Happy Anniversary Fiesta Friday! I hope you all had fun last week with cocktails and nibbles while I ate my burned curry… (more…)
Week 68: Mama’s Curry & Spiced Cauliflower
Don’t worry, it’s not my mama (the poisoner). That would be terrible, and probably contain a lot of bran. No this mama belongs to a lady called Anjie Mosher in the second Hairy Bikers’ Best-Loved Recipes book, and it’s delicious. Also, this week is a bit of a two-for-one – they’re separate recipes that are delicious by themselves but go together really well. (more…)
Week 67: Poulet aux champignons avec une sauce au vin blanc
Which as we all know means Chicken and Mushrooms in a White Wine Sauce. Yep, I reached for Rachel Khoo again!
Apparently this is a French classic. I dont think I’ve had it, whenever we went to France as kids The Poisoner insisted in going self catered so the only proper homemade French food I’ve had has had terrible things done to it. (more…)
Week 66: Turkey Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
You’re probably sick of turkey, after many many portions of it over the last month. I think we’re far enough passed twelfth night to be done with leftovers, even if you had a bird the size of a small car on the 25th. (more…)
Week 65: Eggs Poached in Red Wine
Gosh what a year! I’ve somehow managed to make something new every week (admittedly some of them have been horrible) and I managed to finish the year by hitting 6000 views. Hurrah! So to start the new year in the same vein as the old, I’m kicking off New Recipe Night 2015 with a dish that looks like I’ve carried out a back alley organ transplant.
I’ve used Matt Tebbutt’s Cooks Country a few times over the last year, and if I lived more rurally than London Zone 2 I’d use it a whole lot more. Fortunately I managed to find spinach and eggs in darkest hammersmith, the great hunter that I am.
Here’s a recipe that is cheaper to make for 4 than it is for 2, which is quite unusual. For four you will need: 150g bacon (cut into chunky lardons), 150g button mushrooms (cut in half), 1 onion (peeled and chopped), 50g unsalted butter, 1 bottle of deep red wine (I think I used Shiraz), 250ml beef consommé/stock, 4 bags of baby leaf spinach, 4 large free range eggs, red wine vinegar, 1 bay leaf, and 4 slices of fried bread to serve.
Fry the lardons, mushrooms and onion in butter until golden, pour in a glass of red wine and reduce right down.
Add the stock and reduce by half. Put the lid on and take off the heat. In a small saucepan start warming up the red wine.
Heat a large empty sauce pan and then thoroughly wash the spinach, season the spinach in the sieve and then lob it into the pan with only the water that’s still on the leaves. Heat until just wilted, then keep warm off the heat.
The wine should have reached a rolling egg-poaching bubbly pre-boil, if that makes sense? Add a splash of red wine vinegar and the bay leaf. Gently swirl the wine and gently drop the eggs in to poach for about 4 minutes. Remove each egg and drain on kitchen roll, season the top (I forgot this bit)
Serve the eggs on a pile of spinach, with some of the bacon garnish spooned over in an artistic way.
It was very tasty, I’ll definitely make it again – especially if I have guests for a cozy supper. Learning to make fried bread was just plain dangerous, and I’ll probably be admitted to a fat camp by midsummer; but the fried bread really added to the dish giving it a varied texture. The egg didn’t taste very wine-y, but the sauce did – I think rather than using a whole bottle you could put the glass in the sauce, and one in with the eggs and drink the rest; but the eggs probably won’t have the kidney-theft look about them.
I think the only actual downside to this recipe is that with the fried bread it needs four pans; which is a lot for a small meal – but sometimes a meal is worth a mountain of washing up (not one yours though Mr Oliver!)
Happy New Year everyone! Thank you to all my shiny new readers and weary regulars; stay tuned for more adventures in my little kitchen in 2015.
Matt Tebbutt Cooks Country, by Matt Tebbutt (Mitchell Beazley 2008, ISBN 978-1-84533-371-3)
Week 64: Gardeners Pie
Boxing day is always a day for leftovers. Even the poisoner has some spare after Christmas dinner. Rather than some charred bubble and squeak I thought this recipe from the Good Granny Cookbook might save the day. Gardener’s Pie was originally a wartime creation to help people stomach a load of veg, instead of the shepherd they’d usually cook under a layer of fluffy mash. Pretty Christmassy eh?
