veggie (well almost!) cannelloni

I know that some people regard him as a bit of a prat. But if you have ever used any of Jamie Oliver's recipes you'll know that he's pretty much excellent, almost all of the time. I like his enthusiasm, and I'm really liking the "at home" series and book that comes with it. Here's one of his recipes, with (most unusual for me) almost no variation from the printed word.

Cook broccoli and cauliflower florets in salted water for a few min and drain, keeping the liquid. Fry some finely chopped garlic for a few seconds and then add anchovies, (and their oil), some thyme leaves, a crumbled dry chilli, and fry for a few more seconds before adding the veggies and a small amount of the cooking water, and stew slowly for 20 min. Add more of the veggie water if it looks too dry. Keep the lid off for the last few minutes to evaporate any excess liquid off. Season.

Mash the resulting stew to a smooth paste and spread over a plate or oven tray to cool.

Meanwhile, spread a layer of passata over an oven dish with a splash of wine vinegar.

When the vegetable paste has cooled, pipe it into the cannelloni,

and put the filled cannelloni on top of the passata.

Cover the pasta with basil leaves

and then a white sauce made of creme fraiche, grated parmesan and seasoning.

Grate more parmesan over the top and spread some torn mozzarella on top.

Then bake at 190degC for about 40min.

Here's how it looked after baking, all bubbly and delightful:

And here's how it tasted: Superb! The chilli was hotter than anticipated, which certainly was noticed by LW, and I will modify next time I do this dish, but I will certainly cook it again.

Lamb and Potatoes. And Beans. And Broccoli.

I though we'd have a variation on the sunday roast, so I'm trying an eye fillet of lamb today. And since I'm doing it "differently" I thought we'd have dauphinoise potatoes with it, and some broad beans from the garden (they've just come ripe for a lovely winter crop). Here's how it went:

The lamb fillets were scored lightly and marinaded in: soy, pomegranate syrup, oyster sauce, anchovy paste, grainy mustard and balsamic vinegar for about an hour.

Meanwhile the potatoes were prepared in the usual way; thinly sliced, layered, and covered in hot milk, cream, garlic and bayleaf. I covered them in grated Gruyere, and they were then baked for about an hour at 200 deg. I filled the baking dish right to the brim, and they overflowed, creating a lovely, bubbling, burnt cheesy cover to the base of the oven. Oh joy.

The lamb got a browning in a frying pan, and then a quick roast at 200 deg back in the marinade (10 minutes would have fine; I gave them 15 and lost the lovely pinkness I'd been aiming for).

The broccoli was simply steamed until bright green, and the beans were blanched for a minute in boiling water, then poached for 5 mim in butter, salt & pepper. They were actually the star of this dish, and we could eat them just on their own. Fresh from the garden only minutes before they were cooked, they were superb!

and now... I'm going to clean the oven!

soup and sandwiches

It's winter, it's Sunday, it's a tradition...

It didn't take us long to develop some ritualistic eating habits when we arrived in NZ 5 years ago. One that has developed a life of it's own is the Sunday evening winter soup and sandwiches tradition. We are very fond of a couple of friends who live on the other side of Kerikeri. Every other Sunday we alternate venues for the meal, and the scope is huge enough for there to be little repetition of menus. The wine is always in good supply, the fire lit, and the food inevitably hearty, delicious and eventually soporific.

Last Sunday was no exception; our friends made stilton and broccoli soup, and the sandwiches were split baguette filled with rocket and freshly roast chicken. The chicken was a delight as our friends have no oven. They just banked up the wood-burner, and put the chicken into a disposable foil tray, covered it with tinfoil and away it went. Superb! Moist and everything!

We had some very good wines with which to toast the feast; our friends are just back from Waiheke Island, and had brought back some lovely wine from there; the Man O'War Claret-style wine was particularly amazing!

Next Sunday is our turn, and I've some freshly-made snapper fish stock sitting in the freezer; I'm thinking fragrant hot and spicy fish soup (Tom Yum-ish?) and some sort of spring roll... suggestions are always welcome!

Also of note, last Sunday, in the search for culinary heaven, was a demonstration of the legendary Tim-Tam shot! It goes like this:

Make a cup of tea. Take a Tim-Tam biscuit, (I suspect a Penguin in the UK would also work) preferably one of the double choc or the caramel-filled ones, and nibble 2 opposing corners of chocolate coating off. Place one corner in the tea and suck up the tea through the other corner. When tea starts to filter all the way through - double quick!- pop the whole biscuit (which will now be melting and disintegrating) into your mouth in one deft move. You now have a mouthful of molten chocolate, biscuitty goodness and tea. It's surprisingly good, and entertaining, too!

I'm going to try it with warmed Brandy. And then Whisky, and then...