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Sardines–to go with the cucumber salad!

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged on July 11, 2013| 2 Comments »

We had these again yesterday for lunch with a reprise of the cucumber salad.

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Filleted fresh sardines, sometimes available at the fishmonger, make life easier–though I remember feeling very virtuous after filleting sixty sardines with my cooking partner for a workshop Meredith ran a few years back.

We were rewarded with a loud exclamation of “LOOK at THAT!” from one of the participants, when he saw the wide sardine-laden platter.

Butterflied sardines for 2 takes less time!!

10 firm and fresh sardines–butterflied (see below)

100gms/4 oz wholewheat breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon parsley–chopped

2 garlic cloves–chopped fine

1 tablespoon of capers–chopped

a pinch of dried oregano

3 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

Butterfly filleting is a bit of a business–but rewarding.

You’ll need a chopping board and plenty of kitchen paper. Have a pair of scissors to hand and a plate to receive the fillets.

Ensure there are no scales left on the fish, then (for right-handed cooks) hold the the fish in your left hand belly up and with a pair of scissors snip along the belly from the tail end cutting off the head when you reach it.

Then with your right thumb, coax out the rest of the innards. Place the fish, belly side down on the board and press gently up and down the backbone with both thumbs–to open it up and out.

Flatten the fish as much as you can with three fingers of both hands.

Lift the small fin and and snip it off, then cut the backbone at the tail end and draw it carefully away from the body, taking care not to take too much of the flesh with it.

Voila! You have a butterflied fillet.

Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4

  • Wash and dry the fillets.
  • Place a sheet of foil on a shallow baking tray (makes clean-up easier!).
  • Using a basting brush, spread a tablespoon of oil on the foil.
  • Place the fillets on the tray.
  • In a bowl combine the breadcrumbs, parsley,  garlic, capers, oregano.
  • Season with salt and pepper.

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  • Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the mixture and turn it over thoroughly.
  • Spread the breadcrumb mix evenly over the fillets–using a teaspoon.

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  • Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the fillets, adding a little extra if needed.

  • Sardines before going into the oven

  • Bake for 15 minutes.

  • Sardines post oven

Finish off by a short burst (under 30 seconds) under a hot grill.

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Cool as a Cucumber salad

Posted in Food, Recipes, tagged , on July 9, 2013| 13 Comments »

Hot, hot here, at last (chez vous too perhaps?)–begs a cool cucumber response!

Requested by Meredith a couple of days ago, this recipe features in Healthy Eating for Life–my new cookbook, out in January 2014.

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As I didn’t have a red onions to hand, I substituted spring onions (scallions).
However the red onion lends a nice colour contrast.

Served this with sardines–cuts nicely the rich, oiliness of the fish.

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serves 4 as a side salad

1 medium cucumber—peeled and sliced thin; a food mixer disc saves time here

1 small red onion—sliced thin

1 tbsp cider vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

pepper

1 tbsp parsley or dill (dill is preferable but sometimes difficult to find).

Combine the prepared cucumber and red onion and sprinkle with salt.

Let the mix drain in a colander or sieve for 30 minutes or longer.

Spread the mix over a layer of kitchen paper, cover with a second layer and press down gently to lift off excess liquid.

Put it on a favourite serving plate or in a bowl.

In another bowl, whisk together the vinegar and mustard; fold in the chopped herbs (dill or parsley).

Pour this over the cucumber and onion and mix well.

Leave this to luxuriate for an hour in the fridge.

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Tuna salad–a reprise

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes on July 2, 2013| 12 Comments »

Meredith brought a cucumber home yesterday and requested the cucumber salad that’s included in my new book–Healthy Eating for Life due out next January.

I’m thinking to save it ’til tomorrow to go with some sardines from Realmont market.

We’ll have her cucumber for lunch though in this simple, quick-to-do tuna salad below from Delicious Dishes for Diabetics.

Tuna Salad  

Adapted from an early Nigel Slater recipe, this is very handy as a quick standby when you feel at a loss for something to serve as a light lunch.

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for 2 (in the book the amounts are for 4)

1 x 200 g/7 oz tins of tuna–drained and flaked

2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp tarragon vinegar (plain white vinegar will do but the tarragon flavour is a nice touch)
4 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp low-fat yogurt–put in a fine sieve and drained a little to thicken it

1⁄2 cucumber–peeled, quartered, deseeded and diced. Then sprinkled with salt and left to drain for half an hour

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1 tbsp parsley–finely chopped

1 tbsp chives–finely chopped

salt and pepper

2 spring onions–cleaned and finely chopped
1 tbsp sunflower seeds–lightly toasted 
a little extra parsley–finely chopped

Put the tuna into a favourite serving bowl and add a couple of twists of the pepper mill.

