prawn saganaki (garides saganaki)

Many years ago, when I was an innocent young teenager, my sister Shamu and I travelled to Greece to delight in the wonders of the Mediterranean. We had a wonderful time exploring the ruins in Athens, getting a bit wild with Norwegians on the “Party Island” of the time, Ios, playing at sophistication in Santorini and embarking upon an impromptu road trip with three French girls across Crete from Heraklion to Chania.

In Crete I became incapacitated, throwing my back out from carrying my gigantic backpack, but luckily our travelling companions were trainee physiotherapists who were happy to massage me back to health each evening (merci à Caroline, Julie and Melanie - mes amies française).

It was a fun gaggle of girls posing some interesting language challenges since they didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak French. After living in Italy for the past 7 months I miraculously understood their French and they understood our English, so we each spoke our own languages and somehow we communicated quite efficiently.

It was on this multicultural roadtrip that we stopped off on a deserted beach for lunch. Between two quiet cafés on the beach, we chose the one without any patrons because we could sit under the shade of an umbrella.  The menus were all in Greek so the rest of the crew traipsed into the kitchen where the cook pointed out different ingredients in an attempt to mime meal options. When they came back Shamu confessed she’d ordered me something, but wasn’t quite sure what.

As we waited for our mystery lunch to arrive, our empty café started to fill up with locals and by the time they set the food on the table the place was buzzing and alive with vibrant activity. It was so stereotypical and romantic, it was as if we’d stumbled on the set of Greek film. Absolutely magical.

But even more magical was the food they served us. A tomato sauce filled with plump prawns and scattered with melting feta cheese. It was amazing. Pure perfection in a beautiful setting.

We asked the waiter to tell us the name of the dish and when they spoke I wrote down the sounds, perplexed that the dish sounded more Japanese than Greek: saganaki.

Now that I have much more experience with Greek food I know that saganaki, in its various forms, is one of Greece’s most famous dishes and has been successfully exported worldwide.

The prawn version, known as Garides Saganaki, is surprisingly simple to make, and the perfect lunch or dinner whether it’s summer or winter.

Garides Saganaki / Γαριδες Σαγανακι
Prawn Saganaki

Anna’s recipe. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 onion, thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
400g canned tomatoes
1 roasted red pepper, finely sliced
60ml ouzo
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 dried bay leaf
150g Greek feta
24 large peeled green prawns
Olive oil, for frying
Crusty white bread, to serve

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 220’C.

2. In a frying pan, heat olive oil in a saucepan then sauté onion and garlic until soft.

3. Add bay leaf, tomato and peppers and simmer for around 5 minutes.

4. Add ouzo, oregano and thyme and simmer for another 5 minutes.

5. Transfer the sauce to a baking dish and crumble over the feta.

6. Bake until feta just starts melting, about 15 minutes.

7. Push the prawns into the tomato sauce and cook for another 5 minutes or until the are opaque and cooked.

8. Serve hot with crusty white bread.

pasta alla norma

Pasta alla Norma is one of those soul-satisfying dishes, filling you up, tingling your taste buds and warming your heart. Whoever Norma was, she’s a genius.

The eggplant caramelises into sweet, soft morsels that soak up the richness of the garlicky tomato sauce.

Before serving, the flavours are lifted with fresh basil and crumbled ricotta salata, a beautiful salted, pressed, dried and aged version of the fresh farm cheese. Its crumbly texture makes it more akin to s condiment, adding a slight salty bite the way parmigiano does in other pasta dishes.

Pasta alla Norma

Based on a recipe from Saveur. Serves 2-3.

Ingredients:
1 eggplant/aubergine
1 brown onion, finely minced
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 large red chilli, finely minced
½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
400g canned tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon shredded fresh basil
Fresh basil, to serve
Ricotta salata, to serve
Pasta
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180’C.

