Crispy-Skin Miso-Glazed Salmon with Radish & Rocket Salad

They say that pride comes before a fall, and I have to say that I'm forced to agree after a recent bout of illness completely knocked me for six, despite my usual smug declarations that "I never get sick".  It was a humbling reminder that even I can succumb when I let what I like to think of as a healthy "work-life balance" get out of balance ... not enough time spent on the yoga mat, too much work and not enough relaxation, and a little too much over-indulgence in "festive fare".  It all took its toll and I hit the wall in a big way.

Thankfully I'm now on the mend, and while a week (or even a day) at the spa would be a wonderful treat right now, that's realistically not an option.  I can however give myself the spa treatment at home - plenty of restorative yoga, a good night's sleep on a regular basis, and plenty of fresh healthy food.

As luck would have it our theme this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs is "Suitable for the Spa!" - Donna Hay dishes which are light and lovely, and healthy too.  In Fast, Fresh, Simple I came across a recipe for Crispy Skin Trout with Watercress & Radish Salad and on the Donna Hay website a recipe for Miso Salmon with Sesame Salt.  Miso and salmon are two of my absolute favourite healthy foods and, with both having the immune system fortifying properties I need right now, I decided on a dish which was a "mix-up" of both recipes.

This was healthy and delicious, and made me feel better just looking at it.  I hope you'll give it a try.

Crispy-Skin Miso-Glazed Salmon

with Radish & Rocket Salad

Adapted from recipes by Donna Hay

Serves 2

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

500g salmon fillet, skin on, pin bones removed, & cut into "fingers"

1 tablespoon miso paste (I used locally grown Urban Hippie miso)

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

sesame seeds

1 tablespoon olive oil

For salad:

large handful (or two) of rocket leaves (arugula)

6x radishes, sliced very thinly (I used a mandoline)

handful of pomegranate seeds

For dressing:

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon mirin

2cm (3/4 inch) piece of fresh ginger, finely grated

In a shallow dish, mix together the miso paste and rice wine vinegar.  Add the salmon, turning to coat well with the marinade.

Set aside to marinate for a few minutes while you prepare the salad dressing.  Whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat oil in frying pan set over medium heat.  Add salmon to the pan, skin side down, and cook for several minutes until the skin is golden and crispy.  Turn and cook for a further minute or two until cooked to your liking.  Remove from the pan and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

While salmon is cooking combine salad ingredients and arrange on serving plates.

Place cooked salmon on plates beside the salad, and drizzle dressing over both salad and fish.  Serve immediately.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the wonderful "spa treatment" food my friends have been cooking up, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, and at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollam.

          

How to Make Gravlax & Cured Salmon Galettes

'Tis The Season, and don't we all know it.  The festive season can be a wonderful time of the year - a time to spend time with family and friends, share some celebratory food (and a drink or two), but it can also be a highly stressful time of year.  Many of us take on too much ... trying to keep up with busy jobs, be the perfect hostess, stay on top of children's end of year activities, get the Christmas shopping done without blowing the budget ... the list goes on and on.  Not to mention all the over-indulgence on so many levels.

This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs we are all about food and drink for holiday parties and entertaining, and thankfully our current guest chef, Donna Hay, has plenty of great ideas to make entertaining for the festive season a breeze.

These little salmon pastries, adapted from a recipe from the Donna Hay website are perfect for a holiday party.  They are elegant, delectable and ridiculously easy to put together.  The original recipe uses smoked salmon, and that would certainly be delicious, but since gravlax is also incredibly easy to make and a great stand-by ingredient to have on hand at this time of year, I thought I would also share my recipe.

Wishing you all much joy for what remains of the festive season, and a happy and fulfilling year ahead.

Gravlax Recipe

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

45g (1-1/2 oz) sugar

60g (2 oz) brown sugar

60g (2oz) coarse sea salt

6 to 8 juniper berries

ground black pepper

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

2 tablespoons gin, optional

600-700g piece of salmon fillet, skin on, pin bones removed

In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, brown sugar and salt, combining well.

Lay a large sheet of tinfoil (at least twice the length of the piece of salmon) on your kitchen bench, and sprinkle half the sugar/salt mixture over the centre of the foil.  Place the salmon on top of the sugar/salt mixture, and cover the fish completely with the remaining mixture.  Sprinkle juniper berries, ground pepper and fennel seeds over the top, and drizzle over the gin if using.

Note:  You could also at this time top the salmon with any of the following optional ingredients:  a fennel bulb, thinly sliced;  a large bunch of chopped dill;  zest of a lemon or 1/2 of a chopped preserved lemon;  vodka instead of gin - I imagine even tequila would work well.

