Seared Scallops and Angel Hair Pasta with Haloumi Pesto

So, I recently bought a Food Processor. Colour me extremely excited! I'd been wanting a food processor for ages, so I could try out different recipes. Also, it's just plain fun throwing a bunch of different ingredients into a bowl and blending them.

Once I got my food processor though, I suddenly started dithering about what to make in it. It couldn't just be any old thing...then inspiration struck!

PESTO. That's right. I'm not a fan of normal 'green' pesto; so I never eat it but it's always struck me as something fun to make. Also, I wanted to make a non-green pesto to have with pasta (thus allowing me to get dinner on the table in under 10 minutes, score!). This meal takes only 15 minutes to make, no joke. Perfect for those nights when you're tired and your roomie is refusing to cook and you're starving (it serves two but if they're refusing to cook, they can stay hungry - keep the leftovers for lunch). I just grabbed a bunch of things that I thought would work well in a pesto and dumped them in. The cheeses give the pesto a wonderfully complex hit of salt and tone down the sharpness of the tomatoes.

Also I'm really not kidding about the time frame. The pesto takes all of one minute to be whizzed about, the angel hair pasta 5 minutes to cook and the scallops 5 minutes max. The rest of the time i.e. the other 5+ minutes (since you are doing these things simultaneously) is spent prepping/gathering ingredients and boiling water. Yes, it is that fast. You should cook it.

Ingredients:

For the pesto:

• 75g semi or sun-dried tomatoes (and a few spoons of their oil)
• A splash of red wine
• A glug of olive oil
• 2 tbsps of balsamic vinegar
• 1 clove of garlic
• 50g of canned chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 100g of haloumi
• 30g Parmesan Reggiano
• 1 tbsp silvered almonds
• 1 tbsp pine nuts
• 3-4 anchovies*

*The anchovies are optional. They add a subtle base flavour (i.e. do not taste anchovy-ish) but if they're not your thing you can omit them.

Other:

• About 250g angel hair pasta (or enough for 2 people)
• 300g scallops with or without roe attached
• 2 tsps olive oil plus a splash of it
• 2 tsps butter
• 1 tsp salt

1. Boil water. Pour it into a deep saucepan and add the salt and splash of olive oil, followed by the pasta. Cook as per packet instructions or until al dente or until it's the right 'doneness' for you. I use San Remo and find that despite the instructions saying 2 minutes, 5 minutes yields the perfect pasta.
2. While the pasta is boiling, rinse the scallops and pat them dry. Place a frying pan over medium high heat for 30 seconds. During these 30 seconds, chuck all your pesto ingredients into the food processor. Close it securely/as per your model instructions.
3. Add 1 tsp of butter and one of olive oil to the pan for 30 seconds. When they start to sizzle, add half of the scallops. Depending on their thickness, cook for 1.5-2 minutes. While this is happening, use the food processor to chop up your pesto. Then leave it and flip your scallops. Don't forget to check on your pasta - if it's done, take it off the heat & drain it, reserving 1/4 cup of the liquid!
4. Cook them for another 1-1.5 minutes. While they are cooking, shake the processor slightly to dislodge any unblended ingredients and blend again. When the scallops are done, remove them and repeat with the rest.
5. Pour the drained pasta back into the saucepan and top with the pesto and reserved pasta liquid. Stir to combine. Serve on a plate with the scallops on the side.

Ideas:

• Add washed baby spinach leaves for a nutritional boost (I'm one of those people who will randomly chuck a handful of baby spinach into whatever I'm cooking)
• Try other seafood - prawns would work well
• Experiment with the pesto! Alter the quantities, change the ingredients - do what you think will taste good
• If you have more time, use other types of pasta
• I had more suggestions but sadly, I've forgotten them...

Slow-Cooker Chicken Stew

I was hungry a few nights ago and googling 'Chicken recipes' and found this:

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-recipe-chicken-with-bacon-mushrooms-onions-10000000614073/

I was immediately excited, because a) bacon, b) mushrooms, and c) slow cooker food - minimal preparation and minimal monitoring. To make it even easier, I've modified the recipe to my tastes and to make it slightly healthier i.e. less bacon. Again, I use organic bacon with less salt so I have to add some to make up for it.

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 chicken thighs, rinsed
• 4 rashes or bacon, sliced crossways
• 3 large sticks of celery, coarsely diced
• 1 carrot, sliced
• I large onion, coarsely diced
• 200g Swiss Brown mushrooms, cut into eighths
• 1 Massel 'Chicken Style' stock cube (yeah, I use these a lot)
• 100ml white wine
• 1 tbsp mixed herbs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Long-grain rice and steamed green vegetables (I did green beans) to serve at the end
• Salt & pepper for seasoning at the end if necessary

1. Put all the ingredients plus the 1/2 tsp of salt into the slow cooker. Mix them up well. Add just enough water to the cooker so that the meat and veg is almost - but not quite - covered.
2. Cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours (or on LOW for 6-7 hours). Stir once, halfway through cooking.
3. Taste before serving and add more salt or some pepper if necessary. Serve with rice and some steamed green vegetables (so you can feel slightly virtuous and also to justify midnight snacks of fried haloumi).

