Courgette and feta fritters
Posted: April 27, 2011 Filed under: Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: Courgette, Fritters, Spices, Zucchini 1 Comment
Other than his very popular New Vegetarian column at the Guardian, Yotam Ottolenghi also writes for Here Is The City News. And, he doesn’t hesitate to use recipes the editor of the Guardian didn’t see fit to publish. This one had to be dropped from a section on quick and healthy breakfasts. Having tried it, I can certainly understand why. It took me a couple of hours and a dishwasher load to have it ready. It might be delicious, but it is not exactly what you need to to start the day… Unless you go to Nopi’s and order it from the menu.
Courgette and feta fritters
- 200g soured cream (I replaced it by lactose free yogurt)
- 2 tbsp roughly chopped coriander
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 70ml sunflower oil
- Zest and juice of 1 lime
- Salt and black pepper
- 3 medium courgettes
- 2 small shallots, finely chopped (but very very finely, otherwise you will feel you are chewing onions)
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- Grated zest of 2 limes
- About 60g self-raising flour
- 2 large free-range eggs
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 150g manouri cheese (or feta)
In a small bowl, mix the cream, chopped coriander, half a teaspoon of ground cardamom, two teaspoons of oil and the lime zest and juice. Season to taste, cover and chill.
Chop off the ends of the courgettes, then grate the flesh into a bowl. Sprinkle with half a teaspoon of salt and leave for 10 minutes so they release their juices. Squeeze the courgettes to remove most of the liquid, then add the shallots, garlic, lime zest, flour, eggs, ground coriander, the remaining cardamom and a pinch of pepper. Mix to form a thick batter (add some flour if it’s a bit runny), then fold in the manouri.
Heat 2-3mm of oil in a large frying pan and add heaped dessertspoons of the batter (in batches, if need be), flatten a little and cook on each side for around three minutes. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. (larger portions than a tablespoon will give very messy fritters. Do not forget to flat).
Serve three fritters per portion with a generous dollop of the sauce.
Rice and spinach cake
Posted: April 6, 2011 Filed under: Rice, Vegetarian | Tags: Eggs, Rice, Spices, spinach Leave a comment
While looking for a recipe to use up spinach, I found by chance an old rticle about rice by Fiona Becket. The recipe has proved to be ageless, and delicious. The quantities of herbs and spices had to be adjusted to current times – pinches are now teaspoons.
Rice and spinach cake
Ingredients
- 500g fresh, tender-leafed spinach
- 250g arborio or carnaroli rice
- 2 medium-sized onions
- 2 cloves garlic
- 25g unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 fresh, well-born eggs
- 60g Parmesan, grated
- 2 or 3 sage leaves
- A pinch of thyme
- A pinch of oregano
- Sea salt
- A generous grating of nutmeg
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Wash the spinach several times in a sink full of cold water. Remove the stalks and imperfections from the spinach. Place a large pan of water to boil and plunge in the spinach. Quickly remove the spinach, cool in iced water and drain thoroughly. Rinse the pan, refill with water and return to the cooker to boil. Form the spinach into balls, squeezing out any excess water, then chop finely. Tip the rice into the boiling water and cook for 10-12 minutes. Drain the rice and mix with the spinach.
Peel, finely chop, and fry the onions in the oil and butter until pale and softened, then add to the rice and spinach. Pick and chop the herbs, peel and finely chop the garlic, grate in about 4 tablespoons of Parmesan, add in the eggs, sea salt and several grinds of pepper. Mix all this together, then smooth into a dish or a tin lined with liberally-buttered silicon paper. Bake the cake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden
Spiced lentils with cucumber yogurt
Posted: April 4, 2011 Filed under: Pulses and lentils, Vegetarian | Tags: Cucumber, Lentils, Spices, Yoghurt, Yotam Ottolenghi 1 Comment
Spiced lentils with cucumber yogurt
Ingredients
- 200g split red lentils
- 1 bunch fresh coriander
- 1 small onion, peeled
- 40g ginger, peeled
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 mild green chilli
- half teaspoon of black mustard seeds
- 4 tablespoons of sunflower oil
- half teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- half teaspoon ground turmeric
- half teaspoon paprika
- 10 curry leaves
- 300g ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- 2 teaspoon caster sugar
- half teaspoon fenugreek (optional)
- 1 pinch asafoetida (optional)
- Salt
- 150g Greek yogurt (I used regular lactose free yogurt)
- 75g finely diced cucumber
- half tablespoon of olive oil
- 70g unsalted butter
- lime juice
Methods
Wash the lentils in plenty of water, drain and soak in 350ml of fresh water for 30 minutes. Cut the coriander bunch somewhere around its centre to get a leafy top half and a stem/root bottom half. Roughly chop the leaves. Put the stem half in the bowl of a food processor, add the onion, ginger, garlic and chilli – all roughly broken – and pulse a few times to chop up without turning into a paste.
