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Fresh Whole Panga Fish on the Braai with a Tomato and Red Pepper Sauce … Light and Lean!

January 31, 2013 in Fish Dishes, Janice Tripepi, Light and Lean Recipes ... Hip Friendly!, Lunchtime Recipes

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Crispy Panga fresh of the braai … top with this Peperonata Sauce and you have a lean, hip freindly meal! Summer on a plate!

Jiggly mooooooooooorning to you all Food24′ers!  It’s the most beautiful day here in Durban today!  TrickyRicky and I are dieting! It’s like living in a home that is in mourning …. Tricky reminds me that the word DIET is made up of two parts … Die …. With a T on the end! It’s really difficult to keep a Tripepi on the straight and narrow when it comes to dieting. Any product that has a label that says “low fat” he reckons that you can eat as much as you want of it! Eish!

I have joined the gym at Moses Mabida stadium with my bestie Karen and we can be found sweating our guts out on a variety of torturous machines each morning at 5am. We found that the swimming down at the Rachel Finlayson pool was beginning to get a little boring! We have been following the same routine of swimming there in summer and walking the promenade in winter for the past six years and need a change of scenery. So to complement all this huffing and puffing I decided to put us on a low carb sensible eating plan …. Well, I try!

Whenever I diet, the first protein that I reach out for is fresh fish because it is low in fat and high in protein. We are very fortunate here in Durban as many people, every morning of their lives, leave home in the dark to go and fish. They do this either off the rocks, off a paddle ski or a boat. These are people who make a living out of line fishing in the abundant and warm Indian Ocean waters that envelope the beautiful coastline of KwaZulu-Natal. They catch just enough to sell daily to pay their bills and feed their families. This Panga, a member of the Seabream family, can be found on the SASSI green list and as it is line caught there is little or no impact or damage on the marine environment.

Fish requires very little in the way of cooking as far as I am concerned – which is great when dieting. My preference is definitely to slash the skin, massage a spice blend into the incisions and to fill the stomach cavity with loads of fresh herbs and either bake in the oven or on the braai. This recipe is a particular favourite of la famiglia Tripepi and generally yields enough fish for more than one meal. I love roasting the veggies for the accompanying sauce for this dish on my little terracotta brazier but you don’t have to do this, you can char grill the veggies in the oven if you don’t wish to make a fire but I will say that the smokiness that the fire imparts into the veggies is totally heavenly. And who can resist the aromas that waft around the garden when braaing fish?

Grilled Panga Fish with a Peperonata Sauce

feeds 5 -6people

Here are some of the flavours and aromas of the Peperonata Sauce

Tomatoes & Red Peppers are grilled on the braai (or in the oven) to make a delicious tangy sauce to serve over the Cumin & Thyme Spiced Panga Fish!

 The Thyme & Cumin Fish Rub

Rub a dub dub ……

.

A nice big serving of this will make everyone happy!

Here’s a great idea for using up left over fish …..

Click on the picture or above to go to my

Potato and Fish Croquettes recipe – the PERFECT way to use up those left overs!

 

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Spaghetti with Clams and Artichokes get’s my ‘Best Pasta Dish of the Year Award”

December 21, 2012 in Dinner Divas, Fish Dishes, Italian Classics, Janice Tripepi, Pasta Recipes, Shellfish

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But

it’s only

until

I, on the other hand have hit the slippery slope and am having an intimate affair with

my martini glasses

and

my pool loungers!

I am surrounded by my boys and we are already celebrating the season!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

So, it’s another quick-quick, DINNER IN 12 Minutes

by TrickyRicky Tripepi!

and personally, I give this the

Janice Tripepi

BEST PASTA DISH OF THE YEAR

Award!

And I say a Big Mamma Thank You to my TrickyRicky for his love of cooking, his infinite passion in the kitchen and

his unending willingness to create amazing pasta dishes with me after a full day’s work!

Sei, vraiment formidable, amore mio!

Spaghetti alle Vongole e Carciofi

Spaghetti with Clams and Artichokes

Just too good for words …..
This dish just screams Summer and Fun and Eat Me!

