Polpetti in tomato sauce with mafaldine

There are meatballs, and there are meatballs. For years, I wasn't interested in them. I must have experienced rubbish ones early on. The type that are made of flavourless, poorly seasoned beef, with little else in them. This is not what meatballs should be! Yet so many people, I suspect, eat meatballs like this (if the trays of ready made ones in the supermarket are anything to go by). The perfect meatball should be fairly small, no bigger than a large grape (but more spherical); it should be made of good quality, fatty, minced pork and beef (or I quite like purely pork meatballs, but not just beef); it should be well seasoned with salt; it should contain a serious amount of fresh herbs, finely chopped; and finally, my perfect meatball is rich with parmesan too.

We have them every so often at home. The toddler likes them a lot, and it makes a hearty, iron rich meal, perfect for Friday nights and just great if you have other children with you too (like we did tonight). A simple, garlicky tomato sauce and some thick ribbon pasta like mafaldine (I eat this a lot but I didn't actually know what it was called until I googled it 5 minutes ago!), pappardelle or tagliatelle is the obvious accompaniment. When making something simple like this, it's important to use high quality ingredients, so I urge you to get to the butchers' shop for great free-range pork and quality beef, choose great parmesan reggiano, and always use a generous amount of fresh herbs. Then you are guaranteed to get a great result. The tomato sauce recipe here is a great standard that you can use for multiple of purposes. Yes it takes 3 hours to cook it down, but it's worth it, and it's beyond easy, if not quick...

When I do these, I make a large batch and freeze half in their raw, ready to fry state. So I did double the amounts below. However I have revised the amounts to make a meal for 3/4 people - simply double the amounts of the meatball component to make enough for another meal. I like to make the sauce and the meatballs in advance then put it together last minute, which only takes 10 minutes, the time it takes to make the pasta basically.

To make enough for 3/4 adults, depending on your appetite (about 40 - 45 meatballs):
For the meatballs: 
225g minced pork (free-range or organic)
225g minced beef
Large handful of fresh herbs (I used 50% flat leaf parsley, then chives, thyme, oregano), finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon of salt
50g parmesan, finely grated

For the tomato sauce
6 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
2 x tins or equivalent (800g) of good quality tomatoes
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of sugar

Pasta:
100g of pasta per person (50g for young children)
Salt

• Using your hands, smoosh both minced meats, salt, fresh herbs and parmesan. 
• Roll the meatballs into small balls, a teaspoon's worth is about right. Put aside to chill in the fridge for an hour. You could skip this step but I'm sure the chilling helps keep them together. 
• Make your tomato sauce by finely slicing the garlic, and let it sizzle over a medium heat in lots of olive oil. When it starts to colour, add your tomatoes. Bring to boil and simmer for 3 hours with the lid on. For the last 20 minutes, take off the lid to let it thicken. 
• To make the pasta, fill the biggest pan you have with water and bring to a rapid boil, add 2 teaspoons of salt (it should be as salty as the Med, they say!) and chuck the pasta in. Time it so you check it one or two minutes before the suggested time. 
• I find it best to get on with the meatballs while the pasta is cooking. So... heat a large frying pan with tablespoon of oil. Let it get quite hot, add your meatballs and don't move them around until you think they are quite charred on the pan side. Give the pan a good shake, and for the ones that are sticking, give the pan underneath an assertive scrape using a fish slice to shift it. Shake the pan again and let them cook for another couple of minutes. It doesn't matter if a few stick, you are going to deglaze the pan with the sauce anyway so you'll pick up all the nice charred bits. Carry on cooking them like this for 5-10 minutes. As soon as you think they are almost done, take one out, cut in half and test. Don't let them overcook!
• Add your tomato sauce to the meatball pan and gently shake. When the sauce has warmed through, push a spoon or fish slice around the pan to deglaze. Let it bubble for a minute or so.
• Before you drain the pasta, reserve half a mugful of pasta water (always do this, as the water will help the sauce amalgamate and not become claggy - pasta soaks up a lot of water in the sauce, you know!). Drain pasta and add to pan of meatballs and sauce. Toss gently, adding a splash of pasta water. Let it sit and soak up sauce for 1 few minutes, tossing gently. 
• Serve with lots more parmesan.