Put the mustard seeds in a heavy-based pot and place over medium heat. When they begin to pop, add the onion mix and sunflower oil, stir and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Add the spices and curry leaves, and continue cooking and stirring for five minutes longer. Now add the lentils and their soaking water, the tomatoes, sugar, fenugreek, asafoetida and a pinch of salt. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, until the lentils are fully cooked.
Before serving, whisk together the yogurt, cucumber, oil and some salt. Stir into the lentils the butter, lime juice and chopped coriander leaves, taste and season generously with salt. Divide into bowls, spoon yogurt on top and garnish with coriander.
Leek fritters.
Posted: March 27, 2011 Filed under: Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: Fritters, Leeks, Spices, Yoghurt, Yotam Ottolenghi Leave a comment
A Yotam Ottolenghi‘s family dish, with its usual kilometric list of ingredients and a recommendation: do not skip any of them. If anything, spare yourself the bother of doing the sauce. Recipe was found on Plenty, his latest cookbook.
Ingredients
For the sauce
- 100g Greek yogurt
- 100g sour cream
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- salt to taste
- 20g finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 30g finely chopped coriander leaves
For the fritters
- 3 leeks (450g trimmed weight)
- 2 banana shallots, peeled and finely chopped (I used regular red onions)
- 140ml olive oil
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced
- 25g parsley, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoons coriander seeds, crushed
- 1 teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoons ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoons sugar
- salt to taste
- 1 egg white
- 120g self-raising flour (or regular all purpose flour with 2 teaspoons of a raising agent, like Royal).
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 egg
- 150ml milk
- 55g unsalted butter, melted
Method
Start by making the sauce. Put all the sauce ingredients into the bowl of a food processor, blitz together until a uniform green, then set to one side.
Cut the leeks into 2cm thick rounds, rinse and dry. Over medium heat, sauté the leeks and shallots in a pan with five tablespoons of oil until soft – about 15 minutes – then transfer to a bowl and add the chilli, parsley, spices, sugar and salt. Leave to cool.
Whisk the egg white to soft peaks and fold it into the vegetables. In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, egg, milk and butter to form a batter. Gently mix this into the egg white and vegetable mixture.
Put two tablespoons of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Spoon the mixture into the pan to make four large fritters, and fry for two to three minutes a side, until golden and crisp. Transfer to kitchen towel and repeat, adding oil as needed, until the mixture is used up. Serve warm with the sauce on the side or drizzled over.
Mash with a twist
Posted: March 23, 2011 Filed under: Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: Mash, Nigella, Potatoes Leave a comment
A mash is a mash is a mash. That is, mashed potatoes. Boil the potatoes, add butter and milk, salt and pepper and then mash. But, a special dinner calls for a special dish. After a brief consult with Todpop, I decided to give it a go to Nigella‘s mash with a twist.
Mash with a twist
Ingredients
- 1.2 Kg starchy potatoes
- 0.6 Kg parsnips (also known as pastinaki)
- 300 mL buttermilk (or diluted cream)
- 1 root of ginger broken down in pieces.
- olive oil
- Asian sesame toasted oil to taste
Method
Peel the potatoes and the parsnips and put them to cook with the ginger root. When cooked, take out the ginger.
Put the potatoes in a big glass bowl, and add the sesame oil, the olive oil, the buttermilk and salt&pepper to taste. Mash the all the ingredients. Once they are mashed, fluff them with a wooden spoon.
Nigella – also know as the Queen of porn food – explains how to do this mash in this TV appearance.
