fresh basil Archives | National Dish

Italian pesto crusted Cod with Asparagus in Parma ham | Bacalao con pesto y espárragos en jamón de Parma | What is the national dish of Italy?

Wayne @NationalDish — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 11:41:09 +0000

Italian pesto cod with asparagus in Parma ham, poached egg and Rocket and Parmesan salad – uhhhhhh
Photograph: Wayne Morgan – nationaldish.co.uk © 2017

Pesto is as Italian as it comes, it’s lovely stirred through pasta, but we don’t eat that shit here. Spread it on a chunky cod fillet, you won’t miss the heavy carb.

Serve it with another couple of classic Italian treats, Parma ham, wrapped around asparagus spears and rocket and Parmesan salad.

Bacalao con pesto y espárragos en jamón de Parma | Italian pesto crusted Cod with Asparagus in Parma ham

I'm focusing on the main event here, the pesto cod. You can access the recipes for the sides on the site, links above. For the pesto you can use a mortar and pestle, I used an electric hand blender, because it's quicker, obvs.

CourseMain Dish
CuisineItalian

Servings2 people

Prep Time25 minutes

Cook Time20 minutes

Ingredients

2chunky fillets of codskinless and boneless
2 eggs
1large bunch fresh basil
1handful pine nutsgrab a frying pan too
100grams parmesan cheesefinely grated
2cloves garliccrushed
100ml olive oilextra virgin, preferably Sicilian
1pinch sea salt flakes
1pinch ground black pepper
1optional green chilliroughly chopped

Instructions

Put the pan on a medium high heat and roast off the pine nuts - bit of colour, don't let them catch. Also, put the kettle on and the oven on 220.
Add all the other ingredients, except the cod, eggs, chilli and seasoning to your hand blender pot and then add the pine nuts.
Blend it up and taste, now very carefully season with salt and add the chilli - another quick blitz.
Rub a little olive oil on to your cod and season with salt and place in a suitable sized roasting tray. Smother the top side in the pesto - don't be shy.
Whack in the oven for 15 mins. This is your time to sort the side dishes too.
Get a pan boiling salted water (from the kettle) on the hob to poach the eggs 1 minute from end.
Serve it up, slice the soft poached egg - people tend to lose their shit over this sort of thing...for good reason.
Thank you Italy.
Grazie

The post Italian pesto crusted Cod with Asparagus in Parma ham | Bacalao con pesto y espárragos en jamón de Parma | What is the national dish of Italy? appeared first on National Dish.

Spanish Cod with Chorizo, Tomato and Butter Beans | Bacalao con chorizo en tomate y frijol de mantequilla | What is the national dish of Spain?

Wayne @NationalDish — Tue, 02 May 2017 21:45:27 +0000

Spanish chorizo, cod, tomato and butter bean one pot.
Photograph: Wayne Morgan – nationaldish.co.uk © 2017

Fish, in this case Cod with Chorizo, is a big part of Spanish cuisine, you only need to read up on the exploits of Spanish fishing boats to know that, but in addition to that, a huge proportion of the fish caught in the North Sea is sold to Spain – and for good reason – they make it taste brilliant.

This is a meal in one, and absent of any of those devilish starchy carbs, nothing wrong with pulses, especially when they are Butter Beans and are accompanied with Chorizo, oh yeah…

Bacalao con chorizo en tomate y frijol de mantequilla | Spanish Chorizo with Cod, Butter Beans and Tomato One Pot

If you have a pan that you can also put in the over, grab it, if not, get a shallow oven proof dish and a frying pan.

