PAPER CHEF 20

I just can’t resist, I have to participate in this months Paper Chef before I leave, it’s the 20th edition and Owen of Tomatilla is holding the reins again! The ingredients are cherries, peaches, a new herb and the forth is something hot and for once I actually had them all at home or at least close to home. The new herb caused me a bit of thinking but as we are lucky enough to live in the countryside where a lot of herbs are actually growing wild in the fields and sometimes even in my garden. I went out to take a look and I decided to go for a herb called Nepitella in Italian and Lesser Calamint or Catmint in English because I have strangely enough cooked so little with it that it can definitely be called new in my kitchen. I started out making one dish but then I thought that it was far too easy so I went for a small menu with all of the ingredients in each and every dish and it was surprisingly easy to come up with them, it was bit like when you do a crossword, sometimes you just need one word and everything follows!

I started with the making of a hot syrup that was going to be used in two of the dishes. I made two portions of everything .


Hot syrup

200 ml / 0,85 cup water
6 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger
1- 1 ½ tsp freshly chopped hot chili pepper

- Mix the ingredients and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.


Then I proceed with the preparations.

Marinated peaches and cherries

1 large peach
10 cherries

- Cut the fruit in pieces and put them in the syrup.
- Divide the fruit and the syrup, 1/3 you put in a small pan and 2/3 you leave to marinate for at least two hour.

Peach and cherry ‘chutney’

1/3 of the fruit in hot syrup

- Simmer the fruit in the syrup until it has got the consistency of chutney or jam. Mash the fruit while it simmers.




CROSTINI WITH PECORINO SARDO, NEPITELLA AND ‘CHUTNEY’ MADE WITH PEACHES AND CHERRIES

Small slices of bread
Thickish slices of Sardinian pecorino
Chopped nepitella
Peach and cherry ‘chutney’

- Put slices of cheese on each crostino and sprinkle the chopped nepitella over.
- Grill the crostini under the grill until the cheese begins to melt and the bread begins to be golden.
- Take them out and spoon some chutney on top of each crostino before serving.




On to the small main course:

RICE TIMBALE WITH PRAWNS IN HOT PEACH AND CHERRY SALSA

8-10 biggish shrimps or prawns
200 ml / 0,85 cup rice
1 large peach
10 cherries
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 1 ½ tsp freshly chopped hot chili
1 tsp chopped nepitella
10 tbsp fresh tomato sauce
Salt
Olive oil

- Cook the rice.
- Chop the fruit finely and braise it in olive oil together with the chili and the garlic for 1 minute before you add the tomato sauce and the nepitella. Let it cook for maximum 5 minutes and add some water if it dries up.
- Press the rice into small form that you have greased beforehand and turn them upside-down on the plates they are being served on and take off the form.
- Add the prawns to the salsa 1 minute before it’s ready.
- Dress the rice timbale with the salsa and then the prawns and serve it.




And to finish a smooth semolina mousse topped with the spicy fruit:

SEMOLINA MOUSSE WITH GINGER AND CHILI MARINATED PEACHES AND CHERRIES

3 ½ tbsp semolina
400 ml / 1,7 cup milk
2 tbsp sugar
100 ml / 0,42 cup fresh cream
Chopped nepitella

- Put milk, semolina and sugar in a pan and bring to boil. Let it simmer until it has become a cream. Leave it to cool down, preferably in the fridge.
- Whip the cream and mix it carefully with the semolina cream when it has cooled down.
- Fill small bowls with the semolina mousse and top them up with the marinated fruit, the chopped nepitella and some of the syrup.

Thanks Owen, I had a lot of fun in the kitchen because of your Paper Chef!