Delicious with Indian spices; courgette with chickpea salsa

If ever there is a season which lends itself particularly well to Indian flavors then to me that would be autumn. I love the spices used in the Indian kitchen, I love the hot curries (well, not too hot!), the garam masala mixes and I don’t think I’ve ever tasted an Indian dish that I did not like. It has such a high level of comfort food! Granted, there is still a lot to be discovered in that area by me,  but I’m trying. One thing that strikes me about the Indian flavors that it is fairly difficult to recreate the same at home. I’ve tasted many gorgeous Indian dishes but when I tried to make it at home, it was not at all the same. This delicious chickpea dish is a recipe by Anjum Anand. And this home version is so worth it!

pistachio and coriander

During our foodblogger connect in London she showed us a recipe of her new book (yet to come out) and I fell in love with the recipe immediately. Anjum was kind enough to share the recipe with us on her facebook page so that we could attempt to make it at home. From previous experiences I have learned (the hard way) that one of THE most important things in Indian cuisine is to use fresh spices. It will definitely make or break your dish, so be sure to use fresh cumin seeds in this recipe. The recipe has quite a few ingredients but it is actually very simple. The biggest amount of work is the grilling of the courgette. I think I could have sliced it a little better (thinner) but it was still delicious.

Don’t leave out the pistachio dressing as that is a big flavor component in this dish and will make it extra delicious. Now the big news is… it contains feta and I had Tom taste a bite and he actually liked it!! Now that’s a first when it comes to cheese, so I’m quite pleased with that. Maybe – just maybe – he’s getting used to cheesy flavors a bit more.

Griddled courgette carpaccio with chickpea salsa

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Serves:	4
Prep time:	15 minutes
Cook time:	15 minutes
Total time:	30 minutes
Dietary:	Vegetarian
Meal type:	Lunch, Main Dish, Side Dish
Region:	Indian
By author:	Anjum Anand

Ingredients

• 5 courgette (large ones, you can use a mix of green and yellow)
• fresh coriander
• salt (to taste)

Pistachio dressing

• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic (small one, peeled)
• 15 pieces pistachio nuts (skinned if possible)
• 2,5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• good pinchsugar
• 2 teaspoons water

Chickpea salsa

• 300g chickpeas (1 can, well rinsed and drained)
• 100g feta
• 1/2 red onion (finely chopped)
• 1 large handful fresh coriander (leaves and roots)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3/4 teaspoons cumin powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds (dry-roasted and powdered)
• 1 tomato (medium large, finely chopped)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Heat the griddle pan until quite hot. Slice the courgettes on the diagonal into thin slices, no more than 1/2cm thick. Place on the griddle in a single layer and cook, undisturbed for 2-3 minutes or until the base has well-charred lines. Turn over and repeat on the other side. Repeat with the remaining courgettes.

As you stand over the griddle, prepare and stir together all the ingredients for the salsa. Taste, add salt to taste and set aside.

Blend together all the ingredients for the dressing until smooth, I use a good stick blender but a good pestle and mortar will also work. Adjust seasoning and keep aside.

To assemble, place the courgettes on plates, slightly overlapping at the edges. You can do this in lines or in a circular fashion. Drizzle over the dressing to mirror the pattern. Mound the salsa onto the middle of the plate or scatter across, as you prefer and serve.

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Stuffed courgette

Now how very Italian does that title sound?? Sooo much better then stuffed zuchini or stuffed courgette, wouldn’t you agree? I just love the Italian language, even though I have absolutely no idea what they are saying except when they say something useful like ‘ciao’ or arriverderci (which I am probably writing down wrong…) Did I tell you already that we will be leaving for Italy in about four weeks time? I can’t believe it is only 4 weeks away but I am so excited about it. We will be travelling around Tuscany with friends; we decided more or less on a route and we will see where we will end up. Definitely on the list to visit is Florence, but also the coast and obviously I would love to visit some special food related places. Markets, but maybe also little farms that make special produce, cheese, wine, olives and oooo, all that other fabulous stuff that Italy is so well known for! I have been to Italy twice but both only for a very very short time. The first time I visited was years ago and the reason of the visit was work related, so we stayed only one lousy day. I mean, seriously, one day in Italy; that doesn’t even count does it?? We stayed in the town of Mantova, lovely old little town (although I am quite sure it was called Mantova I have recently started to question my memory since I have heard that Mantova is nothing like the Mantova I remember! So forgive me for getting it wrong – maybe)

Mantova by night

But even in that very short time I decided to get up at 5 am to have a walk around town and to see a little bit of Italy. The night before – after work – we did go out for dinner and I even managed to talk some shots of the little church by night as you can see on the left, but it really was far too short.

