Pork Spare Ribs

This can be served as part of a Chinese style meal, or as a main dish served with fried rice or chips.
The meat needs to macerate in a sweet and sour marinade for a few hours to get the maximum flavour and the juiciest ribs.

Ingredients for 4
12 pork spare ribs

Marinade:
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
3 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp marmalade or homey
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 x 1cm ginger, grated
1 chili, chopped

Place the ribs in an ovenproof dish and pour all of the marinade ingredients over them. Mix well with two forks. Cover the dish with cling film and refrigerate until required.
Bake the ribs at 180ºC for 90 minutes, turning once during the cooking.

Italian Tomato and Bread Salad (Panzanella)

This is a great idea for using up leftover bread. I made it with a french baguette although you can use another type of bread. The bread soaks up the juices and becomes soft and delicious. The trick is to make a good vinaigrette with olive oil.

4-5 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1 Spanish onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
2 slices of day old bread, diced
Salt and pepper to taste

Dressing:
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 Garlic clove, crushed with half a teaspoon of salt

This salad improves when left in the fridge for a few hours.
Place the bread dice in the bottom of the bowl.
Prepare all of the salad vegetables and add to the bowl.
Prepare the dressing by mixing all the ingredients and pour over the salad. Refrigerate for a few hours until very cold.

Variations:
Add one or two cans of tuna in olive oil, olives, capers... etc

Fish Soup

Small rock fish are used for this dish, so try to find a pack with mixed fish. You can also use any leftover prawns heads if you have any.

Ingredients for 4:

• 500 gm mixed small fish, frozen is fine
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• pinch of chili flakes
• 1-2 chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato concentrate
• salt & pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1.5 Lt chicken stock

Chop the onion and saute in the oil in a large pan, with the garlic, tomatoes and chili. When the onion is cooked through, add 2 tbsp tomato concentrate and cook for one minute. Add the fish, seasoning, and the stock. Bring to the boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Turn the heat off and wait for the soup to cool a little.
Sieve it through a coarse sieve or moulin. Discard the bones and skins.
Pour the soup in a pan, bring to the boil and add 1 tablespoons of rice per person, cook for 12 minutes and serve at once with chopped garlic and parsley to garnish and a lemon wedge per person.

Bacon and Onion Quiche

I never bother to bake the pastry blind, I find that in a fan oven the base of the pie comes out cooked through. It takes about 50 minutes to make from start to finish, less if you buy ready made pastry. And you can experiment with different fillings.

Ingredients for a 20cm base pie:
200 gr plain white flour
100 gr butter
good pinch of salt
a little milk

For the filling
3 eggs
500 ml milk
150 gr bacon, cut into thin strips
1 onion, sliced finely
150 gr grated cheese
salt and pepper, grated nutmeg
1 tomato to garnish

Make the pastry.
Put the flour in a bowl with a good pinch of salt, cut the butter into small dice and mix into the flour. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mix resembles fine crumbs. Add some milk, a tablespoon at a time, until the pastry comes together; do not overwork the pastry because you don’t want the gluten to develop and make the pastry rubbery. Wrap in a plastic bag or cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Take the pastry out of the fridge, roll it out on a floured surface, and line a well greased pie dish or plate.

To make the filling: turn the oven on at 180ºC
Gently fry the bacon and onion in a little butter for 5-6 minutes until the onion starts to brown. Spread over the pastry case. Sprinkle the cheese over the bacon and mushrooms.
Whisk the eggs with the milk; add salt, pepper and a good pinch of grated nutmeg. Pour the eggs over the cheese. Slice the tomato and arrange the slices over the custard.
Bake the pie in a moderate oven for 35-40 minutes. Do not worry if the custard looks wobbly when you take out of the oven, it will continue cooking for a few minutes. Serve warm or cold, with a green salad.

Chicken Milanese

I always buy a whole chicken and use the thighs and drumsticks for stewing or for paella, and then I use the breast to cut into fillets and turn into what my children call 'crunchy chicken'. This is a good midweek supper dish, and I normally serve it with fries and ketchup dip.