For once I had the foresight/energy to take a few pics as I cooked... don't be alarmed by the vast amount in the 3rd shot below, there are about 90 there as I doubled up!

Spinach dhal with spiced sweet potatoes

More and more, I am getting into vegetarian food from other cultures. I think Asian cultures do vegetable based dishes better than the West, probably because they have more vegetarians there. The things I cook in this fashion aren't usually totally 'authentic' (I don't think that's overly important in home cooking), as in this recipe which, I guess, is Indian-ish (well, the dhal bit, dhal being the Indian word for lentils). But the idea for roasted spiced sweet potatoes to be eaten alongside came from the totally non-Indian although appropriately named Sophie Dahl. She did a series a while back and I remembered making this dish the weekend after watching the episode and just being blown away by how enjoyable it was. It really zings, and it's so comforting. I have adapted it quite a lot here; the dhal is quite different from hers. Also she calls for a fragrant lemon and saffron rice to be served alongside, which is perfect, but on a typically pandemoniac weekday evening (isn't between 5-6 always the worst time?!) I just couldn't muster making 3 different components to dinner; 2 was quite enough. That said, it is very easy, particularly the dhal, just lentils in a pan, pour on water and chosen spoonfuls of spices. The kids loved this, and I mean seriously loved it. They don't go for all Asian/Indian things that I make, but this they adore. I don't struggle getting the Toddler to eat pulses; he does seems to like all things protein. I suppose this dish is a bit like Indian chips and beans. I whizz up the lot for baby, as the spinach is too leafy, it makes a perfect and very tasty puree. I'd quite happily eat it pureed in fact.

It is preferable, if this is being cooked for adults, that you chop the chili and cook it in with the spice fry for the sweet potatoes. As I was cooking for young children I chop the chili and serve on top, raw, for the adults. Also, just a note to say that I think these two dishes would be nice on their own, or as sides to meat curries.

To make enough for 4 adults: 
For the sweet potatoes:
4/6 sweet potatoes, sliced into chunky chips
1 onion, chopped finely
4 teaspoons of garam masala
Fresh ginger, 1 thumb sized piece, grated or finely chopped
3/4 cloves of garlic, grated or finely chopped
1 whole red chilli, chopped (either to serve on top or chopped for the fry)
Vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon

For the dhal:
200g spinach
500g red lentils
2 1/2 pints of cold water
2 teaspoons of turmeric
2 teaspoons of ground cumin
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon of salt
Squeeze of lime
Large knob of butter

• Preheat oven to 200C. Toss your chunky sweet potato chips in vegetable oil, salt and pepper, and roast for 20 minutes. Turn them a couple of times during roasting. 
• Meanwhile, heat some vegetable oil and fry your chopped onion over a medium heat, along with the garam masala, garlic, ginger, and chili if feeding adults or older kids. 
• Now make your dhal. Put your lentils and water in a pan. Add your spices and salt and bring to boil. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Pop the spinach into the dhal until it wilts, which will only take a minute. Squeeze some lime, taste and season if it needs it. Turn the pan off and put to one side while you finish your sweet potatoes. 
• When your potatoes are pretty much roasted, which they will be after 20 minutes, add your fry mix to the roasting pan, toss and give them another 10 minutes. 
• Serve your dhal in bowls, with the sweet potato chips on top. Scatter extra spice fry on top and extra chilli too if you want. 

