Salad Nicoise and Meinklang Grüner Veltliner

Summer's here! And with it asparagus! And all the wonderful fresh herbs! And new potatos! We've even booked our days off for summer holiday (though, having only just started our respective new jobs, our budget might only stretch to a last minute deal somewhere in Albania...)

But in the meanwhile there's no reason to celebrate summer with this summer classic from South of France. This version is an ode to all the fresh produce markets are heaving with right now and a slightly better version of the original. Instead of a tinned tuna this uses herb crusted fresh tuna and tomatos, too are elevated to a whole new level by slow-roasting them in the oven. Instead of limp, lifeless, watery haricots verts I used asparagus because... well, why not?

It's roasting of the tomatos that takes up most of the time, but that can well be done the day before. If you live somewhere in the South of Italy (or France...) your tomatos are probably bursting with flavour already as it is, so you can just use them as they are (in which case half of the amount listed below will do).  You could of course just steam the potatos and asparagus, too.

Serves 3-4, as a starter 4-5

Salad Nicoise with herb crusted tuna and slow-roasted tomatos

Slow-roasted tomatos:

500 g cherry tomatos

a couple of tsp oil

1 tbsp thyme leaves

a couple of cloves of garlic

salt, pepper

Roasted new potatos:

500 g new potatos

2 sprigs of rosemary

salt

oil

Roasted asparagus:

bunch of asparagus

oil

salt, pepper

Herb crusted tuna:

350 g piece of fresh tuna loin

salt, pepper

1 heaped dl of chopped fresh herbs (I used a mix of tarragon, thyme and rosemary)

Also:

1 small red onion, cut into thin rings

4 eggs (boiled to the preferred hardness)

handful of olives

a couple of handfuls of basil leaves

Salad dressing:

5 anchovies

1 clove of garlic

the juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 dl oil

1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar

(salt, white pepper)

In a bowl combine oil, finely chopped garlic and thyme leaves. Cut the tomatos in half and toss in oil. Place on a parchment-lined tray and roast at 125° for 3-3,5 hours (depending on the size). Leave to cool and prep the rest of the salad.

Increase the oven temperature to 225. Brush the potatos and cut in half (if they're bigger, cut in 4). Place in an oven proof dish with rosemary, season with salt and drizzle a couple of glugs of oil on top. Toss together and roast for 30-40 minutes until done (depending on the size), tossing every now and then. About 10 minutes before potatos are done, start roasting the asparagus, too.

Trim the dry stalks, place in another oven-proof dish, drizzle a couple of tbsp oil on top, season with salt and roast for 10-15 minutes (depending on their size). Let potatos and asparagus cool and prep the sauce.

Mix everything together using a small food processor or using a pestle and a mortar, first rub anchovies and garlic clove into a paste. Add lemon juice, stir until smooth and add oil and balsamico. Check the taste and season if needed.

Then prep the tuna. Pat dry, brush with oil, season with salt and pepper and press minced herbs onto the fish. Sear on a hot frying pan for 1/2 min - couple of minutes/ side (depends on the thickness, you want it to remain very rosé in the middle!) and leave to rest for a while. In the meanwhile combine the ingredients for the salad and add dressing. 

Cut tuna into slices of your preferred thickness and add into the salad. Serve.

A classic companion for this classic dish would be a nice little bistro overlooking a marina somewhere in French Riviera and a glass of chilled local rosé. But here's another, not so traditional, but a very nice wine pairing.

Grüner Veltliner is the best known grape in Austria and this biodynamic wine from Meinklang is a great specimen. It's got a great, aromatic fruitiness to it, followed by mineral notes and peppery acidity. So it can take on the tanginess dressing and the acidity of the tomatos and the onion, while balancing the richness of the tuna and eggs.

The herby quality of the wine pairs well with the summery herbs of the dish and this is a particularly great wine  for dishes containing tarragon of basil. 

A great recommendation to summer's picnics and parties - superb value for money and suitable for those vegan guests, too...!

Roasting brings such wonderful depth to veggies, especially tomatos. Just try this sublime roasted tomato soup with basil oil!

