Category: Autumn

Girl-on-a-bicycle-with-a-pet-monkey inspired Stuffed Tomatoes

Ever feel like you don’t have time to breathe let alone cook? That’s when you need your list of fast, easy comfort food dishes that require no thinking and no particular talent to make and always taste great. Big giant Romanian tomatoes and peppers are at their best in late summer and early autumn and provide the original convenience food – scoop them out, fill with your filling of choice , bake, pour a glass of wine and eat!

Fillings? I love a green lentil and bulgur filling (although its not a super fast one as you need to cook the lentils first) or the classic rice and sultana filling and to serve with a garlic and mint yoghurt sauce Turkish style. But for convenience and speed the way of cooking stuffed tomatoes in the South of France cannot be beaten.

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Beetroot risotto with goat’s cheese

A simple but stunning “Romanian risotto” bursting with flavor and color. I have to credit my Mum for this ingenious recipe and helping me perfect it. Beetroot, local goat’s cheese, thyme and lovage are the key flavors here with the sweetness of the beetroot and lovage contrasting with the goat’s cheese. Making risotto is oddly hypnotic – stirring in circles, sipping a glass of wine and watching something slowly change form in front of you. Slow slow food indeed that is just so right on a chilly evening, glass in hand.

Use the best quality saucepan you have with a wide base unless you are the proud owner of a risotto pan. You want slow well conducted heat and a large surface area. I always used to cook risotto in a le Creuset casserole dish until it got lost in another move, the thick iron base of such pans is ideal. A wooden spatula with a straight edge (important). Other than these two basic but important items no special equipment is required.

Here I cook with my trusty sous chef

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Truffled Celeriac velouté with crispy pancetta

reaches the parts other root vegetables cant reach

First off let’s differentiate between “Celeriac” and “Celery”. Celeriac is the knobbly root vegetable of the species Apium Graviolens and Celery is the name given to the stalks of the same species. Now apparently (not having the greenest of fingers) some varieties are grown for their knobbly roots and some for the stalks.

I personally associate Celery with a series of advertisements for “Philadelphia” cream cheese that featured the white goo spread on stringy celery sticks and Barbie doll women coyly purring “It is my birthday” as if a bit of cream cheese on a watery vegetable stick was as much excitement as they were allowed.  I am (you might have guessed) not a fan of celery but celeriac…that is a whole different ball game.

Just as celery suggests denial and austerity celeriac suggests excess, enjoyment and seduction. Yes I know, seduction by celeriac seems a little far fetched but persevere… Celeriac adds luscious creaminess, a hint of something slightly aniseedy and if generations of Romanians are to believed, it reaches the parts other root vegetables can’t. To benefit most from its legendary properties Romanians suggest eating it raw and certainly combined with apples, walnuts and carrots and a little mayonnaise in the style of a French remoulade – the Romanian “cruditati” salad is winsome.

But with a little truffle oil added celeriac becomes a truly magical affair – the creamy celeriac giving great texture and the truffle oil giving an olfactory kick.

No special equipment is needed for this recipe. I try not to overboil the celeriac but it does need to be quite soft for this soup. If you feel very cheffy you can strain it through a sieve or a “chinois” – I probably should but life is short and the texture is pretty heavenly anyway. I do always make this soup with real stock – if you are going to invest in truffle oil then it deserves a bit of body.

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