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Pickled Garlic and in a bit of a pickle!

18/08/2013 Moya6 Comments

I could never imagine cooking without garlic… I love it and thankfully so do the rest of the family. Eating garlic in its raw state is way too strong but eating pickled garlic is a different matter altogether. Pickled garlic is very mild in taste and does not leave your breath reeking of its pungent flavour… keeping everyone at arm’s length or even further. While in France visiting friends they always served pickled garlic with an array of pickled olives, cheeses, pâté and freshly baked crusty bread, all bought from local farmers markets.

Bringing back some heads of garlic I thought I would have a go at pickling garlic at home. I enjoy making preserved lemons and some jams but I have never pickled garlic before and googling recipes it all looked very easy. Over a week ago I started the pickling process and now I’m in a bit of a pickle… I thought I could tell you that it has been a great success and post about the delicious results! Some recipes suggested that you could eat the pickled garlic as soon as 48 hours, some a week (which quite a few stated) and others a month. After a week I tested a clove of garlic… very, very garlicky, the taste was so strong and not pleasant at all. As with all recipes on this blog, I will not post a recipe that I am not comfortable with… and this recipe needs further maturing, hopefully achieving results that I can share.

All is not lost… if you have never tried pickled garlic look out for some at your local deli or supermarket. Serve pickled garlic with drinks before dinner, sliced into salads, sandwiches or use finely chopped in salad dressing… a few uses to get you started.

FIY... thought I would give the blue silicone garlic peeler a little mention, quite handy for quickly removing the skins from garlic cloves. This kitchen gadget came free with a cooking utensil bought some time ago. Pop a few garlic cloves into the silicone tube and roll it back and forth, this usually removes the skin.

Meanwhile, if anyone out there has an easy recipe for pickling garlic, I’d love to hear from you. 🙂 Let’s see after a few weeks how the pickled garlic progresses, I will keep you up-dated.

Olives, Walnuts and Pomegranate – Zeytoon Parvaradeh

08/03/201309/03/2013 Moya4 Comments

When I get my hands on a new cookbook I cant wait to flick and read through the book, picking up information about ingredients and recipes, reading stories about the author and learning bits of history related to the cuisine! Also, feasting my eyes on the mouth-watering photographs before heading into the kitchen to try out some new recipes… the tasty part!

Some months ago the cosy Words Bookstore and Café hosted a book signing by the lovely Ariana Bundy, promoting her new cookbook Pomegranates and Roses! I am not familiar with Persian cooking so it was a wonderful opportunity to meet Ariana herself and get a signed copy of her cookbook, to learn more about this very colourful cuisine! In fact it was only a couple of months earlier that Suzanne Husseini visited Words Bookstore and Café for her cookbook signing … another lovely cookbook!

To whet the appetite, Ariana demonstrated two delicious recipes from her Pomegranates and Roses cookbook, Zeytoon Parvaradeh, an olive, walnut and pomegranate appetizer and Mast O Khaiar, a cold yoghurt soup garnished with dried rose petals … both mouth-watering recipes, full of flavour and easy to prepare! Since then, I have made Zeytoon Parvaradeh on a few occasions, nibbled on some sweet Goosheh Feel and used some of the Ekhlas dates from the freezer for Omeletteh Khorma for breakfast and made Joojeh Kabab for a barbecue! There are many recipes that I want to try from this cookbook and I am sure there will be no complaints from the family!

While demonstrating Zeytoon Parvaradeh Ariana did mention that Persian pomegranate molasses/paste is the preferred brand with her recipes! The pomegranate molasses that I use is much thicker and has a more tart taste, so I guess it is finding a brand that has a good balance between sweet and sour! Maybe adding a little honey or lemon juice to a recipe, to balance the sweet and sour where needed! Thank you Ariana for letting me take the rest of pomegranate paste home and as promised I have prepared your recipe!

The recipe for Zeytoon Parvaradeh has been adapted, with the addition of garlic and a drizzle of vanilla olive oil on top before serving! I used the Spanish Manazilla olives as suggested but used a sweet Basil (had some in the garden) instead of Asian Basil! Used a mini food processor to blend all the ingredients together, rather than a pestle and mortar to crush the olives! I came across some lovely lemon mint at a farmers market recently, which I will try when I next make this recipe!

As an appetizer for a dinner party, serve Zeytoon Parvaradeh in individual dishes, alongside thin slices of lightly toasted French bread or water crackers! Or, place everything in a serving bowl and let everyone tuck in!

Zeytoon Parvaradeh

Recipe adapted from the Pomegranates and Roses cookbook by Ariana Bundy.

