Recipes - Nomify: Items for your Nomming

Ham hock and lentil soup

2010-03-16T12:59:44Z

Great use of a leftover ham-bone, or you can buy a ham-hock from lots of butchers or market stalls. Very hearty and warming.

1 ham hock, skin more or less removed, or ham-bone
1 cup of puy lentils
1 carrot
1-2 stalks of celery
1 garlic clove
1 bay leaf
2.5 litres vegetable stock
Olive oil, salt, pepper

Fry celery, garlic and carrot in olive oil until soft, and then chuck in the ham bone and bayleaf, and the stock. Simmer for 1.5 hours, and then add the lentils, which should take about 20-25 minutes to cook.

Pull the ham off the bone and shred into the soup, then serve with crusty bread.

Pro tip: The leftovers are great, but the lentils can absorb lots of water and leave you with a pretty gluggy and solid mass. You can let it down with hot water or more stock and it'll be fine.

Pro tip: If you allow the soup to cool completely before you add the lentils, you can skim off a lot of the fat and make it a slightly less rich soup.

Shallot, potato and goat's cheese tatin

2010-03-14T10:10:22Z

I find that the hardest thing about having people around for dinner (particularly on special occasions) is thinking of what to cook, and more so when it’s my mother I’m cooking for – on her 60th birthday no less. And so it was that I found myself casting around for entree options late on Friday night, when finally I stumbled on Yotan Ottolenghi’s recipe for a savoury tarte tatin. Ottolenghi’s receipe is for two individual 10cm tarts in their own tins, but because I was cooking for nine people, I took a leap and assembled them in muffin tins – a decision I was panicking about until they turned out perfectly. What follows is my adjusted recipe, which is for 10 little tarts. I’m going to try this with apple tarte tatin sometime soon.

20 tiny potatoes – 2 for each tarte
20 french shallots, each peeled divided on their natural breaks into two little gems
200gms goat’s cheese – I used a soft chevre, but I think it would work with any type of cheese
A few springs of thyme
50gms butter
200gms caster suger
4 or 5 sheets of puff pastry

Equipment

Two muffin tins with at least 10 large holes between them – the holes need to be at least 8-9cm at the base
An oven tray larger than the largest muffin tin for turning the tarts out onto

Oil the muffin trays and set them aside.

Boil the potatoes in salty water for 25 minutes, or until they're tender but not crumbly. Fish them out of the water and set them aside to cool. Once they're cool, cut a bit off each end of each potato, and then cut them in half down the middle (so that you end up with lumps that will stand up on their own).

Simmer the shallots in the potato water for 10 minutes, then drain.

Then the caramel: Ottolenghi's recipe says to heat the butter and sugar over a high flame, stirring constantly, until a semi-dark caramel forms. I wasn't totally sure what a 'semi-dark caramel' should look like, so I ended up with something between milk and dark chocolate in colour, and it was fine. It took about ten minutes to come together.

Divide the caramel between the muffin tins and allow the caramel to spread over the bases of each hole, and then sprinkle a few leaves of thyme on top.

Arrange four potato halves on top of each caramel base, and nestle a couple of shallots in amongst them and grind some salt and pepper over the top, then place slices of goat's cheese on top of each tart.

Finally, cut discs of puff pastry that are 2cm wider than your tarts and place over the top, tucking the edges down around the tart contents.

At this point, you can refrigerate the tarts until you're ready to cook them, although as with all things it's worth getting them out of the fridge half an hour before they go in the oven.

To cook, put them in a preheated 200 degree oven for 15 minutes, and leave in for a further 5-8 minutes at 180. They should be ready when the puff pastry is all puffy and golden on top.

The last step is to turn them out, which is trickier than it would be with individual tarts - you need to place your oven tray upside down over the muffin tins and then perform a deft and quick flip, holding the two tightly together as you do so. Then gently lift the muffin tin off, leaving the tarts behind.

Serve with a green salad.

Best caprese salad

2010-02-22T13:19:47Z

My reward for helping mum with some computing tasks on the weekend was a plate of her caprese salad, accompanied by some crusty bread, olives and a few slices of Istra prosciutto. Since buffalo mozzarella is like smack to my fellow Nomists at the moment, I’ve put together some tips for the perfect caprese.

