Cook Your Life

Walnut & Black Olive Pesto

Today's recipe was borne of necessity..As Tyler Durden might say, I had a fridge full of condiments and no food! I'm rarely short of red wine, so I based my appetite on something that would work well with a glass (or four).

So, after scouring the kitchen and garden for vaguely edible items, I was able to find a bag of wholewheat penne, some garlic, a hunk of aged Parmesan, a grody red onion (totally fine once the first few layers were removed!) a handful of walnuts and a tin of black olives.

Baring in mind that the search had taken a glass full's worth of wine time, I needed to work fast on creating a dish to go with the rest of the Rioja. This led me to The Pesto Plan.

It's pretty much a given with me that if asked what I'd choose to eat in a rush, the answer would be Pesto. Simply stirred into steaming hot olive-oiled pasta there really is no comparison. The robust and earthy taste of this version also works beautifully slathered over hot seared chunks of moist lamb.

Walnut & Black Olive Pesto

Serves 2

Preparation Time - 10m
Cooking Time - 15m
Beverage Suggestion -  Rioja

Ingredients

30g or 1 Cup x Parmesan, finely grated
10g or 1/3 Cup Flat Parsley, stalks removed
10g or 1/3 Cup Basil, stalks removed
30g or 1/3 Cup Walnuts, toasted
25g or 1/4 Cup Black Olives
1/2 Small Red Onion, finely diced
1x Garlic Clove
4 tbsp Olive Oil
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
Cracked Black Pepper to taste

Directions

1. Fry the onion in 1 tbsp of olive oil, until soft & caramelised. Allow to cool
2. Place all the ingredients in the small bowl of a food processor
3. Pulse until all ingredients are combined (Scraping down the sides where required)
4. Add additional olive oil if the mixture is too dry
5. Add Black Pepper to taste
6. Remove from bowl and serve

Fusilli with Feta & Broccoli

Image via CrunchBase

Mmmmmm.....Apples, how I love thee. No, not the fruity kind, rather the geeky kind as founded by the fabulous Steve Jobs when I was 3 in 1977.

Microsoft's arch nemesis Apple produces arguably the best, fastest and most definitely the sexiest computers on the planet. I am a huge fan, and remain disappointed every time I have to switch on my windows based PC at work. (Expecting as if by some technomage-magic, it will suddenly turn into the super-computer that the shameless mac-copy-cat adverts suggest it might be)

You might be wondering how this fits into my food blogging world? Well, I'm typing this entry, not from my iMac as usual, but in my bikini whilst lazing in the sunshine on my spanking shiny new iPad!

This beautiful covetous slice of Apple Inc. has worked it's way into my blog-verse with a sync-able recipe database, direct news feeds to all my favourite foodie blogs and a wonderful 21st Century excuse to get away from my ludite-ish PC during my lunch-hour. 

On a food writing note ("Finally!!", you sigh) today's recipe is all about Iron. As an exercise freak, I always need to ensure I am getting enough vitamins and minerals to help support how much energy I am expelling when I work out. Iron is used to transport oxygen from the heart to all the muscles.

It is suggested that you need between at least 18 milligrams of Iron each day. This is a lot when you consider a cup of broccoli (100g) contains about 1mg. It's therefore important to add as any sources as you can to your diet: Chickpeas, brown Rice, peanut butter and muesli can all count towards your iron intake. Vitamin C also helps your absorption of iron, so that glass of OJ in the morning will help your body in its mineral quest.

This pasta recipe contains lots of emerald and purple broccoli, black olives, chickpeas and feta cheese (high in vitamin B12) I've added a small amount of protein rich bacon, but do be sparing with the lovely smoky pig, as it's very high in saturated fat. A small glass of Wheat beer will help the iron absorption into the body....note: I said 'small'!!

