sorrel & goats cheese egg bake

This recipe is basically a savoury custard flavoured with sorrel, an interesting leafy vegetable often found as a wild weed.

As a child my mother taught me to identify sorrel in the wild and I used to eat it when playing in fields or out on walks. I love the sour flavour.

These days, I suppose I’m more risk adverse and less likely to start chomping on random weeds in case I identified it incorrectly or someone has sprayed them with pesticides.

If you have sorrel growing as a weed in your garden, I encourage you not to kill it but to harvest it. It’s great in a salad, makes a wonderful soup (hot or chilled) and pairs perfectly with goats cheese in this wonderful breakfast dish.

Sorrel & Goats Cheese Egg Bake

Anna’s very own recipe. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
8 eggs, beaten
500g sorrel, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, grated
Juice & zest of 1 lemon
125g sour cream
100g soft goats cheese, crumbed
⅓ cup parmesan
Salt and pepper, freshly milled to taste

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180’C. Grease 4 x 250ml (1 cup) ramekins.
2. Pick over sorrel and remove any tough stems from the larger leaves.
3. In a food processor, blend eggs, garlic, lemon juice and zest.
4. Add sour cream and blend again. Season to taste.
5. Add sorrel and pulse until it’s chopped through, but not completely pureed into oblivion.
6. Pour into grease ramekins, dot with crumbled goats cheese.
7. Sprinkle with parmesan.
8. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until completely set on top and risen. Eat hot.

This sorrel recipe is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, this week hosted by Cinzia from Cindystar. I don’t participate in WHB all that often anymore, but every time I do it seems to be Cinzia’s turn to host!

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.

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!!!

wild hibiscus flowers in syrup

Merry Christmas!

I’m trying hard not to be a little sad this Christmas, but there are four people snowed in on the other side of the world who were supposed to be here with us today.

Jonas’ elder brother (David), sister (Helena), brother-in-law (Christian) and niece (Chloe) were due to arrive on Wednesday morning and instead (because London and Frankfurt don’t know how to handle a little snow) they’ll miss this very special Christmas we had arranged for them.

On the up side, my lovely brother and his family drove down from the Gold Coast to join us and that’s one big positive.

Jonas and his crew will just have to wait a few more days for their own sweet reunion.

~ ~ ~

To celebrate Christmas, I’m sharing this very festive recipe that’s actually perfect for any special occasion.

Admittedly, fresh rosellas (wild hibiscus flowers) are hard to get your hands on but, if you can, the delicious syrups and jams they produce is worth the hard yards tracking them down.

These flowers and a splash of their syrup are perfect for adding to a glass of bubbly (I had them as an aperitif at my wedding), or equally wonderful with soda water, as a topping to vanilla yoghurt or perched on a cheesecake.

And for those who can’t get these pretty little flowers to poach them yourselves, there are some great websites that ship jars of the flowers in syrup.
• USA 
• Europe 
• Australia/NZ 

This recipe comes from a beautiful and truly interesting cookbook about native Australian ingredients called Wild Food. If you're curious about the amazing fruits, herbs and spices that Australia has given to the world, you might want to check it out.

Wild Rosella Flowers in Syrup

Recipe from Wild Food by Juleigh Robins. Makes 40.

Ingredients:
2 cups cold water
2 cups caster sugar
2 cups wild rosellas, chopped
40 wild rosella flowers, whole

Method:

1. Place the water, sugar and chopped wild rosella in a wide stainless-steel saucepan over medium heat.

2. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently until the volume of liquid has reduced by a third.

3. Remove from the heat and strain to remove the solids.

4. Return to the pan, add the flowers and bring to the boil.

5. When it starts to bubble, remove from the heat and pour into sterilised jars.

glasört & smör

Glasört? Smör? What the heck are those?

Well, they are both Swedish words.

Glasört is a type of coastal succulent also known in English as salicorne, glasswort, pickleweed, sea beans or samphire.

Smör is the Swedish word for butter, so if you guessed this post is about tossing fresh samphire in a little butter, then you were spot on!

