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