Monday, August 27, 2018

Avgolemono Greek Soup

With the weather starting to become a little more autumnal, we thought a soup might be in order. This is a classic Greek recipe and really lovely whatever the weather. It is often served at holidays or celebrations in Greece. You can do the whole recipe or you can start with ready-made stock and some cooked chicken, depending on how much time you have. If you are doing this, start from ## with hot stock. This makes 6 - 8 Servings
1 whole chicken, approx 1.5kg - water – 2 carrots, roughly chopped – 2 celery stalks, roughly chopped – 1 onion, roughly chopped – 2 bay leaves – 5 black peppercorns – 1 t salt – half a cup rice or orzo rice shaped pasta (optional) – 3 fresh eggs, at room temperature – juice of 2 lemons, strained – zest of one lemon – salt and freshly ground black pepper - parsley
Trim all the excess fat off the chicken, put it into a large pot with the vegetables and add enough water to cover the chicken by 5 cm. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1½ hours. Take out the chicken, remove the meat and set aside for use later. Strain the stock and skim off any fat
## Add the rice or orzo pasta, if using, and cook until tender. While the rice is cooking, whisk the eggs until very frothy then add the lemon juice in a thin stream while you continue whisking. Put 2 ladlefuls of the hot soup stock into a separate bowl then slowly add the egg and lemon mixture. This will help to prevent the soup curdling. Put this back into the rest of the soup and heat gently. Do not boil once the egg has been added or you will get scrambled egg. Taste and adjust seasoning to your own taste, then sprinkle on the lemon zest and a little chopped parsley before you serve. You can add back some of the chicken meat if you want a more substantial soup and you can, if you must, add a couple of spoonfuls of corn flour to thicken, but this is not encouraged
While the pasta is cooking, prepare the egg-lemon mixture. Using a whisk beat the eggs until nice and frothy. Add the lemon zest and the lemon juice in a steady stream while continuing to whisk
When the pasta has finished cooking, turn off the heat. Ladle about two cups of broth into a bowl or large measuring cup. Slowly add the hot broth to the egg-lemon mixture while continuing to whisk. This will temper the eggs and prevent them from curdling once they are added to the hot broth
Stir the egg-lemon mixture into the pot and heat over very low heat for approximately 5 to 10 minutes until heated through. Be careful not to boil the soup once the eggs have been added

Adjust your seasoning for salt and pepper and add more as desired
Traditionally, this soup is served without the chicken meat or vegetables. You can add them back or serve on the side as you prefer
Posted by MENU at 5:48 pm 0 comments

Spicy Asian Beef salad

For when you are in Asian mood
Lynne invented this recipe when we had some left over steak. You could use left over roast beef or just sear off one small steak for a small salad
The dressing: 2T limejuice - 2 T fish sauce - 1 T palm sugar- 1 t red chilli paste or 2 finely chopped chillies (adjust to your own taste) – 1 clove garlic, crushed – 1 T sushi ginger (gari) finely sliced.
Green beans, carrots, courgettes cut into julienne strips – mixed herb salad leaves – 2 T extra fresh basil and/or coriander leaves – 2 squares of Chinese egg noodles – 1T Tamari soy sauce - 200g cold beef, sliced
Slice the beef into ½ cm slices. Mix up the sauce, then marinate the beef in half of it. Blanche the beans, carrots & courgettes for one minute in boiling water then refresh in ice cold water. Drain. Cook the noodles till they are just soft, drain, cool, then add the Tamari sauce. Mix the salad leaves, herbs and the julienned vegetables, then top with the beef. Drizzle over the rest of the sauce then top the dish with noodles and serve
Posted by MENU at 5:12 pm 0 comments

