Reciplace

Wild Garlic, Leek and Potato Gratin

There are a zillion good reasons to subscribe to a regular delivery of an organic veg box.  But for me, one of the biggest reasons is that it enables you to try things you wouldn't normally have a chance to cook.  Most of the time you get carrots, broccoli, and those damned potatoes that never stop piling up.  But every week, there is at least one interesting item that makes you get on to google, and learn about nutritional values and cooking methods for something you've never used before.   This week it was wild garlic.  

Wild garlic looks like a bag full of leaves swept up at the florists.  When it's growing, it can easily be mistaken for Lily of the Valley - apart from the smell.  

Photo of wild garlic from the RHS

The plant is completely different to the domestic garlic plant. The bulbs of wild garlic (Allium ursinum) take up to 3 years to mature, and are very small, so it's the leaves that we eat.  The smell is quite pungent, but the flavour is actually quite mild - and doesn't leave the after-effects on your fingers and breath that normal garlic does.  It's starting to emerge as a health-food because of it's high magnesium content.

This week, when Riverford Organics sent me some wild garlic, they also included a recipe card with instructions for Wild Garlic Risotto, and for Potato, Leek and Wild Garlic Gratin.  This is some top drawer vegetarian comfort food.  And not half bad for you either - especially as I substituted soya milk for the double cream.

Potato, Leek and Wild Garlic Gratin
From Riverford Organics

4-5 large potatoes, peeled & sliced
300g leeks, trimmed & thinly sliced
50g butter
3 cloves garlic, crushed
large handful wild garlic
leaves
100ml double cream (or use soya milk like I did)
100ml milk
2 tbsp of grated Parmesan
salt & pepper

1. Melt butter in a large pan - add leeks and cook gently until soft. Wash and roughly slice the wild garlic. Next, add garlic and wild garlic leaves and cook for 5 minutes.

2. Season well. Add cream and milk and bring to the boil. Add 1 tbsp of Parmesan. Check seasoning. Mix in a bowl with potato slices. Arrange in a gratin or ovenproof dish.

3. Cover with tin foil and bake at 180ºC for 1 hour, until the potatoes are just cooked. Remove foil, sprinkle with the rest of the cheese - place back in the oven and cook until brown on top.

Homemade Pasta

Dried pasta from a bag just doesn't compare to homemade pasta.  Hell, even the fresh pasta from Waitrose, dahling doesn't come close. 

When you start baking bread all the time, pasta becomes the next logical step.  Take away the yeast, add an egg instead, and you've got a beautiful loaf of pasta.

I love making my own pasta.... but I haven't bought a pasta machine yet.  I really want an Imperia (the ONLY one worth buying, they say).  But ever since Graphic Foodie found one in a charity shop window, I keep stalling, hoping one day I too will stumble across a pristine Imperia, waiting for me to rescue it at silly price.  So far no luck. 

So, without a machine, here I am, an abomination against Italians everywhere, making up my own pasta shape!  I've googled it, it doesn't exist!  I confirmed with Italian friends (who have probably now placed a hit against me)!

So here I have these little rectangle shapes.  Normally I'd try to slice them into long linguine type strips, but those always just get tangled up and rip.  It's a weeknight.  I don't want to do anything fancy.  Rectangles are the way forward.  Rectanglini - that's what I'll call them! 

Sorry, Italians.  I know I've sinned.  But honestly, they still taste fantastic!  Here they are with some veg-box leftovers and some gorganzola. Deliziosa!

Easy Peasy Cheese Souffle

I've heard it so many times.  "The secret of making a souffle is that it's not as difficult as they say it is."  Hmmm.  It looks difficult.  It looks like the kind of thing that's going to take calm preparation, not the panicked disorganisation that goes on in my kitchen. 

So I thought I'd give it a whirl. And you know what? It wasn't difficult. It wasn't even time consuming.  Whipping those egg whites to perfect stiffness was a bit boring, and I wouldn't do this on a weeknight or anything, but it wasn't exactly some kind of gourmet dark art.

