Panzanella with a Spanish touch - perfect for the weekend

I remember the first time I made panzanella at home: it was a revelation. Who could have thought that a salad made with stale bread would be so delicious? The Italians, of course. :)

As much as I love Italian food – half of the blood in my veins is Italian, after all – I have added a couple of Spanish touches to my panzanella: crispy chorizo, chickpeas, sherry vinegar in the dressing. The salad turned out wonderful and it is a beautiful idea for lunch or dinner in the really hot days we have been having in Sao Paulo (to make it even fresher, add 1 thinly sliced small Japanese cucumber sliced to the salad). It is also great for lazy weekends, like the one I plan to have. :)

Panzanella with a Spanish touch
own recipe

½ red onion, peeled and cut in half
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
2 cups stale bread cubes (approximately 2cm each cube)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use
2 large ripe tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
100g chorizo, chopped in small cubes
¾ cup (127g) cooked and drained chickpeas
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and freshly ground black pepper
handful of fresh basil leaves

Thinly slice the onion, transfer to a small bowl and drizzle with the vinegar. Set aside for 15 minutes or until you get the other parts of the salad done.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a medium baking sheet with baking paper or foil. Spread the bread cubes over the paper/foil and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Bake for about 8 minutes or until bread is crispy and golden. Remove from the oven and set aside.
In the meantime, heat a nonstick frying pan over high heat. Add the chorizo and cook, stirring now and then, until crispy. Drain the chorizo over paper towels.

Transfer bread, chorizo, tomatoes and chickpeas to ta large bowl. Drain the onion (save the vinegar for the dressing) and stir into the salad. To the bowl with the vinegar, add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, mustard, salt and pepper and whisk well. Pour over the salad, toss to combine and set aside for 30 minutes. Stir in the basil leaves and serve.

Serves 2

My Bolognese sauce, as per my husband's request

I started blogging about food in 2006 (sometimes I find it hard to believe I am still here, to be honest) and for years now many people have written to me to tell me they learned how to cook with me (Brazilians, since I write in Portuguese, too). Every time I read the emails I feel joy in my heart, for I know how liberating learning how to cook can be – it was for me.

So here we are, almost eleven years later, and this time the “revolution” is happening in my home: my husband has been learning how to cook. :) It started with sandwiches, it evolved to salads and soups (very good salads and soups, by the way) and days ago he tried to make one of our favorite dishes: Bolognese sauce. I arrived home late after a tiresome day at the office and smelled something wonderful when the elevator door opened – for a moment I thought the smell could be coming from my neighbors’, but those people, besides being incredibly noisy and rude, don’t cook food that smell that great. :)

For my surprise, the smell was coming from my apartment and as I walked in I found my husband smiling at me: “surprise! I made your Bolognese sauce!” – I helped him cook the linguine and we had a delicious dinner.

He then told me he was a bit confused during the preparation of the sauce and that he had searched the blog to make sure he remembered all the steps – “I could not find the recipe on TK”, he said, and I told him I had not published it here. He said “it’s about time”, so here we are: I am sharing with you my Bolognese sauce – and I call it “my Bolognese” because I know it is not the most authentic one out there, but it is the one I have been making for years and that my husband loves so much. I don’t always have carrots and/or celery at home for the sofrito, so onions and garlic are the aromatics of choice; also, I hardly ever have 3 hours to wait for the sauce to come together, so mine is ready in 30 minutes or so. I hope you give it a go and if you do, please let me know how it went.

My Bolognese sauce
own recipe

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
3 large garlic cloves, minced
250g beef mince
salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup (60ml) dry red wine
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 400g (14oz) can peeled tomatoes
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 bay leaves
5 sprigs of fresh thyme
handful of fresh basil leaves or fresh oregano leaves
300g linguine

In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic, cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant, then add the beef and break it down with the spoon into smaller pieces. Cook, stirring occasionally, until beef is well browned. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the wine and cook again for 2-3 minutes or until wine is reduced – using a wooden spoon, scrape the brown bits in the bottom of the saucepan for extra flavor.

Add the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the canned tomatoes and smash them with a potato masher. Fill ¾ of the can with water, swirl it around and add to the saucepan. Season again with salt and pepper, add the sugar, the bay leaves, the thyme and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes or until thickened. Add the basil/oregano, stir to combine, remove the bay leaves and the thyme sprigs, cover and remove from the heat.
Cook linguine in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and stir in the sauce. Serve immediately.

Serves 3

Pesto and cheese rolls and family traditions

Yesterday I started thinking about family traditions and how some of them go from one generation to the other, sometimes without us even noticing.

My brother and I have become much closer since my nephew was born, and that brings me a lot of joy. So on weekends we are inevitably all together, either they come to visit Joao and I or we visit them – I love that. It reminds me of when I was little and we would go for Sunday lunches at my grandmother’s or my aunt and uncle from the country side would come to spend the day with us – we are doing exactly what our parents did almost forty years ago and that happened so naturally I only thought of it now.

