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.

smoky chipotle chicken nachos

The base of this meal is Jonas’ amazing Shredded Chipotle Chicken. I cannot emphasise how amazing it tastes after 6 hours of slow cooking in our wonderful NewWave 5 in 1 MultiCooker.

The chicken absorbs the wonderful spice of the chipotles (smoked jalapeños) and Jonas breaks it apart into shreds that soak up the sauce it sits in.

The shredded chicken recipe will make enough nachos for a group of 8 people, but if there’s only a few of you then the leftover chicken is a beautiful filling for another meal like tacos, enchiladas or burritos. It’s as versatile as it is tasty.

The best part is just how easy it is to make. Fry up some garlic, onion and chilli, throw all the ingredients into a slow cooker and then shred. That’s it.

Shredded Chipotle Chicken

Jonas’ very own recipe.

Ingredients:
½ brown onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 chipotle chillies in adobo, finely chopped
1kg chicken thighs (no bones)
800g canned organic tomatoes, diced
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke
1 tablespoon dried oregano
Olive oil, for frying
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Fry onion and garlic until soft.

2. Added chillies and fry until softened.

3. Add all ingredients to slow cooker, cook for 6 hours.

4. Remove chicken, shred into fine strips.

5. Return to sauce, stir through and keep warm until ready to serve.

Smoky Chipotle Chicken Nachos

Jonas’ very own recipe. Serves 8.

Ingredients:

Jonas’ shredded chipotle chicken
Tortilla chips
Cheese
Guacamole
Pico de Gallo
Sour cream
Salsa verde or salsa de chipotle y tomato

Method:

1. Spread tortilla chips over baking tray covered in baking paper. Scatter with cheese and grill until cheese has melted.

2. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat the chipotle chicken until warmed through.

3. Once the cheese has melted over tortilla chips, remove from oven and place on serving dish.

4. Top with shredded chicken, guacamole, sour cream, pico de gallo and sauce of your choice.

5. Eat blissfully, perhaps with a tamarind margarita.

pineapple carpaccio w mint sugar

Seven Days of Pineapple - Day 6

This was the dish that completely converted me to fresh mint.

Who would have thought that beautiful, verdant mint would colour sugar so perfectly.

All you have to do is smash the fresh mint with the sugar crystals and you’re left with this crumbly, vibrant topping that lasts for a few days.

I sprinkle it on anything I can, and I’m guessing you will too.

It's a perfect match to the pineapple, but now I'm wondering what other herb sugars would go equally well with slabs of juicy pineapple. Let me know if you test another out!

Pineapple Carpaccio w Mint Sugar

Recipe by Jamie Oliver. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 ripe pineapple
4 heaped tablespoons caster sugar
1 handful of fresh mint

Method:

1. Cut both ends off and peel the skin with a knife, removing any little black bits.

2. Then cut the pineapple into quarters and remove the slightly less tasty core (if you have a pineapple as juicy as mine the core is soft and delicious so I ate that too!).

3. Finely slice your quarters, lengthways, as thin as you can.

4. Lay out flat in one or two layers on a large plate. Don't refrigerate this – just put it to one side.

5. Pick the mint leaves and add them to the sugar in a mortar and pestle then bash the hell out of it. You'll see the sugar change colour and it will smell fantastic. It normally takes about a minute to do if you've got a good wrist action.

6. Sprinkle the mint sugar over the plate of pineapple – making sure you don't let anyone nick any pineapple before you sprinkle the sugar over.

Pineapples supplied by the team at King of Fruit

chicharrón

Pork Crackling Snacks

OK these are just terrible for you health-wise, but if you’re making a pork dish and you’ve got a lot of skin you’re not using, then don’t throw it away – make these pork crackling snacks!

Chicharrón are popular all over Spain and central & south America (and the Philippines), I suppose it's not a surprise when you consider how popular pork is across the region and the people's skills when it comes to cooking up all the bits and pieces of the animal.

