Butter bean and chick pea salad with marinaded pork

Weekday nights are some of the hardest things to cook for, I have come to realise. You put in a full day's work. You contend with the evening commute (mine is courtesy of Southeastern rail, and just a cursory check of #southeastern on twitter will tell you EVERYTHING you might want to know about their customer service). Then, tired and careworn, you make it home. Frankly, all you want to do is crack open a bottle of wine and ring out for takeaway. 

But home cooking is a noble and worthwhile art. Even on a "schoolnight" (and to all those people who disapprove of grown ups using that phrase to describe Monday to Thursday evenings, I say this: I work for a university, so I'm ALLOWED to call it a schoolnight!). You will feel more pride from doing it yourself... and if recent revelations from Which and the Food Standards Agency are anything to go by, you are far more likely to know exactly what you are eating too!

I'm always looking for new and fresh ideas for weekday night suppers. Dinners which can be rustled up quickly, but don't suffer from blandness. 

Another prerequisite is full and happy flavours. An area where the gutsy, sunshine flavours of Spain come up trumps. Who doesn't love the fragrance of fresh parsley, the punch of chorizo coupled with lemon and onions? 

My idea was to make a salad influenced by the flavours and typical produce of Spain. Obviously influenced by the Moors and southern or eastern Mediterranean, I wanted to include healthy and protein rich pulses and legumes, herbs and olive oil. Chorizo would add paprika along with its meaty texture and pepper and artichoke some crunch. 

Recently, I followed Nizami Foods on twitter. They are a company producing food products with an Indian twist. Think Chinese Chilli oil with roasted garlic or Thai tamarind chutney with an Indian flourish of cumin and dates. Well, everyone told me that twitter was "a total waste of time". Turns out I was their 100th follower (genuinely) and as a thank you, they wanted to send me some products as a thank you. One of them was a Romesco sauce, which was an Spanish red pepper sauce with an Indian twist. 

The Romesco sauce suggested that it be used as the base for either a pasta sauce or a marinade. Marinading is one of the midweek cook's top tricks. You either start the marinading before you go to work (for those typically long marinaded dishes) and leave the ingredients to work their magic whilst you toil away or you start as soon as you get home and get all your preparation and other tasks done before cooking. It was a no-brainer; marinade was going to be the use.

This dish uses a number of storecupboard ingredients I have recently discovered. One was garlic paste by Garden Gourmet which is very useful for squeezing into salad dressings (as I have done here) but also marinades. The other was artichoke bottoms in brine by Morphakis found in the local Turkish shop. The Romesco sauce I have already mentioned. 

So here is a supper we enjoyed recently. The salad can be enjoyed as a meal on its own or a side dish with grilled meat, possibly a full flavoured fish. I think the salad, if made in excess, would make a wonderful packed lunch for work the next day (cook's prerogative, of course!).

Spanish style chick pea and butter bean salad

Serves 2-4 people, depending how much salad to meat you like. 

You can substitute the red onion with a banana shallot. You don't want to use a white onion, as it won't be sweet flavoured enough.

Ingredients:

For the salad:

1 can chick peas drained and rinsed

1 can butter beans drained and rinsed

1 handful of fresh flat leaf parsley chopped roughly

70-80g chorizo chopped into fine rounds

1 small red onion, halved and sliced finely

2 artichoke bottoms, finely diced

2 peppadew peppers, finely diced

For the salad dressing:

1/2 teaspoon garlic paste

juice of 1 lemon

3-4 tablespoons of olive oil

For the marinaded pork:

2 pork loin steaks

1/2 bottle Romesco sauce by Nizami

Method:

1. Marinade the pork loin steaks in the Romesco sauce for at least 30 minutes. An hour would be better.

2. In the meantime, prepare the salad ingredients as set out above. Get all your ingredients except for the herbs, chorizo and dressing in a bowl.

3. Another task to deal with in the meantime is to heat either your grill or your griddle pan so that it is hot.

4. Put the pork loin on to grill, about 7 minutes each side.

 

5. Fry your chorizo rounds in a little olive oil. Wait until they start to go brown. 

6. Once the chorizo is brown, lift out of the pan with a slotted spoon or spatula onto a plate covered in kitchen paper (to soak up the excess fat and oil).

 

7. Mix up your salad dressing in either a mug (mixed with a spoon) or in a jam jar by closing the jar and shaking vigourously.

 

8. Just before you are ready to serve up, mix all of the salad ingredients with the chorizo and dressing. You want the dressing to coat everything thinly.

