Farmersgirl Kitchen

Saturday, 22 March 2014

Pan Fried Salmon and a Syrian Potato Salad

So, apparently, Spring is here! Here in Scotland it still feels like winter with rain, wind and even some flurries of snow further north. We did have a few days of more spring -like weather and I wanted to make something fresh and light.

The salmon fillets were simply seasoned with salt and freshly ground pepper and pan fried skin side down first until the salmon goes opaque about 2/3 of the way up the side of the fish. Then turn over and cook for a couple of minutes on the other side.

Syria is not a country I know much about and I wasn't aware that it also had its own cuisine. The book, Almond Bar, is named for the restaurant in Sydney, started by Sharon Salloum and her sister, Carol, to bring to life their mother's love of food. Sharon feared she might not be able to emulate the passion her mother puts into food but, after much blood, sweat and tears, she likes to believe that she has done her parents and family proud.

Almond Bar starts with a look into The Syrian Pantry, some ingredients are familiar, like chickpeas, Bulgar wheat and Haloumi. Others such as Baladieh, a semi-soft cheese, Freekeh, a green dried wheat grain and grey courgettes. There are also a couple of pages of Middle Eastern Food Suppliers to ensure you can make the recipes in the book.

Spice Blends are crucial to capturing Middle Eastern flavours and there are the instructions for four different blends. We then move on to a chapter of Sauces and Dips, I liked the Smoked Aubergine Dip, Mint and Walnut Sauce, a vibrant Beetroot Dip and the classic Labne, a dried yoghurt dip.

Finger food is a speciality of The Almond Bar and this chapter if full of tempting bites from Za'atar Pizzas to Scallops and Basturma Drizzled with Pomegranate Butter.

Learn how to make Arish Cheese and Shanklish in a step by step guide.

I think the Sharing Platters look amazing and are one of my favourite ways of eating. There were some delicious recipes like Lemony Lentil Soup, Crushed Chickpeas with Yoghurt Almonds and Pine nuts, Za'atar Prawns with Pumpkin Mash and a step by step photo guide to making Falafel.

On to Salads and Sides including one of my favourite salads, Fatoush or Toasted Bread Salad, Tabouli, Haloumi, Lentil and Watercress Salad and Salatet batata- a Syrian Potato Salad which Sharon's mother's recipe, a light fresh, well balanced salad.

Salatet batata (Potato Salad) serves 4

4 main crop or Russet Potatoes, peeled and cut into 1.5cm cubes

2 tomatoes, roughly chopped

1/2 brown onion, thinly sliced

Large handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Small handful of mint, roughly chopped

Dressing

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tsp salt flakes

1 tsp sweet paprika

60ml (1/4 cup) extra virgin olive oil

60ml (1/4 cup) lemon juice

Rinse the potato cubes to remove any excess start, then place in a medium saucepan and cover with enough cold water to come 2cm (3/4in) above the level of the potato. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 min until tender but not soft enough to fall apart. Drain and leave to cool to room temperature.
To make the dressing, place all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix together well.
Combine the potato, tomato, onion, parsley and mint in a bowl, pour over the dressing and gently toss to coat. This salad is best served while the potato is still lukewarm bu it can be made ahead of time, refrigerated and served cold as well.

We are not finished with Almond Bar by any means, it's time for the 'Mains'. There are some really luscious dishes such as Middle Eastern Lamb Dumplings, Stuffed Small Aubergines, Minced Lamb, Parsley and Onion Skewers, Chilli Fish, Spaghetti Cooked in Milk and Cannellini Bean, Tomato and Beef Stew to name just a few.

Syrian Desserts bring a delicious Middle Eastern twist to the usual favourites, I was taken with Rosewater Ice-cream, Fig Sorbet, Sweet Semolina and Coconut Slice, Turkish Delight with Pistachio and a number of recipes using 'Middle Eastern Clotted Cream'.

Who is it for?
This is a book for the adventurous cook, someone who likes big flavours and likes to create food for sharing.

