Mario Batali’s Almond & Jalapeño Relish

From The Vegetarian Option, Simon Hopkinson, Quadrille Publishing, 2012.

Jalapeños are aplenty in the markets at the moment so it seemed the time to make this relish.

It was all very easy. All that had to be done was to measure out the ingredients, put them in a blender and churn them into a rough paste, not too fine. I used 50g ground almonds, 150g jalapeños, a small chopped red onion, salt, a pinch of sugar and sufficient extra virgin olive oil to ease the mixture into a paste.

This is a comfortable chilli relish. It is hot—but not too hot due to the modifying influence of the almonds.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔✔

Caramelised Endive

From Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, Ebury Press, 2008.

When I looked at this recipe and its accompanying illustrations I realised it must have been for what we call witlof, or Belgium endive.

The witlofs were cut in half lengthwise and fried until caramelised in a pan containing butter and a little caster sugar. This took about 4 minutes.

Now a mixture was made of breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan cheese, a very small pinch of thyme leaves, salt and black pepper and sufficient cream to made a thin paste. This was layered over the caramelised side of the witlofs. The recipe called for slices of ham to be laid over this; I used a vegetarian substitute (it might have been better without). The witlofs now went into a 200ºC oven for a quarter of an hour.

The vegetarian ham was not good. It had dried and gone a bit hard so was unpleasant to chew. The witlof and their paste covering worked quite well. Previous to this I had only had witlof in salads so it was worthwhile trying this vegetable cooked. Quite good.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

The Very Best Tomato & Mozzarella Salad by Steve Manfredi

From Salades, Damien Pignolet, Lantern, 2010.

There was no way I could exactly duplicate this recipe as it is made with particular varieties of vegetables grown by the chef. However I thought it was worth a try just making it with what I could find at the shops.

I took one tomato per person and carefully cut out the core at the top of the tomato. I widened the opening a little and cut away some of the tomato inside. Now the hole was seasoned with salt and black pepper and filled with extra virgin olive oil. The tomatoes now went into a 180ºC oven for about 15 minutes. They were taken out and put aside until the remainder of the salad was prepared.

A simple pesto was made of basil leaves, pine nuts, a garlic clove, olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

A witlof was sliced finely and arranged on the serving plates. On top of this went a slice of buffalo mozzarella. The tomato sat on this and the top of it was filled with pesto. Additional pesto was dotted around the plate.

This made an attractive and tasty salad, lean but flavoursome.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Funghi Carbonara

From Paul Gayler’s Little Book of Pasta & Noodles, Paul Gayler, Kyle Cathie Ltd, 2009.

Recently I read that one of the super foods to help prevent colds is mushrooms. What better reason to make a funghi carbonara.

To begin I took some dried porcinis and added boiling water to just cover them and let them soak while I cut up the rest of my mushrooms, some Swiss browns. I also sliced a shallot finely.

I now put a large saucepan with salted water on to bring to the boil and  melted some butter in a large frying pan. I added the chopped mushrooms and shallot to the pan and bucatini to the boiling water. I sautéed the vegetables for about 3 minutes and then added the porcini pieces together with their water and a sprinkling of salt, black pepper and a little grated nutmeg. After about another minute I poured in some cream and brought it to the boil, then let it simmer for a few minutes more.

By now the bucatini was cooked so it was drained and added to the mushrooms. When all was well mixed I added a beaten egg and a goodly amount of grated Parmesan cheese. Using tongs I mixed the ingredients well and placed them on serving plates.

While not a true carbonara you can’t really beat a mixture of mushrooms and cream in pasta.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Risoni and Three-Cheese ‘Risotto’

From Vegetarian Dinner in Minutes, Linda Gassenheimer, Chronicle Books, 1997.

An easy-to-make risotto without the constant attention sounded wonderful.

The recipe called for orzu but I used risoni instead, another grainy looking pasta. Four cups of vegetable stock were brought to the boil and a teaspoon saffron added. To this went in half a red onion chopped, 2 cups risoni and ¾ cup fetta crumbled. When all came back to the boil it was cooked for another 5 minutes.

While this was cooking I mixed ½ cup ricotta cheese, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese and ¼ cup milk together with a good pinch of cayenne pepper.

The risoni was now checked to see if it was cooked. It needed a little longer, but when it was done the ricotta mix was added. I gave it a good amount of freshly cracked black pepper and a little salt.

While not the best risotto I have made it was not bad. The pasta has a totally different texture to that of rice so it did not really feel that I was eating a risotto. However it was a pleasantly creamy dish that was quite enjoyable.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