There are other recipes out there that dry the boiled skins out in the oven on low heat for hours and hours and hours so when you deep fry them they puff up into light and airy treats. Admittedly these are much better but they take ages to make.I'm too lazy.

My recipe is much less labour intensive because the longest cooking time is the boiling, where you can throw the skins into water and walk away as they boil. Much less hassle than watching strips of pork skin slowly dry out in an open oven.

When it came to the deep-frying part, this is where I got ridiculously girly. The oil was spitting like crazy and I’m ashamed to say I hid behind Jonas who bravely did the hard work on this one.

In this recipe, ingredients do not have amounts because it’s a rustic dish and it’s best to make it all by feel depending on how much skin you're using.

As long as you make sure you have enough oil for deep frying, nothing else matters.

Chicharrón

Anna's very own recipe.

Ingredients:
Pork skin
Rock salt
White vinegar
Vegetable oil, for frying
Paprika
Black pepper
Garlic powder
Salt flakes

Method:

1. Cut away as much meat and fat as you can from the back of the pig skin. Ensure hairs have been removed too.

2. Bring a pan of water to the boil. Add a little rock salt and a dash of white vinegar.

3. Boil skin for around 2 hours or until the skin is soft and the remaining fat can be scraped off the back. Cut into strips.

4. Fill a deep pot with at least 5cm of oil and heat until a cube of bread goes brown in 30 seconds.

5. Dust pig skin with paprika, pepper and garlic powder.

6. Deep fry skin until curled and crispy. (careful, the oil will spit like crazy!)

7. Drain on kitchen paper, dust with more paprika and salt flakes and serve immediately while still crunchy.

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!

baba ganoush

baba ghanoush - baba ghanouj - baba ghannoug

This was the first time I’ve made baba ganoush. Jonas had made it once before, which is strange because Jonas hates eggplant.

Nonetheless it was my first time in the driver’s seat and I was determined to make the best version I could.

Recently, I’d been at my friend Suzy’s house and – while she redesigned my blog with pretty new banner, favicon and business cards – I stuffed my face with delicious, intensely smoky baba ganoush from her local grocer.

The memory was vivid in my mouth and so I reached out to the man I knew would have the best baba ganoush recipe on the interweb: Fouad from The Food Blog.

On top of delivering the most delicious baba ganoush you ever will find, Fouad’s recipe is presented as a whimsical poem and is full of tips at each step, like not overpowering your eggplant with lemon and garlic, or only mixing with a fork to ensure the right textural consistency.

His advice is sage. His baba ganoush is divine.

This is how I turned his poem into my own recipe.

Baba Ganoush

Anna’s recipe based on Fouad’s poem. Serves 8 as a dip.

Ingredients:
3 eggplants (aubergines)
3 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt

Method:

1. Pierce eggplants with a fork or knife all over (to prevent explosions).

2. Blacken over fire – best to use charcoal (the ONLY way according to Fouad) but gas or BBQ flames are a good alternative. This can take around 15 minutes or so. You want the whole eggplant to be completely black (smokiness) and limp (cooked flesh).

3. Put the hot eggplants in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, or seal in a plastic bag. The steam from the hot eggplants keeps cooking them and helps the skin loosen from the flesh.

4. When completely cool, peel off the skin but don’t fuss over tiny specks of charred skin.

5. Drain the flesh very well (maybe leave over a strainer for an hour or so).

6. Add to the eggplant the tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt and crush with a fork.

7. When well mixed, drizzle in olive oil and whip through.

8. Taste to ensure right ratio of tahini, lemon, garlic and salt.

9. Serve drizzled with olive oil and, if you want a little colour, a sprinkle of sumac.

Eat with abandon!

grilled avocado w melted cheese & hot sauce

Snacks are wonderful. Even better when they’re quick and easy to make.

This is my lazy fall back dinner. It’s made from four ingredients and couldn’t be easier to throw together.

Assemble, grill, eat.

After a long day at work, when all you want to do is crash on the sofa and watch TV, this is the kind of comfort food I turn to: quick and delicious.

