Just four hours until Italian stew heaven

Transcendent  

Melt-in-your-mouth tender beef, with rich flavours and perhaps the easiest recipe I’ve ever made, makes this a must-do during winter

Just four hours until Italian stew heaven

I’ve found, since moving from Australia at the beginning of the year, that’s there’s very little I’ve missed. I miss the usual things of course – family, friends, familiarity – but there’s something to be said for unfamiliar thrills. However, it’s food that I’ve found my biggest challenge in adjusting to life in Switzerland, strange as that may seem. I’ve complained about platinum-plated meat prices and the utter lack of some ingredients that I consider staples – liquid stock the foremost one – but otherwise I make do and carry on. But I’m glad of the small chances I get to experience food familiarity every now and again – like the May issue of delicious.

Peposo, mash and rocket

I’ve been buying delicious on and off for a couple of years, but the annual Italian issue in May is a must-buy. So, with the approach of May this year, I asked my mum to buy and send over the May issue. Once it arrived, I had a quick flick through and pretty much left it forgotten on my coffee table for the next six months. With the approach of winter, I recently started to look for wintery, comfort-food ideas.

Picking up May’s delicious, I came across contributor Jill Dupleix’s peposo, or Tuscan beef stew. It looked ridiculously simple and hearty, so one cool, cloudy Saturday I decided to give it a go, impulsively inviting some friends over to share. First, the ingredients; they’re pretty simple. It’s just stewing beef, red wine, tomato paste, rosemary, garlic and anchovies for seasoning. That’s it. As Jill mentioned in her introduction to this recipe in the magazine (I’ve only included the link to the delicious web page here), anything more would ruin it.

While the price of the beef for it made my eyes water (paying CHF45 – A$48 – for 1.8kg of the cheapest cut of beef I could find), it was so worth it. It’s perhaps one of the easiest recipes I’ve ever made; just a matter of placing all the ingredients into a casserole dish (my beloved blue Le Creuset I had brought over recently) and placing into a moderately slow oven for four hours. Simplest dinner party recipe I’ve done.

Rich flavours and melt-in-the-mouth tenderness

While Jill suggests serving this with some polenta, I decided make some mashed potato instead, as I’m still warming to the taste of polenta. But it didn’t matter – the hero of the night was the peposo. What an amazing dish. After four hours of quietly cooking away, I lifted the lid of the dish and the aroma of red wine, garlic and rosemary immediately assaulted us. It tasted as good as it smelt. The rich flavours of the wine and garlic perfectly complemented the rosemary and beef, which was so tender it easily pulled apart with just a fork and melted in the mouth.

It’s a shame that, being here, I’m now six months out with the recipes in delicious. They’re now publishing summer ones. But, there’s always next year’s May issue, and its Italian winter delights, to look forward to within its pages.

Cold comforts

Triumph 

Home-made stock and two simple, yet tasty soups that will comfort the coldest of nights

Cold comforts

So I haven’t cooked anything worth posting lately, mostly because I don’t really get into summer food. With the cooler weather and autumn definitely here, it’s time to start cooking my favourite foods – winter comfort food.

The ultimate comfort food: chicken noodle soup

With liquid stock non-existent in Switzerland, I used last Sunday’s cold weather as a good excuse to stay indoors and make some, plus that quintessential winter comfort food, chicken noodle soup. I’ve used this Donna Hay recipe a few times and I love it; it’s so easy to make by just throwing in a whole uncooked chicken, carrots, celery, garlic, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns and water. You end up with clean, home-made chicken stock, poached chicken for sandwiches, and chicken noodle soup.

The chicken soup is simple, delicious, wholesome and, of course, comforting. I use my favourite soup pasta, ditali (which I’ve discovered, with delight, that I can buy at my local supermarket), and simply add some of the poached chicken, stock, carrots, celery and season with salt and pepper. It tastes even better once it’s been frozen and reheated for lunch at work or a quick dinner at home.

Spicy barley and lentil soup will clear out
the stuffiest of noses

With Emperor D battling the flu during the week, I decided he needed something that is comforting but has a bit of a kick to clear out his stuffy head and nasal passages. One of his favourites is spicy barley and lentil soup, which I found in an issue of Men's Health magazine, but actually comes from The Low GI Handbook. Finely diced onion gently fried with spices, including some chilli, then adding water, a couple of cups of chicken or vegetable stock, some tinned tomatoes, pearl barley and red lentils and voila – a tasty, hearty soup with a decent enough kick  to knock out the worst colds and flus.

The great thing is I now have a freezer full of soup and stock for lunch and dinner for the next two weeks – until it’s time to make some more!

