Duck Crostini by Dwight Stanford

Picnic recipe. Another leftovers recipe. I made a roast duck today and with the extra, I used 200 gms of the cleaned meat, 4tbsp of the duck fat and cooked up 100 gms of pork sausage leftover in the fridge. I put them all in the kitchen aid until smooth, spread on my homemade multi-cereal bread toasted in the oven with a few drops of my EVOO on top. It is obvious by the presentation there is a woman about the house at present . It went well with my red which is 75% Montepulciano and 25% Syrah with no oak aging.

Scotch Eggs by Maureen Plotts Horvath

The picnics I remember were the one’s my mother put together for eating on the side of the road on our trips to the Transkei, South Africa back in the sixties. It was close to an 8 hour trip and we would stop around noon for cold chicken, “Perks” steak pies, pasta salad and Scotch eggs washed down with home made lemonade. The Scotch eggs were my favorite….

As many hard boiled eggs as there are people. Wrap each egg in home made sausage meat, then roll in breadcrumbs and fry in about 1/2 inch of vegetable or olive oil until golden brown all over and sausage meat cooked through. Drain on paper towels. Split in half to serve at room temperature, with salt & pepper and HP sauce for dipping.

 

Sarah & Mark’s Chicken Caesar Baskets

 

This perfect summers day lunch is so easy to make and so delicious to eat. The parmesan baskets are a fantastically simple idea and are light and chewy but crisp. Wonderful!

Chicken Caesar Baskets (Makes 4)

For the Baskets:
2 cups grated parmesan
1 empty jam jar or glass

For the Filling:
1 large chicken breast
2 strips of bacon or speck
Romaine lettuce
chives

For the Caesar Dressing:
2 cloves garlic
4 anchovy fillets
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 large egg yolk
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

First make your baskets:
1. Take a handful of parmesan and a hot flat griddle
2. Spread the parmesan in the centre of the griddle in a circle, thicker towards the centre and thinner towards the edges (this will make the edges more lacy)
3. Heat, then once bubbling and slightly starting to turn golden, remove from the heat
4. Loosen parmesan disk from the griddle with a spatular and as soon as you can, pick it up and drape over the up-side-down jam jar.
5. Make creases to form the bowl shape.
6. Remove from the jam jar and set aside to cool.

For the dressing:
1. Mash the garlic and anchovies together – if you have a mini blender then this is perfect.
2. Add the salt, pepper, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, egg yolk and then whisk in the olive oil. Blitz or whisk together until thick and creamy.

Now for the filling:
1. Slice chicken breast into small pieces and cook on a hot griddle (with any seasoning you may like)
2. Cook bacon in a similar way and cut into strips
3. Wash lettuce, tear into small pieces and toss in the Caesar dressing
4. Place a handful of the lettuce in the bottom of each basket, top with the chicken, bacon strips and chopped chives and you are done.
5. Yummy!

Mary’s Chicken Involtini with herbed Parmigiano Reggiano and Chard

1/2 chicken breast sliced into 4 slices and pounded
30 grams/1 cup of shredded Parmigiano Reggiano
40 grams/3 Tbsp of stracchino or enough to form a paste with the P.R.
1 lg clove of garlic minced
2 tsp fresh thyme minced
1 cup cooked chard or spinach, cooled and squeezed as dry as possible
salt and pepper
1 egg scrambled with 1 Tbsp of water for the egg wash
1 cup Panko bread crumbs, or regular bread crumbs
2 Tbs shredded Parmigiano Reggiano
Olive Oil

Salt and pepper the chicken slices and set aside.

Mix together the cheeses, garlic and thyme forming a paste. Spread the paste evenly over the 4 slices of chicken, then cover each slice with 1/4 of the chard. Roll the slices into tight fairly tight rolls.

Mix together the panko or breadcrumbs, 2 Tbsp of Parmigiano Reggiano, salt and pepper.

In a medium frying pan, add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Heat over medium high heat.

When the oil is hot, dip each involtini into the egg wash and then into the Panko or breadcrumbs covering thoroughly. Place each involtini into the hot oil and cook until each side is golden brown and the chicken is completely cooked through.