2. Chop eggplant into bite-sized cubes and place in a baking dish. Toss with salt, pepper and olive oil.

3. Bake eggplant for around 30 minutes, or until soft.

4. In a saucepan, fry onion in a little olive oil until translucent.

5. Add garlic, fresh chilli and dry chilli and fry until fragrant and softened.

6. Add tomato paste and fry until slightly thickened.

7. Add tomatoes and bring to the boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and add 1 tablespoon shredded
basil and cooked eggplant. Season to taste.

8. Cook pasta until al dente, drain and add to sauce, tossing to combine.

9. Serve with torn basil and grated ricotta salata.

oktapodi toursi (greek-style pickled octopus)

I adore pickles, and pickled seafood is high on my list. I like the sweet Lithuanian-style pickled fish but I adore boquerones (white anchovies) and any kind of pickled octopus.

When I think of octopus, I do think of Greek cuisine. They have a lot of interesting and flavoursome octopus recipes, whether it’s braised in red wine or barbecued after hours of marinating in lemon juice and garlic.

When I decided to make pickled octopus, I took the Greek herbs and spices for inspiration and flavoured my pickling liquor with oregano, bay and chilli.

The results are divine: soft, sour tentacles that satisfy my current cravings.

Oktapodi Toursi (Greek-Style Pickled Octopus)

Anna’s very own recipe. Makes one mezze to serve 2.

Ingredients:

500g cleaned baby octopus
2 teaspoons peppercorns
2 teaspoons chilli flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 dried bay leaves
½ teaspoon fresh parsley, very finely chopped
1 cup (250ml) white wine vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil, to finish
600ml sterilised preserve jar

Method:
1. In a small saucepan, bring ½ cup (125ml) cold water and the baby octopus to the boil. Reduce to simmer and braise for 20 minutes or until octopus is tender when pierced with a fork. Drain and set aside to cool.

2. When cool, arrange octopus in the preserving jar. It’s easier to fit it all in if you place the tentacles against the glass with the heads gathered together in the centre of the jar. Sprinkle in fresh parsley.

3. In another saucepan, bring all other ingredients (peppercorns, chilli flakes, smoked paprika, dried oregano, sliced garlic cloves, dried bay leaves and white wine vinegar) to the boil.

4. Pour boiling vinegar over octopus then immediately top with olive oil to ensure no octopus parts stick out above the liquid.

5. Seal jar immediately, cool to room temperature then refrigerate for 1 week before eating.

6. Bring to room temperature again before opening jar and serving.

aceitunas rellenas fritas

stuffed, fried olives

First off I just want to say that I am quite a bit auspicious when it comes to numbers. I am particularly fond of 1s, 3s and 7s and 11:11 is a very special time of day when I close my eyes and make a wish!

Today is the 11th Day of the 11th month of the 11th year of our century. That's pretty special in my books, so I plan to make the biggest wish ever at the 11th second of the 11th minute of this day.

~ ~ ~
But let's move onto the food!

I recently wrote a guest blog post for a blog celebrating Olives and Olive Oil from Spain. Although I will include my recipe here, you should definitely visit this site of you want to read my story and learn about all the olive varieties Spain has to offer. There are hundreds!

The recipe I cooked for them was stuffed, fried olives!

My favourite thing about tapas is that you can drink all night and never get drunk. The constant grazing lines your stomach and allows you to enjoy a myriad of delicacies and drinks without regretting anything the next day. It’s a wonderful invention!

This particular tapa is great in cooler weather, but it’s good enough to eat any time of year. Just take your preferred variety of stuffed olives (anchovies, cheese, tomatoes, capsicum) cover in this cheesy, spicy batter and fry until crispy.

There’s a dash of beer in the batter, but that’s just a convenient excuse to finish off a cold one while you cook. The chef’s privilege!

Serves these snacks with a crisp white wine, an ice cold beer or a tangy cider, all Spanish of course!

Aceitunas Rellenas Fritas (Stuffed Green Olives)

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4 as tapa / appetiser.

Ingredients:
200g large green olives from Spain (I prefer stuffed varieties without pips)
1½ cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1 tablespoon (20ml) beer
1 tablespoon (20ml) chilli sauce
4 tablespoons (about 50g) grated manchego cheese
2 eggs, beaten
Salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil from Spain, for deep frying

Method:

1) Mix together the manchego cheese, chilli sauce, eggs and beer. Add salt and pepper.

