Fig & Blue Cheese Tarts

Figs.

Blue Cheese.

Walnuts.

Honey.

Perfect Combination. And these are so easy to make.

I took 2 sheets of puff pastry from the freezer and while they were defrosting crumbed 150g blue cheese, took out a jar of fig jam (figs are out of season), roughly chopped about 3/4 cup walnuts and drizzled them with 3 tablespoons honey. The oven was turned on to 200ºC. I greased a 12-well muffin tin.

By now the puff pastry was ready. I cut it across into 3, then turned it the other way to cut across into 3 again. This left 9 pieces. I did the same with the other sheet of pastry. I now had 12 pieces for the muffin tin and 6 left over.

Each piece of pastry was now stretched carefully in both directions and fitted into a well of the tin. Into each I placed the crumbled blue cheese sharing it over the 12. On top of this went a good dob of fig jam. The honeyed walnuts were then placed on the top. The tarts went into the oven to cook for about 15 minutes. They were now golden and bubbling.

When they were taken out I left them for about 10 minutes and then carefully lifted them out by the corners that stuck up.

They were richly sweet. Probably with fresh figs they would be less sweet but the sweetness was wonderful with the musky tang of the cheese and the crunchy bitterness of the walnuts. I ate three of them straight off.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔
Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Marinated Aubergine with Tahini and Oregano

Needing another side dish to go with Millet and Vegetable Patties and Spiced Potatoes I turned to this recipe of Yotam Ottolenghi. His recipes are always tasty.

I took an aubergine and cut it into pieces, all with some skin on them. They went into a baking dish and olive oil was dribbled over them. I sprinkled over salt and freshly ground black pepper and placed them in a 220ºC oven. After about 20 minutes they were tender and had browned a little.

While they were cooking I mixed together a chopped red chilli (including the seeds), a good tablespoon chopped coriander, a teaspoon chopped fresh oregano, a small garlic clove finely chopped, juice of half a lemon and olive oil. Salt and pepper were added to taste.

When the aubergine was ready it was taken from the oven and mixed into the marinade. It was left for a good three hours.

I made the tahini sauce. I took a 1/4 cup to measure tahini and an equal amount of water. These were beaten together and half the quantity of lemon juice was added. The mixture was beaten until it was creamy and smooth. I cut a garlic cube into about 4 slivers and added these with some salt. Crushed garlic clove was asked for but I didn't really want the raw garlic taste so mixed in the slivers to add a garlic flavour.

When the aubergine was served the sauce was poured over.

I really enjoyed this; it was smoky and juicy with the sharp tang of lemon.





Taste: ✔✔✔
Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Spiced Potatoes

I'm always keen to try new potato recipes. This appealed because it used a spice I was not familiar with:  fenugreek.

Potatoes were cut into bit-sized pieces and steamed until just tender. They were then left to cook and dry off somewhat.

A tablespoon of ghee was melted in a small saucepan and to this was added a teaspoon ground fenugreek, a pinch of saffron, 1/2 crushed garlic clove, 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger, 1 tablespoon black mustard seeds and a little salt. These were stirred for about a minute until fragrant. The spice mixture was poured over the potatoes and they were gently tossed until well coated. They went into a baking dish and into a 180ºC oven for about an hour when they came out nicely golden.

At soon as they come out of the oven a good handful of baby spinach leaves was tossed in the potatoes.

For me, potatoes are always wonderful to eat. These were nicely spiced and had an oddly meaty flavour.

Taste: ✔✔✔
East of cooking: ✔✔✔

Millet and Vegetable Patties

It's some time since I've been able to work on my blog so apologies for the delay. It took a little time to work my way back into it but I think I've sorted things out so here we go.

I decided on making these patties (the recipe called for croquettes but mine turned out flat so I decided they're patties) because I had never cooked with millet before. I always like to work with something different to see how things turn out.

I measured out 115g millet and put it in a saucepan with 300ml water. The amount of water gave me some doubt that it would be enough but I went with the instructions. It turned out that I was right: more water needed to be added as the cooking progressed. I kept needing to add small amounts throughout the cooking process.

There was no indication as to how long the millet was to be cooked but that the process should continue until it had a thick, porridge-like consistency. I guess it took about 45 minutes in all. This was now left to cool.

About 3/4 cup of cooked vegetables were then added. I used frozen peas and corn and some French beans cut into corn-like pieces. Any vegetables could be used so it is a useful way of using up leftovers.

I added a tablespoon light soy sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Flour was then added and stirred in until it reached a suitable consistency. The recipe called for 55g but I just added flour a little at a time until I felt comfortable with the result. It was then left until I was ready to fry the patties.

It was a bit of a surprise when I went to form the mixture into patties because it had become looser and a little wetter than when I left it. I had expected that the grain would absorb more moisture as it rested. So I had to add a little more flour before proceeding. It was still rather loose and a bit on the messy side when I tried to form them and dip them in flour. I had grave doubts about whether this would all hold together it the pan.