One of the times they came to visit us I had just finished baking these pesto rolls – they smelled wonderful and I thought the adults would love them, but to my surprise my nephew was the one that enjoyed them the most. I had no idea he would like bread filled with pesto – I thought he would find the flavor too strong or something like that – but I was wrong. Therefore I bring you these today and hope you the adults reading me like them as much as the little one at home did. :)

Pesto and cheese rolls
own creation

Dough:
¼ cup (60ml) lukewarm water
¾ cup (180ml) lukewarm whole milk
½ teaspoon granulated sugar
2 ¼ teaspoons dried yeast
1 large egg
2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
¾ teaspoon table salt
2 ¼ cups (315g) all purpose flour
½ cup (70g) whole wheat flour

Filling:
½ cup (40g) fresh basil leaves, packed
2 tablespoons finely ground pecorino
1 small garlic clove
2 tablespoons pine nuts
¼ cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
200g shredded cheese – I used one kind of mozzarela we find here in Brazil that is yellow and drier than fresh mozzarela; replace with cheddar

Egg wash:
1 egg + ½ teaspoon water, beaten with a fork

Start by making the dough: in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix together with a fork the water, milk, sugar and yeast. Set aside until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg, butter, olive oil, salt and flours and mix on medium speed until a smooth and elastic dough forms, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside on a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 ½ hours.

Filling: place the basil, pecorino, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil and black pepper in a blender or food processor and blitz until a paste forms – I don’t add any salt for the cheeses are already salty. Set aside. Brush a 12-hole muffin pan with butter.

Knock down the dough to remove any excess air. Roll it on a lightly floured surface until you get a 30x50cm (12x20in) rectangle. Spread the pesto over the dough, leaving a 1cm (½in) border. Sprinkle evenly with the shredded cheese. Beginning with the longer side, roll the dough tightly like a cylinder. Cut into 12 slices and place each slice, cut side up, inside a hole in the muffin pan. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise again for 40-60 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C.

Brush the rolls with the egg wash and bake for 20-25 minutes or until deeply golden and cooked through. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully unmold each roll and transfer to the wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Rolls can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Reheat them in a 180°C oven for 8-10 minutes before serving if desired.

Makes 12

Pesto & courgette pasta bake for a courgette-eating husband

Those of you who cook for picky eaters know the feeling, I’m sure: when the person who always hated something starts eating that very thing it feels like a small victory.

When my husband decided to try mushrooms for the first time in his life and liked them, I started adding mushrooms to our meals and it was such a good thing (the vegetarian Bolognese is, indeed, delicious and I love cooking that recipe). Now that he’s come to the conclusion that he doesn’t really hate courgettes I have been adding them to our meals quite regularly, and this pasta bake was a really tasty way of having the vegetable.

I tweaked the recipe a bit – the original version called for crème fraîche, for instance, which I replaced for homemade ricotta – and got a lighter dish as a reward, not to mention the recipe is easy and tasted great: the crunchy bread and cheese topping makes the pasta extra special.

Pesto & courgette pasta bake
adapted from the always delicious Good Food magazine

150g rigatoni
1/3 cup basil pesto
200g ricotta – I used homemade
200g courgettes, coarsely grated
½ cup finely grated parmesan, divided use
salt and freshly ground black pepper
30g fresh breadcrumbs
extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Cook the pasta for 1-2 minutes less than the pack instructions say, so that it has a little more bite. Reserve 1 cup of cooking water.

Meanwhile, mix the pesto, ricotta, courgettes and half the parmesan together. Add the pasta and stir well, adding a little of the reserved water to create a good sauce consistency. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Tip the pasta and sauce into a shallow baking dish and scatter over the breadcrumbs, then the remaining parmesan. Drizzle with a little olive oil and bake for about 15 minutes or until the topping is crisp.

Serves 2

Fusilli with pine nuts and eggplant and the pasta dishes of my childhood

Having Italian blood in my veins, pasta was something I ate my whole life: my mother, despite being from a German family, cooked pasta quite frequently, and when she died and my paternal grandmother came to live with us she cooked pasta a lot, too – my grandfather was Italian, so pasta was something quite natural for her.

There wasn’t, or at least I don’t remember, much variety when it came to pasta sauces: there were tomato sauce, Bolognese, béchamel and aglio e olio, and that was it. When I started buying cookbooks and reading recipes online, years ago, I realized that there was so much more that could be done with pasta, there were so many interesting sauces, that blew me away.

One way I love cooking pasta is using vegetables as sauce: you get tons of flavor while eating something delicious and good for you. This recipe comes from the great Antonio Carluccio and when I finished cooking the sauce and tried some it tasted to amazing I thought it could be also spread over crusty bread and served as bruschetta instead of tossed with pasta – that is how I intend to eat it next time. :D

Fusilli with pine nuts and eggplant
slightly adapted from the great Antonio Carluccio: The Collection

400g eggplants, trimmed and cut into small cubes
salt
90ml extra virgin olive oil
2 fat garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 tablespoons concentrated tomato paste
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 heaping tablespoons capers, rinsed, drained and chopped
pinch of dried chilli flakes
freshly ground black pepper
15 large black olives, pitted and thorn into pieces
handful of fresh basil leaves, thorn
400g fusilli or other short pasta
finely grated parmesan, to serve

Leave the eggplant cubes in lightly salted water for 1 hour, then drain, squeeze out the water and pat dry on kitchen paper. Fry them in the oil for 3 minutes, stir in the garlic and fry, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant is golden brown. Add the tomato paste, pine nuts, capers, chilli flakes, black pepper and olives and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally – add a little water if the mixture is too dry. Stir in the basil, cover and remove from the heat.
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente, then drain and mix well with the sauce. Serve with the parmesan.

