick post this week. My sister's getting married on saturday and we're catering it ourselves so there's not a whole lot of time to spare for blogging!
The salsa was really very pretty, and tasted just as lovely as it looked.
I served this dish on steamed new potatoes with peashoots. It was a good dinner, but the salsa does take quite a while to prepare because of all the peeling, chopping and mixing. On the otherhand, you could make it a day or two ahead. Next time I may swap the mustard in the crust for wasabi which I have a hunch may work a little better with the salsa.
A close runner up in the week's favourites was fillets of fish served with green tahini sauce and pomegranate seeds. I dished this one up with roasted aubergines and couscous. Another Ottolenghi special. It seems I'm cooking my way through the book! Again I used a cheaper piece of fish than was recommended; haddock worked perfectly OK so who need sea bream?!
Papaya Salsa
1/3 Papaya, diced
1/3 Mango, diced
1/3 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and diced
1/2 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3g fresh ginger, grated
1/3 red onion, finely chopped
grated zest and juice of 1/2 lime
2 tspn thai fish sauce
2 tspn olive oil
1 tspn caster sugar
Mix everything together, season with salt and pepper, then chill for at least an hour before serving.
Super quick post this week. My sister's getting married on saturday and we're catering it ourselves so there's not a whole lot of time to spare for blogging!
Monday, May 9, 2011
Three ways with chicken
This month we are feeling poor (buying all the bits for a new bathroom will do that to you), so we're eating thriftily. Chicken fillets were on special offer at the butcher's this week, so that's what we've had for three dinners in the last five days. I'm not keen on eating the same thing over-again on successive days, so here are three ways with chicken pieces.
1. Chicken with sumac, za'aatar and lemon
This recipe came from the Ottolenghi recipe book. I marinated the chicken pieces in a mix of middle eastern spices (cinnamon, allspice, sumac) and lemon, then baked it in the oven with an approximation of za'aatar (I used a mix of sesame seeds, dried thyme and sea salt) and lemon slices on top. The lemon went soft and gave a delicious tang to the dish. I served this with couscous and some toasted pinenuts. It was a lot like a tagine: Perhaps not one of the most unusual-tasting recipes in the Ottolanghi recipe book, but easy, filling and certainly a very pleasant dinner.
2. Chicken and bacon burgers
I used the recipe for chicken and bacon sausage rolls from the Bourke Street Bakery book for these burgers. Instead of encasing them in puff pastry I grilled them up and served them in pitta breads with salad, potatoes and fried apple wedges. 'Junk' food but certainly no junk in them. Two chicken fillets and 3 rashers of smokey bacon made 4 burgers, so it was quite a thrifty dinner. The only other ingredients were a few breadcrumbs, a quarter of an onion, and a few spring onions. These burgers weren't quite as fantastic as the pork and fennel sausage roll mix that I adapted into burgers a couple of weeks ago, but they were meaty whilst feeling light on the calorie load.
3. Chicken rolls stuffed with orange, anchovies and chicory
I have a cook book which I've had for years - since my teens I think. It is one that my Mum bought us all as a job-lot for stocking fillers around the time she was trying to encourage us all to cook and fend for ourselves. The book's by Josceline Dimbleby and is called The Nearly Vegetarian Cookbook. It truely is a treasure trove of achieveable, delicious dinners.
We had left-over oranges still sitting in the fruit bowl from making Dan's birthday cake last week, and flicking through the book I spotted this recipe, which had the advantage that it would use the last of my special-offer chicken, some of the oranges, and the recipe described it as a 'delightful' dish. I decided to put my scepticism to one side (orange and anchovies didn't seem like natural partners) and give it a try.
I should have had more faith - it was lovely!
None of the individual flavours dominated the dish, which was subtle but well flavoured, and delicious served with wild rice and baby corn-on-the-cob. Dan liked it so much he licked the plate. Bad manners, but a ringing endorsement!
A first for me on this dish - I'd never used chicory in cooking before.
