It seems as though we may very well have had our summer - but in the two days of sunshine that came our way just recently, it sparked off a desire for Mediterranean-style eating.
Ever hopeful that we might get a day or so of sun before winter is upon us again, I thought I'd share the best of the recipes.
Now you know how much hubby loves his smoked mackerel - and I do too, but to a slightly lesser degree. Hubby will eat his smoked mackerel any way he can get it - hot or cold - but I find that a hot mackerel dish will repeat on me for a month of Sundays. Now for all that repeated burping causes some hilarity amongst the family, it does get a bit much when it's followed by terminal heartburn - or is that too much information?
As a result, the first dish of our Mediterranean week is smoked mackerel, served cold, with an accompanying warm Mediterranean Potato Salad and a tomato & red onion salad. If you prefer your mackerel hot, then by all means warm it up - it won't make a jot of difference to the dish.
I spotted the Mediterranean Potato Salad in the BBC Good Food Magazine and it ticked all the right boxes for both son & heir and myself. I wasn't too sure about hubby, though, as we all know his relationship with potatoes isn't great. Still, I crossed my fingers that the use of Jersey Royal new potatoes, together with the roasted red peppers and black olives in the dish (both of which are particular favourites), paired with mackerel might do the trick.
Well, it almost did. It was the garlic that did for him - and oddly, it seemed to be the pairing of garlic and tomato. Still, there's no accounting for taste - and it will be easy to leave the garlic out next time.
Both son & heir and I really liked the warm salad. It was a lovely departure and a welcome change from using Jersey Royal New Potatoes in a traditional way (i.e. with butter and mint). I have also taken to using English rapeseed oil instead of olive oil, now that we have found a couple of suppliers that provide affordable rapeseed oil. This was, pretty much, my first voyage with using the oil in a salad sense - and we like it. Rapeseed oil has a much nuttier flavour than olive (not surprisingly) and I've found that it blends very easily with Mediterranean style flavours. Well worth doing, when you consider all the health benefits of rapeseed oil over olive oil. If you thought olive oil was good for you, have a look at a comparison between the two. With half the saturated fat of olive oil and a higher flashpoint which means it can be used in roasting and stir frying, it wins my vote!
It did occur to me, that the salad could be made even more Mediterranean style, by using sun dried tomatoes instead of the tin of tomatoes - but I have yet to try this theory out!
The Mediterranean Potato Salad as it stands, is simplicity itself to make and the sauce can be put together as the potatoes cook. Paired with the simple tomato & red onion salad and an even simpler smoked mackerel, this really is a meal that takes minutes to prepare - and is good for you on all sorts of levels!
MEDITERRANEAN POTATO SALAD (feeds 3)
Ingredients :
1 tbsp olive oil (I used Rapeseed Oil)
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove (optional, leave it out of you're sensitive to garlic)
1-2 tsp oregano, either fresh or dried
200g tinned cherry tomatoes (I used the other half for breakfast the next day!)
100g roasted red peppers, sliced (I used them from a jar and rinsed off the vinegar)
300g new potatoes, halved if large
25g black olives, sliced
handful of basil leaves, torn.
Method :
1. In a small saucepan, heat the oil and add the onion. Cook on a gentle to medium heat for 5-10 minutes until soft.
2. Add the oregano and continue to cook for another minute.
3. Add the tomatoes and peppers, season well and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in a pan of boiling salted water for 10-15 minutes or until tender. Drain well, mix with the sauce and serve warm, sprinkled with olives and basil.
Printable version
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This is one of those dishes that split the crowd. I liked it a lot, Son & heir liked it and hubby didn't like it much - from which I detect that it may well be a "women & children only" dish!
We had bought a chicken last weekend, as a fall-back position if it transpired that we couldn't get hold of a piece of roasting bacon. As we finally managed to secure an enormous joint, the chicken went into the freezer and became part of this week's menus.
