Orecchiette with Broccoli & Anchovy Sauce Recipe- Cooking Italy 8

I love belonging to the Cooking Italy group - not just for the fact that they still talk to me even though I haven't submitted anything for months; and not just for the fact that I love the way that members of this group help each other grow and develop their culinary repertoire and skills with advice about the food we are cooking, offering guidance to each other through our trials, successes and failures; but also for the way in which this group connects with each other "off-blog", so to speak, sharing stuff with each other which is very real and touches us all deeply - a group which is willing to share, connect and trust people who are relative strangers, but who become less "strange" by the week through these shared communications.

Aahhh - food really does bring people together - even in the virtual world - I love that.

Which really brings me to the touchstone of my whole cooking philosophy.  As you may have read here before, my food is all about making those connections and is my way of showing the people I care about how much I love them.  It is how I keep alive the memories of family and friends no longer in my daily life;  it is how I nurture those near and dear to me whenever we come together;  and it is how I open my heart and extend the hand of friendship to new acquaintances.  You may be reading this on the other side of the world, but I hope you know that the food and stories written here are offered to you with love.  This to me is what real food is all about - it is food made from the heart;  it is food made with real, fresh, seasonal ingredients;  it is food which shows as much respect for the environment from which it is drawn as it does for the people to whom it is offered;  it is food that comes out of your kitchen - not out of a box or, worse still, a drive-through;  it is food that shows you care, in every possible way.  Because I am so passionate about this, I was very excited this week to be invited by Alex at A Moderate Life to participate in the Two for Tuesdays weekly blog hop where other bloggers who care passionately about real food are sharing their recipes, stories and information.  I hope you'll go and have a look, and enjoy what some other "real food" bloggers have to offer.

So today's recipe from Marcella Hazan's "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" does double-duty, being submitted to both the Cooking Italy group and Two for Tuesday.  It is exactly the kind of dish that I would like to share with friends. It is simplicity itself - let's face it, things don't get much more simple than pasta and broccoli, right?!  It is the kind of casual, comfortable, unpretentious food that you can linger, and chat over, and enjoy a good glass of wine with, and yet the little bit of anchovy in the sauce adds enough complexity and sophistication to this dish that it could fit right in on those occasions when perhaps a little more elegance is called for.

Hey, do I hear the stampede of fingers? Does the very mention of anchovy have you reaching for your mouse right now to change pages? Well, just hang on one darn minute. If you, or one of the people you cook for, freak out at the very thought of anchovies I urge you to give them one last try in this recipe before you give up on them completely. I can promise you that this dish does not taste of anchovy, or in the slightest bit "fishy" - rather they melt into the dish, adding a "savouriness" that I can't imagine you could get in any other way, and without which I think this dish would be really rather bland. To be honest, if you're not brave enough to try the anchovy, then don't make this dish at all - don't be tempted to try and just leave it out, as without it the dish would be nothing. My only suggestion for a passable substitution would be bacon - won't taste anything like this version of course, but would still be a pretty nice dish with the broccoli (and let's face it, is there anything that isn't great with bacon? - chocolate, maybe, but I suspect a case could be made for even that).

I also added some toasted walnuts to my final dish - not at all necessary, but just because, well, I can't leave anything alone - the tinkerer in me always has to have a little "tweek" here or there. Secondly, because, although the classic "menage a trois" may not be everyone's idea of the ideal domestic relationship, there are many culinary examples of a trio of ingredients that make the perfect marriage - without being exhaustive tomato-basil-mozzarella or the classic mirepoix of carrots-onions-celery are a couple of excellent examples. I happen to think that broccoli-anchovies-walnuts is another one of those wonderful trinities that just turns out to be perfect. What's your favourite trio of ingredients? Leave me a comment, I'd love to know.

This dish also enabled me to use a whole lot of broccoli, on which I had got a great special this week. Lately, (I think because we have had rather a lot of wet weather for Canterbury) broccoli has been in short supply, and thus extremely expensive, but this week I was excited to snap up at my local greengrocer heads of broccoli for just 79 cents each - they're not big, but still less than half the price of same sized heads at the supermarket, and are just the right size for one meal.

