Birthday Dinners

October/November is birthday season in our family. For the 3 whose birthdays are in other months this might seem like an exaggeration but for those of us who are part of the Oct/Nov glut it just feels like non-stop feasting. One of Harriet's friends once suggested Harriet was snubbing her - she said "every time I ask you to do something with me you claim a family birthday". But it happened to be true. Of course there are fewer of us around these days so this year was a light season but I think Phoebe & I made up for it with the unctuousness of our feasts.

As I think I mentioned before, we have traditional birthday meals & mine is mixed paella, however with the seafood lovers out of the country I went instead for American Cobb Salad.

This is a fantastic salad which I first had about 10 years ago in San Jose. I never found a recipe until a couple of years ago & it is a firm family favourite. I found it in an issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine on American Classics, where it is described as every bit the starlet of Hollywood's Golden Age (the 1920s) as Jean Harlow & Rita Hayworth. There is a long list of ingredients -don't leave any of them out. Having said that you can prepare a separate platter for vegetarians without the chicken & bacon. This is not actually as fiddly as it looks and your diners will love you. The trick to perfecting this or any arranged salad, is to dress each component before you arrange on the platter. If you dress it afterwards you will have dry patches. So start dressing the lettuce in a bowl, then as you arrange on the platter, toss each ingredient in the dressing residue in the bowl, topping up the dressing as you go. This way you will find it is neither under nor overdressed.

Phoebe had her usual dinner of Chicken Za'atar & Fattoush which is an old Nigella favourite. This is really simple. The night before put a whole chicken cut into 8 pieces (I have done it with just drumsticks for a barbecue) in a sealable plastic bag. Pour in quite a bit of olive oil & sprinkle over some sea salt & 2 tbsp za'atar, scrunch around & leave to marinate in the fridge. When you're ready to eat, tip into a roasting dish & put in a very hot oven (220) for about 45 minutes. They should be browned & slightly crispy with the chicken falling off the bones.

While the chicken is cooking, make the fattoush which is a traditional Middle Eastern bread salad. Dice 3-4 spring onions with a cucumber and 3 tomatoes. Mix in a bowl & add a bunch each of finely chopped mint & flat-leaf parsley and 1 clove garlic, crushed. Cut 2 pitta breads open lengthways so you have 4 thin round halves and toast on a baking tray in the hot oven above the chicken for about 5 minutes, taking care not to burn. When they are cooled snip most of them into the salad, in rough triangles then toss & dress with best olive oil & lemon juice. Season with Maldon salt & taste for the right lemoniness for you. I like mine quite sharp. Just before serving sprinkle on your few reserved pitta triangles & about 1/2 tsp sumac, which is a beautiful dark red middle eastern spice.

I also made Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate cake which is so quick & turns out perfectly every time. The pink flowers are from Cupcake Sweeties at the Sunday City Market. I had left over caramel from the Spanish biscuits & left over pastry cases from the Portuguese tarts & left over icing from this cake, so I put them all together & made Spaneenish tarts. They all groaned...but I note they ate them just the same.

Iberian Delights

I have enjoyed Portuguese food ever since Leonie & I visited back in...1982? I've recently been inspired by Spanish food and at least two of you have visited this year. Last week I bought a magazine - Gourmet Traveller - with a Spanish theme & this is the basis for this blog. In addition I have had a birthday & received a delightful fifties style apron which I think provided additional inspiration.

Let's start with Alfajores Payes. As soon as I saw these I had to have them. I immediately discovered that you needed to cook the condensed milk for 3 hours & cool for a similar time but by that time I was too involved. I was up until after 11.00 on Sunday night chocolate coating one half and up at 6.00 doing the other side before work. I took them in for my team on Monday and had great feedback which I will share with you. They are very rich - make them smaller. Some participants felt the biscuits were so delicious the chocolate was a distraction. If you think that, then make a version you just dust with icing sugar.

Then there is the Portuguese custard tart. Phoebe gave me Ladies a Plate - Second Helping for my birthday & there was a recipe. Just like a bought one, I thought. Phoebe's comment: don't roll the pastry too thin, which I think we did because we had 30 pastry cases & only enough custard for 24. The recipe suggested you would get 20.