Ingredients

olive oil – about 1/2cup

5 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 red onion finely chopped

3 red chillies finely sliced

1 chicken stock cube

freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 glasses of dry white wine

1 x 130g jar of clams in brine (use the brine as well as it’s packed with flavour)

1kg fresh or frozen clams in their shells

800g cherry/ rosa tomatoes cut in half

5 artichoke hearts – I used a jar of grilled artichokes preserved in oil

a large handful of parsley roughly chopped

1 x 500g packet of spaghetti

1 willing and very lovable cook

My willing and very lovable cook!

Click on this picture to go to the recipe

A plate of pure pasta pleasure.

and before long all that will be left is ….

Tomorrow is Episode 11 of Dinner Divas

be THERE

or be SQUARE

SABC2 at 08.30AM

It’s ANOTHER challenge!

As always

xxx

Buon Appetito

Jan

xxx

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by janicetripepi

Dinner Diva’s: My Semi-Final Wedding Rehearsal Dinner Menu and Recipes …

December 7, 2012 in Antipasti, Christmas Recipes, Desserts, Dinner Divas, Dressings, Fish Dishes, How to make Fresh Pasta, Italian Classics, Janice Tripepi, Pasta Recipes, sauces, Shellfish, Valentined Day Food for Love

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So what is a day like on the set of Dinner Divas?  It’s looong and quite exhausting but at the end of it your adrenlin levels are just so high that you feel like you have consumed a hundred cups of coffee.   My mind was a bee-hive of buzzing and I was constantly running through my menu and the order in which I had to cook everything on my Bridal Rehearsal Dinner Menu.   After a 6am poly-filler session with the make-up girls, who were just so friendly and incredibly adept at making up an ‘older’ woman, we would make our way to the set which was just accross the road from The Upper East Side Hotel in Woodstock.

The location of the Dinner Diva set!

 

Peter Goff-Wood’s spot called Kitchen Cowboys was already a hive of activity at 7am and by the time that Nina, Kristy and I arrived the floor looked like a huge bowl of spaghetti had been tipped over!  Endless kilometers of electrical cords ensnared anything in its path.

 

Spaghetti!

At 8am breakfast was served, but I rarely had anything to eat, preferring to cook hungry!  Being that it was mid winter and freezing cold and I needed to warm up I did manage a cup of Chai tea.  At 09.00am we had just 30minutes to locate our ingredients, serving dishes, plates etc and gather up every pot, pan, cutting board, knife, sieve etc. that we would be using in the preparation of meals.  Once filming had begun, we were not allowed to leave our stations to get anything that we may have forgotten.  There would be a quick briefing by Anne Meyers, the executive producer of 2Blondes and a Redhead and we were off.

The Brief

The brief for this elimination round was to prepare a FESTIVE or SPECIAL OCCASION meal for 4-8 people.  It could be a dinner, breakfast, lunch or cocktail party … absolutel any occasion,  in 3 hours.

Judging Criteria

We were encouraged to keep in mind that this episode would be shown in summer and therefor were to keep this in mind.  The meal should be our “blog on a plate”, be for a family or our interpreatation of a family, show good taste, balance and nutrition, be seasonal, local produce, be well styled on the plate, based on a normal family budget.  We were asked to write a short post of 100 words describing the meal to the judges in our usual blog voice.  We had to write our recipes up for the judges scrutinise.

The Decision

My participation in Dinner Divas happened to coincide with my incredibly special and vry favourite nephew Claudio’s marriage to Jennifer, which was my motivation for the meal that I prepared.  A Tripepi wedding is such a joyous celebration of marriage and is accompanied by so many dinners and lunches drenched in hapiness for the various preparations for the joining of two families.  In this case, Jennifer and her family who are of French Mauritian decent fitted together with the Tripepi Clan like peas and carrots.  They are a wonderful family with just so much in common with us that from the moment that these two special people met, we have all been partying and celebrating together.  They love food and family just as much as we do ….. a perfect union in just so many ways.