MAUREEN’S ROLLED CARPACCIO WITH CAPERS ON A BED OF SHAVED PARMIGIANO REGGIANO

125 g Filet steak semi-frozen and sliced thinly in strips
90 g Parmigiano Regiano shaved in curls
1/3 jar of large capers
Zest & juice of 1 Meyer lemon
Leaves from sprig of fresh Thyme
2 tblsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Lay the sliced steak on a cutting board, and brush with 1 tblsp of extra virgin olive oil. Take one slice at a time, lay down one large caper and roll into a ball. Repeat with all the meat slices. Place the rolled balls in a bowl and pour over the lemon juice and the zest. Cover and allow to marinate for 15 minutes.

Arrange the shaved PR on a platter, then the rolled Carpaccio, garnish with more capers and Thyme leaves. Drizzle the remaining extra virgin olive oil over the Carpaccio.

Millefoglie of ripe tomatoes with ricotta quenelles by Temple Perrotta

Ingredients:
ripe red tomatoes of the meaty variety: either beefsteak or cuore di bue
prepared puff pastry, preferable rectangular
ricotta
parmesan
1 egg
your favorite pesto, room temperature
salt and pepper, q.b.
Preparation:
slice the tomatoes very thinly; with a muffin cutter, cut circles in the pastry (you need 3 per person);
bake the pastry until lightly golden, set aside; mix the ricotta and egg, adding a little parmesan; bake until a toothpick comes out clean (depending on the amount, about 20’ in a preheated 200° oven); assemble the pastry rounds, alternating with 1 or 2 slices of tomato drizzled with a little pesto; finish with a pastry round and a few drizzles of pesto; top the millefoglie with a large spoonful of the warm ricotta
garnish with a fresh basil leaf (optional) and serve

Eggs in Tomato Sauce by Maureen Plotts Horvath

I have had this recipe for years and usually make it for an Al Fresco lunch dish, but this time decided to do a supper dish. I always make plenty of sauce irrespective of how many people for lunch because you can freeze and reheat when needed. Hope ya’ll try this old Italian recipe! LOL! hee, hee!!

 

Rabbit Stew by Sarah Topps

Right here is my entry for ‘tomato’ week. It isn’t the main ingredient but is certainly a big contribution to this delicious rich stew.

Rabbit can often be dry and boring but locally, it is stewed with herbs and tomatoes until the meat nearly falls off the bones. It makes a delicious, tender dish that reminds us of the woods and mountains.

1 rabbit cut into portions
8 fresh tomatoes
3 finely diced onions
2 celery sticks
3 carrots finely diced
4 rashers bacon or 1 packet panchetta
4 bay leaves
15 juniper berries
4 colves of garlic sliced
1 large stick of cinammon
3 sprigs of rosemary
3 sprigs of marjaram or thyme
1/2 bottle of good red wine
25g butter

1. Gently fry the finely diced bacon with the butter for about 3-5 minutes or until soft.
2. Lay the rabbit pieces in the pot so that each piece of meat will sit on the pot bottom. If they don’t fit, do this in as many batches as it takes then sauté over high heat. You want to create new flavors through the browning of the meat. If the pot is not hot enough, or you put too much meat or there is too much meat and it gives off its juices, then no browning will occur and all you will have achieved is drying out the meat.
3. Season the rabbit then place it in a covered dish.
4. Now add the cinnamon and juniper berries to the bacon then the onion, carrot and celery. Fry over medium-high heat, moving constantly.
5. If you have the rabbit liver, chop it and add to the pan and let it colour. It will turn from red to grey.
6. When the liver has turned in colour, add the wine and let it bubble, cooking out all the alcohol.
7. Add the can or fresh tomatoes.
8. Now add the herbs, possibly tied in a buch to make it easier to remove later. Place the rabbit dive in and join his garnish. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the flame to obtain a very gentle simmering.
9. Let it cook for at least one hour or as long as it takes for the rabbit to be really soft and almost starts to fall off the bone.
10. Now you can either leave the sauce as it is, puree for a smoother effect or add a knob of butter and reduce slightly for a glossy finish. Whatever you do, it certainly will be full of flavour and very delicious. Enjoy!

