Papas aliñadas / Simple Cadiz-style potato salad

This is one of those dishes that seem super simple but where the homemade version never quite measures up to the one served in restaurants (or in this case, bars). I stopped making this at home a few years ago because my efforts, while always perfectly good, fell disappointingly short of what I was aiming for.

Was there some missing ingredient? Some magic technique? Did the Spanish hospitality business have access to a mystery supply of a unique variety of potato?

Satisfyingly, I think I've cracked it. The key:  the right kind of potatoes (when Spanish recipes say 'new' they don't mean what we understand to be 'new potatoes' in English; they just mean ones that have been harvested relatively recently); cook the potatoes in their skins and peel them afterwards; use a lot of oil; add the onion and parsley just before serving.

Ingredients

700 g of white potatoes (Maris piper work well)

1 teaspoon of coarsely ground salt

100 ml of good quality olive oil

30 ml of sherry vinegar

100 g of mild onion

plenty of fresh parsley (about 2 tablespoons?)

Method

1. Steam or boil the potatoes in their skins until just done. Peel, chop into large chunks (about 2 cm).
2. Combine the potatoes, salt, oil and vinegar in a large bowl.
3. Roughly chop the onion (it's there for flavour, not to be eaten), finely chop the parsley and add to the potatoes just before you serve.

Stir-fried cucumbers with peanuts and black bean sauce

 Now that I don't always have other people to cater for, my daily cooking often consists of a quick and simple vegetable dish served with noodles. I had never even thought of cooking cucumbers until I had them in a Chinese restaurant with chicken but it struck me that the European aversion to doing so is quite irrational - a low-level taboo even.

Ingredients

1 cucumber
2 tbsps black bean and garlic sauce
1 tbsp minced ginger
2 tbsps vegetable oil
50 g peanuts
1 tbsp soy sauce
6 spring onions

Method

1. Cut the cucumber into thick matchsticks.
2. In a wok or large frying pan, combine the  black bean sauce and the ginger with the vegetable oil, and fry gently.
3. After a minute or so, add the peanuts, fry for another 30 seconds or so, then add the cucumber.
4. Turn up the heat and fry for another 3 minutes, add the soy sauce and chopped spring onions, cook for a further 30 seconds and serve.

Sweet potato, green bean and coconut curry

 I'm not sure if my spice tolerance has gone down over the years or if I've just come to my senses and realised that too much chilli gets in the way of other flavours. Whatever the reason, I use far less chilli in my own cooking and studiously avoid anything excessively spicy when eating out. This is a very simple mild curry that can be prepared from beginning to end in about 30 minutes.

Ingredients

1 onion
500g sweet potato
200g green beans
2 tbsps vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
mild curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
400 ml coconut milk

juice of 1 lemon
small bunch of fresh coriander

Method

1. Peel and chop the onion. Peel the sweet potato and cut into small chunks. Top and tail the green beans and cut into 3 cm lengths.
2. Gently fry the onion in the vegetable oil until it is translucent.
3. Add the finely chopped garlic and minced ginger and fry for another minute or so.
4. Add the curry powder and salt, fry for another 30 seconds.
5. Add the sweet potato and the coconut milk, and simmer gently until the potato is almost done (about 15 minutes).
6. Add the green beans and cook for another 5 minutes, until they are done.
7. Add the lemon juice and chopped coriander, mix and serve.

Curry powder

Lots of recipes call for huge numbers of individual ground spices - and even roasting and grinding spices from scratch. It's the kind of detail that can turn preparing a simple dish into an unappealing chore. It's often quicker and easier simply to use a ready-made spice mix and it may be better, too: using spice mixes means you can cook with a far wider range of spices, and your spices will probably be fresher too. 

Steamed spicy sour aubergine

 It's the sign of a good dish when it evolves in your kitchen over the years. I first started making a version of this as 'yu hung aubergine' about 15 years ago but since then I have simplified it and also pushed it in a spicy sour direction.

