pesto, oh!

i've loved pesto my whole life but used to be entirely unimpressed by homemade versions. no idea why, but now it just works :) for a genovese-style meal, cook a medium potato and a handful of green beans and serve with pesto on top of spaghetti. if you don't have the roasted garlic (wrap a head of garlic in foil and bake at 180C for 30 mins), gently pan fry 4 cloves of minced garlic in a teaspoon of oil on low-medium heat for 2 minutes, being careful not to brown. raw garlic should be avoided in this recipe. 

1 oven roasted whole head of garlic

0.5c raw cashews (or pine nuts, walnuts, or soaked almonds, or a combination)

0.5c olive oil

0.25c nutritional yeast flakes (from health food store)

1Tbs apple cider (or white) vinegar 

0.25tsp salt and ground pepper, plus more to taste

3-4 bunches of fresh basil (try your local Asian grocer- usually fresher and cheaper than supermarket basil, though may taste slightly different to Italian basil)

rinse the basil and remove large stems- small stems are fine. 

blend all ingredients except the basil in a food processor until well blended but not entirely smooth. add basil a handful at a time to the processor and blend before adding another handful. adjust seasoning to taste. 

weeknight simple: something with roasted veggies

when it's not too hot and you want an easy but classy meal, preheat your oven to 250C and get

a baking tray
1 big zucchini
1 small aubergine
1 large red capsicum
2 medium tomatoes
olive oil
salt and pepper
oregano, thyme and/or rosemary

slice the veggies into 2cm thick chunks; cover with a drizzle of oil and seasoning. bake for 15 minutes, then jiggle the tray to turn the veg around, and bump the heat up to 280C for another 10 minutes or just til you start to get small spots of charring. when the veg is tender, splash a little balsamic vinegar over, and serve hot on pasta, brown rice or at room temperature on a bed of rocket or mesclun. great as a wrap filling for a quick but snazzy work lunch, too!

polenta pizza

amazing, simple, satisfying and infinitely customisable!

base

1c polenta

4-5c water, boiling in medium saucepan

1tsp salt

3Tbs dry herbs of choice (thyme and rosemary are lovely)

ground pepper

add the salt to the gently boiling water. slowly pour the polenta into the water, stirring with a long-handled wooden spoon (to avoid the hot polenta bubbles burning you!). keep heat on low and continue to stir until polenta is cooked (about 30 minutes, but taste as you go).

when cooked, stir in herbs and pepper. grease a baking tray with olive oil, and spread hot polenta in a 1-2cm thick layer on the whole tray. allow to cool or refrigerate.

cover with tomato sauce and pizza toppings of choice; zucchini slices, marinated spicy eggplant, olives, capers, sundried tomato, fresh basil and grated carrot are the best!

half the garden risotto

it's a beautiful time of year in the garden, especially since lots of things are feeding us so plentifully!

this recipe works with anything you have at hand: silverbeet (chard), parsley, bay leaves and lemon were the main things available to me- i added a carrot for colour and texture.

1c arborio rice

3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

vegetables, cut into 1-2cm pieces

2tbs margarine

2tbs olive oil

1-1.5L stock, warmed

200ml white wine (preferably dry)

salt, pepper to taste

toasted almonds to serve (optional)

fry garlic in butter and oil on low for 2 minutes. add any hard vegetables (carrot, celery, leek) and cook for 3-5 minutes. stir in rice, coat well with oil.

add in stock about half a cup at a time; gently stir until liquid is mostly absorbed. add another half cup; stir until absorbed. 

gently stir in any vegetables that need cooking (ie not soft leaves)- mushrooms, green beans etc. 

after 3-4 measures of stock, add in half the wine, and stir until absorbed. continue doing this, tasting how cooked the rice periodically. if you have used all your liquid and the rice is not cooked to your liking, add a little water and keep stirring.

when the rice is almost done, gently fold in any soft vegetables (spinach, silverbeet leaves), fold in grated rind of one lemon, and allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.

street-picked, home pickled olives

working with information from websites and a variety of italians, i have bottled the olives i picked on a busy public street not far from home: the local nonnas had already picked everything they could at their altitude, so i enlisted the support of Tall Guy to gather the loftier fruit.

fresh black or green olives
salt
water
sterilised glass jars with lids (wash jars and lids with hot water and soap, rinse well then cover with water and boil, allow to dry on clean paper towels: OR wash and rinse then place jars on tea towels in a low (80-100C) oven for 15 minutes, checking that the towels don't burn)

rinse olives, separate the green and black ones if necessary (they have different soaking times, so need to be soaked separately). and discard any soft or damaged olives. make two lengthways cuts into each olive, down to the stone.

put the prepared olives into jars until the jar is two-thirds full; cover the olives with lightly salted water (1tbs per litre). fill a small plastic bag with a few tablespoons of water, tie it at the top with a rubber band and sit it on the olives to keep them under the water. seal the jar with the lid. change the water with more lightly salted water every day (black olives = 4 days; green olives = 6 days).

after the initial soaking period (which rids the olives of the oleuropein, the phenolic compound that makes olives bitter), fill the jars with brine (1/3c salt to 1 litre of water). the salt will dissolve more easily if the water is hot, but allow it to cool before pouring onto the olives.

include some herbs and spices at this point: bay leaves, dried chillis, oregano, whatever you like. pour a small splash over the top of the olives in the jar, and sit another small bag of water on top to keep the olives immersed. seal the jars, then leave them for 5 weeks. after that, your olives are ready to eat. your olives should last for months in either the brine or drained and transferred to olive oil. keep in the fridge particularly if your sterilisation process was not rigorous.

sugo: the ultimate super-intense tomato sauce

every once in a while, you may be blessed with an enormous amount of something special, fresh and immediate. if that something is tomatoes, this recipe is for you. 


i must have channelled the nonna of all nonnas one night last week; la più venerato nonna made a case of super-cheap, ultra-perfect tomatoes appear to me on the ride home from work; and, critically, by some mystical osmosis, imparted to me the recipe for sugo: the ultimate super-intense tomato sauce.


you will need a big saucepan: at least 10-15L capacity, and and about 2kg of ripe tomatoes. some people say that you need to squish the juice out of the tomatoes before cooking them. forget this: nonna has better things for you to do (eg make gnocchi, but that's another story).


cut the tomatoes in half or quarters into the saucepan until the pan is FULL. don't worry about removing the heart/stem thing; nonna says you blend it all together anyway. put the lid on, and place pan over low heat for about 15-20 minutes until the tomatoes have released a bit of juice so they don't stick or burn.


remove the lid and turn the heat up to medium-high, and stir in: 
2 tbs each of salt and pepper (you can adjust the seasoning later, but it's important to add  this much now)
2 whole heads of garlic
6 tbs dried herb of choice (oregano, basil, whatever)


stir the tomatoes every 20 minutes to stop them from sticking. the sauce will be soupy and runny for a while: you need to cook it down to about a third of the pan's capacity.


after the first hour, add: 
3 tbs sugar
3 tbs vinegar
4 tbs olive oil


turn the heat down to medium-low. keep stirring regularly. if your sauce sticks or burns, pour it into another pan and keep cooking on lower heat.


once it has reduced to a third of the pan full, blend with a stab mixer or cool and whiz in a blender.


nonna says serve with everything! bellissimo!