2) Add 1 cup panko crumbs to the liquid and mix roughly into a paste.

3) Wipe the olives with kitchen paper so their surface is dry, then coat them with the batter paste, forming balls. Set aside to rest.

4) Heat the olive oil until a sprinkle of panko browns in a few seconds.

5) Roll the olive balls in the remaining panko to create a crispy exterior then drop into oil and fry until golden brown.

6) Dust with a smattering of salt and serve hot.

Enjoy!

stinging nettle & ricotta gnudi

Gnudi are so-called, because they are the filling of a raviolo, without the pasta encasing it. They are, in effect, “nude”.

This recipe is simple and quite elegant. Small ricotta dumplings, flavoured with vitamin-rich nettles, floating in simple chicken broth: it’s absolutely delicious and soul-satisfying.

Using high quality ingredients in this recipe is critical because there’s not much done to each element to disguise inferior quality. Excellent chicken stock, parmesan and ricotta will make all the difference.

You must wear gloves when handling the nettles because getting stung is a nasty experience. Be sure to wash them thoroughly from any grit or potential pesticides.

Blanch them in boiling water for 30 seconds, then drain them and refresh under cold water. Wash them again to remove any remaining dirt.

You can use your hands at this point because once they’re blanched, although the barbs still look nasty, they’re soft and sting-free. I promise.

Gnudi all'Ortica con Brodo
(Nettle & Ricotta Dumplings in Broth)


Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4 as a starter.

Ingredients:

200g blanched stinging nettles
200g ricotta
1 egg
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 garlic cloves, grated finely
1 tablespoon wholemeal flour, for binding
1 litre vegetable stock
Zest and juice of a lemon
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
100g parmesan, finely grated
Piece of parmesan rind
Olive oil, for cooking
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. After blanching nettles in boiling water for 30 seconds, make sure to squeeze firmly them to remove excess moisture.

2. Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan, add crushed garlic cloves and nettles, salt and pepper and sauté until garlic has softened.

3. In a food processor, blend garlic and nettle mixture with ricotta and egg.

4. Remove and mix in half the parmesan to form a dough (reserve remainder for serving). If it’s too sticky, add a little of the wholemeal flour to bind.

5. Take a teaspoon of mixture and roll into small balls. Set on tray and refrigerate until ready to cook.

6. In one saucepan, bring a lot of salted water to the boil (for cooking gnudi).

7. Meanwhile in another saucepan, bring the chicken stock, parmesan rind and lemon zest to the boil. Reduce to simmer.

8. To cook the gnudi, gently drop them into the boiling water. Cook until they rise to the surface (between 1-3 minutes). Remove with slotted spoon and rest on tray, keeping warm.

9. When gnudi are ready, taste broth for seasoning then discard parmesan rind.

10. Add lemon juice to taste, then ladle into bowls. Add warm gnudi and sprinkle with parsley and parmesan before serving.

Note: If you can’t find nettles, use spinach instead.

This is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, this week hosted by Chris from Mele Cotte.

fisherman's rouille

There’s something romantic about any dish that’s described as a fisherman’s meal, and this is what drew me towards this cuttlefish and potato salad, which I cooked as part of Murdoch Book's 365 Challenge to cook every recipe from Stéphane Reynaud's 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down to Eat.

Rouille is from the Carmargue area, in the south of France, and gets its name from its colour: rouille = rust.

The seafood was perfectly tender and the honey-sweet saffron was so flavoursome in the garlic-laden mayonnaise. Overall, a wonderful little side dish for a lunch on a warm afternoon.

Fisherman’s Rouille

Recipe from 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down to Eat by Stéphane Reynaud. Serves 6.

