The Crustless One - with Potato, Egg & Cheese

Do you like Persian (Iranian) or Italian food, my friends?  I love Persian food!  Here we have a recipe from Pomegranates & Artichokes, a fascinating collection of recipes by Saghar Setareh.  Her book encompasses recipes and her memories on her journey from Iran to Italy.  She moved to Italy at the age of 22, leaving her parents and family behind.  A brave move at that age, I think.  I moved interstate at 19, and to Brisbane on my own, so I have a vague idea of how that feels.   

 

I originally made this one waaaay back in September 2023! for cookbook club.  And then again this April.  We have Persian (Iranian) friends, so their food has become a fave of ours.  Though this one is actually an Italian one - her version of a torta rustica, a savoury pie.  So, no crust - just a hearty potatoey mash with eggs and cheese.  Delicious indeed!  And so comforting.  And you get protein!  

delicious!

Serves 4-6:

ingredients:

1 kg./2.2 lbs potatoes

100g./3.5 oz parmesan or pecorino cheese, grated

2 Tbs parsley, finely chopped

1/2 tsp sea salt flakes

some black pepper  (to your taste)

40g./1.4 oz butter, softened (at room temp. basically)

2 Tbs breadcrumbs (I use panko, but use whatever you prefer)

4 hard-boiled eggs, cut in half lengthwise  (peeled obvs.!)

100-150g./3.5-5.3 oz spicy salami, diced   see Notes!

100g./3.5 oz cheddar cheese, diced   see Notes

a handful of chopped parsley on top

yep, potatoes!

Method:

Add the unpeeled spuds (potatoes) to a large saucepan with cold water to cover them

Boil till tender, drain and leave to cool

Turn on your oven to 180C/350F to heat up, while you peel and mash the spuds

Add the cheese, salt and pepper, and mix in gently

Grease the bottom and sides of your (20-22cm/8-8.5 inch) pie dish with half the butter, and dust with half the breadcrumbs

Now half the mash gets spread over the bottom of the dish, then you make 8 divots in the mash so you have room for your eggs

Season the eggs with salt and pepper, and place cutside down in your wee holes

Scatter over the cheese and salami (or tuna, etc) and give the eggs a gentle push into the mash

On goes the rest of the mash, with a spoon or your hands :=)

Then the panko gets scattered over the whole shebang, and you put dabs of the remaining butter over it all

Add some chopped parsley if you fancy, then ... 

Bake for 20 minutes, then under the grill for 10, and let it cool in the dish for 30 minutes

Slice it up, and serve with a salad or steamed veg. - a bit of tomato relish goes down well with it too!

and parsley

Notes:

No salami eaten in this house (we don't eat pigs), so I used 95g. tin of tuna in oil, 2 Tbs baby capers and some roasted red capsicum

You can use provolone or fontina cheese instead of cheddar, says the author

Looking at my photo from this April, I seem to have thrown some parsley into the filling also, and perhaps even some pre-cooked mushroom or pumpkin?  Not sure!  But really, you can add what you like, or have in the fridge.

I love panko!

boil those eggs, and the potatoes

dust your pie tin with half the butter and half the breadcrumbs

spread the mash over the bottom of the pie dish

smoosh those eggs into the mash!

cheesy!

pop into the oven at 180C/350F

this is before the mash goes on top of course :)

and baked!

add a bit of salad to your plate

We haven't been to Iran, but we visited Italy years ago.  Only to Rome, so maybe one day we will get to the Uffizi in Florence, and the canals in Venice.  We were gobsmacked at the Vatican, and amazed by the history and architecture in Rome.  Oh yes, how about Tuscany?  One day ...

Baked Fish with Lemon Cream Sauce

Mr P. and I don't eat much meat these days (a throwback to our youthful vego. days perhaps), but we do like a bit of fish.  In fact, we had salmon just the other night, but we don't let that stop us from having fish again :=)  So this time, we went for some good old Aussie barramundi (tho' thinking on it, it was possibly from Vietnam or Thailand).  Though you have to be careful, as some naughty restaurants and seafood mongers like to trick us with cheaper fish.

Oh yes, here we have another recipe from Nagi Maehashi's Dinner.  Good old Nagi!  She never lets us down, with her fabulous recipes.  Sadly her gorgeous pup Dozer died recently (at a ripe old age).  I wonder if she will get another beautiful boy soon?  I keep threatening to get another pup, but Mr P. is not keen.  Two of our pups are buried in the backyard (maybe a tad illegal? Nah, I've checked; go ahead!), just as several of our pets are buried at our previous house.  I wonder if the new owners ever dug them up by mistake? :=)  

lemony, fishy and creamy!

