Recipes

Feta And Orange Salad With Honeyed Almonds

Feta And Orange Salad With Honeyed Almonds

Fresh. Just what you want come April, though this is good in the winter as well, especially when blood oranges are around.
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Ingredients

FOR THE DRESSING

FOR THE ALMONDS

FOR THE SALAD

  • 3 oranges
  • 1 small or ½ large fennel bulb
  • 60 g 2oz watercress
  • 100 g 3½oz feta (preferably barrel-aged), broken into chunks
  • 10 g ¼oz mint leaves, torn

Instructions

  • Make the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together.
  • Taste to check the seasoning, then pour into a broad shallow bowl.
  • To make the almonds, heat the olive oil in a small frying pan and add the almonds.
  • Fry them over a medium heat until they are toasted – keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t burn – then add the honey and spices and cook until the honey is bubbling and almost caramelized.
  • Spoon the hot honeyed almonds on to a non-stick baking sheet or some baking parchment.
  • Leave to cool a little.
  • You can chop these very roughly or leave them whole.
  • Cut a slice off the bottom and top of each orange so they have a flat base on which to sit.
  • Using a very sharp knife, cut the peel and pith off each orange, working around the fruit and cutting the peel away in broad strips from top to bottom.
  • Slice the oranges into rounds and flick out any seeds you see.
  • Set aside.
  • Trim the fennel, reserving any feathery bits, and remove the tough outer leaves.
  • Quarter the bulb lengthways (or cut the half bulb in half) and cut out the core.
  • Slice very finely (a mandoline is best) and throw into the dressing.
  • Finely chop any feathery bits you pulled off and add them, too.
  • Discard any coarse watercress stalks.
  • Put the oranges, watercress, feta and mint into the bowl as well and toss gently.
  • Add the almonds and serve immediately.
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Course; Salad

Goat’s curd, blueberries and watercress

Goat’s curd, blueberries and watercress

Goat’s curd – which tastes like light, creamy, almost ‘unformed’ goat’s cheese – is quite hard to find unless you live near a top-notch cheesemonger. But it’s a cinch to make. It doesn’t have to be made into a ‘proper’ dish, either. Spread it on bread then drizzle with olive oil, or a little flower honey. This salad is lovely with added spelt (see crazy grains for how to cook it, you’ll need just 50g/1¾oz raw weight). Toss it in some of the dressing and scatter in the bowl or on the plates before you add everything else. Y1ou’ll need to increase the quantity of dressing a little, too. The vinegar I use for this, made by A l’Olivier, contains raspberry pulp and is stocked at Waitrose. The recipe for the goat’s curd is from my good friend, the food writer Xanthe Clay. It makes about 175g (6oz) of goat’s curd.
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Ingredients

FOR THE GOAT’S CURD

  • 1 litre 1¾ pints whole goat’s milk (pasteurized is fine)
  • 1 tbsp rennet
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • salt

FOR THE DRESSING

FOR THE SALAD

  • 100 g 3½oz watercress, coarse stalks removed
  • 100 g 3½oz blueberries
  • 150 g 5½oz goat’s curd
  • 20 g ¾oz pistachios, or toasted hazelnuts or almonds, coarsely chopped
  • 15 g ½oz microleaves (red amaranth is especially lovely), if you can get them

Instructions

  • To make the goat’s curd, heat the milk to 25°C (77°F).
  • Stir in the rennet and lemon juice, cover and leave for an hour.
  • Line a colander with muslin and place it over a bowl.
  • Strain the mixture through the muslin.
  • Gather the corners to make a kind of bag and hang this to drip for a couple of hours (use the tap over the sink, or a door handle where it can drip into a bowl).
  • It should be thick, but if you’d like it thicker, just leave to drip for longer.
  • Tip the cheese out of the muslin and into a bowl.
  • Season with salt and gently mix this in.
  • Cover and keep in the fridge.
  • Whisk all the dressing ingredients together with a fork, adding salt to taste.
  • Toss the watercress and berries with this, then put into a broad shallow bowl (or arrange on plates) and dot with the goat’s curd.
  • Sprinkle with the nuts and microleaves (if using), then serve.
  • another idea… Slice 350g (12oz) sweet tomatoes (mixed colours if possible) and put in a bowl with the torn leaves from a bunch of basil.
  • Drizzle with extra virgin oil and lemon juice, season and dot nuggets of 175g (6oz) goat’s curd on top.
  • This also works with cooked farro dressed with oil and lemon (see crazy grains, you’ll need 50g/1¾oz raw weight).

Notes & Wine Advice

The curd is delicious with fruit as well. Use it instead of ricotta for the recipe Ricotta with summer berries and honey.
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Course; Dessert

Ricotta With Summer Berries And Honey

Ricotta With Summer Berries And Honey

No cooking required. Just good, pure ingredients. Go to a deli and buy fresh ricotta rather than the UHT stuff you find in tubs in supermarkets. There’s a world of difference.
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Ingredients

  • 300 g 10½oz fresh ricotta
  • a little icing sugar optional
  • 400 g 14oz raspberries, loganberries, redcurrants or blackberries
  • lovely scented runny honey orange blossom or thyme are good here

