cooking challenge week five: penne giardiniera

This week the cooking challenge takes us back to continental Europe. To la bell'italia, to be specific. Everytime I go to Carluccio's (one of the best restaurant chains in the world!) I order penne giardiniera. No matter what else is on the menu, I always return to the old favourite. After four years of eating it in store, I've finally worked out how to make it at home. I've got to say, I was surprised at how close this was to the original.

You will need:

1kg English spinach leaves, rinsed

4 cloves garlic

1 nutmeg seed

300g parmesan cheese

100g butter

2 large courgettes

2 mild red chillis, deseeded and chopped into small pieces

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

Large Penne Pasta

2 tablespoons olive oil + extra for shallow frying

What to do:

Put a little water in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the spinach leaves, put a lid on it. Simmer for approximately two minutes, pour into a colander and strain over a bowl. Press with a wooden spoon until as much liquid is released as possible. Place 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped, into a large bowl. Add the spinach, the beaten egg, and 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese.

Grate a few lashings of nutmeg (approximately a teaspoon full) and add half of the breadcrumbs. Stir. Add more breadcrumbs if it's too moist.

Get some olive oil going on high heat, in a large frying pan. Form the spinach mix into loose, palm size balls and, once hot, add to the oil. Fry until lightly browned and then transfer to an oven tray. Set aside.

Bring some salted water to boiling point, in a large saucepan, and add the pasta. Cook until al dente according to packet instructions. Strain through a colander. Set aside.

Place the spinach balls in the oven on 150'c for 10 - 15 minutes, to crisp up and reheat.

In a large frying pan, over moderate heat, melt the butter. Add the rest of the garlic (finely chopped) and the chilli and stir until lightly browned. Grate the courgettes into the frying pan, and season with a few more gratings of nutmeg, salt and cracked pepper. Stir and fry for a few minutes - careful not to brown anything! Grate approximately 200g of parmesan cheese, reserving any extra. Immediately add the pasta, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Mix well, then serve. Place spinach balls on top of the pasta and garnish with extra parmesan. These quantities should comfortably serve four or five people.

a carluccio's feast, saturday night

One of my favourite restaurants is Carluccios. When we first moved to the UK, we worshipped the window display of the South Kensington cafe for months, before a dear relative convinced us to join her for dinner inside. It was everything I'd hoped. From that date to this, we regularly eat in Carluccio's, and have celebrated many special events there. Tonight, I recreated my favourite three course meal from Carluccio's.

We started with sea salt and rosemary focaccia,

followed by one of Carluccio's most well known dishes: Penne Giardiniera (spinach balls with penne pasta and zuchini, and chili).

For dessert, what else but vanilla bean affogatto?

All in all.. .delicious.

ginger fish/pla jien

There's an amazing Thai restaurant on the Gold Coast, in Australia, called Chiang Mai Thai. Ask any local and they'll have been there, and probably love it. It was a treasured obsession and indulgence of ours for a few years. I would call and say, "Hi, may I please place a take away order?" and at the sound of my voice, the receptionist would reply, "Ah, yes, let me guess, ginger fish?". This is another dish that I've tried to recreate a couple of times but never got quite right (fish sauce is my salvation - it's the key to both these dishes, I've discovered!). I've had a few requests for my ginger fish recipe so here tis (I think this recipe looks more complicated than it is - perservere, it's easy and worth it!).

You will need:

2 - 3 firm white fish fillets (depending on size)
Corn Flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil and 500mL for shallow frying
1/2 cup water
1 cup loosely packed julienned ginger
6 cloves garlic
1 onion thinly sliced
1 cup woodear mushrooms (I couldn't get any woodear mushrooms so substituted Enoki, which worked fine. I think at a pinch button mushrooms would even be okay, but woodear is by far the best).
1/2 cup mangetout, trimmed and washed
Handful of pea aubergines, washed
Eschallots, washed and sliced in 4 cm lengths (and extra dark green for garnish)
Sliced red chili (optional - quantity to taste)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons light soya sauce
1 heaped tablespoon soybean paste (this is pretty crucial - any good asian grocer will stock it)

NB You can really use any variation on ingredients with this, the most important are for the sauce, obviously ginger, and the wood ear mushrooms. This can be done with chicken or tofu, instead of fish, and the shallow frying of the fish is optional. This recipe is as close to Chiang Mai's as I've been able to make it, and they use deep fried fish (so if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me!).