Here's the recipe:
Chicken rolls stuffed with orange, anchovies and chicory
Serves 2
2 Chicken breast fillets, skin removed
3 anchovy fillets (in oil or salt - drained and/or rinsed), finely chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1cm ginger root, finely chopped
1 medium chicory
Juice and zest of half an orange
150ml milk
5g cornflour, mixed to a paste with a little water
Parsley
Salt (go easy - the anchovies are salty) and pepper
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Place the chicken pieces (one at a time) in a plastic sandwich bag and bash them flat with a rolling pin. You need to get them to a thickness of about 1/2cm-1cm. Very theraputic!
Mix together the chicory, garlic, orange, ginger, anchovies and orange zest. Spoon this over the flattened chicken fillets and roll them up to encase the chicory mixture. Secure with a cocktail stick if necessary. Place the chicken rolls in an ovenproof dish and pour the orange juice around them. Cover the dish with foil and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes.
Once the chicken is cooked drain the liquid from the oven dish into a heavy based saucepan and keep the chicken warm while you make the sauce. Add the milk and cornflour paste to the cooking liquid from the chicken and bring it slowly to the boil, stirring all the time so that it doesn't catch. Once the sauce has thickened slightly add the parsley, pepper, and a small amount of salt.
Serve the chicken rolls with fried mushrooms (I loathe them so I left them off my plate), wild rice, lightly steamed baby corn, and spoon the sauce over the top.
1. Chicken with sumac, za'aatar and lemon
This recipe came from the Ottolenghi recipe book. I marinated the chicken pieces in a mix of middle eastern spices (cinnamon, allspice, sumac) and lemon, then baked it in the oven with an approximation of za'aatar (I used a mix of sesame seeds, dried thyme and sea salt) and lemon slices on top. The lemon went soft and gave a delicious tang to the dish. I served this with couscous and some toasted pinenuts. It was a lot like a tagine: Perhaps not one of the most unusual-tasting recipes in the Ottolanghi recipe book, but easy, filling and certainly a very pleasant dinner.
2. Chicken and bacon burgers
I used the recipe for chicken and bacon sausage rolls from the Bourke Street Bakery book for these burgers. Instead of encasing them in puff pastry I grilled them up and served them in pitta breads with salad, potatoes and fried apple wedges. 'Junk' food but certainly no junk in them. Two chicken fillets and 3 rashers of smokey bacon made 4 burgers, so it was quite a thrifty dinner. The only other ingredients were a few breadcrumbs, a quarter of an onion, and a few spring onions. These burgers weren't quite as fantastic as the pork and fennel sausage roll mix that I adapted into burgers a couple of weeks ago, but they were meaty whilst feeling light on the calorie load.
3. Chicken rolls stuffed with orange, anchovies and chicory
I have a cook book which I've had for years - since my teens I think. It is one that my Mum bought us all as a job-lot for stocking fillers around the time she was trying to encourage us all to cook and fend for ourselves. The book's by Josceline Dimbleby and is called The Nearly Vegetarian Cookbook. It truely is a treasure trove of achieveable, delicious dinners.
We had left-over oranges still sitting in the fruit bowl from making Dan's birthday cake last week, and flicking through the book I spotted this recipe, which had the advantage that it would use the last of my special-offer chicken, some of the oranges, and the recipe described it as a 'delightful' dish. I decided to put my scepticism to one side (orange and anchovies didn't seem like natural partners) and give it a try.
I should have had more faith - it was lovely!
None of the individual flavours dominated the dish, which was subtle but well flavoured, and delicious served with wild rice and baby corn-on-the-cob. Dan liked it so much he licked the plate. Bad manners, but a ringing endorsement!
A first for me on this dish - I'd never used chicory in cooking before.
Here's the recipe:
Chicken rolls stuffed with orange, anchovies and chicory
Serves 2
2 Chicken breast fillets, skin removed
3 anchovy fillets (in oil or salt - drained and/or rinsed), finely chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1cm ginger root, finely chopped
1 medium chicory
Juice and zest of half an orange
150ml milk
5g cornflour, mixed to a paste with a little water
Parsley
Salt (go easy - the anchovies are salty) and pepper
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Place the chicken pieces (one at a time) in a plastic sandwich bag and bash them flat with a rolling pin. You need to get them to a thickness of about 1/2cm-1cm. Very theraputic!
