Fresh Pasta with Watercress, Spinach, Radicchio and Prawns

Once again, this is not entirely veggie, right? But it makes use of the last of the water cress from our garden, but also a number of other leave vegetables. And it is easy and quick. Of course, it works also if you leave out the prawns.

What you need

• 500 g fresh pasta
• 1 medium sized shallot, finely chopped
• 2 or more cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 goodly slug of olive oil
• 1 colander of assorted leave veggies (radicchio, watercress, spinach), washed but still wet
• 300 g cooked prawns (if you use raw ones they need to go in with the onions and the garlic)
• ½ chopped chilli (depipped if it is not to be too spicy)
• optionally: roasted pine kernels and chopped sundried tomatoes

What you do

1. Do the pasta in quite salty water, making sure they are still quite al dente. Drain, saving the cooking water.
2. In the meantime heat the olive oil and sauté the onions and the garlic until the latter are slightly crunchy.
3. Add the chillies and the prawns and make sure they are hot but not overly cooked (prawns become really rubbery that way).
4. At the very end, add the leaves and sauté until they are wilted. (If you use them, add the pine kernels and the tomatoes now.)
5. Add a little (a tablespoon or two) of the cooking water if it is too dry. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Mix in the pasta, stir to mix and serve immediately. 

Spanish Omelette with Bean Stew

Today was remarkable because my son Andri, who realises that, along with writing a song, cooking for a lady is a pretty good way to her heart, really did much of the work, from chopping to cooking.

What you need

• 200 g of dried kidney beans, soaked overnight and cooked until still pretty firm.
• 5 largish potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
• 4-5 eggs
• 2 onions/shallots, one diced finely, the other quartered and sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
• 150 ml white wine
• 1 tbsp Berbere
• 250 ml tomato passata or chopped peeled tomatoes (supplemented with a tbsp tomato puree to thicken the stew if necessary)
• 1 bell pepper in strips
• salt and pepper to taste
• optionally ½ to 1 finely diced chilli pepper

What you do

1. Fry the diced onion and the sliced potatoes in a generous dash olive oil until golden or lightly brown.
2. Beat the eggs, add salt and pepper to taste and pour over the onions and potatoes.
3. Cook on a low flame until the top of the egg is dry, then using a plate to flip over and fry on the other side.
4. In the meantime sauté the onion and garlic slices in some more olive oil until the garlic begins to look crispy.
5. Add the beans and the berbere as well as some salt and keep stirring.
6. Pour in the wine and allow to reduce for a couple of minutes, then add the tomato passata.
7. Allow to simmer while the omelette is fully fried.
8. Add the bell pepper strips and the chilli, if using, thicken with tomato purée should the stew be too liquidy.
9. Season to taste.

Peppers stuffed with curried lentils

 

It is getting a little late in the year but our garden still produces vegetables, most notably yellow peppers, courgettes and chillies. A few weeks ago we had my cousin Mitzi and her friend Sally staying with us and they cooked us peppers stuffed with lentils so this is my attempt to do what Sally did.

What you need

• 1-2 peppers per person, deseeded and cut in half
• 2 carrots, diced
• 200 g green lentils, cooked in 250 ml water and 150 ml red wine (20-25 mins)
• 1 small courgette, diced
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 2 cm fresh ginger, mashed
• ½ red chilli, deseeded if you don’t like your food too hot
• 1 tsp jeera (ground cumin)
• 1 tbsp madras curry powder
•  ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 4 tbsp tomato purée or 100g chopped tomatoes
• salt to taste
• 150 g goats cheese in thin slices
• ½ tub crème fraîche or double cream

What you do

1. Stir fry the onions, garlic, chilli and the ginger in rape seed or sunflower oil.
2. Add the ground spices and allow them to go slightly brown
3. Add the carrots and the lentils, a splash of water and the tomato (purée or chopped).
4. Simmer until the ingredients are well blended (about 5 mins), add more water if it gets too dry. Season with salt.
5. Take off the head and stir in the courgettes. Spoon the mixture into the halved peppers.
6. Lay a slice of goats cheese on the lentils and add a dollop of cream.
7. Bake in the oven (200°) or under a grill until the cheese is melted and a light brown crust has formed, about ten minutes. 

Chickpea, Bean and Vegetable salad

This is a very tasty summer dish, which can be prepared in advance. In fact the longer the vegetables are allowed to sit in the dressing, the better this dish tastes.







 

What you need

• 400 g of drained chickpeas (if you want to make them fresh, boil them in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes in plenty of water and a bit of oil and if you like a tsp of baking soda, then let the pressure drop by itself; saves soaking and all that)
• 3 to 400 g of green beans, cut to a manageable size
• 1 small fennel, cut in half, then sliced thinly
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 or 2 red chilies, without pips and cut into tiny pieces
• 2 cloves of garlic, pressed
• 1 sprig of rosemary, chopped
• 1 handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• salt, pepper, optionally cajun spice (see earlier recipes)
• white balsamic vinegar, olive oil

What you do

1. Heat the olive oil, add the onions and the fennel, stirfry briefly, then add the chickpeas and the green beans.
2. Stir over a medium fire until the beans have softened a little, then add the yellow pepper.
3. Keep stirring until the vegetables are soft but still have bite (about 15 min)
4. Prepare the dressing: mix the garlic with the herbs, the balsamic vinegar and the olive oil; season to taste
5. Mix the vegetables with the dressing and leave for at least one.
6. Serve lukewarm or cold with some freshly baked bread.

Chillied Cucumber Pickle

Our garden is producing at veritable flood of cucumbers. While trying to find some ways in which they can be used up, I remembered some tapas I had a few years ago in Barcelona. One of them was a kind of chilli pickle with slices of cucumber, which tasted delicious. Here is how I tried to recreate that dish.

What you need

• 3 to 4 cucumbers, peeled and cut into thin slices
• salt
• 2 cloves of garlic, pressed
• freshly ground pepper
• one or two red chilies, without pips and cut into tiny pieces
• white wine vinegar
• sugar
• one sprig of tarragon, one sprig of peppermint, chopped finely

What you do

Arrange the slices of cucumber on a plate or a flat serving dish and sprinkle liberally with salt. Leave to stand for two hours.

In a sieve wash the salt off cucumbers and allow them to drain.

Grind fresh pepper over the cucumbers, add the chilies and the garlic and mix well.

Put in to a screw top jar and top up with white wine vinegar.

Add sugar until the sourness of the wine vinegar is neutralised.

Add the herbs, shake well and leave to stand overnight. The cucumbers are ready to eat the next day, the next week or the following month.