Ingredients

1 aubergine
2 tbsps vegetable oil
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tsp chilli sauce
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsps light soy sauce
4 spring onions

Method

1. Cut the aubergine crosswise into 3 pieces, then cut each piece lengthwise into 6 or 8 wedges. Steam the aubergine for 8 minutes, until cooked but still firm.
2. Combine the oil, ginger and chilli sauce in a frying pan and cook gently for a couple of minutes. (I avoid adding minced ginger to hot oil as it will spit.)
3. Add the aubergine, mix well to coat in the sauce, and fry for another minute or so.
4. Add the vinegar and soy sauce, stir well and simmer for another couple of minutes.
5. Finely chop the spring onions, add to the aubergine mixture and cook for another 30 seconds or so.

I've probably eaten some version of this about once a week for the last five years, usually served with noodles for a quick lunch or supper, but sometimes as a side dish or pimped up with the addition of some firm tofu. The simplest way to vary this dish is by using a different chilli sauce. The aubergines above were made with a tablespoon of Laoganma's Crispy Chilli in Oil. It's not too hot, and includes crunchy soy beans and is flavoured with Szechuan pepper.

Pickled mushrooms in olive oil

This is a method of preserving vegetables called "sott'olio" in Italian (under oil). It consists of parboiling them in seasoned vinegar, then covering them with oil. It can be used for aubergines or courgettes as well.

Ingredients

250g of mushrooms

200ml of cider vinegar

1 tsp of whole coriander seeds

1 tsp of black peppercorns

4 bay leaves

1/2 tsp of salt

100 ml of olive oil

Method

1. Add the coriander, peppercorns, bay leaves and salt to the vinegar, bring to the boil, reduce heat to minimum, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Wash and slice the mushrooms (not too thinly) and add them to the vinegar. Bring back to the boil, turn off heat and leave to cool.
3. Transfer the mushrooms to a jar or a small tupperware, adding oil between each layer and more to cover, and store in the fridge.

I wasn't sure whether to post this but then I got really hungry late at night, remembered I had a bowl of this sitting in my fridge and immediately ate half of it (with crackers and hummus) and it was absolutely delicious.

Risotto with fennel and courgette

I used to make a sausage version of this (and sometimes still do) but I've gone semi-vegetarian over the last few years so one of the key flavourings in the sausage version (fennel) gradually took centre stage. I often do variations on this - leaving out the fennel altogether, throwing in some peas or plenty of fresh basil, squeezing some lemon juice into it... A good recipe should have a method at its core, and the details should provide one way of implementing this. I'm always in favour of simplifying recipes where possible and also of taking advantage of whatever may be available - in your fridge or the local shops.


Ingredients
100g butter
1 fennel bulb
1 courgette
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp salt
300g arborio rice
900 ml of boiling water
1 vegetable stock cube
freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated Parmesan

Method

1. Roughly chop the fennel bulb, slice the courgette, finely chop the garlic
2. Dissolve the stock cube in the boiling water
3. Put 50 g of the butter, the fennel, courgette, garlic and salt into a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan and fry gently for about 10 minutes, until the fennel and courgette have softened.
4. Add the rice and stir thoroughly.
5. Add a few ladlefuls of the stockwater to the rice, and stir gently until the liquid is almost absorbed.
6. On a low heat, add the rest of the stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring while you cook, until the rice is tender but not mushy. (This should take about 30 minutes).
7. Remove from heat, add the remaining butter, stir well, cover and leave to sit for 2 minutes. Serve sprinkled with black pepper and Parmesan.

Sliced mushrooms with ginger dressing

This has been a staple of ours for a few years.  I usually make it as a salad to accompany a meal but it always seems to get eaten before the rest of the food is ready.

Ingredients
250g of sliced brown mushrooms
1 tsp minced ginger
2 tsps sesame oil
2 tsps sunflower oil
2 tsps light soy
handful of chopped coriander

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl.  Leave to sit for at least 15 mins to give the mushrooms a chance to absorb the dressing before serving.

Falafel

Since I last posted, one of the members of my family has turned vegetarian. As a result, I've been on the lookout for vegetarian options, so falafel (little fried balls of ground chickpeas and spices) seemed like a good idea. I got this recipe from Tori Avey's Jewish food blog, with a couple of minor adaptations.

