Ok, since the weather's gone vile again and you'd be forgiven for thinking it's December, I thought we needed to have something on here a little more warming than salad!
Here are two: one quick and easy involving opening a tin and enhancing it with chicken and rice; the other requiring a little more input but still incredibly easy.
Both use up leftovers.
Ok, let's go.
ENHANCED TINNED CHICKEN SOUP
I opened the fridge one day and found that I had some leftover chicken and a small amount of white rice sitting there unloved. I think the girls were around and I wanted to make a quick, but not totally unhealthy, lunch. They love tinned chicken soup - but by opening it, shoving it in a saucepan to warm through, adding the cooked rice, some chopped up chicken and the dog ends of a bottle of milk, you suddenly have a reasonably nutritious, and certainly, tasty bowl of soup. With a slice of bread or toast it was also nicely filling. Job done.
(And for me the best bit was getting rid of a milk bottle which had been hanging around to leave space for something more interesting - like a nice chilled bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, for instance!)
CABBAGE, POTATO AND BACON SOUP
This is another favourite with the children. In fact we even included it in suggestions for a Brownie Recipe book. It is a very good way to use up leftover potato and cabbage from the Sunday Roast. Here it is:-
Ingredients
8 medium sized roast potatoes or the rough equivalent in mashed or boiled potatoes
Half a green cabbage, already chopped and cooked
Two rashers of bacon (smoked or unsmoked)
Half a pint of milk
400ml chicken stock
Method
1. Chop the bacon rashers then lightly fry them in a pan
2. Roughly chop the roast (or boiled) potatoes (no need if using mash, of course)
3. Put the bacon, potato and cabbage in blender and add the chicken stock and milk
4. Blend until reasonably smooth in consistency (more if using roast potatoes)
5. Adjust seasoning to taste
May that warm the cockles (not to mention feet and hands)!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Two Italian Salads
It is now generally pretty well known and understood that the worldwide popularity of Italian cuisine lies with its simplicity.
Simple combinations + ingredients packed with flavour = a recipe for success.
I was lucky enough to start my domestic cooking career in Italy. My mother is a great cook but my scant interest as a teenager was quickly dampened by the fact that whenever I offered to help in the kitchen she always started interfering with what I was trying to do. Nothing more annoying! (I now, of course, find myself falling into the same trap – sneaking into the kitchen when hubby’s not looking to taste his Bolognese sauce and asking, with as much nonchalance as I can muster, infuriating questions like, ‘Did you put a bay leaf in? And a touch of brown sugar?’ He steadfastly refuses to do the classic Italian base mix of chopped onion, chopped celery and chopped carrot – but I guess I’ll have to let him off that. It tastes pretty good without – and I don’t want to put him off as it’s the only thing he cooks!)
So, yes, my interest in cooking really began when I first went to live in Italy as a 27 year old, courtesy of Boring Accountant’s career (not so boring accountant, after all?). We were based in a small apartment in Padova (Padua) in the Veneto region of North East Italy, just down the train line from Venice. Not a bad place to start one’s culinary journey.
Venice has a cuisine all of its own – largely based around seafood from the Adriatic of course, but infused with more exotic elements, too, which were embraced during the glory days of the mighty Venetian Republic and its status as Europe’s foremost trading post with the East. So alongside dishes of salt cod, seafood risottos and pasta infused with the black ink of cuttlefish, you will find the Eastern accents of cloves, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. The Veneto region, meanwhile, has its roots firmly in its farming past despite the prosperity it now enjoys from its manufacturing revolution (more on this another time, perhaps – it’s a fascinating story). As such, the basis of its cuisine is simple, wholesome, unfussy food centring around the famous Arborio and Carnaroli rice that it produces on its plains, and the potatoes and cured meat dishes which stem from the stunning mountainous region of the Dolomites. Put this together with a magnificent array of cheeses from myriad small producers and the famous, and unique, gem-red radicchio of Treviso, and you have a banquet fit for a king.
