Warning - Envy-Inducing News Within! (And Proscuittio Wrapped Sole ;)

I have some news that I just couldn't wait to tell you!! *

Hang on - first things first. it appears I have been remiss in my accreditation of Peter the Greek. You may recognise the formation of my plating below as reminiscent of a certain, recent Kalofagas post. And indeed it is. But I was so excited, I forgot to write it up ;) Peter, my humblest apologies... ;)

I'm leaving good old Blighty just in time for the cold(er!) season, and going off on a mighty, foodie traveling adventure, all by myself!

It's been on the cards for a while, but I didn't want to post about it until I had spoken to my work. I have just had 'the chat' with them today - so now the countdown begins! This is the news I was being mysterious about in an earlier post, and is the reason why I have leased out my flat... It's a good un, huh?!

So anyway, I don't have tickets booked yet, but I will be flying to Bangkok sometime later than a month from now, but hopefully before Christmas. I'm then going to travel around SE Asia overland for a few months - meeting up with a couple of friends on Ko Pha Nang for the Full Moon Party.

Then to recover from the excesses we'll be taking a diving course - new to me! Other than that I'm going to visit Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Plus anywhere else that takes my fancy - probably Sri Lanka, and just maybe a trip to China to visit another friend.

And I'm taking a week to nip over to the Maldives to celebrate a friend's wedding (I'm bridesmaid!). Imagine a week of five star luxury (not to mention the free cocktails!!) after all that back-packing! :D

After that I plan to spend some time in Australia, then maybe a month in India on the way home.

Did I mention that I've been researching cookery schools? Because that's one of my main reasons for going! The food. Cooking and eating. Eating and cooking. And smelling. Then maybe a bit more eating. Just imagine... nom nom nom...

I'd love to meet up with any fellow bloggers out in those neck of the woods - and any recommendations for things to do, see, eat or cook will be most welcome! I've only allowed myself to plan loosely as I want to have freedom to make my decisions when I'm there.

Right, I'll turn the envy generator off now. (No, not really, I'm still grinning like a loon!)

But I wouldn't make you green, and leave you without even a taste of food, so have a delicious plate of...

Prosciutto Wrapped Sole with Roast Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Serves 2

• 1 large dover sole, skinned and filleted (i.e. 4 fillets)
• 1 medium onion
• 1 punnet cherry tomatoes
• 125ml white wine
• 4 slices prosciutto
• 2 cloves roast garlic
• Floury potatoes, boiled in salted water
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• Juice of half a lemon
  
• knob of butter
• A shot of cream or milk
• Sugar, Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the oven to 150c.

Prepare the Base...
Take a baking dish just big enough to take all the tomatoes in one layer, and drizzle in some olive oil. Cut the onion into 8 wedges, and lay in tray. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.

Pop in the oven for 20 minutes until soft and sweet.

Wash the cherry tomatoes, add to the onions and return to the oven for 10 minutes. Turn up the heat to 175c, throw in the glass of wine, chuck it back in the oven and set about making your fillet rolls.

Prepare the Fish...
Mix the olive oil with the lemon juice, paprika, cayenne, and a twist of sea salt if you fancy.

Take one fillet of sole, brush with the oil mix, and roll into a twist. Take a slice of prosciutto and wrap it round the fish, making a little skirt. Repeat with all the fillets. Brush the top of the fish with any excess oil mixture.

Get the oven dish out again, and sit the fish on top of the tomatoes. Bake for 20 minutes, or until done.

Make the Mash...
Make the roast garlic mash, by ricing the the potatoes and mixing in the butter, milk or cream and cloves of roast garlic. Make sure you mush up the garlic first - otherwise someone's going to get a garlicky shock... Hey, now there's a party game - mashed potato roulette... with garlic, chillies and chocolate!

Finish the Dish...
Move the fish to rest, and stir up the sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning as required - you may want to add a bit of sugar if the tomatoes are sharp.

Serve!
Serve with green beans, a wide grin, and a smug air!




* Apologies to my Twitter buddies - maybe I should have written this before I tweeted the news?! ;)

Think Spice: Fenugreek Poached Fish with Saag Aloo

First things first...

Yes, ok, so I haven't been around much this last week or so: I'm woefully slow in my posting, and my google reader ridicules me everytime I turn the computer on, groaning under the weight of unread posts... I have been in the kitchen (a lot!!) but have been sorely limited in non-work pc time.

So apologies if I haven't been by as much as usual - I promise I'll sort it out soon!

I have still been managing to cook - and this post is my entry for this month's Think Spice... this month being hosted by... me!

I chose fenugreek as the spice, either in seed form or as dried leaves. I ended up using both forms in this dish - although the seeds were my main use.

Unusually for me, I have kept the heat in this dish to a minimum - I didn't want to overpower the subtle flavours in the fish. And I was really pleased with the result. It was spicy - but in a flavourful way rather than hot. The saag aloo may not be authentic, but its main ingredients are spinach an potato - so I figured it deserved the name!

There was quite a bit of gravy at the end - next time I would serve this with some lovely naan bread to soak up all the flavour. As it is I just had to drink it out the bowl... ;)

Only 10 days left to get your fenugreek-spiced dishes to me - come on peeps, get cooking!

Fenugreek Poached Fish with Saag Aloo

Serves 2 - with leftovers!

For the Fish and Broth...

• 1.5 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 350ml water
• 100ml milk
• 2 fillets firm white fish - I used pollock

For the Saag Aloo...

• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 1 large pinch dried fenugreek leaves
• 1.5 tsp ground cumin
• 1.5 tsp ground coriander
• 0.5 tsp turmeric
• 0.5 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
  
• 1 large clove garlic, crushed
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 bunch spinach, washed, destalked and roughly chopped
• 4 plum tomatoes, diced (large)
  
• 4 medium potatoes, diced (large)
• 2 tbsp ghee

Prepare the Broth...
In a dry pan, toast the fenugreek seeds for 3/4 minutes until golden brown. Transfer them to a mortar and pestle and give them a bit of a bash. Warning - these little legumes are really hard - so just try to break them up a bit, don't worry about grinding them to powder.

Put the bashed fenugreek and the fennel seeds in a pan, then pour over the water. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool.


Prepare the Saag Aloo...
Heat the ghee over a low to medium heat and add the mustard seeds. When the start to pop add the onions and dried fenugreek leaves. Fry gently until translucent, don't allow to brown.

