It’s in the Bag #2

08 Wednesday May 2013

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So then, I have fabulously firm eggplants, a large bunch of basil, a bunch of spinach still smelling of the earth.  From previous weeks I have some leftover tomato sauce in the freezer and luckily a  ball of mozzerella made by our local Italian cheese and sausage maker.

Jamie Oliver has a sublime recipe for Melanzane all Parmigiana which is simple and delicious-friendly to omnivores and vegetarians alike. This is inspired by this recipe from the cookbook, Jamie’s Italy.

I’ve added a technique to his recipe and played around a little with the ingredients but the result is like a pasta free lasagna and very yummy. It sounds like a lot of steps but if you have the sauce on hand and once the eggplant is ready, it is very quick to assemble.  As you can see this is a casual homey looking dish and you don’t need much else with it.  Perhaps the cesar salad from the last post?

 

Eggplant, spinach, basil baked in fresh tomato sauce with cheeses

Eggplant, spinach, basil baked in fresh tomato sauce with cheeses

Preparing the aubergine:

Slice about 1/4 of an inch thick, place in a colander and sprinkle with salt.  Set to drain for about 30 minutes.

Place salted drained pieces on paper towels or clean dish towels and weigh down.  I do this by placing my heavy maple cutting board on top and weighing down with canned goods. Leave for about 20-30 minutes.

Using a grill pan, an actual grill or the broiler in an over, get the fire really hot.  Add drained aubergine to the pain or grill in one layer, turn when browned and remove.

Aubergine and spinach in fresh tomato sauce.

1 recipe of tomato sauce (see recipe below)

1 bunch spinach

1-2 cloves garlic

1 pinch red pepper

3 smallish aubergines, washed and sliced and prepared as above.

3 good size fistfuls of good quality freshly grated parmesan

1 ball of good quality mozzarella (sold in water)

1 small bunch of basil leaves washed and dried

1 handful of bread crumbs

If you don’t have a tomato sauce recipe, make a simple tomato sauce by adding chopped onion and garlic to warmed olive oil.  Add a good pinch of oregano and cook until soft.  Add either 800 grams of canned Italian tomatoes or chopped fresh tomatos and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Then add a splash of wine or red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and basil.  Substitute your own sauce if you have a favorite.  It’s nice to do this ahead-I like to keep lots in the freezer.

Cook the spinach by sauteing until almost done with sliced garlic and a little red pepper, if you like.  Drain

Grate about three big handfuls of good parmesan and slice up a ball of mozzarella.

Now layer:

A small scoop of  warm sauce to cover the bottom of a baking dish.

Add a layer of aubergine.

Sprinkle with a handful of parmesan.

Sprinkle with 1/3 of mozzarella

Sprinkle with a small amount of the fresh basil

Add another thin layer of tomato sauce

Add all of the cooked spinach spread

Repeat the entire process and finish with one more layer of sauce, and one final handful of parmesan and dot with mozzarella.  (Sprinkle with bread crumbs, opt.)

Let sit for at least 2 hours but a day ahead is good.  Bake in a 375 degree over for 30 minutes or until it is bubbling and hot to the center.

 

 

 

 

It’s in the bag

08 Wednesday May 2013

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Romaine with parmesan, ready to be dressed.

Romaine with parmesan, ready to be dressed.

Where I come from, Los Angeles, farmer’s markets are still the best option for a wide variety of quality produce but in South Africa, the markets seem to be more about a place for community to buy something to eat on site, buy prepared products like baked goods, cheese, and jams rather than to shop for fresh vegetables.

Organic bags, delivered weekly by the farmers themselves, is a better option but it can be challenging to  figure out how to use all of the ingredients before it’s time the next week’s bag.  I incorporate these weekly vegetables into  versions of vegetable soup, stock, curries, salads and baked conoctions,

This week, for the first time this year, I have fresh romaine lettuce and to me, that means a Cesar salad is on the menu.

