Here we are in December...

My goodness, here we are at the close of another year almost.  I can't believe it is only 10 days until Christmas.

So much has happened in the time since my last post, I went to New York for 6 weeks in mid September, having a wonderful time and even surviving Super Storm Sandy.  I arrived home and on November 6, my beloved Chihuahua Buster (Below), passed away, 2 days after my return home.  His older Brother, Nugget is just as devastated as I and merely a week after losing Buster to congenital heart failure, Nugget was rushed to surgery for a corneal (eye) ulcer.  He is doing great and, like me is starting to get back to feeling themselves after much sadness.

I didn't blog in New York, because, well I was having such a fantastic time eating my way around the city!  No, it was difficult as I was without laptop and to try and coordinate my photos/phone and borrowed iPad, I resolved to do some writing when I got home... Which as you may well understand, didn't happen.  I don't know how many people follow this blog or just stumble upon it, but it did feel strange to not write.  I felt like I wanted to share my feelings and what I was going through, but I was just feeling so numb I couldn't find the words - even to write about food.  So if my absence has been felt, please accept my humble apologies!

Now on with the food!

As it is Hanukkah and I am not Jewish, it made sense for me to make Latkes.  (If you know me, this makes perfect sense).  I think of Latkes as if a hash brown had a steamy relationship with a pancake (ie they fell in shallow fried love). 
 

I made these last night and served them with apple sauce and sour cream.  This is a really great recipe and I am really excited to share it with you.  It comes from the book 'Love and Knishes' by Sara Kasdan.  It was a gift from my recent visit to New York from my new favourite bookstore in the world, or Greenwich Village at least, Bonnie Slotnicks (163 W10th St NY, NY 10014)

I have a whole Bonnie Slotnicks blog I want to share, so I am just going to keep you salivating on that (cookbook aficionados you will love this place) while I get these Latkes out of the way.

Potato Latkes - (Pancakes)
Recipe from 'Love and Knishes' by Sara Kasdan

2 cups grated raw potatoes (measure after draining) ***
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1 rounded or heaping tablespoon flour or matzo meal (I used all purpose flour)
pinch baking powder (I was anal retentive and measured 1/4 tsp)
1 small onion grated - optional (I had a small french shallot in the fridge so I used that)

Combine all ingredients.  Mix well.  Drop pancake mixture by the tablespoonful onto a hot skillet generously greased with butter or shortening (I used olive oil). 

If you like thin, crispy pancakes, flatten with the back of a spoon.  Fry on both sides until brown.  Serve piping hot with sour cream, or with applesauce as an accompaniment to a pot roast.

*** When draining the potatoes, I grated them into a colander, set upon a bowl to catch the liquid.  I squeezed as much liquid out of the potato as I could, and reserved the liquid.  As I added the other ingredients to the potato, the starch in the potato water settled to the bottom of the bowl.  I poured off the reserved water and then added the starch to my potato mix.  I don't know why this is important but I read it somewhere or someone told me to do this  and it  has just stuck with me.

Happy Hanukkah!  (Don't worry Christmas, I'll get to you later!)

Until next time...

Kitty xx

Love for Love Apples

Even though I ran away to New York for the summer, I came home to a good yield of my home grown Heirloom tomatoes.  I have to admit, I didn't have so much luck with the larger Beefsteak and Moneymaker varieties, but the small cherry and plum tomatoes proved to be more successful, abundant and less prone to their skins splitting.  (If anyone knows what causes this, I would love to know).

I have planted out some Roma tomatoes which will hopefully give me a crop for early Summer so this is something to look forward to!

I just finished reading a lovely book, 'A Homemade Life' by Molly Wizenberg.  Anyone who likes food, or likes to eat should read this memoir.  I won't give the story away, I happened upon it through a recommendation in my Amazon.com list so purchased it blindly without knowing anything about the story and I must say, loved it.

What made me mention the book in this blog entry is because Molly includes a recipe for Tomato and Fennel soup.  I had never cooked a fennel bulb before in my life until a few nights ago when I decided to make this soup, so I approached it with a little trepidation.  My father is not a fan of fennel, in fact he is very vocal about how much he dislikes it!  Needless to say, he was in the back of my mind whilst making it.  The flavour is mild and not at all over powering of aniseed like I was expecting.  (Ha Dad!)  Overall I thoroughly enjoyed it and will certainly make it again.  The soup is good for a cool wintry night.  It is very hearty.  The tomato, onion and fennel are chunky, so be sure to have a hunk of good sourdough, or grilled cheese alongside for dunking (or a hunk to eat it with, I mean, what's better on a cold night?)