Pros
This is a beautiful book, the photographs, the styling and the graphics are stunning. There are over 100 classic and contemporary recipes with many suitable for vegetarians and plenty for meat eaters too. I loved the huge variety of small dishes in the sauces and dips section, finger food, shared plates, salads and sides. These reflect the Middle Eastern way of eating, the importance of celebrating food and sharing.

Cons
Some of the ingredients could be a little difficult to source, most of the suppliers are in London and the South East although there are some online suppliers.

The Verdict

This is an excellent book to add to your collection, even if you already own some books of Middle Eastern cookery. I will definitely be returning to make more of the recipes.

Book: Almond Bar
Author: Sharon Salloum
ISBN: 978-1-909342-57-6
Published by Jacqui Small Publishing
Cover: Hardback
RRP: £25.99

Many thanks to Jacqui Small Publishing for providing me with a copy of Almond Bar, I was not paid for this review and all opinions are my own.

I'm entering this meal for three blog challenges: Family Foodies challenge for March is Fab Fast Food and this was a quick meal to make. Family Foodies is run by Vanesther at Bangers and Mash and Lou at Eat your Veg. The 'Salatet batata' is ideal for No Croutons Required, the vegetarian soup and salad challenge run by Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen and Jac of Tinned Tomatoes. Lou at Eat Your Veg is also hosting Four Seasons Food for Spring with the theme of 'Something Fishy', Four Seasons Food is alternately hosted by Anneli at Delicieux.

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Labels: Almond Bar, Family Foodies, Four Seasons Food, mint, No Croutons Required, onion, parsley, potoato salad, salmon, Syria, tomatoes

Friday, 11 October 2013

Off the shelf - The Best of Marika Hanbury-Tenison

I have a lot of cookbooks. I have been collecting them since the 1970s and although I do cull them now and then, each one has a place on my book shelves for a particular reason. I recently had to clear all the books from my custom made shelving unit under the kitchen window. As I piled them into bags, it occurred to me that many if these well loved friends had been neglected in favour of shiny new celebrity cookbooks and review copies I'm always delighted to receive from publishers.

Sitting here in my kitchen on a Sunday afternoon seemed the right time to revisit some of these books, many of which will be out of print now, and share them with you. I did consider creating a blog challenge, but there are so many now and I don't need the pressure or the extra work. Instead I will dip into my collection whenever it suits me and share my thoughts and memories of the book in question.

Let's start with
The Best of Marika Hanbury Tenison,
A Sunday Telegraph Cookbook
Marika Hanbury Tenison died in 1982 at only 44 years old. She had been the cookery editor of The Sunday Telegraph for fourteen years. I never read her articles in the Sunday Telegraph but there are some of them included in the book along with over 400 recipes. Marika seems like quite a character described as 'fun to be with, fun to work with'.

The book was published in 1984 and, as was more common then, there is not a colour photograph for every recipe. However those which do feature are excellent and well. If simply styled. There are also many attractive line drawings by Soun Vannithone scattered throughout the book. I didn't intend to run through every chapter as I do in my other reviews but somehow that's just what I ended up doing. I've highlighted some of the recipes I have made, easy to see as I used to fastidiously mark each recipe from 1 to 5 stars!

Marika's Scramble only seems to have 3 stars although as I re-read the recipe I thought it sounded delicious, so decided to have another go at making it. It was really quick to make and definitely worth more than 3*. It's basically scrambled egg with added flaked, smoked mackerel and chopped tomatoes, in the recipe the base is fried bread but I toasted thick slices of Pain de Campagne, then rubbed the top with a cut clove of garlic, piled on the scramble and topped with two rashers of streaky bacon and sprinkling of parsley.

The title of this recipe reminds me of one of the things I love about this book: the titles of some of the recipes. How could you resist Gelda's Fancy, Crumpelettes or Matrimonial Eggs? And that's only in the chapter on Lunch and Supper dishes.
It's interesting to see that the Fish dishes which seemed so alien to me then, are now standard fare. Fish like Sea Bass, Red Mullet and Monkfish simply weren't easily available and far too expensive for me in 80s Glasgow. I have, however given 4 stars to Baked Stuffed Herrings in Foil, another surprise as I rarely eat herrings due to the whiskery bones ( I know, I'm a wimp) the recipe includes mushrooms lemon juice, cayenne pepper and tomato purée.