I enjoyed this dish so much that it will definitely become a regular, stand-by meal in my home - one of those great "meal in a hurry dishes" that sacrifices nothing in the way of flavour and goodness.  You honestly could have this on the table faster than you could say "takeaway" - I hope you will give it a try.

A word about quantity - Marcella's recipe states that it serves 6.  In my opinion this quantity of sauce would maybe feed 4 as an appetiser or part of a multi-course meal;  or, as would more likely be the case in our house, would give two generous servings as a main meal.

Orechiette with Broccoli & Anchovy Sauce

Adapted from Marcella Hazan's

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

fresh broccoli, about 500g

hot red chilli, finely chopped

(I used dried chilli flakes instead)

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

6-8 anchovy fillets (depending on size), finely chopped

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated

1/4 cup pecorino cheese, freshly grated

generous handful toasted walnuts, chopped (optional)

125g pasta per person (I used orecchiette)

Set a large pan of water over high heat and bring to the boil.

While you are waiting for the water to come to a boil, prepare the broccoli.  Cut the florets off the stalk, but don't throw the stalk away.  Cut the thick, woody base off the stalk, and peel off the thick, dark outer layer of the stalk.  Once the water is boiling, salt liberally, add the broccoli and cook until just fork tender.

Remove the broccoli from the water and set aside.  Add the pasta to the water and cook until al dente.

While the pasta is cooking ...

Cut the broccoli florets into smaller pieces and dice the stalks.

Put the oil in a saute pan and set over low heat.  Once the oil is warm (not too hot), remove the pan from the heat, and add the anchovies.  Keep stirring and mashing the anchovies into the warm oil to dissolve and make a paste.  Add the broccoli (including the stalks) and the chilli (fresh or dried) to the pan, return the pan to the heat, and cook for a few minutes, turning the broccoli regularly to make sure it is well coated.

Reserve a little of the pasta water, then drain the pasta and add to the pan of broccoli and sauce.  Toss well, then add the cheeses and toss again.  Toss through the walnuts, if using, then serve immediately.

Serve with extra cheese if desired.

 

Available from Amazon, Book Depository UK, or Fishpond NZ

Spellcheck for Signwriters?! - Random # 1

This is a first - and hopefully the first of many.

You see, I want to keep in touch with you a little more regularly than my weekly (okay, almost weekly) recipes that I blog about.  I may have mentioned before that I am totally in awe of those bloggers who manage to churn out a blog a day all beautifully written, complete with gorgeous photos.  But I'm a bit of a slow-poke, and a fuss-pot to boot, so it literally takes me all week to get my posts done to a stage where I am happy to release them to you.

But in between times, I think of you all often, and have random little things I'd like to share with you.  So, I thought, why don't I just do that - share those random things with you on a more regular basis.  Maybe it will just be a photograph I like, or a quotation that inspires me, maybe a new product I've discovered, or maybe a quick and easy meal idea that doesn't need a full-blown recipe - you beginning to get the idea?

So here is the first - a photo taken of a sign at my local butcher shop that makes me chuckle everytime I see it.  The signwriter really needs help with his spelling - how many spelling mistakes can you spot?

Hope you're having a great day - if not, hopefully, this will at least make you smile :-)

Blood Orange & Black Olive Salad Recipe

I'm ashamed to say that it's been a long time since I contributed to the I Heart Cooking Clubs group;  nevertheless, some of you may recall that the group is cooking with Mark Bittman, and our theme this week is Raw Foods.  I'll be honest - when I read that my heart sank.  Now that doesn't mean I have anything against raw foods - quite the opposite in fact - but here in New Zealand, in the middle of winter, our thoughts turn more readily to soups and stews right now.  And, let's face it, a lot of what's seasonal here right now doesn't exactly lend itself to being served up "in the raw", so to speak.  Raw kumara (sweet potato) or pumpkin?  I don't think so!

What's more, this idea seemed to just compound the battle already raging within over my food choices right now.  As I mentioned last week, having just come back from a month in Greece, I find myself constantly longing for the food which reminds me of that time - which was of course beautiful, light, fresh summer food.

