Dear Readers

Dear Readers,

Sincere apologies for not posting in the last few weeks.

2010 is proving to be the year of change for me.

I have started working on a fabulous food magazine in Sydney as their new senior food assistant and am loving it. One could say life is just Delicious!

Although I have started a new dream job I am going to continue foodbyjessica with more passion than ever. However, with a huge change in job (and a move of house) life has been a little too hectic for me to write anything I would want to share.

I look forward to writing soon (and also bringing you a new, even better foodbyjessica site!).

In the meantime please enjoy some of my favourite posts.

The foodbyjessica reruns:

Panzanella bread salad

Reuben Sandwich

Crispy eggplant and Miso Salad

Butterscotch sauce

Lemon Risotto with Burnt Butter and Sage


Bon Appetite

Jessica

Top Three Ingredients for March

1.Hot Cross Buns

Easter would not be easter without hot cross buns.Traditionally, these little spiced buns are meant to be eaten on Good Friday, however come late February and the beginning of March you are sure to see them pop up in bakeries and supermarkets.

Sweet spiced bread studded with fruit (or chocolate) and decorated with a cross, hot cross buns are best eaten toasted and spread generously with butter. I have to admit though that I have always enjoyed them with melted cheese. The spiced bun and melted cheese create the perfect balance of sweetness and salty creaminess for a delicious treat.

Buy hot cross buns that are baked fresh. Most bakeries these days make their own at easter time and taste far superior to ones that have been sitting on supermarket shelves for a week.

Eat them toasted with your favourite condiment or spice up a bread and butter pudding by replacing the bread with hot cross buns.

2. Radicchio
A salad green native to Italy, radicchio first made an appearance in Australia in the 1980's. Part of the chicory family, radicchio has chianti coloured to cream leaves in a round tightly packed head similar to lettuce. Another variety available in Australia is radicchio di Treviso which is elongated in shape with loosely bunched purplish red leaves with cream veins.

Known for its bitterness, radicchio is best bought in the winter months when it has a good balance of peppery bitterness. Radicchio is also great grilled or pan fried. The leaves wilt and char and the bitterness becomes milder.

Add radicchio to salads for extra flavour and colour, grill it and serve it with fruity olive oil and sea salt or stir shredded radicchio through pastas and risottos.

Look for radicchio that is tight and compact and the root doesn't look old and dry. Store it in the refrigerator wrapped in damp kitchen paper for up to 5 days.

Being a salad leaf radicchio grows in sandy earth so make sure to wash well before using.

3. White anchovies
Hear the word anchovy and you either say you love them or loath them. White anchovies however are a different story altogether.

Instead of being cured in salt and oil, white anchovies are cured in vinegar. Where regular anchovy fillets are salty; accentuating their fishiness and have a unique tough texture, white anchovies are cured in a vinegar giving them a milder flavour.

Often referred to as Spanish or Sicilian white anchovies, they are far more delicate in fishy flavour and texture to their hairy cousins and make them great to add to sauces, pastas, on toast and in salads.

Use them as alternative to where you would use regular anchovies for a more subtle flavour.

They keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 6 months. Look for white anchovies that look plump and are stored in oil.

This Week's Recipe: The Ultimate Work Day Sandwich (antipasto stuffed bread)

Why Antipasto stuffed bread?

Having recently started working in an office – I have up until this time worked either for myself in the pleasure of my own home, or in numerous restaurant kitchens – I now understand the dilemma of what I like to call a work day lunch.

In the past friends have come to me for help in what they should pack for lunch. I have always thrown ideas at them but have at the same time thought how hard is it to pack an interesting and healthy make ahead lunch?

I take it all back!

Although I still cook 2-3 times a week at home or on location as part of my job, I am however, in the office the other days. Sitting in an office is nothing like working in a kitchen. While you work hard behind a computer all day, your brain somehow realises it is not being as stimulated as it can be and instead goes to the one thought it knows best – what to eat.

Suddenly you are wrought with hunger and start craving a tasty and exciting lunch. Here comes the solution.

This lunch is easy to prepare the night before and lasts (depending on how many it is feeding) the week.

It is simple.

Hollowed out crusty sourdough bread, that you then fill with layers of your favourite grilled or marinated vegetables, pesto or tapenade and cheese. Put the bread 'lid' back on and weigh it down in the refrigerator overnight. The next day cut a slice ready for lunch.

You can mix and match flavours as you please and even grill your own vegetables. I also like to buy olive studded sour dough bread and freeze the excess bread ready for my version of pasta con la mollica ( a pasta made with a sauce of fried bread crumbs, anchovies and olive oil) or panzanella salad.

Ingredients
1x 20cm round sour dough bread
½ cup good quality sun dried tomatoes, drained of oil
1-2 cups good quality charr grilled or marinated vegetables such as eggplant, sweet potato, artichoke hearts and zucchini
½ cup good quality pesto or ¼ black olive tapenade
125g bocciei or provolone
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Method
Cut the top off the loaf of bread, hollowing out the inside (reserving for later use) and keeping the top.
Spread pesto or tapenade over the base of the bread. Layer the vegetables and cheese until full seasoning as you go.
Drizzle with olive oil and replace with the bread lid.

Wrap tightly in cling film and store in the refrigerator with a chopping board on top. Place a few jam jars or tins on top to weigh it down over night.

To serve slice a wedge and enjoy.

Serves 4-5 lunches.

Bon Appetite.