I was in a celebratory mood for no particular reason, (maybe a tomato high?  Who knows?) so made Insalata Caprese for a starter - Just because.  Even though I am a little lactose intolerant, what harm could a little fresh mozzarella do?  (Don't ask!)

Tomato Soup with Two Fennels - Molly Wizenberg, A Homemade Life

In this recipe, Molly uses 2 medium fennel bulbs, 4 cloves of garlic and 2 teaspoons of fennel seeds.  I tweaked it as I was a little scared of these amounts but if you would like to stay true to her recipe, go by those quantities, otherwise go with mine.

1 tbs olive oil
1 medium brown onion, thinly sliced
1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 cans whole peeled tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
pinch of sugar (to cut the acidity of the tomatoes)

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, warm oil.  Add onion and fennel and cook until the onion begins to soften.  Add garlic and cook, being careful that it doesn't burn for about 5 minutes over a medium heat.  Add thyme and fennel seeds and cook for around 2 minutes or until fragrant.  Add tomatoes, and crush them with the back of a wooden spoon (or alternatively a potato masher).  Add a cans worth of water and bring the soup to the boil.  Bring down the heat to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered for about 45 minutes.  If it seems a little thick, add more water.

You will know the soup is cooked when the fennel is nice and tender.  Season to taste. Adding a pinch of sugar will cut the acidity and add a nice sweetness.  Molly says to add a splash of red wine vinegar if the soup tastes a little bland, but I didn't find this necessary.

Remember this dish is more like a vegetarian stew, rather than a soup and makes enough to serve four. 


Insalata Caprese - by Me and a bazillion Italian Nonna's who I wish were mine :)

2 large, vine ripened tomatoes (at room temperature)
1 tub baby bocconcini cheese or 1 large ball of Buffalo Mozzarella
Olive Oil
Balsamic vinegar (this time I used white balsamic)
A small handful of fresh basil leaves
Salt and pepper

Slice tomatoes and cheese into thick rounds and arrange on your serving platter of choice.  Season liberally with salt and pepper (the tomatoes especially) and anoint with a good slug of good olive oil.  Add balsamic vinegar (I pour into a teaspoon and add it this way, so I have more control, otherwise it tends to just flow out of the bottle and everywhere you don't want it).  Scatter with basil leaves.  I like to let this salad sit for about 15 minutes before eating so that all the ingredients are at room temperature and soak up all the delicious oil and vinegar.  Serve with a nice crusty bread (or hunk as discussed previously)...

Do check out 'A Homemade Life'.  I know you will enjoy it as much as I did.  Come over for a cup of tea and a slice of cake and you can borrow it from me if you like :)

Until next time...

Kitty xx

Eggplant Parmigiana

Eggplant is a vegetable which I have fallen for hard the past few years.  However I would treat it with much restraint, using it only for stock standard Eggplant recipes such as Baba Ghanoush.  This was until a friend introduced me to the delicacy that is deep fried, crumbed eggplant.  Done right, you get a wonderful crisp crumb, and a lovely creamy middle which is snacking bliss!

To make this joyous snack into a delicious meal, I combine layers of crumbed shallow fried eggplant with lots of mozzarella cheese, my home made sugo, bake it for half and hour and voila! - Eggplant Parmigiana. 

It is so simple I hardly need to give you a recipe, but I will just so you can add it to your repertoire.

Parmigiana di Melanzane (Recipe by Rosa Matto from the book 'Italian Food Safari')

3 large eggplants
salt
plain flour
4 eggs, beaten
1-2 cups dry breadcrumbs (I add this step to the recipe as I like to crumb my eggplant.  If you are avoiding too much wheat, you can omit the crumb).
Olive Oil

Sugo
80ml olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
750ml Passatta (or 2 tins Italian tomatoes)
salt and pepper
1/2 bunch basil leaves

250g bocconcini or fresh mozzarella, sliced
100g Parmesan, grated

Slice the eggplant no thicker than 1cm.  Sprinkle the slices with salt.  Stack in a colander and weigh down with a heavy object.  Leave for 1 hour.  This step is really important as you want to get as much moisture out of the eggplant.  The salt will help draw out the moisture, along with any bitterness that the eggplant may have. 

Pat the slices dry and lightly coat in seasoned flour.  Dip into the beaten egg and then into your breadcrumbs.  (If you are not using breadcrumbs, leave out this step and just dip in the egg).  Shake off the excess and fry in hot oil until golden brown on each side.  Drain well on paper towel.

To make the sugo, heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic until soft.  Add tomato and bring to the boil.  Cook until slightly reduced.  Season to taste and add half of the basil.