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Whisk the mustard, vinegar, olive oil, yogurt

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add the parsley, chives, salt and pepper together into a thick sauce.

Add the cucumber, onions and seeds.
Pour the sauce over the tuna and turn over all the ingredients carefully.
Sprinkle over the remaining parsley and serve with a crisp green lettuce. 

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Aubergine Tortino

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged , , , , on June 30, 2013| 18 Comments »

The aubergine–eggplant–melanzane–enigmatic gentle giant of a vegetable.

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Lovely conceit from Mark Bitman in The New York Times demonstrating its versatility.

Not included in the diagram but a useful addition to the repetoire, this tortino recipe is adapted from Paola Gavin’s Italian Vegetarian Cookery.

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A tortino is a sort of soufflé crossed with a no-pastry pie–handy for those who need to watch their intake of refined carbohydrates.

It’s a little labour intensive but pays off.

600/700 gms aubergine [eggplant]–peeled and sliced thin

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olive oil for brushing

2 1/2 oz tomato sauce–see below

2 oz grated parmesan

5 eggs

salt and pepper

Lightly salt the aubergine slices and leave them to drain for at least an hour.

Set the oven to 190C

Dry the slices in between sheets of kitchen paper.

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Oil a couple of shallow oven trays.

Lightly brush the slices with olive oil and lay them out on the trays.

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Bake for 5 minutes each side on the top shelf of the oven–one tray at a time.

Heat a cast iron grill pad to hot.

Transfer the slices onto the grill pad and char them for a couple of minutes each side.

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(The grilling adds a smokey taste; you could fry the slices or just leave the slices in the oven longer but they must cook to tender.)

Oil a shallow oven dish and layer the cooked slices in the bottom.

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Whisk the cheese and the tomato sauce together and season with salt and pepper.

Whisk the eggs and stir them well into the mixture.

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Pour this over the aubergines.

Make sure the mix covers the aubergine slices.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

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Quick Tomato sauce

A handy standby sauce.

I made this in a jiffy this morning and used 2 1/2 oz of it for the tortino leaving easily enough for our pasta tonight–giving me time to follow some of today’s stage in the Tour de France!

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large tin of tomatoes–drained of their juice and roughly chopped.

2 garlic cloves–peeled and thinly sliced.

salt and pepper.

2 sprigs of rosemary–chopped.

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the garlic and the rosemary.

Soften the garlic, being careful not to let it burn–a few seconds.

Add the tomatoes

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and cook over a high heat–stirring often–until the loose liquid has evaporated and little pockmarks appear on the surface.

If you can part the Red Sea—running a spoon through it–it’s done.

Season with salt and pepper.

Voila!

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Spicy puy lentil and basmati rice

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged , , on June 28, 2013| 8 Comments »

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We first had this dish at Donald Douglas’s birthday lunch. (Donald played the dourly determined Captain MacNeil in Poldark and has been a cherished friend and neighbour of ours here in France for years.) It was his step-daughter Daisy’s birthday contribution to the celebratory feast…

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…together with a magnificent cream sponge with lighted candles!

It’s versatile and can be served in a number of ways–as a salad or a vegetarian main course or a side dish–it has a pleasing depth of taste.

Soaking the brown rice beforehand helps it to cook more easily in time with the lentils.

100gms basmati brown rice

175 gms puy/green/brown lentils

1 tblsp cumin seeds

1 tblsp coriander seeds

2 tblsps olive oil

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp each ground allspice and cinnamon

salt and pepper

300 ml hot water

1 large onion–peeled, halved and sliced

2 tblsps olive oil

Small bunch parsley or coriander–chopped

  • Wash the rice and soak it in a bowl of cold water for twenty minutes.

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  • Dry roast the cumin and coriander seeds in a small pan until they begin to colour.

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  • Then pop them in a mortar and pestle them to break them up a bit.

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  • Wash and drain the lentils,  bring them to the boil in plenty of water and cook them until they begin to soften–about twenty minutes–they should not become mushy.
  • Drain the lentils and return them to the pan.
  • Mix all the spices with the two tablespoons of olive oil.
  • Drain the rice and add it to the lentils in the pan.
  • Mix in the spices and turn over everything together.

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  • Integrate the hot water and season with salt and pepper.

