WHY RANDOM IS WONDERFUL

Queen Delia comes up trumps again!  The wonderful Dom has challenged us to randomly choose a recipe from the gazillion recipes we all have, and just give it a go.  This dish is one of the reasons that Dom's Random Recipe Challenge is so wonderful.  This month Delia Smith's "Summer Collection" came to hand when I randomly chose my book, this is a book that I used alot when I first bought it, and I would still refer to it from time to time - well the book popped open at page 38/39, so my choices were the Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Salad (which I have made time and time again) and to Marinated Mozzarella with Avocado (which I have skipped over time and time again!!).  The reason I skipped over the recipe?  I just couldn't get a marinated avocado salad to work in my head - I imagined horrible black pieces of slimy avocado ruining the beautiful cheese.  I should, of course, have trusted Delia, I think in all my time cooking, she has only let me down once (and maybe that was just my wonky taste!!!).

The salad was a beautiful smooth texture, which works well with a selection of salads, many of which will be crunchy.  The fruit and cheese melded in together, helped by the kick of the dressing.  I always remember Nigella's comments about avocados moisturising from within, whenever I eat them, and find myself glowing with health and smugness (for a few moments anyway!!).  Try this salad, it's a little bit different, totally delicious and will do wonders for your skin and hair - happy days!!

Marinated Mozzarella with Avocado

110g (4oz)       Mozzarella Cheese - the best you can get.
1                       Avocado - nicely ripe (I used two)
1/4                   Red Pepper - cut into fine slices
1                      Handful of basil leaves - Delia says to use 18!!
2                      scallions (spring onions) finely chopped

Dressing

1                     small clove of garlic
1                     tsp sea salt
1                     rounded tsp of dry mustard powder
1                     dessert spoon white wine vinegar
5                     dessert spoons of extra virgin olive oil
1                     dessert spoon snipped chives
salt and pepper


Prepare the salad about 2 hours in advance. 
Slice the mozzarella into 5mm (1/4 inch) slices.
Peel, destone and slice the avocado into thin slices.
Arrange the cheese and avocado in alternate overlapping slices on a pretty plate.
Now scatter the finely sliced pepper and basil over the salad.
Make up the dressing by either grating the garlic or pureeing it with the salt.
Mix all the dressing ingredients together in a jar.
Pour over the mozzarella and avocado.
Cover and allow the flavours to combine for two hours.
Serve and enjoy!

Thank you very much for the links and suggestions for my son's culinary adventure - unfortunately the stove in his apartment broke, pretty much immediately after I posted the recipes - and they haven't been able to persuade the landlord to replace it yet!!  Sod's (or Murphy's) Law!!

SAVOURY SCONES

You might not believe it from reading this blog, but I would have a savoury rather than sweet tooth.  I am far more likely to blow a diet on a packet of (salt and vinegar) crisps rather than a chocolate bar!

These scones won't blow any diets (other than Atkins!) - unless you serve them with lashings (Enid Blyton how are you!!) of cream cheese!!!  They are light and have a perfect texture, they would be wonderful served with soup or salad.  I really enjoyed them with a (tiny!) knob of butter and a cup of coffee.

They (predictably) come from Harry Eastwood's book, although I have changed the recipe to suit: what was available (Parmesan for Pecorino), taste (son # 1 doesn't like chives) and diet (walnuts were unnecessary calories!) and this is how they ended up:

Parmesan Scones

250g            spelt flour
40g              grated Parmesan
2 tsp            baking powder
1/2 tsp         bread (bicarb) soda
1/4 tsp         ground pepper
1 tbsp          honey
220g           finely grated courgettes
1 tbsp         milk

Preheat oven to 200 C
Line a baking tray with baking paper

Put flour, cheese, baking powder, bread (bicarb) soda and pepper into the food processor and mix.
Add the courgettes and honey and pulse until almost fully combined.
Run a knife around the edge and pulse to form a dough.
Remove to a floured surface and roll out to 4 cm thickness.
Using a cutter (or glass) cut out your scones, be sure to press down and not twist.
Place on the baking sheet and lightly brush with some milk.
Bake in the top of the oven for 15 -20 minutes (until golden and well risen)
Fantastic served while still warm.


Waaaaaay better than a packet of crisps!!!

TERIFFIC TOMATOES!

After a wonderful lunch in Dublin on Friday, we popped into town to our favourite shops.  I headed to Fallon and Byrne - and loaded up on lovely things.  Their tomatoes were like those  I imagine all you lucky Australian, American and Continental European readers take for granted - but which are unusual on these shores, even in the summertime!  (unless you grow your own)  I bought loads and had some on toast for supper - but I felt that something more was needed in homage to their wonderfulness!!!

I decided upon filo bundles - I painted my sheets of filo pastry with a good extra virgin olive oil (think I'll try melted butter next time), layered them up  and cut them to size.  I spread some Carluccio's black olive tapenade (the best thing ever to come in a jar) on each.  I then chopped up some tomato and placed it on the tapenade and finally adorned this with a teaspoon of mascarpone and two teaspoons of grated parmesan cheese (although I didn't bother with grating the cheese!), salt and pepper.

I then gathered up the edges of the filo to make money bag type bundles, painted with some more of the olive oil, sprinkled with some maldon salt and hey presto:

I was really delighted with the way this dish turned out, there was a lovely contrast between the crunch of the pastry and the soft meldingness (!) of the cheesy tomatoes.  The deeply flavoured juices flowed onto the salad when the pastry bundle was cut into, making the best dressing ever!