Grilled Avocado w Melted Cheese & Hot Sauce

Anna's very own recipe. Serves 1 as a snack.

Ingredients:
1 avocado
1 tablespoon chipotle sauce (Tabasco or Louisiana)
1 tablespoon lime juice
¼ cup parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Slice the avocado in half and remove the stone. Prick all over with a fork, or cut criss-cross patterns with a knife. This allows the sauce to penetrate the flesh.

2. Pour the sauce over each half, then top with lime juice and salt and pepper.

3. In the cavity where the stone has been, put a fourth of the cheese on each avocado half. Place under the hot grill for 2 minutes.

4. Top with remaining cheese and grill (broil for Americans!) for another 2 minutes until completely melted and avocado warmed through.

Eat hot with a wedge of lime and chipotle sauce on the side!

Avocadoes are wonderful fruits, which is why I've chosen them as my theme ingredient for WHB in 2007 (cold avocado soup from the Ivory Coast), 2008 (avocado shake from Vietnam) and 2009 (prawn salad from Mexico).

The word avocado comes from the Aztec (Nahuatl) word ahuacatl, via Spanish aguacate and means “testicle”. Perhaps because of its appearance, the Aztecs believed avocadoes were an aphrodisiac and called it "the fertility fruit". Apparently during avocado harvesting, virgins were kept indoors to prevent any promiscuity taking place.

This reputation stuck with the avocado for such a long time and many people in South America wouldn’t eat it because they wanted to appear wholesome. Companies had to undertake serious PR campaigns to dispel the myths and get the fruit out to the public.

The Nahuatl word ahuacatl makes up other words like ahuacamolli, meaning "avocado soup/sauce” which the Spanish transformed into guacamole.

Propagation by seed takes around 5 years to produce fruit and the quality is never as good as the parent tree. Commercial plantations therefore graft new seedlings.

Avocadoes mature on the tree but ripen once harvested. The fruit is high monounsaturated fat contents and contains 60% more potassium than bananas, vitamin Bs, vitamin E, vitamin K and folate.

It is also interesting to note that avocado foliage, skin and pits are said to poison animals such as birds, cats, dogs, cattle, goats, rabbits and fish.

Good for us, bad for Fido.

This WHB is hosted by Graziana from Erbe in Cucina (Cooking with Herbs).

choripán

Happy Fourth of July!

Many years ago, an ancestor of mine, a German immigrant to Pennsylvania, helped fight a war that led to the creation of the United States of America.

I think that’s something to be proud of.

So let’s celebrate with a hot dog of sorts, Argentina’s choripán.

The word is a portmanteau of chorizo and pan: spicy sausage and bread.

What could be better than a bread roll stuffed with grilled chorizo sausage and chimichurri sauce?

I’ll tell you what’s better: a bread roll stuffed with grilled chorizo sausage and chimichurri sauce PLUS piquillo peppers, cheese, sour cream and fried onions.

Oh yeeeeeeeeeeeah!

Choripán

Anna’s take on Argentina’s hot dog.

Ingredients:

Grilled or fried chorizo sausages
Thinly sliced piquillo peppers
Finely grated parmesan (or queso freso)
Chimichurri sauce
Sour cream
Hot dog rolls or mini baguettes
Fried onions

Method:

Build your sandwich from the above ingredients and enjoy!


And how about a tropical fruit shake on the side, Cubano style?

Now that’s what I’m talking about!

oysters w lime caviar

I love Sydney rock oysters. They taste so much better than the huge Pacific oysters.

Don’t get me wrong, if you gave me a dozen Pacifics I’d be a happy gal, but the rock oysters are simply sublime.

So why not match the native Sydney rocks to another native ingredient? Finger limes!

The beautifully coloured caviar looks wonderful and the tangy flavour is a perfect acidic accompaniment to the creamy rock oysters.

If you want more info on finger limes, try these two cocktail recipes.

Thanks again to Fred and Janet Durham at the Australian Finger Lime Company who generously gave me these finger limes.

