Magic Carpet-bowl

31/08 MAGIC CARPET-BOWL

Every turn's a surprise. A new horizon to soar, tumble, freewheel. Don't you dare close your eyes - cause you never know if you're going to miss something or crash and burn. This recipe is an adventure into the unknown and the exotic. It both works and doesn't work. It works in the sense that all the flavours match in and exotic quasi-middle eastern muddle - would transcend if pears were in season.

It also doesn't work because it can't be eaten on its own. The flavours overwhelm and need taming. Cream or yoghurt provide the right amount of cloudy lift to turn this into magic carpet - not one in need of a good steam clean. It can't show you the world, but it can open your eyes. Take you wonder by wonder. Over, sideways and under ;) 

Ingredients (all approximate) - 

2 Red Apples/Pears
75g Goats Cheese
1/2cup Almonds
1cup Dates
25ml Balsamic Vinegar
50ml Honey


What I did - 

Half apples/pears, remove the seeded core and cut into wafer thin slices - so thin that they flop disappointingly. Douse in the honey and vinegar and let steep for ten minutes.

Smash the almonds into a slivered mess. Cut (and pip) the dates. Crumble the chalky goats cheese. Combine with the apples and fold through the sticky mess. It will take a while to turn completely, when ready everything will be slicked with a honey enamel.

Transfer to an exotic bowl and serve with a small amount of yoghurt - with the vinegar it cuts through the incredible sweetness.

JG

Scatterbrained Tuna

18/08 SCATTERBRAINED TUNA

P.S. It's my birthday... 

Too much! At the moment there is too much of everything. Too much to handle. Too much to deal with. Too much left in the fridge. The only thing to do is make the most of the situation. In the case of my life, and indeed everyones life, you can't complain about what you don't have if you don't try to get it. Contrariwise you can't use what you don't have. So con fuddle your brain with a massive bowl of jumble.

This jumble was once a tuna salad which got lost, went in two directions at once and ended up somewhere between bonkers and delicious. There is a lot of ingredients I know, what was available in the kitchen - but divide them into their families and they can all be substituted. The crunch family, the soft family and the sloppy family (the dressing). My intuitive sense of the human creature tells me that we are all scatterbrained, so try this and see if anything makes sense - our at least it will all make no sense together.

Ingredients (all approximate) - Feeds ALOT or lasts for days*

1/2 Iceberg Lettuce
1/4 Red Cabbage
1 Onion
3 Tomato
3 Carrots
1/2 Celery
1 Avocado
6 Mushrooms
1 Tin Tuna (185g)
1 Tin mixed beans
Hummus
Apricot Chutney
Olive Oil
Vinegar
Salt + Pepper

*so I hope you like it


What I did - 

There is nothing more stressful then a complicated salad. So this tries to be the opposite. Despite the large variety of ingredients, there are three main factors - the crunchy, the soft and the dressing.

The crunchy ingredients up for the chop are lettuce, cabbage, onion, carrots, celery. The carrots are best shredded on a large gauge grater. The onion, cabbage and lettuce sliced into thin spindly strands. The celery diced into thin moon-shapes. The main thing is to make each ingredient thinner and easier to fork. Tumble into a large mixing bowl.

The soft ingredients are mushrooms, avocado, tomato, tuna and beans. Open and drain the tuna and beans, then turn into the bowl of crunch. Gouge out the pale green avocado with a spoon until all that remains is satisfying spoon scrape on the husk. Tear up the mushrooms and add to the top of the heaving mixing bowl.

The dressing is the easiest part, and most satisfying. In a glass jar add the hummus, chutney, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Shake violently until all the ingredients succumb to a emulsified thickness. Empty over the top of the mixing bowl.

With a grain of patience use two large serving spoons to mix the bowl together. The former pile up of ingredients will slowly come together. Once mixed let it sit for half an hour, allowing all the ingredients to soften slightly and become the one deliciously scatterbrained salad.

JG

Pressed for Time

05/08 PRESSED FOR TIME

Time goes by so slowly for those who wait. Those who run have all the fun - apparently. This also means that there is no time to slowly lounge around the kitchen so when the going gets tough you gotta get going. Nothing more instant than a grilled cheese sandwich and nothing more satisfying either. 

However I've always had a couple of niggles, namely the stodgy feel if there isn't anything to counter the oozy cheesy breadiness. Also they need a boost to make them the instant recharge you need. Problem solved! Instead of loading the sandwich up with tomato and other things, which end up getting weighed down in cheese an egg cracked into the middle cooks gloriously. A tomato on the side tricks your brain into health mode... sort of. Either way its delicious and immediate, when all hung up this is what to do.

Ingredients (all approximate) - 

1 Egg
2 Slices ANY bread
50g(ish) cheese
Mustard
Butter
Tomato
Salt + Pepper


What I did - 

So long as you have a scalding iron grill there is no way to mess this recipe up. Separate the two pieces of bread and butter the top of the top slice. Add a thin smear of mustard to the bottom layer. Lay the cheese evenly over the yellow spread. Make sure the grill is ready to go the put the cheese base on.

With the Heat filtering through crack the egg carefully in the middle, salt & pepper it. If it tries to escape just hold it in place until you can squash the top of the sandwich on. The yolk should crack with the pressure of the grill lid applied - yellow goo will sizzle from the crusts. As this cooks the cheese and egg will amalgamate and become one oozing hot mess.

Can't really over cook this so keep it spluttering in the grip until it looks enticingly burnished. Serve with a tomato diced on the side, sprinkled with salt and pepper. (you can cook it together but it makes the sandwich soggy and tomato scalding and watery).

JG