You say Frittata, I Say Tortilla- Depends on the Country-Our time in Spain

I am still trialing dishes for the Juice TV Crew lunches next week.
Mainly I need timing. My delivery time is before 11 am, so I need to know how much I have to do the day before and how much on the morning.
This Frittata is a very simple dish. A stable in Spain, part of the Tapas Menu as well.
When we were in Spain in the 60's, we stayed at a wonderful Camping Ground, called Vilasar De Mar.
Just outside of Barcelona.

The owners of the property, Damian and Isabella, plus his brother Jose and wife Maria adopted us.
This put our original plan, to drive through to Torremolinis and onto Morroco aside.
We had such a good time, we spent 2 weeks in their camping ground.
It was the end of the holiday season, so they devoted their time to making sure we saw everyting we could in Barcelona and the Environs.
They took us of course, to bullfights

They introduced us to Gerhard and Adele, a German couple, who ran a water ski school.
They taught us to water ski. Even I got up first time. A miracle.

I think I spy a cigarette in my hand.
Gerhard also took us to a big football game in Barcelona... which was very exciting, as he was an even more aggressive driver than Dale, and that's saying something. It was scary.
Isabella, also showed me, how to make the Spanish Omelet or Tortilla.
In New Zealand at that time, Spanish omelet was a bit like that Russian salad, with peas, potatoes and carrots.
The Spanish only add potatoes and fried potatoes at that.
Couldn't wait to tell My Mother that she had it wrong. (Bit of youthful arrogance perhaps)
God, it was wonderful.
They also invited us to dine with them.

Which was a nice change from eating in the tent.

How about those shorts?
So, onto the Spanish Omelet
I have added some onion and parsley.
And just for a little extra flavour, I grated some Parmesan on the top.
I like that.
This will feed 6 people for lunch, with some french bread and a little relish on the side.

Olive oil
2 large potatoes, peeled, chopped into chunks
1 large onon peeled and cut into chunks
8 eggs
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Some chopped parsley
Grated Parmesan Cheese

You need a pan which can go into the oven
The omelet starts off on the stove, then you pop it under your Grill/Broiler to finish off

Toss the potatoes in olive oil S & P
Into 175C oven roast till tender and golden about 20 minutes
Remove and place in a bowl
In you pan lightly saute the onions in olive oil till tender, don't brown them
Add to potatoes.
You can do all of this ahead of time.
Which is great, if you have to make a few of these.

Hey look at these eggs. A carton of double yolkers!

Pre heat your Grill/Broiler
Break eggs into a bowl
Season with S & P
Whisk well
Add cooked potatoes. onions and parsley
Heat your oven proof pan on the stove top
Add a good slurp olive oil
Throw in egg mix
Grated Parmesan Cheese over the top
Let sit and and cook till the omelet starts to set
About 4 minutes

When you can lift it up with your spatula and it has started to brown
Pop under the grill.
It will take about 5 minutes and it will rise and look wonderful

Remove onto a board or plate

Cut into slices and enjoy

Easy Lunch Food

This was for lunch but would also make a great breakfast

I am 'trialing' easy lunch foods... as I am going to cater for Juice TV crew, in a week or so.
The brief is, "food they can eat easily"...lunch and afternoon tea.
Wraps seem like a great idea and I made these for lunch today.
Bacon and Omelet for me.
Smoked Salmon and Omelet for Dale

Very simple and mouthwatering.
I have the  Farrah 12 inch wraps.
They promise never to crack when you roll and so far they seem to work really well.
For each individual wrap
I made a simple 2 egg omelet

1 teaspoon Butter
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon finely grated Parmesan Cheese
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon mayonnaise
3-4 rasher of bacon cooked to your liking
Whisk together eggs, water, cheese, S &P and herbs
Heat a non stick pan
get it pretty hot 

Add butter
turn it around the pan
pour in egg mix
It will start to cook and set
Shake the pan to move the egg around

Start bringing the eggs in from the outside, to the middle
Meanwhile, tilting the pan, so the uncooked mixture goes to the outside

You want this to cook as quickly as possible
When it is nearly set should only be about 1 minute
Remove from heat

Meanwhile
Lay the wrap on the bench
Cover with mayo
Turn the omelet onto the wrap

Cover with bacon/ or smoked salmon if you would prefer
Fold in edges

and roll up  to a nice sausage

Cut on the diagonal for better presentation.
Easy peasy lunch.
Served with a piece of fruit and a cookie
Healthy!