In the Meat Chapter I have given Maidenwell Goulash 4 stars. Maidenwell was the home of Marika and her husband, the explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison, a house high on Bodmin Moor. The Goulash page is pleasingly spotted, always a sign of a good recipe! I've written at the bottom of the page that it is 'a good meat stretcher'. In addition to the chuck steak, the goulash contains potatoes, carrot, parsnip and celery. I've also noted that I made it without red wine or stock cubes, but used 1 pint of miso stock.

I seem to have made quite a lot of the meat dishes, particularly Pork recipes: Pork Adobo 4*; Pork Goulash 4*; Pork Chops with Leeks and Cider 5* and Leftover Meat and Cabbage Casserole 4*

Only one Poultry and Game recipe has been marked, Rabbit and Bacon Casserole 4*. Sozzled Chicken sounds good as does Paprika Cranberry Venison's Turkey Pot Pies which contain no paprika, no venison and no cranberries, instead this refers to the nickname given to her by Private Eye magazine, she loved this cheeky tribute and promptly named this dsh after.

In Vegetables and Salads, Cauliflower with Watercress is a 5* recipe although my handwritten note says I used magnetout and courgettes in my sauce rather than watercress! No change there in my cooking style. Somerset Carrots, carrots cooked with Juniper berries and cider vinegar only merits 3*. Three stars was the cut off point for making something again, so this is still a good score.

In the Dessert chapter I had made Apple and Blackberry Crisp 4* is basically a crumble with flaked almonds in the crumble mix to add the crunch. I noted that the apples needed cooking longer than the recipe suggests. Strawberry Cream Gateau is an easy but impressive recipe using bought puff pastry, a 4* recipe. There are some lovely jellies and water ice recipes in the dessert section.

I don't seem to have made or marked any of the Sauces and Preserves although there are some excellent chutneys, pickles and even some Damson Cheese.

At the end of the book there is a chapter of articles written by Marika entitled 'First Catch Your Crocodile and other articles', very entertaining and a real insight into the author's lively personality.

The Best of Marika Hanbury Tenison (A Sunday Telegraph Cookbook) is now out of print, but copies can be purchased second hand via a popular online bookstore.

Posted with Blogsy

Labels: Off the Shelf, parsley, Scrambled Eggs, smoked mackerel, streaky bacon, The Best of Marika Hanbury Tenison, The Sunday Telegraph, tomatoes

Monday, 19 November 2012

Sweetcorn Chowder for No Croutons required

It's Lisa's turn to host 'No Croutons Required' this month: "As the winter holidays are soon upon us, this month I want you to come up with a vegetarian soup or salad that you would serve as part of a special holiday meal. It can be simple or elaborate - the choice is up to you."

We had a family party yesterday, it's usually a pre-Christmas party, but the weather has prevented us from holding it a couple of times, so we decided to bring it forward. The soup I made for this celebratory meal was a Sweetcorn Chowder, it was easy to make and lovely and creamy, the herby cheese really adds to the flavour and I had lots of positive comments from my guests.

Sweetcorn Chowder (serves 8)

4 shallots, finely chopped
2tbsp olive oil
400g (14oz) potatoes, peeled
50g (2oz) flour
350g frozen sweetcorn
900ml (1 1/2pt) vegetable stock
2 bay leaf
400ml (7fl oz) milk
50g Boursin (herb) cheese
bunch flat leaf parsley

1. Sauté the shallots in the olive oil gently for 4 minutes, making sure they don't colour. Cut the potatoes into small cubes. Add to the shallots and cook for a further 2 minutes.
2. Remove from the heat and add the flour, mixing well.
3. Add the frozen sweetcorn to the pan along with the stock and bay leaves. Mix well, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add a little of the milk to the Boursin cheese to slacken it, mix into the rest of the milk then add to the soup and bring to the boil again and serve topped with finely chopped parsley.

