Tag: tomatoes

Matty Matheson’s Meatball Sub

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Serves: 8

Nat said these meatballs were the best she has ever had and I’m not going to lie.

They are.

Add the marinara sauce, the mozzarella and the focaccia and this is just heaven.

It’s the sum of the parts that make this brilliant. No expenses spared.

Matty believes these subs should be served as single meatball portions, though did whole meatball subs and the kids absolutely loved it.

Which is not to say this isn’t something Nat and I wouldn’t cook again and again.

Just for us.

Which is why I am typing it.

Go Matty Matheson!

Ingredients

1 c dry breadcrumbs
2 cups milk
2 eggs
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
6 garlic cloves, minced, plus 1 clove for rubbing the focaccia
1 c flat-leaf parsley, chopped
2 tbsp salt
Freshly cracked pepper
1 tbsp chopped oregano leaves
1 c grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving
1 c grated Pecorino Romano
Olive oil
500gm ground beef
500gm ground pork
500gm ground veal
4 tbsp all-purpose flour
4 c Marinara (recipe follows)
1 large focaccia
250gm mozzarella sliced into 16 slices

Marinara (makes 6 cups)

800gm canned tomatoes
1 c olive oil
1 red onion, finely diced
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 bunch basil
2 tbsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 c grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Method

  1. In a large bowl, combine the breadcrumbs and milk, mixing them thoroughly, and let stand for 10 minutes, until the breadcrumbs are hydrated. Add the eggs, onion, garlic, parsley, salt, black pepper, oregano, Parmigiano, Pecorino, and a dash of olive oil and mix everything until combined.
  2. Next add the beef, pork and veal. Use your hands to really work the meat until everything comes together into a nice homogenous mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and let the mixture sit in the fridge for 1 hour.
  3. After the mixture has rested, portion the mixture into golf ball sized balls. In a medium bowl, add the flour. Gently dust each meatball with the flour.
  4. Preheat your oven to 180c.
  5. Pour 1.5cm of olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet and bring it up over medium heat. Brown the meatballs in batches, about 10 minutes on all sides. Be gentle. Transfer the cooked meatballs to a large baking dish and cover them with marinara. Bake for 30 minutes.
  6. Slice the focaccia down the middle and lightly drizzle with olive oil. Grill or toast until olive-oil side is golden brown. Rub both grilled sides with a sliced piece of garlic.
  7. Preheat your grill on high. Spread the meatballs over the bottom half of the toasted focaccia. Sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano and place a slice of mozzarella over each meatball. Place onto a baking sheet and grill until the cheese is bubbling and lightly browned: 5 minutes. Coat the meatballs in the marinara mixture and the remaining slice of focaccia. If serving individually, skewer each meatball or cut it up however you want.
  8. For the marinara: in a heavy pot, warm the olive oil and add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent, stirring frequently. Add the tomatoes, helping to break them down. Turn the heat down, add the basil an allow the sauce to simmer for 1 hour or more.
  9. Remove from the heat, remove the basil stems and add the salt, sugar and Parmesan. Using a hand blender on low, gently blend the sauce until the tomatoes break down: you are looking for a sauce that is slightly chunky. Allow the sauce to cool. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Ajoy Joshi’s Palak Murgh

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Serves: 4 – 6

Nat and I landed from 10 nights in Japan this morning.

Talk about a foodie destination. My god: street-food, Egg-sandwiches at 7Eleven, Michelin Starred restaurants. It honestly doesn’t matter.

A six-seat mixology place floors up somewhere in Tokyo.
Alain Ducasse’s restaurant Benoit in Kyoto. Holy moly.
Lurra. Featured on Someone Feed Phil, a top 50 place to eat in the world. Staggering.
A toasted egg sandwich infused with soy on the side of the road. Seriously, this place would be a pop up institution in Sydney. Here, they just asked us to wait with our sparkling sakes.

The Japanese care about food at every level, at every moment. From a broth at breakfast to tuna belly sashimi at the Tokyo Fish Markets, it literally doesn’t matter.

I kid you not, the fried chicken at the every-corner corner-store Lawsons is hands down better than the best KFC here in Sydney.

We even had an Indian meal in Kyoto in the smallest restaurant you could imagine (well, every restaurant in small) and wasn’t it a complete win on a level you’d almost never find in Sydney?! Cheap, cheerful, completely authentic – a total slam dunk.