Those of you who are over 50 might remember those little carts wheeled around restaurants in the 70s.  The maitre d’ would make a  lavish show over flaming cherries or tossing caesar salad-more like beating lettuce to death in many cases-appetizing sight. ( this is not a nostalgia piece)

A good Caesar salad, in spite of the pomp, was always one of my favorite dishes when  done properly.  Over the last decade, I have stopped ordering this salad in restaurants.  Maybe chefs got sick of customers saying, “i’ll just have a salad” and thought, “I’ll just salad you, Missy,”  plotting their revenge with  a dish that is sure to fatten up the diner while torturing the lettuce for good measure.  The salad arrives sodden and limp under the weight of the creamy, cheesy dressing.  Commonly, stuff like dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, blue cheese, chicken, shrimp and cream are added increasing the heft of the salad and eventually of the imbiber.  It doesn’t have to be this way.

Romaine lettuce (“cos” in some parts of the world) deserves better.  All the attention needs to be on the lettuce and the dressing, like good makeup, should enhance, not disguise the stuff.  Really, if you must have heavy creamy dressings, switch to ice berg lettuce which takes all kinds of abuse probably because  it has little personality of its own.

So, I’ve been making this dish since the 70s and have varied it only sightly over the years but the key is to find a pleasing balance of tang, salt, oil and crunch.

1.  At the beginning, wash and throughly dry the leaves and then crisp in the refrigerator until each leaf cracks as it’s bitten. I know you already know to tear rather than cut the leaves.

2.  Then sprinkle (not pour) finely and freshly  grated, good quality parmesan on the lettuce.  (Tip: if the cheese turns pasty, step 1 was not successful).  It should sit nicely like powder snow on the ski slope-see photo.

3. Marinate 1 large garlic clove cut into four pieces in fresh lemon juice from one whole juicy lemon.  Leave the garlic in the lemon juice as you add the following ingredients to the dressing.

4. One teaspoon of dry mustard

5. Worchestshire sauce-this is a personal taste issue but start with a few drops and add as desired.

6. 2-3 anchovies (either very finely chopped or 1 inch of  Italian anchovy paste)

7. Add about 1/2 cup of olive oil.  The amount should be roughly 2 times that of the lemon.

8. Taste for salt,  and watch it since the cheese and anchovies are already quite salty, and add a sprinkle of black pepper.  Mix well and let sit for at least an hour before serving.   Remove garlic cloves before  tossing with the greens.  (alternatively rub the bowl with garlic).  The leaves should glisten but not be weighed down.

Croutons, if added, should be made from good bread, tossed with a little olive oil and crisply toasted in the oven.  These are best added at the last second.

If you want the dish to be a bit more substantial,  a coddled egg can be added   to the dressing.  Traditionally this was mixed from the shell into the greens but unless you have a very light and practiced touch, the greens end up bruised by the time the egg is throughly mixed in.  (Coddle the egg by adding a room temperature egg to a pain of boiling water.  Immediately turn off the heat, cover the pan and let sit for 6 minutes.)

More about veg box ingredients in “It’s in the bag” #2

 

A Summer Bouquet of Meals

07 Thursday Mar 2013

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A variety of small, sweet tomatoes

This summer our primary inspiration for creative cooking are the  gorgeous vegetables, herbs and fruit we receive in our organic veg box and find at the local farmer’s market.  Vegetables take a starring role in most of our meals these days infused with lots of herbs for flavor. So this post is more of a gallery of ideas rather than recipes.   I believe olive oil and a little salt is a good start for almost any dish and sometimes all you need with the luscious fresh flavors of summer.

Roasted butternut with roasted nuts and seeds served with eggplant and yoghurt sauce

Roasted butternut with roasted nuts and seeds served with eggplant and yoghurt sauce

Cous cous with roasted nuts cheese, and a variety of herbs.in a lemon & olive oil dressing

Cous cous with roasted nuts cheese, and a variety of herbs.in a lemon & olive oil dressing

 

 

Grilled chopped vegetables

Grilled chopped vegetables

 

 

 

 

 

 

 On hot days,  we grill everything from squash to zucchini with olive oil and handfuls of fresh chopped herbs.  One of our favorite concoctions is a variety of  chopped the grilled vegetables and herbs added to cooked farro or barley.  