Add the ginger and garlic and cook for another minute or so before adding the cumin, coriander, turmeric and chilli.

Add the diced potato to the mix, and top up with cold water to about half way up the potato. Bring to the boil, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes or so, stirring a couple of times through out.

Prepare the fish while the potatoes are cooking...


Cook the Fish...
Once the broth is cool, strain through a fine sieve and discard the seeds. Add the milk, salt and turmeric. Lay the fish fillets in the broth - they should be totally submerged - otherwise top up with water.

Gently bring the broth to the boil. As soon as it reaches the boil, cover and turn off the heat. Leave in the broth for 5-10 minutes - until fish is cooked through (this will depend on how thick the fish is).


Finish the Saag Aloo...
Add the tomatoes and chopped spinach to the potato mix and stir well. Cover the pan, and cook for another 5/10 minutes - until the potatoes are cooked through, the spinach is completely wilted and the tomatoes are softened.

Depending on how much water is released by the tomatoes and spinach you may want to remove the lid for the last few minutes of cooking to let the sauce thicken.

Pretending It's Summer... Fusilli with Macerated Tomatoes & Garlic

Phew!

It's just been so warm out there that I can't bear to put the oven on. I've been living on cold beer, salad and ice-cream. Even the thought of turning on the hob bring me out in a sweat.

Nah, not really...

Though we did have a pretty nice day on Saturday - sat out on the beach and didn't even have to put on our sweaters until 7pm! (Actually it was really nice - I even went for a swim!) But that's not the point. When I made this last week, we had barely had a glimmer of sun in weeks (ish...) So I thought I would attempt to bring some sunshine into our lives with this no-cook pasta sauce.

And it worked. It tasted like greenhouses, gardens and lazy bees*... the noise of lawnmowers over the way, and the bbq two doors down. And just so long as I turned up the central heating and put on my SAD light, I was almost able to persuade myself that it was summer after all...

Fusilli with Macerated Tomatoes & Garlic

Feeds 4...

• 500g fusilli
• 100g emmental, finely grated
• 12 large tomatoes, diced
  
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed (reduce this if you have a date later ;)
  
• handful greek basil
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  

Put all the ingredients, except the pasta together. Mix well and leave for a while - ideally about an hour!

Cook the pasta according to the packet. Add the tomato mix to the pasta and toss to mix well.

Taste and adjust seasoning if required.

Serve with a cold beer, in a bikini!




* no, not actually.

---

Another pasta dish for Presto Pasta Night! This week being hosted by Abby of Eat the Right Stuff!

Orzo with Chicken, Chorizo and Aubergine

This is yet another spur of the moment dinner, inspired purely by what I had left in the fridge - namely a pack of chicken thighs and an aubergine. I had to be out the door within the hour too - so it had to be ready in half an hour... and it was!

After the slight confusion from Tuesday's use of the word courgette (zucchini!), I think it may well be wise to explain up front that an aubergine is none other than the North American eggplant. What I didn't know, is that brinjal also means aubergine in India and South African English! (I always assumed it was an Indian ingredient that I couldn't get here!!)

Want more? Well, aubergine and brinjal have etymological similarities, both deriving from Arabic/Sanskrit. (The Sanskrit vatin-ganah begat the Persian badin-gan and badin-gan begat the Arabic al-badinjan and al-badinjan begat the Catalan albergínia and albergínia begat the French aubergine... which us Brits basically stole for our own!)

The North American/Australasian use of eggplant started in the 18th century - when some fruits* were white or yellow, and resembled goose or hen eggs!

Language lesson over for the day - let the recipe begin!

Orzo with Chicken, Chorizo and Aubergine

Makes loads!!

• 6 chicken thighs, bone in and with skin
• 1 aubergine (eggplant!)
• 100g chorizo, chopped into smallish chunks
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 250g orzo
• 1 tsp paprika
• cayenne pepper for seasoning chicken
• 250ml water or chicken stock
• oil to fry
• salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the Meat...
Heat oil in a hot pan. I used olive oil, tempered with some ground nut to reduce the smoke point. Throw in the chorizo and fry for a minute or two. Keeping it moving so it doesn't burn. Ideally we want some crispy edges... and for some of the tasty spicy oil to be released. Remove the chorizo from the pan and turn up the heat to very hot

Cut off any excess fat or skin from the chicken, leaving enough on protect the meat when searing. Season with salt and cayenne pepper.

When the oil is hot, carefully lay in the chicken thighs, skin side down. Allow to sear for 2/3 minutes - the skin should be nicely crisped and browned, but not burnt. Remove to a plate and reduce the heat to medium.

Prepare the Pasta...
In a saucepan, mix the orzo with the tomatoes, garlic, paprika and seasoning. Top up with the chicken stock or water and bring to the boil. Place the chicken thighs into the pan skin-side up, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes - or until the chicken is cooked through.

Prepare the Aubergine...
Meanwhile, cut the aubergine into 1" chunks and add them to the frying pan that the chicken/chorizo was cooked in. Fry until browned, but don't overcook!

Serve!
When the pasta/chicken is ready, mix in the aubergine and serve. Preferably with a large glass of red!


Oh - I seem to have a three in one foodie event situation again!

As it cost about £3.70 (just over $7 ?) for the whole thing, I'm going to make this my second submission to Frugal Fridays! And if it's not quite as healthy as last week's entry - I still don't think it's doing too bad!!

Although almost all of my recipes are my own, I've singled this one this week to send to Lore at Culinarty for her Original Recipes event... It was just so yummy, I felt it had to be shared!

It's the first time I'd cooked with orzo - and I'm definitely going to be stocking up. I'm sending it to Ruth at Once Upon a Feast, who is hosting Presto Pasta Night this week!










* oh yeah, did I mention they are fruits not vegetables?!

Hot Lemon Asparagus Bucatini with a Scottish Twist!

Have you ever tried bucatini? (At least I think it's bucatini - it could well be maccheroncelli or perciatelli. If anyone knows the difference - check out below and let me know what you think!) It's a long hollow pasta, kind of a cross between spaghetti and macaroni, and it's perfect for eating with smooth sauces.

I picked up a packet of bucatini a few weeks ago, and set about making up a smooth sauce. This is from my backlog - when I constantly had a fridge full of asparagus and had just made my Scottish sausage.

Because I invented this all by myself, I'm sending it over to Lore at Culinarty for her Original Recipes event...