Giselle’s take on Huevos Rancheros! by Giselle Stafford

Giselle’s take on Huevos Rancheros!

I had Huevos Rancheros in Berkeley, California a few years back in a cute little hippy style cafe – they were awesome!  All I really remember was there were refried beans underneath the tomatoey sauce and black bean sauce may have been involved!

So … I hunted around in the fridge and cupboards and came up with this recipe – it really is my own, and this is definitely not traditional – but we scarfed them down for lunch yesterday and we both say YEAY!! It’s a winner in the Stafford house!

 

 

What you need 

1 red onion cut into wedges

6 large ripe tomatoes – the vine ones have great taste.

(chop 4 of them and cut 2 of them into wedges)

2 tsp black bean sauce (that’s all I had left!)

Half tsp sambal oelek (I think green chilli is more traditional, but I didn’t have any!)

1 tsp ground cumin

Handful of fresh chopped parsley (or coriander if you have it – mine is still in the seedling stage!)

Refried beans – I had a 400g tin, used half of it, but I think they come in smaller tins too.

Melty cheese, grated – I used some of our precious cheddar stash.

4 eggs

Salt (optional)

Tortillas for dipping and mopping up the sauce – as many as you feel you need!

 

What to do …..

Heat up the oil in a wide frying pan or wok type pan.  Add the onion and gently fry until softened and a little translucent.

Add the chopped tomatoes, reserving the tomato wedges until a little later.

Add the black bean sauce, sambal oelek, cumin and most of the chopped parsley (save a sprinkle for the finish)

Cook on a med high heat and reduce the liquid, it should start to thicken.

When the mix is thick enough for you, give it a little taste and maybe add some salt if you feel it needs it.

Add the tomato wedges and stir through.

Make 4 dents in the mix, and drop an egg in each one – so make the dents evenly spaced!

(My mix was a little too liquid, so it was difficult to make the dents, however, the result was still great!)

Turn the heat down a notch to a medium heat.

Cover the pan with a lid for a few minutes to help cook the eggs.

In the meantime, warm some refried beans spread on the bottom of a grill/oven proof dish (I used a terracotta one).

Heat the grill.

When the whites have, well, turned white, with a large spoon, carefully – CAREFULLY transfer the mix and hopefully unbroken eggs on top of the refried beans.

Sprinkle with the cheese and pop it all under a grill until it’s all bubbly and there are patches of brown on the cheese.

Sprinkle the remaining parsley on top and serve with the warmed tortillas.

You can put the pot between you and just share directly out the serving dish or serve up into warmed wide bowls!

This serves 2 hungry folk!

 

Stir-Fried Cashew Nuts & Chicken by Tina Ferrari

I also learned this at Basil Cookery School in Chiang Mai. I made a few of my own changes (for example, this is for 2 – the recipe she gave me was for 1).

 

 

100 g. sliced chicken
100 g. roasted cashew nuts
1/2 cup of jelly mushrooms (not found in Italy – just use your favorite mushroom)
1/2 onion, sliced
4 baby corns if you can find them
1 or 2 tbsp chopped garlic (depends on how much you like garlic)
1 or 2 large red dried chilis (chopped into 1/2″ length) – or use peperoncino if you’re in Italy
2 spring onions
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp. fish sauce
3 or 4 tbsp. oyster sauce
2 tsp. sugar
vegetable oil

1. In the wok, fry garlic in the oil over low heat until brown. Add chicken and keep stirring until the chicken is cooked through.
2. Add onion, baby corns, mushrooms, chili and stir continuously until done.
3. Add chicken stock, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar and stir well to combine.
4. Add cashews and spring onions, stir quickly and then remove from heat.

Enjoy with some rice!

* for vegetarians, use tofu or seitan instead of chicken, and soy sauce or salt instead of the fish & oyster sauce.