Taste & Create: Focaccia

This is my entry for this month's Taste and Create, which is hosted by the lovely Nicole over at For The Love of Food! This month I have been matched with KJ over at A Cracking Good Egg. I spent a fun couple of hours looking through her archives, and eventually narrowed my choices down to the luscious Flourless Chocolate Cake, her take on French Onion Soup, homemade crumpets, or Fantastic Focaccia. Due to serious overindulgence at the weekend, I've had to forgo the chocolate cake, I couldn't find my crumpet rings (I'm sure I had something like this before!), then arbitrarily decided on Focaccia between the last two! I'm definitely keeping these other recipes in my to-make list!

(I've got a rotten head cold just now - which seems to be adversely affecting my writing ability. Apart from the fact that I need to retype every other word due to misspelling (do colds cause the hapless victim's fingers to swell??) I also can't think of anything remotely interesting to say! I'm off work and watching daytime telly - right now, I'm watching a 6ft tall nanny being transformed into SJP. Oh dear, has it really come to this - I'm regaling you with what I'm watching on TV??? I should probably delete it, but bet I probably don't ;)

Ok, ok, stream of consciousness typing ends here!

Focaccia

This recipe was really easy to use. I had to make a couple of alterations - I used 1.5 tsp of active dry yeast, activated in the tepid water with 1.5 tsp of sugar instead of the fresh yeast.

I also let it rise slighty differently - I placed the runny dough into the greased baking tin before a first prove for 40 minutes or so. I then used an oiled spoon handle to push down the dough and create indents in which the olive oil would run. I then recovered it and left it for another half hour. Just before baking I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil over the surface and sprinkled with maldon sea salt.

The resulting bread was really tasty - with a lovely open springy texture - I'm looking forward to trying it again with some different toppings!

Store Cupboard Cooking Day 17

Ravioli with Walnut, Spinach and Porcini

So on my first proper cooking day of my Store Cupboard Challenge (I didn't think that Kraft mac n' cheese last night counted ;) I decided it was time to use up the block of white stilton that I had picked up at the weekend. I had never cooked with it before - but as it was only 30p from the deli counter, so figured I would work out a use for it!

I was going to make cheesecake with it, but my biscuits for the base had gone stale. So I set my mind to a savoury plan... What I really fancied was gnocchi, but I didn't have any potatoes. Eventually I hit on ravioli - but other than white Stilton, I couldn't think what to put in it! I wanted to keep it quite soft and rich - most of my available ingredients were too demanding for this!

The combination of porcini, spinach and walnut wasn't one I'd tried before - but the flavours worked well together. Though I think it was a little rich for a main - I think in future I would serve two or three as an appetiser.

Also, I had never made stuffed pasta before - but I'm happy to report it was fairly event-free!

On a completely separate aside, I went to bed fairly soon after eating this, and it did cross my mind to be concerned about cheese-induced nightmares... But that was not to be - I had very bizarre dreams, which were exceptionally vivid - but not bad at all! Today I found this article comparing the effects of eating British cheese on dreams - and according to the study 85% of females who eat Stilton before bed have very vivid and crazy dreams... So go on gals - knock yourselves out!

Ravioli with Walnut, Spinach and Porcini

I'm sending this over to Ruth at Once Upon A Feast for Presto Pasta Night - though I think she has put me to shame with her proper ravioli making equipment!

• 250g white stilton
• 50g dried porcini
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 large bunch spinach
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 banana shallot
• 1 small handful shelled walnuts, roughly chopped
• 1 handful shelled walnuts, blitzed to crumbs!
• 1 tsp corn flour, dissolved in a couple of tbsps water
• 200g tipo 00 flour
• 2 eggs
• semolina flour for dusting

Pour a cup of boiling water over the porcini and leave to soak for 30 minutes, or until rehydrated. Strain, reserving soaking liquor.

Making the pasta!

In a blender, blitz half of the mushrooms to a puree. Heat some olive oil and fry the puree for a couple of minutes.

In the blender, mix the flour, mushroom puree and 2 eggs to make a dough - adding a little of the mushroom liquor if required. Remove from the blender, knead for 2/3 minutes until elastic, wrap in film and refridgerate for at least 30 minutes.

Take a look at my post on roasted garlic pasta for more details on making and rolling pasta - I won't write out the details again here!

The filling!

While the pasta is resting, use your blender (yes again! I can't imagine life without my kenwood! ;) to mix 200g of the white stilton and two egg yolks until fluffy.