And because it's pastalicious I'm sending it to Michelle at the Greedy Gourmet, who is hosting Presto Pasta Night this week...

And (yes, another one!) because this is cheap as chips (or as close as!) it is going to be my first submission for Frugal Fridays - the whole thing will feed a family of four for less than $10! And it's super healthy!

Hot Lemon Asparagus Bucatini with Crunchy Sausage Topping!

Serves 4 messy people...

• 4 large tomatoes
• 12 thick spears of asparagus
• 1 onion
• 2 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp hot sauce
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
  
• The zest of one lemon
• 150g Scottish sausage meat (or substitute with another sausage meat. If you have to.)
• A couple of tbsps of fresh oregano leaves
• A little olive oil to fry
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• salt to taste
• bucatini to serve
  

Prepare the veg...
Trim the woody ends from the asparagus, and cut most of the spear into chunks - reserving the tips.
Chop up the onions and garlic - make 'em as chunky as you like - we're going to blitz it in the end anyway!
Chop up the tomatoes, skin, seeds and all.

Make the sauce...
Heat the olive oil over a medium heat, add the onions and garlic, then fry for a few minutes until softening. Throw in the tomatoes (along with any juice), the lemon zest, hot sauce and the tomato puree. Add the sugar and some salt - you can always add more salt later to taste, but it is better to add it as early as possible.

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes - the tomatoes should release enough liquid to make the sauce, but if not, top up with water or stock.

Make the Crunchy Sausage Topping...
Meanwhile, break up the sausage meat into lumps and place into a medium, hot pan. You shouldn't need any oil as the sausage will release plenty. Fry for 5-6 minutes, keeping the sausage moving, breaking it up as it cooks. Once cooked, turn up the heat to high and fry for a minute or two without moving it to give a crunchy edge to the meat.

Finish the sauce...
After the 15 minutes is up, put in most of the oregano and the bits of asparagus stem - reserving the tips. Cook for another couple of minutes, then remove from the heat.

Put the sauce into a liquidiser or use a hand blender to blitz it to a smooth sauce.

Return to the heat, add the asparagus tips and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Put it all together!
Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet, then add to the pot of sauce. Mix well, so that the sauce sooks* into the pasta. Place into a bowl, top with the crunchy sausage pieces and the remaining oregano.

Eat!
This was the hardest bit - this is seriously messy pasta to eat! It was on the floor, face, sofa and cat by the time I was done. Worth it though!!



* Although not really a Scottish Scran post - the addition of the square sausage definitely warranted disclosure of another Scottish word!

Sook (v) - to suck

The best way tae eat this is tae sook it a' up an no worry aboot the mess yer makin'

Alternate use:
Sook (n) - a suck up/ brown-nose/ teacher's pet!
See her? She's a wee sook so'n she is!

Saffron-Infused Lemon Sole with Lemony Samphire Rice

My third fish dish in a row - I love summer!

This was yet another home coming dish - I was away at a festival all weekend... and definitely in need of a healthy home-cooked dish on my return. After a bath that is - after 4 days in a field that was my top priority!

The festie was amazing - so much better than last year, when we got totally flooded out!! Want to see a pic of my tent last year??

Hmmm... see that puddle on the tent?? Well that's where my head was supposed to be...

At that point we decided to cut our losses and head home. But after hiking 3/4 of a mile through the mud and driving rain to the exit, we were told we couldn't leave... the roads for 10 miles around were flooded to waist-height. It wasn't one of the happier moments in my life!

We got back to the campsite... which by then looked like this...

(That's flowing water by the way!!)

But - spirit of the blitz and all - we stuck it out and had a good time anyway - the sun eventually came out - though the mud was there to stay!!!

What a mission!!!

Anyway, after my little detour, I'll get back to the food blogging! (My pics from this year are still stuck on my phone!)

I think that the festival was my last big occasion of the summer so I hope to get back onto more regular blogging from now on in (barely a post a week in July - shocking!! ;)

As this dish is all my own (as most of them are!!) I'm submitting this dish to Lore over at Culinarty - for the Original Recipe event. This is a great way for people to find brand new recipe - as well as showcase what they have created.

Generally when I create a new recipe, I start with one key ingredient, or idea, then build it up from here. This time I had picked up some gorgeous lemon sole from my fishmonger, and whilst I was there got some samphire for the first time this year. I only tried samphire for the first time last year - it is a great ingredient. Sometime known as the asparagus of the sea, it has a lovely crunch, and a fresh 'sea' taste which really supplements fish dishes. If it is new season, try it raw in salads (give it a good wash first!), or quickly stir fry it with a bit of chilli and garlic. I had been planning to cook potatoes to go with the fish - but I felt that lemons and tomatoes would work really well with the samphire - so brown rice just seemed to match.

And the saffron infusion - well, just because I could!

Saffron-Infused Lemon Sole with Lemony Samphire Rice

Serves 2

• 2 fillets lemon sole
• Good pinch saffron
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 150ml milk
• 6 peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf (preferably fresh)
• 150g new season samphire
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 cup brown rice
• 600ml fish stock and/or water (I only had 400ml stock, so topped up with water)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 4 large tomatoes - reserve the vine if it has one!
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 chilli
• 1 banana shallot, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• handful parsley, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup plain flour for dredging
• Olive oil
• butter

Prepare the Veggies...
Wash the samphire in cold water and chop it into inch long pieces. Leave to soak for as long as possible - this will stop it being too salty. Bring a pot of water to the boil (don't add salt!) then blanch for a minute or two. Drain and refresh in iced water. Set aside.

Half, then quarter the tomatoes. Remove and discard the seeds, and dice the flesh into 1cm cubes - leaving the skin on. Cover and refridgerate until needed.

Heat a glug of olice oil in a frying pan and gently fry the shallot, garlic and 1/4 of the lemon zest for 3/4 minutes. Add a couple of tablespoons of fish stock and the juice of half a lemon, then fry until reduced to almost nothing. Set aside.

Make The Saffron Infusion...
Heat 150ml of milk in a pan just big enough to hold the fish. Once boiled remove from the heat and add the bay leaf, peppercorns, turmeric and saffron. Mix well and set aside to cool thoroughly.

