Zuppa Rapida

I was just finishing my latest blog, inspired by the one sunny day last week, on "Winter Salads" when it started snowing.  No-one wants salad when it is snowing, so I rummaged around in the fridge and found an abundance of onions, carrots, celery, leeks, some left over Butter beans, from one of my salads, three cabbages (oops!) and an "Unearthed" Chorizo de Leon, which was an obvious purchase of Hugh's, before he so rashly and somewhat unconvincingly decided that he was Vegetarian.  It all sang "soup" to me.  It just needed a little more bite. I love those sort of "Pasta e Fagioli" type soups that so brazenly break the "one carbohydrate is sufficient" rule. Potatoes or Beans or Pasta.  It is cold, I am hungry - so lets have them all!. So I went through the cupboards on the hunt.  I couldn't find any Barley, the kids had eaten the Orzo and I had used all the Farro in another of my Winter Salads but I was pleasantly surprised to find half a bag of Zuppa Rapida. This is a fabulous soup mix of pearl barley, lentils, green azuki beans and peas. Best of all, it does just what it says on the packet. It is fast. No need to soak and all the pulses are cooked perfectly in 30 minutes. 

All the supermarkets do their own mix of soup pulses but I also found a nice mix by Pedon of Spelt, Barley, Whole Rice, Kamut, Wheat and Oats which would work equally well in a salad or a soup but in this weather, I'll be sticking to soup.

Zuppa Rapida
This is not really a recipe so much as a use-up of everything in your fridge.  Use whatever vegetables you have to hand. There is no need to add meat but if you do any good Chorizo, Salami, Sausage or Bacon will do.
3 tablespoon(s) olive oil
2 onions, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
4 sticks celery, chopped
2 leeks, shredded, washed and drained
1 Fresh red Chilli
200g Chorizo, Sausage or Bacon (cut into bite-size chunks)
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Herbs such as fresh Rosemary, Thyme or Basil or dried Oregano
1 tin good quality plum tomatoes
Smoked Paprika (to taste)
150g cooked Butter Beans (tinned or cook your own)
100g Zuppa Rapida or any good quality soup mix
Stock or just water.
Sea Salt and Freshly ground black pepper
1 Cabbage (Savoy, Pointed, Spring Greens, Kale, Cavalo Nero or Chard) Shredded
1 splash of extra virgin olive oil (to serve)

Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan heat the oil, add the onion, carrots, leeks, celery and a whole fresh red chilli. Soften over a medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, without allowing them to colour. Really cooking the vegetables at this stage will help release the vegetables natural sugars and flavours and really add taste to your soup and avoid the necessity of needing stock. Add the Chorizo and allow it to release some of it's fat. Add the garlic and herbs and fry for a few minutes more before adding your tomatoes. Break up with the back of a spoon.  Add a little smoked Paprika to taste but go easy if your Chorizo was very smoky. Add the Butter beans and the soup mix. Season well with Sea Salt and Freshly ground black pepper and add some water or stock. Bring to the boil, and then turn down the heat. Cook for 30 minutes until you have a really lovely tasting soup. Finally add your cabbage, Cavalo Nero, Kale or Chard and simmer for about 10-15 minutes until cooked. Check seasoning. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil. This soup is even better the next day but you will find the pulses has absorbed all the liquid.  Just add a little more water or stock when you re-heat it.

Eat Your Veg

As I may have mentioned, one of my many jobs is trying to inspire people how to use up a weekly organic veg box. I go to peoples houses and in two hours cook up a lunch for up to 10 people, from a medium veg box. None of the recipes are complicated, but I have to admit that when I get home from work, often the last thing I feel like doing is cooking. So I am going to share with you the ultimate easy, quick recipe for using up lots of veg, which also keeps kids and adults happy alike and it is none other than "a bake".

A "bake" really doesn't conjure up a good image for me - vegetable bake, tuna bake, cheesy bake - just the names fill me with repulsion. But there is no reason why a bake should not be a beautiful thing and happily it is always all baked in one pan, which saves on washing up.

I don't know about you, but when it comes to it my kids, aged 5 and 7, they are happiest eating nothing more complicated that some meat or fish, some potatoes and some vegetables. But it is so important to keep it varied, interesting and full of flavour. So this first recipe is just very simply a selection of all your families favourite vegetables, baked all together with a lovely piece of fresh wild salmon.. Choose a selection of seasonal vegetables which compliment rather than overpower the fish. This dish also makes a great alternative to a roast at the week-end especially when entertaining. If you want to impress, make a lovely Salsa Verde , some Salmoriglio or even a delicious Anchovy and Rosemary Sauce to drizzle over your fish.

