Panzanella

I don't remember where or when I first heard about this Tuscan bread and tomato salad, but in recent years I've grown really fond of it - especially in the summer, when there's usually an abundance of ripe tomatoes.  The exact types of bread or tomatoes are not crucial, but ripe tomatoes are key for good panzanella. The recipe calls for stale bread, but I guess it would work with fresh bread too - but stale bread is just fine.

Ingredients:
- 3 tbsp anchovies, finely chopped
- 4 tbsp capers, finely chopped
- a generous pour of olive oil
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1,5 tsp apple cider vinegar
- fresh basil, coarsely chopped
- 4 ripe, "normal" tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- 2 ripe beef tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- a handful of datterino tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- a 10 cm of stale bread, coarsely diced
- 125 g mini-mozzarella, quartered

The finely chopped anchovies and capers were stirred with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Then tomatoes, basil and bread was added, and the ingredients were mixed with tongs. Mozzarella was added lastly. Best left to soak for a while before consuming.

I love it, and it's quite filling too.

In this version I used a mix of tomatoes and for an even more colourful version one could use more different kinds of tomatoes.

This time I also added a number of ingredients I often do not use - cutting it down to basics it's still delicious.

Basic panzanella:
- stale bread, coarsely diced
- ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- fresh basil, coarsely chopped
- salt
- black pepper
- olive oil

For the basic version, I usually just add alternating layers of bread, tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil and olive oil - often in a lunch box in the morning and then consume for lunch at work.

Triple cheese quesadilla

When I lived in California, I would most often choose a cheddar cheese for quesadilla. I remember others favouring a blend of cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese. While cheddar is available here, Monterey Jack isn't. Lately I've taking a liking to mixing cheddar with Jarlsberg which is readily available here.

Most recently, I've found that I get a nice result mixing in a third cheese - a creamy, salty white cheese (think feta or similar).

I would use a roughly 2:2:1 mixture of cheddar, Jarlsberg and white cheese.
A pan is heated on heated, then a tortilla, then cheeses, then another tortilla - flipped over when the cheese is about halfway melted.

Goes well with sour cream and a roasted salsa.

Roasted salsa v.2

Very similar to roasted salsa, but I think I prefer it like this.

Ingredients:
- 4 tomatoes
- 2 red chillies
- 2 cloves garlic
- juice of 1 lime
- salt

Tomatoes, chillies and garlic were roasted under the broiler - the garlic was not pealed before roasting - until the skin of the tomatoes was well charred.
The tomatoes and chillies were both used with the charred skin, but the skins of the garlic cloves were removed. Everything was liquefied in a blender with the lime juice and a good teaspoon of salt.

Sour lentils Lucknow style

... or Lakhnawi Khatti Dal

I picked this up from Classic Indian Cookery by Julie Sahni and I first made it because I had tamarind pulp anyway (for making pad thai), but I've returned many times since and it has become a regular dish around our house.

Ingredients:
- 250 g pink lentils
- 1,25 L water
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 inch piece if ginger, finely chopped
- 1 heaping tbsp tamarind pulp
- butter
- 1 tbsp garlic paste
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- salt

The lentils were brought to a boil together with ground turmeric and finely chopped ginger.^[1] After simmering, partially covered, for 25 minutes, tamarind pulp was added^[2] and cooking was continued for about 15 minutes. At this point I am usually happy with the texture and simply season it with salt before serving.^[3]

While the lentils finish, butter was melted and when starting to brown added garlic paste, paprika and ground cumin - the spices were stirred into the butter in the hot pan before transferring to a bowl.

The lentils are served with the spiced butter (stirred into the lentils just before digging in), freshly chopped coriander, raita, chutney, rice, and flatbreads.

^[1] In my experience, when lentils first start to boil they tend to foam a lot and need a lot of stirring at this point in order for the pot not to spill over - after a few minutes this foaming subsides.

^[2] The original recipe calls for dissolving the tamaridn pulp in boiling water and straining it to rid it of fibrous strings - but all the brands of tamarind pulp I've bought have been too highly processed to contain any fibrous material to be removed by straining. Hence I use the tamarind directly.

^[3] The orignial recipe calls for beating the lentils to smooth the puré. I never bother with this.

Bean quesadilla

Just a quick idea that turned out really well.

Ingredients:
- wheat tortillas
- grated cheddar
- beans

Here I used the mashed red beans, but I think any kind of suitably thick bean mash would work.

A tortilla was placed on a dry non-stick pan on medium heat, added grated cheddar, bean mash and cheddar again, then another tortilla. Flipped over when the tortilla is lightly browned and the cheese melted.

Served with sour cream, pico de gallo, lettuce and avocado.

Delicious.

Red Beans with cumin

Another variation of beans. I made this with red kidney beans, but I guess it should also work for other varieties.

Ingredients:
- 1-2 tbsp duck fat
- 1 small, brown onion, finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, crushed, then chopped
- 1 jalapeño, finely diced
- 1 can red kidney beans
- juice of ¹/₂ lime
- ¹/₂ tsp ground cumin

The duck fat was melted in a pot on medium high, and the onion was cooked in the fat for about 5 minutes before adding the garlic and the jalapeño. When the onion was turning golden, the beans and their liquid was added, plus some water used to rinse out the can. The beans were brought to a boil before adding lime juice. After about some 5-10 minutes, the beans were mashed and cooking was continued - with occasional stirring - until the texture was thickened just right.

I was very happy with the resulting beans.