Preheat oven to 180c.  Smear the bottom of a baking dish with sugo and add a layer of eggplant.  Dot with slices of bocconcini, a sprinkle of Parmesan and a few basil leaves.  Keep layering until you have used up all the eggplant.  Finish with a layer of sugo, and top with more cheese.

Bake for around 30 minutes, until the top is golden.  When cooked, allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

This dish is delicious with zucchini sauteed in olive oil and thinly sliced garlic, or steamed vegetables or if you are being really good, a nice green salad.  It is a great vegetarian alternative to meat lasagna.  I have served this to die-hard carnivores and no one has ever asked 'Where's the beef?'

Until next time...

Kitty xx

Toad in the Hole

Toad in the hole would have to be one of my all time favourite cheap eats for breakfast.  It is simple - a slice of bread, with a hole cut in the middle, fried in butter and a little olive oil.  Crack an egg into the hole, fry and sprinkle with salt, pepper and a dash of Tabasco.  I love the crispy buttery goodness the bread takes on from cooking it in butter and oil in a frypan... 

This breakfast is also a fond food memory of my childhood.  I remember my Mum and Dad making them for me as a kid and I always found it funny that the egg was called a 'Toad'.  To this day I still don't really know why, other than the fact that it is 'something' in a hole.  Why not call it a rabbit? or a mole?  With my addition of Tabasco, I am re-naming mine:

Fire in the Hole!

1-2 slices bread (pref rye or sourdough)
1-2 eggs (pref organic, cage free)
smidgen of butter and olive oil
salt, pepper and Tabasco sauce

Cut a hole in the middle of your slice of bread - freestyle it or use a small glass or cookie cutter.  Heat your butter and oil in a non-stick frypan.  Slide your bread into the pan and coat both sides with the oil and butter.  (Fry your 'hole' as well - no need to throw it away).

Crack your egg into the 'hole' and fry to your liking.  (If you like your egg runny, you may want to flip your bread to toast both sides before cracking in your egg).  Season to taste.

For my money it is a great breakfast for the weekend - especially when the pantry is looking a little scant and you wake up feeling like you ate a box of kitty litter.  With all the fast food establishments offering breakfast these days, it is a cheaper, home cooked alternative.  As for healthy, everything is OK in moderation.  I just have to resist the temptation to make 2 as a sandwich filled with bacon, lettuce and tomato... The possibilities are endless...

Until next time...

Kitty xx

Fajitas can be made from your pantry, not just a packet.

I used to really love a brand of 'make at home' Mexican food, available from the supermarket.  Without naming the brand directly, Marty Robbins sings about falling 'in love with a Mexican girl' in this 'Old' town... Get my drift?

Anyway because I have this weird aversion to preservatives and ingredients labelled with numbers I always try to find a way to make my own versions of the store-bought ones.  I usually find that the ones I make taste better.  The best part is that the ingredients are really simple - they use basic spices most people use often or have lurking in the back of their pantry anway.

I love Fajitas and these ones taste really light and are full of flavour.  I even lighten them up a little by using European yoghurt in place of sour cream.  They go really well with the corn salsa as well.  Enjoy!

Fajitas - Recipe inspired by Jamie Oliver - Jamie's Ministry of Food

1 tsp smoked paprika (or sweet paprika if you can't find smoked)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder (or more or less to taste)
pinch cayenne pepper (or more if you like it 'muy caliente!')
Olive oil
1 lime
1/2 red pepper, sliced into strips
1/2 green pepper, sliced into strips
1 medium red onion, cut into thin wedges
1 or 2 skinless boneless chicken fillets, sliced thinly
8 flour tortillas
small tub of European yoghurt

For the Corn Salsa
1 can corn kernels, drained and rinsed (or 1 cob fresh corn, nibblets cut off cob)
1/2 red onion, finely diced
pinch dried chili flakes
1 small Lebanese cucumber, peeled and de-seeded
1 avocado, peeled and diced
juice of 1/2 a lime
1 bunch chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)

Mix paprika, cumin, chili and cayenne together in a bowl.  Add enough oil to make into a runny paste (about 2 tbs should loosen it up enough).  Put chicken fillet slices into a bowl and pour over spice paste.  Mix thoroughly to coat well.  Put your frypan on high heat *do not add oil to the pan* add your chicken and cook for 5-6 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.  Add peppers and onion and turn along with the chicken, until the vegetables soften slightly.  Turn the heat off and squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lime.  Mix well and season to taste.  (The lime juice gives the chicken a nice twang and mixes with the juices to make a nice thick gravy).