Wrap the tinfoil closely around the fish and seal all edges well.

Place the package in a dish, just big enough to hold it, and weight it down.  Refrigerate for two to three days, turning it over each day.

Fish will be ready when it feels firm to touch.

Slice thinly and serve with buckwheat blini, bagels, in salads, as an addition to an appetiser platter, or atop these little galettes - even tossed through pasta is great.

Cured Salmon Galettes Recipe

Adapted from recipe by Donna Hay

Makes 8

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1x sheet ready rolled flaky pastry

1x egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley

pinch dried tarragon flakes

1 heaped teaspoon capers

flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

8x slices of gravlax

handful of rocket leaves

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C (390 degrees F).

Cut the pastry square into four equal squares, then cut each square in half - you will end up with four rectangles.  Brush the pastry rectangles with the beaten egg, and prick each one in several places with a fork.  Place the prepared pastry on a parchment lined baking sheet, and bake in the preheated oven until puffed and golden - about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together the sour cream, vinegar, parsley, tarragon, capers, salt and pepper.  Taste and adjust any of the flavourings as necessary.

Remove the baked pastry from the oven.   Top each one with a dollop of the sour cream mixture, a slice of salmon and a rocket leaf.

Serve immediately or at room temperature.

This is a great appetiser to serve for any festive occasion, or would also make a delicious, light lunch served with a fresh salad.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the wonderful festive fare my friends have been cooking up, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, and at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollam.

          

Roasted Beetroot, Leek & Walnut Salad with Tamarind Dressing & Pomegranate

Here's a post that's short and sweet

It's all about the humble beet

At IHCC, it's potluck week

A chance for the beet to meet a leek.

At Tasting Jerusalem** this month we're all about tamarind ...

When teamed with beet and leek, it's a match made in heaven

It's sweet and sour tang makes this dressing sing

From the man who may be rightfully called the "salad king".

Another triumph from my favourite cook

Yotam Ottolenghi's Jerusalem, A Cookbook.

Ok, so I'm never going to win any prizes for my poetry.  But what I lack in literary skills, my favourite chef, Yotam Ottolenghi, more than makes up for with yet another winning salad.  This is, as is typical of so many of Ottolenghi's dishes, a triumph of tastes and textures and has become a regular in our household over the last few months.  The combination of earthy beetroot with sweet, delicate leeks, peppery rocket, and crunchy walnuts is great even before you douse it all in a bold, garlicky, tangy dressing and finish it off with pomegranate seeds that explode in your mouth with their tangy juice and crunch.  In the original recipe Ottolenghi describes the pomegranate seeds as being optional - I say if it is at all humanly possible for you to include them, then do so.  Their tangy, slightly sour flavour reinforces the sweet-sour tang of the tamarind in the dressing, and the extra texture they bring should not be overlooked, and if that's not enough to persuade you, just take a look ... don't they look like little jewels strewn all over your salad.  That jewel-like look seems to elevate such humble ingredients as beetroot and leeks into something quite special.

Cooks Tip:  Pomegranates are in season right now.  Buy three or four, remove all the seeds, spread them out on a baking sheet and pop in the freezer till frozen.  Remove sheet and put the seeds into a snaplock bag.  Return to the freezer.  You will have a supply of pomegranate seeds all year long - just take out a spoonful or two for a salad whenever you need them.

Roasted Beetroot, Leek & Walnut Salad

with Tamarind Dressing & Pomegranate Recipe

Adapted (slightly) from recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi

from Jerusalem, A Cookbook

Serves 3-4 as a side, or 2 as a light meal

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

3x medium beetroot

1x large leek

small handful fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped

large handful rocket leaves (arugula)

seeds from half a pomegranate

generous handful of toasted walnuts, roughly chopped

Dressing:

2x garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1-1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons tamarind concentrate

flaky sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C (425 degrees F).

Wrap each of the beetroot in tin foil and bake in the preheated oven until tender - about 60 minutes.  Remove from the oven, unwrap foil and leave to cool.  Peel, cut into wedges, and set aside in a medium sized bowl.

Wash leek and cut into pieces about 6cm (2-1/2 in) long.  Put into a small saucepan, cover with water and a generous pinch of sea salt, and bring to the boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until just tender, but not falling apart - about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat, drain and refresh under cold water.  Once cooled, cut each piece into 2 or 3 smaller pieces, and set aside in a small bowl.

To make the dressing, whisk all ingredients together until well combined, and set aside for 10 minutes for the flavours to fully develop.  Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.

Pour dressing over the beetroot and leeks in their separate bowls and toss until vegetables are well covered with the dressing (you want to keep them in the separate bowls until after they have been dressed so that the beetroot doesn't stain the leeks).

