Courgette, Parmesan & Hazelnut Salad and Green Bean, Spinach & "Falafel" Salad - Salad Days # 3 & # 4

My Salad Days project continues and today I have two salads for you.  My first salad, a Courgette, Parmesan and Hazelnut  Salad could not be simpler.  Like all dishes which are incredibly simple, however, it relies entirely on good quality.

Begin with the freshest, crispest courgettes you can get your hands on.  I like to pick them fresh out of the garden literally moments before I use them, which means there's usually a few flowers I can use as well.  I also like to use the the little baby ones that are literally no bigger than your index finger, though they grow so quickly there's usually a few slightly larger ones as well.  If you happen to have different varieties and colours of courgettes/squash at your disposal use them too.

To put the salad together, cut your courgettes (as many as you like) as thinly as you can - a mandoline is really useful if you have one - and go for a variety of shapes.  I cut some into rings and some into long ribbons using a vegetable peeler.  Place the courgettes in a bowl with plenty of shaved parmesan and roasted hazelnuts.  Squeeze over some fresh lemon juice and a generous slosh of the best extra virgin olive oil you can get your hands on.  Hazelnut oil or walnut oil would also be great alternatives.  Season generously with flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Toss everything together gently to combine and transfer to a serving dish.

PS - Don't you love this gorgeous bowl made for me by my lovely friend, Clare Strange

My second salad today is a Green Bean, Spinach & "Falafel" Salad with a Harissa Dressing.

This was another incredibly simple salad to put together.  I happened to have some mixture leftover from a batch of these Pea, Feta & Quinoa Fritters, so I rolled it into teeny, tiny fritters and fried them until crispy.  You could just as easily use some falafel mix instead. While they were cooking, I blanched some green beans, then tossed them together with some baby spinach leaves and diced cucumber.  Nestle the little fritters amongst the salad leaves and beans. The dressing is a simple combination of 2 tablespoons of harissa with 1/3 cup of natural yoghurt - if necessary thin with a little water if necessary to achieve a "dressing-like" consistency.

This dish delivered all the things I love in a good salad - some protein from the quinoa and feta, great texture contrasts from the crispy fritters, crunchy beans, and soft velvety spinach, and finished off with a great dressing that packs a real flavour punch.  This salad makes a complete and satisfying meal on its own.

As I mentioned earlier, these are salad number 4 and 5 in my Salad Days, 28 days of salad project.   What's that you ask?  Well,  I've said it here a dozen times or more ... I love salads.  A big bowl, substantial salad is hands down my favourite meal any time of the year.  Such is my love of salad, that I'm challenging myself to come up with a different salad every day for the month of February - that's 28 days of salads - and I plan to share as many of them as I can with you.  I'll also be doing some flashbacks to some of my favourite salads I've shared in the past.

What's more, I'm giving you the opportunity to share some of your favourite salads with me too.  Have a favourite salad you'd like to share?  Simply link up your salad recipe using the linky tool at the bottom of this post.  The linky will be open all month, and you can join in any day or every day, and link as many recipes as you like.  Feel free to grab the Salad Days badge from the sidebar to include in your post if you'd like to.  There's really no rules around linking up, other than please, use your manners and link your post back to this one.  Linking old posts is fine too, just please edit them to include the back link.  Thanks for sharing your favourite salad with us.

Spanish-inspired Quinoa Salad - Quick & Easy # 8

This is another one of those dishes from my "Quick and Easy" file.  These dishes are of course, as the title suggests, quick and easy to prepare, but they are also dishes that I consider to be very free-form - they're conceptual rather than confined to a strict recipe.  They are meant to inspire you rather than direct you - quantities are unimportant, and you should use this as a guideline only.  Vary quantities according to what you have on hand, or feel free to swap out any ingredients according to your tastes.

At the risk of offending half the population of Spain, I have called this a "Spanish-inspired" quinoa salad, but please note that "inspired" is the operative word here.  Even though quinoa, basil, feta and rocket (arugula) have all found their way into this, my original inspiration came from a handful of ingredients that I always associate with visits to Barcelona - chorizo sausage, white/butter beans, tomatoes and olives.  I often make a salad of just these four ingredients, but when thinking about ideas for Make it with ..... Mondays challenge quinoa it occurred to me that, by adding some quinoa and a few other ingredients, I could turn this simple salad into a quick but substantial meal.

