Category Archives: Food for One

Linguini with Fresh & Sundried Tomatoes, Green Olives & Basil

04 Friday Sep 2015

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I was inspired by the tomato pasta of my last post to cook something similarly fresh tasting. So this quick to prepare dish is the result, using ingredients that I already had in the store cupboard. I give you the recipe exactly as I did it, but of course if you don’t have Aliolli and/or Chilli Jam in your cupboard, change for fresh garlic and chilli to taste.

A perfect lunch for one or a light colourful starter if you halve the amounts per person.

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LINGUINI WITH FRESH & SUNDRIED TOMATOES, GREEN OLIVES & BASIL

Per person –

30 gms linguini

10 ml olive oil

1 large tomato

3 sundried tomatoes

6 green olives

1.25 ml aliolli

2,5 ml chilli jam

Fresh basil leaves

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Get a pan of water heating up for the pasta. Add to it 5 ml of the olive oil and half a teaspoon of salt.

When the water is boiling, add the sundried tomatoes to the water and let simmer for a couple of minutes. Scoop out and leave to cool.

Add the linguini to the water and leave to cook at a medium simmer.

Put the other 5ml of olive oil in a shallow pan. Add the aliolli and chilli jam.

Slice the sundried tomatoes and add to the pan.

Remove stones from the olives and cut each olive in half. Add to the pan.

Halve the tomato across its equator and using a fine grater grate the pulp into a bowl until you are left with just the skin in your hand. If the grater is fine enough it should sift out the majority of the seeds. If the odd seed makes it into the sauce, it is not the end of the world.

Add the fresh tomato pulp to the shallow pan.

Roughly chop the basil leaves.

When the pasta is two or three minutes from the al dente stage of crookedness, slowly heat the sauce stirring to mix all the ingredients.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the sauce. Mix well to coat the pasta with the sauce. Season with salt, freshly ground black pepper and two thirds of the basil leaves. Turn again to mix in.

Turn into a pasta bowl and garnish with the rest of the basil leaves.

Enjoy!

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Baby Squid with Garlic & Chilli

13 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Fish, Food for One, Main Courses, Starters

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Whenever I go to look at the fresh fish at my local market, everything is so fresh and glistening that I just want to buy it all. This week I limited myself to some small and tender squid and the last of the crabs. The crabs that we get here are small but very tasty, so will make a fantastic soup.

The squid was quickly fried with garlic and chilli for lunch.

SMALL SQUID WITH GARLIC, CHILLI AND PARSLEY

This is so simple it is almost not a recipe.

For 2 as a main course, for 4 as a starter

500 grams small squid
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic – finely chopped
Fresh red chilli – to taste
Small bunch flat leaved parsley – roughly chopped
Juice of half a lemon

The cleaning of the squid is the most time consuming job in preparing this dish.

Cut the tentacles off just above the squid’s eyes, and then remove the sharp beak type mouth in the centre of the tentacles. Pull the innards out of the squid and discard. A cat will love you if you send these their way.

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Put the empty bodies and tentacles into a colander and wash thoroughly.

Leave to drain while you chop the garlic, chilli and parsley.

Heat the oil in a shallow pan and add the garlic and chilli. Fry for a couple of minutes.

Add the squid and keep frying on a medium heat, turning from time to time.

The squid are cooked once they are opaque and a bit pink, which should take about 7 minutes. Add the parsley and lemon juice. Stir to blend and to moisten the tasty bits at the bottom of the pan.

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That’s it!

Serve with a simple tomato salad and some fresh bread.

Nicoise Salad

09 Tuesday Sep 2014

Posted by in Fish, Food for One, Main Courses, Starters, Vegetable Dishes

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Composed salads with their mixture of textures, tastes and colours are very close to being perfect food, and a Nicoise Salad is one of the great classics in this category. Its mixture of green leaves and French beans, red tomatoes and peppers, black olives, white and yellow egg and the pinky brown of tuna make it a delight to look at.

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At the market today, my favourite fish stall had some superb fresh tuna, so I decided to sear it fairly rare and have it as part of a Nicoise Salad in place of the usual tinned tuna. Without losing the elements that make a salad a Nicoise, ie Tuna, Egg, French Beans, Tomatoes and Black Olives, there is room for you to make the salad your own. I prefer a poached egg to boiled as I like to mix the runny yolk into the salad. I also like to thin down the mayonnaise with a little water before pouring it over the salad. And I do love Chilli Jam with tuna, so although it is not traditional…..

