Spaghetti Trapanese

You know how difficult is to make a dish that everyone in the family loves. These dishes are very rare and once you find one you keep it like a treasure. One of those dishes for my family is Spaghetti Trapanese, a summer dish that is best when tomatoes are in full season. It is a pesto-like cold sauce and has only a couple of main ingredients. Those should be of the best quality that you can afford.

Spaghetti Trapanese
(Jamie Oliver)
serves 4

• 1 pound dried spaghetti
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 5 1/2oz / 150 g  almonds, skins on or off
• 1 clove garlic
• 4 large handfuls fresh basil, leaves picked
• 5 1/2 oz / 150g  freshly grated pecorino or Parmesan cheese
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds tomatoes, halved
• 
  

Warm the almonds a little in a dry pan, then smash them up in a pestle and mortar or whiz them in a food processor until you have a coarse powder consistency. Put them into a bowl. Bash the garlic and the basil separately in the mortar and mix with the almonds, adding the pecorino or Parmesan, a good glug of olive oil, and some salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes and really scrunch them with your hands into the almond mixture until they have completely broken up. Loosen with a little extra olive oil and toss with your hot drained pasta. Check the seasoning, divide onto 4 plates, and spoon any sauce that remains in the pan over the top.

Gazpacho

Gazpacho is a cold, Spanish, tomato-based, raw vegetable soup originating in the region of Andalusia.

Typically it includes stale bread, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and salt.

Until I owned a blender it never occured to me to make it myself but this tool makes it very easy and in minutes you have the most luscious soup you can imagine. It is refreshing on a hot summer day, healthy, and light. My version doesn't contain bread, so feel free to add some.

Gazpacho

Soup

5 big tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 green or yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 cucumber, peeled an diced

1 onion (I don't add the onion), peeled and diced

3 - 4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 

1 Tablespoon sherry vinegar or more

Optional: 2 big slices of a day-old country bead, remove crust, cube, soak in water for 5-10 minutes, drain and squeeze out the excess liquid

Garnish

1 Tablespoon olive oil 

salt to taste

2 slices of white bread

small dices of cucumber, bell pepper, tomato

Put the tomatoes in a bowl, cover them with boiling water and let them sit for 30 seconds. Drain, then peel and cut into pieces. Put the vegetables (and bread) into a blender together with the olive oil and vinegar. Blend until very smooth. Taste with salt and pepper. Put into the fridge until very cold, at least for 2 hours.

For the garnish

Remove crust of the bread, heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the bread cubes until golden brown. Salt and set aside 

Put the diced vegetables and bread cubes in individual bowls an serve together with the soup.

Portuguese Egg Tarts

Portuguese Egg Tarts are traditional custard pastries that are of a creme brulee like consistency caramelized in a puff pastry case. It is a very popular pastry in Asia and Europe. Originally they were called Pastel de nata and the dish was created more than 200 years ago by Catholic Sisters.
They are so delicious that you can hardly stop eating them once they are out of the oven. I like them warm, cold, or even the next day given that you still have some left.

Portuguese Egg Tarts
(adapted from Rasa Malaysia)

Ingredients for crust :
1 box of Betty Crocker Pie Crust Mix, (Net Wt 11 Oz) or
1 frozen and rolled Pillsbury 9-inch pie crust, or your favorite pie crust recipe (recipe follows)
3 tablespoon melted butter
⅓ cup cold water

Ingredients for filling :
4 egg yolks from jumbo sized eggs)
⅓ cup of sugar, (or slightly less if you don't like your Portuguese egg tarts too sweet)
⅓ cup of heavy whipping cream
⅓ cup of milk
3 drops of vanilla extract

Stir the pie crust mix, cold water, and melted butter until pastry forms a ball. On a floured surface, roll the dough and cut it into 12 balls. Set aside.

Use an electronic hand beater to blend ingredients for filling. Beat for about 3 minutes and strain the filling through a strainer. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 F / 200C. Butter the muffin pan.

Flatten the balls into small rounds and fit them well into the muffin pan by pressing firmly on bottom and side (do not over stretch). Fill the pie crust dough with the egg mixture (about 80% full).
Bake the Portuguese Egg Tarts at 400F/200C for about 15-20 minutes or until the filling turn brown.


Pie Crust
(Recipe from notwithoutsalt)


200 g all purpose flour
125 g salted buter (frozen) diced
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Champagne Vinegar

Pulse dry ingredients in a food processor. Add ice cold butter and process until mixture looks like bread crumbs. Add egg and vinegar until combine. Knead gently just until it comes together. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Follow recipe above or bake shell completely and with pie weights (if available). 350F/180C about 20-25 minutes.

Pasta with Shaved Asparagus

Green asparagus is known and eaten worldwide. Once a delicacy and only available in spring it is now accessible throughout the whole year. It is typically served as an appetizer or vegetable side dish, steamed, grilled or stir fried. Recently it became popular to serve it also raw and when  I stumbled over a shaved asparagus salad recipe on smittenkitchen I knew immediately that it would be good with Pasta too. So I cooked some spaghetti and added the shaved asparagus on top. With or without pasta this is a very refreshing, light summery dish.

Pasta with Shaved Asparagus

(inspired by the Union Square Cafe and Smittenkitchen)

There are no exact measurements in this recipe. Everything is to taste, so taste as you go along to make sure you’re getting all the Parmesan, nutty, and lemony flavors you want.