Chop the shallot, crush one of the garlic cloves and finely chop the remaining porcini. Over a medium heat, fry these for a few minutes until soft. Add to the stilton mix.

Wilt the spinach for a couple of minutes until soft. Strain and squeeze to remove excess water. Add 3/4 of the spinach to the stilton mix reserving the other quarter for the sauce.

Blitz the mix a few times to combine the ingredients, then add the handful of roughly chopped walnuts.

Season well with salt and black pepper!

Make the Ravioli!
Roll out the pasta to the 3rd thinnest setting (See how to roll here!). Cut sheets into manageable sizes! Lay one sheet of pasta out, and place teaspoons of mixture onto it, leaving enough space round the edges to seal it.


Brush the edges with water, and lay another sheet of pasta on top. Starting from one end of the sheet, use a cupped hand to seal the stuffing inside the pasta - making sure there is no air pockets. Cut the raviolis out, trimming the edges as required.

The Sauce!
Dead easy - do this just before serving! Heat a glug of olive oil, crush the remaining garlic clove and fry gently for a minute. Add the remaining spinach, the strained mushroom soaking liquor and the cornflour mix. Stir in the rest of the walnuts, and bring to the boil, then crumble in the remaining stilton. Remove from the heat and stir to melt the cheese into the sauce.

Finishing the Dish!
Cook the ravioli in plenty of boiling salted water for about 3 minutes. Place into a warm dish and drizzle with some olive oil and some of the walnut sauce. Note that the walnut sauce is pretty rich - you don't need much!

Store Cupboard Cooking Day 3

Chicken & Balsamic Caramelised Onion Risotto

I couldn't think what to cook for the girls coming round last night, then writing up my recipe for Soup Aux Moules somewhat randomly inspired me to make risotto! It was perfect - I could adjust the quantity as required, and I could use the creamy, cheesy ingredients which are usually out of bounds!

I pondered what to make - A doesn't eat anything orange (!) so butternut squash risotto was out of the question and V doesn't do seafood. Two of my standbys were struck down! I thought about something with chorizo, but couldn't make it click into a whole meal. So in the end I decided to make something completely different...

Chicken & Balsamic Caramelised Onion Risotto

Served 4 hungry gals!

• 1 rotisserie chicken, meat taken off the bone and chopped into bitesize pieces
  
• 2 large onions
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tspn sugar
• 100 ml balsamic vinegar
• olive oil to fry
• 500g risotto rice - I usually use Carnaroli, but the store was out do I used Arborio instead - with good results!
• 1 litre stock - I used some of the stock I made from the roast turkey we had for Christmas - its flavour was perfect for this!
• 200 mls white wine
• 100g finely grated parmigiana - plus extra for shavings
  
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
  
• salt and pepper

Half the onions, and thinly slice 3/4 of them. Pour a decent glug of olive oil into a frying pan, and heat over the smallest heat possible. Chuck in the onions and toss to coat. Fry slowly, slowly, slowly, stir every 5 minutes or so. After the first 5/10 minutes sprinkle over a good pinch of salt. This helps draw the moisture from the onions. When they start getting brown and sticky (after half an hour or so), pour in a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, and sprinkle the sugar over. Continue to cook til absorbed. Repeat this step as required. In the end I think I used about 100ml BV, and let them caramelise for over an hour. But the end result was gorgeous, sweet, sticky onions which matched the risotto perfectly!

Right - hope you're still with me!

You can make the caramelised onions in advance - just keep them in the fridge for up to a week until you need them. They are also fabulous with cheese, or spread on garlicy crusty bread... so beware them may not last long enough to make it into the risotto!

In a saucepan, heat the stock thoroughly and keep it at a simmer - when you ladle it into the risotto it should not be cold.

You should have 1/2 onion left from the caramelising process. Finely chop this.

Heat a glug of olive oil over a medium heat, then sauté the onions for 3/4 minutes. Add the crushed garlic and fry for another minute.

Add the risotto rice, and continue to fry, ensuring you keep the rice moving at all times. After a few minutes it will start to go translucent round the edges, and also makes a slight cracking sound. (Which sounds a bit weird, but you can hear the tone of the frying change!)

Add the white wine to the pan, and keep stirring until all the alcohol has evaporated off/been absorbed.

Add a ladle of the stock and stir until it is absorbed. Repeat. After 15 minutes, test the rice for doneness - it should still have a bit of bite, but have lost its chalkiness. Add the tarragon now. If the rice still isn't cooked, when the stock runs out, use boiling water to finish it off.

