Iberian memories…

I had a very busy Saturday…first up on air with Phil and Graeme. Phil asked me to come up with some recipes using corn and beans…after a bit of brain storming we decided on a Portugese-Spanish feel, so sardines had to be on the menu. Fresh sardines, (a thousand times better tasting than canned sardines) evoke memories of my backpacking days in the Algarve, Portugal.

After the radio show, I rushed to Casino for their annual garden & flower show, to do a cooking dem in their retro Civic Hall…big day but as always I had fun. Here are the recipes from ABC north coast Good Gardening show. Enjoy!

Sardines with a Green sauce

Serves 4

8 sardines, butterflied

flour for coating

salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

vegetable oil, for shallow frying

1/2 cup flat leaf parsley

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 lemon quartered

Place flour onto a dinner plate and season with salt and pepper. Coat the fish (do this just before you are about to cook, otherwise the flour will go soggy) shaking off any excess flour.

Heat oil in a large frying pan and shallow-fry the fish on a high heat for a minute each side, or until crisp and golden.

To make the green sauce, in a small food processor or hand held blender, whiz the parsley, garlic, oil until well combined and season well.

Serve the sardines with the green sauce, a wedges of lemon, corn cobs and salsa.

Green Bean & Capsicum salsa

2 red capsicums

2 ripe tomatoes, halved, seeded, finely chopped

1 small red onion, finely chopped

olive oil for brushing

150gms green beans, top, tailed and blanched

1 red chilli, seeds removed and finely diced

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

juice of 1 lime

salt and pepper

Preheat a barbecue grill or char-grill pan on medium-high heat. Add the capsicums and cook for 2-3 minutes each side or until tender and charred and blistered. Transfer to a heatproof bowl, cover with a cling wrap (this helps lift the skin) and set aside until cool enough to handle. Peel and finely chop flesh.

Lightly brush hot barbecue or char–grill with olive oil and cook the blanched beans for 2-3 minutes turning often.

Combine the capsicum, tomatoes, beans, onion, pine nuts, lime juice and season with salt and pepper.

Salt and lime pepper barbecued corncobs with chilli butter

4 corn on the cobs, in their husks with silk removed

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

2 teaspoons salt

50mls lime-juice

100g butter, softened

2 teaspoons sambal oelek (chilli paste)

 

Soak the corncobs in a large bowl of water for 1 hour.

Heat a barbecue on high heat, remove corn from water and shake off any excess water. Place corn with husks onto the barbecue, reduce heat to medium and cover with lid and cook for 30 minutes or until corn kernels are softened, turning often.
While the corn is cooking, combine pepper, salt and lime juice and set aside.

Combine the butter and sambal oelek, set aside.

Place the cooked corn onto a serving plate, smother the butter over the corn and spoon over the lime pepper and serve.