I'm really quite proud of this little recipe, as it came about during one of our "staff meetings" when we were having a brainstorm about what we would actually like to eat as opposed to what we thought we should have to eat. I can remember thinking, as we were contemplating complimentary flavours for it, that less is more and this was definitely one of those pasta dishes.
Now I know that smoked mackerel isn't to everyone's liking, but for this recipe I've used some honey smoked mackerel which is a lot milder in flavour than the peppered or just straight smoked versions. I heartily recommend that you go for a sweeter type of smoked mackerel, as not doing so will affect the sweet/savoury balance. If you just can't find any, don't despair, just add a half a teaspoonful of honey along with the tomatoes and you'll be fine.
Speaking of tomatoes, I recommend raspberry tomatoes if you can get them. They are really big, quite fleshy tomatoes with a gorgeously rich tomato flavour - and perfect for something like this. I get mine from my local Polish delicatessen, so if all else fails, try your closest Polish shop or even an Ethnic shop if you have one.
The recipe doesn't have a sauce as such, as quite simply the extra virgin olive oil and tomatoes (devoid of seeds, but still full of juice) combine with the shallots, pepper and capers to make this dish anything but dry. The oiliness of the smoked mackerel is tempered by the tomatoes but the secret weapon of the dish are the capers. Every now and then your tongue trips over one and the intense flavour just wakes up your palate, all ready to again be soothed and comforted by the spaghetti and green pesto.
I hesitate to draw your attention to the fact, but this dish is also extraordinarily good for you. Nutritionally, I reckon it's probably one of the best I've come up with in some time. But let's skip lightly over that and concentrate on how good it tastes, eh? After all, I don't want to put anyone off it by shouting too loudly about how good it is for you.
As for the Cook's Tips, the recipe is so simple I don't have many. Just to say to make sure that you have the spaghetti water boiling before you put the shallots on to cook, or you'll be waiting for the pasta while your tomatoes are cooking instead of heating up, which will spoil the texture if not the flavour.
Oh - and don't forget to rinse the capers.
So, onwards to the recipe!
SMOKED MACKEREL, CAPERS & TOMATO SPAGHETTI WITH PESTO (serves 3)
Ingredients :
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
250g dried spaghetti
2 large full flavoured tomatoes, pips removed, diced
6 cherry tomatoes, pips removed, quartered
2 tbsp capers, rinsed of salt or brine
half a tsp ground black pepper
a good pinch of sea salt
4 honey smoked mackerel fillets, skinned, boned and flaked into small chunks
2 tbsp fresh basil leaves
3 heaped tsp green pesto, to serve
1 tbsp chopped parsley, to serve.
Method :
Begin by putting a large pan of water on to boil.
Next, heat the extra virgin olive oil over a low heat in a frying pan. Add the chopped shallot and fry very gently until softened.
When the water comes to a boil, add the dried spaghetti and cook to manufacturer's instructions (usually around 10-12 minutes).
In the meantime, add all the tomatoes, capers, black pepper and sea salt to the shallots and just warm them through, without really cooking them. They should be distinctly warm to the touch before the next stage.
Once the spaghetti is cooked to your preference, drain and return to the hot pan.
Add the tomato mixture, the flaked mackerel and tear the basil leaves into the pan. Stir through gently and serve immediately with an extra splash of extra virgin olive oil.
Garnish with a good heaped teaspoonful of green pesto and a light sprinkle of chopped parsley.
Printable version
I've been going through a bit of a purple patch with my cooking lately again, in that I had lost my way a bit - well, a lot in fact. It happens that way sometimes. Eating is something that we HAVE to do, to keep operating and to stay as well as possible - but sometimes it can be just the most dull, time consuming and tedious thing imaginable. Add to that it being more than a little bit painful to complete and you have all the ingredients for a purple patch.