Serves 4

Courgette, tomato and roasted red pepper gratin and baby talk

My sister-in-law and I talk about my baby nephew a lot, and we always talk about the food he’ll eat when he grows up – my brother is the pickiest eater I know and we know that he’ll have to change in order to become a good example for the boy.

I tell her to calm down because my husband used to be just like that and now he tries lots of different types of food (I guess we’ll have to organize a trip to China for my brother as well). :D

For instance, my husband always tells me how much he hated gratins as a kid, especially the potato gratin his mother made constantly back in the day. He also hated courgettes. Just so you know, he ate the gratin in the picture like crazy and told me that I can make that dish whenever I want because “it is so delicious”.

People change, thank heavens. There’s still hope for my brother. :D

Courgette, tomato and roasted red pepper gratin
slightly adapted from the always delicious Olive magazine

1 small red pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided use
½ large onion, finely diced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 x 400g (14oz) can peeled tomatoes
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepper
handful of fresh basil leaves
350g large courgettes, halved in the widest part, cut into 5mm slices
75g coarsely grated cheddar salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 220°C/420°F. Put the red pepper on a baking tray and roast in the oven for about 30 minutes, turning it once or twice, until the skins are blackened in places and the flesh is soft. Transfer to a heatproof bowl, seal with plastic wrap and leave to cool. Break the pepper open, discard the stalk and seeds, peel off the skin and slice the flesh into thin strips.

While that goes on, make the tomato sauce: in a medium saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the garlic, cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the tomatoes and the sugar. Fill 1/3 of the can with water, swirl it around and add to the saucepan. Season with salt and pepper, break the tomatoes with a wooden spoon then cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes or until slightly thickened. Add the basil, stir to combine, cover and remove from the heat.

Heat a large, ridged griddle until smoking hot, then lower the heat slightly. Toss the courgette slices in the other tablespoon of oil, season with salt and pepper, then griddle in batches for 2 minutes on each side until marked with dark lines. Set aside on kitchen paper to drain.

Spread half the sauce over a medium, shallow baking dish. Scatter half the griddled courgettes over the tomato sauce, followed by half the red pepper strips and half the grated cheese. Spoon over the remaining tomato then repeat the layers once more, ending with the grated cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly golden and bubbling.

Serves 2 generously

Pasta with vodka tomato sauce - when simple food tastes great

Years ago I saw this pasta sauce on many blogs, some of them my favorites and I had all the intention of making it, but for some reason I never did and it ended up slipping my mind.

I thought of it days ago when I bought a bottle of vodka to make a new batch of vanilla extract and wrote the idea down to avoid forgetting it all over again. The original recipe calls for shallots, but there was a leek in my fridge begging to be used and I added it instead.

I’m not sure if it was the leek, the vodka, the cream or the three of them together, but this turned out to be one of the tastiest tomato sauces I’ve ever made – seriously good. It is flavorsome, creamy without being heavy and slightly peppery, not to mention simple to make.

I had no idea this sauce would turn out so delicious when I set out to make it and now I strongly recommend you try it, too.

Pasta with vodka tomato sauce
slightly adapted from this book and from Rachel Ray

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
½ tablespoon olive oil
1 small leek, white part only
1 fat garlic clove, minced
pinch of red pepper flakes
½ cup (120ml) vodka
1 can (400g/16oz) chopped canned tomatoes
2 teaspoons sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepper
225g (8oz) dried short pasta, such as farfalle or penne
¼ cup (60ml) heavy cream
handful fresh basil leaves, shredded or torn
grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Heat a medium saucepan over moderate-high heat. Add butter and oil and while the butter melts, slice the leek in half lengthwise, then cut both halves in thin slices. Add to the saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent. Add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant. Gradually pour in the vodka, stir then cook until reduced by half, 3-4 minutes. Add tomatoes, sugar, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook partially covered until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While sauce simmers, cook pasta in salted boiling water until cooked to al dente.

Stir cream into sauce, cook for 5 minutes, stir in the basil and remove from the heat. Drain pasta and toss it with the sauce. Serve immediately sprinkled with the cheese.

Serves 2

Avocado and lemon zest linguine - becoming good friends with whole wheat pasta

I guess that once we get old and start feeling more comfortable in our own skin what others think doesn’t matter much – what you feel or like or want should come first. I like to believe that.

Back in high school it was all about being trendy and cool or, in other words, doing and saying what others did. I remember going to a concert with my friends a couple of times, it was a cover band that played Elvis Presley’s songs, but I never liked Elvis – I just pretended I liked it so I could fit in, since all the girls kept saying how great Elvis was (lucky for me the concerts were free). I was so bored one of the nights I started doing my Physics homework right there (the concerts were held on Friday evenings, and we would go right after school).