I had to make a difficult decision, for partaking in Dinner Divas meant that I may just miss their wedding.  To make matters even more difficult, my son Daniele had been offered a job on set too.  After much deliberation and many considerations both Daniele and I agreed that the Universe was offering us a synergistic opportunity.  Daniele reminded me of the mantra that I had so often drummed into his head that, “It’s not the things that we DO in life that we regret, it’s the things that we DON’T DO”  and to never ever refuse opportunity for it will stop knocking at your door!  How our parental efforts at instilling wisdom do sometimes whip around and slap us in the face!  Daniele was tasked with the position of “Judge Liaison” and with the blessings of the other Divas, we both accepted this incredible rare opportunity to have an adventure together.

Claudio & Jennifer on their Wedding Day

My 100 words describing this meal.

A Tripepi Wedding Rehearsal Celebration.

 

Nothing gets la famiglia Tripepi more excited than a Tripepi wedding.  The hint of one starts a tsunami of wedding related celebrations.   New suits are the order of the day as uncles and cousins have either grown in height but mostly in girth and the ladies rush around ordering wedding regalia.  Bridesmaids and flower girls all in a row are paired with best friends and cousins and the mere mention of a pre-wedding gathering requires food and lots of it.

Aunties’ line up offering up their specialities for bridal showers and bachelor weekends and all this is wrapped up in massive bows of laughter.  The wedding rehearsal dinner is the last dinner before the big event and must be special as it serves to unite two families as one with the promise of a beautiful future and hopefully a few more Tripepi bambini.  This summer wedding, set on the sun kissed shores of KwaZulu Natal is a seafood celebration.  My wedding rehearsal dinner menu is light yet celebratory and will take these two families by the s and join them together on a seafood adventure.

Benvenuti nella famiglia Tripepi.

Of course I wasn’t able to photograph my recipes on set so you are not getting the usual step-by-step pictures that I would normally post.  I did, however feature three recipes that I had posted on my blog in the past.  This was my ‘old school’ way of doing exactly as I was told and truly representing ‘my blog’ on a plate.  I was raised at a time when we were taught to follow instructions to the letter and this is ONE of the lessons that I learnt in this competition.

Think outside the box Janice!

Just ONE of the valuable lessons that I learnt in this competition!

My Menu

Insalata di Frutti di Mare

(prawn and calamari cold seafood salad)

Calamari Ripieni

(Prawn and Mushroom Stuffed Squid in a tomato sauce served warm)

Dorado in Padella con Fettuccine fresce al sugo di Finocchi e Porri

(Pan Fried Dorado on a bed of fresh fettuccine with a Leek & Fennel Sauce)

Fragole al Cinzano con Zabaglione e Amaretti

Strawberries in Cinzano topped with Zabaglione, served with Amaretti.

 Please click here or on any of the photos of this menu to go to the recipes for these dishes.

This menu is certainly festive and in keeping with the celebration.  I chose a seafood feast to reflect the bounty of our coastline.  These are the pictures of the actual food that I cooked during the competition, so you can see exactly what the judges saw and tasted.

Insalata di Frutti di Mare

Seafood Salad

Serves 6 – 8 people

I had planned to serve a smaller portion than this in a cup and saucer but there wasn’t any on set.

 

Insalata di Frutti di Mare
Calamari Ripieni

Serves 6

I served just one squid per portion as there was plenty more to come.

 

Prawn & Mushroom Stuffed Squid in a Red Wine & Tomato Sauce

This is one of those dishes that actually improves with age.  Make it the day before your function or meal, not only will the flavours have improved but you will have extra time to prepare the other components of your meal and be a cool, calm and collected Zen Hostess!

Dorado in Padella con Fettuccine fresce al sugo di Finocchi e Porri

Panfried Dorado on a bed of fresh fettucine with a Leek and Fennel White wine sauce

Fragole al Cinzano con Zabaglione e Amarett

Strawberries in Cinzano topped with Zagaglione and Amaretti

 

Strawberries in Cinzano with Zabaglione and Amaretti

And they lived happily ever after …..

Oh my I just can’t stop myself …. need a tissue!

And there you have it ….. my semi-final meal.  Unfortunately, we didn’t ever get any direct feedback from the Judges so I can’t really tell you where I did well or where I failed in this meal.  We shall have to wait for tomorrow’s screening to find out!

