The Veg

We should have had more veg. I guess we had a good variety (courgette salad, roasted squash, beet salad, ricotta and pinenut salad) but we should have doubled the quantities. Looking back, it makes good sense to make plenty of salads for large buffets as the dressings can be made easily in advance and it's a snap to mix it all up before serving, plus everyone likes salads at BBQs.

I'm not going to give the recipes for the beet salad with balsamic vinegar dressing and the ricotta and pinenut salad as I think their names are quite self-explanatory.

Courgette salad
from Happy Days with the Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver

4 small courgettes
1 red chilli
1/2 clove of garlic
1 handful fresh mint
1/2 lemon

Extra virgin olive oil

Slice the courgettes lengthways as thin as you can (use a mandolin if you have one). Grill on a hot griddle pan or on the barbeque until lightly charred on each side. Scatter the slices over a large plate, making sure you don't sit them on top of each other otherwise they'll steam and go a bit limp. Sprinkle with a little salt and freshly ground pepper.

Deseed the chilli and chop finely. Finely chop the garlic and sprinkle the chili and garlic evenly over the courgettes.

Tear over fresh mint and drizzle with good extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

Spicy roasted squash
from The Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver

1 medium/large butternut squash
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teasponns dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 small dried red chillies
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Cut the squash into wedges.

Put all the dried herbs and spices into a mortar and pestle and pound them up with the salt and pepper to make a fine powder. Add the garlic clove and pound it into the spices. Scrape out the contents into a bowl and add the olive oil. Toss the squash thoroughly in this herb and spice mixture, making sure that all the pieces are well coated.

Place the squash pieces skin side down on a baking tray. Roast them for about 30 minutes, or until tender.

Potato Salads

I love potato salad. I love potatoes. In all ways - baked, boiled, fried, mashed, roasted - and in all potato dishes - potato salad (as mentioned), gratin dauphinois, rosti, potato cheese soup, double-baked potatoes, potato cutlets, etc, etc, etc. I'm lucky that Albrecht buys me 10-kg bags of potatoes from a nearby farm. When I'm feeling too lazy to cook a proper meal, I sometimes just have boiled potatoes with some olive oil (or butter) and crushed garlic. One of my staples is potato wedges roasted with seasoned salt, dried mixed herbs and chili flakes. I make it so much that Shank has adopted it too as his signature dish; it's always asked for at potlucks.

The best potato I've ever had is the Jersey Royal. They're so good, I can eat them plain. They have a buttery, nutty taste, and a very thin skin. Boiled, some butter and salt, and I'm in potato heaven.

There are so many versions of potato salads. With eggs, without eggs, with onions, without onions, with mustard, without mustard, with mayonnaise, or sour cream, or yoghurt... The very first potato salad I learnt from my mum contained potatoes, chopped hard-boiled eggs, canned pineapple, spring onions, bacon bits and mayonnaise. I still make it now and then, but somehow it tasted better in my memories.. Does that happen to you too with your childhood foods? Our tastebuds develop and change as we grow older and some foods that we simply adored as kids are now simply... bof. (Of course, the converse is also true, I hated aubergine when I was small, but now it's on my fav list.) Since my first potato salad, I've tried so many recipes. I've experimented with warm potato salads with olive oil dressings, mashed potato salads, hot cheesy potato salads, and I loved them all.

Minty potato and green bean salad
from BBC Good Food magazine

500 g new potatoes
200 g green beans
2 shallots
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 handful mint leaves, chopped

Boil the potatoes for 15 minutes or until tender. When the potatoes have 5 minutes cooking time left, tip the beans into the boiling water. Drain and cool under cold running water.

Meanwhile, finely slice the shallots. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with the vinegar and oil then leave for 5 minutes. Toss potatoes and beans in with the shallots and sprinkle with the mint.

Creamy potatoes with peas and pesto
from BBC Good Food magazine

500 g new potatoes
100 g peas
1/2 pot creme fraiche
3 tablespoons pesto

Cut potatoes into thick slices, then boil for 10 minutes. Tip peas into the boiling water for the final 2 minutes of cooking. Drain the potatoes and peas together in a colander and set aside to cool for a few minutes.

Spoon creme fraiche into a large bowl, season to taste, then gently fold in the sliced potatoes. Swirl over the pesto just before serving.