Two large balls of buffalo mozzarella
A dozen absolutely perfect juicy mini-truss tomatoes
3 ripe ripe ripe sweet larger tomatoes (dark-coloured ones for style points)
A handful of basil straight from the garden
Top-shelf extra virgin olive oil
Too many salt flakes
Warmed bread for mopping up with

Alongside THE BEST tomatoes you can find, the key to this salad is oil and salt, and lots of it - never vinegar, since the acidity of the tomatoes is the perfect foil for the velvety oil, and vinegar just stomps all over it (plus it stains the beautiful white mozzarella). So:

Halve the mini tomatoes and slice the other tomatoes and the mozzarella thickly. Arrange on a plate in whichever visually pleasing manner you desire.

Sprinkle lavishly with salt flakes. Now's not the time to worry about your arteries, people: this is special salad, and the salt makes everything so perky. Then, drizzle with olive oil - mum fairly hosed the plate with the stuff. Throw your basil leaves (tear or chop the larger ones) on top and allow to stand for several minutes so that the oil soaks into the tomatoes a bit.

Serve with bread, which you can use to mop up the ample juice left over once you've scoffed the salad.

Chicken for your mother

2010-02-15T12:45:06Z

An emergency chicken dinner I prepared at short notice for my Mum during the Summer holidays. Based on a Maggie Beer recipe, it’s now a weekly staple as the reward far outweighs the effort.

chicken thighs (and legs if you want) – preferably with skin on.
pancetta (hot) – sliced medium
preserved lemon – a few pieces finely diced
garlic – a few cloves finely diced
rosemary – a few sprigs torn up
pepper

Mix all in a bowl (except for pancetta), and marinate for an hour or so if you can.

Put in a baking tray or casserole and cook at 200-220 for about 1-1.5 hrs, turning over every 20 minutes or so.

Put slices of pancetta on a baking tray and throw into the oven until almost crispy (10 minutes).

Once chicken is cooked and browned, drain off most of the fat. Scatter pancetta over chicken.

Combine 2 parts chicken stock to 1 part verjuice (all warmed) and pour over chicken/pancetta, allow to rest in juices for 20 minutes.

serve with sparkling wit (and maybe a salad)...

Cha gio: Southern-style Vietnamese Spring Rolls

2010-02-13T19:44:18Z

Its a big claim, but these are better than any spring roll you’ve had before. You can make them more decadent by replacing the pork with more crab, or the pork & prawns with crab. The crabbier, the better – 100% crab is just fine.

For the spring rolls

120g minced pork
100g fresh crab meat, cooked
120g minced raw prawns
50g dried cloud ear mushrooms, soaked
120g taro (sub with sweet potato), grated
1 stock cube
2-3 tsp sugar
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tblsp shallot, chopped finely
1 tblsp spring onion, chopped finely
1 egg yolk
12-16 pieces of rice paper or net rice paper (the net stuff is fantastic and worth searching for). If rice paper is unavailable, spring roll wrappers would do instead.
Coconut water (not coconut milk), alternatively, use beer.
Cooking oil for deep frying (soybean, sunflower, peanut etc)

Dipping sauce

2 tblsp white sugar
1.5 tblsp lime juice
2 tblsp fish sauce
1 tsp garlic, finely minced
½ tsp chilli, finely chopped (more to taste)

For serving:

butter lettuce leaves
A range of herbs: usually cha gio are served in HCMC with mint, asian (thai) basil and shiso leaves. Don’t both picking the leaves off the stems, just rinse and throw them all together on a platter for people to help themselves.
frcFresh white rice noodles (bun)

Soak the cloud ear mushrooms in warm water for 15 minutes. When pliable, chop finely into long strips (julienne).

Peel and coarsely grate the taro (or sweet potato) into a mixing bowl.

Add the minced pork, crab meat, minced prawns, mushrooms, shallot, springies, stock cube, sugar, pepper and egg yolk to the mixing bowl with the taro. Mix it all together, be careful not to break the crab up too much.

