Christmas Round-up

This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs is our December Pot Luck week - an opportunity to choose any recipe we like from our current chef (the fabulous Donna Hay), or from any one of previous eight IHCC chefs.

Turns out, time has been a bit precious for me this week, and cooking, photographing and writing about a new dish just didn't happen.  So instead I thought I would share with you a round-up of my favourite dishes from each of our chefs.

My very first post for I Heart Cooking Clubs was just as the group was winding up a six month spell with Nigella Lawson, and I shared these Chocolate Caramel Crispy Cakes ...

Despite the fact that these might seem like "kiddy" food, I can promise you that grown-ups love them too, and to this day this is one of the most viewed posts on the blog.  On a recent trip to San Francisco I made a batch of these for my 4 year old granddaughter - poor wee dot only got one of them, and the adults downed the rest!

This dish of Sauteed Chicken with Green Olives and White Wine from Mark Bittman is probably my "go-to" chicken dish.

I said it back then, and I'll say it again - this is probably the best chicken dish I've ever made.  It has great flavour, colour and texture;  is very easy to put together from ingredients you most likely already have on hand;  requires minimal preparation;  and would be a great dish to feed a crowd.

I loved so many of the dishes I made with Giada de Laurentiis, but these Espresso Caramel Bars were a real favourite.

These were pretty easy for even a reluctant baker to make - crispy, biscuit crumb base;  ooey, gooey, slightly chewy caramel centre;  fudgy, espresso, chocolate topping;  finished with a sprinkling of smoked sea salt ... I defy anyone to stop at just one!

For a variety of reasons, I didn't get to cook along with Jamie Oliver too often ...

... but this warm Salad of Cannelini Beans, Chorizo & Tomatoes is one that I've returned to over and over again.

Of all the chefs we've cooked with at IHCC, one of my absolute favourites (second only to Yotam Ottolenghi) was Tessa Kiros.  I loved so many of Tessa's dishes that picking a favourite was quite a challenge ...

but I think this Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Olives, Lemon & Yoghurt might be it.  This was one of the first recipes I bookmarked when I bought her book Falling Cloudberries, and with its thick, velvety texture, and bold, robust flavour it certainly didn't disappoint.  Lots of opportunity here to change up the toppings on this one too.

I didn't get a chance to cook too many dishes with Rick Bayless, but I know he was a big favourite with many of our other participants.

Choosing a favourite from the dishes I did make was easy ... it was hands down this Nieve de Limon (Lemon-Lime Sorbet).  I couldn't tell you how often I've made this now.  The bright, tangy citrus flavours are a refreshing treat any time of year.

Madhur Jaffrey has long been a favourite chef of mine, and a spell of cooking with her gave me the opportunity to dip into some of those cookbooks which had been gathering dust on the shelf for quite a while.  For many of our participants, exploring Indian food was a totally new experience, and I know that Madhur proved to be very popular with so many in the group.

This dish of Prawns in a Dark Sauce was simple to make, and the flavours rekindled so many childhood memories for me that I've since revisited this dish several times.

Those of you who visit here regularly won't be surprised to learn that my absolute favourite chef was Yotam Ottolenghi - I don't think I've cooked an Ottolenghi dish that I didn't like, and I find his food truly inspirational.  Trying to choose a "favourite" from the Ottolenghi dishes I've made is virtually impossible - I've loved every single one of them ...

... but I figured this Shakshuka should take first place, since it is by far one of the most frequently cooked dishes in my kitchen.

And, lastly, we come to our current chef - Donna Hay.  Our journey with Donna is still young, but this dish of Green Tea Soba Noodles with Soy-Roasted Salmon and Broad Bean & Radish Salad is already a favourite.

Quick, simple, healthy and absolutely delicious - this is definitely going to be a perennial favourite in my house.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the wonderful Pot Luck dishes my friends have come up with, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

Lastly, I want to thank each and every one of you for your visits, lovely comments, and most of all your friendship over the year, and I wish you and all your loved ones a very happy Christmas.  xo

Blue Cheese, Fig & Walnut Flatbread

Seven months after our lives were turned upside down by the Christchurch earthquake, we have finally settled into our own home in Nelson.  The last of the boxes (well, all bar two) have been unpacked;  the guest bedrooms have been painted in readiness for anyone who wants to come for a visit;  a new hot-water cylinder has been installed so that a decent shower is now a possibility; paintings have been hung;  and plans are underway for a new kitchen.

