Courgettes with Georgian Spices and Walnuts

I’m a huge fan of Caroline Eden’s writing and this is a recipe from her latest book Green Mountains, the final part of a trilogy on her travels through the Balkans and Central Asia. 

This volume is based on the Caucasus, specifically Armenia and Georgia, a country I visited a few years back and absolutely loved, myself.

It has ingredients you don’t find - or at least I haven’t found -anywhere else though Eden helpfully suggests substitutes for the harder-to-find ingredients. 

She recommends you serve the dish alongside salads and bread as part of a wider meze spread.

SERVES 4

1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

1 onion, finely chopped

3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

80g/2 2 3/4 oz walnuts, toasted and broken into pieces

100g/3 1/2 oz sundried tomatoes

1 tbsp khmeli suneli (a mix of coriander seed, dried marigold petals, chilli pepper and blue fenugreek; if you don’t have khmeli suneli then make a spice mix combining at least the chilli and the coriander seed)

1⁄2 tsp sweet paprika

3 courgettes (zucchini), cut into 1cm/1⁄2in diagonal slices

Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

70g/2 1/2 oz feta, crumbled

Handful of fresh summer herbs (a mixture of coriander (cilantro), parsley, mint, tarragon, dill), chopped

Line a large roasting tray with foil that will accommodate the courgettes in a single layer and preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the onion until soft and starting to colour, then add the garlic and cook for another minute or so. Remove to a bowl. Combine the walnuts, sundried tomatoes and spices, then combine with the onion mixture.

Arrange the courgette slices in a single layer on the lined tray, then cover thickly with the nutty, spicy tomato mixture, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for around 25–30 minutes, gently stirring the topping halfway through and, if it’s looking a bit dry, drizzle over a little more oil. Serve garnished with crumbled feta and the fresh herbs.

What to drink: Given this comes from Georgia it would seem perverse not to drink an orange wine with it - a lighter style without too long a period of skin contact I suggest. Otherwise dry rosé would work perfectly well. FB

Extracted from Green Mountains by Caroline Eden, published by Quadrille at £28. Photograph by Ola O. Smit.

Romanian butterbean dip with caramelised onions

I came across this delicious butterbean dip on a recent visit to Romania and couldn’t put my finger on the main ingredient.

It’s like hummus only creamier and silkier. I found the recipe in Irina Georgescu’s excellent book on Romanian cooking, Carpathia and she kindly shared it with me - and you!

Irina writes: “This butterbean dip is very easy to make if we use already-cooked white beans. I used to buy them in a tin, but those in jars are sometimes better seasoned.

Any white beans will do: butterbeans, haricot, cannellini etc. If you use dried beans, then of course, the dish will take longer to prepare, because the beans need to be cooked first. If I’m cooking them from scratch I like to add bay leaves to the water, and if the dish is not for vegetarians, a ham bone or beef bones for more flavour. But it gets a little too complicated.” 

My footnote: The exact quantities of oil and water you need will depend on the beans you use. I used a 660g jar of butter beans, 75ml water and 5 tbsp oil (3 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp sunflower oil) FB.

Serves 4-6

For the dip:

3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 x 400g tinned butter beans or a large 660g jar, drained and rinsed
4-6 tbsp light olive oil or 50/50 extra virgin olive oil and sunflower or other neutral oil
1 level tsp fine sea salt

For the caramelised onions:
Vegetable or sunflower oil, for frying
2 brown or yellow onions, finely sliced
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp caster sugar 
100ml passata 

Method:

First make the caramelised onions. Cover the bottom of a frying pan with a thin layer of oil and turn the heat to high. When hot, add the onions and stir to ensure they are well coated in oil. Add a splash of water to prevent burning. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden. Add the paprika, sugar, and passata. Cook until everything melds into a deep orange colour, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. 

To make the dip, blitz the garlic briefly in a food processor then add the butter beans with enough water (4-6 tbsp) to make a smooth purée. Start adding the oil one tablespoon at a time. The more oil you use, the smoother and softer the dip will be. Add salt, check the seasoning and give it a final whizz.

Transfer the dip to a serving dish or bowl and spread the onions on top

Serve with chunks of bread or with Romanian covrigi bagels. 

What to drink: As the dip is normally served with a selection of other appetisers I’d serve a crisp fresh white such as a pinot grigio  or a rosé

For other bean pairings see The best wine pairings with beans.