However, I hadn't lost my interest in all things culinary or my curiosity for new ingredients - so I knew I'd be back to it, if I just wound things back a bit and swung with the tide for a while. So here I am, quietly getting back into the swing of things. I didn't stop cooking, either - we just went through a few weeks of some fairly dull meals, incredibly unhealthy meals and some stellar and spectacularly gorgeous Sunday roasts. Well, it had to come out in some way or another - and I saved it all for Sundays. LOL
I will do a couple of posts detailing some of the Sunday meals we've had - as they deserve to spend some time in the spotlight.
Now don't go thinking that I'm back with dishes of Lark's tongue in aspic, or a new take on Lobster thermidor, far from it. For this week's menu plan (yes, I'm still doing those!) I've tried to come out of my default "meat and two veg" and venture into things - like today's Gnocchi - that I haven't cooked for ages because of lack of inspiration and enthusiasm.
So, all that aside, this evening's meal of Bacon & Pesto Gnocchi was a great start. We all love gnocchi and I had simply forgotten about it. After all, there are so many different ingredients out there, it is impossible to remember them all. Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Like a hot gnocchi to an aluminium pan. *wink*
I can't claim this recipe as all my own work, the inspiration and basic idea came from a recipe on the U.K. & Ireland All Recipes site - which you can see here if you fancy having a look. I simply added a couple of extra ingredients - mushrooms and onion - to the recipe, to pad it out a little further and to increase the veggie quota.
I'm currently trying to eat mushrooms whenever I can, having read that folk who eat mushrooms and drink green tea (not necessarily together at the same time, but whatever floats your boat) stand considerably less chance of contracting cancer - of all sorts of types. Now it's not hard work to eat mushrooms and fairly easy to add a cup of green tea to my day, so that's what I've been doing.
This recipe really is simplicity itself. Now I approve of that, because not every recipe needs to take an aeon, involve every pan you possess and take you an hour to get over cooking. Far from it. It sounded easy - it's one of those "put stuff in the pan in order and cook on various heats, boil other stuff, combine the two" recipes. They get a big thumbs up from me.
The peppers do need chargrilling earlier in the day, but if you don't have the time or inclination to do this (it is well worth it though, as the flavour is so much better), you can use them ready done, out of a jar.
There are two odd things about the recipe, however. One is that it involves Philadelphia cream cheese - which isn't odd on its own, it's just that it uses Sweet Chilli Philadelphia. In a dish which is ostensibly Italian. ~scratches head~ Demands the suspension of disbelief to do it, but it's worth it! If it is any consolation, the Sweet Chilli version is one of the low fat types of Philadelphia, so it could be worse!
The second odd thing is the end colour - which, thanks to the green Pesto, is eccentric at best. Don't panic when you see it all combined in the pan before you add it to the gnocchi - the addition of the gnocchi helps to lighten the colour and if served with a green salad alongside, it kind of makes sense.
My menfolk liked it a lot - well, cheese and bacon? It'd have to go a long way to shake off a man's love for bacon. I was a little bit concerned that there wouldn't be enough for everyone, whereas the reality was that it was absolutely perfect. No leftovers and everyone was satisfied. Works for me!
So, having said all that, let's get on and make it shall we?
BACON & PESTO GNOCCHI (serves 3)
Ingredients :
1 red and 1 green pepper
1 onion, chopped finely
1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
300g smoked back bacon, chunkily chopped
4-5 chestnut mushrooms, sliced
500g potato gnocchi
3 heaped tsp green pesto (to taste)
3 dessertspoonfuls sweet chilli Philadelphia
1 generous handful of grated cheddar cheese.
Method :
1. If you are using your own home chargrilled peppers, some hours before you begin to make the dish, heat your grill to high and place the whole peppers under the grill. Leave them there for their skins to turn black and blister, turning them until they are completely charred. Cool for a moment, then pop into a freezer bag and seal the top. Condensation will form, which will enable their skins to be removed really easily - and they have such a gorgeous smokey taste.
