Sunday, 29 July 2012
Saturday, 28 July 2012
Broad Beans
Broad
Beans
· Broad
beans (or fava beans) are tough characters.
They are one of the few vegetables that grow over winter and flower
before the aphids swarm around in late spring.
They were about the only edible beans in Europe until beans such as
‘French’ beans and scarlet runner beans were brought over from the New World.
· They can
be eaten whole as pods when very young and dried to provide beans during
winter. Try to pick the broad beans
before they get too old and develop a brown or worse, a black streak separating
the two halves of the beans. Cook the beans until tender, the older the
longer. Not everyone likes broad beans
but you can make them far more appetizing by removing their tough outer coat
which goes rather grey when cooked.
Although fiddly, it is worth the effort as you will get bright green
succulent morsels that will entice anyone to eat them. It is possible to find double peeled frozen
broad beans in some delicatessens and Asian stores, but if you have a glut of
broad beans don’t let them age on the plants, pick them and double peel them
and freeze them yourself.
· Broad
beans go well with pan fried bacon, pancetta and chorizo sausages and cheeses
with verve such as marinated feta, pecorino and parmesan, as well as lemon
juice, lemon zest, preserved lemons, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, French and
seed mustard, garlic, red onions, pesto, and herbs such as mint, coriander,
flat-leaf parsley, dill, basil, savory or even a little sage or rosemary and
other beans, peas, asparagus, artichokes and zucchini.
· Pan fried
· Sauté
some aromatics such as garlic and onion in some olive oil then add chopped or
sliced bacon, pancetta, chorizo or even ham.
Add cooked and double peeled beans.
You can also add some other green cooked vegetable if you like. Add some chopped herbs and a slurp of olive
oil and squeeze of lemon juice.
· Salads
· Place a
generous amount of cooked double peeled broad beans in a basin. Add some finely
chopped red onion and garlic if you like. Toss in chopped herbs. Add some dressing, and shaved or grated
parmesan or pecorino, or crumbled feta.
Garnish with crispy bacon or pancetta if you like or cubes of bread
fried in olive oil. Try adding baby
spinach, beetroot or rocket leaves to the salad or even watercress. Sliced pear would also go well with the broad
beans and you could add some blue vein cheese for a taste sensation. You can top the salad with slices lamb, rare
beef or chicken.
· Pasta and Grains
· Briefly
sauté, cooked double peeled broad beans and crushed garlic in olive oil or
butter, add some cooked pasta or gnocchi, sour cream and flaked cooked salmon,
garnish with chopped dill. You can add
broad beans to your favourite tomato pasta sauce, use lots of garlic and onion
for flavour, stir in the pasta and garnish with crumbled crispy bacon or
pancetta. Broad beans go well with
grains in dishes such as rice paella, barley and rice pilafs, risottos, or with
couscous. Because of their fairly robust
flavour they go well with pumpkin and sweet potato and spices in casseroles or
tagines
· Broad bean puree
· Broad
beans can be pureed to make dips or to serve as beds or toppings for other
ingredients. You simply put the cooked beans
in a food processor with a little olive oil and lemon juice and puree. Some good ingredients to go into the mix are:
garlic, yoghurt, sour cream, ricotta, feta, finely grated parmesan cheese. You can also make your own falafels and even
freeze the mixture for later use. Puree cooked
broad beans with half their volume of chick peas (ones from a can are good),
spices such as cumin and paprika and herbs such as coriander and parsley, with
finely chopped onion or crushed garlic.
Add some baking powder, about dessertspoon per cup of beans, and season
with salt and pepper. Blend in food
processor, but not too much, as the mixture should have the texture of crunchy
peanut butter and be quite stiff.
Shallow fry in a little oil; use a poaching ring to make a pattie
shape. Serve with labna made by mixing
yoghurt with has been drained in a sieve for a few hours or overnight, with
parsley or finely chopped coriander and the zest of lime or lemon, and salt and
pepper.
- LINKS
- Persian broad beans with dill, feta and fried eggs - great vegetarian meal
- http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/28679/persian+broad+beans+with+dill+feta+fried+eggs
· A tasty
broad bean dip. You can use frozen beans
or freshly cooked beans. Drain off the
water from the cooked beans and onions before adding the other ingredients and
processing.
· A
delicious risotto using broad beans and chorizo – a great flavor combination. You can use fresh, blanched broad beans with
their outer skins removed.
· Fish,
thyme and broad bean pies are easy to make.
Spice them up a little by seasoning with salt and pepper, adding a
little chilli or a dash of mustard.