You cannot go wrong no matter how much you might try.

But this isn’t a Japan post (which I will do) but a post because we are back and of course, drowning our sorrows with a wine, we return to a curry at the start of a cold, gloomy Sydney winter.

Nat wanted a tomato based curry and who was I to argue?

This relatively simple Ajoy Joshi number absolutely hits the note.

I added a little more Garam Marsala at the end, though do your thing.

Just make sure you slowly cook it down to reduce almost all the liquid.

A beautiful heat, wonderful spinach, just bloody lovely with a red on the couch ready to catch up on whatever Netflix we’ve missed.

(I have slightly adapted this recipe.)

Ingredients

1kg chicken thigh cut into 4cm pieces
1 tsp Garam Marsala
500gm baby spinach
3 mild green chilies, split lengthways
2 brown onions, roughly chopped
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp crushed ginger
1/4 c full-fat yoghurt
1/2 tsp chilli powder
3 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped

Method

  1. Marinate the chicken pieces in the Garam Marsala and set aside.
  2. In a food processor, process the spinach and chillies until a paste forms. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
  3. Clean and dry the food processor and process the onions until finely ground. Set aside.
  4. In a large, heavy-based frying pan, heat the oil. Add onions and salt and cook, uncovered, until lightly golden. Stir in garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant. Add the yoghurt and cook for 5 minutes further.
  5. Raise heat to high, add the chicken and cook until browned. Stir in chilli powder and cook until all moisture evaporates and oil separates.
  6. Stir in spinach purée and tomatoes. Cover, reduce heat and cook until the chicken is cooked through and tender. Uncover and if any liquid remains, cook over a medium heat until the liquid has evaporated. Serve immediately with rice. (And chutney is my strong recommendation!)

David Leite’s (Orange) Moroccan Salad

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

Every time we cook Moroccan, we agree it is too many drinks between meals.

So the start of autumn and I put on a slow Neil Perry tagine (I substituted chicken thigh), prepared the world’s best couscous and then platted this salad.

Easily, the best orange Moroccan salad I’ve had. Could be the tarragon, not sure, though it is as simple as it is yum. And its very yum.

Ingredients

3 large tomatoes
2 oranges, preferably seedless
1 small red onion
10 – 12 black olives

For the vinaigrette

1 tbsp finely chopped tarragon
1 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Method

  1. Slice the tomatoes into circles about 1/2cm thick. Peel the oranges with a sharp knife, trimming as much white pith as possible from the underlying oranges. Slice the oranges into thin, 1/2cm circles. Peel and slice the onions as thinly as possible. Pit and quarter the olives lengthways.
  2. In a bowl, whisk together the herbs, vinegar, oil and salt and pepper, to taste, until emulsified.
  3. Arrange the tomatoes, oranges and onion on a platter, overlapping the pieces. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the top and scatter the olives over everything.

Ada D’Urzo;s Pollo Alla Cacciatore (Hunter’s Chicken)

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

This is an absolutely classic dish from Tuscany and I’m sure I’ve cooked various iterations over the years. Or at least eaten them.

This iteration is magic.

I added a sliced zucchini as the vegetable, though mushrooms or capsicum or really anything would work if you feel like the addition of a vegetable; though by its own, it is just so bloody good.

A big sprig of rosemary, the marjoram and the white wine. A slow braise of the chicken with the tomato. Stop!

Stretch for a parmesan polenta or a mash and this is just comfort and very simple comfort. Classic.

(I’ve very slightly adapted the recipe.)

Ingredients

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1kg chicken thigh cut into pieces
250ml white wine
10 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 rosemary sprig
1 marjoram sprig
Salt and pepper
Zucchini or vegetables of your choice

Method

  1. Gently heat the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over low heat, add the onion and cook until transparent. Remove the onion and set aside. Increase the heat to medium, then add the chicken pieces and brown on all sides.
  2. Return the onion to the pan and add the wine, tomatoes, rosemary, marjoram, salt and pepper as well as any vegetables you want to add. Reduce the heat to low and cook, uncovered, for 1 hour, turning the chicken pieces occasionally.
  3. If it starts to dry out, add a little warm water, Serve with a drizzle of extra olive oil.

Lidia Bastianich’s Pasta with Baked Cherry Tomatoes

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Serves: 6

Goodness, I did not expect my first Lidia pasta to be this good.