Once cooled, add the sole fillet, skin-side up - top up with more milk if required. Cover and refrigerate for at least half an hour. (But no more than an hour)

Prepare the Rice...
Wash the rice in several changes of cold water - leave to soak for a while if you have time. Place the rice, tomato puree and water/stock into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Piece the chilli several times and add to the pot, along with half of the lemon zest. If you reserved the tomato vine, give it a wash and add too - it's amazing the amount of flavour that is held there. (A Heston Blumenthal tip!)

Simmer until the rice is cooked, probably about 30 mins depending on the rice.

Remove the vine and chilli, then add the diced tomatoes. Cook for another 2/3 minutes and turn off the heat. Add the samphire, parsley and onion mixture, mix well and season to taste.

Cook the fish...
Drain and discard the saffron milk from the fish. Season the flour with salt and pepper, then dredge the fish in it - being sure to pat off any excess.

Heat a good glug of olive oil to a medium heat in the pan you cooked the onions in, then gently lay the fish in, skin side down. Cook for 3 minutes, then turn. Add a couple of knobs of butter and cook for another minute or two, then turn off the heat - allowing the heat from the pan to finish the cooking for you.

Serve!
Place a couple of spoonfuls of the rice mixture in a bowl, and lay the fillet over it. If you like (I did!) pour the butter from the pan over the fish. Top with a wedge of lemon and a garnish of parsley.

Enjoy!

TT&T2 - Catalan Fish Stew with Spelt Bread

Health concious? Me??

Well I do try... it's just the weekends that cause problems!!

Regular readers will hopefully know that most of my recipes are pretty healthy - I love my spice and don't eat too much dairy or red meat. I do obviously have the occasion exception to the rule... especially when I discovered deep fat frying... but on the whole I love making dishes that taste good without being full of 'rubbish'.

So Tried, Tested and True 2 - an event conceived by Psychgrad and Giz from Equal Opportunity Kitchen - is right up my alley. This is their second event - check out the round up from the first one - what a fab collection of recipes!

This time however, there is a difference. Our tried and tested recipes have to promote health - be it low cal, low fat, high nutrient, whatever. They want don't just want dishes that work - they have to work for you too!

I decided to make a dish I have made a few times before - Catalan fish stew. It is a great dinner party dish as the bulk of the work can be done in advance. It is based jointly on a dish I had whilst in Barcelona and a Catalan fish stew I saw on MasterChef a year or two later - white fish, fried in olive oil, topped with a tomato, pinto beans and chorizo sauce. Flavoured with both fresh and ground fennel and thickened with ground almonds, this is a super tasty dinner - despite being healthy!!!

Right... so... you want to know what makes this so healthy?

Tomato Based Sauce!

Tomatoes are the best food source of uber-protective antioxidant nutrient, lycopene - which has amazing cancer and heart disease prevention properties.

Check this out - men who eat tomatoes twice a week are on average 35% less likely to get prostate cancer. Tomatoes also help protect against breast, pancreatic and intestinal cancers.

Tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin K (for bone health) and are a very good source of fibre and calcium too.

And... cooking tomatoes actually improves their health benefits as it concentrates the phytonutrients.

Pinto Beans!

Eating pinto beans will lower your cholesterol levels due to their high fibre content. They are also an excellent source of protein and vitamin B1

If you suffer from unstable blood-sugar levels (like me!), eating pinto beans will level out the highs and lows - with slow release energy thrown in to boot!

Pinto beans high levels of phosphorus, iron, magnesium, potassium, and copper lowers heart attack risk, heart disease risk and blood pressure.

Almonds!

Hmmm... Almonds? Really?? But they're sooo fatty...

Ah HAH - but they're the good type of fat! Y'know the type of fat that makes us lose weight, reduces the risk of heart disease and lowers cholesterol... monounsaturated fat!

Eating almonds can significantly reduce the GI level of what you're eating too, and contain more protein by weight than an egg!

Cod!

As well as tasting fab, cod is an amazing low-calorie source of protein - rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Though it really doesn't sound good - food rich in omega-3 fatty acids can help control blood pressure, protect against cancer and can even protect against Alzheimer's and Age-related Cognitive Decline.

Spelt!

What previously may have made this dish less healthy was that I generally serve it with huge hunks of chewy white bread... So in the spirit of the event I decided to make my own spelt bread to eat with the stew.

Spelt is higher in complex carbs that wheat - as well as containing way more fibre and protein. Many people also find they can tolerate it more easily than wheat - though it is still not gluten-free.

The bread had a lovely deep nutty flavour, and was very quick and easy to make - recipe at the bottom!

Low in Fat...

Ok, ok, so the fish is fried...

But it is in healthy olive oil... and get this: the phytonutrients in tomatoes will be far better absorbed when eaten with a little oil. So you see, I was thinking about you all the time!

So, now I've dispensed with my healthful rhetoric... let's get back to the dish, I hereby present you with my incredibly healthy, incredibly tasty...

Catalan Fish Stew

Served 7 hungry people!

• 1500g cod fillet - skinned (any firm white fish will do!)
  
• 500g huss fillet - skinned (again, any firm white fish will do!)
• 500g mussels, prawns and/or squid cooked and peeled if required
  
• 200g chorizo, diced
• 1 tin pinto beans, drained and rinsed
  
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 4 large tomatoes, diced
  
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 fennel bulb, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• 1 tsp fennel seeds, ground
• 2 tbsp paprika
  
• 1 tbsp oregano (fresh only, don't use dried)
  
• 1/2 tsp saffron strands
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 cup water
• A large glass of white wine (I don't measure wine in cups ;)
  
• 1 cup ground almonds
  
• olive oil for frying
• 3/4 cup white flour for dredging the fish
  
• salt to taste
  

Prepare the Sauce...
As I was cooking this for a mid-week dinner I decided to prepare the sauce in advance to give myself as little to do as possible the next day.

Heat the olive oil on a medium heat, and fry the onions, chorizo and garlic for 4/5 minutes. Add the ground fennel, oregano, 1 tbsp of paprika, the bay leaves and tomatoes and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add the water and white wine, allow to cool and refrigerate until required. Or you could leave it to simmer away whilst you fry up the fish if you're doing it all on the same day! (Which is probably more likely ;)

Fry the Fish...
(If you did prepare the sauce the night before then bring it to a simmer now!)

Chop the fish into large pieces. Mix the flour with a tablespoon of paprika and season with salt.

Dredge the fish in the flour mixture - patting off as much excess as possible.

Heat olive oil to a medium heat and fry the fish for a couple of minutes on either side - or until just cooked through - this will depend on how thick your fish is!