Oysters w Lime Caviar & Black Pepper

Ingredients:
12 Sydney rock oysters
Caviar of 2 finger limes
Black pepper, to taste
Squeeze of regular lime juice
Drop or two of oil (avocado, sesame, olive)

Method:
1. Combine all the ingredients except the oysters into a bowl and mix to combine.
2. Top your oyster and enjoy!

This ticks off a 2011 Food Challenge to use more native ingredients.

gorgonzola, fresh figs & prosciutto bruschetta

This is a simple dish to make. So simple is doesn't need a recipe.

Just slice a baguette, toast it, rub some garlic on the sides.

Chop the figs, crumble the gorgonzola and curl the prosciutto on top.

Pepper, salt.

Devour!

These beauties were made lovingly for me by my gorgeous friend Shelle Belle.

Delicous.

green goddess dip

After a month offline in Europe, it's time to start cooking again. It's been a while and I although I'll be blogging about the food we discovered for quite some time, I also plan to keep blogging recipes too.

It's winter back in Australia, but I'm still dreaming about the rays of sun I managed to catch in northern Spain.

This recipe captures the fresh flavours of summer well and is a great little dip to serve at a party or BBQ.

It tastes herby and fresh, and the saltiness from the anchovies leaves you wanting more.

 
Green Goddess Dip

Recipe from Williams-Sonoma. Makes 1½ cups.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh mint
2 or 3 anchovy fillets
1 shallot, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼ cup mayonnaise
¾ cup sour cream
Chips and crudités, for serving
Method:
1. In a blender or food processor, combine the chives, parsley, basil, mint, anchovies, shallot, lemon juice and mayonnaise.
2. Blend or process until smooth, about 1 minute or about 15 pulses.
3. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir in the sour cream.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 3 days.
5. Serve with potato chips and crudités for dipping.

This is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging this week, hosted by Anh from Food Lover's Journey.

chinese pork & garlic chive dumplings

Chinese pork & garlic chive dumplings, otherwise known as Jiu Cai Jiaozi, happen to be one of the most delicious things on earth. Pan-fried and served with strong, black vinegar and spicy chilli . . . . one of my all time favourite things to eat.

I wasn't daring enough to make the dough, but I thought I was pretty brave to attempt assembling them myself. I was very pleased with the results and even shared the excess with Stinky and M.E., who seemed very happy with that.

To decide how to make them, I scoured the internet for Jiu Cai Jiaozi recipes and came across the very simple steps provided by Billy from A Table For Two. They were so good I kicked myself for forgetting to thank him when we ran into each other at a Peruvian degustation (see Billy, there was a reason I thought I knew you).

These seriously good dumplings are my pasta offering to Presto Pasta Nights hosted by fellow Aussie blogger Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once.

Jiu Cai Jiaozi (Chinese Pork & Garlic Chive Dumplings)

Recipe by A Table For Two. Makes 30 dumplings.

Ingredients:
500 gram pork mince
1 bunch garlic chives (chopped)
3 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 packet of dumpling skin (30 skins)
1 tbsp corn flour
2 tbsp rice wine
Soy sauce
Sesame oil
Salt & pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Add all ingredients into a large bowl (except the dumpling skins) and mix well together.

2. Fill a small bowl with water and set aside.

3. Scoop a tablespoon of the mixture and lay it in the centre of a dumpling skin.

4. Dip your index finger in the water, then run it around the edge of the dumpling skin.

5. Fold the skin in half from bottom to top, press the skin together and seal the mixture inside.

6. From the centre, overlapping the skin inwards from both sides until it reaches the pointy edges.

7. Run the edges and press tightly with 2 fingers to make sure the dumpling is properly sealed.

Steaming Method:
1. Inside bamboo steamer baskets, lay some iceberg lettuce and make sure is flat enough to put dumplings on top without falling over.
2. Arrange 6 to 8 dumplings inside basket without touching each other so they don’t stick together when cooked.
3. Use a wok and pour 2 cups of water and let it boil in medium heat. Place the steamer basket inside the wok and cover it with a lid. Let it simmer for 10 – 15 mins or until the dumpling skins looks translucent then it is ready.

