Beans 'n limes

And I don't mean Lima Beans. I actually mean beautiful flat beans with a herby lime sauce. These beans were advertised in the supermarket as "European beans". Sounds really fancy for a country bumpkin from Oz like me, but the fancy title also attracted a fancy price, at $9.99 per kilo...ouch. At least the limes have come down in price to $4.49 a kilo, instead of a ridiculous $1 each, which they were a while back, and let's face it, they're not quite the same size as a grapefruit are they? More like a Tom Bowler marble in fact.

The health benefits from the humble green bean are indeed extensive, noticably the high Vitamin K content, which contributes to healthy bones. Green beans are also an excellent source of vitamin C, and manganese. Plus green beans are a very good source of vitamin A (notably through their concentration of carotenoids including beta-carotene), dietary fiber, potassium, folate, and iron.The list goes on ......magnesium, thiamin, riboflavin, copper, calcium, phosphorous, protein, omega-3 fatty acids and niacin..phew. Do as your mothers often told you ..."eat your greens"!

As the summer herbs in my garden are nearing to an end, and mostly going to seed, I wanted to rescue the last few and use in this Saturday night dinner. There really isn't a set recipe, other than boil or steam the beans until tender crisp. Melt about a heaped tablespoon of butter in a pan, (depending upon how many beans you're cooking) add the grated rind of a couple of limes, along with their juice, cook gently for a minute or so, then flavour with garlic chives and parsley and a scant sprinkling of dried dill. I did add a sprig of winter savoury to the pot when boiling the beans as well. No salt, the herbs and lime add immense flavour to the often overcooked, soggy green bean.

They accompanied a crumbed chicken schnitzel and stuffed pontiac potatoes, also filled with chopped parsley, sundried tomatoes, spring onions and ricotta cheese, with a hint of homemade Sambal Oelek, a fresh chilli paste, which I'll post about later.


Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging attracts fantastic entries featuring herbs and fruits and vegetables every week, and Ramona from The Houndstooth Gourmet is the gracious host for this week.

Chicken Tikka with spicy onion relish

I'm not normally a big fan of Nigella. Whilst her recipes are quite good, her TV show annoys the crap out of me. Her oohs, and mmmm's and erratic camera shots are too much sometimes. But, I must give her a 10/10 for this recipe, which has become a family favourite. When served to guests, it often brings out the wimps as far as spiciness is concerned. When they're reaching for a cold drink, or a piece of bread, you know that it's too hot for them. The chicken itself is quite bitey, having been sitting in a yoghurt marinade, developing the flavours of coriander, garam masala and just a hint of chilli to tempt. The moorish part is the hot red onion relish, laced with the potent dried chillies and my favourite herb, coriander. I could eat a plate of this on it's own, washed down with an icy cold beer of course.

Chicken tikka with onion relish

4 chicken breast fillets
2 tbls unsalted butter or ghee
1 tsp vegetable oil
Steamed basmati rice, to serve
Lime wedges, to serve

Marinade
2 garlic cloves
5cm piece of ginger, peeled
2 small red chillies, deseeded
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1 cup plain yoghurt

Hot onion relish
2 small or 1 large red onion, finely sliced into half moons
1 vine ripened tomato, diced (remove seeds if you wish)
3 tblsp chopped fresh coriander leaves
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes, or to taste
Juice of 1 lemon

To make the marinade, process the garlic, ginger and chillies in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the remaining marinade ingredients and process again to a smooth paste.
Coat the chicken with the marinade in a wide shallow dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (or overnight).
Meanwhile, make the onion relish. Place the onion, tomato and coriander in a bowl, sprinkle over the chilli flakes and season with salt and pepper. Squeeze over the lemon juice and stir well. Allow to macerate at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

Let the chicken come to room temp before cooking. Melt the butter or ghee in a heavy pan and cook the fillets over a medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes, turning once, until cooked through. (Too high a heat will catch the yoghurt and burn).

To serve, place steamed rice with chicken on top, finishing with the red onion relish.


Weekend Herb Blogging, a weekly event founded by Kalyn is being hosted by Kel from Green Olive Tree

Mellow Yellow

Today is a day which marks respect for all women, International Women's Day, global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women. Zorra and fiordisale are inviting bloggers to post a yellow dish, food, drink or any consumable that is yellow in colour.

Lots of foods are yellow, of course the exotic saffron comes to mind, along with eggs, squash, bananas and of course lemons. I'm lucky enough to have an abundant supply of Meyer lemons, thanks to my parents, who have carefully pruned and nurtured their tree for nearly 40 years. I also have one growing in my garden , but it's still quite young, and struggling due to the ongoing drought.