That did not do any good for my “cool reputation”, I’ll tell you that. :)

Up until months ago I would tell everyone how awful whole wheat pasta was, and make faces when people brought the subject up. Then, while reading a recipe that called for that kind of pasta, it suddenly hit me: I was just replicating other people’s opinions. I had, indeed, had my share of bad whole wheat pasta dishes, but as someone who’s been cooking for as long as I have I should know better – I should know that maybe, and just maybe, there was something wrong with what I’d tasted. It could have been a case of bad pasta or bad recipe (or both).

I continue to avoid Elvis like the plague, but I have become good friends with whole wheat pasta. :)

Things we do and say now and then, sometimes without putting much thought to them. I have been there, you probably have, too. We’re humans, we say stupid things sometimes, we follow wrong people. We make mistakes.

Nobody’s perfect.

But this pasta dish is (and I would never have thought of pairing avocado and pasta). :)

Avocado and lemon zest linguine
slightly adapted from the wonderful A Modern Way to Eat: Over 200 Satisfying, Everyday Vegetarian Recipes (That Will Make You Feel Amazing)

400g whole wheat linguine
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons capers in brine, coarsely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
finely grated zest of 2 lemons + juice of ½ a lemon
a handful basil leaves, coarsely chopped
a handful parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
2 ripe avocados
1-2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
freshly grated pecorino, for serving

Cook the linguine in a saucepan of boiling salted water until al dente (follow the instructions on the package).
In the meantime make the sauce: heat the olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan on a medium heat, then add the capers and garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the lemon zest and the herbs, mix to combine and remove from the heat.
Halve and destone the avocados, then use a knife to make criss-cross cuts through the flesh, chopping it inside the skin. Use a spoon to scoop out each half into the pan, and stir to mix all the flavors together. Before you drain the pasta, scoop out half a mugful of the pasta water. Drain the pasta, add it to the frying pan and return it to medium heat, tossing to combine. Drizzle with the lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and add a splash of the cooking water if necessary.
Serve at once, sprinkled with the cheese.

Serves 4

Baked fish with salsa verde and potatoes - the oven as an ally

Despite my love for fish I don’t eat it as often as I should or would like to, which is such a shame – if my mom was around she would certainly be mad at me for that. When we were little she made sure we ate fish at least once a week – mom was a health nut, over thirty years before that became fashionable. :D

My favorite way of eating fish as a kid was rolled in corn flour (very fine cornmeal, not corn starch) then deep fried – the thought of it makes me drool already. Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, it was probably my favorite meal when it was served with a simple tomato salad (with loads of lime juice) and fluffy rice – very simple, yet delicious, especially when cooked by mom. <3

These days, however, I rarely deep fry anything: besides the health issues, I live in a small apartment and I don’t want every piece of fabric in my house (or my hair, for that matter) smelling like fried food. :P Therefore, the oven is always a good ally – I don’t use it for sweet things only, you know. :D


This recipe is really, really simple: fish fillets baked in a bed of potatoes. Nothing much, you might think. I thought so, too, until I tasted the salsa verde: I’d never tried that sauce before and my goodness, it is delicious –it transformed the simple dish into something special and very flavorsome.


I hope you give this recipe a go – if tasty and healthy don’t convince you, this is also quick and easy to put together. :D


Baked fish with salsa verde and potatoes
slightly adapted from the always fabulous Delicious Australia

300g small waxy potatoes, thinly sliced (a mandoline is ideal)
1 lemon, thinly sliced
handful fresh oregano leaves
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 x 120g firm white fish fillets – I used flounder

Salsa verde:
1 small garlic clove
½ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
½ cup basil leaves
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed, drained
finely grated zest of 1 lemon¼ cup (60ml) extra-virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°C. Toss potato, lemon slices and oregano with the oil, season with salt and pepper and spread in a lightly oiled 20x30cm (8x12in) baking pan, in a single layer. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until potatoes start to golden.
Meanwhile, to make salsa verde, whiz garlic, parsley, basil, capers and lemon zest in a food processor until finely chopped. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil and process until mixture is a drizzling consistency. Transfer to a small bowl, season with salt and pepper and set aside.
Remove roasting pan from oven and place the fish on top and season the fillets with salt and pepper. placing a lemon slice from the pan on top of each fillet. Return to the oven for a further 8 minutes or until the fish is cooked through.
Serve drizzled with salsa verde.

Serves 2

Chorizo, beef and couscous stuffed peppers - dedicated to two certain kids

As I was reading the “news” days ago on People online, I found out that Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin have separated. Ok, alright, divorces happen, they’re part of life. People are already making fun of their “conscious uncoupling” (lol), I’m no saint and must confess that this link made me laugh out loud – I guess that it’s a matter of time before the kids ask to live with dad instead of mom, right? :D

When the kids move to Chris Martin’s house he can even cook this recipe for them: these stuffed peppers are delicious and while they’re in the oven dad can play with the kids or even write them a special song – mommy won’t be around to forbid them to eat bell peppers... :D

Chorizo, beef and couscous stuffed peppers
slightly adapted from Dish magazine

6 long red peppers or red bell peppers
¼ cup couscous
¼ cup boiling water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 chorizo sausage, finely chopped
¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
400g beef mince
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sauce:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
1 400g-can chopped tomatoes
handful fresh basil leaves

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
Sauce: Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and cook the onion, garlic and paprika until the onion is tender. Stir in the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. Add the basil, stir to combine, cover and remove from the heat. Set aside.

