Green sauce - simple in name, exquisite in flavour

When I first moved to the UK, I was constantly taken aback by the simplification of food names. Take, for example, an ordinary breakfast at a cafe, and ordering a full English. "White or brown bread?" Huh? Oh, white bread or wheat bread. Okay, I'll go brown. "White or black coffee?" Say what?? Oh, with or without milk. With, please. And finally, "Red or brown sauce?" WTF???!! I don't know why the choice wasn't ketchup or HP sauce, but hey, it wasn't my country, so in the end I chose red and was done with the colour-fest.

I suppose with everyday items that we eat, it may just be easier to associate a colour with them. So when, in flipping through my copy of The Pauper's Cookbook (one of the best £5 I ever spent), I came across green sauce, I was ever so intrigued as to why I had yet to sample such a simply-named sauce. Of course I know of salsa verde as a Mexican salsa led with green ingredients, but this one was different.

A quick scan of the ingredient list revealed some exciting (green) stuff such as capers and parsley, but also anchovies, garlic, olive oil and (very cool) bread.

I decided to go with the author's suggestion and whip this up to go with some grilled pork chops. I made a few tweaks (including actually MEASURING out the olive oil), and I have to say, green sauce should be offered in line with all things white, black, brown, red, whatever colour you fancy.

Green sauce (adapted from Jocasta Innes)

(serves 4)

1 slice of bread, crusts removed (I used brown, if you must know)

1 tbsp wine vinegar

2 tbsp capers

1 clove garlic

2 anchovies

4 tbsp olive oil

a large handful of parsley, chopped

Soak a piece of bread in the vinegar and set to the side. In a pestle and mortar, combine the garlic, anchovies and capers.

Squeeze the excess vinegar from the bread and tear into little pieces. Add to the pestle and mortar and continue to pound into a smooth consistency. THen add the parsley and continue to mash together.

Slowly drizzle the olive oil in a tbsp at a time and continue to mix together. Once you've finished adding the oil, if you're not happy with the consistency, use a hand blender or food processor to blitz it for a second. It will have the consistency of a tapenade sans olives.

You'll come out with a divinely deep green sauce that tastes as amazing on grilled pork chops as it does with fish or even just a piece of fresh bread (colour of your choosing). Whereas Sunday night I had it with pork chops, tonight I'm having it with on bread with butter and a rustic vegetable soup.

Calories: about 150 per serving. Very easy to make and keeps well in the fridge for at least 4-5 days.

Aubergines and mint

This is quite possibly the best flavour combination out there.

I was reminded of it while perusing an old copy of Jamie's Italy. In it he offers a handful of ideas for bruschetta. Aubergine and mint jumped off the page.

But the duo isn't just for bruschetta, it's for life. And it is best in its simplest form. I made this on Monday and I'll make it again tonight.

Roasted aubergines with minted yogurt
(serves 2)

2 medium aubergines, halved lengthwise
Olive oil spray
Pinch of sea salt
2 tsp harissa
75g fat-free yogurt (like Total 0)
Big handful of mint, chopped

Preheat the oven to 200C. Sprinkle the aubergines with salt and a couple sprays of olive oil. Roast, flesh side up, for 45 minutes on a foil-lined baking tray.

While they're cooking, prepare the yogurt by mixing the yogurt with the mint. Use your fork to release as nmuch of the aroma from the herb as possible.

Remove the aubergines from the oven. Smear a bit of harissa atop the aubergines and serve with the yogurt.

Calories: less than 200 per serving. Perfect for a really light meal. But if you need something more substantial, this would go really well with grilled chicken - the yogurt would help keep the chicken from drying out the meal.

mmmm.... mushrooms

It's atrocious, my absence. All I can do is offer this amazingly earthy, rich (and healthy) mushroom soup and beg forgiveness:

Super mushroomy soup
(serves 2)

500 g large mushrooms, stems removed, sliced, and stems chopped finely
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tbsp Marigold bouillon powder added to 1/2 litre freshly boiled water
25 g chives, chopped
25 g dried mushrooms, soaked in 1 pint water
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp truffle oil (if you don't have it, just use olive oil)
100 ml skim milk

In a large pot, heat the olive oil. Add the fresh mushrooms, onions and thyme and saute over med-high heat for a few minutes, adding splashes of water as needed.

After five minutes, add the dried mushrooms, the mushroom water, and the bouillon and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes.

Use a slotted spoon to pull out about 1/3 of the mushrooms and put to the side. Use a hand blender to blend the rest of the soup. Replace the mushroom/onion mixture and bring back to a simmer.

In a small saucepan, heat the skimmed milk, but don't bring to a boil. Then stir through the soup, along with half of the chives and the truffle oil.

Serve the soup topped with the remainder of the chives, some cracked black pepper and some creme fraiche (optional - I didn't have it, but my husband did).

Calories: 200 calories per serving (without creme fraiche). (To bulk it up for others, add some bread and butter.)

"I'm definitely making this again," I said to Pete halfway through. To which he responded: "I'm definitely eating this again."

here comes the sun...

I've just woken up on this Monday morning to a weather forecast predicting - what's this - no rain for the entire week! What's more, we're to expect - what's this - sun!

That's all it takes - my mind is racing for lovely summer lunches. For lunch today, a green bean salad - I'm still using frozen but I've defrosted some and they've kept their crispness. I'm quite a big fan of frozen foods, but I've done a bit more research on the tinned/frozen/fresh question - I'll post a bit more later this week on my other blog http://theculinarydigest.blogspot.com/, so check back later this week.

green bean salad
(serves 1)

200 g fine green beans
10 small cherry tomatoes, halved
1 yellow pepper, sliced thinly
1 tsp basil infused olive oil (or if you don't have any, use some olive oil and shred some fresh basil leaves)
1/4 tin chickpeas
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all in a dish (or your tupperware for lunch) and shake. By lunchtime, the dish will literally taste like summer. Eat it in the park for maximum effect (I think I will...)

Calories: 183 calories - very reasonable, so if you want to add more to it, you could. To bulk it up more, perhaps add some pine nuts if you have some in the pantry... carrots would also be lovely if julienned.

courgette soup for lunch

Waitrose Food Illustrated back in 2002 gave an excellent recipe for an 'anysoup'. As long as you have potatoes, onions and stock, you can add pretty much any vegetable of your choice to make a soup. It's wonderful when you need to use up something in the fridge, or if you are dying to make use of a lovely seasonal vegetable.

It truly is a great seasonal base - and for today's lunch, courgettes were just the answer.

basically, it's

1 part potato (around 150 g)
1 part onion (around 150 g)
2 parts vegetables of your choice (300 g)
1 litre stock (i like to use homemade chicken stock) OR 850 ml stock + 150 ml milk (I prefer this method, and you can use skimmed milk)
black pepper
salt
butter, they say, but I would use oil - about 1 tbsp

They say it serves 6 but I would say 3.

Sweat the potatoes and onion. Add stock and vegetables, bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes then use a hand blender to liquidize.

This is simple and easy, and very tasty. Even better the next day.

With the courgettes, I would top with a dollop of reduced fat creme fraiche and some chopped chives.

Calories - without the garnishes: 184 per serving. I would definitely serve with a mixed salad for lunch (see lunch salad posts) and if for dinner, maybe some bread too.