Warm or cold potato salad

This is an adaptation of another Nigella Express recipe (changes noted below). We have changed quantities and some of the ingredients. It all depends on what you have in the fridge at the time ☺ It goes perfectly with barbq meat and cucumber salad. Feeds 4-6.

Foodstuff you will need:
Baby new potatoes – as many as you think people want to eat (scrubbed not peeled)
1 peeled and chopped onion – Nigella uses raw spring onions
Olive oil
1-2 small boxes of cubed smoked pancetta (luckily pancetta is plentiful in Italy and we prefer to buy it from the deli counter as opposed to the pre packaged version; 4 thick slices will be plenty) Nigella uses streaky bacon _ something we cannot find in our local Italian store.
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard – Nigella uses wholegrain.
1-2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar

Equipment:
Chopping board and sharp kitchen knife
Large saucepan
Large bowl
Serving bowl

How to throw it together
Boil potatoes until tender (20 mins in salted water) Cut in half if too large.
Drain and place in large bowl
If you prefer raw spring onions, chop and add at this stage. If you prefer cooked onion follow step below
Heat the oil in the potato saucepan and cook the onion
At the same time, cook the pancetta (in same pan) until crispy.
Remove from heat. Add vinegar and mustard. Stir.
Toss with potatoes in large bowl and transfer to serving bowl
Eat immediately or leave to cool. You can also store in fridge.
This also keeps well for a day or so in the fridge in an airtight container.


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Chilled Lettuce and Cucumber soup

Ordinarily, this is not a recipe I would choose, but when faced with 40 maturing lettuces and 3 plants each producing at least 1 large cucumbers every few days, we felt the need to find something a bit different to our usual choice of hearty soup.


This recipe is from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingsal River Cottage Veg book (minus croutons)



We like this a lot and have frozen some whilst we continue to make it with additional cucumbers. I have just harvest 5 more so this will definitely be on the menu for days to come. Feeds 4-6

Foodstuff you will need:
50g butter
2 leeks trimmed washed and sliced (I use as much of the leek as possible)
1 large potato (cut into sizeable cubes)
1 litre of vegetable stock
2 cucumbers peeled and cubed
2 lettuces washed and shredded
3 tablespoons of cream/crème fraiche
salt and pepper

Equipment:
Large deep frying with lid
Food processor/soup blender
Ladle
Chopping board and sharp kitchen knife
Airtight plastic box (to place in fridge once cool)

How to throw it together
Melt the butter in a large pan over a low heat. Add the leeks and sweat for approx 10 minutes until soft.
Add the potato and stock. Bring to the boil then simmer for c. 10 minutes until potato is almost cooked. Add the cubed cucumbers and shredded lettuce.


Put lid on and return to the boil.

Simmer for 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat

Pour the contents (in batches) into a food processor and blend well.

Transfer into another container (e.g. plastic box or bowl)
If you are freezing it – stop here and allow to cool.
If you are eating it within a day or so, add the cream and then allow to cool.


Place in fridge until ready to eat.

Pesto - Australian-Italian style

One of the many challenges we are faced in Italy is how to eat all the vegetables that grow in our veggie patch without wasting them. 

We always have a glut of basil whatever we do to try to phase it.  

We found this recipe in an Australian pizza recipe book “Pizza modo mio” by John Lanzafame. Although it is a bit fiddly to make (you have 2-4 hours prep in making the onion confit and garlic confit before starting on the pesto) the pesto it is delicious and keeps for a month in the fridge. The onion and garlic confit also keeps for 3 months in the fridge. I usually make double the quantity of the garlic and onion confit and 5x of the pesto in one session. This normally uses all of the confits up in one go and the volume lasts us about a month with 2 of us eating fresh pasta 3-4 times a week; when in Italy… ☺

Foodstuff you will need:  

Onion Confit  

2-3 brown onions (peeled and chopped)

150ml olive oil 

Garlic Confit  

30 peeled garlic cloves (approx 2-3 bulbs)

150ml olive oil

Handful of flat leaved parsley leaves

Pesto 

Juice of 1 lemon

2 large handfuls of basil

2 tablespoons of pine nuts

2-3 anchovy fillets

3 tablespoons of grated parmesan

80ml olive oil – plus a bit more to cover the pesto in the jar

1 tablespoon of onion confit

1 tablespoon of garlic confit

Equipment:

2 oven proof dishes (if making both confits at same time)

Sharp knives and chopping board

Tablespoons

Large blender or food processor.

Plastic spatula

Glass jars with screw top lids (sterilized)

How to throw it together

Onion Confit   (see large tray in foreground of photo above)

Preheat oven to 120C

Put chopped onion and olive oil into oven proof dish and bake for 2 hours until onion soft and translucent. Try not to brown the onions (this is hard as I have not yet managed to stop them turning brown!)

Remove from oven and allow to cool. 

Put onions and oil into jar and store in fridge until ready to use.

Garlic Confit   (see small tray at rear of photo above)

Preheat oven to 120C

Put garlic cloves, olive oil and parsley leaves into an oven proof dish and bake for 2 hours. Try not to brown the garlic. My garlic always looks toasty but that is ok; do not burn to a cinder!

Remove from oven and allow to cool. 

Put garlic, parsley and oil into jar and store in fridge until ready to use.

Pesto

Put all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Add extra olive oil if you wish for runnier pesto or extra basil for thicker pesto. This photo shows it a little too thick. 

Season to taste.

Pour into a jar and cover with a thin layer of olive oil.

The pesto keeps for 1 month

After using, cover the surface of the pesto with another thin layer of olive oil ; this will stop the pesto oxidizing.