Serves 4:

ingredients:

4 x 180g./6.5 oz skinless white fish fillets (about 1.5 cm thick)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1.5 Tbs very finely minced/chopped French shallots/eschalots

Lemon Cream Sauce:

50g./1.8 oz butter

60 mL (1/4 cup) thickened cream

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 Tbs mustard (Dijon or your fave - I love my homemade wholegrain)

1.5 Tbs lemon juice

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

To serve:

2 tsp parsley, chopped  (seems stingy; maybe you need more - hehehe)

some chives, finely chopped - 1 tsp? - or more if you please

lemon slices

Mashed potato, and some green leaves if you want to feel virtuous

ingredients gathered (ignore the coriander seeds jar)

yep a bit of mustard does the trick!

Method:

On goes your oven to 200C/400F to heat up

Now onto the lemon cream sauce:

Put all the saucy ingredients into a heatproof jug or bowl, so you can microwave for 2 x 30 second bursts (give it a stir after the first 30 seconds!) - you want it wonderfully smooth and combined

And now for the fish: which is going into a baking dish (Nagi says 30 x 20 cm/12 x 8 in)

Season both sides of the fish pieces, and place them in the baking dish, with a bit of space between them

Cast the French shallots over the fish, and pour the sauce over

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or till the flesh flakes easily

Place the fish fillets on serving plates, and give 'em a five minute rest

When the 5 minutes are up, spoon the sauce (that's still lurking in the baking dish) over the fish, sprinkle with the parsley and chives, and serve with lemon slices, mashed potato and some green leaves tossed with a bit of oil and lemon juice (or your fave dressing)

love me some chives :)

lemon cream sauce, heading for the microwave

Notes:

Nagi says to use thick, white fish fillets; I bet you could even use crocodile!  I do love a bit of gummy shark (flake) myself, though not so easy to get in sunny Queensland.  Happily, the GoodFish Sustainable Seafood Guide says they are not endangered which is a good thing (not sure about crocodiles tho!)

fish into the dish, then the shallots and sauce over

chop your parsley in a jug with scissors - so easy!

throw on your lemon slices

and now throw on the parsley!

is that Hagrid overlooking my dinner? :=)

Moroccan-Style Tuna With Eggplant And Spicy Yoghurt

We like to eat fish in this household.  We have salmon once or twice a fortnight, (tinned) tuna for lunch once or twice a week, and I also enjoy some tinned sardines now and then.  Meat on the other hand - mm, probably a bit of beef mince once a month!  Hubby and I were both vegetarians in our youth (quite separate to each other).

To be honest, I think this was the first time I had ever cooked with fresh tuna.  I do enjoy a bit of sashimi, but sadly am a bit wary these days due to getting food poisoning from some salmon.  But I am very happy to have fish lightly grilled or baked, like this dish.   

we had the tuna with rice vermicelli noodles

Speaking of all things fish, reminds me of a trip to China years ago, where we were given a dish of ... jellyfish (?) in a clear, sweet liquid.  Of course, there were also chicken feet, and things of which we knew not.  Will never forget the sight of a businessman in his suit, briefcase in one hand, and live, squawking hen in the other.  I'd imagine his wife was awaiting the chook so she could start dinner ...

(Recipe from Belinda Jeffery's Utterly Delicious Simple Food.)

Belinda gives this recipe for 6 diners; I reduced it to 4, so pretty much halved the other ingredients

Serves 4:

ingredients:

Tuna marinade:

1-2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp ground cummin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika

a big pinch of cayenne pepper, or chilli flakes

1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped

1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

30 mL/1 hefty ounce of lemon juice

120 mL/4 oz EV olive oil

sea salt flakes and black pepper, to taste

Spicy yoghurt:

200g./7 oz plain Greek yoghurt

1 very tiny clove of garlic, finely chopped

40 mL/1.4 oz EV olive oil

1 tsp ground cummin

sea salt flakes

The Tuna and Eggplant:

4 tuna steaks around 100g./3.5 oz each (or bigger, if you fancy)  see Notes

600-700g./21-25 oz eggplant

80 mL/2.8 oz EV olive oil

mint or coriander leaves, for garnish

lemon wedges, to serve

ye olde eggplant

not a hint of soap here :=)

Method:

Start early! - make the marinade a couple of hours before you want to cook the fish