2. So, place a large pan of salted water on to boil for the gnocchi.
3. While the water is heating, add the oil and the onion to a frying pan and cook gently until softened and just beginning to caramelise.
4. Add the bacon, which will cool the pan - so increase the temperature to cook the bacon until all the water has dispersed, then add the mushrooms and cook on until they have softened.
5. Add the peppers and heat them through - by which time the water should have boiled for the gnocchi, so in they go for their three minutes, or whatever the pack demands.
6. Add the pesto, Philadelphia and grated cheese to the frying pan and stir through until the cheddar has melted and the whole lot has combined. This is where you'll start getting a little bit worried about the colour. Do not despair!
7. As the gnocchi cook, lift them out with a slotted spoon, directly into the bacon mixture. Once they are all done, fold them through until everything is combined, check for seasoning and adjust if necessary - and serve.
I thoroughly recommend serving the gnocchi with a green side salad, which provides a lovely freshness to counteract the richness of the pesto and cheese. Perfect!
Printable version
Owing to the Vegibox deliveries - which are a weekly delivery of locally grown fruit and vegetables - we have had something of a potato glut in the house. Now this is very okay where myself and son & heir are concerned, but not so good for hubby - who would see all potatoes fired into the face of the sun, if he had his way.
So this has set me the difficult task of trying to find potato dishes that hubby either does like (one in a million) or might like (even rarer).
I remembered that I cooked a dish of scalloped potatoes that he enjoyed - and reported that he really quite approved of - so I decided to go there again.
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| Looks good to me! |
Scalloped potatoes (well, my recipe anyway!) involves slicing the potatoes very thinly and laying them in a dish interspersed with finely cut celery and grated garlic and pouring over a concoction of milk, cream cheese and cream. Bake in the oven for the next hour or so until the potatoes are soft. So very indulgent! Definitely not something to have more than once a year! I paired them with some chicken that had a layer of green pesto through the middle - just for a bit of added flavour - and was then roasted with a little butter on top for around 30 mins at 180degC. A final flourish of steamed carrot, broccoli, peas and a little gravy rounded off the plate.
Myself and son & heir loved it - poor hubby was less than impressed with both the potatoes and the chicken. Oh dear. I'll try to do better next time!
For dessert, son & heir and myself had our current favourite thing - little pre-packed jellies with fruit inside. Our choice this evening, was orange flavour jelly with mandarins. They are so refreshing - and just a few spoonfuls big. They really hit the spot.
I know! It's that rare beast, a vegetarian recipe on Jenny Eatwell's Rhubarb & Ginger.
I do try to include the odd vegetarian recipe from time to time, it's just that the carnivore in me often gets the better of it and I wind up throwing in something meaty at the last minute. I'll try to do better, honest!
Well, this tart definitely qualifies as vegetarian - you could even use vegetarian parmesan cheese, if you so wanted. If you choose Jus-Rol puff pastry, you'll find it is Vegetarian Society approved and even suitable for vegans! So I think we can safely say that this is very definitely a recipe that is vegetarian friendly. Hurrah!
I can't remember where I saw the thing that gave me the inspiration for this tart, except I saw an article somewhere online about char grilling sliced aubergines - and the photograph accompanying it showed lines of aubergine slices laid down slightly overlapping each other and I thought "that looks like they're on a tart". Oooooh! That would be good! What could I put it with? And that was how it happened.
I came up with the cherry tomato idea before the pesto, in fact. I knew that cherry tomatoes - particularly the Aramatico type that are available at the moment - would be a lovely counterpoint to the relatively bland but smoky aubergine. What it needed, though, was something to provide a basic, underlying flavour that the vegetables could ride upon. Cream cheese seemed too rich, although I liked the cheese idea.
