Sumer Is Icumen In (But Then It's Always Summer Here)

With the onset of Crazy Life, my brother's wedding, and being sick for a month, very little in the way of cookery has actually happened in the past couple months. The last was Chinese New Year with the huge batch of gluten-free bread, and the annual 36-Hour Chocolate Chip Cookies, and since then it's been go go go and mad rush.

Today however, I decided it was time to just get some home-cooked food on the table. Not least because it's comfort food and I've missed it, and it tends to make me feel better.

So here it is: my tribute to perpetual summer and artichokes. I'm crazy about artichokes. Even if they're canned since it's impossible to get the fresh ones here. Whatever works, I say, but if you don't like artichokes you can always substitute them with other vegetables like carrots, mushrooms, corn or even cauliflower. It'd work just fine I bet. The important thing is to make sure there's some measure of water covering everything so it won't scorch, and you're set.




Yin’s Slow Cooker Pesto Artichoke Chicken

1 medium jar pesto (mine was 190g of rocket pesto but any kind of pesto ought to do)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can artichoke hearts in brine or water
Half a small cabbage, red or white, shredded (I had red so I used red)
Frozen green peas, as much or as little as you want
Half a can corned beef (optional – I had it so I added it)

Method:
1. Lay chicken breasts down in crock pot. Add the shredded cabbage. Add the entire jar of pesto, then fill the pesto jar with water to get all the remains of the pesto out, and pour it onto the chicken and cabbage. Do this two or three more times, stir the pesto a little bit to get it all diluted.

2. Drain the artichoke hearts, but reserve about half to a quarter of the can of brine. Add artichokes and remaining brine on top of the chicken-cabbage-pesto mix.

3. Turn slow cooker to high and let it sit for 2.5-3 hours.

4. When slow cooker is done, turn it off. Shred the chicken breasts in the crock and mix it up well with the gravy and the artichoke hearts. Add the peas, cover the slow cooker and let it sit for 5 minutes. If you have the corned beef, add it at this point and stir it all up.

5. Dish up and serve hot with rice or pasta.

Summer in a Bowl, or, Panzanella Gluten Free!

Hullo January, you've come and gone, and I am waaaaaay behind in blogging. Because Life is Happening, and while I've been eating pretty decently and taking photos, I just haven't had the time to write a proper post and put it up.

I will eventually, promise.

For now though, have some summer in a bowl:



This, believe it or not, is gluten-free panzanella - an Italian tomato salad made with basil, red wine vinegar, garlic, and leftover bread. I never really thought it sounded tasty, and then I made it with some leftover gluten-free bread I'd baked up over the Christmas holidays (post about the bread coming soon. It is -amazing-, hands down the best gluten-free bread I've ever made or tasted, and it's all thanks to Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl.)

This is the recipe I followed. I didn't quite have that much bread, I just used whatever I had, but oh, it is out of this world AMAZING. The flavours! And the short 10-12 minutes spent crisping up the croutons gives the bread just that touch more durability, because gluten-free bread can fall apart real easily if it's soaking in tomato juice. Done this way, it doesn't. It becomes absolutely perfect.

Try some! If I had more bread I'd be making this every day in a heartbeat, but since I don't, I may just make a plain tomato-basil salad anyways because it is delicious and healthy, and so tasty.

Of course, you need -good- cherry tomatoes or the whole thing falls flat, and fresh basil. Dried basil just won't do, not for this.

Now I know why people rave about panzanella. It's the very essence of summer, sunshine and the magic that only the best, simplest, freshest food can bring.

I am so making this again, when I have bread.

The Essence of Swiftness

Very often these days my schedule and my living circumstances dictate quick meals - there isn't the luxury of long slow cooking any more. Eat, grab bag, run out the door, jump right into things.

Enter this tomato-tuna pasta, which fulfills all the necessary requirements: it's quick, it's tasty, and it's nutritious. I've used it quite frequently in the past; I think I might need to resurrect it again for days when speed is of the essence.

Provided you have everything handy, this comes together in a snap. It would go beautifully with a handful of rocket or arugula or even mixed greens.



QUICK TOMATO-TUNA PASTA

1 quantity spaghetti sauce (I used Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onion)
1 can tuna (either in water or in oil, I used the one in oil because I like the taste better)
1 quantity pasta of your choice, however many servings you want/need (I used gluten-free pasta, obviously)
Black pepper and parsley flakes to season (optional)
A drizzle pumpkin seed oil (optional, but I had it so I used it)
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Method:
1. Prepare the pasta. Bring a saucepan of water to a rolling boil, salt it till it’s almost sea-salty. Add in a small trickle of olive oil so the pasta doesn’t stick. Put in the pasta and cook till al dente.

