Summery Millet Salad

I made this salad to take with me at work as my lunch and I must say it was wonderful and so tasty. You can also do this with quinoa or couscous if you like. It is super-easy and super-quick to rustle up, cooking the millet grain is the longest cooking time for this recipe (about 20 minutes). This recipe is vegetarian but for a vegan version just omit the eggs. I adore eggs so I did put 2 hard boiled eggs in my salad but feel free to do one instead or none as I said before none. Anyway, do give it a go and if you have not tried millet grain before do try it, it is so good and I love its fluffy texture. You can do this for a light lunch or even as a side for your dinner (maybe a good steak). You can also take it with you to a BBQ. The following amounts are for one portion so double or quadruple the ingredients for a larger serving. For one portion you will need...

• 60g millet grain, washed
• 1 or 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped (optional)
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1tbsp sliced jalapenos
• 6 green olives
• 2 tsp capers, drained
• 3 sundried tomatoes, chopped (optional)
• ½ teaspoon dried mint
• A couple of fresh basil leaves
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• Sweet paprika, to taste
• Extra virgin olive oil, to taste

How to..

1. Start by cooking the millet by just adding it in plenty of boiling water. Simmer for 20 minutes and drain in a sieve. Whilst still in the sieve rinse the cooked millet grain under a running cold water tap to cool it down. 
2. When cool enough add all the other ingredients, including the salt, pepper, sweet paprika and olive oil to your taste and stir carefully to combine. 
3. This is now ready to serve.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Papas a la Huancaína - Potatoes in a Peruvian Cheese Sauce

Recently I got my hands on some Aji Amarillo (PeruvianYellow Chilli). Aji Amarillo is extensively used in any Peruvian kitchen and it is added to a lot of recipes. The cheesy sauce that smothers these potatoes is so tasty that, believe us, and even if you do not like letuce, you will devour anything that is covered in this awesome sauce. If you cannot find Aji Amarillo, you can use Jalapeño peppers instead, it's basically contains the same heat. Also, you might seem that adding crackers sounds odd but they are added to thicken the sauce. The sauce is so easy to prepare so you definitely should try this recipe. When we boiled the potatoes, we scrubbed them and left the skins on so as they stay in one piece. Once the potatoes are cool, you can peel them easily. You will need...

• 4 large potatoes, boiled, peeled and sliced
• 1 small tin evaporated mik
• 2 salted crackers
• 1 dried aji amarillo. rehydrated for 20 minutes in boiling water, deseeded and chopped (or jalapeño)
• 1/4 cup [60ml] vegetable oil
• 250g Feta cheese, crumbled
• 5 lettuce leaves, to serve
• 2 hard boiled eggs, sliced or quartered, to serve
• Handful pitted black olives, to serve

How to...

1. Put the evaporated milk, crackers, aji amarillo or Jalapeño & crumbled Feta cheese in a blender and blend. While still blending trickle the oil from the hole in the lid until all oil is used. Keep blending until you get a smooth sauce.
2. On a large serving plate, put the lettuce leaves and slice potatoes.
3. Pour the sauce over the potatoes, using a spatula to get every drop of sauce out of the blender. 
4. Garnish with the eggs and olives.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Nicoise Salad - Salade Niçoise

Salade niçoise comes from southern France and it is one of our favourite salads. The main ingredients that make up this wonderful salad are tuna and anchovies. We always try to find fresh tuna but sometimes here in England is hard to find and when you find it, it can be very expensive. So we use good quality canned tuna fillets. Also it is usually made with niçoise olives, which are small black olives but any small black olives will do if these are not available. As per every salad there is a myriad versions of the actual recipe so it very hard to find out exactly what goes in a proper salade niçoise. Cucumber, preserved artichoke hearts, radishes, new potatoes, raw green peppers, sweet shallots are all different vegetables that are used...depends where you get the recipe from! Hard boiled eggs are a must as well. Our version for a substantial meal for two people is as follows...

For the salad

• About 100g mixed salad leaves
• 2 ripe but firm tomatoes, sliced
• 8 new potatoes, boiled
• 2 hard boiled eggs, quartered
• A handful of black olives
• 100g French fine green beans, cooked
• 2 tuna steaks (about 150g each, grilled to your liking and left to cool down slightly) or 2 cans of tuna chunks
• 8 anchovy fillets

For the dressing

• Red wine vinegar
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt & pepper

1. This has to be the easiest method ever. Just arrange all the salad ingredients onto the serving plates, leaving the tuna and anchovies for last.
2. Mix the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. The amounts are entirely up to you.
3. Dress the tuna and salad leaves.
4. Serve.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Guisantes a la Murciana - Peas Murcia Style

This dish comes from the Spanish region of Murcia and it is an absolute delight. It is a simple enough dish to start a great dinner party with. They are very easy to prepare and so so tasty. The chorizo, Serrano ham and pimentón (paprika) makes this dish so...well Spanish! Give them a go and you will definitely try them again!! You will need (for 4 people)...