Ingredients
250g of dried chickpeas
30g water
1 onion, chopped
a bunch of parsley
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsps plain flour (or use chickpea flour)
2 tsps of salt
2 tsps of ground cumin

1.5 tsps of ground coriander
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
freshly ground black pepper
the seeds from 2 cardamon pods

1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of water
oil for frying

Method

1. Leave the chickpeas to soak in plenty of water overnight.
2. The next day, drain the chickpeas, and combine with all of the remaining ingredients apart from the baking powder. Chop in a food processor until you have a grainy paste. (Too grainy and it will fall to bits when you fry, too pasty and it will taste ... pasty.)
3. Cover and leave to sit in the fridge for 2 hours.
4. Mix the baking powder with the water, add to the mixture and stir well with a fork.
5. Heat about 3 cm of oil to a medium heat.
6. Shape the mixture into balls, slip them carefully into the oil, and fry for a couple of minutes until golden underneath, then flip them over and finish cooking on the other side.

Braised sweet and sour red cabbage with chestnuts

Ingredients
olive oil
100g dried chestnuts
3 sticks of celery
2 rashers of back bacon
1 small red cabbage
1 cooking apple
3 tbsps cider vinegar
3 tbsps balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
salt
pepper
water

Method

1. Soak the dried chestnuts in hot water for 30 minutes. Wash and chop the celery, cut the bacon into small pieces, core and slice the cabbage, and core the apple and cut into chunks.
2. Gently fry the celery in olive oil. When it has started to soften, add the bacon and continue to fry until the bacon is done.
3. Add all the remaining ingredients, together with enough water to barely cover. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to minimum and simmer until the chestnuts and cabbage are soft.

Borscht (beetroot soup)

My mum came round the other day and handed me a plastic bag. It contained a couple of bunches of beetroot and a small bag of potatoes. I looked at her quizzically. "I was going to make you some borscht," she explained, "but I couldn't be bothered, so I just brought you the ingredients instead." I was still mulling over what to do with the beetroots and whether to obey my mother's instructions, when my veggie box turned up on the doorstep with another instalment of beetroots. Apparently somebody up there was trying to tell me something.

There are lots of different types of borscht: Russian, Polish, Ukrainian; hot or cold; meaty or meat-free etc. This version is adapted from the one in Evelyn Rose's New Complete International Jewish Cookbook.

Ingredients
1 kg fresh beetroots
one carrot
one onion
1.5 l chicken stock
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
to serve
cream cheese

Method

1. Peel and very finely chop the beetroots, carrot and onion. Put in a large saucepan with the stock, lemon juice, salt and black pepper, bring to a boil, cover, turn heat to minimum and simmer for 30 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
2. With a stick blender, blend the soup in the pan until it is smooth.
3. Add a generous spoonful of cream cheese to each bowl of soup as you serve.

Parsnip latkes

It's been over six months since my last post. This is because my long-standing back problem finally decided to go critical. I twisted it in March last year and throughout the summer and well into the autumn I was unable to walk more than a couple of hundred yards or even stand up for a few minutes without experiencing severe pain down my left leg. And I also found that sitting at the computer for any length of time caused problems. I didn't completely stop cooking but I generally focused on the quick and easy end of the culinary spectrum and didn't have much energy left for blogging (or much else besides). On 28 December I went into hospital for a micro-discectomy, and three weeks later I am pretty much pain-free and mobile.

Although it's been a long nine months, there have been quite a few positives: I have certainly learned to appreciate some of the simple pleasures I had been deprived of, such as walking, standing and blogging, and I've also learned how to chart a middle path between an unconvincing stoicism and constant whingeing.

In the meantime, our veggie box has continued to arrive and as autumn turned to winter parsnips have  featured with increasing regularity. Last year, I turned the parsnip glut into some rather fiddly oven-baked fritters but this year, in the wake of Hanukkah, I was inspired to make some parsnip latkes.