Ingredients for 2 people
1 chicken breast, sliced into 4-5 fillets.
1 whole egg, beaten
100 gm breadcrumbs
olive oil, for frying

Place the chicken fillets in the beaten egg. If you are not going to use them immediately, refrigerate until needed. The egg actually tenderises the meat and I usually prepare this in the morning to fry them meat up at lunch time or the evening.

To make the chicken Milanese take the chicken pieces out of the egg and coat in breadcrumbs. Fry in olive oil for 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden and crunchy.

Potato Gnocchi

Gnocchi are noodles made with potato or cornmeal. I serve them in a creamy blue cheese sauce, and they are an instant hit with family and friends. You can buy ready made gnocchi in any supermarket and serve them with the blue cheese sauce. I find that home made ones are best.
They do however need 1 hour to prepare.

Ingredients for 4

• 500gr floury potatoes
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 150g plain flour or less, depending on the texture of the potatoes

Peel the potatoes and boil in a pan of salted boiling water. Drain and mash them into a bowl

Make a hollow in the potato mash, then pour in the egg and sprinkle over some of the flour. Blend everything with your hands, adding more flour but as little as you can get away with (you want the flavour of the potato to come through, rather than that of the flour). Work carefully and quickly, as the more you handle the dough, the harder and bouncier it will become.

You should now have a soft dough that holds together.

Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Roll a piece at a time into long, thumb-nail thick cylinders on a lightly floured surface, again working lightly and quickly. Keep the surface well floured as you don't want the gnocchi to stick.


Cut the dough into thumb-nail long lengths. I don't bother to shape and pattern them, but just cook them as they are. Life is too short! However, the shaping and patterning gives a hollow on one side and a pattern on the other that enables the sauce to cling better, and also makes each piece recognisable as a gnocco (a single gnocchi).

To shape them into traditional gnocchi: roll the gnocchi in a little flour. Holding them very lightly, form each into a small concave gnocchi shape: hold them against the prongs of the back of a fork, pressing only firmly enough to get the imprint (not so firmly that they go through the prongs), then guide each one so it tumbles away from the fork. Use your thumb as a guide and your fingers to pick and curl the gnocchi up. Spread them on a large board until required.

Bring a large, deep pot of salted water to the boil. Drop in the gnocchi a few at a time. Let them cook 2 minutes more or less, until they bob back up to the surface, then scoop them out with a slotted spoon and arrange them in an ovenproof dish, spoon over some blue cheese sauce (see blue cheese sauce) and bake in the oven for 15 minutes until bubbling. Serve hot, with a green salad.

Chickpea Fritters

Ideal for a snack or to serve at a party.
If you cannot find chick pea flour, try using ready cooked chickpeas just add less yogurt.
I have given the basic recipe for fritters, but I am thinking of delicious variations to make, by adding onion or peppers, or any vegetable you happen to have.

Ingredients for 30 fritters
100 gr Gram or chickpea flour
1 plain yogurt, Greek is fine
1 garlic clove, crushed.
1x1cm fresh ginger, grated
handful or fresh coriander leaves
Salt, chili, and pepper to taste

Place the gram or chick pea flour in a bowl and mix in the yogurt. Let it rise, unrefrigerated, for 2-3 hours. Mix in a little water if it becomes too stiff.
Add the rest of ingredients and mix them with a spoon.
Heat some vegetable oil in a pan and drop spoonfuls of the mix into the oil. Fry them for 2-3 minutes on each side. Take them out of them pan when they are browned, and serve hot.
You can try dipping this into the ketchup and cumin dip

Blue Cheese Sauce

For pasta and Gnocchi. This has to be the easiest cream sauce ever.

150 gr blue cheese
100ml white wine
25 gm butter
50ml single cream
Pepper to taste

Melt all of the ingredients in a pan and serve with pasta.

Stuffed Mushrooms

For this dish you need large and open mushrooms. Try different combinations for the stuffing.