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  • Bring up to the boil, turn the heat to low and cover the pan tightly.
  • Cook until the rice is done–allow about thirty minutes.

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  • As it cooks heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and fry the sliced onion slowly until it colours and crisps a little.

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  • When the lentils and rice are cooked fold in the onions–leaving some to sprinkle on top with the parsley or better still the fresh coriander.

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Fresh trout simply grilled with thyme

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged , , , on June 23, 2013| 4 Comments »

I wasn’t thinking of trout when I went to the market early Friday morning in Lautrec–I’ve got out of the habit of cooking it.

Rather, dorade (sea bream) perhaps or mackerel. When I approached the stall, which is usually packed with a good selection of fish,

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it was covered in a white sea of ice but virtually no fish–except a small shoal of lonely-looking trout and an organic salmon–an unusual sight.

I’d noticed as I turned into the village that the road to Graulhet (fifteen minutes northwest of Lautrec) was blocked by two police vehicles and three determined looking gendarmes. I quickly decided my usual trick of not going fully round the roundabout but taking a sharp left into the village–strictly illegal but handy–was not a good idea!

Puzzled and dismayed by the absence of seafood I asked the unusually subdued fishmonger what was happening.

Qu’est ce que se passe, Monsieur?

Il y avait un accident avec le camion, il est en retard. [The fish wagon’s been delayed by an accident.]

Road blocked–gendarmes present–diversion signs–no fish—mystery solved–trout for lunch!

La Depeche du Midi (regional daily newspaper) carried the story the next day, with a graphic photo of the scene.

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Mangled car in the ditch.

The young man in the car survived and is recovering in hospital. According to the report it took the rescue team two hours to free him. The lorry driver escaped with minor injuries.

It’s a safe bet that trout and salmon, obviously sourced elsewhere, remained the only fish on sale in Lautrec that morning!

This is what I did with the trout.

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2 trout–gutted and cleaned

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a handful of fresh thyme sprigs

olive oil

salt and pepper

Wash the trout and pat dry.

With a sharp knife, carefully make two shallow diagonal slits in the fish’s flesh each side.

Brush the fish top to tail with olive oil–(this helps to prevent them sticking to the griddle pad).

Rub salt and pepper into the slits.

Stuff the thyme into the cavities and season with salt and pepper.

Heat a griddle pad to hot–or use a sauté pan large enough to hold the fish.

Oil the surface.

Lay the fish on the pad and cook each side for about five minutes–testing for doneness by lifting the cavity and checking near the backbone. The cooking time depends on the size of the fish. (If pink/red, needs a little more time.)

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Serve with green beans or a simple green salad.

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Fennel and sweet potato curry with chickpeas

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged , , , on June 21, 2013| 13 Comments »

Not a recipe that normally springs to mind in the middle of June but this isn’t a normal June.

Perhaps it’s new normal June!

Normally (!) we would be eating supper outside–sun going down–cats on the wall–cows in the field–pale blue sky streaked with high-flying plane tracers–and remarking on how lucky we are!

Instead we enjoyed this in the warmth of the kitchen, in nodding agreement that this was indeed not normal.

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1 onion–chopped small

2 garlic cloves–chopped

2 tbs olive oil

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1 tsp (each) turmeric, cumin powder, powdered ginger

1/2 tsp (each)  coriander powder, cayenne powder

8oz tinned [canned] or fresh tomatoes–chopped

1 pint/500 ml stock (You probably won’t need it all!)

2 celery sticks–sliced in small (wine cork) size

1 smallish sweet potato–peeled and cubed

3 fennel bulbs–outer leaves removed, cored, cut in half vertically and each half cut thrice (i.e. six pieces in all–the ones in the photo are a tad too large)

3 tbs cooked chickpeas

salt to taste–bearing in mind there is salt in the stock

3 tbs coconut cream* or whisked smooth low fat yogurt

  • Heat the oil in a medium pan and add the mustard seeds.
  • When they start to pop add the onions and garlic, mix them in and sweat them until they soften and begin to colour.

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  • Add the rest of the spices, the salt and mix in.

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  • Add the tomatoes and cook on for five minutes to let them form a sauce.

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  • Add half the stock and cook on for 5 minutes.

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  • Add the cut up vegetables and mix in.
  • Cover and cook for 30 minutes–checking now and then that it doesn’t dry up (as it very nearly did for me!).
  • Add more stock as you need and cook on.
  • Turn off the heat and let it cool down.
  • When you are ready to eat, stir in three tablespoons coconut cream or whisked low fat yogurt and gently reheat.