Tasted pretty nice, too.  We had it with steamed buttered french beans.  It tasted a bit like a really posh bowl of cheesey scrambled eggs.  Each ramekin only held one egg each, but we were stuffed after eating!  It must have been all the air in there, because after a few belches, we were starving again. 

Not sure I'd make it again, but at least I can say I can do it. 

Note:
It's a bit painful for me to look at these photos, as only an hour later, the black Le Creuset ramekin had a fatal accident with the ceramic tiled floor.  Goodbye, sweet raemkin. 

Basil and Chorizo Pizza. I want to eat this every night for the rest of my life.

Every once in while I eat something that I decide I just want to eat every single day forever and ever. I imagine becoming the crazy-lady that only eats one dish.... going to the supermarket and buying the ingredients in bulk... eating that one thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner for all of eternity.

This was one of those things.  Sadly, I ended up having porridge for breakfast the next morning, so things for me and this pizza didn't turn out to be long term.  But it was only about a week before I had another delicious encounter with the World's Best Pizza.

We quite like thin crusts on pizza, so we usually use a Turkish Lavash bread for the base. (I can just HEAR the Italian readers cringing...)  You can crisp it up in the oven ahead of time, but when you eat it, it makes a nice crispy bread, which is still malleable enough to roll up.

Here's how easy it is to make this pizza:

1. In a mini food processor, whizz up 2 tbsp of olive oil with a big handful of fresh basil leaves
2. Slice up a ball of mozzarella and a bit of good quality chorizo
3. Brush the thin pizza base with your basil oil
4. Scatter the mozzarella, chorizo, and some sundried or sunkissed tomatoes over the pizza
5. Slice up an avocado and squeeze a lemon over the top
6. Bake the pizza for 10 minutes
7. Top the pizza with the avocado slices and a few more leaves of basil

Incredible! But don't blame me if you never eat anything else ever again.

Minestrone Soup

I've been off sick lately....  reeeaaaallly sick.  I had that nasty virus that's going around, and I couldn't even get out of bed for a few days there!  So needless to say, there hasn't been a lot of cooking going on in this house.  There were a few days without food at all, a few days with cereal for dinner, then a few days of fish fingers and beans on toast! 

When I could finally stand up again, I decided to make a nice, hearty soup.  One that had loads of flavour, so I could taste it through my cold, had lots of healthy veg to top up my immune system, and was nice and hearty to keep me full for more than 30 minutes.

Looking through the remnants of this week's veg box, I settled on a nice, chunky cabbagey minestrone type soup.  It turned out really tasty!  I'd make this one again.  The best thing about this blog is going back to a recipe I made up on the fly, and being able to read exactly how I made it!!!

• Olive oil
  
• 4 carrots , roughly chopped
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• half a head of cauliflower, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2-3 potatoes, diced
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 2l vegetable or chicken stock
• 400g can chopped tomatoes (my new favourite is Tesco's Finest cherry tomatoes in a tin - yum!)
• 400g soaked or tinned chickpeas (soaked are 10x tastier and have a nicer texture... just make sure you soak them long enough!)
• 150g spaghetti, snapped into short lengths
• 1⁄2 head cabbage, shredded

As you'd expect, fry the carrots, onion, cauliflower, and garlic in olive oil for 5-10 minutes until soft.  Add the potatoes, tomato puree and stock, and cook for another 10 minutes.  Add the beans, spaghetti and cabbage, and cook for another ten minutes until the pasta is done.

Chinese Peppered Beef and Shiitake with Udon

More Chinese food was the order of the day while we watched the Closing Olympic Ceremonies in Beijing!  I was particularly looking forward to this one.... I haven't been eating meat lately, so we bought the most expensive cut of meat money can buy in Marks and Spencers. Those cows sure do taste better when they've been allowed to freely rome around the farm!

Also exciting was the use of our new Bamix hand blender to grind down black and white pepper for the seasoning.  I'm so used to using bland spices that have been sitting in the cupboard for a while that I added way too much fresh ground pepper at first!  We had to add some more noodles and pak choi to tone it down a bit!  But it's so worth getting the authentic ingredients for this dish, and using good quality meat - it was stunning. 

