Not Quite Paella

I make no claims about the authenticity of this but it makes for a delicious Paella-style dish.  I sauteed sliced onion, a Romano red pepper and the remains of last night's fennel bulb with half a horse-shoe of chorizo in olive oil, until all was just beginning to become tinged gold and the oil has rendered from the sausage.  Grate in a couple of garlic cloves, add half a teaspoon of hot smoked paprika and a teacupful of Bomba or Callasparra Valencia rice (Waitrose sells it).  Stir well, then stir in a mixture of 3/4 pint veg stock, a teaspoon of tomato puree, a good pinch of best-quality saffron (I use Iranian, brought from there by my friend Noshin) and 1/4 pint of dry white wine.  Bring to the boil, turn the heat right down, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  Then stir in about 12 peeled de-veined King prawns and tiny broad beans or petit pois.  Cover again, and simmer for 4-5 minutes.  Finally, add chopped parsley and serve with lots of lemon chunks.  Lovely!  We started the meal with fresh corn cobs with chilli and coriander butter and washed down with Margaritas - Ay Carrumba!!!!

Composed Warm Chicken Salad with Beetroot, Fennel and Orange

I love salads where you distribute everything on a big platter, pour over the dressing and dig in - everything gets well blended as you dish up, and you can layer the dish with texture, colour and flavour.  This was a great example with a base of Batavia lettuce leaves, sliced freshly-boiled beetroot, shaved fennel and fillets of orange.  Topped with chunks of chicken marinated in lemon, rosemary and garlic, then quickly sauteed, and little croutons of bread sizzled to golden deliciousness in olive oil, and then all dressed with a vinaigrette made from the orange juice, you end up with a vibrant and healthy supper.  You can vary this so much, and I could have used smoked or grilled mackerel, poached salmon, chunks of good tinned or fresh tuna, strips of juicy steak, chunks of fried chorizo, garlic prawns, or feta or goats' cheese for a veggie option, instead of the chicken.  Use your imagination and whatever is best in the market and in season.  Just think about the overall colour and make sure there is textural variation as well to keep things interesting.  As well as crunch from croutons, you can get the same effect from cucmber or red pepper, and spring onion adds texture and a sharp savour too.

Linguine with Prawn, Tomato and Fennel Sauce, and Lemon Dill Pangratatta

Phew.  Long name, but an easy and delicious pasta sauce inspired by a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa.  In her version, she baked the prawns and sauce with feta cheese and the breadcrumbs on top, then served with crusty bread, but I thought it would be good turned into a pasta dish - I ditched the feta as I don't think it goes well with seafood myself!  Anyway, make a good tomato sauce with a finely chopped onion and also a chopped head of bulb fennel -saute in olive oil, add a tin of good tomatoes (Cirio brand for me) and a couple of cloves of garlic and simmer until the fennel is tender and the sauce is reduced.  If you have any Pernod in the house, add a slug just before the end to highlight the fennel flavour.  Make the pangratatta by sauteeing about 4 tablespoons of fresh white breadcrumbs in a tablespoon of olive oil until crisp, season well with salt and pepper and grate in the zest of half a lemon and some chopped dill or parsley if preferred.  You can set everything aside at this point.  When ready to serve, reheat your sauce, cook the pasta and 3 minutes before it is ready, add about 100g of chopped, ready cooked prawns to the sauce and reheat.  (Or you could put raw ones in a minute earlier).  Drain pasta, toss with the sauce and serve with the pangratatta sprinkled over and the halved lemon for squeezing.  NO PARMESAN PLEASE!!!

Spaghetti Puttanesca

Now, this is a challenge.  Puttanesca needs oil and olives and cheese and plenty of pasta.  Something's gotta give!  I decided that we needed the carbs and have been good all week, so it is the full 100g portion each of pasta for us tonight, not the measly 75g that most books say - my hubby could put 150g away in one serving.  I also used a full tablespoon of oil - this seems quite a shocking amount now, even after just a week.  So, 1 tablespoon of oil in which you saute some sliced onion and a couple of cloves of garlic - keeping the lid on during this process creates steam and helps the cooking process.  I also added some fresh fennel bulb, very finely sliced, the remains of a tin of tomatoes from last night's chilli, some fresh cherry tomatoes, about 10 olives and some rinsed salted nonpareilles capers.  I don't use anchovy in my puttanesca, as I think it makes it smell like cat sick.  Simmer until all the veg are tender and the sauce has reduced a little, add some fresh oregano if you have it, and serve up with the pasta and just a little grated parmesan.  Dunno how many calories, but this isn't a diet, rather it is a healthy eating regime!

