Stuffed Mushrooms

This is one of my favourite Spanish tapas. They are great also as an entrée.

To make this dish you need:
12 mushrooms
4 long green onions
2 slices of prosciutto
200ml white wine (or you can just open a bottle of wine and serve the rest with the meal)
a handful of chopped parsley
50ml olive oil
salt
pepper


Clean the mushrooms, remove the stems from the caps of the mushrooms and cut the stems of the mushrooms into small pieces. Chop the onion, garlic and parsley.
Now sauté the onion and garlic in a pan with some olive oil. Then add the prosciutto, cook for a few moments and then add the choppped mushroom stems and sauté the mixture until soft. Now add about 2Tbsp white wine until reduced a bit and finally add the chopped parsley. Let the mixture cool.
Fill the mushroom caps with cooled mixture, put them in a baking dish with a little oil,  about 50 ml white wine and sprinkle with pepper. Cook at 180°C for about 15 minutes or until soft. Serve hot or cold.

Baked Hake in Yogurt, Mustard and Herbs

In Australia since Hake is unavilable use Blue Grenadier or Blue-eye.This is an easily prepared and quick dish which is delicious. It is not necessary to skin the filets but if you wish you can do this. Which herbs you use depends on your taste and what is available in your garden. If you wish, you can use 1/2 a teaspoon of dried herbs as a replacement for fresh herbs.

To serve 2:

500g hake fillets

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp fresh chopped herbs

1/4 tsp ground ginger

3 tbsp yoghurt

Spanish paprika

Method:

Place the fillets into a baking dish. I like to use an earthenware dish which can then be used to serve the fish

Mix the other ingredients except the paprika in a small bowl and then spoon over fish. Now sprinkle some paprika over the top and bake in a very hot oven at  about 220°C for about 20 minutes.

Roast Chicken Provençale Style

Roasting a chicken is something which we all often do. I like a moist chicken with lemon and rosemary flavors which is what this recipe gives. The moist chicken is obtained by covering the chicken with aluminium foil for 2/3 of the roasting time, and then uncovering it to brown. The same result could be obtained by first browning the chicken for about half an hour and then covering it aluminium foil.

1.4 kg chicken
sprig or two of rosemary
1 lemon, sliced lengthwise into eighths
1 bay leaf
5 cloves of garlic, halved
olive oil

Slice a lemon into eighths, and halve 5 cloves of garlic. Stuff the inside of the chicken with the lemon slices and garlic together with a sprig of rosemary and a bay leaf. Place the chicken, breast side up, in a roasting pan with 3 cups of warm water. Rub a small amount of olive oil into the chicken breast. Cover the pan with foil and roast in a 175°C oven for about 1 hour. Now take the chicken from the oven and  remove the foil from the roasting pan. Put the pan and the chicken back in the oven for another half hour to brown the chicken.

Remove the chicken from the oven and rest it for a few minutes before serving accompanied by a sauce made from the garlic cloves and cooking juices.

Tortilla

Spanish-style tortillas are one of my favourite foods, whether served hot, served cold on a picnic, or best of all, served sliced and warm in a baguette on a picnic high in the Pyrenees, with a glass of red wine.

1 large potato, diced
1 onion, chopped finely
4 eggs
pinch of salt
olive oil

Pre-cook the diced potato in a covered plastic container in the microwave for 3 to 4 minutes until softened slightly. Meanwhile cook the onion in a small non-stick frypan moistened with olive oil until the onion has softened. Add the softened potato and gently cook with the onion until they are both soft but not browned. In a basin, mix the eggs and salt. Add the potato and onion to the egg mixture and return the whole lot back to the frypan. Cook over the stove until the bottom of the tortilla is set. Meanwhile heat the griller and when the bottom of the tortilla is set, put the frypan under the griller to set the top. A useful technique is: when the top of the tortilla is set slightly, take the pan from the stove, put a plate on top of the pan and quickly invert the whole lot so that the tortilla is on the plate. Now slide the tortilla back into the pan and cook it a for a while on top of the stove. You should aim to keep the centre of the tortilla slightly runny.

Remove the tortilla and serve hot or let it cool and then serve. It is a great dish to serve on a picnic in a sandwich sliced between 2 halves of baguette.

Poulet Basquaise

I first tried Poulet Basquaise at a small restaurant whose name now escapes me in St Jean Pied de Port in the French Basque country. It is a delicious and great way of preparing chicken.