Guilty pleasures

Sinful - vanilla ice cream and dulce de leche

I've discovered some guilty pleasures while being here in Geneva. One is pictured right; vanilla ice cream and dulce de leche. You might remember I had a hard time finding dulce de leche last time I cooked with it, to the point I ended up making it myself. I'm happy to say that dulce de leche is quite easy to find in Geneva, though I should add that the jar below was bought at a fantastic food market in London (more on that in a later post).

The other pleasure I've discovered here is the joy of fresh bread. Nobody does bread like the French - or French-speaking Swiss. I go shopping Saturday mornings and pick up bread from my local supermarket; it's often still warm from having just come out of the oven.

I find there is sometimes no greater joy than slicing a still warm loaf of bread - crusty on the outside, soft on the inside - and spreading a generous amount of butter on.

I should add that, remarkably, I have actually managed to lose weight since arriving in Switzerland. Who would have thought?!

When lamb is expensive, go legumes

Triumph

Spicy tasty chickpea curry is enough to convince one to go vegetarian

When lamb is expensive, go legumes

Since moving to Switzerland, I’ve had to learn to adjust to some things; different brands, different ingredients, even no ingredients (seriously, no white vinegar?! It’s a crime not to have white vinegar on fish and chips!). It’s meant that some of the recipes that had become midweek staples back home in Australia – harissa chicken for one – I haven’t made since being here because I haven’t found harissa (though to be fair, I haven’t really looked).

Swiss cows have expensive taste -
CHF70/kilo for a steak!

One thing that I wasn’t prepared for – and which I still don’t understand – is the cost of meat. It’s ludicrously expensive – CHF27 a kilo (roughly AU$30/kilo or US$16/lb) for top quality beef mince; CHF70 a kilo for good beef fillet steak. That cow must have had expensive taste in its previous life. I don't understand it; Switzerland is admittedly not a big country, but if you saw the number of cows I do when you go past just on a train, you'd wonder why beef is so expensive too. Ironically though, I've found Switzerland - or at least my part of Switzerland - to be cheaper for seafood; seafood is getting quite costly in Australia. 

The cost of meat, especially beef, has meant that we’ve had to have more chicken or vegetarian dishes. One of my favourite vegetarian dishes uses chickpeas, which I just love. Chickpea curry from – I think – Family Circle’s Classic Essential Curries is a recipe I’ve had for years. It’s from one of my mum’s cookbooks and was one of the first recipes I put into the first volume of my recipe volumes. I love it and it’s so easy to make.

Chickpea curry in all its glory

I have no idea how authentic it is – especially since this time around I couldn’t add garam masala because I forgot that I didn’t bring any from home – but it tastes delicious. The chickpeas are really soft and tender, especially if you use canned ones, along with the sweet acidity of the tomatoes and the spicy aroma and flavour of the spices. If vegetarian dishes taste like this, I’ll have to find some more and blog on them!

Cooking for one is harder than it looks

Triumph

Asparagus risotto, classic tomato spaghetti and aglio, olio e peperoncino all simple recipes that are really quick and tasty – whether for one or six.

Cooking for one is harder than it looks

I picked up Emperor D a couple of days ago after his flight landed back in Switzerland from spending several weeks back in Australia. I myself was abroad for work for three of the seven weeks he was away, but the remaining four weeks left me plenty of time to observe that cooking for one person is not as easy as I thought it would be.

That last statement might sound a little strange, so let me explain. I moved out of home at 20 with Emperor D and we’ve lived together ever since. I’ve never lived on my own or even in a share house, so I’ve never had to cook for just myself. So after Emperor D left, I had to work out what on earth I would cook just for me. It wasn’t that simple; for a start, I don’t have a microwave here, so I couldn’t really cook in bulk to freeze and reheat later.

I’m ashamed to admit that the nights when I just couldn’t be bothered I would resort to sticking fish fingers and chips in the oven. Yes, truly shameful from the Empress. Other nights I would grill some chicken or a shishkebab to have with salad. But more often than not I’d resort to pasta or risotto.

Leek and asparagus risotto - this time minus the leek

Not long before I left Australia, you might remember I made a fantastic porcini mushroom risotto, which I wrote about. I hadn’t made risotto since then, so I decided to try an asparagus risotto, using some fantastic fresh asparagus. The recipe I used was a leek and asparagus risotto that I’d made many times back home, but this time I forgot the leeks, so just used onions instead.

I’ve discovered a couple of culinary challenges in Switzerland, mostly with finding ingredients either at all or of equal quality to what I’m used to back home. A good example of this is liquid stock. Good quality, ready-to-use liquid stock – like the Campbells Real stock in a tetra pack I get back home – just doesn’t seem to exist in Switzerland; or if it does, I’m yet to find it. Here it’s all cubes – which I hate using – or the closest thing I’ve seen to liquid, a congealed gel-like stock that still needs dissolving in water. Usually in winter I make my own stock for all the soups I make, but it’s summer here and I otherwise won’t get the use out of it.

