When I posted that I used store bought Orecchiette my mom commented with the recipe for homemade ones. "To make orecchiette, take equal amounts flour and semolina. If I remember maybe 2 cups each. Put in middle of table (or large bowl if you like), but with my nonna, we made a mound on the table, and made a volcano in the middle. Sprinkle some salt over all, add about 1 cup water into the volcano, and work it in with a fork. It may not all work in, but you will get a dough. Knead the dough. Divide into several chunks, roll into snakes about as fat as your thumb. Then cut into pieces about 1/2" thick. Put that cut piece in your left palm. Now stick your right thumb tip into it, and form over your thumb tip. Pinch the sides alittle, and put on a clean towel to dry.Use the leftover flour/semolina mixture on your hands and cutting surfaces to keep dough from sticking." I started to make the pasta before I remembered that I didn't have any semolina. I went ahead anyway. I had to add more flour for rolling. But came out really well. Really simply, but not fast. I cook the Orecchiette in salted boiling water until they floated (about 2 min). Then mixed them a sauce of fresh tomatoes, capers, olives, and topped with parmesan. Came out a bit on the chewy side, next time I'll use the semolina.
Beets used to be a important crop in Ireland. Until a few years ago they made sugar out of them. Now the factories are closed and all the sugar is imported. Its very sad. Those kg's of sugar (found in someone's tea) used to be local and Irish. Thankfully we can still get the beets, and boy are they sweet!
Beet, Clementine, Feta and Spinach Salad Severs 4 (if you like salad and I do!)
Into a bowl:
3 cups Spinach washed 3 small beets chopped (roasted and pealed, or pickeled) 3 Clementines pealed and seperated 1 tsp of feta 1 tsp Olive Oil 1/2 vinegar or lemon juice few drops of balsamic vinegar syrup Salt Pepper
Mix and enjoy before the beets turn the feta pink!
This delicious Smoked Mackerel Pâté was made by our friend for Thanksgiving. Everyone loved it. I think its a great recipe for any holiday. Rich, creamy goes well with pita bread, chips or even raw veg!
Recipe by Shawn McCourt and adapted from a recipe in
Small Food: snack sized bites to share with friends. Murdoch Books Ltd. Sydney.
Smoked Mackerel Pâté
Makes 1 ½-2cups
Ingredients:
1 whole smoked mackerel, or 4 boneless smoked fillets [can also use whitefish, eel salmon, trout or other hot smoked fish*] or around 800 grams
2-3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 to 1 whole package (200-250g) of Philadelphia cream cheese
Approx. 200g or ¼ cup of melted butter
Black pepper
Spring of fresh parsley and lemon slices, to garnish
Preparation:
Remove all skin, head and bones from the smoked fish and put in a food processor with the cream cheese, butter and lemon juice. Blend until mixture is quite smooth. Season to taste with cracked black pepper. Add more lemon juice if necessary. Can either serve immediately (as we did) or refrigerate overnight until firm. Garnish with parsley sprig and thinly sliced lemon. Serve with toasted bread, pita or crackers.
* Use only hot smoked fish, not cold smoked, as the cold smoked kinds have a ‘raw’ consistency and will not produce a desirable pâté.. I like the mackerel, but any other oily fish such as kippers, eel or whitefish would work. If you use salmon or trout, you may need to add more cream cheese and/or butter to produce the desired effect as there is less oil in these.
No I didn't turn leftover mash into gnocchi, but feel free to try. I wanted to a clean simple sauce to go with them. A few weeks ago one of our house mates made mussels in tomato sauce I expected it to be gross but the sauce was so good. So I recreated it, but without the mussels.
Easy Tomato Sauce Makes 1 1/2 cups 1 tsp oil 1 onion chopped fine 1/2 shallot chopped fine (could leave out or add use a whole one) 5 cloves of smoked garlic chopped fine 1 jar/can tomato puree 1 tsp mix herbs 1/2 tsp basil 1/2 tsp paprika Salt and Pepper
Cook the onions, shallot and garlic in the oil on med for 3 min. The onions are still going to be a bit raw but add the tomato puree. Rinse the jar or can with water and add the water to the pan. Mix in the herbs and spices. Bring to a low boil and then lower the heat and cook for 20 min. Check for salt and pepper.
We topped ours with parmesan (which was great) but now I'm thinking capers, or black olives would look really nice too.
Saeid made some really lovely Antipasto last weekend. Caviar on Hard Boiled Eggs 2 boiled eggs sliced top with each egg with 1/4 tsp Caviar I couldn't let Saeid have all the caviar fun so I made these: Caviar on Cucumber 1/4 English Cucumber, pealed and sliced 2 Tab Cream Cheese 2 Tab Thick Greek Yogurt 2 Chopped Green Onions Caviar Mix the cream cheese and yogurt together. Add the green onions and cover each cucumber slice with 'cream yogurt'. Top with each slice with 1/4 tsp of caviar or capers.
Saeid also made some tasty Italian Antipasto. The hot cherry pepper were my fav!
This is not a left-over turkey sandwich but bite size holiday in your mouth. Any bread would do, but my family loves my sisters Challah rolls. Over the last year my sister and I have been writing our own Challah recipe, but she lost it! I guess I'll have to start all again. Makes 1 Sandwich 1 Challah Roll 1 slice Roast Turkey 1 tsp Cranberry Chutney If you want to try your hand at Challah try this Bread Machine Challah Recipe. Its a bit to sweet for me. I'll be sure to post our family recipe (once its found or recreated).
When I posted that I used store bought Orecchiette my mom commented with the recipe for homemade ones.
"To make orecchiette, take equal amounts flour and semolina. If I remember maybe 2 cups each. Put in middle of table (or large bowl if you like), but with my nonna, we made a mound on the table, and made a volcano in the middle. Sprinkle some salt over all, add about 1 cup water into the volcano, and work it in with a fork. It may not all work in, but you will get a dough. Knead the dough. Divide into several chunks, roll into snakes about as fat as your thumb. Then cut into pieces about 1/2" thick. Put that cut piece in your left palm. Now stick your right thumb tip into it, and form over your thumb tip. Pinch the sides alittle, and put on a clean towel to dry.Use the leftover flour/semolina mixture on your hands and cutting surfaces to keep dough from sticking."
I started to make the pasta before I remembered that I didn't have any semolina. I went ahead anyway. I had to add more flour for rolling. But came out really well. Really simply, but not fast.
I cook the Orecchiette in salted boiling water until they floated (about 2 min). Then mixed them a sauce of fresh tomatoes, capers, olives, and topped with parmesan. Came out a bit on the chewy side, next time I'll use the semolina.
