Baked feta

We ate quite a bit of baked feta when on holiday in Crete a few years ago. For some reason we only just thought of making it. It's really easy and simple and delicious.

1 block feta, drained

1 small tomato (ideally yellow), sliced thinly

1/2 a red pepper, sliced thinly

a few olives, destoned and sliced

black pepper

dried oregano 

olive oil

Heat oven to 220C or get the fire going. Put block of feta on a piece of foil big enough to wrap it. Arrange slices of tomato and pepper on top; and olives. Sprinkle with black pepper and oregano. Drizzle with olive oil. Wrap up and bake at 220C for about 20 min. Also good (better?) cooked on fire embers. Eat with crusty good bread.

Updated muhammara

I hadn't made muhammara for a while, but S bought some in the supermarket and it was really sweet and didn't have any walnuts in it and just made me pine for the real thing. And then I remembered it was an excellent use for walnuts - am always looking for excellent uses for walnuts, since we have a big old walnut tree in the garden. I have been testing out a few different combinations and textures for muhammara, here is my old version, and here is my latest:

3 red peppers
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
1 clove garlic
1 tsp dried red chilli flakes
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
juice of 1/2 lime (or lemon)
1 tsp ground cumin
1-2 tbsp olive oil

Roast red peppers at high heat, c. 220C, until collapsed and with blackened spots. Cover and let cool, then remove peel and seeds. Can be kept in the fridge for a day or so until ready to make the muhammara.

When ready to make the muhammara, first toast the walnuts. Then put the peppers, breadcrumbs, garlic, chilli, pomegranate molasses, citrus juice, cumin and olive oil in a blender and blend until smooth. Crush the walnuts with a pestle and mortar, and then mix in a bowl with the pepper mixture. Check consistency and taste for seasoning.

Shakshuka

I first ate shakshuka quite a while ago. Perhaps it was made by my friend N, it was one of his signature dishes (he's also vegetarian, and a good cook). But somehow never got around to making it for ages. We had some for lunch in a cafe recently, and I realized it is good, and also super simple if you make the sauce in advance. I used approximately this recipe, and made the sauce in advance, before cracking 4 eggs into it for a weeknight dinner.

 4 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
2 sweet peppers, diced
5 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp cayenne
800 g (2 tins) tinned tomatoes
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
4-8 eggs*
small bunch coriander, chopped
c. 2/3 a pack feta

Heat the oil in a large lidded pan. Add onion, cook until golden. Add peppers, fry until soft. Stir in garlic and spices and cook for a few more minutes. Add tinned tomatoes, stir in the sugar and lemon juice and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for c. 30 min. Taste and season.

When ready to eat, heat the sauce in a large lidded deep-sided frying pan. When warm, turn down to the lowest heat, make the right number of wells for the eggs, then crack the eggs one at a time into a cup before pouring into a well. Simmer gently for approx. 10 min (mine took a bit longer) - you may wish to put the lid on to encourage the eggs to cook more evenly. Sprinkle with coriander and feta and eat with crusty bread. 


*The eggs took a little longer to cook than I expected (maybe more like 20 min?), but other than that it was great - perhaps even a good idea to leave the sauce in the fridge for a bit, to let the flavours meld.

Liquorice ketchup

S brought loads of liquorice back from Denmark, and also a little tub of liquorice powder. I have never had a particular love for liquorice, although I have grown to like it. So I was quite stumped what to do with it. Luckily the liquorice powder brand has some suggestions. I decided to try a liquorice ketchup. We'd liked the idea of making fancy ketchups before but I'd never got round to it.

1 red bell pepper
olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 apple, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tin of tomatoes (or 1/2 tin plus 2 large tomatoes, seeds and skin removed)
7 tsp liquorice powder
1 tbsp liquorice syrup (used maple syrup)
25g brown sugar
pinch of black pepper
fresh red chilli (optional), deseeded (used dried)

Grill the pepper in the oven until skin blisters and peppers softens, and remove skin (I used roasted red pepper from a jar instead). Let cool a little then chop roughly.

Heat ~2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook for a few min. Add the pepper, apple and the fresh tomatoes if using and cook until soft. Add the liquorice powder and the tinned tomatoes and stir. Add the remaining ingredients: liquorice (or maple) syrup, sugar, black pepper, and chilli (optional). Simmer slowly for at least 15-20min.

Finally, blend the ketchup to a purée and put in the fridge to cool. When it’s cold, it’s ready.


Ohhhh this is really liquorice-y and there's loads of it. Not sure if my liking for liquorice has graduated to this level of liquoriceyness yet.