Set aside.

Put it Together...
Add the pinto beans to the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if required. Add the almonds, mussels, squid and prawns and cook for two minutes further.

Divide up the fried fish between the plates and spoon over the seafood sauce.

Serve with hunks of bread for mopping up the juices... for instance, my

Single Rise Spelt Bread!

Makes 2 2lb loaves

• 
  

• 6 cups wholemeal Spelt flour
• 2 cups hand-warm water
• 1 tbsp dried yeast
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Toasted sesame seeds to sprinkle

Activate the Yeast...
Dissolve the honey and yeast with one cup of the warm water. Cover and leave for 10 minutes until it starts to foam.

If it hasn't started to foam after this time, try again - the water may have been too hot or too cold. If this doesn't fix it may well be that your yeast is too old and needs to be replaced.

Prepare the Dough...
Add one cup of flour to the dough and mix well, then add the salt and the flour, cup by cup until it is all incorporated.

Turn out the dough and knead for 3 minutes - do not overwork the dough. The dough should be soft but not sticky.

Lightly grease 2 2lf loaf tins*. Divide the mixture in two, shape into loaf sausages and place in the tins. Cover in oiled clingfilm and put in a warm place to rise until doubled.

Spelt can be really fast rising - so start checking after about 45 minutes. In my case it took over an hour though.

Bake!
Preheat oven to 180c.
Lightly brush the tops of the loaves with milk and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds.

Pop in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Smells good? We're almost there!

Remove from the tin and put back in the oven for 5 minutes to crisp.

Place on a wire rack and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before eating.

As well as an accompaniment to the fish stew - this made the most amazing sandwich bread - full of flavour!





* This is what I would have done if I'd had two loaf tins... I only had one - so I wrapped half of the dough in greased film and refrigerated it whilst the first loaf was rising - then let the second rise while the first was baking!)

Psari Plaki - or Mary Queen of Cods!

When Peter the Greek of Kalafogas fame posted this beautiful baked fish dish last week I dribbled and drooled, stumbled and tagged as I so frequently do - and it entered the voluminous bank of 'recipes to make' that I have been cultivating for the last year or two.

But the next day when I went to pick up a piece of fish for a healthy post-Ibiza dinner, it popped back into my mind - so instead of the skate wings I picked up a beautiful whole cod instead! (I love my fishmonger - check out this 3lb beauty - for less than a fiver!!)


So Peter's dish is Ψάρι πλακί (did I pronounce that right Peter?? ;) or Psari Plaki - basically fish baked with tomatoes and olive oil (some sites say tomatoes and potatoes, others tomatoes with herbs or various veggies - but tomatoes are the constant.) Baked in the oven, and served with a load of crusty bread for mopping up the juices, how could I resist!?

So I trudged home with my huge cod (after making some phonecalls to ensure I'd have company to eat with!) and visited the bakers and greengrocers for the rest of my ingredients.

Peter's recipe specifies Cubanelle peppers. Now I wasn't too sure what those were, but he pointed me towards any sweet, thin-skinned pepper - the flavour of the dish would be overwhelmed by using bell peppers here.


The guy in the shop didn't know what these peppers were called, but they were thin-skinned and sweet - and worked perfectly!

Peter also recommended using old floury potatoes - not waxy or new. But decent old potatoes are not the easiest thing to find in England in July. So instead I reverted to one of my old favourites - Cyprus potatoes. A hint of waxiness, though not too much so, I thought these worked really well. They were creamy and smooth, and just falling apart enough to give some real body to the sauce.

But, anyway, back to the tale!

I got myself home and started laying out the kitchen, and quickly realised something. A 3lb fish is really, really big. Way too big to fit in any of my oven dishes.

There was only one thing to be done...

CRACK, HACK, SNIP

A hack, snip and a crack later, and we have it - behold Mary, Queen of Cods!

I'm not going to go into the detail of how I prepared the plaki - I followed Peter's recipe - and a lovely simple one it was too. I used fresh oregano from my garden, and I think I may have thrown in an extra tomato. Because it goes against my nature to do exactly what I'm told!


So anyway, the tatties and veg were layered in, the headless fish snuggled down amongst them, and the paprika olive oil slurry poured on top. I was about to put it in the oven... when I noticed Mary gazing forlornly from the counter with her one visible eye. There seemed to be such a lot of flavour going to waste in that beautful big fishy head.

The cats were at my feet looking hopeful. But I had plans to reunite Mary to her body...

Yeah, that'll do it!

I've no idea whether that added anything to the flavour - but it amused me so she stayed.

So (bear with me - I'm almost done) fifty minutes later, out she came from the oven. The smell was fabulous!

For me, the hardest bit of the whole thing was the carving (do you still call it carving for a fish?!) Lifted the fish out of the dish was a challenge. Then trying to remove skin and bones without destroying the fish?? Difficult to say the least! Half of my plates had skin-on fillets - the other half had skinless cod flakes. It was all polished off in record time though - with mountains of softly chewy white bread with a crisp, light crust. Absolutely beautiful, thank you for a fabulous recipe Peter. I do believe I'm going to start a new tag: 'recipes to make... again'!

Psari Plaki-ttie

I'm sending this over to Ruth for her weekly Bookmarked Recipes event. It's my first entry!

NCR: Bright & Beautiful Bean Salad with Capers & Oregano

Well, this is a first for me - sat in on a Friday night writing my blog! I never thought I'd see the day... But I've made it to the end of my first week at new work - and it's been a good one. Going to catch up on some of my reading tomorrow - I've been missing my daily blog-fix!

Anyway, I'm going to keep this entry short and sweet - it's 9pm and I'm far from ready to go out.

This is my month's entry to No Croutons Required. It was perfect timing for tonight really - healthy, tangy salad, with a hint of heat... ideal to prepare the body and soul for a good night out!

Bean Salad with Capers & Oregano

• 2 large tomatoes, chopped into large chunks
• 100g dwarf beans, lightly steamed, refreshed in ice water and chopped into bitesize chunks
• 1 tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 1 clove garlic, fine chopped
• 1 tbsp capers, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano - plus extra to garnish
• half a cup of vegetable bouillion
• olive oil to fry

Prepare the Kidney Beans...
Heat a glug of olive oil to a medium heat - then fry the garlic for a minute. Toss in the kidney beans and half of the chili. Fry for a minute, keeping it moving, then add half a cup of vegetable bouillion. I like my beans quite soft - so I allow this to boil away for a few minutes - alternatively leave it to sit to absorb the flavours for a bit.