Roasted vegetables
Posted: March 5, 2011 Filed under: Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: Apricots, Carrots, Chickpeas, Pumpkin, Spices Leave a comment
Roasted sweet potatoes pan fried with roasted red onions, pine nuts and feta cheese
Posted: December 18, 2010 Filed under: Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: Carlos Horrillo and Patrick Morcas, Feta cheese, Pine nuts, Red onions, Roast, Sweet potato 2 Comments
I have already mentioned it a few times: Tapas – Simple Flavours, Striking Combinations, by Carlos Horrillo and Patrick Morcas, is one of my favorite cookbooks. And, the roasted sweet potatoes is one of my favorite dishes. It looks a bit laborious, but most of the roasting can be done in advance.
Roasted sweet potatoes pan fried with roasted red onions, pine nuts and feta cheese
Ingredients
- 3 large sweet potatoes cut in 3 cm slices
- garlic infused oil (I normally out 4 crushed cloves in 100ml olive oil and let it rest for a while)
- salt and pepper
- 3 red onions cut into quarters
- 1 heaped tablespoon of pine nuts
- 75g of feta cheese
Method
The stove goes at 200oC (mark 6).
Put the sweet potatoes in roasting tray and drizzle generously with garlic oil until they are well coated. 2 pinches of salt and 3 pinches of pepper and then mix well. Put in the middle of the stove for about 1h, and mix every now and again to ensure they don’t burn.
Put the onion quarters in a small roasting tray and drizzle with garlic oil. Season with salt and pepper. Place them at the bottom of the stove and cook for 20min.
For the pine nuts, get a small frying pan and put it at low heat. Do not add oil. Drop in the pine nuts and fry gently stirring constantly until they are golden brown. Reserve.
When the onions and sweet potatoes are ready, place a large heavy based non sticky frying pan on a medium to high heat and put enough garlic oil to cover the bottom Drop in half the roasted sweet potatoes and fry until they start to break. Add half the roasted onions and give everything a good stir. Cook for 5min, stirring the whole time to avoid burning. Take it out from the pan and keep it hot. Repeat with the remaining roasted potatoes and onions.
When the second batch is almost ready, add the first batch to the pan and reduce the heat to low. Carefully stir in the feta cheese and the pine nuts and continue cooking until the feta is almost melting. Serve straight away.
The ultimate Winter couscous
Posted: November 30, 2010 Filed under: Grains, Pulses and lentils, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tags: Apricots, Carrots, Chickpeas, Couscous, Parsnips, Pumpkin, Roast, Spices, Yotam Ottolenghi Leave a comment
Tortilla de patata [Spanish omelette]
Posted: September 28, 2010 Filed under: Eggs, Vegetarian | Tags: Carlos Horrillo and Patrick Morcas, Omelette, Potatoes, Spain 1 Comment
No matter how much effort, love and care you put into it, someone mother’s tortilla will be always better than yours. And don’t even mention the supreme interpretation of this Spanish classic done by all Mothers-in-Law – specially yours. To stay away from trouble, I use the recipe I found in the book: Tapas: Simple Flavours, Striking Combinations by Carlos Horrillo and Patrick Morcas, and call it potato and caramelized onion omelette.
Tortilla de patata [Spanish omelette]
Ingredients
- 1.5 Kg Desiree red potatoes (I use 1Kg of parboiled roesti potatoes. Most Spanish Mothers and Mothers-in-Law would be horrified if they knew).
- Olive oil
- 1 large Spanish onion (always a controversial topic. For some, a proper tortilla de patata has nothing but eggs and potatoes; others would call the thought an heresy).
- knob of butter
- 10 eggs (no typo: it is indeed ten eggs you are going to need).
- Salt and pepper
Method
Peel the potatoes, cut them in half, and then cut each half into slices 1.5cm thick. Place in a pan of cold, salter water ad bring the to the boil. Parboil, or until just tender enough to pierce with a knife. Drain and leave to one side.
In a large, non-stick frying pan, around 30cm in diameter (preferably with slopping side because it will make turning the tortilla easier later on), place 12 dashes of olive oil and put on a low to medium heat (this is liberal quantity of olive oil – enough to cover the bottom of the pan with a thick film). Toss in the sliced onions and a generous pinch of salt and pepper, and start to fry them. Once the onions start to sizzle, turn the heat down to low and add the knob of butter. Cook the onions until they are soft and golden, and then remove them with a slotted spoon and place to one side.
