Christmas Round-up

This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs is our December Pot Luck week - an opportunity to choose any recipe we like from our current chef (the fabulous Donna Hay), or from any one of previous eight IHCC chefs.

Turns out, time has been a bit precious for me this week, and cooking, photographing and writing about a new dish just didn't happen.  So instead I thought I would share with you a round-up of my favourite dishes from each of our chefs.

My very first post for I Heart Cooking Clubs was just as the group was winding up a six month spell with Nigella Lawson, and I shared these Chocolate Caramel Crispy Cakes ...

Despite the fact that these might seem like "kiddy" food, I can promise you that grown-ups love them too, and to this day this is one of the most viewed posts on the blog.  On a recent trip to San Francisco I made a batch of these for my 4 year old granddaughter - poor wee dot only got one of them, and the adults downed the rest!

This dish of Sauteed Chicken with Green Olives and White Wine from Mark Bittman is probably my "go-to" chicken dish.

I said it back then, and I'll say it again - this is probably the best chicken dish I've ever made.  It has great flavour, colour and texture;  is very easy to put together from ingredients you most likely already have on hand;  requires minimal preparation;  and would be a great dish to feed a crowd.

I loved so many of the dishes I made with Giada de Laurentiis, but these Espresso Caramel Bars were a real favourite.

These were pretty easy for even a reluctant baker to make - crispy, biscuit crumb base;  ooey, gooey, slightly chewy caramel centre;  fudgy, espresso, chocolate topping;  finished with a sprinkling of smoked sea salt ... I defy anyone to stop at just one!

For a variety of reasons, I didn't get to cook along with Jamie Oliver too often ...

... but this warm Salad of Cannelini Beans, Chorizo & Tomatoes is one that I've returned to over and over again.

Of all the chefs we've cooked with at IHCC, one of my absolute favourites (second only to Yotam Ottolenghi) was Tessa Kiros.  I loved so many of Tessa's dishes that picking a favourite was quite a challenge ...

but I think this Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Olives, Lemon & Yoghurt might be it.  This was one of the first recipes I bookmarked when I bought her book Falling Cloudberries, and with its thick, velvety texture, and bold, robust flavour it certainly didn't disappoint.  Lots of opportunity here to change up the toppings on this one too.

I didn't get a chance to cook too many dishes with Rick Bayless, but I know he was a big favourite with many of our other participants.

Choosing a favourite from the dishes I did make was easy ... it was hands down this Nieve de Limon (Lemon-Lime Sorbet).  I couldn't tell you how often I've made this now.  The bright, tangy citrus flavours are a refreshing treat any time of year.

Madhur Jaffrey has long been a favourite chef of mine, and a spell of cooking with her gave me the opportunity to dip into some of those cookbooks which had been gathering dust on the shelf for quite a while.  For many of our participants, exploring Indian food was a totally new experience, and I know that Madhur proved to be very popular with so many in the group.

This dish of Prawns in a Dark Sauce was simple to make, and the flavours rekindled so many childhood memories for me that I've since revisited this dish several times.

Those of you who visit here regularly won't be surprised to learn that my absolute favourite chef was Yotam Ottolenghi - I don't think I've cooked an Ottolenghi dish that I didn't like, and I find his food truly inspirational.  Trying to choose a "favourite" from the Ottolenghi dishes I've made is virtually impossible - I've loved every single one of them ...

... but I figured this Shakshuka should take first place, since it is by far one of the most frequently cooked dishes in my kitchen.

And, lastly, we come to our current chef - Donna Hay.  Our journey with Donna is still young, but this dish of Green Tea Soba Noodles with Soy-Roasted Salmon and Broad Bean & Radish Salad is already a favourite.