Once the rice is done, turn off the heat, mix in the chicken, grated parmesan, and caramelised onions. Put a lid on it and leave it to sit for at least 5 minutes. This is similar to resting meat - and gives the rice a chance to relax and absorb excess liquid.

Serve in big bowls with parmesan shavings on the top!

Italian Cookery Course: Soup Aux Moules

Blimey... I just realised it's been almost a week since my last post! I've got a wee bit of catching up to do - what a busy week! Though not in the kitchen - the last two nights we've had takeaway... tsk tsk tsk...

Anyway, here is one of the recipes from my Italian cookery class last week by Francis Adou - a gorgeous, rich, creamy mussel soup. I seldom eat cream, and as such this was maybe a little bit too rich for me - I think next time I will serve it in half size portions.

Because there will be a next time - it was seriously good!

It was the first time I've cooked with mussels - I was always a little bit scared on them. The first time I ever ate mussels I got terrible food poisoning. (I even went blind for a couple of hours - took me a long time to even look at shellfish again...) I think that put me off cooking any shellfish - I didn't want to be responsible for causing anyone else that kind of sickness! Anyway, under the watchful eye of Francis, I cleaned and de-bearded, and discarded the dead ones - and I'm now confident I can go it alone!

Soup Aux Moules

Excuse the sloppy bowl and dark picture - I was at Boyfriend's house, and starving! My belly became more important than the photo ;)

Serves 2 large bowls - or 4 small :)

• 3 large shallots, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 20 g flour
• 250 ml fish stock
• Generous pinch of saffron
• 100 ml double cream
• Sea salt
• 250ml white wine
• 500g mussels
• ½ bunch of flat parsley
• olive oil to fry
  

Sort and clean the mussels - pull out the stringy beard, discard any that are cracked, or any that are open and don't close up when gently tapped!

Heat the oil and fry the shallots gently for 4 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for a further couple of minutes until the shallots are soft but not coloured.

Sprinkle in the flour and stir well to absorb all the oil. Slowly add the stock, mixing to make a smooth broth. At this point it felt like I was making a risotto - which I now have a craving to do! Could be a plan for tonight - I'm having the girls round!

Add the saffron, cream and seasoning, then simmer for 15 minutes. Make sure

Meanwhile, in a different pan, heat the wine over a medium heat. Add all the mussels, then cover and cook for 4/5 minutes until they are all open. (Any that are not open after 6 minutes should be discarded.)

Strain the liquid, allow to cool slightly, and add it to the soup. Allow the mussels to cool, then remove the meat from the shells and add to the soup.

Reheat gently (don't let it boil!), add the parsley, and serve.

Italian Cookery Course: Week 4

Well, it's taken me a week, but I've now made the dishes at home that I should have made at my class last week!

I served them up to Boyfriend last night as an early Valentine's day treat - as I will be at my class on Valentine's itself. He brought me a beautiful bunch of flowers, which I meant to take a picture of to share with you... but completely forgot!

We started with a cocktail, a twist on the cosmopolitan inspired by Haalo at Cook Almost Anything. I saw this recipe a few days ago - and when I realised I had the orange blossom water for the cantucci, I couldn't resist! As I was doing it from memory, I added lime juice to Haalo's recipe. It still tasted very fine - but next time I will leave it out and see how we go!

We then had Seared Tuna with Puy Lentil Salsa... yum yum yum. It made me think of summer - I can imagine eating this out in the garden in a few months time! Healthy, tasty, a kick of heat, and no garlic - perfect for a romantic meal!

I then made (with some intrepidation!) the Apricot and Almond Cantucci Biscotti. They turned out to be very easy to make, made the house smell gorgeous, and was a lovely light way to finish off the meal along with a strong cup of Italian coffee!

Right, well it's time for me to go and pick up the rest of my ingredients, and head to class number 5!

Italian Cookery Course: Seared Tuna with Puy Lentil Salsa

This recipe is from last week's Italian cookery class, which I missed because my dad was visiting. I made it last night - and thoroughly enjoyed both cooking and eating it!

The original recipe called for salmon, but the salmon I had available didn't look as nice as the tuna. I also reduced the quantity of olive oil - the one I used is pretty fruity, so I didn't need as much.

Seared Tuna with Puy Lentil Salsa

This recipe is adapted from the one I was given at my Italian cookery course by Francis Adou.

• 2 tuna steaks
  
• 4 tablespoon of olive oil
• 100 g puy lentil
• 50g coriander leaves
• 4 large tomatoes
• 1 red onion
• 1 red chilli
• The juice of one lime

Wash the lentils, the boil 400ml of water then add the lentils, simmer and covered, for 30-35 minutes or until the lentil are tender but still have some bite and retain their shape.