What to do:

Make the sauce: Mix oyster sauce, fish sauce, soya sauce and soy bean paste in a bowl and set aside. Heat 500ml vegetable oil in a deep frying pan or sauce pan. Don't use non-stick. Coat the fish fillets in cornflour. Check oil is hot enough by flicking a bit of leftover cornflour in. If it sizzles and floats you are good to go. Carefully place the fillets in (all at once if your saucepan is big enough, or in batches otherwise). Once golden, remove with a metal slotted spoon or metal tongs and set aside.

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a deep frying pan or wok and add the garlic, onion and pea aubergines. Fry for a few minutes until lightly browned. If you aren't doing deep fried fish, this is where you should add the chicken, or the tofu, or the unfried fish. Fry for several minutes until golden and cooked through. Add ginger, mushrooms and the sauce mix. Add chilli, if using, and the water. Bring to the boil for a minute or two, then add the scallions, mangetout and any other vegetables you're using.

There are two things you can do here. Either place a fillet of fish on a plate and spoon the sauce on top OR add the fish to the saucepan and stir to combine. Serve in a large dish, garnished with finely sliced eschallot and beansprouts and accompany with steamed jasmine or sticky coconut rice.

cooking challenge week four: pad thai

With great trepidation I have made the pad thai! The day started with a run into the next town over, where there's a thai supermarket. After stocking up on a myriad of pastes and liquids and spices and sauces I was ready to begin. And I've got to say, it was pretty good. Maybe an 8/10. I think I've discovered the secret...fish sauce. I've always been a bit turned off by the idea of fish sauce and oyster sauce (something about them makes me wonder what kind of yucky fish organs have been squeezed...where...when...what...) but they really make a difference. So, without further ado, here's my recipe for really yummy pad thai.

You will need:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely

Approx 200g flat noodles
2 eggs, beaten

150g firm tofu

1/2 cup crushed peanuts
5 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
4 flat tablespoons caster sugar
3 heaped tablespoons pure tamarind paste
prawns (quantity to match your taste!) - deveined and butterflied
1/3 cup water
1 cup bean sprouts loosely packed
1/4 cup sliced eschallots loosely packed

What to do:

Place noodles in a large bowl and pour cold water over, to completely cover. Stand aside for ten minutes, or until softened.

Combine the soy sauce, fish sauce, tamarind and sugar in a bowl and stir thoroughly.

Heat oil in a large, deep frying pan. Once sizzling, add garlic, tofu and prawns. Fry for a few minutes until golden (but don't burn the garlic). Remove the prawns once cooked and set aside. Add the noodles to the frying pan and stir fry for a few minutes until all ingredients are well combined. Add water, continue to stir.

Pour the tamarind mix over the noodles and stir for several minutes, until the noodles are sizzling. Add the eggs and stiry fry constantly until eggs are hard. Turn heat right down to low. Add most of the eschallots (reserving some to garnish), most of the peanuts (reserving some to garnish), most of the beansprouts (you guessed it - leaving some to garnish!). Add the cooked prawns. Stir well and serve immediately, garnished with eschallots, peanuts, beansprouts and lemon or lime wedges to taste.

one month in and...