Ingredients:
1kg cuttlefish hoods or octopus, cleaned
3 onions
200ml olive oil
700ml white wine
800g potatoes
3 garlic cloves
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon mustard
150ml sunflower oil
Salt and pepper
1 pinch saffron threads

Method:
1. Cut the cuttlefish into wide strips.
2. Peel and slice the onions.
3. Sauté the onions with a little olive oil in a flameproof casserole dish
4. Add the cuttlefish and moisten with white wine.
5. Cook, covered, over a low heat for 1 hour then uncover to allow the wine to completely evaporate
6. Peel the potatoes, cut them in large cubes cook them for 15 minutes in boiling water.
7. Peel and chop the garlic, combine it with the egg yolk and mustard, add the sunflower oil to make a mayonnaise
8. Season then add the saffron threads.
9. Combine the potatoes and cuttlefish. Dress with the garlic mayonnaise in the dish.
10. No more vampires!


Here's a cute little extract from the book:

Garlic is a great friend of cooking but a great enemy of the mouth. It permeates the body like a colony of ants in a packet of sugar – you breathe it, you sweat it and it clings to your skin.


What can I do, I hear you say, so that the pleasure of the palate doesn’t turn you into a walking garlic clove?


1) Find a special friend who, like you, adores garlic, good conversation, maybe even more . . . it could become a true tale of Marseille, putainnn con!
2) Stop eating it. Unbearable.
3) Remove the digestible sprout inside, eat a coffe bean ro cardamom pod to offset some of the odours.
4) Stop talking for six hours, what’s more, that’ll give us a break!

tuscan chicken

Audrey Gordon’s Tuscan Summer

This cookbook is a riot.

A group of Aussie comedians, known as Working Dog, have invented this hilarious celebrity chef Audrey Gordon to take the piss out of our obsession with chefs, cooking and all things food!

There have been so many cooking shows, cookbooks and reality rat races on TV these days. People are a little cooked out.

Now there’s Audrey Gordon, an invented caricature combining the funniest aspects of Nigella, Gordon, Delia and Jamie into one delicious satire.

They’ve created a resume and accolades for Audrey, including her time as lifestyles editor of Implausible Homes magazine or her three year reign as “Britain’s Sternest Chef”. She’s even got her own website.

They have really lavished a lot of time and attention into this book with daily diary entries by Audrey, quotes, tips on etiquette and cultural reflections. It chock-full of content to laugh over.


And the 60 recipes are real, and tasty.

I came home from work and Jonas, who had been chuckling away at the book during his day off, had decided to give it a test run.

The results were superb.

Pollo alla Toscana (Tuscan Chicken)

Recipe from Audrey Gordon’s Tuscan Summer. Serves 2.

Ingredients:
1 x 900g chicken, preferably corn fed
1 large lemon
60ml EVOO
8 sliced prosciutto, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 good handfuls fresh thyme leaves, coarsely chopped
4 large potatoes, quarteed
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven and a roasting tray to 220’C. Wash the chicken inside and out and pat dry with kitchen towel.

2. Using your fingers, separate the skin from the breast meat, being careful not to rip the skin. Slice the lemon and work the slices under the skin over each breast. Smooth the skin back in place and wipe the chicken dry.

3. Rub 2 tablespoons of olive oil seasoned with salt and pepper over the bird. Really massage it in, paying particular attention to the back, shoulders and other common areas of tension.

4. Push the prosciutto, garlic and thyme into the cavity and put your chicken on the hot roasting tray and into the oven for 20 minutes.

5. While the chicken is cooking, parboil the potatoes in salted water for 10 minutes and drain. Add the potatoes to the roasting tray and continue to roast for 40 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 200’C and cook for a further 15 minutes.

6. To tell whether the chicken is done, insert a skewer into one of the thighs. If the juices run clear, then it’s ready to eat. If you detect blood either the chicken is under-cooked or you’ve stabbed yourself.

7. Remove the chicken to a heated platter and cover loosely with foil. The potatoes may require a further 10 minutes in the oven for crisping.

Audrey’s tip: If you can’t find proper prosciutto at your local shops. You can use ordinary bacon or perhaps consider moving to a better suburb.

Anna’s tip: If you don’t want to do a whole chicken, choose drumsticks or thighs with the skin still attached.

