Cauliflower Pakoras – Ottolenghi

After a recommendation from an ANTW reader, I made these last night and they were wonderful. Should have perhaps made half the amount of mixture but it means we can enjoy them for a second night. Plus they have no dairy which is good for all kinds of people and the vegetables stay really crunchy and delicious. I didn’t use nearly as much oil as it says in the recipe, it doesn’t need it, and I used Rape Seed Oil rather than Sunflower. Great with plain yoghurt and mango chutney.

Cauliflower pakoras

Although fried, these snacky treats are light in texture. Makes about 25.

150g chickpea flour
100g plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp ground cumin
100g green beans, cut into 1cm pieces
1 medium cauliflower head, roughly chopped (400g net weight)
2 green chillies, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
30g ginger, peeled and chopped fine
30g coriander leaves and stems, chopped
30g spring onion, trimmed and sliced thin
1 tsp coriander seeds, toasted and lightly crushed
10 fresh curry leaves (or 20 dried ones), finely chopped
300-400ml sunflower oil, for frying
200g Greek yoghurt
Salt

In a large bowl, mix the first six ingredients. Make a well in the centre and slowly pour in 350ml cold water, stirring just to combine; the batter can be a bit lumpy. Add all the other ingredients bar the oil and yoghurt, plus a teaspoon and a half of salt. Stir gently to combine and set aside.

Pour oil into a large frying pan to come 1.5cm up the sides and put on medium-high heat. Once hot, scoop in a large spoonful of batter and fry for 90 seconds to two minutes on each side, until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain on kitchen paper and keep warm while you cook the rest in batches. Serve warm with yoghurt.

Absolutely Nothing To Cook : The Key To Key Lime Pie, by Micki Myers

One of the most glorious food items that gets utterly ruined when people try to mass market it is Key Lime Pie. One of the biggest food faux pas is when people mistake or knowingly substitute your regular green limes for key limes, which are not the same thing at all. The key lime is a tiny thing, the size of a cherry, and looks like a yellowish-mottled kumquat. Its flavor is far less tart than its Hulkier cousin, too — instead it is sweet yet piquant, with none of the bitterness of a lemon. The pie made from it is designed especially to showcase this lovely citrus flavor, and is well worth making.

First, you’ll need to zest and squeeze 20 or so key limes. Use a plane zester and an old-fashioned glass squeezer upon which you can palm each half lime. I find myself giving it a quick press and then pinching the spent skin over the glass knob to finish it off. I also take my time, alternating with other chores; try to do them all at once and you’ll bugger up your wrist something chronic.

Make a graham cracker or biscuit crumb base. If you’re American this means zapping graham crackers in a food processor (or just buying it already crumbed); if you’re British it means doing the same with Digestive Biscuits. Mix with the melted butter and sugar, press into a tin, and bake for 5 minutes or so until it’s firmed up a bit.

Mix the zest in a bowl with the egg yolks and lime juice, then add the condensed milk. A tin of condensed milk out to be a pantry staple for emergencies. Be sure to use a spoon to scrape every last succulent, sugary drop of it from the tin rather than simply diving after it with your tongue.

You’ll have a luscious, pale custard. Pour this into the biscuit base, set the whole thing onto a baking sheet, and pop in the oven for 15 minutes until the heat has had a chance to work its magic on the eggs. It will still seem a bit too wobbly when you take it out, but that’s OK — the next step firms it up. Once it has cooled to room temperature, put some cling film over it and pop in the fridge for a couple of hours.

The finished pie will be diminutive in height, and a luxurious creamy color flecked with bits of pale green zest. Cut small slices; this baby’s rich.

If there’s any left, refrigerate until midnight, then sneak out of bed and polish it off.

RECIPE:

Crust: 14 graham crackers or digestives, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup melted butter

Custard: ½ cup lime juice, two egg yolks, 1 14oz can condensed milk

Regular cake tin; moderate oven, cold fridge.

Absolutely Nothing To Eat : Linguine with Tomato and Capers

It may not sound like the stuff of culinary revolutions but this is just about one of the best spaghetti dishes I’ve ever made. It was the happy result one of those can’t be bothered, far too tired sorts of dinners. After being monumentally let down by Rico’s Pizza Shack (the most delicious wood fired pizzas served from a travelling food truck…which didn’t show up) I had to resort to something quick and tasty from a very empty fridge.