Interlude: Make the dipping sauce

In a small bowl, mix sugar, lime juice and fish sauce together. Whisk briskly until sugar dissolves. It seems like a lot of sugar, and it is. Vietnamese food tastes so good because of all the sugar and salt and sweet powder (MSG).
Add chopped chilli and garlic.
Taste for sweet/salty/sour balance. Adjust carefully.

Pour the beer/coconut water into a glass or small bowl that you can dip your fingers in. Lay the rice paper on the bench. Using dampened fingers, spread beer/coconut juice sparingly on the rice paper. Be careful not to get it too wet otherwise they'll be soggy and lose all structural integrity.

Fold the bottom edge of the rice paper toward the centre so that you form a flat edge. Put a scant dessert spoon of filling on the doubled-over area, fold in the left and right sides, then roll up firmly. Don't use too much filling or they'll burst when they're cooking.

Get the oil on to heat. It needs to be deep enough to properly deep fry the spring rolls. These are not healthy. There's no point in shallow frying. I use a small saucepan and fry 3 or 4 at one time.

Deep fry over low-medium heat until golden brown.

To serve:

Accompany the spring rolls with a an overflowing plate of herbs, lettuce and a bowl of dipping sauce.

If you want to make a full meal of it, serve with soft white rice noodles (bun).

To eat:

Wrap everything in a lettuce leaf, including the noodles, if you have them.

South Indian Fish Soup

2009-08-30T18:01:08Z

This is a really hearty Jamie Oliver recipe – I’ve made it a few times, and although it’s got a fair few ingredients, most of them are cupboard staples. It’s worth making just for the amazing smells when you chuck in the curry leaves.

5 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons brown mustard seeds
a handful of fresh curry leaves, picked off their stalks
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon garam masala
1½ teaspoons chilli powder
2 teaspoons turmeric
3 red chillies, deseeded and finely sliced
2 large thumb-sized pieces of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 handfuls of basmati rice
565ml water
600g firm-fleshed white fish, skinned, filleted and cut into 2-3 inch chunks – I’ve used ling, trevalla, flathead, snapper successfully
2 x 400ml tins of coconut milk
salt and freshly ground black pepper
juice of 2 limes
a handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Heat the oil in a large pan, then add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, cumin seeds, garam masala, chilli powder and turmeric; cook for a few minutes. Inhale.

Then add the chillies, the ginger, the garlic and the onions. Cook slowly until the garlic and onions are soft.

Add the rice and the water. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Add fish and the coconut milk with a pinch of salt. Put the lid on the pan and simmer for a further 10 minutes, then stir well.

Season with salt and pepper, and stir lime juice and half the coriander.

Serve in warmed bowls, sprinkled with the rest of the coriander.

The Chicken Sandwiches

2009-07-16T13:09:37Z

These chicken sandwiches have been a staple for race days, wedding, birthdays, several funerals, and hot nights when the idea of turning on an appliance is more than you can handle. They really are the best.

2 loaves of white bread (the most nutritionally bereft you can find) 1 party chicken (BBQ chicken from the supermarket or charcoal chicken emporium) 1 jar of Thomy mayonnaise 1 tub of sour cream (do not get that light stuff – it is just a waste of everyone’s time) 1 bunch of chives salt and pepper

If you have just bought the chicken, allow it to cool a little so that it is not too hot to handle. If you have had the chicken in the fridge, take it out for a half hour or so before you plan to use it –otherwise I swear you will have frostbite by the time you are done.

Using your fingers strip all of the meat off the chicken and shred it into a big bowl. Include a little of the tastiest crunchy bits of the skin, but definitely not all of the skin.

When all the chicken is in the bowl add several tablespoons of mayo and sour cream, you want a ratio of about 1/3 mayo to 2/3 sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Snip chives with a pair of scissors into bowl, as much as you like, you can always add more later. Mix thoroughly. If the chicken is very finely shredded then it will look a bit like mousse at this stage. Add more mayo, sour cream or chives depending if needed.