I haven't written down any ideas for this but I might experiment with the quantities of ingredients and with the vegetables used...I'm thinking corn, squash and parsnips or turnips. I might even try doing this on the stovetop and reducing the sauce considerably before adding some cream.

Eggplant Parmigiana

Today's post is going to be a continuation of the last post, which was a Vegetarian Dinner Menu. What I love best about this menu is that between the eggplant and the vast amount of cheese consumed, you don't really miss meat (for the duration of the meal, anyway).

If I need to use stock cubes, I like to use Massel ones as they don't contain any animal products - this makes them suitable for cooking for vegetarians (they do Vegetable, Chicken Style and Beef Style). I'll admit I'm lazy when it comes to this sort of thing - making stock to keep for later use is too much work, plus I don't have much freezer space.

This recipe is also low-fuss, so I don't bother grilling the eggplant first (it takes too long).

This serves 4 as a main.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium-sized eggplants, sliced lengthways (1 cm thick)
• 2 x 400g cans of canned chopped tomatoes
• 1 Massel 'Chicken Style' stock cube
• 1 large onion, diced'
• 2 cloves garlic, very finely diced (or 2/3 tbsp of garlic paste)
• 1.5 tbsps oregano
• 1.5 tbsps basil
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 200g Bocconcini, thinly sliced
• 100g Mozzarella, thickly grated
• 75g Parmesan, finely grated
• 50g cheddar (optional)
• Salt

1. Rinse the eggplant and shake so most of the water is gone but the pieces are still moist. Sprinkle with salt and set aside. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.
2. Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil and butter. When very liquid, add the onion and garlic and sauté until translucent. Add the tomatoes, oregano and basil. Stir to combine.
3. Add 1/4 cup of water and the stock cube to the saucepan and stir until dissolved. Increase the heat and stir the sauce for 5 minutes or until it is slightly reduced.
4. Rinse the eggplant and dry with paper towels. Get a large overproof dish. Spread a thin layer of the sauce over the bottom. Top with a single layer of eggplant. Cover this with some sauce and a handful of bocconcini pieces. Repeat until dish is full; sauce and bocconcini is used up.
5. Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove (using oven mitts) and top with the combined mozzarella and parmesan. Return to oven and cook for a further 10-15 minutes or until cheese is golden, melted and slightly browned. Serve.

You will probably need to use a spatula or slice to cut the parmigiana for serving.

Ideas:

• Feel free to increase the cheese content (I like adding gruyere and cheddar)
• Add baby spinach or finely diced mushrooms to the sauce
• If you're missing meat, add some finely diced bacon to the sauce
• Experiment with the herbs
• Try playing around with the way the eggplant is cut and added - you could almost make this ratatouille-like and still retain the core flavours

The Vegetarian Dinner Party Menu

Recently, I had some friends over for a small get-together/dinner party. However, one of them was vegetarian, which posed a few conundrums. Whenever I've had vegetarian friends over, it's been informal and I've cooked egg noodles, or pasta, or a quick pizza. This was meant to be more like a dinner party though, so I wasn't sure what to cook.

Then inspiration struck. CHEESE. Well, not quite. But by happy coincidence I did manage to have cheese in every course. Entirely unintentional, I assure you.

Anyway, in this post I'm going to tell you the menu and the 'recipes' (ingredient lists, really) for dessert and the entrée, since the main and sides will require separate posts (lest you lapse into a coma trying to get through the entire thing).

Serves 4 (we had enough Parmigiana leftovers for 2 people).

Starter/Entrée

Turkish pide (bread)

Olive oil

Dukkah

Fried sliced haloumi

Main & Sides

Eggplant Parmigiana

Saffron Potato Stew

Steamed Green Beans

Dessert

Fresh fruit (plums, grapes, cherries)

'Fondue' (fresh passionfruit pulp for dipping fruit)

Triple cream brie

Plain cheese crackers

The entrée and dessert are crazy easy to prepare and take about 10 minutes max. each. My guests ate the entrée while I prepared the main.

Entree:

1 x Turkish pide (mine was 30cm x 15cm)

1/4 cup of olive oil

1/4 cup of dukkah (I bought mine at the local market)

200g of haloumi cheese, thinly sliced

1. Slice the Turkish pide lengthways and from there into widths of 1.5-2cm - nice sizes for finger food.
2. Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add half of the haloumi. Fry for 1.5 minutes or until lightly browned, then flip over and fry for a further minute. Repeat with the rest of the haloumi.

