Jamie's Salads

After a hugely decadent Christmas, and a 42C welcome to Perth, we ate nothing but salad for a whole week. I brushed off my old favourites: mango, mint and bulghur wheat; salad nicoise; and simple greens with lots of avocado. Toward the end of the week I recovered some appetite, enough to try a couple of new, more filling salads: Jamie's superfood salad, which reminded me of how good salad can be when you just chuck in the contents of the fridge, and Jamie's sexy salad, which is as good a salad as you can expect, having spent around $20 on the ingredients.

The best thing is, it's summer here, so it's the season for figs (as above), but also mangoes, peaches, apricots, and cherries. Love it!

10th Anniversary Dinner: Melon, Mozzarella and Basil Salad

Ten wonderful years with my lovely partner :) How better to celebrate than to cook a really delicious meal, pop a bottle of bubbly and watch The Muppets :)

This is a starter I'd been thinking about making since I saw a delicious honeydew melon for sale in the market at the weekend. It's super-simple.

Ingredients:

• half a good, ripe melon
• a tub of tiny bocconcini
• a few large, fragrant basil leaves
• very good olive oil

Spoon out the melon into small balls with a small ice cream scoop, a melon baller - or in my case, a spoon. Arrange with a few balls of bocconcini on a couple of basil leaves. Just before serving, drizzle with olive oil.

Peaches and Mozzarella Salad

This is a brilliant little meal if you want something sweet, light and refreshing in the evening. Just slice a few peaches, tear some lettuce leaves and a large ball of (fresh, buffalo) mozarella or a pot of bocconcini, and top wih a dressing of half lemon juice, half olive oil. Tonight I popped by the bakery to get some nice bread to go with, but found it wasn't all that fresh. So we toasted big hunks of it it in the oven for a few minutes, then buttered generously with olive oil spread. Totally tasty.

BBQ Challenge Week: Day 4: Mushroom, Ricotta and Prosciutto Calzone

I bought some large field mushrooms in the market at the weekend, thinking we'd perhaps marinade them and have them on toasted buns with some cheese. But I'm a bit under the weather at the moment so quite forgot to put the marinade on, and they were looking quite sad when I got home, so I knew they wouldn't last much longer in the fridge. Some friends at work were asking me today how I come up with my recipes, and this was a classic example. The thought process went somewhat along the lines of

juicy bbq'd mushrooms -- yum but plain -- inna bun? -- no time to cook buns -- besides I suck at making buns -- salad? -- hot mushrooms make leaves wilt -- what else do I have? -- ooh, ricotta! -- ricotta-stuffed mushrooms? -- what is this, the 70s? -- would go so well in cannelloni -- but I can't use the oven -- what can I put them in? -- pizza? -- they would go very dry -- calzone??

And at that point I felt I was on to something, so I switched the laptop on and googled for 'bbq calzone' recipes, as I'd never made one before, let alone made one on the barbie. I found this hilarious American youtube video where they make a calzone that would quintuple your risk of pancreatic cancer in a single mouthful. But it had great tips for the basic method, and after another foray into the fridge and storecupboard I was ready to get going. This is enough for two; we doubled it so we'd have lunch ready for another day. I'm sure you could use any fillings you like, but this is what we made.

Ingredients:

• Your favourite pizza dough
• 4 large field mushrooms
• 3 generous tbsp of tomato puree
• 150g ricotta or mozzarella cheese
• a small handful of parsley
• a roasted red pepper, deskinned
• 3 slices of prosciutto or spicy salami
• salt n pepper n flour n olive oil

Let the dough rise up for 15-60  minutes after kneading - longer time will give you better flavour and airier crust. Meanwhile, grill or bbq the mushrooms until tender and juicy, then cut into fat slices. Finely chop the parsley and combine with the cheese, then season well with salt and pepper. Tear the red pepper into strips. Heat a pizza stone on your bbq - or get the flat plate hot but indirectly heated.

When ready, roll out the dough on a well-floured surface into a 30cm x 30cm square piece. Leaving an inch gap around the edge, spread the tomato puree evenly over the surface. On the half closest to you, lay the mushroom slices down, then the pepper strips, then the cheese mixture, and finally cover with slices of prosciutto. Fold the other half over the toppings toward you, then pinch closed around the edges,  making sure it's a good seal. Get a giant spatula, breadboard or plate, and flour well, then put the calzone on and transfer to an again well-floured pizza stone. Cook for 15 minutes on the first side, then 10 on the second, then leave for 10 minutes to rest. If you don't, you will end up with explosive hot sauces going everywhere, and the flavours will be too hot to taste properly. In the meantime you can make a nice salad to go alongside :)

Eggy Pizza

This is pretty much the same recipe as I've blogged before, but with slightly different toppings and the use of a pizza stone. The lovely SO also had the nice idea of making two shallow depressions in the other toppings, so that when you add the eggs, they do not flow all over the pizza. Unfortunately we broke one!  We tried one of the Australian mozzarellas, which are yellower and less 'fresh' than the mozarella I used to buy in the UK. It worked better on the pizza, whereas I always felt that using fresh UK mozarella was a bit of a waste, as it is so wonderful 'raw'. It takes about an hour to make the dough, at least if you want it to rise and taste nice, and another twenty minutes in the oven.