I didn't want anything too squishy, as the aubergine would be doing a good enough job there without any help. Equally, I didn't want anything too overpowering - like chilli. I gave some serious consideration to red onion marmalade, but rejected it on account of the sweetness. I began going through what I had in the fridge - and hit upon the pesto. That gave the herbiness that would provide good depth to the flavour, with a little bit of cheese influence too. It was strongly flavoured, but you wouldn't need to use too much so it wouldn't be too squishy and compromise the crispiness of the tart base. Perfect! I then hit upon the ruse of adding some grated parmesan to the tart while it was still hot from the oven - and the recipe was born.
It received a mixed reaction from the assembled throng, in that I loved it and consider it to be one of the best tarts I've come up with to date. Hubby liked it - but was disappointed that, to his taste buds, the pesto overpowered the aubergine. Son & heir hated it because he finds aubergine too much of a challenge and isn't keen on cooked tomatoes at the best of times. Hey ho!
I really enjoyed the contrast between the sweet acidity of the cherry tomatoes against the creamy blandness of the aubergine and had no difficulty picking the aubergine flavour out of the whole melange. I felt that the pesto gave everything a good base flavour that didn't interfere and the parmesan on top added that salty bite that brought the thing alive. The whole tart was just bursting with umami - that elusive flavour profile that can be so hard to find, but when you do, it's worthwhile hanging onto!
The textures were great, with the crisp lightness of the pastry, the soft aubergine and crunchy grated parmesan. I had a piece cold the following day for lunch and it was just as good, hence it is here on the blog for you to try. I suspect it will get mixed reactions, but you'll know what your family like - so bear that in mind when deciding whether to try it.
I'm not so sure that this one is either teenager or child friendly either, but as I say, you'll know your family's tastes better than I ever will.
I served our tart with a mixed salad including feta cheese and green olives, which made hubby happy and a potato salad made using Cornish crystal new potatoes. Well, I loved it - and I hope you do, too.
AUBERGINE & CHERRY TOMATO TART (serves 6)
Ingredients :
2 smallish aubergines (eggplant, to those of you from over the water!)
3 tbsp oil (I used a combination of sunflower and rapeseed)
1 x 320g roll of puff pastry
1 tsp of green pesto
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese.
Method :
1. Slice both aubergines into small slices (approx 5mm or thereabouts) across the round, rather than along the length. Keep the slices in piles so as to prevent oxidisation (discolouration, in other words) and brush the top slice of each pile with a little oil, which also prevents oxidisation.
2. Heat a griddle pan, or failing that a plain old frying pan or even a barbecue, until blisteringly hot and lay as many slices as will fit, oil side down, onto the pan. Lightly brush the top sides with a little oil, ready to be turned.
3. Once the underside is either charred or browned (depending on which pan you use), flip them over and repeat on the other side.
4. Remove to a large plate and lay each slice slightly overlapping the next, around the plate so that they have a chance to cool.
5. Repeat until all the aubergine slices have been used.
6. Place the empty pan in a safe place to cool down! You won't need it again.
7. Line your baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper, or non-stick tin foil, or just plain use a non-stick baking tray. Lay the sheet of puff pastry down flat upon it and, with a sharp knife, draw a line - not piercing through the pastry - around the rectangle to define where the crust will be.
8. Spread the inside of the rectangle with the pesto, making sure to spread it thinly or you won't taste the aubergine.
9. Place slices of aubergine in an attractive display onto the top of the pesto. I used three lines of slightly overlapping slices.
10. Sprinkle the cherry tomato halves over randomly, but making sure they are evenly distributed.
11. Season well with sea salt and black pepper, then place into a pre-heated oven at 180degC/350degF/gas 4 for around 25-30 minutes.
12. As soon as the pastry is golden and risen around the edges, remove the tart from the oven and sprinkle the parmesan over the top so as to allow it both the heat and the time to wilt a little prior to serving.
Serve warm, not hot, with a mixed salad.
Printable version
Well, what else would you call a minestrone-type soup, but one that contains chicken? It's just got to be Chickarone!
This soup recipe evolved from the BBC Good Food recipe for their Hearty Pasta Soup. I'd been intending to make some of that - on and off - for months now.