Make sandwiches. Don’t be too mingy with the chicken mix and make sure you spread it right to edges of the bread. Usually I cut them into points, but if it is a very special occasion I might consider cutting off the crusts and cutting into fingers.

Pumpkin Pie

2009-06-18T12:08:30Z

Non-Americans are usually disturbed by the idea of pumpkin pie. But I assure you, the first bite will taste weird, and all subsequent ones will taste perfect. I usually roast my own pumpkin and puree it; you can also buy canned pumpkin puree. I also often use butternut squash which, technically, is not a pumpkin, but works really well. I recommend eating this pie with cream or vanilla ice-cream. It makes a great breakfast.

Crust:

1 ¼ cups white flour
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
5 tbsp butter
4 (approx.) tbsp iced water

Filling:

1 ½ cups pumpkin puree
2 tbsp melted butter
¼ cup maple syrup
½ cup sugar
¾ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
¾ cup evaporated milk
2 egg yolks
3 egg whites

To Prepare the Crust:

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture is uniformly crumbly.
Add the ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing the ingredients with a fork to moisten them evenly and adding just enough water to permit the dough to be formed into a ball. Flatten the ball slightly, wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill it for 15 minutes or longer. (Meanwhile, prepare the filling, through to number 4)
On a floured surface roll out the dough into a circle 11 or 12 inches wide. Fit the dough into a 10-inch pie plate or deep 9 inch pie dish.

To Prepare the Filling:

In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, butter, syrup, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, evaporated milk, egg yokes, blending the ingredients thoroughly with a fork or other suitable utensil.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees F.
In a separate clean bowl, beat the egg whites until they are stiff. Gently but thoroughly fold them into the pumpkin mixture.
Pour the filling into the prepared pie shell, and bake pie for 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. (Definitely start checking it after 40-45 minutes, because I find sometimes it bakes more quickly.)

Chicken Marinade

2009-04-23T09:29:13Z

I inherited this marinade from my Malaysian friend Hock. I don’t think it’s especially Malaysian, but it sure is the tasty business. Works best with chicken breast on the BBQ, but whatevs.

Peanut/vegetable/canola oil (something light – anything other than olive oil)
Sesame oil
Oyster sauce
Fish sauce
Soy sauce
Chinese five-spice
Dried chili flakes

There's no real science to this - just bung it all in a bowl or dish with highish sides.

Proportions (volume):

Most - You want the bulk of the marinade to be the oil.

Second most - Would be the oyster and soy sauce (roughly the same of each).

Then - a bit of fish sauce, not heaps - just, you know, a bit.

Finally - Add as much five-spice (which gives the stuff you're cooking a bit of a crust) and chili as you want. You'll only need a little of the sesame oil, cos it's pretty strong.

Give it a stir so it's all nicely mixed together.

Whack in your chicken and get it good and submerged/covered with marinade.

Cover with Glad Wrap or similar and put it in the fridge for a while (half an hour will work, one hour is better, three is best - if you can wait for longer, you're a more organised human than I).

Probably Highly Inauthentic Japanese Soup

2009-04-20T13:49:30Z

I make this at work for lunch during winter every so often. It has excellent warming qualities, and can be varied in all sorts of exciting ways according to what you have available.

½ cup sushi rice
2 sachets of dashi broth powder (I assume dashi is made of dried, ground whale, but I can’t be certain)
Boiling water
4 spring onions, finely sliced (including green parts)
1 egg, lightly whisked
Big handful of bean sprouts
Soy sauce
Mirin

Cook the rice according to the packet instructions - I use the absorption method, which I think contributes to this recipe's lack of authenticity.

When the rice is cooked (and drained if necessary), add the sachets of dashi powder to the rice and about half a litre of boiling water and bring it all back to the boil.

Stir the egg through the soup - it'll go a bit stringy and cloudy - and then throw the spring onions in before turning off the heat. Add a few slugs each of soy and mirin to the mix, and then ladle into bowls. Scatter bean sprouts over the top.

Possible variations include substituting bit of shredded cooked chicken for the egg; adding extra green material (maybe spinach or snowpeas or snowpea sprouts?); adding some smallish cubes of silken tofu.