Adapted from Carpathia by Irina Georgescu, published by Frances LIncoln. Photo ©Irina Georgescu 

 

 

Asparagus, hot-smoked trout and pea shoot tart

I love a book that shows you how to make the best of the produce that’s in season and Angela Clutton’s big, beautiful book Seasoning really does that to perfection.

The book also includes some really helpful tips for using up the fresh ingredients you’ve bought of which you can see some examples below.

Angela writes: “This is a springtime joy of a tart. At its best when it’s not been out of the oven too long, but also very lovely at room temperature. Serve with new potatoes and perhaps a bowl of dressed leaves.”

Serves 6 as a main

250g (9oz) asparagus (typically 1 bundle)

2 tbsp olive oil

2 whole eggs, plus 2 yolks

200ml (7fl oz) double (heavy) cream

100ml (3 ½ fl oz) whole milk

1 1/2 tbsp freshly grated horseradish

300g (10 ½ oz) hot-smoked trout fillets

4 dill sprigs

handful of pea shoots

salt and black pepper

For the pastry case

250g (9oz) plain (all-purpose) flour

150g (5oz) cold butter

1 egg yolk

pinch of salt

1 orange

23cm (9in) loose-bottomed tart tin

For the pastry case: Put the flour into a mixing bowl. Dice the butter and use your fingers to rub it into the flour until it feels like breadcrumbs. Beat the egg yolk and add with a pinch of salt and the zest from the orange. Bring together into a smooth dough. (You might need to add a little cold water to help it come together, but add as little as you can get away with.) Shape into a disc, wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 170°C fan/375°F/gas 5 with a large baking sheet inside.

Roll out the pastry between 2 pieces of greaseproof paper until about 3mm (1/8in) thick and generously large enough to line the tart tin. Ease the pastry over your rolling pin and carefully lift over the tin, gently pressing it in. Let it overhang the case as the pastry will shrink as it cooks. Prick the base a few times with a fork and chill for 30 minutes.

Sit the tart case on the hot baking sheet, line with a large piece of baking paper and fill with baking beans or rice. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the paper and beans and return to the oven for another 5 minutes. Take it out of the oven and sit on a wire rack to cool. Up to this point can be done up to a day ahead.

To make the tart: Snap the woody ends off the asparagus spears. Get a griddle pan very hot, toss the spears in the oil and quickly griddle them to take on some colour. They don’t need to be cooked, just charred. Do this under a grill if preferred.

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/400°F/gas 6 with a baking sheet inside.

Whisk together the whole eggs, yolks, cream and milk in a bowl or jug. Season and stir in the horseradish.

Flake the trout into the pastry case, layering it with the asparagus spears and the dill leaves. Pour over the egg mixture. Just as it gets nearly full, put the tart onto the preheated baking sheet, pour over the last of the egg mixture and then carefully lift the tart into the oven. Bake for 40 minutes until just-about set, rotating it partway through if cooking at all unevenly.

Lift the tart onto a wire rack. Scatter over half of the pea shoots to wilt in the heat of the tart, but don’t try to take it out of its tin for about 30 minutes. Serve with the rest of the pea shoots on top for a perky garnish.

Waste tips

Citrus (bergamot; lemon; lime; orange): Once you have zested away the fruit’s protective outer layer it will start to dry out. Juice it soon, and if you have no immediate use for the juice you can freeze it. Ice-cube trays are good for these relatively small amounts. Freeze slices of citrus fruits to use in drinks. 

Egg whites: I like to make mayonnaise; ergo I like to make meringue, mousses and macarons with the many egg whites I have left behind from the mayo. Freeze the whites in an ice-cube tray where each space in the tray equals 1 egg white.

Horseradish: I use fresh horseradish a lot, and always seem to end up grating off more of the root than I need for a recipe. The happy outcome of that is stirring it through whatever crème fraîche or full-fat Greek yoghurt I might also have around, giving it a good squeeze of lemon and lots of black pepper, then keeping that in the fridge for a ready-made horseradish sauce. Note also that horseradish – like fresh root ginger – will keep brilliantly in the freezer to grate straight from there without any bother to peel first.

For stocks

- Keep in the freezer a bag or container into which you can easily put the (washed if necessary) peelings and trimmings of vegetables or herbs to use as the basis of making stocks. As the seasons roll round what you add to the freezer bag will change, giving the stocks a natural seasonality of flavour.