Peppers: Combine the couscous and water in a small bowl, cover and leave for 10 minutes
Trim the stems off the peppers and remove the seeds, keeping the peppers whole. Place in large heatproof dish and pour over enough boiling water to cover. Leave for 5 minutes then lift out and drain well. Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan and cook the onion, carrot, garlic and paprika until the onion is tender. Stir in the chorizo and parsley and cook for 1 minute. Tip into a large bowl and cool. Add the couscous and mince, season generously and combine well.

To assemble: Holding each pepper upright, drop in small pieces of the stuffing then use the handle of a wooden spoon to gently push it right to the bottom of the pepper. Continue until full to the top and repeat with the remaining peppers. You may not use all of the filling. Tip the tomato sauce into a large shallow baking dish and place the peppers and their stems, on top (I secured the tops with toothpicks before baking the peppers). Roll any unused filling into balls and place around the peppers. Drizzle with a little olive oil. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for a further 10 minutes until golden and the peppers are tender when pierced with a skewer.

Serves 4-6 – I filled two very large peppers with half the recipe for the filling and got 6 meatballs; I baked everything using 1 whole sauce recipe

Eggplant “meatballs” and Stephen Holder

Some supporting characters have the power of stealing main characters’ thunder in movies and TV shows – for instance, Amy Poehler is super funny but to me Tom Haverford is the highlight of Parks and Recreation.

I finished the first season of the excellent The Killing and was amazed by Mireille Enos’ strong performance, but Joel Kinnaman was the real surprise here: his Stephen Holder is a delight to watch, adding a much needed – and intelligently made – comic relief to a very dark show. He has the best lines and deliver them perfectly, making me laugh like crazy in several scenes – one of my favorites is the one in which Linden tells him that he can’t eat pork rinds if he’s a vegetarian and he tells her that “pork rinds are junk food, don’t count” (here at 1:10 if you want to enjoy it). :D

These “meatballs”, made out of eggplant with no meat whatsoever, are delicious – I served them with pasta and it was a hit. They’re very soft and it took me a while to shape the mixture into balls so I thought of adding an egg to it, but since my husband kept snacking on the mixture while I tried to rolled it I skipped the egg and added more breadcrumbs instead – it worked like a charm and I just had to be careful while frying them to keep them from falling apart.

I believe these eggplant “meatballs” will be a hit at your house as they were in mine - either if you’re a true vegetarian or a Holder-kind-of-vegetarian. :D

Eggplant “meatballs”
slightly adapted from A Girl Called Jack: 100 Delicious Budget Recipes

1 eggplant
1 onion, finely diced
1 far garlic clove, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
3 large black olives, finely chopped
2 tablespoons canola oil
finely grated zest and juice of 1 small
about ¼ cup breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
small handful parsley leaves, chopped
small handful basil leaves, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
tomato sauce, to serve

Cut the stems off the ends of the eggplants and halve lengthways. Dice the flesh into chunks and pop into a medium nonstick saucepan or frying pan. Add the onion, garlic, chilli and oliver, add 1 tablespoon of the oil and cook on a medium heat for about 10 minutes to brown and soften.

Add the lemon zest and juice, mix to combine, then remove from the heat and transfer to a large bowl. Cool slightly. Add the breadcrumbs, parmesan and herbs. Season with salt and pepper. Shape the mixture into tablespoon-sized balls with your hands. Wipe the nonstick frying pan clean with a kitchen towel and pour in remaining 1 tablespoon. Heat over medium heat, then carefully fry the eggplant balls in batches until browned all over. Remove with a slotted spoon and serve with the tomato sauce.

Makes about 12

Polentanella (polenta tomato and basil salad) and three characters that seem to be the same

As I was watching Hannibal a couple of days ago I noticed something about Raúl Esparza: I have seen three different TV shows with him and he seems to be playing the same character in all of them. His Dr. Chilton isn’t much different from Rafael Barba, and the latter is quite similar to the ADA he portrayed in Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

I get that not every actor is Leonardo DiCaprio or Christian Bale, but it would be nice to see Esparza playing something different – perhaps he’s just typecast (hello, Ray Liotta).

Changes are good for actors – back in the 80s who could have thought that Tom Hanks would turn into such a talented drama actor? – and it’s good when it comes to food, too: this is nothing more than a panzanella salad in which the bread has been replaced by crispy polenta pieces. I thought it was delicious and with the addition of mozzarella it became a substantial meal, great for summer days.