Serves 2 for lunch

Salted Peanut Brittle

2009-04-18T13:52:32Z

Gourmet Traveller had a recipe for banana splits in the February ‘09, the crowning glory of which was peanut brittle.

80 gms raw, hulled peanuts (practically impossible to find; I bought ‘blanched’ peanuts from the Korean in Brunswick Street)
110 gms caster sugar

Scatter the caster sugar across the bottom of a frying pan and heat on medium-high until the sugar caramelises (3-5 minutes). Once it's all amber and beautiful, chuck in the peanuts and a bit of sea salt and mix it all together. Gourmet Traveller recommends an 'oiled fork' for this task, but that's Gourmet Traveller for you.

Spread the goop onto an oiled tray and allow it to set and cool before chopping up roughly and sprinkling on, well, your breakfast cereal for a start. I can imagine it being spectacular just stirred through vanilla ice-cream (perhaps with a bit of chocolate sauce over the top), and of course with the full banana split palaver it was magic. Mm.

TIp for getting burnt sugar off cutlery and pans: boiling water.

Chocolate Pots

2009-04-17T16:57:01Z

I have made this Jamie Oliver recipe so many times I might as well have invented it myself.

600ml thickened cream
250g old gold chocolate
2 egg yolks
3 tablespoons of brandy, or tia maria, or khalua or whatever
20g butter

Heat half the container of cream in a pot until it is almost boiling. Watch it and don’t let it boil though or you will curdle it.

Take off the heat and let it sit for a minute.

Snap the chocolate into pieces and drop into the cream. Mix though with a whisk until chocolate is melted and mixture looks like the worlds naughtiest hot chocolate!

Add the egg yolks and 3 tablespoons of booze. Stir in. Let mixture sit for a minute and then add the 20 grams of butter. Stir through until all melted.

Pour into little pots and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Whip the other half of the cream and serve the pots with the spare cream for people to add as they like. Don’t tell people they are pretty much adding cream to cream!

Tiramisu

2009-03-31T12:49:28Z

It’s best to make the tiramisu a day in advance, as it tastes better when all of the flavours have had time to soak into the biscuit.

You can experiment will all manner of shaped bowls for this dessert, round and tall or even a baking dish, just double check whatever bowl you use will fit in the fridge before you use it (easy traps for new players).

125g caster sugar
4 large egg yolks
250g mascapone
600ml cream
Strong black coffee, several cups, cooled
Tia maria or other coffee liqueur, as much as you feel
Large packet of Saviodari (sponge finger) biscuits, the fat ones not the thin ones
Cocoa powder

Beat cream until firm peaks form, then leave aside.

In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until pale and foaming. Then add masacpone, beating constantly. Gently fold cream into mascapone egg mixture.

Mix coffee and tia maria together in a small bowl.

Quickly dip each Saviodari biscuit in coffee mix and line the bottom of the bowl. Cover with a thin layer of cheese mix, then dust with a layer of cooca powder. Repeat process until you have run out of biscuit or there is no more room in the bowl, making sure to reserve enough cheese mixture to coat the whole lot on the top. Finish the top layer with a final dusting of cocoa powder.

Refrigerate until serving time.

Its worth noting that this tiramisu also makes the best breakfast hangover cure after a long boozy dinner. So make sure there are leftovers.

Sweet Potato And Cherry Tomato Salad with Blue Cheese

2009-03-31T12:28:03Z

I made this salad for lunch on Christmas day. So did my mum. So did Sus. The evidence suggests it must be pretty good fanks.

500g sweet potato, cubed 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes or similar quantity of small roma tomatoes 1 packet of blue castello cheese a handful of garlic cloves olive oil red wine vinegar 1 teaspoon cumin seeds a bunch of fresh basil leaves salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Toss the sweet potatoes, garlic cloves, a good dash of olive oil, cumin seeds, salt and pepper to taste, and a handful of torn basil leaves in a baking dish.

Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes, then add the tomatoes and a little more olive oil and bake for another 15 minutes, until the tomatoes are slightly roasted, some burst, some still intact.

