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Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

Asparagus soup–(without photos!)

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged on May 21, 2013 | 4 Comments »

Guests are arriving for lunch.

We are hoping to eat outside shaded from the May sunshine (ha! ha!) by the new parasol.

No chance!

However…

Yesterday I made a soup from half a kilo of asparagus, as an experiment–keen to find something different to do with it during the season.

It is raining today and cold–time for soup?

Meredith tasted it this morning–

Just enough for five–she said–it’ll warm everyone up on a chilly day!

We could have some roasted spears on the side–I said.

YES!– she said

and no need for a sauce!–I said, always looking to cut down the workload!

2 leeks–cleaned and chopped roughly

1tbsp olive oil

1lb/450gm asparagus–the tough ends removed, chopped roughly

1 litre/2 pints stock–I use organic vegetable stock cubes

1 tbsp fresh tarragon–chopped fine

salt and pepper

1 tbsp creme fraiche

  • Sweat the leeks in the olive oil over a gentle heat, in a covered saucepan–five minutes.
  • Add the asparagus and stock.
  • Bring to a simmer and cook until the asparagus is just tender.
  • Season carefully.
  • Liquidize–best done with a hand held stick liquidizer (if you have one).
  • Fold in the creme fraiche and tarragon.
  • Gently reheat to serve–with roasted spears on the side if you like.

ps–off to Italy tomorrow for a short break, a change of scenery and a recharging of the culinary batteries?

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Ciao!!

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Roast Asparagus–revisited

Posted in Food, Recipes, tagged , on May 17, 2013 | 13 Comments »

Rachel Lucas just left a comment following the post on Keith Richmond’s olive oil:

I prefer olive oil to butter on everything…currently on steamed English asparagus at almost every meal!….

It inspires me to reproduce the recipe for Roast Asparagus from Delicious Dishes for Diabetics.

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We are eating a lot of asparagus at the moment; it’s hard not to–it’s the season and the poor weather has meant the changes that should be happening now are unusually slow in arriving.
Roasting it for a short time at a high temperature makes for a different taste and texture.
We just had some for lunch with a simple new fish recipe for plaice which I’ll post soon.

Asparagus is wonderful, but even in its short season it can get a bit repetitive! This is a handy alternative way; quick and easy with the thinner type.The addition of thyme comes from the River Café.

2 tbsp olive oil
500 g/1 lb asparagus

2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

salt

1. Heat the oven at 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7.
2. Heat the oil in a shallow baking tray.
3. Turn the asparagus in it and sprinkle over the thyme and

some salt. The roasting time depends on the thickness of the asparagus: about 5 or 6 minutes for thin and a bit longer for the fatter size. It should crisp up a bit.

 

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Chickpea bread

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged , , on May 13, 2013 | 17 Comments »

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This goes by a number of names and several shapes–socca, farinata di ceci, foccacia di ceci–depending where you eat it.

It’s street food eaten on the move.

There’s a recipe for it in my book, Delicious Dishes for Diabetics.

But here is a slightly different version–I’ll call it chickpea bread.

I’m going to buy some spring onions in the market tomorrow–well it is Spring though it’s difficult to credit–grill them as in A lovely mess of spring onions and spread them over the bread.

The sun is forecast tomorrow and we’ll eat it sitting down!

Joy!

1 pint/580ml sparkling water

8oz chickpea flour–(aka gram, garbonzo flour and gluten and wheat free)

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp olive oil

half a small red onion–sliced fine

1 tbsp rosemary spears or more

salt and pepper

  • Pour the water into a large glass bowl.
  • Shake the flour and baking powder into the bowl through a sieve and stir it in.
  • Add the salt.
  • Add the olive oil and stir thoroughly.

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  • Cover the bowl and leave it to settle for a couple of hours.
  • When you are ready to bake the “bread”, stir in the onion and the rosemary.

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  • Heat the oven to 200C/400F.
  • Oil an oven tray and pour in the contents of the bowl, taking care it doesn’t slop over the sides.

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  • Gingerly lift it onto the top shelf of the oven and let it cook for 35 to 40 minutes.
  • It should have browned some.

IMG_6261Ease it out of the tray onto a serving board for easier slicing

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and grind some pepper over it.

(Good sautéed in olive oil the next day and eaten with a simple salad or try it topped with a fried or poached egg.)

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Spaghettini with anchovies and garlic

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes on May 12, 2013 | 9 Comments »

It’s unseasonably chilly outside–the northwest wind at my back lending me a helping hand on the return part of my walk today.

Meredith just checked the diary and this day last year–the 12th of May– she and our neighbor Alice collected the first honey from our hive. The bees enjoyed a couple of days working the Judas tree last week–but they’ve retreated again and who knows when they’ll be honey again for tea!

Sunday is pasta night and I feel in need of strong flavours.

Anchovy and tomato–an old favorite comes to mind.

This was first published in October 2011–but it doesn’t feel inappropriate to rerun it this May evening!

Meredith and I have eaten this a thousand times.

It is from the matchless Marcella Hazan and is probably my favourite pasta dish of all time–comfort food par excellence!