Polentanella (polenta tomato and basil salad)
adapted from the always wonderful Delicious Australia

400ml vegetable stock
400ml water
200g instant polenta
40g grated parmesan
½ cup (120ml) extra virgin olive oil
450g cherry tomatoes
½ onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/3 cup roasted peppers, drained, chopped
3 tablespoons capers, drained
2 small Lebanese cucumbers, chopped
handful fresh basil leaves
250g fresh buffalo mozzarella, torn

Grease a 20cm (8in) square pan. Combine the water and stock in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the polenta and stir until smooth. Over medium heat cook until thickened. Remove, stir in the parmesan, season with salt and pepper, then spread out on prepared pan. Let cool, then refrigerate until set (about 1 hour).
Preheat the oven to 220°C and line a large baking sheet with foil.
turn out the polenta and cut into 2cm thick strips, then break into 2cm pieces. place them onto the lined sheet and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the oil. bake for 30 minutes or until the polenta turn crisp and golden. Halve half of the cherry tomatoes and add them to the baking sheet with the polenta. Drizzle with 1-2 teaspoons olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast for 15 minutes or until soften.
Dressing: place the onion and vinegar in a small bowl and set aside for 15 minutes. add the remaining olive oil, season with salt and pepper and mix to combine.
In a large bowl, combine the fresh tomatoes, roasted peppers, capers, cucumber and half the basil, pour over the dressing and toss gently to combine. add the roasted tomatoes and polenta bits and toss again. top with the mozzarella and remaining basil and serve.

Serves 4 generously

Sicilian pasta with tomatoes, garlic and almonds and "Her"

As I continue my marathon to watch this year’s Oscar nominated movies, I was extremely surprised by how moved I was by Her – though genius sometimes, Spike Jonze’s style to me is on the verge of crazy (right there with Michel Gondry), therefore I really did not expect to love the movie as much as I did.

Joaquin Phoenix is an amazing actor – the Academy should have cut the trophy in half back in 2001 for him and Benicio to share it – and his performance in Her is so sublime it’s difficult to find words to describe it. I could have easily squeezed him in for Best Actor this year, and I could also vote for the film for Best Movie (despite my love for Gravity) and most definitely for Best Writing, Original Screenplay. After I read the film synopsis I kept thinking of how it would be possible for Jonze to find a decent way to end it, but he did and to me it was perfect.

Also surprising, to me, was this recipe: when I saw Nigella cooking it on TV I had no idea that something that simple could be so good – all you have to do is cook some pasta and whiz all the sauce ingredients in food processor. The sauce is not cooked and that makes this dish perfect for the insanely hot days we’ve been having here (less time in front of the stove).

Sicilian pasta with tomatoes, garlic and almonds
slightly adapted from the wonderful Nigellissima: Easy Italian-Inspired Recipes

200g spaghetti (or other pasta of your choice)
100g cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan
10g golden sultanas
1 small garlic clove
1 tablespoon capers (drained)
25g blanched almonds
1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
handful fresh basil

Put abundant water on to boil for the pasta, waiting for it to come to the boil before salting it. Add the pasta and cook according to packet instructions.
While the pasta is cooking, make the sauce by putting all the remaining ingredients, bar the basil, into a processor and blitzing until you have a nubbly-textured sauce.
Just before draining the pasta, remove ½ cup of pasta-cooking water and add ½ tablespoon of it down the funnel of the processor, pulsing as you go.
Return the drained pasta to the hot saucepan, pour over the sauce and toss to coat (add a little more pasta-cooking water if you need it). Sprinkle with the basil and serve.

Serves 2

Beef and broccolini stir fry for a trauma-free husband

After my husband got back from China I stopped making Asian food for quite a while – it already was something I cooked very seldom and from that it went to non-existing in our house.

Weeks ago I made an adapted version of Nigel Slater’s caramelized pork ribs for Joao and since he enjoyed them I thought that the Chinese food trauma was a thing of the past – that was when I reached for John Gregory-Smith’s beautiful cookbook for inspiration on something tasty and spicy and found a recipe for a beef stir fry – this is my version of his dish, and not only it tasted delicious but it was super quick to make, too.

Beef and broccolini stir fry
slightly adapted from the delicious Mighty Spice Cookbook: Fast, Fresh and Vibrant Dishes Using No More Than 5 Spices for Each Recipe

2 tablespoons canola oil
450g (1 pound) beef fillet, finely sliced
½ large onion, thinly sliced into half-moons
3 fat garlic cloves, finely chopped
2.5cm (1in) piece root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 carrot, thinly sliced
300g broccolini florets
salt and freshly ground black pepper
pinch of sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 large handful basil leaves, roughly thorn*

Heat a wok over a high heat and add the oil. Once hot add the sliced beef and stir-fry or 1-2 minutes. Add the onions, garlic, ginger, carrot and broccolini, season with the salt, sugar and soy sauce and mix to combine. Clamp on a lid and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3-5 minutes or until the carrots and broccolini are cooked but still crisp – when I started cooking the beef it released juices and the liquid sort of steamed the vegetables once the wok was covered and also created a delicious broth in the end of the cooking time. If that doesn’t happen to your beef you might want to add some water or stock to the wok after adding the vegetables.
Check the seasoning, remove from the heat, add the basil and serve immediately.