...still going strong. Well, sort of. If you had asked me, before undertaking this adventure of recipexploration, what my favourite type of food is, I would have struggled to choose just one. I'd like to be virtous and say Japanese (hardly any dairy, low cholesterol, low saturated fats, steeped in family centred traditions and focussed on fresh produce) however, while I have brief flirtations with nasu dengaku and agadeshi tofu, and everything japanese inbetween, it has become clear to me that my soul mate, my real food love, the type of food I would foresake all others for, to have and to hold til death do me part, is French. The first three recipes of my challenge have been classically French, and sitting here now, I can pluck dozens from my mind that I'd like to try next. And of the recipes I've made, they've all become regulars in my weekly repertoire, much to my well-intentioned New Years Resolution Diet's disgust.

So. Here we are. On the verge of week four and I'm racking my brains for something as magnificently different from French cuisine as possible. Saganaki? Dashi? Goulash? Paella? Trifle? All tempting, but I have decided to try one of our favourite take away meals. Pad Thai.

It's a special meal for us, being one of the first we shared, and one we share often. I have tried to make pad thai in the past (say that ten times, fast) but never, ever succeeded. It's a cooking style so different to what comes instinctively to me, that I always seem to stumble. So. This week, I am determined! Wish me luck ;)
dd.x

cooking challenge week three: creme brulee

This is such a great dessert. Whenever we are at a restaurant that has it on the menu, I order it. There's something about the rich and silky custard and the crackly sweet toffee on top that makes it irresistable. Unlike last week's creme caramel, this doesn't seem to be a recipe that lends itself well to slimming down so I made it in all its creamy egg yolk glory.

You will need:

6 free range organic egg yolks
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
600mL double cream
1/2 cup caster sugar (plus 8 tbs extra for dusting.

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 130'c.

Put the cream and vanilla extract in a saucepan and bring to the boil, over high heat. Once at scalding point, remove and set aside.

Use electric mixers to blend the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl. Do this for several minutes until well combined and pale in colour.

Slowly pour the cream over the egg mixture and whisk thoroughly until combined. Ladle off the top level of frothy bubbles, then ladle the mixture into the four ramekins. Thump each ramekin heavily onto the bench top to get rid of any excess froth. Place into a deep set baking dish (I used a large cake tin). Pour boiling water into the baking tray, halfway up the sides of the ramekin. Loosely cover with alfoil and bake for 65 minutes.

Remove from the oven. Caramels should have a slight wobble but be reasonably firmly set.

Cover and refridgerate for 3 hours or as long as possible.

Cover with approximately 2 tablespoons of caster sugar per ramekin, right to the edges. Place under a super hot grill when ready to serve, until crisped and golden on top. Alternatiely, use a domestic blow torch (with great care!) to crisp toffee.

monday night dinner: quick and easy pizza

Home made pizza is so much better than take away or frozen pizza, and it's pretty quick and easy to make too. Using a combination of just about anything you happen to have in the fridge and pantry you can almost always rustle up a delicious meal.

Tonight, we had a thin and crispy pizza with wild mushrooms, spinach and walnuts, and a thick crust gourmet vego pizza (roasted sweet potato, caramelised onion, capers, basil and goats cheese).

To make the pizza base, you will need:

2 cups plain flour plus extra for dusting
3/4 cup tepid water
6g yeast (one sachet)
2 tablespoons of good olive oil (or truffle or chili oil if you're feeling adventurous!)
A pinch each of salt, pepper and sugar.

What to do:

I am seriously laid back in my pizza making. Pour all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir with a spatula until combined. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about ten minutes, until stretchy and soft. Don't over knead the dough. Once it's done, transfer it back to the bowl and cover with glad wrap. Leave to prove for ten minutes while you prepare the toppings.

Slice your toppings of choice - if you are in short supply, olive oil, garlic, rosemary and cheese (any cheese, every cheese!) makes a great simple combination!