12 large mushrooms
2 spring onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon of flour,
50 grams grated cheese
1/2 cup milk
salt, pepper

Clean the mushrooms and cut the stems as far as you can, chop the stems together with the spring onions; fry in a little butter until soft, add the crushed garlic, a large spoonful of flour and stir to make a roux, pour the milk slowly until you get a very thick paste, season, sprinkle some grated cheese and mix well. Now stuff the mushrooms with the paste, garnish with chopped parsley, pour a bit of oil over the mushrooms so that they don't get dry, bake in a hot oven for 15 minutes and serve.
For a variation try adding some finely chopped bacon when you fry the onion and stems.

Beef and noodles a la Chinese

Recently a dear friend has brought a bag full of Chinese spices directly from China. All of the packages are written in Chinese... so I have no idea what to do with them. However I am going to test all of the spices and have a great time testing recipes.
I find that the main Chinese taste is provided by the garlic and ginger. Just those two ingredients combined with soy sauce and oyster sauce will give you the taste you are looking for. If you also have 5 spice mix in your larder, use it enrich the flavours.

Beef with mushrooms and noodles.

Ingredients for 4

1. 200 gr beef steak, cut into thin strips
2. 200 gr mushrooms, sliced
3. 1 spring onion, chopped
4. 200 gr noodles
5. 1 tsp Chinese spice mix
6. 1 Garlic clove, sliced
7. 1 x 1cm grated fresh ginger

Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain and reserve.
Heat a large pan or wok with 2tbsp vegetable oil. Add all of the garlic and vegetables; stir fry for one minute. Add the ginger and strips of meat; cook for 3-4 minutes. Pour 200 ml water, the soy and oyster sauces to taste. Add the noodles on top and stir until heated through.
Serve with extra soy sauce and chili oil.

Trampó, (Mallorca)

A simple tomato and onion salad. Perfect for a hot summer day, to eat with fresh bread and a bit of ham or cheese.
I also serve it at barbecue parties, as it cleanses the palate and the piquancy of the vinegar goes well with the meat.
This is the basic recipe for Trampó, other versions add different herbs to this salad, such as basil or parsley.

Ingredients for 4 people:
1/2 Tomatoes
1 onion or 3 spring onions
1 green pepper
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp cider vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Peel and chop the tomatoes, place them in a bowl. Chop the onion as finely as you can. Crush the garlic and add to the salad. Chop the pepper and mix into the rest of the ingredients.
Dress the salad with the vinegar, oil, salt and pepper. Chill for a few hours until needed. This salad is best served very cold.

Gazpacho

A real gazpacho is a peasant dish made in the fields. It is a crushed tomato salad, served with pieces of bread.
For a home made version, look for tomatoes in the market. In the summer it is very easy to find them at a good price.
Gazpacho does not need to be ruby red, it can be quite pale. The quantities of each vegetable used will affect the final colour, texture and taste. I am only giving the basic idea of what a gazpacho is. Make your own version by trying different combinations.
You can serve it as a healthy drink, or as a soup, with diced raw vegetables.
I am adding bread to my recipe because it thickens the soup and gives it the consistency I like.

Ingredients for 4
1/2 kg tomatoes
1/2 cucumber
1/2 green or red pepper
1 garlic clove
1 large glass cold water
1-2 pieces of day old bread
Vinegar
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Cut all of the vegetables into similar sized pieces, add 2 tablespoons of vinegar, 1 teaspoon of salt, 3 tbsp olive oil and mix.
Blend the soup and pass it through a sieve or moulin to remove the seeds and skins. Place the soup in a serving bowl and refrigerate until needed.

Serve chilled, with bread and bowls of finely diced pepper and cucumber and cooked egg. Each person can spoon the diced vegetables into the soup.

Dulce de Leche toffee Ice cream

It is quite easy to find ready made Dulce de Leche in the supermarkets. And it is much better, and easier, to use the ready made one. I find the method of boiling condensed milk does not achieve a good Dulce de Leche. It does not save money either, as condensed milk costs more or less the same as the ready made product. One jar of Dulce de leche will make up to three batches of this ice cream, depending on how much you add.
The result is a toffee coloured ice cream with a delicious caramel flavour.