This is the sort of dish you assemble according to your own taste and what you have around.  If you want a heartier dish add some goat’s cheese or feta and roasted pumpkin seeds or nuts.

 

Chilled yellow pepper soup

Chilled yellow pepper soup 

Faced with a glut of   orange and yellow peppers, I made a cold soup.  Saute the peppers with some  onion, add vegetable stock, blend into a soupy texture and chill.  Stir in lemon zest  to finish.  Serve topped with plain yoghurt and liven it up with chopped coriander, basil and parsley

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Grilled zucchini, fresh tomatoes, baby lettuce and pine nuts in a pesto dressing.

 

 

Coloring the palate

02 Wednesday Jan 2013

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Charles Seliger Exhibition at the Peggy Guggenheim Gallery in Venice.

Charles Seliger Exhibition at the Peggy Guggenheim Gallery in Venice.

The Seliger exhibit at the Guggenheim in Venice this last August was mesmerizing with incredibly complex color and other worldly shape compositions that intrigued me as much or more than the other work in the gallery and that’s saying a lot since some of my favorite modern artists including Kandinsky, Carlo Carre and Magritte are represented.

There is something scrumptious about color and there is no denying its power to attract.  Maybe that’s why I love vegetables and vegetables and fruit so much; they are far more colorful than other sorts of food and eating a  rainbow of colors means we get a spectrum of nutrients.  But, frankly, even if that were not the case, I would still be attracted to pretty colors in my food.

 

The other night I decided to make two salads, one red and one green.  Maybe it was the Christmas Spirit but the colors and ingredients sounded just right to me that night.   The other attraction to these recipes is that both can be made ahead, the red can be kept chilled and the quinoa salad can be made and kept at room temperature for an hour or so.

Pomegranate, Tomato and Red Onion Salad
I’m still smitten with Ottolenghi and I found this fantastic red salad on his blog.    It’s simple-tomatoes, red onion and pomegranate seeds, quick and very tasty.  The green bits are fresh oregano leaves which add just the right amount of grounding to this naturally sweet and savory chilled salad.  The pomegranate seeds are quite easy to extract from the fruit but many markets keep them on the fresh foods shelf.   This is not quite a main dish but works well in a side dish role as well as with the green quinoa salad below.

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I borrowed a little from other  quinoa combos but I have made throwing in whatever I had in hand-fresh peas, asparagus and brocolli. But anything, really, would work-zucchini, green beans, a variety of herbs, even lightly sauteed finely chopped spinach, kale or cabbage  Pine nuts give it crunch, especially after being deeply roasted and lemon zest provides zing. The dressing pulls it all together

Quinoa and Greens with Lemon dressing

1 cup of quinoa-rinsed well

2 cups water

2 cups blanched greens-asparagus, peas, brocoli

1/4 cup roasted pine nuts

zest of one lemon

Juice of one lemon

1/2 C olive oil

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

salt

pepper

Add water and rinsed quinoa to pan, bring to a boil and then cover and turn down heat to low.  Simmer for 15 minutes.  Turn off heat and let quinoa finish cooking in pot and cool.

Heat a nonstick pan adding a tiny bit of olive oil just to slick bottom of pan.  Quickly saute the asparagus-just a minute or so, seasoning as needed with salt and pepper.  Remove to cool and saute the brocolli.

When all the ingredients are cool, mix carefully together with the lemon zest and the dressing.  Serve at room temperature.

Love the One You’re With

20 Thursday Dec 2012

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Fava Bean Burgers

Broad Bean Burgers

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Down to the last scrumptious bite.