I have preserved bags and bags of lemons. Why let them go rotten on the ground if you have too many? The uses for preserved lemons go way and beyond traditional Morrocan tagines. Add them to marinades, stuff fish or chickens with them, add them to a salsa verde. They are great with any pork dish, as they cut through the richness of the fatty meat. Another fantastic use is when making labna, by draining yoghurt overnight so it can be rolled into small balls, then roll the yoghurt balls into finely chopped preserved lemon, finely diced garlic and lots of chopped flat leaf parsley, and voila....you have a gremolata ball, which can be served with slow cooked or grilled lamb, kid and couscous or polenta. Very exotic.


I use simply lemons, sea salt and lemon juice. Cut lemons into quarters, not cutting right through to separate. Pack with a tablespoon of salt per lemon. Place into jar, pushing each lemon down tightly to reduce air pockets. Cover with extra lemon juice. Store in a dark, cool cupboard for at least 6 weeks, turning your jar upside down to distribute the salty juice.

Meet Mr. & Mrs. Tomato

I honestly don't know what was in the manure that I put into the vege garden this year, but most of my Roma tomatoes on one bush ended up shaped like this. Cute aren't they?


And as for the peppers! I forgot that I had purchased the miniature variety, let alone chocolate coloured. They were a real surprise.

Paad Thai - A noodle high

My girlfriend, M, and I often travel over to Western Australia, where she has 4 sisters and I have my brother to visit. I had the pleasure of staying with one of her sisters, along with her husband Nico Moretti, who runs a cooking school straight from their gourmet kitchen, overlooking their Bali inspired garden. I felt like I was at a resort, watching Nico prepare a platter of fresh fruit for breakfast to have with chocolate croissants and freshly squeezed orange juice. Nico has since written a cookbook, called Food for Friends, and of course I have a copy. The recipes are all very simple, not too fancy, but fancy enough to impress your audience.

I had made Paad Thai once before, but it was horrible. I’m obviously not a tofu person, sadly, and the recipe called for fried noodles. I may as well have served up a bag of rusty nails. It was disgusting. So I couldn’t wait to try Nico’s Paad Thai, as it had all of the authentic Thai ingredients (NO KETCHUP!) that I love – but minus the tofu. Please, if you can, find the tamarind puree. It's the magic ingredient in this dish.

There were many silent reservations when the family asked “what’s for dinner?”, because that first Paad Thai was indeed very memorable. After this version was presented, hopefully memories of that first ill-fated attempt at this wonderful Thai dish has been erased. Thanks Nico!

Zorra from Kochtopf is hosting Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging this week. This is Zorra's second time as a host for this event, and she has many other blog hosting events up her sleeve, with International Womens Day being her next inviting challenge.

Paad Thai

serves 6

CHICKEN AND NOODLES

1 x 375g packet rice stick (dried rice noodles), 5mm to 10mm thickness
250g finely sliced chicken breast (or sliced pork or peeled prawns)
2 fresh red chillies, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
11⁄2 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
1 stalk lemongrass, bottom 2-3 inches only, bruised and finely chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil

SEASONING MIXTURE

• 1⁄4 cup seedless tamarind purée (available fromAsian grocers)
• 1⁄4 cup warm water
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp palm sugar, grated or finely chopped
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 3 tbsp kecap manis (available from Asian grocers)
• 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
(place the above ingredients into a screw top jar or bowl and shake or mix to combine)

1 packet lightly fried tofu, cut into 1⁄3 inch cubes
3-4 spring onions, sliced in half lengthwise and then cut into
1 inch pieces
3⁄4 cup chopped roasted peanuts
2 stalks coriander (roots removed), chopped

GARNISH

2 cups bean sprouts
1 red chilli, finely sliced
2 limes, cut into 10 to 12 wedges
1⁄4 cup fresh coriander leaves

Bring a large saucepan full of water to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the dried rice stick . Allow to soak for 8-12 minutes, depending on thickness, until tender. Drain in a colander and set aside. Heat the oil over a medium heat in a wok or large frypan. Add the garlic, ginger, lemongrass and chillies and stir-fry until golden and aromatic.
Add the chicken and stir-fry until cooked through. (If you also want to include prawns, stir-fry them for 3-4 minutes, until cooked, then set aside and keep warm. You can add them later, at the same time as the tofu and peanuts are tossed through.) Stir in the seasoning mixture and spring onions, bring to the boil and simmer for about 1 minute. Now add the noodles and stir through (gently, to prevent them from breaking) until they are coated with the chicken and seasoning. Finally, throw in the peanuts, tofu and coriander and stir-fry for a further 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, transfer to a serving dish (or leave in wok to serve) and sprinkle with additional peanuts and chilli. Surround the noodles with bean sprouts, place lime wedges on the side and serve immediately.

a-roy!

Bountiful Coconut Chocolate Tarts

Marita Says, the deserved winner of last month's Hay Hay its Donna Day, has chosen simplicity as the theme this month, in the form of Coconut Chocolate Tarts. I love simple, I love chocolate with coconut and tarts are just so cute to look at. Congratulations also goes to Barbara from WinosandFoodies, who created this great event, as she renews her wedding vows today with her best friend and lover. I hope you both have a wonderful day.