Mexican peppers

In hot weather, we find that we like to eat hot, spicy food; it does seem to cool you down. There is a glut of wonderful peppers in the shops at the moment, so do try this recipe which Lynne made last week. It serves 2 to 4, depending on how hungry you are and how large the peppers are!
2 large pimento (banana) red peppers (18 to 20 cm long) – 350g lean beef mince – 1 onion, finely chopped – 2 cloves garlic – fresh oregano – 2 courgettes, grated – 2 t Mexican spices – olive oil – 3 T tomato passata – 3 t rice or rice pasta – salt and pepper
Mexican spice mix: 2 t salt, 2t cumin, 2 t cayenne pepper, 2 t brown sugar, 2 t paprika, 1 t ground black pepper, 1 t dried oregano, 1 t dried chilli flakes, 1 t sweet smoked paprika.
Mix together and store in an airtight container
Fry the onion in the oil until it is just beginning to take on colour. Add the garlic and fry for one minute. Add the beef and brown it. Add the oregano and the spices and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the courgette, the rice or pasta and the passata and simmer until the pasta is cooked. Taste and adjust seasoning. Halve the peppers lengthways and remove the seeds. Put into an oiled ovenproof dish. Fill the peppers with the mince mix. Put 1T water underneath the peppers and cover with foil. Bake at 180ºC for 45 minutes or until the peppers are lovely and soft. Serve with cool guacamole and a salad
Posted by MENU at 5:05 pm 0 comments

Basil Pesto

We have so much basil in the garden that Lynne was able to whip up a pesto in minutes and wondered why we don’t do this more often
Pesto is very simple indeed to make and can be done in a blender in just a few moments, while the pasta is cooking. You don’t have to use basil – rocket, parsley, coriander all work well and you can vary the nuts – walnuts, almonds, pecans etc. Add a fresh chilli if you want it hot, especially good with coriander. Don’t make it too far in advance, as the colour can go very dark. You can try a squeeze of lemon, but that is not traditional. It also makes a really good cold pasta salad when used with rice shaped pasta. You need to make it in the proportions 3:1:1 herb, cheese, nuts
3 large handfuls of basil leaves – 25g grated parmesan or grana padano cheese – 25g pine nuts – 1 crushed clove of garlic – 2 T olive oil – salt and pepper

Put all the ingredients into your blender and blitz until you have a nice thick oily paste still with some texture, adding more oil if it looks a little dry, then adjust the seasoning and spoon onto hot pasta or onto a selection of lightly blanched vegetables
Posted by MENU at 5:00 pm 0 comments

Cherry Compote

½ Kg cherries, pitted – 1 cup of water - 250g sugar - juice ½ lemon - 4 t brandy

Put the sugar and the water into a heavy bottomed pan and heat till the sugar has dissolved. Add the cherries and the lemon juice and simmer for no more than 15 minutes, stirring gently only occasionally so the cherries stay whole. Using a slotted spoon, remove the cherries and keep aside. Reduce the cherry liquid until it is becoming thick, then cool slightly. Stir in the brandy and the cherries and put into a bowl in the fridge until you need it
Posted by MENU at 4:54 pm 0 comments

Cherry and Chocolate Pavlova

Our most successful dish over the holidays was a chocolate Pavlova which Lynne made for New Year’s Eve, when we had friends over to wish the old year goodbye. It sounds complicated; it isn’t. You can make it the day before
6 large egg whites – 300 g caster sugar – 1 T corn flour – 2 t raspberry vinegar – 25 g cocoa powder – 50 g dark chocolate, chopped – 500 g cherry compote – 250ml cream – 1T Amaretto liqueur or 1 t vanilla bean paste – 150g fresh cherries
Heat the oven to 140ºC. Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then, adding 1 tablespoon at a time, carefully whisk in the sugar, making sure you whisk really well between each addition. When all the sugar has been added, do whisk until the mixture is really thick and glossy and stands in soft peaks. Using a large metal spoon, carefully and gently stir in the corn flour, vinegar, cocoa powder and chocolate, until just incorporated
Line a baking sheet with a piece of rice paper, baking paper or a silicone sheet. Spoon on the meringue, making a circle and building up the sides, so that you have a bowl shape which will keep the filling in. You could put the meringue into a piping bag if you want it to look really professional. Bake for 1¼ hours, then turn off the oven, open the door and leave to cool. The rice paper is edible, but do carefully remove the baking paper or silicone and put the Pavlova onto a pretty serving dish. Don’t worry if the meringue cracks a bit, that is part of its charm. It is meant to be like soft marshmallow in the centre
When ready to serve, whip the double cream and Amaretto together in a big bowl until soft peaks form. Spoon the cherry compote over the meringue, dollop over the cream; arrange some fresh cherries on top and serve
Posted by MENU at 4:50 pm 0 comments

