Eat your greens

We went straight from the simple cazuela to the grand sounding Arroz de Mar y Montana - sea & mountain rice - with chicken, pork, prawns & squid.  You want to make this for 4 or 6.  For 6, season about 300g diced pork and 6 chicken thighs then brown in a cazuela or casserole.  Transfer to a plate.  Take 4 good pork sausages & squeeze them out of their casings and form into  small balls.  Brown them all over then remove.  Add 250g squid cut into smallish pieces & 1 finely chopped onion.  Cook until the onion is soft then add a tin of chopped tomatoes & cook 15 mins.  Return the other meats to the pan along with any juices on the plate and add 1 tsp smoked paprika.  Add 6 cups water & simmer gently 1/2 an hour.  Make a picada which is usually a mix of herbs and nuts - maybe a Spanish pesto.  Perhaps one of you Spanish cooking experts can enlighten us here.  In this case 2 cloves garlic, 10 skinless hazelnuts (roast in the oven a few minutes and the skins will rub off) & 1 tsp flat leaf parsley.  Pound in a mortar & pestle, or blend, with a little of the simmering liquid until you have a smooth paste.  Sprinkle some saffron threads into the cazuela, bring the liquid to a boil & add 2 cups rice, the picada, & a handful of shelled prawns.  If you have ones with the shell on give them a quick turn first back with the sausage balls.  Make sure the rice is evenly distributed then cook uncovered on a medium boil for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Reduce the heat & cook until the liquid is nearly absorbed & the rice is al punto.
Now that the cold weather is closing in, try a spicy winter stir fry.  For 4, cut 2 carrots into thin batons, 2 parsnips into thin disks, 200g mushrooms finely sliced & 200g finely shredded Brussels sprouts.  Heat some sunflower oil in a wok or pan over a high heat & stir fry 6 finely sliced shallots & 1 hot finely chopped chilli for a few minutes.  Add the carrot & parsnip & cook 2 minutes.  Then add the mushrooms & 2 cloves finely chopped garlic & fry another couple of minutes.  Finally add the sprouts & cook another couple of minutes.  Season & add a pinch of sugar.  Scoop everything out of the wok, reduce the heat.  Add 4 tbsp soy sauce, 4 tbsp rice wine, 1 tsp Chinese five spice, a good squeeze lime juice and 4 nests of cooked drained egg noodles.  Cook a couple of minutes, then return the vegetables to the pan & toss through.  Serve with another good squeeze of lime juice.
One of my other favourite meals of the moment is chard & potato curry.  We have some rainbow chard growing in the garden and Wairarapa Eco Farms is now at the market every week.  Between us we produce a wealth of leafy greens for this dish.  You could use any waxy potato but I have been using Eco Farms Kowiniwini potatoes.  For 4, take about 500g rainbow chard, beetroot leaves, spinach, curly kale - whatever you have to hand.  Separate the leaves from the stalks.  Cut the stalks into 2-3 cm pieces & roughly chop the leaves.  Fry 1 finely sliced onion in a pan with sunflower oil until golden. Pound 3 cloves garlic with 1 finely chopped green chilli & a knob of chopped ginger with a pinch of salt, to a fine paste.  Add to the onion with 1 tsp garam masala, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/4 tsp turmeric & 3 cardamom pods.  Stir through, then add about 350g small waxy potatoes, quartered and the chopped stalks.   Fry a few minutes then add 400ml water, bring to a boil & simmer 12 minutes until the potatoes are tender.  Add the leaves & stir until wilted.
In a bowl mix 250g thick yoghurt, 1 1/2 tbsp tomato puree & a little curry liquid.  Stir this back into the curry & warm through gently.  Scatter over toasted mixed chopped nuts - almonds, cashew, pistachios and serve with rice or naan bread.
Try this Tunisian breakfast soup which I actually made for Saturday lunch.  Soften a finely chopped onion then add 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1 tbsp cumin & a finely chopped red capsicum.  Add a tin of chickpeas, a tin of tomatoes & 750ml chicken stock.  Simmer gently for 10 minutes.  Add 500g roughly chopped greens - the ones you didn't use in the curry.  Stir through 2 tbsp harissa paste. Grill a slice of sourdough bread per person & lay in the bottom of a bowl then pour over a ladleful of the soup.  Top with hard boiled egg, capers & a little more chopped capsicum with a drop of harissa.
I have often thought of making corn bread but never done so.  This week Hugh inspired me to have a go and it was a huge success.  His recipe include pumpkin and chillies both of which were lurking in the fridge looking for something to do.  I added a tin of creamed sweetcorn.  I think I have mentioned before this is a weakness of mine.  We couldn't eat it all so I divided into batches for the freezer & we will reheat for lunches from time to time. 
Finally I ordered some dumplings from Vicky Ha at the market and served them for Sunday dinner with my version of Alan Fong's greens.  I emailed Vicky & she put the dumplings aside for me with the dipping sauces and emailed me instructions on how to cook them.  They were truly wonderful.