Instructions

  • Line a sieve with muslin or a brand new J-cloth.
  • Set this over a bowl and tip the ricotta into it.
  • Pull the cloth round it and set a plate on top.
  • Put into the fridge and leave for a couple of hours.
  • Pull the cloth off and taste the ricotta.
  • If you feel it needs to be sweeter, mash a little icing sugar into it.
  • Divide the ricotta between serving plates, or put it on to one large plate.
  • Scatter some berries alongside each serving and drizzle with honey.
  • other fruity ways with ricotta… You can serve ricotta like this with other fruits.
  • Good ripe figs are delicious (in which case use a good lavender honey, it’s perfect with figs) and whitecurrants look wonderful (their almost pearlized skin is gorgeous against the creamy ricotta).
  • Poached peaches or apricots are lovely, too (but add less sugar to their poaching liquor as you will be drizzling them with honey).
  • If you’re using golden stone fruits, scatter them with pistachios before serving.
  • Another idea is to slightly sweeten the ricotta with icing sugar and serve it in a mound with fresh cherries scattered all round it.
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Course; Cheese / Fruit

Persian salad

Persian salad

We don’t think about putting herbs into salads, except as an afterthought. But, in the Middle East, they can be the salad. And this one is beautiful, though it depends on top quality leaves and flowers as well as herbs. I like the flowers to be all blue and white, that way it has the same colour palette, but see what you can get. Obviously, the flowers need to be unsprayed. Even some supermarkets seem to be doing various colours of radish – purple and mauve as well as pink – but, again, see what you can find; just use pink and it will still look gorgeous, as long as everything is absolutely perky and fresh.
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Ingredients

For The Salad

  • 12 radishes different colours if you can get them
  • ½ ridge cucumber use ½ regular cucumber if you can’t find that
  • 75 g 2¾oz salad leaves (baby spinach, watercress, lamb’s lettuce and any red-veined leaves you can find)
  • 20 g ¾oz dill fronds
  • 25 g 1oz mint leaves
  • 15 g ½oz basil leaves
  • 15 g ½oz flat-leaf parsley leaves
  • edible flowers and petals

For The Dressing

Instructions

  • If the radishes have really fresh leaves, remove them, wash and pat dry.
  • They can go into the salad, too.
  • Either quarter or shave the radishes, whichever you think will look best.
  • Peel the cucumber, remove the seeds and cut the flesh into chunks.
  • Mix all the dressing ingredients together and season well.
  • Toss all the elements together and serve.
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Course; Salad
Cuisine; Iran / Persië

Plum Tomato and Olive Filets

Plum Tomato and Olive Filets

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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Set your oven to 425 degrees before doing anything else.
  • Get a large pot of water boiling.
  • Once the water is boiling add in your tomatoes and let the tomatoes sit in the water for10 secs then remove them to a bowl of water and ice.
  • Once the tomatoes have cooled remove the skins and dice them.
  • Now begin to stir fry your onions in olive oil for 7 mins then add in the Italian seasoning, tomatoes, and garlic.
  • Let the mix cook for 9 mins then combine in: 1/2 of the basil, olives, lemon juice, broth, and capers.
  • Set the heat to low then mix in the parmesan.
  • Let the contents cook for 17 mins with a low heat.
  • Now place your fish in a casserole dish, pour in the sauce, add the rest of the basil, and put everything in the oven for 14 mins.

Nutrition values

Calories: 282 kcal
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Course; Fish / Main Course

Pasta Rustica

Pasta Rustica

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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Boil your pasta for 10 mins in water and salt.
  • Remove excess liquid and set aside.
  • Fry your salt, pepper, garlic, paprika, zucchini, oregano, mushrooms, onion, and tomato, for 17 mins in olive oil.
  • Mix the veggies and pasta.

Nutrition values

Calories: 717 kcal
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Course; Pasta

Parmesan Orzo

Parmesan Orzo

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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Stir fry your onions in half of the butter until it is browned then add in the rest of them butter, mushrooms, and the orzo.
  • Continue frying everything for 7 mins.
  • Now combine in the broth and the water and get everything boiling.
  • Once the mix is boiling, set the heat to low, and cook everything for 9 mins after adding in the pepper, salt and garlic powder.
  • Once the orzo is done top it with parsley and parmesan.

Nutrition values

Calories: 327 kcal
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Course; Cheese / Pasta

Classical Penne Pasta

Classical Penne Pasta

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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Boil your pasta in water and salt for 9 mins then remove the liquids.
  • Now begin to stir fry your garlic and onions in oil until the onions are soft.
  • Then add in the tomatoes and wine.
  • Simmer the mix for 12 mins while stirring.
  • Then add in the shrimp and cook everything for 6 mins.
  • Now add the pasta and stir everything to evenly coat the noodles.

Nutrition values

Calories: 385 kcal
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Course; Pasta

Romano Roughy

Romano Roughy

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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Spray a casserole dish with nonstick spray then set your oven to 400 degrees before doing anything else.
  • Get a bowl, combine: salt, bread crumbs, garlic powder, parmesan, and Romano.
  • Coat your filets with butter then coat them with the crumb mix.
  • Place everything into the casserole dish and top them with parsley.
  • Cook the fish in the oven for 14 mins.

Nutrition values

Calories: 242 kcal
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Course; Cheese / Fish

Clams Toscano

Clams Toscano

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Ingredients

Instructions

  • Stir fry your garlic in butter for 60 secs then add in the pepper flakes, broth, parsley, and oregano.
  • Stir the mix then add in the clams.
  • Place a lid on the pan and let everything cook until the clams have opened.
  • Divide the mix between serving bowls.

Nutrition values

Calories: 227 kcal
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Course; Fish
Cuisine; European / Italian