Meals I've cooked at home

Beef, lager and Shiitake Pie

2012-01-07T21:44:00.000Z

My brother got me and Lou this excellent book for Christmas. I'd not seen it before - always a pleasure to get a great cookbook that is a surprise. And I predict many post from it...watch this space.

Anyway, I'd woken up with a kinda fusion head on - and wasn't sure what I'd actually cook. I happened upon this original sounding recipe - and away we went..

A lovely mix of the old and the east

A superb enamel pie dish came with the book - thanks Russ

And after a long braise - a sweet, deeply flavored base for the pie. Lots of beef, mushroomy flavors and overtones of Chinese with the star anise, cinnamon and orange juice

Say no more

Bok Choi and Sweet Potatoes finished it nicely

Jamie's Piccalilli

2011-12-10T19:34:00.000Z

After watching Mr Oliver make this lovely looking Piccalilli on the box the other day - I decided to do some myself for Xmas pressies.

An impressive list of ingredients starts it all off

Followed by a long soak / brine...

the essential ingredient

Christmas made easy...

I'll update in a few months when it's matured

Tofu and Mushrooms

2011-11-27T21:10:00.000Z

We knew we were going out for a Sunday pizza lunch, so I'd planned for a light weight vegi supper

I saw these in the Chinese supermarket. They were 'fresh' but vacuum packed. I was suspicious....

But didn't need to be - they turned out to be perfectly acceptable mushrooms....

Marinaded the Tofu

And a quick stir fry later

Spring Rolls

2011-11-26T21:01:00.000Z

I've always wanted to try this - and I finally got round to buying some Spring Roll wrappers from the local Chinese supermarket.

Waited 10 minutes at the fishmonger in Oxford Market to buy 3 prawns! Dedication I think - but my two year old was not so impressed...

A lot easier than making them yourself...most recipes call for the pre made variety

Your all mine

Fried the pork and prawns as a base

And so the fun begins

It's all in the wrists...........

Not a bad looking set, and very relaxing/rewarding

I suppose the main problem with these is you need to deep fry - which always feels a bit unhealthy. However, it means good tasting food also!

Decide to serve with some steamed aubergines

The selection for the aubergine sauce

And so it ended up like this. Very nice indeed - and plenty for lunch the next day

Piri Piri Chicken

2011-11-19T15:54:00.000Z

I've never eaten Piri Piri chicken - mainly 'cause I've never been bothered about going into Nandos!

However, the Jamie 30 minute book had a version - and the ingredient list for the sauce caught my eye....

Anything with basil and Worcestershire sauce can't be all bad.

Whizzed up

Fried off some nice peppers and the chicken

And baked the whole lot

And served with cheesy potatoes

Not bad - but not awesome. I think they should have been marinaded or something - the sauce seemed to get a bit lost.

Oh - and 30 minutes my arse !

Osso Bucco

2011-10-08T21:11:00.000+01:00

Been meaning to do this for ages. I don't think we eat enough veal in this country....I certainly don't.

However, I was very shocked to have to pay £15 for four slabs of veal shank. Surely this is a cheap cheap cut ?

However, all was forgotten after a quick dusting of seasoned flour and a 10 minute fry

It could almost be creole with the holy trinity

Just before a long sloooow cook

In fact - so long and slow that all the meat fell of the bone - so no shot of a lump of veal. It was almost like a spag bog - very nice...but not for £14 for what was basically two (large) portions

Smoked Wings

2011-10-01T19:43:00.000+01:00

A quick and easy one - that proves the rule that the cheapest cuts of meat can make the best dishes.

Made up a quick rub

And marinaded

I used my gas BBQ and a foil full of smoking wood chips

And very nice they were too....

Especially with loaded potato skins

Aloo Gosht

2011-09-03T21:12:00.000+01:00

This is a firm favorite from the awesome Food Of India book. Regularly it delivers 'the best curry I've cooked at home'. A top recipe.

Mind you - anything that starts with pots, chilli and a shoulder of lamb cannot go that wrong eh ?

As always, freshly toasted spices

Ground ground and slowly fried to release all those oils

Whenever I use a shoulder I'll pop the bone in for extra flavor (and meat)

Fabulous

Clive: A loving close up

Lamb Cutlets - Simple as that

2011-08-26T21:22:00.000+01:00

How to transform these.....

How about a griddle grill

That'll do nicely

And a lazy smoke after :o)

Bubble & Squeak

2011-08-14T19:53:00.000+01:00

At Christmas - many moons ago - my brother gave me some seedling potatoes. Having inherited a proper garden it was time for some Good Life

Starting off

And then their little babies arrvied ! We've had these as simple boiled pots - and they are fantastic indeed

However - this time is was following a two person roast - and so there was plenty left over on the Monday

Chopped the meat and pots

And binded it with more of the new potatoes from the garden

Finished under the grill with a cheese topping. Maybe not traditional - but who cares when it tastes this good!