* I personally think that the basil added nothing to the recipe – the flavor just didn’t match the other ingredients. Next time I make this I’ll add cilantro instead

Serves 4

Roasted tomato and mozzarella panzanella

I have a couple of friends and a brother who are salad haters – they simply can’t stand the sight of leaves piled up on a plate (it’s pretty much what I feel about Michael Bay’s movies, so I can relate). :) I personally love salads because I grew up eating vegetables by the bucketfuls since I was never a fan of meat, and the salads I make nowadays are packed with interesting ingredients such as fruits, nuts, eggs... There’s nothing boring about them. I believe that this panzanella, a recipe I adapted from Jennifer Perillo’s beautiful and delicious book, will please both salad haters and lovers: it was a hit with me, the girl who can’t live without cheese and bread, and the hubby, a.k.a. Mr. Picky Eater. :D

Roasted tomato and mozzarella panzanella
adapted from the wonderful Homemade with Love: Simple Scratch Cooking from In Jennie's Kitchen

300g roasted cherry tomatoes, recipe here

Parmesan croutons:
2 heaping cups cubed day-old baguette
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
2 heaping tablespoons finely grated parmesan cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

For assembling the salad:
1 ½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon honey
salt and freshly ground black pepper
100g fresh mozzarella, cut in small cubes
handful of fresh oregano leaves
handful of fresh basil leaves

Croutons: place all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss until the bread cubs are coated.
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the bread and cook turning occasionally, until golden all over, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
In a large, deep bowl whisk together the oil, lemon juice, mustard, honey, salt and pepper. Adjust seasonings to taste. Add the croutons, mozzarella, tomatoes, oregano and basil and toss to combine. Let the salad sit for 5 minutes so the croutons can absorb the flavors – do not let it sit more than 15 minutes or the bread will be soggy.

Serves 2 generously

Roast tomato and goats cheese frittata

Another great idea for a quick and easy dinner or lunch, this frittata recipe can work as a blank canvas: I went for roast tomatoes, which I love, and goats cheese, which I also love and had to use up before it went bad, but you can use other types of cheese, vegetables and herbs (zucchini, feta and mint come to my mind right now, yum!). And as Jamie's tart, the frittata tastes great either hot or cold, which makes it perfect for picnics and/or a brown bag lunch at the office.

Roast tomato and goats cheese frittata
adapted from the wonderful Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

180g cherry tomatoes, halved lengthwise
a few thyme sprigs
extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 eggs
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
handful of chopped parsley
handful of basil leaves
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
56g (2oz) creamy goat’s cheese

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Grab an ovenproof dish or baking sheet that can hold the tomatoes without overlapping them and lightly brush it with olive oil. Place the tomatoes onto the dish, cut side up, and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and scatter with the thyme sprigs. Roast for about 25 minutes or until tomatoes are tender. Set aside. Preheat the broiler.
Beat the eggs with a few pinches of salt, then add the scallions, garlic, and herbs.
Heat the butter in a 20cm (8in) frying pan. Pour in the eggs, lower the heat, and distribute the tomatoes and cheese evenly over the top. Cook until the eggs are set, then slide the pan under the broiler and cook until the top of the frittata puffs up and is golden.

Serves 2

Spaghetti with pistachio pesto and roasted cherry tomatoes + The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

After months of anxiety and high expectations I could finally watch "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"; as much as I did not want to resort to a cliché to describe the film it’s impossible for me to avoid it: it is a masterpiece. Perfect in every detail, visually stunning, with a fantastic cast and amazing music. Dark and gloomy as the book itself and as only Fincher – or maybe Cronenberg – could deliver. The text below might contain spoilers, so if you haven’t watched the movie yet, please, scroll down to the recipe.

I tried watching a movie last night but simply could not concentrate on it – I’d start to think of scenes of “TGwtDT” every 5 minutes or so, to remember the details, to connect them with the book, and to analyze the performances... The movie stays with you, you just cannot help it – it sticks to your head like glue. Rooney Mara blew me away – forgive me the purists, but she completely erases Noomi Rapace from one’s memory. Christopher Plummer is exactly what I expected Henrik Vanger to be. I am a die-hard fan of the book but did not mind the changes on the script – I thought the whole thing worked. The violent scenes are not easy to watch but they’re there for a reason – the audience cheers for Lisbeth, we want her to have her revenge. She’s not your regular heroine and her behavior is nothing like a fairy-tale girl’s, but that is exactly what makes her so special, so unique, and I think that Fincher and Mara captured that perfectly and brought it to a whole new level – that is the Lisbeth I imagined while reading the book, that is the girl that made me devour 2,000 pages.
I drove home trying to remember the last time a movie had had this effect on me and after hours of thought I came to the conclusion that it’d been "The Social Network". Fincher, my hero. No wonder I feel joy in my heart every time I read he’s into a new project – I know for sure it will be something amazing. Now all I can do is cross my fingers and hope he directs the next two movies of the trilogy.