Quick, simple, healthy and absolutely delicious - this is definitely going to be a perennial favourite in my house.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the wonderful Pot Luck dishes my friends have come up with, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

Lastly, I want to thank each and every one of you for your visits, lovely comments, and most of all your friendship over the year, and I wish you and all your loved ones a very happy Christmas.  xo

Tangy Peanut-Avocado Salsa

So, if you've been reading here the last couple of weeks you'll know that I, and my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs, have been getting to know Rick Bayless.  Despite my initial reticence, after a couple of dishes, I've warmed to him slightly, so with our theme this week being "Feel the Heat!" I was wondering just how warm things were going to get.  We were challenged to break out the chillies and dial up the heat.

Quite a challenge indeed, as I do have chilli issues - not that I have a problem with chillies, it's just that getting anything that packs a bit of a punch here is not so easy.  I wasn't sure what I was going to make, but I was pretty sure it wasn't going to be a big pot full of chilli.  Funny thing, but I'm pretty sure that if someone made chilli for me I would love it and scoff down every single mouthful, probably even go back for more, but it's not something I've ever felt inspired to make myself - and still don't - but never say never, maybe that will change before we're done with Rick.

Anyway, trawling through his website for some inspiration, I came across his recipe for a Tangy Peanut-Avocado Salsa and, incredibly, I actually had all the necessary ingredients on hand.  Well ... actually ... not exactly.  The recipe did call for a couple of serrano chillies, which are not available here, so I used one of the long skinny ones I showed you in this post last week (seeds and all), and the little round one from the same post, which turned out to be quite hot, without the seeds.

Now, looking at the photos, you probably don't need me to tell you that in the looks department this is probably the least appealing thing I've ever posted.  Still this "salsa" which is really more like a sauce or dip, certainly makes up for its unfortunate looks in taste, and packs quite a punch.  Just how much punch will of course depend entirely on the chillies you use.

I had a friend for dinner last night and served this salsa with a simple piece of pan roasted salmon, and a fresh green salad with fennel and avocado.  The salsa was perfect to cut through the richness of the salmon, and at the same time the fats in the salmon seemed to balance out the heat of the salsa.

This is a great quick accompaniment to make to go with almost anything, and chances are you'll almost always have all the ingredients on hand, ready to quickly liven up a piece of fish or even (as I discovered tonight) roasted vegetables.

Tangy Peanut-Avocado Salsa Recipe

Adapted (hardly at all) from this recipe by Rick Bayless

Vegetarian

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

2 tablespoons roasted, unsalted peanuts

2 chillies, stemmed (deseeding, optional), roughly chopped

large handful fresh coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 ripe avocado

flaky sea salt

 Put the peanuts, chillies, coriander, water, and lemon and lime juices into your blender, and blitz until smooth.

Remove the pit and skin from the avocado, and discard.  Roughly chop the flesh and add to the blender  Pulse until well blended.

Add salt to taste, and add extra water if necessary.

If you would like to get to know Rick a little better, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all cooked up ...

Chilli Lime Mussels & Broad Bean Salad with Green Olive Dressing

You could be forgiven for thinking that sounds like a rather unusual combination of ingredients.  Indeed I though the same thing myself when I first came across the recipe which inspired this post.

After my debut foray last week into trying out the recipes of Rick Bayless with the I Heart Cooking Clubs group, I was eager to give him another try and see if we could get a little better acquainted.

Our theme this week is "Green, Green, Green Is Everything I'm Wearing", and whilst most of my fellow bloggers in the group might have access right now to lots of lovely, exotic green things like tomatillos, jalapenos and cactus paddles, such is not the case here.

What to make?  I spent a few hours trawling through Rick's website looking for something suitable, but almost every recipe I looked at required some ingredient I couldn't access.  Now ordinarily that might not be such a big deal - after all, I can surely come up with a few substitutes - but, as it turned out, the thing that usually needed to be subbed out was the green thing.  And seriously, you can't front up to the green themed party without the green thing, now can you.