 The salad in this photo is one that I made while on Paros of fried eggplant, rocket, green olives, lemon zest and a local cheese called Mizithra

I just cannot get excited right now about root vegetables and casseroles, things that normally I really enjoy when the season comes around.  So I have been trying in my cooking lately, as much as possible, to give my wintery food a bit of a summery twist or "tweek" it in some way that is reminiscent of the food I ate in Greece.  I think I succeeded reasonably well with the Dried Fruit Compote I posted last week - a compote of dried peaches, apricots, figs, cherries and prunes - same fruit that I had eaten almost daily on Paros, just given a different treatment.  I think I also captured some of that feeling in a warm salad I made during the week of steamed beetroot and brown lentils - I got my Greek fix, by tossing everything in a very lemony vinaigrette (sweetened ever so slightly with a little honey and spiked with dried oregano), then adding black olives, chunks of feta, and some roasted hazelnuts.

So the challenge then for me - make something raw, using seasonal ingredients, and which would also transport me back to Greece for a few glorious moments.  This orange and black olive salad fits the bill perfectly for me, and even though Mark Bittman was actually inspired to make this dish after a visit to the south of France, I could easily be in Greece.  You see I chose to use blood oranges, instead of the naval oranges that were called for in the original recipe, and just the gorgeous rosy-orange colour of those on the plate with the pile of black olive paste reminds me immediately of this beautiful Paros sunrise.

Now, I know you are waiting for me to just get on with the recipe, but before I do here is a little mystery food item for you.  Do you know what this is in the photo below?  Post your answer in the comment section - sorry I don't have a prize for getting it right, and I imagine for some of you out there it's a complete "no-brainer", but it was something I had never seen before.  Clue - unsurprisingly, I took this photo during my holiday in Greece...

Keep watching this space for next week's mystery food item.  Now, on with the recipe.

Blood Orange & Black Olive Salad

Adapted from Mark Bitman's

"Zucca's Orange and Olive Salad"

Vegetarian, gluten-free

Click here for a printable copy

1 cup of Kalamata olives (or any black olives you prefer)

olive oil (quantity will vary with type of olives used)

1x blood orange per person

thyme

fennel seeds

Begin by removing the seeds from the olives - please do yourself a favour and avoid already pitted olives.  This is very easy to do - simply place the olive on a hard surface such as a plate or board;  press firmly with your thumb (or if your olives are harder you can use the bottom of a cup or glass);  the olive will easily split open;  remove the seed and discard.

Put the pitted olives now into your food processor with about a teaspoon of olive oil and pulse a couple of times to roughly chop the olives.  Add a little more olive oil and keep pulsing till you have the desired consistency - take care not to turn this into complete "mush";  you want to keep a bit of texture to the paste.

Now to the oranges.  Grate the zest of one orange and set aside.  Then remove all the skin (including the white pith) from the oranges, and slice into thickish rounds.  Hint, do this on a plate so that you can collect all the juices which will come out of the oranges.

To serve, arrange orange slices on a plate and top with a dollop of the olive paste.  Drizzle with your best olive oil and some of the reserved orange juice.  Sprinkle with a few thyme leaves and fennel seeds and a little of the reserved orange zest.

Then sit back, close your eyes, and enjoy your Paros sunrise on a plate!

Remembering Paros & Dried Fruit Compote

No prizes for noticing that I haven't blogged for a couple of months - well, I've got a good excuse - well, for some of that time at least.  As many of you know, I have just had a wonderful trip to Europe, thus managing to escape a good chunk of this New Zealand winter.  Add to that a couple of weeks before I went away of being "too busy" to blog, and then coming home and taking a couple more weeks to get back into regular routines - you know how it goes - "I'll start blogging again tomorrow", but tomorrow keeps becoming the next day and the next day and so on.  Not being a natural writer, I have found it surprisingly difficult to get back into it - I know that once I sit down and just start to write, things will start to unfold, but somehow I have been a bit afraid to just sit down and get started, as though I don't know where to begin.  But anyway, enough excuses, here goes ...

So what exactly have I been doing while I was away?  I began my trip with several days in Barcelona (quite possibly my favourite city in the world, so far) - an opportunity to shop, to enjoy great food and make daily visits to La Boqueria market (absolute foodie heaven) (you can see more of my photos from La Boqueria here) ...

... to enjoy the cultural and artistic history of this wonderful city, including a visit to the Fundacio Joan Miro (a museum housing an extensive collection of the works of Joan Miro, one of my favourite artists) ...