While the lentils are cooking, blanch the tomatoes for 1 minute. Remove them and slip the skins off, then halve and squeeze out the seeds. Chop the flesh into small pieces.

Finely chop the chilli (I left the seeds in as it wasn't too hot a chilli - but you should adjust this according to taste. I think what you want is the flavour, and an edge of heat - rather than hot!), onion and coriander and set aside.

Whisk or shake the lime juice and oil together to make the dressing - then season with salt and pepper.

Once the lentils are cooked, empty into a bowl and toss with the dressing while still warm. Taste and adjust seasoning if required. Add the onion and tomato mixture, mix well and set aside.

Prepare the tuna by rubbing with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat a frying pan until it's very hot.

Place the fillets in the frying pan and sear for about 1 minute on each side. The inside should still be dark pink.

Serve the salsa with the tuna placed on top.

Italian Cookery Course: Apricot and Almond Cantucci Biscotti

I don't usually do sweet things - and had definitely never made biscotti before. But when I missed last week's Italian cookery class, I decided I would try all the recipes that I missed.

It turns out that biscotti is just Italian for biscuit - not specifically for the hard, crunchy dunking biscuits that appear to be universally known by that name. These twice-baked snacks are actually cantucci or cantuccini!

They turned out to be very easy to make... and even easier to eat!

Apricot and Almond Cantucci Biscotti

This recipe is adapted from the one I was given at my Italian cookery course by Francis Adou.

• 250g caster sugar, plus a couple of tbsps more for sprinkling!
  
• 250 Italian 00 flour, sifted
  
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon orange blossom water
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• A pinch of salt
• 115g unpeeled almonds
• 115g dried apricots, roughly chopped
• 1 egg yolk for the glaze

Preheat the oven to 150c and line two baking sheets with greased greaseproof paper.

Using a mixer, whisk the sugar, eggs and orange blossom water for about 5 minutes until its thick, creamy, and almost mousselike.

Sift the flour , bicarbonate of soda and salt into the egg mixture and fold in. Add the almonds and apricot to form a sticky dough. Make sure it's well blended, but don't over work!

Turn out the mixture onto a well floured surface - I was surprised by how easily it stayed together - it seemed very sticky in the bowl, but once it hit the flour it came together very well.

Shape the dough into 2 sausage shapes and place onto the baking sheets.


Beat the egg yolk and brush over the surface of each sausage. Sprinkle with sugar.


Bake the biscotti for 30 minutes until slightly risen and golden brown. Take out of the oven and set aside until cool enough to handle. Don't let it get too cold, or the almonds will not cut well - I left mine for 10 minutes and it cut fine.

Turn down to oven to 120c

Gently move the biscotti onto a cutting board and cut into slices about 1 inch wide. Arrange slices on the baking tray (on greaseproof paper) and return to the oven. Bake for another 20 minutes, transfer onto a wire tray and leave to cool and harden.

Serve dunked into strong Italian coffee!

Italian Cookery Course: Week 3

Well, in a very roundabout way, I have finally managed to share a couple of the recipes that I have been making in my Italian cookery course!

I started the course last month - and my fourth one should have been tonight. As my dad is down visiting, I am going to miss the class tonight, but hope to be able to attempt the recipes myself over the weekend.

My class is at a nearby college, and is taught by Francis Adou, a French chef with experience of cooking in many different regions.

So far we have made chicken thighs stuffed with apricots and rolled with parma ham; rump of lamb with porcini; osso buco; and tonight will be salmon - so a good rounded selection!

Each class involves the preparation (and usually eating ;) of two dishes. In week three these were:

La Ribollita

followed by:

Osso buco

Absolutely delicious - give them a go!

Italian Cookery Course: Osso Buco

This recipe is adapted from the one I was taught at my Italian cookery course by Francis Adou.

Osso buco (or Ossobuco or Osso Bucco!) originates from Milan, and is traditionally a dish of braised veal shanks - in fact that is where it gets its name: the shank is called in Italian osso buco, literally 'hole bone'!

It was traditionally made without tomatoes and sprinkled with gremolata, a mix of parsley, garlic and lemon peel. It was then served with risotto alla milanese - a creamy saffron risotto. Since the addition of tomatoes in the late 19th century, the flavour of the osso buco is far moister and bolder - polenta is a more appropriate accompaniment. Though I am definitely going to have a go at making risotto alla milanese - sounds lovely, and I haven't cooked risotto for months! When I made this at home I cooked it with rosemary and garlic potatoes - mostly because that it what I had at in the cupboard!

