Smoky/Salty/Sweet Salad

A great salad when you want something crispy, salty and sweet in with your leaves but don't want a tonne of heavy stuff. Keeping it light and healthy, I spiced up some gorgeous greens with a little crisp fried prosciutto and grilled red onions, (the amazing)smoked salt and a dusting of coriander leaves. You could add some green peas or beans to make it really spring-y but I didn't have any to hand!

The salad makes a great compliment to the Mushroom sandwich a la Giet. :)



If you eat meat, you can't argue with it.

If you don't, I suggest using shavings of salty pecorino to compliment the sweet red onions.

Ingredients:
Red and green salad leaves (e.g. romaine, gem, lollo rosso, oakleaf)
Watercress
Coriander (Cilantro) leaves
One medium red onion
100 to 150g thinly sliced prosciutto (don't use really great prosciutto...it'd be a waste. Storebrand packets are ideal)
Olive oil
Danish Smoked Salt (available in Whole Foods and other similar shops)
Black Pepper
Lemon juice

Method
Turn the grill on and slice the onion thinly while it's heating up. Put the onion on some foil, sprinkle with smoked salt and drizzle with olive oil, then place in the oven to grill. The idea here is to end up with sweet soft onions with crispy bits, so just check on them every 5 minutes or so.

Put your washed leaves in a large bowl and set aside.

Put 1 tbsp of olive oil into a frying pan and heat. Roughly tear the prosciutto and put into the pan to fry. Fry on medium to high heat until the prosciutto is just browning and crisping up. The pan may smoke so put the oven fan on or open a window.

Remove from the heat when ready.

Roughly chop the coriander. Once the onions are ready put these, still warm, over the salad leaves, then adding the prosciutto and the pan juices. Sprinkle over the coriander leaves, and add a squeeze of lemon and twist of black pepper. No need to add any more oil!

Photo credit: Liam C Giet

Portabello Mushroom Sandwich a la Giet!

Remembering the fantastic roast vegetable wraps I used to have as my regular lunch at Harvard's Dudley House, I had an ambition of making a grilled mushroom sandwich, as an alternative to our lovely tomato sandwich staple. But I never seemed to get around to it, until today! The result was a crisp goat's cheese toast topped with meaty, juicy portabello mushrooms, herbs and a basil dressing. We had it with the smoky/salty/sweet salad, and felt like royalty.

It's called "a la Giet" because it combines all of my fiance Liam's favourite things in one place...mushrooms (particularly since they are fried in butter), cheese, fried sage and my home made pesto too (recipe for that forthcoming). They aren't the most waist conscious of dinner plans, but they are vegetarian, and very tasty. If you want to make a lower fat version, grill the mushrooms instead of frying and drizzle with olive oil when they are done: as long as the mushrooms are fresh they will be juicy and fabulous.

I used a walnut bread from Pain Quotidien, which was a great compliment to the slightly smoky sweetness of the portabello, but you could experiment with rye or raisin or whatever you have to hand!

Ingredients:
4 Portabello Mushroom caps
Tarragon leaves (roughly chopped)
Sage leaves, one bunch.
Good quality unsalted butter
Soft, light goat's cheese.
Fleur de Sel or Malden Salt
4 slices of robust bread.
Pesto sauce (home-made is best)
Juice of one lemon
Olive oil
Black pepper.

Method

Turn the oven on grill and allow to heat while you wash the mushrooms and herbs and slice the bread.

Put a large frying pan onto a medium heat, and put the bread in to the dry frying pan when hot. I still believe that this method makes the best toast because you have a lot more control. When the bread is just becoming brown, take it off the heat and put to one side. Now put a pat of butter into the frying pan, and allow to foam. Add a small handful of sage leaves and fry in the butter until crispy. Put aside, with the butter they were cooked in, in a small bowl.

Spread the toasts generously with the soft goat's cheese. Put the toasts into the oven under the grill.




Put another pat of butter into the frying pan over a medium heat, and allowing the butter to foam, add the portabellos, placing them on their backs (the rounded side). Sprinkle with salt and half of the chopped tarragon. Once one side of the mushrooms have gotten cooked and soft, turn them over. It's possible you may need to add a little more butter at this point.





Check the toasts. Once the cheese is just bubbling and getting brown remove from the oven and put on a large plate.

Once the mushrooms are cooked, place one on each cheesy toast...I'm not sure whether cap up or down is better...you be the judge! Don't forget to pour the juices over too. :)

Put 1 1/2 tbsp of pesto into a small bowl, and add the juice of one lemon, and a tbsp or two of boiling water. Blend to make a sauce, then drizzle over the mushroom toasts.