To assemble the salad, arrange half of the beetroot on a serving platter.  Top with some of the rocket, a sprinkling of the coriander and walnuts and all of the leeks.  Arrange the remaining beetroot over the top.  Sprinkle over the remaining rocket, coriander and walnuts, and finish with the pomegranate seeds.

If you would like to see what else my friends have cooked up for Potluck Week, then do go and visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

**Tasting Jerusalem is a virtual cooking community exploring the vibrant flavors and cuisine of the Middle East through the lens of Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Ottolenghi and Tamimi published by Ten Speed Press. You can follow along and cook with us by subscribing to omgyummy.com, following the hashtag #TastingJrslm on Twitter and Instagram, liking our Facebook page or joining our Google+ Community and finally checking out all of our groups’ dishes on Pinterest.

I'll also be sharing this post at See Ya In the Gumbo, hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, at Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, and at Food on Friday:Beetroot hosted by Carole at Carole's Chatter, at Foodie Friday hosted by Designs by Gollam, and at Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays hosted by my lovely friend Deb at Kahakai Kitchen.

                             

Rocket & Cress Salad with Roasted Figs & Haloumi

Last week when I shared with you this Salad of Baby Spinach with Dates & Almonds, from Yotam Ottolenghi, I thought it was not possible to improve on perfection.  And that may still be true.  But when I set out to make this salad again for my lunch today, and ended up allowing a few different ingredients I had on hand take this in a slightly different direction, I think I came pretty close.

I had some rocket (arugula to some of you) and watercress kicking around in the fridge, which I thought would make a nice change from the spinach.  I also had a nice block of haloumi I'd made a couple of weeks ago, using this recipe from Alessandra Zecchini.

I stuck with the sumac and chilli-spiked croutons and almonds from the original recipe, which I've got to say are so addicitive that I could eat just a bowlful of them on their own as a wee snack.  Sitting on my kitchen bench is also a large bowl of fresh figs, raided from my neighbour's tree, and it seemed like a few of those roasted off would make a nice substitute for the dates.

The result was everything I dreamed it would be, and more.  The peppery rocket and cress, combined with the lemony-spicy croutons and almonds, the sweet, juicy figs, and the salty haloumi was a blindingly-good flavour combination.  While crunchy nuts and croutons, velvety leaves, soft fruit and squeaky cheese all added up to a great textural combo as well.

This is the perfect dish for a light autumn lunch, or would also make a great side dish to roasted chicken or some lovely barbequed lamb chops.  Hope you'll give it a try.

Rocket & Cress Salad with Roasted Figs & Haloumi Recipe

Inspired by a recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tomimi

from Jerusalem: A Cookbook

Vegetarian

Makes a meal for one person or side dish for two

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

Note:  Really you don't have to be too fussy about quantities here, just adjust to suit what you have on hand or to suit the number of mouths you want to feed

approx 100g (3-1/2 oz) haloumi, thickly sliced

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for dressing

1-2 slices of sourdough bread, cut into cubes

small handful of raw almonds, very roughly chopped

1 teaspoon sumac

chilli flakes to taste

4x fat, juicy, fresh figs, cut into quarters

2x large handfuls rocket & watercress leaves, mixed

juice of 1/2 lemon

flaky sea salt

Heat a small pan over medium heat, and once the pan is hot, dry fry the haloumi slices until golden on both sides.  Remove and set aside to cool.

Wipe out the pan, add one tablespoon of the olive oil, and return the pan to the heat.  Once the oil is hot, add the bread and almonds to the pan and cook until they are crisp and golden, stirring regularly.  Remove from the heat, add the sumac and chilli flakes, and a small pinch of flaky sea salt.  Toss to combine well, then remove from the pan and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, wipe out the pan again and return to the heat.  Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan and, once hot, add the figs.  Saute for several minutes, turning regularly until the figs are caramelised and softened and juices starting to run.  Remove and set aside while you assemble the salad.

Put rocket and watercress leaves into a serving bowl or platter.  Add the toasted bread and almonds and toss well.  Tear or chop the haloumi slices into bite sized pieces and distribute evenly amongst the leaves.  Arrange the roasted figs over the top, squeeze over the lemon juice, and drizzle generously with the extra virgin olive oil.  Taste and sprinkle over another pinch of flaky sea salt if necessary.

I'm sharing this post at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, at Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays hosted by my friend Deb at Kahakai Kitchen, and at Foodie Friday hosted by Designs by Gollam.

                     

Rocket, Fennel & Mozzarella Salad & NZFBA Conference Day 2

You may recall that I left you last week at the end of the first day of our NZ Food Bloggers conference.  But things didn't end there.  There is much more to share with you and, in usual fashion, if you keep reading, I promise you food - a wonderful Rocket, Fennel & Mozzarella Salad to be exact.

