A collection of recipes from the Tango Tangk weekend.

One of the aspects of Tango Tangks that we really love is the time we share with tangueros just talking, preparing food, eating as well as dancing our feet off. Getting to know people outside the dance is as special as the dance itself. Tango is a curious past-time - it is possible to feel you know someone really intimately without even knowing their surname, or what they do, or what their interests are outside tango. The Tangk give us the chance to get to know each other a little better. It's good for the dance and it's good for a sense of community.

There have been many tasty dishes served up at Tangks, and we would like to present them on this page. If you have a recipe you would like to see published, or remember a fab meal produced by another tanguero/a - let us know.

In search of recipes:

I loved the very rural french type dish of ham and beans (soooo tasty and perfect for a crisp autumn day's lunch). Who didit?
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Veggie Chilli by David Prime
Ingredients: Very large cooking pot!
Oil
Garlic (1/2 to 1 whole garlic bulb)
Chilli (2 to 3 for a mild chilli, 7-8 for a medium/hot chilli)
2-3 large onions
Butternut squash
2-3 large carrots
Green beans
3-4 Peppers (red/orange/yellow look pretty)
(Other veggies that work well are baby sweetcorn and courgettes)
4-5 tins chopped tomatoes
3 tins kidney beans
2 tins cannellini beans
2 tins borlotti
Jar of chilli sauce (e.g. Uncle Bens)
Method:

Chop the squash and carrot and partly cook them in boiling water for 10 minutes.
Fry the onions and garlic in oil for 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the tinned tomatoes and chilli sauce.
Drain and add the squash and carrot. Add the chopped chilli and simmer for 10 minutes (20 minutes if the veggies are not pre-cooked).
Add the green beans, peppers, and tinned beans (drained) and simmer for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Serve with rice or bread or over a baked potato

 

Mediterranean Carrot Mezza (makes about 24) by Amanda Stebbing
Ingredients:

10 medium carrots
2 slices wholegrain bread, in crumbs
12 dried apricots
1tbs sultanas, chopped
4 spring onions, finely diced
3 tablespoons pine nuts
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1 medium egg
6 tablespoons mixed chopped mint and dill
Salt and ground black pepper
Sunflower oil for frying

To serve
Natural yogurt
Chopped red onion
Coriander leaves, shredded

Method:

1. Steam and roughly mash half the carrots and grate the rest. Combine them
together and then add the remaining ingredients up to the seasoning and
knead well. If the mixture is too wet add more breadcrumbs - it should be
soft and slightly damp.

2. Mould the mixture into 24 small "cakes" then fry in a little oil in a
non-stick pan, until brown on both sides.

3. Serve with natural yogurt, generously flavoured with red onion and
coriander.

 

Beatrice's Special Salad by Beatrice Hook
Ingredients: Vine ripened/tasty tomatoes
Cucumber
Celery
Red and yellow peppers
Seedless grapes cut in half
Apples
Lettuce shredded
Mixed small leaves including rocket
Method:
The most important thing is to chop everything up in to small pieces, approximately 1 centimeter square (give or take). Tomatoes and cucumber are the main ingredients, so use more of those than any other salad things.
 
Then I added Greek Feta cheese, also cut into small squares, and after mixing the salad I threw on freshly roasted pine nuts.  You just cook plenty of them in a pan (no oil needed) on a lowish temperature, moving them around until they are pale brown.
 
Finally I poured on a vinigrette made from a teaspoon of coleman's mustard, a mixture of lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, ground salt and pepper and some really good Olive Oil.

 

Bread with Rice and Sesame Seeds by Beatrice Hook
Ingredients: 3oz cooked white or brown rice (cooled)
8oz strong bread flour
8oz strong white flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Easy Blend Yeast
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
(You can use just one of the above or add linseeds or whatever)
1 tbsp black treacle melted into a little boiling water then add cold water to fill jug up to 300ml of lukewarm liquid.
Method:

Sieve the flour to give it air and add the husk that stays in the sieve. Add salt, yeast and seeds and mix with a wooden spoon. Make a well in the centre and add the rice and stir in the warm water a little at a time. Mix until all dry ingredients are joined into one piece. I tend to do it by hand, no need to work at it. Put it into the bread machine and cook as for multigrain bread. In my Panasonic it takes 5 hours to make one delicious loaf.

It is lovely served with cream cheese, smoked salmon, black pepper and a wedge of lemon as a starter.

 

Courgette Pasta by Lynne Collins
Ingredients: All organic if possible
Courgettes - lots, depending on numbers cooked for
Olive oil
Basil flavoured olive oil or fresh basil
Plain yoghourt or crème fraiche or sour cream
Parmesan cheese
Black pepper
Pine nuts
Fuseli pasta
Maldon sea salt
Soy sauce (preferably Shoyu)
Method:
Toast the pine nuts, be careful they do not burn.
Wash the courgettes and grate coarsely.
Finely grate loads of Parmesan.
Cook past in boiling, salted water.
Put a little olive oil in a large saucepan and add the courgettes. Add lots of freshly milled black pepper. As soon as they start to weep, drain off the liquid. Add some Maldon and drain again.
Add a generous couple of tablespoons of yogurt or crème fraiche or sour cream.
Drain off excess water again.
Drain the water off the cooked pasta and return pasta to the pan.
Add a generous slurp of basil oil or tear fresh basil into the pasta.
Add a huge handful of parmesan
Check the courgettes for taste and add a little bit of Shoyu, adjust other flavourings.
Take a slotted spoon and add spoonfuls of courgette to the pasta, spreading it around (it tends to clumps together).
Finally add the toasted pine nuts et voila!

 

Curried lentil and spinach en croute by Debbie Morrall
Ingredients:

Serves 6 as main course or 12 -15 as part of a buffet

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
2 carrots grated
2 tbsp curry paste
100g red lentils
400g can chopped tomatoes
200ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp mango chutney
50g peanuts nuts toasted (I prefer cashew nuts)
450g fresh spinach
100g feta cheese roughly chopped (I like to use more)
375g pack puff pastry

Method:
1 Preheat the oven to 220C / gas 7 / fan 200C. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and cook the onion for 5 minutes until softened. Add the carrots and cook for a further 5 minutes. Stir in the curry paste and mix well.
2 Add the lentils, tomatoes, stock and seasoning. Simmer for 20 minutes until the lentils are cooked. Leave to cool. Stir in the chutney and nuts.
3 Wash the spinach and cook in a large pan with the water that clings to its leaves. Cook until wilted, drain and leave to cool. Chop roughly. Mix with feta and season.
4 Place pastry on a floured surface and roll out to a 30cm square. Cut in half and place one half on a greased baking sheet. Spoon a third of the lentil mixture on to the pastry base on the baking sheet then top with half the spinach mixture. Repeat the layers, ending with a layer of lentil mixture.
5 Place the other pastry half on a floured surface and run a lattice cutter along the centre, leaving a 2.5cm border all round. Carefully lift this and place on top of lentil mixture. Stretch the lattice gently until the border meets the exposed pastry border on the bottom layer. Brush with beaten egg.
6 Bake on top shelf for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 -10 minutes before cutting into slices and serving.

Can freeze for up to one month.