2. While pasta is cooking, prepare the sauce. If your spaghetti sauce and tuna are already at room temperature, you can just mix the two together in the bowl/plate you want to serve the pasta in. If the spaghetti sauce is cold, you might just want to gently warm it up on the stove and add the tuna to it so it’s nicely hot to serve. Season with black pepper and parsley flakes if you want.

3. When pasta is done, drain well and put into bowl with the tomato tuna sauce. Mix together well. Add a drizzle of pumpkin seed oil if you have it or want to. Add cheese if you want to or have it – I didn’t so I made do without, but it still tasted fantastic.

4. Serve immediately.

Sweetness for the Rain

The weather lately has been either scorchingly hot or wet as an eternal shower with no off-switch. Today it was overcast skies and lots of rain - not quite the ideal for a day off, but this time it didn't matter since I was going to stay home and relax after a long stressful week.

Besides, there was this to add a little sunshine and sweetness to the day. The perfect touch.




Greek Yogurt Sunshine
Adapted from Tessa Kiros, Apples for Jam

Couple spoonfuls Greek yogurt (it's much thicker than ordinary yogurt)
A drizzle honey or condensed milk
Dried craisins (or pomegranate seeds or whatever dried fruit/fruit you prefer)

Method:
Choose a nice bowl or cup to put the Greek yogurt in. Drizzle the honey or condensed milk over the yogurt. Sprinkle craisins or whatever fruit you want over the top.

Smile and enjoy with tea, coffee, or whatever makes you wake up in the morning.

A Memory of Ratatouille

It started off with a conversation, like it always does. One of my best friends, Sacha, remarked that he was off to make food. When asked what sort of food (yes, I'm nosy that way) he said, "Ratatouille." And that brought up a whole drift of memories from university overseas that revolved around this particular dish.

Sacha is Swiss-German. He spent most of his life shuttling between India and France, and is now mostly based in France, when he's not in the US. His father (who is of German descent, I believe) taught him this particular recipe - not that there were much in the way of proportions when Sacha taught it to me back in the day. They also cooked it in copper pots, and I haven't had, nor likely will have, copper pots, but it sure came out well in my beat-up soup pot that Sacha used to make it for me when he visited one Thanksgiving.

I've been ill and busy for the past few weeks and I haven't cooked ratatouille in a while, which is probably why it took hold of my mind like an obsession. And finally, two days after that conversation, I now have a tub of ratatouille sitting in my fridge quietly to mellow its flavours together - and it's just as good, if not better, than I remembered. I have no idea how traditional the recipe is, just that it's my friend's family recipe and that it holds many, many lovely memories for both of us, so any purists out there, please don't scream murder just yet. This is what I was taught, and this is what I remember. Everyone's got a food memory of that sort - even if it's your mother's cooking, right?

Comfort food. It's a beautiful thing.

Important Note:
Please be aware that eggplant tends to suck up oil worse than thirsty plant roots sucking up water. It's going to look as if there's not enough oil in the pot when you first start cooking up the eggplant, but it will regurgitate the oil later on during simmering time, I promise. DON'T add more oil at the beginning stages no matter how dry the pot looks or you'll wind up with a pool of it in the ratatouille later on - which you definitely don't want!

Also note that eggplants have a notorious tendency to turn to mush, and it will do so whenever you stir the ratatouille. Sacha says he's never been able to keep it from breaking up so much, so no worries if it does that during cooking - just as long as it doesn't turn into paste you're fine.


Sacha’s Ratatouille

1 large eggplant, diced into cubes of about 1cm
1 medium to large zucchini, diced into cubes of about 1cm
2 capsicums, diced (or bell peppers), either 1 red and 1 yellow, or 1 red and 1 green, or…you get the idea
Several cloves garlic, smashed and roughly cut into large chunks
1 – 2 tbls olive oil
A shake of herbs de provence (I used fresh sage, rosemary and thyme)
Lemon juice, to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat olive oil on medium fire in a large, deep pot with a heavy base. Put diced eggplant in to sauté, till somewhat shrunken in capacity. You don’t want it to cook through totally, but it should be getting cooked – the colour change will alert you. Be careful however – the eggplant can stick to the pot bottom if you’re not careful so keep stirring.

2. Add in the diced zucchini and sauté together with the eggplant till the zucchini starts getting cooked.

3. Add in the diced capsicums and sauté together for about 1 minute. Stir well to make sure eggplant isn’t stuck to the bottom of the pot.

4. Put in your herbs, stir everything together, turn heat down to low. Cover the pot and let simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 30-45 minutes. Sacha says 45 minutes, but he usually makes a gigantic pot and this quantity is enough for about 1-2 people, so I capped mine at 30 minutes of simmering time since you don’t want everything to turn into a homogenous mass.

