April 2010 - Stuffed Mushrooms with Gorgonzola Dressing

With a recipe like Valli Little's Baked Caramel Cheesecake with Toffee Shards on the front cover of issue #92 how could you possibly go wrong. Unfortunately I sort of did, you see I didn't make Valli's cheesecake. I decided that I should make something for a weekend lunch from this issue and instead of choosing Poh's Char Kway Teow, Curtis Stone's Risoni, Roast Tomato & Capsicum Salad, Valli's Chorizo, Corn & Black Bean Salad with Tortillas or Jill Dupleix's Lentil Fritters with Labne I made Andy Bunn's Stuffed Mushroom with Gorgonzola Dressing.

Now to be fair, the actual stuffed mushroom was very good, I did leave out the anchovies though. The beans with it were a very nice with the mushroom and filled it out to be a bit more of a meal. It was just the dressing and, to be honest, I think that may have been my fault. I didn't have any sunflower oil to make the dressing out of so instead I used macadamia oil instead, which I always thought was a rather neutral oil. The dressing tasted terrible and I suspect that my oil may have been rancid. I would recommend the actual stuff mushroom but I don't really know about the dressing. Don't make it with macadamia nut oil if you do try it though...

Stuffed Mushrooms with Gorgonzola Dressing

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 c olive oil
  
• 1 onion, finely diced
  
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 8 anchovies, roughly chopped
• 3 c (210 g) fresh breadcrumbs
  
• 1 c (80 g) grated parmesan
  
• 2 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
  
• 4 large flat mushrooms
• 250 g Roman (flat) beans, trimmed and steamed until just cooked
  

Gorgonzola Dressing

• 1 egg yolk
  
• 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
• 2 tsp hot English mustard
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
  
• 100 ml sunflower oil
  
• 20 g gorgonzola piccante
  

Method:

• Preheat oven to 200 C.
  

For Dressing:

• Whiz egg yolk, garlic, mustard & vinegar in a food processor until combined.
  
• With the motor running add oil drop by drop at first, then in a steady stream until thick.
  
• Add gorgonzola and process until smooth. Set aside.
  

For Mushrooms:

• Heat butter and 1 tbsp oil in fry pan. Add onion, garlic and anchovies and cook, stirring occasionally until onion is soft and anchovies dissolve, about 8 minutes.
  
• Remove from heat and stir in breadcrumbs, parmesan and parsley and season with salt & pepper.
  
• Remove stalks from mushrooms and place on oiled baking tray.
  
• Top with breadcrumb mixture, drizzle with oil and bake 15 minute or until topping golden and mushroom soft.
  
• Divide beans between plates and top with a mushroom and drizzle with dressing.
  

April 2009 - Baked Meatballs with Tomato & Tamarind Sauce

I am not even going to faff about with what I could have made from issue #81 because while there were a couple of possibilities nothing interested me as much as the recipe that I ended up making. Bill Granger's Baked Meatballs with Tomato & Tamarind Sauce caught my eye and I decided that I must try it.

I have tamarind in my pantry although it doesn't get used very often. I have loved everything that I have had it in though and this was no exception. The meatballs being baked were great. I didn't have to worry about accidentally breaking them when turning like I have a habit of doing when I fry them in the pan. I think next time I make this, and there will be a next time rather soon I think, I will put them on baking paper in a tray so that I can use less oil. The meatballs could have had a bit more zing although that is all dependent on what type of chilli you use. I didn't have any fresh chilli so I used a small amount of sambal oelek, I will know for next time that more is needed.

The sauce for the meatballs had just the right amount of sweet and sour. I did add a little bit too much tamarind so the colour was a bit darker than the picture of Bill's and I needed to adjust the sugar slightly. I think next time I will use palm sugar instead of regular and use a splash of fish sauce instead of the salt.

Bill suggested serving this wonderful dish with a currant & cashew pilaf, english spinach raita and mint sambal. I, unfortunately just didn't have time to make it all so I served it with some plain rice. I stirred in a couple of handfuls of baby spinach leaves to the sauce and topped with a dollop of natural yoghurt. It was a very enjoyable meal and one that will definitely be added to the often made list.

Baked Meatballs with Tomato & Tamarind Sauce

Serves 4

Meatballs

500g minced beef or lamb (I used beef)

1 small onion, grated (I just chopped very finely)

55g fresh white breadcrumbs

3 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

6 tbsp chopped coriander leaves, plus extra to garnish (I used all parsley)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp sweet paprika

1 red chilli, seeded, finely chopped (I used a bit of sambal oelek)

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

Tomato and tamarind sauce

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 red onion, finely diced (I sliced in half and the slice half-rounds)

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 tbsp grated ginger

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp turmeric

2 x 425g tins chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp tamarind pulp (or 2 tbsp lime juice)

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

• Preheat the oven to 220C.
• Combine all the ingredients, except the oil, in a large bowl. Mix gently with your hands, then shape into small balls.
  