The recipe uses a load of spare raw veg, but I’d imagine it’d work just as well with cooked cold veg – I think you’d just have to cook it until it was hot, rather than until it was cooked; if that makes sense?
To make this for 6 you will need 1kg of mixed winter veg (I used a leek, an onion, a carrot, a parsnip, and half a small cabbage – but the recipe also suggests celery, swede, cauliflower and Jerusalem artichokes), olive oil, stock, salt & pepper, 900g floury potatoes, 50g butter, 400ml milk, and 115g grated cheese.
Set the oven at 200 and start boiling the potatoes, and in a wide shallow pan heat 2tbs of olive oil. Throw the veg in and turn them in the oil until they start to colour. Add enough stock/water to stop the veg sticking. If you’re using leftovers you can use less stock/water as you only need to warm the veg through rather than cook it from scratch.
Stir occasionally until the liquid has evaporated. The veg should be slightly crunchy (it won’t be if it’s leftover, unless you fried it for slightly longer… Oh I should have said that earlier) season with salt and pepper and pour the veg into your pie dish. It should seem a little dry, that’s ok though cos the moisture should come out of your veg in the oven.
I slightly disagree with the recipe for the potatoes, to my mind there’s far too much milk and it makes it more like a soup. Mash the potatoes with milk (to taste) butter (of course) and cheese (controversial, but since when did Boxing Day become a diet day?) I’d also add a teaspoon of mustard powder or a big slosh of Lea & Perrins. Plop the mash on top of the veg and scribe pretty/offensive patterns with a fork/dagger.
The recipe is rather vague when it comes to the oven bit, but vagues OK if you have a hangover like I usually do on boxing day. Basically, when you’ve finished sculpting the mash over the top of the veg pop it in the oven until the potato goes brown. In my oven this took about 15 minutes.
Serve with some leftover meat and some freshly cooked stink bombs sprouts and enjoy before dozing off infront of a repeat on telly.
Good Granny Cookbook by Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall (Short Books 2007 ISBN 978 1 906021 10 8)
Week 63: Daal Curry, Warm Tomato Salad and Naan
I know, I know, I know. It’s December, cook sommat festive you fool. I wish I had actually, cos here’s a thing Mr Oliver didn’t mention: Fenugreek stinks. And lingers. I’m not even being a bit precious for my tiny flat here, it’s been two nights since I made it and it still scrapes at my eyeballs in the style of a chemical attack when my cold and I came back to the flat tonight. And I had a massive dirty three-pan fry-up last night which I thought would’ve got rid of it…
The moral of this pre-christmas story is: if you can’t find fenugreek, don’t start pounding the leafy streets of West London to find a fenugreek tree to harvest; shrug and forget about it – this curry is delicious and probably won’t miss it.
So anyway, to make this for for you will need: an onion, a clove of garlic, a thumb sized piece of ginger, 2 fresh chillies, a red pepper (de-seeded), a bunch of coriander, rapeseed oil (I couldn’t find that so I used sunflower), fresh curry leaves (I used dry), 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp fenugreek seeds, 1tsp mustard seeds, 300g dried red lentils, 1 400g tin coconut milk, 200g baby spinach, and 700ml boilingwater.
That’s just for the daal, for the salad you will need: 500g ripe mixed-colour tomatoes, a lemon, 1 tsp chilli powder, 1 tsp mustard seeds, and two cloves of garlic. Serve with naan bread and some yoghurt.
Somehow I managed to get this done in about 20-25 minutes, mostly by having a sous chef. It all took quite a while in the blender which definitely took me over the 15 minutes, I didn’t cut the bits up small enough.
Turn on a large casserole pan high and the oven on 130c. Chuck the onion (peeled and cut up a bit), the garlic and ginger, the chillies, pepper, corriander stalks, and after seasoning with some salt and pepper blitz it until it’s all chopped up small.