Our Chateau Weekend

Might I interrupt my recipe repertoire to describe our pre-honeymoon honeymoon. We didn't have time for a proper honeymoon as the school year started almost immediately and we had to go back to work. So we took a weekend trip in October to the Perigord region where we stayed in a castle.

We arrived in the evening. After exploring the castle a bit, we had dinner in the large dining room. There was soothing Mozart playing as we entered. The dining room was nicely decorated with an old chandelier, long tables and there was a large fireplace at one end. We started with a homemade walnut aperitif which was very good. Walnuts are one of Perigord's specialities. We were the only guests in the castle that night and sat at the large table in front of the fireplace. We felt like a king and queen as dinner was served. Dinner started with a salade landaise which is a green salad with smoked duck breast, gizzards and croutons. The gizzards in this particular salad were deglazed with balsamic vinegar which gave it a caramalised touch, very different from the other salades landaises that we've tried. For the main course, we had magret de canard served with peas, carrots and bacon, and a potato gratin. Duck is another Perigord speciality and this magret the canard was by far the best we'd ever had. It was very succulent and gamey, not like the vacuum-packed duck we buy in supermarkets. Dinner was accompanied by good Bergerac wine. Dessert was tarte tatin with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Mmmm... Need I say more?

After a restful sleep in our beautiful room overlooking the woods, we had a big breakfast with croissants, toast, butter, homemade strawberry and plum jams, honey, orange juice and hot chocolate. We then went for a tour around the castle with the owner, Etienne. The castle was built in the 16th century and was located on top of a hill overlooking a wooded forest. Although it had a fortress-like architecture, it served no military function. The castle had 4 levels. In addition to the dining room and kitchen, there was a large main room on the groundfloor. The two upper floors contained a dozen bedrooms. The cellar and old kitchen were below. There were 4 towers at the corners of the castle. We climbed the towers and walked along the covered walkway all around the castle. There was also a chapel which was built much later, in the 19th century. Imagine all that, just for us that weekend. It was a perfect romantic getaway.

Seared Encrusted Carpaccio of Beef

A classic carpaccio is composed of thin slices of raw beef served with an olive oil-lemon juice dressing. I like this seared version with its crispy bits in contrast to the meltingly tender very rare beef. This is one dish that I've made many times, and have tweaked the original recipe by adding my own herb and garlic dressing. It can keep for 3 days in the fridge, just make sure to cover the beef slices completely with olive oil. Leftovers are very yummy in a sandwich.

I first made this dish when I was cooking lunch for my lab mates. For six months, I supplied a 2-course meal (main dish and dessert) everyday. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I could try out my ever-growing list of recipes on my willing guinea pigs. That totals up to 120 recipes. And I still have more!!

This dish is very versatile. Add different herbs like rosemary or basil, olives, parmesan, etc. Slice the beef into thin strips and add them to a salad. I also found another version in the same cookbook with chili, ginger, radish and soy.

Seared encrusted carpaccio of beef
adapted from The Return of the Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver

1 kg approx. fillet of beef
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch chives
2 garlic cloves
1/2 bottle olive oil (exact amount will depend on depth of dish)

Season the meat well with salt and pepper, making sure as much of the black pepper sticks to the meat as possible. In a very hot oiled pan, sear the meat for around 5 minutes until brown and crisp on all sides. Remove from the pan and allow to cool. The meat will be easier to slice when it's cold.

Finely chop the parsley, chives and garlic. Slice the fillet of beef as thinly as possible. Lay out the beef slices on a dish, sprinkle over the herbs and garlic and top with olive oil. The olive oil must completely cover the beef. Give the whole thing a stir and leave to marinate overnight in the fridge.

Salsa Verde

Salsa verde goes wonderfully with grilled meats. We had it with our BBQ beef, I want to try it next with lamb. Jamie Oliver recommends chopping all the ingredients by hand, but seriously, with all that mountain of cooking we had to do, I just used a food processor, and it still turned out great. But shhhh...

Salsa verde
from The Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver

1.5 to 2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 small handful capers
1 small handful pickled gherkins (the ones in sweet vinegar)
6 anchovy fillets
2 large handfuls flat-leaf parsley
1 bunch basil leaves
1 handful fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Finely chop all the ingredients that can be chopped. Put this mixture into a bowl and add the mustard and vinegar. Slowly stir in the olive oil until you achieve the consistency you are looking for and balance the flavors with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and if necessary, more red wine vinegar.