• Toss the meatballs gently in the oil in a roasting tin and bake for 10-15 minutes.
  
• Meanwhile, for the tomato and tamarind sauce.
• Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-based pan over a medium to low heat.
  
• Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the onion is translucent.
  
• Add the garlic, ginger, cumin and turmeric and stir for 2 minutes or until fragrant.
• Then add the tomatoes, tamarind, sugar, salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes.
• Transfer the meatballs into a frying pan with the sauce and stir carefully until the meatballs are coated in sauce then simmer for 10 minutes.
• Serve with rice, raita and any other Indian condiments you may have.
  

April 2008 - Jamie Oliver's Potato & Rosemary Rolls

Issue #70 is just packed full of wonderful recipes and I went back and forth trying to decide what to make. The luscious chocolate fondant with mint chocolate ice cream on the cover looked so rich and lovely. The mint ice cream would have just been a wonderful touch. I am not a huge fan of chocolate fondants though. They always look so good but I find myself strangely disappointed with them. I think it normally has to do with the quality of the chocolate used to make them. I don't have any decent chocolate in the house at present so there is no point making them.

The Roast Capsicum & Tomato Soup with Spinach & Goat's Cheese Muffins looked really good and would make a lovely lunch time meal. However, red capsicums were ridiculously expensive when I went to buy some. I thought that I could just make the muffins, but discovered that the smell in the fridge that had been getting worse and worse was actually the goat's cheese...oh dear, what a waste, so no muffins either.

Phillip Johnson's Poached Quinces sounded really nice and there was also a Spiced Quince Trifle recipe that used the poached quinces. All of it sounded so great. The poaching liquid is nicely spiced with vanilla, cloves, star anise and cinnamon but it used a whole kilo of caster sugar! That is for 6 quinces but it is still a lot of sugar. Plus quinces still haven't hit the stores here yet. I would have thought that the would be in stock by now, hopefully they will show up soon.

Jill Dupleix's Kumara & Pancetta Tart was another option. This is a very easy looking tart and with the addition of a nice green salad would make a wonderful lunch. I am always looking for things that I can make for lunches as I come home from work for lunch and need to have things that I can grabs relatively quickly. I don't want to be cooking when I come home so things like this tart and salads are great especially in the summer. It is getting easier now as the days are starting to cool down so I can just heat up some left overs, and I have nice soups and stews in the fridge to keep me going. I ended up using my kumara in a meal on the weekend so didn't have any to make the tart with.

In the end I decided to make Jamie Oliver's Potato & Rosemary rolls as I had made Chorizo & Bean soup last night and I thought that the rolls would go really well with the left over soup for lunches for the rest of the week, and probably into the weekend. This was a really easy recipe to make. I only made half of it as a full recipe makes 12 rolls and that is too many for me to eat before they are stale and while I realise that I could freeze them, they just wouldn't be the same. The dough came together quickly and I loved the addition of the semolina into the dough. The flavoured oil that the potatoes were doused in was terrific, although I did find that the anchovy flavour didn't blend as much as I would have hoped. I would probably leave them out the next time and just add a touch more salt. I would highly recommend making these, they are easy and tasty.

Potato & Rosemary Rolls

Makes 6

Dough

Ingredients

• 100 g fine semolina
• 400 g strong flour (I needed probably another 50 - 100 g as it was quite sticky)
• 2 tsp salt
  
• 7 g (2 tsp) dry active yeast (or 1 sachet)
  
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 325 ml lukewarm water
  

Method

• Pile semolina and flour onto a clean surface and sprinkle over salt.
  
• Make a well in the centre and pour in half the water and then add yeast and sugar to the water.
  
• Leave for a few minutes for the yeast to start to froth and then start mixing in the flour until you have a slurry then add the rest of the water. Work in the rest of the flour and knead for 5 minutes or until you have a smooth springy dough.
  
• Put it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove in a warm place for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
• Knock back and then flatten out with your hands. Sprinkle with potato mixture (below) and fold over, then knead to mix in the potato.
  
• Divide into six (or more if you want smaller rolls) and place on a greased tray. Place in a warm place for 20 minutes to rise.
  
• Pre-heat oven to 200 C while rolls are proving.
  
• Drizzle over a little olive oil and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until cooked through and golden.
  

Potato Mixture

• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked, roughly chopped (I didn't chop them)
  
• Zest of 1 small lemon
  
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 2 anchovy fillets
  
• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 350 g boiled potatoes, roughly broken up (still warm)
  

Method

• Crush garlic, rosemary and lemon zest with a little sea salt in a mortar & pestle.
  