9. Serve the salad with the cooked pork loin steaks. 

 

Snigdha was sent a bottle of Romesco sauce by Nizami who did not expect any coverage to result. It was sent on account of my being their 100th follower on twitter.

Fast(a) Pasta: Blue Cheese Pasta Toss

We are busier than ever before. Long working hours, unpaid overtime, and the daily commute all conspire to take away precious hours out of our days. We get home, hungry and tired. We crave food. But do we have the time and energy to make ourselves something tasty and sustaining? Not always. So we often resort to 'prick n ping' microwave meals or take-aways, and feel guilty about the extra calories and cost.

Some of us try to make the effort to cook as often as we can, but sometimes we find our time just so squished, it doesn't seem possible. That's the time we need help. Time we need a quick fix. Time we need a speedy supper.

It's funny, but "quick recipes" cause both delight and despair in the minds of food fans. It's a strange equation. On the one hand, nobody minds tips and techniques which are capable of saving time. On the other, people don't want to compromise quality on high-speed ready prepared ingredients. 

Lots of television cooking shows have made speedy dishes and short cuts their focus. Hardened "foodies" complain about these programmes. I think these whinges are often unfair. Better people are cooking at all and eating something with lots of flavour than reaching for the take-away menu. We, each of us, must choose the compromises we wish to make, and not impose ours on others.

For me, pasta is often the saviour for those difficult midweek suppers. There are nights I come home tired just because my day has expended much of my energy, and then there are days which I teach my group of long suffering part-time students their evening sessions. Pasta offers the easy, tasty, fulfilling way out of dinnertime dilemmas. You put the water on, and get on with a small amount of preparation in the 3-5 minutes the water takes to boil. Then the pasta goes on and in the 9-12 minutes it takes to cook, you can get so much other stuff done. Before you know it, the meal is ready, and you have satisfaction of mind, soul and belly sorted in the time it takes to watch an episode of your favourite soap opera. (Which, if you are inclined, could be enjoyed by simply having a TV in the kitchen whilst you cook).

So here is a very simple pasta recipe. It involves very little preparation, and is quick, flavourful and effective.

The pasta I used was Gragnano pasta, reputedly the best pasta in the world, from Campania province. Legend has it that it is Naples and its surrounding area where spaghetti originates from. I bought back several packets from a trip to the Amalfi Coast and it was great to have the chance to use some. The variety is rather apt for an area overlooked by the mighty Vesuvius, isn't it?

Essentially, this is a vegetarian recipe. There is no need for any meat. However, the pancetta, my continuing obsession, although unnecessary has been included as an optional topping since Him Indoors needs to be enticed to a meal by meaty goodness. Bacon never fails to succeed. So if you are vegetarian, or can't eat pork, just leave it out. You may want to use some parmesan as your topping instead. 

The cheese I used was bought at the South Bank. You can substitute gorgonzola, dolcelatte, or roquefort. I am obviously suggesting you use a soft textured blue cheese, but I am sure you could use white cream cheese (such as Philadelphia or similar) without much difficulty. Perhaps one of those herby/garlicky Le Roule or Boursin cheeses could fit the bill.

Blue Cheese Pasta Toss

Serves 2

Ingredients:

200g dried pasta

100g blue cheese

40g fresh rocket

25g pine nuts

7-8 halves of roasted artichokes in oil, cut into half or thirds, as you prefer

80-100g pancetta (optional meaty topping)
Finely grated parmesan (optional vegetarian topping), 2 tbsp

Method:

If you are using pancetta, dry fry it in a large shallow frying pan until beginning to go crisp. Remove to a kitchen-paper covered plate to collect the excess fat.

Dry fry (toast) the pine nuts in a small pan. Be careful - they burn very quickly. You will need to keep stirring or shaking them whilst the heat is on. You'll need 3-5 minutes. Remove to a plate and spread out to arrest the cooking process.

Put a saucepan of water on for the pasta. Cook pasta for 1-2 minutes below the normal cooking time (the al dente time, please).

Take 100ml or half a mug of the cooking water out of the pan. Drain the pasta thoroughly.

Now add the blue cheese, rocket, pine nuts and artichokes. Toss vigorously (or stir thoroughly).

Put the pan on a very gentle heat, and mix as you allow the pan to heat up for 1-2 minutes. You want a silky, creamy covering to the pasta. 

If the pasta sauce appears thick or sticky, drizzle in some of the hot reserved pasta cooking water. I found that I only needed 2 tbsp. 

Serve in bowls, topped with the cooked pancetta and parmesan, if using.
 