 

See you there!

SABC2 at 08.30am in the Dinner Divas Kitchen!

As always

Buon Appetito

xxx

jan

 

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TrickyRicky’s 10 Minute Spaghetti with a Tuna, Tomato and Mushroom Sugo

December 4, 2012 in Cheese Recipes, Dinner Divas, Fish Dishes, Italian Classics, Janice Tripepi, Pasta Recipes

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TrickyRicky’s Spaghetti al Tonno!

 

TrickyRicky and I have been paragons of virtue for the last few weeks; surviving of a standard breakfast of bran flakes that taste like cardboard, lunching on meat free summer salads and dining at night on simply cooked meat with steamed vegetables.  We surely qualify for an award of some sort!  I really shouldn’t complain as we have been very creative with salads etc.   Weekends, always bring family meals and occasions which can’t possibly be tainted by the confines of our diet!

Last weekend, we attended a wedding up in the Midlands of KZN, which meant that we spent three nights at a beautiful trout fishing resort called Whispering Waters.  With four dams dotted around the grounds, sprawling immaculate verdant lawns and bird life up the yin-yang; the stress of daily life and the silly season just evaporates.  I am such a fan of the current ‘destination wedding’ fashion as it forces one to take time out.  The obvious choice of destination in KZN is the Midlands which opens her arms wide in a loving embrace.

Tuesday evening our resolve crumbled, TrickyRicky and I agreed that a comforting plate of pasta was exactly what was needed after a long and stressful

TrickyRicky ready for action!

day.  Like two excited children the night before Christmas we mustered up some ingredients and with me behind the camera Tricky got cracking in the kitchen.

This is one of those pasta sauces that you won’t find on any local Italian restaurant menus.  However, tuna is a common store cupboard ingredient in Italian homes and often finds its way into the pasta pot.  When you have just have not found the time to plan a meal this pasta sauce is a life saver.  Generally tinned tuna is used in one of two ways, either in a tomato based sauce with any number of complementary ingredients or it’s used in conjunction with lots of chopped parsley, garlic and black pepper in an olive oil based sauce.  I enjoy both and will make a point of making the parsley and garlic version soon.  We chose the tomato based sauce route this time.

 

Sugo di Tonno

With the pace of our lives clicking into top gear at this time of the year you need to have a good few quickie meals on hand.  When Daniele and Massimo were younger, they would arrive home from the beach with four or five friends EACH,  so these quickie pastas are just the ticket to feed starving teenagers on the hop.

Spaghetti al Tonno is served up an on your table in 10 minutes.  It’s quick, it’s easy and it’s affordable and most of all – your hubby, lover, son, brother or partner can make it.

Open you laptop, wack it on the kitchen counter at this recipe and get him to follow this step-by-step easy Italian pasta dish.

You can set the table, dunk yourself in the bath and emerge refreshed and ready for a glass of vino with your loved one!

So….

Wadda-ya need?

One husband/ lover/ willing cook!

 

Your simple Italian ingredienti …

 

Ready steady ………

cook cook cook …..

and wadda ya get?

Choirs of Tenors singing the praises of pasta!

 

Spaghetti al Tonno!

Just click on any of the pictures above to be taken to my kitchen where TrickyRicky is waiting

to show you how to cook this 10 minute Wonder step-by-step!

Don’t have any tinned tuna at home …..

Try this spaghetti that is made with butter, black pepper and cream cheese …  another flash in the pan,

step by step recipe from TrickyRicky!

Click on the picture to go to this recipe!

DON’T FORGET TO TUNE INTO SABC2

SATURDAY MORNING

08.30AM

FOR ANOTHER EPISODE OF

DINNER DIVAS!

This weekend Kristy, Nina and I battle it out for a place in the Dinner Diva Finals Challanges!

