Lion's Head

I think we can all agree on the awesomeness that is Ming-Na Wen. Being the voice of Disney’s Mulan is cool enough in and of itself, but now she’s also a weekly highlight as cool-as-fudge Melinda May on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Reading an interview with her recently I found out she’s also an enthusiastic (and probably excellent) cook. As if her resume of awesomeness needed any more padding! She said her kids’ favourite meal is Chinese comfort food, namely a dish called “Lion’s Head”. I had never heard of it but a dish with a name like that simply has to be made immediately, I think you’ll all agree. When I found out the dish consists mainly of oversized meatballs, well… let’s just say that did nothing to assuage my enthusiasm.

In a large bowl combine 250 grams of ground pork and the same amount of ground beef (you could use only one or the other if you prefer) with one loosely beaten egg, two cloves of garlic and 5 cm of ginger (just grate those in), 2 finely chopped spring onions, 1,5 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 teaspoons of dry sherry, some salt and pepper, a pinch of sugar and a teaspoon of sesame oil. Use your hands to form the mixture into a cohesive mass, adding a tablespoon or two of flour to make sure the mixture isn’t too wet. When you roll the mixture around in the bowl, you want it to form a large ball pretty much by itself.

Heat some wok oil in a heavy based pan, with a tight fitting lid. Form the meat mixture into 4 large, slightly oval meatballs. Fry them over a medium to high heat for about five minutes until brown all over. Remove them from the pan and wipe out the excess oil.  Return the pan to the heat and add a few drops of wok oil and sesame oil, this time purely for flavour. Return the meatballs to the pan and add 375 ml of chicken stock (just use a cube) and two tablespoons of soy sauce. Clamp on the lid and let it simmer for about ten minutes. In the meantime cut a small (or half) Chinese cabbage into ribbons (just place it sideways on the board and cut 1 cm wide strips). Rinse well with cold water and leave to drain. After ten minutes, pile the cabbage on and around the meatballs and, with the lid on again, simmer for another fifteen minutes. Some of the cabbage will cook, some will steam, all will be delicious.

To serve: place a meatball in the middle of the plate, it being the head of the lion. Drape the soft cabbage around it, this being the ‘mane’ of the lion, so make sure to think feline thoughts whilst doing so. Ladle over some of the dark broth, sprinkle over some freshly chopped spring onion and prepare to swoon. The meatball is caramelized but also meltingly tender, the cabbage has retained a tiny bit of squeaky bite and the broth is wonderfully savoury. Ming-Na Wen’s kids are absolutely right to demand this dish of their awesome mother. It truly is the king of the jungle. Wait, does China have jungles?

Rockets and cherries and nuts, oh my!

This is something I threw together last night and I simply cannot keep it to myself. It’s incredibly simple and such a perfect combination of ingredients, that I’m sure it has be an already existing dish. After all, someone must’ve thought of this combination before. So, even though the recipe came to me yesterday whilst on the train, like some kind of Harry Potter-esque Divine Inspiration, I’m not claiming this as my invention. My only claim is that it’s awesome and it has to be shared with the world.

Put a pan on the heat and add either bacon or pancetta cubes (not smoked). Give them a few minutes, to render out some of the fat (pour some off if it’s a crazy amount), before adding a few chopped shallots (you want about a handful, when chopped). You want the bacon/pancetta to be tender, not crisp, and the shallots to turn translucent. Add two or three finely chopped garlic cloves. After a minute or two, turn up the heat and add good glass of dry white wine. This will both sputter and bubble, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Take about ten cherry tomatoes and cut them in half. Add them to the pan as the wine cooks down. The tomatoes will turn to mush pretty quickly and once they have you can use some tongs to fish out the skins (or you can go all Jamie Oliver and leave them in, in that case I think the term you’ll want to use later is ‘rustic’). When most of the liquid has evaporated and the tomatoes have turned the wine into a runny sauce, add a tin of chopped tomatoes, a good grinding of black pepper and about a quarter teaspoon of chili flakes. There’s no need to add salt, after all both bacon and pancetta, whichever one you’re using, are plenty salty and you’ll be adding parmesan later as well. Bring the sauce up to a gentle simmer while you get on with cooking the pasta. Use casareccia or something of that ilk. After a few minutes remove half a cup of starchy water from the pan and add that to the sauce. When the pasta is just cooked, drain and add to the sauce. Stir well to coat every piece, further tenderizing the pasta. When ready to serve, spoon the pasta with the sauce into bowls. Add a few quartered cherry tomatoes, fresh and zingy. Sprinkle over some parmesan flakes, top that with a good handful of crunchy, peppery rocket, some more parmesan and finally a generous sprinkling of toasted pine nuts. As Donna Hay would probably say, this recipe really does tick every box.

Bellini's Norma

I promised you two pasta stunners and this, gentle reader, is the second. This dish is supposedly named after the character Norma in Vincenzo Bellini’s opera of the same name. A rather dubious honour for the woman in question (Giulia Grisi), seeing how it’s a dish consisting mainly of plump purple fruit. However, if she ever tasted it she’d have known it for the compliment it truly is.

