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Beetroot pappardelle with ricotta and spinach

April 15, 2020April 15, 2020
by Jono

Beetroot Pappardelle with Ricotta and Spinach – This is a “from scratch” recipe that also happens to be oil free, sugar free and vegetarian! This will work with shop bought pasta, of course, but the pasta is the hero of this dish – Spend a bit of time doing it properly.

This is one of those dishes that is truly spectacularly delicious, that you just close your eyes and get transported into gastronomic pleasure. We live for those moments of bliss, those memorable meals, and hopefully this will hit the spot for you too.

Homemade fresh pasta is truly one of life’s greats, one of those timelessly simple foods that are so, so much better when made by hand. Pappardelle means “to gobble up” in Italian (Or so I was told!) – and this is exactly what happens with this dish!

Bear in mind – Making pasta from scratch takes a bit of effort, so do this on a weekend when you have lots of time and want to make something special. This was done without a pasta machine (all you need is a rolling pin), but if you do have one lying around it’ll save you some work.

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Fusion

Broccoli and aubergines in a black bean sauce

April 4, 2020April 6, 2020
by Jono

Fermented black bean sauce is a staple of Chinese cooking, made from fermented black soya beans and soya sauce. Available from most Asian grocery stores, and sometimes even in the asian food section of your local supermarket, we discovered this delicious sauce recently and can’t get enough!

This recipe is classically done with beef, but works perfectly well with vegetarian protein sources like tofu or (what we’ve done here) – with black beans! Black beans in a black bean sauce – yum!

Also, get all your prep done here before you start, you don’t want to be frantically chopping stuff while your garlic is burning. Once the prep is done, the cooking only takes 15 mins or so.

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European

Greek aubergine, sardine and olive salad

April 1, 2020April 1, 2020
by Jono

Our recent trip to the Peloponesse in Greece was a blissful haze of untouched Mediterranean beauty, great wine, and of course, loads of delicious Greek food!

Marna and I both agreed – if we’re going to eat one countries cuisine for the rest of our lives – it’ll be Greek! The delicious fresh salads, rustic barley breads and rusks, olives, wines, feta, luscious strained yoghurt, ahhh… I could go on forever.

This recipe was inspired by our trip, and serves as a fantastic centrepiece to a light lunch, or as a side to a more substantial dinner party along with other mezzes and greek goodies.

Plays well with others! Hummus, salad, wraps – whatever your have!

This is not a vegetarian recipe due to the sardines (Yes, I know, breaking from the usual) but we do feel that eating oily fish occasionally is a healthy part of a balanced diet, and if possible try source your fish from sustainable sources. The sardines can be left out or substituted for feta if you want to make it vegetarian/vegan.

Of note – we’ve specifically made this recipe oil-free – but if you like a little olive oil drizzled on afterwards, it certainly won’t hurt 🙂

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European

Pantry-staple aubergine parmigiano lasagna

March 29, 2020March 29, 2020
by Jono

It is what it says it is! Melenzane parmigiano meets lasagna in a glorious, vegetarian feast with pantry-staple ingredients. All you need have fresh is the aubergine.

This fed the 2 of us, but we eat a ridiculous amount – Would probably feed 4 as part of a dinner party with other stuff on the table. Scales up well. If you want to make it vegan then just swap the parmigiano for a vegan hard cheese, or a breadcrumb and olive oil crust, or just top with whatever you feel like.

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European

Marinated kale with avo and roast veggies

March 25, 2020March 25, 2020
by Jono

A glorious feast of a salad, this elevates the already fantastic kale to new heights. We added some smoked chicken for protein, but feel free to substitute for a poached egg or some chickpeas.

The idea of marinating kale comes from Yotam Ottolenghi’s fabulous book “SIMPLE”, and its a fabulous one – it takes away all the sharpness from the kale, and infuses it with loads of delicious flavours. And the bonus of eating it “raw” means that you don’t lose any of the vitamin C.

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Fusion

Red Thai aubergine, lime and tofu pasta

February 21, 2020February 21, 2020
by Jono

This was a crazy discovery, when we realised that adding turmeric and fish sauce in a tomato based Thai curry resulted in something very pesto-y and Italian, and very delicious.

I encourage you to set aside preconceived ideas here – Thai and Italian work together like old friends! I even dressed this on the plate with pecorino and truffle oil, and it sang in my mouth.

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Plant based ramen bowl with marmite broth

February 19, 2020April 6, 2020
by Jono

There are 2 types of people in this world – marmite lovers and marmite haters. I fall solidly into the second category – can’t stand the stuff.

However. There are more ways of eating marmite than just smearing it on toast.

The concept of using marmite as the stock base in an asian style broth was a revelation when I first saw it in a recipe book in the Chef’s Warehouse in Cape Town about 4 years ago – it’s been in the back of my mind since then, and eventually we finally got down to it.

A world apart now, winter in Ireland – in need of something warm, comforting and different for supper, so a broth bowl was the natural choice.

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Fusion

Grilled aubergine with tomato and orange blossom water.

December 6, 2019December 6, 2019
by Jono

Grilled aubergine with toppings is fairly high up on our list of best things ever, but its tricky when you’re trying to do it with no fat or oil whatsoever. Undercooked, it’s chewy and gross, and overcooked turns it into biltong.

The secret here is the microwaving! A fairly unconventional way of cooking aubergine, we use the microwave to do the majority of the work, then just finish on the grill.

There are a million ways to serve grilled aubergine, and we are constantly trying to find new ones! We popped this one out recently at a family gathering and it went down like a fat kid on a seesaw – looks gorgeous too. This also holds it’s own without the orange blossom water, if you can’t get your hands on it.

If you are really out to impress – put a little orange blossom water into your hand and sprinkle droplets over the table once the guests are seated – it fills the room with spring.

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Smoked beetroot with toasted nuts

December 5, 2019December 6, 2019
by Jono

Beetroot is a divisive vegetable at the best of times, and I am well aware that smoking it will definitely raise a few eyebrows.

However, with that said, I think it’s one of the most delicious ways of serving beetroot, and can easily be an unusual and exciting starter to a fancy dinner party, as part of a mezze spread, or just as a fun side to whatever else you’re cooking!

The idea was more or less nabbed from a recipe in Yotam Ottolenghi’s incredible book Plenty More, probably the best vegetarian cookbook out there and one of my favourite cookbooks of all time.

This is our stripped-down, low-fat version that’s seriously easy and involves mostly hands-off cooking! You can also take the beetroots and crush them, mix with basil, olive oil, lemon juice and salt to make a gorgeous dip.

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Fusion

Whole roasted smoked onions with tahini sauce

December 4, 2019December 4, 2019
by Jono

This is deceptively simple, and is a great crowd-pleaser. Whole roasted onions, without even peeling them? Genius. Smoking them first? Next level.

Never fear if you’ve never smoked anything in your kitchen before, this is surprisingly simple to do, and all you need is a pot, a stovetop and some tinfoil!

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Category: Fusion