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.

Risotto with Radicchio and Mascarpone

Two remarks to start with: firstly, there are, I think, two schools of thought about the consistency of risotto, creamy or grainy, which is achieved either by stirring more or less constantly or by not stirring at all. With mushrooms I prefer it grainy, with this one I definitely like the creamy consistency, which is underlined by the mascarpone. Secondly, I had always thought of radicchio as a salad, but having had it as a crostini topping, I realised what a versatile plant it is. More on that one soon…

What you need

(serves three to four as a main meal)

• 400 g risotto rice
• 200 ml white wine
• 3-400 ml vegetable broth
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 or more cloves of garlic
• 200 g mascarpone, perhaps mascarpone mixed with gorgonzola
• 2 handful radicchio cut into strips, not too narrow
• 1 yellow pepper quartered and sliced (I only had a red, but yellow looks nicer)
• salt and pepper, optionally Teeparadies Hildegard spice mix.
• Shavings of parmesan or pecorino romano

What you do

1. Fry the onions in generous olive oil until they are glassy, add the rice and get it glassy as well.
2. Pour in the wine and allow it to be absorbed, then keep adding the broth, stirring the risotto quite often.
3. When the rice corns are still quite hard at the very centre, add the garlic and the mascarpone.
4. Stir for another five minutes or so – until the risotto is practically done – then add the peppers and the radicchio (this way they get cooked but will still be crispy).
5. Season with salt (if needed) and pepper, optionally but warmly recommended with the Teeparadies Hildegard herb mixture.
6. Serve with a generous shavings parmesan or pecorino romano

My Dad's Favourite Breakfast Muesli

A bit more than a year ago I had to stop doing this because things were rather hectic and I just didn't find the time to write up seasonal and mainly veggie recipes. I hope to be back to doing this again on a regular basis. What better way than to start up again with the only thing my Dad still really appreciates, because he has lost much of his sense of taste, but it seems he still likes something slightly sweet. Having said that, the sweetness in this breakfast muesli comes from its ingredients (a bit of sugar in the yoghurt, I admit), i.e. the fruit used. It also works well in winter because it uses dried fruit, fruit that is available all year or that can be kept over winter like apples.

What you need

(The following are for two people)

• 6 heaped tbsp. mixed cereal (spelt, oat, etc.) soaked (for at least 30 mins, better overnight) in
• multivitamin juice to cover (can be supplemented with the water used for soaking the dried fruit)

• 1 small banana
• 1 tub of Greek yoghurt (ideally with honey or figs)
• 1 handful of raisins or sultanas
• 6 slices of dried mangoes, soaked overnight
• 6 dried apricots, soaked overnight
• optionally 1 grated apple
• optionally 4 dried figs, diced
• optionally 2 tbsp of sea buckthorn extract

What you do

1. Mash up the banana and mix in the yoghurt.
2. Add the cereal and the raisins.
3. Cut the soaked fruit into small pieces and add to the mix.
4. Add the optional ingredients. 
5. Mix well and serve (You can also leave it in the fridge for a bit...)

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. 

Polenta Slices with Chantarelles and Boletus in Port (and Cream) Sauce

This weekend I am looking after my Dad again. He likes his food, but a real compliment is when he says he’d like to lick the plate.

Polenta is not everyone’s favourite dish, partly because to make a good one is time consuming business, partly because some like it runny and others firm enough to form slabs, partly because there are so many different kinds of polenta meal, from something not unlike semolina to a fine flour. I have used the rough-ground type.

How to make polenta

Again, many different views exist, from simply using salted water, to a broth or even a broth with a shot of dry sherry or white wine. In the end, it is a matter of taste.

It is easy to freeze in handy portions, especially if you make a dry polenta. As it takes a fair bit of work, I tend to make enough for about three helpings (300 g to start with can go a long way).

Bring water or broth to the boil; it should be 4 parts liquid to 1 part of the polenta flour (200g would mean about 800 ml liquid). If you want a dry polenta, add little to no liquid later on…

Pour in the polenta flour and stir until the liquid has been absorbed. If you have a slow-cooker, put it in there for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally. If you haven’t, turn the heat all the way down and stir regularly for at the very least 30 minutes. The longer you heat it, the smother it becomes. Leave to stand for a bit.

For the slices spread the polenta on a wet wooden board, smoothing it with a wet wooden spatula or a knife, the leave it to cool.  

What you need

• 2 polenta slices per person
• 1 knob of butter and a dash of olive oil for frying the polenta
• 1 knob of butter and a dash of olive oil for the fungi.
• 300 g of chanterelles and boletus, cleaned with a (dry!) brush, sliced
• 1 shallot finely cut
• ½ red chilli diced small
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp hot paprika
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 100 ml Port (possibly mixed with red vermouth)
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 100 ml double cream or 50% crème fraîche if you find the mixture with the port too sweet; for vegans, obviously leave this out.

What you do

1. Fry the polenta slices with the butter and olive oil on a medium until they are golden and have a nice crust on the outside.
2. Heat the oil and butter, add the shallots, then the garlic and last the chilli. Don’t let them take colour.
3. Add the chanterelles and the boletus and sauté. Season with paprika, salt and pepper.
4. Pour in the port, add the tomato purée and reduce till it is a bit thicker. You may want to remove the fungi before reducing and add them again before serving.
5. Last, add the cream and reduce. (Put in the fungi again, warm up)
6. Pour over the polenta slices and serve with a salad.