This dish is great to eat in the run up to Christmas as it’s quick, easy, tasty and contains little heavy protein (after all, Advent, like Lent is associated with dietary restraint). But, it is also delightful contrast after Christmas when you are jaded from eating heavy meals and need to divert your palate after feasting on the intense flavours, spices and winter herbs of the festive season.
I’ve had a heavy cold in the last few weeks and have approached cooking with deep reluctance. Low on a lot of kitchen staples, I’ve been driven to invention, combining ingredients to make something to please my peaky palate and soothe my senses! With a yen to eat something light, flavourful and quick to prepare I searched in the fridge and found a carton of cream, a fennel bulb, some courgettes, and then spotted a bowl of lemons on the table. (As I wrote in my April recipe -Mushrooms, wild garlic and cream on toast - cream is a most useful ingredient to have in your fridge as it makes a great base for a quick pasta sauce). When I discovered I was out of parmesan cheese, I added an egg and a generous sprinkle of smoked Achill Sea salt to finish the dish. INGREDIENTS Serves 3-4 as lunch or a light supper– depending on levels of hunger of course!
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Additions or variations
Katie Verling
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Of course, there is nothing more delicious than an Irish apple in autumn, but those from my tree will not last much beyond Christmas. I imagine I am not the only person in this predicament, and so I offer you two recipes using apples that I have prepared as side dishes in the last few weeks: one is a salad, the other a warm vegetable dish. Apple and Fennel Salad with Caramelised Walnuts This is a simple refreshing salad, great with sausages and pork, with cold meats or in place of a coleslaw. This salad has the advantage of keeping fresh for up to 48 hours in the fridge, and just needs to be brought to room temperature before serving. But make sure to use firm young fennel bulbs if you can get them, and a mix of red and green apples.
Method
Caramelised Walnuts This takes only 5 to 7 minutes to prepare but you must always remain attentive as the sugar can burn very quickly and ruin the nuts. Heat a heavy bottomed pan over a medium heat and add 40gms of caster sugar, 25gms of butter and watch as the sugar and butter melt. When this begins adding the walnuts and swish the nuts around to mix well with the caramel. Continue to watch the nuts ensuring that all the nuts get covered in caramel and have access to the base of the pan to toast. The smell is delicious as the nuts warm up and the sweetness of the caramel catches your nostrils. But beware, don’t let it burn! As soon as you think it is barely cooked turn off the heat and pour the pan’s contents onto some grease proof paper and spread it out. Within about 5 minutes the nuts will have cooled and hardened. Now, you can put them onto a chopping board and break up or chop as you like. Resist the temptation to eat them all at once! Fried Cabbage, Apple and Cumin This is a quick and easy dish and a good way of preparing cabbage differently. It works particularly well with pork chops, bacon or as an accompaniment to a dish of dahl.
Method Heat the oil in a large, wide-bottomed pan on a medium heat and once hot, add the cumin seeds. Then add the sliced onion and, if using the red pepper – cook briskly for about 4 minutes, then add cabbage and apples and raise the heat a little. Keep stirring the pan now making sure that the cabbage is getting access to the heat of the pan. This cooks quickly and you’ll see the cabbage beginning to wilt and apples starting to colour and soften after about 5 – 7 minutes. Now add the cider vinegar to the pan to listen and smell as it bubbles up and the steam cooks the cabbage. Allow the cider vinegar to cook off almost completely, taste, season and serve. ENJOY! Katie Verling
ingredients, including celery. When researching this dish, I was surprised to learn that celery is an ancient Mediterranean herb and vegetable; originally using just the leaves or seeds for flavour – and more recently using the whole plant. In fact, in northern Italy, you’ll notice people buying a stalk or two of celery for flavouring and rarely see it used as a vegetable in a dish.
The flavour of Caponata is derived from the addition of olives and capers and a little vinegar and sugar at the end of the cooking period – this gives it its distinctive ‘agrodolce’ taste i.e., sour, and sweet. You may not have associated Italian food with sweet and sour dishes, but this is a typical and very old tradition in Sicily where fruit, vegetables, olives, and capers were preserved in brine, oil, vinegar and/or dried to last the winter. Note: I have given precise quantities for the recipe – but you can use these as a guideline and add or subtract amounts according to availability and taste RECIPE
METHOD Note: you’ll need 2 large deep pans or pots for this – that way you make it more quickly!
Enjoy Katie Verling
with them and I didn’t feel like eating them as a cold dish, so I had to devise a dish that I could cook quickly that used store cupboard ingredients. I thought of making something vaguely Mexican using plenty of coriander and this is what I made.