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Slumming it in style - panzanella, Italian bread salad

Panzanella, Italian bread salad is one of the stars of cucina povera and a great way to minimize food waste.

* * * 

Impoverishment of the middle class is something people world over are struggling at the moment. Yes, that includes us. We're still lucky and have jobs, which is not something to be taken for granted, but not much of our joint income is that disposable. With everything getting more expensive (food especially!) our wallets too are feeling the crunch and trying to figure out how to get the difference between money coming in and money going out to decrease. To be less in the red, anyway. Sure, I'm sure there are theories on how "duck confit isn't necessarily a key ingredient in a healthy, sustainable diet" or how "people are proven to be able to lead meaningful lives even without excessive consumption of octopus" but... luckily I haven't come across any.

But every now and then it's ok to slum it. But there are ways to do it with worldly elegance - just seek inspiration from Italy! They are home to cucina povera, frugal cooking of poor peasants where most is made of absolutely everything. Waste not, want not- mentality at its best.

One of the staples is bread. In Tuscan region a stale bread would get recycled into a salad by tearing to pieces and leaving them to soak up the juices of onion, tomatos, herbs and oil and hey presto - panzanella was born! It's such a great and grateful dish as you can dump just about anything in there. This time it became a final resting place for rest of a country loaf the well-being of which I was so concerned about before our minibreak in Tallinn, some left over tomatos, unused mozzarellas and olives, which, according to the sous chef "always make for a joyous event".  So, feel free to be creative and use any old leftovers you might have lurking n the fridge - grilled veggies for instance are great in this. If cheese isn't your thing, it can just as easily be omitted. 

Dressing was every bit as easy as the salad itself: I just used a generous desilitre of the oil from the sun-dried tomatos (never, ever discard it - it's got so much flavour!) but in case you don't have any, use the recipe listed below.

Home-made roasted peppers (recipe here!) tend to yield sweeter results, but it does take some time away from, say, kissing the sous chef (or watching the new season of Scandal) so store-bought ones are perfectly fine. The liquid they're preserved in is often vinegar- and not oil based, so their flavour is more piquant. You might therefore add a bit more sugar into the dressing. 

This is delicious as is (and only gets better as it waits and soaks  up the juices but also makes for a great side dish for, say, grilled chicken (for which you'll find a great recipe here!). Or for Italian salsiccia - let's face it, a good sausage never made a vegetarian dish any worse, right?

Use any old bread you want, for instance this no-knead-bread is perfect (not that we've ever had any leftovers, mind...)

Serves 2-3, as a side 4-5

Panzanella:

1/2 good, rustic country loaf

250 g cherry tomatos

3 large yellow peppers, roasted (or 4-5 pickled kind)

1 smal red onion (or 1/2 of a larger one)

15 black olives

2 mozzarella balls

a couple of hanfduls of basil

Cut the bread into thick slices and them into cubes. If the bread is still fresh, leave the cubes into room temperature (uncovered) or roast them under  a broiler for a couple of minutes - the drier it is the better it soaks of the juices without getting just soggy. Cut the cherry tomatos and olives in half and slice the peppers. Peel and finely slice the onion. Tear mozzarella into chunks of desired size and assemble the salad.

The dressing:

1/2 dl white wine vinegar
1 dl (rosemary) olive oil (recipe here)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 clove of garlic (or 1/4 tsp granulated kind)
1/2 tsp oregano (dried)
1/2 tsb basil (dried)
1/2 tsp tomato concentrate
(1/2 - 1 tsp sugar)

Combine he ingredients and check the taste. Pour into the salad and let it soak and arinate for at least a couple hours.

Oh, and in case the bread's already gone too hard to be rescued into a salad, just blizz them up and make your own bread crumbs, which you then, in he spirit of cucina povera, can use to substitute bread crumbs in pastas and gratins (like these poor man's mussles)

And if you're looking for more inspiration for vegetarian fiestas, you'll find more recipes here. 

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The best potato salad all summer

Up until now I've obediently steered clear of using provocative headlines such as that, you know, because these things are always a matter of taste and everyone's taste is different. Well, apart from Kim Kardashian's - she just doesn't have any. 