Green peppers with salt and citrus

We had a lot of green (and purple) peppers, plus a selection of different kinds of chilli pepper. I'd eaten a lot of them raw with dips, roasted others in a roasted veg mix with aubergines, courgettes, tomatoes, garlic etc, and was wondering what else I could do with them when I remembered about the Spanish tapas dish with whole, roasted green peppers (usually Padron peppers) sprinkled with lemon juice and sea salt. As soon as I remembered it I wanted to eat it. 

~8 green bell peppers and/or large, mild chillies (eg poblano)
olive oil
coarse sea salt
juice of 1/2 a lemon or lime

Heat oven to 400F. Grease a baking tray with olive oil and arrange the whole peppers in it. Put the tray in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the peppers collapse and become lightly browned, checking halfway through and flipping them to help cook evenly. When done, remove from the oven, transfer to a serving squeeze the lemon or lime juice over the top and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Eat immediately, or they will keep fine in the fridge for a few days.


This worked really well: simple and delicious.

Three bean salad

Amazingly enough green beans to do something with, already. This time a multi-bean salad. I used to make these a lot, chucking in as many kinds of beans as I had, trying to max out the bean variety count. This time I kept it to three, as I thought they looked pretty and tasted good together. With tomatoes, herbs and nasturtium seeds (our other current favourite thing) from my pot garden (and garlic and sweet pepper from the CSA), this is super fresh and packed with flavour.

~1 cup green beans, top-and-tailed and chopped into ~2 cm pieces
~1 cup black eyed beans, defrosted
1/2 cup chickpeas, defrosted
1/2 sweet pepper (mine was yellow), diced
2-3 medium tomatoes, diced
~8 fresh nasturtium seeds, chopped
1 tbsp chives, chopped
1-2 tbsp mint, chopped
1-2 tbsp parsley, chopped
zest and juice of 1/4 lemon
1/8 clove of garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp honey
1-2 tbsp olive oil
salt+pepper

Prepare the green beans and steam them for 10-15 min, until tender. Plunge into cold water to stop cooking, then drain. Mix the black eyed beans, chickpeas and green beans in a bowl. Add the chopped pepper, tomatoes, nasturtium seeds, herbs and lemon zest. Mix the lemon juice, garlic, honey, olive oil, salt and pepper in a small bowl then add to the bean mixture. Toss everything together, taste for seasoning and eat.


This was really fresh and crunchy and tasty. There was quite a lot of liquid in it so I reduced the dressing quantities listed above (originally used more like 1/2 lemon etc).

Radish relish (and radish pickles)

Came by lots of watermelon radishes. The words 'radish' and 'relish' seemed to fit together so beautifully I had to make it happen. This also turned into an experiment in canning processing - can I can using my basic kitchen equipment?


Radish Relish 
(based on this recipe)

1 lb (2 medium sized) watermelon radishes, peeled and shredded*
1 medium onion, diced
2 inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup coconut vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tbsp red Hawaiian salt
1/2 tbsp coriander seed
1/2 tbsp yellow mustard seed
1/4 tsp black peppercorns
1/4 tsp white peppercorns

Combine vinegar, sugar, salt and spices in a large pan and bring to the boil. Add the radishes, onion, ginger and garlic. Bring back to a simmer, stirring until heated through. Remove from the heat.

Spoon relish into sterile jars, leaving ~0.5cm space at the top and poking down with a clean knife to remove bubbles.  Put lids on cleanly and tight. For canning process, you need a large, tall pan with enough space to place a holder in it so that the jars don't touch the bottom of the pan, and still have space for 1-2 inches of water on top of the jars resting on the holder. My tallest pan combined with a metal steamer rose and squat jars allowed me enough space to process two ~400ml jars. Fill the pan (with the steamer in it) with water and bring to the boil. Carefully place the jars in it, bring the water to the right height and bring back to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes (covered if possible). Remove jars carefully and allow to return to room temperature. The button on the lid should pop down if a seal has been made successfully.


Radish Pickles
(based on this recipe)

2 medium sized watermelon radishes, chopped into thickish slices 1-2 in diameter*
1 cup water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp crushed peppercorns
½ tsp brown mustard seed
3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced longitudinally
1 small green chilli, halved longitudinally

Bring the water, vinegar, salt, and sugar or honey to a boil in a medium saucepan and simmer until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Remove from heat and add the peppercorns, mustard seed, garlic and chilli. Pack the radishes in two sterile ~500g jars and pour the hot liquid over them, dividing the garlic and chilli between the jars. Put the lids on and let cool to room temperature, checking if the button on top has popped down - if it has they are sealed. They should be ready to eat after 24 hours. Whether or not they have sealed, it is probably wise to keep them in the fridge.