Ingredients:

• one pizza base
• half a tin of tomato puree
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• a handful of ham or prosciutto
• a handful of asparagus, tough parts snapped off
• a handful of olives, pitted and halved
• a tbsp of capers
• a ~250g ball of mozzarella
• two eggs

Roll out the pizza base, leaving a slightly thicker crust. Spoon on the tomato puree and smooth out over the crust. Sprinkle over the oregano and bake for 15 minutes, until the crust has slightly risen. Add the rest of the toppings, breaking the eggs over last. Bake again for 10 minutes, or until the eggs are done to your liking. (Hint: runny is sunny! :)

Garlic Toast, and Peaches and Mozzarella Salad

Last night we went out to a concert in London: Jonathan Coulton, supported by Paul and Storm, at Union Chapel. Everything in that sentence was awesome; great gig with an audience I could only describe as exactly my demographic. Having previously only heard Code Monkey and Still Alive, and not yet having finished Portal 2, I felt a little like an imposter fan, surrounded as I was by people wearing shirts from their previous tour in 2008 and a fair amount from Penny Arcade merch. But the acoustics were pretty good, so I could hear all the words, and it was a pleasure following the wordplay and discovering the artists live. I only regretted I hadn't brought my camera, as it was an early gig at a time of year when light streams through the windows well into the evening. It looked rather like this.

Anyway, we needed to prepare something quick before heading out, so I made my scallops with chorizo. I served it with a little bread brushed with garlic oil: soak a couple of crushed cloves of garlic in olive oil for 10 minutes, toast the bread lightly in a toaster, then brush with the oil, discarding the cloves, and grill for 2-3 minutes until golden. I also sauteed some leeks; splashed with balsamic vinegar they made a side somewhere between a hot vegetable and a salad. Sumptuous and fast!

The evening before, we were relaxing from a long week, and we also had very little food left in the fridge. I'd rescued a couple of peaches from the fruit bowl just before they started to mould, and kept them in the fridge. Torn up with a ball of mozzarella and a few leaves of lettuce, and dressed gently with a light vinaigrette, it made a delicious starter before a simple baked potato topped with that eternal fallback, tuna, sweetcorn and mayonnaise. I saved some grated paški sir for topping the hollowed-out salty potato shells, grated cheese being my favourite topping for finishing a baked potato.

Pizza

We often make this midweek, putting the dough on in the breadmaker before walking to the shops to pick up some fresh topping. The asparagus season is still on and tonight we find a reasonable bunch at our local shop, combining them with fresh mozzarella and a few tomatoes to make a delicious spring topping. In winter I tend to make a 'proper' tomato sauce with onions, garlic and tinned tomatoes, and beef up the topping with a broken egg or some parma ham. We keep things simple tonight, making one square 30cm-side pizza for the two of us, with some salad.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 50 ml boiling water
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 100 ml cold water
• 1/2 tbsp active dried yeast
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 250g strong white bread flour
• 1 tsp salt

For the topping:

• a bunch of asparagus
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp oregano
• olive oil
• a big ball of mozzarella
• fresh basil

In the breadmaker bucket, or a big bowl, dissolve the sugar in the boiling water, then dilute to body heat with the cold water and add the yeast. Leave for 5-10 minutes until active and frothy. Add the rest of the dough ingredients and set your breadmaker to dough cycle. Or, combine well, then knead for 10 minutes, rest for 20, knead again for 5 and rest again for 30 minutes.

While the dough is proving, slice the asparagus into bite-sized pieces, cutting any fat stalks in half if they are of uneven size. Steam for 3 minutes over a rolling boil until just al dente, and remove from the heat and uncover. Slice the tomatoes into thin circles.

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Roll the dough out on a lightly-floured surface until thin and flat; try to make it about 1cm larger than your baking tray to allow for some contraction and to leave a crust. If you want a thick-crust pizza, leave it in a warm place, covered with a damp tea towel for half an hour.

Place the rolled dough on a pizza pan, hot stone or baking tray, and spread over the tomato puree, sprinkle with oregano and then add the thin slices of tomato. Bake for 15 minutes, remove and add the asparagus pieces and tear over the mozzarella. Brush the crust with a little olive oil and bake for a further 5-10 minutes, until the mozzarella is done to your liking. Personally I like mine runny rather than golden :) Tear over the fresh basil and serve with a simple salad.

Asapragus Salad

At lunch today we had the wedding breakfast tasting and discussion with the chef, which resulted in us filling up completely and actually having to take a doggy bag! Luckily I managed to go for a run this morning... So this evening, we wanted something very light and refreshing. The asparagus season is in full swing and it's possible to pick up huge bunches for £2-£3 in the market, so a purchase yesterday makes a full meal today. We round out the savoury, green flavour with lots of different kinds of tomatoes, and some mellow mozzarella cheese. And a hunk of stale bread is given new life as crunchy garlic croutons. Perfect spring fare!

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of bread
• 1 small clove of garlic
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• One large or two small bunches of asparagus
• 300g of tomatoes, preferably of several different varieties
• a generous handful of spinach leaves
• a generous handful of basil leaves
• a ball of mozzarella
• 4 rashers of cooked bacon, or pancetta
• 2 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp grain mustard
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Cut the slices of bread into rough cubes and place in a baking tray or dish. Crush in the garlic clove (a little goes a very long way here) and drizzle over 2 tbsp of the olive oil; it helps if one person drizzles as the other tosses the bread, or you may end up with unbalanced oil distribution. Place in the hot oven and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden and crunchy.

Snap the asparagus (or peel the lower half if you're sure your stems aren't bitter), and steam for five minutes, removing promptly and running under cold water to halt the cooking. Slice the tomatoes into different shapes, making sure that the seeds stay in. Tear the spinach leaves, basil leaves and mozzarella into a salad bowl, then add the tomatoes, bacon or pancetta, and cooked asparagus. Shake up the remaining olive oil, vinegars and mustard in a little jar, season well and pour over the salad. Toss and top with the crunchy croutons and serve immediately.