Hmmm, chocolate and coconut screams of Bounty Bars. How simple is that? Tick. Now the hard part, because pastry frightens the hell out of me for some reason. How can I keep the pastry within the simplicity theme, and not have it taste like cardboard? Then I remembered an episode from The Cook and the Chef, where Maggie Beer made a sour cream pastry. It looked so simple and versatile, as it can be used for both sweet or savoury dishes. So Sour Cream Pastry it is. Only three ingredients. Simple. Another tick.

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cups (250g) plain flour
• 200g chilled unsalted butter, chopped
• 1/3 cup (80g) sour cream
• 125g milk cooking chocolate, roughly chopped
• 2 x 50g Bounty bars, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup thickened cream
• cocoa powder, to serve
• strawberry for garnish (optional)

Method

Place chocolate and Bounty bars into a small heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir with a large metal spoon, until melted and well combined. Remove from heat. Stir in cream. Place mixture into a bowl. Cover. Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours or until firm and thick.

For the pastry, process flour and butter using pulse button until the mixture resembles very rough breadcrumbs. Add ¼ cup of the sour cream and continue to pulse, adding rest of the sour cream if needed to bring dough together enough to feel it beginning to become a ball in the processor. Press the dough quickly and gently into a rectangle. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Roll dough on a lightly floured surface or between 2 sheets of baking paper until 4mm thick. Cut out six rounds to fit into 10 cm tart tins. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm.

Preheat oven to moderately hot (200°C/180°C fan-forced). Place aluminium foil and pastry weights into tart shells, and cook for about 12 minutes. The pastry will be flaky and about 2/3 of the way cooked. Remove foil and weights and cook for another few minutes until golden. With a clean tea towel, gently flatten pastry down whilst still hot, and then allow to cool.

Spoon chocolate mixture into pastry cases. Sprinkle with cocoa and pop a strawberry on top. Serve.

Bread Baking Day #7 =Flatbreads=Fougasse

Fougasse, pronounced FOO-gass, is a French flatbread typically associated with the Provence region, but also found in many other regions, differing in variations. Very similar to one of my all time favourites, the Italian foccacia, it is often slashed in a trellis pattern to resemble an ear of wheat or the tree of life. Well, my "branches" started off widely spaced with lots of room in between them, but once cooked, the branches had all reached out to each other and united in solidarity, a perfect simulation of the unpredictability of the tree of life itself.

Petra from Chili and Ciabatta is hosting this month's BBD#7, a monthly event created by Zorra, and has chosen flatbreads as the theme. I had a small amount of mashed potato left over from last night's dinner, so decided to incorporate that into a bread. "Waste not, want not" my mother always said. Originally an Aloo Paratha leapt into my head, but I kept hearing my overgrown rosemary bush calling to me in the breeze....pick me, pick me.

Potato Rosemary Fougasse

Ingredients

2 cups cooked mashed potato
1 ½ tsp yeast
1 tsp brown sugar
1 ½ cups warm water, divided (you could use the water the potato was cooked in)
5 cups all-purpose flour, divided (more or less depending upon your flour and humidity)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh or 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
2 teaspoons salt
Cooking spray

Preparation

Dissolve yeast and sugar in ½ cup of the warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Add 2 cups flour, mashed potato, oil, rosemary, and salt to the yeast mixture; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Stir in 2 ½ cups flour. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes); add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands.

Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 45 minutes or until doubled in size. Divide dough into two pieces, and roll or shape into an oval. Place on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Slash dough into desired pattern, gently pulling slits open, ending your slashes before you reach the edges of the dough. Cover and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 425°.

Uncover dough, and bake at 425° for 25 minutes or until browned. Remove from pan. Cool bread on a wire rack. Cut loaf in half lengthwise; cut each half crosswise into 12 pieces.

Chicken and pistachio terrine

On a gourmet food expedition last weekend, I happened to purchase a thin slice of chicken terrine, made by a local cafe, called The Pickled Sisters Cafe (what a great name!) from a little town situated in winery country, called Wahgunyah. They prepare gourmet picnic baskets to take along to the various wineries in the region, along with preserves, pickles, local cheeses etc. The ingredients were listed on the shrink wrapped package, and I knew I was going to really enjoy this. The recommended accompaniment was some peach chutney, so naturally I bought that too!

I wanted to recreate this dish myself, considering one small slice cost around $7.00, and there wouldn't be enough to share around, now would there? I was in luck when I found the recipe here, posted by the chef of the cafe herself.

This is so easy, and so delicious. And of course the peach chutney worked a treat with it. I altered the recipe slightly, using prosciutto instead of bacon. The herbs I chose were parsley, garlic chives and oregano. Lia from Swirling Notions is the kind hostess for Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging event.

Enjoy with a crisp white wine and some crusty bread.