So, day one of our conference wound up with all of our participants being whisked off to a secret location, which turned out to be Floyds in Island Bay, for a pop-up dinner and wine matching event.  The evening began with a cocktail making mini master class with Justin McKenzie of Liquid Winks, who served us up a gorgeous cocktail that definitely whetted the appetite.

And then the food, prepared by chef Ben Barton of Pop Dining, began to roll out and it just kept coming - course, after course, after delicious course, with wines matched to the food by James Pederson of Floriditas.

As you might expect from any gathering of food bloggers around a dinner table, there were more iPhones on the table than cutlery, and as each course rolled out cameras flashed and tweeters tweeted.  There were sighs of satisfactions and delight;  wonderful and stimulating conversations took place as we got to know new bloggers and reconnected with others already known to us;  and, of course, there was huge amounts of laughter.  It was a great night, and the last cab load of us to leave rolled home very satisfied and more than a little weary.

Day two of our conference began, like day one, with chocolate.  Our first event of the day being a mini master class and chocolate tasting with Jo Coffey from L'Affaire au Chocolat.  Jo shared with us a wealth of information and knowledge about everything from bean to block, and although I've always had a love affair with chocolate, I certainly have a new found appreciation for it.

Next up was Rachel Taulelei of Yellow Brick Road talking to us about Sustainable Fishing and Seafood.  Rachel is a very engaging speaker, clearly passionate about her business of sourcing and supplying responsibly caught seafood to the restaurant industry.  Ethical eating and sourcing of the food we put on our tables each day is a subject which is dear to my heart, so Rachel's session was definitely one of the highlights of the conference for me.  Setting aside the fact that Rachel could actually talk about two flies crawling up a wall and make it sound interesting and funny, her message really resonated with me.

Time then to break for morning tea, prepared by the Le Cordon Bleu pastry chefs, accompanied by some treats from The Collective Dairy.  The cheese scones were divine, but you had to be quick to get to them before Mairi, and the Collective Dairy treats were particularly welcomed by those of us who had skipped breakfast.  Love that mango yoghurt drink.

Next we moved on to a soda tasting with Joseph Slater of the Six Barrel Soda Co. Six Barrel Soda Co make small batch soda syrups using fresh fruit, spices and nuts.  Their flavours include:  lemon, ginger and kola nut, all of which we got to sample, as well as cherry & pomegranate, raspberry & lemon, lime, and vanilla cream.  Personally, I've never been much of a cola fan, but was surprised to discover that I loved the kola nut - deliciously spicy and not overly sweet - in fact it was my favourite of the three that we sampled.  Can't wait for someone to start stocking this in Nelson so I can get my hands on some.

With the sun almost over the yard arm, it was time to turn our thoughts to wine and an address on the State of the Vines from Chris Archer of Archer McRae.  Just to make sure it wasn't a dry argument, we sampled their surprising new product - Ritzling Bottled Happiness.  I say surprising, because I was quite prepared not to like this - Ritzling is in fact a sparkling riesling and (perhaps unreasonably) I fully expected it to be unpleasantly sweet.  However, accompanied by a wedge of lime, I found it to be an absolute delight, and it fully delivered on its promise of being bottled happiness.  I foresee consuming quite a few bottles of this over the forthcoming summer.

After suitable libation, it was time to move onto a mini master class and lunch, courtesy of the lovely ladies from Little Penang.  The master class was both fun and informative and the lunch sublime.  I love Asian flavours at the best of times, but the Nonya curry really rocked my boat - definitely one of the stand-out meals of the weekend for me.  These photos do not even come close to doing that beautiful meal justice.

After lunch we were treated to another wonderful mini master class, this time with the Queen of Dumplings, Vicky Ha from The Dumpling House.  This was a great workshop - we all had a chance to make our own dumplings, some savoury, some sweet.  Vicky was good enough to share some of her recipes with us and I can't wait to give these a try at home - job for a wet Saturday afternoon I think.  That's my dumpling in the foreground of the photo below, and Alessandra Zecchini's behind it - a couple of very good attempts I thought.

From there we had another one of our breakout sessions, and while some chose to do a pastry making class with the Le Cordon Bleu Head Patisserie Tutor, I opted for making mozzarella in under an hour with Alli Pirrie-Mawer.  I loved this workshop.  Alli is a great teacher, and she definitely made mozzarella seem easy.  So much so, that I couldn't wait to try it again when I got home, and it is my own home-made mozzarella which makes an appearance in the recipe I'm sharing with you today.  Alli teaches these classes regularly at her Auckland cooking school, The Gourmet Gannet, so if you live up there or are passing through I highly recommend taking a class with her if you can.

