Zuccini with onions, garlic and mint

From Claudia Roden's Middle Eastern Food. Unusual in that you mash up the zucchini after boiling it in water to make tender.

Ingredients

Serves 6-8 This is as good cold, when it is served as an appetizer with bread, as it is hot as a side dish. It is the kind of thing people make with the leftover insides of hollowed-out zucchini when they stuff them.

• 2 pounds zucchini, cut into large pieces
• 3 ½ cups chicken stock (page 143) (or use 2 bouillon cubes)
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons chopped mint leaves
• Salt and pepper
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges (optional)

Method

Boil the zucchini in the stock for about 15 minutes, or until soft. Drain, mash, and chop them in a colander to get rid of the excess liquid (drink the stock—it has a lovely vegetable flavor).

In a large frying pan, fry the onions in 2 tablespoons of the oil until golden. Add the garlic, and stir until it just begins to color. Add the zucchini, mint, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring and mixing well, for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the remaining oil and serve hot or cold with lemon wedges.

Variation

Stir in 2 cups natural or thick Greek-style strained yogurt before serving, or pass the pot round for people to help themselves.

Fish soup with tomatoes and potatoes - brudu bil hout

From Claudia Roden's Middle Eastern Cookery. Another great recipe from this

Ingredients

Serves 4

• For this spicy and aromatic Tunisian soup, use any firm white fish, like cod or haddock, and serve it as a main course.
• 4 tomatoes, peeled and quartered
• 1 pound potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 4½ cups water
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• V4-½ teaspoon harissa (page 464), or
• good pinch of ground chili pepper and
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• ½-¾ teaspoon cumin
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• Juice of ½ lemon
• Salt
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pound white fish fillets, skinned
• ½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley or cilantro
• 3 or 4 sprigs of mint, finely chopped

Method

The method is remarkably simple! Well worth making a batch of this and keeping for the next day.

Put all the ingredients except the oil, fish, and herbs together in a pan. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the oil and add the fish. Cook another 10 minutes. Then gently break up the fillets into smaller pieces, add the parsley or cilantro and the mint, and serve.

Remember to add enough salt early on - this was my one mistake this time.

Chickpeas with Tumeric

In Morocco it is poor food eaten hot with bread. A grander version with saffron is served as a first course. You may use canned chickpeas. The same can also be done with white cannelini beans, dried or canned.

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 1 ½ cups chickpeas, soaked overnight, or two 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup chopped cilantro or flat-leaf parsley

Method

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion until golden. Add the garlic and stir for a moment or two. Stir in the turmeric and add the drained soaked chickpeas. Cover with water and simmer for 1 ¼ hours, or until the chickpeas are very tender, adding salt and pepper when they have begun to soften, and water to keep them covered. Reduce the liquid at the end so that you have a thick sauce. If using canned chickpeas, drain them and add ½-1 cup water and cook for about 20 minutes, to allow them to absorb the flavors. Stir in the cilantro or parsley and cook 5 minutes more.

Variations

Use ½ teaspoon crushed saffron threads or powder instead of the turmeric.

Add the juice of 1 lemon.

Cannelini beans, dried and soaked overnight, or canned ones, drained, can be used in the same way as chickpeas.

For different, spicy chickpeas, omit the turmeric and add ½ teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon cumin, and ¼ teaspoon ground chili pepper.

For another Moroccan version, omit the turmeric, put a chili pepper in the cooking water, season with salt and pepper when the chickpeas have already softened, and add chopped cilantro at the end, when the water has almost evaporated.

Notes

Despite being so simple this was absolutely excellent and really delicious. Worked perfectly with canned chickpeas as well.

Roasted red peppers with anchovy and caper sauce

A very classic Italian dish. These peppers are often served as as a topping on crostini.

Ingredients

SERVES 6

• 4 peppers
• 6–8 anchovy fillets in oil, finely chopped
• 1–2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 heaped tablespoon capers, finely chopped
• A sprig of oregano, finely chopped
• 4–5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method

Roast the peppers in a preheated 200ºC/180ºC fan/gas 6 oven for 25 minutes, or until they are soft, then put them into a plastic bag, close it tight and leave for 10 minutes for the skins to loosen. Peel the peppers, remove the seeds and cut each into 4 pieces or into strips. Mix well with the rest of the ingredients.

Notes

On reflection serving them on toast would really have added a great deal to this even though they were fine my themselves. Remember this next time.

Peppers were roasted in the oven rather than on a direct gas flame. Problem was that the cooking was uneven meaning that on one side the skin was easy to remove but the pepper was overdone on that side while on the other side the pepper was a little underdone and the skin difficult to remove. Best to rotate from time to time while roasting in the oven.

Tomato and bread salad - panzanella

Use a coarse-textured, tasty bread for this popular rustic salad, known as pan molle (soft bread). This is the basic salad that is served in trattories in Florence.

Ingredients

• SERVES 6
• 250g coarse firm white bread, crusts removed
• 600g ripe tomatoes, cut into cubes
• 1 red onion, diced
• ½ cucumber, peeled and diced
• 2 stalks celery, finely sliced
• A bunch of basil leaves, torn into pieces
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

method

Tear the bread into small pieces in a salad bowl and sprinkle with cold water so that it is well moistened but not soggy. Add the vegetables and the basil. Dress with the oil and vinegar, salt and pepper and toss well. Leave for 30 minutes for the bread to absorb the dressing. VARIATIONS: Add any or all of these to the dressing: 1 crushed garlic clove, 1 seeded and finely chopped chilli pepper, 2 tablespoons capers preserved in brine, 12 chopped anchovy fillets.

Notes

Made originaljly with fresh bread. Perhaps could have been toasted. Nice but not as special as hoped.