·
This dish is unusual combination of broad beans, barley and sweet
potato. You can use fresh broad
beans. To speed up the cooking process
cook the broad beans in boiling water until just tender and microwave or steam
the sweet potato until it is just tender then add to the barley and cook until soft. For extra flavor add some cheese at the
end. Parmesan, grated cheddar or feta
would work well.
· This is
a recipe for an Egyptian style falafel.
You can use your own dried broad beans – but before you dry them blanch
them for a couple of minutes and remove their tough outer skins.
· Jamie
Oliver has a great broad bean recipe and gives a few hints on preparing broad
beans.
Monday, 23 July 2012
PARSNIPS
Parsnips!!!
A vegetable I detested as a child but have lately realised is delicious if
cooked the right way. One of the best
ways I like parsnip is mashed. Of course
you have to get good parsnips to being with – firm and creamy white, young with
plenty of flesh and it is good if they have had a touch of frost while they are
growing as it makes them sweeter.
Parsnips are one of the few vegetables, apart from the cabbage family,
that like growing in winter but don’t forget if you want to grow them you must
use fresh seed.
Mashed parsnips
1.
Chop up 4 parsnips into fairly large
pieces and place them in a saucepan with about a litre of milk and about three
2 cm long pieces of peeled ginger root.
2.
Cook your parsnip in the milk until they
are very tender.
3.
Strain, discard the ginger if you like
4.
Puree your parsnip in a food processer
with lots of butter and season to taste.
This
recipe takes parsnips to a whole new level of flavour and creaminess.
Roast Parsnips
This
is how most of us eat parsnips. Roast
parsnips can be sublime if you emphasise their natural sweetness.
1.
Cut your parsnips into chunks or cut
into quarters depending on their size
2.
Place your parsnips in a baking dish
sprayed or coated with some olive oil ( you can speed up the cooking process by pre-boiling the vegetables for 5
minutes
3.
Add other vegetables that have some
sweetness such as carrots and leeks (cut in half lengthwise) even a few cooking
apples if you like
4.
Cook in a 180°C oven for 25 – 50
minutes until they are just tender
5.
You can then provide a bit of a
flavour hit by adding some of the following:
o
1 teaspoon of toasted caraway or cumin
seeds
o
2 tablespoons each of genuine maple
syrup and chopped hazel nuts
o
2 tablespoons of honey mixed with 2
teaspoons of wholegrain mustard
o
4 whole bacon rashers
o
A slurp of balsamic vinegar or a dash
of balsamic vinegar glaze
Continue
roasting for another 5-10 minutes until the vegetables are carmelised but not
burnt
Pureed
boiled, steamed or even roasted parsnips can be used for a fashionable smear on
your plate to form a base for other delicacies or turned into soups or even
dips with a bit of imagination and flavourings.
Sometimes parsnips can be a bit fibrous, if so sieve your puree before
using it. You can add parsnip puree to
mashes of potato, carrot, sweet potato or peas to add extra depth of flavour.
Try parsnip, celeriac and blue cheese mash at
or
parsnip, ginger puree with basil oil
1.
Sauté aromatics such as a chopped
onion, celery, garlic, chilli and ginger in a pan
2.
Add 4 large peeled, chopped parsnips
(add carrots or sweep potato if you like)
3.
Sauté for a few minutes with a tbsp of
good quality curry powder or paste, you could also add some mustard seeds,
garam masala or turmeric, cumin or Moroccan spice
4.
Add 1 litre of vegetable or chicken
stock and cook until the vegetables are very tender
5.
Cool a little and puree in a blender
6.
Return to pan and add a small can of
coconut milk
7.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves
or fried curry leaves
You
can also make parsnip chips by frying very thinly sliced parsnip rings in hot
oil.
For
hints for cooking parsnips try
For
tips on growing parsnips try
Sunday, 15 July 2012
FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY DINNER
Yesterday was Bastille Day and we were invited to a revolutionary dinner to celebrate.
We dressed in style and had suitable revolutionary tales to tell.
The dinner itself was revolutionary.
It was a backward dinner.
First course - petit fours - Italian meringues, macaroons, ginger chocolates, Persian nougat
Second course - fresh fruits - strawberries, pineapple, grapes
Third course - a cheese plate each with chevre, brie, gorganzola, quince jelly, bread
Fourth course - dessert, a delicious creme caramel
Fifth course -ballotine of chicken with asparagus and carrot
Sixth course - Alouettes sans tete - a meat skewer representing a body without a head
Seventh course - smoked salmon with salmon pate and endive and mustard and pumperknickel
Eighth course - chicken stock with a lovely meatball representing Marie Antoinette's head
and because it was someone's birthday we finished with cake and coffee.
