Stracci with Spicy Aubergines, Tomatoes, Basil and Parmesan

From The Return of the Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 2000.

Stracci apparently is pasta that has been ‘scratched’ or cut into pieces any way you like. Not being in the mood to make my own pasta I purchased some fresh lasagne sheets and ‘scratched’ them.

The sauce was a simple one. An eggplant (aubergine) was cut into dice and fried in olive oil with some coriander seeds and some broken up dried red chillies. As the eggplant browned a can of tomatoes was added. A few minutes later some Kalamata olives went in and the cooking continued. When the mixture had thickened to a sauce-like consistency it was seasoned and some red wine vinegar added to taste.

While the sauce continued to cook down, a pot of hot salted water was put on and brought to the boil. The pasta went in and when it was cooked it was added to the sauce. A few basil leaves were added and when served it was topped with some Parmesan cheese.

This simple-to-make Mediterranean-type sauce was one that I must remember for it gives a meal in a few minutes that is really tasty and totally satisfying.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Potato and Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Thyme, Mascarpone and Hazelnuts

From The Return of the Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 2000.

While the predominant ingredient in this recipe was the Jerusalem artichokes I went very warily with the use of it. It has a tendency to reward one with much wind. So for this I changed the balance to more potatoes and less artichokes. What I ended up using was two medium potatoes (about 500 g) and two artichokes (about 125 g).

An onion, 2 garlic cloves, the potatoes, artichokes and a few fresh thyme leaves were sautéed in a pan with butter. When the onion had softened the stock was added, about a litre. It was actually water and stock cubes. This was brought to the boil and simmered until the vegetables were tender. A stick blender was used to liquidise the soup.

At serving time the soup was reheated and a couple of tablespoons of mascarpone added. It was checked for seasoning and then ladled into plates. Some chopped hazelnuts were sprinkled on the top.

I do like the taste of Jerusalem artichokes and even with the change in quantities the flavour came through quite strongly. The hazelnuts went well with the artichokes and gave a little bit of crunch to the smooth soup.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Mushroom Risotto with Garlic and Parsley

From The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 1999.

To satisfy my latest push into making risotto I turned to a recipe of Jamie Oliver’s as a basis.

I cooked the mushrooms, buttons cut into quarters, first in a hot pan with olive oil and a little butter. When they had started to acquire a brown tinge I added chopped garlic cloves and a sprinkling of salt. When they seemed to be finally cooked I added chopped parsley, a pinch of chipotle chilli powder and a little lemon juice.

 Now it was time to cook the risotto. The usually pattern was followed. Stock was put on to simmer. A chopped onion was fried until soft in a little oil and butter. The rice was then added and stirred around until it was fully covered with the butter/oil mix.  About a quarter of a cup of white wine was now added and, when it was absorbed by the rice, the first ladle of stock was added.

While the risotto was now cooking half of the mushrooms were cut up to smaller pieces. These were added to the rice.

As each ladle of stock was absorbed another was added and this continued until the rice at ready. It was tasted for seasoning. Grated Parmesan cheese was added and stirred in. And finally the remaining mushrooms went into the mix. When it was served a round of truffle butter was added.

This was a very satisfying dish. You can’t really go far wrong with a risotto/mushroom combination.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Family dinner

The family were coming to dinner. This doesn’t happen often but it is always a pleasure when it does.

I needed to settle on a menu that would please all, be able to be got together without too much trouble and that suited the occasion with plenty to sample. I also decided to choose a menu from items on my blog site.

I decided to begin with a chickpea and leek soup (Jamie Oliver’s The Naked Chef) that is a favourite with us at home. In fact, of all the soups we eat, this one would be the one that we make most frequently. It’s easy to prepare, can be made a bit ahead of time and packs a heap of flavour to start people wanting more. With the soup we had an olive sourdough bread. Very tasty.

For mains I already had prepared the previous evening two individual casseroles of quick tomato macaroni cheese (Jamie’s Dinners). For the other dinner guests I prepared individual baked ricottas (Vegetarian, Alice Hart). I cooked these in the oven when the guests arrived while, at the same time, heating up the macaroni cheeses.