Make the Dressing...
Whisk together the extra virgin olive oil and the lemon juice, and mix in the capers and chopped oregano. Season to taste.

Put the salad together!
Mix together the tomatoes, remaining chili and dwarf beans. Strain off the remaining bouillion from the kidney beans and add them to the mix. Pour over the dressing and mix well.

Give it 10 minutes to let the flavours get to know each other. This will equalise the heat from the kidney beans and the cold items - best served at room temperature I reckon!

Enjoy!

Balsamic-Caramelised Echalion Pasta with Meatballs!

Well, it's Day Four of Kittie's new job - and it's going well so far! I'm missing not being too busy to check out as many blogs as I would like - not to mention posting here. But hopefully it will settle down over the next few days and I'll work out a new routine!

Update! Since my last edit (it was originally Day Three!), I have been told I am going to be moved onto another new project - to make better use of my talents... I didn't realise you got IT Project Cooks!! ;)

In the little time I have today, I thought I would pass on this great pasta dish. As you may have guessed, I've had a bit of a thing about caramelized onions recently - I keep making up big lots of them then chucking them into various dishes! Nom nom nom... my favourite so far was the chicken and caramelized onion risotto... nom nom nom!

This started out as a what-can-I-make-without-leaving-the-flat dish... Armed with a bag of Ikea meatballs, a bag of banana/ echalion shallots, a tin of tomatoes and an excuse to open a lovely bottle of red, I stormed the kitchen, banged together a few pots, and 45 minutes later sat down to a lovely bowl of...

Balsamic-Caramelised Echalion Pasta with Meatballs

Add meatballs/ pasta to stretch this up to 4!

Woo hoo - two weeks in a row! This is my effort for this week's Presto Pasta Night - hosted by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast. Hang on - oh no it isn't... This week it is instead being hosted by Kevin at Closet Cooking!!

• Ikea meatballs (ok then, make 'em from scratch if you're feeling energetic!)
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 150ml red wine
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 6 echalion shallots, caramelized with a touch of balsamic - see here for details!
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Fresh oregano, chopped (from my garden!)
  
• 2 Bay leaves (Also from my garden - it survived the snails!)
  
• pasta to serve - I used some barollo linguine (which is why is looks a funny colour!) but I didn't enjoy it too much and won't buy it again!

Prepare the Sauce...
In a pan, heat a glug of olive oil and lightly fry the garlic for a minute or so. Add the tomatoes, wine, oregano, bay leaves and bell pepper.

Simmer for 20 minutes until the sauce has deepened to a dark red, and the raw tomatoey smell has gone.

Season to taste

Finish the Sauce...
Add the meatballs and continue to cook until they are cooked/heated through.

Add in the caramelised onions and combine well.

Serve...
With a sprig of fresh oregano and the pasta of your choice!

Slow-Cooked Leg of Lamb with Tomatoes, Garlic and Rosemary

This is a really unusual dish for me... yet still one of my favourites that I return to over and over. Take a look... count the ingredients.... six. Yep, six! Or maybe even just five if you exclude the seasoning. Not a chili or spice in sight!

If I saw this recipe, I would immediately be thinking: hmmm that sounds nice... now if I add a bit of smoked paprika, and maybe a touch of dried chillies... or maybe the teeniest pinch of coriander... but somehow with this dish I have always abstained. The lamb falls from the bone, it shreds as you try to cut it, so no huge lumps of meat here. The garlic and rosemary infuse both the lamb and the tomatoes; the wine and the tomatoes reduce down to a gorgeously rich sauce. This is by no means an uninteresting dish - despite the minimal ingredients... and preparation!

It was first cooked for me years ago by a friend of my parents - and it was actually the first time I really enjoyed eating lamb - up until then it had been too strong a flavour for me. (Except for teeny lamb chops - I've always loved those... drool!)

It is a quick and easy dish to prepare... just make sure you leave enough time for the cooking and resting.

I usually serve this with crispy, garlicky roast potatoes and asparagus, broccoli, or whatever other veg is in season. I couldn't find any decent 'roasty' tatties when I was making this though, so instead served it with fennel-infused rice (basically this without the saffron or turmeric). It worked well, though I probably preferred it with roast potatoes. I always try to make sure I have extra when I make this as it is great for next-day dinners. The flavours develop and mellow - and now is when you can dress it up a bit! Depending on your ratio of meat to sauce, either turn it into a pasta sauce or stuff it into a pita bread with lettuce, red onion, chillies and a sharp cheese.

Apparently simple sometimes is best!

Slow-Cooked Leg of Lamb with Tomatoes, Garlic and Rosemary

Serves 8 - though depends on the size of the leg!

• 1 leg of lamb
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes
• 6 cloves of garlic, cut into thick slivers
  
• sprig rosemary
• 1/2 bottle of white wine
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 180c.

Prepare the Lamb...
Wash the lamb and pat dry. Trim off excess fat. Make regular slits into the lamb, and stuff each slit with a sliver of garlic and a leaf or two of rosemary. (Is it called a leaf? I can't think what else to call it!)

The garlic and rosemary studded lamb!

Pour over the two tins of tomatoes and the bottle of wine. Don't season at this point!

The First Cook...
Cover the lamb tightly with foil and place in the oven for 2 hours. Sometimes I turn the lamb half way through, sometimes I don't - doesn't seem to make such difference!

Stage two!
Take the lamb from the oven, put the leg onto a plate, cover and leave to rest for at least 45 minutes. This is important - not only does it incomparably improve the texture of the meat... it is also a lot easier to handle once slightly cooler!

Once rested, cut the meat from the bone. As I mentioned above, the lamb should be falling apart by this time - so don't worry about regularly sized chunks or slices. I like having some bigger pieces and some smaller bits - but it's up to you!

The Second Cook...
Return the chunked meat to the sauce, and season to taste. Return, uncovered, to the oven and cook until the sauce is suitably reduced. I generally find this takes a further 30 minutes, but don't let it dry out!

Serve!

Eat...

Sleep...

Work...

Blog...

Start thinking about dinner...

And I present you with...

Slow Cooked Lamb DAY 2!

• Left over lamb and sauce
• one tin cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• A handful vittoria tomatoes - or the smallest cherry toms you can find!
• Some leftover caramelized onions from another dinner!

