RIPE RECIPES

Angela Redfern

Beatnik Publishing

Since writing about this title recently I have made two more recipes from the book and the publishers have agreed to let me post them to my blog. They both went down a treat by the way, and were simple to make, and I warmly recommend them to you.

SMOKED FISH & ASPARAGUS SALAD

A delicious salad to make with your favourite smoked fish. We use a lot of smoked fish from the Coromandel Smoking Co. Its vacuum packed, a good keeper, and can be bought on-line.

Serve with a big bowl of steaming buttered new potatoes and sweet corn cobs.
Serves 4-6

500g ASPARAGUS SPEARS, trim woody ends and slice in half on an angle
500g of good quality, SMOKED FISH (snapper, trevally, mackerel are good)
½ RED ONION, finely sliced
1 cup (165g) KALAMATA OLIVES
³⁄4 cup of DILL DRESSING (see pg 202)
½ cup of FRESH ITALIAN PARSLEY, roughly chopped
SALT and freshly GROUND BLACK PEPPER
4 EGGS, hard boiled, shelled and quartered
JUICE of 1 LEMON
garnish with FRESH DILL

Bring a saucepan of water to boil and blanch the asparagus for approximately 40 seconds, remove with a slotted spoon and refresh in iced cold water. Drain and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, shred the smoked fish, add the red onion, olives, asparagus, dressing and parsley. Season with salt and pepper and toss gently.

Place on a serving dish and arrange the eggs over the salad. Finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and dill to garnish.

CHILLI PRAWN SPAGHETTI
 

This can be served hot or cold. Serve with a fresh salad from The Green Room.
Serves 4

250g dried SPAGHETTI
¼ cup OLIVE OIL
8 cloves GARLIC, peeled and finely sliced
2 fresh RED CHILLIES, finely sliced with seeds removed if a milder taste is preferred, or ½-1 tsp chilli flakes
25g BUTTER
200g FRESH PRAWNS, tail on
1 x 250g punnet of CHERRY TOMATOES, halved
JUICE and ZEST of 1 LEMON
½ whole PRESERVED LEMON, finely chopped (optional)
SALT and freshly GROUND BLACK PEPPER
1 AVOCADO, skin and stone removed, cut into bite sized wedges
½ cup FRESH ITALIAN PARSLEY, roughly chopped

Cook the spaghetti as per the instructions on the packet and set aside to cool if serving salad cold.

Place the olive oil in a frying pan over a high heat and add the garlic and chilli. Cook for 1 minute taking care not to burn the garlic.

Add the butter and prawns. Cook until they have changed colour. Remove from the heat.

In a large serving bowl place the cooked prawns, spaghetti, cherry tomatoes, lemon juice, lemon zest and preserved lemon. Toss well to combine and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add the avocado wedges, toss through gently. Sprinkle over the parsley and serve.

Footnote:
There are loads more wonderful recipes in this handsome hardback which if you are still looking for Christmas gifts would be perfect for the foodies in your life.

And I was impressed with this stack of cookbooks (pic below) which is to be found in the kitchen at Ripe in Auckland's Grey Lynn and which serve as an inspiration to the chefs. I note too with pleasure that apart from the bottom book in the pile, The Fat Duck Cookbook, I have all of these in my kitchen too. There is one title there I wasger is not in many NZ kitchens - The Dean & Deluca Cookbook (Random House US).