Tropical Mango and Orange Tiramisu

If you don’t like Christmas pudding and want a more modern, fresh dessert, try this. It will feed four. Increase the quantities proportionally if you have more people. Do taste both the juice and the cream and sugar mixture before using and, if it is quite sharp, do add a little more sugar or honey
1 packet boudoir (finger) biscuits – Juice of 4 oranges – 50ml orange, Amarula or Limoncello liqueur - 2 fresh ripe mangos, peeled and sliced – 1 tub of mascarpone cheese – 200ml cream – 150g sugar, vanilla if possible or add 1 t of vanilla extract – juice and pulp of 4 granadillas (passion fruit)
Mix the orange juice with the liqueur and dip the finger biscuits into it. Make one layer in the bottom of a pretty dessert dish. Mix the mascarpone with the cream and the vanilla sugar and spread a layer over the biscuits, then follow with a layer of mango slices and some of the granadilla pulp. Make another layer and finish by pouring over the rest of the juice and topping off with the rest of the granadilla pulp. Cover with cling film and keep in the fridge overnight until you are ready to serve
Posted by MENU at 4:42 pm 0 comments

Spinach & Cheese Roulade

Dinner with friends
We had a lovely dinner with friends in Camps Bay last week – gosh, how the wind can howl there - and our hostess cooked some lovely food. Her starter was something we think you might like to consider for Christmas entertaining – quite retro but really delicious, and it has the usual added advantage that you can make it in advance: a very light, fluffy and moist Spinach and cheese roulade filled with herby cream cheese and smoked trout
Here is Lynne’s recipe: We used frozen spinach; if you want to use fresh, 700g should be enough. Wash well, cook, squeeze out all the moisture then chop finely. You can buy a herb cheese like Boursin and mix it with plain cream cheese. Do season well
1 box Frozen spinach, defrosted – 4 large eggs, separated – 25g cheddar cheese finely grated – salt and freshly ground pepper – a good grating of nutmeg
Filling: 200g tub of good cream cheese – 10g each of fresh parsley, thyme and dill, finely chopped – 200g slices of smoked salmon or salmon trout
Preheat your oven to 200ºC. Mix the herbs with the cream cheese and put into the fridge until the roulade is ready
Line a 33 x 23cm Swiss roll tin with baking paper, folding at the corners. Squeeze as much moisture out of the spinach as you can, then stir in the egg yolks, cheese and seasoning. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff then, using a large metal spoon, stir in a quarter of the egg white. Then carefully fold in the rest of the egg white, a third at a time, try to keep the mixture light and airy. Spread onto the tin and bake for 15 minutes until firm to the touch. Cover with a clean lightly damp tea towel and leave to cool. Then turn it out onto the tea towel and carefully remove the baking paper. Spread on the cream cheese and then cover with the smoked salmon. Roll it up first by folding over a small edge of the roulade and then, using the tea towel, carefully roll it up. Do not try to roll too tightly and expect it to crack slightly. Plate it and cover with cling film until you are ready to serve. This makes at least 6 large slices
Posted by MENU at 4:36 pm 0 comments