Begin, by cooking the quinoa.  Rinse thoroughly first.  Put one cup of quinoa in a pan with two cups of liquid;  set pan over high heat and bring to a boil;  turn heat down to medium-low and simmer until all the liquid has been absorbed.  Remove from heat, allow to sit covered for about 5 minutes, then fluff up with a fork.  

On this occasion, I used mushroom stock as my liquid, but you could use any other kind of vegetable stock or chicken stock or even just water.  The mushroom stock gave it fantastic flavour, and has now got me thinking that you could maybe cook the quinoa risotto-style and make a great mushroom risotto - I see an experiment coming up.  But I digress.

Put cooked quinoa into a serving bowl.  Add a couple of chopped tomatoes, a tin of drained and rinsed butter beans (or cannellini beans or chickpeas), a handful of chopped fresh basil leaves (or flat-leaf parsley or coriander), and a handful of mixed olives.  Drizzle over a bit of red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar or balsamic vinegar.

Heat a good slosh or two of olive oil in a saute pan over high heat.  Slice up some chorizo sausage, add to the preheated pan and cook until the chorizo is browned and starting to "caramelise" around the edges, and has rendered out a lot of its fat.  This fat will be rich with the smoky flavour and aroma of paprika, and is going to help make the dressing for the salad.  Add the sauteed chorizo and all of the pan juices to the salad bowl.

Toss well.  Taste and then adjust according to taste - adding more vinegar, oil, salt, pepper or herbs as may be required to suit your palate.

Add some chunks of feta cheese (or goat's cheese or blue cheese or Manchego) and peppery rocket (arugula) (or spinach or watercress) leaves.  Serve while still slightly warm or at room temperature.  Leftovers refrigerate well, but it is best brought back to room temperature before serving.

You could make this gluten-free, by replacing the chorizo with chunks of gluten-free sausage, or even some shrimp or squid instead, and replacing the vinegar with some lemon juice.  I hope you'll let your imagination run wild and give this a try.

This post is a contribution to Make it with ... Mondays challenge quinoa - the linky is still open until Monday 31 January, so keep your quinoa posts coming, and don't forget to check out this week's special ingredient which is paprika.

I'm also sharing this post at Food on Friday hosted by Carole at Carole's Chatter.

Whole-Wheat Fettucine with Green Beans, Ricotta & Lemon

Have you noticed (how could you not, really?) that over the last week nearly everyone in the blogoshpere is talking about "resolutions", and my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs are no exception.  We continue to cook with Giada de Laurentiis and our theme this week, unsurprisingly, is Resolutions.  Well, I've got to tell you that I resolved many years ago never to make another New Year's resolution - I don't think I've ever heard of anybody who ever actually managed to keep one, so who needs to set themselves up for that kind of failure.  So no resolutions for this girl.  I do however think that this is a valuable time for some reflection - to contemplate the things that you may have changed over the last year that have had a positive affect on your life (and perhaps on others around you), and consider what actions might continue that positive momentum.

A couple of years ago I happened to find myself with time on my hands at Brisbane airport, as I waited for my flight home after a two week yoga workshop on Stradbroke Island.  Having a browse around the book store, as you do, "The Ethics of What We Eat" by Peter Singer & Jim Mason seemed to literally jump off the shelf at me, and I have to say that my attitude to food was irrevocably changed from that moment on.  So much of what I read was a real eye-opener, while other content was more thought-provoking than challenging.  The end result though was that I am no longer able to just unconsciously put anything on my plate without thinking about where it has come from and what the consequences of getting it to my plate may have been.  I don't have all the answers yet (probably never will), but at least I'm thinking about it, and everything I buy for my table now involves a conscious decision to get it there.

I've always liked making things from scratch, and this has become even more important to me.  I think I've developed a lot of skills over the years, and I continue to take on new challenges and learn how to make new things.  Last year I made cheese for the first time, thanks to the inspiration and encouragement of Natashya and Heather at Forging Fromage, and I discovered the joys of making my own ice cream (almost completely eliminating store bought ice cream from my freezer).  I got more consistent about making my own bread, and even started doing the occasional bit of baking.  I learned how to clean a squid, and even cleaned and gutted sardines (but that's for another post).

So I'm not making any sweeping resolutions here - I'm just reinforcing my commitment to continuing to develop my knowledge and understanding, and keep my mind open to constantly learning new skills.  Two things that I do want to do are reduce the amount of white flour and sugar in my diet and begin to use more whole grains - I think there is a whole new world out there for me to discover.  I'm also keen to make more of my own pasta - I eat a lot of pasta, and there is no doubt that a packet of pasta in the pantry is the ultimate convenience food - but I really want to take my time over it more often and develop my pasta-making skills.

