Ready Steady Cook!

Do you remember this TV programme? It was hugely popular in the Nineties and Noughties and launched the career of many a TV chef.
People used to hold 'Ready Steady Cook' dinner parties too- where the guests brought bags of random ingredients for the host to rustle up into something fab.





I caught an episode of this programme again recently- as it is still going strong - and it got me thinking about a revival. After all, it is pretty much what this blog is about- using up ingredients from your cupboard and fridge in a tasty way.
So, for this month's post I want to take a selection of ingredients- and make two suggestions as to how they could be used. Firstly, the obvious choice and secondly something a little more unexpected.

Let's take these ingredients by way of an example and an introduction:

Tuna, eggs, anchovies, olives, potatoes and bread.

First lot of ingredients

To me, that immediately cries out 'Salade Nicoise'.

Salade Nicoise
http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/specialities-of-nice.html

But no.... I'm going to make fish cakes instead.

Ingredients:

200g cold mashed potato
1 tin tuna*
2 slices stale bread, soaked in water and then squeezed dry
1 egg
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp lemon juice
3-4 anchovies, snipped up small
8 green olives, chopped roughly
salt and pepper
50g toasted breadcrumbs

Mix all the ingredients well (keeping back the breadcrumbs for coating) together in a bowl.

Mix it all up

 Shape with wet hands into patties and coat with the remaining breadcrumbs,

Shape into patties and coat with breadcrumbs

 Place on a lightly oiled baking tray and bake at 160 degrees for 15-20 minutes until golden.

Bake until golden

Mediterranean Fish Cakes

*NB: This recipe works just as well with any tinned fish- sardines, crab or salmon for example.

But does tuna, anchovies, olives, garlic and onions make you begin to think of pasta?

next bag of ingredients

Just add  some rich tomato sauce for a delicious pasta dish.

Add tomato sauce and hey presto....

Spaghetti Marinara

But for me however it says - Pissaladiere- a famous onion tart from Nice.

Gently slow cook the onions and garlic in a little olive oil until golden and meltingly soft. Spread these over either a  prepared pizza base or a puff pastry rectangle.
Criss cross with anchovies and dot with olives (you can add or leave the tuna as you wish)
Bake until the edges are golden and the pastry or dough is cooked underneath.

Pissaladiere ready for the oven

Pissaladiere ready to eat!

Now, how about celery, apple,walnuts and grapes?

Bag 3

Are you thinking Waldorf Salad?

Waldorf Salad

A classic dish of chopped celery and walnuts with crisp green apple, grapes and mayonnaise- made immortal of course by Fawlty Towers.

Well, how about making a Waldorf Soup instead. (Thanks to Hugh F-W for the idea).

Gently cook some onions, 1/2 tsp minced garlic, 4-5 sticks of celery ( chopped), 1 potato (diced) and 1 apple ( peeled and chopped) in some light vegetable oil. Add 500 ml chicken or vegetable stock and simmer until tender.
Blitz to a puree and adjust seasoning to taste.
Garnish with some finely chopped walnuts, grapes and apple dressed with some cream.

Waldorf Soup

Hugh serves his chilled- but in homage to another great comedy hero I am serving mine piping hot Arnold -Rimmer-Gazpacho style.
This recipe works well with celeriac too- just substitute it for the celery and potato.

Now a packet of peanuts might not be very inspirational. It might make you think of making a satay sauce or a Pad Thai.

Pad Thai

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/pad%20thai

However, I took my lead from Ina Garten (who else?) and made Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars and I can't tell you how successful they were!

Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter

175g sugar

1 egg

250 g peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla essence

375g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

200ml jam (fig or raspberry are good choices)

150g roasted peanuts, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees

2. Cream together the butter and sugar, then mix in the vanilla essence , egg and peanut butter and beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes

Cream the butter, sugar, eggs etc with an electric mixer

 3.Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until combined
4.Grease and line a baking tray or gratin dish and spread 2/3 of the dough along the bottom

Spread two thirds of the dough over the base of the lined dish

5. Spread the jam evenly over the dough
6. Drop blobs of the remaining dough randomly over the top

Spread with jam and the remaining dough in blobs

7. Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts and bake for 45 minutes until golden on top and cooked underneath.

Golden from the oven

Peanut butter and jelly Bars

And finally, taking a pot of creme fraiche and some bacon

- are you thinking of a Pasta Carbonara?:

Pasta Carbonara
(This is Jamie Oliver's pic- not mine)

Pasta is cooked in lots of boiling salted water, drained and then creme fraiche, an egg yolk and crispy bacon are stirred through with a little of the cooking liquor to make it silky.

Well instead, I thought of a Flammekueche- an open tart from Alsace made with onions, creme fraiche and bacon and baked in the oven.