One of the things that I loved most about Padova was its three ancient central piazzas. On the Piazza della Frutta there was a daily market with stalls exquisitely displaying the fruit and vegetables of the moment. In Autumn it would be earthy scented mushrooms of every variety, with porcini being the most prized; in Winter bright orange clementines and red radicchio dominated; in Spring there would be a sea of bright green asparagus, artichokes and peas and in summer the heady scent of basil and tomatoes – another explosion of green and red. Now, put these last two together with the white of creamy mozzarella and you not only have the colours of the Italian flag, but one of the simplest and tastiest combinations you could ever hope to find. It simply sings with the optimism of summer, bursting with flavour generated by the heat of the sun.
Ah yes, the sun. This is why I have chosen to write about salads today. At the beginning of the week we had the most glorious Spring sunshine, imbuing everything with the most extraordinary clarity of light which had one rushing outdoors to soak it all in. Salad was the only thing I could think of to eat at my table outside on the terrace, the sounds of nature all around me. I wanted something quick, easy, healthy and flavoursome. I had some dolce rosso (small and sweet - available at Morrisons) tomatoes and the remains of a bag of rocket (rucola) in the fridge, basil on the windowsill, onions in my vegetable store and tinned cannellini beans and a tin of tuna in the larder. All I had to do was throw them all together – and this is how:
Chop one small white onion into small cubes (or throw it in the blender).
Open the cannellini beans (pinto beans would do too) and drain them.
Open and drain the tin of tuna.
Slice about 10 to 12 tomatoes in half.
Throw all that in a mixing bowl.
Add a generous slug of good quality extra virgin olive oil.
Squeeze a small lemon and add.
Add a touch of good quality balsamic vinegar (a good shake or two) but if you don’t have this a decent quality red wine vinegar would probably do.
Salt and pepper.
Pick off a handful of basil leaves, tear and add to the mix, together with a little fresh flat leafed parsley if you have it – but not to worry if you don’t, it’s just as tasty without.
Give it a good stir round, taste and adjust flavours/seasoning as necessary.
When you are happy with the balance of flavours, put into a bowl, put a handful of rocket on top and Bob’s your uncle (or should that be Roberto e il tuo zio?).
I went outside, laid up a place setting for one, opened a bottle of Italian pinot grigio from Trentino, the northern neighbour of the Veneto, (acquired from Waitrose, half price), slopped on some more olive oil and feasted like a king. It was only Monday, but it was a fantastic start to the week.
The second salad I had recently was just as simple:
It was comprised of two of the same ingredients as above – rocket and dolce rosso tomatoes. The addition was a couple of big chunks of mozzarella di bufala (FAR superior to the cheap rubbery flavourless stuff – click the link for more information) and some fine spears of asparagus, lightly grilled (they could also be steamed).
Again, all you need do is season the whole with ground salt and black pepper to taste, then drizzle with quality olive oil and either lemon or balsamic vinegar. Simplicity itself.
Footnote: for these recipes to work, you really do need quality Mozzarella (see above)and tomatoes. I used Dolce Rosso, but any small cherry or plum tomato from a hot country (but preferably Italy - fewer air miles than Israel) should do. Good quality extra virgin olive oil is also a must. I was using Jamie Oliver's, available in Sainsbury's and elsewhere.
Simple combinations + ingredients packed with flavour = a recipe for success.
I was lucky enough to start my domestic cooking career in Italy. My mother is a great cook but my scant interest as a teenager was quickly dampened by the fact that whenever I offered to help in the kitchen she always started interfering with what I was trying to do. Nothing more annoying! (I now, of course, find myself falling into the same trap – sneaking into the kitchen when hubby’s not looking to taste his Bolognese sauce and asking, with as much nonchalance as I can muster, infuriating questions like, ‘Did you put a bay leaf in? And a touch of brown sugar?’ He steadfastly refuses to do the classic Italian base mix of chopped onion, chopped celery and chopped carrot – but I guess I’ll have to let him off that. It tastes pretty good without – and I don’t want to put him off as it’s the only thing he cooks!)