For vegetables I decided on broccolini with truffle butter, cherry tomatoes on the stem, green beans cooked in vodka (More from the Accidental Vegetarian, Simon Rimmer) and Pan Haggarty (The Accidental Vegetarian, Simon Rimmer). The green beans did not turn out extra special as I had anticipated that they would but the Pan Haggarty was particularly good—far better than the first time I had made it.

For the dessert course I thought I would make two so that guests could choose one or the other—and they all chose to have both. One was cold, a papaya, blood orange and strawberry salad (Salades, Damien Pignolet), and the other was hot, Mother’s Roly Poly (Mrs Harvey’s Sister-in-Law and other tasty dishes, Margaret Dunn). I guess you could consider the sweets a great success. There weren't even any photos taken as they all went down too quickly.

We had a great night. Everyone was in a really happy mood. The food all went down well. It always helps when there is choice (even if everyone takes both of the choices).

Quick Tomato Macaroni Cheese

From Jamie’s Dinners, Jamie Oliver, Penguin Books, 2006.

I was having the family for dinner and some of the younger members are a little particular about what they eat. So I decided that perhaps a macaroni cheese might do the trick. I decided to try out this one by Jamie Oliver. It had tomatoes in it that I thought might not be quite right for those I was making it for so decided to cut back on that ingredient.

It was all very easy to make. The macaroni had to be put on to cook and while that was happening the sauce had to be made.

The sauce was made by adding the ingredients to the food processor and blending them until they were smooth. I only added two tomatoes rather than the quantity suggested, along with a garlic clove, some fresh basil, and a few chopped sun-dried tomatoes. I did not put in the anchovies. When it was blended I tasted it and added salt, quite necessary, and a couple of grindings of black pepper.

Next were added grated Parmesan cheese, fresh cream, a little red wine vinegar and a pinch of grated nutmeg. It was given another burst in the blender and it was ready.

The macaroni was now also ready so it was placed in a casserole and the sauce poured over it. I added a little of the cooking water as it seemed to need a little more liquid. Over the top of this went pieces of mozzarella, a little more Parmesan and breadcrumbs. A drizzle of olive oil went over the top and it went into the oven.

At the same time as I was making the casserole I put macaroni cheese into two individual casseroles for the family members coming the next day.

I was happy with this macaroni cheese. It was gooey, tasty and filling. Next time I make it I would like to try it with the full amount of tomatoes. As it was it had plenty of flavour but it could have done with more cheese in the sauce. This would have been made up for by the extra tomatoes that I didn’t include.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Marinated Chickpeas with Chilli, Lemon and Parsley

From The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 1999.

Chickpeas always go down well at home; those that are not consumed with the meal tend to be devoured as nibbles. So it’s always good to find variations on chickpea cooking. Jamie Oliver’s recipe deserved a try.

The chickpeas were soaked overnight and then, after rinsing, placed in a pot of water with a whole potato (peeled), a couple of peeled garlic cloves and a bunch of parsley stalks tied together (the leaves were saved for the final stage). These were all simmered until the chickpeas were cooked.

They were then drained, the potato, parsley and garlic discarded, and the chickpeas dressed with olive oil and lemon juice and had some chopped parsley and chilli. Seasoning was added.

This made a good accompaniment for some couscous patties and a green on the side. I'm not sure that my palate was able to distinguish the difference that the potato etc made to the final chickpeas but they were tasty nevertheless. The remainder of the chickpeas soon went in various ways.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔✔

Moroccan Style Broad Bean Salad with Yoghurt and Crunchy Bits

From Jamie’s Dinners, Jamie Oliver, Penguin Books, 2006.

The first thing I did to make the salad was to prepare the crunchy bits. This was done by frying a chopped red onion, a few cumin seeds and a large pinch of dried chilli until they were nicely softened. Breadcrumbs were then added and fried until they had crisped up. The mix was then seasoned and it was ready.

It was then time to prepare the broad beans. I do like broad beans and I usually enjoy the time spent on popping them out of their tough skins. They were dropped into boiling salted water for a couple of minutes, then taken out and, when cool enough, popped out of their skins. They beans were then salted to taste and tossed into a bowl where they were dressed with lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. A little chopped mint was added.

To serve, the beans had a few more mint leaves added to them. They were tossed again and placed on the plate over a dollop of yoghurt. The crunchy bits were then spooned over.