With these things in mind, the recipe for Whole-Wheat Linguine with Green Beans, Ricotta and Lemon from Giada's Kitchen, seemed like a great place to start - whole-wheat pasta, green beans and tomatoes are tossed together in a light creamy sauce, which is made by simply combining ricotta with some of the pasta water - result a beautiful, luscious sauce, without a trace of heaviness.  The whole thing is finished off with a sprinkling of lemon zest (of course it does, this is a Giada recipe after all), which really brings a bright, fresh note to this dish.  This dish is truly the work of moments, but since I had a leisurely afternoon to spare yesterday I also opted to make my own whole-wheat fettucine (I used the recipe here for whole-wheat pasta, but halved the quantity which gave enough for two very generous servings) and my own ricotta.

Now you may think that sounds like a lot of effort - but truly, I don't think there would have been more than 30 minutes actual labour involved;  and, since the only other effort required for this dish is trimming a few beans, sauteeing them off with a little chopped garlic, halving some cherry tomatoes, and boiling a pot of water, this is hardly arduous work.

I promise you that making your own pasta and ricotta is deeply rewarding - it's the kind of work where the sense of satisfaction derived from its completion is about three times the actual effort that went in.  By all means, use store-bought pasta and ricotta here if you like - heck, that's what I do a lot of the time and I would never denigrate that - but if you have the time to spare and the inclination I urge you to try making your own.  Either way, do try this dish - deliciously light, fresh and healthy, it is the absolute antithesis of so many rich, heavy pasta dishes.  You can find the original recipe here or on page 112 of Giada's Kitchen - I made no changes (other than to reduce the quantities since I was eating on my own), and nor do I recommend any.

Interested in getting to know Giada a bit better?  Then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all been cooking up ....

.... or check out Giada's Kitchen and many of her other titles, available from Amazon, Book Depository UK and Fishpond NZ

       

I'm also submitting this post to Presto Pasta Nights, which is being hosted this week by Claire at Chez Cayenne - you will be able to see a full round-up of all the submissions there on Friday 14 January.   I'm looking forward to checking out a whole lot of new pasta dishes.

This post is also submitted to the Hearth and Soul and  Decidedly Healthy or Horribly Decadent blog hops.

Curried Coconut Aubergine with Potatoes

If you've been following this blog for a while, then you will know that I love the following things:  almost anything that I can cook using one pan (two at the most);  bold, flavourful dishes that are either Mediterranean or Asian inspired;  using fresh, seasonal ingredients with a minimal amount of meat - which also explains my love of the food philosophy and recipes of Mark Bittman;  and, my iPhone.

My recipe this week comes about as a happy collision of all of these things - like one of those wonderous moments when the planets align themselves - actually I'm not entirely sure what would happen then, but I'm pretty sure it would be wonderous!!

Now I know that you can probably see the connection between the first three things on the list, but you're no doubt wondering what the iPhone has to do with anything.  Be patient - I'll get to that.

As you know, for the last few weeks I have been joining in with the I Heart Cooking Clubs group, cooking the recipes of Mark Bittman (aka The Minimalist).  This week our theme was Pot Luck, which in short meant that we didn't have to stick to any theme whatsoever - we were given free license to cook anything we liked as long as, of course, it was a Mark Bittman recipe.

Okay, I'm sure you're with me so far.  Next step was deciding what kind of dish I wanted to make - I felt I wanted something savoury (not a dessert), and something fairly hearty.  As we get deeper into autumn now, although the days have been spectacular, the nights are definitely getting cooler - it's time for more substantial food.  In my vegetable crisper I happened to have a couple of bags of gorgeous aubergines that I had picked up at the Lyttelton Farmers Market last weekend, which were just begging to be turned into something, and they would for sure lend themselves to some kind of Mediterranean or Asian style dish.

So time to decide on a recipe, with aubergine as the key ingredient.  I would start with a search of online recipes first ... but wait I'll just do a quick Twitter check first since I'm at the computer anyway (as you do), and holy guacamole I discover an iPhone application for "How to Cook Everything" has just been released this very day - all 2,000 recipes and variations from the book, how-to illustrations, a place to keep favourites, shopping lists, built-in timers - and all for only US$1.99 (that worked out at $2.60 in my money) - that's less than the price of a cup of coffee for goodness sake.  It took just seconds to download, and hey presto I now have the whole book at my fingertips any time, any place.  A quick browse of the recipes, selecting eggplant as my main ingredient turned up 23 different suggestions, and it took me scarcely a moment to know that this recipe had my name written all over it.

