Zucchini Slice

Zucchini slice is one of those things everyone makes at some point in time, and if you learn a good recipe, you'll keep going back. And if you get a bad recipe, you'll never make it again because bad zucchini slice is boring as batshit, and good zucchini slice is hot shit. It's fast, easy to make, impressive, and an excellent lunch box stuffer. I originally got this recipe from Matt Young, and then hybridised it with a recipe from Stephanie Alexander. Both the original recipes are pretty heavy on the oil, but my version is completely oil bereft (though I give you the option of adding some if you so desire at one point). You can use a mandolin if you have one for slicing the onions and zucchini, but I don't have one, so I just use an ordinary grater on a course grade. This slice can be easily vegetarianised, but I don't think I could no-egg it, so vegans, read on for something else...

Some grated cheese - aged cheddar of parmesan are optimal

Three thickly sliced big delicious tomatoes

500-600g zucchini (about four little ones or three medium sized ones)

Two rashers of bacon

One large brown onion

Two garlic cloves, cut into small pieces

A hand-full of fresh baby spinach leaves

A teaspoon of oregano

Some fresh basil leaves

Lashings of freshly ground black pepper

3 large free range eggs (if you use cage eggs,

you'll be consigned to the seventh level of Danté's inferno - the phlegethon, to be exact, for your violent wickedness)

150g of self-raising flour

1. Turn on the oven to 180ºc. Grate the cheese into a small bowl. Find a nice medium sized baking tray. Line it with baking paper. Use about three quarters of the tomato slices to line the bottom of the pan, reserving the most attractive and complete slices of the tomatoes for later in the recipe. Leave evenly spaced gaps between them. Set the cheese and baking tray aside.

2. Wash your zucchinis and then grate them into a large cake basin. Bigger the better. Slice the bacon and add to the zucchini. Slice your onion into slender segments and add to the bowl. Oregano, baby spinach leaves, basil leaves and pepper - bung 'em all in.

3. Crack the eggs into a little glass or cup to check for freshness. Add one by one to the zucchini basin. Mix all ingredients thoroughly, coating your vegetables in the eggy goo. If there is not enough eggy goo to cover all the ingredients in a fine film of eggyness, you may wish to add another egg or a little olive oil to help coat the ingredients.

4. Add the self-raising flour. Combine quickly and thoroughly, and then tip the zucchini mixture into the prepared baking tray. Decorate the top of the slice with the remaining tomato slices. Sprinkle cheese over the top and pop in the oven for 30 minutes. When the 30 minutes are up, cool in the tray for a few minutes before lifting on to a board and cutting into large squares. Serve hot or cold.

* Vegetarians: Omit bacon and cheese, if you like.

*Other successful ingredients in this slice have been broccoli, carrot slices, cooked spuds, salami slices, mushrooms, kalamata olives and semi-dried tomatoes.

*If you up the vegetable content, add more eggs and flour. I've made big ones with up to five eggs and a cup of self-raising.

*If the pan is wide and flat, it will crisp up more. You can cook bigger ones for a good while longer. The browned bits on top and on the bottom are supremely yummy.

*I thought decorating it with nice basil leaves on top would look nice. Wrong! The basil leaves just incinerated themselves. However, salami slices up the yummy factor and work well on the top of the slice too.

Swordfish Tagine

(with apologies to Sam and Sam Clark)

I have adapted this recipe to use local ingredients. Ain't no Hake or Charlotte potatoes in my 'hood as used in the original recipe. Other fish that would work would be Pink Ling or Trevalla. The Swordfish was a bit of a revelation, as it keeps it's shape well, but can become dry and flaky easily. Not in this dish. It's succulent and deeply flavoured by the charmoula, which is a fancy word for marinade/sauce from what I can tell. The original recipe is form page 183 of the wonderful Moro cookbook, a book that I strongly recommend for anyone who enjoys Spanish and Middle Eastern flavours. I have adapted it slightly to suit my kitchen and cooking techniques. If you wish to compare it to the original, off to amazon.com with you.


Tagines sound a bit wanky, don’t they? If you've not heard of one, they're earthenware cooking pots that look a bit like a casserole dish with a distinctive triangular lid. Tom’s sister gave us one from the store she works in the other day, so we thought we’d give this one a go. The technique is such that you use a layer of potatoes to hold the fish steaks above some boiling water, thus steaming the spiced steaks of white firm fish fillets. The tagine collects the juice from the tomatoes, fish and capsicums and the potatoes stew a little bit in this delicious, light sauce. You could successfully do this in any wide bottomed pot that allows you enough height to raise the fish above the water level. Any adequitely sized crock pot would do.

