Technicolor Kitchen - English version

Hello everyone, long time no see. Ages ago I decided to be honest with myself and accept the fact that I no longer had time to write on this blog, unfortunately – I can barely update the one in Portuguese. But with these crazy, uncertain times we are living I thought I should ask you how it has been for you.

This is my third week isolated, went out only once to buy groceries. How is it going for you? I miss my nephew, miss going to work and to the gym, miss buying things like fresh veg whenever I want to, miss going to the movies. But I know I am privileged and one of the lucky people who can work from home and I have food on my table.

I have been cooking a lot, trying to make everything stretch as much as possible to avoid unnecessary trips to the grocery store. I also try to make each batch of food last for at least 2 meals. I have baked bread, but no sweets: my husband does not like them, and I don’t want to eat everything myself.

I made this soup earlier this week and it was enough for 2 dinners – my husband loves soup and if he wasn’t so eager to eat it the soup would have probably lasted for 3 meals. :D It is a riff on another soup I make regularly. I hope you like this recipe and I also hope to hear from you. xx

Quarantine vegetable soup
own recipe, a riff on this one

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
½ large onion, finely chopped
1 leek, light part only, finely sliced
1/3 cup finely diced celery - I used frozen, unthawed
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 ripe tomato, deseeded and chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and diced
3 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large courgette, diced
boiling water, enough to cover the vegetables (about 1,5 liters, but it will depend on the size of your saucepan)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
150g frozen spinach, unthawed - here in Brazil that would be 5 portions

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until transparent, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes. Add the leek and cook for 1 minute. Add the celery and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes – if you use frozen, like me, cook for 4 minutes, because it will cool the bottom of the saucepan slightly. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant – do not let it burn or it will taste bitter.

Add the tomato and a pinch of salt and cook until it is mushy. Add the carrots, potatoes and courgette and stir to combine. Cover with boiling water, season with salt and pepper and add the bay leaves. When the soup comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover partially and cook until vegetables are tender, 25-30 minutes – this will depend on the size you cut them; I test the carrots and if they are tender the soup is ready.
Turn off the heat and with an immersion blender, blitz the soup for a couple of seconds – you want the mixture to be half chunky, half smooth. Add the spinach and stir slowly, until it defrosts and gets mixed into the soup – this will cool the soup a little bit and make it ready to serve.

Serves 5-6

Days ago I was watching a clip about the last Berlinale in which there were a few interviews with directors and actors, and that included The Lost City of Z cast.

There was a lot – A LOT – of screaming when Robert Pattinson hit the red carpet and I truly cannot understand why someone would go crazy over him like that while Charlie Hunnam was on the very same red carpet. :)

That made me think of this soup I made a while ago, using chayote. I find chayote so bland – Robert Pattinson-kind-of-bland – that I rarely use it in recipes, but it worked well in the soup, combined with other veggies. The addition of white beans makes it hearty and fulfilling, perfect for cold nights, and any leftovers can be kept tightly covered in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Chayote, carrot and white bean soup
own recipe

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ tablespoon olive oil
1 celery stick, finely chopped
1 leek, light green part only, finely sliced
½ large onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 ripe tomato, deseeded and diced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 chayote, peeled and diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 potato, peeled and diced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cups (960ml) hot vegetable stock – homemade is better ;)
2 cups (480ml) hot water
2 bay leaves
2 thyme sprigs
1 ½ cups (250g) canned white beans, drained and rinsed

In a large saucepan, heat the butter and olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the celery, leek and onion and cook, stirring every now and then, until softened. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the tomato and cook for about 2 minutes or until tomato starts to dissolve. Stir in the tomato paste, cook for 1 minute, then add the chayote, carrot and potato. Cook for 3-4 minutes, season with salt and pepper and add the stock and the water, followed by the bay leaves and the thyme. When mixture comes to a boil, cover it partially, turn down the heat and cook for 30-40 minutes or until vegetables are soft.

Remove from the heat. Remove the bay leaves and the thyme from the soup, then blitz it with a hand mixer until partially chunky (or to taste). Add the beans and take soup back to the heat just until beans are heated through.

Serves 6

Caponata is something I ate a lot growing up, but never knew the real name – my grandmother used to make it all the time, especially when there were a lot of people to feed, and she served it with bread or on small toasts, canapé style. I loved it and would ask her to make it again and again – I used to call it “my grandma’s eggplant dish”, having no idea it was such a staple of Italian cuisine.