This potato salad turned out to be our favourite all summer though (and Lord knows we've gone through ridiculous quantities of potatos this summer!) It's actually a vegetarian version of the octopus salad with persillade you were served earlier. Much like other salad favourites this summer; halloumi with cranberries and pistacchios, watermelon with feta and mint and that delicious Moroccan orange salad this is quick and easy as hell. Perfect for lazy summer days then - and with that Mediterranean twist I love so much.

You can mix and match as you see fit based on what happens to be lurking in your fridge. Asparagus and green beans (or fava beans!) work wonderfully and any leftover basil leaves find in this salad a grateful final resting place.

I made a batch for our somewhat Mediterranean crayfish party and thought I'd made enough to feed about eight people. Oh, how wrong I was. The five of us destroyed it in less than half an hour...

As a main this feeds 4-5, as a side (with grilled chicken or wonderfully herby Italian sausage!) 6-8

900 g new potatos

1 jar (350 g/ 160 g)  good, black olives

1 jar (320 g/ 200 g) sun-dried tomatos in basil oil 

1 large red onion

100 g rucola leaves

1,5 dl oil from the sun-dried tomatos

fleur de sel, freshly ground black pepper

Brush the potatos and cut into 1 cm slices. Boil in salted water until done and steam dry. Drain olives and sun-dried tomatos (reserving their oil). Drizzle some of the oil on the potatos along with a sprinkling of good salt and toss carefully (potatos absorb flavours better when they're still warm) and cool to room temperature.

Cut the large sun-dried tomatos in half. Peel and slice the red onion finely. Assemble the salad by layering the ingredients into the serving dish, drizzling oil from the sun-dried tomatos as a dressing. Season with freshly ground black pepper and (in moderation!) fleur de sel. 

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Potato and octopus salad

Sure, the best thing about blogging is all the glamorous red carpet events we get invited all the time. And all the millions of dollars/ pounds/ euros we get paid through all sorts of lucrative marketing deals, all the time. Oh, and can't forget about all the pricey gifts and free Champagne they keep throwing our way, again, all the time. 

Fat chance. Yeah, right. As if.

The best thing about is you guys: the readers. Your comments, feedback and just generally tagging along is the thing that keeps the bloggers going. Another super great thing are the fellow bloggers and meeting them. They are a great bunch of dedicated people and passionate about the same things. Every now and then they become real friends in the real world; not just nicknames whose lives you follow in the social media. One of mine lives in Israel so I only get to see her when she comes over for her summer holiday. Last summer we checked out the Tall Ships Race, but this time I felt brave enough to invite her over for a meal.

What was I thinking? Have I not met myself? Was I not capable of estimating the turmoil and anxiety that would push me in? See, it's one thing to admire photos of someone's cooking, quite another to actually get to taste it... For afters we had orange posset and before that we feasted new potatos (can't get enough of them!) with marinated octopus in this summery salad inspired by restaurant Salt in Tallinn. 

I served the salad with persillade which totally rocks my world right now: try it on salads or serve with grilled fish. seafood or meat. To keep the olive oil from overpowering the flavours, use a very light oil. Or a 50/50 blend of olive oil and something neutral like canola or rape seed. Or use only that.

Persillade:

3/4 of a big bunch of flat leaf parsley (finely chopped that yields 5 generous tbsp)
the zest of 3/4 lemon
1 tsp white vinegar (or lemon juice)
1 garlic clove
1/2 - 1 tsp salt (start with 1/2 and add more if needed)
1 dl oil (see above)

Crush the garlic clove using pestle and mortar and, along with salt and lemon zest, rub into paste. Add oil and finely chopped parsley leaves. Season with vinegar, check the taste and add more salt/ vinegar if needed.

Serves 3

Potato and octopus salad:

1 kg marinated octopus (recipe here)
750 kg new potatos
1/2 red onion
200 g fava beans (cooked and peeled)
15 sun dried tomatos (or oven-dried, for which you'll find recipe here)
15 olives
half a box of rucola leaves (3 handfuls)

Cut the smaller potatos in half and the bigger ones in 4. Cook in generously salted water and then, when almost done, steam dry. Peel and finely slice red onion. If you prefer a softer onion taste, fold them in with the hot potatos. Drizzle some good olive oil and fleur de sel on top and let come to room temperature.