The Big Apple

Tagine Saturday was such a success but now it's over.  Peter bought me a cazuela for my birthday & the second half of my paella book is all about rice in the cazuela, so off  we go with cazuela Saturday.  The cazuela is a beautiful dish & I think would also be perfect for risotto so I am going to try that too.  The book says that the Spanish cook almost everything in the cazuela.  It distributes & retains heat well & is great for simmering & braising and cooking rice on the stove top.  These cazuela dishes are more soupy than paella which is a drier dish with that lovely crust on the bottom.We started with something simple - white rice with herbs.  If you don't have a cazuela do this in your Le Creuset or other Dutch oven style pot.  For 4, bring 4 cups of water to the boil in the cazuela.  Blend 2 cloves garlic & 1 tbsp parsley with 1/2 cup water in the processor.  When the water reaches the boil, add the garlic mix & a pinch salt.  The rice makes a difference here & I would recommend Spanish rice - Bomba or Calasparra.  If you don't have those use a short or medium grain rice - Calrose, Japanese short grain, or any of the Italian rices.  Don't use long grain or Basmati.  Add 2 cups rice with a bay leaf and a stripped thyme stem.  Yes, strip the leaves off the thyme stem!  We used the thyme leaves in the accompanying chicken.  Cook uncovered stirring occasionally for 10 minutes over a medium high heat.  Check the seasoning at this point.  Reduce the heat & cook another 8 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed & the rice is al punto - the Spanish equivalent of al dente. You don't want this to be dry & fluffy and it's not quite creamy like risotto but something in between.  You just have to judge.  This was so delicately flavoured that I think you want to serve it with something equally light like chicken or fish.
 We had our old favourite chicken with herbs.  Sprinkle 4 chicken thighs with salt & pepper & brown on both sides in butter with a little oil.  Lower the heat, cover & cook another 8-10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.  Set the chicken aside & tip away most of the fat from the pan.  Add finely chopped spring onion & when golden add 3/4 cup liquid - a mixture of chicken, stock, white wine, water. Scrape up all the bits on the bottom of the pan & reduce the liquid.  Add a handful of chopped herbs & pour over the chicken.
Sunday we went for a walk at Makara.  It was a lovely afternoon & half of Wellington was there.  We spotted some wild samphire & we had bought a fillet of porae from Yellow Brick Road at the city market, so we picked a little for dinner.  It was the perfect addition to our fish supper with roast potatoes & courgettes.
There was polenta in the cupboard & I thought it should be used up so we had chicken involtini - I think this means rolled up - with polenta.  This seems fiddly but isn't really & is worth the effort.  Make a creamy polenta - for 4, I use 6 cups water or stock to 1 1/2 cups polenta & add Parmesan & a knob of butter at the end.  Heat the oven to 200 & cut 2 large chicken breasts into six slices each including the tenderloin.  Pound them between 2 sheet of baking paper to about 4mm thick.  Lay out each slice, top with a sliver of prosciutto & a slice of mozarella.  You'll want 2 balls of mozarella for four.  Season & roll up, lay a sage leaf on top &  secure with a toothpick.   Brown on each side in a pan with butter.  You'll need to push the stick though when you turn it but it's not nearly as fiddly as it sounds.  Cook in batches so as not to crowd the pan then transfer to an oven proof dish & cook in the oven another 8-10 minutes.  In the pan crisp up a few sage leaves in butter.  Serve the chicken on a bed of polenta topped with crispy sage.
And of course you are wondering what became of the apples.  Well, Anzac Day was Apple Wednesday in our house & the smell of apples wafted through the house.  Try this cake substituting apples for pears.  I made three of these.  I cut the apples in quarters & then sliced them almost through from the fat side of the wedge (like a hasselback potato) before caramelising.
If you find you can't fit all the caramelised apples into the cake, take a break & eat the leftovers with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.  You deserve it.
That didn't make much of a dent in the apples and it was Florence White to the rescue with  a Somersetshire recipe for apple butter.  Quarter the apples - don't peel or core & put everything into a preserving pan.  I filled mine to the top - the recipe assumes you are using windfall apples so you just have as many as you bothered to pick up.  Cover the apples with water or water & cider.  I added liquid about 3/4 up the side of the pan.  Stew to a pulp which took about an hour.  Press through a sieve which was a little messy as there was a great deal of pulp & I had to use more than one bowl.
Wash out the pan, measure the pulp, then return the pulp to the pan.  Simmer for about an hour until quite thick.  Add 3/4 lb (330g) sugar for every pint (600ml) of pulp. I actually put much less - I started with a cup per quart (2 pints) then added 1/2 lemon plus peel per quart, then added more sugar and tasted till it seemed right- not losing the appley tartness.  But do remember the sugar is the preservative.  Boil up until it is stiff enough to spread without running.  Use the jam crinkle method to test.  Pour into sterilised jars & "cover in the old fashioned way with a piece of paper dipped in brandy".  That's what she says!  She adds that if properly made this will keep for 2 years.  We'll see.  It is so yummy that I could just spoon it out of the jars.  So far I have had it for breakfast on fruit with yoghurt.  You could certainly serve as apple sauce with pork.
That was not the end of the apples.  I peeled & thinly sliced a few then blanched to stop the discoloration & when cooled bagged up in pie quantities & froze.  We will have 3 or 4 pies over the winter.  The rest were stewed with rhubarb.  And that is the end of apples.