This dish is definitely a keeper, next time I might make them a bit smaller - I made four bundles from a packet of filo - six would have been perfect.  I think that pesto would be a good replacement if there were no tapenade to hand, and maybe some caramelised onion would be good too.


Tomato Filo Bundles

1 packet filo pastry (270g)
2 tbsp (heaped) black olive tapenade
6 medium sized tomatoes or equivalent
6 tsp  mascarpone cheese
12 tsp grated parmesan cheese
extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 180 C


Cover the pastry you are not working on with a tea towel.
Prepare the pastry by painting  a sheet with oil or melted butter and covering with another sheet and repeating the process.  I used my pastry three sheets deep.  Cut to size - mine were 25x25cm - but  25x15cm might be better.
Spread the center of each pastry with the tapenade (or pesto) and then one chopped tomato and one tsp mascarpone and two tsp parmesan, and a grind of pepper.
Pull up the pastry around the tomato mixture to make bundles.
Paint with some olive oil and sprinkle with some maldon salt.
Bake for about 15 - 25 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown.
Serve on a very lightly dressed salad bed.

Enjoy.

EASY CHEESY

I was thinking of calling this post "Keeping Hubbie Happy" but just could not bring myself to do it!  But this is the dish that keeps "the other half" really happy, and the really great thing is that it is simplicity itself.  How can a dish so simple bring so much pleasure?

It really is as simple as it looks, halloumi cheese - a wonderful Greek hard cheese, which keeps (almost) forever in the fridge, fried in some olive oil.  Red peppers roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper. Add the crispy cheese to the roasting peppers for the last five minutes. Put some baby potatoes in to roast at the same time as the peppers ... Bing Bang Bosh dinner is ready.

When I'm feeling very generous (!) instead of ordinary peppers, I serve the cheese with Piedmont Peppers.


Piedmont Peppers

3      red peppers
3      tomatoes or 6 cherry tomatoes*
4      anchovy fillets + oil from the tin
2      cloves of garlic
basil leaves

Preheat oven to 180 C

Half the peppers and remove the seeds.  Quarter the tomatoes (if using large) and divide between the pepper halves.  Chop up the anchovy and garlic and spread this mixture over the tomatoes.  Put one teaspoon of oil (mixture of anchovy oil and olive oil) into each pepper half.  Bake for about 45 mins.

*I skin the tomatoes if I am having guests, otherwise they are fine with skins on.
Enjoy.

BOOKCLUB NIBBLES

It's bookclub night soon (yahaa!) and I've realised that I didn't blog about the one I held here last month.
Our bookclub is a very relaxed affair, the host supplies cheese, grapes and crackers.  The guests bring along the wine.  We discuss the book for a short while and then get down to the important business of putting the world to rights!!

We discussed Colum McCann's "Let The Great World Spin", everyone enjoyed it, found it multi-layered, the type of book you could re-read and get even more from it next time round.  He definitely deserves all the awards he has received.

Back to the food - I have never been one to allow an opportunity to try out new recipes pass.  This time I was anxious to try out an idea I had had for a candied, spiced nut mixture - they were a huge success, I don't think I will be allowed to host another evening without serving them!!!

At my son's request I made cheese straws, I wanted to try a new recipe and found one that looked good on Deb's blog "smitten kitchen" - I subsequently made these into cheese biscuits using different cheeses (actually the ones left over from the spread above) and they were even better than the first time.

I, of course served brownies towards the end of the night - I will blog about these tomorrow.

Here's what I did:

Spiced Candies Nuts

200g         hazelnuts
200g         almonds
100g         pecan nuts
1/4 cup     brown sugar
1/4 cup     caster sugar
1/2 tsp      ground cumin
1/2 tsp      ground coriander
1/2 tsp      ground cinnamon
1   tsp       curry powder
1               egg white
1 tsp         maldon salt

Preheat oven to 150 C
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

Whisk the egg white until light and frothy and set aside.
Mix the sugars and spices.
Combine the nuts and egg white until evenly coated.
Add the sugar mixture and toss well.
Spread in a single layer on the baking sheet.
Bake for 20 - 30 minutes, stir occasionally to ensure there is no clumping.
Remove from oven sprinkle with the salt and allow to cool.

Serve and Enjoy.

Cheese Biscuits/Straws

1 1/2 cups    grated hard cheese*
50g              softened butter
3/4 cup        plain flour
1/4 tsp         chili flakes (optional)
1 tbsp          milk

Preheat oven to 180 C




Combine the cheese, butter flour and chili flakes in a food processor, in short pulses until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add the milk and process until it forms a ball.

Roll out between two sheets of cling film until about 1/2cm thick.  then either cut into strips (use a knife dipped into flour) or use a cookie cutter.  The cookie cutter option makes them very attractive to kiddies.  I think these cheese biscuits would be a great option for a children's birthday party,  make you feel less guilty serving all the sugar rich food. (I would of course leave out the chili).

Gently transfer the strips/biscuits onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  They expand a little bit so leave some space between them.

Bake the straws/biscuits for 10 - 15 minutes,  until they are a nice golden brown.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the sheet for 10 minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.

These biscuits keep well in a  sealed container.


*First time round I used a strong cheddar,  second time I used an Irish hard herbed cheese and a small piece of spicy cheese (left out the chili flakes).

Hope you enjoy the nibbles.