Spread a thin pastry base with creme fraiche and onions (cooked as for the Pissaladiere above or you can use tinned for a shortcut as in the bag of ingredients). Dot with thin matchsticks of bacon and bake at 200 degrees until the pastry is golden round the edges and cooked underneath. The lardons and cream should be beginning to 'catch'.

Flammekueche

(I sometimes make a really speedy version of this using sandwich thins as flatbreads too).

Flammekueche Flatbreads

Whether you're a red tomato or a yellow pepper- I hope you've enjoyed the choice of recipes in this month's blog.

Now it's your turn - get.....

Super Speedy Summer Suppers

It seems I am carrying on the theme of things beginning with 'S', with some recipes this time which are super quick and summery- mainly because no one wants to be spending much time cooking in the evenings, now the weather is (slowly) improving.

Although I did put my slow cooker into service today ( to stew up a batch of soft onions for me to use in various dishes), generally speaking, summer isn't a time for stews and casseroles. It's a time for fresh stuff and salads, which are quick to prepare.

Fresh stuff brings with it the greater possibility of waste though- and making the most of the leftovers can be a challenge.

To help with this, each of the dishes I've prepared has a sister dish (or two) which use the leftovers up quickly.

I'm starting with a summer stir fry: mange-tout, mushrooms, peppers, spring onions and radishes (yes, radishes). Very much in season and much more versatile than you think.

Summer Stir-Fry

Begin by cutting all your veg into equal-ish chunks.

Ready for stir frying

Heat some oil in a wok until it is smoking hot and then toss in the mushrooms, mange touts, peppers, onions and radishes in that order, a minute or two between each addition.
I added some cooked chicken and fried it all quickly for 5 minutes or so more.
Meanwhile cook some noodles in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain them (reserving a ladleful of the water) and add them to the vegetables.
Add 1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1-2 tbsp of sweet chili sauce and the reserved noodle water.
Toss everything together, bring up to the boil and give a final few stirs then serve.

The radishes give a water-chestnut like crunch to the stir fry and keep their pretty pink colour too.

Summer Stir Fry

To use up your leftover radishes, slice them finely (or use a food processor) and toss them in some mustard mayonnaise along with finely sliced celeriac to make a Radish Remoulade:

Radish Remoulade

You can use shredded white cabbage or carrot if you prefer this to the celeriac.

Salads are needed as an accompaniment to the next dish- a cheat's Pissaladiere (an onion tart/pizza from Nice).

Some say it should have a dough base like a pizza, others insist on a pastry base.(You will never get two Provencal mamies to agree on any recipe!)

So, you can  either make this tart using frozen puff pastry rolled out to a rectangle, or use pizza dough rolled thinly or cheat even further by using a pre- cooked pizza base, as I have done here.

Pissaladiere Pronto

1 pizza base ( or puff pastry or pizza base mix as described above)

2 large onions

1 clove of garlic (crushed)

black olives

1 small tin anchovies (optional)

1. Slice the onions finely and cook them slowly and gently in olive oil and butter in a pan with a lid or in the slow cooker until they are cooked to a golden brown pulp. Season with salt, pepper, crushed garlic and a pinch of sugar.

2. Lay out your base (pizza or pastry) and spread the onion pulp over it.

3. Criss-cross with anchovies (if you are using them) and dot with black olives

4. Bake in a hot oven (200 degrees) until either your pastry is golden ( 20 mins) or your pizza base is crisp ( 10-15 mins).

Pissaladiere Pronto

Sorry! we had eaten half of it before I remembered to take a photo!

Serve with the radish salad and some dressed green leaves. (I am using watercress, spinach and rocket).

Bagged salad can be as much of a scourge as a boon. Yes, it's convenient but you may end up throwing half of it away as it doesn't keep long once opened.

Just as cooking with radishes might have taken you by surprise- cooking with salad leaves is also a good way to use them up. Try this:

Salad Bag Soup

Salad Bag Soup

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped finely

1 litre of vegetable stock

3-4 fat garlic cloves, peeled

3-4 sage leaves

2 bay leaves

200g watercress, washed and roughly chopped

200g baby spinach leaves or a bag of salad leaves

2 tbsp finely chopped herbs (parsley, chives, dill)

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

croutons of thinly cut baguette

1. Soften the onion in a little olive oil

2. Tie the sage and bay leaves together with some string and place them in a pan of simmering vegetable stock, in which you also have put the whole garlic cloves

3. Simmer for 10 minutes until the garlic cloves are soft.

4. Remove the herb leaves and discard. Keep the soft garlic cloves to one side.

5. Add the onion, watercress, spinach and chopped herbs and simmer for a further 10 minutes

6. Blitz in a liquidiser until smooth, taste and adjust seasoning

7. Mash the garlic cloves with a little olive oil and spread the paste onto the croutons

8. Serve the soup and croutons together.

This soup keeps its flavour and colour for up to 2 days in the fridge and freezes well.