1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces
olive oil
100 g onions, finely chopped
2 red peppers, de-seeded and sliced
2 green peppers, de-seeded and sliced
4 tomatoes, peeled, de-seeded and chopped (use canned tomatoes if you wish)
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 bayleaf
1/2 teaspoon of pimenton
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 glass dry white wine
chicken stock
salt and pepper


Fry the onions, garlic and peppers until soft. Remove from the pan and set aside. Reheat the pan and brown the chicken pieces. Then add all the other ingredients except the chicken stock. Simmer gently, stirring from time to time,  until  the vegetables have formed a sauce, about 40 minutes. Add some chicken stock if the sauce becomes too thick. Add seasoning before serving.

Mussels in Tomato Sauce

 I recently spent some time in Sydney. At a café there I had a delicious plate of what the restaurant called Italian Mussels. This is my attempt at something similar. I have used oregano as flavouring which may make this dish more like a Greek Mussels dish. On the other hand, the smoked paprika gives it a Spanish feel.


1 kg mussels
1 large onion
2 large garlic cloves, sliced finely
1 tin of chopped tomatoes (450g)
200 ml white wine
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp paprika
1 pinch dried chilli flakes
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh oregano
black pepper
1 bay leaf
olive oil

First find a large pan or pot with a heavy base. Heat some olive oil in the pan, then add the onions and garlic and let them fry gently until they are translucent. Add the paprika, chilli flakes and chopped tomatoes. Now add the white wine, oregano and bay leaf. Simmer the sauce gently until it thickens.
Meanwhile clean the mussels. Remove the beards and clean the outside of the shells Throw out any mussels that are broken or that don't close when you touch them.
Open the mussels in a saucepan. Then add the opened mussels to the tomato sauce together with a little of the mussel juice. Mix the mussels into the sauceso that the flavours of the sauce assimilate with the mussels.
Serve in large bowls.

Braised and roasted turkey leg

Turkey legs can now be bought in some poultry shops here in Australia. They make a delicious and reasonably priced basis for a meal. The legs do need a fairly long time to braise for them to be tender and, unless they are treated carefully, tend to dry out.

a 1 1/2  kg turkey leg
2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 brown onions
100 ml warm water
1 tsp vegetable stock powder
40 ml brandy
200 ml red wine
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon thyme
salt, pepper

1. Peel and cut the onions into thin slices. Peel the garlic cloves.
2. Place the turkey leg into a roasting pan, rubbing the French mustard onto the two sides. Salt and pepper the top of the leg.
3. Place the onion slices and garlic around the turkey leg. Add the warm water, brandy, wine, thyme and stock powder to the pan over the sliced onions. Drizzle the olive oil over the turkey leg.
4. Cook the turkey leg in a 200°C oven for about 45 minutes, basting the turkey with the juices from time to time.
5. Cover the roasting pan with aluminium foil and return to oven for another 45 minutes.

Chicken with Prawns

This is a recipe inspired by the Catalan region of France

Ingredients
1 small chicken, cut into 8 pieces
12 large green prawns
1 brown onion
1 red pepper
1 eggplant
1 tomato, peeled, de-seeded and chopped
3 cloves of garlic
200 ml of chicken stock
1 lemon
2 cups rice
1 packet powdered saffron
salt, pepper, olive oil
chopped chives

Method
Brown the chicken pieces in olive oil in a quite hot frying pan. Remove when the pieces are browned on each side. Put onions, garlic and vegetables in the pan, cut in small pieces, to soften a few minutes. Add the pieces of chicken, saffron powder, chicken stock, salt, pepper and spice slightly. Gently cook covered for about 20 minutes (add a little water if necessary). During this time, make the rice with water saffroned to give a yellow colour. Before being served, put the prawns on the pieces of chicken, cover, cook for 2 minutes, remove from the flame and let rest for 5 minutes. The prawns should be cooked at that point. Place a little rice, a chicken quarter, and 3 prawns on each plate. Sprinkle with cooking juices and vegetables, squeezed lemon, and some chopped chives. Serve at once.

Paella

There are hundreds of “authentic” recipes for paella. However, a few basic rules are important. The dish must always be made with olive oil. This helps to brown the chicken and meat evenly and to keep each grain of rice separate. Saffron must be added, to give the rice its golden colour and the sauce its special pungency and aroma. The best way to make a paella is to cook everything together in a large shallow paella pan, uncovered.