But no matter – this risotto was just for me, and while not the standout of my last attempt at risotto, was perfectly fine. The rice was nice and al dente, the asparagus crisp without being undercooked. The good thing about risotto – and pasta – is that you can control how much of it you make.

Which is why I made a lot of spaghetti while Emperor D was away. When I was having a lazy night but couldn’t bear the thought of fish fingers again, I would put some spaghetti on the boil and simply stir through some good quality pesto from a jar. Or I’d make some simple sauces, like aglio, olio e peperoncino (that’s garlic, olive oil and chilli), or Jamie Oliver’s classic tomato spaghetti.

Aglio, olio e peperoncino is an Italian classic which, when done well, is spectacular. It’s so simple, but it’s the simplicity of the ingredients that make it great. Hot pasta, mixed through with gently fried garlic and chilli in oil, sprinkled with fresh parsley is a delight to eat. Plus it's so easy to make with ingredients most people already have in their pantries.

Jamie Oliver's classic tomato spaghetti

Jamie Oliver’s classic tomato spaghetti is another recipe that can be made using just the ingredients from the pantry. In the time it takes to boil water and cook the pasta, it’s quick and easy to fry garlic and chilli, and throw in some tinned diced tomatoes and fresh basil, gently simmer for a few minutes and toss with al dente spaghetti for something so tasty. And don’t forget the cheese on top either – for me, it has to be pecorino.

So while I adapted these recipes to cook just for me, they’re easy enough to cook for as many or as little people as you need. In the meantime, I’m glad that Emperor D is back so I can cook for two again.

Douze points for Italian Eurovision feast

Triumph

Great flavours and textures make the Italians a winner in my kitchen

Douze points for Italian Eurovision feast

I did promise in my last post that I would get cooking soon. I had my first opportunity last night, when I hosted a Eurovision Song Contest party. I love Eurovision; it’s broadcast in Australia every year, but the day after, so by the time I get to watch it, I know who’s won. It doesn’t matter though, as it’s so kitsch and tacky that it’s loads of fun. Although in the last couple of years Australia has sent its own commentators over, I’ve heard the rather witty BBC commentator before and it was amusing to listen to him again last night.

Tomato and basil crostini

I’d invited some friends over who hadn’t seen Eurovision before, so I thought I would cook dinner. I decided on a bit of an Italian feast, which was rather appropriate as it turned out, as Italy returned to Eurovision for the first time since 1997 and, having entered with a great jazz-pop song (which I voted for), ended up coming second (to Azerbaijan!). I settled on crostini with three different toppings from Jamie Oliver’s Italy and paper bag seafood linguine from Donna Hay, which I’ve made and blogged about before.

Fig, prosciutto and mint crostini

Buffalo mozzarella and chilli

For the crostini, I decided on three different toppings; traditional tomato and basil; fig, prosciutto and mint; and mozzarella and chilli. It’s pretty easy – simply grill the bread, rub with a piece of cut garlic and place your toppings on top. The tomato and basil speaks for itself – just drizzle with a little good quality olive oil and season with salt and pepper. The fig, prosciutto and mint one I had to slightly deviate with as I accidentally bought dried figs, not fresh (with fresh figs apparently not in season at the moment). But they still turned out great, with the salty prosciutto contrasting nicely with the sweetness of the figs. And the mozzarella and chilli was a slice of texture heaven, with the crunchiness of the bread a nice contrast to the soft squidgyness of the buffalo mozzarella.

The last time I made Donna Hay’s paper bag seafood linguine, I had issues getting the right ingredients. I used calamari instead of vongole (clams) that time, but it still turned out good. This time around I used vongole and it turned out great. I think the saltiness of the vongole adds to the flavour and there’s something fun about using your fingers to pick the vongole up while you pull out the meat.

Paper bag seafood linguine

A real highlight of the night was what I did with all the dirty dishes afterwards – put them in the dishwasher. Usually after a dinner party, I leave the awful task of washing all the dishes until the next morning. This time I could just put the dishes in the dishwasher as we finished with plates and cutlery, and the entire lot was done before my friends even left. Now that’s the way to end a dinner party on a clean note.

New kitchen, new beginnings

So it's been quite awhile since my last post, but without a decent kitchen (and my last post will explain why), I haven't cooked much lately. That's about to change. About a month ago, Emperor D and I moved into our new apartment. I should clarify and say brand new apartment. With a brand new apartment, comes a brand new kitchen, and with a brand new kitchen comes brand new appliances!

A brand new kitchen! Hooray!