CourseMain Dish
CuisineSpanish

Servings2 people

Prep Time10 minutes

Cook Time30 minutes

Ingredients

2fillets codskin on is best
1medium red onionchopped
1glass white wineI used white Rioja
2tsp paprika powder
2tsp chilli powderuse one finely chopped fresh red chilli if you like
1bunch fresh basilchop the talks and pick the leaves - keep separate
1/2tin chopped tomatoes
1/2tin butter beans
2cloves garlicthinly sliced, finely chopped or crushed - your call
1/2ring chorizo sausagepeeled and cut in to small bite size chunks
1 lemon
1handful spinach leaves

Instructions

Put the oven on to 240 and the pan on to medium high heat with a little oil. Add the Chorizo and gently fry until it starts to take on colour and all the orange paprika juices have run out. Remove the Chorizo ad set aside.
Add to the juices the onion, garlic, basil stalks and a pinch of salt, fry until soft and then add the paprika and chilli powder, stir.
After a couple of minutes add the wine and chopped tomatoes and bring to the boil. Once it has thickened, taste and season, carefully, with salt and pepper.
Pour the mixture over your Chorizo in the oven proof dish or add the Chorizo back to the pan and add the spinach leaves and mix.
Grab the cod, which should be dry, rub a little oil all over it and season with salt. Then make a little space and place it in to the sauce, touching the bottom of the pan, skin side up - don't let any of the sauce get on to the skin. Squeeze a quarter of a lemon's juice and place two further quarters in to the sauce, skin down - they will caramelise.
Pop it in to the oven for 15 minutes, at which point the fish should be cooked through and the skin a golden brown.
Removes the caramelised lemons with tongs and squeeze, throw the basil leaves over the top and serve with a cold glass of the white Rioja.
Thank you Spain

Gracias

The post Spanish Cod with Chorizo, Tomato and Butter Beans | Bacalao con chorizo en tomate y frijol de mantequilla | What is the national dish of Spain? appeared first on National Dish.

Italian tomato, mozzarella and basil salad | Insalata Caprese | What is the national dish of Italy?

Wayne @NationalDish — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 15:43:26 +0000

The English name of a Caprese salad is pretty much the recipe – tomato, mozzarella and basil
Photograph: Wayne Morgan – nationaldish.co.uk © 2017

This is so quick and easy it almost feels criminal to get so much flavour out of it, not only that, it’s stunning to look at.

This dish really pays off with a high quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil, such as Sicilian – you want it almost luminous, uhhhhhh

Insalata Caprese | Salad of Capri | Tomato, mozzarella and basil salad

This is the base recipe, you also have options. I've listed it as a 10 minute job, if it takes you longer than that there's something wrong with you.

CourseSalad, Side Dish
CuisineItalian

Servings2 people

Prep Time10 mins

Ingredients

3very ripe fresh tomatoesas red as is possible
1bunch fresh basilget the little plants, the fresher the better and pick the leaves
1medium buffalo mozzarella
1good glug olive oiltry to use Italian and must be extra virgin
1tbls sea salt flakesyou decide how much, carefully
1tbls ground black pepperagain, this is your call

Instructions

Chop the tomatoes in half and remove the core and then chop into segment. Optional - this salad is often served sliced, so slice them if you want.
Slice the mozzarella, just lest then a centimetre thick or just tear it into bitesizes pieces.
Add both to a bowl and dress with the salt and pepper and a little of the oil and dress 'gently'
Serve on to a plate and sprinkle the leaves over the top and then add a tiny pinch, from height, of salt and pepper and then thumb over the olive oil bottle, drizzle. Optional - you can add some balsamic vinegar too, personally I think it overpowers the natural flavours too much.
That's it, serve - thank you Italy

Grazia

The post Italian tomato, mozzarella and basil salad | Insalata Caprese | What is the national dish of Italy? appeared first on National Dish.

fresh basil Archives | National Dish

Italian pesto crusted Cod with Asparagus in Parma ham | Bacalao con pesto y espárragos en jamón de Parma | What is the national dish of Italy?

Spanish Cod with Chorizo, Tomato and Butter Beans | Bacalao con chorizo ​​en tomate y frijol de mantequilla | What is the national dish of Spain?

Italian tomato, mozzarella and basil salad | Insalata Caprese | What is the national dish of Italy?

Spanish Cod with Chorizo, Tomato and Butter Beans | Bacalao con chorizo en tomate y frijol de mantequilla | What is the national dish of Spain?