1 1.2 kg chicken, cut up.
1/2 kg chorizo, sliced and fried
50 - 75 ml olive oil
1 teaspoon paprika
2 whole garlic cloves
2 tablespoons minced parsley
1 medium onion, minced
1 red pepper, chopped
1/2 teaspoon saffron
2 teaspoons salt
1 litre chicken stock
300g Spanish Calasparra rice (allow about 80g per person)
1/2 kg prawns, peeled or 2 blue swimmer crabs chopped and cleaned
1/2 kg sliced and cleaned calamari
1 litre mussels or clams (or use both) well scrubbed
1 cup frozen peas
2 tbsp white wine

1. Remove about 8 pieces of chicken from the body. Use the carcass and the wing tips to make some stock.  If using prawns also, add the prawn shells to the stock
2. Heat the oil in the paella pan over medium heat. Add onion, red pepper, garlic, chorizo, chicken and calamari. Add rice and stir for 1 minute. Stir in stock, saffron and paprika.
3. When the stock is boiling and rice grains begin to swell, add the crab or prawns. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the stock has reduced and the rice has begun to swell. Push the mussels and clams into the rice and cook until the shells open. Finally add the peas, strips of capsicum and parsley and leave it for five more minutes on low heat.
4. Cover and leave standing for about 10 minutes before serving.

Terrine

1 kg pork and veal mince
7 crushed juniper berries
10 lightly crushed black peppercorns
1⁄4 tsp mixed spice
1⁄4 tsp dried thyme
1 sprig rosemary, chopped finely
12 pistachios, chopped
4 chopped prunes
1⁄2 espresso cup dry white wine
2 tbsp brandy
50g chopped onions
1 clove chopped garlic
11⁄2 tsp salt
3 short-cut rashers of bacon, chopped

Sprinkle the chopped prunes with a small amount of the wine and brandy. Set the prunes and chopped bacon aside. Now mix together everything except the reserved chopped prunes and bacon. Leave the mixture in a covered basin in the fridge for at least two hours for the flavours to be absorbed in the terrine.
Place half the mixture in an unbuttered terrine. Now sprinkle the bacon and prunes on top of this to form another layer. Finally place another layer of terrine mixture in the dish.
Place the terrine in a baking dish filled with water and cook at 150°C (310°F) for 11⁄4 to 11⁄2 hours. The terrine is cooked when it comes away from the side of the dish.

Fromage Frais

Fromage frais is sold in France alongside yoghurt. Elsewhere in the world it seems to be more difficult to obtain. Here is a recipe which I have often used and which makes a very acceptable fromage frais.  Like yoghurt fromage frais is made using a culture but with some some rennett to firm the cheese up.

It is advisable to sanitise the chux and the container. The easiest way to do this is to use Milton anti-bacterial tablets as per the intructions on the Milton's box. Milton's anti-bacterial tablets are available in the baby section of supermarkets.  Wring out excess liquid from the chux by hand before using it to strain the cheese.

2 litres full cream unhomogenized organic milk
Mesophilic DVI cheese culture (obtainable from a cheesemaker supply company)
2 - 3 drops of rennet in 5 tbsp cooled boiled water
1 sanitised "chux" or similar
Salt and pepper to taste

Note that the rennett will only work in unhomogenized milk.

Place the milk in a sanitised 2 litre plastic container and microwave for about 4 minutes on high. Alternatively heat the milk on the stove to around 21°C in a sanitized saucepan.  Stir 1 tbsp of rennet solution and a very small amount of culture into the milk (enough to fit on the end of a skewer). Leave stand in a container at room temperature until the curd is solid (about 12 hours).

Drain the cheese through a chux lining a plastic colander for about 1½ - 2 hours in a cool place. If desired, gently work in the salt and pepper although I prefer fromage frais without either of these. The final consistency of the fromage frais should be rather like a thick yoghurt. Store in a covered container in the fridge.

Chinese Spicy Eggplant and Chicken

This is one of my favourite recipes
 
INGREDIENTS
2 largish eggplants
salt
2 garlic cloves
1 knob ginger, peeled
12 spring onions
oil for shallow frying
750g chicken mince
2 tbsp chilli bean paste
4 tbsp soy sauce
5 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine (or substitute dry sherry)
1 tsp sesame oil
½ cup water

METHOD
Cut an eggplant into 1.5 cm cubes and then put about one eggplant at a time into boiling water in a large saucepan. When each eggplant is soft, remove with a slotted spoon to a colander to drain and add the next eggplant to the boining water. Continue until the eggplants are cooked.

Meanwhile in a food processor, blitz the garlic, ginger and four spring onions into a paste. Slice the other spring onions into 5cm lengths. Set aside.

Heat a pan with with some oil oil and when hot, add the garlic paste and chicken mince. Stirfry for 5 minutes on high until the chicken is cooked, then add all the remaining ingredients, including the sliced spring onions. Cook for a few minutes until the flavours have melded together and add the cooked eggplant.