Pasta, grains & greens

When I first introduced soup Monday I made a wonderful barley soup inspired by Alison Holst & I returned there this week.  This had two pleasing consequences.  I discovered I had more pearl barley in the cupboard than I needed & remembered a barley salad I had been meaning to make.  You could serve this with anything really but we had lamb meatballs which worked well.  Just make your favourite meatball recipe.  We included onion, garlic & cinnamon.  For the salad cook 1/2 cup of pearl barley for about half an hour until tender.  It may take a little longer.  Drain, toss through 2 tbsp olive oil & set aside to cool slightly.  In the meantime mix a cup chopped parsley, 1/4 finely diced preserved lemon, a few black olives, juice of 1/2 a lemon, crumbled feta & some finely sliced mint leaves.  Mix in the cooled barley & top with meatballs.  Good as lunch leftovers later in the week.  Look forward to lots of barley on these pages in the coming weeks.Are you wondering what the second consequence was - did you think I had forgotten?  The soup requires a can of creamed sweetcorn & I only needed 1/2  a tin for two.  We added the remaining corn to the Friday night omelette.  Try this - it was delicious.  I have a real soft spot for creamed corn.
I often think of the green vegetable first & then come up with a way to fit a meal around it.  For a simple weekday meal you can't go past Hugh F-W's macaroni peas.  Cook pasta - we used macaroni but penne or whatever shapes you have to hand would do as well.  Cook some frozen peas.  While the peas are cooking gently soften a clove of garlic in a little butter.  Blend half the peas with the butter, garlic, 25g Parmesan & enough of the pea cooking water to make a puree.  Think pesto.  Combine with the rest of the peas & pasta, add more Parmesan & mix through basil or parsley.
Roasted roots crumble seemed like a good accompaniment to leeks & greens this week.  Roast a selection of pale root vegetables - potato, parsnip, swede, celeriac - cut into smallish chunks & some sliced onion, with a mustardy dressing.  Mix equal quantities of wholegrain mustard, honey & olive oil with a good quantity of chopped rosemary and toss the veg around in it.  Cover the veg & roast at 180 for 45 minutes then uncover & cook a further 20 minutes at 200.  You want the vegetables well cooked & golden but not browned.  Pour a few tbsp cream over the vegetables - this is just to meld them together a little so you could omit if you don't have cream in the cupboard.  Top with a crumble made of a handful of rolled oats, 2-3 slices of crumbed bread, toasted hazlenut roughly chopped , grated cheese & a little melted butter.  Return to the oven for 10-15 minutes to crisp up the crumble.
We made way more than we could eat & there was a little cranbapple sauce in the fridge so the next day we had lamb rack with the left over crumble mixed with the left over leeks & greens.
If we are planning to eat mixed greens it seems impossible to buy only what we need for a single meal so another pasta & greens meal was called for.  Again this can be whatever pasta & greens you have to hand.  In our case penne & cabbage with beetroot leaves.   Soften an onion in a little oil then add finely chopped garlic & chilli & cook a little longer.  Cook the pasta in the usual way & a few minutes before the end of cooking add the shredded greens.  Drain the pasta & greens & toss with the onion mix & some grated Parmesan & a drizzle of olive oil.
There was still some spinach & beetroot leaves to use so out came that meal of the moment  - spicy potatoes with greens.  Top it with a poached egg and you have a splendid meal.
This week a work colleague gave me 5 kilos of windfall apples.  Look out for apple recipes next week.  If you have any ideas post them here.
You may remember that when I go to the market every Sunday & have a cup of chowder from Yellow Brick Road for Breakfast.  I occasionally try something different but always return to chowder.  Nothing else quite measures up - until now.  I may have found a new favourite - Vicky Ha and The Dumpling House.  Try those dumplings.  She now sells them frozen by the dozen and I am planning to buy a dozen tofu & spinach dumplings to treat a vegan.  I think my favourite is the pork & cabbage but the Nepalese lamb & veg is a close second.