Caldo Verde

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Caldo Verde

Caldo verde is otherwise known as Portuguese green soup, or broth, and whilst you can simply cook it as a soup, I tend to make more of a meal out of it and give it centre stage.  Its perfect for autumn or winter as it is satisfyingly hearty and filling. I deviate slightly from the traditional recipe of onion, garlic, cavolo nero/kale and potatoes by also adding 240g (basically one tin) of butter beans and spicy chorizo. It’s satistfyingly easy to make and guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser. If you are passionate, as I am, about stews and soups then this one will really appeal to you. I particularly like to add spicy chorizo to give it that extra kick, but if you cannot find the spicy variety you can simply use normal chorizo and add a sprinkling of paprika on the top before serving.

Caldo Verde

Serves 6-8

400g of spicy chorizo, chopped into slices

700g potatoes, peeled and diced

2 onions, chopped

4 garlic, chopped

200g cavolo nero/kale/greens, thinly chopped

1-2 pints chicken stock (depending on how thick you want the soup)

240g butter beans

3 bay leaves

4 tbs olive oil

pepper and salt, to taste

paprika, pinch on each serving (optional)

1. Place the olive oil in a deep pan – I use my Le Creuset casserole pot – and when it is hot add the chopped onion, on a low heat for 5 minutes. Then add the chopped garlic and stir into the onions.

2.  When the onions have become translucent add the spicy chorizo, which will begin to create a lovely red hue to the onions as the spicy chorizo begins to mix with the onions. Stir for a couple of minutes.

3. Add the diced potato, butter beans (tinned variety) and bay leaves and thoroughly mix into the onion, garlic and chorizo. Add 1 pint of chicken stock and let the soup simmer for approximately 10-15 minutes, by which time the potatoes should be soft.

4. Add the finely chopped greens. I use cavolo nero, which is black kale, but any type of greens works equally well. You may find you need to add some more stock at this stage, depending on how soupy you like your soup.

5. Season with pepper and salt to taste.

Serve piping hot with crusty bread on the side.

Caldo Verde

Stuffed Tomatoes, but no stew!

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Autumn is definitely here, although we had a few false starts over the last couple of weeks. The bronzed autumn leaves are scattered all over the grass and the winds are definitely picking up, a cold chill is certainly in the air. The deer in Richmond park have started rutting, which is always a sign that autumn has arrived. So it’s time for the winter coats to be dug out of the closet, dear readers, and the scarves to make an appearance.

With the new season brings a host of new and exciting produce to our tables. Root vegetables, greens, game, and fruits such as succulent figs. Its comfort food time, stews and casseroles and filling soups – I am getting excited thinking about the culinary possibilities in the months ahead.  So let us go forth and seek out the autumn offerings.  I hope to inspire and motivate you all into cooking some recipes you may have not tried before, that will warm your cockles and lift your spirits as the nights draw in.

This recipe is perfect for a light autumn supper or lunch and can be found in Clarissa Dickson Wright’s ‘Potty! Clarissa’s One Pot Cookbook’. It’s warming and hearty and if you omit the anchovy fillets then it is ideal also for all you vegetarians and vegans out there. It can be eaten on its own or with a piece of grilled fish on the side or in my case I ate it with some asparagus and melted butter!

Stuffed Tomatoes 

sourced from Clarissa Dickson Wright – ‘Potty! Clarissa’s One Pot Cookbook’

Serves 4

8 large tomatoes

125g couscous

1 tbsp olive oil

100g stale country loaf

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

bunch of spring onions, finely chopped

60g anchovy fillets in olive oil, mashed (optional)

30 g sultanas

handful of chopped parsley

1. Add boiling water to the couscous, as instructed on the packet. I normally use standard couscous, but for a change I used giant couscous and it worked a treat.  When it is ‘cooked’, if you are using normal sized couscous, add one tablespoon of olive oil to the couscous and stir it in with a fork to loosen it up.

2. Heat the oven to 190 degrees centigrade (170 degrees centigrade for a fan oven), or gas mark 5. Slice the ‘lid’ off the tomatoes and scoop out the interior and then mix the pips and juice into the couscous. Sprinkle a little salt into each tomato set them upside down to drain.