Pasta Alla Norma is a Sicilian dish and it is the one I ordered more than any other when I was in Sicily last year. I had it in posh restaurants, where it looked stunningly beautiful, and in small hole-in-the-wall type places where it looked messy and glorious. But looks aside, like all Italian cooking, it’s about the flavour of a few simple but great ingredients that just work well together. And believe me, Norma definitely hits the high notes. Start by dicing two aubergines, placing them in a colander and sprinkling them royally with salt. Place the colander in the sink and leave to drain for half an hour or so. This will make the aubergines more tender and remove the slight bitterness of the fruit. Rinse well in cold water, drain and pat dry. Fry the cubes in some butter and oil until golden brown and remove from the pan. Add some more oil and fry a finely chopped red onion and two garlic cloves until soft and slightly caramelized. Season with salt and pepper and return the aubergine to the pan. Toss together and add a jar of good tomato sauce with basil (like Barilla) and a can of chopped tomatoes with basil. Bring to the boil, clamp on a lid and after a few minutes turn off the heat. Anything with tomatoes, whether it’s soup or sauce, is always better if you let it stand for a while. Cook some penne in salted water, again adding some cooking liquid to the sauce when you bring it back to the boil. Combine the pasta with the sauce and tear up some buffalo mozzarella to stir through. Sprinkle some fresh basil leaves on top and grate over some ricotta, or if you can’t find that, some parmesan.

Mafaldine With Lamb And Mint

It’s been far too long, I know! The times, they’ve been a-changin’ and frankly I haven’t had a moment to spare (i.e. to blog). But just because I haven’t been busy writing, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy cooking. And believe you me, gentle reader, I’m making my blogging comeback in a big way. I’ve got two dazzling pasta dishes lined up, to make up for lost times. After all, you and I both know that nothing says ‘forgive me’ like a big bowl of carbs.

There’s something about the soothing warmth and slight bitterness of the lamb in combination with the rich fruitiness of the jelly that makes this dish perfectly suited to this time of year. The dark autumnal flavours are comforting, but the sprinkling of fresh mint is reminiscent of summer and gives us that pizzazz we so desperately need. Soften a chopped shallot or two (if they’re tiny) in some garlic oil, being careful not to let it colour. You want it soft and sweet, so when it does start to colour, add a pinch of salt (to stop it doing so). When it’s nearly there add a finely chopped garlic clove and stir until the garlic has lost its raw heat. Add a generous teaspoon of dried mint, the same amount of dried oregano and a good pinch of dried chilli flakes. Not too much though, you want a pleasant heat at the back of your throat, but this isn’t the place to go for full burn. Stir the herbs in the oniony oil for a minute, turning the mixture deeply fragrant, and then add the chopped lamb (about 400 grams). Break it up with a wooden spoon and let it colour. Be sure to take your time with this, I know of a lot of people who seem to think grey is an attractive colour for meat. Well it isn’t. You want the meat to caramelize, that’s where the flavour comes from. When the lamb has a nice golden sheen (and smells quite amazing) add a tin of chopped tomatoes and stir. Add a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and three tablespoons of a fruity jelly of your choice. I use pomegranate/ redcurrant. The sweetness of the jelly really cuts through the tangy bitterness inherent to the lamb. Turn the heat down low, clamp on a lid and let it simmer for a good long while. As ever with lamb, the longer you let it sit, the better it’ll be. Cook some beautiful strands of mafaldine pasta in salted water and, as always, add some of the cooking liquid to the sauce, helping it amalgamate. Drape the pasta in the rich ragout and sprinkle generously with torn fresh mint. And I mean generously! I know fresh mint doesn’t sound like the most natural combination with pasta and tomato sauce, but of course it is best friends with lamb and it really elevates this dish.

Polenta, Orange & Blueberry Loaf

This was my first time making anything with polenta, and I feel deeply Italian for having done so. This cake is crumbly and moist and extremely flavoursome. It's also insanely summery, which, in early spring, can only be a good thing.
Preheat the oven to 140C.
In a food processor combine:
100 grams of polenta
200 grams of self-raising flour
140 grams of caster sugar
1/2 teaspoons of bicarb
140 grams of soft butter
zest of one orange
Blitz until you have a sandy mixture. Add two tablespoons of orange juice and one large egg and blitz until a ball of dough forms. Push half the mixture into your lined loaf tin, sprinkle 100 grams of blueberries over the dough and repeat this process once more. Bake for 1 hour, maybe a little longer, until a skewer comes out clean.

Blood Oranges

Vanilla Macarons Filled With Dark Chocolate Cream

First combine 280 grams of icing sugar with 160 grams of ground almonds.
Beat 4 egg whites with a pinch of salt and 60 grams of vanilla sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold half of the icing sugar and almond mixture through the egg whites. When combined, fold in the rest. You want to end up with a mixture that, though sticky and gunky, is still slightly runny. When you squeeze dollops onto a baking sheet (using a piping bag) you want them to settle and form nice thick disks. Bake these in a preheated, 150C oven for about twenty minutes or until they feel firm. Let them cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
To make the filling bring 80 ml whipping cream to the boil and pour this over 100 grams of dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into chunks. Stir until the chocolate has melted. Leave to cool at room temperature for five to ten minutes, until the mixture has thickened and is easy to spread on the macarons. Then it's time to start an assembly line and try to find the two halves that make a whole.

Hygge

Rödbetssallad

To make this wonderful, Scandinavian dish, combine:
2 tablespoons of good mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of cider vinegar
1 teaspoon of sugar
A squeeze of lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Dice the cooked beetroot, stir in the dressing and refrigerate for at least twenty minutes before serving.

Baci Della Mamma