As such, I simply roasted the chicken during the day and stripped the carcass into two halves of usable meat. One half went in today's chicken stew, the other was intended for the chicken pie that I had scheduled.
I'm always on the lookout for "things in which to use leftover roast chicken", as we rarely eat more than half a chicken in a roast dinner - which leaves the other half. Now as much as I like cold roast chicken in sandwiches, it seems that I'm alone in that in our house - and there's only so many roast chicken sandwiches a girl can eat.
The original recipe (which I found on "The Kitchn" - click to view) recommended using a rotisserie chicken for speed, so I reckoned "the other half of the roast chicken" would qualify in this regard.
You may be wondering why the addition of "at last!" in the title there.
Well, you see, I was beginning to think that I'd never get the chance of making this 'ere pasta dish. The last THREE times it has appeared on the menu list, it has been bumped off for one reason or another. I was beginning to think it was cursed - or that hubby and son viewed its inclusion on the list with such trepidation that they were going to all kinds of lengths to avoid having it.
However, it turns out it was just unfortunate circumstance that brought about its loss from the menu lists and we successfully ate it for dinner a few nights ago.
Now you may also wonder about the addition of tuna to the recipe, as I know that a strict pasta puttanesca is largely vegetarian (if you forget about the anchovies). The trouble is, that my boys (both large and small) are committed carnivores. If the meal doesn't include meat of some kind - and fish is included under the heading of "meat" for this purpose - then it's not "dinner".
So, having come across Delia Smith's recipe for straight Pasta Puttanesca and liking the look of it very much, I immediately began to consider what meat I could include and how it would go. Should it be included in the recipe, or the recipe used as a side dish to the meat? I considered bacon, but we've already got a number of successful pasta dishes that use bacon and I'd rather use something else. Then, the anchovies raised their delicious little heads, which got me to thinking tuna. Having re-read the method, it seemed entirely logical to include a tin of tuna right at the end when the sauce is pretty much made. That way, the tuna wouldn't be broken up too badly.
I have to admit that I tinkered around with Saint Delia's recipe something awful (shallot, red pepper, wine, fish sauce, ketchup .. the list goes on) - but then considering the scrumptious dish that resulted, I'm not of a mind to apologise for doing so! I think I can safely say that this is the first dish I've made, that I've been actively aware of the Umami (the fifth taste sensation) involved.
PASTA PUTTANESCA WITH TUNA (feeds 3)
Ingredients :
350g spaghetti or linguine (more, if you are hungry!)
3 drops olive oil
1 pinch sea salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, chopped fine
1 red pepper, seeds removed and sliced small
2 cloves garlic, grated
2 tsp fresh basil, chopped
150ml red wine
50g anchovy fillets, drained
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
50g pitted black olives
1 tbsp capers, drained
400g tin cherry tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
tin of tuna in spring water, drained
pinch black pepper.
Method :
1. To make the sauce, heat the oil gently in a medium saucepan then add the shallot and red pepper and cook them slowly until softened.
2. Add the garlic and basil and cook for 1-2 minutes. Then add the red wine and allow it to bubble until reduced by approximately half. This should only take a few minutes.
3. Add the anchovies, fish sauce, ketchup, olives, capers and tomatoes and season with black pepper. Do not use salt, as you've already got salt in the form of the anchovies and fish sauce.
4. Turn the heat down to low and let the sauce simmer uncovered for some 40 minutes, stirring from time to time, by which time it will have reduced to a lovely thick mass with very little liquid left. Taste for seasoning and add the sugar if the acidity is too much.
6. Add the tuna and a little extra basil to the tomato sauce and stir gently to combine. Allow it a minute or two to heat through sufficiently.
5. While the sauce is reducing, cook the spaghetti or linguine to manufacturer's instructions, except adding the three drops of olive oil and making sure the water is salted. Drain the pasta when there is still a little bite left in it and return it to the pan. Aim to have the pasta ready when the sauce is finished.
6. Serve on warmed plates with plenty of grated parmesan cheese and garlic bread.
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