I've really enjoyed Kat and Francesca's quick lists of what they've been cooking, because not everything is a production number but I'm still always interested in others' ideas. Here are a few quick things I've been making this week: cold, hot and sweet.
Cervelles des canuts: silk workers' brains
Classic Lyon cooking (hence the name, although hence is doing a lot of work in that remark) but also incredibly simple food. This recipe means that if I tweet enthusiastically about 0% fat cottage cheese I have not in fact been kidnapped and am not sending a covert alert message, I am simply making BRAINS. You reup a load of the fat anyway, as you will see.
Tub of low fat cottage cheese
Good creme fraiche (use as much as conscience permits, but a couple of tbsps minimum)
Crushed garlic clove
Snipped chives
Solid splash of wine vinegar
Seasoning
Some other herb - parsley or dill are good
Mix them all up, and you've got a useful dip for veggies or breads, which will serve several people, or one person for several lunches. Depending on the texture of the cottage cheese it can also be a sandwich filling, but it can be a bit runny.
Simple farinata
I adore this but it's always presentationally disastrous. It's still a brilliant crispy, squidgy pile of delicious, so I persevered. Definitely worth it if you have gram flour.
125g gram flour
225g warm water
Dash of oil, pinch of salt
Mix all these and leave for at least an hour for the chickpea flour to absorb water. I think I got the balance wrong this time, it was even gloopier than usual, which affected the cooking. Still, it's easy to add more water. You don't want it to be thin, at least.
When ready, slice an onion and get your pepper mill to hand. Then heat oil in a heavy frying pan till very hot, and pour in half the batter. Lay some onion slices on the upside, grind pepper like fury. Cook for 2-3 mins till the underside is crispy.
Then turn it. I usually make it in 2-3 bits. Tonight, with camera to hand, more like 23 bits. It doesn't actually matter - you get shards of crispy yum and bits of puffy gentle chickpea mix.
A further 2-3 mins on the heat for the shattered remains, scatter on some salt, squeeze over lemon. Ideally eat it with something fresh - I usually do a tomato salad. It's really nice and well worth overlooking the presentation.
Lastly - blackberries
Blackberries are in the shops but they aren't great yet. I tend to buy them and stew them immediately rather than leaving them to get ropey in hopes they will ripen. It's the quickest microwave fix. Put blackberries into tupperware. Microwave for about a minute on full power, for one punnet of berries. Take out, add a scatter of sugar according to taste (you should be able to get a sense of how sharp it is as some berries will be running with juice by now), stir well, return for a short second burst, up to another minute. You can let them cool and keep in the fridge for when you want them. Or eat them at once, obvs, but it's a good way of keeping stuff for a few days longer than it might when fresh.
Cervelles des canuts: silk workers' brains
Classic Lyon cooking (hence the name, although hence is doing a lot of work in that remark) but also incredibly simple food. This recipe means that if I tweet enthusiastically about 0% fat cottage cheese I have not in fact been kidnapped and am not sending a covert alert message, I am simply making BRAINS. You reup a load of the fat anyway, as you will see.
Tub of low fat cottage cheese
Good creme fraiche (use as much as conscience permits, but a couple of tbsps minimum)
Crushed garlic clove
Snipped chives
Solid splash of wine vinegar
Seasoning
Some other herb - parsley or dill are good
Mix them all up, and you've got a useful dip for veggies or breads, which will serve several people, or one person for several lunches. Depending on the texture of the cottage cheese it can also be a sandwich filling, but it can be a bit runny.
 |
| Constantly posting pictures of white gloop on here, but it's good |
I adore this but it's always presentationally disastrous. It's still a brilliant crispy, squidgy pile of delicious, so I persevered. Definitely worth it if you have gram flour.
125g gram flour
225g warm water
Dash of oil, pinch of salt
 |
| Yellow gloop, for variety. The blobs dissolve over the hour |
Mix all these and leave for at least an hour for the chickpea flour to absorb water. I think I got the balance wrong this time, it was even gloopier than usual, which affected the cooking. Still, it's easy to add more water. You don't want it to be thin, at least.
When ready, slice an onion and get your pepper mill to hand. Then heat oil in a heavy frying pan till very hot, and pour in half the batter. Lay some onion slices on the upside, grind pepper like fury. Cook for 2-3 mins till the underside is crispy.
 |
| Dull and unpromising but controlled |
A further 2-3 mins on the heat for the shattered remains, scatter on some salt, squeeze over lemon. Ideally eat it with something fresh - I usually do a tomato salad. It's really nice and well worth overlooking the presentation.
Lastly - blackberries
Blackberries are in the shops but they aren't great yet. I tend to buy them and stew them immediately rather than leaving them to get ropey in hopes they will ripen. It's the quickest microwave fix. Put blackberries into tupperware. Microwave for about a minute on full power, for one punnet of berries. Take out, add a scatter of sugar according to taste (you should be able to get a sense of how sharp it is as some berries will be running with juice by now), stir well, return for a short second burst, up to another minute. You can let them cool and keep in the fridge for when you want them. Or eat them at once, obvs, but it's a good way of keeping stuff for a few days longer than it might when fresh.
I love that farinata recipe, although I always have trouble turning it over too.
ReplyDelete'Nother one for the list.
ReplyDeleteI've still got a freezer drawer full of blackberries picked last autumn (was a good year for them). There may be jam in our near future.