*could use red radishes (no need to peel then) or daikon instead


One sad thing is that the colour all leaches out of the radishes. It remains in the liquid, so there is still prettiness, but you do lose the breathtaking beauty of the freshly sliced watermelon radish. They are a lovely pink, but I don't love them. I prefer the sweeter radish relish (also prettier due to the shreds), but think the white pepper was a mistake - it smells weird. I'm trying really hard to like it as it was hand delivered to me all the way from Borneo though, so I can deal. The other one smells weird too - just a vegetably, radishy smell, but strangely offputting (I notice a similar smell from prepared horseradish, there must be some chemical reaction happening...).


Notes on water bath processing:

As far as I understand, the aim of water bath processing is to create a seal. This is particularly important when you are jarring up something that is high in neither sugar nor vinegar. So I am a little unsure about whether it is really necessary for something like this relish, which is high in both sugar and vinegar. Also, since putting hot stuff in hot sterile jars usually gives me a good seal anyway (button on lid pops down), I do wonder whether the water bath processing is needed for this or not. Plus, if the stuff has gone off it should be obvious? However, botulism is nasty, and I wouldn't want to get it or cause it. So I am still trying to figure out when water bath processing is necessary (and what for).

My pan+steamer system worked fine, but I can only process squat jars (or jars laid on their side) in the water bath as my pan isn't very tall. I could in theory process a whole lot, although only 1-2 at a time. To be really efficient about this I would need a taller pan (perhaps one day I will buy myself a proper preserving pan) and some accoutrements (tongs, rack etc). But for now I am happy to have worked out a system using regular kitchen equipment.

Ratatouille

I was dithering over the best way to cook a ratatouille, and decided it might be a good time to go with one of the Guardian's 'Perfect...' recipes.  This one.  Seemed to have a reasonable combination of ingredients and cooking methods.

1 huge red pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, cut into small dice
4 cloves garlic, minced – 1 kept separate
4 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and cut into small dice, plus juices
3 sprigs of thyme, plus 1 tsp thyme leaves
Pinch of saffron
1 tsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
3 courgettes (a mix of yellow and green is good if possible), thinly sliced
1 aubergine, thinly sliced
4 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve

Heat the oven to 230C / 450F.  Cut the pepper in half, removing the seeds and pith, and place cut side down on a lightly oiled baking tray.  Roast for 20 minutes until the skin has blistered, then remove and leave to cool, turning the oven down to 140C / 280F.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over a low heat, add the onion and cook until very soft, but not browned (about 8 minutes), adding 3 cloves of minced garlic 5 minutes in. Stir in the tomatoes and juices, and the sprigs of thyme, and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Peel the pepper, cut into small dice and add to the pan to soften along with the saffron. Remove the thyme, season to taste, and stir in the vinegar.

Spread the sauce on the bottom of an oven dish, then arrange the sliced vegetables on top. Mix the remaining clove of garlic with the extra virgin olive oil and thyme leaves, season and sprinkle over the top. Cover tightly with foil, and put in the oven for 2 hours until the vegetables are tender to the point of a knife.

Remove the foil, and cook for 30 minutes more – if the top starts to brown, cover loosely with the foil again. If there is any liquid left in the dish after cooking, decant it into a small pan, and reduce over a medium heat, then pour back in. At this point it can be kept for a couple of days.

Just before serving, re-heat if desired, then put the ratatouille under a hot grill until lightly browned


Was fine.  Nothing special and a bit faffy.  Still dithering over the best way to cook ratatouille.

Speedy pizza

A lazy morning, and we suddenly got hungry.  Something with bread, using some of the spinach and the yellow peppers needing eating...  I remembered this post on hipsterfood - no-knead, no-wait pizza dough?  Too good to be true?  Worth testing out, for sure...

1/2 cup warm water
1 tbsp dry yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups flour (plus more for rolling out)

1/2 punnet cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 large yellow pepper, sliced
1 bag spinach
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
olive oil
salt+pepper

pesto (~4tbsp)

balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to ~400F.  Put the tomatoes, pepper and garlic into an oven tray with a little olive oil and seasoning.

Put the warm water in a medium sized bowl and mix in the yeast.  Let sit for ~5 min.  Then add salt, olive oil and flour and mix to a pliable dough.

Roll out dough on a baking sheet.  Rub all over with olive oil and put in the oven for 5 min.  Check on the tomato mix.

Wash and trim the spinach and put into a large pan.  Heat medium high until it is all wilted.  Transfer to a colander to allow liquid to drain.

When the crust is looking like it's started to firm up (5-10 min cooking), remove from the oven.  Spread on the pesto.  The tomato mix should be cooked by now - spread it over the pesto.  Add the spinach, spreading it out in clumps.  Put some salt and pepper over the top.  Return to the oven for another 5-10min.  Remove from the oven, sprinkle some balsamic vinegar on top and serve.