The second time I went to Italy I went with Jacqueline and I told you a little bit about it here. While we had loads of fun and I got to see a little bit more of Italy, it was only 5 days and most of those were filled with househunting. Plus – if I am being honest – the area of the Gardalake would not be my choice of scenery as I find it too overexploited for tourism. You can still find lovely little markets and lovely little towns in the area, but overall; too much tourism. It’s a fine balance for a country I think between giving in to the lures of tourism and to keeping it’s own identity.

Tuscany in itself is also quite touristic ofcourse; if you ever ask anyone where they are going in Italy then you are bound to hear they are going to Tuscany. Initially we wanted to go to both Tuscany and Umbria but since we are driving ourselves and we did not want to spend most of our holiday in the car, we decided to stick to one provence and maybe explore Umbria next time.

So in reality this is – or at least it feels that way to me – really the first time I am really visiting Italy and even then; Tuscany is just a small part. But it’s a good start!

How did I end up talking about all that; when I started with the lovely Italian dish we had for dinner the other day…

The thing is that we finally bought “The Silver Spoon” (Il cucchiaio d’argento) which is a cookbook featuring about 2000 Italian recipes and is said to be the classic Italian cookbook you have to have… Well, I don’t know about that, but what I do know is that the book – while shockingly not containing many photos – is very useful for when you are looking for a recipe to go with a certain ingredient. It is all listed by ingredient. So have courgette leftover? Look under courgette and you’ll find plenty of suggestions of what to do with them.

So while I cannot tell you yet if all the recipes are good, having tested only one, it does look promising and this particular recipe was definitely worth it!

Making it was a breeze; it just needed some cooking time. When I first read the recipe I would have thought that it was made in the oven, but it is not. But have a try for yourself; I garantuee you it is tasty!

BARCHETTE DI ZUCCHINE RIPIENE (or stuffed courgette/zucchini)

(serves 4)

100 gr ham, cut into strips

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1 clove garlic, mashed

50 gr pancetta, chopped

100 gr ground beef

2 tbsp of parmezan, freshly grated

1 egg

4 large courgette cut lengthwise in two

50 gr butter

2 tbsp of oliveoil

1 onion

2 tbsp of passata

salt and pepper

Mix ham, parsley, garlic, half the pancetta, the ground beef, the parmesan and the egg into a bowl with salt and pepper to taste. With a little sharp knife (or use a spoon) cut out the meat from the courgette but make sure to leave the shells intact. Fill them with your meatmixture.

Heat the butter and oliveoil in a wide pan (it will have to fit the courgettes too!), add the onion and the rest of the pancetta and bake for about 5 minutes on low; stir occasionally.  Add the courgette and bake them also for a few minutes.

Mix the passata with 175 ml of warm water and put the mixture in the pan. Add salt, cover and let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes or until the meat is cooked and the courgettes are tender.

Put them in a hot bowl and pour a little of the cooking sauce over the top.

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Not my favorite subject… but the fact is that I have to lose weight. Losing weight and loving to cook, can be an advantage or a disadvantage and I haven’t really figured out which one would best describe my situation..lol.
I am not a fanatic dieter and I believe in the values of a good meal, so I will never be the person to starve herself, but I rather go for the slow and healthy approach. Well, let’s face it, that is in the ideal world ofcourse. In the not so ideal world I struggle just like the majority of the people out there.
Over the last couple of weeks I had been slacking a bit in the healthy food department; had had too many experiments in lovely (read; fattening) desserts and cookies, with not so great results on the weighing scale. On a positive note; since the beginning of this year I have already lost 12 kilo so there is a definite progress here, but it is slllloowww… Anyway, this monday I have made the resolve to better my life and start eating proper and healthy again, so I started with gathering some great recipes. I don’t really count calories, but just try to use portion control and – basically – common sense!

Lovely salad; perfect for losing weight

That has resulted in a lovely pasta salad that I had this afternoon

I was having a bit of trouble with the styling since I also didn’t have many accessoiries at home. I just bought a new bowl from Oil & Vinegar which I really like and have used for the salad as well, but it is probably better suited for something else!

Here is the recipe!

Pasta salad with zucchini, basil and horseradish

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Recipe type: Lunch or light main

Serves: 4

Perfect for losing weight in a good way!

Ingredients

• 300 gr pasta
• 8 tablespoons oliveoil
• 4 tablespoons balsamico vinegar
• 2 cloves of garlic, mashed
• 1 tablespoon horseradish
• 3 grilled peppers, in slices
• 1/2 zucchini, in thin slices
• 1 full hand of basil leaves, schredded
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Boil the water with salt and cook the pasta. Rinse with cold water and leave to dry.
2. Make a dressing of the oliveoil, balsamico, garlic, horseraddich, salt and pepper. Pour over the cooled down pasta. Add the pepper and zucchinislices and mix it all together.
3. Scatter the basil leaves on top.
4. (also nice with baked pancetta)

Google Recipe View Microformatting by Easy Recipe

2.1.4

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