Once the dough has proved, remove from the bowl and return to floured work surface. If it has risen too much, bash it once to flatten out extra air. I find the quantities above make 2 large pizzas. Slice the dough in half and roll each into a ball. Use a rolling pin to make the bases. For a really thin and crispy base, role it very thin and place onto lightly floured tray, top it and bake immediately (200'c for approximately 15 minutes, or until golden). For thicker pizza base, leave the pizzas a bit thicker when you shape them, and leave to rise for a further 10 minutes before adding the toppings and baking.

cooking challenge week two: creme caramels

I have always loved creme caramel. It is so sweet, and the texture is like silk, unlike anything else in the world. I did a lot of research into various recipes and settled on the simplest and most traditional I could find. It worked out quite well, though I think I will continue to tweak the details over the next few months to perfect it to my liking. The recipe called for full fat milk and I used skimmed and, to be honest, this really was one of the nicest creme caramels I've ever eaten.

This recipe serves four, so you will need four oven-proof ramekins.

You will need:

250g caster sugar
4 tablespoons water
1/2 litre skimmed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
2 eggs
3 egg yolks

What to do:

Over very low heat, put water and 150g of sugar in a saucepan and stir gently. Leave to cook for approximately ten minutes, stirring every few minutes. It should turn a dark brown colour and the sugar crystals should be completely dissolved, giving the mixture almost the consistency of golden syrup.

Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, over low heat, bring the milk and vanilla essence to a slow simmer and leave to heat for approximately five minutes. Don't let it curdle nor burn.

Once the sugar mixture is ready, ladle a small amount into the ramekins. This is crucial - do this one by one! As the sugar mixture touches the cold ceramic of the ramekin, it will set very quickly. Carefully tilt the ramekins so that the base is completely covered in mixture. Do this to all four.

Preheat the oven to 160'c. In a deep mixing bowl, hand whisk the 2 eggs and 3 egg yolks with the remaining sugar until well combined. Slowly pour the warm milk in, whisking constantly. Don't overwhisk as you don't want the custard to be too aerated or frothy.

Bang the bowl a couple of times on the work surface to shake out any big bubbles. Use a soup ladle to distribute the custard evenly into the ramekins. You can fill them right to the very top if you have enough!

Once filled, carefully place the ramekins into a large, deep baking tray. Pour boiling hot water into the dish, bringing it to 2/3 of the way up the side of the ramekins. Using extreme care, as this can be tricky(!), transfer the baking tray to the oven. Cook for 60 minutes and then test their readiness. Creme Caramels should be lightly brown on top, and you should be able to tap the top of them and feel their springiness. They should not dip in the centre.

Remove from the oven and refridgerate for anywhere between 3 hours and overnight. Serve solo - they're delicious just as they are! To serve, run a small, sharp paring knife around the perimetre of the ramekin, place the creme caramel on a plate and ease the sweet out. It should slide out without too much encouragement.

birthday feast!

It's my birthday eve so we are enjoying a nice feast to celebrate. We started off with chicory and roquefort salad:

And followed it with moules and frites. The first time we had this meal was in a cool little restaurant in Brussels, served mariniere style. Nice and traditional. We've been hooked ever since. It's a simple recipe undergoing constant tweaking and improvement though remaining the same in essentials. Lots of garlic, onion, white wine with a dash of cream and a sprinkle of parsley. Tonight I added some bay leaves which gave it an interesting earthy flavour.

The recipe of the week was Creme Caramel and I was really terrified to make it but it turned out to be absolutely delicious! Recipe coming...

dd.x

saffron and champagne risotto

A girlfriend of mine has asked for the recipe for the saffron and champagne risotto I made on New Years so here goes.
You will need (to serve 4 people)

4 generous handfulls of arborio rice (or any short, round grain rice)
Approximately 1.5 Litres of boiling stock (I use vegetable but chicken would work great too)
300 mL of Champagne (you can substitute white wine if you don't have any champas handy)
10 strands of saffron
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
4 tablespoons of olive oil
Parmesan Cheese

What to do:

Add some saffron strands to the boiling stock - this will colour and flavour the water quickly.

Over high heat, add oil to a large, deep frying pan and add finely diced onion and garlic. Immediately reduce heat and stir. Add the rice and stir so that the rice is coated in oil and garlic and starts to squeal. Salt lightly. After a couple of minutes, add a ladle of stock and all the champagne and stir. Add the reserved saffron strands. Once most of the liquid has been absorbed, ladle more of the stock. I prefer my risotto to be a little al dente, but just taste the rice to get it to the consistency you like.