Shallot Confit with Spiced Red Wine

There're always shallots in my kitchen. Shallots here are much longer than the small pungent bulbs we find back home. I put them in almost everything. A simple green salad with vinaigrette is so much better with some minced raw shallots. I also love a good steak topped with a pat of butter and sliced raw shallots as how it is served at Le Palatium, our favourite brasserie in Bordeaux. I love them cooked too, nicely caramelised. I found this recipe in a duck cookbook.

There's quite a funny story behind this cookbook. Shank had been raving about a cookbook on duck (his fav) that he chanced on at Virgin Megastore in Bordeaux. Since Christmas was coming, I thought I'd get him that book. I had no idea what the book looked like, who was the author, etc, I only knew it was a book on duck. So I searched all the bookstores in Amiens, but no luck. We were spending Christmas in Bordeaux that year. I went down only 3 days before Christmas - just 3 days to go and I didn't have a Christmas present yet. What if I didn't find the duck cookbook?! I rushed to Virgin, there was only one single duck cookbook in sight, so I decided that must have been it. I was so happy with my purchase (not to mention relieved)!

The funny part starts when we both put our presents under the Christmas tree. Hmmm, both presents had the same dimensions, same weight, same feel... We both had the same idea! What a laugh we had! We ended up with two copies of Le Canard de Julie. Shank admitted too that in addition to his duck passion, Julie was very pretty. I admit it's true. He has good taste. :) So what were we to do with 2 identical cookbooks? Shank wanted to keep both, but the practical side of me persuaded him to exchange one of them to another cookbook. But now, the romantic side of me is regretting that move. But then again, we wouldn't have had the Délicieuses Tartes Sucrées et Salées to make the wonderful tarts we made for our wedding.

Practicality wins?

Shallot confit with spiced red wine
from Le Canard de Julie by Julie Andrieu

2 tablespoons olive oil
500 g shallots
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 bottle red wine
3 star anise
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick cinammon
10 grains black pepper
4 cloves

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat and add the shallots to brown. Add the sugar and caramelise the onions for 5 minutes. Add the salt, wine, and the rest of the ingredients. Bring the mixture to boil and simmer for 30 minutes on low heat. Serve at room temperature.

Vodka-marinated Steak

Hmmm... Why did I have a feeling this would be so good? *grin* Many people tell me they hate vodka, I tell them they haven't tasted real vodka. Forget Smirnoff or Absolut. An evening of vodka-tasting between a few friends and a few bottles of Russian, Ukranian and Polish vodka unanimously concluded that the Russian vodka was the best. So get the original stuff. This is supposedly a Scandinavian recipe. I'd never made this before, ok, i think this is a confession post, I'd never made 99% of the recipes before. My experiments* turned out rather well I'd say. But back to the vodka-marinated steak, maybe it was the vodka, maybe it was Nigella Lawson, I just knew it'll taste good. *double grin*

Vodka-marinated steak
from Feast by Nigella Lawson

700 g approx. piece of rump steak (I used filet steak)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons black peppercorns, crushed
3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped thyme
3 cloves garlic, crushed
80 ml vodka
60 ml olive oil

Combine all of the marinade ingredients and put into a freezer bag with the meat. Smear the contents around to get the beef evenly coated in the salt, pepper and herbs. Leave for two or three days in the fridge. If you can't find the time, the leave the steak to marinate for a good 3 hours at room temperature.

Bring the beef in its marinade to room temperature. Take the steak out of the marinade, but reserve the marinade itself. Heat some vegetable oil in a large frying pan, and sear the beef on all sides over a high flame until it colours. (If you like your beef rare like me, take it out of the pan at this point. But if you like your meat well-cooked, cover the pan and turn down the heat to low and cook longer.)

Wrap the meat in foil to rest for a good 15 minutes while making the sauce.

Strain the marinade into a measuring jug and then make the liquid contents up to 150 ml with beef stock. Pour into the frying pan to deglaze, adding any resting juices that the beef has made. When the sauce is sizzling, whisk in a pat of butter.

Carve the meat into thin diagonal slices, arrange on a plate, then pour over the sauce.


*Afterthought: I am in research. :P