Ingredients

4 swordfish steaks
20 small waxy potatoes, peeled (Pink Eyes would be ideal, but I didn't have any so I used Dutch Creams.)
3 tablespoons of olive oil
4 garlic cloves, cut into slices
15 cherry tomatoes (today I couldn't get any cherry tomatoes, so I used roma tomatoes. They were not quite as good, but passable)
3 large green capsicums
A handful of black oily olives
100ml water
Sea salt and black pepper

Charmoula
2 garlic cloves
1 level teaspoon of sea salt
2 teaspoons of cumin seeds
Juice of one lemon
1/2 tablespoon of good-quality red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 small bunch of fresh coriander
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Method

1. Put the garlic, the sea salt and the cumin seeds into your mortar and pestle and give it a good bash. Once the garlic has been mashed up, add the lemon juice, vinegar, paprika, roughly chopped coriander and olive oil. Rub two thirds of the charmoula on to the fish steaks, and pop them in the fridge for at least 20 minutes (preferably 2 hours).

2. Peel and boil your spuds in salted water for 10-15 minutes in a medium sized saucepan. Once the potatoes are done, arrange them in the bottom of your tagine (or substitute). Set aside.
3. Cut the cheeks away from your green capsicum, slicing down from the core to the base, removing the seeds and pith as you go, and coat the skins with a little olive oil. Grill your green peppers in large slices under the griller until they are charred and blackened on the skin (this takes about 20 minutes). Put the capsicum in a plastic bag to soften for a few minutes (this makes them easier to peel). Remove the skins and discard them, and cut the remaining soft, grilled capsicum cheeks into bite sized pieces.
4. Rinse your saucepan, heat your olive oil and fry your garlic slices for two minutes until they begin to brown. Add your cherry tomatoes and toss them for two minutes until they begin to soften. Stir in the green peppers, and the remaining charmoula and taste for seasoning.
5. Scatter three quarters of the capsicum and tomato mixture over the potatoes in the tagine and then place your fish steaks on top. Add the last of the tomatoes and capsicum and pour the juice into the bottom. Scatter the olives over the top and pour the water in the bottom. Put the lid on and place on a medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes until the fish is cooked through.
6. Serve in bowls with a slice of bread and butter.

Tabouleh

Tabouleh is an excellent salad. People think you're cool if you can make tabouleh. Boys will want to know you, and girls will want to be you. It's also something that you can make using your own sensibilities and flair once you know the gist. It's healthy for you too! What a winner!

For the uninitiated, burghul is cracked wheat. It's available from The Spice Store, and most supermarkets.

Ingredients

1 cup dry burghul
1 big bunch of parsley, curly or Italian style according to taste - this time I used curly
1 bright red juicy tomato
2-3 spring onions
1/4 cup of mint leaves
1 clove of garlic
1-2 lemons, depending on how juicy they are
Salt
Cracked black pepper

Method

1. Put the cup of burghul in a bowl. Cover it with water and stand for an hour. If it soaks up all the water in that hour, give it some more. When it is soft, drain off the extra moisture and put it back in the bowl that you plan to serve the whole dish in.
2. Slice the tomato into 4 quarters. Use a teaspoon to pull out the remaining seeds. Dice into small, square-shaped pieces. Add to bowl. Slice up your spring onions, nice and small. Roll the mint leaves around each other so that they look like a cigar and use a sharp, sharp knife to mince them up. If your knife is a bit blunt, then use kitchen shears instead. Put the mint and onion in the bowl and stir it around a bit.
3. Mince the garlic, very finely. Add it to the juice of one lemon. Pour over the rest of the salad, and stir it about until everything is coated. Taste it. If it isn't lemony enough, add another half a lemon, or a lemon's juice. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve in the mixing bowl, allowing people to dish it out for themselves.


Here's some tabouleh in context with some spiced beetroot dip, home made hummus, and felafel. This dinner was served with fresh pita bread made by the wonderful Tom. Yum yum.


*Keeps well if you cover the bowl with cling wrap and store it in the fridge.
*If you wanted to, you could peel your tomatoes as well as seed them, but that's not entirely necessary if you're a lazy bastard like myself. Hell, I'm bothering to seed the tomatoes. What more do you want!
*You could also put in a seeded, diced, Lebanese cucumber if you liked.