The Larder – Bethnal Green – London

11 Monday Aug 2014

Posted by in Food for One, Main Courses, Snacks and Tapas, Vegetable Dishes

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I don’t generally consider restaurant reviews to be part of what this blog is about, but the food in this vegetarian cafe is so good that it cannot not be mentioned. All the meals that I have ordered here have been so thoughtfully composed, executed and presented. Whoever designs the dishes has a real understanding of how to mix flavours and textures, and never forgets to consider how the components will look on the plate.

Today I treated myself to a Mexican breakfast – which I had for lunch.

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In the little brown pot beneath the grilled half mushroom, fried egg, guacamole and fresh coriander leaves was a rich and spicy tomatoey sauce thick with black and pinto beans, corn kernels, red peppers, celery and onions. There was just enough chilli to give it oomph without overpowering the rest of the ingredients, and it was fragrant with the flavour of garlic and coriander seeds.

Below the deep fried Padron peppers in the other pot was a flavoursome but not hot jalapeño purée. The tortilla chips were freshly deep fried and crispy.

I look forward to trying their egg and chips, one of the most appetising looking egg and chips that I have ever seen. Served on one of those pasta plates that is like a shallow soup bowl, there is a base of freshly made tomato sauce topped with a stack of fat crispy polenta chips which likewise is topped with a fried egg.

I hope it is on the menu next time I visit this restaurant.

http://www.worldslarder.co.uk

Arroz Negro – Black Rice

21 Saturday Jun 2014

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Continuing on the rice theme, here is my favourite seafood and rice dish. It is fairly simple to make and does not have many ingredients, but the flavour of the squid ink and seafood mixed with that of the chilli and onion makes for a rich tasting dish. I regularly cook it just for myself.

FOR 6
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion – finely chopped
1 red pepper – chopped into small squares
1 green pepper – chopped into small squares
Half a red chilli – finely chopped
500 grams squid
500 grams mussels
500 grams prawns
250 grams rice
500 ml fish stock
500-750 ml chicken stock
Salt and pepper

Let’s start by preparing the fish.

Remove the innards from the squid and carefully remove the ink sacks into a small bowl. Cut the tentacles from the innards and save discarding the rest.

With the ink sacs, you need to break them open to release the ink and press them with the back of a spoon to make sure that it is all out before discarding the sac. In some places it is possible to buy the ink frozen in little sachets which saves on the fiddle of extracting the ink.

Wash the squid bodies and tentacles and dry them on kitchen paper. Cut the bodies into thin circles. If the tentacles are small leave them whole, but if large cut them smaller.
Clean the mussels and steam them open.

A lot of cooks like to cook the mussels in the rice, but I find that there is often grit in the mussel shells and so prefer to open them separately and then sieve the liquid. Also some mussels are extremely salty, so if you have their liquor apart, you can taste it for saltiness before deciding how much to add to your dish.

If I am making this rice just for myself, I use ready cooked and shelled mussels that I buy frozen and keep in the freezer for these sort of mixed fish dishes that only require 5 or 6 mussels.

The prawns can be left in their shells to be opened at the table, but if you prefer for easier eating, they can be de-headed and peeled now.

Heat the oil in a large shallow pan and add the onions. Fry gently until translucent.

Add the peppers and chilli and keep cooking gently for five to ten minutes.

Add the squid and and continue frying gently for another five minutes.

Add the rice and stir well to coat with all the other ingredients in the pan. Fry for about five minutes.
Mix a little of the fish stock into the ink to dilute it and add it to the pan with the rest of the fish stock. Mix well.

Cover and leave to simmer for about five minutes. If it is starting to look dry add some of the chicken stock.
After another five minutes add the prawns if they are in their shells and the liquor from the mussels. Check the seasoning in the liquor in the pan and add salt and pepper as required. Add more chicken stock if needed.

Continue cooking until the rice is at the al dente stage – cooked but with firmness in the centre.

using unshelled prawns add at this stage and then a couple of minutes later add the mussels and let them warm through.

Let the rice rest for five to ten minutes.

Serve with Alioli and a tomato salad.

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Spanish Rice Dishes – Arrozes

15 Sunday Jun 2014

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The Spanish take their rice very seriously, and the other day I was discussing with a group of friends which their favourite rice dishes were, their favoured cooking methods, what variety of rice is best and should you include garlic and onions or not it? Can a good paella be made without rabbit? We all agreed, no.

