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. 

Watercress and Spinach Cream Soup

We have quite a lot of spinach and watercress in the garden at the moment. This and the following recipe make use of this. The basis of this recipe Caroline found online, but with what we had in the garden and in the house, I have made a few changes. Caroline’s online recipe used ice cubes, I decided to use chilled sparkling water. The effect is the same, to shock-cool the wilted leaves, but, even though I have read of chefs who use it amongst other things in risotto, I would never have believed the claim that it makes the dishes “airier” or “fluffier” – but sparkling water really does seem to do this…

What you need

• 400 g spinach and watercress leaves
• 2 small shallots, finely chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 1 generous nob of butter
• 750 ml chilled sparkling mineral water
• 1 tbsp veggie broth powder or 1 – 2 veggie stock cubes
• 150 – 200 ml crème fraiche
• salt if needed

 

What you do

1. Sauté the shallots and garlic in butter until they are glassy.
2. Wash the water cress and spinach, but leave plenty of water on the leaves.
3. Wilt the watercress first (less than a minute) then add the spinach and stir until the leaves are soft, splashing with a little water if the pan goes to dry.
4. Take off the heat, put in a liquidiser and quickly pour in the mineral water and get the leaves to the desired consistency. (I quite like them to be still a little leafy, others like them finely puréed.)
5. Put back in the pan, add the stock powder or cube(s) and warm up (don’t boil) while blending in the crème fraiche.
6. Serve with some freshly baked bread for a light supper. 

 

A Greek(ish) Quick Dinner: Spanakopita and Tsatsiki

Summer is also a great time for cucumbers in a variety of forms, and of course for fresh herbs. Here are two quick recipes that can be done in neat succession, the spanakopita, a type of Greek pasty with spinach and feta,  first, and, while the pasties are baking, you do the Tsatsiki. I am, of course, aware that this is my take on these dishes and that real Greeks will have their own recipes and possibly consider my approach barbaric. But then in the original (Greek) sense of the word, that's what I am...

Spinach Pasties (Spanakopita)

What you need

• 500 g cooked  leafy spinach (if pressed for time use the frozen stuff), well drained
• 3-5 cloves of garlic
• 2 smallish spring onions
• 1 chilli pepper
• olive oil for frying the filling
• 1 tablespoon of herbs, ideally dried rigani (Greek oregano)
• salt and pepper

• Puff pastry (filo pastry, if you can get it)
• 150-200 gr feta cheese
• a bit of egg or milk to glaze the pasties

 

 

What you do

1. Chop the string onions with at least some of the green, the onion part a bit more finely.
2. Cut the chilli into small pieces (into thin lengthwise strips, then dice those finely); discard the seeds if you want to avoid making the things too spicy.
3. Heat olive oil in the pan (about a tablespoon) and add the onions and the chilli.
4. Mash the garlic and add it, making sure none of the ingredients take colour.
5. Add the spinach and mix the ingredients, then add the rigani.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper and simmer for a few minutes. Make sure the stuff is reasonably dry (for the next step), otherwise pour off excess liquid.
7. Roll out the puff pastry to about 2mm and cut it into 4 rectangles. (If you place them on baking paper, the next step is easier.)
8. Place the filling on one half of the rectangle, leaving about a centimetre around the edges.
   Add the feta cut into small cubes or rectangles and distribute over the filling.
9. Then fold the other half over and press the dough together with the tines of a fork.
10. Brush with a bit of egg and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden in the oven at 175-200°.

 

 

 

 

Cucumber and Yoghurt Salad (Tsatsiki)

What you need

• 1 cucumber, roughly peeled and grated
• Salt
• 300 ml Greek yoghurt drained (substitute a portion of this for crème fraîche if you can’t get the really creamy yoghurt)
• 1 sprig peppermint and flat-leaved parsley
• 1 pinch or rigani (Greek oregano)
• 1 tblsp lemon juice or apple vinegar (balsamico if you can get it)
• 2 tblsp olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, mashed (I use more as I prefer it punchier)
• sea or herb salt to drain the juice of the cucumber

 

What you do

1. Peel the cucumber (I peel it lengthwise but usually leave narrow strips of peel on for colour and a bit of substance).
2. Grate it into a sieve and salt.
3. Leave for about 5 to 10 minutes for the juice to drain.
4. In the meantime, pour the yoghurt (and the crème fraîche if you want a bit of extra creaminess) into a bowl.
5. Squeeze the juice out of the cucumber (to prevent the tsatsiki from getting too watery and the cucumber from being too salty).
6. Add the chopped herbs.
7. Add the lemon juice (traditional) or the apple vinegat (tastier in my opinion) and the olive oil. 
8. Mix well and leave to sit until the cucumber is dejuiced.