The book is published by Hardie Grant (who sent me a copy to check out, thanks!) and Australians will know Working Dog as the people behind classic Aussie films like The Dish and The Castle, or the TV shows Thank God You’re Here and The Panel.

If you want a little taste of the tongue in cheek humour this book delivers, you can watch YouTube clips of the lady herself whipping up a tiramisu (below) or cooking pasta with prosciutto.

Watch out Nigella!

wild rabbit, green olive & marjoram pappardelle

Kung Hei Fat Choy / Gong Xi Far Tsai !

Today is the first day of Chinese New Year and therefore the first day of the Year of the Rabbit.

My city council has listed some of the important customs of the Chinese New Year:

• Greet people with "Kung Hei Fat Choy", or "Gong Xi Far Tsai" (Happy New Year) to bring good fortune and prosperity.
• Keeping an empty seat at the table to symbolise the presence of family members who can't be there.
• In the lead up, clean your house to sweep out the bad luck of the previous year but don't clean on New Years Day or you'll sweep away the good luck of the new year.
• Let the old year out by opening every door and window in the house on the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve.
• Pay off all debts and cast all grudges aside.
• Do not use knives or scissors on New Year's Day as this may cut off fortune.
• On New Year's Day wear new clothes and be on your best behaviour, as actions on this day set the tone for the year to follow.
• Ward off bad luck by draping red cloth on your doorway.
• The Kitchen God, the guardian of the family hearth, will be reporting to heaven on the behaviour of the family over the past year, so make sure you feed him with sweet foods and honey to ensure he says sweet things about you.

I love the idea that I have a Kitchen God!

There are twelve signs in the Chinese zodiac, but only six are edible (according to moi).

I demonstrated this with seven days of pork recipes to bring in the Year of the Pig back in 2007, but unfortunately I didn’t get my act together for the Year of the Ox back in 2009.

This year I won’t be caught out and am offering up this sumptuous rabbit pasta, care of Mr Jamie Oliver.

I’m still not sure whether cooking the animal of honour is sacrilegious or not, but since no one has told me otherwise I suppose I can look forward to greeting in 2012 and the Year of the.....Dragon!

The flavours of this dish are herbal and comforting.

It’s easy to make, but it does involve a lot of steps and waiting period for marinating and roasting and cooling and reducing and boiling.

But it’s worth it.

Pappardelle w Wild Rabbit, Green Olives & Marjoram

Ingredients:
1 wild rabbit, jointed
Olive oil
2 knobs butter
Few sprigs fresh thyme, picked over (reserve some for serving)
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 cloves garlic
3 wineglasses white wine
600g pappardelle pasta
Small handful green olives, stoned and roughly chopped
Bunch of fresh marjoram
Handful freshly grated Parmesan
Zest of ½ orange or lemon (optional)

Marinade
Small bunch of fresh thyme, picked over
6 cloves garlic, crushed
Glug of olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon

Method:

1. The night before, mix the marinade ingredients together and rub them all over the rabbit pieces. Leave them to marinate overnight in the fridge (can be left like this for up to 2 days for a stronger flavour).

2. Preheat oven to 180’C and in a large, heavy-bottomed ovenproof saucepan, heat some olive oil and a knob of butter.

3. Season rabbit with salt and pepper then add to the pan and brown for a couple of minutes on each side until golden.

4. Add thyme, rosemary and garlic cloves then stir and add wine to almost cover the meat.

5. Cover with lid then cook in the oven for 2 hours or until the meat pulls away from the bone easily. Cool meat in juices.

6. When cool, shred the meat with your hands into 2.5cm strips and discard bones.

7. Remove the rosemary, thyme and garlic and heat to reduce juices to slightly thickened liquor (add optional tomatoes here).

8. Turn heat to low and add marjoram, olives and shredded meat. Stir and season to taste.

9. Boil pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and reserve a little cooking water.

10. Turn up heat under meat sauce and toss through remaining knob of butter, orange/lemon zest (optional) and cooked pappardelle. You may need to add a little pasta cooking water to loosen the sauce.