- Put the trimmings straight from the freezer into a large pan, cover with an equal volume of water, add salt and whatever fresh herbs might be around. (Add poultry bones for a meat stock.) Simmer for about an hour, strain, and that’s your stock ready to use/freeze.

Good things to use: Asparagus ends; broad (fava) bean pods; carrot peelings; cavolo nero ribs; celeriac peelings; celery trimmings; cucumber peel, seeds and core; fennel trimmings; garden pea pods; soft herb leaves and stems (e.g. basil, coriander (cilantro), mint, oregano, parsley); leek trimmings; onion skins; parsnip peelings; pumpkin and other squash fibres/skin (not flesh); shallot skins; spring onion (scallion) trimmings; sweet pepper (capsicum) trimmings; tomato skins, seeds and vines; woody herb leaves and stems (e.g. rosemary, thyme).

Soft herbs: The leaves and/or stalks of soft herbs can be blitzed into herb-infused oils. Blanch herb sprigs for barely 10 seconds in very hot water, then run under cold water and delicately dry in a cloth. Put the herbs – stalk and all – into a blender with the oil. Two or three bushy sprigs per 150ml (5fl oz) oil. Blitz, then strain through a fine sieve/ muslin (cheesecloth). Pour into a sterilised bottle and store out of direct sunlight. I like to put a fresh (blanched) sprig of the chosen herb in the bottle. For prettiness as much as to remind me what it is. (I seldom remember to label them, but I know that I should and so should you.)

What to drink: In general quiches work well with smooth dry white wines such as unoaked chardonnay, chenin blanc and pinot blanc but given the asparagus and pea shoots I’d be tempted by a Loire sauvignon blanc like Sancerre or Pouilly Fumé, or, more economically, a Touraine sauvignon. FB

Extracted from Seasoning by Angela Clutton. Published by Murdoch Books at £30. Photography by Patricia Niven

 

 

Olive oil pistachio and lemon snack cake

Not being much of a baker I totally buy into the ‘one tin bake’ idea especially when the recipe comes from the wonderful Edd Kimber. This is from his book One Tin Bakes Easy and I absolutely love the combination of flavours.

OLIVE OIL PISTACHIO AND LEMON SNACK CAKE
Serves 12-15

This simple pistachio cake is made in a food processor, so it takes just minutes to prepare and the machine does all the heavy lifting for you. I like to serve it with a simple lemon and sugar glaze, and sprinkled with a few roughly chopped pistachios.

200ml (7fl oz/¾ cup + 1 tablespoon)

olive oil, plus extra for greasing

140g (5oz/1 cup) shelled pistachios, plus a few extra for decoration

65g (2½oz/…” cup) ground almonds

65g (2½oz/½ cup) gluten-free plain (all-purpose) flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

200g (7oz/1 cup) caster (superfine) sugar

4 large eggs

Zest of 1 lemon

FOR THE GLAZE

200g (7oz/1…” cups) icing (powdered) sugar

2–3 tablespoons lemon juice

Pinch of fine sea salt

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan) 350ºF, Gas Mark 4.

Lightly grease your 23 x 33cm (9 x 13in) baking tin and line with a strip of parchment paper that overhangs the long sides, securing it in place with metal clips.

Place the pistachios in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment and pulse until they are finely ground. Tip into a large bowl along with the ground almonds, flour, baking powder and salt and mix together.

Put the sugar, eggs and lemon zest in the processor bowl and process for about 1 minute. With the machine still running, slowly pour in the oil. Once fully combined, add the mixed dry ingredients and process for a second or two until evenly incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and spread evenly.

Bake for 35–40 minutes, or until lightly browned and the cake is set in the middle. Set aside to cool completely in the tin before using the parchment paper to lift it out.

For the glaze, mix the icing sugar, lemon juice and salt in a bowl until you have a thick but pourable paste. Pour it over the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Sprinkle with a few extra chopped pistachios to decorate.

If stored in a sealed container, the cake should keep for 3–4 days.

What to drink: I’m not sure you’ll be drinking wine with this but I wouldn’t be averse to a glass of prosecco or even a shot of ice cold limoncello

From One Tin Bakes Easy by Edd Kimber is published by Kyle Books. Photography: Edd Kimber