Ingredients
1 kg parsnips
300 g onions
3 eggs
1 teaspoon salt

Method

1. Peel the parsnips and grate finely by hand or using a food processor. Squeeze out the excess water.
2. Peel and chop the onions, and whizz in a food processor with the eggs and salt. Add parsnips and whizz again briefly.
3. Heat about 1 cm vegetable oil in a large frying pan. Use a tablespoon to shape the mixture into fritters, add to the oil, fry until golden-brown, turn carefully and fry the underside.

Carrot and lentil soup

Carrots and lentils are a great combination, but I often find that carrot and lentil soup is either a little bland or suffers from unsubtle spicing (usually due to a heavy hand with the cumin). I made this soup with great care and was really happy with the outcome - the celery gave it a little spiciness, the peppers added sweetness and depth, while the smoky paprika and the dried mushroom stock provided an earthy kick. Unfortunately I didn't measure anything so the quantities are somewhat approximate.

Ingredients
olive oil
half a head of celery
1 red pepper
2 tsps smoked paprika
4 large carrots
handful of dried mushrooms
1 vegetable stock cube
1 litre of boiled water
2 handfuls of lentils
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Soak the dried mushrooms in the boiled water, and add the vegetable stock cube.
2. Finely chop the celery and red pepper and fry gently in plenty of olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the peeled chopped carrots, continue to fry for a few more minutes before adding the paprika.
3. Strain the stock into the pot, add the lentils, bring to the boil and simmer gently until lentils and carrots are cooked, then add the salt.
4. Allow the soup to cool a little, liquidise with a stick blender, check the salt and season with some freshly ground black pepper.

Parsnip and ginger soup

Santa brought me the new River Cottage Veg every day! cookbook. I haven't seen the TV programmes yet, but the book looks great and I'm hoping it will inspire me to find new ways of turning my veggie box into delicious meals.

The first thing I cooked from it was this delicious parsnip and ginger soup. I've toned it down a bit as the version in the book was a little zingy, and left out the milk because the soup already seemed thick enough at that stage.

Ingredients

olive oil

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon of finely chopped fresh ginger

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp chilli powder

500g parsnips

800ml vegetable stock

salt

pepper

2 tablespoons of flaked almonds

Method

1. Finely chop the onion, and gently sautee in plenty of olive oil. When it is just about done, add the finely chopped garlic and ginger and fry for another minute or so.
2. Add the cardamom, cumin and chilli, fry for 30 seconds, then add the parsnips.
3. Fry for a few seconds more, add the stock, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to minimum and simmer for 20 minutes until the parsnips are cooked.
4. Allow to cool, then liquidise with a stick blender. Test for seasoning and add salt if necessary.
5. Reheat, and serve with a sprinkling of the toasted almond flakes and some freshly ground black pepper.

Caramelised onion chutney

I'm too tired to write a proper intro for this recipe. Why? Today I have been on a canal trip with our home educating friends, spent the afternoon in a couple of chilly playgrounds (thank the Lord for long johns!), followed by a lengthy game of football in the park. On arriving home, I had to carry two flatpack beds up two flights of stairs, help to assemble them both, then make supper. And somewhere in the middle of all that I made some onion chutney too.




Ingredients (makes 2 or 3 jars)
1.25kg onions
olive oil
4 tsps minced ginger
2-4 tsps minced red chilli (depending how spicy you want it)
4 tbsps tomato puree
100 ml red wine
2 cinnamon sticks
pinch of salt
200 ml balsamic vinegar
200g dark brown sugar

Method

1. Peel and roughly chop the onions. In a large pan, gently fry the onions in plenty of olive oil. When they have softened, add the ginger, chilli and tomato puree, and continue to fry until the onions are well done.
2. Add the wine, cinnamon, salt, vinegar and sugar, bring to a boil, reduce to minimum and cook for an hour or so, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to get a jammy consistency.
3. Transfer to sterilised jars and store for at least 4 weeks (if you can wait).

Okra with tomatoes and coriander

Okra, bhindi, ladies' fingers - we haven't quite settled on a name, but these are one of my very favourite vegetable. In my opinion, the trick is not to overcook them, so that they have a good fresh taste, and a bit of crunch.