And then, just as I was about to give up all hope, I went to the section on Rick's Season 8 recipes and his recipe for Green Olive Dressed Salad with Mussels & Fava Beans simply jumped out at me.  After all, green olives I can do (I have jars full of them in my pantry);  salad is one of my preferred meal options any time of year;  broad beans (that's fava beans to many of you) - out of season here right now, but I have frozen ones on hand and they will do perfectly well;  and as for mussels - not only are these plentiful and inexpensive here, but we have New Zealand green-lipped mussels - now, take that for green!

The original recipe called for simply steaming the mussels, then chilling them, removing them from their shells, and serving them on the broad bean salad.  But I decided to go in a slightly different direction.  For starters, I'm not that fussed on cold mussels, and what's more I have been wanting to share my recipe for Chilli-Lime Mussels with you for ages.  So I decided to take Rick's green olive dressed broad bean salad (to which I also added some avocado) and to serve that as an accompaniment to the mussels.  I knew the two would work well together, and the chilli lime seasonings added to the mussels echo those in the salad.

I halved the quantities for the salad dressing, since I was only cooking for one, and still ended up with way more dressing than I needed.  Not that I'm sad about that - the dressing is fabulous and it will be finding it's way onto just about every meal for the next week!!  I also, as I did with last week's recipe, included some lemon juice in the dressing, rather than just the lime juice that was called for, because the limes here are expensive and just don't render that much juice.

A word about chillies.  The original recipe calls for poblano chillies, and no doubt where many of you live you may be able to buy chillies by variety.  Here in New Zealand, however, we don't get a great deal of choice - the chillies we usually see are generally long and skinny, they come in red or green, and occasionally orange, and are usually not very hot.

On occasion we do seem to see other varieties of chillies, but they are not usually named, and available advice about them is generally very limited.  Case in point:  When I picked up my chillies for this dish at the supermarket yesterday, there were some I hadn't seen before in the chilli basket.  They were smallish, roundish and actually quite hard and fleshy.  They didn't have the kind of hollow, empty feel that a chilli usually has.

Wanting a bit more information, I found some hapless staff member who was replenishing the banana area and asked him if they were chillies.  He confirmed that they were.  "What are they like?" I asked.  "Are they hot? Mild? Medium?"  He smiled sheepishly and said he didn't know.  "Well, is there someone here who does know?" I enquired.  The reply ... beat this ... "Nope.  Nobody knows.  Perhaps you can buy one and try it, then you can tell us."  I'm not kidding, that is exactly what he said.  A timely reminder, if one were ever needed, that if you really want to know what you're eating and where your food comes from, then the supermarket is probably not the place to find it.  So, if you can get poblano chillies then go for it - I used these long, skinny, red ones as that was what was available.  If you can identify them, I'd love to know what they are, and even more so, I'd love to know what that little, round one is.

Broad Bean Salad with Green Olive Dressing Recipe

Adapted from this recipe by Rick Bayless

Vegetarian

Serves 1 for a light meal or 2-3 as a side dish

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

For the dressing:

1x chilli (poblano if you can get it)

2x cloves garlic, unpeeled

1/4 cup lime juice, freshly squeezed

1/4 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup pitted green olives, coarsely chopped

flaky sea salt

For the salad:

1x cup broad (fava) beans, frozen (by all means use fresh if you can get them)

1x avocado, flesh cut into chunks

2x large handfuls of salad greens

(I used a mixture of baby cos and spinach)

Begin by making the dressing.  Roast the chilli, either directly over a flame or under a hot grill, until blackened all over.  Remove from heat and drop into a plastic bag.  Close bag and set aside until the chilli is cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile, put the garlic cloves into a small, dry skillet set over medium heat, and roast until the cloves have softened, and blackened in a few places.  Remove and set aside to cool.

Put the lime juice, lemon juice and olive oil into a blender.  Add half of the green olives, setting aside the rest for garnishing the salad later.

Remove chilli from plastic bag and rub off the blackened skin.  Cut off the stem and cut the chilli in half lengthwise.  Scrape out the seeds and membrane.  Roughly chop one half of the chilli and add it to the ingredients in the blender.  Set the other half aside for garnishing the salad.