The second recipe is similar but involves sausages instead of fish. I choose a selection of sausages. Some plain ones for the kids, some spicy ones for the adults. Chorizo style sausages work particularly well and add a smoky note. The sausages stand up to stronger flavoured vegetables - onions, shallots, swede, celeriac or parnips. This is a really good way of using up vegetables at the end of the week from your veg box. And, if you have got a lot of veg to use up, you can always leave out the fish or meat and just have the baked veg. It is just delicious on it's own.

Fillet of Wild Salmon and Vegetable Bake 
I only eat wild salmon, when in season, as I find farmed salmon is too fatty for me. There seems to be a good supply of sustainable Alaskan Wild Salmon available, very reasonable and full of flavour. ObviousIy I would prefer to shop more locally than Alaska so If you are worried about your carbon footprint then at least make sure that the vegetables are locally sourced. The selection of vegetables is up to you but the is my favourite. Beetroot or bitter leaves such as Radicchio or Trevise are also lovely with salmon.  One last tip about salmon: don't over cook it.  As soon as you see white liquid coming out of the salmon, that is albumin and it’s a protein, and is a sign that you salmon is done. Remove immediately from the oven and your fish should be still pink and juicy inside.

2 generous slices of wild salmon, with or without skin
2 bulbs fennel, trimmed of excess outer leaves, save fronds 
2 baby courgettes, cut in half
Large handful of cherry tomatoes
Couple of handfuls of New Potatoes, boiled in salted water until cooked
1 Bunch of Asparagus, woody stem snapped off
Extra Virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
Cut the fennel into 4 or 6 pieces lengthways, depending on size.  Cut the potatoes in half or if very small leave whole. In a large baking dish toss all of the vegetables with 3-5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Make sure the tin is big enough.  If the vegetables are too crowded they will sweat instead of bake. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Try and make sure that the potatoes are facing down and that the fennel is also flat side down.  The more surface area that comes into contact with the bottom of the pan, the easier the vegetables will brown. Bake for 20 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Remove the pan from the oven and push the vegetables to one side. Season the salmon with salt and pepper and place it in empty space you made in the baking dish. Return the dish to the oven and bake
for another 10 minutes, based on thickness of the salmon. Scatter with the chopped fennel
fronds.

All sauce recipes are adapted from The River Cafe.
Salsa Verde
I vary this recipe according to what I am serving it with.  I prefer to go easy on the mint as it can end up tasting a bit toothpasty and instead I opt for basil, dill, chives or the fronds from the fennel tops.  Just get a good tasting balance.
1 large bunch Flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/2 bunch Mint leaves
Very good extra-virgin olive oil
3 Garlic cloves
100g Capers
50g Anchovy fillets
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons Red-wine vinegar

In a food processor chop the garlic, capers and anchovies. Add the mustard and vinegar, season and add some olive oil and purée until well amalgamated.  Add all the herbs and whiz and more olive oil to achieve desired consistency.

Salmoriglio
In a pestle and mortar, pound 4 level tablespoons fresh Thyme or Marjoram or a very good quality dried Oregano with 1 teaspoon sea salt until completely crushed. Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Pour 8 tablespoons of very good, peppery extra virgin olive oil slowly into the mixture. Add a little freshly ground black pepper. 

Anchovy and Rosemary Sauce

2 tbsp. fresh young rosemary leaves, very finely chopped
12 anchovy fillets
Juice of 1 lemon
150mls very good extra-virgin olive oil

Place rosemary leaves in a mortar and grind as finely as possible. Add anchovy fillets and grind to a paste. Add lemon juice, mix well, and then, stirring constantly, add oil, a few drops at a time. Transfer sauce to a small bowl.

Sausage Bake with Vegetables
You can use all sorts of vegetables in this dish. I like to use up whatever I have left in the fridge.

Some good quality sausages
1 Red Pepper, cut into largish chuncks
A handful or two of cherry tomatoes
1/2 a butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 2 cms chunks
2 parsnips, cut in 4 or 6 lengthways, depending on size
4 small shallots, pealed
1 or 2 Red onions cut into 8 wedges
A handful of New Potatoes, cooked in pleanty of salted water, cut in half
1 Bunch of Asparagus, woody stem snapped off
Extra Virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
A bunch of thyme

Preheat your oven to 200°C. Toss all the vegetables in plenty of olive oil, salt and pepper. Place in a large roasting tray with the sausages.  Make sure they are not overcrowded or they will sweat rather than bake.  Cook for about 30 minutes, stirring well half-way through.