Definitely worth trying...  The crust was totally up to scratch - not perfect pizza, but let's face it we don't have a wood-fired oven here...  Might try splitting the dough and making 2 thinner ones another time.  Rolling out directly on the baking sheet was a good idea - much easier to avoid splitting.  Really surprisingly good - and how often do you feel like pizza and then feel like waiting for all the rising steps etc before you can eat it?

I am not a fan of fake cheese.  Real cheese or none at all.

Cold peanut noodle salad / chickpea avocado salad

Reinventing leftovers - to make something interesting.

We had some wonderful asparagus (from the farm shop on the way to Bboro) - really fresh and tender.  Even the shoots as big as my finger were super tender.  I just steamed them for 5-10min then we ate them with a little 'butter' and salt and pepper.  Soooo good - could have eaten them forever.

Cold peanut noodle salad

We had noodles and some leek flower with dried tofu left from yesterday's dinner so I decided to make it into a salad.

~500g cooked green ribbon noodles
1 cup mixed fried dry tofu and leek flowers

~1 1/2 tbsp coriander, chopped
~1 1/2 tbsp mint, chopped

For dressing:
2 tbsp unsalted peanut butter
1 tbsp miso paste
1 tbsp umeboshi plum vinegar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp lemon juice

Put the dressing ingredients in bottom of medium bowl and mix well together - taste to check balance (the plum vinegar is quite sour and the miso quite salty).  Tear the noodles into manageable sized pieces and add.  Mix well together.  Add tofu / leek flower and herbs and mix.


Chickpea avocado salad

I prepped a whole load of chickpeas and blackeyed peas at the weekend - this is chickpeas, combined with some stuff out the fridge that needed using (incl a beautifully ripe avocado from TJs - I bought organic because it seemed to be cheaper that day - is it worth buying organic more often?)...

2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 small ripe avocado, roughly chopped
3/4 a small yellow bell pepper, roughly chopped

1 1/2 tbsp coriander, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp mint, chopped
good squeeze of lemon juice

olive oil
salt+pepper

Put all ingredients into a bowl, toss and serve.

Muhamarra (pepper-walnut-pomegranate molasses paste)

Came across this after buying some pomegranate molasses a while ago, when searching for interesting things to do with it...  Basically used this recipe. Also this one.

5 red peppers (or a mixture of peppers and chillies) - used 2 red peppers and 3 poblanos
1 good handful fresh breadcrumbs
120g walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
1 medium onion, diced
About 125ml olive oil
1 tsp chilli flakes - left these out as I thought it'd be spicy enough with the poblanos
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
Juice of 1 lime
½ teaspoon cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Place the whole red peppers on a greased baking sheet and roast until blackened. Put in a sealed plastic bag to steam for 10 minutes, then peel, core and deseed. In the meantime, put the breadcrumbs in a food processor with the walnuts and pulse until quite fine.
In a small pan, sauté the onion until lightly golden. Add to the breadcrumb and walnut mixture with the peppers and the rest of the ingredients, apart from the oil; pulse to a thick paste. Add olive oil until it's a consistency you like. Taste, add more lime juice, pomegranate molasses, cumin and salt and pepper, if you like, and serve with crudités or toasted pitta wedges.

v.2.
3 red peppers
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
1 clove garlic
1 tsp dried red chilli flakes
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
juice of 1/2 lime (or lemon)
1 tsp ground cumin
1-2 tbsp olive oil

Char red peppers whole on flat cast iron ovenproof pan over stovetop burner. Put in a bowl, cover and allow to cool, then remove peel and seeds and put flesh in blender with the red of the ingredients. Blend until smooth.


It's good! The walnut - spicy pepper taste comes out really nicely, with sour notes from the lime / molasses.  Very more-ish. Version 2 is the simplified version, it is quicker and less faffy, and I think just as good.

Tomato chilli jam

Made this in the Summer with a glut of tomatoes and chillies from the Haymarket.  It was really good - balance of sweet and savoury, hot and sour was all there.  Recipe is on the back of an envelope I am using to store stamp edges for jamjar labels in - I just know I am going to lose it or forget it's there...

400g tomatoes
9 red peppers
9 red chillies
6 garlic cloves
thumb sized ginger chunk
700g sugar
200ml cider vinegar / balsamic vinegar / other

I modified this: used only 1 red pepper and more tomatoes.  Only had those big long slim red chillies so used a quantity of those that I thought would give a good level of hotness.  Used a mixture of balsamic, rice and distilled white vinegar.  The balsamic gave it a good, earthy depth of flavour.  Overall, the stuff was reminiscent of sweet chilli sauce in a jamlike form, and very more-ish.

1) finely chop tomatoes, peppers, chillies (wearing lab gloves), garlic, ginger

2) put sugar and vinegar in a pan and stir til sugar dissolved.  Add other stuff and simmer til reduced  / thick and sticky (think ~45-60min)

3) Bring to the boil - cook on high 1 min.  Put into sterile jars.