What makes it so delicious is the anchovies–controversial little fish–not to everyone’s taste.

Here they deepen the taste without dominating.

Those preserved in salt are best–they dissolve more readily than those preserved in oil–but it’s a business preparing them for cooking.

Since I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes we have eaten wholewheat pasta and now we prefer it. It’s available on the shelves of most supermarkets these days.

How al dente it’s cooked is a matter of taste.

In Italy you’d think it was an arrestable offence to overcook pasta–they cook it very al dente and it makes for agreeably slower eating.

for 4

2 medium cloves garlic–chopped

6 tablespoons olive oil

4 anchovy fillets–chopped fine and pounded into a paste (with a mortar with a pestle if you have one)

2 good tablespoons parsley–chopped

400gm tin [can] of tomatoes–chopped with their juice

salt & pepper 

400gms wholewheat spaghettini

  • Lightly sauté the garlic in small saucepan until it colours.
  • Take the pan off the heat and add the anchovies and parsley– stirring well to dissolve them into the oil.
  • Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper.
  • Cook at a steady simmer for about 25 minutes, stirring regularly.
  • When ready, the sauce will have an unctious consistency and a little pool of oil on top.

Cook the spaghettini in plenty of well-salted boiling water.

  • Test for your preferred “doneness”.
  • Drain, put in a heated bowl and add the sauce.
  • Mix well and serve.

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Delivered!

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis on April 30, 2013 | 43 Comments »

Just after ten this morning I leaned into the kitchen table and under the keen eye of “she who records everything ” with the camera, I pressed the send button on my laptop–click.

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After a longer than usual pause because of the contents of the email, we heard the familiar whoosh and off it went to Judith Mitchell my editor at Constable & Robinson in London.

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The cookbook was sent and delivered simultaneously–a miracle we now take for granted.

An hour later when I returned from the market I checked for emails and Judith had replied, already downloaded the whole book and even glanced at the introduction–I feel breathless recounting this!

Title: Healthy Eating for Life

Publication date: January 2014.

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Tari’s stir fried cabbage with peas

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , , on April 7, 2013 | 20 Comments »

London again–briefly.

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Out of Spring–back into Winter–snowing when we arrived!

Our friend Tari–the carefree cook from Delicious Dishes–is cooking lunch and I’ve just watched him stir fry some cabbage for lunch to go with spatchcocked poussin.

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1 medium cabbage–outer leaves removed, quartered, de-stemmed and sliced fine

a swirl of  olive oil in the pan

1tsp cumin seeds,

1tsp turmeric

a pinch of red chili flakes

a couple of bay leaves

salt and pepper

a couple of handfuls of frozen green peas

  • He heats the oil in a large sauté pan.
  • Adds the cumin seeds and fries them briefly until  they color a little.
  • Adds the cabbage and turns it over thoroughly in the oil.
  • Adds the spices and seasons it all with salt and pepper.
  • Stir-fries over a highish heat for about five minutes–(the cabbage wilts but retains a bit of a bite!)
  • Tari says that if the heat is too low it will steam the cabbage and taste like hospital food!–and won’t pick up the little flecks of brown that add to its deliciousness–don’t burn it though!.
  • Then he adds the peas and turns them in and over with the cabbage.

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  • He likes to cook this a little ahead of time to let the flavours meld–then reheat it just before eating.
  • It looking beautifully green and I can hardly wait!

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Irv’s care-free way to roast a chicken–out of America’s Test Kitchen

Posted in Food, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , , , , on April 1, 2013 | 13 Comments »

Our friend Irv in Washington D.C. put me onto this wonderfully care-free way to roast a chicken developed by America’s Test Kitchen TV programme.

It’s simple and hands-off (well, the chicken needs a hand getting into the oven but that’s about it!).

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1 average chicken–washed and dried

olive oil

sprigs of rosemary and thyme (if they are at hand or just one of them)

2 or 3 garlic cloves–unpeeled

1/2 (half) a lemon

salt and pepper

white wine for deglazing (scraping up the good bits!) and making the gravy

  • Choose a pan that will hold the chicken easily.
  • Turn the oven on to 450F/230C (Hot!)
  • Put the empty pan in the oven–yes, empty–no oil, nothing!
  • Dribble olive oil over the bird and using your clean hands or a brush, coat the chicken in olive oil.
  • Season the chicken well with salt and black pepper.

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  • Stuff the cavity with the lemon, garlic and herbs.
  • When the oven has reached its target heat, quickly take out the pan wearing oven gloves, pop the chicken on it and put the pan straight back in the oven.
  • Roast the chicken for 30 minutes.
  • Turn off the heat but DON’T open the oven door!
  • Let the bird sit cosily in the oven for a further 30 minutes–it won’t complain.Then take the pan out of the oven and cover the chicken with foil and let it settle/rest for 15-20 minutes.
  • Remove the foil and transfer the chicken to a warmed serving platter.

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  • Carefully spoon out excess fat in the pan–leaving the good gravy making juices behind.
  • Gingerly upend the chicken and let the remaining juices inside fall back into the cooking pan.
  • Deglaze the pan with the white wine on a lowish heat–stirring as the alcohol evaporates.
  • Pour this gravy into a heated gravy boat or jug.