This dish almost made up for having to watch the excruitiatingly cringly handover to London at the ceremonies.  Can someone please get Boris Johnson to a tailor?  He shouldn't have to wear his dad's trousers now that he's mayor of London!!

Dry-fry 1/2 a teaspoon each of black and white peppercorns.  Let them cool, then use your hand blender or a mortar and pestle to grind them into a rough powder.

Combine 3 tablespoons of chicken or vegetable stock, 2 tablespoons of Shao Xing rice wine, 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce, 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon of caster sugar in a bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves. 

Heat a wok over high heat and add peanut or sunflower oil.  When the oil is very hot, add 2 cloves of garlic, a spoonful of grated fresh ginger, and half the peppercorn mixture.  After a few seconds, (you are just flavouring the oil here), add 200g of very thinly sliced beef fillet, and stir fry for 1 minute.  Pour in the sauce and fry for another minute.  Add 6 sliced shiitake mushrooms, and 2 chopped pak chois.  Throw in 500g of fresh udon noodles, and stir to coat.  Serve with the remaining peppercorn mixture on top.

Cha ca Hanoi

 
Today I was chatting with my American friend about food that we miss now we live over here in the UK.  For her it was American style diners with chocolate sauce milkshakes.  For me it was my favourite Canadian fast food joints - Tim Horton's, Harvey's, Taco Bell (not Canadian, but you can't get it over here!)   This made me think about the food I really *really* miss over here.... Vietnamese!!  I've tried a few Vietnamese restaurants in London, but they never seem to get it right.  I always feel like I'm eating MSG loaded Chinese food wrapped in rice paper?!?

So you just have to make it yourself at home.  Here's a lovely and healthy traditional recipe from Hanoi called Cha ca Hanoi. There are so many components to this dish... crispy fish on a bed of noodles with vegetables and a gorgeous salty sauce.  It uses fresh white fish: I think basa is best since it comes from Vietnam and tastes so mild.  This recipe is a little time consuming, and requires lots of ingredients, but is so worth it!  It's from Quick and Easy Vietnamese by Nancie McDermott.

For the dipping sauce (makes about 1/2 cup)

• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce (may substitute finely chopped hot red chili peppers or 1 teaspoon dried chili pepper flakes)
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 lime (juice only; about 2 tablespoons)

For the fish

• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon finely minced ginger root or galangal
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound firm-fleshed fish fillets, such as basa, tilapia, monkfish or catfish, cut into 2- to 3-inch chunks
• 8 ounces thin, dried rice noodles, softened in warm water for 15 minutes and drained (may substitute angel-hair pasta)
• 2 cups coarsely chopped dill
• 5 scallions, white and tender green parts, cut into 2-inch lengths
• 3 cups shredded lettuce leaves, such as Boston, Bibb or oak leaf
• 1 cup mint or cilantro leaves
• 1/2 cup chopped, roasted, salted peanuts

For the dipping sauce: In a small bowl, mash the garlic, sugar and chili-garlic sauce to form a coarse paste. Add the fish sauce, water and lime juice, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Set aside.

For the fish: In a medium bowl, combine the fish sauce, 1 tablespoon of the oil, the ginger, turmeric and salt and mix well. Add the fish and toss to coat. Set aside.

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil over high heat. Place the softened noodles in the boiling water and immediately remove the pot from the heat. Let stand for 10 minutes, then drain well. (If using angel-hair pasta, cook until tender but still firm and drain well.)

In a large, heavy skillet or wok over medium-high heat, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and heat until a bit of dill added to the pan sizzles at once. Add the fish and cook on one side for about 2 minutes. Gently turn and cook 1 minute. Add the remaining dill and the scallions and cook for 1 minute, tossing to wilt the herbs.

Divide the noodles among the serving bowls. Add the lettuce and a few leaves of mint or cilantro. Top each bowl with a piece or two of fish, sprinkle with chopped peanuts and drizzle with the dipping sauce. Serve hot, with additional sauce at the table.

