Roasted Red Peppers Confit

Roasted red bell peppers marinated in oil, garlic and vinegar are excellent as a first course/appetizer with crusty baguette.  They are also excellent as a accompaniment for poached fish and roast chicken.  They can also be added to pasta and paella.  Red bell peppers are the cheapest in the early fall beginning of October.

Ingredients:

9 large red bell peppers
1/2 cups olive oil ((best you can afford)
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
6 garlic cloves, finely minced or grated
1/2 tbsp salt
freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Wash the bell peppers and dry them well.  Drizzle a teaspoon or more of cheap olive oil over the peppers and rub them all over the peppers with your hands.  Place the peppers onto a pre-heated bbq grill until they are charred on all sides, or place them on a baking sheet and put them in the oven at 400 degF until the peppers are soft and have collapsed.  Set them aside until they are cool enough to handle.  (The peppered have a slight smokey flavor when roasted on a bbq grill)

Stem, seed and peel the peppers and cut them into wide strips.  Place the pepper strips and all the juices into a glass bowl and add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.  Allow to marinate in a cool place for a couple of hours and serve at room temperature.  The peppers can be made a day in advance and left to marinade in the refrigerator overnight.  Left over peppers will keep well in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks.  After that, you can freeze them in smaller containers for use in making pasta or paella when bell peppers are called for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomato Sauce

Vine-ripened tomatoes freshly plucked, still warm from the sun, sliced, drizzled with the best olive oil you can find, sprinkled with a little sea salt, and perfumed with hand-torn fresh basil are one of the many delights of the summer!  You can add slices of mozzarella bufala to it, and the Italians call it caprese, a meal on its own, with a good baguette to mop up the lingering olive oil.

Some years you could end up with more tomatoes you can possible eat and instead of letting them go to waste, you can cook them into a sauce to be frozen in 2-cup portions for a taste of the summer during the colder months.  It’s nice growing your own tomatoes but that takes time and effort.  Go to your local farmers’ market and check with those vendors who have heaps of tomatoes for sale during the peak of the season and ask them if they have ones which are too ripe to put out and how much they are willing to part with them.  They usually have them but you need to go around finding the best price per pound.  I was able to get them for between US$0.30 to 0.50 cents a pound.  A box full would weigh about 30 pounds.  Make sure they are not too small as it takes quite a bit of time to skin them and some of the large varieties are tasteless.  The ones that is about the size of a clenched fist are best.

10 lbs tomatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 sticks (1/2 lbs) butter
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
4 bay leaves
1 large onion, coarsely chopped, 1/2-inch pieces

Bring to a boil a large pot of water.  Place the tomatoes in the boiling water for about 2 minutes, remove with a slotted ladle, and set aside to cool slightly.  Repeat until all the tomatoes have gone through the hot bath.  When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, using a paring knife, remove the stem end and peel the tomatoes.  Cut them into 1-inch chucks, or you can crush them with your hands in the pot.  Place them into a sauce pot large enough for all the tomatoes and the other ingredients.  Add the onions, butter, salt, sugar, and bay leaves and place the pot on high heat and bring it to a boil, uncovered.  When it boils, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and stir it occasionally so that the bottom doesn’t burn until the mixture reduces to half, which may take several hours, if not longer depending on the pot and the heat.  As it gets closer to being done, stir it every 5 minutes so that the bottom does not burn.  When the sauce has been reduced to half, it should be on the thick side, with soft chunks of pulp and a nice shine on it’s surface, and tantalizingly fragrant!  You can’t resist boiling up some spaghetti and tossing in a ladle-full of the sauce!  Allow the sauce to cool, uncovered.  When cooled,pack the sauce in 2-cup portions in small Ziplock bags and place them in the freezer for future use.  10 pound of fresh tomatoes yield about 12 cups of sauce.  This sauce is an excellent base for pasta, soups, homemade pizzas, saganakis, and any recipe that calls for tomato sauce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baba au Rhum

The dough:

120 g sugar
200 g flour
1 packet yeast
10 cl of milk
70 g melted butter
3 eggs

The syrup:

300 g sugar
1/3 liter of water
1 cup of rum

In a bowl, mix flour, sugar and yeast together.
In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and the milk until incorporated, then add in the melted butter and mix well.
Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and gently mix to a consistent dough until there are no more lumps.
Cover the bowl with saran wrap and leave in a warm place to allow the dough to rise, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours until bubbles start to appear on the surface.
Arrange the oven rack in the middle of the oven and pre-heat the oven to 350 degF.
Butter the individual molds and if you can (instead of using a small spoon), pipe in the batter 1/4 from the top.
Place it in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
When done remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before unmolding onto a cooling rack.
While the babas are baking, prepare the syrup.
Place the sugar and water in a pot and bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar.
Allow to cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gently pack the babas into low wide-mouth canning bottles leaving at least an inch from the top.  Pour in the rum syrup to cover the babas and seal tight.
Refrigerate the baba au rhum for at least 4 hours before serving.  Better still, they can be made days ahead and refrigerated.
Serve chilled with fresh strawberries and a dollop of chantilly cream, or they are just as good straight from the bottle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lo Meen

I grew up eating this simple boiled noodle tossed in a sauce composed of easily available ingredients.  The noodles can be fresh or the dried kind which comes in a folded bun found in Asian supermarkets.  Two pieces are sufficient for one person, but bigger eaters may need a third.  It is important that the boiled noodles remained delicately al dente, but if you like the noodles softer, leave them in the boiling water a little longer.  It is important that the sauce be ready as the noodles leaves the boiling water.  It is not necessary to absolutely drain the noodles – most of the moisture and the sauce will be quickly absorbed by the noodles once tossed.  My father liked to eat it after letting it sit for 10-15 minutes allowing all the sauce to be absorbed by the noodles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ingredients:

2-3 buns of dried noodles
freshly ground pepper

Sauce:
1 tbsp vegetable oil (fresh from the bottle or used cooked oil from deep-frying, which is more flavorful)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp medium sweet dark soy sauce
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 stalk green onions, chopped
1 serrano chili or 2 thai chili, chopped (optional)

In a bowl or plate, assemble the sauce before starting to boil the noodles.  You want to have the sauce ready once the noodles are done and placed onto the sauce straight from the pot dripping wet.  The hot liquid facilitates the mixing of the noodles in the sauce.

In a medium pot, bring water to a fast boil.  Place the dry noodles into the boiling water and gently use a chopstick or tongs to separate the strands as they soften.  Boil for about 3-5 minutes and testing for doneness, whether you like it soft or slightly al dente.  When noodles are done, remove from the heat and transfer the noodles dripping wet directly from the pot onto the sauce. The best way is to use a pair of tongs and toss the noodles immediately allowing the sauce to coat the noodles evenly.  You can also choose to pour the noodles into a colander and quickly transfer them onto the plate with the sauce – that way, you lose some of the moisture which helps facilitate easier tossing of the noodles.

Top with a few twists of freshly ground pepper and slurp it up!