... and, on my last evening in Barcelona, take in a cooking class at Cook & Taste.  As well as a tour of the market, we cooked a typical four course Catalan meal which included Chupito de Sopa de Tomate al Aroma de Idiazabal (shots of tomato soup flavoured with idiazabal smoked cheese), Tortilla de Patatas y Pan con Tomate (potato omelette with tomato bread), Paella de Marisco (seafood paella) and Crema Catalana (Catalan cream) - yes, I promise to share some of these recipes with you in the future.  The cooking school kitchen is lovely, and our tutor, Ignasius, was immensely knowledgeable and informative, as well as being very warm, friendly and entertaining.  The other students (mostly from the US, but surprisingly also another couple from New Zealand) were equally friendly and amusing.  In groups of 3 or 4 we all got a hands-on turn at cooking one of the courses, and then we all got to eat together the meal we had created.  The food was delicious, and there was plenty of good Spanish wine to wash it down with.  All in all, this was a wonderfully fitting way to end my stay in this beautiful city.

From Barcelona I travelled to Athens for a night, and then on to the island of Paros for a four week yoga intensive with Graeme and Leonie Northfield, which was the whole purpose of my trip.  It is almost impossible to put into words what a deeply profound experience this was, and I am not even going to try.

I can, however, tell you this.  I have been privileged to have Graeme and Leonie as my teachers for several years now.  I appreciate enormously the vast amount of experience they each have, and the knowledge and wisdom that they bring to their teaching.  I appreciate their passion for teaching students to develop a practice which is both safe and which will endure.  I am grateful for the wise and intuitive way in which they have guided my practice, helping me through injuries, and encouraging and leading me forward when the time is right.  Most of all, I'm incredibly grateful for their warmth, love and compassion.  And they're also good fun ...

I'm also incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to practice with some of the most wonderful people I have ever had the privilege to meet, and who I now feel I can call friends.  Fellow students who, despite coming together as strangers, opened their hearts and without reservation offered love and support for each other when it was needed.  I could not help but feel very humbled.

But, enough, I know you just want me to get right to the food!  The first thing I can tell you is that the Greeks really, really know how to do vegetables and this is a great place to dine out for a vegetarian.  All the cafes and tavernas I dined in had probably at least 20 vegetable dishes to choose from, and then several salads as well.  Everything was fresh, in season, and simply but deliciously prepared - nothing "chefy" about this, just really simple, honest food bursting with flavour - special favourites were peppers and tomatoes stuffed with rice, wild greens simply steamed and served with loads of lemon juice and black pepper, artichoke hearts braised with broad beans, courgette fritters (I think these were everyone's favourites), and aubergines Imam (cooked in lots of olive oil and filled with tomatoes and feta).  Of course no meal is complete without the ubiquitous Greek salad - we managed to have these on an almost daily basis without ever tiring of them.

We had regular group pot luck dinners - always celebratory affairs, with beautiful food, plenty of local wine, and of course much laughter.

We dined in beautiful tavernas so close to the water's edge that the fish could have almost jumped onto our plates - of course you nearly have to take out a mortgage to pay for the fish here!  As fish stocks in the Mediterranean diminish, so the prices seem to escalate.  From what I observed fish seemed to be usually served whole in restaurants, rather than by the fillet, and accordingly are charged by the kilo, with prices starting at 55Euros per kilo (that's NZ$110 per kilo - yes you are reading that right) and going up to around 110Euros per kilo (NZ$220 - gulp)!  So if you're planning to eat seafood here, expect to have to really cut a lot of moths loose from your wallet.  On the other hand, if you are happy to eat a little further down the food chain, you'll do yourself and the planet a favour.  Seafood such as sardines and calamari are plentiful and sustainable, as well as tasting great -you could eat a beautiful dish of grilled sardines or calamari for around 7Euros a plate.

