#garden chilli

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Gamberi all'Arrabbiata

These fragrant and beautifully spicy Gamberi all'Arrabbiata make a simple yet flavourful lunch to celebrate the end of the week! Happy Friday!

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/3 Garden Chilli 

1 large garlic clove, minced

a dozen fresh prawns

¼ teaspoon fleur de sel or sea salt flakes

1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

2 large,  ripe Garden Marmande Tomatoes, rinsed

1 large lemon

1/2 tablespoon caster sugar

Heat olive oil in a large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. 

Add fennel seeds and dried thyme, and fry, 1 minute.

Thinly slice Garden Chilli, and stir into the skillet. Cook, a couple of minutes more.

Add minced garlic, and cook, another minute.

Peel prawns and stir them into the skillet, coating well in oil and spices. Cook until bright pink, and starting to brown, about 4 minutes. Season with fleur de sel and black pepper.

Dice Marmande Tomatoes, and stir them in the skillet, along with all their juice. Bring to the boil.

Thoroughly squeeze the juice of the lemon over the prawns, and reduce heat to medium. Stir in caster sugar. Simmer, about 5 minutes more. 

Serve Gamberi all'Arrabbiata hot, with Bay and Fennel Rice.

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Pork Belly and Pak Choi Noodle Soup

Making this fragrant and tasty Pork Belly and Pak Choi Noodle Soup for dinner may take a bit a time, but it's well-worth the effort, I can assure you! Happy Saturday!

Ingredients (serves 3):

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 heaped tablespoon Ginger Paste 

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons Hot Pepper Sauce 

½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 heaped tablespoon pure honey

½ cup water

1 ½ tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger

a large garlic clove, minced

half a red Garden Chilli 

2 beautiful pak choi

3 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoon sweet soy sauce

1 tablespoon Nuoc mam (fish sauce)

5 cups water

90 grams/3 ounces large rice noodles

1 tablespoon demerara sugar

Preheat oven to 200°C/395°F.

Using a sharp knife, remove the thick pig skin from the pork belly, so you are left with a layer of fat. With the knife, score the fat in a criss-cross manner.

Combine minced garlic, Ginger Paste, soy sauce, Hot Pepper Sauce and black pepper in a small bowl. Stir in sesame oil and honey until well-blended. Generously rub ginger and soy mixture all over the pork belly.

Sit pork belly, fat-side up, into a roasting tin, and pour water at the bottom of the tin.

Place roasting tin into the hot oven, and roast, at 200°C/395°F, for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

In a large wok, heat toasted sesame oil over medium-high heat.

Peel ginger, and cut it into very thin slices. Add to the wok, and fry, a couple of minutes. Add garlic, and cook, 1 minute more. 

Thinly slice Garden Chilli, and stir into the wok. Cook, a couple of minutes.

Thoroughly rinse pak choi under cold water.

Cut off and discard the bottom of the pak choi, and cut off the leaves, reserving for later. Chop white part of the pak choi, and stir into the wok. Cook, coating in oil and spices, about 5 minutes.

Deglaze with soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, and Nuoc Mam. Stir in water, and bring to the boil.

In a smaller pot, bring water to the boil.

Once boiling, stir in the rice noodles. Cook, 7 minutes.

Remove from the heat, drain the noodles, rinsing under cold water and plunge them in a bowl filled with ice water. Set aside.

Stir demerara sugar into the wok, until dissolved.

Finally, stir in reserved pak choi leaves, and cook until just wilted.

Once cool enough to handle, cut soy and ginger pork belly into thin slices.

Drain rice noodles and place a heap at the bottom of each of three shallow plates. Top with hot pak choi broth. Finally, scatter soy and ginger pork belly on top.

Serve Pork Belly and Pak Choi Noodle Soup immediately.

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Chorba (Vegan)

This hearty and spicy Chorba, a thick North African soup, makes a deliciously comforting dinner on a cold night. Happy Tuesday!

Ingredients (Serves 4):

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

4 large carrots

1 large onion

1/3 Garden Chilli Pepper 

a small garlic clove, minced

2 teaspoons Ras-el-Hanout

1 teaspoon harissa

100 grams/3.5 ounces tinned chickpeas

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

2 large, ripe Marmande Tomatoes 

3 cups water

1 tablespoon demerara sugar

1/3 cup alphabet pasta

a few sprigs Garden Cilantro 

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.

Add cumin seeds, and fry, 1 minute.

Peel and slice carrots, and stir them into the pot.

Peel and finely chop onion, and stir into the pot. Fry, a couple of minutes, until softening.

Thinly slice Chilli Pepper, and stir into the pot, along with minced garlic. Cook, 1 minute more.

Season with Ras-el-Hanout, and fry, a couple of minutes.

Then, stir in harissa, and cook out, 1 minute.

Thoroughly rinse tinned chickpeas under cold water, and drain well. Stir them into the pot.

Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

Roughly chop Marmande Tomatoes and stir them, along with their juice into the pot, along with the water. Bring to the boil.

Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low, cover with a lid, and simmer, at least 20 minutes, until carrots are tender.

Before serving, increase heat back to medium-high, and stir in demerara sugar and alphabet pasta. Cover with the lid, and cook, 10 minutes more.

Finely chop Garden Cilantro, and stir into the pot.

Serve Chorba hot, with Chilli Flatbreads.

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Chilli, Pepper and Tomato Mussels

These Chilli, Pepper and Tomato Mussels, hot with home-grown chilli and fragrant with garden pepper, tomato and herbs, remind me of the delicious kūtai I ate when Ava took me to Gusto, one of her favorite restaurant (with a superb view!) in her hometown of Ngāmotu New Plymouth, back in March. Which mean, I shall definitely cook this dish for her next time we're together!

Ingredients (serves 1):

about 905 grams/2 pounds fresh mussels

120 grams/4 ounces unsalted butter

1 small onion

1 fluffy sprig fresh rosemary

half a dozen leaves Garden Sage 

2 bay leaves

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

½ Garden Chilli Pepper 

¼ red Bell Pepper

1 heaped teaspoon tomato paste

1 large, ripe tomato, rinsed

4 sprigs Garden Chervil 

¾ cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc or Chardonnay)

Wash mussels thoroughly, gently scrubbing them with a clean sponge to remove any dirt and grit. Remove the stringy beards from the shells as well. Soak in clean water, a couple of minutes. Drain. Repeat, twice. Set aside.

In a large heavy-bottomed pot, melt half of the butter over a medium flame. Finely chop the onion, and add to the butter once it’s foaming. Sauté, a couple of minutes until softened.

Finely chop the soft top of the rosemary sprig, keeping the bottom whole and Garden Sage. Add the chopped herbs and both bay leaves to the pot. Cook, 1 minute more.

Increase heat to medium-high, and stir in mussels, coating in the butter and herbs. Cover with a lid, and steam, about 6 minutes, until the mussels start to open.

Using a slotted spoon, lift mussels out of the pot and into a large bowl.

Strain leftover liquid through a fine mesh sieve, into  a bowl.

In the mussels pot, melt remaining butter with olive oil. Add garlic. Cook, stirring over medium-high heat, until just softened, 1 minute.

Finely chop Garden Chilli and Bell Pepper, and stir into the pot. Cook, until softened, a couple of minutes. Add tomato paste. Cook, 1 minute more.

Dice tomato, and stir into the pot, along with its juice.

Finely chop Chervil, and had half of it to the pot.

Return mussels to the pot, stirring well, coating in chilli and tomato sauce. Stir in Sauvignon Blanc. Pour about 1/3 cup strained liquid back into the pot, making sure to discard any leftover sand. Cover with the lid, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, 4 minutes more.

Serve Chilli, Pepper and Tomato Mussels hot, topped with reserved Chervil, with toasted Sourdough and a glass of chilled Sauvignon Blanc. Bon appétit! 

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Ginger and Lemongrass Chicken and Corn Soup

Fragrant, spicy and comforting, this generous Ginger and Lemongrass Chicken and Corn Soup is just what's needed on a wet and grey Autumn day, both to warm up and be cheered up! Happy Tuesday!

Ingredients (serves 3):

1 1/2 tablespoon Chilli Oil 

3 chicken thighs

a small red onion

a ripe red Bell Pepper, rinsed

1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger

1 stick fresh lemongrass

1/3 Garden Chilli

1 large garlic clove, minced

2 ripe Garden Marmande Tomatoes 

a tin sweet corn (about 300 grams/ounces)

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

4 fluffy sprigs Garden Cilantro 

1 lime

2 cups water

1 tablespoon demerara sugar

Heat Chilli Oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.

Add chicken thighs, skin-side down first, and brown, about 2 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate; set aside.

Peel and finely chop red onion, and stir into the hot Chilli Oil. Fry, a couple of minutes.

Halve, seed and chop red Bell Pepper, and stir into the pot. Cook, a couple of minutes more.

Peel ginger, and cut into thin strips. Stir into the pot, and fry, 1 minute.

Remove outer leaves of the lemongrass stick, and cut into chunks. Add to the pot.

Thinly slice Garden Chilli, and stir into the pot, along with minced garlic. Cook, a couple of minutes more.

Roughly dice Tomatoes, and stir into the pot, with all their juice. Cook, stirring often, until Tomatoes collapse into a sauce.

Drain sweet corn, and add to the pot.

Return chicken thighs to the pot along with their resting juices, and season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

Finely chop Garden Cilantro. Halve the lime. Add both to the pot, and give a good stir, to combine. Cook, a few minutes.

Finally, stir in water, cover with the lid, and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, 25 minutes.

Just before serving, stir in demerara sugar until dissolved.

Serve Ginger and Lemongrass Chicken and Corn Soup hot.