Labels: Boursin, chowder, No Croutons Required, parsley, potato, Soup, sweetcorn, Sweetcorn Chowder

Tuesday, 23 October 2012

Romanian Sweet and Sour Eggplant - Street Food!

STREET FOOD

I had never heard of Susan Feniger until I was asked if I would like to review her book, Street Food. It turns out that she is one of the original Food Network cooking stars. Susan opened her first solo restaurant, STREET, in Los Angeles in 2009 and in this book she shares 83 of her favourite recipes adapted for home cooks.

What does Street Food mean to you? I was fairly horrified realise, how few street food opportunities we have locally, perhaps it’s just the very rural area that I live in and a climate that doesn’t encourage outdoor eating! Thinking about my own memories of street food, they do seem to be from holidays in the sun, I remember eating crepes in France, at 12 years old , and roast chicken never tasted better than the pollo roti eaten on a Spanish beach, but when I think of street food, it is the food we ate in Malaysia, we ate from street stalls almost every day for three weeks.

With my sister-in-law, eating Satay in Taiping, Malaysia

This is a book for the adventurous cook. Someone who is willing to seek out unusual ingredients and try new techniques, not the comfortable, recognisable classics with a twist that many chefs produce. You may recognise a few of the dishes, like Thai Drunken Shrimp with Rice Noodles, but there are many more that I had certainly never heard of; "Any one for Tatsutage Fried Chicken with Spicy Yuzu Mayonnaise?"

The book has a well written introduction, where Susan Feniger talks about her love of Street Food and how she wants to re-create the ‘magical’ street experience. There is also a useful chapter called ‘Organizing the World’s Kitchen’, which takes the reader through the myriad of ingredients and explains which ingredient goes into which category:

THE SALTS; THE SOURS; THE SWEETS; THE HOT AND SPICY and THE MELLOWERS AND COOLERS.

The Contents are divided into:

Starters and Small Bites including Coconut Curry Caramel Corn, Spiced Millet Puffs and Lamb Meatballs with Date and Carob Molasses

Salads including Heirloom tomatoes with black garlic and basil vinaigrette, Baby Beet Salad with Kumquat, Mint and Coriander and Indian Puffed Rice Salad

Vegetables and Grains includes Cactus Relleno with corn and Arbol Salso, Romanian Sweet and Sour Eggplant, Cheese Grits with Three Pepper Relish

Land and Sea including Picadillo Chilli Dog with Mustard and Relish, Uruguay Chivito Steak and Fried Egg Sandwich, Malaysian Black Pepper Clams

Curry & Tofu & Noodles including Coconut Curried Mussels with smoky Chorizo, Chilled Soba Noodles with Spicy Orange Sesame and Tofu, Anatolian Ravioli with Chickpeas, Feta and Brown Butter

Chutneys & Pickles & other condiments including Tamarind Date Chutney, Japanese Pickled Vegetable Ribbons, Jamaican Ginger Hot Sauce

Basic Spice Mixes and Pastes including African Spice Mix, Thai Curry paste, Tamarind Puree

Sweets including Danish Black Licorice and Cherry Biscotti with Buttermilk Koldskal, Croatian Sour Apple Fritters, Turkish Doughnuts with Rose Hip Jam

Elixirs & Tonics & Lhassis including Canton Ginger Kick, Honeydew Cucumber Cooler, Salted Lhassi with Cumin and Mint.

In addition to the recipes there are four Travelogues, taking you in words and pictures to Vietnam, India, Turkey and Mongolia. Susan Feniger summons up the sights, sounds, smells and particularly the tastes of the places she visits and the food she eats. I enjoyed reading these sections, they help to contextualise the culture and landscape of the original recipes.

Pros

I enjoyed the variety of the recipes and found the different techniques and ingredients really inspirational. I can see this book being a jumping off point for all kinds of cooking experimentation.
The photographs are clear and the recipes well laid out.
There are useful hints and tips, with photographs introducing particular ingredients and, sometimes, offering alternatives

Cons

There are no metric ingredients measures and no conversion chart, as with many US publications.
Some of the ingredients would be extremely difficult to source e.g. Cactus Paddles!!!