Our last session of the day was a Tea Tasting & Food Match with John van Forp of t Leaf T.  We tried three different teas - Jasmine Dragon Pearls, Kawakawa Fire, and New Zealand Breakfast, with samples of all three turning up in our goodie bags.  I especially loved the Jasmine Dragon Pearls and the Kawakawa Fire, which you may recall I used in the upside down pineapple cake I shared with you last week.

And so, all good things must come to end.  It was a fantastic couple of days, and I have no doubt that every single person agreed that Shirleen, of Sugar & Spice ... and All Things Nice, and Alli, of Pease Pudding, did a fantastic job of organising everything to a highly professional standard, and they now have a job for life organising future Food Bloggers Conferences.  Of course, such an event would not have been possible without the support of so many extraordinary sponsors - incredible people who gave of their time and fabulous products to ensure that we not only had a great conference but went home with bags full of wonderful goodies to try.  Please check out this page to see all the incredible people and companies who helped to made this such a fantastic event, and if you get the opportunity do try some of their amazing products.  I'm not just saying that because they gave us free stuff - yes, they did, but having now munched and sampled my way through two big goodie bags, I can also tell you with absolute sincerity that this free stuff also happens to be the really good stuff.  Keep watching this space for more recipes using some of these great products.  Lastly, if you happen to be a New Zealand food blogger (whether you are living in New Zealand or abroad), and if after reading this you feel inspired to join up, then head over here - it will cost you nothing and I promise you won't regret it.

And now, as your reward, for being so patient and reading so far, I give you salad.  The jumping off point for this salad came from using the home-made mozzarella I was inspired to make after doing Alli's master class at the conference.  Of course, if you're not up for making your own mozzarella, you could use whatever you can get your hands on - buffalo would be ideal.  I had some rocket (that's arugula to some of you) and fennel in the fridge, which seemed like they would be good mates with the mozzarella, and I wanted to team them all up with some of the gorgeous Moon Over Martinborough extra virgin olive oil that was in our conference goodie bags.  The quantity given below was perfect for me as a main meal, but it would also make a great side to just about anything and as such would serve two to three.  This salad is light, crisp, fresh ... all the things a spring salad should be.

Rocket, Fennel & Mozzarella Salad Recipe

Serves 1 person as a meal or

Serves 2-3 persons as a side dish

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

(Note:  I think of this dish as being "vegetarian-enough" for me, but look for vegetarian mozzarella if you want to make it strictly so)

1x ball buffalo mozzarella

(I used about 4 small balls of home-made mozzarella)

1x lemon, zest & juice

extra virgin olive oil, best quality you can afford

(I used Moon Over Martinborough's Crescent Moon Blend)

flaky sea salt

freshly ground pepper

2-3 large handfuls of baby rocket (arugula)

1/2 large fennel bulb (or 1 small one)

dash of maple syrup

Cut mozzarella into slices about 1cm (1/3 inch) thick and place into a small bowl.  Add the grated zest of half the lemon, and juice of the whole lemon, along with a generous slosh of olive oil (about a tablespoon).  Season with flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper.  Season well to combine and set aside to marinate for a couple of hours.

To prepare the fennel, remove the fronds if there are any and set them aside to garnish your finished salad with.  Cut off the woody stalks protruding from the bulb, and remove the thick outer "leaves" - discard.  Cut the bulb in half and remove the woody core, which you should also discard.  Then slice as thinly as you possibly can - a mandoline is especially useful for this job if you have one.

To assemble the salad, arrange the rocket and fennel over a serving platter.  Remove mozzarella from its marinade, reserving the marinade, and arrange over the salad.

The marinade is now about to become the dressing for your salad.  Add another generous slosh of olive oil and a dash of maple syrup to balance out the tartness of the lemon, and whisk to a vinaigrette consistency.  Taste and adjust any of the seasonings to suit your palate. 

Drizzle the dressing over the salad and, if you have any fennel fronds, strew them over the top.

I hope you enjoy this salad.  I'm no expert on food and wine matching, but I'm guessing that a drop or two of that Ritzling Bottled Happiness would be good company with this ... if only I'd kept mine long enough to find out.  Still now that I know where to get it in Nelson, you can bet that I will be able to confirm this recommendation in the near future.

Baked Figs with Walnut Tarragon Cream & Rocket Salad and Cookbook Sundays # 23

Props courtesy of Stevens Homewares, Nelson (details below)

My neighbour has a good sized fig tree which fruits quite prolifically - lucky neighbour!  My neighbour doesn't eat figs and, although the birds do, if I'm really vigilant I can get a fair share of them before my feathered friends swoop on them - lucky me!

