Tag: tomatoes

Sweet vinaigrette.

Recipe

Extra virgin Greek olive oil 1/4 cup
Mirin 4 tbsp
Braggs cloudy apple cider vinegar 1/8 cup
Fine table salt to taste
Fine ground white pepper to taste
White granulated sugar 1/4 tsp
Dijon mustard 1/2 tsp

put in a jar with a lid and shake well till thick and emulsified.

This vinaigrette it is delicious, and not too sour.

Vinaigrette is all about the balance, the exact measure of oil, sweet, sour and salt, with a hint of spiciness.
I find the taste is quite different depending on the exact elements us use, should it be a Greek extra virgin olive oil or do I go for the Spanish which has quite a different flavour?
The mustard, well, just how many kinds of mustard are there?
Some are delicious in vinaigrette and some are only edible on hot dogs.
They can be rough ground or smooth, sweet or very salty, each make is completely different and adds a totally different flavour profile to the vinaigrette.

As for vinegars, there is possibly even more variation, white wine vinegar, Japanese rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar. Each with its own unique flavour, so experiment, decide which one to use to get the exact flavour you are looking for.

Sugar, each variety has its own unique flavour, white granulated in this case which has very little flavour, but just adds sweetness. There is deep dark muscovado, or demerara and also jaggery. All these have their own uses, and flavour recipes differently. Sweetners of all kinds have a unique effect on every dish you add them to.

Even salts have subtle flavours from table salt to black Hawaiian or pink himalayan to fleur de sel, and there are more.
I use them all in different recipes and in different ways.

Therefore I think it is important that we are clear in recipes which kind we use, which ones make the exact flavour profile we are looking for.
Each variation in the ingredients gives a variation to the flavour profile of the finished vinaigrette, sauce or dish.

So there are two recipes today

The basic recipe is

oil
vinegar
mustard
salt
pepper
sugar

This gives you the basic ingredients, and the one for todays sweet vinaigrette above, which gives you the exact recipe.

Good luck with experimenting and getting the balance right.
Every time you make a vinaigrette you can try a different mustard, a different oil a different vinegar and so on, and each time get a different vinaigrette.

That is the art of cooking, to experiment with a known recipe, technique or principle and find out what you like best or what goes best with the rest of your dish.
Dare to be different, you can even play with the proportions.
Do you want more mustard? Less salt or more sugar or oil?
What if you use honey or add celery salt instead?

Try it.

This recipe is great with all kinds of fresh salads, we ate it with little gem lettuce cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes, with a sprinkling of finely chopped spring onion.

Let me know how you get on

Focaccia, the easy recipe

It is actually incredibly easy to make focaccia.
Give it a try, it is the easiest type of bread to make, anyone can do it.

Before you put it in the oven you can cover it with any topping you like.
This one has tiny tomatoes, chopped black olives and oregano.

Try garlic, onions, rosemary, herbes de provence, chopped courgette or aubergine, paprika, chilli or even kapers.
Dare to experiment. Mix it up for a different eating experience every time.

Here is the recipe.

500g white flour
400ml (warm) water
1 sachet instant yeast
8 tbsp olive oil (and some extra)
1 tsp salt

topping
Tomatoes sliced
oregano
black olives, chopped
olive oil

technique.

First dust a work surface with flour ready for the kneading.

Oil and flour a large flat baking sheet, (16 by 12 inches).

In a large bowl mix the flour, yeast and salt and add the water slowly while you mix to get a soft liquid dough. Use your hands as this is such fun. However a wooden spoon also works.

Pour all the dough out onto the floured surface and knead for about five minutes. It should become smooth and stretchy.

Oil the bowl liberally and put the dough back in it, cover with a cloth and leave to rise for about an hour.

Pour the almost liquid bubbling dough into the baking tin and spread it out evenly with the fingertips,
Don’t worry if it deflates a bit as you push it into the corners.

Cover and leave it to rise for 45 minutes.

Heat the oven at 240c or 465f or gas mark 9 to be ready for the focaccia.

Make holes in the top by poking with the fingertips for the authentic focaccia look and cover with some more oil, add your toppings last, in this case olives, tomatoes and oregano.

Bake for 30 minutes.
When you take it out of the oven add some sea salt and more olive oil.

Eat this warm!

Don’t be afraid of yeast, this recipe always works.

a few tips.
Massage some oil into your hands before kneading, this usually helps to stop the dough sticking.
Do not leave the rising dough in a draft, yeast hates that, as well as the cold. a warm dark spot is best.
Always cover with a clean tea towel.
To avoid the tea towel sticking during the second rise, oil the surface of the dough first.
Make sure tho oven is already hot when you are ready to bake the focaccia.

Let me know how you get on.

Sweet chilli sauce

This is a hot little number is mitigated by it’s delicious sweetness. A simple quick recipe to spice up any meal. Goes especially well with rice dishes.

Sweet chilli sauce.

2 green jalapenos
2 red jalapenos
6 red cherry tomatoes
4 tsp sugar (I said it was sweet)
2 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp ponzu
salt to taste

Technique

Remove the inner pith and seeds from all the chillies and chop very finely.
Chop the cherry tomatoes almost as finely as the chillies.
Mix together in a bowl with all the other ingredients.
Add salt to taste.

This should be quite liquid and if left to stand for a hour or so, the heat of the chillies leeches into the sauce creating a delicious sweet spiciness.

Lazy Sundays

Out on the water, the yacht, white on blue, crystal clear water in all directions.

The wind rustling my hair and the sails bold as the boat silently cuts the water to our favourite lagoon.

It’s time to open the picnic basket and the cooler. What did we throw into it early this morning with sleepy eyes and a dormant brain before rushing off to the lakes.

Bread, fresh from the bakers, the mad dash to the shop on the way to buy warm baked rolls just out of the oven. Fresh fruit and a knife, tomatoes, cucumber and mayonnaise, lots of green stuff. It looks like I just emptied out the vegetable drawer in the fridge and threw everything in there. Now, when hunger strikes it’s time to make up something to eat, now we find out what we forgot. Now we realise we don’t really want to be this healthy and would prefer to eat something vaguely unhealthy but there is no choice.

I slice juicy melon, the scent hitting us in the heat of the day as we throw out the anchor. I fill the rolls with salad things, they have gone slightly chewy. We are in a silent bubble, the distant sounds of revellers on the beach, children jumping into the water, chugging engines seem unreal, snaches of music and the soft lap of water on the keel create a dreamy haze.

No wasps here.

We ravenously tear at chunks of bread with our teeth, slices of cucumber and tomato spill onto our hands dripping onto the deck. Did we forget napkins and tissues again? This feast washed down with bottles of icy water from the cooler. A delicate pink wine, fresh and cool or a cold beer. I can feel an afternoon headache coming on but I don’t care. The sun beats down and turns the water into a million diamonds. It’s all simple, quiet, delicious.

We ruffle the water with our sticky hands then settle down to some serious sunbathing for the rest of the afternoon saving the punnet of strawberries for later.

This is the life.