Artichoke, feta, mint, prosciutto roll

Artichoke, feta, mint, prosciutto roll by Dwight Stanford

 

I usually have too many fresh artichokes, so I have to eat them 3X a day during season. This is a nice, fresh recipe I found:

 

Ingredients (serves 8)

100g goats feta
6 (about 100g) slices prosciutto
1 x 280g btl whole marinated artichokes, drained, halved
1/4 cup firmly packed fresh mint leaves

Method
Use a sharp knife to cut the feta into 3cm-wide slices. Cut the prosciutto lengthways into 1cm-wide slices.
Top each artichoke half with 1 feta slice and 1 mint leaf.
Wrap 1 prosciutto slice around each artichoke stack and place on a serving platter. Season with pepper to serve.
Keep warm this winter with our selection of casseroles, slow cooker recipes, soup recipes and pasta bakes.

Source
Good Taste – October 2007
Good Taste – October 2007, Page 94
Recipe by Cynthia Black

ASPARAGUS WRAP

ASPARAGUS WRAP by Marta Blay

Ingredients:· Green Asparagus· Jamón Serrano · Virgin Olive Oil
Preparation: Wrap ½ slice of ham in 1 asparagus. Cook the wrap in a skillet, add a little oil. Don’t add salt. You can use Prosciutto di Parma.

Lentil Hamburgers

I have been trying to eat less meat and yesterday I made these wonderful really delicious Lentil hamburgers. I adapted the recipe from this vegetarian version on http://veghunter.wordpress.com/2010/05/13/lentil-patties/

My recipe:
Ingredients

2-1/2 cups water
1  cup uncooked Lentils
3/4 cup bread crumbs
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup roasted peppers
1/2 red onion
2 tablespoons chives
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2-1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 table cumin
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup walnuts
1 egg beaten
olive oil
garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Rinse and pick through lentils.  Add water and lentils to saucepan. Bring to a boil. Let boil for 4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes or until soft and done.  Add more water if needed!  Once done, remove from stove, and let cool 10 minutes.

2. Grind together the dry ingredients Bread crumbs, oats, chili powder, cumin, galic powder, salt and peper, well blended.  Put in a large bowl

3. Grind together roasted peppers, onion, chives, and parmesan cheese until well blended. add to the dry in bowl

4. Add the cooked lentils, egg and soy sauce. I also added a dash of olive oil  Mix all together well.  Once all well combined, form into “patties”.

5 You can fry in a small amount of oil 1 to 2 min each side, or bake at 200 degrees F for 15 minutes. I baked and before baking, I lined the cookie sheet with oven paper, then placed the patties and drizzled more olive oil on them before baking.

I then served on a bed of lettuce with mint yogurt sauce.
Mint Yogurt Sauce

Take Total 0% Greek yogurt, add mint leaves, garlic, parsley salt pepper and some paprika.  Mix up and set in frig for at least 30 minutes.

Related articles

• Lentil Patties (veghunter.wordpress.com)
• Lentil Hamburgers (firenzemom.wordpress.com) My posting

Cole Slaw by Kim Vanzi

I make this all the time for BBQs and Picnics. I just love Cole Slaw. It is basic simple and so yummy.

Ingredients

About 6 cups of white & red cabbage
3 large carrots
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoon of white sugar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper

Shredding the cabbage and carrots. in a bowl mix the remaining ingredients. Pour over the cabbage and carrots. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Some variations: Add crumbled bacon, raisins, cooked farro, rice, or nuts.

Quinoa Salad with Market Veggies by Tina Ferrari

I decided to use some of the vegetables I bought at the market this morning and make a quinoa salad for lunch today, and I think it would make a great picnic food item. If you can’t get a hold of quinoa you can use rice, couscous, farro, etc. This serves 2.

2 cups vegetable broth (I cheat and use broth cubes)
1 cup quinoa
1 bell pepper, diced
1 large tomato, chopped
3 or 4 radishes, sliced
1 tropea (red) onion, thinly sliced
1 carrot, grated
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
dash salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:
I generally use one part quinoa to two parts water, but in any event, follow the instructions on your package of quinoa. Cook the quinoa in vegetable broth (once the boils, turn down the heat to simmer it) until it fluffs up, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the quinoa is cooking, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Cool the quinoa a bit and toss with the vegetables and olive oil/lemon juice mix, stirring to combine well. Chill before serving.

Tina’s Finocchio Gratinato

 

 

I had no idea what I’d do with Parmigiano Reggiano for this challenge, so I took to searching on the internet like anyone would do. I wound up straight at the source - http://www.parmigiano-reggiano.it/ and found a very simple recipe using fennel. I altered it a bit to my liking; for example, I didn’t feel the recipe called for enough cheese.

1 medium fennel bulb
salt
a knob of butter
a good handful or so of grated Parmigiano

Peel the fennel at the hardest parts, cut it and cook it briefly in salted water. (The original recipe calls to cut it in half, but I sliced mine several times as I preferred smaller pieces.)
Drain the fennel, melt the butter in a frying pan and lightly brown it.
Place the fennel baking dish, sprinkle it with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano and bake it until the cheese is completely melted.* Serve hot.

* I baked at about 150C and did not time it; I just kept my eye on the cheese.

GISELLE’S VERSION OF MELANZANE PARMIGIANA…

Here’s my trial and error (and what I have in the fridge) recipe for Melanzane Parmigiana (Parmesan Aubergine/Eggplant) -

 

My own version – I KNOW it’s not a traditional version, before the purists slate me!!

You’ll need – A large plump fresh aubergine sliced into 1cm rounds

Grated parmigiano – a nice little mountain of it!

Chopped or coarsely grated ball of mozzarella.

