Iced Latte

I wasn't a fan of iced coffee until I was introduced to Café Shakerato in Italy a few years ago.  As I fancied a longer drink in 34C temperatures in Hampshire this week, I experimented with an Iced Latte.  Not sure this is how coffee shops make their's, but this works for me.  A stainless steel cocktail shaker does seem to  make the best foamy coffee.  If you don't have one just make sure you use something that seals very well!

Serves 1

1 large espresso coffee

1 large expresso cup of cold whole milk

6 large ice cubes

Sugar to taste

Make your espresso and tip into the cocktail shaker with half the ice, and sugar if you take it.  Ensure the lid is on well and shake until the metal feels cold to the touch and you can't hear the rattling of the ice cubes.

Pour the foamy coffee into an insulated cup. Stir in the cold milk, and add more ice to keep it cold.

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Muhammara, Roasted Red Pepper & Walnut Dip

Another week, another red pepper dip (I made Balkan Ajvar a couple of weeks ago).  

Muhammara is a Syrian red pepper, walnut, and pomegranate molasses dip. I didn't have pomegranate molasses, so googled that balsamic vinegar is an acceptable substitute.  Muhammara also typically includes breadcrumbs, but I found mine was a good dippable/spreadable consistency without any.

4 roasted red pointed peppers
100g walnuts

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed 

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp pomegranate molasses or balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Salt and pepper to taste

Breadcrumbs to thicken if needed

Roast the peppers in an oven together with the peppers about 30 minutes at 200C.  These can also be roasted in an air fryer for a similar length of time.  Turn the peppers when they are beginning to blacken on the top.  When collapsed and charred,  take out of the oven and place in a sealed plastic bag (this helps loosen the skins). 

When cool enough to handle, discard the stalk, peel off the loosened skin, and scrape out the seeds and discard.  Don't worry if a few seeds slip out of your grasp.

Whizz all the ingredients together in a mini food processor, adding a heaped tablespoon of breadcrumbs at a time too runny, until you get a consistency you like.

Serve as a dip with crudités, warmed flatbreads, or sauce for pasta or salad potatoes.

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Greek Style Spinach & Feta Pasta Salad

This pasta salad was inspired by the flavours of Spanakopita, the less well known pasta bake Makaronopita, a big bag of freshly picked rainbow chard (which use like spinach), and the need to make a pasta salad in half an hour for a neighbourhood barbecue.

Fried courgette or roasted squash can be used instead of spinach.

Serves 10 as an accompaniment 

500g spinach or chard

500g pasta

200g feta

4 heaped dessertspoons plain yoghurt

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp dried mint

1/2 tsp chilli flakes (optional) 

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.  Drain when cooked, and rinse with cold water to cool and prevent sticking.

Wash the spinach and steam in the pasta pan. The water on the leaves from washing should sufficient to steam it in.  Cook over a medium high heat with the lid on for about 5 minutes until the spinach has wilted.

Whilst the spinach is cooking mash the feta with a fork in a small bowl to the consistency of cottage cheese.  Stir in the yoghurt, garlic, mint, and chilli if using.

Drain the spinach and squeeze the water out.  Spread it out on a chopping board and chop in it fairly finely.

Tip the pasta back into the pasta pan, stir through the olive oil, then mix in the feta mixture and chopped spinach.

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Courgette & Cannellini Beans

The courgettes on my allotment are finally coming.  

One of the ways I store a glut of courgettes is to grate and shallow fry them until golden, as fried courgettes reduce down to less than half their original size, and freeze. Once grated and cooked down they find their way into pasta sauces and curries over the winter

Today I mixed a serving (2 courgettes grated & fried) with a can of cannellini beans. For other courgette recipes click here

Serves a greedy 2

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 courgettes, coarsely grated

1 can cannellini beans, drained but reserve the liquid

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 small clove of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional)

In a non stick frying pan, fry the courgettes in 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil over a medium high heat.  Stir every couple of minutes so the top layer of grated courgettes get a turn on the bottom of the hot pan.  It takes about 20 minutes to lightly brown this quantity of courgettes.