Prawn Cocktail-An Oldie but a Goodie with a Difference-Perfect for Summer

Prawn Cocktails
This can bring shivers to your spine but basically it is still an excellent starter for the summer.
Prawns are so cheap these days. I like to buy what they call prawn meat. They have been topped and tailed, so ready to cook. Just keep a bag in the freezer pull out what you need defrost them, cook them and Bob's your Uncle.  this is not as spectacular as when you use whole gorgeous prawns...but this is not a restaurant. Just a little old home kitchen.
On 'Martin Likes Fish' on Food TV he made this simple sauce, which he devised, to serve with Salmon but I thought it would make a great dressing for any seafood.
My addition was Tabasco, for that extra kick.

I also thought. that I would pull on my memory, of my Mother's lettuce salads.
Remember the sliced lettuce, with the sliced tomatoes and sliced eggs laid on top.
Served with the Condensed Milk Salad Dressing!
A bit boring, but My Mum spiced it up a bit...always added chopped onion, celery, radish, all fresh from the garden to her lettuce.
Seasoned it with salt and pepper (white of course), a little sugar and tossed it all in a little vinegar.
No oil in the 50's.  Closest we had to vinaigrette!
Then she laid the sliced cucumber, sliced tomato and sliced hard boiled egg.
She also served with the Condensed Milk  Dressing, actually I shouldnt be so rude.
It is quite tasty. Mustardy and tangy.
The vinegar really lifted the lettuce,  my Mum's knew how to make food taste good.

So to make The Prawn Cocktail 



You will need some Iceberg lettuce, Baby cos could be good, something crisp
Red onion
Chopped Chives
Ripe tomatoes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
French Dressing
Lemon
Prawns
Olive oil


Prawn Cocktail Dressing (see below)

Garnish
Tomato. lemon and some Chopped Parsley

So for the base of my Prawn Cocktail
First I marinated some finely sliced red onion in French Dressing, for about 2 hours just to take the sharpness from the onion
I cooked the thawed prawns

Pre-heat the oven to 210C
Toss the prawns in some sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and some lemon zest
Lay on a baking sheet
Into the oven for exactly 6 minutes
Remove from baking sheet straight away and chill for about an hour

Then I made the dressing
Very simple
2 tablespoons of Good Mayonnaise
Juice of 1 large lemon
Good pinch sea salt
2 tablespoons lightly whipped cream
Several drops Tabasco sauce
Lightly fold everything together
Set aside for about an hour for the flavours to meld
Now to assemble

I shredded the lettuce, and added the onion, and some chopped chives

I then cut some sweet little tomatoes into thin wedges and sprinkled on top.

Then I tossed the chilled prawns, in the dressing
Popped on top of the salad
Be generous with the prawns
Just top with some chopped parsley, tomatoes and a little wedge of lemon
Actually the photo doesn't do it justice. I'm afraid. There were at least 10 prawns there.

It was so delicious, I am glad I have revived it for our table.

Quick Roast Salmon-Makes a Great Salad

Yesterday I did a blog on Quick Roasted Salmon. I was very pleased with it.
We were off to see Bic Runga last night. She was performing at the Cathedral in Parnell.
By the way, it was a very enjoyable concert.
I wanted to make a quick dinner using the salmon.
This salad...
So so simple and very very tasty

The amount below, fed two of us
Piece of roasted Salmon click here
1/2 red onion finely sliced
About 9 cms of Cucumber. seeds removed
3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into 2 cm cubes
1 stick of celery, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped chives
Lettuce. I used Iceberg, I still like it's crunchiness.

French dressing
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon mustard
Sea salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp sugar...just to cut the acidity a little
Whisk together

Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water till just tender
drain and toss with a little of the dressing
Add celery and chives
Cool

Meanwhile marinate the onions and cucumber
Best to marinate for at least 2 hours
this takes the sharpness from the onions

So when you are ready. 
Rip the lettuce into bite size pieces
Place the potatoes and celery over the lettuce
Throw onions and cucumber on top
Finally, break up the salmon and place that around as well
Drizzle the rest of the dressing over the salad
Perfect for a quick meal

Salmon at its Best-Roast Quickly

I saw Mark Sargeant cook this Carppacio of Salmon on Food TV yesterday.
With Christmas coming up, I am always looking for exciting ways to cook Salmon.
We only get farmed Salmon here in New Zealand shops.
(You can get Wild Salmon, but you have to hunt it.)
I actually bought this filet at the supermarket.
On Christmas Day, we are going to stay at Riverside Matakana...family en masse.
We don't have an oven, just hobs and BBQs.
You could do this recipe on the BBQ as long it has a lid, so you can get a really good hot temperature.
This is so fabulous. I am drooling.