When that’s done put a tablespoon of oil into the pan with the curry leaves, turmeric, fenugreek (don’t) and mustard seeds. Stir it up, add the blitzed veg and fry for a couple of minutes then add the lentils, the tin of coconut milk, and 700ml boiling water. Bring to the boil and stir regularly.
Naans in the oven and put the frying pan on low. Halve all the tomatoes, thinly slice half of the lemon (including the skin), and crush 2 cloves of garlic if you don’t have one of those fancy garlic crushers. Add 1tbs oil, the chopped lemon slithers, 1tsp mustard seeds, the garlic and squeeze the other half of the lemon over the mix. Toss the tomatoes round the pan and serve in a posh bowl.
The daal should have thickened by now so add the spinach and stir until it’s wilted. Get yer naans out and plate up your daal.
I’m not entirely sure if I’d make it again, it was lovely but I hadn’t planned on it doubling as a chemical weapon – which has also given me a vicious pre-christmas cold. I wouldn’t make the tomatoey bit again, it was OK – good for a different texture, but I wasn’t a fan of the lemony bits.
So next week is Boxing Day – don’t even think about getting your bubble and squeak on until you’ve read new recipe night! Merry Christmas!!
Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals by Jamie Oliver (Penguin 2012 ISBN: 978-0-718-15780-7)
Week 62: Leek and Bacon Tart
I’ve always been firmly of the opinion that the secret to good pastry is lard. I know it’s an unfashionable thing to think these days, but it’s true. This recipe has been staring at me from the good granny cookbook every time I make toad in the hole, I’m not sure why it’s taken me over a year to give it a try.
First you need to make the pastry, which is nothing to be scared of. You will need 225g plain flour, 55g butter and 55g lard. Roughly cut the butter and lard into cubes and rub it in to the flour with your finger tips. Add cold water 1 tablespoon at a time and stir it with a knife after each spoonful. When it clumps together squash it into a bowl, wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge for at least half an hour.
To make the filling you will need: 30g butter, 650g leeks (thinly sliced across), 85g smoked bacon, 90g Gruyere cheese (grated), 4 egg yolks 280ml single cream and salt & pepper to season.
When end the pastry has stiffened up take it out the fridge, roll it out and line your trusty 9″ tart tin; make sure you prick the bottom with a fork. Turn the oven on to 190c and heat the butter in a frying pan. Once it’s melted gently cook the leeks for about 5 minutes until they’re soft but not brown. Spread them over the pastry case.
Cut the bacon into strips and fry for 5 minutes, grate the Gruyere while you wait. I bought quite thick bacon for this, but I wish I’d bought much thicker bacon or gammon – next time!
Spread the bacon over the leeks and sprinkle the cheese on top. In a jug whisk together the cream and egg yolks, season with salt and pepper and pour over the tart mix. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until set.
I had this hot and cold, and it was delicious both times; but I think cold from the fridge was my favourite – ideal for a quick dinner after work! As I said I’d probably use thicker bacon/gammon next time but I’d definitely have it again with the normal bacon if that’s all I had in. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good quiche, but this was somehow better.
Good Granny Cookbook by Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall (Short Books 2007 ISBN 978 1 906021 10 8)
Week 61: Spanish Omelette
Ole! Nothing warms a December teatime more than eating something foreign. And simple food always tastes better, right? I had made myself the Gammon and Peas from Nigella’s Express book, and was flicking through the rest and liked the picture.
I do like a good omelette, with this one containing potatoes I didn’t have to do oven chips to go with it. Another bonus is that because you’re meant to eat it cold it’ll do 2 days – I’m not sure if I’m supposed to make it last 2 days, but we didn’t die…
To make this for 4 (or 8 if you’re doing a load more Tapas to go with it) you will need: 225g baby new potatoes, 4 eggs, 75g flame-roasted jarred peppers, 3 spring onions, 75g manchego/cheddar cheese, butter, oil, salt & pepper. You’ll need to finely chop the onions, roughly chop the peppers, and halve the potatoes.
Also, you’ll need a small-ish heavy bottomed frying pan that can go in the oven/under the grill – non of your plastic handles here!