Lamb with Garlic, Anchovy and Rosemary

We had another favourite, roast lamb, and this might be an alternative main course for some of you for Christmas dinner. We have sold anchovies and now anchovy paste, for many years and we have often been told how delicious they can be as a marinade for lamb – most often from Italy - so Lynne decided to try it. Be assured, it does NOT have a fishy taste at all, just a very deep savoury flavour, and with the large amount of garlic and rosemary, you end up with a really lovely jus. It went very well with a bottle of Morgenhof Cabernet sauvignon Reserve 2001
2 to 2.5 kilo leg of lamb – 9 anchovies or one tube of anchovy paste – 6 garlic cloves, crushed – 2.5 tablespoons of fresh rosemary, chopped - ¼ cup of olive oil – sea salt – freshly ground black pepper – bottle of semi sweet wine (we used Robertson Beaukett)
Turn your oven to 200°C. In a pestle and mortar, crush the anchovies with the garlic and the rosemary till you have a good rough paste. Moisten with the olive oil and then season. Cut several 4 cm slashes in the surface of the lamb and then rub the paste all over it
Place the lamb on a grid in a roasting tray, pour a little water into the base of the pan and put it on the centre shelf of the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Then pour over 100ml white wine and baste the lamb. Reduce the heat to 180°C and leave the lamb to cook for 1½ to 2 hours (dependent on its weight and how well you like it cooked). Baste the lamb regularly with a little more of the wine and the juices in the bottom of the pan and do add a little water to the pan if it becomes dry. Remove the lamb from the oven, cover with foil and rest for 15 minutes. Pour off as much of the fat in the bottom of the pan as you can, then deglaze it and use the juices mixed with corn flour, more wine and water to make a really good gravy
Lynne served this with crisp duck fat roast potatoes, baby peas and roasted butternut with nutmeg
Posted by MENU at 4:30 pm 0 comments

Smoked trout rolls with avocado and watercress

We have enjoyed so many canapés this year that we will be preparing a couple of them for Christmas day, and we suggest that you think back and do the same. Keep it simple and preferably prepare the day before. Our favourites have been prawn tempura with chilli dipping sauce and something with smoked trout and salmon, perhaps gravadlax, which can be made a week ahead
200g smoked trout pieces – 150g good rich cream cheese - 2 t finely chopped chives – 2 t finely chopped dill – freshly ground black pepper - salt to taste
Then 200g smoked trout ribbons – 1 ripe avocado – juice of a lemon – lemon or lime – watercress – savoury biscuits
Blend the first 6 ingredients together, then taste and season with salt if necessary. Put a spoonful of the trout paté into one end of a 5 cm strip of trout and roll up. Fix with a toothpick until they stay rolled up, then remove.
Serve two or three each on a plate decorated with 2 slices of avocado that have been dipped in lemon, a slice of lemon or lime and some watercress. Add two or three good savoury biscuits like Woolworth’s Rosemary and Olive Oil crackers
Posted by MENU at 4:22 pm 0 comments

Sweet Pepper, Basil and Cream Sauce

Sonia Cabano gave us a copy of her new book “Relish – Easy sauces, seasonings and condiments to make at home” recently and we have to share one of the recipes for pasta with you. We haven’t made it yet, but will definitely… soon. We quote:
For 300-450g dried pasta, enough to serve 4-6 people, use:
2 medium onions, finely chopped – 2T 30ml butter (1T = 15ml) - 15ml olive oil – 2 each medium green, red and yellow sweet peppers, chopped small – salt and ground black pepper to taste – 150ml double cream – 6 large basil leaves, finely chopped – 2 T (30ml) chopped fresh parsley – 4 T (60ml) freshly grated parmesan
  1. Cook the onions in the butter and olive oil until golden and soft
  2. Add the diced peppers and cook until tender, about 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally. Season very well
  3. Add the cream, turn the heat high and allow to bubble until the cream as reduced by half
  4. Add the basil, parsley and Parmesan and toss with hot cooked pasta
Serve immediately
Posted by MENU at 4:16 pm 0 comments

Pisco Sour

We had very small limes, each of which gave us just about 200ml of juice. Lynne made the sugar syrup by combining 4T sugar with 50g water and stirring them together till the sugar melted, then boiled the syrup for 5 minutes. Boil quite hard but do not stir. If it starts to colour (you do NOT want caramel), remove it from the heat immediately and start again. We made the cocktail in the small blender container which comes with our stick blender. You can use a liquidizer or just whisk the egg white till stiff and add it to the other ingredients. This makes enough for two, served in whisky tumblers. Pisco is difficult to find in South Africa, so we have used the nearest easily found replacements. You can add different alcohols like rum or whiskey if you like, but they give a different flavour.
Sour recipe
1 egg white - juice of 8 small limes - 100ml sugar syrup - 2 tots of Cane Spirit, Vodka or Grappa