You need:

1 kg diced free range chicken (thigh and breast meat)
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp chopped mixed herbs (fresh)
1 egg
1/2 cup pistachio nuts
1/2 tsp chopped lemon zest
salt and pepper
pitted prunes
prosciutto

Method:

Mix all ingredients - reserving prunes and bacon - and season.

Line a terrine mould with prosciutto and fill with the mixture to half. Dot prunes down the centre and top with the remaining filling.

Overlap prosciutto and cover with greaseproof paper and foil. Bake in a water bath at 180 C for 1 hour or until firm.

Serve with peach chutney! How simple is that?

Avocado & Tomato in Verjuice Vercotto Jelly

Sadly I've removed all but two of my tomato plants from the garden today, along with the zucchini's and all but one of the cucumber plants. Autumn is fast approaching, and I'm trying to hold onto the last tastes of summer for as long as possible.

This dish is an adaptation from Maggie Beer's Avocado in Verjuice Jelly. I've altered it only very slightly as I didn't have the full 375 mls of verjuice, which is made from the juice of unripened grapes, and has a tarty sour taste, but without the harshness of vinegar. To make up the full amount required in the recipe, I topped up the verjuice with a product which could be aptly named cousin of verjuice, called vercotto, which is a beautiful deep red colour, and has a stonger sweet and sour flavour. I probably only used about 30 mls of the vercotto. If using verjuice on it's own, the colour of the tomatoes and avocado stand out brilliantly, but I kind of like the deep port wine colour that this dish turned out to be.

Erin, from The Skinny Gourmet is kindly hosting Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging this week

Ingredients

375ml verjuice
1 sprig tarragon
1 large avocado
3 ripe but firm tomatoes – unpeeled.
3 sheets gelatin (6gms) for 1 big mould -if serving in 6 small moulds subtract a half leaf from the original.
Extra Virgin olive Oil
Sea salt flakes
Basil leaves
Freshly ground black pepper
Greens in season (lambs lettuce; rocket)

Method

Bring verjuice to boil and take off immediately, placing tarragon sprig in to infuse.

In a separate bowl, soak gelatine in cold water for approximately 5 minutes and then squeeze moisture out.
Add soft gelatin to warm verjuice and stir (off the heat) for the gelatin to melt.
It is essential that the verjuice be allowed to cool completely at this stage.

Dice tomatoes into cubes approximately 1cm squared and place in a bowl. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil and add 2 pinches of salt.
Peel avocado and dice into 2cm squared chunks and place into bowl. Drizzle with verjuice or lemon juice to stop oxidation and add pinch of salt.

If serving as a single dish rather than 6 small ones, choose a glass jelly bowl (approx 600ml) place a few leaves of basil into the base of the glass bowl. Next place avocado chunks spreading evenly around the bowl.

Strain the juices from the tomatoes and add on top of avocado.

Pour cool verjuice mixture into bowl.

Seal the surface with plastic wrap over top and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours (if in large bowl). If using smaller bowl, only 2 hours refrigeration required.

To turn out jelly of this size, stand in a bowl of hot water for 25 seconds. Then turn out onto a serving platter.

Zucchini Sott'Olio and Zucchini Soup

Do you kinda get the impression that zucchini's are taking over my kitchen? Well you would be 100% correct in that assumption. As much as I love them, I'm sick of trying to find ways to use them up before they expire.

This first recipe is from a General Practitioner in Melbourne, Pietro Demaio, who has written a book "Preserving the Italian Way". This book not only shows you how to preserve food, Italian style obviously, but it is also Peter's way of preserving his Calabrian heritage. I've only done this one recipe so far, but shortly the eggplants are going to bowl over the zucchinis, and this book will be invaluable, so I can enjoy the fruits of my labour well into the cold depths of the forthcoming winter.

Ulrike from Kuchenlatein, who, along with Kalyn, is famous for founding blog events, one being the very successful World Bread Baking Day, is kindly hosting this week's installment of Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging,

My method of pressing the zucchini's is somewhat unorthodox, making do with equipment I had on hand, so try to keep your laughter to a minimum please. The amount of moisture that comes out of zucchinis, pressed this way, is enormous.

I hope Peter doesn't mind me sharing this recipe.

