Recipes | Robin Ellis

Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

Crunchy broccoli, garlic and chili with lemon “thins”

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged Broccoli starter, Ottolenghi on October 16, 2012| 8 Comments »

This served as the starter for Saturday’s dinner on the workshop weekend.

It is adapted from a recipe in Ottolenghi’s eponymous first cookbook.

That night it tumbled over a small pile of salad leaves–radicio, rocket, lettuce–dressed with olive oil lemon juice and salt.

Here it is on a bed of Sam Talbot’s Quinoa–and was our supper.

1lb broccoli–broken into bite-size pieces

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

4 garlic cloves–sliced as thin as you can

2 fresh red chilis, medium hot–de-seeded and sliced

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 lemon sliced very thin

Steam the broccoli–more than blanched less than tender–still crunchy in other words.
Remove to a bowl and pour over 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt.
Heat a grill pad to hot.
Scatter the broccoli over it and colour lightly.

Return to the serving bowl.
Heat the second batch of oil.
When hot cook the garlic slices and the chili until the garlic takes on some color.

Pour this mixture over the broccoli.
Add the lemon slices and mix in carefully.
Serve on a bed of salad leaves of choice dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and salt.

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Bean feast!

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged Simon Hopkinson, Simon Hopkinson's Week In Week Out on October 14, 2012| 3 Comments »

I spotted this idea in Simon Hopkinson’s book Week In Week Out—an impressive tome with wonderful photos.

Two small tins of Borlotti beans that came back with us from Italy after the last olive harvest have been on my mind recently.

I like these nutty brown beans which are more difficult to source here in France–this recipe jogged my memory and whetted my appetite.

The green bean season is coming to an end–but I had a couple of handfuls in a bag in the fridge–bought in the organic market last Thursday–needing to be eaten.

Eureka! lunch dish–to go with the omelettes.

1 medium tin of borlotti beans–(of course you can use white beans)

2 handfuls of green beans

olive oil

salt and pepper

a squeeze of lemon juice to finish

Gently heat the borlotti beans in the juice from the tin–(add more water if necessary).
Cook the green beans to just tender–in plenty of salted boiling water.
Drain and arrange both sets of beans on a wide plate and generously sprinkle over olive oil.
Season with salt and pepper.
Turn the beans in the oil.
Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice.

We ate the whole plateful!

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Spicy aubergine boats

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged Yotam Ottolenghi on September 24, 2012| 10 Comments »

We had these for lunch yesterday.

Chermoula the north African spice mix is spread lightly over aubergine/eggplant halves which are then baked in a moderately high oven until tender.

There are as many chermoulas as there are camels in the desert!

(Which means if you are short of one of the ingredients go ahead anyway–just means there’ll be another camel in the desert!)

This version is from Ottolenghi’s new book Jerusalem.

The thinner variety of aubergine/eggplant works well for this–two halves each with salad and a small bowl baba ganoush on the side made a agreeable light lunch.

for 4

4 thin aubergines/eggplants–halved carefully top to toe

For the chermoula:

2 tsps cumin powder

2 tsps coriander powder

1 tsp smoked sweet paprika

1 tsp cayenne powder

2 garlic cloves–pulped in a tsp of salt

rind of a preserved lemon–chopped fine

80ml/4 tblsps olive oil

set the oven at 200C/400F

Put all the chermoula ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
Make a couple of diagonal slits each way in the flesh of the aubergines.

Sprinkle with a little salt and leave to drain for an hour or so.

Works better with something under the colander to catch the drips!

Dry the aubergine halves.
Spread a thinnish layer of the chermoula mix on each half (yesterday Meredith thought I had laid it on too thick).

Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes–depending on the thickness of the aubergines.
Leave to cool a little.
This yogurt sauce would balance the spiciness.

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How the sardines turned out…

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged cooking fresh sardines, recipe butterflied sardines, recipe sardines on September 23, 2012| 2 Comments »

These were from the Mediterranean–recommended by the Castres fishmonger. She favoured them over larger ones, equally fresh looking, but from the Atlantic.

Out of the oven…

and onto the plate!

“Delicious” said Meredith asking, after her fifth, if there were more!

I remember years ago how hard it was to persuade her–girl from the mid-west–that eating fresh sardines was a million miles from eating the tinned variety, which she detested.

For a reminder of the recipe (posted on a sad summer day last year).

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Fig and proscuitto summer starter

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged baked figs on September 12, 2012| 15 Comments »

Christy, my sister-in-law in LA, has a fig tree in her front yard.

She knows about ours in the courtyard.

It being the fig season–both sides of the Atlantic–she went looking for a fig recipe book.

She found Marie Simmons’ delightfully titled Fig Heaven and very kindly sent me a copy.

Our fig is laden down with fruit that plop regularly onto the thin plastic sheet we have put down to ease the labour of the daily clear-up.

What to do with all the figs? no good giving them to neighbors–they already have at least one tree and are thinking the same thing.

