The Friday fancy food feature

I finally ate some of my homegrown tomatoes last night, and not blow my own flugel horn, they were delicious. Here are some pictures of the preparation of our meal and brief summary of the recipe*, just in case anyone reading this has watched one too many episodes of Blue Peter and feels compelled to try this at home!


The homegrown ingredients:
Cherry tomatoes (roughly one pint), a handful of basil and a good sized bunch of parsley.

And here's (almost) everthing else you need for rather tasty little meal for two:
Half a pound of green beans, one fresh mozarella ball (ideally buffala), two New York strip steaks (just under half a pound each) and a bottle of Vacqueyras "Cuvee de vieille vignes" 2000 (Or your favourite full-bodied red wine).
Not pictured: Three cloves of garlic, a handful of pine nuts, olive oil, basalmic vinegar, salt and pepper.


Insalata caprese


Open the wine and pour a glass. Drink some wine. Cut the mozarella into 1/4inch slices and arrange on the plate any bloody way you like. Halve the tomatoes and add them to the plate with whimsy worthy of a well-minced woofter. Tear the basil into small pieces and scatter them on top in a poncey fashion. Drizzle olive oil and basalmic vinegar over the salad and spinkle with lots of fresh ground black pepper and course sea-salt. Admire your salad. Have a sip of wine. Look at the salad again, select a particularly yummy-looking tomato and eat it. Have another sip of wine.


Bistecca alla grillia sopra fagolini tegame con olio, algio e pinoni

Top up your wine and then have a sip. Rub the steak with a clove of garlic sliced in half then drizzle a little olive oil over each side of the steak and rub it in. Season each side well with fresh ground pepper and salt. Time for some more wine, don't you think? Light the grill and leave the steak at room temp. while the grill heats up - this should take around 20-30 mins. Use this time to consume wine liberally. Of course, you could also eat your salad at this point too. Next, steam the beans for 5 mins, and then set them aside. Add the olive oil, pine nuts (coarsely chopped - they are even better if you can be bothered to toast them first) two crushed cloves of garlic and the parsley (finely chopped) to a frying pan over a medium heat. Take a sip of wine. Allow the garlic to cook for a minute or two (but not to brown) and then add the beans. Mix well, remove from the heat and keep them covered in a warm oven. Take another sip of wine and try to find the grill. Don't forget to take the wine with you. Grill the steak to desired temp. and then return to the kitchen - or whereever you were preparing the salad and the beans - with the steak and the wine. Put the beans on a plate and then stack the steak on the beans as pretentiously as possible. Eat!


- Mr. Ed


*which is vague and misleading at best. Due caution should always be taken when attempting any cooking. And drinking. And drinking and cooking, more so. I am not liable for any substandard ingredients, lack of culinary skills or over-consumption of wine. I can barely cook myself, so if you eff it up, that's your own bloody look out, right? Frequent handwashing is always encouraged.