In the 1960s, Jonas’ admiral grandfather secured the lease to an idyllic property near an important naval base in the south of Stockholm’s archipelago on the island of Muskö. The family built a cute little stuga (cottage) and the lease has stayed in the family ever since, with generations experiencing summers in this very Swedish location.

The house is at the end of a winding forest pathway and overlooks a beautiful point with a small beach, jetty and forest garden filled with wild blueberry, raspberry and lingon bushes.

It’s a heavenly location but the accommodation is basic with no electric lighting and no hot water. Drinking water is pumped from a nearby lake, the toilet is a bucket in an outhouse and the shower is the sea.

We spent four wonderful days there, lazing in the sun, swimming in the Baltic Sea, drinking Gimlets and cooking over the fire. It was 30’C days, blue skies and the sun set at around 10pm every night. Bliss.

It was at Muskö that I made this basic side dish of samphire, which suited our location and provided a burst of salt while we ate on the beach. Not everyone liked it (Christian and Jonas found it very salty) but Helena and I enjoyed the texture and flavour.

I would certainly eat it again. And again. It’s my new favourite thing. Just writing about it is conjuring memories of the crunchy, salty fronds. I’m salivating!

My recipe is slapdash and rustic but it’s not at all complicated. The only thing to remember is don’t use any salt. No salt in the water. No salt on the greens. Samphire is so salty on its own that anything additional will take it over the top.

Glasört & Smör

Anna’s very own recipe.
Ingredients:Bunch of samphire
Knob of butter (or olive oil)
Freshly milled pepper
Lemon wedge

Method:
1. Pick over the samphire and make sure all pieces are firm and crunchy. Remove any soft ends.

2. Bring a pot of water to the boil.

3. Throw in the samphire and blanch for 1-2 minutes, depending on how much you’re making. Less time in the water is best. You want it very crunchy.

4. Drain, toss with butter and fresh pepper.

5. Sprinkle with some lemon juice and serve warm or cool.

As this is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Srivalli from Cooking 4 All Seasons, I thought I’d also include photos of Muskö to share with you some of the beauty and peacefulness we experienced.

Samphire is a succulent that grows in coastal areas, beaches, mangroves and along salty flats. A little confusingly, samphire is used to describe a few different yet all edible plants. In my case I’m referring to marsh samphire (Salicornia europaea) however rock samphire is also eaten.

Salicornia are native to the USA, Europe, South Africa and South Asia and, while there are said be over 60 species, the most commonly eaten is Salicornia europaea.

It has a woody base but the succulent, fleshy summer leaves are green and juicy, with a real salty burst of flavour similar to asparagus and artichoke. They are best eaten before the plant flowers and the leaves turn red in autumn.

The word samphire is a corruption of the French "Saint Pierre" because St Peter was the patron saint of fishermen, but marsh samphire was known in Old English as glasswort because the ashes were used to make soda ash (Sodium carbonate) for industrial soap and glass production. Clearly the Swedish name glasört has the same industrially-related origins.

Samphire is most commonly eaten pickled or simply dressed as part of a salad. It is served raw or lightly blanched and is an excellent accompaniment to seafood dishes, naturally.

Other samphire recipes:
Pickled Samphire
Salt Marsh Lamb, Samphire & Broad Beans
Crab & Samphire Risotto
Samphire Sauce
Warm Salad of Samphire, Asparagus & Crab
Fennel & Samphire Fishcakes
Barbequed Rock Lobster w Samphire
Hake in Agrodolce w Samphire
Marron & Samphire

If you’re curious for more Sweden-related recipes, or just like looking at our recent holiday photos, there are more to come! In the meantime check out:
Tokyo food
Swedish countryside photos & Pytt i Panna recipe
Thai rose apples

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samphire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salicornia
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/cookandchef/txt/s1721935.htm
Tags: morsels and musings food blog food and drink australia recipes weekend herb blogging whb side dish salicorne samphire glasswort glasswort recipes salicorne recipes samphire recipes vegetarian recipes