When the courgette is golden and reduced down, tip in the drained beans, 2 more tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and the rest of the ingredients. 

Mix well and add a little of the bean liquid if you want a looser mixture.  Season to taste.

Serve hot or cold with crusty/toasted bread.

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Ajvar, Balkan Roasted Aubergine & Red Pepper Dip

Googling a dip to make with aubergine and red peppers, I came across Ajvar. It is a simple but full flavoured dip made with roasted aubergine and peppers.

Serves 4

1 aubergine

3 red peppers

1 clove of garlic

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp hot chilli flakes

Salt and pepper

Prick the aubergine and roast in an oven together with the peppers for 45 minutes at 200C.  These can also be roasted in an air fryer for a similar length of time.  The peppers may need removing after abut 30 minutes if getting too blackened.  When charred place the peppers in a sealed plastic bag to to help loosen the skins when cooled.

Scrape the flesh of the cooked aubergine into a food processor.  Discard the skin, seeds, and stalk of the peppers and add the flesh of the pepper to the food processor with the other ingredients.

Process until a smooth paste. Adjust the seasoning to taste.

Serve as a dip, sauce, or sandwich filling 

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Lettuce Soup

Lettuce glut recipes Part 2, Lettuce Soup (Part 1 is Maroulosalata, Greek Chopped Lettuce Salad).

Lettuce Soup can be found in both French and Chinese cooking.  My recipe is based on European/French recipes, using potatoes and cream for a 'velouté' (velvety) soup, and is very simple and quick.

Makes 4 big bowls

1 tbsp light olive oil

1 onion, peeled and diced

250g lettuce, washed and roughly chopped

400g white potatoes, roughly chopped

1 garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped

1 litre vegetable stock 

100ml double cream (optional)

In a large saucepan, fry the diced onion in the olive oil over a medium heat for a few minutes.  

Stir in the chopped potatoes followed by the chopped lettuce and fry gently for a few more minutes.

Add the vegetable stock and garlic.  Bring to the boil then cover and turn down to a simmer.

After 20 minutes remove from the heat, add the cream, and liquidise. Can be served hot or cold.

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Maroulosalata, Greek Chopped Lettuce Salad

The Greek Salad most of us think of is generally tomato, cucumber, onion, feta cheese, and olives.  However, much to my delight with a lettuce glut at the allotment, I have learnt there is Greek lettuce based salad, Marousalata.  

All the recipes I looked at online just used lettuce, spring onions (scallions), and feta. I don't know if these are traditional Greek ingredients, or have been adapted to US tastes.  I personally prefer to use red onion, add cucumber, and sometimes use halloumi instead of feta.

Serves 4 as a side

1 Cos or Romaine lettuce

1/2 small cucumber (optional)

4 spring onions or 1/2  medium sized red onion 

100g feta or halloumi cheese

2 tbsp chopped fresh dill or mint

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp lemon juice 

Slice the lettuce into 1cm strips, turn through 90 degrees and slice again so you have little squares of lettuce and place in a salad bowl.

Chop all the onion, and cucumber if using, to a similar size and place on top of the chopped lettuce

Crumble the feta over the top, followed by the olive oil, lemon juice, and herbs.

Toss the salad before serving.  As feta is quite salty, I prefer to let everyone season their own to taste once served.

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Easy Caponata (Sicilian Vegetable Stew)

Caponata is a Sicilian vegetable dish, similar to Ratatouille.

This Caponata recipe, from Jamie Oliver, has a lot less ingredients than many online and much more to my taste ie no raisins nor celery.

Serves 4

2 aubergines

1 red onion, peeled and thinly slice

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

Olive oil2 tablespoons capers

1 handful of green olives

Tin of cherry tomatoes

½ a bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley (15g)

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tbsps flaked almonds

Cut the aubergine into large chunks and fry in a wide saucepan or sauté pan over a medium high heat in a large glug of olive oil.