Inspired by Florence: Pomodorino pasta with truffle salami

Fairly recently, around the Easter period, I went to Florence in northern Italy. This post was started in draft form over a month ago, but work and my travels have got in the way. Perhaps I should spend more time on this blog. I sure would like to, but I find that being a part time blogger with a full time job means some posts are long in the gestation.

Anyway, the wonderful city of Florence is part of the province of Tuscany. Tuscany is famous for its beauty, scenery, great food and wine. It is the home of Chianti, Montepulciano and Brunello de Montalcino. It is also the birthplace of the Renaissance, making it exquisitely rich in art, culture and architecture.

The food market in Florence is totally inspirational. Full of amazing produce, it leaves you feeling rather jealous that you will have to go back to the supermarket when you get home. Most envy inducing for me is the fresh fruit and vegetables and fresh fish. The colours of the fruit and veg always seem more vibrant, the sizes and shapes more varied. And given the lack of availability of fresh fish generally in the UK, I don't think I need say any more! This is a market you wish you could drag back home so you can do your shopping there every week. 

At the market, I couldn't resist buying some food products to bring home. I bought vacuum packed pancetta, 24 month aged parmesan, sun dried tomatoes, and sliced dried porcini. I also bought the key ingredient of the recipe I am going to tell you all about here; salami with truffle. Combining the practicality of curing the meat (so that it can be preserved without refridgeration) with the indulgence of including truffle as an ingredient, this is not quite the 'peasant' food that salami was originally intended to be!

Some of the best food in Tuscany is simple. You may be deceived into thinking that working with a relatively small number of ingredients would not pay off with great flavour and taste. You'd be wrong. The cooking of Tuscany is all about bringing out the best of those simple ingredients, and about using the best quality ingredients you can get.

My pasta dish is inspired by that philosophy. It shouldn't take longer than 30mins to get it to the table from start to finish. And everything should be available in the supermarket, because we can't all visit the food market in Florence every day, however much we may wish to! 

The pasta I used here was dried. I have tried making my own, but it is rather time consuming and fiddly. That great authority on Italian food, Valentina Harris, says that Italians DO make their own fresh pasta, but only on special occasions. How special? Not birthdays, she says, but 'really special occasions, like when the family agree to sell their farmhouse or something' (as she said in her demonstration on pasta making at the Real Food Festival on the South Bank). So, I used Napolina's brass dye extruded Gnocchi Sarde which are small and have small ridges, all the better to catch the juices of the cooked tomatoes. Tasty and available in the supermarket, they take only 13 minutes to cook when added to boiling water.

The tomatoes to use are the little ones. But please ensure that they are are ripe and flavourful as possible. They can be a bit squashy and too ripe for a salad, that is fine. Don't be too worried about the variety or origin, as long as they are red, ripe and sweet. You could substitute the shallot with half a white onion, but I wanted to use the slightly sweet and more subtle flavour of shallot to allow the tomatoes to shine through. When making a sauce using a tin of tomatoes, the tomatoes are usually robust enough to be cooked with ordinary onions. In my view, fresh tomatoes often need gentler treatment. I would not use anything other than fresh tomatoes in this dish. Tinned tomatoes need a longer cooking time as they are often quite acidic. This is designed to be a light sauce. 

Salami with truffles is not the cheapest ingredient in the world, and isn't always available at the local supermarket. So I am sure you can substitute regular sliced Italian salami (such as Milano Salami). Since I am also proposing Truffle oil as an ingredient, you can just add a little bit more than I suggest below to add the extra scent and delicate flavour of truffle which would have permeated from the Truffle Salami.

Pomodorino pasta with truffle salami

Serves 2

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic, very finely diced
1 shallot, finely diced
2 tbsp oregano, finely chopped
200g pasta
200g small ripe tomatoes, diced
5 tbsp parmesan, finely grated
100g salami, peeled if necessary, finely sliced and then halved
Dash truffle oil
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Prepare all the ingredients in advance since the cooking should happen quite quickly.

2. Put the olive oil in a saucepan and heat up on a medium heat. Once hot enough (about 2 minutes and a single piece of shallot will bubble/sizzle), add the chopped shallots.

3. In another saucepan, heat up 1 litre of tap water to the boil.

4. Add the garlic to the sauteing shallots, stir and fry for another 5 minutes.

5. When the garlic is fragrant, after 5 mins, you can put the pasta on to cook. It will take the same time as the remaining part of the sauce. Set a timer to be sure!

6. Add the tomatoes, salami and oregano to the pan. Keep on a medium to low heat whilst the pasta is cooking, stirring frequently. You want the juices to come out of the tomatoes, all the ingredients to heat up and flavours to meld together. You are not looking for the tomatoes to totally break down.

