A very French tuna salad

This is an untraditional salade nicoise, which is to say made the way I like it. Yes, it’s a summery side or main, but some of us are lucky enough to be enjoying perpetual summer for the moment…

Salade Nicoise

200g cherry tomatoes, cut in half
190g tin of tuna packed in water, drained
125 – 250g green beans, topped, tailed and cut in half cross-ways
4 – 6 medium-sized potatoes, scrubbed and cut into chunks
1- 3 T extra-virgin olive oil
A squeeze of fresh lime juice

1) Cook potatoes until tender. Drain
2) Bring water to boil and blanch green beans until just tender, about 3 minutes maximum
3) Mix together potatoes, green beans, cherry tomatoes and tuna into a large bowl. Toss to mix.
4) squeeze over the lime juice and add the extra-virgin olive oil. If the salad seems too dry, add a little more oil. Taste. Add salt if you like.

This served about two as a main. But we were really hungry.

Eat well…life’s too short not to!

Chloe

Stuffed Peppers (another version!)

Ingredients:

1 large pepper per person
25 g. peas
handful of mushrooms
50 g. rice
1 Tbsp. Cream Cheese
3-4 meatballs (or veggie balls) optional
olive oil

Slice the top off the pepper, and cut in half lengthwise if it will not stand upright of its own accord.  Remove all pith and dice a good bit of top.  Put aside.

In a small-medium pan, boil the rice for 10 minutes.  Add the peas after 4 minutes.  When ready drain and return to pan.

Mix the cream cheese, mushrooms, and meatballs into the rice and peas.

Place pepper on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil, and stuff with mixture.  Drizzle again.

Place baking tray on middle shelf of oven preheated to 190 C for 20-30 minutes.  The longer they are cooked, the crispier the rice becomes.

Enjoy!
-Juliet

This city deserves a better class of turkey sandwich…

To be perfectly honest, I don’t usually like sandwiches (yes, I know that’s weird).  But I’m working full-time at an unpaid job, so packing a lunch became a necessity, and I am without the lovely thermos that I used in school to bring myself tasty leftovers. It seemed that some creative thinking was in order.  After a few sad days of PB&J and a chat with my housemate, I discovered an easy addition to a basic turkey and cheese sandwich to make it wonderful: Pesto!  I just take my slices of bread (I’m a big fan of Trader Joe’s Tuscan Pane, a nice all-purpose sourdough), and plop on a few slices of turkey and cheese (provolone, brie, and havarti have all worked nicely for this).  Then, on the top slice of bread, I spread on a teensy bit of mayo, and a spoonful of pesto.  Delicious!
-Emma

Black beans and rice

This rather marvellous dish was introduced to me by Emma. As delicious as it is lovely to look at, it, like many one-pot meals, improves with age.

Black beans and rice

Serves about 4 – 5

about 250g black beans, soaked for six hours
about 250g rice
about 1 red capsicum, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 onion, chopped finely
2 tomatoes, diced

Boil beans for ten minutes and then simmer for about 50 minutes, until cooked. Black beans need to be boiled for ten minutes at least to destroy the toxins.

Suate onion, garlic and capsicum until slightly soft. Add tomato.

Add black beans, raw rice and water (a bit more than you would normally use to cook the same amount of rice). Simmer for 20 – 40 minutes – however long it takes for the rice to cook through. Not all of the water should be absorbed, though…

Serve with hot sauce.

Eat well…life is too short not to!

Chloe

Pasta Salad Nicoise

This has been my favorite summer dinner since I was little.  It involves lots of chopping, but really isn’t hard other than that.

Salad:
1/2 pound seashell pasta
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1/2 pound blanched green beans
14 oz. canned tuna fish
1 cup sliced red Bell peppers
1 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup scallions
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced

It looks very pretty if you layer these in a glass bowl, and toss it at the table. 

Dressing:
1 egg
1 cup corn oil
1/4 cup wine vinegar
1/4 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp. minced parsley
2 Tbsp. fresh dill
1 tsp. dried basil
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 oz. anchovies with oil, or a squeeze of anchovie paste

Beat the egg, than gradually add the oil before adding other ingredients.  Pour atop the salad, and toss.

Enjoy!
-Emma

Something on the side

Everyone needs their little bit on the side. Side dish, I mean. Stuffed capsicums are a sunny, summery side which are delicious and flavourful. What I really like about them, apart from their simplicity, is that they are robust and present beautifully. Their strong, though not overwhelming, flavour means they can stand up to whatever other mains you provide – I think they would be marvellous with plainly grilled meat or steak (mm…steak) – but they are also filling enough for any vegetarians you may be catering for (as a former vegetarian, I can attest that a little thoughtfulness in this area is much appreciated!).

The recipe below reflects what I did. The recipe easily stretches and measurements are versatile. My capiscums were somewhat small and I had a little zuchinni left over; you could use more capiscum or different stuffings. I considered adding a topping of dried breadcrumbs and cheese to add a little crunch!

Zuchinni-stuffed capiscums

4 capiscum, halved, with the stalk and white pith and seeds inside removed (I halved either lengthways or sideways depending on which side seemed most stable; generally I would say halve the capsicum along the width)
1 zuchinni, grated using the largest holes on a box grater
Pinch dried thyme and dried basil
4 tomatoes, diced
2 – 4 tablespoons parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and oil a baking sheet.

Combine zuchinni and dried herbs. Stuff inside hollowed-out capsicum halves.

Place diced tomatoes on top of zuchinni inside the capsicum halves.

Sprinkle with parmesan.

Place on oiled baking sheet.