We are beginning to feel "at home" in our house and in this new community, and with that my inspiration to find my way back to the heart of my home - the kitchen - has returned.  I have unpacked all my cookbooks and spent hours pouring through them all, enjoying coming back to ones that I haven't opened for a long time, and I'm inspired by the abundance of beautiful fruit and vegetables and great small producers that I find at our local market.

This weekend I picked up some beautiful local cheeses and chorizo at the market, and was inspired by a recipe from Return of the Naked Chef, by Jamie Oliver, to make this Blue Cheese, Fig & Walnut Flatbread to accompany them.  Although it didn't quite start out that way - it was going to be a cheese, chilli and paprika flatbread, but when I went to the pantry looking for dried chillies and paprika, somehow dried figs and walnuts were what jumped into my hands.

This bread was easy to make, has great texture, keeps well, and the filling turns this into a great "stand alone" bread.  Hope you'll give it a try.

Blue Cheese, Fig & Walnut Flatbread Recipe

Adapted from recipe by Jamie Oliver

Return of the Naked Chef

(Makes 2 large loaves)

Vegetarian

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

For the bread:

3 teaspoons dried yeast

1 tablespoon honey

625ml (1-1/4 pints) tepid water

1kg (2.2 lbs) high grade flour

2 teaspoons salt

extra flour for dusting

For the filling:

6 dried figs

200g (7 oz) blue cheese

1 cup walnuts

Dissolve yeast and honey in half of the tepid water, and set aside until a thick foam forms on top of the water.

Put the flour and salt into a large bowl, making a well in the centre.  Pour the frothy yeast mixture into the centre and then, using your hand, stir in a circular motion, gradually drawing more flour into the centre until all of the yeasty liquid has been absorbed.  Pour in the remaining tepid water and continue mixing until all the flour has been incorporated and you have a nice moist dough - use more liquid if necessary.

Dust a board or bench top with some extra flour, turn your dough ball out and knead vigorously for about 8 minutes. 

Flour your hands well, and sprinkle a little flour over the top of the dough.  Form into a ball and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.  Score the top of the dough with a sharp knife, cover with a clean tea towel, and set aside to prove until the dough has doubled in size.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling.  Soak the figs in a little hot water until soft and plump, then chop coarsely.  Toast the walnuts until golden;  chop coarsely.  Put the chopped figs and walnuts into a small bowl, crumble in the blue cheese, and mix together well.  Set aside.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.  Preheat your oven to 220 degrees C (425 degrees F).

When the dough has doubled in size, punch the air out of it and knead again for a minute or so.  Cut the dough into four equal sized pieces.  Set three pieces aside and cover with a tea towel, while you work with the first piece.

Roll the first piece of dough out into something vaguely resembling a large oval shape, and about the length of your baking sheet.  Place the rolled out dough onto the lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle half of the fig, walnut and cheese mixture over the top, leaving a 2 cm (1 inch) border. 

Roll out the second piece of dough to roughly the same size and shape (you don't need to be too precise), and drape this piece of dough over the top.  Press the edges together.  Make three or four deep slashes down the length of the bread, and stretch to open up the slashes exposing the filling.

Now repeat with the remaining dough and filling.

Set loaves aside to prove for another 20-30 minutes, then bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes.  Remove to a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes.

This would be a great addition to an antipasto platter, or tear into chunks and serve with your favourite soup.

I'm sharing this post at I Heart Cooking Clubs, where this week we have our final week of cooking with Jamie.  Do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all been cooking up for our farewell to Jamie, and find out who we'll be cooking with for the next six months ....

.... and check out Jamies Italy and many of his other great titles, available from Amazon or Fishpond NZ.

         

I'm also sharing this post with Meatless Mondays hosted by Chaya at My Sweet and Savory, Bake with Bizzy, and the Hearth & Soul Blog Hop hosted by April of The 21st Century Housewife.

Pasta e Ceci

Sadly the sun has definitely set on my Greek island holiday where, as you know, I have been doing a 5-week yoga retreat with my teachers, Graeme and Leonie Northfield.