It occurred to me that I had not shared any Spanish rice recipes with you. I am about to rectify that lack.
The one thing that all rice dishes here have in common, is that the rice is cooked in a flavoured liquid, and so the short to medium grain varieties of rice which absorb much liquid without disintegrating, are the ones used.
The best rice we all agreed is Bomba from Calasparra. The only rice cultivated here not at sea level, but in the flood plains of several rivers in the mountains where it grows slowly in the cool water, letting it develop lots of flavour. Consequently it is more expensive than other rice, but you get what you pay for.

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Cooking the rice outside on an open fire is unanimously the favoured cooking method preferred by my friends, although whether this is more to do with the atmosphere of gathering friends and family together and all pitching in with either ingredients to go in the rice or little starter dishes, rather than the actual flavour of the rice, I am not sure.

The paella illustrated above and cooked by my camera shy neighbour Paca, was made with rabbit, pork ribs, artichoke quarters and red and green peppers.

Obviously this method of cooking rice is not available to most of us, and is best suited to cooking for a good number of people, but that does not mean that a good paella for as few as one person cannot be successfully prepared in your own kitchen. The flavour of the fire can achieved by the addition of a pinch of good smoked pimenton or paprika.

There are as many paella recipes as cooks, and many are simpler and have fewer ingredients than the celebratory Paella Mixta with its several varieties of seafood plus chicken, rabbit, and pork ribs for the meat. I am going to start with my favourite which has as its two main ingredients, rabbit and butifarra sausage. The sausage is quite highly spiced, so if the butifarra is not available, use any other peppery sausage.

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PAELLA DE CONEJO Y BUTIFARRA
For Six
1 rabbit – cut into chunks with the bones in
1 Butifarra sausage of aprox 350 grams
1 onion – cut into small dice
1 red pepper cut into strips or small squares
1 -2 green peppers – cut into small squares
250 grams short grain rice – La bomba or any of the risotto rices
1 – 1.25 litres light stock
Saffron – 2 good pinches
Pimenton – 2 pinches
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.
300 grams French beans – cut into short lengths

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Peel the sausage, cut into quarters lengthways and then into thick slices.

Put into a shallow pan on a low heat for the fat in the sausage to render out. If you are using a very lean sausage, then add some olive oil in which to gently fry the sausage.

Add the onions and fry slowly until transparent.

Add the peppers and again fry slowly for about 10 minutes.

Add the rabbit pieces and fry turning from time to time until sealed all round.

Now add the rice and stir in to make sure that it is coated with all the fat and juices from the other ingredients. Fry for about five minutes to let the rice absorb the juices.

Crumble into the pan the saffron and add the pimento. Stir well.

Now add the stock. Start with about three quarters of the amount stated.

Bring to a simmer and keep the heat low. Cover and let cook for about ten minutes.

Stir the rice. Add the beans.

Add more stock if needed. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.

Leave to cook until the rice is cooked but still slightly firm in the centre and the stock has been absorbed.

Turn off the heat and leave the rice covered to rest for about ten minutes.

Serve.

Next time – Arroz Negro – Black Rice made with seafood and a hint of chilli………

Blue Cheese – Dressing, Mousse & Ice Cream

27 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by in Food for One, Sauces, Starters

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As I mentioned in the last post, I have been having a go at replicating the Blue Cheese Ice Cream that we were served atop a salad in Bodega Aranda and which was so delicious. I believe I have achieved success.

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As a basic recipe I started with one for a blue cheese salad dressing that I learnt from Pam Smith, when I was working at her Restaurante Sin Niumero in Mojacar many moons ago. It is so simple yet wonderful that I am surprised that it is not more widely known. All you need is blue cheese, thick or whipping cream and black pepper.

Then to adapt the recipe for mousse or ice cream the proportions of the ingredients are changed.

To make the salad dressing you need about one quarter volume blue cheese to three quarters cream. Put both in the food processor and beat until well mixed and the cream has started to thicken. Be careful not to overbeat or the mix may curdle. This happens very easily in the hot summer heat here. The dressing will further thicken in the fridge, so you can stop beating when the dressing is a little less thick than you want the end result to be.

Season with black pepper. There is no need for salt as the cheese will have enough in it already.

Store in the fridge until needed. It will keep for up to three days.

The mousse I like to serve with fruit to offset the sweetness of it. As fruit ripens on the farm, any that is not eaten fresh is preserved. Here I have pears poached in sugar syrup flavoured with cardamoms and saffron. They are put into sterilised jars when hot and then will keep up to three years if kept in a cool dark place. They then provide the basis for a quick and easy dessert.