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*The difference between coconut milk/cream and cream of coconut is fully explained here: 

http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-coconut-m-75446/

It looks like milk, it is NOT sweetened and it does NOT taste of coconut!

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Sautéed new green peppers in a tomato sauce

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged , , , , on June 19, 2013| 6 Comments »

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I was surprised to see locally grown green peppers–(they are lighter and thinly fleshed)–in the market yesterday, nudging small white peaches on a new stall.

Everything is so late this year.

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I remembered a recipe I used to do years ago from Antonio Carluccio’s Vegetables book. Very Italian–simple and different.

The peppers are cooked whole in olive oil. They collapse, charring nicely and are finished in a quickly cooked tomato sauce.

If these particular peppers are unavailable use thicker fleshed ones–deseeded and cut into largish pieces.

500gm/1lb green peppers–tops and seeds removed

6 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves–chopped

14oz/400gm tin of tomatoes–drained of their juice and roughly chopped (fresh sun -ripe tomatoes, skinned and seeded would be good too)

salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a deepish pan.

When the oil is hot carefully slide in the peppers–you may have to do this in two batches.

Turn them as they collapse and brown, for about 5 minutes–they should be tender.

Set them aside and spoon off four tablespoons of the oil–(I used this oil for sautéing later).

Slip the garlic into the oil.

When it starts to colour, mix in the chopped tomatoes.

Cook these over a high heat for five minutes to form a sauce.

Season with salt and pepper.

Stir in the peppers and cook on for another five minutes.

We ate these for supper last night served on lightly sautéed (in the excess oil) slices of leftover chickpea “bread” .

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A recipe remembered and reclaimed.

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Courgette and bean stew–a hint of summer

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

Just back from an unexpectedly extended London visit–thanks to a strike by air traffic controllers in France. In fact the extra days (4) were a blessing. A chance to catch up with brother Jack who flew in from Japan the day before we were supposed to leave and nephew Theo, who plays bass guitar in Wolf Alice–burgeoning indy band about to hit the big time.

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Brothers as the backing group to the new kid on the block!

Now back in France and a stew with SUMMER  in its DNA–though the seasonal sweetness of fresh tomatoes  may not yet be fully expressed–and enough comfort factor to lift the spirits after a wet and wretched May here–not to mention the tempest raging outside today!

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It’s inspired by a Martha Rose Shulman recipe in The New York Times.

Few ingredients, simple to do and a pleasing look–just the ticket!

1 medium onion–chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves–mashed with half a teaspoon of salt

3 medium courgettes/zucchini–cut in centimeter rounds

3 tbsp chopped tomatoes–tinned [canned] at this time of year

200gm/8oz cherry tomatoes–halved

250gms cooked white beans, tinned or jarred–(the best you can find–I favour jarred)

3 sprigs of thyme

salt and pepper

Sweat the onion in the oil until soft; then tip in the garlic and sauté for a few seconds.

Add the courgettes/zucchini and turn them over in the mix.

Cook until they too start to soften–about 5 minutes.

Add all the tomatoes, thyme sprigs and a seasoning of salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes until the cherry tomatoes start to soften.

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Add the beans and their liquid and/or a couple of tablespoons of water.

Cook for a further 15 minutes.

Check the seasoning for salt and pepper.

We are having the stew spooned over a baked sweet potato tonight.

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Lina’s dried fruit compote

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes on June 3, 2013| 9 Comments »

This is a recipe from my new cookbook–Healthy Eating for Life–due out in early January 2014.

It’s simple to do–no fuss and can be made anytime of year.

I don’t as a rule eat dessert but when Meredith hands me a small bowl of this with a dollop of yogurt–I find it hard to resist.

Yellow apricots lighten the colours but the darker untreated ones taste as good.

These amounts can serve at least ten people but as it tastes even better the next day and the day after having sat in the fridge any left over will serve well over the following few days.

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serves 10

400gms prunes

250gms dried apricots

350gms dried figs

50gms raisins

25gms dried cranberries

1500ml water

2 rosehip tea bag

7 cloves

2 cinnamon sticks

25gms flaked almonds

yogurt or creme fraiche

  • Wash the fruit.
  • Boil the water and pour it over the teabags in a china bowl—leave for 10 minutes.

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  • Remove the teabag and pour the liquid into a pan.
  • Add the dried fruit, cloves and cinnamon sticks and simmer 15 minutes.

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  • Leave to cool.

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  • Serve with flaked almonds and yogurt or creme fraiche.

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