Slice the tomatos and halve the olives. Fold them and rest of the ingredients into the potatos and serve with persillade and chilled rosé - German and Austrian ones are worth trying. 

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Watermelon, feta and mint salad

A long wait just came to an end as England started their campaign at World Cup. They faced one of the toughest countries in the tournament: Italy. As is to be expected, England had their asses kicked, though apparently this time it wasn't down to poor timing and hapless defence - it was me. Yeah, me.

A little while back we hosted yet another one of our Sunday lunches and took our time enjoying the Italian feast. Ever greedy for more pork I had made some porchetta (yep - on the blog soon!)  - that Roman specialty. Already this resulted in minor eyebrow-movement signalling mild disapproval. Ciabatta (totally store-bought - I've never had much luck with that one. Though... should any of you have a foolproof recipe I'd be happy to take it off your hands!) brought on the eye-rolling. And then, as I carried out Caprese, mozzarella, basil and tomato salad, its gloriously Italian colours were met with exasperated cries. Apparently I had single-handedly torpedoed the entire tournament and put a curse on the opening game. Me! The person who doesn't dare to leave the house on a match day without the lucky underwear!

This salad continues with the same colour scheme (no, I never do seem to learn). Odd as it may sound, it's become a bit of a classic in its own right. The sweetness of the watermelon combined with saltiness of feta and the freshness of mint leaves... it just works. And watermelon with black pepper... aaah.

You can skip the olives and mint can be substituted with basil or coriander. Grilling the water melon brings a whole new dimension to the salad. Just remember: like with anything this simple you want to make sure the few ingredients that are needed are good. So, do go for a good, soft, crumbly feta and leave those rubbery squeaky toys in the super market, ok?

As a side dish this feeds about 6

1/2 watermelon (mine was 1,2 kg)

400 g good feta cheese

generous handful of mint leaves

generous handful of olives, drained

1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper

(lemon) olive oil

to serve: balsamico syrup (optional)

Cut the melon in half , remove the rind and then cut the flesh into 1 cm cubes. Cut feta into similar size cubes. Combine with melon cubes and mint leaves (and, if using., olives, cut in half). Sprinkle black pepper and a drizzle of oil on top.

Summery, fresh, quick and easy... if only the same could be said about the English football!

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Gluten-free savoury muffins with sun dried tomatos, basil and olives

These days it's somewhat inevitable that in case you throw a party, there's bound to be at least one vegetarian. So, it was only fair to devise a vegetarian option to go with the cold smoked reindeer muffins I came up with for Philadelphia's recipe contest. I went for classic Mediterranean flavours of tomatos, olives and basil. And it was gooooooood. Take it from a ruthless carnivore!

Oh, and they're gluten-free too!

Depending on the size of your muffin tin this makes  12-22 

150 g butter

2 tbsp sugar

2 eggs

200 g Philadelphia garlic and herbs- cream cheese

1 dl milk

1 dl rice flour

1,25 dl potato starch

1,5 dl finely ground polenta/ yellow corn meal

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarb

1 dl sun dried tomatos, chopped 

handful of basil leaves, chopped (about 1/2 dl when chopped) 
1/2 dl black olives, chopped and drained (about 8-10 olives)

1/2 tsp black pepper

To decorate: 200 g Philadelphia garlic and herbs- cream cheese, cherry tomatos and/or basil leaves

Cream softened butter with sugar. Then add eggs, one at a time, continuing to beat. In another bowl mix cream cheese with milk until smooth and pour into the mixture. Combine the dry ingredients and add those into rest of the ingredients. Fold in reindeer and red onions. Season. There's no need for salt as cold smoked reindeer is that salty.

Spoon into the muffin tins. Those silicone ones totally rock - no need for greasing or lining with paper - nothing sticks to them! Bake at 200° for 15-25 minutes (depending on the size of your muffins). Check the doneness with a skewer - a little moist is perfect. Cool and decorate as you want.

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