Frying Method:

1. Heat up a frying pan with a little bit of vegetable oil.
2. Put some dumplings in the pan and lay flat on one side. Make sure they don’t touch each other to avoid sticking together.
3. Pour 2 tablespoon of water in the pan, and quickly cover it with a lid.
4. Few minutes later, flip the dumplings and fry the other side. Again, pour 2 tablespoon of water and cover it with a lid.
5. Fry the dumplings until crisp and golden brown then it is ready.

Billy's note: the dumplings usually go with condiments of soy sauce, sesame oil and black vinegar. A hot spicy chilli paste is also an essential condiment with the dumplings.

Anna’s variation: I added that grated fresh ginger for extra kick.

salpicón de camarónes (veracruz prawn cocktail)

 
This recipe comes from Saveur, an American food magazine which I love.

The best way to explain a salpicón, is to take the words straight from Saveur:

“The word salpicón, which comes from the Spanish sal, salt, and picar, to chop, refers, in classic French cooking, to a mince of poultry, game, or vegetables bound with a sauce. In Mexico, however, it can mean anything from a shredded beef salad in the north to this citrusy shrimp appetizer”

As summer comes closer to Sydney I begin to crave raw seafood drenched in lime or lemon (but never both at the same time!). Adding chillies, coriander and avocado is an additional blessing and this dish is one of my all time favourite meals in summer.

It's also another 2009 food challenge since it's another Mexican recipe.

Salpicón de Camarónes (Veracruz-Style Prawn Cocktail)

Recipe from Restaurante Doña Lala in Tlacotalpan, Mexico.
Printed in Saveur Issue #12. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked small prawns (shrimp)
1 cored chopped tomato
½ small white onion, peeled +chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled +minced
1 fresh jalapeño, seeded +sliced
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
Salt & freshly ground white pepper
1 avocado, peeled + sliced
Lime wedges

Method:

1. Peel shrimp.

2. Mix together shrimp, tomatoes, onions, garlic and jalapeño.

3. Stir in oil and parsley, season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Top with avocado and garnish with lime wedges.

Note: I added coriander and used cherry tomatoes.

As my Weekend Herb Blogging entry, I’m focusing on the avocado. Our host is Katie from Eat This, so go check out the round-up.

Avocado has been my theme ingredient in two other WHB posts, one in 2007 (cold avocado soup from the Ivory Coast) and one in 2008 (avocado shake from Vietnam). So here’s 2009 and some avocado information copied dircetly from my 2007 post.

The word avocado comes from the Aztec (Nahuatl) word ahuacatl, via Spanish aguacate and means “testicle”. Perhaps because of its appearance, the Aztecs believed avocadoes were an aphrodisiac and called it "the fertility fruit". Apparently during avocado harvesting, virgins were kept indoors to prevent any promiscuity taking place.

This reputation stuck with the avocado for such a long time and many people in South America wouldn’t eat it because they wanted to appear wholesome. Companies had to undertake serious PR campaigns to dispel the myths and get the fruit out to the public.

The Nahuatl word ahuacatl makes up other words like ahuacamolli, meaning "avocado soup/sauce” which the Spanish transformed into guacamole.

In 2005, the world’s top ten avocado producing nations were, in order: Mexico, Indonesia, USA, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, Peru, China and Ethiopia. As trees need well aerated soils and subtropical or tropical climates to thrive, this makes sense.

Propagation by seed takes around 5 years to produce fruit and the quality is never as good as the parent tree. Commercial plantations therefore graft new seedlings.

Avocadoes mature on the tree but ripen once harvested. The fruit is high monounsaturated fat contents and contains 60% more potassium than bananas, vitamin Bs, vitamin E, vitamin K and folate.