Although I have never been that much of a breakfast person, it was in fact breakfast that became my favourite meal of every day.  As is so often the case, good food for me is as much about connecting with others as it is about what's on your plate.  It became our morning ritual, having finished our yoga practice, to enjoy a refreshing swim, after which everyone would disappear to their rooms to prepare their breakfast, emerging a little while later to eat breakfast together in the garden - usually a bowl of thick, luscious Greek yoghurt;  a mountain of fresh fruit (peaches, apricots, melons, cherries, strawberries were all very abundant);  a drizzle of local honey and some nuts.  It was fun each morning to peer into each other's bowls and see what assortment everyone had come up with.  Breakfast was a leisurely affair - usually a couple of hours when we would sit and talk, laugh, occasionally cry - a time to share and support, and a time to plan the rest of the day - should we have a sleep first and then go to town for a coffee, or maybe go for coffee first and then sleep? - or maybe an excursion to the supermarket to get some ingredients for one of our potluck dinners is in order.  Oh the tough decisions you have to make when you're on holiday!

Since I've returned home, I've found myself still needing to have my "Greek breakfast" and contemplate my day at a leisurely pace.  I have never before been much of a yoghurt lover - I often use it as an ingredient, but seldom eat it straight.  Oh, how my head has been turned since eating real Greek yoghurt!  You can buy a variety of "Greek style" yoghurts here, but they're not quite the same - you can, however, almost approximate it:  firstly, line a seive with a paper towel;  at least 3 hours before you want to eat it (overnight is ideal) spoon a serving of yoghurt into the paper towel;  set over a bowl (in the fridge) to drain.  That solves the yoghurt issue, but what about the fruit?  In the depths of winter here stone fruit, berries and melon are simply not an option.  Yes, I guess you could have a selection of apples, oranges and pears - but, I'm sorry, they just don't do it for me.  Although they are all fruits that I like to use in salads and sometimes even in desserts, but just as fruits for their own sake - no, not for me - I am without question a summer fruits girl.  My solution is a dried fruit compote - full of peaches, apricots, figs, cherries and prunes, infused with lemon, vanilla and star anise, in a syrup thick with honey (for a New Zealand twist I used manuka honey) - topped off with a sprinkling of chopped pistachio nuts, I ended up with a breakfast that even in the depths of the New Zealand winter transports me back to Paros everyday, and helps me to to still feel connected to new found friends at far flung corners of the world.

And, of course, I strongly recommend good coffee on the side!

Dried Fruit Compote Recipe

Makes 6-8 generous servings

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

There are no precise quantities required here - those given are approximate and should be adjusted to suit your personal taste

4-6 cups of dried fruit, whatever you like

I used approximately one cup each of dried peaches, apricots, figs, cherries and prunes

I also left all of my fruit whole, but if you like little pieces by all means go ahead and chop

For the syrup:

2 cups of cold water

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup honey (I used Manuka)

1 vanilla bean

2 star anise

3-4 strips of lemon peel (or orange would also be good)

To serve:

Greek-style yoghurt

chopped pistachios

Put the cold water, sugar and honey into a medium sized saucepan.  Split the vanilla pod lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, then add the seeds and the pod to the pan, along with the star anise and the strips of peel.

Set the pan over medium heat and stir until the sugar and honey has dissolved and the syrup begins to simmer.  Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes, then add all of the fruit to the pan.  Allow to simmer gently over low heat until the fruit is just soft - around 15 minutes.

Remove fruit from the pan to a bowl, then continue to simmer the liquid for a few more minutes until it has a thick, syrupy consistency.

Remove pan from the heat and pour the syrup over the fruit.  Cool completely and refrigerate overnight.  (Of course you could eat this straight away, but I think leaving all the fruit to steep in the syrup overnight really allows all the flavours to develop and mellow out).

To serve - put a generous dollop of Greek-style yoghurt in the bottom of a bowl and drizzle generously with some of the syrup.  Place a good serving of the fruit over the top and finish with a sprinkling of chopped pistachios.

Kali Orexi!

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.

Baked Brill with Tomato & Fennel Sauce - Cooking Italy 7

This fish dish was an assignment for the Cooking Italy group - a group of food enthusiasts learning to cook regional Italian food through the recipes of Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. (You can visit Angela at Spinach Tiger or view my Cooking Italy page to learn more about the group and see what some of the others have been cooking.)  This dish was actually one of our recipes for March and, even though I did manage to make the dish back in March, it has been sitting in "draft" for several weeks now.