Ingredients:

125g stoned Manzanilla olives
25g shelled walnuts
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
6 fresh mint leaves
6 fresh basil leaves
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed (optional)

for garnish

pomegranate seeds
4 olives
4 fresh mint leaves
homemade vanilla olive oil, to drizzle (optional)

How to make: Reserve 4 olives for the garnish, then add the remaining olives, walnuts, extra-virgin olive oil, pomegranate molasses, mint, basil and garlic to a small processor and blitz for a few seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl and blitz again until mixture is very finely chopped. Place the olive mixture into a bowl and leave the flavour to develop for a couple of hours or overnight before serving. Place the olive mixture into individual serving dishes and garnish with whole olives, pomegranate seeds, mint leaf and a drizzle of vanilla olive oil on top, if using. Serves 4.

food + drink · mains

Vietnamese Style Noodle and Prawn Soup

22/02/201322/02/2013 Moya9 Comments

Vietnamese Noodle Prawn Soup I think it is safe to say that most of us enjoy a warm comforting bowl of soup and with the addition of noodles making it a complete meal… it’s guaranteed to be a winner! Vietnamese food is considered one of the healthiest cuisines, lots of clean flavours with recipes using spices, lots of fresh herbs and vegetables! Carefully balanced broths, stocks and sauces are of great importance, transforming the taste of the simplest dish! Just like the Vietnamese Salad, Vietnamese Style Noodle and Prawn Soup is quick and easy to prepare for family meals and could also be served as part of an Asian style menu when entertaining!

Rice stick noodles are perfect to use in soups made with a light aromatic stock and people who suffer from gluten and wheat intolerance’s get to enjoy them as well! Rice noodles are best soaked in boiling water and not boiled in a saucepan which can easily turn them to mush! Either way, make sure your noodles are al dente, just like pasta!

The stock has been infused with lime leaves (not Kaffir lime leaf) taken from our lime tree growing in the garden! Unfortunately no limes yet… apparently the tree is still young… at least the lemon tree is starting to bud once again! 🙂 These small lime leaves are very fragrant when torn and it’s such a waste not to put their intoxicating perfume to some culinary use! As the tree has not been sprayed with any chemical pesticides I am quite happy to use the lime leaves in my cooking!

Using the shell of the prawns when making the stock adds a delicate flavour and the stock only needs a gentle simmer for 20 minutes, with no salt added! Fish sauce and lime juice are the seasonings for this stock so use this recipe as a guide, balancing both according to your taste buds!

I thought this was a nice idea and another way to serve Vietnamese soups (Pho), seen over at JungleFrog Cooking blog… putting the garnishes into individual bowls on the table, each person can choose and add what they like to their own bowl of soup! To add more flavour and spice things up a little, leave a bottle of chilli oil on the table to drizzle over the soup! Use chop sticks to pick up the noodles and prawns when eating and afterwards pick the bowl up with your hands and slurp the delicious and light flavoursome soup from the bowl! Now if that sounds like bad table manners… head for the cutlery drawer!

Vietnamese Style Noodle and Prawn Soup

Ingredients:

400g uncooked medium-sized prawns, heads removed and discarded, prawns peeled and deveined, reserve the shells
200g dried (2mm wide) rice stick noodles

for stock

1.5 liters of water
1 large garlic clove, peeled and thinly sliced
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced thinly
1 lemongrass stalk, discard tough outer leaves, chop finely
1 tablespoon of freshly chopped coriander root
10 whole black pepper corns
6 lime leaves (optional)

for seasoning

2 limes juiced (approximately)
3 tablespoons of fish sauce (approximately)

for garnish

a handful of fresh coriander leaves
a handful of fresh mint leaves
2 spring onions, green part, slice thinly, diagonally
2 to 3 small chilli, slice thinly, diagonally
chilli oil to drizzle (optional)

How to make: Rinse the prawn shells and add together with the water, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, coriander root, black pepper corns and torn lime leaves into a saucepan, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the stock uncovered for 20 minutes! Strain the stock and return to a cleaned saucepan!

Meanwhile place the rice noodles into a large heat-proof bowl or dish and pour over boiling water to cover completely. After about a minute move the rice noodles around so they do not stick together, check again after another minute! Leave noodles to soak for about 8 to 10 minutes, checking that they are not turning mushy and still have a slight bite to them! Once cooked drain and refresh with cold water. Set aside until needed.

Add the prawns to the stock and simmer for a minute or until prawns have changed colour! Add the lime juice and fish sauce gradually, check seasoning, adding more if required.

Divide the noodles into the bowls, ladle over the stock and divide the prawns. Garnish each bowl with some coriander, mint, spring onion and chilli. Serve immediately. Serves 4