7. When the pasta is done, drain in a colander. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the cooking water in case you need them later.

8. Now add the pasta to the sauce. Mix thoroughly. If the sauce has become too dry to coat the pasta, add the reserved cooking water. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix some more.

9. Serve up in bowls. Add a dash of truffle oil.

10. Top with the parmesan. Eat whilst hot. Enjoy!

Snigdha's Superfood salad – version

One of my great inspirations in life is music. It comforts me, energises me, calms me, and speaks to my soul. How strange vibrations of air can have such an effect, I don't know, but gratefully accept.

I am quite partial to reggae music of the 1970s, and in particular dub. Dub records started life as pared down reworkings of hit songs with the vocal tracks removed, designed to be used at dances to keep people moving in a rhythm for up to half an hour at a time. Not as artistically valued as the original song, but useful for entertainment at sound system parties.

Eventually, however, through the artistry of some of the top producers such as King Tubby and Lee Perry they became legendary; sonically wide canvases with thumping bass and superb sound effects. Some even sound like you are listening to them underwater! If you were to listen to just one classic dub album as a result of this post, let it be Garvey's Ghost by Burning Spear, which is the dub companion to their classic Marcus Garvey album (both totally worth your hard earned – guaranteed!).

Although much of Lee Perry's Black Ark output of the mid 70s is worth listening to; my favourite is the Super Ape album, which if you happen to buy has 'Croaking Lizard' on it, which is Prince Jazzbo and the Upsetter's 'version' of Chase The Devil by Max Romeo. (Anyone who researches this may find a certain popular dance act from the 1990s totally ripped it off!)

Anyway, coming back the point I was intending to make, these dub records were often called 'Versions'. I reckon you could say Mark Ronson got the idea for the title of his debut album from this idea. My thought is that any recipe can be endlessly remixed, twiddled and re-arranged to produce amazing and interesting 'versions', just in the spirit of those sonic duppy conquerors.

Some time ago I posted my take on Leon restaurant's Superfood salad, in itself a 'version', which can be found here: http://snigskitchen.blogspot.com/2011/06/more-use-for-butternut-squash-snigdhas.html Well, since then, I've revisited the idea and come up with a new 'version'. Remixed without the feta cheese (which Him Indoors is not so keen on) and having tweaked the superfood mix to include purpletastic beetroot, this is another healthy but tasty midweek supper salad or a take-to-work lunchtime dish (layer up and do not dress if doing so). It is a meal in one.

I also substituted quinoa with a grain mix made by Pedon which cooks in 10 minutes. I found it on my wanders round Tescos, but am convinced is available elsewhere. This is a partially cooked mixture of 5 different grains, which is broken down by the body slowly to release its energy.

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

Fresh mint leaves, 1 handful, roughly chopped

Fresh coriander leaves, 1 handful, roughly chopped

Fresh rocket leaves, 1 handful

Frozen or fresh peas, about 1 small mug full

3 spring onions, cut into 1” slices

Broccoli florets, quarter of a head, cut into florets

Cauliflower florets, quarter of a head, cut into florets

Cooked beetroot, about half, finely sliced

Half a cooked Butternut squash, cut into bite sized cubes

50g multi grain mix

Topping ingredients:

Pancetta (optional), about 75g cubetti de pancetta

Sunflower seeds, 1 tablespoon

Pumpkin seeds, 1 tablespoon

Sesame seeds, 1 tablespoon

Dressing ingredients:

Olive oil, about 2-3 tablespoons

1 Lemon - juiced

Method

1. Cook the butternut squash as per my instructions in my previous post: http://snigskitchen.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-to-roast-butternut-squash.html
2. Then cook the multi grain mix. First put the kettle on. You aren't making much, so use the smallest pan you have. Cover the multi grain mix with boiling water and boil for 10 mins. Drain, rinse with cold water, drain again and spread out on a dry plate to lose some excess moisture and ensure the grain cools down.
   
   
    
3. Now cook your broccoli, cauliflower and peas. You can steam or boil them. I do them in the same pan, boiling the broccoli and cauliflower in plenty water for 5 mins and then adding the peas for the final minute. Drain and rinse in cold water. Take the cauliflower florets out and save separately.
   
   
   
   
   
4. If you are having the pancetta, dry fry in a pan until thoroughly cooked.
5. You will see the pancetta slices are going brown around the edges. Remove from the pan and place on kitchen roll on a plate to absorb any excess fat.
6. Now cook the seed topping. Heat a small pan until warm. Add the seeds. Cook for 2-3 mins, stirring as you go to achieve even colour. When some of the seeds start popping, turn the heat off straight away and transfer to a bowl.
7. Whisk up the dressing with fork in a mug. Keep until needed.
   