11. Serve immediately with reserved thyme leaves.

Variation: in the photo in the cookbook, the juices are quite red which leads me to believe a tomato was added somewhere along the process. I added two chopped, skinned tomatoes when I reduced the juices and they broke down perfectly.

This is my contribution to Presto Pasta Nights founded and hosted by Ruth from Once Upon A Feast

~~~

This is a short shout out to Ms Correct, who loves a good bunny and adores pappardelle. Let's just hope her fiance 007 can tear himself away from bombing small villages and assassinating dictators to get his ass back to Oz sometime soon. You heard me B-Rad! Put down that Blackberry / MI5 receiver and get on a plane!!!

cherries in amaretto syrup

Day 6 of Seven Days of Cherries

Suddenly I have changed from detesting almond and marzipan flavours to adoring them.

I think it was the amaretto pannacotta at Manta that finally turned me, but I had been clearly heading that way to even order it in the first place.

This simple recipe is a testament to my newfound love. Sweet spiked almond syrup is a lovely match to fresh or poached cherries.

Don’t make the mistake I did for my first batch by not adding enough amaretto and not refrigerating these beauties. The two jars I gifted to friends turned into fermented messes for the garbage, not the beautiful desserts I enjoyed though my second attempt.

Cherries in Amaretto Syrup

Anna’s adaptation of this recipe. Makes 2 jars.

Ingredients:
½ cup sugar
¼ cup water
½ cup amaretto
2-3 cups cherries

Method:
1. Give each cherry a shallow cut to allow the syrup to permeate.
2. Pack cherries tightly into preserving jars, trying to fill all the spaces.
3. In a saucepan, stir the water and sugar over a medium heat until sugar dissolves.
4. Boil syrup for 2-5 minutes until it thickens slightly. Remove from heat
5. Pour the amaretto into the syrup, stir then pour over cherries.
6. Seal the jars tightly then allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating.
Note: Eat within a few days (2-4) of making. Serve over vanilla yoghurt or ice cream.

cherry vinegar

Day 5 of Seven Days of Cherries

You could hardly say I “cooked” this next recipe but the results are quite superb.

Overuse of balsamic vinegar in my home has led me to dislike this sweet, syrup Italian gem. While Jonas laps it up like mother’s milk, I rarely touch the stuff these days.

But this new version might entice me again.

By steeping smashed up cherries in supermarket balsamic, you end up with a brightened version that’s thick with cherry colour and flavours.

Use in place of regular balsamic for salads, bread or over fresh berries.

Cherry Vinegar

Taken from this recipe. Makes 600ml or so.

Ingredients:
2 cups (approximately) smashed ripe cherries, with pits
500ml inexpensive balsamic vinegar

Method:
1. Smash up the cherries (with pits) and pour them and their juices into a sealable glass jar.
2. Cover with vinegar, seal and steep for two weeks, agitating every second day or so.
3. Strain and pour into a bottle for long term storage.

cherry, oregano & feta salad

Seven Days of Cherries

In the week before Christmas I was very, very kindly given a 5kg box of cherries by Moraitis on behalf of The Cherry Growers of Australia Inc.

In exchange for this extremely generous gift, my task was to demonstrate that cherries, one of my all time favourite fruits, are versatile enough to be used in all kinds of ways in the kitchen. It wasn’t hard and I spent the next three days pitting, preserving, macerating and devouring these wonderful cerise orbs.

Here’s what I came up with:
• Cherry, Feta & Oregano Salad
• Cherry Almond Shake
• Pickled Cherries
• Cherry & Vanilla Jam
• Cherry Vinegar
• Cherries in Amaretto Syrup
• Cherry & Chipotle Barbecue Sauce

I will be blogging these recipes every day over the next seven days and I hope you too enjoy the awesome cherry crops while they’re in season.

I stumbled upon this first recipe by accident and am so happy I did. The unique combination of salty-sweet flavours and bright colours are amazing, and I’m pleased this is the recipe that's launching my Seven Days of Cherries.

This salad is wonderful with refreshing bursts from the cherries, earthiness from the oregano, heat and depth from the onions, moreish saltiness from the feta and sweet-acidity from the verjuice.

Cherry, Feta & Oregano Salad

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 2.

Ingredients:
24 cherries, pitted & halved