You need boned and skinned filet of Salmon.
I butterflied this piece, to get the salmon nice and thin.
Pre heat 205C
Line a baking sheet with baking paper
add 1 tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Grate the zest of 1/2  large lemon
Add salmon

Oil, season and add the rest of the lemon zest
Pop into the oven
Just 6 minutes
Remove from oven and onto a serving dish
I just chopped a few chives over the top
Sorry not very Chefy looking but I'm not a Chef.

It is moist, tasty, DELICIOUS.
Roll on Christmas Day.
I am having problems, keeping my greedy hands off it.
We shall have it for dinner, with some Couscous I think.
Can't wait.

A Rick Stein Inspired, Sardinian Tomato Pasta Sauce

There is something really special about Rick Stein, I think you don’t even have to be a Passionate Cook/Foodie to enjoy his Television programmes. I can even get my husband to watch somewhat grudgingly and he has to admit, he enjoys the programme.
Not only is Rick a wonderful inspirational chef, but he seems to really love having a good time. Not adverse to the odd drink or two as well..A Bon Vivant you might say.
Anyway thanks to Food TV and Prime we have a lot of Rick to watch.
Repeats of course but like any good TV programme or movies. They frequently improve with any re-viewing.
So The Mediterranean Escape episode this week has Rick in Sardinia and Sicily.

So many so, so simple dishes. Not recipes as such. Just a wonderful feel for great flavours.
My mouth was watering.

This recipe is from Sardinia and the sauce is for Skate Wings Antipasto Dish
It is served at room temperature.
I didn’t have any skate wings on hand but thought that the sauce could be good over spaghetti. I was right. It was wonderful.

There is a Southern Italian Dish called Scapece, which is marinated flounder, have a look here

Both of these dishes make great antipasti. I think this Skate wing dish could transfer to flounder or sole. Will try this at some stage.

Anyway here is the sauce, a little bit of sweet, sultanas… and a little bit of sour, vinegar.
I like to use White Balsamic Vinegar, it has a little extra sweetness, complements the saltiness of the capers
Yum

1/4 cup of good Olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
2 tablespoon capers
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1 400 gms can of tomatoes
Salt
Handful of Sultanas
Good slosh white balsamic vinegar

Add the oil to a pan over medium heat
Add garlic
Let it cook for a minute or two don’t let it burn
Add parsley, chili flakes and bay leaves
Careful it will spit a bit
Then add the capers
Cook for a couple of minutes

Add tomatoes toss well
Taste and add salt and freshly ground black pepper 
as much as needed

Throw in the sultanas
And the vinegar

After a couple of minutes
It is done
So while you are doing this
Cook your spaghetti in boiling salted water,
to the manufacturers specifications
and when it is al dente (about 8-9 minutes)
Add the pasta to the sauce
Toss well
And serve

Now if you want to do the skate
Gently poach the skate for a couple of minutes
Remove the skin and any bones

In a serving dish
Put half of the sauce in the dish
Lay the fish on the top
Cover with the rest of the sauce
Leave to cool to room temperature
Will be trying this shortly, with flounder I think.

Beautiful Cous Cous-Healthy Fast Food-Fresh, Fragrant and Fast.

I am trying to use food I have in the house, instead of just running off to the Supermarket everyday.
There is lots of goodies in the pantry and the freezer
Its a lovely day and a nice fresh Citrusy Couscous seemed like a good idea for lunch.

I also thought it would a good addition to Ruth at Once Upon A Feast 's weekly event Presto Pasta Nights. This time the event is being hosted by Simona at Briciole click here to visit Simona's blog


There were some blanched almonds in the freezer, an orange and celery in the fridge...sultanas, onions and couscous in the pantry. Plus fresh herbs from the garden.
That will do.