From past experience, I have found Graeme and Leonie's workshops to be deeply profound on many levels, and this year was no exception.  For me this was a much needed time of letting go, after all the stresses of the Christchurch earthquakes and their aftermath, and I am enormously grateful to Graeme and Leonie for having allowed the space and the support for me to find a way in my practice to both honour and overcome what I have been through.  I have come home with the inspiration to take a more joyful and compassionate approach to my practice, letting go of much of the judgement that has always "dogged" my practice up until now;  a new-found gratitude for what I can do, rather than harsh judgement of what I can't.  It was wonderful to come together again with special friends made at previous workshops, and to make some new friends too.  The bond which seems to develop between people practising together in this intense way is unlike any other.  Off the mat also, the retreat did not disappoint. We enjoyed glorious, sun-filled days (not a single drop of rain in six weeks), mornings at the beach after practice, leisurely breakfasts, mid-day trips to town for coffee and a bit of shopping (which may or may not have included pastries), afternoon siestas, and long dinners at the local tavernas.  We even managed to take in a cooking class, which was one of the real highlights of the trip for me, and which I will tell you more about in another post.

And now I have returned to wet and wild here on the Auckland west coast.  Day after day the coast has been lashed by fierce winds, bringing with it huge surf.  Even in normal conditions the sea here can be treacherous, but right now we are witnessing mother nature at full force.  Then at night come the electrical storms.

It is of course all very spectacular, and although it has its own dramatic beauty which I love, there is no doubt that being thrust into the midst of wintery storms after weeks of endless 30 degree C days is a bit of a shock to the system.  Crisp, fresh salads and summer fruit have had to move over in favour of more warming food such as soups and pasta dishes, and yet I still want to cling to some of that lightness of summer foods - my body is not quite ready to plunge into heavy stews and casseroles just yet.  In a recent issue of Jamie Magazine, The Italian Issue I came across this recipe for Pasta e Ceci, which seemed to fit the bill perfectly.  The pasta and chickpeas provide just enough substance to provide comfort and warmth;  spinach, herbs and lemon add lightness and brightness to the dish;  and the accompanying mixture of creme fraiche, garlic and paprika adds some extra warmth and creaminess without a trace of heaviness.  Actually in the original recipe Jamie uses a mixture of yoghurt and harissa, but since I didn't happen to have either of those on hand I used a little creative license.

I'm sharing this recipe with my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs, where we continue to cook with Jamie Oliver.  This weeks theme is Pot Luck, and I think such a dish would be a great contribution to a pot luck dinner anytime of year.

Pasta e Ceci Recipe

Adapted from recipe by Jamie Oliver

Jamie Magazine, The Italian Issue (March/April 2011)

Vegetarian

Makes 3 generous servings

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

250g pasta shapes (I used strozzapreti)

400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tbsp fresh mint, coarsely chopped

flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 lemon, grated zest and juice

4 generous handfuls of baby spinach leaves

200g creme fraiche

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon smoky paprika

Bring a large pan of water to the boil over high heat, salt the water liberally, then add the pasta to the water and cook until almost al dente.

Meanwhile, put the chickpeas into a bowl.  Add the chopped mint, salt, pepper, olive oil, grated zest and juice of the lemon.  Toss well to combine.

Add the spinach to the bowl of chickpeas and toss together.

When the pasta is almost, but not quite al dente, remove it from the heat, and reserve about one cup of the pasta water.  Drain the pasta and then return it to the pan, adding in the mixture of spinach and chickpeas.

Place the pan over medium heat, add the reserved cooking water, and cook until the pasta is fully cooked through and the spinach has wilted.

Remove from the heat, add a little more olive oil, and taste, adding more lemon juice, salt or pepper as necessary.

In a separate bowl mix together the creme fraiche, garlic and paprika and serve alongside the pasta.

I really enjoyed this dish, in fact I ate it three nights in a row - it is certainly not a heavy dish, so could easily be enjoyed anytime of year, and if you're after quick and easy it doesn't get much better than this.

Interested in getting to know Jamie 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 Jamie's Italy and many of his other great titles, available from Amazon or Fishpond NZ.

         

I am also sharing this post at Magazine Mondays (hosted by Cream Puffs in Venice) and at Presto Pasta Nights (which will this week be hosted by Tandy of Lavender and Lime).