I often serve it with a dash of milk or cream in it too.

Finally, I'm using up the rest of the onions that I cooked in the slow cooker to top a Flammekueche or Tarte Flambee.

Traditionally, this tart is made with a dough base which is wafer-thin and crispy. I have made the quickest possible version here, using sandwich thins ( those square toasting breads). You could use pitta bread too.

Tartines Flambees

1 sandwich thin or pitta bread per person

1 tub of creme fraiche

2 onions ( cooked slowly with garlic as in the recipe above)

140 g bacon lardons or diced cooked ham

1. Split the breads, spread the creme fraiche and onion paste generously over them

2. Sprinkle on the lardons or ham and bake on a baking tray in a very hot oven until the creme fraiche starts to turn golden brown and the bacon is looking caramelized.

Delicious with a glass of Alsace white wine.

Tartines Flambees

So, there we are: five fast foods to help you out quickly at supper time. 

(Alas, a little too much alliteration though!)

Specialities of Nice

We have had many visitors over the last three months here in Cassis. And last week, a family member flew in to Nice airport for a brief stay. We thought we would combine the airport pick- up with a short city break in Nice, as it is a city I haven't visited before.

Well, reader, we loved it. Think California meets Rome-  all wrapped up in a French package. Nice had it all.




 Joggers and skaters thronged the Promenade des Anglais, whilst the beach bars played 'California Dreaming'  and 'Sitting on the Dock of the Bay' and then, as you reach Vieux Nice, suddenly the street signs are in Italian and French, huge marble piazzas open out and fountains sparkle.
The tiny winding streets of the old quarter host hundreds of restaurants- and we made it our mission to seek out some specialites Nicoise to share with you- pan bagnat, salade nicoise, pissaladiere, socca, petits farcis, and panisse.

I ordered an assiettte du coin which had all or most of these delights on one plate:

Clockwise from the top- socca, pissaladiere, petits farcis, panisse, beignets d'aubergine

Socca was new to me- but, if you like savoury pancakes and especially if you are looking for gluten-free, then this is a good recipe for you as these hearty galettes are made from chickpea flour:

Ingredients:

100g chick pea flour
100g corn flour (maizena)
2 eggs
400 ml milk
generous pinch of salt

Mix all together and beat well with a balloon whisk.
Heat an ovenproof frying pan until smoking with a very small amount of flavourless oil and fry your pancake on one side only.
Drizzle with olive oil.
Finish the second side under a hot grill.

Serve with more olive oil and a good grinding of black pepper.

Salade nicoise and pan bagnat go hand in hand as the latter is pretty much a sandwich made from the former- so a good leftover idea.

For the salad you need: tuna, black olives, hard boiled eggs, anchovies, salad leaves, sweet white onion (or spring onion) and tomatoes plus a dressing made from olive oil, mustard and white wine vinegar.

Salade nicoise

For the pan bagnat, you need individual crusty rolls or a pain de campagne for a large version.

Cut off the lids, and hollow out the bread inside (blitz this for breadcrumbs to keep in the freezer).

Drizzle in olive oil and then pack the cavities with tuna, olives, tomatoes, salad leaves, anchovies, radishes, peppers, eggs etc

Replace the lids and wrap tightly in cling film and then refrigerate (preferably for several hours) so the filling soaks into the bread and compacts down-  becoming easy to slice and serve.

individual Pan bagnat 

Pan Bagnat goes large!

Everybody knows my penchant for stuffing vegetables and I've featured petits farcis before:

Petits Farcis

Likewise- I've featured panisse on my gluten-free blog: 'Finger on the Pulse'

Last but my no means least- pissaladiere. Probably my favourite Nicoise speciality.

This is a bread or pastry based onion tart. You can use pizza base, or a pastry case or a roll of puff pastry- whatever you want to use up. The real Pissaladiere uses a bread dough base.

First, chop 500g of onions finely and put them in a heavy based saucepan with a glug of olive oil, a couple of cloves of garlic (crushed) and a knob of butter. Gently fry the onions until they are softand caramelized. They should be golden brown and spreadable like a paste.

Spread them over your base, and lattice the top with anchovies. I like to add black olives too, but I don't think this is traditional.

Soft and spreadable onions

Bake in hot oven (200 degrees) until the base is crisp and serve warm, cut into squares.

Pissaladiere

Next time you hear from me, I'll be back in Blighty- but the influence of the Cote d'Azur will be staying with me for quite some time, I feel.

Let's hope for some Sussex spring sunshine to go with the food!