As luck would also have it, I recently picked up a copy of Karen Martini's book "Where the Heart is" for an absolute song on TradeMe (the New Zealand equivalent of eBay).

I had been wanting this book for ages, and when it finally arrived and I prised the package open, the first page it fell open at was this recipe for Baked Figs with Walnut Cream and Tarragon.  With all those figs ripening on the tree I knew that Karen and I were going to get along famously.

Karen Martini describes herself as an "intuitive cook" and, in the introduction to the book, talks of the challenge of bringing together her recipes of the last 20 years as one which made her reflect on her past.  She says ... "My recipes were sometimes typed, often handwritten and frequently scrawled on endless sheets of paper, on the back of old menus, gas bills, invoices and business cards.  They reflect times shared with family and friends, at home and on holiday, barbecues, raucous parties, romantic moments and solitary dinners.  They articulated my obsession with particular ingredients - artichokes, fennel, the unloved pea.  They traced my journeys to the source of special ingredients, recorded triumphs over unavailability  and celebrated the seasons.  Most of all, they seemed to chart my life."

The book is packed full of recipes which are just made for sharing with family and friends.  Recipes are uncomplicated and inspirational, rather than relying on a lot of "cheffie" techniques that need to be slavishly followed.  Most of all these are recipes which make the most of fresh, seasonal produce, and I know that I will be doing a lot of cooking from this book.

I have a couple of other fig dishes in my repertoire - this Grilled Fig, Haloumi & Pomegranate Salad, Fig & Blue Cheese Wontons, Blue Cheese, Fig & Walnut Flatbread, and a Caramelised Fig Pavlova - but this dish just rocketed to the top of my list of things to do with figs.  A divine dish, and I'm going to be watching that fig tree like a hawk over the next week to make this a few more times before the season is over.

I made a few adjustments to the recipe.  Firstly, the original recipe called for the inclusion of fresh tarragon in the salad.  I couldn't find any fresh tarragon, so I used a little dried tarragon in the "stuffing" for the figs instead.  Now, there are not many things in which I use dried herbs, but in this case the slight "earthiness" of the dried tarragon worked well with the walnuts and the figs.  Use judiciously though - tarragon has a strong flavour and too much can be a ghastly thing.  I suggest adding a pinch, taste, add a pinch more, taste again, etc, until you get the flavour right.  I also added some grated lemon zest to the mascarpone filling - the lemon cuts through the creaminess and also balances out the sweetness of the figs.  Make sure that you use the best extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar that you can afford here.

This recipe would be a perfect appetiser for two people, or for one greedy person like me makes a fabulous light lunch.

Baked Figs with Walnut Tarragon Cream & Rocket Salad Recipe

Adapted from a recipe by Karen Martini from

"Where the Heart is"

Serves 2 as an appetiser

Serves 1 as a light meal

Vegetarian

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

4 ripe figs

1/2 cup mascarpone

3/4 cup walnuts, toasted

dried tarragon, pinch or two

flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

1/2 lemon, zest & juice

2x large handfuls of rocket (arugula)

extra virgin olive oil

balsamic vinegar

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees C (340 degrees F).

Put the mascarpone into a small bowl.  Add 1 dessertspoon of cold  water and whisk till loosened and smooth.  Put 1/2 cup of the walnuts into a mortar and pestle and pound until finely crushed - alternatively you could do this in a food processor.  Add to the mascarpone, along with the grated lemon zest, flaky sea salt, ground black pepper and pinch of dried tarragon.  Mix well and taste.  Adjust lemon, seasoning and tarragon to taste.

Cut figs into quarters, almost to the base - enough to "open up" the figs like petals, but making sure that they stay intact.

Squeeze a little of the lemon juice over each of the figs, and then "stuff" each of the figs with a dollop of the mascarpone mixture.

Place the figs in a small ovenproof dish and bake for 8-10 minutes, until the figs are soft and the filling is starting to get "oozey" and melty.

Pile the rocket leaves in a serving bowl and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and the rest of the lemon juice.  Nestle the figs amongst the rocket leaves, spooning any of the mascarpone mixture that might have oozed out of the figs back over them.

Sprinkle the remaining walnuts over the top, and drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar.

Props courtesy of Stevens Homewares Ltd 

Pepper & salt mills, 15cm, red 

"Prepare" individual tea towel 

"Munich" serving forks
"Diamond" rimmed bowl, 30cm

I'm sharing these figs this week at Cookbook Sundays, where my friends are delving into their cookbook collections and sharing some of their recipes.  Do keep reading to see what they're cooking - you might even feel inspired to link up a recipe from one of your own cookbooks.