Slip the skins off the garlic cloves.  Add to the blender along with a generous pinch of sea salt, and blend everything until smooth.

For the salad, bring a small pot of water to the boil, salt the water and then add the broad beans to the pot.  Bring water back to the boil, allow to boil for 1 minute, then drain and immediately plunge beans into a bowl of ice water.  Once they are cool enough to handle, slip the thick greyish skins off the beans and discard.  Set the beans aside in a small bowl.

Put the salad leaves into another bowl and toss lightly with the dressing, then transfer to a serving bowl or platter.  Scatter the broad beans and chunks of avocado over the top.  Finely slice the remaining chilli and sprinkle over the salad, along with the remaining green olives.  Finish with another drizzle of the dressing and serve immediately.

Chilli-Lime Mussels Recipe

Makes one very generous serving or

Serves 2 as an appetiser

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

18x green-lipped mussels, cleaned and de-bearded

2 tablespoons olive oil

2x cloves garlic, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons chilli jam

1x kaffir lime leaf or grated zest of 1x lime

1/2 cup white wine

fresh coriander leaves

First make sure that all your mussels are still "alive".  Before cooking, all of your mussels should be tightly shut.  If there are any that are open, give them a sharp tap on the side of the sink (or bowl) - if they're healthy they should close up.  If they stay open, discard them immediately.  Similarly, once cooked, if there are any mussels that remain closed, they too should be discarded.

Heat olive oil in a large pan (I use a large skillet which has a lid) over medium-high heat.  Add garlic, and as soon as it becomes fragrant add the chilli jam, lime leaf or zest, and white wine.  As soon as the wine begins to boil, add the mussels and cover.  Cook until the mussels have opened, shaking the pan from time to time - this will only take about 5 minutes.

As soon as the mussels have opened, remove to a serving bowl, pour over a few spoonfuls of the broth, and garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

If you would like to get to know Rick a little better, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all cooked up ...

I'm also sharing this post this week with a couple of lovely friends ... Deb at Kahakai Kitchen, hosting Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays and Michelle at Ms. enPlace, hosting See Ya In the Gumbo.

       

Nieve de Limon (Lemon-Lime Sorbet)

If you've been visiting here for a while, then you probably know that one of the places I like to play is at I Heart Cooking Clubs.  Twice a year a new chef is chosen, with whom we spend the next six months cooking according to a different weekly theme.  During that time we really do "get to know" the chosen chef pretty well, and amongst those who participate we get to know each other pretty well too.

The current chef the group is spending time with is Rick Bayless.  Rick is well known I'm sure to most of you in America, but here in New Zealand, not so much - unless you happen to be a Food TV addict, in which case you will no doubt have seen him at some stage.  I have to admit he's not my favourite Food TV personality.  I think this has much to do with the fact that he is a very "high energy" personality (if you didn't know better, you could be forgiven for thinking he's on speed - not that I wish to denigrate here) and, as his show usually seems to be on pretty late in the evening, if I watch it I seem to end up going off to bed in a highly agitated state - you know, like getting the kids over excited right before bedtime - not good!!  So I admit to frequently turning the tele off when Rick comes on.  Add to that the fact that he cooks Mexican food - not that I have anything against Mexican food - and uses a whole lot of ingredients that, not only have I never heard of, but which are largely inaccessible here in New Zealand.

So I confess to a distinct lack of enthusiasm when the group chose Rick Bayless as our featured chef.  I don't have any of his books in my collection.  I couldn't find any of his books at my local library either.  And what's more, the bright, freshness of many of his dishes seem to be very "summery" food - and again we're back to many ingredients which are inaccessible or unsuitable in the depths of the New Zealand winter.

