easy

Arni Souvlaki – Easy Greek Lamb

- Alex 1 Comment

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14 Sept 2010

With winter retreating, albeit very slowly, it’s time to start thinking about ways to use the BBQ. We were actually trawling some cookbooks looking for a hearty, warming dinner before we realised that actually we didn’t feel like a big pie or casserole. Something lighter and quicker was definitely in order.

Elizabeth David’s A Book of Mediterranean Food* provided inspiration in the form of her recipe for the Greek classic arni souvlaki. This is another great example of needing a recipe to keep things simple … because I know that, given a pile of lamb to marinate, I’d end up using most of the spices in the spice drawer – whereas in this case I used just the one.

David’s recipe doesn’t specify any quantities but I used (approximately) the following. We had about 600g of diced lamb to which I added the juice of two smallish lemons and about 2 tsp of oregano (she specifies rigani and substitutes marjoram). I gave it a good mix and finished off with plenty of pepper and a little salt. That was it. Oregano, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Let’s face it, sourcing the lamb is going to be the most difficult part of this dish.

The mix only needs to be left for about half an hour. If you’re aiming for a more authentic Greek dish, you can thread the lamb on to skewers, but if you want quick, then just fire up the BBQ. Once it’s good and hot, throw the lamb on, grill it and you’re good to go.

The lamb cooks quickly and it should be reasonably tender (depending on cut, I guess) and you get a lovely herby, lemony, grill flavour. It’s not cluttered – just simple flavours that marry together well.

Of course, such a simple, quick dish needs a simple, quick accompaniment. For something with a mediterranean flavour we opted for couscous. Add a cup and a half of boiling water to the same amount of couscous, stir it through and cover. Then, I coarsely chopped an onion and fried it off with a very large clove of garlic. When it was softened I added a chopped red capsicum to the pan and turned off the heat.

Mix some good quality olive oil and butter through the couscous – you might need to put it back on the heat – and then add in the capsicum and onion mix. I finished with a generous handful of parsley and mixed through a small amount of crushed chilli, a teaspoon of ground cumin and a generous sprinkling of sumac.

All far far too easy and, best of all, very tasty – we’ll definitely be serving this at our next BBQ. And don’t worry about cooking too much and having leftovers – it’s tasty even reheated in a microwave the next day for lunch!

* also available from Amazon UK, Amazon US or from The Book Depository for world wide delivery.

Pasta Presto

- Alex 6 Comments

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We eat pasta at least once a week and, often, it is an emergency meal.  We get home late from something and throw some frozen filled pasta in boiling water and mix through some bought pesto.  Proper lazy food.

But then there are occasions (all the time, really) where there is no excuse for such laziness.  As Susan, at the Well Seasoned Cook, is hosting Pasta Presto Nights this week I took this as an opportunity to NOT crack open a jar but instead use up what was in the fridge.

Fortunately, the fridge was well stocked for pasta making.  We had half a jar of passata – absolutely essential for a fast pasta sauce, as well as half a small pot of tomato paste.  An excellent start.

If you’re using dried pasta, start cooking it before you start on the sauce.

I started by heating some olive oil in a pan, and crisping up a couple of rashers of bacon, chopped up.  Then I added a roughly chopped leek and 3 minced cloves (large!) of garlic.  Once the leek had softened, in went the passata, and I rinsed out the jar with some of the red wine that was open.  Then I mixed through the tomato paste, and added a teaspoon of oregano and a tiny scotch bonnet chilli (the first of what is looking like a very large harvest), very finely chopped.

And I just let that all very gently simmer while the pasta cooked.  Shortly before the pasta was ready I stirred through the remnants of some mascarpone (probably about 75g worth).

Mix the pasta through the sauce, and serve, topped with plenty of parmesan and black pepper.

From start to finish, this took less than half an hour (in fact, the sauce was finished before the pasta had finished cooking) and it was absolutely delicious.  The tiny chilli added a lovely background heat that built up as we ate and the mascarpone and tomato paste both enriched the sauce and made it fabulously creamy.

The only problem?  We don’t always have a fridge so conveniently stocked for pasta sauce making!

Cheat’s Mocha Mousse

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Mocha Mousse Cups

Entertaining on a weekend is always easy.  And by easy, I mean that, as a rule, I am able to get organised and spend time fiddling about with complicated, multipart recipes.  That all makes me extremely happy.

However, there are always occasions where food needs to be put together in a hurry and it’s useful to have a few familiar recipes that I know can be made without too much fuss, too many ingredients, and with very little time.

This is my standard ‘dessert in a hurry’ recipe.  Originally, the recipe comes from Gordon Ramsay’s Sunday Lunch*, where it appears as Coffee and Chocolate Mousse Cups.  This version is thanks to Almost Bourdain.

The recipe is both egg free and gluten free.

Note that it’s important to beat the mascarpone and icing sugar well.  Some mascarpone can be a little grainy (I think this might be a quality thing) and the beating helps reduce this.  Also, the (cold) mascarpone and sugar mix is very stiff.  I find my (good quality) plastic whisk is not quite up to the job.  Of course, using a mixer (such as a KitchenAid) makes this easier but adds significantly to the washing up load …

Also, this is not really a mousse in the way that I think of mousse.  It’s more a very dense, but hopefully smooth, chocolate and coffee cream.

Begin by beating 125g of mascarpone with 2 tbsp of icing sugar.  Beat well, until the mixture is smooth.

Mix in 4 tbsp of strong espresso coffee and 100g of melted, good quality dark chocolate.

Melting chocolate in a microwave is quicker than on the the stove top but I think it requires a little more attention.  Break the chocolate into pieces and microwave (I use med-high because I worry) for just a minute.  Stir.  Another minute in the microwave.  Another stir.  That should be just about done …

Finally, whisk 150mL of cream to soft peaks and fold this into the chocolate/coffee/mascarpone mixture.  Try to avoid buying ‘thickened cream’.  Almost all the cream in my local supermarket appears to have thickening agents of some type in it – you need to look out for something labelled ‘pure cream’.  If you’re in the UK, use double cream.

Spoon the mixture into small containers.  I’ve used small martini glasses and shot glasses.  You could also use espresso cups.  It won’t look like a lot but the mixture is dense and rich so no one needs a massive bowl full!

Refrigerate for as long as possible.  Overnight is ideal but you can get away with a couple of hours.

Serve with cream or icecream.

See!  I said it was easy!

*Also available from Amazon US or Amazon UK.