3. Crumble the bread (I use a hand whisk) and mix it with the couscous along with the chopped spring onions, garlic, anchovies (if using), sultanas and parsley.

Season to taste and then stuff your tomatoes and remember to place the lid back onto your tomatoes.

4. Place in a lightly oiled oven proof dish in the oven for 25 minutes. Serve immediately.

ps: for the really observant amongst you, I have intentionally only used 6 and not 8 (as the recipe states) tomatoes. I was feeding two adults and two children so thought 8 might be pushing it a little!

Trang’s Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Nuoc Cham dipping sauce

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Not so many moons ago I met a Vietnamese lady when I was on a brief stopover in Singapore. We were both taking advantage of the hotel pool and as we pretty much had the pool to ourselves we struck up conversation. The topic of food naturally came up and I think she could sense my longing to experience the culinary treats of her native homeland. She spoke about her favourite Vietnamese spring rolls and I tried hard to take down a mental note of all the ingredients she was spinning off.

Later that day when I returned to my room I found a couple of hand written notes detailing her Vietnamese spring rolls, or Cha Gio to be precise. I was really touched that she had gone to the effort of writing it down and slipping it under my door. Life is clearly full of wonderful surprises.

Upon returning to London I sent her an email thanking her for the recipe and promising that I would try it out very soon. She then replied with a further recipe for the dipping sauce, known as Nuoc Cham, which would compliment the spring rolls to perfection.

So that brings me to today. Making spring rolls, much like making tortellini, is definitely a communal affair so I rallied the troops…..well slight exaggeration, I rallied a newlywed friend of mine who was up for the challenge.

They were really good fun to make although there are definitely some tips to take on board, before embarking.

Check them out.

1. Don’t wet the rice paper too much. Literally place it in a bowl of warm water and submerge it and spin it once and then remove it. If you leave it in the water for too long, it becomes very difficult and limp to handle.

2. There is definitely a skill in folding the rolls. Keep them tightly folded and secure and after the first turn tuck in both ends before proceeding to roll the rice paper further.

3. Don’t be greedy and overfill. Less is more, definitely comes to mind when rolling these beauties.

4. The oil must be very hot BUT on a low heat, that’s the trick folks. Place a crumb in the oil and if it fizzles, then the oil is ready.

5. The pork meat will cook beautifully, don’t worry that it won’t. 3-4 minutes and the spring roll will be ready.

6. Steaming is also an option – it will take 20 minutes, but I thought that I would try the less healthy option of frying for my first attempt.

So here are the ingredients for the spring rolls.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls  (Cha Gio)

Makes around 20

300g minced pork

120g crab meat, (tinned is fine)

150g bean sprouts

150g of fine rice noodles

1 handful of exotic mushrooms (ideally wood ear mushrooms), sliced

1 western onion, chopped finely

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

22 cm rice paper (I used the Banh Trang variety)

optional ingredient:

1 carrot, thinly sliced

1. Finely chop the onion and then combine it with the mince, egg, noodles, crab, mushrooms, beansprouts, carrots (if using them) and salt.

2. If you are going to use carrot then slice thinly into 2cm long straws.

3. If you are using wood ear mushrooms (I could not find them so opted for exotic mushrooms) you will need to soak them for 30 minutes before slicing them into strips. Similarly you may also need to soak your noodles for 20 minutes in cold water before cutting them to 10cm in length. I used Amoy  ‘straight to wok’ rice noodles, which do not need any soaking.

4. Place the rice paper into a bowl of warm water for no longer than 5 seconds. Then lay it out onto a flat surface and add a spoonful of the pork/crab mixture. Tightly roll the rice paper over the filling and after the first roll (so that the mixture is covered), fold in both ends before proceeding to finish the rolling. Rest aside on a plate, making sure that the spring roll is not touching another spring roll. They will tear each other apart from sticking if you place them side by side. I found that they stuck well together (only one broke in the pan, but that was from over filling the rice paper). However, if you find they need some help at sticking the ends together mix a little flour with some water to form a paste and dab a little of this past at the end of the rice paper.