ZUCCHINI SOTT'OLIO (or Zucchini in Oil)
1o garden fresh zucchini
5 cloves garlic
Table salt
500 mls white wine vinegar
4 tablespoons of oregano (I used my dried oregano instead of fresh)
Olive oil (extra virgin was my choice here)

Slice the zucchini into 3-4 mm slices.
Place slices into a container that has vertical sides (big enough to hold a plate with bricks on top).
Cover each layer liberally with salt and mix well.
Place a plate over them and then top with a weight of about 10 kgs, or 4 house bricks.
Leave zucchini under weights for 24 hours.
Remove the weights and drain the moisture from the zucchini.
Loosen the slices with your hands then pour on good quality white wine vinegar and mix thoroughly. Allow to stand for an hour. The zucchini will seem to absorb the vinegar.
Replace the plate and weights and press for another 12 hours
Again drain the excess vinegar.
Lastly squeeze the strips by hand and place in a bowl.
Mix the pickled and dry zucchini with chopped fresh garlic, home dried oregano and hot chilli to taste, either whole or finely chopped, and either fresh or dried.
Pour 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil into prepared glass jars.
Press the vegetables, garlic and herbs into the jars, adding a small amount of olive oil as you press down, to ensure that the oil is evenly distributed.
Finally, press firmly and cover with olive oil, ensuring that you have no zucchini above the oil level.
Check after 2-3 days to see if the oil needs topping up, as the vegetables will absorb some of the oil. Seal and store.

These stay very crunchy, and are a marvelous addition to any antipasto plate.

Well, that got rid of a couple of kilo of zucchini...now, only a couple more to go.

Keeping with the Italian theme, this zucchini soup is rich and decadent, with parmigiana reggiano and basil, adding brilliant flavour.

INGREDIENTS

1kg small green zucchini
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
4-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
¼ cup packed basil leaves, chopped
sea salt and black pepper
3 cups chicken stock
¼ cup pouring cream
1 tablespoon chopped flat leaf parsley
50g finely grated parmigiana reggiano
cream, to serve

METHOD

Cut zucchini lengthwise into quarters, then into 1cm pieces.

Heat extra virgin olive oil in a heavy based saucepan, add garlic, basil, chopped zucchini and 1 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste) and cook over low heat for 10 minutes or until zucchini is lightly browned and very soft.

Add chicken stock and simmer over medium heat for 8 minutes. Process zucchini mixture, in batches, until smooth, and then return to saucepan. Adjust seasoning to taste with sea salt and cracked black pepper.

Stir in cream, parsley and parmesan and cook over medium heat until heated through; do not boil.

Ladle soup among 6 warm bowls, drizzle with a small amount of cream. Serve immediately.

Simply spaghetti

Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging travels to Germany this week, to be hosted by Claudia from Fool for Food. I only wish my grasp of the German language extended beyond "dunkeshein" , "guten tag" and "gesundheit", so I could enjoy some of her wonderful looking recipes.

Spaghetti marinara is my chosen dish this week, and apart from the obvious parsley sprinkled throughout, you're probably wondering what seafood and pasta have to do with blogging about herbs and vegetables. Well...the recipe called for a jar of roasted tomato, garlic and onion pasta sauce. I didn't have any, but I had lots of homegrown tomatoes, several garlic bulbs and of course onions. Roasting the tomatoes brings out their rich, sweet flavour, and of course roasted garlic is just the most delicious tastes I can ever imagine. Once roasted and caramelised, I blitzed them all together in the food processor. This made a thick, almost puree-like sauce, just perfect for adhering to the pasta and seafood mix. You could add some olive oil to make this paste more like the consistency of sauce, or even some tomato paste for extra colour and flavour.

Spaghetti Marinara

375 g dried spaghetti
2 tblsp Chilli oil
450 g fresh seafood marinara (or frozen but fresh is best)
737 g bottle of oven-roasted garlic, onion and tomato pasta sauce
1/2 cup of flat leaf parsley
Lemon wedges to serve
Garden salad to serve

Method

Cook pasta in plenty of salted boiling water until tender but still firm to the bite. Drain well and return to pan.
Meanwhile pre-heat a large non-stick frying pan over moderate heat, add chilli oil (you could use plain EVOO if chilli's don't agree with you). Add marinara mix, cook stirring for one minute. Remove from pan.
Add sauce to pan, bring to boil, add marinara mix and simmer, stirring for 3 minutes or until seafood is tender. Remove from heat, stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper.
Add marinara mixture to hot pasta. Toss lightly to combine. Serve with lemon wedges and a garden salad.

Shaped Breadbaking Day #6

Zorra from 1x umrühren bitte is the creator of the monthly Breadbaking day event, and the theme for this month chosen by Sweet Sins, is shaped bread, so I'm submitting Pane Siciliano from Peter Reinhart's book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

This is one of the best tasting breads I've ever made, on par with the Pugliese, and I think it's the high percentage of durum flour that gives it such a unique and beautiful flavour.

The loaves take 3 days to make unfortunately, but they are well worth the effort. Some say that the last overnight retardation in the fridge after they are shaped, is not necessary, but why settle for less flavour?

Shaping loaves can be quite difficult, and lots of practice is sometimes required, however shaping Pane Siciliano is so easy. Divide the dough into three pieces and shape each piece as you would a batard. Then coil each end simultaneously, but in the opposite direction, toward the centre to make an "S" shape. Much easier than trying to say "pane siciliano" after a couple of glasses of wine!

I'd run out of sesame seeds for these loaves and only had nigella seeds to sprinkle on top, which were not as complimentary to the bread as the sesame seeds are.