This dish ticked all the boxes for me - a creamy coconut curry was the perfect thing for a cool autumn evening;  I had all the ingredients needed on hand, with the exception of coriander, but I did have some fresh kaffir lime leaves which, finely shredded, would make a nice substitute;  chopping board to table time - about 45 minutes;  and of course I could make the whole dish in one pot - score!  This curry delivered plenty of flavour (though I think I would increase the cumin a bit next time) and a good bit of heat from the cayenne pepper.  The aubergine and potatoes (I put in some green beans as well) had beautiful texture and worked together beautifully;  both soaked up plenty of flavour without losing body.  I will for sure be making this again, and I wouldn't hesitate to bring this dish if I was coming to a pot luck dinner at your place.

Do you have a favourite dish that you go to regularly for a pot luck?  I'd love to hear.

Curried Coconut Aubergine with Potatoes Recipe

Adapted from Mark Bittman's

How to Cook Everything

Vegetarian

Serves 4

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

Notes:

1) The quantities and selection of vegetables does not need to be precise.  Feel free to try adding other vegetables such as cauliflower, mushrooms or red peppers, or adjusting the quantities and proportions to suit what you have on hand or what is available.

2) The original recipe called for 2 tablespoons sliced garlic.  I cut this back considerably, which for me was really an occupational consideration rather than one of taste - hey, I'm a yoga teacher ... when I'm getting up-close and personal with you in a posture, I'm pretty sure you don't want me breathing last night's garlic fumes all over you.  So feel free to boost the garlic quantity if you like more.

3)  You could substitute 2-3 tablespoons of green or red curry paste for the ingredients listed from mustard seeds through to garlic.

2-3 pounds aubergine

(I used 750g aubergine & 250g green beans)

3 large potatoes

(I used up 9 small new potatoes)

3-4 tomatoes (depending on size), OR

can of tomatoes including their juice

1 tablespoon unflavoured oil, such as sunflower

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon ginger, freshly grated

2 cloves garlic, finely sliced

425ml can coconut milk

freshly ground black pepper

juice of 1-2 limes

coriander, freshly chopped

(I substituted 2 finely shredded kaffir lime leaves)

First prepare the vegetables.  Cut the aubergine into 2cm cubes (you can do the salting & standing thing if you like, but as I had baby aubergines and as they are not going to be fried in lots of oil I don't think it's necessary).  If using green beans, cut the stalk ends off, and you may or may not want to cut them into shorter lengths - up to you.  Cut the potatoes into 2cm cubes (mine were very small, so I just quartered them).  Peel, core and deseed the tomatoes, and then chop the flesh into smallish dice.

Put the mustard seeds and oil into a large pot and set over medium heat.  As soon as the mustard seeds begin to pop, add in the remaining spices, the garlic and ginger, and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring from time to time, or until the garlic and ginger have softened, taking care not to let them burn.

Add the tomatoes, potatoes, aubergine, and coconut milk.  Add a generous pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper.  (If using beans, don't put them in just yet).  As soon as everything starts to bubble, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

(I also had some of these kaffir limes that I picked up at the market, so I cut the rinds off one of them and dropped them in while the curry simmered away, together with the finely shredded kaffir lime leaves.  I really love the way this "fragrances" the dish, as well as enhancing flavour, but this is not in the original recipe, and you should feel free to leave it out altogether if you like.)

After about 20 minutes of simmering, add the green beans, add some more coconut milk or water if it is looking a bit dry, and allow to simmer for about another 10 minutes or until the potatoes are just tender.

Stir in the lime juice, and taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary.  Serve with steamed basmati rice and garnish with freshly chopped coriander.

Do go and visit I Heart Cooking Club, and see what everyone else has been cooking up for our Mark Bittman Pot Luck - you'll find plenty to inspire every palate.

         

Available from Amazon, Book Depository UK, or Fishpond NZ or get the How to Cook Everything application on your iPhone.

