Tuna & Bean Salad

All you need when the weather is hot is a cool salad. This salad here is quick and easy to prepare as we use beans from a can. Obviously you can use dried beans but you will have to soak them for at least 8 hours. Like this you can prepare it very quickly. We like to serve it with three different condiments mayonnaise/salad cream, balsamic vinegar and loads of extra virgin olive oil. You can use any beans you want. Serves 4. You will need...

• 1 large can butter beans
• 1 large can pinto beans
• 1 large can borlotti beans
• 2 large cans tuna chunks
• 4 Hard boiled eggs
• Half red onion, sliced thinly
• 4 small beetroots
• 4 small potatoes
• Handful of cherry tomatoes
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Mayonnaise or Salad cream

Method

1. Drain the beans, rinse them and put them into a bowl. Then drain the tuna and add it to the beans.
2. Add the sliced onion, potatoes, tomatoes and some olive oil. Mix slowly.
3. Plate the salad and garnish with the eggs and beetroots.
4. Dress with more olive oil, balsamic vinegar and maybe some mayo.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Penne alla Norma

This is one of our favourite pasta dishes. It is so good...our secret is to use good quality extra-virgin olive oil as it gives it such a great flavour. As you can see from our blog, aubergine is one of my favourite veggies around. Originally, this dish is served with grated ricotta salata [Salty dried ricotta cheese] which is a Sicilian regional speciality but since I cannot find it here, I used Feta cheese. It is nowhere close to the ricotta salata but at least it is a salty cheese. Although I will try and do my own ricotta salata in the near future. Now some history on the origins of this dish. This dish originated in the Sicilian city of Catania. It got its name from Vincenzo Bellini's opera Norma. Some of the actors where eating at a restaurant after a performance and one of them said after eating this aubergine dish...''ohh this is Norma''  So there you have it, pasta alla Norma was invented. Give it a go and will definitely have the Mediterranean on a plate :) You will need...

• 2 cans chopped tomatoes
• 500g Aubergine, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 400g Penne pasta
• 175g Ricotta Salata or Feta cheese, crumbled
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper

How to...

1. Put the aubergine slices in a colander and sprinkle with coarse salt. Leave to drain for about 30 minutes. This process is done so as to get rid of the aubergine’s bitter juices.
2. After 30 minutes, rinse the aubergine thoroughly and pat dry with kitchen towel.
3. Fry or grill the aubergines until soft.
4. In a pan put some olive oil and the crushed cloves of garlic.
5. Cook the garlic until golden, about 1 minute.
6. Add the chopped tomatoes and simmer on medium heat for about 30 minutes.
7. In the meantime cook the pasta.
8. When both the pasta and sauce are ready, mix everything in the sauce pan and toss the pasta into the sauce.
9. Serve and garnish with Ricotta Salata shavings or cubed Feta cheese.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Couscous & Aubergine Stuffed Peppers

Arabic/Middle Eastern cuisine is one of the best on the planet. It is so full of aromatic flavours and most all it smells so wonderful when you are cooking it. These peppers are stuffed with lots of flavours from very hot [harissa] to sweet [raisins]. We served them with some seasoned natural yoghurt. One of my tricks is to put all the spices in a small jar or small container with a lid and give them a good shake so as when you use them the spices are distributed evenly into the dish. You can call the spice mix Ras El Hanout [which literally means shopkeeper]. This term is used in North Africa [mostly Morocco] to define spice mixes sold in shops/market, every shop/seller has his own spice blend...hence the name! This dish is 100% vegetarian and will  make our vegetarian friends very happy...so please do give it a go. For 4/5 peppers you will need...

For the stuffing

• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 medium sized aubergine, diced into 1cm cubes
• 50g raisins
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon harissa
• Ras el Hanout spice mix *
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Extra water
• 200g couscous
• 200ml boiling water
• 4/5 Bell peppers, top taken off and deseeded

Ras el Hanout spice mix

* ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, ½ teaspoon ground allspice, freshly ground black pepper, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom, pinch ground ginger, pinch ground cloves, sea salt (to taste).

Laban dip

• 250ml natural yoghurt
• Freshly chopped mint [or 1 tablespoon dried mint]
• Ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

How to...

1. Fry the onion in some oil until soft and transparent. Add the diced aubergine & garlic and cook covered for a further 5 minutes, stirring occasionally adding a little water if necessary. Now add tomato paste, harissa, raisins, Ras el Hanout spice mix and some more olive oil. Cook for a further 10 minutes on low heat.
2. Prepare the couscous by pouring 200ml boiling water on the couscous. Stir with a fork and cover for about 6 minutes. After 6 minutes, separate the grains with a fork and add some olive oil and stir well.
3. Add the couscous to the onion/aubergine mixture and mix well.
4. Put the peppers (with the pepper top) in the microwave for 5-6 minutes on high. Take peppers out and carefully stuff the peppers tightly. Put the stuffed peppers in the microwave again and cook for a further 10 minutes on high. 
5. Alternatively, put the peppers in an oven dish and add some water or tomato sauce at the bottom of the dish. Bake in a 200°C preheated oven for about 40-50 minutes.
6. Mix the laban ingredients together.
7. Serve with the yoghurt and pita bread.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Sweet Surprise Pie

This pie was absolutely gorgeous. I just made a couple of these and used two small silicon heart shaped moulds. I made my own pastry but feel free to use ready-made sweet shortcrust pastry. The recipe for the pastry yields a good amount of dough, so just wrap any dough that you do not use in cling film and freeze it. Although I made these mini pies you can adjust the ingredients to make a large one. Serve this pie warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. You will need...

For the dough

• 350g plain flour
• About 200ml water
• 3 egg yolks
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 100g unsalted butter, in cubes and soft

1. Put the flour and sugar into a bowl and rub the butter until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
2. Add the egg yolks and pour the water gradually until you get a very soft, pliable dough.
3. Knead well for a few minutes. 
4. Wrap in cling film and put into the fridge for about 20 minutes to set.
5. Any dough you do not use wrap it in cling film and freeze for future use.

For filling two pies

• 1 banana, sliced
• 2 tsp strawberry conserve or jam
• 2 tsp seedless raisins
• Honey
• Caster sugar, to decorate
• 2 small heart shaped pie moulds, although you can use any shape

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C. 
2. Line the bottom of the moulds with pastry.
3. Spread the bottom of the moulds with the strawberry conserve. Neatly lay half a banana in each mould, sprinkle 1 tsp of raisins on the banana pieces and drizzle with honey.
4. Cover the moulds with pastry and trim any excess. Make sure that you seal it well.
5. Pinch the top of the pie with scissors and sprinkle with the caster sugar.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until done.
7. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!!

R&A