I don't know why it has taken me so long to get around to writing up this post.  Perhaps I didn't want it to get lonely - after all, it is in good company there in my draft box, along with a whole lot of other posts in various stages of completion that have yet to make it to actual publication.  But seriously, even now I am feeling some kind of reticence about this post, trying to find the right words.  Certainly I felt a distinct lack of enthusiasm about making the dish - in fact just days before I had said to someone, "I want an interesting fish dish - I'm so over "fish in tomato-based sauces" recipes".  So, I wasn't exactly fired up about making this;  but, hey, it was on the list and, unlike some other recipes on the list, there wasn't anything unseasonal for me required (most other members of the group are in the northern hemisphere, so I'm sometimes out of step with everyone else) and I had everything on hand that I needed except the actual piece of fish.

Well, I was more than pleasantly surprised by this dish.  As I have now come to expect from Marcella's dishes, this totally delivered on flavour, colour, and texture, as well as ease of preparation and cooking - every ingredient is balanced perfectly, achieving a dish which is both elegant and comforting at the same time - another two characteristics that I am discovering arise again and again in Marcella's recipes.  (By the way, if you would like to read a bit more about Marcella Hazan, and her husband Victor check out this post by Jaden over at Steamy Kitchen - Jaden writes one of the blogs I follow regularly, and she had the extraordinary privilege a few days ago of cooking with Marcella in her home - I am so envious!)

Back to the fish - I did make a couple of small changes to the recipe.  Firstly, the day I choose to make this I couldn't get any fresh sole, but instead found a beautiful piece of brill that was just the right size for two people.  As Marcella suggests, any flat fish will do for this.

I had never eaten brill before, but I loved its firm, yet succulent texture and flavour which easily stood up to the sauce.  I cut this fillet in half down the middle, lengthwise, and each portion was the perfect size for one person.

The other big change I made, and I frankly think this was an improvement, was replacing the onion in the sauce with fennel.  As we "don't do onions" in our house - actually I can take them or leave them, but my "significant other" absolutely won't have a bar of them - I used a thinly sliced fennel bulb instead.

Now I may be "bastardising" some very classical and traditional Italian recipe here, but to my palate the fennel was infinitely better in both taste and texture than the onion would have been.

Marcella also suggests optionally including a hot, red chilli, which I didn't, but I can imagine that if you wanted something to fire-up your taste buds a little more that would be a good addition.

Baked Brill with Tomato & Fennel Sauce

Adapted from Marcella Hazan's

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (page 309)

Serves 3-4

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1 large bulb of fennel, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

400g tinned tomatoes in their juice, crushed

flaky sea salt

2 tablespoons capers (I prefer salted)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

freshly ground black pepper, or

1 hot, red chilli, chopped

brill or other flatfish fillets

Preheat your oven to 225 degrees C (450 degrees F).

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, then add the sliced fennel and cook until it softens and begins to colour slightly.  Add the garlic, and once the garlic is ever so slightly browned, add the crushed tomatoes and a couple of generous pinches of salt.  Give everything a good stir to combine well, and then simmer for about 15-20 minutes.  By this stage the sauce will have thickened (you may need to add a little bit of water during this time).  Add the capers, herbs, pepper or chilli; stir to combine and simmer for just another minute or so longer.  Remove from the heat.

Wash and dry the fish fillets.  The fillets will be folded in half, and then put into an ovenproof dish, slightly overlapping, so choose a baking dish which is just large enough to accommodate all your fillets in a single layer.

Spread a thin layer of the sauce over the base of your baking dish.  Dip the fillets in the sauce, coating them well on both sides.  Fold the fillets in half, arrange in the dish, and pour the remaining sauce over the top of the fillets - you want to end up with fish fillets which are more or less "smothered" inside and out with the sauce.

Bake in the preheated oven for 5 to 10 minutes depending on the thickness of your fish - mine took closer to 10 minutes, but you want to be careful not to overcook the fillets, so maybe check them after 5 minutes.

I served this just with some crusty sourdough bread (perfect for dunking into that luscious sauce) and a simple rocket and parmesan salad.  Oh, and did I mention a lovely, crisp New Zealand sauvignon blanc is just the thing to wash it down with!!

So, even though I said I was soooooo over tomato-based fish dishes, this one has hit my list of ones that is destined to be repeated in my house many times over.

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