Chicken with white wine and mushrooms, tomato sauce - pollo ai funghi

A very easy recipe and tasted pretty good. Large amount of mushrooms shrunk down fine. From Claudia Roden Italian Cooking

Ingredients

SERVES 4

• 4 boned and skinned chicken thighs
• 15g butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 500g mushrooms, sliced
• 4 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• A sprig of marjoram or thyme
• 120ml dry white wine
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Sauté the chicken pieces briefly in a mixture of butter and oil, turning them to brown them lightly all over. Add the mushrooms and tomatoes and the sprig of marjoram or thyme, pour in the wine and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 25 minutes, or until the chicken is tender.

Spinach with raisins and pine nuts

This is a traditional Italian dish but the recipe I used comes from Martha Stewart - sauteed spinach with pine nuts, raisins.

Makes a pleasant enough change from a standard spinach saute and the pine nuts certainly taste nice but not so remarkable.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 2 (1 1/2 to 2 pounds total) fresh spinach
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

STEP 1 Place golden raisins in a small bowl, and cover with warm water; set aside. Remove any tough stems from spinach, and wash thoroughly. Set aside.

STEP 2 Place a wide, 6-quart saucepot over medium-high heat, and add olive oil. Add garlic, and saute for 1 minute. Add pine nuts. Cook, stirring constantly, until golden brown, about 1 minute. Drain the reserved raisins, and add them to pan. Add spinach, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring constantly, just until spinach has wilted, 3 to 4 minutes. Serve immediately.

Carrot, orange, dill and parsley soup

Excellent chilled as well as hot, this soup uses aromatic herbs rather than spicy seasonings—another good direction to take with carrots.

Ingredients

SERVES 4 TO 6

• 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 cups diced onion
• 1 pound carrots, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons white rice
• Salt and freshly milled pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 3 tablespoons chopped dill or 1½ tablespoons dried
• Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
• 6 cups water or Basic Vegetable Stock
• Finely chopped dill, chopped parsley, or Herb Butter

Method

MELT the butter in a soup pot and add the pepper, onion, carrots, rice, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook over medium heat, covered, until the onion has softened completely, about 10 minutes, stirring several times. Add a grind of pepper, the parsley, dill, orange zest, juice, and water. Bring to a boil, then simmer, partially covered, until the rice is cooked, about 25 minutes. Cool briefly, then puree all but a cup or two of the soup and return it to the pot. Taste for salt, season with pepper, garnish, and serve.

Notes

Worked out well. Possibly seemed a little watery to begin with but thickened the next day and not such a problem. Refreshing but not strong. No problem to add more dill or parsley I think - so also useful to use up dill, which went well with the orange.

Cauliflower with Olive Oil and Lemon

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 cauliflower
• Salt
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic (optional)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Pepper

Method

1. Wash and trim the cauliflower and cut it into florets.
2. Boil in salted water until just tender, then drain.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil in a pan. Some like to soften a little crushed garlic in the oil.
4. Add the lemon juice, salt, and pepper and turn the cauliflower in this over low heat. It will absorb the oil and lemon.

Notes

Somewhat disappointing for some reason. The cauliflower regrettably did not seem to absorb much flavour. Given the potential worth another try.

Yakhnit Samak bel Zafaran - Fish Stew with Onions and Saffron

Serves 4-6 • An old Arab dish, popular in Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. It is very lemony, and sometimes saffron is replaced by turmeric. All kinds of fish can be used. Serve with plain rice, or rice with vermicelli (see page 340).

Ingredients

• 2 onions, cut in half and sliced
• 4 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
• 2-4 cloves garlic, crushed
• Juice of 2-3 lemons
• ¼ teaspoon crushed saffron threads or powdered saffron
• Salt and white pepper
• 2 pounds skinned fish fillets or steaks

Method

1. Fry the onions in 2 tablespoons of the oil till golden.
2. Add the garlic, and just as it begins to color
3. add the lemon juice, the saffron, a little salt, and about 1 cup water. Simmer for 10—15 minutes.
4. Fry the fish pieces very briefly in a skillet filmed with oil over high heat, turning them over once, until lightly colored but still uncooked inside. Lift them out, drain on paper towels, and put them in the pan with the onion sauce.
5. Simmer, covered, over very low heat, so that the liquid barely trembles, until the fish is done—about 3 to 5 minutes for fillets, up to 10 minutes for steaks.

Variation

For samak bi loomi, a version from the Gulf States, use 3 tablespoons ground dried limes (see page 44) instead of lemon, turmeric instead of saffron, plus 1 teaspoon crushed cardamom seeds.

Notes

This was excellent and healthy. Make again soon as a key part of the repertoire - and remember to take a picture.

Sabanekh bel Hummus - Spinach with Chickpeas

Serves 6 The combination of spinach with chickpeas is common throughout the Middle East, but the flavors here are Egyptian. You may use good-quality canned chickpeas. It is good served with yogurt.

Ingredients

• ½ cup chickpeas, soaked overnight, or a 14-ounce can cooked chickpeas
• Salt
• 2 pounds spinach
• 4-6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil Pepper
• Juice of 1 lemon (optional)

If you are using the dried and soaked chickpeas, drain and boil them in fresh water for 1 ¼ hours, or until very tender, adding salt when they beginto soften.