Less is More!

People at the moment seem to be choosing to eat less meat. It has become a bit fashionable to concentrate more on the vegetables, hence the massive serge in celebrity chef cook books about vegetables, as they all fight to jump on the bandwagon. Admittedly Jane Grigson wrote her vegetable book a good while ago and then her daughter Sophie followed suit with her own version some years ago. Nigel Slater has been banging on about growing and cooking your own for quite a while now, but then Sarah Raven, the queen of gardnening pawn, has just published her "Garden Cookbook" and even Hugh Fernley-Whitingstall dumped his signiture meaty dishes for the veg. And mark my words, there will be a glut of more veg books to come, in the near future. 

Some of this veg revival is economical. Growing your own is de riguere right now and shame on you if you are not on an allotment waiting list. Also the price of meat is demanding a reassessment in how much and how often we can afford to eat it. The fashion is to eat better quality meat but less of it and let the vegetables take pride of place on the plate. Secondly of course there are many good health reasons to eat less meat, mainly in an aim to cut down on the dreaded saturated fats.

Apart from vegetables, other great ways of making your meat go further, is to add carbohydrate such as grains, pasta and rice. Poorer cultures have learnt out of necessity how to make a little feed more and it is to these cuisines which we should turn if we want to learn a thing or two. So I have relentlessly been researching dishes from all around the world to bring you the very best ideas in saving money, saving your health and yet still producing delicious food. I have come to the conclusion that rice is a very good place to start.

Rice is such a fantastic food. It is an excellent source of fuel for our body and easily digested so the energy it supplies becomes quickly available to our working muscles, brain and body organs. Carbohydrates fill you up and around 85% of the energy that rice supplies comes from carbohydrate. Carbohydrate powers the body and helps to keep us moving. It is stored in our muscles and liver and released when we need it. Rice does actually provide a little protein as well but it is low in fat and cholesterol free.

I am convinced that although fad diets will come and go, eating a well balance diet of mainly fruit and vegetables and carbohydrate with a less amount of protein and dairy, is and will always be, the healthiest and most sensible way to not get fat and to loose weight if you need to.

Rice is present in so many countries cuisines that you can find fantastic recipes from all over the world. One recipe which seems to turn up in several different countries alone is Arroz Con Pollo, simply meaning Chicken with Rice. I found recipes from pretty much every country which Spain ever colonised at one time or another and that is quite numerous, including Central and South America, North Africa, the Caribbean, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. I love it when a recipe, clearly from one county, in this case Spain, turns up, almost identical, across the other side of the world in a country such as the Philippines. Why has it been passed country to country, one generation to the next? Because it has stood the test of time and it works.  

Arroz Con Pollo

I cooked mine in the slow cooker but you can just as easily cook on the stove top.
Serves 4
4 free-range chicken thighs, skinned, boned and all excess fat and sinew removed

Olive oil 
3 good quality chorizo sausages, about 200g, cubed
3 fat cloves of garlic, crushed
2 medium onion, finely sliced
Few sticks of Celery, finely chopped

2 red peppers, cored and finely sliced

1 tablespoon of fresh thyme, finely chopped or dried oregano
2 cup water
Large pinch of Saffron

A few fresh bay leaves
2 cup uncooked paella rice (or Risotto rice)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat up a large heavy bottomed saucepan and add a good glug of olive oil. Add the onions and celery and fry until the onions are translucent and just turning golden brown. peppers and cook for five minutes more.  Add the chorizo, herbs and garlic and fry for a few minutes more.  Don't cook for much longer as all the fat will come out of the chorizo. Season to taste. Meanwhile, heat the cup of water in a saucepan and when boiling add the saffron.  Add a teaspoon of salt and remove from heat and allow to infuse. Add the chicken to your peppers, the saffron water and the rice.  Add your bay leaves.  Cover and cook slowly on the stove top for one hour or tip the whole lot into a slow cooker and set on low for 3 hours. 

A little taste of Summer

If Spring makes me think "Italian", then Spain is Summer to me.  I don't know why.  Maybe because that is where I spent my holidays as a child, with my family.  This morning was one of the few days this year so far, that I awoke to a clear blue sky, that brings that excited feeling inside and I thought "Summer".  The next thing that sprang to mind was "Gazpacho" but that is the way I am.  Food is never very far from my mind. 

