From The
Modern Vegetarian, Maria Elia, Kyle Cathie Ltd, 2009.
Sometimes a build-up of bits and pieces
occurs in the refrigerator so this week has been one of finding recipes that
can make use of these. I had made tattie hushie to use up some cauliflower and
a leek waiting patiently in the vegetable section. There were a few figs bought
once on the spur of the moment and still waiting for their moment so, combined
with some left over blue vein cheese, they were turned into a disappointing
figs à la bourguignonne. Now I wanted to use up a can of chickpeas in the
pantry and the end of a loaf of bread made earlier in the week. This recipe
looked as though it would make a good light meal.
Firstly I made the dukka. Some hazelnuts (the
end of a packet) were roasted in a 180ªC oven. After them a few sesame seeds
(again the end of a packet) went in to be roasted. Now a couple of teaspoons of
coriander seeds and a little less of cumin seeds (another packet being emptied)
went in the oven for a couple of minutes to release their wonderful aromas. These all went in a blender with a teaspoon
salt, a good few grindings of black pepper, about half a teaspoon of paprika and
a large pinch of cayenne pepper. They were ground to a rough, not too fine mix.
That was the dukka ready.
Now it was time to make the puree. I heated a
little olive oil in a pan and then dropped in two chopped garlic cloves and
removed the pan from the heat. The oil was swirled around to absorb the garlic
flavour and a large pinch of cayenne was added together with about half a
teaspoon of smoked paprika. A drained can of chickpeas was added to the pan
with 150ml water. It now went back onto the heat to warm it through. It was then
pureed and salt added to taste. This was a really tasty puree and I had to
limit the amount of tastings I gave it.
One egg per person was now placed in boiling
water and cooked for 4 minutes. The recipe called for 5 minutes and I should
have stuck to that because when I tried to shell the eggs when they were cooled
I had great difficulty.
A slice of bread for each person was placed
under the grill and toasted.
A fennel was finely sliced and added to a pan
with a chopped garlic clove and a little oil. When it was cooked it was removed
and into the pan now went a large pile of rocket and baby spinach leaves. When
they had wilted the fennel went back into the pan with the juice of half a
lemon and it was turned off.
It was now ready to put everything together.
The bread was covered with a goodly amount of the chickpea puree. Over this
went a helping of the wilted leaves. The eggs were supposed to have a little
olive oil dribbled on them and then to be rolled in the dukka. My eggs would not have
survived this treatment so they were just placed on the wilted greens and the
dukka was sprinkled over.
I truly enjoyed this meal. I was ready for
something that was light and not too filling. This was just right. It had a
wonderful mix of flavours that all went together really well. The puree had a
touch of heat from the cayenne and a slight smokiness from the paprika. And
there was a little bitterness from the greens, matched with the sourness of the
lemon. The egg poured its yolky sauce over all, spreading the spicy crunch from
the dukka. I could go for this easily again.
Taste: ✔✔✔✔✔
Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔
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