Romanian Sweet and Sour Eggplant

Makes 4 Cups

Serves 4-6

Here is what Susan says about this recipe: There’s a very traditional dish made in home kitchens all throughout Romania and south eastern Europe that’s typically called “eggplant salad”. I toyed with different ways to highlight the key flavours of the original recipes which seems underplayed. I like to make a green salad with watercress, olive oil and lemon, top it with a scoop of this sweet and sour eggplant, and serve it with a slice of toasted sourdough bread topped with goat’s cheese and roasted red peppers.

2 large eggplants (aubergines) about 2lb

3 tbsp plus ½ teaspoon kosher salt (rock salt)

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

10 cloves of garlic

2 bunches of scallions (spring onions), white and green parts, roughly chopped (1/4 cup)

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Canola oil

1 (14 oz) can whole peeled tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped

¾ cup cider vinegar

½ cup packed dark brown sugar

Cut off and discard both ends of each eggplant, and cut them lengthwise into ¼ inch thick slices. Lay the slices out on a baking sheet, and sprinkle both sides with the 3 tablespoons of salt. Set aside for 20 minutes so that he salt will draw out some of the water from the eggplant. Then pat the eggplant dry with a dish towel.

Put the olive oil, garlic, scallions, parsley, cayenne and remaining ½ teaspoon salt in a food processor,and puree until a smooth paste forms (it will resemble pesto). Spread liberally all over both sides of the eggplant slices.

In a large sauté pan set over medium-high heat, heat 2 tbsp canola oil. Add enough eggplant slices to cover the bottom of the pan, and cook until they are browned on both sides and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer the eggplant to a platter or plate. Repeat this process with the remaining eggplant slices, adding 2 tablespoon oil for each batch. Cut the cooked eggplant into 1 inch wide strips.

In a saucepan set over medium heat, combine the tomatoes, vinegar and brown sugar. Stew for 12 minutes or until the tomatoes begin breaking down. Add the eggplant strips and stir together. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes until most of the liquid has been cooked off. Remove from the heat and serve or chill. This dish may be served warm or cold.

We enjoyed the Romanian Sweet and Sour Eggplant, it's bursting with flavour and can be made ahead. There is nothing particularly daunting about the recipe as long as you have a food processor to make the 'pesto'. I think it would be a great dish to include in a tapas/mezze style meal.

I doubt if I would have picked up this book in a book shop, but I would really have been missing out on an enjoyable reading experience and an excellent cookbook. It is some time since I have felt inspired to take a cookbook to bed to read, high praise indeed! I would recommend it to anyone who wants to try some new flavours and and regain their cooking mojo! Be inspired to try some STREET FOOD.

Street Food by Susan Feniger with Kajsa Alger and Liz Lachman

Published by Random House, USA

Distributed by Grantham Book Services for Publishers Group UK

RRP £18.99, available at popular online book store for £12.15

Thanks for to PGUK for the opportunity to review this book

Labels: Aubergine, Cook book review, garlic, Malaysia, parsley, Romanian Sweet and Sour Eggplant, satay, Street Food, Susan Feniger, tomato

Tuesday, 20 March 2012

Chicken Marsala - A Random Recipe

The Random Recipe challenge at Belleau Kitchen had a helping hand from Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog this month. Dom asked her to count her cookbooks and then randomly select a number... she chose to ignore this and went for her lucky number 17... so that is what we all have to do this month. Simply count our cookbooks from left to right and stop at number 17... and then select a recipe randomly from this book.

Book no. 17 on my shelf is this Betty Crocker Cookbook which I brought back from the US. I opened the book with some trepidation hoping that I wouldn't get a recipe with difficult to source ingredients, but fortunately it opened in the chicken section and this recipe for Chicken Marsala.

Chicken Marsala (serves 4)

from Betty Crocker Cookbook (Tenth Edition)

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup of plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup dry Marsala wine or chicken stock

1. Between sheets of clingfilm, flatten each chicken breast to 1/4 inch thickness. In a shallow dish, mix the flour, salt and pepper. Coat chicken with flour mixture, shake off excess flour.