Tomato sauce

EVO

Finely chopped onion

Couple cloves finely chopped (or crushed) garlic

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

Tablespoon tomato concentrate

Big handful of basil leaves, ripped up.

Salt and freshly ground pepper.

(Glug of red wine, if you want to make it richer)

About 200-250ml of beschamel sauce – if no time, the little tetra packs are a reasonable substitute for making it yourself!

What you need to do …

Heat the oven to a med-hot heat. I use about 180°c (I’m doubting myself now – is it °C or °F? You’ll know!)

Get a griddle pan nice and hot – no oil.

Cook the aubergine slices until tender and very slightly charred along the lines of the griddle. Put them to one side as you cook them, you’ll need to do the slices in batches, I doubt if you have a griddle pan big enough to do them all in one go!

While they are cooking, get your tomato sauce sorted …. In a saucepan, add a good glug of EVO and warm up – add the onion and stir a little to coat in the oil.

After the onion has softened slightly, add the garlic and stir that around too, coating it in the oil. Cook gently for about 5 minutes stirring frequently to stop the onion and garlic browning.

When they are nice and soft add the tin of tomatoes and about a tablespoon of tomato concentrate. (You can add your glug of wine at this stage if you want!)

Stir everything well and bring back to a simmer.

Add the ripped basil leaves & seasoning.

Stir, simmer for 15/ 20 minutes or so until the onions are really soft and the sauce has thickened.

When the sauce is done to your liking and the aubergines are cooked, start layering!

Start with a bottom layer of a bit of the tomato sauce.

Then aubergine

Then some blobs of beschamel dotted over

Then a hefty sprinkling of parmigiano

Then tomato sauce…

Then start again.

Finish with a layer of aubergine.

Absolutely finish with a mix of parmigiano and mozzarella.

Into the oven for about 30 minutes.

You want it to be browned a little on top and bubbling away – and of course for the tomato sauce to have soaked into the aubergines!

Leave it to rest for about 5-10 minutes before serving.

It is a fairly ‘saucy’ dish, but REALLY tasty!

Now, silly me, I was so taken with eating this, I forgot to get a picture of it when it was on my plate! Rest assured, it was pretty damned good!

Amber’s Asparagus, Arugula and Parmesan Salad

250 grams of asparagus
Half a red onion, sliced thin
Two handfuls of arugula
Shaved Parmesan (use your vegetable peeler!), About 10 slices
2 strips of cooked (crunchy) bacon or pancetta
Olive Oil for sautéing

For the vinaigrette:
6 tablespoons of Olive Oil
2-3 tablespoons of champagne or white wine vinegar
1 tsp of Dijon mustard
1.5 tsp of honey
1 small shallot, chopped very fine
Salt and Pepper Q.B.

Wash and remove the woody stems from the asparagus. Cut tips of asparagus off and using a vegetable peeler, “slice” the asparagus into long strips. Heat oil in a pan large enough to hold onions and asparagus. Add onions first and let them cook for a few minutes over a medium low heat. Add asparagus strips and tips and continue cooking until desired tenderness. Don’t forget to season with S and P.
Let cool until warm but not cold.
While cooling, add all the ingredients for the vinaigrette to a shaker or glass jar with a lid and shake vigorously until completely emulsified.
To make salad, toss arugula, asparagus, red onions and a desired amount of dressing. (Hey, some people like it lightly dressed while others heavily dressed!) Add cheese and toss again gently. Sprinkle crumbled bacon on top.

Serve alone or accompany with a nice big steak!

Giselle’s Courgette & Parmesan Soup

Here’s the link to the site I found the recipe originally - 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/italianstylezucchini_9833

Good glug of EVO

1 tbsp chopped garlic

handful basil leaves chopped

sea salt and ground pepper to taste

1kg courgettes cut lengthways into quarters then into 1cm slices

750 ml chicken stock

60 ml or big glug of single cream

handful fresh flatleaf parsley chopped

50g freshly grated parmigiano plus extra for serving

 

Heat the oil in a heavy based pan over a med heat.

Cook the garlic, basil, salt and courgette slowly for about 10 mins or until the courgettes are lightly browned and softened (or just softened!)

Add pepper to taste, then pour in the stock and simmer for about 8- 10 mins uncovered.

Remove from heat.

If you have a stick blender, stick it in the mix and whizz about 3/4 of it.  If you have a food processor, do the same amount. (I prefer 1st method – less washing up!)

Return the soup to the pan and stir in the cream parsley and parmigiano.

To serve, ladle the soup into a bowl, sprinkle with more parmigiano (or shavings are good) and some toasted pumpkin seeds. ( Salt n pepper optional – I think it’ll be fine.)

Serve with crusty bread and a green salad.

 

Amber’s Risotto with Leeks, Parmesan, Lemon and Rosemary

 

4.5 cups of broth (vegetable or chicken)
2 large or 3 small leeks, washed and sliced thin
1 large shallot, sliced thin
1 tsp of finely chopped rosemary (optional)
Zest of one small lemon or half of a large lemon
White wine
400 grams of Carnaroli Rice
Olive Oil
Small knob of butter
70-100 grams of parmigiano
S and P, Q.B.!!
Saute leeks until tender about 10 minutes in a bit of oil. If pan dries out too much or leeks start to color, add broth.
Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a pan large enough to cook 400 grams of risotto. Saute shallots until tender. Add rice and toast until rice starts to turn transparent. Add wine (about one turn around the pan) and cook off. And add 2 cups of hot broth and continue stirring. When liquid is almost gone, add 1.5 cups of broth, rosemary if using, cooked leeks, and lemon zest and continue cooking and adding broth as necessary. Add salt as necessary keeping in mind whether your broth is salted! When rice is cooked, turn off the heat. Add a small knob of butter and all of the cheese. Let sit for a few minutes before serving.