Parsley soup

Another recipe from Rick Stein's Food Heroes.

Use curly parsley, chop parsley roughly.

Melt butter in a pan and add the parsley and chopped leeks. Gently fry the vegetables, add potatoes and add light chicken stock. I guess this could be a vegetable stock or even water. Simmer.

While the soup is simmering mix chives and cream*.

Add fresh parsley in the last minute of cooking and liquidize the soup in a food processor.

Back into the pan, add double cream, salt and black pepper. Serve with a spoon of chives-cream in the soup.

*) Stein doesn't say what kind of cream. It's quite difficult to buy good fatty cream in The Netherlands.

**) See above. Double cream is not available in The Netherlands. Slagroom is not fatty enough.

Freshly shelled peas

If I had my own garden I would certainly grow my own peas. It's August and they are in season, and so are button (pearl) onions.

Shell 500 gram peas.



Cut dry cured ham in small pieces. Best would be Parmaham. I opted for a less expensive Dutch smoked bacon. Quite different in taste, very smokey, but it's a good combination as well.



Peal button onions.



Fry the button onions in two tablespoons of olive oil until slightly brown. Then add two tablespoons of water and simmer the onions with the lid closed for 5 minutes until just tender.



Add another two tablespoons of olive oil, garlic (sliced) and the ham or bacon. Fry for a couple of minutes.



Add the fresh peas, salt and plenty of black pepper and simmer for 15 minutes.



Chop a bunch of fresh parsley.



Stir in the parsley two minutes before the end of cooking.



Serve with bread.

Wild greens omelette

Also from Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escape (Corfu).

Fry some leek rings in a pan and add fresh greens (anything which is on hand, like: dandelions, spinach, rucola). Simmer until the greens are soft.

Break eggs in a bowl. Add the greens, cheese and some coarsely chopped dill and mint. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook in the oven in a non-stick shallow pan for 45 minutes.

Serve with fresh tomatoes, red onion slices and white wine.

Spicy tomato sauce (for cold poached fish)

From Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escape, episode 2 (Sardinia).

Fry one onion and a few cloves of garlic in olive oil in a sauté pan. Add a few bay leafs, crumble some dried chilies and add a handful of parsley. Add a can of plumb tomatoes, plenty of salt and raisins (for an Arabian flavor). Season with red wine vinegar.

Cut the onion very finely.

In the program this sauce was served cold with poached fish (skate wings, skin peeled off after poaching in salted water).



But it's also a perfect sauce for hot pasta.

Ladolemono (Olive Oil and Lemon Sauce)

120 ml extra-virgin olive oil
120 ml fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

Simply mix the ingredients.

A classic Greek sauce used on grilled meats, vegetables, and fish.