While the aubergine is frying, prepare the onion and garlic.

When the aubergine is golden on most sides (about 5 minutes) add the onion and garlic, and fry for a few minutes.

Add the capers and olives. Stir around then add the vinegar.

When the vinegar has almost evaporated away add the tinned cherry tomatoes and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Stir in the parsley and flaked almonds before serving.  Season to taste.

Caponata can be eaten hot or cold (room temperature).  

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Fruit Smoothie Ice Lollies

Get yourself some lolly moulds, make a smoothie and freeze it.  It's as simple as that.  Making these in small yoghurt pots with plastic of disposable cutlery as handles also works.

1 soft banana (I have loads of brown bananas in the freezer)

100g frozen fruit (mixed berries, mango, strawberries, raspeberries etc)

Apple juice

Work out the volume of your moulds by filling one almost to the top, weighing it into a liquidiser cup, and multiplying it by the number of containers you have. Note this number.

Without zeroing the scales, add in the banana broken into pieces and the fruit, and top up with apple juice to the weight you noted at the start.

Liquidise and pour into the moulds.  Freeze for at least a couple of hours.

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Rhubarb Cordial

My rhubarb at the allotment this year is plentiful.  And as I only made one batch of Elderflower Cordial this year, I thought I'd make Rhubarb Cordial to add to a Midsummer's Day Prosecco. Recipe is from BBC Good Food

Makes approx 600ml

450g rhubarb, rinsed and chopped

300g sugar

300ml water

Zest & juice of 1 lemon

Zest & juice of 1 orange

A slice of root ginger

Bring the water and sugar syrup to the boil.  Add the rest of the ingredients and bring back to the boil.  

Cover and turn down to a simmer.  Cook until the rhubarb has turned to mush.

Strain through a fine sieve, keeping the rhubarb pulp (Congratulations, you have made rhubarb compote too.  Save this for Rhubarb Ice Cream or Rhubarb Fool).

Store in sterilised bottles in the fridge for up to a month.  

Add around 25ml (just under 2 tbsp) to 100ml of sparkling water or Prosecco

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Homemade Lemonade

Homemade Lemonade, aka Citron Pressé or Spremuta di Limone is a great quick cooling drink in the height of summer. Depending on whether you have a sweet tooth or not, you may not need any sugar.

Ideally this is make with sugar syrup (a cooled water and sugar solution), but this assumes you want sugar.  With one Type 1 diabetic and now a pre diabetic in our family of five, we don't. Just stir well if you do add sugar.

Makes 500ml 

Juice of 1 lemon

500ml chilled still or sparkling water

Caster sugar to taste

Quite simply, juice half the lemon and add half the water. 

Taste it to see if you want sugar, and if so, how much.  Stir well to dissolve the sugar as best you can.  

Add the other half of the lemon juice and water with the same amount of sugar (if any) that you added to the first half.

Oranges or limes can be used instead of lemon.

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Roasted or Grilled Peppers

Warning, home roasted/grilled peppers are addictive, and a lot of peppers roast down to a not enough.  They are just so tasty and moreish.

Serves 4

4 large red, orange, or yellow peppers (green peppers aren't as sweet so I avoid them)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed

A large pinch of salt

1 tbsp chopped broad leaf parsley

Place the peppers in an ovenproof dish or tray and grill under a medium high heat until the skins starts to blister and blacken.  This could take 5-10 minutes depending on your grill, possibly even more.  They can be roasted in a hot oven with other dishes, but this takes longer.  Grilling on a barbecue also works well.

When blackened on one side turn them over with tongs and repeat on the other side.

Once blackened on both sides, and collapsed, place the hot peppers into sealable pot, ideally once you can store and serve them in.  Seal the pot and leave for 20 minutes or so to cool enough to handle.

When cool enough, peel the skin off the peppers, remove the stalk, slice in half lengthways,  remove the seeds and slice into thin strips.