The bread is chewy, the crust has a slight crunch, and it's superb with a soft cheese such as brie or camembert.

Pane Siciliano recipe can be found here at Google Books.

Fig frenzied filcher

Yesterday, I have to admit it, I was a very bad, bad person.

It all started whilst having a coffee at a little country cafe, under the shade of a massive fig tree. The figs were fresh, abundant and sadly just outer skins as the birds love them so much. I had a sudden craving for fresh figs. Sadly the owner of the cafe didn't offer me any, and the coffee was only so so. On leaving though, there was a yellow plum tree, groaning with ripe juicy plums, and just at the right height for me to sneakily pick one. That'll teach the cafe owner a lesson for not offering me some figs. I'll just nick a plum instead to make up for it. Trying to be discrete as possible, I quickly picked a plum, and bit into it nonchalantly, only to have another plum fall onto my head. So much for being discrete and unnoticeable. Unfortunately my husband noticed, and said it served me right for stealing.

Those figs were the foremost thing in my mind. Meanwhile, we came upon Harry's Vege Patch. I met Harry three years ago on a flight home from Athens to Melbourne. Harry is Italian, and even though he lives in Melbourne, he has a patch of ground "up the bush", as we call it, to plant his veges, escape from the city, and make a couple of dollars on the side as well. It was a nice opportunity to catch up with Harry again and buy some of his potatoes ("good for gnocchi" he informed me), some peaches and some nectarines. Then onto a berry farm where I purchased 2 kgs of frozen raspberries. I was about 3 weeks too early for the Autumn crop, but I can still put the frozen berries to good use. Ice cream comes to mind.

Heading closer to home, I couldn't get off the subject of figs. I was obsessed with the fact that amongst my booty of fruit and veg, there was not one fig. That is, until my husband took a slight detour, pulled the car into what looked like a bus depot (being Sunday luckily it was closed) and said "There". I couldn't believe my eyes. A massive fig tree groaning under the weight of ripe figs. I was out of that car in half a second returning back only to scrounge for a bag or receptacle of some sort, and proceeded to behave like a frenzied female fig filcher.

Now you're probably thinking this woman is a total thief, as well as a lunatic. I must defend myself here, Your Honour, and state that I never had to climb a fence, use bolt cutters or force entry of any sort. It was broad daylight, I wasn't wearing a balaclava and the tree was just there. I did however attract a toot from a passerby; I'm not sure if it was a gesture of country friendliness or he was tooting because I was stealing. And I did feel quite guilty, but not for long.

Especially when the figs were served with prosciutto, Parmigiano Reggiano, fresh rocket (aragula) from the garden, and drizzled with a balsamic vinaigrette. Teamed with dukhah crusted BBQ lamb and a glass of prosecco, that guilt I was feeling earlier went straight out of the window.



Fresh Fig and Prosciutto Salad

8 ripe figs (don't refrigerate them)
1 bunch of rocket
Extra virgin olive oil to taste
Balsamic vinegar
Squeeze of lemon juice
8 slices of prosciutto
freshly shaved Parmigiano Reggiano, to serve

Cut the figs in half and then toss with rocket in a bowl. Dress with a vinaigrette of 3-4 parts olive oil to 1 part balsamic vinegar. Add lemon juice to taste. Divide evenly among 4 plates, then drape over two slices of prosciutto. Top with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano and serve immediately.

Slice of heaven

Round #17 of Hay Hay it's Donna Day closes today, with Joey from 80 breakfasts choosing the theme of pizza. My family thanks you, Joey. They rarely have pizza for a Saturday lunch, and if they do, it's normally left overs from Friday night, a la cardboard.

Pizza's are a passion of mine. I'm forever searching for that elusive crust, that OMG crust, that crust that is forever memorable. Well today I think I found just that crust. I normally like to rest the dough overnight in the fridge for a flavour boost, but this crust doesn't need that, plus I wasn't that organised. More importantly, the preparation time needs to be minimal, considering the record time in which the final product is demolished, I mean devoured.

Here is my take on a Pizza Margherita, named after Queen Margherita of Savoy, and is supposed to have all of the colours of the Italian flag. Bit like the Caprese salad...hmmm Caprese Pizza maybe?


Pizza Dough

1 1/4 tsp yeast
1 cup (8 oz) water at room temperature
1 3/4 cup (14 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface and peel
1 cup (8 oz) cake flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar

I just plonk all of the ingredients into my KitchenAid and mix for about 7-8 minutes.
Turn dough out into an oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled.
I never roll the dough, I just poke my fingers gently into it until it reaches the desired shape.
Heat oven to 450 degrees F or as hot as it will go.