Ingredients
500g fresh okra
500g tomatoes
1 onion
3 tbsps vegetable oil
2 tsps minced ginger
2 tsps minced green chilli
1/2 tsp salt
half a large bunch of coriander (or 2 of those miserly packs they sell in supermarkets)

Method

1. Wash the okra, then top and tail them and cut them into 2-cm long segments. Slice the onion into strips. Cut the tomatoes lengthwise into 8 segments.
2. In a wok or large frying pan, heat the oil, and fry the onion until it starts to brown. Add the ginger and chilli, fry for a few seconds more, then add the okra, and stir-fry for 5 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes and chopped coriander leaves, and fry for another 5 minutes.

Carrot, lentil and red pepper soup

Since our weekly veggie box started arriving, I have been inspired to start making more soup. I've always loved soup and as a kid, I often had a tin of Baxter's soup for breakfast or lunch. Below, you can see me posing with two of my childhood favourites - cock-a-leekie and oxtail - in the Baxter's shop at the Ocean Terminal centre, in Edinburgh.


Anyway, back to the recipe. Looking into the fridge, I realised I still had 500g of carrots waiting to be used, together with a slightly wrinkly red pepper, so this is what I came up with.

Ingredients
1 large onion
1 red pepper
1 clove of garlic
olive oil
2 tsps cumin powder
500g carrots, peeled and sliced
100g red split lentils
1 litre stock
1/2 tsp of chilli sauce
salt to taste

Method

1. Chop the onion, red pepper and garlic, and fry gently in plenty of olive oil until the onion has softened.
2. Add the cumin powder and fry for a few seconds.
3. Add the carrots, lentils, stock and chilli sauce, bring to a boil, cover and simmer gently for 45 minutes.
4. Allow the soup to cool a little, blend with a stick blender, check for seasoning and add more salt if necessary. Serve with plenty of crusty bread.

Underage drinking
When I was growing up in Stirling, I would sometimes make a big pot of tomato and potato soup for me and my friends to eat when we had got back from the pub after a spot of underage drinking. There was a more or less recognised hierarchy of places where you could drink: you started off in the Allan Park, whose downstairs bar would serve 15 year olds at a pinch, while the upstairs bar was curiously a policemen's local, then graduated onto another place at 16 (whose name I have forgotten), before being ready for the trendy Barnton Bar & Bistro at 17.

Pickled cucumbers with dill, garlic and horseradish

The two large jars of cucumbers I pickled last week were so good that they have already disappeared, so it was back to my local Polish deli for more supplies. Along with a couple of kilos of pickling cucumbers, I got a bundle consisting of some dried, stalks of bolted dill, a head of garlic, and a length of dried horseradish.



Ingredients
2 kg of pickling cucumbers
4 cloves of garlic
dried bolted dill stalks
6-inch piece of horseradish root
1500 ml of boiling water
3 tbsps of salt
3 tbsps of sugar
12 tbsps of cider vinegar

Method

1. Sterilise 4 good-sized pickling jars, with their lids.
2. Allow to cool a little, then pack the cucumbers into them.
3. Into each jar, place 1 peeled garlic clove, a 1-inch piece of horseradish root, and 3 or 4 lengths of dill stalk.
4. Dissolve the salt and sugar in the boiling water, and add the vinegar.
5. Pour the pickling liquid over the cucumbers, seal the jars and store for 2 days at room temperature and at least 1 week in the fridge.

Passing
I don't know why, but I felt rather pleased when the shop assistant in the deli addressed me in Polish, even though I think she was just asking me to get out of the way so she could get back to the till.

Polish-style pickled cucumbers

When I left Edinburgh, the Polish influx was just getting started. Six years later, the Polish community is well and truly established, and is served both by a number of specialist Polish delis and by little Polish sections in most supermarkets and convenience stores. The other day, I was heading for the Chinese supermarket when I stopped into my nearest Polish shop. My eyes were instantly drawn to a couple of big baskets of very fresh looking pickling cucumbers, and I supplemented some of these with a bag of fresh dill.