The slow food movement, if thought of in terms of history, is curiously against the grain of humankind’s progress in terms of food.  In his book, Food is Culture, Massimo Montanari writes that  since the advent of fire, humans have been on a quest to change time-by adding more varieties of crops and methods of growing to extend growing seasons and changing space-transporting food products from one area to another.  This was an alteration of nature-yes, everything that we do to food from planting crops to cooking is not actually natural but it is how we developed our species and alleviated hunger.  So now we want to slow down the progress and revise how we think about food and this shift may lead to some interesting cultural changes, as well.

As we celebrate the idea of global village and our ability to connect more easily to other cultures, we might also celebrate our individual distinctions and enjoy what we have and what we do well as a culture where ever we reside.  The popularity of farmers markets all over the world means that everywhere people have more access to local products and well-supported markets encourage and attract the best in the area.

Making our diet more about local products has been an adventure for me lately with more thrills than spills but the holiday season always carries its own challenges. Right now in early summer, fruit and vegetables pour in and so do the tourists wiping our local shops clean of necessary items but, on the other hand, there are some more under appreciated veggies around that along with a good idea, can be turned into a fabulous meal, especially with the help of a brilliant recipe.

Yotam Ottolengi’s Plenty is full of  recipes that can inspire the most weary of palates,  thoughtfully organized by ingredients.  So when I am faced with a mountain of fresh broad beans and not a sign of the  brocoli I was seeking, I ditch the brocoli pasta idea and take my chances.

As Ottolenghi explains in his recipe for broad bean burgers,  the beans are laborious-you have to depod them, then quickly boil the beans and finally individually skin them; otherwise, they tend to be bitter and sometimes chalky-unless they are quite young.  Personally, I like to sit with a bowl to skin while I am talking on Skype or doing something else requiring no hands. This can be done even the day before.

But the burgers are worth every minute of labor. They are the  answer to my dreams of a perfect veggie burger that meets all the criteria of any good burger-great texture, taste and it holds together from start to finish.  I served them with a simple yoghurt sauce made with a small amount of lightly crushed nigella (onion) seeds and a crushed garlic clove .  I won’t reprint the recipe for the burgers here out of respect for Mr. Ottolenghi, but you can find it on his blog site.    www.ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes

Just remember to add the step of peeling the beans after boiling.  He refined the recipe in his cookbook and it is worth the trouble.

So, in terms of food, it’s good strategy not to be too attached to any one ingredient or dish you have to have and rather go with what IS here now.  Besides you never know when a one night stand might turn into the new love of your life.

 

Sun kissed Hibiscus Bliss

08 Saturday Dec 2012

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This was a long winter here-everybody says so, and now that the sun is really shining and it is really getting hot, I am delighted, almost giddy knowing I don’t have to gear up my courage to take off my clothes to get into the shower for at least 5 more months.  But the relief is tempered by the sort of resentment one feels for a lover who has been absent slightly longer than expected and, while I hate to ruin the reunion, I feel a little put out.  Especially since this year,  like a lovesick groupie, I even followed the sun  to the northern hemisphere.

But today I decided to let the sun earn my devotion and put it to work multitasking-clothes dryer and tea maker.

In LA, it would never have occurred to me to use the sun to dry my clothes but outside of the US most people do.  Electric dryers are slow and expensive  and there are other bonuses like the natural exfoliating power of a sun dried towel.

I am getting way off track-I warned you I was giddy.  My friend Nicki brought me back a package of hibiscus flower tea from Bali. (Thanks, Pal)  It is refreshing even when hot but makes the most delicious iced tea.  Hibiscus  is known for its cooling properties and the color is enchanting-like a rose from Provence.  Don’t know if you can find this as tea but worth a look.  Add lemon zest, mint, a little honey or even some rose (or vodka if you must).  Then experiment.

All sorts of herb infusions make wonderful summer thirst quenchers.  Keep them in jugs  in your fridge and you are sure to get your daily quota of liquid in the most delightful way possible.