This dish took less than 30 minutes to cook and is even more delicious the second day – if there is any left over. Serves 4 with rice. Ingredients
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I served this with brown rice but white rice or even new potatoes would work just as well. If you decide to spice up this dish with plenty of chilli remember to serve some yogurt on the side to cool your palate. ENJOY! Katie Verling
Ingredients
Serves 3-4
Method
The fresh flavours of the vegetables, garlic and herbs is delightful on a chilly OR warm summer’s evening. Katie Verling
How about serving it with organic poached salmon (i.e. cooked in a flavoured stock with lemon, fennel seeds, fresh lemon thyme, bay, black pepper corns and a little salt, NOT fished illegally!) It’s a speedy recipe and serves 2-3 as a main dish with pasta or 4 as a side vegetable dish. Ingredients
Method
Katie Verling I was in the south of France recently just alongside the Italian border where I tasted one of my favourite dishes from the region where tomatoes, peppers, olives and garlic grow in abundance. It’s a dish that has variations all over the Mediterranean region, but this one is the one I’m most familiar with. It can be used in so many ways, as a topping on cooked dough, in a tart, as a sauce for pasta (though it needs to be left a bit more saucy to cover the pasta) – or even on its own as a cold salad dish to accompany fish, cold meats, eggs, or rice salads. When I spotted extra large Spanish yellow peppers in the Co-op last week I couldn’t resist the temptation to cook it at home. Pepperonata or Piperade
METHOD In a large wide base pan heat the olive oil and add the chopped garlic to infuse gently in the oil for a few minutes. Be careful! Keep the heat low as you only want to flavour the oil, not to burn the garlic. Then add the sliced onion(s) and the peppers cut in batons and stir so that everything gets coated in oil. Raise the heat a little and keep stirring and cooking for about 30 minutes. Slowly the peppers will soften and begin to taste sweet. When the peppers are mostly cooked add the tomatoes and raise the heat to get the tomatoes bubbling well. Put the lid on the pan now so that the tomatoes will cook better in the steam of the pan. After 10 minutes lift off the lid, stir and taste to see if the sweetness of peppers is coming through. If not, return to heat with lid and cook for another 5 – 10mins. (Do not season yet as the olives – if using will add quite some saltiness to the dish.) Now, if the tomato sauce is a bit runny you could raise the heat and boil off some of the juice for another 5 minutes but be attentive that it doesn’t stick. (Alternatively you can leave it at like this if you are service with pasta or rice) Then add the chopped black olives, stir around, and cook for 2 minutes – taste. Now you can season the dish and stir it the parsley. Serve hot or cold with anything that takes your fancy. Katie Verling
Nutty green bean salad with vinaigrette
METHOD Throw the frozen beans into the boiling salted water, and putting the lid on the pot bring the water back to boiling point as quickly as possible, then remove the lid so that the beans will keep their colour. (This is a top tip that both Darina Allen and her brother Rory O Connell recommend to maintain the colour of green vegetables – I don’t know why it works, but it does.) When the beans are barely cooked strain them through a colander and put them into a servicing bowl. While the beans are boiling, put the almonds into a hot pan with a drop of olive oil, swirl them around and lower the heat and stir them occasionally for 15-20mins – don’t let them burn!! (You’ll get a lovely smell of toasting nuts as they cook). Then dump the almonds onto a large chopping board and when they’ve cooled, chop them roughly with a large chopping knife – avoid the temptation to put them into a blender – you’ll end up with nut powder in seconds. Using the same pan throw in the sesame seeds and cut over a medium heat, stirring frequently for about 5 minuts until they are nicely toasted (if the pan gets too hot the seeds will begin to pop and jump off the pan). Put the chopped almonds and sesame seeds in with the beans. Vinaigrette recipe
Blend the mustard, salt and vinegar then add the mustard very slowly at first, stirring vigorously all the time; keep adding the oil until you have a thick sauce. Taste and adjust if necessary. I do not use honey to sweeten this vinaigrette as I don’t believe it’s necessary, but do so if you like. You could also add a squeeze of lemon juice if you like to sharpen and enliven the vinaigrette. I use this vinaigrette recipe all summer long and for a lot of winter warm salads too – it is a perfect blend of sharp and sweet with the mild kick of mustard – it works on everything. VARIATION: You could use this salad recipe and add tins of other beans to it to make a 3 or 4 bean salad – chick peas, butter beans, flageolet beans even chilli or black beans work well. You many need to add more mustard to the vinaigrette, and a handful of chopped scallions to red onion to strengthen the flavour. This salad benefits from a couple of hours resting (covered) in the kitchen for the flavours to blend and develop). Katie Verling |
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April 2024
AuthorsRecipes from Katie Verling & Jacques |