Ingredients
12 pickling cucmbers (between 8 and 15 cm in length)
500 ml of boiling water
1 tbsps of salt
1 tbsp of sugar
4 tbsps of good quality cider or white wine vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
8 sprigs of fresh dill

Method

1. Put the water, salt and sugar in a pan. Bring gently to a boil, stirring so that the salt and sugar are dissolved, turn off, add the vinegar and allow to cool a little.
2. Clean the cucmbers and distribute them between 2 large or 3 medium-sized sterilized jars. Add the garlic and fresh dill, pour the pickling solution over the cucumbers so that they are completely covered, and seal the jars.
3. Keep at room temperature for 2 days, then store in the fridge for 1 week. The cucumbers are now ready to eat - they should taste fresh and cruncy.

In a pickle
I have a long-standing if rather intermittent love affair with pickling. I first pickled things when I was at university - peppers, cucumbers, onions, eggs (lots of eggs!) and even an octopus. I have particularly fond memories of the octopus. It was truly delicious - simmered in vinegar with plenty of herbs and some delicate spices, then preserved in oil and left to mature for 6 weeks. Shortly before making it I had been out flyposting for a CND rally (summer of 1985) and me and my friend Angus were spotted and threatened by the local criminals who, unknown to us, controlled the flyposting business in south Manchester. When I got home feeling a little shaken, I remembered the octopus in my fridge and decided to do some therapeutic cephalopod preservation.

Fried forest oysters

I love the big oyster or similar mushrooms (sold as 'setas' in Spain) but I'm never quite sure what to do with them, other than grilling or frying them with garlic. Recently, however, as part of our family's River Cottage addiction, I saw Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall breading and frying some wild mushrooms, and thought I would give it a try. The result was great - there was a really good contrast between the juicy mushroom and the crispy coating, and none of the bitterness you sometimes get with mushrooms - all of which just confirms the value of the motto: "when in doubt, fry it".

 

Dragon balls and lion's heads
I also like the fact that these look exactly like the pollo empanado or breaded chicken fillets, so beloved by Spaniards. And so, in the best spirit of Chinese restaurant menus everywhere, I have dubbed them fried forest oysters. (Thanks to Madalen for helping me work out what they were - see comments below. I am a complete mushroom ignoramus, so anything beyond a button mushroom has me stumped!)


Ingredients
0.25 kg oyster mushrooms
4 eggs
plenty of dried breadcrumbs
salt
olive oil for frying

Method
Wipe the mushrooms clean, remove any woody bits of stalk and trim the ends if the mushrooms are not in tip-top condition, then cut each mushroom lengthewise into 2 or 3 wide strips. Dip the mushrooms in egg, then breadrcrumbs and fry in plenty of olive oil until golden and crispy on both sides. Remove to a plate, sprinkle with plenty of salt, and serve.

Portion control
The oyster mushrooms are light and soak up a lot of egg (in their gills) and breadcrumbs, so 1/4 kg goes quite a long way and would be a reasonable main course for two hungry adults or a starter for four.

A taste of Serbia
I sometimes have a quick google to see if something I have come up with is already out there. I've been gratified so far to find that my rabbit dhansak and snail pakora are unique creations, but it's also nice when the opposite happens. Apparently breaded oyster mushrooms are popular in Serbia, where they go by the name of Pohovane bukovače. Not a lot of people know that!

Curried baked beans

I first had curried baked beans at a barbecue in Stirling in the 1970s. At the time, it seemed incredibly exotic, partly because it tasted of curry powder, but also because it was the kind of thing my mum would never have made. I remember eating a lot of it and I think I can probably trace my tendency to splash chilli sauce on things back to that day.


Ingredients
1 tin of baked beans
1/2 teaspoon of curry powder

Method
Open the tin of beans, pour a little of the excess sauce away, put the beans and the curry powder in a small saucepan and heat gently.

Scotland in the 70s
Apart from making curried baked beans, my barbecue hostess and her husband were "fond of a drink" as the saying goes, and it may be that the addition of curry powder to boring old beans was an alcohol-inspired act of culinary genius. My other memory of her was that she happened to come for lunch the day my mum went into labour with my sister, Clara. As a result, my brother Mark (13) and me (11) were left in her care for the rest of the afternoon. She kindly shared her cigarettes with us to help calm all of our nerves.