Toss in the olive oil, crush garlic, salt, and parsley.  Leave for about 20 minutes for the flavours to mingle if you can.

Serves as an accompaniment, or on bruschetta.

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Caponata, Sicilian Vegetables

Caponata is Ratatouille's Sicilian cousin.  Apart from the aubergine, ingredients seem to vary. Tomatoes, onion, celery, olives, and capers seem common from recipe to recipe. Courgette, pepper, pine nuts, and raisins (should only be in a cake in my opinion) slightly less so.

2 aubergines

1 courgette

1 red pepper

1 onion, peeled

1 stick of celery

2 large cloves of garlic

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 can cherry or chopped tomatoes

20 unpitted green or black olives, destoned

2 tbsp capers

30g pine nuts

Can of cannellini beans, black beans, or green lentils (optional)

Chop the aubergine, courgette, onion, and celery into chunky bite sized pieces.

Toss in the olive oil, together with the unpeeled garlic cloves and salt, and bake in a high sided baking dish for 40 minutes at 200C, stirring halfway through the cooking time.

At the end of the cooking time, stir in the rest of the ingredients into the hot baking dish to warm up.  There should be enough residual heat in the baking dish to heat the tomatoes enough. If not, pop back in the oven for 10 minutes.

To make this dish a little more filling (and add more carbohydrate, fibre, and protein) add a can of cannellini beans, green lentils, or black beans.

Eat hot or cold. The flavours of this dish will develop if left to cool overnight.

Caponata can be cooked on the stove, frying the vegetables in the olive oil until browned and they adding the remaining ingredients.

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Tomato Bruschetta

I know this dish as Pa amb Tomàquet, a Catalan staple of tomato rubbed over toasted or untoasted bread and seasoned with olive oil and garlic. But more people have heard of Tomato Bruschetta.

It's a great way of using tomatoes that are starting to go soft, and stale/hard baguette, sourdough, ciabatta, focaccia etc

100g ripe tomatoes (a handful of cherry tomatoes, or 2 medium sized), roughly chopped
1tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 small garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped

Pinch of salt

Stale bread

Whizz up the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic,and salt in a mini food processor.

Slice the bread, place in a shallow dish, and pour over the tomato pulp.

Cover and leave overnight ideally, for the flavours to develop and for the tomatoes to soften the bread. Eat at room temperature for the best flavour 

Pa amb Tomàquet is eaten as breakfast and as a snack/tapas throughout the day in Catalunya.

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Slow Cooked Courgette/Marrow & Beans

A made up dish, to use one of my three overgrown courgettes

1 large onion, peeled and diced

1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed

2 large courgettes/marrow (about 1kg)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 can white beans

500ml vegetable stock

Fresh chopped herbs (parsley, thyme, or mint) to serve 

Chilli flakes (optional)

Finely slice your courgettes/marrow, peeling if the skin is tough.

In a sauté pan over a medium heat, fry the courgette in the olive oil until the released liquid has evaporated away. This can take 20-30 minutes.

Add the garlic and beans, using their liquid to make up part of your 500ml of vegetable stock, and stock.

Cover and bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. If the dish starts to dry out too much, add a little more boiling water.

Serve with a sprinkling of fresh herbs, a pinch of chilli, and crusty bread.

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Courgette & Tahini Dip

A great recipe for using (some of) a courgette glut.  This is based on Mutabal, a Middle Eastern aubergine and tahini dip.

500g/3 medium courgettes

1 small garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped

2 tbsp tahini

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp chopped mint, or za'atar (optional)

Salt & pepper

Heat oven to 200C. Place the whole courgettes in a shallow roasting dish, drizzle with a little olive oil and salt, and roast for 30 mins or until soft when pricked with a fork. Turn on the grill to blacken the skin slightly.Leave the courgettes to cool completely. 

When cool, trim the ends and roughly chop.  Put the chopped courgettes together with the rest of the ingredients into a food processor blend until smoothish.  Season to taste.

Serve with toasted pitta.

