This Week’s Recipe: Baked Potato and Pea Salad

Why Potato and Pea salad?

This could be the best potato salad I have ever made.

It all came about because of a girl named Mary and a birthday picnic. Mary is a proud vegetarian, and having been invited to her picnic I wanted to create some delicious food that she could enjoy.

Having been out the night before and feeling a little under the weather I set about creating a salad that would
1. Taste delicious yet unique to the usual picnic potato salad
2. Would satisfy some of those hang over food cravings
3. Be super easy to make.

Fortunately for my friends this salad ticked all boxes.

Try this salad and you will be hooked. So at the request of a few here is my soon to be signature picnic potato salad.

Ingredients
1 kilo small cocktail potatoes
1 bunch parsley, roughly chopped
1/2 bunch basil, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons small capers, drained and patted dry
1 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons aioli
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. In a large bowl toss the potatoes in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Place the potatoes on a baking tray and bake for 20-40 minutes, or until the potatoes are golden brown, and soft in the middle.

While the potatoes are baking place the roughly chopped herbs in a large bowl. Heat a small frying pan for 1-2 minutes on high, add a drizzle of oil and fry off the drained capers for 1 minute until they are crispy. Add the fried capers and their oil to the chopped herbs.

When the potatoes are still hot squash a few of them with the back of a fork and add them to the herbs. Add your aioli, lemon juice and frozen peas and toss.

Season with salt, pepper and an extra drizzle of olive oil.

Bon Appetite

Serves 2-3 very hungry picnic (male) guests, or 6-8 regular picnic guests.

Make your own...Aioli

Aioli is a garlic and oil emulsified sauce. Originally from Normandy, France, aioli was traditionally served with fish soups, stews and on croutons.

Today aioli is made with the addition of egg yolks to help the sauce emulsify, making it quite similar to mayonnaise.

To me there is something magical about home made mayonnaise with its ability to transform from humble egg yolks and oil into a creamy and velvety rich sauce that taste great on anything!

Homemade aioli is even better. This is a fantastic recipe to know as it easily adds taste and texture to any dish from potato salads, grilled meats and fish, salad dressings, crudités plates, and sandwiches.

This version of aioli may not be traditionally accurate as I use roasted garlic plus fresh garlic to add extra flavour and sweet depth, but it is simple to make and tastes wonderful.

Try it and you are sure to never look back to humble store bought mayonnaise again.

To make a mayonnaise simply remove the addition of garlic.

Ingredients
1 garlic bulb
1/2 clove garlic, finely grated
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
300-400 ml good quality vegetable oil

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Peel the garlic and place in a small baking tray. Cover with 200 ml of vegetable oil and bake in oven for 10-20 minutes until cloves are soft and golden brown. If you don’t want to use roasted garlic simply use one garlic clove finely grated instead. Also this recipe is a great excuse to make and use the recipe for confit garlic. Reserve the oil and garlic and allow to cool before using.

When cool, process the egg yolks, mustard roasted garlic, fresh garlic and lemon juice in a food processor until combined. While the motor is running add the garlic infused oil and regular oil in a steady thin stream. Continue to pour in the oils until the aioli becomes thick as desired and pale in colour. You will need to use at least 300 ml of oil for the sauce to hold.

Season to taste. If you would like to thin out the aioli at all add 1-2 teaspoons of boiling water to thin the aioli out slightly. Stir to combine and store in an airtight container for up to 1 week in the refrigerator.

Makes 1 1/2 -2 cups

This Week’s Recipe: Fennel, Celery and White Anchovy Salad

Why Fennel and Celery Salad?

Good bye soups, stews and slow cooked foods spring and summer are all about fast fresh and tasty foods such as grilled fish and seafood, barbequed meats, sweet ripe fruits and lots of cools crunchy salads.

To me, this fennel and celery salad is the perfect way to welcome a season of sunshine and warm weather. Crunchy earthy yet refreshing celery, shaved anise scented fennel and the sweet yet sour tang of plump white anchovy fillets all finished off with a good squeeze of lemon juice, a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper. This salad is simple yet sensational.

White anchovies are beautiful in this salad as they are not at all like their pinky brown hairy cousins. Instead of being cured in salt and oil, white anchovies are pickled in herbs and white wine vinegar. They are plump firm fish that have a slightly salty, yet sweet and sour tart taste. They match perfectly with the anise flavour of fennel and crunchy freshness of celery. If however, white anchovies don’t excite you like they do for me, feel free to replace them with smoked trout or orange segments.

Enjoy this salad and seasons of fresh flavours and warm sunny days.

Ingredients
1 small fennel bulb
2 stalks celery
1 vine ripened tomato
1/2 bunch flat leave parsley, roughly chopped
8-10 white anchovy fillets
1 lemon, juiced
20 ml good quality extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Method
Trim the leaves off the fennel bulb and cut it in half, length ways. Using a mandolin or sharp knife slice the fennel and celery as thinly as possible. Place the fennel, celery and parsley in a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil and the juice of 1 lemon.

Cut the tomato into thin wedges and add to the salad along with the anchovy fillets. Season with plenty of pepper and a pinch of salt.

Enjoy as a main meal or serve along side any grilled fish or meat.

Serves 2 as a main.

Bon Appetite

*White anchovies are available from all good delicatessens and gourmet food stores

This Week’s Recipe: Chocolate Lace Biscuits

Why Chocolate Biscuits?

My favourite movie of all time has to be The Princess Bride. I remember as a child falling in love with the farmhand Wesley and endlessly wishing I were Princess Buttercup. As an adult it is still one of my favourite films and I still get anxious when Wesley and Buttercup travel through the Fire Swamp and am often finding myself reciting ‘my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father prepare to die!” for no apparent reason.

One may ask what this has to do with chocolate biscuits? I came across this recipe initially for inspiration with simple picnic food that can be prepare ahead of time and while it is a brilliant recipe for that purpose, I found while rolling the dark chocolate dough into balls it sparked my memory of my favourite film.

In one of my favourite scenes a magician Miracle Max strives to revive a ‘mostly dead’ Wesley and gives him a cure in the shape of a brown shiny chocolate coloured ball - very similar to the cookie dough.

Besides reminding me of some very fond childhood memories these biscuits are deliciously rich with a crunchy exterior and chewy centre. They also look fantastic. Before baking they are rolled in icing sugar and corn flour so that when they cook a unique lace effect is created with dark chocolate brown flecking through a white coating.

I suggest you enjoy these cookies with a glass of milk while watching The Princess Bride, or enjoy them as you wish.

Ingredients
100g dark chocolate, chopped roughly
80g unsalted butter
1 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 cup plain flour
2 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder, not drinking chocolate
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/4 cup icing sugar
2 teaspoons corn flour

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Melt the chocolate and butter over the stove or in the microwave and allow to cool.

In a bowl sift together the flour, bi carbonate of soda and the cocoa powder and add the sugar. Mix the egg into the chocolate and pour into the dry ingredients. Stir to form a shiny dough.

Place in the refrigerator for 3 minutes to allow the dough to stiffen slightly and in a separate bowl sift together the icing sugar and corn flour.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll into balls a little smaller in width than a 10 cent piece. Roll them in the icing sugar mix and place on a lined baking tray.

Bake for 7- 10 minutes or until cracked on the surface.

Makes 24

Bon Appetite.