Traditionally the meat would be from the veal shank - cut across the bone into 3cm slices. In this version, we used diced, boneless veal - it can also be made with other meats - although the veal was delicious, I won't cook with it again. I think I would replace it with lamb, though beef shank would also work well.

Details from wikipedia!

Osso Buco with Rosemary and Garlic Potatoes

Osso Buco

• 400g diced veal
• 2 tbsps flour
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 large carrot, finely chopped
• 1 stick celery, finely chopped
• 1 glass white wine
• Vegetable bouillion
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 6 large tomatoes
• olive oil and butter for frying
• Salt and pepper for seasoning

Season the veal with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then toss in the flour to coat - shaking off any excess.

Melt the butter and oil in a pan, and cook the veal until coloured on all sides. Add the onion and garlic and sweat for 2/3 minutes until the onion is starting to soften. Add the carrot and celery and sweat for a further 5 minutes. If there is a lot of fat in your pan at this point you can drain it off.

Deglaze the pan by pouring in the glass of white wine, and scrubbing off the brown bits on the bottom of the pan off with your spoon. Add the stock and tomato puree, cover and simmer gently for one hour - ideally in an oven. I don't have a measurement for how much stock to add, but the liquid should cover the veal for the duration of the simmer.

While the veal is cooking, prepare your concasse tomatoes:
Place the tomatoes in a bowl, and cover with water.
Remove the skins, quarter and discard the seeds.
Roughly chop the tomato flesh.

Once the cooking time is up, add the concasse to the veal, taste and adjust seasoning as required. Cover and return to oven to cook until the meat is tender (for me, this was about 15 minutes)

Rosemary and Garlic Potatoes

• As much potatoes as you want to eat
• Garlic to taste (I used one clove per person)
• A few sprigs of rosemary

To prepare the potatoes, I diced them into 2cm chunks and parboiled for about 5 minutes. I then left them to drain for about 10 minutes to ensure the surfaces were as dry as possible.

I heated a little butter and olive oil in an oven suitable pan, and chucked in the potatoes. I fried them over a high heat for 5/6 minutes, tossing every couple of minutes. Just before the end, I tossed in the crushed garlic, finely chopped rosemary, and some salt and freshly ground black pepper.


I then put the whole thing into a hot oven for about 20 minutes - tossing half way through.

Serve the osso buco alongside the potatoes, with some chopped parsely over the top.

Italian Cookery Course: La Ribollita

This recipe is adapted from a recipe I was given at my Italian cookery course by Francis Adou.

This is a 'proper' winter soup - full of lovely winter vegetables! Ribollita means 're-cooked' in Italy, from looking on a few sites on the internet, it seems that the traditional method of cooking is as follows:

• Make basic soup (as per recipe below) - this is basically a typical minestrone soup.
• The next day, spoon the soup into a baking dish and layer with slices of bread - scatter with sliced red onion and bake until the top is crunchy and golden. Some non-traditional methods add cheese here!
• On the third day, break the bake up so that the bread is broken into the soup - it should be thick enough to eat with a fork!

Another re-cook method I read was to put more vegetables and water into the pot each day and cook for another hour - not so sure about the health and safety of this - I guess you can still only do it for 3 days or so!

I didn't do either re-cook method this time - I ate it all as it was on the first day (with help of course!) But I do like the sound of a variation each day - so will give this a go next time!

Making sure everything is cooked veeerrryyy slowly is really important to get the best taste out of all the vegetables.

La Ribollita

• 1 400g tin of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 2 courgettes, finely chopped
• 2 stocks celery, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 large potato, diced
• 1/2 savoy cabbage, shredded
• 200g chopped tomatos (either tinned or fresh - I used fresh!)
• 1 spring onion, chopped
• Thyme, sage, rosemary - fresh or dried
• Dried red chilli, to taste
• Butter and olive oil for frying
• salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a knob of butter and a glug of olive oil in a soup pan.

Add the onion, garlic, carrot and celery and sweat over a very low heat for 10 minutes until soft, then add the spring onion, cabbage, potato and courgette and cook for a further 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the beans, tomatoes, herbs and chilli, then add 1 litre of water and season. Bring to the boil, then simmer until all the vegetables are cooked through.

Taste and adjust seasoning if required.

At this point, you can serve the soup as it is - however, you may want to blend or mash some of it to get a different consistency. This time I left is all whole, however, next time I'll probably try blending 50% of it to see how it turns out!