I like the instant Couscous, it is so simple and you can make a meal less than 20 minutes.
Fresh, fragrant and fast.
You can change the quantities, I used what I had.
In the dressing, I added a little Cider Vinegar, just for some extra acid to boost the orange juice

So: Take
1 tablespoon butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
2 cups boiling chicken stock (I used a stock cube)
1 cup instant Couscous
Zest of 1 orange
Handful each of parsley, mint and chives
2 tablespoons blanched almonds toasted in a pan, then roughly chopped
2 tablespoon sultanas

Dressing
Juice 1/2 medium orange
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Melt butter in a saucepan
Add onion and celery
Saute gently till soft

Add boiling chicken stock
Bring back to boil

Turn heat off
Add Couscous and stir
Cover and leave for about 10 minutes

Meanwhile
Toast the almonds gently, then chop
Zest the orange
Chop the herbs
and make the dressing.

Just add all of the ingredients and stir well.
Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
A lovely light lunch.

Gorgeous Golden Syrup Pudding and Tacos at Grandmas-Kid Friendly Meals

It's Thursday and this is the first time I have had the kids around for 3 weeks.
We of course, have been in Rarotonga .
Joseph sent me an email, he has been cooking steamed puddings with his father.
Golden Syrup Steamed Pudding, what’s more
Great… dessert problem solved.
In my freezer, I had some Black Bean Chili, click here for the recipe which is delicious
So let's do tacos.
The beauty of Tacos is that they assemble themselves
Make their own choices.
The kids just loved this meal.

So to make the pudding
Joseph used the Chelsea Sugar Recipe from their Website.
This is enough for 4 individual puddings or 1 larger one
We used Dariole Molds

Ingredients
125g butter
1/2 cup Chelsea White Sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour
Pinch salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup unsweetened yoghurt
1/2 cup Chelsea Golden Syrup

Method
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well.
Add sifted flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Add yoghurt and half the golden syrup and mix well.
Lightly grease a pudding bowl or in our case individual Dariole molds
Pour in enough of the remaining Golden Syrup to cover the bottom of the molds
Spoon the batter on top.
Cover with lightly greased foil and secure with string.
Place molds into large pan
Pour boiling water till halfway up the molds

Cover with lid
Bring water back to boil, then turn down to simmering
Boil gently for 40 minutes, adding extra boiling water if necessary
Remove molds carefully, and slide knife around pudding before turning out.
Serve warm with whipped cream

What lovely light pudding, soaked in Golden Syrup.
We served with a big dollop of Chantilly Cream.
(Cream whipped with sugar and vanilla).
Heaven.

The tacos were great
I wont give exact quantities, it is really up to you.
All depends on how many people or how much of each ingredient suits you

So you will need a box of Taco Shells
Then to serve with the Chili, I made a simple Avocado Salsa


1 ripe avocado,
1 tablespoon of finely chopped red onion,
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley,
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
Mash lightly with a fork, just enough to break the Avocado up

Had a stressful time whilst making the Avocado Salsa
The lid came off the black pepper grinder and black peppercorns went everywhere, including into the salsa. Very frustrating.

So all the Avo had to be scraped clear of any pepper and virtually, I had to start again.
No-one wants whole peppercorns in their salsa

A Quick Tomato Salsa
Chopped tomatoes,
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Slurp of olive oil,
Several basil leaves, torn

I also mixed a 1/2 cup of unsweetened yogurt with a handful of chives and
The juice of half a lemon
Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

A bowl Grated Cheese
And a bowl of Grated Carrot
A very easy meal and how healthy is that?
Joseph grating the Cheese

Miss Cleo was desperate to help
She picked the herbs for me.
She cleared the table

Then she cleaned it

But it all gets a bit much for her at times...

Yes once again I am the Leftover queen
One must use up the bits and pieces in the Fridge
There was some Chili, not quite enough for a full meal
1/2 an avocado
Some cooked potatoes
There was still some Yogurt left from the night before
and some fresh Herbs from my garden

How about Mexican Rostis
Rosti, Potato Cake is a Swiss dish but I thought would make a good carrier
for the leftovers

Fusion Food?
Yes I think so.