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Crumbed Kabeljou & Potato Croquettes and Dinner Divas Ep. 3

October 25, 2012 in Dinner Divas, Fish Dishes, Janice Tripepi

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Crunchy Crumbed Kabeljou & Potato Croquettes

Right, so we ate half of the Kabeljou Cabrarese for dinner and had plenty of meat left over.  La famiglia Tripepi has had a protracted and passionate love affair with the humble bread crumb since the dark ages.  The Tripepi family history goes back centuries to Reggio Calabria.  But I shall share more about the Tripepi history at another time.

Italian Mammas are specialists at making food go a long way.  Yes, they seek out the very best and very freshest seasonal treats but most meals are prepared in such a way as to have some left overs which can be turned into another meal.  A fine example of this kitchen wizardry is the beloved Frittata, which was devised to utilise some of the eggs that the family’s chickens would lay daily, and to turn left over pasta into a great lunch the next day.  Nonna Lilly would make a frittata, cut it up and fill fresh Panini with it accompanied by lettuce and sliced fresh tomato.

This is what I made with the left over Kabeljou alla Cabrarese dish that I posted yesterday and some left over Portuguese Potatoes -.  Fish cakes or Croquettes di Pesce are a great way to use up this precious fish and can take on any flavour accents.  I have gone the Italian route but you could add other accents easily.  I will list a few suggestions at the end of the recipe.  What I will say is that any croquette benefits significantly with the addition of plenty of chopped fresh herbs, frankly I just don’t think that you can overdo them.  So go wild!

Here’s another picture of our Giorgie with a fish he caught off the beach in Port Edward.  Believe it or not, we have a boat that the boys go out fishing on.  I have never actually seen the boat, neither have I cracked the nod on a fishing trip.  There are always too many Tripepi boys on the damn thing …. I would dearly love to actually catch my own fish and cook it.  This appeals to the hunter gatherer in me!  One day!

Click on either of the two pictures above to be taken to the recipe for these crunchy crumbed Kabeljou Patoto croquettes!

I am off to celebrate my birthday at my girlfriend Carol’s farm in the Midlands tomorrow armed with my camera.  I am going to purchase some beautiful cheese from River Glen Cheesery in Underberg … my niece is having a cheese and wine engagement party in a weeks time.

Don’t miss Episode 3 of Dinner Divas this Saturday morning at 08.30am on SABC2.

In this episode our one and only Divo, Barry cooks against the vivacious Anel!

Nou gaan die poppe dans!!!!

As always

Buon appetito

xxx

jan

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by janicetripepi

Baked Whole Kabeljou Cabrarese

October 24, 2012 in Fish Dishes, Italian Classics, Janice Tripepi

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Shiver Me Timbers!  Every year, come October the pace of life seems to have its foot slammed on the accelerator.  I was in my local supermarket yesterday, and they were already unpacking their Christmas stock!  The manager, who was overseeing this event, was red faced, puffing and already scratching the back of his head.

His dark green eyes met mine, beads of sweat meandered down his cheek and breathless he uttered, “Yes, yes, yesssss ….. It’s that time again!” I think that he expected me to proffer some empathy and understanding because his jaw dropped when I suggested he hurry up and finish the job as soon as possible so I could have a look at the Christmas stock.  I did manage to trolley a pretty hand painted wooden bonboniera of (very unremarkable) crystallised ginger.

Durban is hotting up!  Literally!  La famiglia Tripepi is braaing regularly and eating al fresco most nights.  My nephew, George Tripepi, is an avid rock and surf fisherman.  He represented the Southern Natal and Natal B Side Rock and Surf Fishing Teams (he lives in Port Edward) and is passionate about the sustainability of fish stocks.  Most of what he catches he releases back into the water, but recently presented me with a beautiful Cob for the pot.  He caught this beauty in Port Edward at the river mouth, from the beach.

George was born to fish and the look on his face as he stands, rod in hand smiling at the open sea has to be seen to be fully appreciated.  His heart and soul are in the sea.  Having lived on the South Coast since 1982, he has many stories to tell, but, sadly he mostly mourns the previous abundance of fish in those waters.  He has not seen any species become extinct but rather the numbers have dropped dramatically.  He rarely catches Pinkies, Karanteen or Black Tail any more.  George sighs deeply as he describes seeing countless boats out at sea on the South Coast at night, underwater lights ablaze to lure fish, trailing kilometres if baited line to hook out absolutely everything.  They kill indiscriminately with no fear of intervention from the authorities.