• 400g fresh or frozen peas
• 75g chorizo, diced
• 75g Serrano ham, chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• 250ml vegetable stock
• Olive oil
• Sea salt

Method

1. Start by frying the onion with a pinch of salt in some olive oil. Cook until soft and transparent.
2. In the meantime, cook the peas in plenty boiling water until cooked. Drain and set aside.
3. To the cooked onion, add the chorizo, Serrano ham, paprika and flour. Stir well and cook for a few minutes until the flour is slightly toasted.
4. Now add the peas and stir well into the ham & chorizo mixture. Add the vegetable stock and bring to the boil.
5. Ladle into bowls and chop the hard boiled egg onto each serving.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Tunisian Ojja

When we went to Tunisia I soon realised that Tunisians love their eggs...they use them in a myriad number of dishes. One of them was Ojja. I used to have this dish everyday for breakfast. It's delicious...some crusty bread and you will not even need a fork to eat it :) The peppers, spices and harissa really give this dish its unique North African flavours. Harissa is basically a Tunisian chilli paste which is very hot, so if you want to do a mild version of it, you can omit it but it takes away the Tunisian touch off it though haha. Harissa is stocked in supermarkets and it is well worth keeping a stock of it if you like your chilli, it can be found in tubes or cans [see picture]. To quicken the cooking time, grill the peppers, peel the burnt skin off and chop them into slices. You can also prepare the tomato sauce in advance and freeze it till needed. I will explain below how to prepare everything but if you are in a hurry or feel lazy you can use pre-grilled peppers in jars or ready made tomato sauce. So, you will need...

• 4 medium sized eggs
• 300ml tomato passata or chopped tomatoes
• 2 bell pepper, split in half and deseeded
• 1 teaspoon harissa, or to taste
• A pinch of ground coriander
• A pinch of ground cumin
• 2 small garlic cloves, sliced
• Olive oil
• Crusty bread, to serve

How to...

1. Start by adding the chopped garlic and olive oil in a pan. Heat them on a lower heat until the garlic starts turning golden. Now add the tomato passata or chopped tomatoes very carefully, so as the oil does not spit and burn your hands. Stir well and let it simmer for about 10 minutes (if using passata) or 20 minutes (if using chopped tomatoes). When done, set aside.
2. Whilst the sauce is simmering, switch on the grill on high heat and put the halved peppers underneath it  skin side up. Leave them until they are charred and completely burned. Now carefully turn upside down and grill the other side for a couple of minutes. Turn off the grill and carefully take them out, let them cool slightly and peel all the burnt skin off. Now chop them in slices and then in half. Set aside.
3. In a separate shallow frying pan, add some olive oil and the peppers. Switch the heat on medium and cook for about 2 minutes. Now add the tomato and garlic sauce, stir in the harissa and spices and cook for a few minutes. 
4. Now make 4 'holes' in the sauce and carefully crack 4 eggs in them, make sure you leave the yolk intact. Lower the heat, cover the frying pan and cook until the eggs are cooked through, just as you like them. Make sure you leave the yolk runny though.
5. Serve hot with crusty bread and make sure you mop up all the delicious spicy sauce.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Penne alla Carbonara

This is how a proper Carbonara should be. This is a rustic pasta dish that comes from Rome although its origin is questionable as some Italians say it came from the Umbria region, some say it comes from the Lazio region and some say that it was invented by an inventor from Naples from the Campana region. Anyway, whatever the provenance it is a very tasty dish and a very quick and easy way to flavour your pasta. We used penne but spaghetti go very well with this type of sauce as well. If you do not have pecorino Romano you may use Grana padano or Parmegiano Reggiano. Make sure you use free range eggs so you get a lovely yellowy colour. The original recipe uses guanciale which similar to pancetta only that guanciale comes from the cheek of the pig (guancia means cheek in italian hence the name) and pancetta comes from the belly of the animal (pancia means belly in italian hence the name). Give it a go! For 4 people you will need...

• 300g penne
• 4 egg yolks + 1 whole egg
• 100g grated pecorino Romano
• 150g Guanciale or pancetta, diced

How to...

1. Start by cooking the pasta al dente. 
2. Cook the guanciale or pancetta in a hot pan (no oil is required as guanciale and/or lardons have enough fat on them) until crispy.
3. When the pasta is cooked, drain it but leave a little cooking liquid with the pasta to avoid having a dry pasta dish. Cover and set aside.
4. Start making the sauce by whisking the egg yolks and one whole egg in a bowl. Whisk until they are combined well. Add the cheese and combine well with the eggs. Now add the guanciale or pancetta. Mix again and add everything to the cooked pasta.
5. Mix slowly until all the pasta is covered with the sauce and serve.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Maltese Balbuljata [Tomatoes & Eggs]

This is another Maltese classic dish. It is very easy and quick to prepare. I love it and I could eat a whole Ħobża maltija [Maltese bread loaf] with this dish. That is how it is eaten in Malta. It is a very old dish and I can remember eating it everywhere...from my mum, to both of my nannas and also my mum-in-law. Eggs and tomatoes go very well together, in fact there are loads of dishes which consist from these two ingredients from the Tunisian dish Ojja to Huevos Rancheros which is a very famous dish in Spanish speaking countries. So here is what you will need...

• 4 eggs
• 1 large tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 small onion, chopped
• Salt & pepper
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• Crusty bread, to serve

How to...

1. Fry the onion in the oil for a few minutes until soft and transparent.
2. Add the tomatoes, sugar, salt & pepper and simmer covered for about 10 minutes on medium heat.
3. Turn the heat to low and crack the eggs in the pan and stir to combine the tomato sauce with the eggs until the eggs are set,
4. Serve with crusty bread.

Enjoy!!

R&A