Once you have put the last ladle of stock into the risotto, grate parmesan cheese (quantity to suit your tastes) over risotto and stir. Remove from heat and cover with a lid for 10 minutes, then serve.

what next?

For the second week of my recipe challenge I am going to attempt to make Creme Caramel. This is one of my favourite desserts ever but for some reason I am always nervous about baking them at home. I think it might be the idea of a water bath in the oven which confuses me. Nonetheless, it is my birthday weekend and so I will be preparing a three course meal of all my favourite things (before you start feeling sorry for me, having to cook my own birthday feast, remember that cooking is one of my favourite things and I am looking forward to some me time in my kitchen!).

We will start with roquefort and chicory salad, followed by moules mariniere and crispy french fries, and then, of course, barring any major disasters, the creme caramels and irish coffees.

If you have any suggestions for other recipes I can try throughout the year, please let me know as I am excited about getting to grips with as many different types of food as possible.

As for how this cooking challenge will affect our health, we're starting our running again this week so hopefully we won't arrive in 2010 with an extra 10kg of weight apiece..!

dd.x

cooking challenge week one: french onion soup

For my first week of the cooking challenge, I decided to try making French Onion Soup because, well, I love it, and I've never made it before. However, I didn't think it would be enough for us for dinner on a Saturday night so I framed a three course meal around it. Here's the recipe for the soup but if you want information on any of the other meals, email me.

You will need:

4 big onions, chopped in half then into small slices
60g salted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
Approximately 1.5 litres boiling water
200 mL white wine
1 tablespoon plain flour
2 slices of baguette per serving
Approximately 100g gruyere or masdaam cheese
Salt and Pepper to season

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 180'c. Put the butter and oil in a large saucepan, over medium - high heat. Once sizzling, add thinly sliced onions and stir until coated in the fat. Turn heat down to medium and continue to cook for a further 30 - 40 minutes. The onions should brown and soften but not burn nor crisp. Meanwhile, sprinkle the flour on to an oven tray and bake for 15 minutes, or until slightly golden on top. Add to the caramelized onions and mix thoroughly - make sure there are no flour lumps.

Put the white wine in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Leave bubbling for up to 1 minute, to boil off the alcohol content. Add to the onion mix and stir well. Add 1/2 of the boiled water and combine, then the rest of the water gradually until the consistency is as you like it. Turn the heat up to max and simmer for at least 10 minutes (If you accidentally simmer it too long, just add a bit more water).

To serve, put grated cheese on top of the baguette slices and grill until melted and brown. Float two baguette slices on top of each serve of soup. Season to taste.


For main course we had gratin dauphinois, which is another favourite, with grilled halibut, spinach and a beurre blanc (300g of butter for a sauce...ouch).



For dessert, I made apricot ice cream (following my mum's recipe which is both easy and absolutely delicious - no ice cream maker necessary!) and sugar shapes, and for virtue I added mangoes and kiwi fruit.

All in all, a delicious Saturday night in.
Love,dd.x

roast vegetable stack

Aubergine, sweet potato, spinach, mushrooms, onion, parmesan cheese with parsnip crisps and pesto dressing. Yum yum.

Tomorrow is the first day of the cooking challenge so I'm off early to pick up ingredients from our local farmers' market.

happy new year!

Our new years feast consisted of lobster, crispy chilli squid and prawn cocktails

Avocado, mango and prawn salads

Saffron and champagne risotto with scallops in a balsamic and truffle reduction

Followed by home made apricot pie with whipped cream and coulis

The morning after the night before - the perfect stodgy breakfast to clean up any new years hangovers! Roast potato and parsnips, fried onion, tomato, mushroom and sausages, spinach, egg and cheese bake, toast, ham and avocado. Oh, yeah. Happy new year x