Blend the egg white till it is light and fluffy and just getting to peaks. Add some of the sugar syrup and blend quickly, then add the lime juice and the alcohol. Taste and add more syrup to your taste if it is too sour
Posted by MENU at 4:08 pm 0 comments

Duck in Orange Cream Glaze

Tonight, we had duck breasts. Lynne glazed them with the new Protea Hill Farm Cream – the balsamic reduction made from their wonderful fruit vinegars. She used the Orange Cream as a glaze and, if you want to try the recipe, we have this on our stall at the markets or you can order it from us on line. Collect from our home or we can post it to you. We have not given exact quantities, it is very much a ‘taste and see’ recipe and is for 2 duck breasts, adjust quantities as necessary
Butter – canola oil – 2 duck breasts – juice & grated rind of one orange – 100ml good chicken stock – Five Spice powder – Protea Hill Farm orange Cream balsamic reduction – honey – salt and pepper

In a heavy bottomed frying pan, melt a little butter, enough to coat the base of the pan. (Do add half and half oil and butter, or just oil if you have health concerns). Season the duck all over with the pepper and salt and a light dusting of Five Spice or Quatre Epice powder. When the pan is hot, place the duck breasts skin side down and let them cook on a medium heat till the fat renders down completely and the skin is nice and brown and caramelized, but not burnt. Turn them over and continue to cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Duck is much better served pink as, if it is overcooked, it can be tough. Remove the duck breasts, coat the skin with a little Orange Cream and put them into the oven at 180°C for 10 minutes then remove, put into foil and rest for 10 minutes. Add the orange juice and stock to the pan and let it deglaze and emulsify with the juices in the pan. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding a teaspoonful of the 0range Cream and do add a little honey if the juice is too sharp. Prepare your vegetables and then, at the last minute, slice the duck and place on the warm plate. Pour over the sauce from the pan and serve. It had a wonderful flavour, was beautifully tender and we matched it with one of the best current bargains in wine: Drostdyhof Chardonnay 2010, which won a Gold medal in the Decanter Awards in England and cost us R30 at Checkers. The duck breasts came from the Neighbourgoods Butcher, Salvin Hirschfield. Talk to him at the market on Saturday, if you’re in Cape Town
Posted by MENU at 4:01 pm 0 comments

"Beginning of summer" Broad Bean Ciabatta

Broad Beans in Season
Lynne increased her likelihood of acquiring carpal tunnel syndrome recently by depodding over 5 kilos of fresh broad beans, but it is so worth it. Despite the black fingernails which persist for weeks, we so love eating these ‘once a year’ seasonal beans. Many people are asking why we can’t have them readily available throughout the year, frozen like peas, as they are in Europe and America. Perhaps this is something local farmers could grow as a winter crop? Ours came from a wine estate, where they are grown between the vines as a cover crop whose roots put nitrogen into the soil. The plants will now be ploughed into the soil as compost, but the beans can be a viable crop and they are not difficult to pick, as we discovered. We steam them in a closed dish in the microwave for one and a half minutes, then take them out of their skins and eat immediately, but they are good in other dishes. This is our favourite way to eat them
400g depodded and skinned cooked broad beans – 6 to 8 large slices of ciabatta bread – garlic – 2 T good olive oil – juice of half a lemon– 1 T fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped – sea salt and ground black pepper - parmesan cheese.