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When I come to serve the pears, I drain off the syrup which I then reduce by putting it in a pan, bringing it to the boil and continuing to simmer it until it is thickened and viscous. Let it then cool then drizzle over the whole dish when serving.

For the mousse the proportion of cheese to cream is equal and I like to leave some texture to the cheese as you can see above. But if you prefer a smooth mousse then beat a bit more. If you are serving the mousse with fruit then the pepper is optional.

To ensure that the ice cream does not set too hard the choice of cheese is important. It needs to be a full fat blue cheese like Stilton, Roquefort or Cabrales. It is tempting to imagine that a soft cheese would give better results, but these have more water in them which freezes very hard.

The proportions again are half cheese half cream. Beat them together well. Season with black pepper and freeze.

When you come to serve the ice cream, you may need to transfer it from the freezer to the fridge half and hour to an hour before needed so that it can soften a little, it depends on the temperature of your freezer.IMG_0753

A reminder that the original salad we were served was Corn salad, Tomatoes, Pine Nuts, Walnuts and Raisins with the Ice Cream in a mound on top. The waitress then dressed the salad with Olive oil and sherry vinegar before cutting up the ice cream and then folding it gently into the salad.

For my salad, pictured at the beginning of this post, I replaced the corn salad with some mild Endive leaves and I lightly toasted the nuts to bring out their flavour. The coolness of the ice cream combined with the slight bitterness of the leaves and the warmth of the nuts was wonderful, even on a cold wet day like today, and would be even better on a hot summers day.

Bodega Aranda – Almeria City

11 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by in Fish, Food for One, Snacks and Tapas, Starters, Sweet Things, Vegetable Dishes

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After visiting the central market in Almeria we had worked up an appetite for lunch, and remembered that this ancient tapas bar was not far away.

Having installed ourselves at a table we asked the waitress to bring us a selection of what was good at the moment. She suggested the house salad, a couple of plates of fish and fried potatoes topped with broken eggs and the local made chorizo and morcilla. Perfect we said, not realising what culinary delights lay behind these simple descriptions.

The house salad arrived. Rich green corn salad, walnuts, pine nuts, raisins, and a halo of tomatoes surrounding a mound of blue cheese ice cream. The waitress had a small bowl of dressing – olive oil and sherry vinegar with seasonings – which she poured over the salad, then she cut the ice cream into pieces and gently mixed it with the salad.

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It was heavenly. I am working on a recipe for the ice cream – maybe have it perfected for the next post.

The fish course was next –

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Fillets of baby Cod and Smelts in light batter and fried served with the best Ajo Blanco I have ever tasted. You could taste the slight bitterness of the almonds, a hint of garlic that was not overpowering, the sauce was made smooth with bread and olive oil and balanced with white wine vinegar.

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Jureles en Escabeche. Escabeche is a way of mildly pickling fish. It is gently poached in a broth of olive oil, white wine vinegar and water which is flavoured with onions, peppercorns, saffron and bayleaves. Frequently smoky Pimenton is added as well, but in this dish of small fish it wasn’t needed.

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Next was the Potatoes with Chorizo, Morcilla and broken eggs.

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To finish the meal a succulent large date each, dark chocolate covered raisins and mint tea.

French Style Shepherds Pie

02 Saturday Nov 2013

Posted by in Food for One, Main Courses, Sauces

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????????????????????This recipe came to me from Jean-Jacques De Bruin many moons ago. Since then whenever there is any leftover lamb, or in this case goat, from a roast, it is my first choice of dish to make with the meat. In fact it is that tasty that I have been know to deliberately buy a joint bigger than needed so that I can make this dish a couple of days later.

This pie differs from the Anglo version in that the moisture is provided by a copious amount of onions with no added liquid. A sauce is served on the side and is made more piquant by the addition of capers.

FRENCH STYLE SHEPHERDS PIE

Cooked lamb or goat – cut into small cubes

An volume roughly equal to the meat of onions cut small

lamb fat or dripping or olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mashed potatoes to match the volume of meat and onions

Grated cheese for topping the potatoes

Having cut the onions, melt some fat in a shallow pan. If you have tasty lamb fat left from the roast, use this otherwise use dripping or olive oil.

Slowly fry the onions until starting to change colour to a light brown.

Add the meat cubes and stir to mix well. Season well.

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Continue cooking until the meat is hot.