I always think these look like tongues…
Depending on your grill you’ll need to turn it on so its hot enough to finish off the omelette. My grill needs about a weeks notice before doing a round of toast so I have to turn it on really early – but you might be able turn your on when you start frying the omelette. Boil the potatoes for 15 minutes, then drain them. While they’re boiling grate the cheese, then whisk the eggs together in a bowl/a big jug. Throw in the peppers, onions, cheese and free potatoes, then season to taste.
Heat 1 tsp of oil and a splash of oil in the frying pan, when it’s hot (but not crazily hot) pour the omelette mix in. Now apparently you don’t need to stir this, so didn’t. When my lover makes omelettes there’s grunting and pushing and alsorts – I quite like this sedate form of omelettry.
After the omelette has cooked for 5 minutes move the pan under the grill to finish off. This is instead of turning it over, which I guess would stop it being Spanish Omelette shaped. Leave it under the grill for a few minutes until it’s pretty much set, then take it from under the grill and turn it upside-down onto a plate. If you can do it without burning yourself that would be great.
Nigella says that the omelette will keep cooking as it cools down so you don’t need to worry if it’s a bit wobbly in the middle – I can’t comment on this as mine came out a little charred, so there’s no way that bad boy was uncooked when I turned it out. Leave it to cool down the. Cut it into wedges.
I even remembered to buy some salad! I’d definitely make this again, nice and simple and really tasty – and I’ll have a crack at some other Spanish-y bits.
Nigella Express, by Nigella Lawson (Chatto & Windus 2007 ISBN 9780701181840)
Week 60: Chorizo and Chickpea Stew
It was definitely the week for stew, I don’t think it stopped raining, and we wanted something hearty… We had Nigella out on the side and my lover picked this, and chickpeas are kind of hearty?
To make this for four you will need: 50g vermicelli, 500g bulgar wheat, teaspoon of cinnamon, sea salt, bay leaves, 350g chorizo, amontillado sherry, 100g soft dried apricots, 2 400g tins of chickpeas, 2 400g tins cherry tomatoes, pepper, and coriander (which I missed off)
If you use the full amount of bulgar wheat you’ll be able to feed an army, I used half the amount just for me and him and there was enough left over to feed four more.
This is really quick to make, which is most unlike a stew. Start by warming 2 tablespoons of oil in the bottom of a thick bottomed pan, when it’s warmed to about medium throw in the pasta and fry until they look like little bits of slightly scorched straw.
Add the bulgar wheat and stir for two minutes then add the cinnamon, 2tsp of salt, a litre of water and two bay leaves. Bring to the boil then turn it down to the lowest heat and leave (lidded) to absorb for about 15 minutes.
Cut the chorizo into coins and then cut them in half. Heat a second heavy bottom pan and fry the chorizo until the orange juice runs out. Add 4 tablespoons of the sherry and let it bubble for a minute or two. Wash the chickpeas and cut up the apricots and throw them in with the canned tomatoes, half fill each tomato tin with water, swill it round then pour it in to the pan. Turn the heat up high and bubble for 5 minutes. I completely forgot about the water, but i don’t think it affected it much.
By now the bulgar wheat should be done, so turn the gas off and give it a fork around to loosen it up, then serve with the stew and an artistic sprinkling of corriander.
I’m not entirely sure what was wrong with it, but it just didn’t quite work in my mouth. I don’t like baked beans (never have, I know weird right?) and the tomatoes and chickpeas tasted a bit baked-bean-y for me. Also, it was a bit sweet for my sour tooth (I think next time I’d leave out the apricots) and I had to slum it with posh chorizo from Waitrose and they went really rubbery, and I’ve decided that I don’t like cinnamon in bulgar wheat… So it wasn’t the most successful meal I’ve ever made… But I’m sure you’ll love it!
I thought I’d pop it in for this weeks Fiesta Friday – just because I didn’t like it doesn’t mean it’s not great for a cosy winter ‘do’. Chin chin!
Kitchen, by Nigella Lawson (Chatto & Windus 2010, ISBN 9780701184605)
New Recipe Night 