What I did have was a tin of tomatoes, a jar of capers, 2 lonely looking cloves of garlic, some fresh herbs, a packet of Linguine and ta-daah…it was delicious.

Put a spash of olive oil and some butter in a large frying pan, throw in the crushed garlic and a handful of chopped rosemary and thyme. Cook it for a minute but don’t let the garlic go brown. Add the tin of chopped tomatoes and a couple of teaspoons of capers (the small ones) or as many as you fancy. Stir it all together and cook on a medium-ish heat. I added a tiny bit of salt and some ground black pepper. I also stirred in a teaspoon of sugar but you can use balsamic vinegar or something similar if you prefer…and you have it in the house. Cook for 10 minutes or so until the liquid from the tomatoes has evaporated a bit and the whole thing looks dark and rich. It really doesn’t take long. Cook your Linguine (or Spaghetti…it doesn’t matter a bit) as normal and drain. Just before combining it all together, stir a couple of teaspoons of creme fraiche to the tomato sauce and some torn basil leaves. Add the spaghetti to the frying pan and mix it all together so every single strand is covered. Serve straight away with some more fresh basil leaves to make it look pretty.

Sorry my spaghetti photo is a little blurry – I was hungry.

Absolutely Nothing To Cook : Anniversary Red Onion Tarte Tatin

Last night I made something sweet for our 6th “sugar” wedding anniversary. This was the first thing I ever cooked for my now husband, Jay Jay. He rather romantically remembers it as the evening he fell in love with me…..the cynic would perhaps add that he was single, hungry and living with his Mum.

It’s a pretty easy recipe and very delicious but it does take a bit of time. When cooking it yesterday, I was reminded of a time when I too was single, without children and had literally HOURS to spend reading recipe books and cooking lovely things. This time around it was all a bit of a rush and we ate rather late.

So here it is, the basic recipe is from a book called Notting Hill Cookbook by Carina Cooper which is far from being one of the greatest cook books ever written but this tart makes it almost worth while. Really it’s just an apple tarte tatin but made with onions instead of fruit. There are variations on this recipe all over the internet so you may well find an easier one – I stuck with my original for reasons of sentiment, but also added thinly sliced goats cheese and a little bit of rocket to make it look pretty.

The main part of this recipe is taken straight from the pages of Carina’s cookbook – the words in itallic are my own additions and interpretations.

Ingredients :

About 900g baby or small red onions, peeled

25g unsalted butter

1 tbsp olive oil

2 1/2 tbsps sugar – I only used 2 teaspoons as I was making a smallish one….which was more than enough sugar

Salt

A few sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped finely

black pepper

Pack of ready made All Butter Puff Pastry (use as much as you need)

What you do :

You need a heavy cast iron frying pan for this or just one which can go in the oven.

Preheat oven to 220 C / gas mark 7. Melt the butter in a frying pan on the hob and add the olive oil. Add the onions making sure they fit cosily in one layer – I cut them in half and put the flat side down to begin with. Sprinkle with the sugar, salt and rosemary. Turn the onions until they are slightly caramelised and then add water up to the top of the onions.

I end with the onions on their rounded side down before I add the water.

Bring the onions to simmering point and then let them cook until all the liquid has evaporated (about 10-15 mins) leaving a lovely sticky glaze.

Roll out your pastry thinly to fit the top of the pan and then lay it over the onions and tuck it down snuggly round the edge of the pan. Bake in the oven until the pastry is golden brown (about 15-20mins).

Now, Carina takes the pastry off and then scoops the onions out and lays them on. I put a plate over the pan and tipped the whole lot over and it came out beautifully. That way you keep the shape of the onions and it looks like a proper Tarte Tatin.

Once your Tarte is nicely turned out on a plate, finely slice some goats cheese and sprinkle on the onions. Add a bit of pepper and a few sprigs of rosemary if you like. Rocket leaves look rather nice too.

I served it with a green salad with balsamic, olive oil and mustard dressing.

It worked beautifully…I reckon we might make 7 years thanks to this Tarte.