Sprinkle the rest of the tarragon, a pinch of fleur de sel and some black pepper on, and garnish with the fried sage.



Then eat with wild abandon.

Photo Credit: Liam C. Giet

Quick Spring Beetroot Salad

A great salad for these spring days in London: a little sweet, a little salty, fragrant and just plain tasty.

Ingredients:

3 small boiled beetroot, peeled
(you can buy these in lovely vacuum packs with nothing added in for about 70p from Waitrose and other supermarkets)

Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 or 3 sprigs of mint, roughly chopped
2 spring onions
drizzle of Olive oil
pinch of Fleur de Sel

Simply chop the beetroot into bite sized pieces, slice the spring onions diagonally into strips and combine in a bowl with the mint. Squeeze the lemon over the top, add a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of fleur de sel or Maldon Salt.

(photo credit: Liam Giet)

Sweet Fire Pasta Sauce: Roast Sweet Pepper, Garlic and Oregano Arrabiata with Chinese Chilli

Sometimes I just need something hot.



If you don't like spicy food you shouldn't read any further. For those who have a little fire in their belly, this is the pasta sauce for you. You may have tried Arrabiatta sauces in restaurants but trust me, they're not a patch on this one which makes the most of the long, pointed, sweet, red Roma peppers we have been getting in Waitrose lately. With that sweetness, plus the soft caramel of roast garlic, sprigs of fresh oregano and some black chilli oil from Chinatown or See Woo...a standard spicy tomato sauce become a work of art waiting to smother your rotellini (or whichever pasta you choose). Just hot enough and with lots of flavour. It's great for these invigorating early spring days.

Ingredients::

4 Roma red peppers, washed and de-seeded (normal red bell peppers can be used)
2 cans peeled plum tomatoes
1/3 tube tomato paste
olive oil
bunch of fresh oregano
one head of garlic
red wine (see bottom of recipe for non-alcoholic alternatives)
black pepper
good quality salt
1/2 tsp of la jiao you (chinese chilli oil: see picture)

Parmigiano cheese to grate.

Coats pasta for 3 or 2 very hungry people who really like pasta sauce.

Method:

Turn the oven on full blast grill.

Split the peppers so that they lay flat, skin side up, and place on foil. Along side you can put your head of garlic, having lopped off it's very top spiky bits. You can put it right side up or upside down...if it gets too toasty just turn it over.

Place the peppers and garlic in the oven, and roughly chop the oregano, open the tomatoes and cut them (you can just put a knife in the can and cut them while they are still in there.). Go off and read a book or listen to the radio or watch Rome for 10 minutes or until the peppers have gently blackened, blistered tops, turning the garlic over in the meantime if it begins to burn. Don't panic if it does...it's still in its papery skin so it's protected.

Once blackened, retrieve the peppers and garlic and carefully peel the skin of the peppers: it should come off easily, putting the flesh to one side, and chop into rough strips. Squeeze the soft, roasted garlic out of 3 to 4 cloves.



Put about 3 tbsp of olive oil into a deep frying pan (preferably non-stick). Once moderately hot, put about 1 tbsp of the tomato paste into the oil: this is an Italian tomato sauce secret. Fry the past for a few seconds until it is blended with the oil. Then add the peppers, half of the chopped oregano, and the garlic. Fry gently on a medium heat for about a minute, then add a splash or two of red wine. Blend together with a wooden spoon and after about a couple of minutes, add the canned tomato. blending the pepper mixture together with it thoroughly as you heat. Add more red wine, salt and pepper to taste.

(now is a good time to put the pasta into boiling water)

Simmer for 10 minutes: if the sauce looks dry add a bit of red wine (to taste), water or vegetable stock.





Finally add the chilli. Start with a bit less than half a tsp and add to taste. We typically have 1/2 to 1 tsp.

Remove from the heat and blend with your pasta. Tip: I generally put the pasta back in the pot it was boiled in after it has been strained and rinsed, then adding the sauce over it bit by bit until I am happy with the sauce-to-pasta-ratio.

Serve with generous grated parmigiano and sprinkle with the remaining oregano.

and of course...enjoy!



(photo credit: Liam Giet...except for the one below which was taken by me)





Note on vegetarian dishes:

You may have noticed that a lot of my recipes don't contain any meat: this is because I am a veggie fan and rarely eat meat...as a Sikh I try to avoid it. This recipe is vegetarian too; for those who don't eat eggs, there aren't any, and you can replace the red wine with a little balsamic vinegar, some stock and a pinch of sugar if you like, but any alcohol in the wine is cooked off completely in the process of making the dish, hence even I eat it.