So with all this in mind I was determined to honour this beauty and not waste a scrap.  I shall post two recipes as I had some fish left over after our dinner.  The first recipe is a southern Italian favourite and is adapted from Rick Steins Book, Mediterranean Escapes.  I love his approach to food, “it’s simple food cook simply!”   I wanted to cook the fish whole in the oven so this recipe was perfect.  The spices and aromatics reflect the ancient spice trade of days gone by and include saffron and sultanas which add an exotic flavour to the finished dish.  The leftover meat was recycled into some crumbed fish cakes which we enjoyed with some salad and a glass of vino for lunch.

 Click on the picture for the recipe.

Baked Kabeljou Cabrarese

Cob/ Kabeljou alla Carbrarese

Rick cooks this dish with skate wings – I doubled his quantities and changed the cooking method quite significantly as I wanted to cook the Cob whole in the oven.

Tomorrow I will post the recipe for the fish cakes I made with the left over meat.

As always

Buon appetito

xxx

jan

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10 Minute Pasta: Bucatini with Tuna and Anchovies.

September 28, 2012 in Fish Dishes, Italian Classics, Janice Tripepi, Pasta Recipes

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Bucatini al Tonno … dinner in 10 minutes!

Some of the very best Italian dishes are the ones that are put together in just a few minutes.  There is nothing that I enjoy more than spending a day with a nice big cut of meat, spiking it with beautiful aromatics such as rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper for the browning process and then lovingly assembling all the ingredients to bathe it in, in a long and very slow oven.  This would be fine if our weeks consisted of only Saturdays and Sundays, but they don’t and very often TrickyRicky and I finish work quite late and only get into our kitchen around 6.30pm with grumbling tummies.

This Bucatini al Tonno, another Venetian favourite, is ready in the time that it takes to boil the pasta, which is around 9 minutes.  Bucatini are of the ‘pasta lunga’ family, the ‘long’ pasta family.  They look just like spaghetti but have a hole through the centre.  This hole is all the better for sucking in the flavour captured and taken prisoner in a sauce such as this.  This is beginning to sound like the Italian version of Little Red Riding Hood!

This pasta smacks of the sea and is only rivalled by the speed with which it is on your plate!  A 10 minute dinner wonder! Check out my TrickyRicky produce this dish in 10 minutes flat!  He loves cooking just as much as I do, and on this occasion, won the toss to cook dinner!

Maestro mio!!!

Bucatini al Tonno

Bucatini with Tuna

Serves 4

Click on any of the above pictures for the recipe.

I must thank you for popping over to my new blog – which I am so proud of and your continued support.  I just love blogging!

I am off to The Food Market tomorrow to stock up on some game meat and loads of beautiful artisan foods.

It’s their 4th Birthday … how time flies.

Now – I am going to watch South Afrca win another cricket match!

Have a wonderful weekend.

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Insalata di Frutti di Mare .. Italian Seafood Salad

June 21, 2012 in Antipasti, Fish Dishes, Janice Tripepi, Salads, Shellfish

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Insalata di frutti di mare .. a classic Italian Seafood Salad with prawns and calamari.

So this is my last post before the Food and Wine Indaba 2012.  I can’t wait to see everyone and connect and talk food and get all the latest Goss and try some new restaurants and markets!    I am posting a traditional Italian Seafood Salad which may seem a little incongruent with the average temperatures in South Africa right now.  As most of you  know I live in Durban and both today and yesterday and most of the days before that, the average midday temperature is between 26 and 28 degrees.  The weather is just totally awesome here right now.  And we can still enjoy dinner al fresco and salads laced with delicious fish. This is our reward for living here………. And how blessed we all feel.  Everyone from the people who walk along the beachfront at 5.3am every morning to the person in front of you in the bank queue at lunch time, has a smug and giddy grin on their faces and a spring in their step.

