Tapas tea

We fancied a bit of a change, and a bit of a cheer up - with the weather being continuously grim.  So, for the veg dodger pork and chorizo, for the pescatarian garlic prawns … and for the using up of the veg box - potatoes, onion and pepper, creamy cabbage, avocado and radish salad and some manchego … delish.

Olive oil
Onion
Garlic
Yellow (or whichever) pepper
Potatoes
Sherry
Cider vinegar
Pork loin chops
Chorizo
Cabbage
Lemon
Egg
Soya cream (or sour cream)
Little gem lettuce
Radishes
Avocado
Cherry tomatoes
Prawns
chilli flakes

1.  Chop one white and one red onion.  Sautee the white onion in olive oil, add a little crushed garlic.  Then add chopped pepper, sliced potatoes, a splash of sherry, a splash of cider vinegar and some water.  Simmer gently, turning occasionally.
2.  Sautee half the red onion in olive oil, add chopped pork loin chops and chopped chorizo.  Brown a little, then leave to stew gently.
3.  Sautee the other half of red onion, with a little garlic, add shredded cabbage and a little water.   Season and cook until soft, squeeze on juice of half a lemon.  Whisk an egg into cream, add to the cabbage mixture and stir in.
4.  Chop salad vegetables, spritz with lemon juice to stop the avocado discolouring.
5.  Fry crushed garlic, prawns and a little chilli in olive oil.
6.  Serve, scoff ...

Todmorden tapas

Some nibbly bits left over from a friend who brought them when they came for dinner last week ... and some random things which I wanted using from the freezer, along with veg box and store cupboard ... dah dah!  random stuff, some of which did not necessarily go together, but they ho ...

So ...

Patatas - boiled and then roasted to have with either bravas sauce, or aoili, depending on preference.  Calamari in cajun polenta crumb, (cremated) - griddled aubergine, tomato and fennel salad, manchego, vegetable spring rolls with sweet chili dip, olives and cheese stuffed pimentos ... don't mind if we do!  and we did ... and it was tasty

New Year's Eve Tapas

Happy New Year!  2015 is going to be a good one, I hope.

There has been little activity on KitchenFairies over the festivities, as I have not been at KitchenFairies HQ.  Good food has been prepared and scoffed, but not much of it photographed.

However, I did remember to take a pic of New Year's Eve's tapas fiesta.

Starting where I started, in order of cooking.

Tiny roast potatoes

Cut potatoes into bite sized pieces, par boil for 5 minutes, drain and roast in hot olive oil, sprinkled with rock salt.  Roast for about an hour.

Roast celeriac

Steam bite sized chucks of peeled celariac for about 10 minutes.  Toss in hot olive oil, add lemon wedges and garlic cloves (just bashed with the back of a knife to break skins.  Roast for about 40 minutes.

Garlic mushrooms

Cook chopped, mixed mushrooms in plenty of butter, and crushed garlic for a few minutes, add good slug of brandy, cook a little more.  Add plenty of black pepper. Keep warm.

Mixed greens

Steam chopped, washed leeks, strips of cabbage and chopped celery for a few minutes.  Stirfry briefly in olive oil, garlic and dry sherry.

Chilli chorizo

Boil chorizo chunks in red wine and chilli flakes.

Black pudding with pinenuts.

Crush black pudding, dry fry with pine nuts until oils are released, and the edges start to go a little crispy.

Also, anchovies, prawns in butter, spanish cheese, olives and cooked meats.

Veggie tapas

The new veg box comes tomorrow - which is great.  We have lots of veg left in the fridge - which is great.  The trick is to make nice dinners out of stuff which doesn't always immediately go together without just shouting stew, casserole, curry.... and chucking it in and hoping for the best.

Tonight, carribbean squash, balsamic roasted beetroot, spinach with nutmeg and parmesan, roasted heritage tomatoes, charred chicory .. all brought together with garlicky mustard yogurt dressing.  Yum.

Turn oven to 180C.

4 beetroot
2 red onions
olive oil
balsamic vinegar

1/2 decent sized squash, peeled and chopped into big bite sized pieces, seeds and middle stringy bit scraped out and discarded
carribean seasoning
olive oil

1 onion, finely sliced
2 big handfuls of spinach
olive oil
water
garlic
freshly grated nutmeg
black pepper
parmesan, grated

chicory
olive oil

tomatoes
olive oil
salt

natural yogurt
1 tbsp grainy mustard
crushed garlic
olive oil
lemon juice
seasoning

pine nuts

1.  In a roasting dish - put unpeeled beetroot, quartered red onion, a good splosh of olive oil.  Lid on - in the oven (will take about 90 minutes)
2.  Argue with the squash, battle it into pieces - I aim for about 2-3 cm cubes, but obviously the vegetable doesn't provide those proportions - so my best guideline is pieces which, in polite company, one would cut into two pieces before cramming into one's gob.  Put in roasting tin, sprinkle with carribbean seasoning (or mix of chili and herbs etc), toss about, cover (with foil if no lid).
3.  Have a sit down, ... cup of tea.. watch a soap.. for about 40 minutes
4.  Galvanise yourself, put tomatoes in an oven proof dish with splosh of olive oil, and a sprinkle of salt.  Put dish in oven.
5.  Have another little sit down, listen to some nice music - about 20 minutes.
6.  Finely slice an onion and sautee gently in olive oil, after a few minutes chuck is chopped (or if baby spinach, just chuck it in) and washed spinach, allow to wilt for a minute, add a tiny splash of water to allow it all to wilt.
7.  Grate a little nutmeg (be careful with nutmeg, it can get medicinal) into the spinach, squish in garlic, grind in some black pepper, stir around, clamp on lid and steam for a bit.
8.  Check that the veg are ready... by sticking a sharp knife into the beetroot and squash, when they are nearly ready...
9.  Cut chicory into quarters, sear in a hot pan.
10.  Take the beetroot out of the oven, take its lid off, and let it cool down.  When it is cool enough, peel and chop into nice, bite sized pieces, and stir in balsamic vinegar.
11.  Actually, in the middle of step 10 - make the yogurty dressing... mix crushed garlic, grainy mustard, seasoning, yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning ... to taste (think of 1 tsp garlic, 2 tsp mustard, 6 tbsp yogurt, 1 tbsp olive oil, 2 tsp lemon juice.... but this really is to taste, so try as you go)
12.  Gently toast some pine nuts.  (If I hadn't burnt these, I would have spinckled them elegantly on the spinach).
13.  Present to appreciative crowd, and scoff