This idea shot out of the book at me; it’s a nice variant on the melon/fig and parma ham summer stand-by starter.

We served two figs each on a small bed of the ubiquitous rocket/arugula to lunch guests on Sunday.

for 4

8 figs–any type

8 thin slices of proscuitto

goat’s cheese (chevre)–divided into 8 pieces

olive oil and balsamic vinegar for drizzling and sprinkling

a handful of rocket/arugula

set the oven at 230C/500F

Make a small incision across the top of the fig with a knife.

Carefully pull a fig apart at the top making enough room to insert the small piece of cheese.

Repeat this with the rest of the figs.

Wrap a slice of prosciutto round the fig and secure it with a couple of cocktail sticks.

Repeat this with the rest of the figs.

Cover a shallow oven tray with foil and brush it with oil.
Place the figs on it and drizzle a little olive oil over each.
Scrunch together the other prosciutto slices into individual piles and place on the tray.
Bake in the hot oven for 10/15 minutes–the prosciutto should have a crispiness.

Serve on a few rocket/arugula spears over which you have sprinkled a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

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Simple rocket, tomato and goat’s cheese salad

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged arugula salad, paola gavin, rocket salad on September 10, 2012| 13 Comments »

Rocket (arugula) is available everywhere these days.

It’s health giving properties are encouraging!

My supplier in Castres market on a Saturday morning is a generous soul.

I buy a hundred or two hundred grams (1.5 euros a 100gms) depending on our plans and every time she pops an extra fistful of green spears in the bag.

I protest–to no avail.

This policy often leaves late arrivals disappointed.

It’s the best looking and tasting rocket in the world–of course!

Well it is and makes a good base for this simple salad from Lombardy–spotted in Paola Gavin’s book Italian Vegetarian Cooking.

for 2/3

a couple of handfuls of rocket leaves

2 largish tomatoes (this green one is a green zebra)–not too thickly sliced

half a red onion–sliced as thin as you can manage

a few juicy black olives–de-stoned

a small goat’s cheese–in smallish pieces

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

The assembly job

Spread the rocket over the base of your favorite salad bowl.

Add the onion.

And the tomatoes, olives and cheese.

Whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss just before eating.

Lunch today–accompanied by a couple of fresh figs each, from the tree in the courtyard, stuffed with goat’s cheese and wrapped in a sliver of prosciutto and baked–(recipe to follow!).

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Moutabal (Baba Ganoush)–Lebanese aubergine and tahini purée

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged aubergine purée, aubergine/eggplant dip, Baba ghanoush, moutabal, Tahini on September 1, 2012| 24 Comments »

I think I’m falling in love with this dip!

Aubergines/eggplants are singed on a burner for a smoky flavor, then roasted in the oven until the flesh is completely soft and peeled. ( You can leave out the burner bit–just won’t be so smoky)*.

Things are added for regional variations–there are variations of aubergine purées all round the Mediterranean.

It’s a close cousin of Baba Ganoush—in some accounts they are interchangeable.

The main additions in this case are:

Garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and sesame paste (tahini).

We’ll have it tonight spread on a small piece of rye dribbled with olive oil and a slice of ripe tomato on top–see below…

for 4

2 large aubergines (eggplant)

2 cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons of olive oil

juice of a lemon

3 tablespoons of tahini paste (usually available in jars at good grocery stores or health food shops)

1 teaspoon of salt

Heat the oven to 200C/400F
Make a couple of slits in the aubergines–to avoid explosions!
Balance one of the bulbs on a low gas flame (or under a medium grill), turning it regularly for 5 minutes to singe it.

Meredith suggests a sheet of foil beneath the flame to help avoid a mess!

Repeat the process with the second eggplant.
Put the aubergines onto a shallow oven tray and into the top of the oven for 40 minutes or until they are collapsed and the flesh feels soft inside.

Let them cool down.
Peel them carefully and transfer them to a large bowl.

Mix in the tahini, lemon juice, olive oil and salt–making a smoothish mash.

Taste and add more salt, lemon juice and olive oil as needed.

* Instead of burning it on the gas I also tried adding a quarter teaspoon of smoked sweet paprika to the purée–which gave it a smoky taste.

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Tomatoes for supper

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes on August 28, 2012| 9 Comments »

Morning’s harvest in my walking hat.

We had these last night for supper on the terrace–late, after the big heat had lifted.

I’d tried out a new courgette/zucchini recipe which was a complete failure! These tomatoes were supposed to be the accompanying vegetable.

In the end we settled for the tomatoes, a piece of toast with olive oil dribbled over it and a glass of red wine.

A light supper–as Nigel Slater puts it in the magazine article I found in an old notebook a couple of days ago.