Lightly toast the bread on both sides then give one side a light brush with the cut edge of a clove of garlic. Mash the beans roughly with the oil, mint, lemon and seasoning. Spread onto the bread slices, roughly grate over the cheese and serve as a light snack or as a starter
Posted by MENU at 3:53 pm 0 comments

Pork Chops

Inspired by the simple but great treatment of good ingredients at Johan’s, Lynne decided to do something simple with pork chops this week. You can use chicken as a substitute
4 pork steaks or chops – juice of one large lemon – 2 crushed cloves of garlic – 1 T olive oil – good grinding of black peppercorns – salt

In an ovenproof dish, cover the pork with the lemon juice, garlic, oil and pepper. Put in the fridge for 2 to 3 hours. Salt the pork and put into a hot oven to roast for 10 plus minutes or until the pork is cooked through. Drain off the juices and make a good jus with them. We use a little more water, some cornflower and a little good stock. Cover with foil and rest for at least 10 minutes. Serve with crisp duck fat roast potatoes, steamed courgettes and broccoli
Posted by MENU at 3:47 pm 0 comments

Barracuda in ginger and garlic

We have had great difficulty finding any good quality fish or fresh seafood while visiting Durban, until we visited the magnificent Checkers in Ballito which has an impressive fish counter – we only wish ours in Sea Point could match it in the freshness and availability of fish. We bought two sizable barracuda steaks on Saturday and Lynne marinated them in chilli, chopped garlic and ginger, then we pan-fried them and had them with baked potatoes and a salad. A Braai would have been good but sadly it was drizzling and pitch dark when we wanted to eat at 7
2 Barracuda or similar (swordfish, tuna) steaks - 2cm piece of fresh ginger – 1 large garlic clove – 1 tsp zhoug (Israeli/Yemeni chilli spice)– 1 T hot water– 1 T oil – good squeeze of lemon juice – salt and pepper
Grate the ginger and the garlic, pour hot water on the zhoug powder then stir in the oil and mix with the ginger and garlic. Spread over both sides of the fish and leave to marinate for at least an hour. Fry quickly on both sides then season, add a squeeze of lemon and serve

Posted by MENU at 3:44 pm 0 comments

The Best Chilli con Carne recipe

We are currently in the grip of more cold, wintry weather, so it is back to the kitchen for spicy warming food. Lynne’s favourite Chilli recipe is also probably the oldest cookbook recipe she uses – The International Cookbook bought from WH Smith in 1967. This is a Tex Mex chilli, not a true Mexican one. We do use tinned beans, as they are so cheap and they save so much time and energy. If you don’t do pork, you can leave out the bacon, but it is the secret ingredient, bringing out lots of flavour
350g dried or 2 tins red kidney beans -2 large onions, finely chopped – 2 cloves of garlic, crushed - 2 tablespoons olive oil - 450g lean minced beef – 30g chopped streaky bacon or pancetta 1 bottle of tomato passata or 1 tin of whole tomatoes, roughly chopped - 2 fresh red chillies– 1 t powdered Cumin - Freshly ground black pepper – Salt
If you are using dried kidney beans, soak them overnight in cold water. The following day, bring the beans to a boil in plain water, then discard that water. Cover the beans with more water and boil until they are soft
Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan and fry the onions until soft. Stir in the garlic, the meat and the bacon and continue frying, stirring occasionally, until the meat has browned. Blend in the drained kidney beans, add the passata or tomatoes with their juice, and season to taste with chilli, pepper and cumin
Cover the pan with a lid and cook on a low heat for at least an hour and a half, (the meat must be getting soft, the onions and tomato melting and all the flavours must be coming together) stirring occasionally and checking that it doesn’t dry out. Add a little water if it begins to dry. You can bury it in a slow oven as well. Taste and, if it is not hot enough, add some more chilli or a little hot chilli sauce. Only add salt at the end as the bacon usually adds enough
Serve with guacamole, a chopped tomato, spring onion and coriander salsa, rice or crusty bread and a tossed green salad. Serves 6

Tip: If you want a darker flavour, add one or two squares of good dark chocolate
Posted by MENU at 3:22 pm 0 comments