Mix together the chicory, garlic, orange, ginger, anchovies and orange zest. Spoon this over the flattened chicken fillets and roll them up to encase the chicory mixture. Secure with a cocktail stick if necessary. Place the chicken rolls in an ovenproof dish and pour the orange juice around them. Cover the dish with foil and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes.
Once the chicken is cooked drain the liquid from the oven dish into a heavy based saucepan and keep the chicken warm while you make the sauce. Add the milk and cornflour paste to the cooking liquid from the chicken and bring it slowly to the boil, stirring all the time so that it doesn't catch. Once the sauce has thickened slightly add the parsley, pepper, and a small amount of salt.
Serve the chicken rolls with fried mushrooms (I loathe them so I left them off my plate), wild rice, lightly steamed baby corn, and spoon the sauce over the top.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Festival excitement
I'm excited.
Super-excited actually.
I've just read that there's a festival literally a few miles from me this summer which two of my food heros will be at. Yotam Ottolenghi AND Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
Throw in a few bands, a couple of gardeners, an opera of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mister Fox, and a generally lovely location, and its a festival I can actually get enthusiastic about.
Hurrah for Alex James's Harvest Festival. Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase - no pots of jam and corn doilies at this one!
Here's the link:
Harvest
Super-excited actually.
I've just read that there's a festival literally a few miles from me this summer which two of my food heros will be at. Yotam Ottolenghi AND Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
Throw in a few bands, a couple of gardeners, an opera of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mister Fox, and a generally lovely location, and its a festival I can actually get enthusiastic about.
Hurrah for Alex James's Harvest Festival. Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase - no pots of jam and corn doilies at this one!
Here's the link:
Harvest
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Birthday cake
3rd May is Dan's birthday. We decided not to go out this year, but I still wanted to make it special so I gave him the option to choose any dinner he wanted. He chose beef wellington and dauphinoise potatoes - high effort, but his absolute favourite. I made myself a monkfish wellington, which was delicious. (I found the recipe on the BBC website here.)
But a birthday isn't a proper celebration without cake, so I had to make a birthday cake. Dan's not a particular fan of chocolate cakes and sponge cakes, and with just the two of us in our household we wouldn't get through that kind of cake before it went stale anyway. Instead I chose to make an Orange Polenta Cake - the recipe comes from the Ottolenghi cook book. I'm a total amateur with sugar cookery, so I had to make 3 attempts before I managed a proper caramel for the top of the cake, but I got there in the end. The citrusy-fresh orange scent of the cake was AMAZING as it cooked. Here it is straight out of the oven:
(although the colour cast seems a bit odd on this photo.)
And this is it once it had cooled and I'd glazed it with some of my Mum's homemade marmalade:
We had a slice of the cake each on Dan's birthday. Dan had his with a scoop of creme fraiche. The cake had a slightly grittier texture than a normal sponge (possibly because I coudn't find instant polenta). That wasn't unpleasant though - in fact it was rather nice. The cake was moist, slightly bitter on the top, very orangey and utterly gorgeous. I'd buy the recipe book just for this cake!
Traditionally you have to take cakes to work on a birthday, and orange cake didn't seem the most portable variety, so I also made some rasberry cupcakes. (Dan was fitting our new bathroom all weekend, so it seemed only fair that I assume responsibility for work cake snacks for him!) The recipe was from the Primrose Bakery cupcake book - a vanilla sponge swirled with homemade rasberry jam, then filled with a little spot of rasberry jam and iced with vanilla buttercream icing. I decorated them with a little grated white chocolate and silver sugar balls.
I know they look a bit girly and pink and white for a boy's birthday, but if you're going to get your girlfirend to make cakes for your office what do you expect?!
Of course he told everyone he made them himself. Some of them even believed it.