Vermicelli pancakes with prawns and brussels sprouts

We've been planning our trip to Japan this week.  There's just something about buddhist shrines and sumo wrestling that makes me crave udon and ramen!  I can only get through about two paragraphs of a guide book without putting it down and picking up a recipe book with pictures of noodles instead.  Next week's grocery shop is going to be mostly pak choi and fish sauce... but I needed a fix NOW!  

I scoured the cupboards, and came up with enough bits and pieces to put together a mini Oriental feast.  I stir fried garlic, king prawns, ginger, baby corn, carrots, broccoli, spring onions and spinach with some bean sprouts.  For the sauce, I used chicken stock, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, pepper and cornflour.  

I soaked some vermicelli noodles (okay it's not Japanese, but it was all I had!) and fried them in the shape of a pancake, with sesame oil.  For the side dish, I fried brussels sprouts in sesame oil, then added soy sauce, sugar and sesame seeds.  The vermicelli pancake wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be, but the rest of it was lovely!  A cup of jasmine tea to go with it, and I could almost concentrate on the guide books again!   Until the section about noodle bars..... mmmmmmmmm

Asparagus Gruyere Tart

I always a struggle finding something impressive to serve dinner guests on a weekday night. I usually spend the evening panicking in the kitchen with some over-complicated nonsense. Chatty guests and glasses of wine don't help the situation.

But this tart is so easy to put together ahead of time, and tastes fantastic. Who doesn't love pastry? And after you've made it (either the night before, or earlier in the evening), it just pops in the oven. If you have a polite guest who asks if they can help with anything, get them to make the salad. Which leaves you with nothing to do but enjoy your glass of wine!

1 bunch of thin asparagus, trimmed
1 tsp olive oil
1 small red onion
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 package of puff pastry (or fresh pastry if you have time and don't commute 2 hours to work like I do!)
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
3/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
coarsely cracked pepper
1 egg
1 tbsp milk

Line a rimless baking sheet with parchment paper. Steam the asparagus for around 3 minutes, until tender and crisp. Chill in cold water and pat dry.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a small frying pan, chop the onion and saute with the brown sugar and balsamic vinegar. Unroll the pastry sheet onto prepared pan. Spread evenly with mustard, leaving 1 inch border. Arrange asparagus, side by side and alternating ends, on mustard.

Sprinkle with cheese and pepper. In small bowl, beat the egg with milk; lightly brush over pastry border. Bake at 230 degrees until puffed and golden, and cheese is bubbly, about 18 minutes. Cut into squares, and serve with a crisp side salad.

Chilli Lime Prawn Burritos

For me, work is tough.  I do nerdy-web-computery-type things to webpages about recipes.  You have no idea how hard it is to be fiddling with a photo of juicy roasted lamb, half an hour before your lunch break.  I recently re-wrote the search functionality for our site (which most people use to access the recipes).   So while testing it with commonly searched-for terms, I came across loads of recipes I had to make a note of to cook later!  (stomach growling.... there's another one... save for later....  drink some water...  ten minutes until lunch.... stomach growling...)    

Here's one I found and cooked that same night.  I can't recommend it highly enough, it's truly succulent.  It's a recipe from Gino D'Acampo that is pretty easy to put together, and would be perfect for entertaining guests.   You can view the original recipe here: http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/577481

1-2 tsp Chilli powder
2 limes, juice and finely grated zest
2 tbsp Olive oil
500g large Prawns, peeled and veins removed
1 x 325g packet (8) flour tortillas
1 head Lettuce
1 small carton Soured cream
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 small bunch Coriander, chopped
1 red, 1 yellow and 1 green pepper, sliced

1. Preheat a barbecue or grill to medium.

2. Combine the chilli powder, lime zest and juice, oil and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Split the mixture in half and place in two bowls.

3. Put the prawns into one bowl and stir to coat well with the mixture.

4. Thread the prawns onto 8 skewers and place on the barbecue or grill.

5. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn over and cook for another 7-8 minutes until cooked through.

6. Toss the cooked prawns in the remaining unused lime and seasoning mixture.

7. Warm the  tortillas through on the barbecue or grill. 

8. Top the tortillas with lettuce and prawns. Drizzle with soured cream and scatter over the onion, chopped coriander and peppers.

9. To serve, roll the tortillas up and tuck in one end.