Pesto

When you have fresh basil, it is hard to resist making a pesto. This is the basic recipe, though you can vary it according to your taste.

Makes about one cup of pesto.

4-5 cups fresh basil leaves

½ cup olive oil

⅓ cup pine nuts

2-3 garlic cloves

¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

¼ cup freshly grated Pecorino, Sardo or another hard flavorful cheese

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

• Combine first 4 ingredients in food processor or blender.
• Blend until a paste is formed, stopping often to push down basil.
• Add the cheeses and salt and blend until smooth.

If you are not going to use to pesto immediately, blend the first four ingredients and freeze.  Then, when you want to use it the pesto, defrost, add the cheese and salt and blend again.

Serve the pesto on the pasta of your choice, use as a dip, or drizzle it over fresh boiled potatoes or on grilled vegetables.

Variants: some recipes call for the addition of 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Others call for you to blanche the basil (put it into boiling water for about 30 seconds), remove immediately and drain well, squeezing out as much of the water as possible. (This is supposed to keep the basil bright green.)

Spaghetti Bolognese (Italian)

This has been such a staple of my household for so many years, I hardly think of how I make it. Today (because I got really nice ground beef from “Fatman”, the best butcher in my area of Kabul), I made it for my colleagues in UNHCR Guesthouse Echo – not the purist recipe, but extremely tasty.

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 medium sized onions, also chopped fine

1 kilo lean ground beef

10 fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 tin (approx.15 ounces) tomatoes, chopped or whole

1 – 1½ cups tomato sauce

4-6 tablespoons tomato paste

1 green or red sweet bell pepper (chopped fine)

½  - ¾ cup chopped mushrooms

1 tablespoon dried basil (or a bunch of fresh basil leaves, shredded)

1 tablespoon dried thyme (or a bunch of fresh thyme, chopped fine)

1 tablespoon dried oregano (or a bunch of fresh oregano, chopped fine)

(Alternatively, instead of basil, thyme and oregano, you can use “herbes de province” – 2-3 tablespoons)

1-2 bay leaves

½ hot dry red pepper

Sea salt

Lemon pepper and/or freshly ground black pepper

1 glass red wine

Spaghetti, spaghettini or tagliatelle (1 pound box)

Freshly grated parmesan cheese

• Over a medium hot fire, stir fry the garlic in the olive oil, being careful not to burn it. 
•  Add the onion, and sauté until soft (1-2 minutes)
• Add the mushrooms and green/red sweet pepper and sauté for another 3-4 minutes.
• Turn up the heat to high and add the ground beef, and cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is well browned.
• Add the herbs and stir fry for another minute or two.
• Add the fresh chopped tomatoes and mix well with the meat.
• Add the tinned tomatoes and mix well.
• Add the tomato paste, and mix well.
• Add the red wine, turn the fire to medium and continue to stir so everything is well mixed
• Add salt and pepper.
• You have to taste and see if you are happy with the combination of flavours. You might want to add more herbs, more hot pepper, more tomato paste, or salt or black pepper.
• Turn the heat to low, cover and simmer for an hour or longer. Make sure the sauce is not drying out or burning. You might need to a little water, or more wine.
• serve over spaghetti, spaghettini, or tagliatelli cooked al dente, with Parmesan cheese.

That is my recipe. However, on the web, I found the following recipe for the “perfect Bolognese” – from TheTelegraph,  Saturday 18 May 2013.

Serves four people

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 rashers of streaky 'pancetta' bacon, chopped

2 large onions, chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed

2 carrots, chopped

Stick of celery

1kilogram / 2¼ pounds lean minced beef

2 large glasses of red wine

2 x 400 gram cans chopped tomatoes

2 fresh or dried bay leaves

salt and freshly ground black pepper

800 grams -1 kilogram / 1¾-2¼ pounds dried tagliatelle

freshly grated parmesan cheese, to serve 

• Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan and fry the bacon until golden over a medium heat. 
• Add the onions and garlic, frying until softened. 
• Increase the heat and add the minced beef. Fry it until it has browned. 
• Pour in the wine and boil until it has reduced in volume by about a third. 
• Reduce the temperature and stir in the tomatoes and celery. 
• Cover with a lid and simmer over a gentle heat for 1-1½ hours until it is rich and thickened, stirring occasionally. 
• Cook the tagliatelle in plenty of boiling salted water.
• Drain and divide between plates. Sprinkle a little parmesan over the pasta before adding a good ladleful of the sauce. 
• Finish with a further scattering of cheese and a twist of black pepper.

Fig Jam

In August 2002, when I lived in Podgorica, Montenegro, I had several fig trees around my house. So I tried out these jam recipes and gave jam to all my neighbours. Since I could find no place to buy Mason jars, my biggest challenge was to boil jars that previously held ajvar (a red pepper purée), tomato paste or pickles long enough to kill all odours and traces of their former contents. 

Recipe provided by Silvia Lavagnoli’s mother in Verona

1 kilogram fresh figs

400 grams sugar

juice of one lemon

rind of one lemon

• Choose figs that are ripe but firm. Peel and quarter.
• Layer them in a large bowl with sugar, lemon rind and lemon juice.
• Leave them stand in bowl for 12 hours. (Lots of liquid will come out of the figs. The mixture will become very soupy.)
• Simmer in a heavy pot over a low fire for about 2 hours, until the syrup holds its shape when poured onto a spoon.
• Pour into sterilized glass jars.
• After the jars are sealed, turn them over and allow them to cool that way.

Fig Sesame Jam

One I found on the web, tried and liked. Makes 3½ cups

1¼ cup sugar

¾ cup water

2 pounds firm ripe figs, trimmed and quartered

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 strips of fresh lemon zest (strips 3 inches  x 1 inch)

¼ cup sesame seeds, toasted.*

• Simmer sugar and water in a large heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
• Gently stir in figs, zest and lemon juice and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, 1¾ to 2 hours, until thick and syrupy. 
• Gently stir in sesame seeds. 
• This jam keeps covered and chilled for about a month.

* Toast seeds in dry heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring until fragrant and a shade or two darker. Or toast in a shallow baking pan in a 350º F oven, for 5 to 10 minutes.