KwaZulu-Natal is the jewel in the Southern African crown at this time of the year.  International events such as The Top Gear ‘Gedoente’ of last weekend come and go with throngs of people clad in not much more than -shirts and shorts.  So forgive me if I don’t post a recipe for a 12 hours slow roasted leg of Venison with a kg of mash whilst I extol the virtues of Cab Sav and its ballsy hugging warm embrace.

Today I am posting for my fellow KwaZulu-Natalians.   This pukka Italian seafood salad keeps and even improves with age.  You will see a bowl of this in most Italian delicatessens, being sold by 100g and if you have any left over after five days you can pop it into a pasta sauce and finish it off.   So, to the rest of Africa, which basically means Cape Town, turn up the heaters and get a sun lamp and pretend!

Make a large bowl of this, for it really does improve with age and can easily be re-invented and tweaked and grace your table for a good few incarnations.

 

Insalata di Frutti di Mare

Juicy Insalata di frutti di Mare .... a traditional Italian Seafood Salad.

Ingredients

1kg of King Prawns – de-shelled and de-veined

800g of cleaned Patagonian Calamari – bodies and tentacles

(You could add fresh mussels, clams or langoustine tails into this too

5 stalks of celery finely chopped

2 onions finely chopped

4 bunches of Italian Parsley finely chopped

8 lemons – juiced

4 cups of your best fruity and peppery extra virgin Olive oil

8 cloves of garlic minced

3 – 4tsp of salt

5 tsp of freshly cracked black pepper

1tsp of sugar

Method

De-shell and de-vein the prawns.  You can make a nice stock out of the prawn bodies and heads

which you can freeze to use in a sauce, risotto or paella at a later date.

Place the prawns in a pot and add just enough water to cover the prawns and 2tsp of salt.

As soon as the water boils remove the pot from the stove top and set aside to cool.

Bring to the boil on your stove hob – the very second that the water boils remove the pot from the stove
and set aside to cool.  This method with give you juicy and crunchy succulent prawns.

Calamari cleaned in the pot ready for salt and water.

Do exactly the same with the calamari and set it aside to cool down.  The slow cooling down process renders the
calamari tender.

Very finely chop the celery and parsley and mince the garlic.

Crush your garlic finely using a garlic crusher.

While your prawns and calamari are cooling down place the chopped celery, parsley and garlic into a
salad bowl.

Mix your parsley, celery, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon juice and sugar in a salad bowl.

Add the juice of the lemons, the olive oil, salt and sugar.
Now, as is the case with any salad dressing you must taste it and adjust
it to your liking.

Mix the prawns and calamari into the dressing.

You may want to add
more lemon juice or more garlic or pepper – taste and adjust to your palette.

 I love a bit of chilli so I will often chop
2 red chillies which will add a nice hit of colour and a bit of bite to the
salad.

Drain the cooled prawns and calamari and stir into the dressing.

Check again for
seasoning and serve.

Enjoy with crostini or a nice slice of hot ciabatta and a fabulous glass of Vino, of course!

This makes a
wonderful topping for pizza – make a plain Margerita sauce, top with some fresh
pecorino shaving and mozzarella if you like and drizzle this on top of your
pizza when it comes out of the oven.

This dish would also
be perfect as part of Antipasti – served with crostini, which is bread toasted
with a brushing of olive oil and rubbed with garlic or load them up onto some
brushette.

I often used the left
overs of this salad as a pasta sauce – simply drain off the prawns and calamari
– fry the celery, garlic and parsley in some of the oil – cook you pasta and
once it’s tender simply add it to the cooked celery and garlic and add the
cooked prawns and calamari with a little of the pasta water to keep it nice and
moist.

 I will be in Cape Town for the next 10 days – I am so looking forward to seeing you all at the Indaba, and

those who are not able to come will be sorely missed.  I am planning a few nice meals out with

Daniele and Suzanne and a spot of Italian Cooking for some friends so I shall report back on my adventures and findings.

As always

Buon Appetito

Xxx

Jan

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by janicetripepi

Spicy Dorado on a bed of Fettuccine with a creamy Leek and Fennel Sauce.

June 13, 2012 in Fish Dishes, Janice Tripepi, Pasta Recipes

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Pan fried Dorado on a bed of Fennel & Leek Mascarpone Sauce.