Method

1. Wash the spinach and remove stems only if they are thick and tough, then drain well.
2. In a large pan, fry the garlic and coriander in the oil, stirring, until the aroma rises.
3. Pack in the spinach without adding any water, cover with a lid, and put over low heat until the leaves crumple to a soft mass.
4. Add the drained chickpeas—cooked or canned—season with a little salt and pepper, mix very well, and cook a few minutes more. If there is too much liquid, reduce a little on high heat.
5. Serve hot or cold, with a squeeze of lemon if you like.

Variations

Fry 1 large chopped onion in 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add 2 medium peeled and chopped tomatoes and 1 teaspoon sugar and cook until reduced, then stir in the cooked spinach and the chickpeas.

White haricot or navy beans may be used instead of chickpeas.

Notes

This should have been easy but ended up making a complete mess of it overcooking the spinach. Worth another try given the combination of two of the healthiest ingredients.

Tomato and Rice Soup with Mint and Cilantro

Ingredients

• Serves 4 • With this fresh-tasting and aromatic Egyptian soup, it is best to cook the rice separately and add it just before serving, as it gets bloated and soft if it stands in the soup.
• ⅓ cup rice
• Salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• 2 pounds tomatoes 1-2 teaspoons sugar
• 2½ cups chicken stock (page 143) (or you may use 1 or 2 bouillon cubes) 2-3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro 1 sprig of mint, finely chopped

Method

1. Pour the rice into a pan of boiling salted water and cook for 18 minutes, or until tender, then drain.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion, and fry until soft. Add the garlic and stir until the aroma rises, then stir in the tomato paste and take off the heat.
3. Cut the tomatoes in quarters and, without peeling them, blend to a cream in the food processor. Pour them into the pan.
4. Add sugar and the stock and cook for 15—20 minutes.
5. Just before serving, add the cooked rice and the chopped cilantro and mint.

Notes

One of the best three or five dishes I have made! Flavour was excellent. From Middle Eastern Cookery again. Remember to take a picture next time!

Beans, roman style

Tomato salad flavored with garlic and red wine vinegar

Mackerel with rosemary, garlic and lemon

HERE FISH is cooked by the same method one uses for making a roast of veal in Italy, and for the same reasons. The slow cooking in a covered pan keeps the flesh tender and juicy, its flavor uplifted by the fragrance of rosemary and garlic.

For 4 servings

Ingredients

• 4 small mackerel, about ¾ pound each, gutted and scaled, but with heads and tails on
• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• A small sprig of rosemary OR 1 teaspoon dried leaves, crumbled
• Salt
• Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
• Freshly squeezed juice of ½ lemon

Method

1. 1. Wash the fish under cold running water, then pat thoroughly dry with paper towels. Make 3 parallel, diagonal cuts on both sides of each fish, cutting no deeper than the skin.
2. 2. Put the olive oil and garlic in an oval roasting pan, if you have one, or a saute pan or other pot where the fish can subsequently fit side by side. Turn on the heat to medium, and cook the garlic until it becomes colored a pale gold. Put in the fish and the rosemary. Brown the fish well on both sides. Keep loosening it from the bottom with a metal spatula to keep it from sticking, and turn it over carefully to make sure it doesn’t break up. Put salt and pepper on both its sides.
3. 3. Add the lemon juice, cover with a tight-fitting lid, turn the heat down to low, and cook for about 10 to 12 minutes, until the flesh feels tender when prodded with a fork. Serve promptly when done.

Fish pan roasted with marjoram and lemon

PAN-ROASTING—the method that is neither sautéing nor braising, but something in between—is one of the basic techniques of the Italian kitchen for cooking fish as well as meat, chicken, and smaller birds. It is more controlled cooking than oven-roasting, combining the slow concentration of flavor that takes place in the dry air of the oven with the juiciness and superior texture one can achieve on top of the stove.

The recipe below is most successful with small, whole fish, but firm-fleshed, thick fillets with the skin on can also be used.

For 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• 4 small or 3 medium whole fish, such as porgies, bass, pompano, about ¾ to 1 pound each, scaled and gutted, but with head and tail on
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup flour, spread on a plate
• 1 teaspoon fresh marjoram leaves OR ½ teaspoon dried
• Salt
• Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Methods

1. 1. Wash the fish inside and out in cold water, then pat thoroughly dry with paper towels.
2. 2. Lightly mash the garlic with a heavy knife handle, just hard enough to split the skin, and peel it.
3. 3. Choose a lidded saute pan or deep skillet that will subsequently be able to accommodate all the fish without overlapping. Put in the butter and oil and turn on the heat to medium high.
4. 4. When the butter and oil are quite hot, dredge the fish in flour on both sides, and put it in the pan together with the garlic and marjoram. If using thick fillets, put them in skin side down first.
5. 5. Brown the fish for about 1½ minutes on each side. Add liberal pinches of salt, black pepper, and the lemon juice, cover the pan, and turn the heat down to medium. Cook for about 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, turning the fish over after 6 minutes or so.
6. 6. Transfer to a warm serving platter, lifting the fish gently with two metal spatulas to keep it from breaking up, pour all the juices in the pan over it, and serve at once.

Saute chicken with tomato, feta cheese and green olives

This is another great greek recipe following this video.