In a saucepan, reheat the lamb, pulling the lumps apart with forks until it is all shredded and gorgeous. Add the cherry tomatoes and cannellini beans and cook until the cherry tomatoes are soft but still hold their shape - imagine them popping in your mouth when you eat this - lush! Stir in the caramelised onions and serve with jersey royals and corn on the cob!

Tried & Tasted: Tastes Like Home Caribbean Sunday Lunch

Tried and Tasted is a brand new monthly event hosted by Zlamushka of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen. Every month Zlamushka nominates one blog - and the entrants recreate and blog recipes from the chosen blog. For the first month the chosen blog is Tastes Like Home. This was a perfect choice for me - I have never cooked Caribbean food before - though have long had it on my list; I had never visited Cynthia's blog before - and now I have another addition to my google reader; and I could indulge my love of hot food... excellent!

It's a great idea - and I've had a great time playing around with these recipes. The hot pepper sauce was something I made outside of the event - though I have decided to include it in my little round up as it was so good it deserved a second mention!

In fact - I ended up using it even more than expected. On Sunday morning I realised I was out of chillies. Seriously - to me that is like running out of salt or something - I always have some in the fridge! So instead, I turned to the hot sauce and walloped a teaspoon into the fried salt fish and half a teaspoon into the buljol. Wow - was it ever good!! The scotch bonnets gave it had an altogether different heat from my usual Thai chillies - and it had a beautiful fruity flavour to back up the burn!

So I present you with....

My Carribean Sunday Lunch!

What a spread!

Fried Salt Fish

This was my favourite of the lot - deeply spicy, lovely chunks of salt cod simmered in tomatoes and onions. And a spoonful of scotch bonnet pepper sauce of course ;) It went absolutely perfectly with the bakes - I will be making this again. And once the fish is desalted, it's super quick to make!

Cythia's original!

Buljol

This is a cold salad of boiled and flaked salt fish, with peppers, spring onions, onions and tomatoes. (And hot sauce ;) I think I needed to flake the fish more - but I did enjoy the flavours a lot!

Cythia's original!

Oiled Paratha Roti

I was so impressed with how well these turned out! - I didn't get a picture, but they were beautifully flakey inside, and tasted gorgeous. Not too oily - which I was a little concerned about. In fact not oily at all, just a really nice texture!

Cynthia's Original!

Guyanese Bakes

Why are they called bakes when they are deep fried?

Don't care - they're lovely!

Cythia's original!

Thank you Zlamushka for thinking up and hosting this amazing event - I look forward to more!

And many many thanks to Cynthia for her recipes and also for her help when I was making them!

The Simplest of Snacks and an Award!

Mmmmm... I am soooo loving the summer sun! Ok, so it isn't as warm as it was last week, but just seeing the sun when I open the curtains in the morning starts the day off in the right way.

The other thing that I am loving about the shifting seasons (yeah yeah, I know, me and every other Western food blogger!) is the changing available produce. As much as I love the soups and stews of winter, nothing beats real fresh summer fruit and veg.

I mentioned last week about the gorgeous British Vittoria Tomatoes that are currently available here. Well, here they star in their own right as a tasty, healthy snack. This isn't in any way a recipe - but, well, sometimes you just don't need one!

Vittoria Tomatoes with Maldon Sea Salt and Pepper

Lick the tomato and dip it one side into the maldon salt, then the other into the pepper (a 50:50 mix of Szechuan pepper and plain old black pepper, toasted and ground).

Place the tomato on your tongue, salted side down, and let it sit there for a second or two while the salt starts to melt in your mouth. (It shouldn't be too salty - don't use table salt!!!!!!) Bite into the tomato - sweet meets salty, a hint of heat from the pepper and a lot of juice...

Repeat as required.


Done!


And now to an award!

Many thanks to Icsa99 from Heaven is Chocolate, Cheese and Carbs for awarding me the Blogging with Purpose Award.


I have now been blogging almost 6 months, and I am enjoying it so much! Food blogging is forcing me to think even more about food. I can't remember the last time I resorted to a beans on toast dinner - each mealtime at home is an opportunity to try something new!

For this reason, to hear that my blog was part of the reason that someone else decided to come into this wonderful world is incredibly touching. Thank you Icsa99 - and also, thank you for introducing me to your blog - I look forward to more of your recipes!

Here are my picks! I've chosen three because that's the best number (it should have been five...)

1. Sher from What Did You Eat? This was the very first food blog I ever found - only about a year ago! Compared with how huge the food blogosphere is- I can't believe I didn't know about it. I will be recreating that recipe soon - watch this space!

2. Ruth from Once Upon a Feast. Her Presto Pasta Nights event was the first food event I ever took part in, with some Roast Garlic Ragu - still one of my favourite recipes!

3. Heather from Gild the Voodoolily... just to annoy her. Snarf snarf. Ok, it's really because she's got a great blog and great recipes... but this will annoy :P

Left Over Roast Beef Tagliatelle with Caramelised Onions

Ok... now in your head, start thinking of Fleetwood Mac, Albatross....

... are you ready?

... doo be doo be doo be dooooo.....

(cue food porn voice)

... This is not just pasta, this is silken, al dente tagliatelle mixed with succulent cubes of rare roast beef...

...in a rrrrich, red wine sauce with just a hint of heat from dried red chillies, laden with sweet caramelised onions...

... this is not just garlic bread, this is home-made focaccia, split and spread with garlic and black pepper infused butter, baked in the oven until crispy at the edges...

...This is not just food, this is kittie's leftover roast dinner food!


Ok, ok, so I'm being even more random than usual... For those of you not based in the UK (or perhaps for everyone if my impression was that bad ;) that was a mini-spoof of the M&S food adverts. Which shouldn't really be allowed on telly until after the watershed!

Anyway, without further ado, here is my entry for this week's Presto Pasta Night - a fabulous weekly event hosted by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast - if you like pasta - get over there and check it out!

Leftover Roast Beef Tagliatelle!

• Left over rare roast beef, cut into cubes
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 glass red wine
• 2 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
• Olive oil to fry
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• salt and pepper
• Pasta to serve

Caramelise the onions...
Over a very low heat, place the sliced onions in a pan, add a glug of olive oil and gently fry. Once they start cooking down add a pinch of salt to stop them burning, and a pinch of sugar to encourage the natural sweetness of the onions. Cook for 30-40 minutes until dark golden and caramelised, adding a little bit of water if required to keep them moist.