The salad worked well. I especially enjoyed the crunchy bits; they were spicy with a little heat from the chilli combined with the sweetness of the red onion. And broad beans are always good.

I do wish Jamie Oliver would set out his work with a little more consideration for the person following the recipe. He generally includes little bits of other information within the recipe so that you have to read through all of this as you try to find the instruction bits. The extra information is often quite interesting but I would prefer to have it separated from the instructional side—perhaps over the name of the recipe as an introduction the way many other recipe writers do.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Horseradish Mash

From The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 1999.

I needed something to go with a crumbed version of Lucy’s breakfast sausages. Naturally I went for a mash and turned to this variation from Jamie Oliver.

It was a simple dish. All that was necessary was to add some butter and horseradish sauce to the mashed potato. With a bit of tasting the right quantities that suited were soon found. A little cream was added and seasoning. Tasty. And it went really well with the sausages with a few green peas and tomato chutney.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Mozzarella and Grilled Chilli Salad

From The Return of the Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 2000.

I’ve completely lost my perspective on salads. I can no longer tell when a dish is a salad or not. Once I thought I knew what a salad was. It generally had greens with some other added items and was tossed in a dressing. It was cold. Now I see them warm rather than cold. I see them with no greens at all. Occasionally they are without a dressing. So what makes a salad? I no longer have any idea. But I still know when I enjoy one and this latest one I made from Jamie Oliver’s cookbook I know I thoroughly enjoyed.

It was simplicity itself. Some chillies were roasted in the flame of the gas stove until they had blackened. They were then placed in a plastic bag to steam until they had cooled. At this stage they were skinned and sliced into thin strips.

A buffalo mozzarella was then torn into pieces and placed on the serving plate. The chilli strips were scattered over the cheese pieces. Some basil leaves were torn up and also scattered over this. I added some olives. Salt and freshly ground black pepper went on top. It was then sprinkled with some lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. I guess you would call these last two the dressing.

This was a heavenly salad: hot and creamy. Definitely a salad to make more often.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔✔

Spicy Pumpkin, Basil and Ricotta Tortellini with Crispy Herbs

From The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 1999.

With a lot of spicy pumpkin left over from a previous baked dinner this was the obvious recipe to use it up.

The filling for the tortellini was made by chopping up half of the pumpkin into small pieces and the other half into coarser lumps. They were mixed together in a bowl with chopped basil and ricotta cheese and a handful of grated Parmesan cheese. Once seasoned it was ready to use to fill the tortellini.

I used Jamie Oliver’s pasta recipe to make the tortellini. It’s an egg-heavy pasta but it does make a nice flexible light pasta. Tortellini are fun to make although I don’t always come up with the best looking ones.

While the tortellini were cooking in salted water, some fresh herbs (sage, mint, parsley and marjoram) were fried in some butter and olive oil. This was served over the cooked pasta.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Spicy Roasted Pumpkin

From The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 1999.

When we have a baked dinner we usually overdo the amount of vegetables we cook because we enjoy them so much. One of the vegies cooked at the last bake was spicy roasted pumpkin.

The pumpkin is an easy one to prepare and wonderfully tasty. Herbs (coriander seeds, dried oregano, fennel seeds, dried red chillies, salt and pepper) were pounded in a mortar and pestle. Once they were well ground a garlic clove was added and pounded into the spice mix. This was then mixed with some olive oil and this was used to coat the pumpkin slices. They were then baked.

The result of this is exceptionally tasty spicy pumpkin slices. It is liked so much that extra was made to use later in a tortellini.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Baked Fruit

From The Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver, Michael Joseph, 1999.

I don’t know what it is about fruit but, though I like it, I rarely get around to eating it. Even with fruit in the house, it seems to be overlooked. So I thought perhaps cooking some fruit may be the remedy. I found a simple recipe for baked fruit in one of Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks.

It was the easiest recipe. Firstly the fruit was cut in half (I used nectarines and peaches) and placed on the grill until it had brown grill stripes across the open cuts. It then went in the oven under the grill for a few minutes more until the fruit was cooked through. I sprinkled some caster sugar over the fruit and a few drops of brandy and gave it a little longer under the grill. I was not watching closely enough and managed to slightly burn the caster sugar.

The fruit, despite the slight apparent burn, didn’t taste burnt and was quite delicious. I must bake some more.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