bagel chips – new york bagels deli

so much crunch

I love bagel chips from New York Bagels deli in Sea Point.

I often bang on about the texture of food, but I really like a lot of crunch, the kind of crunch that silences your mind for a few seconds while you chew.

These bagel chips hit the spot and are made from bagels which have been very thinly sliced and toasted – bagel melba toast so to speak. I like that there are no hidden preservatives or trans fats as found in many commercially bought biscuits. Perfect with pate, dips or just a bit of butter.

bagel chips

fresh green pea hummous

 

a fresh summery hummous made from peas

I like to look at the ingredients I’ve got on hand and think of what I can make from them.  I had a lot of peas this week, so thought I’d make a fresh pea hummous and take it to the housewarming drinks party I’m going to later.

Take about 500gms fresh garden peas (I am sure frozen will work just as well), blanch in boiling water from about 5 minutes.  Strain in a colander under cold water. Blend in a food processor with:

• 3 cloves of garlic
•  3 Tbs olive oil
• 3 Tbs Tahini
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• a generous pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper
• a pinch of chilli …or more if you want it spicy
• a good squeeze of lemon juice (about a TBS)
• and a small handful of parsley

Blend until its a  nice smooth and creamy consistency.

This fresh summery dip is delicious with Mexicorn Nachos in my favourite flavour – ginger, chilli and lime….or any other snack.

I  think this would work really well with mint or coriander instead of parsley.

Mexicorn Nachos - styled by me - photo by Bruce Tuck

porcini and shiitake mushroom risotto

I found some local dried porcini  in Pick n Pay and was given a few spectacular shittake mushrooms by La Perla so thought I must make a little risotto.

The best way to make risotto is with a glass of wine in one hand and wooden spoon in the other and a good friend keeping you company while you stir.

This recipe will feed four comfortably, I halved it and made a portion for two.

recipe:

• 400gms arborio rice (about 100gms per person)
• 20gms dried porcini mushrooms
• 125ml (half a cup) white wine
• about 150gms of shiitake mushrooms chopped (more or less)
• 2 litres of stock (about 500ml per 100gms of rice)
• 1 onion finely chopped
• a handful of grated parmesan or pecorino
• chopped parsley (optional)
• a good knob of butter and then another one for the end

how to make:

• soak the dried porcini in about a cup of boiling water and allow to  rehydrate for about 5 – 10 minutes, reserving the liquid to form part of the stock
• make the stock incorporating the porcini water.Try and use the best possible stock you can find, homemade is best.  I used a Thelma chicken stock  which I quite like, but if you can get your hands on mushroom stock this is also very nice.  The lack of a decent commercially available stock in South Africa is an ongoing irritation and I always buy up on trips overseas.
• melt the butter in a heavy bottom pan / or pot and fry the onion for a few minutes until soft.
• add the chopped up mushrooms (chop the rehydrated porcini quite fine) and fry  for a few minutes until cooked.
• add the rice and stir through for a few minutes (this toasts the rice slightly giving it a  nice nutty flavour)

onions, mushrooms and rice combined before adding the liquid

• add the white wine and allow it to be completely absorbed
• add a ladle of hot stock at a time and stir continuously until its absorbed. Repeat this process until the risotto is cooked through but still al dente.
• when ready, remove form the heat and stir in another knob of butter (I used some porcini butter), the chopped parsley and the parmesan cheese
• allow to rest for about  two minutes then serve.

risotto and paremesan, stir through and serve

A little ramble about shiitake mushrooms….and something I didn’t know.  The Shiitake mushroom (Lentinula edodes) is the first mushroom to have been cultivated by humans and originates from the Chinese province of Qingyuan.  The traditional method of growing Shiitakes is from a grafted wood log.  It’s quite a painstaking process where the log from an oak (or in Japan the shii tree)  is inoculated with mycelium.  The farmer then has to wait two to four years for the mycellium to spread sufficiently to produce mushrooms.  This log will then go on to produce mushrooms for up to  six years.

The modern techniques for producing shiitake have reduced the gap from inoculation to fruiting to seven weeks and its the second most important mushroom crop in the world.  Up until a few years ago shiitake mushrooms were not available in South Africa, so its really wonderful to find them more or less quite easily.

delicious asian marinade for fish

a delicious product

I bought a lovely piece of fresh kabeljou (Cob)  fillet yesterday and wanted to prepare it with asian flavours, nice and healthy for the new 2010 regime.

I made a marinade as follows:

• about 2 tbs hoisin sauce
• about 1/3 cup Kikkoman Ponzu citrus sauce (I love this, along with teriyaki sauce which is just so much more interesting than straight soy sauce)
• 2 cloves of garlic crushed
• a pinch of dried chilli flakes (I don’t like it too hot)
• a piece of fresh ginger grated
• a cube of frozen coriander from Woolworths (freshly frozen range of herbs) – so awesome and convenient to have on hand

a very convenient range of products to keep in the freezer

Mix all the above things together and pour over the fish in a shallow dish – let it marinade for a while, turning it a couple of times.

Heat a non stick griddle pan (or you could cook under the grill).  Sprinkle some sesame oil over the fish (.vs in the pan to avoid smoking the whole kitchen out) and pan fry for about 3 minutes per side until just done…..cooking fish is a touchy feely thing.  I basted it each time I turned it over and then drizzled the last bit of sauce over the fish on the plate. 

I had half of the fillet with supper on top of  some steamed green veggies (how healthy) and the delicious sauce dripping down.

The other half I ate today for lunch. I made a mixed salad with rocket, spinach and watercress leaves, quartered rosa tomatoes, cucumber and spring onions.  I broke the fish into chunks and put it on top of the salad with a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds and the rest of the sauce made a lovely dressing.  So yum. Such temple food. Sparkly shiny halo.

this is so going to become a staple in this house