2 More Yummy Dishes From Nigella Lawson: Strapatsada/ Thai Noodles With Cinnamon and Prawns 🌞

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Strapatsada

This is a Greek recipe given to me by Alex Andreou (of Squid and Orzo
and Old Rag Pie fame). Actually, strictly speaking it’s Italian, or of Italian
derivation: strapazzare meaning, in the context of eggs, “to scramble”. And
really that’s what this is: eggs scrambled with tomatoes. I have long since
dropped my “no red with egg” rule – my Eggs in Purgatory from
Nigellissima saw to that – but eating this makes me regret ever having
voiced such an opinion in the first place.

True, I was initially hesitant about this, as the notion of tomatoes mixed into
scrambled eggs didn’t seem appealing. But the thing is, it doesn’t quite taste
like that. This is what cooking is all about: what the ingredients do together
in the pan, not what they sound like on the page. A simple alchemy.
This is the sort of supper you need when you get home and the fridge is
bare, or you’re too tired to cook. And it’s just the thing for those nights
when you come home late, possibly a little worse for wear, or even not.
Please don’t wait for exhaustion or excessive alcohol consumption to make
this.

Now, were you to be blessed with wonderful tomatoes, the sort you’d get in
Greece, I would add another couple and dispense with the tomato purée
element. And I give you the choice of basil or thyme, as the strapatsada is
wonderful with either, but I’d tend to use the former in summer and the
latter in winter. I am reliably informed that the cheese you would eat with it
is Xynotyro, but since there’s no way I have of getting my hands on that in
my neighbourhood, I go for Wensleydale as the closest substitute available
locally. What you want is a sharp and salty cheese that will crumble and
melt a little, if that helps.

SERVES 2

8 small (not cherry) tomatoes (300–350g total)(10 1/2 - 12 1/2 oz)
3 × 15ml tablespoons regular olive oil
1 × 15ml tablespoon tomato purée
pinch salt
pinch sugar
2 large eggs
25g (1 oz) Xynotyro cheese, or sharp, salty, crumbly cheese such as Wensleydale
small handful basil leaves or leaves stripped from few sprigs thyme
4 slices good bread, such as sourdough, or whatever you like

Cut the tomatoes in half – a Greek person would now cut out the cores;
this English person is too lazy – and then cut them into rough chunks.

Warm the oil in a heavy-based frying pan (I use a cast-iron pan of
25cm (10in) diameter, heating the pan before adding the oil) and tumble in
the chunks of tomato. Cook, stirring every now and again, for about 5
minutes, by which time the tomatoes will have started to break down
into the oil and be oozing oranginess. If you want your bread toasted,
now’s the time.

Add the tomato purée, salt and sugar, and cook for another 5 minutes,
by which time the tomato skins will be coming away from the flesh.
Crack in the eggs and then stir, just as if you were scrambling them,
until they are creamy, which is hardly any time at all (obviously, if you
like your scrambled eggs set, cook the egg and tomato mixture here for
longer).

Take the pan off the heat, crumble the salty cheese over the mixture
and sprinkle with the basil or thyme leaves. Dollop some on your toast,
or just eat straight from the pan using bread as your cutlery. For the
record, I have one helping on toast, and another with just the bread.

There’s enough for 4 slices of bread here, but if you’re eating solo and
can’t finish it all (really?), then know that this is also fabulous cold.


From "Simply Nigella"
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25937378-simply-nigella


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Thai Noodles with Cinnamon and Prawns

I have been alive a long time and, at least when it comes to eating, have
spent that time wisely and well. So, it’s not often that I eat something that
tastes so different to anything I’ve come across before. But this is such a
dish. A gorgeous and mesmerically talented chef called, so perfectly, Tum,
cooked it when I was on holiday in Thailand last year, and I made him cook
it again and again, and then finally asked him if I could video his making it,
so I could try and recreate it at home.

I was apprehensive about doing so, not least because I was frightened of
facing up to my inadequate camera work and the lesser ingredients found at
home. And yet, even with frozen prawns, the substitution of regular celery
for the Chinese celery (which is all leaf, no stalk to speak of, and stronger
tasting) and a less-experienced hand at the wok, the very first mouthful
brought back the magical enchantment of its taste in Thailand.

You do need to buy leafy celery, and even though the stalks don’t get a
look-in, you chop the slender stems to which the leaves are attached and
add them to the wok along with the other flavourings at the very beginning.

Apart from having to make geographically enforced changes, I have stuck
to Tum’s recipe, including the ready-ground pepper and chicken stock
concentrate (actually, he used chicken powder). I just had to share this
spectacularly unfamiliar but compelling recipe with you. I hope you will be
as bowled over by it as I was.

SERVES 2

1 × 15ml tablespoon sunflower oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
3cm piece (15g) fresh ginger, peeled and cut into fine matchsticks
1 star anise
½ long or 1 short stick cinnamon, broken into shards
2–3 leafy stems at the top of 1 stick celery (see Intro), stems
cut into short lengths, leaves roughly chopped
1½ × 15ml tablespoons light soy sauce
1 × 15ml tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 × 15ml tablespoon oyster sauce
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
100ml (3 1/2 oz) cold water
1 teaspoon chicken stock concentrate
1 × 15ml tablespoon ketjap manis, or 1 × 15ml tablespoon
dark soy sauce mixed with 1 tablespoon soft dark brown sugar
10 raw peeled king prawns, thawed if frozen
80g (3 oz) mung bean (glass) noodles or rice vermicelli, soaked and drained
as per packet instructions
fat pinch ground cinnamon
fat pinch ground cloves

On a high heat, heat the oil in a large wok. Add the garlic, ginger, star
anise, cinnamon and the sliced leafy stems of celery, and cook, stirring,
for 1 minute.

Stir in both soy sauces and leave to simmer for 30 seconds, then stir in
the oyster sauce and ground pepper.

Add the water, followed by the chicken stock concentrate and the
ketjap manis (or the mixture of dark soy sauce with soft brown sugar),
stir until everything’s well combined and bring to the boil.

Now add the king prawns, immersing them in the liquid. Simmer until
the prawns are cooked through.

Finally, add the drained noodles and stir well – I find a couple of pasta
forks, one in each hand, best for this – so that everything is combined,
and most of the dark liquid is absorbed. Add the pinches of ground
cinnamon and cloves, stir again, and if you’re not serving straight from
the wok, decant into a serving bowl, and sprinkle with the reserved
chopped celery leaves.


From "Simply Nigella"
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25937378-simply-nigella


Mmm Tasty!