1. Broad bean, feta and mint salad

    Broad bean, feta and mint salad

    Serves 2

    200g podded broad beans

    2 spring onions

    50g feta

    6 mint leaves

    1 lemon

    olive oil

    Blanch your beans in unsalted water for a couple of minutes, until tender. Refresh in icy water, and peel the outer skin from any larger beans.

    Thinly slice the white parts of the spring onions. Mix with beans, a few ‚gratings‘ of lemon zest, a nice amount of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

    Place salad onto serving plates, crumble over feta and finish with torn mint leaves.

    Davo at Leila’s

    26/04/2011 by Uli _ Comments (1)

  2. Peperoncini

    Green Capsicum (Peperoncini)

    These little peppers are such a treat to come across, they seem to sit at the very centre of the ‚sweet to hot‘ scale of the pepper world. They‘re tasty simply fried in olive oil and sprinkled with lots of sea salt, as you would their cousins from Padron.

    Or, as the season‘s upon us, throw a few of these little guys on the BBQ. Line them up on skewers to make things easier when grilling, just give them a light coating in olive oil and a good sprinkling of salt first. Once grilled, they‘re perfect with lamb or fish, dressed again with more olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

    You could add a few spring onions to your ‚pepper skewer‘, then, when nicely charred remove the skewer and toss with garlicky yoghurt and lots of roughly chopped parsley, mint and dill.

    They also make great pinchos – on a small skewer, thread a slice of pork fillet (marinated in smoked Spanish paprika, garlic and olive oil), followed by a slice of Serrano ham then the pepper. Sear in a very hot pan (you shouldn‘t need to add oil) for a few minutes on each side and serve with an extra sprinkling of paprika.

    Otherwise…just chop them up and use them raw through salads.

    Davo at Leila’s

    26/04/2011 by Uli _ Comments (0)

  3. broad beans

    Hooray for broad beans!

    There‘s so many reasons to love broad beans, and now is the time to enjoy them raw. At the start of the season, when the podded beans are still small and sweet (no bigger than your thumb nail), they can bring great texture and a real ‚spring freshness‘ to your table.

    Sardinians serve them simply with a chunk of good pecorino, often still in their pods so all can benefit from the therapy of podding.

    In their raw state, broad beans seem well suited to cured things. From cured meats such as bresaola, cecina (Spanish smoked beef), jamon and proscuitto to raw shredded salt cod. Just coat them in your best olive oil, some sea salt and make the most of them while they‘re so so good.

    Davo at Leila’s

    26/04/2011 by Uli _ Comments (0)

  4. Chard stuffed with anchovies, pine nuts and raisins

    Chard stuffed with anchovies, pine nuts and raisins

    The best type of chard for this recipe is the Italian variety with thick, succulent leaves that is the size of very large bok choy. As this variety can be quite hard to get hold of, you can use the more common larger Swiss chard, you just wont be able to stuff it, just cut the leaves from the stalk, and blanch both separately until tender, dress with olive oil, then sprinkle all the other goodies on top.

    2 heads baby chard

    1 large onion (peeled and halved)

    2 cloves garlic (peeled and squashed)

    4 anchovy fillets (roughly chopped)

    1 tbsp toasted pine nuts

    1/2 tbsp raisins (soaked in warm water for 10 mins)

    1 tbsp parsley (roughly chopped)

    2 tbsp home made breadcrumbs (fried in olive oil until crispy)

    2 wedges lemon

    Cut the onion into slices about half a centimetre thick, then slowly cook in olive oil until very soft, sweet and deep golden in colour. Add the raisins and pine nuts, season with pepper and leave to cool. Stir in the anchovies.

    Take your chard and remove any damaged outside leaves. Carefully trim the base of the stalk if necessary, remembering you need to keep all the stalks attached to each other. Wash well, making sure you get any dirt from between the leaves.

    Spoon the anchovy and onion stuffing into the middle cavity between the leaves, trying to get as much down toward the base as possible, then tie the leaves back together with string.

    In a pot just big enough to hold both heads of chard, heat a good amount of olive oil with the garlic cloves and gently cook until well browned, then discard the garlic. Place in your stuffed chards and slowly cook for a couple of minutes carefully turning as you do, add about half a cup of water, a pinch of salt and cover with a piece of damp baking parchment followed by a lid. Cook over a very low heat for about 6-8 minutes or until the chard stalks are tender.

    Carefully transfer to serving plates, spoon over some of the cooking juices and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and parsley. Serve with a wedge of lemon.

    Davo at Leila’s

    19/04/2011 by Uli _ Comments (0)