Author Archives: Fabric of Madness

Goodness, March already…

02 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by in Salads

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Where does the time go?  A month ago I was enjoying delicious time with friends and dining out, well actually, in, on some great food and have been meaning to post a few more recipes of the food we enjoyed.  So, one more from the birthday feast.  This was a green salad recipe from the December 2013-January 2014 issue of ‘dish’.  I read this recipe early in December and wanted to do it for Christmas, but for some reason it never got to the table,  so birthday fare it was.   MMMM,  it was great, and a definite repeater.

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So, here is the MWCED version of the recipe for MIXED GREEN VEGETABLE SALAD WITH SESAME YOGHURT DRESSING:

  • 200 grams green beens, stem end trimmed
  • 100 grams each sugar snap and snow peas
  • 2 cucumbers, halved and thinly sliced (take the seeds out if you wish)
  • 2 spring onions, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
  • sea salt and fresh ground pepper
  • small handful fresh dill or basil (I used only basil)
  • 1/4 cup pistachio nuts, roughly chopped (I used toasted pistachios)
  • Dressing:
  • 3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
  • 1/2 cup thick plain yoghurt
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

Note that the Dish recipe also had asparagus and edamane beans.  It wasn’t asparagus season so no luck there, and didn’t have edamane beans so also out of luck. Sorry guys.

Dressing: Grind the sesame seeds using a mortar and pestle (thanks Charlie for that Christmas present all those years ago), then tip into a bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients, season and whisk until smooth.  Chill until ready to serve.  This was finger licking good – and could have just eaten it on its own……

Bring a saucepan of well salted water to the boil and blanch each vegetable separately until al dente. Lift out with slotted spoon (if I can find it) and refresh in cold water. Place on a clean tea towel to drain.

Whisk the olive oil and vinegar in a large bowl and season.

Add all the vegetables and turn gently to coat.

Transfer to a large serving platter and drizzle with some of the yoghurt dressing. Scatter with the dill or basil and the pistachio nuts.  Serve the remaining dressing separately.  (Serves 8 to 10).

Definitely looking forward to asparagus season to have this again!

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Inspired by Heston…

09 Sunday Feb 2014

Potted Berry Granita

Potted Berry Granita

As a wonderful finale to a delicious long summer lunch last weekend,  Mr MWCED made a berry granita, served in a mini flowerpot with a bamboo garnish.   Inspired by a Heston Blumenthal tiramisu dessert served with a basil leaf garnish,   this was full of mouth filling berry granita, (strawberry and raspberry),  blueberries, a layer of mascarpone, finished with roasted pistachios. Oh, and a punchy surprise at the bottom of the pot, a cherry which had been infused in pinot noir (from Provisions of Central Otago).    More to come about another dish or two from the lunch, but here is the recipe for our Potted Berry Granita.

Make the berry granita (we made two : strawberry and raspberry) –  for the strawberry granita we used 3 punnets of fresh strawberries( would serve around 6).  Hull and cut roughly then mash and put through a sieve so you get rid of all the seeds. You’ll need to force the berry through the sieve.  Then put into a pot with around 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Let cool then put into a non metallic shallow dish and pop into the freezer.  Pull out once it is semi frozen and run a fork through the berry mixture to break up the ice crystals.  Repeat about 3 or 4 times.  Voila, ready to use.   Then repeat with some raspberries or other fruit if you wish.    Make sure your flower pots are pre washed.  We plugged the hole at the bottom of the pot with a cherry infused in pinot noir (but with your wild imagination I reckon you could think of something just as yummy).  Then a first (about a third of the pot) layer of strawberry granita, followed by a thin layer of fresh blueberries (which had been lightly simmered for 5 minutes with the help of a dessertspoon of sugar).  After this a thin layer of mascarpone (with a little icing sugar added) followed by a layer of the raspberry granita.   In Heston’s recipe he had a grated chocolate layer to finish,  but I’m not a great fan of chocolate in desserts – and as it was my birthday I was allowed to choose – so we opted for crushed, lightly roasted, pistachios.   To top it all off,  some freshly cut bamboo to add a bit of green (though we didn’t eat that).  Easy, eh?

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Pork Belly Skewers

26 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by in Pork

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Before you read any further absolute apologies for crap photo.

Had no idea what I was going to cook when I put some pork belly in my trolley at the supermarket. Figured something inspirational would happen in between then and the following day. Mr MWCED isn’t usually too fond of pork belly so knew I had to find something that would at least get a pass mark. And then I found this great recipe on http://thepaddingtonfoodie.com/2013/09/06/another-offering-from-the-japanese-izakaya-butabara-grilled-pork-belly-skewers-with-green-spring-onion/ and I just knew it was going to taste great. I didn’t have exactly all the ingredients, so had to make a few changes:

1/2 cup Japanese soy sauce
1/4 cup dashi or chicken stock – I used chicken stock
1/4 cup mirin
4 tablespoons sake – no sake in the cupboard so I used White wine which was very handily placed beside me
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon white pepper- yikes what kind of Cook am I, no white, subbed black
1 kg slab pork belly – our piece was about 800g, plenty for 2 of us!
8 long green spring onions, trimmed, cut into 4cm lengths – no spring onions, subbed shallots, which I liked but Mr MWCED says try spring onions next time. Whatever….
20 bamboo skewers – I made about 16skewers

SOAK skewers in cold water for 15 minutes. Drain.
REMOVE skin from the pork belly and slice thinly into 1.5cm – 2cm thick rashers. Then slice each rasher into 4 cm wide strips.
MEANWHILE, combine soy sauce, stock, mirin, sake (or wine), sugar and pepper in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. at this stage I tasted the marinade and added a little hoisin and sweet chilli sauce, which just toned it down a little, probably because I had used dark soy sauce.
Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 5 minutes or until sauce has reduced and thickened slightly. Allow to cool completely.
PLACE sliced pork in a glass or ceramic bowl. Coat with half the cooled sauce. Cover and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
THREAD pork and spring onions – or shallots or anything that takes your fancy – onto skewers. Place onto a paper lined tray. no paper lined tray for us, as you can see, straight onto the BBQ plate .Brush with some of the reserved sauce.
PREHEAT bbq or grill on medium-high heat until hot. Grill skewers, basting with sauce, for 6 to 8 minutes or until cooked through.

Now you could make crackling from the pork skin, but I’m trying to reduce fats, so ours is not going to be all yummy and crispy and salty and heavenly. ‘Sigh’

We lucked out with a warm still night so BBQ was perfectly timed. Added some BBQ zucchini (yep still picking plenty from the garden) and crispy potatoes which had already been parboiled, together with a fresh salad. And Mr MWCED approved.