          

Greek Salad

After four wonderful days in Athens, I have now arrived on the beautiful island of Paros, where I will spend the next five weeks on a yoga retreat with Graeme & Leonie Northfield.  Though it would be fair to say, that even though this trip is really all about the yoga, to a large extent it is also all about the food.

As I was saying, I had four wonderful days in Athens, and relished the opportunity to get to know this city a little better.  I visited the Acropolis when I stopped in Athens briefly last year and, although there are many more fascinating ruins and such like to be seen here, I will freely admit to being a “seen-one-ruin-seen-em-all” kind of girl - of course, I know some of you are going to be absolutely horrified to hear me say that, and if history is your thing then this is without a doubt the city for you.  However, I am just not good at being a tourist, and visiting all the usual tourist attractions (fascinating though they may be) holds no interest for me whatsoever.  I’m sorry, but I would rather gnaw off my right arm than stand in a queue a mile long of other tourists all waiting to see some old relic.

I am more of a chameleon by nature - I like to blend in with my surroundings, sit back almost unseen, and just observe.  Take me to a city like this and I like to try and imagine that I live here - I want to slot right in with the natives, shop in the places the locals shop, eat where the locals eat, and do the things the locals do, and let’s face it you don’t see too many of them queueing up to take snapshots at the Roman Agora.

I like to get off the main street, away from all the brightly lit stores and glamorous “shop-girls”, and find the places where the locals shop.  Not for me the Bennetton, Toi & Moi, Gap, Zara and Sephora stores of Ermou Street!!  Within metres of my hotel I found a fascinating mix of specialty stores - I saw a shop selling only walking sticks;  another selling only string, twine and rope in all manner of thicknesses and colours;  a store selling only light bulbs, another only candles;  and a store which sold only bottles (in every imaginable size, shape and colour) along with large metal vessels all of which I imagine are intended for storing your precious olive oil or perhaps wine.  Now admittedly, these are not the things I am going to fill my suitcase with to take home, but it is nevertheless fascinating to me that these places exist and I love to peer through the windows and watch the local people shopping here.  And then there were the places that had diversified a little with a rather mysterious, and seemingly incongruous mixture of products - a store which sold door handles and toilet brushes, and another offering dried fruit and nuts alongside wedding veils and bridal fabrics.  How did these products come to be married together I wonder - I imagine the conversation going something like this:

Over dinner one night, Christiana pushes a sardine to one side of her plate and says to Dimitri, who has been selling dried fruit and nuts in his little store on Atthinas Street for 40 years:  “Glykia mou, I think we should diversify.”

Dimitri stabs his fork into a fat, black olive, then pauses and looks up:  “Hriso mou, that’s a great idea.  What else should be sell?”

Christiana takes a bite of her sardine, and thinks for a moment:  “Mmmm, let me see now.  I know - what about bridal fabrics?”

Dimitri, drops his fork in wonder:  “Of course - why did I not think of that?  That seems so obvious now.  You are so clever,  my little baklava - no wonder I love you so much!” 

Equally mysterious is why, in the central market, the lambs feet are sold in the fish section.  Why?

Speaking of the central market, it goes without saying that this place would be heaven to me.  I would show you pictures, but this is not the kind of place where you pull out your camera.  I have been to La Boqueria in Barcelona where the shoppers can hardly move for the tourists taking photos of the fascinating array of products on offer (I have done this myself).  But this is not the case at the Athens market - this is a busy and bustling place, and this is all business.  The meat section of the market is huge - bigger I think than any I have ever seen, and even here they seem to specialise.  Unlike our butcheries at home which seem to sell meat of every description, here you will find one butcher selling only lamb, another only pork, one selling only whole chickens, another selling only chicken portions, and others selling only offal (and I imagine, although I didn’t take too much notice, that even that is specialised by beast).