2. In a large frying pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Cook garlic, mushrooms and parsley in oil for 5 minutes stirring frequently.

3. Add chicken to pan. Cook about 8 minutes, turning once, until brown. Add wine. Cook 8 to 10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the centre.

The recipe suggests serving this with pasta, but I served it with mashed potatoes and cabbage and it was very good. I did use rather more mushrooms than in the recipe and didn't have any Marsala so used white wine instead. I felt it needed a bit more seasoning but my husband thought it was fine just as it was. The bonus is that this is a low fat recipe!

Labels: Belleau Kitchen, Betty Crocker, Chicken, marsala, mushrooms, parsley, Random Recipes

Monday, 12 March 2012

Tapas - Part 2

In my last post I gave you the recipe for the Pepper and Tomato Salsa which I served with the meatballs. Also on the plate above there are Lamb Skewers with Lemon and Chickpeas and Chorizo so here are the recipes for these two dishes.

Lamb Skewers with Lemon & Chilli

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

2 tsp finely grated lemon rind

Juice of whole lemon

1 red chilli, finely chopped

1tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tbsp sherry vinegar

125ml olive oil

1kg lamb steaks, cut into 2cm pieces

Mix together the garlic, onion, lemon rind, corainder cumin, vinegar and olive oil in a non-metallic dish.

Add the cubes of lamb to the dish cover with clingfilm and marinate for 2-6 hours, turning occasionally.

Thread the lamb onto skewers, put these on an oven tray and cook in a hot oven (220C) for 10 minutes until tender.

The Lamb Skewers with Lemon and Chilli, are my second entry for the Sweet Heat Tapas Challenge

I also made:

Chickpeas and Chorizo

250g Chorizo sausage, outer casing removed

4 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

400g canned or freshly cooked chickpeas

1 tbsp sherry vinegar

finely chopped parsley

Cut the chorizo into cubes, heat the oil in a pan and add the onion and garlic cooking until soft but not brown. Stir in the chorizo and chickpeas until heated through. Splash in some sherry vinegar and season to taste. Serve warm sprinkled with chopped parsley.

I only used a small quantity of the lamb to make the skewers so browned off the rest in a frying pan and added it to the left over Chickpeas and Chorizo and made it into another meal which we had today. I am entering this for Frugal Food Fridays, no photo, it doesn't look very different from the Chickpeas with Chorizo except with more bits in it!

This month FFF is hosted by Pigling Bland why not join in?

Labels: chickpeas, chilli, chorizo, Frugal Food Fridays, lamb kebabs, lemon, parsley, sherry vinegar, Sweet Heat, Tapas

Saturday, 10 March 2012

Curried Parsnip Soup

I haven't taken part in No Croutons Required (NCR) for a few months. It's Lisa's turn to host and also her birthday, she loves spicy food and has asked for spicy soups and salads this month.

There was a special offer on the veggies at the supermarket last week and parsnips featured in the offer so I ended up with a couple of packs of parsnips and decided to make a curried parsnip soup.

Curried Parsnip Soup

600g Parsnips peeled and chopped

1 onion, peeled and chopped

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1tbsp Pataks Jalfrezi curry paste

1 litre vegetable stock

salt & pepper

250ml milk or cream

chopped parsley

Heat the oil in a large saucepan or pressure cooker, add the choppped onion and cook gently until transparent. Add the curry paste and cook for about a minute, add the parsnips and cook in the oil and curry paste for about 5 minutes until coated and slightly browned.

Add the vegetable stock and seasoning and cook until the parsnips are soft.

Let the soup cool slightly, either liquidise or use a stick blender to puree the soup. Add the milk or cream and adjust the seasoning to taste.

Serve sprinkled with parsley.

This is a very simple soup, but was really delicious. I've never made it with curry paste before but as I always have some in the fridge, I will definitely do so again. It seemed to add a depth of flavour as well as a little heat to the soup.

Labels: Jalfrezi, No Croutons Required, parsley, Parsnips, Pataks curry paste

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