For the Corn Salsa - Heat a frypan with 1 tbs olive oil.  Add corn, onion and chili and cook until onion is softened (about 5 mins).  Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 5 mins.  Add the juice of half a lime, along with the cucumber, avocado and chopped coriander.  Mix to combine. *This salsa, mixed with grated cheese makes a great filling for Quesadillas too.

Warm tortillas in a microwave oven or a warm dry pan.  Serve Fajitas with yoghurt and salsa.

Ole!

Until next time...

Kitty xx

Dulce Dulce Dulce!

Dulce = sweet in Italian.  Sweet things are not really what one should eat at lunchtime, but I like to make exceptions to the rule.  Plus, I didn't expect an experiment to turn into my lunch!

I think Winter is making me want all things naughty, nice and deep fried. 

I had some leftover ricotta cheese in my refrigerator, about half a tub.  Originally it was to make cannelloni or ravioli, but I used it to make the honeyed ricotta for my french toast. (See previous blog entry).  I was stumped as to what to do with this left over cheese...  

Ricotta Doughnuts sprung to mind.  I had never made them before and had no recipe so I did a little Internet searching.  There are many recipes out there for these doughnuts - but not so many for such a meagre amount of cheese.  I had to do much converting and a little experimenting - Here is the version I came up with.

Ricotta Doughnuts - Makes about a dozen small doughnuts 

125g ricotta cheese
30g castor sugar
2 small eggs (or 1 XL egg)
85g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Oil for deep frying
Few tsp castor sugar mixed with 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Heat oil in a small saucepan (about 2 inches of oil in pan).  Mix cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla together.  Sift in flour and baking powder.  Fold to make a smooth batter. 

Drop teaspoons full of batter into the hot oil.  Do not overcrowd the pan.  The doughnuts will initially sink to the bottom, then puff up slightly and rise to the top.  Turn and cook until golden. 

Remove from oil and roll in cinnamon and sugar.  Eat while hot!

This recipe easily makes enough doughnuts to satisfy a sweet craving for two people.  If dining solo, you can keep any left over batter in the fridge to make more later.

With a little further experimentation, I am sure this recipe would respond well to tweaks - like adding orange zest to the batter, or a chocolate or caramel dipping sauce to accompany... You are only limited to your own taste and imagination!

Until next time...

Kitty xx

Salt and Pepper Squid

This dish has been stalking me over the past week, I swear.  I have been out and about for lunches and brunches and breakfasts over my winter vacation and this entree has been popping up everywhere.  Even my cookbooks and food periodicals have been hinting at me to cook it.

Last night I gave in.  After purchasing a deliciously decadent 500g piece of rib-eye fillet (because I am a Cave Woman Carnivore), I went to the seafood section and purchased 2 squid tubes.

I am not much of a seafood eater, but I do enjoy calamari and cuttlefish.  I even like it 'sashimi style' - eaten raw.  It has a slight chewy cartilaginous texture which is lovely, and an almost 'nothing-whiff-of-the-sea' flavour.  But I digress.  I felt like a sinful little entree of deep fried squid before my meat and potatoes and that is exactly what I had.

The recipe is pretty simple.  Here is the MO for 2 squid tubes.

Salt and Pepper Squid - recipe adapted from 'Instant Entertaining' - Donna Hay

2 squid tubes, cleaned, scored and cut into 1 inch slices
1 tsp black peppercorns (or Szechuan peppercorns if you like the anaesthetic like buzz they give your tongue - if using these you will need to toast before grinding)
1 tsp sea salt (I use Kosher salt because I like the texture)
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
1/4 tsp Chinese five spice
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1/2 cup rice flour
Oil for frying

Heat oil in your frying pan. (about an inch should be enough) You will know it is hot enough when bubbles form around the end of a wooden spoon when submerged.

Put peppercorns, salt, chili flakes and five spice into a pestle and mortar or spice grinder and grind to a powder.  Set aside.  In a bowl, place rice flour and 3/4 of your spice powder and mix to combine.  In a separate bowl, lightly beat your egg white.

Add squid to egg white and toss to coat.  Transfer to rice flour and spice mixture and make sure you get good adhesion of the flour to the squid.  Shake off excess flour.

Gently drop squid pieces into the hot oil to fry.  Do not over crowd the pan, rather, cook in batches so the oil doesn't lose temperature.

Cooking time should only take about 30 seconds.  The squid pieces will curl up and go from slightly translucent to white.  Be sure not to overcook, as your squid will become rubbery and tough and no one likes that! 

Drain on paper towels and sprinkle over reserved spice powder and extra salt if desired.

A squeeze of fresh lemon juice really makes the flavour pop!

With my two squid tubes costing me a King's ransom of $2, a cafe/restaurant quality entree is never too far out of my reach.

Buon appetito!

Until next time...

Kitty xx