When I used to make this in restaurants we always used to serve separate garnishes of finely chopped red onion, cucumber, red pepper and chopped egg which was quite fun but this soup is so delicious it honestly need no accompaniment.  I personally do not add breadcrumbs to my version so I have made some little crispy olive oil fried croutons, just to add some texture. All you need is a hot summers day or evening and maybe a sunset and a glass or two of Rioja.
In South West London, I really miss having a Spanish Deli anywhere nearby.  It is a right schlep to trek to Garcia or Brindisa although both have online shops if you are stuck, so I was quite pleased to see that Unearthed had included quite a few Spanish products in their range.  I picked up some Hot Spicy Chorizo and I had some squid in the freezer which I usually pick up in Oriental Supermarkets for a really good price, so I thought I would concoct a Spanish Style Salad.  You can't beat the combination of Chorizo, Sauteed potatoes, Char-grilled red peppers, garlic, Sherry Vinegar and Squid.  If it had been Winter this combination would have made and equally fantastic stew, maybe with some chickpeas too.  But add some Rocket of Pea Shoot and you have a delicious lunch for a hot summers day.

When you do find a good Spanish Deli stock up on Sherry, Paella Rice, Almonds, Pimenton (Smoked Paprika) and Saffron, Sherry Vinegar and Navarrico Piquillo Peppers and you will have the store cupboard staples to make hundreds of amazing Spanish style dishes.  Then of course there are the wonderful hams, cheeses and salamis but these obviously do not keep.  In fact, in our house they may not even last a few hours.  

Finally don't forget that Sherry is not only fantastic for cooking but that Dry (Fino) Sherry is also very fashionable as an aperitif and a delicious accompaniment to any Spanish dish and the sweet  variety such as  Pedro Ximenez make wonderful dessert wines, ice-creams and puddings.

Gazpacho

This recipe takes no time at all.  Because you peel the ingredients before whizzing them up, there is no need to pass the soup and it has a really great texture.

1kg really ripe tomatoes

1 small red onion , roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves

1 fresh red chilli, seeds removed
3 Red Peppers, peel of as much skin as possible with a peeler, de-seed and roughly chop

1 cucumber , peeled and roughly chopped

A generous glug of extra virgin olive oil

A generous glug of sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar

Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For croutons

an old piece of rustic or sourdough white bread

some extra virgin olive oil

Make a small cross on top of each tomato with a sharp knife.  Blanch the tomatoes by placing them into a pan of boiling water for a few minutes.  Romove them and refresh in cold water.  Remove the skins.  Add all the other ingredients and either puree in a liquidizer or simply use a hand held blender.  Whizz until completely smoothe.  Check seasoning and add more salt, pepper or vinegar to taste.  Chill in the fridge.

 

For the croutons, tear the bread up into 1cm pieces and gently fry in a little olive oil until golden brown.  Remove and drain on some kitchen paper.  Season very lightly with salt. Serve the Gazpacho very cold with the garnish.

Char-grilled Squid, Chorizo and Rocket Salad with New Potatoes and Sherry Vinegar

1 lb cleaned squid
200 g small potatoes, either New or a waxy veriety. Both are nice.
100 g rocket
1 Red pepper, char-grilled and peeled, torn into strips
or 150 g Navarrico Piquillo peppers, torn into strips

150 g Cooking Chorizo, cut into bite sized chunks (I like Hot Spicy ones)
1 fresh red chilli, very finely chopped (if you are not using spicy Chorizo, or if you just like a little extra)
1 Clove of garlic, very finely chopped
Good glug of Sherry Vinegar
Good glug of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a frying pan, sauté the potatoes with some olive oil until golden brown on every side. Add the chilli, if using, and the garlic. Saute for a minute more and add the sherry vinegar. Toss well and remove from the heat.

Next, pre-heat a griddle over a high heat or light your barbeque. Meanwhile, prepare the squid. Slit it on one side and open it out to give two flaps (retaining the tentacles). Pat dry with kitchen paper. (It's important that you dry the squid properly, otherwise it will stew rather than grill.) Now, using a small sharp knife, lightly score it on the inside – if you score it on the outside, it won't curl properly. Score diagonally in one direction, then do the same in the other direction, to give little diamond shapes, taking great care not to cut right through the squid

When the pan or barbeque is searing hot, lightly brush the squid and the tentacles on both sides with some oil, then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Only season the squid the moment it goes into the pan – if you do it in advance, the salt will draw out all the moisture. Now add the squid and tentacles in batches to the hot pan and cook for 1-2 minutes, turning halfway through, until lightly charred.

In a large bowl mix your rocket with the strips of pepper and the potatoes. The oil and vingar from the pan should provide ample dressing but check. Pile the salad onto plates and top with the squid.