Goats Cheese, Chilli and Basil Spaghetti

Wow look how quickly my diet changes when the weather hits above 30! Don't worry i'll be craving my stews and soups again soon enough. This is a nice light pasta where the dominant flavours are the basil and the pasta itself. As such, you cannot substitute the fresh basil for dried, and if you can, buy egg spaghetti rather than the dried semolina stuff (not that theres anything wrong with  that; it's just that egg spaghetti has a richer taste).

This pasta can be whipped up in only 3 minutes longer than it takes to actually boil the pasta in the first place. Great for a quick and easy meal.

Ingredients (to serve two):

• Spaghetti for 2
• 1 long chilli (or 2 birdseye chillis if you like heat as i do) thinly sliced
  
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
  
• 1/3 cup fresh basil
• 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 100gm fresh spinach
• 2 tablespoons goats feta, crumbled
  
• Salt
• Pepper
  

Method:

Boil the pasta as per packet instructions. Drain and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.

Add the garlic and chilli and stir for 30 seconds.

Throw in the spinach and stir around for 30 seconds.

Throw in the pasta and toss to coat.

Remove the pan from the heat

Add the basil, season with salt and pepper, and toss again.

Transfer to serving bowls and top with the goats cheese.

Melitzanosalata with Balsamic Onions

Okay so i kind of stole this recipe for greek eggplant dip from George Columbaris. Anyone who has been to Hellenic Republic knows this man knows his Greek food. I highly recommend you go there sometime in summer, i was incredibly impressed by the great unpretentious Greek food there, and piles of it there is too.

Anyway i made a slight change in substituting balsamic vinegar for the red wine he uses in his recipe. I feel that the end result will be pretty similar though.

Tahini is a sesame seed paste, available at most supermarkets. At times it is in the health food aisle. Like sesame oil, it's potent stuff, so don't go adding tonnes extra because you think you like sesame seeds. If you need to be convinced, try a teaspoon of the stuff. I did. 

Ingredients:

• 3 medium eggplants
• 2 teaspoons tahini
• 2 roasted garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 150ml extra virgin olive oil
• Salt
  
• 1 red onion
• 50ml balsamic vinegar
  

Method:

Melitzanosalata

Pierce the eggplants several times with a fork and bake in an oven at 180 degrees until soft and squishy.

Remove and set aside until cool enough to handle.

split the eggplants in the middle and scoop out the goopy innards into a bowl.

Process the eggplants in the food processor or blender until a fine paste is formed.

Add the tahini, garlic cloves and vinegar and season with salt. Blend until smooth.

Gradually pour in the oil whilst blending to create an emulsification. It should take about 3 minutes to add all the oil.

Place the melitzanosalata in the fridge until cold.

Balsamic Onions

Thinly slice the onions into rings

Place in a saucepan over medium heat with a 2 teaspoons of olive oil and saute until soft.

Add the balsamic vinegar and season with salt

Simmer with the lid on for approximately 5 minutes

Remove the lid and continue to simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Transfer onions to a bowl and let cool.

Serve the melitzanosalata with a good bread (i used panna toscano) and garnish with the balsamic onions.

My Caprese Salad

I've called this 'My Caprese Salad' becuase i have no idea how authentic this salad is. I made this salad once when i bought all of the ingredients for a bruscetta only to find that the ciabatta bread had mold spores on it. 

Regardless, this is my favorite salad. I could eat it every day; it combined my favorite elements of Italian cuisine: basil, olive oil, and tomatoes. And it's dead easy to make. 

Note: This salad hinges on every ingredient. Only buy the best vine ripened tomatoes, and forget about this salad in winter. The better the mozarella the better .

Ingredients: (per serve)

• 1 tomato
• 1/2 a large Buffalo Mozarella ball
• 1 handful basil
• 1/4 a red onion
• 1 clove garlic
• Extra virgin olive oil
  
• Salt
• Pepper

Method:

Chop the basil and add to a mortar and pestle with the garlic, a pinch of salt and a teason of olive oil. Grind into a paste.

Slice the mozarella and tomato into 5mm thick pieces. 

Very thinly shave the onion into rings.

Layer the ingredients on a plate as follows: tomato, mozarella, dot of basil, onion.

Repeat until all ingredients are on plate

Season with pepper and a dash of olive oil over the top. 

Yum!!

Beef Stifado

Stifado is a Greek dish of braised meat lavished with a rich heavy sauce. It is a bit similar to an osso bucco though the sauce is much stronger than the standard osso bucco, with buckets of wine and spice in the mix. It pairs best with tendon-heavy cuts of meat such as rabbit, or beef cheek as i use here. Failing either of these, go for oyster blade. 

As you can see, beef cheeks are tendon heavy and marbled. Through slow cooking, the cheek will become very tender, and the meat will remain moist and sweet.

Ingredients:

• 1kg beef cheek cut into 6 pieces
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tbs smoked paprika
• 2 cans crushed tomatoes
• 2 cinnamon quills
• 4 cloves
• 1/2 tbs allspice powder
• 2 cups red wine
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• Salt 
• Pepper
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 3 stems celery, diced
• 12 shallots, peeled but whole
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
  

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius

Place the cinnamon, allspice and cloves into a dutch oven and into the oven for 5 minutes. Remove and set aside. Turn oven down to 150 degrees.

Place a saucepan over medium heat with 2 tbs olive oil. Mix the flour and paprika on a plate and coat each piece of meat in the flour mixture.

Transfer the pieces of meat, 3 at a time, to the pan, and brown on all sides.

Set meat aside. 

In the same saucepan, add oil if necessary then add shallots, browning for 3 minutes

Add garlic, carrot and celery and saute for a further 5 minutes.

Add sauteed vegetables to the dutch oven over the spices. Add meat.

Pour over the wine and vinegar and add the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. 

Cook on the stove top on low heat for 1/2 hour or until the sauce has halved. 

Pour over the chopped tomatos, place the lid on the pot and place in the oven.

Cook for 2 hours or until meat is very tender.

Serve with mashed potatoes and lavishly pour on the sauce. Bon appetit! 

Guilty Pleasure Number 1