Spaghetti & Pesto with Potato & Green Beans Recipe - Cooking Italy 2

 

Let me begin by telling you, before you suddenly leave the page, that this tastes a whole lot better than it looks in this picture.  So here's the scenario:  dinner is piping hot and ready to serve, partner is starving and hanging out for dinner, but wait I need to photograph it first before we can eat - and, oh no, camera batteries are flat and so are the spares.  iPhone to the rescue thankfully to snap off a quick photo, but somehow it's just not the same.  Nevertheless, this tasted incredibly good (think comfort food that's still good enough to impress company) - so keep reading.

This was my second assignment for the Cooking Italy group (a group dedicated to learning to cook Italian food through the recipes of Marcella Hazan from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking), and turned out to be another one of those "prepare everything ahead, assemble at the last minute" dishes that you know I love so much - the pesto and potatoes were prepared earlier in the day, then spaghetti and beans cooked, and dish assembled just before serving - as I just mentioned this dish is easily good enough for guests, and you won't be spending all your time in the kitchen instead of with your guests.  I think this would also be good even with the pasta cooked early (maybe some of your favourite shapes, rather than spaghetti), and then everything assembled and served at room temperature as a salad.

Marcella says of this dish:  "When serving pesto on spaghetti or noodles, the full Genoese treatment calls for the addition of boiled new potatoes and green beans.  When all its components are right, there is no single dish more delicious in the entire Italian pasta repertory."  I think she's right.

As far as the pesto goes, I wrote about it not so long ago in this post, so you know my feelings on the subject.  Now I am certainly not going to go all "pesto-police" on you and tell you that you must make your own.  However, it seems that the whole point of this dish is the pesto, so if you are only ever going to make pesto once in your life I would urge you to make it now. As to which method you should use, I recommend the mortar and pestle method (I really believe the texture and taste is superior), but if the thought of doing it by hand is the only thing that gets between you and making your own pesto then go right ahead and blitz it up in the food processor - instructions are given here for both methods. Regardless of whether you buy a ready-made pesto, or follow the recipe here, there is one unique ingredient to Marcella's pesto and that is the addition of some butter at the end.  Sounds a bit weird I know, and I have to admit I was skeptical, but it works - it gave a lovely, velvety creaminess to the pesto, the magic of which I think is more apparent once it is actually incorporated in the dish, and it seemed to me also that once the butter was added the pesto somehow increased substantially in volume.  So even if you use a store bought pesto in this dish, take the time to add the butter before tossing it through the pasta and vegetables.

A note about quantities - Marcella's original recipe states that it serves 6.  To serve two people, I used exactly her recipe, but just cut down the quantity pasta.  So my ratio of vegetables and "sauce" to pasta was probably considerably more than would be traditional, but I was pleased with the results and you should feel free to adjust quantities to suit your own tastes.

Spaghetti & Pesto with Potato & Green Beans Recipe

Adapted from Marcella Hazan's

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Vegetarian

Click here for printable copy

For the pesto:

2 cups fresh basil leaves, tightly packed

2 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons pine nuts

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

coarse sea salt, large pinch

1/2 cup finely grated parmigiano-reggiano

2 tablespoons finely grated pecorino romano

3 tablespoons butter, room temperature soft

Wash basil leaves in cold water, and gently pat dry with paper towels.

If making in a mortar and pestle:  Put basil, garlic, pine nuts and salt into the mortar, and using the pestle grind everything into a paste.  Add both cheeses and grind evenly into the mixture.  Add the olive oil, pouring in a thin stream, beating into the mixture with a wooden spoon.  Once it has all been incorporated, beat in the butter until evenly distributed through the pesto.

If making in a food processor:  Put basil, olive oil, chopped garlic, pine nuts and salt  into the bowl of the processor, and process to a creamy consistency.  Remove from processor and transfer to a bowl, then mix the two cheeses in by hand.  Then mix in the softened butter and beat until everything is thoroughly amalgamated.

Set aside.

For the pasta (for 2 people):

3 small new potatoes

250g young green beans

pesto, as above

250g spaghetti (or pasta of your choice)

Boil the potatoes, skins on, until just tender.  Once cool enough to handle, peel and slice thinly.

Cut the ends off the beans and set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil, salt liberally.  Add spaghetti to the rapidly boiling water to cook.  Approximately 3 minutes before the spaghetti finishes cooking, add the beans into the pasta pot.  Spaghetti should be al dente and beans cooked through, but neither too soft nor too hard.

Before draining the cooked pasta and beans, remove 2 tablespoons of the pasta water and stir into the pesto to loosen.

Drain, and toss the cooked pasta, beans and potatoes together with the pesto.

Serve immediately.  I also sprinkled some extra grated parmesan over the top.