As in, immediately one of Nat’s absolute favourites of all time and better than my abbriata which until then was the favourite of all time!

It’s much more than a baked cherry tomato pasta.

It’s all that garlic, fried and then fast boiled in the pasta water; the subsequent frying off of the parsley. The basil. The chilli, The parmesan.

And the addition of the ricotta adding all that creaminess.

Absolutely lovely.

Hats off Lidia. Your book will be revisited imminently

Ingredients

1.5kg cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 c plus 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 c fine dry breadcrumbs
1 tsp salt, plus more for the pasta pot
1/4 tsp chilli flakes, or to taste
500gm spaghetti, gemelli or penne*
10 plump garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 c loosely packed basil leaves, shredded
1/2 c freshly grated parmesan
125gm ricotta

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180c. Toss the cherry tomato halves in a large bowl with 3 tbsp of the olive oil. Sprinkly over the breadcrumbs, salt and chilli flakes and toss well to coat the tomatoes evenly. Pour the tomatoes onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and spread them apart in a single layer. Use a second tray if necessary. Bake until the tomatoes are shriveled and lightely caramelised (though not dried out), about 25 minutes in all.
  2. Meanwhile, fill a large pot with salted water and heat to a rolling boil. When the tomatoes are nearly done, drop the pasta into the pot, stir and cook.
  3. As soon as the pasta is cooking, pour the remaining olive oil into a big skillet, set over a medium-high heat and scatter in the sliced garlic. Cook for a minute or two, until it is sizzling and lightly coloured, then ladle in about 2 cups of the pasta cooking water, and bring to a vigorous boil, stirring up the garlic. Let half the water evaporate**, stir in the chopped parsley, and keep the sauce barely simmering.
  4. As soon as the tomatoes are done, remove them from the oven.
  5. When the pasta is al dente, lift it from the water, drain for a moment, and drop it into the skillet, still over the low heat. Toss the pasta quickly with the garlic-and-parsley sauce in the pan, then slide in the baked tomatoes on top of the pasta. Scatter the basil shreds all over, toss everything together well, until the pasta is evenly dressed and the tomatoes are distributed throughout. Turn off the heat, sprinkle on the grated parmesan, and toss once more.
  6. Mound the pasta in a warmed serving bowl. Shred the ricotta all over the top of the pasta and serve immediately.

* When our builder looks after our house when we are away, he always leaves some damn fine Italian staples he picks up in Five Dock, Sydney. Quite the foodie. Anyway, we used a beautiful packet of spaghettini and it was just lovely.

** I did not read this right and cooked it right down before adding the parsley. Worked, though you can’t go wrong with pasta water in pasta so go with Lidia’s instruction here.

Claudia Roden’s Spelt and Tomato Salad

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 6

Nat and I love farro; an ancient Mediterranean wheat species.

And it is definitely back in vogue based on the number of salads featuring farro we have cooked the last few years.

As with many (all?) of her recipes, this salad is simply a charming honesty of ingredients. Entirely satisfying to the point that I kept reaching for spoon after spoon.

There is a suggested variation which, whilst I have not cooked, I’ve listed below. It’s the next farro adventure.

Variation

Omit the tomatoes; instead, mix in 50gm raisins (soaked in water for 30 minutes), 50gm lightly toasted pine nuts and the shredded leaves of 3 basil sprigs and 3 mint sprigs.

Ingredients

250gm pear farro or spelt
200gm baby plum tomatoes, halved
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 – 1 lemon, to taste
Bunch of flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
Salt and black pepper

Method

  1. Soak the farro or spelt in plenty of cold water for 30 minutes. Rinse, drain and put it in a pan with plenty of water to cover. Bring to the boil and simmer until tender, adding salt towards the end. Drain and put it in a serving bowl.
  2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

There was furious debate after I served this sauce and pasta in a pasta cook off with Nat.

Nat served the wonderful spinach ravioli and certainly, taking into account effort, presentation and overall yum factors, it nailed the brief and took out the day.

Except that it was a reluctant and technical tie.

Because the absolutely classic Marcella Hazan tomato sauce is simply so simple and classic, it is pretty much impossible not to give it the nod for doing so much more with so much less.

With a sprinkling of Parmesan. What on earth is not to love. It’s just not fair.

P.S. I did give the nod to Nat because hey, it’s 2022 and not 1962. Though Marcela sauce is no lemon at a knife fight.

