Tag: tobie puttock

Tobie Puttock’s Roast Cauliflower with Chickpea Salad

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4 as a side

This is an excellent salad.

A bistro-quality, this-is-excellent, Tuesday-night-just-got-better salad.

It is another Tobie Puttock recipe and it is super simple: like all things cauliflower, not only does it taste wonderful roasted, with a crispy, charred, nutty flavour, though it is satisfying.

Potatoes play no role here.

We love to cook new recipes every time we cook, though having a repertoire of interesting, wonderful salads to whip-up every time we just want a grilled piece of steak, is definitely a thing for us.

This salad makes the cut.

Honestly, get onto it.

Ingredients

1/2 large cauliflower
1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
400g tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp, hulled tahini
2 tbsp low-fat plain Greek-style yoghurt
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp warm water
Good handful of mint leaves, torn
Good handful of continental parsley, roughly chopped

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
  2. Use a small, sharp knife to remove the florets from the cauliflower and discard the core. Place the florets in a large bowl and season with 1 tbsp of the olive oil, a good pinch of both salt and pepper and the chilli flakes. Spread over one of the prepared baking trays and roast for 30 – 40 minutes until the cauliflower is becoming dark around the edges and crisp. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
  3. Meanwhile, scatter the chickpeas and garlic cloves over the other lined tray. Drizzle with the remaining 2 tbsp of olive and shake the tray to combine. Roast for 20 minutes or until golden, remove from the oven and leave to cool.
  4. Squeeze the roasted garlic flesh into a bowl, discarding the skins. Mash the garlic with a fork and then add the cayenne pepper, tahini, yoghurt, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and water and stir to combine. Adjust the seasoning as necessary.
  5. Divider the cauliflower and chickpeas among serving plates, drizzle with the dressing and scatter the mint and parsley on top. Serve.

Tobie Puttock’s Spiced Lamb Burgers with Tzatziki

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4

We have cooked a number of dishes from Tobie and Georgia Puttock’s The Chef Gets Healthy and we have never been let down.

I wouldn’t crash-diet on the book a week before your wedding because all of the recipes remain wholesome: more like the Chef Gets Healthier.

Though this is the appeal to me.

You’re eating great food that is easy to prepare and throw in a good walk with the dogs before dinner like we do and it’s almost as if you didn’t have dinner at all.

These particular lamb burgers are great: we dialed up the chilli which is a must and then doubled the recipe so we had more burgers for lunch.

Save time by buying a good Tzatziki rather than making it, get the leashes on the dogs and enjoy a cracking, healthy-ish mid-week meal.

Come to think of it, you could probably have a wine or two with dinner as well and still not look back.

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tbsp dried mint leaves
500gm minced lamb
Small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Small handful of dill, roughly chopped
1 egg, lightly whisked
100gm reduced-fat feta cheese, crumbled
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Tzatziki to serve

Method

  1. Heat the olive in a small frying pan over a medium-heat, add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, for 2 minutes, until slightly softened though not coloured. Stir in the allspice, coriander, cumin, chilli flakes and mint leaves and cook for a further minute or so.
  2. Take off the heat and set aside to cool.
  3. Place the lamb in a large bowl and add the cooled onion mixture, parsley, dill, egg, feta, salt and pepper. Use your hands to mix everything well.
  4. Shape the mixture into four patties, place on a tray and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
  5. Preheat a grill plat or fry pan on high. Drizzle with a small amount of oil and cook the patties for 3 – 4 minutes each side or until just cooked through.
  6. Serve the burgers with a dollop of Tzatziki and this Roast Cauliflower with Chickpea Salad.

Blue-eye baked in a bag

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

I love fish baked in a bag.

Easy, full of flavour, fun and generally, really healthy.

This particular number from Tobie Puttock is especially good. As far as weekday dinners go, it is a complete win. (A 240 calories per-serve win.)

We served this with steamed beans and twice cooked and roasted baby potatoes: steam your potatoes, lay them flat on a baking-paper lined tray and half-flatten them with a large spoon, drizzle with olive oil, season and cook until golden.

You will enjoy.

Ingredients

4 blue-eye cod fillets or similar (we used ling)
100ml white wine
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Long strips of the zest of 1 lemon
2 birdseye chillis, cut in half and partially seeded
Small handful of dill sprigs
Sea salt and pepper

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200c.
  2. Tear off 4 pieces of foil, about 30cm long, then 4 pieces of baking paper, 25cm long. Lay the baking paper on-top of the foil. Fold and crease into wells with walls all around to hold the fish and liquid.
  3. Combine the wine, olive oil, lemon zest, dill, chilli and a good pinch of salt and peppe. Stir to combine and then carefully add the fish fillets and turn them to coat with the marinade.
  4. Place a fish fillet into each well; share the dill, chilli, lemon zest and remaining liquid with each fillet. Close and seal the foil bags.
  5. Place the bags on a baking dish and cook for 15 – 20 minutes or until the fish flakes easily. Let sit for a few minutes, transfer the bags to serving plates and open carefully at the table.

