Fig and Goat’s Cheese Salad

Recipe by Stella McCartney in The Meat Free Monday Cookbook, Kyle Books, 2011.

This turned out to be a simply made but rather enjoyable salad. Four figs were cut in half, brushed with olive oil and then placed on a griddle for a few minutes.

While the figs were doing their bit, a dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar was made with a seasoning of salt and freshly ground black pepper.

When the figs were ready they were put on the plate with a little watercress and some goats cheese. The dressing was drizzled over.

This book with a full full-day’s recipes for every Monday in the year is quite a find. It doesn’t have the most attractive cover but the contents are well worth considering.

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: ✔✔✔✔

Banana Cake

From Bourke Street Bakery: the Ultimate Baking Companion, Paul Allam & David McGuinness, Murdoch Books, 2009.

Why is it that every time we buy bananas we seem to end up with two or three left that are over ripe? And a banana cake seems to pop up as the obvious solution for what to do with them.

A handsome copy of the Bourke Street Bakery cookery book has been on the shelf for some time and I had never got into cooking from it. Well there were bananas left and there was a recipe here so I got straight into it.

The pre-work was done: turning on the oven to heat up and lining the cake tin with baking paper.

The ingredients were those of a reasonably standard cake mix: 250 g unsalted butter, 355 g caster sugar, 4 eggs,  200 g sour cream, 300 g self-raising flour, 2 or 3 ripe bananas, 20 g golden syrup.

The usual cake mix work was done:. Butter and caster sugar were whisked until creamed. I added a little vanilla paste as I had no vanilla beans at the time. The eggs, four of them, were beaten in one at a time. Next came some sour cream in two batches. After that was added the self-raising flour, also in two batches.

The mixture was now ready except for the bananas. These were mashed and golden syrup drizzled over them. They were then folded into the cake mix rather lightly. The mix was then put in the cake tin and baked for about an hour.

The recipe also included a caramel sauce to go with the cake but I decided to not use it.

This turned out a well-formed cake. The lightly folded in banana mix gave it a nicely textured look and feel. It didn’t take long at all to demolish it and it lasted on the shelf for a far shorter time than the original bananas that were used in it. I don't think I'd worry about looking elsewhere for banana cake recipes the next time we have leftovers.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Spiced Tomato Chutney

From For the Love of Food, Denis Cotter, Collins, 2011.

To go with Lucy’s sausages, the author supplied a recipe for this tomato chutney. It was the simplest of recipes to follow: just put all the ingredients in a saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for an hour or more until the mixture is thick. Take out the cinnamon stick, cool and bottle. What could be easier?

The ingredients: an onion chopped, chopped garlic cloves, 1 red capsicum chopped, a chopped red chilli, 500 g of chopped tomatoes, 225 ml of white vinegar, 175 g of soft brown sugar, 50 g of raisins, 1 teaspoon of black mustard seeds, 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika, 1 cinnamon stick.

This went wonderfully with the sausages—and, consequently, with several other meals, including on biscuits with cheese.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔✔

Lucy’s Breakfast Sausages

From For the Love of Food, Denis Cotter, Collins, 2011.

I picked up For the Love of Food in the bookshop and, after a quick flip through the pages, turned to the contents page. That itself was basically enough to convince me that I had to have this book. It had a whole section on risottos and, what was even more exciting, a section on mash. I love potatoes, especially mash, so a collection of mash recipes sounded totally inviting.

However, the first dish I settled for when delving into this book was to make sausages. These were sausages that came from a recipe of Lucy Stewart of Café Paradiso in County Cork.

I began by cooking fresh chestnuts (which was not actually suggested by the book where they recommend using pre-cooked vacuum-packed chestnuts to save a bit of time). So I was hampered at the beginning by the slow process of digging out the contents of the chestnut shells. Once I had this it was pureed in the food processor.

This was added to a bowl with all the other ingredients: mashed firm tofu, a grated onion, chopped sage and rosemary, some grated strong cheddar cheese, soy sauce, lemon juice, chilli powder and a beaten egg. These were all mixed together to make a reasonably firm mixture. Hands seemed to be the ideal tool for this. Now breadcrumbs were added, just sufficient to make a consistency that would hold. The sausages were then shaped and put into the freezer. It was suggested that they cook better if they came straight from the freezer to the frying pan.

The sausages were then fried in a little butter and olive oil. I had a little difficulty at this stage for they tended to want to stick to the pan and lose some of their crisp edge as they were turned. However, despite the slightly messy look they were excellent to eat. I was glad I had made a quantity and stored the extra in the freezer.

A couple of days later I thought I would try them again. This time I rolled them in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs to make crumbed sausages and the result was perfect. I’ll always crumb them in future.

These were a great find for they do appear to store well in the freezer and, while not real sausages, they are a really close alternative. It’s great to have them as a standby waiting in the refrigerator.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Courgette, Potato and Dill Frittata

From The Meat Free Monday Cookbook, Kyle Books, 2011.

Frittata is one of those meals that one makes when short of time and ideas. So it’s always good to try out an occasional different recipe to find variations on your own creations. I am finding that the Meat Free Monday Cookbook is a good source for variations on the usual meals, although it does have the occasional odd variation on spelling, frittata having two different spellings in the one recipe.

To begin, potatoes needed to be boiled and cut into slices. A courgette was sliced and fried in a little oil until browned both sides. This was removed from the pan and the potato slices added and fried until browned. A little chopped garlic was added in the last few moments. This lot was then left to cool.

The eggs were now beaten and some grated Parmesan cheese added along with some chopped dill. 

The grill was now turned on to make sure it was ready. The vegetables were placed in the frying pan and the eggs poured over them. A little more Parmesan was sprinkled over this mixture. The frittata was cooked until the eggs had begun to set on the bottom. It was then placed under the grill for the top of the frittata to cook. It was now ready to slice and serve.

This is a satisfying frittata. Potatoes and courgettes go well together and with some greens this is a great mid-week meal.

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: ✔✔✔✔✔