• Pound in the anchovies, stir in oil, lemon juice and a few pinches of pepper.
  
• Scrape mixture into a bowl, add still warm potatoes and toss to combine.
  

April 2007 - Coddled Eggs

While looking through issue #59 for what to make it wasn't really a difficult decision. As I thought that it was about time that I picked something that could be made for breakfast/brunch again.

I did, however, briefly consider the slow-cooked lamb shoulder with pumpkin agrodolce and wilted spinach from the feature article on the launch of the Dutch edition of delicious and Jamie Oliver's Fifteen in Amsterdam. The lamb is rubbed with a combination of fennel seeds, garlic, oil and salt and slow cooked. The pumpkin is slices of pumpkin in coated in a mixture of herbs spices, onion, garlic, vinegars and sugar and then roasted. It all sounds so full of flavour and a wonderful meal to make on a weekend when you have plenty of time. I had already decided to make a lamb dish from the previous issue though so wanted something different from this one.

There were two options that I though would work for breakfast/brunch. The first was Valli Little's Egg & Bacon Pizzas. Lovely little individual pizzas topped with sundried tomato pesto, mozzarella, eggs, bacon and cherry tomatoes. They looked really nice and I am sure they would make a nice lunch or a light dinner but I wanted a more traditional breakfast food. So I decided to go with Jamie Oliver's Coddled Eggs. I had never made coddled eggs before. I have had them but had just never made them. I really like coddled eggs but after making Jamie's recipe and then looking around at a few other recipes his seems to lack one ingredient, a drizzle of cream and to be honest, I think it really missed it. While I enjoyed it, it was not as good as ones that I have had in the past. I will admit to having over cooked slightly, however I think that the little bit of cream I found in a lot of other recipes would have helped the texture and the richness of the dish. Jamie also suggested serving with sautéed asparagus. I had ended up using the asparagus that I bought for something else so I served it with toast fingers instead.

Coddled Eggs

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 tbps finely grated parmesan
• 4 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
• grated fresh nutmeg

Method

• Preheat oven to 190 C.
  
• Grease two ramekin or oven-proof cups (I used my mini enamelled cast iron pan), then sprinkle the parmesan around the inside of the dish.
  
• Put 2 eggs & 1 yolk in each dish, being careful not to crack the yolks.
  
• Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
  
• Cover dish with foil and place in a tray and pour in hot water until it reaches the same level as the eggs.
  
• Bake for 12 - 15 minuted or until the white is set but yolks are still runny.
  

April 2006 - Pistachio-crusted Lamb Racks

At some point during the tossing and turning as to which recipe to make from issue #48 I thought about making the cover recipe of Pea & Haloumi Fritters. They look really good and would make a nice lunch time meal. I also considered Rick Stein's Cornish Pasties. They looked exceptional and I really like pasties but I really wanted to make an evening meal from this issue.

There is a beautifully rich looking Daube of Lamb with Pappardelle recipe from Gordon Ramsay. I had most of the ingredients, except for the lamb and some of the vegetables. It served 4 although I always find that portions are a bit too generous and I often end up with 6 serves from these types of recipes. I also always find that to make these types of dishes it just doesn't work correctly halved. It really is a case of the full recipe or none at all.

I then considered making the Warm Risoni, Chickpea & Kumara Salad. It did sound quite nice and reasonably light, even though there is pasta in it. However, with the weather starting to turn cool in the evenings and I wanted something a bit more like winter food.

In the end I went back to the recipe that was the first to catch my eye in this issue and the one that I kept tossing up on whether to make, Valli Little's Pistachio-crusted Lamb Racks. I really wanted to make this as I really like lamb but at the same time I thought that a rack of lamb might be a bit too expensive. I managed to find a nice one that didn't cost too much and in the end got three meals out of it so it probably was worth it. This was really nice. The mint and the pistachios combined nicely, it was slightly oily but not too bad. It was slightly fiddly to make but worth it. The only problem I had was that it took almost double the time to roast that it stated in the recipe. I am not really sure why. It is hard to tell whether my rack was bigger than the one in the magazine, I don't think so. Due to this the sautéed potatoes that I did to go with them were a bit overcooked and then only just warm by the time they were served. When I served the last of I cut some kumara in to chunks and drizzled with olive oil and chilli honey and then roasted them in the oven and also sautéed some finely sliced cabbage with some bacon and onion. I actually think this was a better combination than the potatoes and mixed vegetables. I would definitely make this again. It would be perfect for a special meal, although if you were following the recipe, to serve 6, it would probably be quite an expensive one.