Topping

4 large, ripe and juicy tomatoes, diced
2 cloves of minced garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
Bocconcini (or you could use sliced mozarella)
Grated parmesan
Extra olive oil for drizzling
Basil leaves

Finely chop the tomatoes, add garlic and a drizzle of olive oil, and marinate for at least 30 minutes. Drain tomatoes, add to pizza dough, add sliced bocconcini or mozarella, grate parmesan cheese over the top and cook in oven until crust is browned on the bottom, and cheese is bubbly.
Place basil chiffonade on top and drizzle with more olive oil.

Slice and enjoy

And have a great Australian Day to all the Aussies out there!

Spicy tomato jam

Want to start your day with a bit of zing? Try this jam for breakfast...yes, that's right, breakfast. It teams beautifully with parmesan toast and bacon. Over the summer holiday break, I had the daunting task of cooking breakfast for 7 people all at once. Trying to co-ordinate 14 eggs with 14 slices of toast was not my idea of fun. So I cheated by dipping the bread into beaten eggs mixed with cream, chopped chives and parmesan, and doing a french style toast with bacon and tomato jam on the side. Impressive and oh so tasty.

This is so good, I had to make another batch this week, and it's a great way of using up the influx of tomatoes that summer time brings.

Tomato Jam (makes 4 cups)
1 kg tomatoes
I onion, finely chopped
1 long red chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped
2 cups (440 g) caster sugar
1/4 cup (60 ml) lemon juice
2 cups (500 ml) tomato juice
1/2 cup finely chopped basil or flat leafed parsley leaves

Method
Cut a small cross in the base of each tomato. Place tomatoes in a large heatproof bowl and pour boiling water over to cover. Leave for 30 seconds, drain and remove skins.
Place tomatoes in a food processor and pulse to crush, but do not puree.
Transfer tomato mixture to large saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes or until thickened.
Add the onion, chilli and sugar, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
Stir in the lemon juice and tomato juice, and bring to a simmer.
Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 35 minutes or until thickened.
Skim foam from surface and discard.
Cool slightly, stir in the basil or parsley, then chill for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight, before using. Season to taste.


Anna from Anna's Cool Finds is hosting Kalyn's Kitchen Weekend Herb Blogging this week. Have a look at her impressive list of entries that she has submitted to this great event since it started.

Rémy does ratatouille

I'd love to have Rémy living in my hair, just to guide me through some difficult culinary moments, but as I have a severe aversion to rodents of any sort, I'll have to rely on my favourite Australian "cook", Maggie Beer. If you haven't seen the movie Ratatouille, it's a must see for any foodie out there. I laughed, I nearly cried, but mostly I envied Linguine for having such a valuable teacher by his side. My kids thought I'd really lost it this time, watching a kids movie. But hey, I loved Shrek too, so no big deal.

Maggie's version of ratatouille is modeled on the traditional French style of slow cooking, until all of the vegetable flavours meld together until they have lost most of their shape, developing luscious juices. Served as a side with roast lamb (which I'm having tonight), it's Maggie's way of sitting down with friends to enjoy a summer evening, without having to rush around in the kitchen. Now that's my kind of Sunday night.

Ratatouille

3 eggplants cut into 3 cm cubes

Salt

½ cup olive oil

2 onions, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

3 red peppers, seeded and cut into cubes

6 small or 3 large zucchini, cut into 3 cm cubes

A few coriander seeds, crushed

4 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

Freshly ground black pepper

Freshly chopped parsley, or torn basil

METHOD

Place eggplant on a tray and lightly sprinkle with salt. Cover with foil and press lightly with weights for an hour. Wipe off moisture with a paper towel or clean tea towel, and drain juices.

Heat oil in an enamelled cast-iron casserole in which the finished dish can be served, and sauté onion until limp and golden. Add garlic, red pepper and eggplant, then cover the casserole and cook gently on stovetop for 40 minutes. Add zucchini, coriander seeds, tomato and a grinding of black pepper and cook for a further 20 minutes until vegetables are tender. Stir in parsley or basil and adjust seasoning. Serve either hot, warm or cold.

Kalyn, from Kalyn's Kitchen has nominated Rinku from Cooking in Westchester to be the host for this weekend's event.

Mon dieu, Écouter..Say no more

Pomegranate, feta, cucumber and mint salad

There are exactly 840 seeds in a pomegranate. I didn't know that, which probably explains why it took me nearly a whole morning to extract each jewel separately and eat them one by one when I was a small child. We had a pomegranate tree growing near our front gate, where I would sit for hours patiently waiting for my older brother and sister to come home from school, just so they could "play schools" with me, much to their protests. Red stained fingers, mouth and clothing were part of my everyday appearance back then. And unbelievably, I never had a pomegranate again, that is until last night. The Persian fruit has now come back into vogue, after all of these years, probably due to the newfound health benefits of the juice, with the same antioxidant benefits as red wine, assisting in curbing the progression of fatty deposits on the artery walls.