But a birthday isn't a proper celebration without cake, so I had to make a birthday cake. Dan's not a particular fan of chocolate cakes and sponge cakes, and with just the two of us in our household we wouldn't get through that kind of cake before it went stale anyway. Instead I chose to make an Orange Polenta Cake - the recipe comes from the Ottolenghi cook book. I'm a total amateur with sugar cookery, so I had to make 3 attempts before I managed a proper caramel for the top of the cake, but I got there in the end. The citrusy-fresh orange scent of the cake was AMAZING as it cooked. Here it is straight out of the oven:
(although the colour cast seems a bit odd on this photo.)
And this is it once it had cooled and I'd glazed it with some of my Mum's homemade marmalade:
We had a slice of the cake each on Dan's birthday. Dan had his with a scoop of creme fraiche. The cake had a slightly grittier texture than a normal sponge (possibly because I coudn't find instant polenta). That wasn't unpleasant though - in fact it was rather nice. The cake was moist, slightly bitter on the top, very orangey and utterly gorgeous. I'd buy the recipe book just for this cake!
Traditionally you have to take cakes to work on a birthday, and orange cake didn't seem the most portable variety, so I also made some rasberry cupcakes. (Dan was fitting our new bathroom all weekend, so it seemed only fair that I assume responsibility for work cake snacks for him!) The recipe was from the Primrose Bakery cupcake book - a vanilla sponge swirled with homemade rasberry jam, then filled with a little spot of rasberry jam and iced with vanilla buttercream icing. I decorated them with a little grated white chocolate and silver sugar balls.
I know they look a bit girly and pink and white for a boy's birthday, but if you're going to get your girlfirend to make cakes for your office what do you expect?!
Of course he told everyone he made them himself. Some of them even believed it.
Monday, May 2, 2011
A right royal weekend
Whilst I had very little inclination to spend a whole day watching the Royal wedding on TV, I was very grateful to William and Kate for getting married and thereby granting us all another lovely 4 day weekend. I could seriously get used to not working, not least because it gives me plenty of time to try out a few of the more complex recipes from some of my recipe books!
Some of the recipes from the Ottolenghi cook book have been on my list to try out for a while, and I managed two of those dishes over the weekend.
First I tried out the fried Seabass with labneh, pitta and pomegranate.
My budget didn't stretch to seabass this week, so I used coley instead. Its a chunkier fish, but if you can't afford the fancy stuff you just have to put up with that! Here in deepest, darkest Oxfordshire it is not possible to find labneh in the shops, and I hadn't realised ahead of time that I should allow 2 days to make it, so I was forced to improvise for that element. I started off with quite thick sheeps milk yoghurt and drained it through a piece of muslin cloth for an afternoon, and then used that as a spread. It wasn't quite the thickness of cheese, but nearly there, and at least the flavour was right. I spread this on toasted pitta breads, sprinkled a handful of pomegranate seeds over the top, fried the fish, and then topped the whole thing with a spoonful of homemade tomato salsa. I added some steamed spinach and a sprinkle of finely chopped fresh mint to the dish, which weren't in the recipe but were good additions. It was a fragrant and fruity dinner, perfect for a warm evening.
A couple of days later we had the turkey and sweetcorn meatballs with roast pepper sauce.
The sauce came out an amazing colour - almost fluorescent!
I'm a girl who doesn't much care for sweetcorn, but so many people had raved about this recipe all over the internet I felt I should try it out. And they were so right.
My corner of Oxfordshire failed me in sourcing turkey mince, so I used finely chopped chicken instead. Other than that I did this one 'by the book'. The chicken and sweetcorn meatballs are seasoned with a dash of ground cumin and served with a dipping sauce of roast peppers, chilli, and sweet chilli sauce.
I can see why there are so many blog posts out there raving about this recipe. Its easy to make and very yummy indeed. I appreciate that this snap does not make it look that way, so you'll have to trust me!
Its no surprise to me that I have so far loved pretty all the recipes by Ottolenghi which I have tried. What I'm really pleased about is that Dan is also becoming a massive fan. So convenient when our tastebuds agree!
An update 2 June: This week I made the meatballs again, but using turkey this time. Lovely. I served them up with cauliflower and pitta breads for dipping in the sauce. A very good combo.
Some of the recipes from the Ottolenghi cook book have been on my list to try out for a while, and I managed two of those dishes over the weekend.