Despite my concerns the patties fried up well. They were an average dish that went reasonably with some side dishes of vegetables. I may make them again depending upon leftovers but I think I have better recipes available.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Kerala Vegetable Strew

From Healthy Asian Vegetarian Dishes, Periplus Editions, 2003.

I am still cooking for myself so making dishes that last for at least a couple of days. I have had the ribollita, an Italian rich thick vegetable soup, so now I thought I would go for a spicy Asian stew.

The first task was to make a spicy paste. A tablespoon channa dal (split chickpeas) and a tablespoon urad dal (black lentils) were cooked in a tablespoon of heated olive oil until they began to brown. Now I added a chopped green chilli, 5 sliced garlic cloves, a tablespoon cumin seeds, ½ teaspoon turmeric and a good handful of desiccated coconut. These were all sautéed until the coconut had become a golden colour. The mixture was let cool, then placed in a blender with ½ cup water and zapped until it had become a thick puree.

Into a large saucepan now went about a cup of sliced cabbage, a sliced carrot, a cup of cauliflower broken into small pieces, ½ cup of green beans cut into sections, ½ cup peas and a teaspoon salt. A cup of water was added as well as the pureed spice mix. The vegetables were cooked for about 15 minutes.

When the cooking time was nearly up a tablespoon of ghee was melted in a pan and ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and ½ teaspoon yellow mustard seeds were added with about 6 curry leaves. When the mustard seeds started popping the mixture was poured into the vegetables  which were simmered for another few minutes.

I should have eaten this with rice but settled for slices of toasted sourdough bread which went well with it, though not as well as rice would have.

This served me for an enjoyable two meals. I do enjoy spicy foods and this was really well flavoured with spices, perhaps overpowering the flavour of the vegetables a little.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Creamed Spinach Pâté

From Vegetarian Cooking, The Australian Women’s Weekly Home Library, ACP Publishing, 1992.

I saw English spinach in the greengrocer’s and bought a bunch on the spur of the moment. Then I set out to look for what to do with it

After it was all washed, I cut all of the leaf ends off the root section and cut them roughly into pieces. These went into a saucepan with a very small amount of water and ½ vegetable stock cube. I grated fresh nutmeg on top and then turned up the heat under the saucepan to bring it all to the boil. The heat was then reduced to a simmer and the spinach cooked for about 20 minutes until all the moisture had evaporated.

While the spinach was cooking I chopped ½ onion and one garlic clove. These were sautéed in butter until soft.

Now I took ½ teaspoon cornflour and a teaspoon of water, mixed them together and stirred them into the spinach until it had thickened. The heat was turned off and the onion mix went in with about 2 tablespoons cream. The mixture now went into the blender and was pureed. It was spooned into a ramekin and placed in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

I served it on toasted sourdough bread. It had a strong savoury taste somewhat different from the spinachy flavour I had expected. This was due no doubt to the use of the stock cube. A useful and different dip-type dish.

Two days later I was making a fettucini dish with peas and green beans and wanted a pesto to go with it. I took the remainder of the pâté, added a little olive oil with some basil and gave it a burst in the blender. It made a very useful pesto.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Ribollita

From Tuscany, Phaidon Press, 2010.

This recipe comes from the area around Siena in Italy. I remember the last time I visited Siena with part wonder and part anxiety for we had taken over long admiring the wonderful cathedral and only had a few minutes left to catch our tour bus or be left behind. In the hurry to reach the bus stop we took a wrong turn and became totally lost. Thank goodness for maps on the iPad. With the map and by running up endless steps we managed to arrive just in time.

I soaked 250g haricot beans overnight to be ready to go ahead making the ribollita. The next day they were drained and placed in a pot of water to cook for about 40 minutes.

While the beans were cooking I prepared the vegetables. I chopped ½ onion, a celery stick and 2 carrots. I diced a potato. I sliced 2 zucchini. These all went into a large saucepan in which 2 tablespoons of olive oil had been heated. They were now let cook for half an hour at a very low heat. They were stirred every so often.

I now sliced a couple of leaves of rainbow chard, a couple of leaves of cavolo nero and about ¼ of a Savoy cabbage. These went into the vegetable mix with a little salt.  They were stirred to mix everything, the lid went on and they were cooked for a couple more minutes.

The beans were drained and the liquid saved. Half of the beans were pressed through a sieve and the bean puree was stirred into the cooking vegetables. The saved liquid was also added. The vegetables were now simmered for another hour.

It was now time to add the remaining beans together with a good handful of chopped parsley. The mixture was simmered for another hour. Salt and freshly ground black pepper were added to taste and the soup/stew was ready to serve.

In the serving bowl I laid a slice of toasted sourdough bread. The soup was ladled over this, then another slice of toast and a further ladle of soup. Olive oil was dribbled over. It was let stand for a minute or two to let the bread soften and it was ready to eat.

There was a lot of cooking time involved in this but it was worth it for the flavours of the vegetables seem to intensify. Added to this you have the taste of the toast. It was richly satisfying, comforting food. And, the next day when it was finished off, it was even better.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