So, yes, my interest in cooking really began when I first went to live in Italy as a 27 year old, courtesy of Boring Accountant’s career (not so boring accountant, after all?). We were based in a small apartment in Padova (Padua) in the Veneto region of North East Italy, just down the train line from Venice. Not a bad place to start one’s culinary journey.
Venice has a cuisine all of its own – largely based around seafood from the Adriatic of course, but infused with more exotic elements, too, which were embraced during the glory days of the mighty Venetian Republic and its status as Europe’s foremost trading post with the East. So alongside dishes of salt cod, seafood risottos and pasta infused with the black ink of cuttlefish, you will find the Eastern accents of cloves, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. The Veneto region, meanwhile, has its roots firmly in its farming past despite the prosperity it now enjoys from its manufacturing revolution (more on this another time, perhaps – it’s a fascinating story). As such, the basis of its cuisine is simple, wholesome, unfussy food centring around the famous Arborio and Carnaroli rice that it produces on its plains, and the potatoes and cured meat dishes which stem from the stunning mountainous region of the Dolomites. Put this together with a magnificent array of cheeses from myriad small producers and the famous, and unique, gem-red radicchio of Treviso, and you have a banquet fit for a king.One of the things that I loved most about Padova was its three ancient central piazzas. On the Piazza della Frutta there was a daily market with stalls exquisitely displaying the fruit and vegetables of the moment. In Autumn it would be earthy scented mushrooms of every variety, with porcini being the most prized; in Winter bright orange clementines and red radicchio dominated; in Spring there would be a sea of bright green asparagus, artichokes and peas and in summer the heady scent of basil and tomatoes – another explosion of green and red. Now, put these last two together with the white of creamy mozzarella and you not only have the colours of the Italian flag, but one of the simplest and tastiest combinations you could ever hope to find. It simply sings with the optimism of summer, bursting with flavour generated by the heat of the sun.
Ah yes, the sun. This is why I have chosen to write about salads today. At the beginning of the week we had the most glorious Spring sunshine, imbuing everything with the most extraordinary clarity of light which had one rushing outdoors to soak it all in. Salad was the only thing I could think of to eat at my table outside on the terrace, the sounds of nature all around me. I wanted something quick, easy, healthy and flavoursome. I had some dolce rosso (small and sweet - available at Morrisons) tomatoes and the remains of a bag of rocket (rucola) in the fridge, basil on the windowsill, onions in my vegetable store and tinned cannellini beans and a tin of tuna in the larder. All I had to do was throw them all together – and this is how:
Chop one small white onion into small cubes (or throw it in the blender).
Open the cannellini beans (pinto beans would do too) and drain them.
Open and drain the tin of tuna.
Slice about 10 to 12 tomatoes in half.
Throw all that in a mixing bowl.
Add a generous slug of good quality extra virgin olive oil.
Squeeze a small lemon and add.
Add a touch of good quality balsamic vinegar (a good shake or two) but if you don’t have this a decent quality red wine vinegar would probably do.
Salt and pepper.
Pick off a handful of basil leaves, tear and add to the mix, together with a little fresh flat leafed parsley if you have it – but not to worry if you don’t, it’s just as tasty without.
Give it a good stir round, taste and adjust flavours/seasoning as necessary.
When you are happy with the balance of flavours, put into a bowl, put a handful of rocket on top and Bob’s your uncle (or should that be Roberto e il tuo zio?).
I went outside, laid up a place setting for one, opened a bottle of Italian pinot grigio from Trentino, the northern neighbour of the Veneto, (acquired from Waitrose, half price), slopped on some more olive oil and feasted like a king. It was only Monday, but it was a fantastic start to the week.
