Plenty: Chard and saffron omelette

All the very in green superfoods seem to be finding their way into Finnish supermarkets. The other week I got my hands on some kale, and now I've stumbled across chard. Which doesn't come cheap, I might add. Still, Plenty has several recipes with chard on the list of ingredients, so I took a stab at one of them, the chard and saffron omelette. It was wonderful. I'm going to be putting in the extra cash for another stash of chard and making this again soon, what with the lovely summer potatoes available as well. 

 

Plenty: Garlic soup with harissa

Yum yum yum! I don't know why I didn't try this garlic soup with harissa earlier. You might be a little skeptical about the 25 cloves of garlic that go into this... but don't be. You cook them and they lose some of their potent flavour. It's still garlic, of course, and if you like garlic, this is a feast. I was a bit lazy this time and skipped the harissa. Maybe next time. Harissa from the shop sufficed this time around. It's an easy one, so do try. Vegans, no yogurt. It's not really necessary anyway, to be honest.

 

Risotto with roasted asparagus and mozzarella

Finally a recipe not by Ottolenghi! This risotto with roasted asparagus and mozzarella, however, is also form the Guardian, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. If risottos intimidate you at all, this is an easy one. The list of ingredients is short, and it's easy to prepare. I've made this twice now. The first time I had to make some more vegetable stock - 500ml didn't seem to suffice. However, when I made it today, 500-600ml was perfect. The trick is to keep the heat low, which I didn't do the first time around. Also, tonight I tried adding a big handful of chopped fresh parsley at the end, which worked beautifully. I think it adds a whole new layer to the overall slightly smokey flavour (thanks to the buffalo mozzarella) of this dish. And the generous drizzle of good-quality olive oil at the end is a real plus, so don't leave it out. Enjoy!

 

Plenty: Asparagus, lentils and watercress salad

There's been a brief pause in blogging, but not cooking, not ever! I've been trying out new dishes every week as per usual, but just haven't found the time to sit down and blog. I'll do my best to catch up. 

A few of the newbies I've tried involve asparagus. This asparagus, lentils and watercress salad was a delicious one. The pecorino is a must. It gives the whole dish a proper 'sting' to counterbalance the slight acidity of the asparagus, without overpowering the fresh herbs.

 

Plenty: Jerusalem artichokes with halloumi and basil oil

I made this feast of jerusalem artichokes with manouri and basil oil over Easter but have been too busy to keep up with the blogging. Yes, another wonderful meal from Ottolenghi. I used halloumi with this instead of manouri, which I wasn't able to get a hold of anywhere. A wonderful warm salad type of meal!

 

Ottolenghi: Mixed vegetables and yogurt with green chill

I love love love reading the Weekend Guardian each weekend in anticipation of what recipe Ottolenghi  will belt out for its readers. This one for mixed vegetables and yogurt with green chilli was in this weekend's Guardian and made it the same night. A very fresh, juicy and filling batch. Will definitely be making this again sometime soon!

 

Plenty: Green couscous

I had a go at Ottolenghi's green couscous last week. I can only be boring and say yet again that Ottolenghi never disappoints. This was delicious. Simple as that. Healthy, hearty, green as a garden patch. I don't think this recipe featured in the Guardian, but you can find a version of it from Ottolenghi's September 15th 2011 blog entry.

Plenty: Crunchy pappardelle

I'm finally back from my travels and back in the kitchen. Hurrah! I'm still keeping Ottolenghi's Plenty close by. Last week I had a go at the crunchy pappardelle, made crispily crunchy with Japanese Panko breadcrumbs. Delish. How I missed this book of spells!!

Plenty: Leek fritters

I've been glancing longingly at the recipe for these Turkish-inspired leek fritters for a while. Leek pancakes - how could anyone say no? This takes a while to prepare, mainly because it entails chopping and frying a few things like leeks and shallots, plus there's a host of others things to measure out for the rest of the batter, like spices including cumin, coriander and cinnamon (!). I had a couple of unnecessary casualties too owing to my carelessness: I rubbed my eye with fingers after chopping chili (eyeball was on fire) and at some point i burned the tips of my thumbs (don't know when, but now they are a little sore and red). It was well worth all the physical pain though. These shot straight to at least my top 5 Ottolenghi recipes. The cinnamon in particular threw off the cumin, coriander and tumeric in a wonderful way. I don't think I'll make the sauce (greek yogurt, parsley, coriander, garlic, lemon juice) next time though. It was nice, but I think just a drizzle of lemon juice on top is a more refreshing way of enjoying these guys and their interesting flavours.

