Quick and Easy Pasta

30/06/2013 Moya

What I love about this pasta dish is its simplicity. Easy to make, tasty and quicker than ordering a take out. Whether it’s dining al fresco or making a quick meal for a very hungry husband coming back from a 20km run, pasta is a great convenience food and store cupboard ingredient. Take a few simple ingredients like cherry tomatoes, garlic, chilli flakes and fresh herbs, tossed together to make a quick sauce in less time than it takes to boil water for the pasta.

Whenever I can I love using fresh herbs, but soon my lovely pots of fresh oregano and thyme will succumb to Bahrain’s summer heat and I will have to start all over again 😦 and plant new herbs when the weather cools down. I also keep dried oregano and thyme in the store cupboard and use these when fresh herbs are not available.

Did a little DIY and painted some old boards for a different background for my food photography, I must admit I wasn’t very adventurous with the colour. Thought I might make a mess of everything, so erring on the side of caution choose an off white colour. Hopefully I will be more courageous next time and try and paint a more colourful board, like this lovely distressed wooden board.

Spaghetti with Cherry Tomatoes, Chilli and Fresh Herbs

Ingredients:

250g dried spaghetti
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1/4 crushed chilli flakes
250g cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered if large
2 tablespoon of fresh oregano leaves
4 sprigs of fresh thyme, chopped or remove the leaves if the stems are woody
sea salt and freshly ground back pepper, to taste
freshly grated parmesan cheese, to serve

How to make: Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water, until firm to the bite. While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, add the garlic, chilli flakes, cherry tomatoes, fresh oregano and thyme and cook for about a minute and a half or until the tomatoes have softened and released some of their juices. Season with some sea salt and black pepper. Drain the pasta and add to the tomato mixture, toss together, check seasoning. Serve immediately with some freshly grated parmesan cheese, if desired. Serves 2.

drinks · food + drink · posts

Mojito Cocktail or Mocktail

23/06/201330/06/2013 Moya8 Comments

The seasonal forty day north wind usually keeps June somewhat cooler and speeds the ripening of dates on the palm trees. Summer temperatures will soar and reading 45 degrees celsius and up on a car thermometer leaves you feeling drained and rather hot. Whether it’s for relaxation or re-hydration, cool refreshing drinks are always welcome and two of my favourite summer drinks are a mojito and a nojito… a mojito without the alcohol.

While waiting patiently for my lime tree to start producing fruit (I do use the leaves), I love using the small flavorsome limes that grow locally, even touching them perfumes your fingers with their wonderful scent. Also, fresh mint is so accessible here and the herbs spearmint flavour is used often in my cooking.

Making a mojito into a cocktail or a mocktail is up to you, however, extracting the flavour from the mint and lime is the “key,” so a bit of muddling is needed. Using the whole lime is important, the juice and rind have different flavours and you want all those lovely oils from the rind, as well as using the juice. Bruising the mint leaves extracts the oils, chopping the mint leaves and adding to the drink will not achieve the same results… muddling everything together is the best way of extracting all that lime and mint goodness!

Now I don’t have a specially assigned muddler but I do have a spurtle which I have used more times (up-side down) for making mojitos/nojitos than stirring porridge! You could use a large pestle and mortar if you were making up a few mojitos/nojitos, muddle together the limes, mint leaves and sugar before dividing into each glass.

I prefer to use chilled bottled sparkling water and not canned soda water for these drinks. When muddling I like to use a fine-grained sugar which dissolves quicker. The sugar also creates some friction and helps extract more flavour from the mint and lime. If I make a mojito/nojito for others I keep the taste on the sharper side and serve a small bowl of powdered sugar on the side, should anyone need to stir in a tad more sweetness to their drink. The recipe is for one serving but you can make as many as you wish and adjust the recipe according to your taste. Making up a mojito or nojito is so easy and the flavours are so clean, delicious and refreshing. I do hope you try a bit of muddling over the summer.

Mojito or Nojito

Ingredients:

12 large fresh mint leaves
2 small limes cut into quarters, remove the pips
2 or 3 teaspoons white caster sugar
4 ice cubes
2 tablespoons of white rum (optional)
chilled sparkling water

How to make: Place the mint leaves and lime quarters into a tall sturdy glass. Add the sugar and use a muddler (you might have to improvise here) to crush the mint and lime together to release the juice and oils from the lime and mint. Add the ice cubes and white rum (if using), pour in the sparkling water to fill the glass. Stir with a swizzle stick and serve immediately.

appetizers · food + drink · posts

Rice Cubes with Coriander Chilli Dipping Sauce

09/06/201316/06/2013 Moya10 Comments

Trying to figure out the Rubik’s cube was always a puzzle and one I never quite managed to solve, however, looking at my new culinary gadget… this bright red cube looked like something I could master. When family and friends know you love kitchen gadgets, it’s inevitable you will receive them as gifts. My lovely daughter thought the Rice Cube looked really cool (I believe the shop had a video demo running in the background) and decided to buy me one… or maybe it was a big hint to make sushi.

Invented by an Australian cook Ross Patten to impress the judges at a Master Chef audition, the Rice Cube is used to mold rice and other soft foods into bite-sized portions. I love stylish presentation and am definitely sold on the idea of tasty square morsels of rice. Information about the Rice Cube is found on the official website, which has recipes and ideas if you plan on buying one.

The first recipe that came to mind was an appetizer I make for casual entertaining, cooked rice rolled into balls and served with a coriander chilli dipping sauce. Jasmine rice is naturally sticky and when compressed and molded, holds together without falling apart. Using the Rice Cube with this recipe seemed a good place to start.

Working with the Rice Cube felt a little awkward at first but I soon got into the rhythm after molding a few squares which looked so neat. This could be the start of a new obsession… a square one!Some notes: Use a good quality peanut butter when making the dipping sauce, I used a peanut butter (made by Neshat) that I had bought from a farmers market in Bahrain, which tastes so good. When cooking the rice add salt to the water, otherwise the rice will taste bland. The rice cubes or rice balls and dipping sauce can be made a couple of hours in advance, covered and stored in the refrigerator. If you are not a fan of fish sauce season the dipping sauce with some sea salt instead. Grilled prawns also taste delicious with this dipping sauce.

Rice Cubes with Coriander Chilli Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

4 cups of freshly cooked Jasmine rice (makes about 20 rice cubes)
2 cups chopped coriander, (leaves, stalks and roots)
2 small garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 or 2 small red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
4 tablespoons of roughly chopped spring onion (green part)
1/4 teaspoon lime zest
2 tablespoons lime juice
100ml creamy coconut (homemade or canned)
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon of fish sauce (approximately)
toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

How to make: If using the Rice Cube just follow the instructions. Molding by hand; when the cooked rice is cool enough to handle, gently compress small bite-sized portions of rice with your hand and roll into a ball, you will need to dampen you hands with a little water when doing this. Keep the molded rice covered at all time otherwise it begins to dry out. Garnish the rice squares or balls with the sesame seeds before serving.

For the dipping sauce, add the coriander, garlic, chilli, spring onion, lime zest, lime juice, coconut milk and peanut butter into a food processor or blender. Process all the ingredients together until smooth. Pour into a suitable container and season with fish sauce to taste. Cover and store in the refrigerator until needed.

Keep an eye out for more square recipes 🙂