At this time of year, when summer produce shines so brightly, you really don't need to do a lot to make a delicious dinner. Throughout the Mediterranean, where olive oil flows like water, just two or three flavours are often all that's used with the oil to bring a dish harmoniously together.
Capers, garlic and lemon and olive oil take you to Italy. Add anchovies and you're in Sicily. Smoked paprika, tomatoes, garlic and olive oil put you in Spain. In France, summer flavours see wine vinegar or lemons, mustard, olive oil and fresh tarragon in play. In Greece, so many dishes use olive oil paired with nothing more than lemons garlic and oregano. It's all so simple, and so satisfying to eat.
Once you have a feel for these simple flavour families, it's so easy to put a dish together … fresh fish sauteed with olive oil and drenched with lemon and some crispy fried capers, or perhaps slathered with a tangy olive tapenade or some salsa verde and baked. Barbecued or roasted chicken breasts or thighs, sliced and tossed with lemons, garlic, and olives, piled on to a bed of rocket with avocado and tomato. Salad cups of crispy cos or iceberg lettuce filled with cooked chicken that's been marinated in a tangy vinaigrette dressing and tossed with capers, kalamata olives, flat-leaf parsley and toasted pine nuts.
A little bit of thought as to what you keep in your pantry allows you to more or less "assemble" satisfying and delicious meals like these in a flash.
Stock your pantry with good quality olive oil (commercial extra virgin olive oil is generally excellent for everyday use, just be sure to avoid pomace olive oil, as this is chemically extracted at the end of the process after extra virgin and pure olive oil have been processed), a jar of tangy kalamata olives, some tiny brined or salted capers (the best ones come from the island of Pantelleria, which lies between Sicily and Africa).
Anchovies are a must-have in our household. Once you've tried an Ortiz canned anchovy you can never go back - they are wonderfully toothsome and flavourful. Flat-leaf Italian parsley is probably my favourite summer herb and it grows prolifically from early spring. I often make a summer parsley paste by pureeing several big handfuls of (destemmed) parsley leaves with 2-3 cloves of garlic, a good pinch of salt and enough olive oil to make it pasty. It keeps in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Add a dollop into a dressing, or loosen with oil (if you want, add parmesan and almonds for more of pesto sauce). It's such a useful flavour base to toss through pasta, mix into dressings or slather over a cracker with some cheese.
Natural or Greek-style yoghurt, a block of parmesan cheese and feta cheese are other must-have pantry staples. Be sure to wrap hard cheeses like parmesan and pecorino so they don't dry out. And if you've opened a packet of feta and aren't using it all you are best to make a 5 per cent salt brine and store the cheese in that, as if you leave it in the packet it goes off quite quickly.
Zucchini and cherry tomato Nicoise-style salad
This is a terrific dish to serve with any kind of grilled or roasted meats, chicken and seafood. Choose small, firm zucchini, as larger ones tend to have soft, seedy cores and coarser flesh. If you have only big zucchini, cut out and discard the cores before slicing. Soaking the red onion in cold water mellows the flavour and reduces the harsh aftertaste. Try this salad with lightly cooked green beans instead of - or as well as - the zucchini.
Prep time 15 mins
Serves 6
500g cherry tomatoes
4 small-to-medium zucchini
¼ cup boutique extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp lemon juice
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
½ small red onion
½ cup kalamata olives
2-3 Tbsp capers
1 large handful parsley leaves
½ cup pine nuts, toasted
Cut the tomatoes in half and place in a large serving bowl. Use a mandolin or wide vegetable peeler to slice the zucchini very thinly. Add to tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss gently to combine.
Slice the onion as finely as possible and place in a small bowl of cold water to soak. While onion soaks, pit and chop olives and add to salad along with capers and parsley. Drain the onion and add to salad along with pine nuts. Toss gently and serve within 2 hours.
Potato salad with capers and mint
Ready in 30 mins
Serves 6
1-1.2kg baby potatoes
1 spring onion
2 Tbsp mint
2 Tbsp capers
2 Tbsp gherkins and 2 Tbsp juice
DIJON DRESSING
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
2 Tbsp lemon juice
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Scrub the potatoes and cut them in half. Simmer in lightly salted water until just tender.
While potatoes are cooking, make the dressing by shaking all ingredients together in a jar.
Drain the cooked potatoes and toss with the dressing while still warm. Finely chop the spring onion, mint, capers and gherkins and add to the potatoes with the gherkin juice. Toss to mix evenly. Serve warm or cold.
Salsa verde
Most cooks have their own twist on this classic recipe. I prefer not to include mint because I find the flavour too dominant, but I do add the yolk of a boiled egg to give depth to the flavour. The more you blend this sauce the greener it becomes. It's delicious served over grilled vegetables or with or barbecued lamb or chicken.
Ready in 10 minutes
Makes 2 cups
1½ cups parsley leaves, de-stemmed
1 handful (about 40) chives, chopped
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup capers
3 cloves garlic
4 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp Dijon mustard
Ground black pepper
¼ small red onion, chopped
1 small tin (8-10) anchovies, drained
Yolk of one hard-boiled egg
Puree all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Salsa verde keeps in a covered jar in the fridge for about a week, or it can be frozen.
Match these with ...
by Yvonne Lorkin
(Zucchini and cherry tomato Nicoise-style salad)
Jules Taylor OTQ Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2020 ($35)
OTQ? It's short for "On The Quiet" and that's because not much is made, it's a bit of a passion project for Jules, so she's happy to keep it all a teensy bit hush. Grown in Taylor's Meadowbank vineyard in Marlborough's Taylor Pass sub-region, the bunches were whole cluster-pressed into older, neutral oak barriques where a speedy, natural ferment occurred before a malolactic ferment (unusual for sauvignon) to soften the acidity and a touch of lees stirring to add complexity. Lemongrass, dandelion pollen, passionfruit curd, nectarine and papaya, a lick of marzipan and roaring with soft citrus and creaminess, there's textural complexity on the finish. Brisk yet soothing, it might be prickly on the tongue, yet has a cooling effect on the oesophagus. Love it!
thegoodwine.co.nz
(Potato salad with capers and mint)
Church Road Gwen Hawke's Bay Pinot Gris 2020 ($20)
There's something about a snappy, dry, crunchy-crisp pinot gris that pairs perfectly with the piquancy (one of my fave words) of capers and the twang (another great word) of fresh mint. I don't know how or why it works, it just does. Add to that its ability to cuddle those creamy-soft spuds and you're in tasty territory indeed with this wine. Gentle nashi and nutmeg notes combine with lean, clean acidity, nutty textures and a long, palate-exfoliating finish. Definitely not one of those blousy, flouncy, sweet pinot gris styles — and that makes me a happy sipper.
Available in supermarkets nationwide.