1/4 cup pine nuts or sliced almonds, toasted* and cooled
1 pound asparagus, rinsed
1 lemon, halved
Olive oil
Coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 ounces Parmesan cheese

No need to snap off the tough ends of your asparagus. Lay a single stalk on its side on a cutting board. Holding onto the tough end, use a vegetable peeler (a Y-shaped peeler is easiest, but I’ve used a standard one successfully) to shave off thin asparagus ribbons from stalk to tip, peeling away from the tough end in your hand. [Updated] Discard the tough ends once you’re done peeling. Gently pile your ribbons on a medium-sized serving platter. Squeeze some lemon juice over the asparagus, drizzle it with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Toss gently and then use your peeler to shave curls of Parmesan right off the block, over the asparagus. Sprinkle with some toasted nuts. Repeat with remaining asparagus, a third of the remaining bundle at a time. Eat immediately.

* I toast mine in a single layer on a baking sheet at 350 for 5 to 10 minutes. It’s really important, especially with pine nuts, that you stay close and toss them frequently because they love to burn, but if you move them around a bit, you can get a wonderful, even coffee coffee color on them and an intensely nutty flavor. It makes even unfancy nuts taste amazing.

Apple Crumble

When I went to the supermarket the other day to get some nice rhubarb so I could make a crumble, I was a little disappointed when I couldn't find any decent looking strands. I decided to make an apple crumble instead, since you can always find some nice apples.
Technically, the season for Apple Crumble is already over but for me this is a year round desert. The smell of an apple crumble in the oven is so irresisitible that even when it is 90 degrees outside, my family still devours this dessert. Although my kids prefer Jamie Oliver's classic Fruit Crumble recipe I love the nuttyness of  Nigella's version. She adds sunflower kernels, oats and almonds as a topping which adds a lovely crunch to the dish.

Apple Crumble

(adapted from Nigella Lawson's Blackberry Crisp)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick)/115 g  plus 1 tablespoon butter
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup flaked almonds
• 1/4 cup sunflower kernels
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 cups sliced apples
• 1/4 cup vanilla or granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

Yields: 4-6 servings

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 400ºF/200 C. Melt the butter and put to one side for a moment.

Combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, almonds, kernels, and cinnamon in a bowl. Tip the blackberries into a wide shallow baking dish (I used one here with a 3-cup capacity), sprinkle over the vanilla sugar and cornstarch, and tumble about to mix.
Stir the melted butter into the crisp topping and spoon on top of the apples to cover but not absolutely thoroughly. Bake for 25 minutes and serve with ice cream or heavy cream.

Cold Tomato Soup with Mozarella

Insalata Caprese or Tomato Mozarella is a popular appetizer around the whole world. When you are sitting outside on a hot summer day it, you feel like you are in Italy. This recipe is a liquid version of the tasty dish. However, this soup is cooked with a red beet which gives it an incredible dark red color and a hint of earthyness. Use the best ingredients you can find, it will make all the difference.
Michel Richard recommends adding a piece of pineapple to the soup if the tomatoes are not perfectly ripe.

Tomato Soup with Fresh Mozarella

Michel Richard: Happy in the Kitchen

(serves 4)

1/3 cup (80 ml) olive oil

1 1/2 cups (about 1 1/2 medium) finely chopped yellow onions

3 pounds ripe tomatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

1 medium beet, peeled and cut into eights

2 sprigs thyme, 1 bay leaf, 1 small sprig rosemary (Bouquet Garni)

2 garlic cloves

Fine sea salt and ground black pepper

1/2 lemon

Garnishes

1 ounce (30 g) fresh mozarella, cut into 1/4 inch dice

1  cup dice (1/4 inch) peeled tomatoes

16 small basil leaves

Heat the oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring often, until translucent. Add the tomatoes, beet, and bouquet garni. Using a rasp grater, grate the garlic directly into the pot (or mince the garlic and add it). Season with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and cook, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes. (I cooked my tomatoes on a low simmer with the lid on).

Remove the beet and bouquet garni. Save the beet for another use or discard; discard the bouquet garni. Transfer the tomato mixture to a food processor and blend until smooth. Strain into a bowl and let cool. Refrigerate, covered, until cold, or for up to a day.

Before serving, stir in lemon juice, Tabasco, and additional salt to taste. Divide soup among four soup bowls. Garnish with the cheese, diced tomatoes, and basil leaves.

Molten Lava Chocolate Cakes

When you look at the dessert menu at any restaurant, you will usually find some version of a Molten Lava Chocolate Cake. If you've ever ordered one, you know why they are so popular. It is a dessert that was created by  mistake - somebody took the cake out of the oven too early and discovered how heavenly it tasted! You can easily recreate this cake at home and unlike a souffle you can prepare it some time in advance, even freeze it for a day, and then pop it in the oven when you need it. Don't over-bake them however, because then you'll have a chocolate cake without the heavenly inside.

Molten Lava Chocolate Cakes
(adapted from Nigella Lawson)


1 stick (115 g) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 ounces (120 g) semisweet chocolate, with 60 percent cocoa solids
2 eggs
¾ (170 g) cup superfine sugar (I took less)
3 (25 g) tablespoons all-purpose flour
Special equipment: 4 (2/3 to 1-cup capacity) ramekins

Optional: Cocoa powder to dust the ramequins
1 pinch Espresso powder


DIRECTIONS

Place a baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 400 F / 200 C .
Butter the ramekins with 1 tablespoon butter and dust with cocoa powder.
Either in a microwave or in a bowl suspended over a pan over simmering water, melt the dark chocolate and 1 stick butter, then set aside to cool a little.
In another bowl, mix the eggs with the sugar and flour with a hand whisk and beat in the cooled butter, the Espresso powder if using and chocolate mixture. Divide the mixture between the 4 buttered ramekins. Put on the baking sheet in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, by which time the tops will be cooked and cracked and the chocolate gooey underneath.
Place each ramekin on a small plate with a teaspoon and serve. Make sure to warn people that these desserts will be HOT!