The combination of olive oil, rosemary, garlic and parmesan is comforting and delicious.

for 2

10 medium ripe tomatoes–cut in half

2 cloves of garlic–peeled

2 stems of rosemary leaves–chopped fine

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper

3 tablespoons grated parmesan or more if needed

heat the oven to 200C/400F

Put the garlic and rosemary with a good pinch of salt and a few grindings of the peppermill in a mortar.
Pulp the garlic and the rosemary with the pestle.
Add the olive oil and stir to make a rough paste.
Cover a shallow oven tray with foil and bush it with oil.
Place the tomatoes on it cut side up.
Using a teaspoon smooth a little of the garlicky paste on each half tomato.

Place the tray on the top rack of the oven and cook for about 20-30 minutes–the tomatoes should have softened and collapsed somewhat.

Take them out of the oven and place a small pile of parmesan on each tomato half.

Put the tray back in the oven for about 15 minutes, until the cheese has browned some on top.
Serve with a piece of wholewheat/rye toast dribbled with olive oil.
A very light supper–(the best tomato recipe for a while, pronounces Meredith!)–but we probably slept better for it!

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Aubergine/eggplant rounds with cheesy tomato topping

Posted in Diabetes, Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged aubergine, eggplant, Nigel Slater, recipe for aubergines, recipe for eggplant, roast aubergines, Tender cook book on August 22, 2012| 20 Comments »

Aubergines/eggplants–are piled high on the market stalls at the moment and I’m ever on the lookout for new ways to cook them.

Beautiful shiny black, purple and even white torpedoes, these enigmatic vegetables have always felt a bit daunting to me–where does one start!

Well yesterday I started with Nigel Slater’s heavy tome Tender (weighs in at 4 lbs).

He’s an English cookery writer with an air of the solitary about him and a touch of genius, who wrote about his childhood in a book called Toast.

Tender is the story of his urban London vegetable garden:

As the church bells chimed New Year’s Eve and fireworks lit up the night sky, I vowed to dig up my lawn and grow at least some of my own vegetables.

So far I’ve not dug deeply into it. Time to look again.

The section on aubergines is extensive–and this simple recipe leapt out at me.

We had these last night as a light supper with green beans (their ubiquity is beginning to cause comment!).

for two

1 large aubergine/eggplant–sliced carefully into rounds about a 1.5 cm/.75″ thick

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves of garlic–thinly sliced

1lb/450gms tomatoes–cut up with their juice

1 dried red chili–chopped roughly

salt and pepper

more olive oil as you need it

4 tablespoons grated parmesan

salt the aubergines and leave them to drain for an hour or so.

set the oven at 220C/425F

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan and soften the garlic–about 30 seconds.
Put in the tomatoes and the chili, season and cook over a medium high heat until you have a sauce–stirring often.
Line a shallow oven tray with foil and brush it lightly with oil.
Brush the aubergine rounds with olive oil.
Arrange them on the tray and bake in the upper part of the oven until soft (undercooked aubs are un-eatable!)–-15-20 minutes–turning them over after 10 minutes.
Pile some sauce on each round–be generous–and top with some parmesan.
Put the tray back in the oven for 15 minutes.
the rounds should come out–as Nigel puts it—sizzling!

This is how much we liked them..!

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Courgette gratin–Italian style

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, Robin Ellis, tagged courgette, courgette gratin, elizabeth david, Marcella Hazan, recipe, zucchini, zucchini gratin on August 19, 2012| 14 Comments »

Words to yesterday’s pictures!

This is a classic Mediterranean dish and everyone has a way to do it– as is clear from the comments left after yesterday’s Wordless Blog.

(I want to try a courgette parmegiagno this week–where the courgettes/zucchini are griddled as aubergines/eggplants are in the classic dish and then as here mixed with tomato and cheese).

Italian style because it’s inspired by a Marcella Hazan version and is a little different to the Elizabeth David’s French gratin in Delicious Dishes for Diabetics.

Prepare 3 good size courgettes/zucchini—top and tail them and slice them thin–a food mixer appliance does this nicely.
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan and add the sliced courgettes, a chopped garlic clove and half a teaspoon of salt.

Turn everything over several times to coat the vegetables lightly in the oil.
Cook on a low heat until the courgettes are wilted.

Set the courgettes/zucchini aside.
Make a quick tomato sauce with—
2 tablespoons olive oil
1k/2lbs fresh tomatoes–cored and roughly chopped or 2 large tins of tomatoes–drained of their juice and roughly chopped.
2 garlic cloves–peeled and thinly sliced.
Salt and pepper.
A few basil leaves–chopped.

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the garlic.
Soften it briefly–being careful not to let it brown too much or burn.
Add the tomatoes and cook over a high heat–stirring often–until the loose liquid has evaporated and little pock marks appear on the surface.
If you can part the Red Sea—running a spoon through it–it’s done.
Season with salt and pepper and stir in the basil.
Grate 3 to 4 tablespoons (about 40gms) parmesan cheese.
Heat the oven to 200C/450F.
Smear the base of an oven proof baking dish of suitable size with some of the tomato sauce.