And it was here in the market that I had the best meal of my stay in Athens - in fact I would rate it as one of my best meals ever.  This was one of those tiny places, with only a few tables and no menu.  The chef came to my table and said:  “I have meat or I have fish”.  I asked what was the fish, and was told that there was sardines, calamari, octopus or whole fish available.  I said that I would have the calamari, to which he asked:  “Do you want grilled or fried - grilled is best?”  I told him that I would have “the best”.  He then offered me a choice of different salads, from which I decided to have the ubiquitous Greek salad.  When it arrived the calamari had been very simply flavoured with paprika, oregano, olive oil and salt, and had been grilled to absolute perfection.  The tentacles and edges of the wings were just charred and crispy, and the body of the squid was so achingly tender that it almost brought tears to my eyes.  The other delightful touch, and you find this in all Greek restaurants, is that they always finish off the meal by bringing you something complimentary as a “gift”.  Sometimes this might be a bowl of fresh, seasonal fruit, maybe a plate of yoghurt and nuts, or possibly a special liqueur or wine - on this occasion I was served a lovely block of halva, studded with almonds and sprinkled with cinnamon, served with a glass of white wine.  My meal ended perfectly with a leisurely stroll back to my hotel, followed by a two hour sleep!!

Of course, after several days of eating out, it is wonderful to be now on Paros and able to return to the kitchen - and of course the first meal I prepared was a Greek salad.  You know that I participate in the I Heart Cooking Clubs group, and that right now we are cooking with Jamie Oliver.  Our theme this week is “Mad about Herbs”, and on researching Jamie’s recipe for Greek salad, I discovered that it was well-flavoured with dill, mint and oregano, so this seems like the perfect contribution this week.  I added some freshly grated lemon zest and used lemon juice instead of vinegar, as I personally think that lemon juice is a less “aggressive” partner with tomatoes than vinegar, and I left out onion as I am not hugely fussed on raw onion.  I had a wonderful selection of olives which I had picked up from the market in Athens, and used some of the big fat Kalamatas and some of the tiny dry-cured ones.

I also used some of the local mizithra cheese instead of feta - just for a change.  A variety of different tomatoes, if you can get them, adds interest to the salad, but most important is that they be perfectly ripe - the very best tomatoes you can get your hand on them - and don’t fuss about trying to dice or slice them perfectly.  Keep the chopping irregular - cut some into irregular chunks, others into wedges or dice, others into slices, and maybe cut smaller ones just in half.

Greek Salad Recipe

Adapted from recipe by Jamie Oliver

(Made 3 generous servings)

Vegetarian

Click here for printable copy of this recipe

an assortment of tomatoes

(I used two large ones of differing varieties, and 3 smaller ones)

(include cherry tomatoes if you have them)

3/4 of a telegraph cucumber, cut into thickish circles

1 red or green pepper, deseeded and sliced

handful of fresh dill, roughly chopped

handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped

generous handful of black olives, assorted

1 lemon, grated zest & juice

flaky sea salt

extra virgin olive oil (Greek if you can get it)

mizithra or feta cheese

dried oregano

Chop your tomatoes into a large bowl, cutting them into a variety of sizes and shapes.  Add the cucumber slices and slices of pepper to the tomatoes in the bowl.

Scatter the chopped, fresh herbs over the ingredients in the bowl.  De-stone half of the olives, by pinching them between your fingers and breaking them open to pull the stone out - not a difficult process.  Do this over the bowl, so that as you do so the juice comes out of the olives and begins to season the salad.  Add the remaining olives whole.

Add the grated lemon zest, pinch of flaky sea salt, and lemon juice to the bowl.  Add a generous “slosh” of extra virgin olive oil (most likely around 2 tablespoons).  Toss everything together well, taste and then adjust any of the flavours to suit your palate.

Empty the bowl onto a large serving platter.  Drop large spoonfuls of the mizithra over the top, or if you are using feta place it in one large block on top.  Drizzle with a little more extra virgin olive oil over the top (particularly over the cheese), and lastly sprinkle the dried oregano over the top.

This quantity made three generous servings as a light meal, but would easily serve six people as an accompaniment to other dishes.

I hope you enjoy this delicious salad for a real taste of summer, and if by any chance you happen to have any leftovers, try Jamie’s suggestion .... put everything into the blender, add a few ice cubes and an extra “glug” of olive oil, and then blitz until smooth for a Greek take on gazpacho.  Haven’t tried this, but sounds perfect to me.

Interested in getting to know Jamie 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 Jamie's Italy and many of his other great titles, available from Amazon or Fishpond NZ.