Ingredients

2 cans of tomatoes and their juices
5 tbsp butter*
1 onion, peeled and cut in half
Salt
Pasta and Parmesan to serve

Method

  1. Combine the tomatoes, their juices, the butter and the onion halves in a saucepan. Add a pinch or two of salt.
  2. Place over the medium heat and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally, mashing any large pieces of tomato with a spoon. Add salt as needed.
  3. Discard the onion before tossing the sauce with the pasta. Toasts through 500gm of cooked pasta and serve with Parmesan.

* Use a great butter like CopperTree Farms.

The most delicious healthy (cheats) seafood bouillabaisse

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 6-8

This recipe is a no-brainer. It doesn’t take long and doesn’t involve making your own fish stock but you wouldn’t even know.

It’s healthy, hearty, warm, and delicious. A provincial stable from humble beginnings; the undisputed king of fish stews just got a whole lot easier.

Ingredients

For the stock

6 c fish stock
1tsp aniseed
2 bay leaves
1tsp saffron threads

For the base

8 tomatoes cut into small cubes
6 cloves of garlic minced
2 onions thinly diced
2 salmon fillets (no skin) cubed
2 white fish fillets (no skin) cubed
handful of raw and peeled prawns
1 large bunch parsley chopped

Method

  1. Add the fish stock ingredients to a pan and bring to a boil.
  2. On medium heat, paint olive oil on the bottom of a heavy-based pot and put in tomatoes, garlic and onions.
  3. Lay the seafood on top of the tomatoes, garlic, and onions and leave for about 3 mins (enough to heat up the pot).
  4. Ladle the boiling fish stock into the pot and cover the seafood.
  5. Sprinkle half the parsley on top and cover. Bring to a soft boil for about 10 mins until seafood is cooked.
  6. Sprinkle the remaining parsley on top and serve with warm crusty bread.

Paneer Koftas in a Creamy Spiced Tomato Curry by Maunika Gowardhan

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Serves: 4

Any vegetarian curry with potato and paneer koftas is going to win your heart, add in a cashew creamy sauce to coat the koftas and boom! The sweetness of the raisins gives the dish a beautiful edge.

It takes a little while but its not complicated and its definately worth it.

We air fried the koftas and would definately do it this way again.

(Read about this dish as part of a grand thali we recently served.)

Ingredients

For the koftas

300gms peeled potatoes boiled
200gms paneer finely grated
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp ground cardamom powder
2.5cm piece of ginger finely grated
1 birds eye green chilli finely chopped
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp coriander leaves finely chopped
3 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp raisins

For the sauce

1/2 c cashew nuts
6 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
2.5cm ginger roughly chopped
1 birds eye green chilli
3 tbsp vegetable oil
6 cloves
1” cinnamon stick halved
1 green chilli slit lengthwise
1 white onion roughly chopped
1 tomato roughly chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree
½ tsp chilli powder (mild or Kashmiri chilli powder)
200mls water
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp garam masala powder
2 tsp mango powder (amchoor)
Salt to taste
Coriander for garnish

Method

  1. Add the cashew nuts to a bowl with 50mls warm water and soften for 30 minutes. Blend the garlic, ginger and chilli (only 1) with a splash of water to a smooth paste. Set aside.
  2. Use the same blender to blitz the drained cashews with about 3 tablespoons of the soaking water to form a smooth paste. Set aside.
  3. Add the onion to a blender and blend to a smooth fine paste with 50mls of water. Set aside. In the same blender add the tomatoes, blend to a fine puree and set aside. (At this point you will have four seperate bowls of blended things: (1)Garlic/ginger/chilli, (2)Cashews, (3)Onion, (4)Tomato.
  4. For the koftas; Coarsely grate the potatoes and mash well to a smooth mix. To this add all the kofta ingredients except in a large bowl. Knead lightly to a dough like consistency. Cover and cling film until ready to fry. You can sit them overnight.
  5. To cook the gravy; heat the oil in a heavy bottom saucepan. Add the cloves and cinnamon stick and fry for a few seconds. Add the slit green chilli followed by the onion paste and fry on a medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir well making sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan as the moisture begins to evaporate.
  6. Add the ginger garlic and chilli paste and fry for 2 minutes. Stir and add blended tomatoes along with the blitzed tomato and tomato puree. Mix and cook for 6-7 minutes. The sauce will begin to reduce and go a deeper red colour
  7. At this stage add the chilli powder and the cashew nut paste. Stir well and cook for a further 2 minutes, lower the heat and add water. Simmer for 2-3 minutes.
  8. Add the sugar, garam masala and mango powder. Season to taste and garnish with coriander. Turn the off and keep warm.
  9. To cook the koftas; Divide the kofta mix into equal portions about a large tablespoon. Take a portion in the palm of your hand and roll into cylindrical shape. Make sure they are shaped well or else they will fall apart while frying so pack them tightly.
  10. Put them in an air-fryer or oven for about 10 mins. Flip them after about 8 mins. (alternatively you can shallow cry them for about 3-4mins in oil).
  11. Add the koftas to the warm gravy to a serving dish and steep the koftas just before serving.