3 baby spring onions, quartered lengthways
1 tablespoon cabernet verjuice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
100g crumbled sheep’s milk feta
Fresh oregano leaves, picked over
Freshly milled black pepper

Method:

1. Dress cherries and onion quarters with verjuice, olive oil and black pepper.

2. Mix through oregano leaves.

3. Plate then crumble over the feta before serving.

goat cutlets w rhubarb agrodolce sauce

When Jonas started eating meat I was determined to have him experience all the various cuts and types of meat possible.

After a lovely morning stroll to the farmers markets at Eveleigh Carriageworks, I got chatting with one of the stall operators selling goat meat, and this inspired me to make these wonderful marinated cutlets and sweet-sour sauce.

It was all part of my three course rhubarb feast that included a raw rhubarb & feta salad as well as a rhubarb, strawberry & vanilla compote with chocolate custard.

Goat is a very strong flavoured meat, even more so than lamb. In cutlet form, it’s very easy to overcook and serve tough, so the trick is to serve it on the pink side.
As goat meat is so strong, it’s perfect to pair with gutsy marinades and powerful sauces because the flavours really shine through.

This agrodolce sauce is my own concoction, based on Italian sweet and sour principles. It worked perfectly with the goat but could be equally matched with a lamb or pork dish for the less adventurous meat eater.

Grilled Goat Cutlets w Rhubarb Agrodolce Sauce

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
Fresh thyme flowers, picked over for garnish
Olive oil, for cooking

Marinade
8 goat cutlets (or 12 if very small)
½ cup red wine
1 tablespoon thyme leaves, picked over
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, crushed

Sauce
1 red onion, finely diced
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
4 stalks of rhubarb, chopped
2 tablespoons red wine
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cabernet verjuice
½ cup water
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:
1. Marinate goat overnight in red wine and garlic.

2. Next make the agrodolce sauce. Heat olive oil, and on a low heat cook the onion and garlic until soft and translucent.

3. Add the rhubarb and brown sugar and continue cooking until some of the moisture has been cooked out.

4. Add the red wine and cook until some of the alcohol has evaporated.

5. Add the water and verjuice and simmer until rhubarb is soft. Cool, then process into a rough purée.

6. Return to saucepan and reheat. Taste sauce, season and ensure a good sweet-sour balance (adjust as required adding more verjuice or brown sugar). Keep warm.

7. To cook goat cutlets, grill until medium-rare, basting with marinade throughout cooking.

8. Serve cutlets hot with agrodolce sauce.

This recipe (using thyme & rhubarb) is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, this week hosted by Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once.

quince spoon sweets

Spoon sweets are wonderful morsels of jammy goodness served all over the Balkans, Middle East and parts of Russia.

In the old days a woman’s variety of spoon sweets was a sign of her hospitality, something sweet and delicious to serve her guests while they drank tea.

Most usually spoon sweets are made from fruit, with bitter and sour varieties being the most prized. I suppose that’s because it took a lot more sugar to get them tasting good, and sugar was an expensive commodity.

Common spoon sweets include seedless grapes, bergamot, sour cherries, kumquats, pomegranate, figs, green walnuts, watermelon rind, cherry tomatoes, eggplant and rose petal.

And of course, quince.

The traditional way to serve them is to the preserve is packed onto small teaspoons and served in porcelain or crystal dishes with coffee and tea.

These days they have other uses too, such as ice cream topping, on bread or as an accompaniment to cheese.

Luckily for me, my quince spoon sweet (based on Greek recipes) turned out perfectly chewy and aromatic, the elegant flavour of quince taking centre stage.

Highly recommended to just eat from the spoon, but I use it for cheese boards and as a breakfast jam too.

Kythoni Xysto (Quince Spoon Sweets)

Anna’s recipe based on this and this.

Ingredients:
4 quinces
3 cups water
¼ cup lemon juice
2 strips lemon peel
4 cups sugar
1 cinnamon quill
3 tablespoons flaked almonds, toasted (optional)

Method:

1. Wash quinces and scrub off brown fuzz.