Asparagus and Herb Frittata

I was away over the weekend with little time to shop, so fell back on the veg box (not literally, you understand, else we'd be having smashed vegetables) to supply supper, and it was lovely. I slow-roasted a thinly sliced head of fennel, a couple of orange peppers, onion and tomato wedges, with olive oil and garlic. I hate how most recipes tell you to do this in a fiercely hot oven - you usually end up with charred, dehydrated lumps of carbon. Do it slowly and the veg stays juicy and goes 'jammy' and intense. Some asparagus got the same treatment. The asparagus was then made into a frittata with parsley and chives added to the eggs. The other roasted veg were used to top a platter of the crunchiest and tastiest Little Gem lettuce I've ever had, again, courtesy of Riverford organics. Why do the supermarkets remove so much of the green outer leaves? Anyway, with some crusty sourdough bread, this was a delicious start to the week.

Sauteed Chicken with Spices, Fennel and Cream [#188]

This turned out like a mild korma, very nice, but not really what we were expecting! Also, the fennel got a bit lost, and was more of a texture than a flavour that contributed to the dish. OK, nice sauce, but nothing very special. Of course, we used WAAAAY less cream than Nigel suggested, about 40ml rather than the 300ml in the recipe. Nigel's arteries must be made of steel to tolerate that amount!!!

Grilled Pork Chop with Vermouth and Fennel [#184]

Very nice way with a pork chop, marinated in rosemary, garlic and lemon juice and then (in my case) fried until still succulent and served with a pan gravy of vermouth and caramelised braised fennel. Nigel recommends grilling, but I felt I needed the sauce you get with a sauteeing. We drank a delicious Pinot Gris d'Alsace, not too sweet, with this and it set it off beautifully.

Fennel, Watercress and Pear Salad [#163]

We had doubts about Nigel's suggestion of serving this salad with a dish of haddock, bacon and parsley, so served it, instead, with his Macaroni with Fontina and Mustard, a much more satisfactory combination. Dead simple salad of watercress topped with shaved Florence fennel (it HAS to be paper-thin) and thin slices of a delicious crisp Williams pear from Italy. The dressing was nice too - lime juice and olive oil, simply seasoned with salt and pepper. I think, next time, I might sprinkle over some toasted walnuts or similar for even more texture. Really nice salad, though, do try it!

Mozzarella with Grilled Fennel [#153]

Hmmm......how to describe this dish? "Meh", might the sound I'd make, followed by a yawn? The chargrilled fennel itself was very nice and I would have preferred this on its own with perhaps a balsamic vinaigrette to moisten it. The addition of mozzarella did nothing to the dish other than add protein, otherwise sitting like a lump of flaccid, tepid rubber atop the cooked veg. It doesn't matter how buffola your Mozzarella is, serving it slightly warm does nothing to flatter it. To be honest, we much preferred the Mushrooms with Tarragon and Mustard that we made again, and my own version of baked beans (a tin of cannellini beans baked in the oven with fresh tomato, oregano, chilli and garlic with a touch of sugar to sweeten). Still, you can't have everything, and this is one of just a small handful of Nigel's recipes that haven't worked for me.

Roast Pork Belly Sandwiches [#150]

Didn't make sandwiches! We had the marvellous burnished belly of pork with pan juices and roast potatoes. I have never been a fan of pork belly, worrying that it was too fatty - but after 2 and a half hours of slow roasting, the fat had virtually all but rendered. (Nigel only cooked his for an hour, which isn't really enough). The fragrant rub of very finely chopped fresh bay leaves and rosemary, with fennel seed and crushed garlic was pure Italy and the finished result tasted of that cuisine's classic porchetta. I picked the pork belly up for three quid in M&S so this is credit-crunchtastic gastronomy at its finest. Leftovers for a stir-fry tomorrow too. Drank a Louis Jadot Beaujolais Villages 2007 with it, picked up cheap from Waitrose, so feeling very virtuous. Again, the smells as this dish cooked were incredible. Tasting note: the leftover pork, cut into 'lardons' for want of a better term, made the most glorious stir-fry - sauteed until crisp and doused in hoisin sauce and soy, stirred through egg noodles with stir-fry pepper, courgettes and spring onions. Nom-nom!

A Salad of Fennel, Winter Leaves and Parmesan [#139]

I know, I know, it isn't Winter! But this recipe has been hanging around since the January pages of The Diary, and I needed to get it done. It is more or less a Caesar Salad with finely shaved fennel. You can see why I didn't want to eat it on a cold January evening. I made it into more of a main meal salad by grilling some boneless, skinless chicken thighs that I had marinated in olive oil and garlic. I also tossed the hot little croutons in grated Parmesan for an extra savoury touch. Felt good to get this recipe out of the way! By the way, the Caesar-style dressing is INCREDIBLY rich, we only used a spoonful or two, and dressed the bulk of the salad with ordinary vinaigrette. I can't find the recipe online so, you know what I'm going to say by now, go buy the book!