5. After 30-45 minutes (or sooner if you see your eggplant starting to turn to puree when you stir), turn off the fire and take pot off the stove to let sit for about 3-5 minutes to let it cool. Add salt to taste, and a squeeze of lemon juice, also to taste. The lemon juice is the magic ingredient here – it brightens the taste of the vegetables extraordinarily and makes the whole dish something really special. I used a few sprinkles of my Tuscan herb salt, but ordinary salt will do. Add a dash of freshly ground black pepper and mix everything up well.

6. You can now do one of two things: You can serve the ratatouille up right away, or you can let it sit overnight for the flavours to mature. Sacha’s family leaves it overnight and has it cold the next day, and I like it that way myself. If you want, you can heat it up too which should be just as good! I had some today on pasta and will leave the rest for tomorrow, but if you’re impatient and hungry, attack away. It is still really, really good.

Other (Less Crucial) Notes:

You want a good amount of eggplant in the ratatouille, as it tends to break up quite easily. It should be the main bulk of the dish, with the zucchini as a supplement. Also, zucchini doesn’t turn to mush as much as eggplant does.

In The Absence Of, Create: Tuscany

If my previous post hasn't given a clue yet, I have Italy on my mind at the moment, not least because my friend Ale is getting married this weekend and I'm thrilled for her. She's also been gently nudging me to visit for quite a while now, and while I really want to, finances dictate a little while longer before I can actually do that.

While surfing around on the net two weeks ago for something entirely unrelated, I came across a beautifully simple little recipe for Tuscan herb salt, using garlic, sage, rosemary and black pepper. The concept fascinated me enough to want to try it, so I got hold of some rosemary and sage, and went to work while I was simmering up the pot of ragu in my previous post.

I always forget something whenever I'm working recipes from memory. This time, it was the garlic and the black pepper because I wasn't referring to the recipe when I was i the kitchen. However, it still turned out beautifully fragrant, and left my hands full of the loveliest scents of sage and rosemary. I mixed the salt and herbs together, spooned them into a jar, and put it in the fridge as recommended.

I may very well be opening the jar a lot just to sniff those pure, clean herbal scents. Just to relax.

Italy On My Mind

My friend Ale is Italian. She is gorgeous, funny, talented, an amazing artist, and is one of the loveliest people I know. She loves cats, has two beautifully oversized ones of her own, and loves to cook as well. During one of our infrequent chats online, we got around to talking about ragu, and the recipes we used. She was sweet enough to give me her version and I decided that I just had to try it.

Amazing success! It's quick, easy, and the hardest part about it is taking a little time to dice the vegetables. The smell of the ragu simmering on the hob is heavenly.



Ale didn't give me exact quantities of ingredients for her ragu, she just told me what she used in it and I made approximations, then wrote it down for safekeeping. I'll definitely be making this again, as it's even better over a couple of days in the fridge. Thank you so much Ale!


ALESSANDRA’S RAGU

1 large or 3 small young stalks celery, diced small
1 small onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
½ a leek, green leaf part, sliced
1 small can tomato puree (6oz, or 170g)
¼ - ½ cup water
500g ground beef, pork, or a mix of both
Drizzle olive oil for cooking (1 tsp maybe?)
4 Italian sausages, sliced (optional)
Fresh or dried herbs (I used chopped, fresh sage and rosemary)

Method:
1. Heat up the olive oil in a medium saucepan on medium heat, and add the diced onion and sliced leek. Saute for about 5-10 minutes, stirring constantly; you want the onions to have a bit of a brown edge, but not totally scorched, so adjust your sauté time accordingly.

2. Add in the diced celery and carrot. Stir constantly to sauté so nothing burns. You want them to be cooked and looking a bit softish or wilted.

3. Add in the ground beef and stir to break up. Let the meat cook and brown a bit, mixing it up with the vegetables in the saucepan. If you are using Italian sausages, add them now. Add in the entire can of tomato puree, mix everything together well, and add a little bit (maybe 1/8 cup) water to deglaze the pan and make sure nothing sticks. Stir everything up again to incorporate, add the rest of the water and stir again. You want the sauce to have just a little bit of liquid to simmer, not be a soup.

4. Bring the saucepan to a simmer, half-cover with the lid (ie, don’t put the lid on completely, just leave a little vent so the pan’s mostly covered), and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the saucepan; if it does and won’t easily nudge off the bottom with a few good stirs, add a little water. If you have sprigs of herbs or dried herbs, put ‘em in now. I forgot, so I added chopped herbs at the end.

5. Season to taste with Tuscan herb salt (if you have it. I just made a batch so I used that) or ordinary salt, let simmer for another 5-10 minutes, then turn off the fire.

6. Serve hot over pasta, polenta or risotto (or in my case, just plain boiled rice).