Ravioli al sole with Truffle Butter broth and Pecorino

.Reading time 4 minutes.

 

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Stupefacente!
Serves: 2 – 4 as a starter

Late last year, I typed up Armando Percuoco’s Truffle Egg Pasta, a gorgeous – and outrageous – pasta made famous at his restaurant, Buon Ricordo.

In my write-up of the recipe, I said do it and certainly, if you haven’t, I still highly recommend you do.

Though if you have, here is your next recipe along the same line.

It is from Tobie Puttock from whose book The Chef Gets Healthy we have been cooking recently. This recipe however, isn’t about getting healthy.

It’s about living the good life.

In his foreword, Tobie explains that he was taught the recipe by Gennaro Contaldo who in turn is famously Jamie Oliver’s Italian mentor; Tobie ran the restaurant Fifteen for Jamie Oliver.

So there is also a bit of heritage to it all as well.

Anyway, we cooked this as a starter a few weeks ago and it is excellent. Actually, more like superb.

Truffle, pasta, butter, ricotta, pecorino and egg superb. Poaching the egg in the stock after blanching the pasta in the boiling water is a neat trick with the ultimate treat being a runny, yellow egg yolk opening up all over the pasta as you eat it.

Yum!

For by-far the best result, make your own pasta and have a fun afternoon in the kitchen like we did. And an incredible starter on your hands following that.

Do it!

Ingredients

⅓ cup (80gm) fresh ricotta
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp grated pecorino, plus extra to serve
100gm salted butter, softened
1 tbsp truffle oil (or 2 tsp truffle paste)
40cm thin fresh pasta sheet
4 free-range egg yolks
300ml vegetable stock

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c. Place ricotta on a lined baking tray, season then drizzle with 2 tsp of olive oil. Bake for 12 minutes or until slightly browned and dry. Cool. Mix ricotta with pecorino, 2 tsp olive oil and a pinch of talk and cover and chill until needed.
  2. Combine butter and truffle oil (or paste) in a bowl. Cover and chill until needed.
  3. Lay pasta flat on a bench. Cut into eight, 10cm squares. Shape ricotta into 4 rounds. Place each one in the centre of 4 pasta squares. Lightly flatten the ricotta with your palm and with your fingers, make a deep well in the centre. Pop an egg yolk in each well.
  4. Brush a little water around the pasta edges then carefully top with the remaining pasta sheets. Use your fingers and a fork to seal the pasta, pushing out as much air as possible while taking care not to break the yolk.
  5. Gently heat the stock in a large frying pan over a low heat. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil.
  6. Plunge the ravioli into the boiling water for 45 seconds then carefully remove with a slotted spoon and place in the stock, egg yolk side up to finish cooking.
  7. Add truffled butter, in pieces and gently shake pan for 3 minutes until it melts into the stock and the pasta is al dente.
  8. Season, divide ravioli and sauce among bowls, then top with extra pecorino.

Smoky Barbecued Salmon with Paprika and Cumin

.Reading time 1 minute.
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Lordy!

Serves: 4

This would be a really fun dish to share; whole piece of salmon flaked on a big board, some salads and potatoes at the side.

Yum.

Cooked this on a grill plate inside on account of the 9c outside weather, though on a BBQ in summer, it would be a real winner.

Easy, healthy, tasty and dramatic to look at.

Another salmon number that you’ll love.

From Tobie and Georgia Puttock’s The Chef gets Healhy.

Ingredients

2 tbsp hot smoked paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 salmon fillets skin on (160gm each) or 640gm piece, skin on
Rocket leaves to serve

Method

  1. Preheat the BBQ, grill plate or a chargrill pan to high.
  2. Put the paprika, cumin and olive oil in a small bowl and stir to combine. Rub the spice mix all over the salmon
  3. Cook the salmon on the grill for a few minutes each side until cooked though still pink and starting to flake.
  4. Remove from the pan, rest for a few minutes and serve with the rocket alongside.

Quinoa, Broccolini and Asparagus Salad

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4 as a side

An unusual salad to write up on the coldest day in Sydney this year, though the house is warm and for a healthy Monday evening, there isn’t much not to love.