And there you have it–Irv’s simple carefree way to roast a chicken.
Ready for carving…

IMG_4997_2and eating!

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Salmon tucked under a spinach blanket with shallot

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged , , , , , on March 27, 2013 | 18 Comments »

I originally published this recipe in early April last year. Yesterday Meredith bought some good looking spinach in Castres market and today a couple of salmon filets caught my eye in Realmont market. Voila! I thought–lunch!

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A shy salmon fillet taking a peek at the world!–today’s version.

I am at the cookbook coal face at the moment, finishing a second book. Finding time to post on this blog is a challenge.

Je m’excuse tout le monde! 

This dish is adapted from a recipe in Simon Hopkinson’s The Good Cook.

He uses butter and vermouth. I use olive oil and white wine–fits in better with my way of eating.

The single pot and the short cooking time make it a useful quick lunch.

for two.

2 salmon fillets–skin left on

1 shallot–chopped fine

300gms/10oz spinach–washed, de-spined and spun free of water

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine

a grating of nutmeg

salt and pepper

  • Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pot with a top.
  • Sauté the shallot for a couple of minutes to soften it.
  • Add the wine and leave it to bubble a moment or two.
  • Lay a third of the spinach in the pan and place the salmon fillets over it.
  • Sprinkle over some salt and pepper and a grating of nutmeg.
  • Cover the salmon with the rest of the spinach.
  • Scatter the remaining tablespoon of oil over the spinach and cover the pan.
  • Cook for seven minutes over a low heat.
  • Turn the heat off and leave the pan covered for ten minutes before serving.
  • These timings can vary depending on the thickness of the salmon fillets.

Less rich than the original might have been, but we enjoyed it.

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Pot roast pork loin w/red wine vinegar, bay and peppercorn

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged , on March 20, 2013 | 11 Comments »

This is smelling mighty good at this moment–gently simmering on the stove.

A dish I’d bet Marcella Hazan ate regularly at this time of the year growing up in Senatico on Italy’s northeast coast.

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Marcella is one of my heroes/mentors–though she doesn’t know it!

She married an American and left home with him to live in New York City in her early thirties.

She claims she had never done much cooking before this–the family meals were cooked by her mother, her grandmothers, aunts, the usual story of an extended Italian family.

Living with a new husband in a foreign land concentrated her mind she claims and she taught herself to cook. She says she remembered the way dishes smelt back in Italy and used this sense to judge if she was doing it right.

No memory of Grandma’s cooking for me but from the smell that’s wafting my way, things seem to be on course!

She cooks Italian/Italian not American/Italian and her books are wonderfully detailed.

There are just three ingredients here apart from olive oil and salt.

It’s a long slow cook.

for 4

1.5 lb piece of pork loin–more or less as required, the cooking time will be the same

olive oil

salt

8 tblsps red wine vinegar

1 tsp black peppercorns

3 bay leaves

  • Heat the oil in a solid pan with a lid.
  • Sear the meat (brown it) all over then salt it.

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  • Add the bay leaves, peppercorns and vinegar–and cover the pan tightly. It’s important not to loose too much liquid.
  • Cook for an hour and half or longer, on the lowest heat possible*.
  • Take out the meat and keep warm, covered with foil.
  • Carefully spoon off the fat.

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  • Add three tablespoons of water and scrape off the bits in the pan.
  • Warm the gravy through.

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*I cooked this tonight for two hours; it was good but next time I’ll reduce the time a little and use a diffuser.

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Chicken in red cabbage

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged , on March 16, 2013 | 3 Comments »

Red cabbage is a member of the cruciferous family of vegetables (the four petals of their flowers are in the shape of a cross), broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale, and bok choy too. These are super vegetables with many health benefits claimed for them.

It  tasted good tonight but is not exactly photogenic!

Meredith bought the red cabbage at the organic market this week and it reminded me. It’s adapted from a Marcella Hazan recipe and has the advantage of being an all-in-one.

The chicken stays beautifully moist buried under its warm overcoat of collapsed cabbage.

for 4/6

1 chicken–cut up into eight or more pieces with the skin removed

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1 red cabbage (at least 1lb/450gm)–quartered, the white stem removed, and thinly sliced

1 largish onion–peeled and thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic–peeled and roughly chopped

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6 tablespoons olive oil

8 tablespoons red wine

salt and pepper

  • Choose a casserole or terracotta pot large enough to hold the chicken pieces in one layer.
  • Soften the onion and garlic in the oil until they begin to colour–about 10 minutes.

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  • Add the cabbage and coat it well with the oily onion and garlic mix.

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  • Cook for 15 minutes, turning it over from time to time as it reduces in volume, taking care it doesn’t burn.
  • Season the cabbage well, then bury the chicken pieces underneath it.
  • Pour over the red wine and cover the pot.
  • Turn the contents over from time to time.
  • Prick the chicken with the tip of a knife after 30 minutes–if the juices run pink leave it to cook longer.

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