Fondue pasta bake

This week we've had a couple of house guests: a pair of Australian girls wrapping up a three-month European tour. The brief I had been given on their tastes in food was omnivorous and not fussy but fairly conservative. I also happened to know that one of these young ladies absolutely loves my mother's cheese fondue.

Unfortunately I don't have a fondue pot big enough for four. And Paul's ETA was an unknown, so I needed to make something that could sit around and wait. So I made a simple pasta bake using fondue as the sauce. It was delicious - and a bit fancier than a macaroni cheese.

Fondue Pasta Bake (serves 3-4)

300ml dry white wine
2 cloves of garlic, cut into slivers
125g grated gruyere
125g grated emmenthal
500g filled pasta (I used spinach and ricotta ravioli)
Handful grated parmesan
Freshly grated nutmeg

In a medium-sized pan, bring the wine and garlic to the boil. Turn off the heat and allow to infuse for 10 minutes. Return to the heat and when the wine comes just back to a simmer, add the grated cheese and stir until melted. Pour half the cheese mixture into a baking dish (I used a pyrex lasagne dish).

Cook the pasta for a minute less than the packet instructions. Drain, but not too thoroughly (a bit of extra cooking water clinging to it helps it all along) and spread on the base of cheese mixture. Pour the rest of the cheese evenly over the pasta. Sprinkle the parmesan over the top and grate on a little nutmeg.

Bake in a preheated 180C oven for 25-30 minutes until browned on top and bubbling at the edges.

I served it with a simple green salad, because I had a suspicion that the girls haven't been eating much veg in their travels. Which turned out to be accurate.

November Potluck at IHCC

This week's I Heart Cooking Clubs theme was pretty easy - Potluck! Every month you get to make whatever you want from whichever featured chef you want. And as it happened I had a dish in reserve.

I first made Diana Henry's radicchio and red onions with white bean puree back in August when I first got A Change of Appetite. I'd loved the sweet bursts of the red grapes I'd added to it back then, so this time I achieved a similar effect with quartered ripe figs. We had it with some wild boar sausages and it was a wonderful combination!

Having sausages with it made it a pretty substantial meal, so I ended up with a portion of the radicchio and red onion mixture left over. I heated it through with some pieces of pancetta and a spoonful of creme fraiche and used it as a sauce for pasta. Very pretty and very delicious.

Meat-free Monday: Greek-ish cheese & sweet potato pie

Ready to bake

 This is a hybrid of two other dishes - Lisa the Cookwitch's aubergine & halloumi bake and Jess's sweet potato crusted quiche.

I used Lisa's filling recipe almost as written, although I found a lone and tired spring onion in the veg drawer, so I chopped that up and added it, and I didn't use as much cheddar because I eye-balled it and thought I had enough filling. And I used 3 large-ish sweet potatoes for the crust.

The very interesting thing about the filling, I thought, was that the grated halloumi sort of re-formed after melting and recaptured the squeaky quality that is so appealing. And it tasted lovely - the sweetness of the crust worked beautifully against the little bursts of sultana and the salty cheese.

Murali's chicken dry fry

A couple of weeks ago one of Paul's colleagues sent home a tub of unimaginably delicious chicken. I don't generally favour chicken with Indian seasonings; I prefer mutton or seafood. This was so good I changed my mind though. There was turmeric, there was garlic, there were curry leaves, but I couldn't pick out the rest of the seasonings. So I badgered Paul to badger Murali into handing over the recipe. Murali is from Bangalore, but I don't know if this is a regional dish or just something he came up with. He says it is best served with jeera rice - which I did the first time I made it, but the second time I served it with saag aloo, because I couldn't be bothered making a starch and a vegetable.