I found a fellow blogger who has produced good step by step photos of the rolling if you care to take a look .

Once you have rolled them all up they should look something like this.

5. Heat a deep pan with vegetable oil. You need to have enough oil so that the spring rolls can be submerged under the oil. Heat the oil to a high temperature and then turn down the heat so that it remains cooking at this low, but hot, heat. If you drop a crumb in the oil and it fizzes you know that the oil is hot enough.

6. Place a couple of spring rolls in the oil at a time so that you can carefully monitor them. Turn them in the oil a couple of times. They should be well cooked through in 3-4 minutes. If you are going to use a steamer they will need 20 minutes cooking time.

Please note they will not turn a golden colour like they do when you go out to a chinese restaurant. This is because they are using egg roll paper, which is different from rice paper. With rice paper they will go crispy BUT will remain with a white ish hue. Let them cool on kitchen roll, which will soak up the grease.

7. Serve with nuoc cham dipping sauce.

If you are vegetarian these will taste really good with tofu as well, so give them a try.

Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce

1 tbs fish sauce

3tbs boiled water

half a tsp sugar

1 tbs of rice vinegar (or lemon/lime juice)

5 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

half a carrot, sliced and chopped into small pieces OR shredded

optional extras:

 1 small red birds eye chilli

half a kohlrabi, sliced and cut into small pieces

1 tsp of soy sauce (this will deviate from the traditional recipe but I like the salty balance)

1. Place all the ingredients in a jar with a lid on and give it a good shake. I could not source kohlrabi so simply omitted it and to really throw caution to the wind I added a tsp of soy sauce, apologies to all those purists out there, I could not resist. I also liked having a little chilli to spice things up a bit – sorry I can’t help it. I promise though that when I do a blog on game in the next month or so, I won’t be adding chilli!

2. Add additional sugar, salt, lime to taste.

I hope you will love this gloriously sweet, salty, sour and spicy accompaniment for the spring rolls.

I’d really like to hear how you get on so do post a comment.

happy eating

Pastry Heaven

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Every so often an invitation turns up that you simply cannot refuse.  I was very fortunate to receive one of these golden tickets recently. It involved what promised to be, and indeed was, a truly memorable occasion, on a balmy September afternoon at the stunning location that is the  French Ambassador’s residence in London.

The event was a ‘Charity Champagne Afternoon Tea’, with all the money raised from the tickets and raffle going to support the  Ashinaga Scholarship in Japan, a wonderful cause that supports children who lost their parents in the earthquake and tsunami with their studies.

The tea was no ordinary tea however. It was more ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in its manifestation than an English afternoon cream tea. The reason being was that it was meticulously prepared by London’s finest pastry chefs and chocolatiers. The roster included Lauduree, The Lanesborough, The Wolseley, The Langham, Claridges, The Arts Club, Inamo, Le Manoir aux Quat’saisons, Melt, Roux Fine Dining, Valrhona and Rococo Chocolates. In short, it was foodie heaven and an enormous privilege.

The sun shone and guests spilled out onto the lawns of the embassy. It had a wonderful Great-Gatsby-esqe feel , indeed I would not have been surprised had Jay Gatsby sauntered across the lawn with a macaroon in hand.

I had to share with you some of the pastries that had been prepared for the occasion.

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These stunning creations were prepared by Nick Patterson, Head Pastry Chef at Claridges. I loved the way they were presented, with the little pink lights reflecting through a glass platform.

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The ‘Japanese flag’ inspired pastries were eagerly devoured.

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Laurent Couchaux, principle chocolatier from Rococo Chocolates created these wonderful chocolates. You can see which ones I was eating.

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These chocolate mousses went down a treat.

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These chocolate dainties were going like hot cakes!

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Special thanks go to the organisers: Fabien Ecuvillon, Consultant Chef and Founder of Pastry Network, Miho Nozawa, Dana Arce and Sachiko Bush. A truly memorable event.