Of course we had lots of champagne to drink
We started at 7pm and didn't finish eating until 2am in the morning
It truly was a modern day version of Babette's Feast.
Soups are great for winter and for healthy living. I have a bowl of vegetable soup every evening during the week for my evening meal. Today I started my year of healthy eating and exercise with the goal of losing around 20kg in one year in order to reach my ideal weight of 66.6kg
Week one Sunday 15 July 2012 88.2kg
HOT SOUPS
A puree soup takes about 10 to 15 minutes preparation and 20-30 minutes cooking time. You can use any vegetable you like but add potato or another starchy vegetable such as sweet potato, pumpkin or beans to give the soup lusciousness.
1. Simply sauté aromatics such as onion,
leeks, garlic, celery, chilli, then add your choice of chopped vegetables and
cover with stock. (it is best to add
tender leafy vegetables such as spinach when the other vegetables are almost
cooked)
2.
Simmer
until the vegetables are soft then add a little milk if you like (this helps
cool the soup down and adds richness) and puree with a stick blender, food
processor or liquidizer, depending on how smooth you would your soup to be.
3.
Season
to taste and add some more milk or stock if the soup is too thick.
4. You can garnish the soup with all sorts
of treats such as a dollop of cream or sour cream, grated parmesan cheese,
knobs of blue cheese, sautéed scallops, prawns, crispy bacon bits, croutons,
chopped herbs, even a dollop of tapenade or pesto.
Chunky soups – A meal in themselves
If you are going to use meat, choose cheap cuts which will become tender and moist with long slow cooking. You can use meat on the bone such as lamb shanks, a smoked hock or whole chicken to make the stock if you like.
1. Simmer the meat covered with water to
which you have added some onions, carrots, celery, peppercorns or whatever else
you fancy to give flavour.
2.
Cook
until the meat is falling of the bone.
3.
Strain
the liquid and put it in your fridge overnight if you can so that you can skim
the fat off the stock easily.
4. Meanwhile, when the meat is cool, shred
the good bits to put back in the soup.
Use your stock to make the
soup
1. Sauté some diced vegetables such as
carrots, onions, leeks, garlic, chilli, celery and if you like some mushrooms,
tomatoes, diced bacon or chorizo or spices to add flavour.
2.
Add
them to the heated stock along with other vegetables such as potatoes, swedes
that need to simmer for a while and add hard herbs such as a bay leaf and sprig
of thyme.
3.
When
the vegetables are almost tender add any delicate leafy vegetables.
4.
Add
any leftover cooked vegetables, cooked pasta and precooked meat at the last
minute too so they heat through but don’t fall apart or become tough.
5. Add chopped soft herbs such as parsley at
the end.
You can add grains and pulses
such as pearl barley, lentils, chick peas, beans and split peas as well as
dumplings, pasta, noodles, rice and meatballs to make the soup more
substantial.
1. An easy way to make meatballs is to buy
some of your favourite flavoured organic sausages and squeeze meatball amounts
out of them into the soup.
2.
Add
canned beans and lentils and other cooked pulses and grains no more than half
an hour before serving so they don’t turn to mush.
3. You can use dried pulses but they will
need to be soaked overnight, drained, rinsed and added at the beginning of
cooking.
Asian soups – have a lovely fresh flavour and are very quick to cook
1. Start off by heating up a good quality
stock, or even a consommé.
2.
Add
typical Asian flavours such some rice wine vinegar, some soy sauce, a little
fish sauce, a dash of palm sugar or even sherry.
3.
Add
some garlic, ginger and chilli or lemon grass.
4.
Try
to get a stock with a balance of salty, sweet, sour and savoury flavours and a
dash of hot.
5.
While
the soup is heating, pour some hot water over some Asian noodles. Drain and add them to the soup along with
some finely sliced vegetables such as carrot, mushrooms, Chinese cabbage,
Chinese broccoli or bok choy.
6.
Simmer
these until they are almost tender then add some meat such as finely sliced
fillet steak, green prawns, scallops, crab, shredded cooked chicken.
7. Garnish with some chopped coriander, a
few leaves of Vietnamese mint, maybe a handful of bean sprouts and a squeeze of
lime or serve lime quarters so diners can add their own to taste.
Consommé – great for starting a special dinner
A consommé is the easiest and most difficult soup
to make. To start from scratch take one bullock, boil it, reduce it to a litre
of stock over several days, strain it, then clarify it with eggshells to give a
glistening jelly-like liquid with an intense flavour. Yes, you can make your own consommé and it is
a great way to use up the not-so-choice cuts of meat and the bones from an
animal but if you are short on time this is one occasion when it is sensible to
take the easy route and buy a carton or two of chicken or beef consommé from the supermarket (it is usually
hidden in the soup section or sometimes in the stock section).