Healthy oat, almond and fig cookies

I've had an open packet of dried figs that needed using up for a couple of weeks. The idea of homemade fig rolls had been loitering at the back of my mind (how good would they be?) then I saw a healthy cookie recipe in Gwyneth Paltrow's first cookery book (really want get her new one, I love this first book and use it lots - great family recipes). The recipe was for Oatmeal raisin cookies. I have changed it quite a bit, the main things being the raisins for chopped, dried figs, and the toasted walnuts for almonds. They are totally healthy. As in, there is nothing, I repeat, nothing bad or naughty in them! No sugar, no butter, nothing but natural syrups and healthy, unrefined flours (you could replace spelt with normal flours if you want to). This makes them extremely appealing biscuit tin fodder; you actually feel good when the kids are devouring them - and both of mine do exactly that. They remind me of rusks, as they are really good when dunked and made soggy for the baby to enjoy. We took a load up to the park today with a flask of tea and all 3 of us dunked our way through quite a few for elevenses.

The flours and syrups are easily available through health food shops and bigger supermarkets.

To make about 18 biscuits:
100g dried, chopped figs (or raisins)
100g whole almonds (I used ones with skins on)
100g oats
50g white spelt flour
100g wholegrain spelt flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of mixed spice
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
5 tablespoons of rape seed (canola) or vegetable oil
5 tablespoons of maple syrup
5 tablespoons of brown rice syrup
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

• Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line a few baking trays with baking parchment. 
• Chop your figs into raisin size chunks, taking out the tough stalk. 
• Whizz your nuts and half the oats in a food processor.   
• Mix the rest of your dry ingredients: flours, bicarb, spice, salt, and the rest of your oats. 
• Whisk the wet ingredients: oil, maple syrup, rice syrup, and vanilla extract. 
• Combine to the two, along with the figs. 
• Roll into golf ball sized cookies, no bigger. You should end up with 18 at this size. 
• Bake for 13 - 15 minutes. They don't brown much, so don't put them in for any longer, you want them to be chewy in the middle. 
• Cool in the tin or on a rack. Enjoy with a glass of milk or a lovely cup of builder's tea, guilt free!

Orecchiete with broccoli, lemon, parsley and capers

After a 4.30am start today (toddler, not baby - think it's the brighter mornings), followed by a very busy morning out and about, by lunchtime I was flagging. Big time. Toddler declared he wanted pasta for lunch on the long walk home, and I quite fancied a steaming bowl of something comforting and carby too. This dish was just right, a perfect balance of comfort and health food: zingy lemon, piquant capers, fruity parmesan, fresh herbs, tender broccoli, all brought together with an emulsion created by the olive oil, the pasta water and a little butter. It's good food in every sense. Baby loved it as much as toddler. The 'little ears' pasta shapes and soft broccoli florets were perfectly sized for her little hands. So quick too - in the same time it took to cook the pasta, the sauce was made. About 15 minutes in total from beginning to end. Make sure you slice your broccoli up really thinly, no more than 1/2cm in width, so it cooks quickly, this is the key to its speediness. 

Normally when I make this sort of pasta and broccoli dish I add anchovies, but we ate them all in a gribiche I made yesterday, so they were left out. Hence this is a truly vegetarian dish, worthy of note I thought...

To make enough for 2 adults (or 1 adult and 2 children):

200g orecchiete or a similar pasta (penne would work) - I always work to 100g per person, or 50g for a child, so multiply accordingly

1/2 a head of broccoli, about 200g in weight, florets and stalks sliced thinly, no more than 1/2 - 1cm wide

1 tablespoon of capers, rinsed, squeezed and chopped finely

2 handfuls of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped finely

2 large cloves of garlic, grated or chopped finely

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil 

Zest of 1 lemon, and juice of half a lemon 

A large knob of butter 

Salt

• Boil a couple of kettle's worth of water and empty them into the largest pan you have. Add salt, and bring to an angry boil. Tip your pasta in and set a timer for a minute or two less than the cooking instructions say (depending on how al dente you like it, I always do a minute under). When the pasta is 4 minutes away from being done, add your sliced broccoli to the boiling water. 
• Whilst your pasta is cooking, heat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, and grate your garlic into it with a fine grater. Let it sizzle a little, but not colour (once it starts to colour remove it from heat). 
• Put your finely chopped capers in now and let that sizzle too for a few minutes, over a medium heat but still watching the colour. 
• Add your finely chopped parsley and lemon zest. Cook it out for a few more minutes and let it come together as a sauce. 
• Drain your pasta and broccoli, reserving half a mugful of pasta water. 
• Add your pasta and broccoli to the pan with the sauce in and combine over a low heat. Splash about half of the water in (a few tablespoons' worth), and add a knob of butter and your parmesan, with a squeeze of lemon juice too. Mix well, and season with salt. Taste and adjust accordingly with lemon and salt.
• Serve with a drizzle of olive oil oil and some more parmesan. 