Ingredients for 1 litre
150 gr dulce de Leche
2 large eggs
1 tbsp rum
200ml whipping cream

1. Whisk the eggs in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, until they double in size and become pale and fluffy.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the cream until it nearly doubles in size.
3. Using a metal spoon, fold the whisked cream and the dulce de leche. Then whisk gently into the eggs, careful not to loose any bubbles.
4. Transfer into a freezer-proof container and freeze for at least 6 hours before serving.

Melanzane Parmigiano

This is probably not the traditional recipe, but it is really lovely to eat as a side dish or as a light summer supper.
I had this dish for the first time in Nice many years ago, and I thought it was a great idea. Then I developed my own version. I like to use up any leftover ham, cooked meat, or small pieces of cheese that linger in the cheese box. I place them in between the layers of aubergine, with the mozzarella.
Because aubergines are so plentiful in the Majorcan summer, there are many dishes that we make here.

3 aubergines
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup white sauce
1 mozzarella ball
100 gr grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Slice the aubergines in 1cm rounds. Arrange the slices in a pan, 7-8 at a time, shallow fry them in olive oil mixed with water. Layer the cooked aubergines in an ovenproof dish. Seasoning each layer as you build up. When you have half of the aubergines cooked, place the mozzarella slices on top, continue with the aubergine layers.

Spoon the tomato sauce over the aubergines. Spread the white sauce on top of the tomato. Sprinkle the Parmesan on top of the dish. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 180ºC.

Majorcan Stuffed Aubergines

My grandmother cooked this dish to perfection in a kitchen so old fashioned that many would think it is impossible to produce anything tasty. But she did, time after time. My version is very close to hers. It is traditionally eaten during the summer in Majorca and it is much loved by anyone who tries them.

Ingredients for 5 people
5 aubergines
200 gr. Minced meat, pork or beef
2 slices stale bread, soaked in milk
1 small onion
Oregano, salt, pepper
2 cups regular tomato sauce (see basic tomato sauce)
Breadcrumbs to sprinkle on top

Cut the top end of the aubergines, cut them into half lengthwise. Scoop out the interior with the help of a knife or a spoon. Reserve the aubergine meat.
Finely chop the onion and aubergine meat, mix with the meat, bread, oregano, salt and pepper.
Stuff the aubergine skins with the farce. Push some breadcrumbs on top of the stuffing.
Gently fry the aubergines in a little oil; starting with the stuffing side down for 5 minutes until brown, then the aubergine side down, until the aubergine feels soft if you put a fork in it.
Arrange the stuffed aubergines in an ovenproof dish. Cover them with the tomato sauce. Sprinkle more breadcrumbs on top. Cook in the oven at 180ºC for 40 minutes, until bubbling and cooked through.
Serve hot with fries.

Aubergine Pate

Aubergines lend themselves to many cooking styles. Here is a pate or dip that you can serve at dinner parties for dipping crisps or tortilla chips.
If you don't like the idea of chips, it is also delicious served on thin 'Melba' toasts made with day old bread, sliced very thinly and toasted lightly on a pan or in the oven until dry and crispy.

What gives this pate its distinctive flavour is the olive oil it is cooked in, so it is important that you use this. Any other oil will give different results.

Ingredients:

• 1 large aubergine
• 1 clove garlic
• chili powder (optional)
• salt, pepper
• 3 tbsp olive oil

Peel the aubergine and dice the meat. Peel the garlic and add to the pan with the aubergine. Fry over low heat in a pan with 2-3 tablespoons of good olive oil. Cook for around 5 minutes, until the aubergine becomes very tender. Turn the heat off and place the aubergine on a plate.

Mash the aubergine meat and garlic with a fork; then put it in a bowl and mix in the salt, pepper, chili to taste. Cover with cling film and refrigerate until cold.

Serve cold as a dip or spread. Made in large quantities it can also be served as a side dish