Meanwhile... make the sauce...
Heat a glug of olive oil and gentry fry the shallot and garlic until soft. Add the wine, tomatoes, 1/2 tsp sugar and chili flakes. Simmer gently for 25 minutes and turn the heat off. Add the roast beef cubes. You want to keep these as tender as possible - so allow them to be heated by the heat in the sauce - don't allow to boil again.

And the garlic focaccia...
To accompany it I served the remains of the focaccia I made for Taste and Create. I mixed some softened butter with a bit of olive oil, one crushed clove of garlic and a few decent grinds of black pepper. I split the bread in half, and spread the cut side with the butter mixture. I then wrapped it in foil and chucked it in the oven for 10 minutes - opening the foil for the last couple of minutes to let the edges start crisping!



Serve the sauce thoroughly mixed with the tagliatelle - with the garlic bread on the side!

WTSIM... Breakfast... And I think it's a Zebra!

I don't usually blog breakfast - mostly because it's usually fruit and yoghurt... but also because it's my least adventurous meal of the day - even when I do cook! A cooked breakfast is bacon and egg muffins, smoked salmon bagels or mushroom & tomato toast. Now, when I saw these zebra tomatoes for sale yesterday I had to have them and as I have dinner plans for the next few days, I decided to do some mid-week brekkie cooking!

Zebra Tomatoes - how pretty!

Excuse the rubbishness of my photos in this post - it was pouring with rain outside, which was giving off that horrible light which is too dark for taking naturally lit shots, but makes the flash seem... well... a bit odd really! (Can you tell I'm not a photographer?? ;)

Anyway, while catching up on my blog reading I saw that Waiter... There's Something In My... event is breakfasts this month. It must be fate - the only time I've had breakfast food waiting to be blogged about!

Now, this isn't the most exciting recipe in the world - but it is super tasty - and good for you too. I use quite a bit of garlic - so maybe not one to try if you have a lunchtime date ;)

Tomatoes and Mushrooms on Toast

Quantities are approximate and per person!

• 6 cherry tomatoes
• 6-9 decent sized chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed (!)
• 1/2 tsp of mixed italian herbs or oregano
• 1 thick slice of bread - granary or chewy brown are always my favourite - I'd skip white bread for this one!
• Olive oil
• Loads of freshly ground black pepper
• sea salt

Prepare the garlic...
Smoosh up the garlic with a good pinch of sea salt per person, a glug of olive oil and a bit of black pepper.

Prepare the tomatoes...
Cut out the eye of each tomato and place onto grill rack (I used a top heat grill - alternatively, you could roast them!)
Push a little bit of the garlic mixture into each tomato - you should probably have about half the garlic mixture left.

Place under a medium grill for at least 15 minutes.

Prepare the mushrooms...
Heat a glug of olive oil to a low heat in a frying pan. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook slowly until they start to release their juices (probably 10-15 minutes). Add the rest of the garlic mixture, the Italian herbs, a decent pinch of salt, and a load of freshly ground black pepper. Turn up the heat and sauté until the liquid has gone.

Put it together!
Toast and butter your slice of bread, then gently scoop up the tomatoes and place along side. Top with the mushroom, a drizzle of olive oil and some parsley if you have it (I didn't this time).

Enjoy with a strong mug of coffee - didn't you know coffee helps garlic breath??

Tried, Tested and True: Tomato and Rice Soup with Asparagus

Oh no!

I'm late!

:(

Basically I put the wrong date for Tried, Tested and True into my calendar - I thought I had until Thursday... Ooops... Well, here is my submission anyway - Giz and Psychgrad - I'm sorry it's late!

Tried, Tested and True is a new blog event which is being hosted by Giz and Psychgrad from Equal Opportunities Kitchen. If you haven't checked out their blog, do so. NOW! They are a mother/daughter duo, with cracking writing styles and lovely food. The aim of this event is to showcase the guaranteed crowd pleasers - the dishes that are always appreciated by friends or family.

This month I was at a bit of a loss on what to enter. As I am living off my store cupboard, my choices were limited. Then at the weekend it hit me... SOUP! I love soup - I eat a lot of it - and am used to massive bowls of steaming broth up on Scotland. I have a couple of favourites - one being my thick and hearty garlic and spinach soup. I'm also a huge fan of spicy lentil soup... and of course Scotch broth! But for this round up I decided to post Tomato and Rice Soup with Asparagus. It is a healthy, warming soup, which can be thinned down for summer months, or made almost as thick as a risotto for the winter! As it is coming into Spring, I opted for somewhere in the middle.

The asparagus isn't a constant - but I do usually try to add some extra veg for the vitamins. This was my first purchase of British asparagus this year - how amazing does this look?!

Gorgeous!

No matter what vegetable I use though, my soup is always a hit. Healthy, warming and cheap - I remember the first time I made it at university halls - feeding about 12 of us about 20p each! Ever since then it's always been my standby, my fallback. What I make when I'm feeling ill, or when I'm stressed and really busy. Unexpected visitors? All the ingredients are in the cupboard - and this soup can be ready inside half an hour! Fussy eaters? Everyone like tomato and rice! (Well, just about. And if they don't, there's a chippie on the corner!)

Perfect!

Tomato and Rice Soup with Asparagus

• 1 cup brown rice, soaked for 1 hour in hot water then drained and rinsed.
  
• 10 thick stalks of asparagus
• 500ml stock - I used turkey stock that had been frozen from Christmas... it even had lovely chunks of turkey meat in it... yum!
• 500g passata
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Put the stock and the passata into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the drained rice, the paprika, cayenne and coriander, cover and turn to a low simmer.

Meanwhile, snap off the woody part of the asparagus stem and gently peel from below the tip. Chop the stem into rounds - each about 3/4 mm thick - and set aside the tips.

In a frying pan heat a glug of olive oil and fry the asparagus rounds - adding the garlic and some black pepper after a couple of minutes. Fry for another couple of minutes. Roughly chop the turkey meat from the stock and add it to the pan, along with the asparagus tips. Turn the heat off and set aside.

Once the rice is cooked, taste the broth and adjust the seasoning. Add the asparagus/turkey mixture and heat until the tips are al dente.

Serve with hunks of granary bread!

Store Cupboard Cooking Day 9