Coca

Coca is a spanish kind of pizza/open tart type thing that apparently often has a thick leavened crust, but author of the book (Cocina Nueva by Jane Lawson - good book!) I went from specifies that she prefers a thin and crispy base and that suits me fine. She also says that Coca isn't topped with cheese but if you can't go without, recommends some grated Manchego or crumbled goats cheese.

The pastry base is definitely my favourite part of this, I wish I'd taken a photo of it untopped because it is real pretty with the seeds and lemon zest, but nevermind. It is really quick to make and I think it would work pretty well with other toppings, or if it was rolled out even thinner could be broken up as crackers.

Pastry:

1. Mix together 250g flour, 1tsp lemon zest, 3tsp cumin seeds, 3tsp chopped thyme, 1 tsp salt in a bowl.

2. Make a well in the centre, and add 80ml olive oil & 100ml water and mix thoroughly to combine.

3. Bring the dough together in a ball, knead for a few minutes, wrap in gladwrap and stick it in the fridge for at least an hour.

4. When read to bake, preheat oven to 220, roll out dough to ~5ml thick and bake for around 8 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before topping with ingredients.

Top it with a very thin spread of watered down tomato paste mixed with some paprika, cayenne and finely chopped garlic. Then a layer of caramelised red onions (caramelised in olive oil, sugar and sherry vinegar). Then a mixture of ripped up slices of proscuitto, some rinsed and dried capers, roughly chopped up anchovies and a vague approximation of 'pimientos del piquillo' as I couldn't find any in shops (grilled some red capsicum until a bit charred and soft, left in some olive oil and sherry vinegar overnight).

Then back into the oven set to 190, for 20 minutes or so. 

A nice touch is to serve with some chopped up flat-leaf parsley scattered over (which I forgot in the rush to pack it up and take to the cricket) and a squeeze of lemon juice to lighten the flavour a bit if you need.

Beans on toast for dinner

Beans on toast for dinner! The rib eye "flintstone" steak I'd planned to cook for dinner was still frozen solid, so a plan B was needed.

I like to have cupboards well stocked with basic supplies like beans, tinned tomatoes, coconut milk, etc. This came in handy, as we didn't have a hell of a lot else.

I used the small amount of supermarket crab (note: pretty bland) and some cannelini and borlotti beans to make a nice version of beans on toast. The beans are canned; I know that is a bit slack, but this is not the sort of meal you plan 24 hours in advance, giving you time to soak dried beans.

I just sweated a couple of shallots and a clove of garlic in some olive oil with a few sprigs of thyme, added the beans and a good glug of water, reduced til thick and creamy. Stirred in some red wine vinegar, good olive oil and salt and pepper.

On top I put some cold crab into which I'd mixed half a deseeded red chilli, some parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt. The whole thing was placed on top of some bread that I'd brushed with oil and baked at 150c for 10 or 15 minutes and then rubbed with garlic.

I was quite surprised by how well this came out, I was kind of expecting it to be lacking something or be just generally bland, but it all worked. Monday night experimentation!

Lamingtons

These were super easy and delicious! The recipe is from the latest Delicious magazine (Feb 09)  but instead of doing a Lamington cake as is suggested I went for the traditional style (what is the point really if they are not iced all over?) and though not perfectly square I think they came out pretty good! I did end up making some mini lamington cupcakes with the leftover batter.. which proved popular with my favourite three and eight year olds which is really the sign of a win, I think?

Happy Australia Day!

(26th Jan)

Brioche! (with Lemon Butter)

Today I have conquered my #2 Kitchen Fear, yeast! (Number one was egg whites.)

I don't recall where exactly I got this recipe from, but it was named 'Simple Brioche Loaf' and aside from the amount of flour seeming waaaay too low (I ended up adding almost an extra cup), it stayed true to its name. I'm not going to repeat the recipe here, mostly because I can't be bothered. Maybe has not risen as much as it should (is that due to too much flour?) but still came out fluffy and delicious. Especially fresh out of the oven, spread with some home made lemon butter..

Yeast! You are not as scary as I thought. Thanks science!

Update: on second/third eatings, this is not as fluffy as first thought. Still tasty though and holds together in a toaster so that is good enough for me. Probably should stick to the recipe better next time and maybe it will work better.

Chicken with Peperonata and Corn and Bacon Salad

This is the sort of dish to cook when you can't be bothered doing anything too strenuous: a tender (read: fairly boring) cut of meat rubbed with spices and grilled, served with a salad and a sauce.

It's basic, rustic, and all kinds of flavourful.


I rubbed a chicken breast with some cracked fennel seeds, chilli flakes, lemon zest and salt and pepper, then grilled it on the BBQ. Beautiful spice rub, but I should've butterflied the chicken. I hate thick, uninteresting chicken breast.

The salad is just corn, bacon and mint. Fantastic flavour combination! Grilled a couple of cobs of corn on the BBQ, tossed through four rashers of bacon chopped and sauteed, then ripped up a small handful of mint.

The chunky sauce is peperonata, an Italian capsicum and tomato quick stew of sorts. Sweat half an onion in olive oil, add a couple of cloves of garlic, then a couple of chopped up capsicums. Cook with the lid on for around 15 minutes, then add three or four chopped tomatoes and some pepper, cook for another 5 minutes or so, then take the lid off and reduce 'til it's thick enough. Add a couple of splashes of red wine and serve! I half-followed Stephanie Alexander's recipe, but this is a pretty standard sauce.