Mushroom lasagne

The other day my friend Maria generously gave me half a kilo of funnel chantrelles she picked. I saw it as another opportunity to - that's right - tackle another Plenty recipe. I went for the mushroom lasagne prepared with no less than four different cheeses: ricotta, Gruyère, mozzarella and Parmesan. It's the first time I've done lasagne from a recipe, or this elaborately, making my own béchamel sauce too, which was so easy that I don't understand why I didn't make it myself before. I made half a portion, which was still enough for at least 3 people. And like Ottolenghi suggested, I enjoyed it with green salad, with avocados and cherry tomatoes. Finally, one more big thank you to Maria. I am so happy to have such lovely and thoughtful friends!

Plenty project: Crusted pumpkin wedges with soured cream

A busy week coupled with a sprained ankle limiting by ability to tour food shops has kept my cooking quite tame this past week. This weekend I did however try a new recipe from Plenty. Because it's the season for them, I did a pumpkin recipe before it's too late. A pumpkin is sliced into thin wedges, then topped with olive oil and a thick coat composed of a mix of parmesan, white bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, thyme, lemon zest and salt, then tossed into the oven for a half an hour. Served with soured cream, mixed with dill, salt and pepper. I have to admit that this has been my least favourite Plenty food. I've spoiled myself rotten, to be honest, since this was very tasty, but didn't incite the same overwhelming feelings of gluttony as the others I've tried. Maybe it was the soured cream? I think it was a little unnecessary, a little too rich. I tried some of the lefovers later and the pumpkin wedges, in my opinion, tasted much better at room temperature than warm out of the oven. Anyway, thank you Yotam for a lovely autumn dinner.

NEXT DAY UPDATE: I had the leftovers for dinner tonight. Oh. my. god. They were heavenly. I take back all the doubts expressed above. I am so making these again before pumpkin season ends!

Salla's black trumpet and porcini omlette

My friend Salla brought over some wild mushrooms - porcini and black trumpets - she picked in the country and made us an omlette to go with Ottolenghi's other treats. She fried the mushrooms with a red onion, chopped, and whipped the eggs together with some quark and parsley. Wonderfully autumnful! And topped with fresh parsley for a spark of freshness. Kiitos, Salla!

Sweet potato and carrot soup

A simple soup that I picked out of a magazine last spring. Too easy. Just boil 1kg of sweet potato and 3 carrots all in chunks in a litre of water with a cute of vegetable stock until they are soft. Then puree it all and flavour with 1/2 teaspoon of ground giner, 1 teaspoon of curry and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Garnish with parsley. Non-vegans can add a dollop of sour cream on top too. I tend to toast some Finnish archipelago bread and dip it into the soup. Spicey bread for spicey soup.

Plenty project: Burnt aubergine with tahini

I've been glancing at page 122 with longing since I made Lentils with grilled aubergine. The aubergine for Burnt aubergine with tahini is prepared in the same way: the aubergine is held directly over the flame of the gas cooker and turned around until it is totally deflated and the skin is burnt all over. After that the smokey-smelling flesh is scooped out and left to drain. This time we mix in water, tahini, pomegranate molasses (which I couldn't find and replaced with a 1:1 ration of lemon juice and honey), garlic, salt and pepper, parsley, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and garnished with extra virgin olive oil, pepper and pomegranate seeds.

It was the first time a seeded a pomegranate so I turned to YouTube for some help. I found a fantastic video of a Persian woman using her aunt's method for seeding a pomegranate. Unlike all the other videos featuring an awful mess and splashings of water in a bowl, this woman works her magic by making some shallow slits into the pomegranate shell. It was very easy and worked well even for a beginner like me.

Paccheri alle zucchine

Today I used the last of the giant zucchinis grown by my neighbours. I made this first a year ago and it's an easy and reliable dish from Aglio & Olio. First you finely dice zucchini and onions and toss them in the frying pan with plenty of olive oil. Once they become golden and juicy and lose their volume, you add cherry tomatoes, chopped into quarters, and once they start to lose their shape a little, a bunch of finely chopped basil and parsely, plus salt and pepper according to taste. The recipe is made for paccheri, but I couldn't get any from the shop today so I used its little cousin rigatone instead. Grate some parmesan on top and your done. For the vegan version, leave out the parmesan.

Zucchini and parsley quiche

Last summer my neighbours brought me enormous zucchinis from their garden in the country. By enormous I mean that they were at least the size of my arm from elbow to finger tip, and weighed at least a couple of kilos. I jumped at the opportunity of learning to make all sorts of new dishes with zucchini, including this lovely quiche, a simple one with just zucchini, fried onions and parsley, but delicious. Toss a nice salad on the side to get your greens and voilà, dinner! The season is upon us again, so this month will probably also see a revival of some of the pasta dishes that I fell for last year.