I'm also sharing this post at Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays hosted by Deb at Kahakai Kitchen, See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by Michelle at Ms. enPlace, and at Gallery of Favourites hosted by April at 21st Century Housewife.

 

If you're anything like me you have dozens of cookbooks gathering dust on your bookshelves, some of which have never even been cooked from.  Sure I spent hours browsing through them when I first bought them, marking all the recipes I was going to make with little post-it notes, and yet still those books languish in the bookcase and never make it to the kitchen.  There are others from which I have made but one recipe which was such a resounding success that I've made it over and over again, and yet somehow I've never made anything else from that book.  Sound a bit familiar?!

Take comfort - you are not alone, and now Cookbook Sundays is your opportunity to change that.  Every Sunday I'm going to share with you a recipe that I haven't made before from one of my ever expanding collection of cookbooks.  And, because I know that if you have read this far then you are guilty of this too, I'm inviting you to join in with me.  Each week my Cookbook Sundays post will have a linky for you to share something you've cooked from one of your cookbooks.

The rules for joining in are simple:

1. Your post must state the author and the title of the book your recipe has come from.
2. Your post must mention Cookbook Sundays and link back to this post.  Including the Cookbook Sundays badge is optional, but always appreciated.
3. You may submit as many entries as you like, and you may use the same cookbook as many times as you like.  Old posts are also welcome.
4. Lastly,  remember that what goes around, comes around - one of the reasons you are participating in this is because you want people to read your posts, so do the right thing and go and visit a few of the other participants - you can even "Like" your favourites. 

Now, go and dust off those cookbooks and get cooking!  Use the linky tool at the end of this post to submit your entry/entries - simply scroll down to where it says "You are next ... Click here to enter", and then follow the instructions.  The linky will be open for one week.

Lastly, if you would like to use the Cookbook Sundays badge in your post, simply copy the code in the box beside the badge below and paste it into your post.  Feel free to also use it in your sidebar if you wish.

<a href="http://couscous-consciousness.blogspot.com/p/cookbook-sundays.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa476/Susan_Busch/CookbookSundaysBadge.jpg" border="0" alt="CookbookSundays"></a>

"End of Spring" Ministrone with Rocket, Spinach & Walnut Pesto and Cookbook Sundays # 2

It's been a funny old week.  It may be the start of summer here but, with torrential rain and heavy flooding in many parts of Nelson, it's felt rather more like winter.  Many families in our city had to be evacuated from their homes, either because of flooding or because of danger from hillside slips.  Thankfully, we live high enough on a hill to escape flooding and were lucky enough not to be subjected to any slips either.  A special thanks also to so many of you for your kind thoughts and concerns for my safety - your thoughtfulness never ceases to warm my heart and is a constant reminder of the joys of belonging to this food blogging "family".

So, after all that rain something warming, nourishing and comforting seemed to be called for, but at the same time I wasn't wanting anything too heavy.  When I came across this recipe for Spring Ministrone in Super Natural Cooking (one of my favourite cookbooks) by Heidi Swanson it seemed to fit the bill perfectly.  I also knew that this would be perfect for my contribution this week to Cookbook Sundays (read more about that at the end of this post).

For this soup brown rice is cooked in a light vegetable broth, with spring vegetables (I used asparagus, zucchini, and peas) added right at the end, so that the vegetables are still bright green and crispy.  I made a pesto from some spinach and rocket (arugula) I'd harvested from my garden, and topped the soup with a generous dollop of that, along with some freshly grated lemon zest and shaved pecorino cheese.

I know that there are amongst you those who love soup and could eat it (or should that be drink it) just about every day of the week.  I am not such a person.  I don't mind a bowl of soup now and again, but you know maybe 6-8 bowls of soup in the whole year is probably about my fix.  It is not something I would ever order in a restaurant, unless of course it's an Asian restaurant of some sort, in which case there is a very strong possibility that I would order the noodle or wonton soup.  This doesn't count as one of the 6-8 bowls of soup previously mentioned, as I think of this as noodles, not soup - those are the rules!  My other soup rule is that I almost never have soup in summer.

Now, I've got to say this .... this soup just broke all of my soup rules.  This is quite possibly the best soup I've ever tasted - at least, the best one that I've ever made, and you know what?  This soup is definitely going to have me exceeding my annual soup quota - in fact there is a good chance I'll exceed that before the week is out.  This is a soup that I could really eat every single day - of course, things like asparagus and fresh peas won't be around for much longer, but I will be making the most of it while they're still here.

The nuttiness and chewiness of the brown rice gives that little bit of "comfort factor" and enough substance to be able to make a meal out of this.  The crisp, green vegetables provide a lovely textural balance to the rice, while the hit of fresh lemon and fragrant pesto keeps the spring-like freshness in this dish.