Return the pan to medium heat, and add the par-boiled potatoes, a generous pinch of salt and a small pinch of pepper. Fry gently for 2 minutes, turning frequently or until the potatoes are lightly crisp and and golden on the outside while soft on the inside. Just before they are done, return the onions to the pan, stir them well and cook them together for about a minute. When done, remove everything with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl to one side. You will need the oil that was left at the pan for later.
Crack the eggs into a large bowl, add 2 generous pinch of salt, a small pinch of pepper and beat lightly together. Add the cooked potato and onion mixture and still well. Leave to stand for a few minutes, to allow the ingredients to marry.
Return the pan to medium to high head, add 6 more dashes of olive oil (again, until you have a thick oil film that covers the surface of the pan. Tilt the pan until the bottom is well coated. Do not forget to do is, or else you have parts of the tortilla firmly sticked to the bottom of the pan. Not a nice tortilla technique…). Heat the oil until smoking hot, then poor in the egg mixture, moving the pan in a gentle, circular motion to distribute the ingredients evenly and prevent the eggs to stick and burn. Cook for about 30 seconds, then turn down the heat to medium low, and cook for further 4 minutes, shacking the pan gently every so often. Do not stir! (Seriously, do not! If you stir, it will be a completely different dish). When the tortilla start to bubble on the side, it is time to turn over. If this the first time at doing this, prepare for a mess (let’s face the facts – it will get messy. It took a few times before Mr Burntsugar got the hang of it, but now he is an expert. I am more on the supervision and management side of things).
Find a suitable plate, large enough to cover the face of the pan with space to spare, and sit it face down on top. Hold firmly onto the handle of the pan with one hand and use the other hand to press down firmly the plate. Now, in one fast move, lift the pan of the stove and flip it over onto the plate. Remove the pan (hopefully, there’ll be little, if anything, left stuck to the base, and not a horrible mess to clean in the kitchen). Clean thoroughly the pan with kitchen paper roll. It is very important the bottom of the pan has no egg leftovers and burnt egg stick to it. Set down the pan while you add 12 more dashed of olive oil and tilt the pan to make sure the bottom is coated with a thick film of olive oil. When the oil is smoking hot, carefully slide the half cooked tortilla into the pan to cook on the other side. You might need to shake the pan gently and tuck in the sides of the tortilla with a wooden spatula because they will probably look a bit jagged. Allow the tortilla to cook in hight heat for about 30 seconds, then reduce the heat to medium low heat and cook for further 4 minutes. This should leave you with a tortilla moist in the middle (when the tortilla is this cooked to its point is another heated controversy). If you are the ones who prefer it firmer, cook it for a few minutes more, preferably before carbonization. When the tortilla is cooked to your taste, slide it onto a clean plate to cool down slightly. Serve it warm, at room temperature, cut in slice, in little cubes…
Apple, sage and goat cheese salad
Posted: September 25, 2010 Filed under: Salad, Vegetarian | Tags: Apples, Goat cheese, Mafalda Pinto Leite, spinach 1 Comment
T. brought this warm apples, nuts, sage, goat cheese and autumn leaves salad last time she came home for dinner. “Did you know Mafalda Pinto Leite?”, she asked, while she took over the kitchen and put the salad together. “Mafalda who?” I answered. Clearly, I was missing out on something. The recipe is from the book Cozinha Para Quem Não Tem Tempo (in a very liberal translation from the Portuguese, Cooking for Those Who Have No Time)
Apple, sage and goat cheese salad
Ingredients (4 persons)
- 60g butter without salt
- 1 tablespoon of sage leafs (no chopping needed).
- 3 tablespoons of white vinegar (I used cherry vinegar)
- 1 tablespoon of brown sugar (cane sugar will also work fine)
- 2 green apples without core and cut in quarters.
- Half mug of chopped nuts
- 100g de rucola or red spinach (I used a bag of autumn leaves)
- 150g of sliced goat cheese (the creamy one)
Method
Put the butter, sage, vinegar and sugar in a frying pan (low heat). When the butter has melted, add the nuts and the apples and. Let cook for a few minutes or until the fruit is tender.
Make a bed of leafs in the dishes, and place the apples and the nuts on top. Reserve the juice that was left on the pan, and poor it over the nuts and apples. Finish with the sliced goat cheese.
Total time of cooking: 8 minutes-ish. Looking for the right ingredients in the cupboard: one eternity.
Lucie Loves Food 