Chicken dry fry (serves 4-6)

1kg chicken (on the bone has more flavour, but skinless boneless thigh fillets are easier)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 fist full of garlic cloves
1/2 inch of ginger, peeled
1/2 bunch of coriander leaves
20 curry leaves (I used dried but fresh is better)
Fresh red/green chillies (I used 1 seeded habanero, but go to taste!)
Splash of vegetable oil
1 inch of cinnamon stick
2 cloves
1 star anise
5 bay leaves
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp Garam masala
1/2 tsp spoon ground coriander
1/2 tsp spoon turmeric powder, extra
1/2 tsp spoon chilli powder
Salt, extra
1 tbs butter
Freshly ground black pepper

Chop the chicken into small bite-size pieces. In a bowl, combine the chicken with 1tsp salt and 1/2 tsp turmeric. Leave to marinade for a little while - either just while you do the next bit or for an hour or so.

Grind together the garlic, ginger, red/green chilli, coriander and curry leaves to a chunky masala paste.

Warm a heavy-bottomed pan over a medium heat. First add oil, when it's warm add cinnamon, cloves, star anise and bay leaves. When they are fragrant add the chopped onions. When the onion is golden brown add the ground masala paste and keep stirring it for 5 minutes so that it doesn't burn.

Rinse the marinated chicken and pat dry before adding it in the pan. Stir well, to coat thoroughly with the spices. Add salt according to taste. Cover and cook for 8 minutes, then stir again.

After 3-4 minutes add garam masala, extra turmeric, ground coriander, chilli powder and stir well.

Cook uncovered so that the gravy reduces almost to nothing (it is a dry fry) and stir to make sure it doesn't catch and burn. When the chicken is cooked, season with freshly ground black pepper and salt. Remove from the heat and stir a knob of butter in. (I didn't add the extra knob of butter because I'd used skin-on chicken thighs which added plenty of extra fat!)

Le Grand Aioli for I heart cooking clubs

This week's I Heart Cooking Clubs theme is particularly dear to my heart - "Sweet cloves and liquid gold"; the heaven of garlic and olive oil. We eat a lot of garlic. It is extremely unusual for us to cook a meal without garlic featuring and we are both mystified by religions that limit the eating of garlic.

Aioli - egg yolks, garlic and good olive oil. I haven't tweaked the colour. 

I immediately knew what I wanted to make. Aioli. What could be a more perfect expression of the theme? AND it is noteworthy because about 10 years ago I made an aioli which we declared inedibly garlicky - the only time that has ever been said in our house.

Fat cod fillets curing in salt

In Salt Sugar Smoke, Diana Henry gives a recipe for the traditional Provençal Grand Aioli to accompany her home-salted cod. Le Grand Aioli is a funny dish, a simple collation of salt cod, eggs and steamed vegetables lifted from extreme austerity by lavish quantities of the garlicky sauce.

Because I was only making it for two people, I reduced the number and variety of vegetables, using just cauliflower and tenderstem broccoli with the potatoes and fish. I also added some quail eggs for something a little more luxurious. Unfortunately I forgot to take the fish out of the salt and put it to soak far enough in advance, so it was a bit too salty, but the luscious garlicky-but-not-too-garlicky mayonnaise was divine with the vegetables and quail eggs.

Oddly, though, the court bouillon I poached the fish in was not overly salty, so I strained it and used it the following day to cook lamb shanks in, which worked extremely well. And the rest of the aioli itself made a wonderful lunch, smeared thickly on toasted rye sourdough and served with broccoli, simply dressed with balsamic vinegar and capers.

Eatori's Flourless Espresso Brownies

When this post goes live I will be completing the first hour of a 3-day dance intensive. 18 hours of dance. And there is an evening performance as well.

I've made a batch of Tori Haschka's Flourless Espresso Brownies, which are a slow-carb treat, to sustain me through a lot of dance and three days of pub food. No added sugar: the sweetness is from banana and dates, with almonds and coconut instead of wheat flour. I used decaf coffee, because I'm leaving some for Paul and he doesn't tolerate too much caffeine these days. I've just tried that little piece on top there, and it is lovely. The perfect brownie texture, with a super-intense bitter chocolate flavour.

Have a lovely weekend!

Wordless Wednesday - Quince, apple and pear butter