Twice (at least) I've put it on the menu plan for the week, only to have it bounced off in favour of some other plan. The last time I included it, I bought the filled pasta, it got bounced off the menu list, so I ate the pasta for lunch over the weekend.
Then I (pretty much) gave up on trying to make it.
So when I was considering what leftovers we'd got that needed using up and began to contemplate how I could use two chicken breasts without having to buy any more meat to go with them, the Pasta Soup reared its poor old rejected head.
I had a secret theory that the reason why I'd never made the soup was because of the filled pasta. I know that some members of the family aren't terribly keen on filled pasta as they - quite rightly, in lots of cases - say that it's bland and flavourless. However, what if I used just ordinary small pasta (unfilled) and put some diced chicken breast in the soup? That might make it a bit more interesting.
So that was how the idea first occurred. The recipe, however, sort of grew in the making.
I was nervous about the degree of flavour that could be achieved by the inclusion of just vegetable stock and a tin of tomatoes, knowing how my family likes to have big flavours in their food and aren't keen on "broth" style soups. It was obvious that as the chicken stewed and the vegetables cooked, the soup base would develop in flavour - but I just helped it along a little bit with the addition of two heaped teaspoonfuls of tomato puree and some mushroom ketchup. I'd also made the addition of a stick of celery, a chopped leek, a tin of sweetcorn niblets, some fine green beans and, just before the end, stirred some green pesto through the soup. (Which took care of the last of the pesto!).
I was surprised by how much salt the soup ate up, too. Because the vegetable bouillon I used was low salt, I suspect that had as much to do with it as anything - although the use of spaghetti demands a good dose of salt, in order to bring out the flavour. My anxiety over the soup base was put to rest by the starch from the spaghetti helping to thicken the base. Ultimately, the soup came together just perfectly - and I felt was pretty well balanced as I could almost taste all the individual components. The chicken was there in texture and visible, but lost out a little in flavour. I suspect what I should have done, was use chicken stock instead of vegetable, which would have helped the chicken along a little. Hubby felt that the broccoli stamped all over the other flavours and for him, the prevalent flavour was broccoli. Son and heir ate all his soup without comment, so I guess he liked it!
I served the soup with some Cheesy Pesto Pitta dippers, which were Pitta bread spread with pesto, then cut into four pieces and laid onto a baking tray. Grate a liberal coating of cheddar cheese over them and place into a hot oven for 10-20 minutes to crisp and heat through. The pesto was a great addition to these dippers - and one that I'll certainly do again. To be honest, you could whip up a plate of these if you're planning on watching a film at home, or have friends around for drinks. Perfect!
CHICKARONE SOUP Serves 4
Ingredients :
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, chopped fine
1 stick of celery, diced super-fine
1 leek, sliced finely
2 chicken breasts, diced small 2 carrots, peeled & sliced finely 1 litre chicken stock 400g can chopped tomatoes
2 heaped tsp tomato puree
1 tbsp mushroom ketchup (or Worcestershire sauce)
a small tin of sweetcorn niblets a small handful of fine green beans, topped, tailed & cut into half inch pieces
100g spaghetti, broken into approx. one inch pieces
a small handful of tiny broccoli florets 2 tsp green pesto.
Method :
1. In a deep, heavy bottomed saucepan, heat the olive oil and add the red onion and celery. Cook over a medium heat until the onion is transparent but not browned.
2. Add the leek and continue to cook, reducing the heat if necessary so as not to brown the delicate leek pieces, for another 5 minutes or so or until the leek appears to have softened.
3. Add the chicken breast pieces and over an increased heat, cook until each piece has changed colour to white.
4. Add the carrots and cook to heat through, then add the chicken stock, tomatoes, tomato puree, mushroom ketchup (or Worcestershire sauce) and the sweetcorn niblets.