It took me forever to make caponata myself, maybe because it has always been something so attached to my grandma’s cooking, but my husband asked me to make it and I decided to give it a go, especially after going through some of my books and finding a recipe by Andrew Carmellini on one of my favorite cookbooks – it is his the most delicious gnocchi I’ve ever made, and I ate at both Lafayette and Locanda Verde when I was in NYC, so I trust the guy. ;)

Andrew’s caponata is very easy to put together and it tastes great, not to mention it benefits from a day of two in the fridge – I’m all for making things in advance, so this recipe has become part of my repertoire and I hope it becomes part of yours, too.

Caponata
slightly adapted from the delicious Urban Italian: Simple Recipes and True Stories from a Life in Food

1/3 cup (80ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 red onion, diced large
1 yellow pepper, diced large
1 Italian eggplant, diced large
3 stalks of celery, diced large
1 zucchini, diced large
½ teaspoon table salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
1 400g (14oz) can chopped peeled tomatoes
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons thyme leaves
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar – I used sherry vinegar

Heat olive oil in a large saucepot over high heat. Add the onion, pepper and eggplant. When the vegetables have softened a bit (about 5 minutes), add the celery and zucchini. Season with half the salt and black pepper. Mix the ingredients together and continue to cook.

After ten 10 minutes, add the red pepper flakes and garlic. Cover and reduce the heat to medium, and let the steam roast the vegetables for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, until vegetables are soft but not falling apart and the tomatoes are well incorporated. Mix in the balsamic vinegar and cook for 2 minutes.

Remove the saucepot from the heat, add the thyme and season with remaining salt and pepper (add more salt to taste if necessary). Mix in vinegar.

The caponata can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days (I thought it tasted better the day after it was made).

Serves 8-10

I’ve always believed that one’s love for food is a growing thing: the more you eat, the more you love food (if it is good, obviously).

My sister, for instance, grew up eating different kinds of food, from salads to cake, and nowadays she is not afraid to try something new – she might not like it, but at least she’ll give it a try before saying no. I like to think that she got that from me, that I played an important part in the past so she hasn’t become a picky adult.

My husband, on the other hand, was picky for many, many years and I’m glad he’s been leaving that behind. I’m glad it’s been a natural thing for him and that I have never forced anything – I think that’s the kind of discovery worth doing on one’s own.

I will say, however, that cooking is nowadays much more pleasant.

He’s come from “I don’t like fish” and “is there cilantro in this???” to making suggestions to recipes: as I flipped through Carluccio's cookbook the other day, I showed him a beautiful photo of spaghetti with a vegetable sauce (I’m not the only visual person in the family), then waited for his reaction – he said “that looks good – why don’t you add some cherry tomatoes to it?”

That coming from the guy who used to avoid tomatoes of all kinds like the plague. :)

So I made the pasta and followed Joao’s suggestion, but roasted the cherry tomatoes till they were soft and tender – that way they would mingle with the spaghetti better. His idea was pretty delicious, I have to say. :)

Wholemeal pasta with vegetable sauce
slightly adapted from the wonderful Pasta: The Essential New Collection from the Master of Italian Cookery

200g cherry tomatoes
extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
salt and freshly ground black pepper
300g dried wholemeal spaghetti
handful fresh basil leaves, torn
60g parmesan, freshly grated

Sauce:
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
4 fat garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and very finely chopped
2 celery stalks, very finely chopped
4 medium ripe tomatoes, seeds removed, finely chopped

Preheat the grill in the oven. Cut the cherry tomatoes lengthwise and place them cut side up onto a baking sheet. Drizzle with the extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill for about 10 minutes or until soft. Set aside.

In the meantime, make the sauce: heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry all the vegetables until soft, 10-15 minutes – season with salt and pepper halfway through the cooking time.

Cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water for about 8–10 minutes (follow the instructions on the packet), or until al dente. Drain, save some of the cooking water, and mix the spaghetti with the sauce, basil and parmesan (the cheese will make the sauce creamier) – add a bit of the cooking water if necessary. Transfer to warmed plates, top with the cherry tomatoes and serve at once.

Serves 4