2. Bring the water to a boil.

3. Grate, with peel still on, discarding the cores.

4. Add grated quince, lemon peel and juice to boiling water. Return to boil.

5. Reduce heat and simmer until the quince is soft (10-20 minutes).

6. Turn heat to high, add sugar, dissolve and bring to a boil.

7. Lower heat to medium and simmer rapidly until jam deepens in colour and firms to jelly when drizzled on a cold saucer (about 40 minutes).

8. If using almonds, stir in now and boil 1 minute longer.

9. Ladle into sterilised jars and seal.

beyaz peynirli yumurta, turkish feta & parsley eggs

This is a great, easy breakfast.

This is a Turkish-style egg dish, so it’s not too far from your traditional brekkie fare.

But it’s eggs with a twist. Herbs and tangy cheese and a pinch of tart sumac.

Easy. Flavoursome. A winner.

Beyaz Peynirli Yumurta
(Turkish Feta & Parsley Eggs)

Based on Binnur’s recipe. Serves 2.

Ingredients:
4 eggs
100g feta, crumbled coarsely
4 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander
1 tablespoon finely sliced white scallions
½ teaspoon sumac
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Olive oil, to fry

Method:

1. In a bowl, combine the feta, scallions, herbs, sumac and pepper.

2. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat.

3. Crack all eggs into a bowl. When the frying pan is hot, add the eggs.

4. Immediately sprinkle the feta mixture over the eggs.

5. Cook for approximately 8 minutes, or until the eggs have almost cooked but the yolk is still runny and the feta has started to melt slightly.

Serve hot with Turkish bread.

ottolenghi's radish & broad bean salad

Ali Beggs texted me last night to say I must be reading her mind.

First she was after a banana cake recipe, and I posted my banana bread on the blog.

Next she was planning dinner at Efendy, and I had posted my glorious Let’s Do Brunch experience.

She was starting to wonder what was going on, so she texted me to double check I wasn’t cooking broad beans too . . .

Well, now that you mention it . . . . .

This happens to be one of the best salads I’ve eaten in a long time and it comes from my favourite cookbook of the moment, Ottolenghi.

The recipes inside this book are so special. The ingredients are (mostly) easy to find and cheap to buy yet the way they’re put together and the flavours that surround them seem fresh and vibrant and unique.

This salad is a perfect example, using common ingredients in a unique combination which (most importantly!) tastes delicious.

Please do try it.

You too Ali Beggs!

Radish & Broad Bean Salad w Green Tahini Sauce

Recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
500g shelled broad beans, fresh or frozen

350g small radishes

½ red onion, very thinly sliced

2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander

30g preserved lemon, finely chopped

Juice of 2 lemons

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

4 thick pita breads

Salt and black pepper

200ml Green tahini sauce (see below)

Method:

1. Place the broad beans in a pan of boiling water and simmer for 1–2 minutes, depending on size.

2. Drain through a large colander and rinse in plenty of cold water to refresh them. Remove the beans from their skins by gently squeezing each one with your fingertips.

3. Cut the radishes into 6 wedges each.

4. Mix with the broad beans, onion, coriander, preserved lemon, lemon juice, parsley, olive oil and cumin. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. To serve, pile a mound of salad in one corner of each serving plate, pour the tahini sauce into a small bowl and stand it next to the salad. Serve with pita bread.

Note: you can see from our photos we decided to add some spring peas too.

Green Tahini Sauce

Ingredients:
150ml tahini paste
150ml water
80ml lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, crushed

½ teaspoon salt

30g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped if making by hand

Method:

1. If using a food processor or a blender, process together all the ingredients except the parsley until creamy and smooth. If it is too thick, add more water. Add the parsley and turn the machine on again for a second or two. Taste for seasoning.

2. If making by hand, thoroughly whisk the tahini, water, lemon juice, garlic and salt together. Stir in the chopped parsley, then taste and add more salt if needed.

This is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, this week hosted by Chris from Mele Cotte.