 

Fusilli with Feta & Broccoli

  

Serves 2

Preparation Time - 10m
Cooking Time - 15m
Beverage Suggestion -  Wheat Beer

Ingredients

100g or 1 Cup Purple Sprouting Broccoli, roughly chopped

1 Red Onion, chopped

30g or 1/3 Cup Black Olives, chopped

50g or 1/2 Cup Pancetta, diced

240g or 1.5 Cups Chickpeas, cooked and drained

2 tbsp Olive Oil

10g or 1/3 Cup Basil, finely chopped

50g or 1/2 Cup Feta Cheese, crumbled

1 tbsp Ale

1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar to taste

2x Quantity dried wholewheat fusilli pasta, cooked according to the pack instructions

Splash Balsamic Vinegar to taste

Cracked Black Pepper to taste

1 tbsp Drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions

1. Steam the broccoli for 5m and drain
2. Fry the onion and bacon in the olive oil for 5m
3. De-glaze the pan with the ale
4. Add the broccoli, olives, pasta, feta, basil, chickpeas and stir
5. Add the vinegar, pepper and drizzle with the extra virgin oil to serve

 

Salsa Verde

Green Sauce, or Salsa Verde is around 2000 years old, and still one of the most frequently eaten, delicious and simple sauces there is. This sauce goes with everything, meat, fish, vegetables, poultry; It can be spread on bread, dotted on pizza, slathered over pasta or stirred into soup....like Guns n Roses once said, "Anything Goes".

Perfect for these hot days, this magical green sauce jabs your taste-buds with salty-capers, throws a round-house with umami-loaded anchovies, then sucker-punches your tongue with herbaceous and pungent parsley.

Salsa Verde

Serves 6

Preparation Time - 10m
Cooking Time - 
Beverage Suggestion -  Rose

Ingredients

2x Garlic Cloves

30g or 1 Cup 1 Flat Leaf Parsley, stalks removed

10g or 1/3 Cup Basil Leaves

Juice 1 Lemon

4x Anchovy Fillets

1 tbsp Capers

20g or 1/4 Cup Cornichons, 

1 tbsp White Balsamic Vinegar

3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Cracked Black Pepper & Sea Salt to taste

1/2 txp Dijon Mustard

Directions

1. Place all the ingredients in the small bowl of a food processor

2. Pulse until all ingredients are combined (Scraping down the sides where required)

3. Add additional olive oil if the mixture is too dry

4. Add salt and pepper to taste

5. Remove from bowl and serve

 

Umami Coccottes

Umami. What a great word, not only is it fun to say, it's a key taste in some of my favourite flavours; parmesan, sardines, truffles, aged steak, roquefort and lobster. 

Umami is the 'fifth' taste. It follows: sweet, salty, sour and bitter; and (according to Wikipedia) it was first identified in Tokoyo 1908 in a seaweed broth. Roughly translated, the word 'umami' means 'good flavour'; essentially savouriness or meatiness. It's that full-mouth feeling that we get when trying anchovies, or when some worcester sauce hits our tongue.

Having procured a pack of 'Taste no.5 Umami Paste' I have been experimenting by adding it to all sorts of soups, sauces and stocks. (That is in addition to eating it direct from the tube!)

This recipe, already hinting at the fifth taste sensation due to the mix of caramelised shallots, mushrooms and aged cheese is heightened by adding a tiny dollop of this amazing little paste.

If you are unable to get hold of this great meaty flavoured treat, the dish is very enjoyable without.

Umami Coccottes

Serves 2

Preparation Time - 10m
Cooking Time - 20m
Beverage Suggestion -  Cotes Du Rhone

Ingredients

5x Eggs

2 tbsp Double Cream

1x Shallot, finely chopped

2x Mini Portabello Mushrooms, finely chopped

50g, or 1/4 Cup Lardons

1/4 tsp Umami Paste

1/4 tsp Herbs D'Provence

Pinch Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper

15g, or 1/2 Cup Vintage Gruyere, grated

2 tsp Unsalted Butter

Directions

1. Fry the bacon, mushrooms and shallot in a non-stick pan until caremalised

2. Add the umami paste and allow to melt through, remove from the heat

3. Divide the mixture into the base of two large ramekins

4. Beat 3x of the eggs with the herbs d'provence

5. Divide the egg mixture across the two ramekins

6. Crack one egg into each ramekin

7. Drop a tbsp of cream and piece of butter into each

8. Sprinkle the cheese over the top of each, and season

9. Cook in a bain marie in a pre-heated oven at 375F/190C/Gas Mark 4, for around 15-20m, or until set and springy to touch.

10. Carefully remove form the bain marie and serve with dipping bread/toast

 

Lentil & Chorizo Salad

Hot, hot, hot! 