So, grab a large bowl, chuck in the marinade ingredients, give it a good whisking and then: leave the tuna in a flat (non-reactive) dish, pour over about a third or so of the marinade (you want the fish all covered), cover the dish with clingfilm or a lid, and let it rest easy for a couple of hours in the fridge (and Belinda suggests giving the steaks a turn every so often)

The rest of the marinade goes into a jug, and into the fridge

Now the eggplant: 

Oven on to 220C/430F to heat up; and line a large baking tray with baking paper

Slice up your eggplant lengthwise into quarters, then wedges

Chuck 'em into a bowl, and toss with the olive oil, then on to the tray in a single layer

Bake for around 30 minutes or so, till golden-brown (and turn 'em over halfway thru' the cooking time)

While this is happening, mix up the spicy yoghurt and put into the fridge while you get on with cooking the fish

Either whack the steaks onto your BBQ, or grab a grill pan, and cook till as tender as you care for - Belinda suggests 1 to 2 minutes per side!  You may want more cooking time

Now put a steak on each plate, pour over a bit of the marinade from the jug, and serve with eggplant and lemon wedges 

who, me?  Yep you Mr Tuna!

Notes:

Belinda suggests making this recipe for 6, using "6 tuna steaks", without giving a weight, but Googling shows the average weight of a tuna steak is around 180g./6.5 oz.  I just happened to only be able to buy small ones!  But grab some bigger pieces, or a couple more steaks to feed another two people (and increase the amounts for the marinade and yoghurt accordingly, if so)

ingredients gathered

prepare your marinade

pour the marinade over the fish

looking golden and delicious

spicy yoghurt at the ready

Mr P. grills the tuna (in his bare feet)

strew (is that a verb?) the coriander leaves over the eggplant

feeling hungry ...

nearly ready to dig in!

dig in!

and/or throw on some mint

Potato Balls Ragout

Who doesn't love anything potato?  I've mentioned in previous posts that you can find over 4000 different varieties of potato in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.  Sounds brilliant to me.  Remember the purple potato craze some years ago?  Purple chips or mash?  Sure, why not? :=)  

This recipe is from A Distant Feast by Kiwi writer/historian Tony Simpson.  He tells us about the origins of New Zealand's cuisine, and provides lots of recipes including this one from Dr William Kitchener's The Cook's Oracle (1817).  Apparently, this was a best-seller back in the day!

yep, we ate these with sausage and salsa :)

Makes around 2 dozen:

ingredients:

900g./2 lb potatoes, boiled and well-mashed  see Notes

30g./2 Tbs butter   see Notes

1 cup/145g. ham + 1 mushroom or 1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped

1 large brown or red onion, finely chopped

2 large egg yolks

1/2 tsp sea salt flakes

1 dozen grinds black pepper

1/4-1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 

panko breadcrumbs (tho' the recipe says to use brown)

clarified butter, or a mix of oil and butter to fry - I started off with 3 Tbs olive oil and 3 Tbs butter, but used a fair bit more butter and oil as I went along

Method:

Well, cook up your spuds and mash 'em first off

Put all the ingredients except the breadcrumbs into a large bowl, and combine well

Roll this mixture into small balls and chuck 'em into your bowl or shallow tray of breadcrumbs, to coat 

Heat up your frying medium of butter and oil, and fry away till golden-brown, turning once - I gave them 5 minutes on each side

That's it for Dr Kitchener's instructions!  He says this dish is "an agreeable vegetable relish, to be served with meat."

So serve with a protein, or a salad, or whatever you fancy

Notes:

You need tender, well-done potatoes - so you boil them, or microwave or steam them till soft - then mash 'em with gusto

NZ tablespoons were/are the same as U.S. and U.K. spoons so 15g. per tablespoon

Obvs. if you are a vego., go with the mushrooms rather than ham 

(Just FYI, the mushroom killer's trial has ended, and they are weighing up the evidence before we get a verdict.)

ingredients gathered

mashed!

chop that onion

get ready to mix, and shape into balls

covered in panko, and ready to fry off

and get Mr P. to fry 'em

and turn 'em till golden

served with sausage and salsa :=)

It's a wee bit hilarious that Dr Kitchener calls this a ragout, isn't it?  When clearly they are potato fritters.  Goodness knows what he was thinking, trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.  But they were fun to make, and pretty tasty.  Well, fry anything in butter and oil and you're set.  Deep-fried Mars bar anyone?

Rainbow Bob guarding his fritters

potatoes

baby potato says "Please don't eat me!"

brown onion

mushies