The second salad I had recently was just as simple:
It was comprised of two of the same ingredients as above – rocket and dolce rosso tomatoes. The addition was a couple of big chunks of mozzarella di bufala (FAR superior to the cheap rubbery flavourless stuff – click the link for more information) and some fine spears of asparagus, lightly grilled (they could also be steamed).
Again, all you need do is season the whole with ground salt and black pepper to taste, then drizzle with quality olive oil and either lemon or balsamic vinegar. Simplicity itself.
Footnote: for these recipes to work, you really do need quality Mozzarella (see above)and tomatoes. I used Dolce Rosso, but any small cherry or plum tomato from a hot country (but preferably Italy - fewer air miles than Israel) should do. Good quality extra virgin olive oil is also a must. I was using Jamie Oliver's, available in Sainsbury's and elsewhere.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Spanish Omelette Primavera
Spanish Omelette Primavera
[For any linguists out there, this could sound a bit confusing, but I can’t think what the word for ‘Spring’ is in Spanish, so Italian will have to do!]
You can probably guess the ingredients – eggs, potatoes, onions, peas, green beans, that sort of Springy thing.
I had been down at the village school creating raised vegetable beds all morning which required much digging and lugging heavy things around. I then went to the supermarket as my cupboard was bare after the Easter holidays, and by the time I came home I felt sick and faint from hunger with a headache building. I had a house full of plumbers putting a new boiler in and I was dreading one of them accosting me with some problem or other before I’d had a chance to put any food down my throat. So I snuck in the back way, grabbed the first thing I could find out of the shopping bags (smoked mackerel pate), ripped open a packet of breadsticks which were lurking handily by the breadbin, and dug into it in the sort of fevered and uncouth manner that you see in films when people who haven’t eaten for weeks - having endured some horror or other - are finally presented with sustenance.
After I’d devoured half the tub and spluttered a mouthfully sort of apology to one of the plumbers who’d emerged from the cellar to check for intruders (having heard a bit of clattering about above), I suddenly remembered (brain reacting to food) that I was meant to be having omelette for lunch: I had some potatoes, dwarf green beans, peas and sugar snaps left over from the Sunday roast – add sliced onion and egg and you had a healthy, filling meal and got rid of the bowl of dog-ends cluttering up the place too. So, regarding my mackerel gobbling activity simply as a little hors d’oeuvre, I set to work:-
I took a half used red onion out of the fridge and sliced a chunk off it which I then chopped and put in a non-stick sauté pan (frying pan would be fine too) with about a teaspoon (= small slug) of olive oil. While they were softening I took the three roast potatoes and cut them into chunks, and also chopped up the sugar snaps and beans and chucked them in the pan (a large handful of each, to give you an idea), together with the leftover peas.
You could either slice some garlic at this point and add it with a knob of butter, or use garlic butter if you have some in the fridge (Lurpak do ready made garlic butter which I always keep by me for those lazy moments). Meanwhile I cracked three small eggs (or two large/medium) into a bowl and whisked them up with a fork. When the veg were warmed through and the onions soft (after a few minutes), I poured in the beaten eggs and added a good twist of salt and pepper from the grinders. I let it cook a little on the hob and then transferred it to the middle shelf in the Aga roasting oven to cook it from the top for a few minutes. (You could try putting it in a conventional oven, but if the oven’s not already on and heated, it is probably quickest and easiest just to cook it on the hob.)
When it was looking nice and golden, and gently firm but not too spongy, I took it out and put it on a plate with some rocket slopped over with good quality extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Of course, dressing for the salad, if you choose to have that with it, is au choix. A French dressing would be just as nice. Also, entirely up to you whether you leave the omelette open, or choose to fold it over.
And when you’ve finished you’ll be bouncing around like a Spring lamb. Promise! (well, depending on how much wine you drink with it of course, in which case you might be feeling a bit snoozy!)
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