Remove from baking dish and place on serving plates, allow to cool slightly. Break cheese into large chunks, tear some extra basil into pieces and drizzle with a bit of red wine vinegar. Note: If you put the cheese on too soon out of the oven it just melts away, wait a little while and you get lovely partially melted bits of tastiness instead.

This salad doesn’t really reheat well for presentation purposes because it can get pretty mushy, but makes for tasty leftovers, particularly in a steak sandwich.

Alternative Chocolate Brownies

2009-03-31T12:21:11Z

There is a already a brownies recipe here at nomify, but this one is for a smaller quantity of brownie. For when one wished to indulge in a restrained fashion. Its originally from the Golden Circle Family Cookbook.

150g butter (chopped) 125g dark chocolate (chopped) 3 eggs, lightly beaten 1 ½ cups caster sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla essence 1 cup plain flour ¼ cup cocoa powder icing sugar, to dust

Preheat the over to 180 degrees. Grease a 20cm square baking tin and line it with baking paper, leaving overhang on the sides to help lift the brownies out.

Place chocolate and butter together in a bowl and melt over a pot of hot water.* Stirring occasionally until smooth. Allow to cool slightly.

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar and vanilla. Then add melted chocolate mixture and stir together gently. Sift flour and cocoa powder together into the mix and stir until just combined. Don’t over beat it.

Pour into baking tin and bake for about 40 minutes or until just set. Test the centre with a cake skewer to make sure.

Leave to cool in the tin, remove and slice with a bread knife. Dust with icing sugar and serve. The brownies can be stored in an airtight container, but will go dry after a couple of days.

Alternative options: You could add nuts or something healthy like that, or if serving them hot as a dessert you can break up the rest of the chocolate block and dot cake mix before baking, the chocolate pieces will then ooze out of the brownies when you serve then. Nom.

*I never actually do this. Who can be bothered with a double boiler? But just melting it in a pot is tempting fate so you should only risk it if you are feeling particularly adventurous or are a supreme master chef. (Or you can do it in the microwave if you have one of those new fandagled thingamys).

Summer Fruit Tea Cake

2009-02-18T13:26:31Z

This one came from the cuisine.com.au thing that The Age online links to. The site is a bit hit and miss, but the recipe has been a good one. I use whatever fruit looks good at the greengrocer, nectarines, peaches, figs, apples, pears, plums, etc. I always use strawberries and blueberries though, because the colours and shapes make the cake look great.

125g butter
1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence/extract
2 eggs
1 ½ cups self-raising flour
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp baking powder
3 tbsp icing sugar
1 ½ cups in total of summer fruit, sliced

Preheat the oven to 160. Line the bottom of a springform tin with baking paper (22cm round is around the right size, but any shape will do).

Beat butter, caster sugar, and vanilla together until creamed, then add eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition.

Sift in self-raising flour, cinnamon and baking powder and fold into creamed mix until just combined. The mix will be quite thick and dry. Spoon mix into the prepared tin and spread out to cover the bottom of the tin.

Stud the fruit into the top of the cake mix, you could try and make a pretty pattern but the rustic look is much easier. Dust the top of the cake with half of the icing sugar and bake for 1 hour. Then, turn oven off and let the cake rest in the oven for 10 minutes (don’t forget about it and leave it in there all afternoon though, it will get a bit dry).

The outside of the cake should be quite crusty and crunchy and the middle, slightly sunken and more moist and fruity. Cool and then dust with remaining icing sugar to serve. Cream will be required.

Chickpea salad

2009-02-05T12:54:24Z

This is an excellent Work Lunch – it can be prepared in advance (all the better to soak up the garlicky goodness), and keeps for a day or so in the fridge. The quantities given here are for a single generous serving. Anybody else got good lunchbox ideas?

1 can of chickpeas (the organic ones always seem a bit nuttier and nicer to me)
1 tomato, diced
a few olives, de-pipped and torn in half
a small handful of chopped parsley
a bit of soft goat’s cheese or goat’s feta
juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon of olive oil
salt and pepper
half a clove of garlic, crushed

Because I am my mother's daughter, I hull the chickpeas - that is, I dump them into a bowl of water, squeeze the peas out of their skins, and then pour off the water and floaty skins and rinse. They're much nicer like this - and less likely to cause tummy grumbles.