Damien Pignolet’s Grilled Tuna with Pistou & Tomato Aioli, with Fennel and Kipfler Potato Salad

.Reading time 5 minutes.

Serves: 6

This very much 80s, very much Southern French dish is still absolutely in vogue.

Mayonnaise (aioli) and fish has never, ever dated.

Especially in the warmer months.

The whole thing is just sublime. The olives and fennel with the potato.

The wonderful tomato aioli with the tuna and pistou.

You would knock people’s socks off with this dish and it isn’t that hard to prepare.

Indeed, other than the salad and cooking the fish, the rest could be done in advance.

This is lux, 80s, 1-hat eating.

Just add sunshine and a good, cold white.

I just love it when a dish like this works just so, so well.

Ingredients

6 x 200gm portions tuna fillet
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Pistou

2 small cloves garlic, pelled
20 large basil leaves
3 – 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Tomato aioli*

3 ripe tomatoes, quartered
A drizzle of olive oil
2 cloves garlic, unpeeled
2 egg yolks
100ml extra virgin olive oil
60 – 80ml grapeseed oil
A little lemon juice

Fennel and kipfler potato salad

8 – 10 medium kipfler potatoes
60ml extra virgin olive oil
1 medium-sized fennel bulb
A touch of aged balsamic vinegar
24 Ligurian olives (we used half this amount)

Method

  1. Make the pistou: finely chop the garlic, then work to a paste with a pinch of salt, using the flat of a knife. Transfer to a mortar and then add the basil and grind to a paste, adding a few drops of oil. When smooth, work in the remaining oil and season to taste.
  2. For the tomato aioli, preheat the oven to 250c. Toss the tomatoes with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in a shallow dish until the tomatoes are scorched and very soft, then pass through a fine sieve and set the juice aside.
  3. Cover the garlic with cold water and bring to the boil. Drain and repeat, cooking this time until the cloves are tender when pierced with a small knife, then drain the garlic, remove the skin and crush with a small spoon in a small mixing bowl. Add the egg yolks and a pinch of salt and gradually add the oils in a thin stream, just a few drops to begin with, whisking constantly. The aioli should be very thick; if not, work in a little more oil.**
  4. Work in enough of the reserved tomato puree to flavour the aioli but retain the consistency of thick cream. Adjust the seasoning, adding lemon juice to taste.
  5. Next, make the salad. Peel the potatoes, cut intp 1cm thick slices then steam until tender, about 15 minutes. *** While the potatoes are still hot, dress them with the oil and vinegar, add the olives and season to taste.
  6. Trim the the base and top of the fennel. Shave the fennel bulb into 2mm-thick slices, preferably with a mandoline, then combine with the warm potatoes and olives. Mix well and do not worry if the potatoes break up – this is meant to be rustic food.
  7. Using a thin paring knife, cut a pocket in the side of each piece of tuna and work in the pistou.
  8. Heat a cast-iron grill or a large, heavy based frying pan until very hot but not smoking then lightly brush with olive oil. Brush one side of each tuna portion with oil and season this side only. Sear for about 2 minutes or until the edges of the fish just begin to change colour. Brush the raw side with oil, season, then flip over and cook for another minute or so. Transfer the tuna to warm plates, coat with the tomato aioli and garnish with the salad.

* A dish like this calls for a homemade mayonnaise/aioli, though I also very much get the merits of cheating. Simply follow the tomato step, do this cheat aioli and voila.

** Hats off if you whisk mayonnaise and aioli by hand, though seriously, consider a food processor as has been the norm since the 70s.

*** Microwave container. Splash of water. 8 minutes. Job done.