Friends in damp places

12 Monday Nov 2012

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Porcini alongside teaspoon

Real and true love has its rewards and we are known as lovers of all things fresh and yummy.  So our friend, Brett Garvie, chef and owner of The Veg Table, called this morning to say he had some porcini mushrooms, freshly picked from “his spot” in the forest and were we interested.  I think so!

Fascinating facts.  Look at the photos and notice the underbelly of the mushroom is a green sponge.  Brett, also a botanist,  explained that any mushroom with sponge underneath is edible-good to know.  

This is a first for us to be blessed with fresh porchini and while we can dry, saute and freeze an over abundance, as suggested by Brett, tonight  I wanted  porchini as close to naked as possible on my plate.  Easy enough.  Chopped parsley (has to be the most underrated herb ever)releases a whole world of fresh, astringent green scent.

The mushrooms don’t cook down as much as some mushrooms and end up quite meaty, yet silky,  sauteed in butter, a bit of garlic with a dash of lemon to finish.

With a main dish this simple,  a more elaborate salad than our usual greens seemed appropriate and I just happen to have some baby beets that had been marinating in balsamic vinegar. Added to some baby lettuce with feta and toasted walnuts  This made a beautiful salad dressed with olive oil, a little red wine and salt and pepper. I added a small handful of chopped chives at the end.

Very lux.

Light and Bright Mussels and Beans

21 Sunday Oct 2012

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There is a long running controversy, primarily promoted by some regions of Italy, regarding the combination of fish or seafood and dairy.  Personally, I think cream’s cloying quality in kills the  delicate flavors o fish or seafood.  Even clam chowder I prefer in a wine rather than cream based sauce.

The combination of beans and mussels in this recipe results in a bright, warm dish, that is hearty enough on its own but not heavy.  This recipe from  Booca Cookbook by Jacob Kennedy, suggests clams but  is my new favorite way to enjoy our rich supply of fresh local mussels.

Once the mussels have been cleaned, the real work of the dish is done and it can be cooked and on the table in minutes.  Combine the ingredients in a bowl and set aside until your guests are gathered.  I would serve this with a salad of fennel and baby greens dressed with lemon juice and only adding some bread to the menu if there were hearty eaters at the table.  Dessert of fresh fruit with zested orange or lemon peel  on top would be a nice finish.

Mussels and Beans

1 pound  of fresh mussels, cleaned

3/4 pound cherry other small tomatoes cut in half

2 cloves garlic

a pinch (or more) of dried red pepper flakes

1/3 C white wine

1/3 C olive oil

1 can or 2 C of drained cannellini beans

3 TBS chopped Italian pasrey

8 basil leaves

Mix the cleaned mussels in their shells with the tomatoes, garlic, pepper flakes and olive oil in a bowl,  Heat a large pan until very hot and then add the mussel mix to the pan.  Cook shaking the pan a bit until the mussels start to open.  Add just a dash of salt and pepper.  Add the wine and let it start to boil for a minute then add the beans and parsley.  Heat the beans through, cooking  only until the mussels are open.  Turn off the heat and tear the basil leaves into small pieces over the stew, mix in and serve.

 

I devoured Istanbul: Istanbul Eats Back Street Tour

22 Saturday Sep 2012

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For two people who love nothing more than to “discover” delightful out of the way,  we were in our element in Istanbul.  We had our bible, “Istanbul Eats: Exploring the Culinary Backstreets by Ansel Mullins and Yigal Schleifer, our iPhone Google map app  and, for good measure we also had a traditional large folding map.

Istanbul unfolded meal by meal as we traveled from the old city through to  upper Beyoglu. Our first dinner will remain one of the most memorable feasts of my life.  Giritli,meaning Greek in Turkish, starts with about 14 plates of a stunning variety of appetizers-mouthwatering stuff like the sea bass carpaccio, eggplant baked with white cheese and stuffed olives. The grilled seafood plate that followed held octopus leg which I still dream about.

