Friday 21 August 2015

Friends for lunch, plus 2 Border Collies.

Four for lunch yesterday,and I cooked what I thought was loads of food 
Rare beef, on  the griddle, done the night before ,and sliced thinly just before lunch, 
then I did a Peperonata, red peppers, onions, garlic and tomatoes coked until the tomato juice was thick
 Caponata, the Sicilian dish which has aubergines, celery, onions, tomatoes, black olives, sultanas,capers and pine nuts, the liquid coming from Cider vinegar and a little sugar, so that it is sweet and sour .
I griddled some yellow and green courgettes,and drizzled  over a walnut pesto ,a change from pesto Genovese. 
Some roasted carrots and beetroots, with a cumin ,salt and oil base, then 10 minutes before  they are fully cooked ,a honey and lemon juice dressing is poured over ,that caramelises the vegetables. Soft goats cheese,plenty of chopped dill and Higella seeds finish off the dish,which can be found in Persiana,my newest cookery book.
Spinach, avocado,bacon and blue cheese was another salad ,
and finally my favourite palate cleanser, lightly cooked mange tout and raw cucumber slices  with Sesame oil and salt. 
A Foccacia,which was a but thin,since  I stretched it to fit a large tin, ( should have used more flour) my fault,as I never weigh the flour ,just tip in what I think will be enough! 
Then after cheeses ,and coffees , with homemade chocolates ( you see what special friends they are,) we had an ice cream ,made with whipped cream, some Greek Yoghurt, crumbled meringues and a little icing sugar to taste ,and with a good slug of KirschWasser, which has been hanging around far too long in the cupboard. Fresh raspberries, stewed apricots if required,or eaten just as it is. 
Not much left  to speak of, and No pictures  

Saturday 15 August 2015

My Saturday morning.

Anyone who reads this blog will know by now that I am a waste not cook, so today I was looking at some smoked mackerel pâté ,which lurked in the fridge. Too much to throw out, so what can I do with it?
Answer. To make a tapenade, but with slightly different ingredients.
 Black & green olives obviously, then some grainy mustard, a couple of Cornishons, some capers,garlic and parsley.a slug of oil,and the smoked mackerel pâté, but the extra ingredient has been some of my chilli in vinegar ,in fact the tail end of a pot! The colour is paler than the usual tapenade, but it tastes reasonable enough. 
I have also made 3 jars of Apricot jam ( the fruit is such good value in Lidl) ,
plus some ,Peperonata  and then a big pan of Caponata, some of which I had with a little broccoli for my lunch .
Very Sicilian!