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Red Cabbage Coleslaw

It's Christmas Eve, and with poor communication, we have ended up with 3 red cabbages.  Three quarters of the largest (about 1.5kg!) has been braised to have with our Christmas Day pork. A small one past it's best has been made into sauerkraut (recipe to follow), and another large quarter has been made into my favourite coleslaw.

500g thinly sliced red cabbage

1 large carrot, grated

1 medium onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced

3-4 heaped dessertspoons greek yoghurt

1 levelish dessertspoon Dijon mustard

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Simply mix together all the ingredients, seasoning to taste.  The longer you can leave this before eating, the flavours develop more. But it is still great straight after mixing. Not sure it tastes different to coleslaw made with green or white cabbage, but I think it looks nicer!

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Trampó, Majorcan Tomato & Green Pepper Salad

This Tomato & Green Pepper Salad is lovely and refreshing, made in a matter of minutes but is all the better for being left for a few hours for the flavours to develop.

Serve 4 as a side 

1 large ripe beef tomato, cut into 1cm pieces
1 green pepper, deseeded and cut into 1cm pieces

1/2 a sweet onion, thinly sliced

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Juice of 1/2 a lemon (optional)

Large pinch of salt  

Mix all the ingredients together and leave for a few hours for the flavours to develop if you can. 

The lemon juice was a mistake as my eyes flitted to the Moroccan Tomato & Green Pepper Salad above in my pdf of Mediterranean recipes to try, but it possibly made the salad more refreshing.

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Fideua, a kind of Pasta Paella

Fideuà is a simple pasta paella that has been on my ‘To Do’ list for a few years since I came across it on a menu in South West France, a region (and cuisine) heavily influenced by Catalunya and Spain.

I picked up a packet of Fideuà pasta in the  supermarket in the small, very French, beach resort we are staying in just south of Beziers, and thought I’d give it a try. But it would work well with vermicelli or orzo pasta.

Serves 4

500g Fideuà pasta, soup vermicelli, or orzo
500g chopped prepared squid or mixed seafood
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 large beef tomato, finely chopped or 2 tbsp tomato paste 

1 red pepper, deseeded and finely chopped 

1 large garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 pinch saffron (optional) 

1 litre dish stock (I used mussel broth from Moules Mariniere cooked a few day earlier)

In a large saucepan, fry the onion gently in the olive oil until translucent. In the recipe I had partly copied out it said fry the pasta in olive oil first and set aside. But I couldn’t be bothered with this step. 

When the onion is soft, add the garlic and red pepper and fry for a few minutes. 

Next, if you’re using vermicelli pasta or any pasta that takes 10 minutes or less, add the squid or seafood before the tomato and give it a quick fry. The Fideuà pasta looked the same thickness as spaghetti  and the packet said 20 minutes cooking time, so I see decided to add the squid 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time. So I added the chopped tomato after the red pepper. 

Whenever you are adding the squid, add the pasta after you’ve added the tomato. Stir round then add 1 litre of fish stock, the paprika, and saffron if using. 

Cover and bring to the boil. Once boiling, turn down to the lowest simmer and cook for the cooking time on the packet of pasta. Stir from time to time. 

If the cooking time is more than 10 minutes, stir the squid in 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time. 

When the pasta’s cooking time is up, turn the heat off but leave the lid on. Leave for a gutter 10 minutes before serving.

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No Churn Mango Sorbet

This homemade No Churn Mango Sorbet is exactly like the 'Italian' mango ice cream my kids eat in France, and just so simple to make (with a food processor).

Makes just over 500g (about 8 scoops)

500g frozen mango chunks
Juice of 1 lime
50-100g sugar (maple syrup can be used instead)

Simply blitz all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth, adding more sweetener to taste.  It can be eaten straight out of the mixer bowl as a stiff smoothie, or freeze in an old ice cream container. If freezing, try to remember to stir the sorbet with a strong fork every hour at least a couple of times. This breaks up the ice into smaller crystals making it more scoopable.

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