First I tried out the fried Seabass with labneh, pitta and pomegranate.
My budget didn't stretch to seabass this week, so I used coley instead. Its a chunkier fish, but if you can't afford the fancy stuff you just have to put up with that! Here in deepest, darkest Oxfordshire it is not possible to find labneh in the shops, and I hadn't realised ahead of time that I should allow 2 days to make it, so I was forced to improvise for that element. I started off with quite thick sheeps milk yoghurt and drained it through a piece of muslin cloth for an afternoon, and then used that as a spread. It wasn't quite the thickness of cheese, but nearly there, and at least the flavour was right. I spread this on toasted pitta breads, sprinkled a handful of pomegranate seeds over the top, fried the fish, and then topped the whole thing with a spoonful of homemade tomato salsa. I added some steamed spinach and a sprinkle of finely chopped fresh mint to the dish, which weren't in the recipe but were good additions. It was a fragrant and fruity dinner, perfect for a warm evening.
A couple of days later we had the turkey and sweetcorn meatballs with roast pepper sauce.
The sauce came out an amazing colour - almost fluorescent!
I'm a girl who doesn't much care for sweetcorn, but so many people had raved about this recipe all over the internet I felt I should try it out. And they were so right.
My corner of Oxfordshire failed me in sourcing turkey mince, so I used finely chopped chicken instead. Other than that I did this one 'by the book'. The chicken and sweetcorn meatballs are seasoned with a dash of ground cumin and served with a dipping sauce of roast peppers, chilli, and sweet chilli sauce.
I can see why there are so many blog posts out there raving about this recipe. Its easy to make and very yummy indeed. I appreciate that this snap does not make it look that way, so you'll have to trust me!
Its no surprise to me that I have so far loved pretty all the recipes by Ottolenghi which I have tried. What I'm really pleased about is that Dan is also becoming a massive fan. So convenient when our tastebuds agree!
An update 2 June: This week I made the meatballs again, but using turkey this time. Lovely. I served them up with cauliflower and pitta breads for dipping in the sauce. A very good combo.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
lunch boxes
It felt like high time to expand my lunch options. I've been having the same sort of soups and salads for lunch for weeks, with only minor variations. Time to shake things up a little and make the work day just a little more interesting.
My Seattle-dwelling friend Carisa is a Mexican food fiend, so when she recommended this Mexican soup recipe I figured it must be a good one. Monday was not a good day at work, and it didn't seem like Tuesday was likely to be much better, so a burst of Mexican sunshine in a bowl seemed like the thing to lift my spirits.
I made a few changes to the recipe due to the contents of my cupboards and to adapt it to my taste buds - I didn't have quite enough chickpeas, I used pheasant instead of chicken (we had roast pheasant on sunday and there was just enough left over for this recipe), and added a sprinkle of chilli flakes for heat, and a handful of spinach. Also, we were out of oregano so I used thyme. The measurements in cups instead of grams added a little complication to the process, but I think I got the quantities about right.
I made a rookie-error and under-seasoned the dish, but that was easily rectified at the eating stage. I think if I made this again I'd add a bit more spice - it could do with being a little punchier flavoured for my tastes.
Overall? Sopa Ranchera was tasty, easy to make, with one or two minor adjustments it will make a good spring or autumn lunch.
My second lunchbox experiment was Ottolenghi's Aubergine Cheesecake. I ordered the Ottolenghi cookbook the other day, so while I waited for it to arrive I figured I would browse his recipes from The Guardian newspaper and get some practice in!
I do love it when something looks this colourful and enticing before its even finished:
I adapted the recipe again to suit my fridge contents, using a mild soft goats cheese instead of cream cheese and yoghurt instead of double cream, so my version is probably a bit sharper flavoured than the recipe intended.
It is like a pastry-less quiche. I can completely see why Ottolenghi describes it as a savoury cheesecake as it has a similar texture to it.
It travelled well to work and made a more interesting lunch box than usual, so I'll definitely make this again. Creamy and delicious.
Find the recipe here.