Season to taste.  Serve with boiled rice.

Serves 4

Chicken Curry

1 chicken cut into pieces
1 onion sliced
2 garlic cloves chopped
2 tablespoons tomato sauce (or 1 tablespoon tomato paste)
2 tablespoons milk
3 cups water
juice of ½ lemon or 1 tablespoon of lemon grass
1 - 3 tablespoons of curry powder (preferably Singapore or Malaysian)
1 sliced potato
Additions
100 g green peas
4 whole potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
Method
Heat cup of oil in the pot. When the oil is heated, add sliced onions and fry for 2 - 3 minutes, then add garlic and fry for a further 1 minute. Add curry powder made into a paste by mixing with some water and stir for 2 minutes. Add milk and tomato paste and cook for 3 minutes. Add 3 cups water and let simmer for 3 minutes – to boil. Then add chicken pieces, cover, and cook until tender (about 15 minutes). Then add potatoes and cook. Add frozen green peas near end of cooking.

Fast Tuna Patties

These patties are easy and fast to make, have a low glycemic load and unlike many similar recipes, do not contain mashed potatoes. If the patties are rolled very firmly, they stay intact during the cooking process. Also, putting them in the fridge if time permits will help this also. Adjust flavorings to taste.

Ingredients

425 g can tuna in springwater, drained
1 onion
handful of parsley
1 egg
3 slices bread
1⁄4 cup sweet chilli sauce, or 1 tablespoon chilli bean paste
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and pepper, to taste
Oil for shallow-frying
Method
1.Blitz the onion and parsley using a cutting blade. Now blitz the bread slices without removing the onion.
2.Change the blade to a plastic one.
3.Add the tuna, egg and chilli sauce. Blitz until smooth.
4.Firmly roll mixture into balls or patties, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
5.Shallow fry until browned and heated through.

Serve with lemon juice.

Curried Watermelon

This dish is great to have with pre-dinner drinks. It may be made several hours before using.
Serve with individual forks or toothpicks.
It is very good to have with with sparkling wine. It is low calorie and has a low glycemic load.

Watermelon
Lemon or lime
Keens curry powder
Fresh Vietnamese hot mint (or plain mint)
Chilli flakes (optional)

• Cube several slices of seedless watermelon and place in a bowl.
• Squeeze half a large lemon or whole small one (lime is even better) and mix into the lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of Keens curry.
• Shred some mint.
• Tip the lemon/curry mix, mint and chilli flakes onto the watermelon and gently coat.

Zarzuela de Mariscos

Zarzuela de Mariscos is a great Spanish dish. This is a quick and simplified version based on the Marinara Mix which most fishmongers sell. Of course other seafood ingredients may be added to give a better end result such as opened mussels, prawns, clams and scallops.
750g of Marinara Mix from the market, use any other suitable mix from your fishmonger
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp brandy
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 small garlic clove, peeled, and sliced
1 small red pepper, diced
1 tomato, peeled and chopped (or just use some tomato from a can)
1 tbsp ground almonds
1/2 sachet of Spanish saffron powder
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tbsp minced parsley
Sauté the red pepper in the olive oil in a pan. When it is softening add onion, garlic and tomato. Cook until very soft. Add the brandy, almonds and saffron. Cook briefly and then add the wine and marinara mix. Simmer until the seafood is cooked. To serve, add the chopped parsley and serve with either rice or cous cous.

Chocolate Espresso Cake

 This recipe is one of my favourites and is based on Elizabeth David's recipe in "Mastering the Art of French Provincial Cooking". It uses no flour and is therefore is very good for celiacs and diabetics since, for a cake, it has a comparatively low glycemic load. It is excellent with a cappucino.

100g of bitter chocolate
75g each of butter, caster sugar and ground almonds
3 eggs
1 tablespoon each of rum or brandy and black coffee.

Break the chocolate into small pieces; put them with the rum and coffee to melt in a cool oven. Stir the mixture well, put it with the butter, sugar and ground almonds in a saucepan and stir over a low fire for a few minutes until all the ingredients are blended smoothly together. Off the fire, stir in the well-beaten egg yolks, and then fold in the stiffly-whipped whites. Turn into a lightly-buttered shallow sponge-cake tin of about 20cm diameter, or a tart tin with a removable base of the same size. Stand the tin on a baking sheet and cook in a very low oven,150°C., for about 45 minutes. This cake, owing to the total absence of flour, is rather fragile, so turn it out,when it is coolvery carefully. It can either be served as it is, or covered with lightly whipped and sweetened cream. It is a cake which is equally good for dessert or for tea-time.