Back to the magazine. We had Calasparra rice with chicken & chorizo for dinner this evening. This was excellent. Make sure you brown the skin well at the start & we did find the rice took a little longer to cook than suggested. Be patient. If you don't have a paella pan use a wide shallow frying pan - not too heavy bottomed.

The apron made me do it - the custard tarts left me with 4 egg whites so I dipped into Edmond's & rediscovered one of my mother's old favourites. I suspect she made it to use up egg whites too. Remember Lemon souffle, which she used to call Lemon Snow. Peter called it Lemon Fluff & Phoebe is calling it Lemon Flurry. Whatever the name, it is delicious. Very refreshing and the perfect vehicle for stray egg whites on a summer evening.

One last thought. We had a picnic at one of our favourite spots, Percy's Reserve. On the way home we were taking a turn in the rose gardens & came upon two young (18-20) women wearing aprons similar to mine, sitting on an elegant rug, tucking into the most amazing looking sponge cake, which appeared to be decorated with every kind of gummy sweet known to humankind. Our picnic wasn't nearly so inspired - but it was good all the same.

Three kinds of beetroot

It's been a while. I've not been able to get into the study due to exams. They're not over, however I have been granted entry to make a small post.
I thought I'd mention beetroot. I would happily eat beetroot every day & I suspect I do. It is one of the most versatile vegetables. It is wonderful with lamb. Recently I couldn't decide so I made 3 kinds of beetroot. First cook your beetroot. I bring it to the boil in cold water & then simmer until cooked. About 30 mins for baby beets & 40 mins or longer for larger ones. Then skin them. Allow one large beetroot per person
A hot beetroot dish. Cut 2 large beetroot into six pieces each - halve then cut each half into 3. Put them in a roasting dish just big enough to fit snugly. Toss in olive oil, season with salt & pepper & roast in a hot oven about 25 minutes. Meanwhile make a dressing - whisk 1/2 tbsp liquid honey 1 tbsp balsamic & 2 tbsp olive oil, add 1/2 dozen black olives, chopped rosemary & season. When the beets are roasted, slice some goats cheese or any good feta on top & drizzle over the dressing.
Beetroot salad. Slice a red onion & steep in a small dish with 1 tbsp red wine vinegar & olive oil for at least 1/2 hour. This softens the onions & renders them a beautiful translucent pink. Slice the beetroot onto a dish, then artfully arrange the onions on top. Tip on the vinegar & oil residue. Drizzle over a little more oil, the sprinkle sea salt, grated orange zest & finely chopped mint.
Or chop the beetroot into chunks. Make a dressing of yoghurt, crushed garlic, caraway seeds, salt & pepper. Stir the beetroot through the yoghurt & sprinkle a little paprika as a garnish on the top. Or chopped mint is nice.
I had my 3 kinds of beetroot with lamb on skewers. Mix 400g lamb mince with 3 cloves minced garlic, 1/2 preserved lemon rind - finely chopped, 1 dozen finely chopped sundried tomatoes, olive oil, finely chopped parsley & thyme, salt & pepper. Divide the lamb into about 18 portions. Flatten the lamb & wrap around a small piece of bocconcini - you want about 3 bocconcini balls, and roll into elongated balls. Cook the meatballs in a frying pan , then when cool enough to handle tread onto skewers with cherry tomatoes & basil leaves. I make 2 skewers per person with 3 lamb balls & 3 tomatoes on each. It goes lamb, basil leaf, tomato, lamb, basil leaf, tomato etc to end with tomato.
Finally I make salad for my lunch for most of the summer. I have cos lettuce, baby spinach, capsicum, spring onion, radish, puy lentils, quartered baby beetroot, left over lamb or chicken, left over roast potatoes, left over peas are yummy, feta cheese topped with pea tendrils, puy lentil sprouts, micro greens. Drizzle over some vinaigrette. You get the idea - just what I can find in the fridge.