Put the meat and onions in the base of a shallow ovenproof dish.

Top with the mashed potatoes and sprinkle with the grated cheese.

Put in a hot oven – 180 Centigrade – for half an hour or so until golden brown on top.

Meanwhile make the sauce. If I have gravy left from the roast, I start with this and add half a teaspoon of chopped capers per person. Reheat the gravy and capers, then add cream to enrich the sauce and add extra volume.

If you don’t have gravy, then you can make a classic caper sauce. I will warn you that this involves what seems a large amount of butter, but then it is so rich that you don’t need too much on your pie.

CAPER SAUCE – enough for about 4 people

1 Egg yolk

1 tablespoon vinegar from the capers

1 tablespoon water

100 grams butter at room temperature

2 teaspoons chopped capers

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Find a bowl that can fit into a saucepan without touching the bottom. Put boiling water in the pan to a level where the bowl sits into it by about a centimetre. Put onto a low heat.

Add the egg yolk, vinegar and water. Whisk to mix.

Cut the butter into small cubes. Add a cube to the egg yolk mix and a stir with the whisk until it is dissolved. Continue adding the butter a cube at a time and stirring until it is dissolved before adding the next.

Season with salt and pepper and add the capers. Keep stirring.

The sauce is ready when it is thick and glossy and warm.

Take the bowl out of the hot water with a tea towel and dry it underneath.

Pour the sauce into a warm sauce boat and serve with the Shepherds Pie.

Aubergine Salad & Exquisite Hummus

27 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by in Food for One, Snacks and Tapas, Vegetable Dishes

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This is one for the boys, namely George and Joe, who both love this aubergine salad recipe.

I have been making this salad for so long that I now don’t recall the origin of the recipe. It is equally good as a salad, or puréed in the food processor as a vegetarian pate.

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The herbs can be changed to vary the flavour depending on taste and what you have available fresh. In the master recipe I have specified Oregano, I also like Coriander or Mint.

AUBERGINE SALAD

2 largish aubergines

Half teaspoon cumin seeds

1 large or 2 small cloves garlic – finely chopped

2 table spoons extra virgin olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

Pinch of salt

Fresh oregano – finely chopped

Fresh chilli – finely chopped

Chives finely – chopped

I have found that the best way to cook the Aubergine for this is in the microwave, although you can roast them if you prefer.

Prick the Aubergine all over with a fork to prevent any explosions and put on a plate  in the microwave. Cook at full power for two minutes.

Turn over and cook for another two minutes.

Depending on the size of the vegetables and the power of you microwave they may now be cooked . They want to feel soft all the way through.

If they need a bit more cooking, turn them on their side and cook for another minute.

They can be turned to the other side and given another minute of cooking if you think that they need it.

Let cool until only warm and handleable.

Meanwhile toast the cumin seeds in a shallow thick based pan until they are slightly coloured and you can smell their aroma. Grind them and the salt with a pestle and mortar.

Once the aubergines are cool cut them into small cubes. I grow on the farm a variety of Aubergine called Gandia which has very thin soft skin, so I leave it on, but if the skin is tough remove it before cutting up the flesh.

Put in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

If you are making pate, put all the ingredients in the food processor instead and process to a purée.

Leave for an hour at room temperature for the flavours to develop with one another before serving.

HUMMUS.

A classic revisited.

hummus

Mass production has turned this dish into a bland cream, let’s get back to the super tasty dish that it started life as. The deep nutty flavour of the toasted sesame seeds blended with that of the chick peas should be the first to hit the taste buds, then the pungency of the garlic closely followed by the citrus sharpness of the lemon. If you like you can also add some finely chopped fresh coriander to add yet another flavour.

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1 jar or tin chick peas

2 cloves garlic – chopped

Grated rind and juice of a lemon – unwaxed if possible

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Picante paprika or pimenton

Put the sesame seeds in a shallow thick based pan and toast on a low heat shaking from time to time until light brown and giving off their distinctive aroma.

Grind to a paste with a pestle and mortar adding the olive oil to moisten as you go along.

Drain the chick peas from their liquid and rinse well to wash off the starchy residue.

Put in the food processor with the sesame paste, garlic, lemon rind and juice. Process to a paste – but not a smooth puree – leave some texture in the chick peas. Add more oil if it seems too dry.

Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Put in a small bowl with the paprika sprinkled over.

Serve with warm pitta bread.

Try hummus rissoles – add egg, then egg and breadcrumb or flour and fry