Risotto of Chicken and Broad Beans

Drift Farm at the Biscuit Mill has had superb young broad beans for the last couple of weeks. They inspired Lynne to make this risotto and she now uses the Masterchef method of shaking the pan instead of stirring it. She finds it much easier and far less tiring and you do still get a lovely creamy risotto. Do make sure that your cooking temperature is not too high; the rice should simmer, not boil. It should not ever stick to the bottom and should stay nice and liquid and creamy
1 T olive oil – 1 T butter - 1 small onion, finely chopped - 2 cloves of garlic, crushed - 500g Arborio or Carnaroli rice – a large pot of good chicken stock– 150ml dry white wine -1 t fresh thyme leaves – 1kg broad beans – 400g cooked chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces – 1 T butter – 100g grated parmesan cheese – pepper and salt

De-pod the broad beans, boil them for two minutes, drain; take off the hard skins of very large beans and discard them. In a separate pan, heat the stock and have a ladle ready. Fry the onion in the oil in a heavy bottomed pan until soft but not brown, add the garlic and stir for a couple of minutes. Add the rice and stir till it is all covered in the oil and butter. Pour on the wine and let it bubble and reduce for a few minutes. Cook on a medium heat, not a high one. Start ladling on the stock, a ladle at a time. Shake the pan rather than stir and when the stock is reducing, add another ladle. Keep giving the pan a good shake every now and then. Stir if you prefer to. When you see the rice is nearly ready, and getting nice and creamy, add the thyme, the chicken and the broad beans. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. With good stock, you usually don’t need extra salt. Continue shaking the pan to incorporate everything and when the rice is cooked but still has a little bite, remove from the heat, stir in the butter and the cheese and rest for five minutes before serving. Serves 4
Posted by MENU at 3:15 pm 0 comments

Stuffed Pasta Shells with Salmon, Ricotta & Spinach

Lynne discovered some amazing huge pasta shells at Checkers and decided to use them for friends who were coming to supper. Using a classic recipe of stuffing the shells with ricotta and spinach, she added some tinned Canadian salmon for added protein and made a separate tomato and red pepper sauce as a base. What went wrong? Lynne has decided she just doesn’t like the taste of ricotta cheese, which she found bitter, unlike all the others who enjoyed the dish. Here is the recipe, if you want to try it. Next time (and there will be a next time - as we cooked the whole packet of pasta, which was far too much and now have half of it frozen, waiting to be stuffed with a different filling. Perhaps a thick cream sauce with prawns, or a mushroom and spinach filling?

For the tomato and pepper sauce
1 T olive oil - 1 large onion, finely chopped – 2 cloves of garlic, chopped – 1 tin of chopped tomatoes - 1 large red pepper, sliced - 3 stalks of thyme – salt – freshly ground black pepper – sugar
Gently sweat the onion in the oil till soft, then add the garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the pepper and the tomatoes and thyme and cook covered until they have broken down and made a nice thick sauce. Do stir occasionally and season. It the mixture is too acid, add a teaspoon or two of sugar. This is often necessary with local tinned tomatoes. If the mixture looks too thick, do add a little water
Pasta recipe
Conchiglioni – very large pasta shells – 350g fresh ricotta cheese – 2 fresh egg, lightly beaten – 180g fresh spinach – 1 tin of salmon – salt and pepper – nutmeg – half a cup of grated parmesan cheese – 200g mozzarella or taleggio

Cook the pasta according to instructions until it is ‘al dente’ (still with a bite, not floppy and soft). You will need about 5 shells per person and the cooked pasta left over will freeze. Cook the spinach briefly, then strain well and dry it off as much as you can. (You can use Swiss chard but real spinach is far better). Finely chop then add to the ricotta with the eggs, seasoning and several gratings of nutmeg. Drain the can of salmon; flake it and stir into the cheese and spinach mix. Use this to stuff the pasta shells. In a large ceramic serving dish that will go into the oven, put a 2cm layer of the tomato sauce then arrange your pasta shells. Top with the parmesan and slices of the soft cheese. Cover with foil and put into the oven at 180°C for half an hour before serving. You can serve with extra tomato and pepper sauce
Posted by MENU at 3:04 pm 0 comments
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