Every now and then la cucina Tripepi gets a visit from the kitchen fairies.  Last night they flapped their little wings, clicked their red sequined happy tappy heels together and a moment of perfect culinary synergy prevailed.  The dish looked elegant and ate even better.  For an original creation ‘twas naught less than the equivalent of a pair of Jimmy Choo’s I tell you.

I had planned to make orecchiette (little ear shaped pasta) with Cime di Rapa, a typical pasta dish from Puglia made with turnip tops and an anchovy based sauce.  It’s clean, fresh and almost vegetarian. Unfortunately “Earthmother” the shop that I usually get organic veggies from had run out of the magnificent bunches of turnips that they had on sale last week, so my plans were dashed.

A trip to my local super yielded a nice piece of fresh Dorado and my dew bin yielded some crispy fennel and leeks waiting for some special treatment.  What blew my hair back with this dish is the balance that was created between the fennel, leek and the fish.   The only improvement I can possibly think of would be a dash of Pernod to deglaze the pan that the fennel and leeks were in to heighten the flavour of the fennel.  I will try this next time.

This is such an elegant dish; it is cooked in a flash would make a wonderful main course for a dinner party.  Unfortunately I cooked this dish in the evening resulting in some rather bad lighting to photograph in and there were no left overs to photograph in a stylish manner the next day.  Oh well!

 

Creamy
Fennel & Leek Fettuccine with Pan Fried Spicy Dorado

Clean and slice your fennel and leeks.

clean and slice your fennel and leeks.

Ingredients

      Dorado  or any firm white fish

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

A large knob of butter

1/2 a large red chilli, for a bit of zing and a little colour

4 medium sized fennels, cleaned and sliced thinly – reserve some of the top for
garnishing the finished dish

4 leeks – cleaned and sliced thinly

3Tbs of mascarpone

½ cup of vegetable or chicken stock

Freshly cracked black pepper

250g fresh fettuccini

I recently reorganised my spice drawer using these jars.

My re-styled spices an idea I got from Pinterest.

 Method

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil while you cook the fennel and the fish.

Over a medium heat, melt the butter and gently fry the garlic and chilli

Cook the fennel and leeks gently over a moderate heat.

Add the sliced fennel and leeks to the pan and fry gently for 3 minutes then add
the half a cup of chicken or vegetable stock and cover the pan with a lid.  You don’t want to brown the fennel and leeks
for this dish.  Remove the lid once the
fennel and leeks are soft and cook off most of the liquid.

Add the mascarpone and black pepper to taste and once the mascarpone has melted
remove the pan from the heat.

Skin the fish, heat a griddle pan and rub olive oil over the fish to prevent it from
sticking to the pan.  Cook until the fish
is just cooked – don’t overcook the fish.
Set aside to rest.

Make sure your griddle pan is nice and hot to get good colour on your fish.

Add
the fresh fettuccine to the pot of salted water – they will cook in about 4
minutes.

Using
a pasta scoop lift the fettuccine out of the pot and place them straight into
the pan with the fennel & leek sauce.
Stir into the sauce and start plating up.

Add the fettuccine straight from the pot into your pan.

Place
a bed of fettuccine in the bottom of your pasta bowl

Top with
a piece of the fresh Dorado and garnish with some chopped fresh red chilli and
snip some fennel tops (dill) over the whole dish.  A light grind of black pepper and Walla!  Serve.

Your fish will be juicy and succulent if you don't overcook it.

I got a brilliant idea from Pinterest for reorganising you spices

click on this link above to have a look at my Pinterest Boards – you will be able to see all of my recipes

a lot easier by doint this.  Pinterest is loads of fun!

My spice drawer went from this ….

Chaos!

To this ….

Way more practical and organised.

Way more practical, tidy and uber organised!

I bought 24 jars from a wholesaler, painted the lids with blackboard paint and wrote the name of

the spice in each jar on the top with a Tipex pen!  I can now buy large quantities of spices from my local

spice shop and store ALL of my spices in one drawer!

bonus!

 As  always

Buon
Appetito

Xxx

Jan

 

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