And joy of joys, the new appliances include a dishwasher! Most people will be baffled by my excitement, until I explain that in the 30 years of my existance, I have never lived in a house with a dishwasher. Unless of course the dishwasher was me. I started washing up as a child and have been doing it ever since, so it's a real luxury for me to come home, cook dinner, and then let the dishwasher clean everything while I relax on the couch.

My boxes from Australia have also arrived, along with my cookbooks in them, but I'm yet to unpack most of them, so I still think it will be a couple of weeks before I can start properly cooking and posting again. But I hope to do so soon; unfortunately I missed cooking during winter and making all my favourite winter foods, but the produce here is amazing and summer really can throw up some great ideas for recipes.

So watch this space! Most of my Scanpan pots have made it over, along with Betty, so time to start putting them to good use.

I have a closet for a kitchen… but I can cook rice in a pot

Trusty

Because, well, it’s just rice.

I have a closet for a kitchen… but I can cook rice in a pot

Yes, that is the doorway in the bottom left and right!

So I’ve moved to Switzerland. Their idea of what a kitchen is, er, interesting. My current kitchen is a closet. Have a look at the pics. You can see it’s tiny. There is enough room for one person – so no getting in and helping with the washing up. The stove tops – electric – are ridiculously slow to heat up, and aren’t really that hot on the highest setting. I have no kettle; to make myself a cup of tea, I need to boil water in a saucepan. I hate it. Thankfully, this is temporary. Emperor D and I are moving to a more permanent place – with a much bigger, newer, better kitchen – in a few weeks. I’ll post pictures of that kitchen once we’ve moved in.

Having such a small kitchen – and no room to put appliances – has forced me to go back to basics on some things, like cooking rice. I’ve always cooked rice in a rice cooker and I realise now that I completely took it for granted. Pour in rice; pour in water; put lid on; turn on; set and forget. 30 minutes later, white, fluffy cooked rice.

With no rice cooker, I’ve had to learn to cook rice the more traditional way – in a pot. I had done this once before, several years ago, when I cooked rice in a pot while house-sitting my grandparents’ place. It was a disaster. The rice was gluggy and it stuck to the bottom of the pan, which was subsequently a bitch to clean. I hadn’t done it since. So I was naturally a little apprehensive of trying it again.

There are a couple of different ways you can cook rice in a pot; the best and most common method is the absorption method. As the rice cooks, holes or funnels form. It’s not completely fool proof, but it is quite easy to do. As you can see from the picture, it comes out pretty good.

So, with a closet for a kitchen, you can see that I can’t really afford to be adventurous in the cooking stakes at the moment. But at least I know I can do the basics. It’s back to the more challenging stuff as soon as I have a decent kitchen, so watch this space.

Porcini perfection

Transcendent

I’ve finally done it; the perfect risotto!

Porcini perfection

Regular readers will know that I recently moved to Switzerland, and that the last few weeks were madly chaotic. One thing I tried to do before I left was to clear out the contents of my pantry. So a few days before I left, I used the last of the caster sugar to re-do the chocolate and raspberry pavlova and the last of the Arborio rice, chicken stock and some dried porcini mushrooms for this week’s porcini risotto.

This is one of my favourites and this version was hands down the best risotto I’ve ever made. I certainly learnt my lessons after the seafood risotto debacle earlier.

Perfect porcini risotto

You might remember that in my post on seafood risotto, I saw an episode of Jamie Does where he visited ‘the risotto king’ in Venice and described the consistency of the perfect risotto as like being molten lava. This time I was determined to get the consistency perfect – and I did. By putting in extra stock at the end to make it slightly wetter than normal, and allowing the stock to soak up a little after taking the risotto off the heat, the consistency was not gluggy nor wet, but perfect ‘molten lava’. I was delighted to have made the perfect risotto at last.

I think having accidentally used my sauté pan might have helped – I usually use my saucepan. This time I grabbed my Scanpan sauté pan in a moment of abstraction and I think that might have contributed to helping with the good consistency. Having much more room in the pan allowed the rice to absorb the stock more evenly, allowing it to cook quicker than when I usually do it and it turns gluggy.

Hard to tell from this shot, but molten lava consistency

As for the taste, porcini mushrooms have an intense flavour, especially when they’re dried, which is the only the way I’ve found you can purchase them in Perth. By soaking the dried mushrooms in hot water, they soften enough to be able to chop them. Plus the water they’ve soaked can be added in place of stock for a richer, more concentrated flavour.

It all adds to a risotto that I will continue to make time and time again for something relatively quick, easy, simple and – most importantly – tasty.

N.B – until I find a house with a kitchen, I can’t make anything else, so this will be the last of the posts for a few weeks. But keep cooking!