Of course, you could swap out the vegetables I used with all sorts of other alternatives:  green beans, snow peas, broad beans, artichoke hearts, edamame, cauliflower, broccoli, bok choy.  Just keep it green would be my mantra here - save the carrots, pumpkin, corn, etc, for something else.  I urge you to try it - I know you won't be disappointed.

"End of Spring" Ministrone with Rocket, Spinach & Walnut Pesto

Adapted from a recipe by Heidi Swanson from

Super Natural Cooking

Makes 4 generous servings

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

Vegetarian

For the soup:

2x tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2x shallots, thinly sliced

1x garlic clove, minced

1x cup brown rice, rinsed

6x cups vegetable stock

2x zucchini, thinly sliced

8x asparagus spears, cut on the diagonal into 2.5 cm (1 in) lengths

1x cup freshly shelled green peas (frozen is fine too)

flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

For the pesto:

3x large handfuls of rocket (arugula) & spinach leaves

1x large handful of toasted walnut pieces

2x cloves garlic

extra virgin olive oil (about 1/3 cup)

1/2 cup freshly grated pecorino cheese

flaky sea salt

To serve:

freshly grated zest of 1x lemon

pecorino cheese, freshly shaved

Begin with the soup.  Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add the shallots and garlic to the pan, and saute for a couple of minutes until the shallots have softened and the garlic is fragrant.  Add the rice, and cook for a minute, stirring constantly until every grain of rice is coated in the oil.  Now add the stock to the pan, bring up to the boil, then cover the pan with a lid, lower the heat to a simmer, and cook for 30 to 45 minutes until the rice is tender.

Meanwhile make the pesto.  Put the walnuts, rocket, spinach, garlic and salt into a food processor and pulse until the leaves and nuts start to break down. Then leaving the motor running, begin to add the oil in a steady stream until you have a smooth paste. Remove to a bowl, stir in the grated pecorino, taste and add a little more salt if necessary. Set aside.

Now back to the soup.  Once the rice is tender, add the vegetables and season generously with flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Simmer for just 2 or 3 minutes, so that the vegetables are still bright green and crisp, add freshly grated lemon zest, and serve immediately.

Ladle into bowls, add some fresh shavings of pecorino cheese to each bowl, and top each with a generous dollop of the pesto.

 

Earlier I mentioned Cookbook Sundays.  What is that all about, you are perhaps wondering.  Well, if you're anything like me you have dozens of cookbooks gathering dust on your bookshelves, some of which have never even been cooked from.  Sure I spent hours browsing through them when I first bought them, marking all the recipes I was going to make with little post-it notes, and yet still those books languish in the bookcase and never make it to the kitchen.  There are others from which I have made but one recipe which was such a resounding success that I've made it over and over again, and yet somehow I've never made anything else from that book.  Sound a bit familiar?!

Take comfort - you are not alone, and now Cookbook Sundays is your opportunity to change that.  Every Sunday I'm going to share with you a recipe that I haven't made before from one of my ever expanding collection of cookbooks.  And, because I know that if you have read this far then you are guilty of this too, I'm inviting you to join in with me.  Each week my Cookbook Sundays post will have a linky for you to share something you've cooked from one of your cookbooks.

The rules for joining in are simple:

1. Your post must state the author and the title of the book your recipe has come from.
2. Your post must mention Cookbook Sundays and link back to this post.  Including the Cookbook Sundays badge is optional, but always appreciated.
3. You may submit as many entries as you like, and you may use the same cookbook as many times as you like.  Old posts are also welcome.
4. Lastly,  remember that what goes around, comes around - one of the reasons you are participating in this is because you want people to read your posts, so do the right thing and go and visit a few of the other participants. 

Now, go and dust off those cookbooks and get cooking!  Use the linky tool at the end of this post to submit your entry/entries - simply scroll down to where it says "You are next ... Click here to enter", and then follow the instructions.  The linky will be open for one week.

Lastly, if you would like to use the Cookbook Sundays badge in your post, simply copy the code in the box beside the badge below and paste it into your post.  Feel free to also use it in your sidebar if you wish.

<a href="http://couscous-consciousness.blogspot.com/p/cookbook-sundays.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa476/Susan_Busch/CookbookSundaysBadge.jpg" border="0" alt="CookbookSundays"></a>

I'm also sharing this post at Souper Sundays, hosted by the lovely Deb at Kahakai Kitchen, at My Meatless Mondays, hosted by Chaya at My Sweet & Savory; and at See Ya in the Gumbo hosted by Michelle at Ms. enPlace.