Courgette, feta and herb fritters

And we're home... Even though it is a bit cold here in Manchester, I am happy to be here. I missed the local food shops, visiting the park with the kids, nearby family and friends, our little 80s semi, our cat Bert, my proper camera (flew with Ryanair so decided it was too heavy)... No matter where I go and how nice the place is (and boy Spain was so nice - and hot!), I'm always happy to come home and be surrounded by certain comforts. A good sign surely. One of the things I have missed the most is the diverse range of food and ingredients that are readily available in a city. Fancy a Vietnamese takeaway on a Saturday evening? No problem (it was very nice, too!). Want to pick up some tofu to make my Mee goreng? That's easy, I'll pop out and pick the ingredients up, back in ten! You don't get the same easy access to diverse ingredients when you are in a rural location - in Spain or in England for that matter. And as much as I love the Spanish campo, when it comes to cooking at least, I think I am a city girl - but only just.

When you are out in the sticks, you are limited to cooking with the relatively small amount of ingredients to hand, which can be both a good and a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. On the negative side, you are limited in what you can cook. But on the plus side, it makes you cook in a different, more natural, seasonal and local way. It focuses the mind to utilise the best local ingredients and make the most of what's available in the local shops, or in the very earth around you. Hence the Olive oil, honey, lemon and lavender cake I blogged the other day. And now these, my Courgette, feta and herb fritters (made a few days ago when I was still in Andalucia), which I immediately thought of when I saw some gargantuan courgettes in the local shop....

These Spanish courgettes were enormous! And so fresh, really nice and firm. Courgettes aren't in season until July here in the UK. So shelve this recipe for a few weeks if you want to do it (unless of course you use shipped in ones which is OK by me). Whether you wait or not, it demands good fresh courgettes, so if you grow your own (as we once did, I miss our old allotment!) and you have a glut this summer, this recipe is just perfect. Fresh herbs is another must here, it really makes the dish, although you could try it with a little dried mint which, of all dried herbs, actually has its merits (alongside oregano). But never, I repeat never, use dried parsley in this, or in anything in fact. In my opinion dried parsley should be illegal. Dire stuff it is... Buy the best feta in the shop too as it makes a difference. All you need to eat alongside is a slice of lemon and a cold beer. Best devoured fresh on a hot day. And by the way, kids seem to love these, babies too - so try them if you're struggling to get vegetables inside your little ones.

To make about 20 fritters (enough for a starter for 6 or a lunch for 4):
3 very large (mine were so huge) or equivalent small courgettes, grated on a large cheese grater
3 eggs
50g plain flour
1 teaspoon of paprika (I used Spanish dulce)
2 spring onions, chopped very finely
Large handful or fresh parsley, chopped
Large handful or fresh mint, chopped
200g packet of feta cheese
Zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
Salt
Olive oil, to fry

• Grate your courgettes and then place them in a clean tea towel and wrap in a bundle. Now squeeze them as hard as you can to get rid of excess liquid. 
• Whisk your eggs with your flour in a large mixing bowl. 
• Add your courgettes, paprika, finely sliced spring onion and fresh herbs to the same bowl and get in with your hands, combining well. 
• Now crumble your feta in, don't overly smush it up; you want recognisable lumps of melting cheese in there. 
• Season with salt and pepper. 
• Heat a generous tablespoon of olive oil in a pan (have two pans on the go if you want to get them done quickly like I did). A medium to high heat is about right.
• Put a generous dessertspoon's worth of the mixture into the hot oil and let it sizzle for a few minutes before carefully turning. Once turned, let it sizzle for a minute and then flatten it slightly with a fish slice or fork to ensure that all the mixture will cook through. Make sure you are cooking them long enough to cook everything thoroughly; you don't want rawness in the middle. You may worry that they are charring too much on the outside, in which case turn the heat down a little bit. I found that, like pancakes, it took a few goes to get into the swing. Have an oven on low (about 80C) to put the 'done' ones into so they keep warm. Heat more oil with each fresh pan's worth...
• We served with some seasoned yoghurt (let down Greek or natural yoghurt with a little milk and garlic grated into it, then seasoned with salt - and also fresh mint). And a wedge of lemon is nice to serve alongside too. 