In case you've been hiding in Vostok, Antarctica; the coldest place on the planet with temperatures measured to as low as -129 Fahrenheit (-89 Celsius) It's turning out to be one blindingly hot Summer. For me, this equals afternoons lounging in the sun, ice cold beer, BBQ, bikram-esque exercise routines and lots of easy ways to get my five-a-day......vegetables that is.

I really enjoy a good salad, I'm not talking insipid mounds of tasteless iceberg, floury tomatoes and dried up bits of cucumber, I'm talking tender morsels of meat, oodles of fresh vegetables, spiky tasting cheeses, smoked fish, peppery leaves drizzled in lemon oil, vintage balsamic all glistening with flakes of crunchy salt. Now that's what I call Salad.

This recipe mixes earthy lentils with fiery-hot fried pieces of chorizo and squeaky emerald green beens. You can either eat this by itself, or use as a side dish to BBQ'd lamb or pork. It also makes a great stuffing in oven baked marrow. 

Lentil & Chorizo Salad

Serves 2

Preparation Time - 10m
Cooking Time - 10m
Beverage Suggestion -  Pale Ale

Ingredients

300g or 4 Cups of Cooked Puy Lentils 

3x Spring Onions, chopped

2x Garlic Cloves, finely chopped

1 Shallot, finely chopped

150g or 1 Cup Chorizo, diced

75g or 1/3 Cup Sun-Blush Tomatoes, Chopped

250g or 1.5 Cups French Beans, lightly steamed, cooled & halved

10g or 1/3 Cup Fresh Parsley, chopped

3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

Juice of 1/2 Lemon

Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper to taste

Directions

1. Fry the chorizo in a non-stick pan for 2m

2. Add the shallot and garlic, continue frying until they have softened

3. Add the lentils, beans, and tomatoes

4. Add the Olive Oil, vinegar, lemon and parsley Extra Virgin Oil, 

5. Season to taste

 

Ricotta Gnocchi

I've moved! If you're a regular visitor to this blog, you'll notice some big changes! 

Following my amazing adventure at the 2010 Food Blogger Connect event earlier this year, I was inspired by my fantastic fellow foodies to update my blog to make it a more friendly social place to visit.

This has been a mammoth task and I hope the changes inspire you to get in the kitchen and cook your own life!

Today's recipe is a far cry from the spongey insipid varieties available in the supermarket. My version is easy to prepare in advance and fried in herb butter until the outside is golden and the centre is full of delicate cheesy love.

 

Ricotta Gnocchi

  

Serves 4

Preparation Time - 40m
Cooking Time - 8m
Beverage Suggestion -  Sauvignon Blanc

Ingredients

 

250g or 1 Cup Ricotta

1x Egg, lightly beaten

50g or 1/2 Cup Parmesan, grated

1 tbsp Parmesan, grated (to serve)

80g or 3/4 Cup ’00’ Flour

1 tsp Cracked Black Pepper & Sea Salt

15g or 1 tbsp Unsalted Butter 

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1x Sprig Rosemary

1x Garlic Clove, peeled

 Directions

 

1. Mix the egg with the cheese

2. Add the dry ingredients

3. Gently mix and knead to create a light spongy dough

4. Place the dough on a floured surface & gently roll into sausage shapes with your (floured) hands

5. Cut into rectangles and indent the centre, so they look like little pillows

6. Chill until required (minimum 30m)

7. Fry the gnocchi in the butter and oil with the garlic and rosemary

8. When golden on one side, turn

9. Once cooked on both sides, remove from the heat

10. Serve with the butter mixture from the pan and sprinkles of parmesan

 

Scallops with Pancetta & Parmesan

This recipe is a delicate affair, perfect to serve to your girlfriends over gossip and chilled white burgundy on a hot summer night.

Scallops with Pancetta & Parmesan

Serves 2

Preparation Time - 5m
Cooking Time - 5m
Beverage Suggestion -  White Burgundy

Ingredients

8x Diver Scallops

4x Rashers Smoked Pancetta, halved

30g or 1/3 Cup Aged Parmesan, shaved

2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tbsp Aged Balsamic Vinegar

50g or 2 Cups Peppery Salad Leaves

Cracked Black Pepper to finish

Directions

1. Wrap the scallops in the bacon

2. In a non-stick pan, fry the scallops on each side until the bacon is crispy (around 5m in total)

3. Place the scallops on bed of leaves

4. Add the shaved Parmesan

5. Drizzle with the Oil & Vinegar

6. Finish with some Black Pepper