First grate the potato
Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat some olive oil in a pan
Take a big handful of grated potato
Place into the hot pan
Squash into a flat cake
Turn the heat down to medium and cook the Potato Cake till golden
Turn onto a plate and slip back into the pan to cook the other side
When that side is golden slip onto a plate for serving

Meanwhile
Make a quick Avocado Salsa
Lightly mash the Avocado
Add 1/4 red onion finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon Olive oil
1 medium tomato de-seeded and finely sliced
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dash hot sauce
(I used Chipotle Sauce, that I had in the fridge, but Tabasco would be fine)
Mix and set aside

In another bowl place
3 tablespoons unsweetened Yogurt
Juice 1/2 lemon2 tablespoons of chopped chives
Mix well and set aside

Heat the Chili and you are ready to assemble
Top the Rosti with the Chili

Yogurt
and finish off with the Avocado

Nice glass of wine and Friday dinner sorted

Black Bean Chili - Feeding a Crowd - Thank you Bobby Flay

Bobby Flay, King of South Western Cuisine, is the inspiration for this Chili Dish
It was son-in-law Chris's birthday

and there was a crowd. What better to feed many people.
This delicious Chili, is served with Toasted Cumin Crème Fraiche and an Avocado Relish.
I served it with rice.
I also added frozen corn, it seems to me, that one should have corn, in this kind of Chili
There was enough for the meal that night and enough leftovers to make Chili and Rice Pies

and then plenty more to freeze. (This made a Taco meal for the Grandkids)
So so tasty and so so economical.
This is his recipe in entirety, which includes Chili Powders that I couldn’t find here in New Zealand, so I just used the Chili Powder available. BUT if you can buy his Chili please use it

For the Chili
1/4 cup olive oil
1 kilo minced beef,
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large red onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons ancho chili powder
1 tablespoon pasilla chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 bottle dark beer
5 cups homemade chicken stock, or canned low-sodium or water
1 can chopped tomatoes, drained and pureed
1 tablespoon chipotle pepper puree
1 tablespoon honey
2 cups cooked or canned black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups frozen corn
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Handful of chopped Coriander leaves

Directions

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat.
Season the beef with salt and pepper, and sauté until browned on all sides.
Transfer the meat to a plate and remove all but 3 tablespoons of the fat from the pan.

Add the onions to the pan and cook until soft.
Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the ancho powder, pasilla powder, and cumin and cook an additional 2 minutes.
Add the beer and cook until completely reduced.
Return the beef to the pot,
Add the chicken stock, tomatoes, chipotle puree, and honey, and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat to medium, cover the pan, and simmer for 45 minutes.
Add the beans, the corn and continue cooking for 15 minutes.
Remove from the heat, add the lime juice, coriander and adjust seasonings.

Serve with a dollop of Toasted Cumin Crème Fraiche and Avocado Relish.

Toasted Cumin Crème Fraiche


1 tablespoon cumin seed
1 cup creme fraiche
Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the cumin in a small sauté pan over medium heat.
Toast until lightly golden brown.
Place in a small bowl.
Stir in the crème fraiche and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Avocado Relish:


2 ripe Hass avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
1/2 small red onion, finely diced
1 jalapeno or serrano chile, finely diced
Lime juice
Chopped cilantro leaves
Salt and pepper

Our friend Justine would have happily eaten the Avocado Relish as is.

Rarotonga-Beach Days with the Family and Banana Bread from the Bananas growing in the Carport

We have our own bunch of Bananas. Between us and the chicken we have managed to use them

Great for Breakfast, Cocktails

And I decided to trial some Banana Bread. It made great toast.

This bread is really easy
Just make up some of my Basic Bread dough
I used 3 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
2 pkts yeast (16gms)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tsp sugar
Approx 300 mls of hand hot water

Click here for the method

To make the Banana Bread
After the first rising
Take 350 gms of the dough
(I used the rest to make bread rolls)
Put on top
1 ripe banana mixed with 10 gms sugar
40 gms of nutty muesli

Fold over and knead for about 5 minutes
It will take about that amount of time to mix all the ingredients in
Leave it to rise again till double in size
Shape and put into greased loaf tin

Leave to rise again and then dust with flour and slash top

Bake in 200C oven.
It should take about 25 minutes

So off to the No-ever Beach
You don't normally see Dale sitting like this

This is the normal view.

Just love all those shades of Turquoise
Katie testing the water

Miss Cleo, so cute

Our Mermaids, Mia and Cleo

Happy Families

So gorgeous here in Rarotonga