In Brazil, Vietnam, the Philippines, Jamaica and Indonesia avocadoes are blended with sugar and milk to create a milkshake.

It is also interesting to note that avocado foliage, skin and pits are said to poison animals such as birds, cats, dogs, cattle, goats, rabbits and fish.

~~~

This time previously on M&M:
2008 - Sago gula bali (Balinese coconut sago dessert)
2007 - Fatteh (Syrian chickpea & yoghurt breakfast)
2006 - Japanese-style tomato carpaccio

patatas bravas

Here's Day 6 of Potato Week with another Spanish recipe, and what better for a Friday night than this tapa with a glass (read jug) of sangria.

Patatas Bravas

Recipe from Taste.com.au. Serves 4 for tapas.

Ingredients:
1.5kg sebago potatoes, peeled
1/3 cup olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
½ teaspoon chilli powder
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1/3 cup dry white wine
400g can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¼ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.

2. Place potatoes in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil over medium-low heat (potatoes should still be firm). Drain and set aside for 15 minutes.

3. When cool enough to handle, cut potatoes into 2cm cubes.

4. Pour ¼ cup oil into a roasting pan. Place in oven for 5 minutes or until oil and pan are hot.

5. Carefully add potatoes to pan. Turn to coat. Roast for 40 minutes or until crisp and tender.

6. Meanwhile, heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a saucepan over low heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until soft.

7. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.

8. Add chilli powder and paprika. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

9. Add wine. Increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Cook for 3 minutes or until reduced by half.

10. Add tomatoes and oregano. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until sauce has thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

11. Transfer sauce to a food processor and process until smooth. Return to saucepan.

12. Cook, stirring, over medium heat for 3 minutes or until heated through. Stir through parsley.

13. Transfer potatoes to a serving bowl. Spoon over sauce and toss gently to coat. Serve with alioli.

Note: Jonas and I like to make double the sauce quantity then scrape the serving dish clean with chunks of crusty bread. We also add a little more chilli powder to increase the heat.

pickled smoked sausages

Yesterday we woke up to an eerie red glow and looked out the window to see Sydney blanketed in an impenetrable mist.

It turned out to be a huge dust storm that dumped 1000 tonnes of iron-rich dust on Sydney from the drought-stricken outback. As the sun tried to penetrate the fog, the light glinted off the tiny iron particles in the soil and created the most beautiful red glow.

Unfortunately the entire city is now filthy and anyone with any kind of breathing issue is not a happy camper.

But onto the recipe . . . during a visit to the Czech Republic in 2003 I tried my first pickled sausage "utopenci". I loved it.

Next taste was 2005 in the USA, when I found snack-pack pickled sausages as well as huge jars at Walmart. My grandfather, father and I spent a summer afternoon sitting in the shade of the garage drinking ice tea and eating pickled sausages from a giant jar (in the Florida humidity)!

These memories were the inspiration behind this 2009 Food Challenge and I made my very own batch of pickled sausages to munch on at home.

Note, these are not "Marco Polo" brand, that's just the jar I used!

I highly recommend you make yourself some pickled sausages. They sound gross, but they are truly delicious.

Also, make sure you add beetroot juice or your sausages will turn an unappetising grey hue.

Pickled Smoked Sausages

Recipe by Glenn Shapely.

Ingredients:
1kg pre-cooked, smoked sausages
500ml cider vinegar
125ml boiling water
40g sugar
15g pickling spices
5g onion flakes
A few drops of beetroot juice

Method:

1. Cut sausage to fit container and place inside.

2. In a saucepan add the vinegar, water, sugar, spices and onion flakes to the boil.

3. Pour the pickling liquid into the jar, add beetroot juice and put on lid. Turn upside and allow to sit for a few minutes to sterilise and seal the lid.

4. Refrigerate for 2 weeks before eating.


Pickling Spice
Anna's very own recipe. Makes 1 batch.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 allspice berries
2 bay leaves
1 clove

Method:
1. Combine and add to vinegar when preparing pickling liquids.