Brussels sprouts with figs (and pancetta)

At the end of January thie year Mark Bittman announced that he wouldn't be writing his columnist, The Minimalist, would be finishing.  However, I still have a collection of his recipes to test out - and it seemed like a good moment to whip out his recipe for brussels sprouts, figs and pancetta (bacon) because both figs and brussels sprouts are in season right now.  When Mr Bittman made his version the figs were not in season, so he used dried figs which require slightly different treatment than the fresh ones.

Before we even bought the ingredients for this one G and I first had to decide whether it was "brussel sprouts" or "brussels sprouts"!  Once that had been decided cooking the dish was super simple.  This was definitely another recipe that implicitly began with "buy a food processor".

Cutting up the brussels sprouts would take forever otherwise!  Other than that, pretty simply - saute until done.

Tomato paella

This recipe makes a fair amount of paella - you have been warned!  I would say this serves at least 8 people (depending on how hungry those people are I guess)

The recipe, in American measurements, is here.  There is also an article here and there was a video on itunes.

Paella is pretty simple, rice, spices and topping - tomatoes in this case.  Then I fried some pancetta so it was crispy for me and some chorizo for G just to make it extra delicious!

Served with salad of course...

Layered vegetable torte

As Mark Bittman admitted in his NY times article about this dish, it's not very 'minimalist'.  By this, he, and I, mean that it requires a bit of time and some care in presentation is needed.

We did our vegetables on the BBQ - faster as we could do more at once.

Then it was simply a matter of layering it all into a springform pan, sprinkling with breadcrumbs and parmesan and baking for 30 minutes

And because we already had the BBQ on, we decided to serve this with sausages

Do you want to make it?  Recipe here.

Zucca's orange and olive salad

This is delicious, but not a meal - more like a side (interesting) salad, and the recipe can be found here.

I pulled out my food processor (which I love) for the olive tapenade, and replaced rosemary for the thyme in the recipe and I served it with a chicken and broccollini stir-fry:

I would say this is one of Mark Bittman's more attractive recipes, though technically it is not his - he 'borrowed' it from his favourite restaurant (and fully attributes it).

Hainan chicken

Mark Bittman calls this Hainan Chicken (from the Hainan area in China), but I have eaten this in Singapore as Chicken Rice and it probably has some other names too!

It required a fair amount of time to prepare and put this together, but not that much work.  A lot of the time is just waiting (for the chicken to poach).

Poach a whole chicken and then tear it up:

then do pour hot peanut and sesame oil on grated garlic, ginger and chopped spring onions and chilli:

mix together:

Amazingly delicious!

Recipe here, but there are probably hundreds of other recipes out there!

Jean-george's fried rice

I do love fried rice - I make Bill Granger's Thai Fried Rice regularly - onion, vegies, fish sauce, rice and an egg.  It's pretty simple, and delicious.

Even simpler is Jean-George's fried rice - courtesy of Mark Bittman and cooked by G (recipe). Rice, ginger, garlics, leek topped with a sunny side up egg.  Of course, no meal is complete without vegetables in my house, so G kindly served it with some stir fried greens/mushrooms:

Topped with the egg:

Egg noodles in soy broth

Wow - this recipe takes 'quick and easy dinner' to the extreme.  Practically no cooking, practically no ingredients... but of course I had to make it a more rounded meal and add salad!

Anyway, you make a broth that tastes good to you using tomato paste, soy sauce, pepper, vinegar/mirin, sesame oil and chilli and then you throw in some cooked egg noodles (hokkien noodles).  Though if you want to follow the recipe you can.

Top with spring onion.  Done.

Lamb meatballs (but not as dolmades)

Mark Bittman gives 2 options with these - serve as meatballs, or turn into dolmades.  I took the first option, and served it with zucchini spagetti.

Instead of breadcrumbs the recipe calls for burghur (which is known in burghul at my supermarket), which has been soaked in hot water, some onion, some herbs and some lamb.

Recipe here and my photo:

Of course, meatballs are a bit messy to make - which is what G is for!  He put his (clean) hands into the bowl to mix and then roll the meatballs out.

Tomato romesco sauce

When Mark Bittman made this sauce, he put it on tri tip steak.  I did not.  To see him make the sauce and cook the steak, have a look at the video here.

Of course, you still have to watch the video if you want to make the sauce to put with something else!  I chose to put it with spagetti and diced skinless, spicy, beef sausages:

Again, not a delicious looking picture, but a delicious dinner!

The tomato sauce is mainly tomatoes and almonds - a delicious texture that you should try yourself.

Jamie's parmesan chicken

Jamie Oliver did a guest appearance on The Minimalist - I got the impression that Jamie is not that famous in America, but here in Australia he doesn't need a surname!  Video here and you can get the recipe from it too.

What you want the end product to look like:

Super moist, cooked through, crispy chicken. 

It's a pretty simple:

• pile the chicken chicken with herbs, citrus zest and parmesan
• cover with prosciutto
• cover the whole thing with gladwrap
• bang it so it is all the same thickness (around 1cm, it will contract as it cooks)

Oh, and serve with some of the leftover lemon mayo from the blue eye with a sundried tomato crust!

Pasta with chicken, risotto style

Mark Bittman's recipe and column, and of course, you can get the video through itunes.

It's a really good idea - particularly for someone who *can't* make risotto, however it is not the most attractive meal I have put on a plate, so ugly that I didn't take a photo of it, sorry!

Anyway, it's pretty easy to make, and definitely tasty.  Basically cook the pasta as though you are cooking risotto (keep adding stock bit by bit, rather than adding all the liquid at once).

To combat the greyness of the recipe, I added about half a cup of diced fresh tomato and a lot of chopped parsley - I personally prefer flat leaf to curly.

Chorizo with chickpeas

I don't particularly like chickpeas, or many legumes to be honest, and I think it's mainly because of the texture.  I do not like mush (overcooked beans and peas, bananas, weetbix) and to me, legumes = mush.

Mark Bittman really sold this recipe to me on the basis that it would be crispy more than mushy - and he was telling the truth!

I think I used more spinach than was required, and I cheated and used the frozen kind!

The concept is simple, as it is in most Bittman recipes, fry chickpeas, add chorizo and fry some more then remove from the pan.  Cook the spinach down with some sherry then thrown the chickpea/chorizo mix back in, toss together and serve.

Recipe here.

Introducing The Minimalist, Mark Bittman

Mark Bittman writes a column called 'Bitten' for the New York Times.  He also vodcasts 'The Minimalist' - videos of him making some of the recipes he blogs about.  Of course, he has his own website too.

My take on his philosophy is that cooking can be inexpensive and easy, yet still delicious and impressive if necessary.  He really encourages you to use what you have got, and swap ingredients where necessary.  Most of his recipes have very few ingredients, and nothing that is too weird (although some of the chillis he uses are impossible to find in Australia, however, that is not his fault - he uses Mexican/South American chillis that we don't have access to in Australia).  He is also a proponent of keeping a well stocked pantry, and buying the best quality ingredients you can get, you just use less of them if necessary.

He blogs regularly and makes his dishes sound easily achievable.  The vodcasts really add to my experience of Mr Bittman - the dishes look so delicious, and so simple to make.  He tempts me to try dishes that contain ingredients I would not otherwise enjoy (eg chickpeas).  On the topic of his vodcasts, there is mixed opinion about the introductions.  I personally enjoy them and look forward to seeing a new one, whereas other people think they are a waste of time - judge for yourself!

Instead of cooking from a book for the next little while, I will be trying out some of Mark Bittman's recipes.