A punchy treat from Yotam Ottolenghi’s new book Plenty. It’s a cauliflower frittata packed with smoky flavours. I used scamorza (you can buy it, or make your own as I did here), smoked paprika and smoked sea salt to amp up the aromatic flavour. It’s also important to ‘toast’ the cauliflower in a pan before pouring the egg mixture in to accentuate the cauli’s nutty aroma. This is really good – really good – and I even had it the next day cut into cubes and reheated in the oven. It left a lovely smoky flavour in the mouth a good while later. Very tasty indeed.
Smoky cauliflower frittata:
1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
Smoked sea salt
4 tablespoons creme fraiche
6 eggs
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 spring onion, sliced
150g scamorza, grated
50g cheddar, grated
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Parboil the cauliflower in salted water for 4 minutes, then drain. While it boils, whisk together the eggs, creme fraiche, mustard, paprika, onion plus two thirds of the cheeses. Season with smoked sea salt and white pepper.
Fry the cauliflower in a little oil for a couple of minutes, without stirring, until the underside starts to brown. Pour over the egg mixture and when the edges start to set scatter the remaining cheese on top. Transfer to a hot oven for 15-20 minutes until set to your liking (I like mine past wobbly).
A tale of two halves here: cheeky Essex boy meets Eastern-influenced vegophile.
Jamie Oliver’s current series Jamie Does… visits different cities and squeezes the food out of them. I’ve scribbled quite a few of them down, but his recent Andalucian pork chop recipe really connected with me. He cut a slit in a pork chop, then stuffed it with a juicy raisin stuffing. Mine is simplified to my store-cupboard. I couldn’t quite manage the meat pocket, my chops were more steaks and I couldn’t get enough knife in to stuff without going through. I instead plonked the marinade on top after cooking on one side on the barbecue. The flavours were there but I imagine it would be sensational properly stuffed. Next time I’ll get proper fat chops.
The other part of the dish was courtesy of Ottolenghi’s new book Plenty. I was fortunate enough to get one of these courtesy of their Twitter competition and couldn’t decide where to start, it’s stuffed with great ideas and brilliant (yet simple) invention. I started simple: mozzarella rendered to fluffy, yummy gooeyness. Fennel seeds popped in the mouth among the creamy cheese. Simply delicious.
Moorish pork chops with marinated mozzarella and tomato salad:
For the pork:
4 pork steaks
A handful of raisins
A good splash of sherry vinegar
A dash of extra virgin olive oil
A couple of teaspoons of thyme leaves
For the mozzarella salad:
A couple of tomatoes, cut into chunks
400g mozzarella
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
A couple of teaspoons of thyme leaves
A dash of extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
Zest of 1 lemon
Fry the fennel seeds in a dry pan until they pop. Put them into a pestle and mortar and crush lightly. Add the thyme, garlic, oil and lemon zest and toss with the mozzarella. Leave this alone while you get on with everything else.
Combine the raisins, vinegar, oil and thyme and leave for a few minutes so the raisins absorb the juice.
Cut a slit horizontally in the side of the pork. Push some of the stuffing into the gap.
Barbecue the pork on each side until nicely browned. Serve with the mozzarella and tomatoes, garnished with a drizzle of oil.
I couldn’t quite manage to get the sagnarelli (a flatter, less fluted pasta) but as suggested I hoped farfalle would do the job. Therefore purists may wish to edit the name of this post!
It’s a fairly simple affair – pasta and broad beans in a shallot-infused lemon, wine and pink peppercorn sauce – but there’s a bright summery burst of flavour in every mouthful. Earthy beans, pasta with bite, being zinged with lemon, tempered with salty cheese and as everything fades away you’re left with a gentle tickle of heat from the peppercorns. It was very tasty.
It’s a great starter recipe, though the carnivore in me wanted a little bite of meat every now and then. I’d try it again, definitely, perhaps with a little less parmesan and pop in some diced pancetta instead. I might substitute the broad bean for another bitey veg as well, such as courgette or possibly purple sprouting broccoli. And simply because I love the taste – maybe a blast of garlic too. I enjoyed it a great deal and will give it a whirl another time.
Farfalle with lemon and broad bean (serves 2):
4 shallots, finely diced
25g butter
200ml white wine
250g farfalle pasta
250g broad beans
2 teaspoons pink peppercorns, coarsely crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
Zest and juice of a lemon
Grated pecorino
Fry the shallots in butter for a few minutes, until browned. Add the wine with a pinch each of sugar, salt and pepper and reduce vigorously until there is about a tablespoon of liquid left in the pan. Take it off the heat and check for seasoning.
Meanwhile cook the pasta as per packet instructions, and cook the broad beans until al dente. Transfer both to the winey liquor along with the olive oil and lemon zest, tossing well. Taste for seasoning and add as much lemon juice and cheese as you think it needs.