1. Gently warm up the consommé and have fun
experimenting with additional flavours, for example:
·
¼
cup sherry, some very finely diced button mushrooms and a pinch of dried
tarragon
·
¼
cup port, some sour cherries and some shredded duck.
·
½
red wine, sliced mushrooms and at the last moment some thinly sliced beef
fillet.
·
1
cup of shredded beetroot and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar – instant borsch
2. Simmer for 20 minutes and serve with
cubes of bread fried in a good extra virgin olive oil
Thursday, 5 July 2012
RUSTIC BREAD
Fancy some Italian toast or bruschetta? What makes it so delicious is the crusty rustic bread it is made from which is enhanced by being rubbed with cut garlic, sprinkled with salt and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Tasty toppings turn this humble snack into a great lunch dish which can use up pantry stores or vegetables.
Before you can have a good bruschetta you need good bread. Italian ciabatta bread is often used but it is quite tricky to make. Here is a recipe for a really easy alternative that produces a rustic, crusty, and delicious bread. You don’t have to knead or prove this bread. The recipe originally came from Domaine de L’Arlot in France.
Rustic crusty bread
- Sieve 500g of unbleached bread flour (this is called strong flour – plain flour will not work) into a large bowl.
- Mix in ½ tbsp of instant yeast and ½ tbsp of salt.
- Add 460 – 475ml of lukewarm water (the mixture should be quite wet but you might like to experiment with the amount of water).
- Mix well with your hands.
- Cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge overnight.
- In the morning remove the bowl and allow the mixture to come to room temperature this might take a couple of hours in winter.
- Use a dough scraper to remove the mixture on to a well floured board.
- Sprinkle the dough generously with flour and shape into a long oval shape.
- Put on a tray lined with baking paper and sprinkled with flour.
- Place into a cold oven and cook for 45-50 minutes at 210-220ºC fan forced until the bread sounds hollow when tapped.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Toast slices of bread under the grill or on the barbeque. Rub with cut garlic, drizzle oil and sprinkle with salt then add your toppings.
Suggestions for toppings
- Rub toast with a very ripe tomato and top with sliced tomatoes, a spoonful of tinned cannellini beans and basil leaves.
- Top with chopped tomato and red onion mixed with a little basil, crushed garlic and grated parmesan cheese and drizzle with olive oil.
- Spread with goat’s cheese sprinkled with finely chopped rosemary, salt and pepper and top with bottled sliced roasted red capsicum.
- Sauté 3 sliced green shallots in olive oil until soft but not browned and 3 chopped tomatoes cook on high for 1 minute. Add a can of cannellini beans, 1/3 cup of black olives and 1 tbsp of red wine vinegar and cook until just heated through. Stir in some baby spinach leaves and rocket then season with salt and pepper. This enough to top 4 large slices of bread.
- Top with a antipasto mixture such as roasted capsicum, semi-dried tomatoes, olives, marinated artichokes, marinated mushrooms or salami.
top with field mushrooms sautéed in olive oil with a little garlic and pancetta, drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar.
Roast some beetroots in some olive oil and a little red wine vinegar until tender. Peel when cool enough to handle. Toss in a bowl with some rocket and crumbled feta. Serve on toast with a sprinkling of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Mix a can of drained sardines with a diced tomato, lemon juice and chopped parsley. Season and place on toast.
Puree some marinated artichokes with a little garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, parsley and place on toast.
Top with grilled asparagus, prosciutto and parmesan and little olive oil and lemon juice
Other ingredients that can be used include various types of pesto and tapenades, all sorts of cheese including grilled haloumi, mozzarella, bocconcini, blue cheese, capers and pickles, smoked trout, salmon, tuna and various salad ingredients.
Using stale bread
If you have any bread left over don’t waste it. Use it to make soft bread crumbs, or toast it to make dry crumbs you can keep. Tear up left over bread, sprinkle with olive oil and use it to top gratins. Fry cubes of bread in oil to make croutons for soups and salads. Make a bread salad. Soak bread in water with ¼ cup of red wine vinegar for at least 20 minutes squeeze. Crumble the damp bread into a bowl and add salad ingredients such as sliced tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, boiled eggs, flaked tuna, chopped parsley and a little vinaigrette. Let it rest for 10 minutes before serving. Place a slice of toasted bread in the bottom of a soup bowl before adding soup. Soak bread in milk or stock. Squeeze out excess moisture and crumble it into casseroles to thicken them.
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
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