Mix chickpeas, tomato, parsley and olives together, and then dress with olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and salt and pepper (combined beforehand if you can be bothered). I always put the goat's cheese on top of the salad and stir it through at the last minute - it seems to last better this way and not go so mushy.

Watermelon Salad

2009-02-03T06:20:11Z

Aka Heatwave Salad… I lived on this when Melbourne went into meltdown. I haven’t given quantities: use whatever proportions you fancy, and up the watermelon with the mercury.

watermelon, minus the rind and cut into chunks
fetta cheese, chopped – Persian is great but Greek is fine too
pitted olives – any kind you love. I use chilli calamatas.
chives, chopped
delicious olive oil

Combine the watermelon, cheese and olives. Sprinkle with chives and drizzle with olive oil. Serve cold but not freezing, so you can taste the blend of sweet, salt and - if you're like me - chilli.

Chilled pea and mint soup

2009-01-28T22:20:57Z

We’ve made this heaps in recent times – we tend to have most of the ingredients on hand, and it’s magnificent for summer nomming. The first time I made it was for a family reunion-type occasion, and we served it in little glasses – just a couple of mouthfuls per person, but a nice standing-around starter. It’s more or less a Nigella recipe, with some small adjustments.

1.25 litres vegetable stock
Stalks from a bunch of mint
A few mint leaves
1 tablespoon dried mint
500gm frozen baby peas (the nieces eat these still-frozen by the handful. and I’ve taken it up too)
olive oil
3 spring onions, chopped
salt and pepper
small tub of sour cream

Steep the mint stalks and dried mint in the stock for half an hour (in some kind of jug).

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, and add the spring onions; cook until a bit soft and then stir in the peas (there's no need to defrost them beforehand). Cook until the peas are soft, and then add the stock to the saucepan, minus the mint stalks.

Cook for around 20 minutes, then blend or process and season to taste.

Stick it in the fridge until it's nice and cold (particularly if it happens to be 43 degrees outside), and then serve with a dollop of sour cream and a some chopped mint leaves on top. With regards to the dollop of cream: I find it's best to warm it up a bit with some vigourous stirring, so that it doesn't break up into nasty little lumps on contact with the cold soup, but rather can be stirred ribbon-like throughout (Nigella uses a blender to combine soup and cream, but I think that's just too much washing up).

Panzanella - Italian bread salad

2009-01-27T20:52:08Z

Inspired by the Heatwave of the Century, Panzanella is a virtually no-cook meal, and this version simply contains the things we had to hand. It’s a meal to showcase the virtues of salt, really.

8 fat (fat!) slices of 2-day-old casalinga, or white sourdough, or something chunky and oil-absorbing, torn into cube-link hunks of a couple of centimetres wide.
6 ripe ripe ripe tomatoes, roughly diced
1 cucumber, diced
half a red onion, very finely sliced
a big handful basil leaves, torn
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Red wine vinegar, if you must

This is a rustic, farmy salad - nothing should be too carefully chopped or elegantly assembled. Tearing is the order of the day (although I defy you to tear a tomato).

Heat some olive oil and, once it's really hot, throw in the chunks of bread. Fry them a bit - some goldenness is good, but you don't want enormous croutons, just sorta crispy bread chunks. Add some salt flakes and pepper towards the end. It'll take 30 seconds to a minute; when they're done, set them aside on some absorbent paper.

Fry the fine slices of red onion in what's left of the oil until a bit soft - you really just want to take the burpy, indigestion-inducing edge off, so this only takes a minute or so.

Then mix the onion, tomato, cucumber, basil and bread together, and dress with some extra-nice olive oil, salt, pepper and maybe a dash of vinegar (although tomato salads tend not to require too much I find, so tread carefully).

Serve! Enough for a low-key entree for 4 people, or a greedy, 30-degree night dinner for two.