Olive oil, honey, lemon and lavender cake

Last time I came to Spain and did some blogging I made a wonderful Almond, Orange and Honey Cake, as it was a perfect way to make the most out of the ingredients that surrounded me. I wanted to use the local ingredients in a cake again this time, but I wanted to do something different. Our friend and neighbour here, Tish, came over with some gigantic lemons from her own trees, which were begging to be used in a cake of some kind. I wanted to utilise some of the wild lavender that is all over my mother in law's garden here, so that was the next thing on my list. I've never cooked with lavender before and was keen give give it a try, if a little apprehensive as I wasn't sure exactly how to use it - turns out you just chop it finely, buds, flowers and all, and pop them into your creation.

When it comes to baking I rarely totally make up a cake from scratch, it's normally loosely based around an existing recipe just so I know the proportions are going to work. As I had lemons and lavender to hand, the Lemon and Lavender cake in Amber Rose's Love Bake Nourish book sprang to mind as a possible starting point. Obviously, as I am away from home I didn't have the recipe to hand so after a quick Google, I found it in this Daily Mail article (forced myself not to get sidetracked from the trash on the right hand side of the page!). This cake is quite different from Amber's though: the main differences being that I didn't use any sugar, but all honey instead; I used all olive oil and no butter; I added a honey and lemon syrup at the end when cool, to provide extra moisture and flavour; lastly I added a lot more almonds, hand ground, as you just can't get them ready ground here. Oh yes, and I replaced her suggested polenta with flour as I didn't have any polenta to hand.

My cake was a success: moist and fragrant, rustic and summery. The hand ground almonds gave a nutty texture that you won't get if you use ready ground almonds - maybe do half and half if you want that effect (it is labourious though, I warn you). If you can't be bothered it will still be good with all ready ground, just different in texture. The flavour of the lavender was very subtle, in fact you could only really taste it when you happened upon a little piece in the cake. This wasn't for lack of lavender, I whacked a lot in there, about 10 heads of varying sizes! Maybe every species has a different intensity. These were wild. If you make it, maybe pick a few heads and smell how strong they are, if they are very fragrant maybe use less - and be sure that they are untreated and unsprayed too. 

To make a large cake that will serve 8-10 
About 5-10 heads of fresh or dried lavender, unsprayed and untreated, chopped finely
225g extra virgin olive oil
100g honey
200g hand ground almonds of varying textures
3 eggs
2 lemons, zest of both and juice of 1 (unwaxed)
110g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt

For the syrup:
2 tablespoons of honey
Juice of half a lemon

• Preheat oven to 160C. Grease and flour (never tried this before, but it works well, I normally line) a 20cm springform cake tin.
• Whisk honey, lavender and oil until combined. 
• Mix in ground almonds and whisk in eggs.
• Grate in your lemon zest and add juice too. 
• Add baking powder and flour, and a pinch of salt. 
• Pour cake batter into tin and bake for 40-45 minutes. Let it cool in tin a little then remove carefully and cool completely on a rack or similar. 
• Now the syrup. Warm honey and juice in microwave or pan to help mix. Once the cake is cool, using a skewer or similar pierce the cake top about 20 times and then pour warm syrup into the holes. Dust with icing sugar to make it extra pretty. Let it chill for a while then serve with Greek or natural yoghurt, preferably in the sunshine.