My Seattle-dwelling friend Carisa is a Mexican food fiend, so when she recommended this Mexican soup recipe I figured it must be a good one. Monday was not a good day at work, and it didn't seem like Tuesday was likely to be much better, so a burst of Mexican sunshine in a bowl seemed like the thing to lift my spirits.
I made a few changes to the recipe due to the contents of my cupboards and to adapt it to my taste buds - I didn't have quite enough chickpeas, I used pheasant instead of chicken (we had roast pheasant on sunday and there was just enough left over for this recipe), and added a sprinkle of chilli flakes for heat, and a handful of spinach. Also, we were out of oregano so I used thyme. The measurements in cups instead of grams added a little complication to the process, but I think I got the quantities about right.
I made a rookie-error and under-seasoned the dish, but that was easily rectified at the eating stage. I think if I made this again I'd add a bit more spice - it could do with being a little punchier flavoured for my tastes.
Overall? Sopa Ranchera was tasty, easy to make, with one or two minor adjustments it will make a good spring or autumn lunch.
My second lunchbox experiment was Ottolenghi's Aubergine Cheesecake. I ordered the Ottolenghi cookbook the other day, so while I waited for it to arrive I figured I would browse his recipes from The Guardian newspaper and get some practice in!
I do love it when something looks this colourful and enticing before its even finished:
I adapted the recipe again to suit my fridge contents, using a mild soft goats cheese instead of cream cheese and yoghurt instead of double cream, so my version is probably a bit sharper flavoured than the recipe intended.
It is like a pastry-less quiche. I can completely see why Ottolenghi describes it as a savoury cheesecake as it has a similar texture to it.
It travelled well to work and made a more interesting lunch box than usual, so I'll definitely make this again. Creamy and delicious.
Find the recipe here.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Ottolenghi on Masterchef
I was rather intrigued by the guest judge on Masterchef this week. They had Yotam Ottolenghi on and he set a challenge involving vegetarian dishes. I think that most of the contestants didn't really get it, which seems wierd to me. I would think that if you have any curiosity about food and cookery then you would be looking to expand your repertoire of dishes all the time, and that would include the odd veggie one. Eating meat all the time is more expensive and worse for the environment too. How strange that the cooks didn't really take to it.
After watching the programme I remembered that Yotam Ottolenhgi writes a column in The Guardian saturday supplement. A browse around online resulted in loads of lovely sounding new recipes to try. I'll have to take a look at his recipe books sometime.
Anyway, back to the cooking; we've had a very Ottolenghi weekend. Starting on friday with fried rice cakes served with creamed (well, yoghurted) leeks and poached eggs, and finishing on sunday with Smokey Cheesey Polenta chips with our roast pork. The flavours of both dishes were great, but I clearly don't have the presentational finesse of Ottolenghi as they both looked a mess!
I had never cooked polenta before (other than using it to dust things before frying), but I will be doing so again as this recipe was very good. The flavour of the rice dish was wonderful too, although I used sumac instead of saffron. Amazingly, Dan didn't complain about having veggie dinners two days in a row, so it must have been good!
So, top tip: check out Ottolenghi's recipes, but just don't expect them to look great the first time!
Both of these recipes can be found on The Guardian website, along with loads of other brilliant ones.
After watching the programme I remembered that Yotam Ottolenhgi writes a column in The Guardian saturday supplement. A browse around online resulted in loads of lovely sounding new recipes to try. I'll have to take a look at his recipe books sometime.
Anyway, back to the cooking; we've had a very Ottolenghi weekend. Starting on friday with fried rice cakes served with creamed (well, yoghurted) leeks and poached eggs, and finishing on sunday with Smokey Cheesey Polenta chips with our roast pork. The flavours of both dishes were great, but I clearly don't have the presentational finesse of Ottolenghi as they both looked a mess!
I had never cooked polenta before (other than using it to dust things before frying), but I will be doing so again as this recipe was very good. The flavour of the rice dish was wonderful too, although I used sumac instead of saffron. Amazingly, Dan didn't complain about having veggie dinners two days in a row, so it must have been good!
So, top tip: check out Ottolenghi's recipes, but just don't expect them to look great the first time!
Both of these recipes can be found on The Guardian website, along with loads of other brilliant ones.
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