Wow, that is a long post. I almost forgot to tell you about the pasta dish: this pesto is greenest and most delicious pesto I have ever made or tried. Forgive me the purists, but I liked the pistachio version better; to be honest what really made me curious about this recipe was the blanching of the basil before turning it into pesto, which is something I first saw on Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s beautiful book – sometimes being a curious person pays off. :)

Spaghetti with pistachio pesto and roasted cherry tomatoes
adapted from the gorgeous Home Cooking with Jean-Georges: My Favorite Simple Recipes

Roasted tomatoes:
400g cherry tomatoes, halved lengthwise
salt and freshly ground black pepper
about 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, very finely chopped
4-5 fresh basil leaves, torn

Pistachio pesto and pasta:
3 cups packed fresh basil leaves
1 garlic clove
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
1 cup (240ml) extra virgin olive oil
about ½ teaspoon table salt or 1 teaspoon sea salt (such as Maldon)
1 cup (130g) unsalted pistachios, lightly toasted and cooled
3 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese
400g spaghetti

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil and brush the foil with olive oil.
Arrange the tomatoes, cut side up, onto the prepared sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and scatter the garlic and basil over the tomatoes. Roast the tomatoes for 30-35 minutes or until soft.
Meanwhile, make the pesto: bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Fill a medium bowl with ice cubes and water. Add the basil leaves to the boiling water, cook for 30 seconds, then drain and transfer to the ice water. When cool, drain well then squeeze the basil between sheets of paper towels until almost completely dry.
Put the basil in a food processor with the garlic, lemon zest, oil, and salt. Puree until smooth. Add the pistachios and pulse until coarsely chopped (or to your liking). Transfer to a bowl and stir in the cheese.
Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain the pasta (set aside some of the cooking water). Toss the pasta with the pesto, adding a bit of the water if necessary to loosen up the sauce. Divide the pasta into plates and cover with the roasted tomatoes. Serve at once.

Serves 4

Broccolini rigatoni - delicious food in almost no time at all

I love being in the kitchen, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying quick meals too – they have been a great idea in these cold days, when all I want is to be wrapped in a blanked, reading or watching TV.

After watching several episodes of the wonderful “Jamie’s 30-minute meals” I ended up buying the book - which is absolutely beautiful - and the first recipe I tried was this pasta dish: broccolini is in season and the hubby loves it. It instantly became one of his favorites – and heaven knows how rarely that happens. :)

Broccolini rigatoni
slightly adapted from the wonderful Jamie Oliver's Meals in Minutes; I bought it on amazon.co.uk

250g broccolini or broccoli
½ small onion
1 garlic clove
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
finely grated zest of ½ lemon
a few sprigs of fresh thyme, stalks removed
200g rigatoni
generous handful finely grated parmesan, plus more to serve
handful of basil leaves

Slice all the broccolini florets from the stalks and set the florets aside. Place the stalks, the onion, the garlic and the capers in a food processor and process until a rough paste forms.
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and add the broccolini paste. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add ¼ cup (60ml) hot water, season with salt, pepper, the lemon zest and the thyme leaves and stir.
Meanwhile, cook the rigatoni in a large saucepan of rapidly boiling salted water until al dente, adding the broccolini florets to the water in the last minutes of the cooking time.
Drain the pasta and broccolini florets reserving about ½ cup (120ml) of the cooking water. Transfer the pasta and broccolini to the pan with the paste, add the parmesan and basil leaves and mix to combine everything together. If necessary, add a little of the reserved cooking water to loosen the pasta sauce.
Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with more parmesan and serve at once.

Serves 2

Tomato, feta and wheat salad

Today’s post is a totally selfish act: I’m just trying to clean up my karma (a bit) after making everyone get fat with so many sweet recipes in a row. :D

The inspiration for this salad comes from Gourmet Traveller, but the idea of grilling the feta comes from Donna Hay (another salad I love and have made dozens of time).

Tomato, feta and wheat salad
inspired by Australian Gourmet Traveller

Sumac salt:
2 teaspoons sea salt (like Maldon), or ¾ teaspoon table salt
¼ teaspoon sumac
finely grated zest of ½ lemon

Salad:
500g cherry tomatoes
¼ cup wheat, soaked overnight
200g firm feta cheese
generous handful of basil
handful of parsley leaves
olive oil, for drizzling
lemon juice

For sumac salt, combine ingredients in a bowl, season to taste with freshly ground pepper and set aside.
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F; line a small baking sheet with foil.
Halve half of the tomatoes, place cut-side up on prepared sheet, drizzle with a little olive oil, season with a little sumac salt. Roast until tender (30-35 minutes). Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, place wheat in a saucepan, cover generously with cold water and bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until tender (35-40 minutes). Drain, refresh under cold running water, then drain well and set aside to cool.
Add olive oil and lemon juice (to taste) to the remaining sumac salt in order to make a dressing. Mix well.
Heat a non-stick frying pan over high heat. Fry the feta for 1–2 minutes each side or until golden. Chop into large pieces.
Halve the remaining tomatoes, mix with the roasted ones and place in a serving dish. Mix in the wheat, feta, basil and parsley. Drizzle with the dressing and serve.

Serves 2

Mini lasagna + great people

I might be a little disappointed with Twitter, but on the other hand I’m surrounded by wonderful people – and that feels great.

Not many of you know, but I work as an executive assistant and September, 30 is considered our day; the beautiful cocottes you see on the photo were a gift from one of my bosses – the one who also gave me the blowtorch for Christmas; needless to say, I was completely speechless after opening the gift wrap – I wasn’t expecting such thoughtful, beautiful gift.

And speaking of wonderful people, every time I post something savory around here I think of my dear friend Ivan – I’m just not sure he likes lasagna. :D

Mini lasagna

There’s no actual recipe for this: it’s just a matter of layering pasta, tomato sauce – Bolognese, if you prefer – and cheese; you can find great step-by-step photos on Tati’s blog – that is where I got the idea for this dish.