On Saturday, we took the Istanbul Eats tour of Beyoglu. Angelis, led us through the maze of backstreets to find treats we had never imagined.  Along the way he entertained us with folklore, details about the culture, history and exactly what we were eating that brought to mind Ruth Riechl’s words, “Food could be a way of making sense of the world…if you watched what they ate, you could find out who they were.”  Well, we were certainly were not sitting on the sidelines watching, we were part of the action.

 

 

 

 

 

Our first stop was at a breakfast salon and this dish of eggs, peppers, tomatoes and cheese is typical fare.  Along with the food, we got the lowdown on modern and ancient Turkish life so we could understand the why and how of the dishes.  It turns out that customers are expected to show a certain loyalty to their neighborhood salon and this one seemed deserving from my standpoint.  The only drawback was, we were warned, many more stops (meaning food) along the way.

After a full morning of eating, we took a bit of a walk as Angelis explained some of the historical  traditions including pickling fresh fruits and vegetables to last through the winter.  We were offered a glass of pickle juice at this beautiful shop to help us prepare for our lunches-yes plural.  It actually works and I, for one, love the taste of pickles in any case.

The surprises kept coming and when we entered a shop specializing in hamsi  (anchovies), protests made by one of our group of four were quickly quelled once he tasted these scrumptious morsels. 

 

 

 

 

On the way to a pre-lunch coffee break,  Angeli bought  baklava-for later.  These phyllo wrapped pastriesmade in the traditional Turkish manner with sugar rather than honey, were chewy with pistachios and, for fun, we even had a chocolate variety.

 

 

 

 

 

Turkish coffee at Mandabatmaz can be recognized by the notable sign of a water buffalo standing on the coffee-that’s how thick it is.  The other dish in the photo is a very yummy sweet pudding Angelis brought along for us to try.  The mystery ingredient is chicken-you’d never guess.

Had it ended here, we would have been amply full but there was more to learn and try…to be continued.

The Taste of Summer

21 Friday Sep 2012

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I know, I know.  I can hear what you are thinking-she went all the way to Europe to eat wonderful food and all we get is a photo of tomatoes!!

First, let me say that these tomatoes were extraordinary-perfectly ripe,sweet, luscious and smelling like summer.  No matter where we ate-Istanbul, Venice, Croatia, Florence and Rome-everyone was seizing the season by heaping plates with colorful ripe fruit, glossy grilled vegetables and cooling crunchy salads.

Along with this we could not get enough fresh fish and seafood mostly from the Adriatic and in Istanbul from the Bosphorus, Marmara Sea and Black Sea.  Sea bass, sea bream, octopus, calamari and  prawns all seemed best grilled while the anchovies were fantastic deep fried.

But let’s start with the tomato, after all, the Italians revere tomatoes enough to build much of their  cuisine around tomatoes and we all know how superior even canned tomatoes are from Italy.

Since it was summer we had pizza with no red sauce but just cherry tomatoes, tomatoes and buffala-caprese with olive oil-not even a basil leaf to distract from the fabulous taste.

SUMMER TOMATO SOUP

We found the queen of all summer tomato dishes in Verona, on a very hot, still day.  The soup was cold and served as a starter.  Fresh tomatoes, garlic, olive oil-that is the green you see on the soup, and a bit of pepper oil and some bread crumbs blended in for texture.  That lightens the color of the soup.  not cream.

This is not even a recipe.  The tomatoes were simply whizzed in the blender raw with the other ingredients.  Try this with a mix of types of tomatoes to add more flavor.

Alternatively, if the tomatoes are really spectacular, juice the tomatoes, squeeze the pulp through a sieve and add a little salt and a touch of red wine vinegar.  The result is redder than in the photo and a treat on a hot day.

Other than growing your own, you can seek out and encourage local growers at farmer’s markets.  We always buy tomatoes in bulk at the end of summer  to make into sauce and freeze.  What a gift that sauce is in mid winter!

 

 

 

 

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