To serve:

Put the olive oil and dukkah into small, decorative dishes (I used two small ramekins). Place the pide pieces on a small serving platter and arrange the haloumi in front of/around them. Eat :)

Dessert

400g Crimson Seedless grapes

4 Black Diamond Plums

200g x cherries

10 x small dark Passionfruit

250g triple cream brie

1 packet of plain cheese crackers

1. Soak the grapes in a bowl of water. While you are doing this, wash the plums and slice them into eighths*. Drain the grapes, rinse once more and then place on a plate. Arrange the plum slices around them.
2. Wash and rinse the cherries. Place on the plate with the other fruit.
3. Rinse the passionfruit. Slice them in half one at a time, using a small spoon to scoop the pulp and seeds into a small bowl. When you have done this to all the passionfruit, place the small bowl on the fruit platter with the requisite number of forks for your guests.
4. Unwrap your cheese and place on a separate plate with cheese knives and the crackers.
5. Serve and eat to your heart's content.

Ideas:

• Add olives or miscellaneous antipasto to the entrée (marinated mushrooms, roasted peppers, etc)
• Use marinated feta in place of the fried haloumi
• Add different fruits to the dessert - berries, sliced apples, etc
• Use Camembert cheese in place of the Brie
• Add quince paste or similar accoutrements for cheese-eating.

Seared Scallops with Butter Bean 'Ratatouille'*

Everyone loves a quick and easy dinner meal - I do nearly all (about 97%) of the cooking in my household, so any dinner that can be on the table in under 20 minutes makes me spectacularly happy. This recipe requires two pans - a saucepan and a frying pan - so that you can cook things simultaneously, which is one of the reasons why this is so fast. Two spatulas to avoid contamination would be good also. To save a few minutes, only grate the Parmesan and prepare the scallops once the 'ratatouille' is cooking.

*The 'ratatouille' part of this is entirely bastardised and should only take 10-15 minutes to make, which is why I used the quotation marks.

I'm a big seafood person and come from a country where seafood is usually purchased live or literally just dead, so I am a stickler for freshness (sadly, the country I'm currently living in doesn't have the same kind of market). Anyway, purchase scallops that are as fresh as possible. I like to eat them with the roe attached but you can easily purchase scallops without roe if that's your preference.

This meal is quite healthy but still tastes fairly decadent. If you're using it for a dinner party, play around with the presentation a bit.

This recipe will serve 2 - I used it for dinner.

Ingredients:

• 300g scallops with roe attached
• 1/3 tsp salt**
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 300g of chopped tomatoes (about 3/4 of a regular can)
• 2 rashers of bacon, thinly sliced
• 1 400g can of butter beans, drained and rinsed
• 100g of baby spinach, washed
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely diced and crushed (or 1/2 tbsp garlic paste)
• 3/4 tsp each basil and oregano
• 1/2 a cup of diced eggplant (aubergine), lightly sprinkled with salt (1-2 pinches)
• 1/2 a capsicum (bell pepper), diced
• 4 tbsp of finely grated Parmesan Reggiano
• 1 tsp vegetable oil x 3
• 2 tsps butter

1. Dryfry the bacon in the saucepan over a medium-high heat, until some of the fat renders. Add 1 tsp of vegetable oil. Toss in the garlic (or garlic paste) and onion. Fry.
2. When the onion begins to turn translucent (3 or so minutes), add the capsicum and eggplant. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes, herbs, butter beans and the 1/3 of salt. Stir to combine, partially cover and reduce heat to simmer for 1o minutes. Check halfway through cooking and stir in the spinach.
4. Grate the Parmesan. Rinse the scallops and pat them dry with paper towels. Heat the frying pan over high heat, and add 1 tsp of vegetable oil and 1 tsp of butter. When fluid and on the verge of bubbling, add half the scallops. Depending on the thickness, saute them for 1-2 minutes. Turn over and saute for slightly less time on the other side. Set aside and repeat with the rest of the scallops.
5. To serve, divide the bean ratatouille between two plates. Surround with the scallops. Scatter the grated Parmesan over the ratatouille.

This recipe is 'two spooned' because it is really easy to overcook scallops, leaving them tough and dry. If you're a bit unsure about the semantics of scallop-cooking, YouTube has plenty of resources. Bon appetit!

Ideas:

• Try this with mussels or prawns
• Add 1/2 cup cooked mushrooms
• Serve with grilled Tuscan-flavoured chicken in place of the scallops
• Add a leaf salad on the side
• Substitute chickpeas or other legumes for the butter beans

**I use organic bacon, which has less salt so I compensate with extra salt. If you're using regular bacon, reduce the quantity of salt to 1/4 tsp.