Let’s start with healthy: 217 calories a serve.

Taste? Fresh, clean, green and wholesome.

Ease? Way up there.

The quinoa is a bit of a star adding weight and nourishment, though it all pulls together and makes you feel like you are eating your way through a green garden.

And with plenty left for tomorrow‘s lunch – with the smoky barbequed salmon we also cooked tonight, flaked on top – as long as the office is warm, this is an awesome, filling meal the next day.

From Tobie and Georgia Puttock’s book, The Chef gets Healthy.

Ingredients

2 heaped tbps low fat plain Greek-style yoghurt
Sea salt and cracked pepper
2 small handfuls of mint leaves
2 pinches ground cumin
¾ cup (150gm) quinoa
1 bunch broccolini, ends trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths
1 bunch asparagus, end trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths
1 bulb baby fennel
1 tbsp salted baby capers, rinsed and roughly chopped
1 small handful of dill, chopped
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Method

  1. Place the yoghurt in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Finely chop half the mint leaves and mix into the yoghurt. Sprinkle with a pinch of cumin, cover and place in the fridge until needed.
  2. Toast the quinoa in a heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat, stirring continuously for 2 minutes. Add 2 cups (500ml) water and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and hold at a simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside, covered, for 5 minutes to allow the quinoa to absorb any remaining liquid. Transfer the quinoa to a large bowl and place in the fridge covered for about 10 minutes to cool.
  3. Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and blanch the broccolini and asparagus for 1 minute; drain and refresh under cold water. Set aside.
  4. Remove the stalks from the fennel bulb. Reserve the fronds and discard the stalks. Cut the fennel in half lengthways, then slice into thin strips. Place in a bowl of ice water to keep fresh and crisp.
  5. Remove the cooled quinoa from the fridge. Add the broccolini, asparagus, fennel, capers, dill, lemon zest and juice, remaining mint leaves and a pinch of cumin, reserved fennel fronds and a good drizzle of olive oil. Mix carefully by hand and season.
  6. Serve with a dollop of the yoghurt mixture on top.

Spiced Lamb Burgers with Tzatziki

.Reading time 2 minutes.
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Hello Tuesday! The week just got a whole lot better!

Serves: 4

This recipe by Tobie Puttock had us at ‘spice’ and ‘lamb’.

Spicy lamb is a last meal contender, right?

At 447 calories a serve, they’re not too bad though they make up strongly for this in taste: predictably, as you read through all the ingredients, they taste great.

A really special, warming midweek dish.

Served with tzatziki and a wonderful Pea, Snowpea, Almond and Feta salad and highly recommended.

Ingredients

2 tbsp extra virgin oil
¼ onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp ground allspice
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp dried chilli flakes (do 1tsp and don’t hold back!)
1 tbsp dried mint leaves
500gm minced lamb
Small handful, flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Small handful of dill, roughly chopped
1 egg, lightly whisked
100gm reduced fat feta cheese, crumbled
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Tzatziki to serve

Method

  1. Heat the olive oil in a small fry pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring often for 2 minutes, until slightly softened though not coloured.
  2. Stir in the allspice, coriander, cumin, chilli flakes and mint and cook for a further minute. Take off the heat and set aside to cool.
  3. Place the lamb in a large bowl. Add the onion mixture, parsley, dill, egg, feta and season with the salt and pepper.
  4. Use your hands to mix everything well; shape the mixture into four patties, place on a tray and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
  5. Preheat a grill plate on high. Add the patties and cook for 3 – 4 minutes on each side until almost cooked through.
  6. Serve with a dollop of tzatziki.

Pea, Snowpea, Almond and Feta Salad

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

What a great salad!

190 calories a serve, really colourful and bursting with flavour.

This is a real win.

From Toby and Georgia Puttock’s book The Chef gets Healthy, this is a great salad. I mean, who doesn’t love peas – and snowpeas – and with the toasted almonds and some feta?!

Try it and you’ll understand why!

(Slightly adapted to our steam/microwave lives.)

Ingredients

150gm snowpeas, ends trimmed
150gm frozen (baby) peas
½ red onion, thinly sliced
50gm reduced fat feta
30gm flaked almonds, toasted
Handful of basil leaves, roughly torn
1 ½ tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Handful of rocket or watercress

Method

  1. Blanch – steam, boil, microwave –the snowpeas and peas until bright green and tender crisp; drain and refresh with cold water. Drain again.
  2. Put the snowpeas, peas, onion, feta, almonds, basil, olive oil and vinegar in a large bowl and toss to combine, Season and carefully toss through the rocket or watercress.
  3. Enjoy.