All of which is a whole lot of excuses for not joining in with the group for the last four months.  And I could come up with more, but they are all just that - excuses.  Howewer, I've come to realise that participating in groups like this is important to me.  It is about building communities, and on reflection that means joining in and playing your part, even when it doesn't suit.  It is also about learning and broadening culinary horizons, and keeping an open mind - that's why we're spending six months with our chosen chef and not just one week.  Ok, so I may not be able to get all the ingredients called for in a particular recipe - but I can look for alternatives, and explore why these may or may not work, and in the same way that I can learn from what my fellow group members create, maybe they too can learn something from my challenges.

So all of that was a very long-winded way (is anyone out there still actually reading?) of saying, I've been missing my IHCC buddies, and there may only be a couple of months left to spend with Rick, but I'm giving him a try.

The theme this week is Nieves:  Icy Cold Treats to Cool Off With!  About this point some of you may be thinking, "this woman is a complete lunatic".  Not only have I not been playing for four months, but in the middle of winter I've chosen to jump back in the very week the group is getting into "icy cold treats".  Hell, I could just go and lick the frost off the bonnet of my car every morning if I want something icy cold.  As it happens though, and I've mentioned this here before, no matter whether it's summer or winter my favourite treat is always ice cream or sorbet, so this seemed like the perfect challenge for Rick and I to get acquainted.

Without any of Rick's books to turn to, I checked out the recipes on his website.  There's plenty there to choose from and given that citrus fruit is plentiful and inexpensive here right now his Fresh Lime Ice with Berries seemed perfect - although in my case it is "sans berries" since, unlike the citrus fruit, berries are not available here right now unless they are either frozen or have travelled half way round the world to get here.  I also added some lemon juice into the mix as, even though seasonal, limes are still quite pricey here, and I don't know what limes are like in your part of the world, but here they are rather like bullets and not particular juicy.

My resulting lemon-lime sorbet, had the perfect balance of sweetness to citrusy tanginess and I will definitely be making this again.  If I were to make any changes, I would like to try this with a dash or two of bitters added - lemon, lime and bitters is one of my favourite drinks, and in sorbet form that would make me pretty happy.

Props courtesy of Stevens Homewares, Nelson (details below)

Nieve de Limon Recipe

(Lemon-Lime Sorbet)

Adapted from this recipe by Rick Bayless

Makes about 750 ml

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

fresh limes and lemons

(I used 4 limes and 1-1/2 lemons)

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup corn syrup

(corn syrup helps prevent your sorbet turning hard and icy in the freezer)

1-1/4 cups water

Grate the zest of 2 limes into a medium bowl.  Juice lemons and limes until you have 3/4 cup of juice.  Add to the bowl with the zest.

Put the sugar, corn syrup and water into a small pot, and heat gently just until the sugar is dissolved.  Remove from the heat and add to juice and zest.

Cover and refrigerate several hours - overnight is best.

Next day remove from fridge and churn in an ice cream maker, according to manufacturer's instructions.

Freeze for a few hours to firm up before serving.

Rick suggests serving this with fresh berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries), and if they are seasonal for you right now I'm sure that would be a great addition.  A sprig or two of mint or basil would also be a nice touch, again if you have them in season right now.

So after my first experience with Rick, what do I think?  Well, if this sorbet is anything to go by, it seems that we could get along.  At least I'm convinced enough to see what we can make together next week - keep watching this space.

If you would like to get to know Rick a little better, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all cooked up ...

Props courtesy of Stevens Homewares Ltd 

Stevens Everyday DOF Tumblers, 320ml, set of 4 

"chef'n" ice cream scoop

"Diamond" rimmed bowl, 30cm

I'm also sharing this post at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by my lovely friend, Michelle, at Ms. enPlace, at Foodie Friday hosted by Designs By Gollum, at Gallery of Favourites hosted by the lovely April, of The 21st Century Housewife.  This will also be a submission to Sweet New Zealand, inspired by Alessandra Zecchini and hosted this month by Kristina at Plum Kitchen.