Bake until filling is cooked and capsicum are soft but not collapsed, about 20 – 30 minutes depending on the size of your beasts.

Eat well…life is too short not to!

Chloe

Sicilian pasta

I didn’t expect this recipe to be as good as it was. I’d never eaten anchovies before, but I’ve resolved to be more adventurous in my eating habits, so I tried not to let my apprehensions stop me; besides, I was cooking for two, and this looked simple and quick… Still, when I was frying the anchovies and garlic, I was feeling nervous and started to wonder if my friend would be able to polish off most of the pasta…

I tasted it to check the seasoning and started eating out of the serving bowl. If not for the fact that I’d had two square meals prior, I could have eaten the whole bowl. Something about the combination of anchovy, parsley and parmesan drove me completely wild. This is delicious. This is beyond super-speedy. This is extremely, extremely cheap. This is based on store-cupboard staples and a bit of parsley. And it is wonderful.

Sicilian pasta

What I made would serve four (I have leftovers)

I used about 250g pasta
3 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped finely
50g tin anchovies, drained of oil and rinsed, chopped fine
About 1 cup breadcrumbs, preferably fresh (I didn’t measure; it was a couple of handfuls).
About 1 cup parsley, chopped finely
about 50g freshly grated parmesan, grated finely
4 tablespoons olive oil (didn’t have any; used vegetable oil and a little butter for flavour, which worked fine)

Cook pasta. While cooking, heat oil in a frying pan and throw in garlic and anchovies. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Smush up the anchovies as much as you can; they do something magical and seem to simply melt away…

Throw in the breadcrumbs. Take off the heat. Add the parsley. Toss.

Drain pasta, but not too completely (there should be a little cooking water included to prevent the breadcrumbs-sauce from becoming too dry). Throw pasta in frying pan and toss through.

Transfer to serving bowl. Scatter over parmesan and toss to distribute it evenly. I did this in a couple of batches so that it transferred evenly.

Eat well!

Chloe

PS original recipe here

Cyber salad

Because it’s exam season, none of us have been paying as much attention to cooking as we usually do. That doesn’t mean I haven’t had some truly spectacular meals – it just means I haven’t bothered to photograph them. In the interests of the historical record, however, here are a few links with recipes I’ve tried and loved in the past month of slog and worry.

Korean beef stew

A wonderful recipe. I used 500g (about a pound) of casserole steak which came diced into cubes and halved the rest of the recipe (more or less – see below for my modest variations).

I used small, hot peppers I bought at the grcoery store, unlikely to be jalapeno. I used a packet, which was three or four peppers.

I added about five cloves of peeled garlic at the beginning of the cooking process, adding three or four more after about an hour of cooking. This was not too much garlic! The garlic softened and sweetened deliciously.

Because I don’t like my food to be excessively sweet (even in those salty-sour-sweet combos, the sweetness often puts me off), I used 1/2 cup of soy and under 1/2 cup brown sugar (just over 1/4 I reckon).

I also added about a cup of water at the beginning of the cooking process and stewed it over moderate heat for ages. The original recipe says the meat should not be ‘falling apart’, but I prefer it to be tender and melting, so I let it cook for about half a day.

I served the stew with sliced cucumber and tomatoes. If I’d had sesame seeds and sesame oil, I’d have served this salad alongside.

Walnut-crusted chicken breasts

I rarely mess with one of Ms Martha’s recipes, although I did use only 2 chicken breasts. I used the same amount of topping nonetheless and a whole egg rather than an egg white. I used either olive or vegetable oil instead of grapeseed. This was wonderful. I served some to various friends who were disappointed when there wasn’t more. I was, too!

Chloe

South-American Fried Egg

This is honestly the only way I’ll cook eggs.  It’s a delicious recipe!

Adapted from ‘The First-Time Cook’ by Sophie Grigson 

Ingredients:
Olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of a frying pan)
1 Egg
1/4 red chilli (diced), or chilli flakes, or ¼ tsp chilli powder, or cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
1 slice of toast
a splash of Balsamic vinegar
a pinch of salt
Chopped cilantro to garnish

Use enough olive oil to cover the base of the pan.  Heat over fairly generous heat and break the eggs into the pan once the oil is hot enoguh to sputter.  Spoon the oil over the egg white to help it set and get nice and crispy.  Start with the heat high and then turn it down to get crispy whites and a runny yolk.  When the egg is half-cooked, add the chilli, cumin and garlic to the oil and continue cooking and spooning oil over the egg.  Lift the eggs out of the pan and onto the toast, and spoon some oil onto the toast.  Drizzle the egg on toast with balsamic vinegar, and sprinkle with cilantro and salt.

Buen provecho!
Emma

Soba Noodles with Peanut Butter

This is one of my ’sunny foods.’  I wouldn’t dream of having it in fall or winter, this is a spring and summer recipe.  I’ve cooked it and am posting it here in celebration of our nice spring weather! 

Ingredients:

Soba Noodles

Sauce:
2 spoonfuls peanut butter
1 TBSP Sesame Oil
1 TBSP Soy Sauce
a pinch of cayenne pepper
Optional:
diced ginger

Topping (optional):
Spring Onions
Vegetables (green beans and peas are both nice)
grilled chicken breast

Prepare the Soba noodles as directed on the package.  Make sure you rinse them in cold water after they’ve been boiled; this keeps them from clumping all together.  Mix the peanut butter, sesame oil, soy sauce and cayenne pepper together (to taste) to a molassesy consistency.  Prepare your chopping of choice, and mix it all together.  Simple as that; and delicious!

Let us know if you have any other great toppings!
-Emma