   
   
    
8. Now layer up the salad. Boiled veg first. This will be followed by cooked grain and salad.
   
   
   
   
   
9. Now add the cauliflower, spring onions, squash, beetroot and herbs.
   
   
   
   
   
10. Add the Pancetta (if using).
11. Re-whisk your dressing and drizzle all over.
12. Now add the seed topping.
13. Serve immediately and enjoy!

More ways with Char Siu Pork - #3: Stir fry noodles with Char Siu Pork

Some time ago I wrote a couple of recipes using some Char Siu pork (a Chinese preparation of pork which is covered in a spicy, sweet glaze and then roasted). The first can be found here: http://snigskitchen.blogspot.com/2011/06/2-ways-with-char-siu-pork-1-char-siu.html. The second, here: http://snigskitchen.blogspot.com/2011/06/2-ways-with-char-siu-pork-2-char-siu.html . Well, I've been back to the Chinese supermarket, and dreamt up some new creations using this wonderfully tasty ingredient, which is really beginning to surprise me with its versatility.

Many of us commonly cook stir fries as a weekday supper. Easy to prepare, quick to cook and easy on the pocket, they fit the post-work meal bill perfectly. I used to be guilty of buying those sachets and jars of Sharwood's or Blue Dragon sauces from Tescos and the like, and was often disappointed by how bland and oversweet they often were. It was not until seeing street chefs in Cambodia and Thailand use a combination of Chinese style condiments that I realised that there is life beyond a jar of sweet and sour sauce. I've not been brave enough to ask any of them for their recipes, but definitely noted that the use of a fresh base of aromatics (ginger, garlic and chili) made the shop bought ingredients sing with vitality.

I used a combination of sugar snap peas, beans, pepper and mushroom here. Partly because they were the veggies I had left in my fridge at home. You will have noted from a previous 'Waste Not, Want Not' post that I don't approve of food wastage. However, you could substitute for mange tout, asparagus, tender stem broccoli, ung choi, or choi sum. More exotic mushrooms than the organic chestnut ones I used would work well. Spring onions would have gone in to the dish if I had them in the house, but they never last very long, being a favourite ingredient for salads. All that you need to do is make sure that whatever veg you put in is no bigger than 2-2½” so that they cook quickly and can be eaten with chopsticks easily.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 Thai red chili, very finely chopped (1-2mm squares)

3 cloves garlic, grated or very finely chopped

1” piece of ginger, peeled then grated or very finely chopped

7-9 sugar snap peas, cut in half

7-9 french fine beans, cut in half

½ red pepper, cut into small batons

3 mushrooms, cut into thin slices

1 head pak choi, cut into small chunks

200g char sui pork, cut into thin slices

2 nests medium egg noodles

2 tbsp groundnut oil

Ingredients all prepared and good to go!

Sauce:

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp hoi sin sauce

1-2 tbsp water (enough to loosen up the sauce so it coats the noodles)

Method:

1. Cook the noodles according to the pack instructions. Mine required being boiled for 4 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water to wash away the excess starch. Leave to one side. If it is going to be a while before you cook the stir fry, lightly dress in some extra groundnut oil to prevent them sticking.
2. Meanwhile, blend the sauce ingredients together in a jug until of uniform consistency.
3. Heat the groundnut oil in a wok until hot, but not smoking. If you heat up the oil too highly, your aromatics will burn and stick to the bottom of the wok. Add the aromatics and stir around for 30 seconds. Now add the pak choi and stir for another 1 min - 30 seconds.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Add the fine beans and stir fry for two minutes. 
   
   
   
   
   
    
5. Now add the mushrooms and peppers. You may need to turn up the heat to keep the wok hot, now that you have quite a few ingredients on the go. You don't want the wok to cool or the veg will start steaming in its own juice rather than stir fry. Stir fry for two minutes.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Add the sugar snaps. Stir fry for one minute.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Add the sliced char siu pork. This will need 1-2 minutes depending on how thinly you have sliced it up. It needs to be thoroughly heated through.
   
   
   
   
   
8. Add the noodles. You will now need to stir through very thoroughly to ensure all of the noodles don't clump together and they absorb the heat. Cook for 1 minute.
   
   
   
   
   
9. Add the sauce and mix up so that it coats all of the meat, veggies and noodles. Cook for 1 minute. Check the meat and noodles are piping hot. 
   
   
   
    
10. Serve immediately.