Salted chocolate tart

I'm in Spain! Here with my parents, at my in laws' finca near Competa, 45 minutes inland from Malaga. I was due to fly home tomorrow with my folks but now Adam has joined us and me and the kids are sacking off our flights for another week! Hurrah! Especially good news as we've had a patchy week weather wise and the next week is set to be El Scorchio. After a week or so off blogging, yesterday I was dying to get in the kitchen and make something delicious. A dessert was calling. As much as I love Spanish cuisine, they aren't known for their puddings (normally a choice between flan, arroz con leche or an ice cream from a freezer cabinet) and I was seriously craving something chocolatey and sweet.

Whenever we are here we are constantly poring over Adam's mum's cookbooks. She has all three Moro books, so we usually start with those. For those who are uninitiated in the way of Moro (you're missing out!) they do Muslim Mediterranean food; Spanish with a strong influence from Morocco too. It's similar to Ottolenghi, in that it celebrates the Middle Eastern elements of Mediterranean food. Even though this tart mightn't strike you as particularly Spanish, or Muslim for that matter, the recipe it's adapted from uses a Lebanese Apricot sweet paste to add a bitter element, hence its inclusion in the Moro book. I swapped this obscure paste for some good quality local peach jam, and then also added salt for my own twist. The salt really adds an extra layer of flavour to it. (I am addicted to salted chocolate - I made Eric Lanlard's brownies and added a little salt to them recently and they were unbelievably good.) Adam ate three slices of this tart when we got in from a slightly boozy night out last night and he doesn't normally 'do' desserts. So I think it's pretty tasty. 

This is definitely a weekend recipe as, even though it's easy, there are a few stages involved so you'll need several hours spare if you going to commit to doing it. It's one of those recipes where it's nice to put the radio on, and enjoy a pot of coffee and the papers in between the various stages, lovely if you get the chance of a quiet household. (I should be so lucky - I had a teething baby to pacify and a bored toddler to entertain in between stages!) The sweet pastry recipe is a lovely one that could be used for a variety of fillings, indeed in the book it is used as a base for a number of other tarts. This is a great dinner party dessert, as it can be made in advance and always impresses. Serve it with slightly tart creme fraiche. 

To make a large tart that would serve 8 people: 
Sweet pastry shell (to fill a 24cm tart tin with a loose bottom):
140g plain flour
30g icing sugar
75g chilled butter
1 egg yolk

For the filling:
2 tablespoons of good quality apricot or peach jam, or orange marmalade
135g salted butter 
110g good quality dark chocolate
2 large eggs
60g caster sugar 
1 teaspoon of sea salt

• To make the pastry, first mix your flour and icing sugar, then rub in chilled butter to make a breadcrumb like mix. Now add the yolk, crumbling with your fingers still, then gradually bringing together to make a dough. If it's too crumbly you could add a splash of water or milk, but I didn't need to. Wrap in cling film, then chill for at least an hour. 
• Preheat oven to 220C. 
• Once chilled, grate with a course grater into a greased tin and shape the tart by pressing it. This sounds like it wil be tricky but stick with it... once all your dough is grated in, distribute it so you can press it into a case shape. Neaten it as much as possible, so that the sides are firm and fairly similar all the way around. It doesn't have to be perfect, mine certainly wasn't, but just make sure it is sufficiently pressed together so it forms a nice pastry shell. Prick the bottom and bake for 10 - 15 minutes, until it's a little browned but not too much. Let it cool in the tin. Turn the oven down to 180C. 
• Melt your chocolate and butter in a bowl over a bain marie (pan of simmering water).
• Whisk your eggs and sugar together till pale and fluffy, about 5 - 10 minutes. 
• Fold the chocolate and butter mixture into the egg and sugar. Add a teaspoon of salt to the mix and combine well. It will thicken as you mix. 
• Spread your jam or marmalade over the base of your chilled pastry shell. 
• Pour in your filling, levelling off to make it neat. There is excellent spoon licking potential here. 
• Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. It should be a bit wobbly in the middle when you take it out. Mine cracked a little and puffed up too, but it soon settles and the cracking actually looks rather nice. 
• Leave to cool in tin. Take out carefully and enjoy warm or cold.