In my planting frenzy in late spring, for some reason I felt that I needed to plant 3 cucumber seedlings. I have no idea why I did such a stupid thing, because now, along with the zucchinis, I have more than I can possibly use. As much as I love fresh, crunchy cucumbers, you can only eat so many. I have the liberty of picking them when they are small, because there will always be at least another dozen ready the next day.

So a Middle Eastern themed salad is created - pomegranates originating from Persia, creamy Persian feta and beautiful purple/red sumac.


Pomegranate, feta, cucumber and mint salad

2 pomegranates

200g feta (Persian if you can find it)

2 Lebanese cucumbers, diced small

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

1/3 cup mint leaves, roughly chopped

1/3 cup coriander leaves, roughly chopped

2 tsp sumac (optional) - a middle eastern spice which imparts a tangy citrus flavour

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

3 tbsp extra-virgin

olive oil

Salt

Method

Break open pomegranates and remove seeds. Crumble feta into largish pieces. Combine seeds, feta, cucumbers, onion and herbs in a large bowl.

To serve

When ready to serve add the sumac, vinegar, oil and salt and toss to combine. Best served cold.

If anyone has any tips on how to get pomegranate juice stains out of a white blouse, I'd be grateful to hear from you. Seems I have done a full life circle again!

Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging is kindly hosted this week by Vani from Batasari. Check out her blog for some great Indian dishes.

The new year brings....ZUCCHINI'S

Phew! What a hectic holiday break. And of course I never did get around to doing everything I wanted to, like culling my magazine collection, *cleaning out the pantry, having a weedless garden and learning to take photos on my new DSLR (thank you Santa!!). However, it was a great family time, even catching up with my brother, who "dropped in" unexpectedly from Western Australia, so lots of yarns, drinks, sightseeing, lunches, dinners etc were enjoyed. I haven't even cooked a meal for nearly a week! And whilst I've been out and about socializing, the zucchini's have been having a lovely time multiplying and multiplying and multiplying. I shouldn't complain though, as I expected them to do so in this 40 degree heatwave we've been enduring, but it's a sure fire way of making your neighbours avoid sticking their heads over the fence for a chat whilst you're harvesting zucchinis. They're strangely nowhere to be seen.

Fortunately there are bazillions of recipes in ways to use zucchini, but as I'm at the burnt out stage (read that as holiday lazy), a simple zucchini slice to send with my brother on his trip across the Nullaboor desert was all I could manage today.

The oils in my pantry ranged from EVOO through to advocado, herbed flavoured, peanut...but not one drop of vegetable oil. I did, however have a bottle of Carotino Oil , made from red palm and canola oil, lodged at the back of the shelf, which I forgot that I had (*that happens a lot with my pantry items). It's full of Omega 3 fats, lots of vitamins and is a beautiful colour. Just perfect to jazz up a plain old zucchini slice, and good for you too.

Zucchini Slice (from Delicious Magazine)

Ingredients (serves 15)

• 5 eggs
• 150g (1 cup) self-raising flour, sifted
• 375g zucchini, grated
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 200g rindless bacon, chopped
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 60ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil - (or Carotino Oil)
  

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line a 30 x 20cm lamington pan.
2. Beat the eggs in a large bowl until combined. Add the flour and beat until smooth, then add zucchini, onion, bacon, cheese and oil and stir to combine. Pour into the prepared pan and bake in oven for 30 minutes or until cooked through.

Hopefully, Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen has utilised her well deserved rest better than I have, as she's launching and hosting the first Weekend Herb Blogging event for 2008. Her roundups are always a pleasure to read and enjoy.

The Best of 2007

Decisions, decisions....especially at this time of year when my brain is fogged trying to decide what perfect gifts to give, along comes Zorra and Sandra with a fabulous event, inviting one and all to submit a mind blowing recipe that moved the world for them in 2007. You know, that OMG reaction?

Whilst not every thing I prepared this year was in that "incredible" category, most of it was good, even stuff that was on the more risky side, like Tamarillo chutney or Chickpea Fritters. New tastes and textures crossed our tongues on numerous occasions in the past year, things I would never have even dreamed of cooking a couple of years ago, thanks to the myriad of fabulous food blogs that abound the www.

One of the most "Googled hits" I have received this year was for the great Aussie Meat Pie, which was posted as "4 & 20 Blackbirds baked in a Pie". I'd like to think that the number of searches for this phrase was the world craving for an Aussie Pie, but maybe there are just a lot of people who don't know the words to the nursery rhyme. When I first made these pies, they definitely were a gustatory joy. I now make them on a regular basis to load into the freezer for the quick winter lunch, and even though they're still fabulous, I had to really fight the demons in my head and opt for this recipe instead.


The Chervil and Egg Custard Tart with Tomato and Capsicum Salsa was chosen probably due to it's versatility (and of course flavour). It can be served with a green salad for a light lunch, or sliced into bite sized fingers to have with drinks. Any left over custard can be used to fill mini quiche shells as well.


With only two sleeps to go, I wish everyone a very happy Christmas and hope to be back in the New Year.