5. Stir well bring to a lively simmer for 10 minutes, or until the carrot is approximately half way cooked.
6. Add the green beans and spaghetti and stir well. Continue to cook at a lively simmer for another 6 minutes.
7. Add the broccoli florets and continue to simmer until the spaghetti is tender and the broccoli is cooked.
8. Stir through the pesto and serve in warmed bowls with bread to dip.
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Rarely has one dish so split the audience!
So if you're looking at this blog post and thinking "ooh, my husband/son would love that!", I advise you to go carefully - as I have a suspicion it may very well be girl food. Reason being that I absolutely loved this dish (as it stands), but hubby hated it and son & heir wasn't all that keen. Hubby did say, though, that the flavour of the meatballs was good - it was just the wine that I'd put into the tomato sauce that he disliked intensely. Where son & heir is concerned, I think it was the indignity of having to have vegetables instead of pasta to accompany it.
Personally, I absolutely loved it and would happily have the same again tonight.
So, I decided to blog the recipe as without the wine in the sauce and served on pasta instead of with mashed potato and vegetables (although I'd be tempted to include the carrots & broccoli in the tomato sauce, on the pasta!) I think it would have been a lot better received.
Hence, it's up to you. Go with the wine in the recipe if that's what you like. Serve it with mashed potato and vegetables if that's what everyone likes. Or you can go down the pasta route, if you think the potato/veggie combo is too "out there" for your tastes.
Of all the turkey meatball recipes I've made just recently, this is by far and away the easiest. Simply mix the minced turkey with three quarters of a grated onion and two heaped teaspoonfuls of pesto (green or red - I used green). Mush it all together and roll some meatballs. So long as the turkey is straight from the fridge (i.e. extremely cold), the mixture will be very soft, but will hold together if you treat the meatballs gently.
The recipe did a very good job of using up the turkey mince that I had in the freezer, plus it made a large dent in the jar of pesto. A few pasta lunches should see off the remainder!
Oh, and incidentally, I was looking today for some inspiration where cooking turkey was concerned, and tripped over this website Lean on Turkey. As I'm quite keen on turkey as an ingredient (I think we could all do a lot worse than to eat more of it), I thought I'd pass it on!
TURKEY & PESTO MEATBALLS IN TOMATO SAUCE (feeds 3)
Ingredients :
500g minced turkey
1 onion, peeled and grated
2 heaped tsp green or red pesto
1 tbsp olive oil.
For the sauce :
1 onion, chopped fine
1 clove garlic, grated
2 vine ripened tomatoes, diced small
1 glass red wine (optional)
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
a large pinch of dried oregano
an even larger pinch of dried basil
half a tsp paprika
1 tsp mushroom ketchup or Worcestershire sauce
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper.
Method :
1. Take a large bowl and add the turkey, grated onion and pesto to it. With your hands, squidge the meat together with the onion & pesto until evenly distributed. Pinch off pieces to roll into meatballs, around the size of a walnut. Should make 16-17 meatballs.
2. In a frying pan, heat the olive oil until really quite hot - enough to make the meatballs sizzle as soon as they connect with the pan. Add the meatballs and gently turn them after 30 seconds cooking. This will "set" the outside shell of the meatball and prevent them from falling apart.
3. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to fry the meatballs until coloured on all sides and firm to the touch. Remove to an oven-proof dish and keep warm.
4. Switch the oven on to pre-heat, at 180degC/350degF/Gas4.
5. Without wiping the frying pan, add the onions to the remaining oil and cook on medium until softened. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or so.
6. If you are opting to use the red wine, add this now and bubble it until it has reduced by around half.
7. Add the tomatoes and cook until they are softened, then add the tomato puree,
tomato ketchup, dried oregano, dried basil, paprika and mushroom ketchup or Worcestershire sauce. Give everything a good stir and allow to simmer for 10 minutes or so.
8. Taste and adjust seasoning with the sea salt & black pepper.
9. Pour the sauce over the meatballs, then add to the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until bubbling.
10. Serve, either with mashed potato & vegetables, or with pasta & vegetables (which could be added to the sauce before serving).
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