Fishcakes

2011-06-25T21:21:00.000+01:00

I think this was a Jamie recipe - so long ago that I actually cooked it that I can't remember!

It's all about the breadcrumbs

Oh - and the zest

The trusty blitzer (1)

The trusty blitzer (2)

A nice salsa

look at these babies !

A rather splendid meal

Goulash (2)

2011-06-12T20:04:00.000+01:00

If that is not the perfect pot for a long slow cooked stew - I don't know what is !

Used some pre-marinaded toms - I think it added something

Snug

After 5 hours. Note the pulled pork - so stringy.....perfect

A finished with some soured cream

Scallop and Leek Chowder

2011-05-27T19:10:00.000+01:00

A quick post as I am so far behind that I can't really remember that much about it !

Oh yeah - remembered I had some home made sashimi

Leeks and broth

Some Tesco's scallops - which were surprisingly fresh, nice and reasonably cheap!

And finished

Chicken with Barley

2011-05-13T19:17:00.000+01:00

An adaptation of a Jamie one that is done with partridge - but we didn't have any !

Fresh herbs from the garden

A nice broth

Plenty of crispy skin

And bacon

lovely

Thai chicken and noodle soup

2011-05-10T22:53:00.001+01:00

A quick and easy one...if you have the right store cupboard

Made a nice chicken broth with a frozen stock

Left over from sunday lunch

Post coconut milk and chilli

Eh voila! Bloody lovely

BBQ Leg of Lamb

2011-05-08T22:47:00.001+01:00

No real story to this one.....Just a meat fest one Sunday Lunch for some lucky friends !

Salmon with Sorrel

2011-05-05T23:07:00.001+01:00

Planted some Sorrel. The spring has been so good that it went a bit mad.

Consulted the cookbooks and the tinterweb, and came up with this recipe.

The purple sprouting went a long way - see close posts !

Recipe said to julienne. I need no excuse to get the chopper out

And into the cream based sauce

Not the greatest photo I've taken - but the only one of the salmons on the griddle!

We also had some scallops - as you do !

A very very nice tea

But as for the taste of the Sorrel.....Hmm...rather overpowered by everything else !

Duck with Plum Sauce

2011-05-03T22:33:00.001+01:00

A perfect lesson in why cooking from scratch is far superior to shop bought meals.

OK- so not quite a full shop bought meal - but the base of the dish was this plum sauce packet (nope - I didn't buy it - no idea where it came from ?!?!)

Some lovely noodles - not fresh though

A nice pair of breasts !!

Plenty of lovely duck fat rending out

But alas....the plum sauce was totally underwhelming. No punchy flavors and far too sweet in not a nice plumy way. Gonna try this from scratch one day.

Fish with Tamarind

2011-04-19T22:32:00.002+01:00

Having moved recently I am well chuffed that one of the local Indians - the Spice Merchant in Henley is absolutely superb.It's quite pricey but definitely worth it. We have found a new dish there - that they call Rampar ka Kurma, which is fantastic - a deep sweet & smooth korma, but with a real tart overtone.

So, imagine my surprise (and delight) when we I decided to cook from the Food of India this dish called Fish With Tamarind - and low and behold it was almost exactly the same basic flavor as the Rampar Kurma. Not surprising I suppose - given the core ingredients of cream and tamarind - but a result none-the-less.

Some fish !

Plenty of black mustard seeds

We added a couple of cooked eggs

And there it was....almost the same basic taste and color. I shall experiment with chicken and will be a happy man

Cumin steamed lamb

2011-04-09T22:14:00.001+01:00

We had some (new) friends round for dinner a few weeks ago. We decided to cook some Moroccan and I saw this interesting dish which involved steaming a shoulder of lamb for several hours.

Interesting I thought - but not as interesting as trying to explain to our new friends why I was taking photos of the food as it was coming off the pass.....Well - here it is - a few weeks late. I am this sad !

And so it starts with a basic steaming parcel

And a decent amount of cumin rub

followed by two hours in there

..and it ended up like this.... fantastically juicy and falling off the bone

The recipe called for browning after steaming - and so that's what we did

Served with a lovely fresh onion and lemon salad

And a dish of chicken and chick peas

Rebung Lemak

2011-03-15T17:24:00.001Z

I watched an episode of Anthony Boudain in Malaysia. Having spent about a month working in KL once and loving every minute of it, it seemed like time to dust of the Malaysian cookbook and have a go.

I chose this one from an excellent Nonya cookbook that I picked up whilst I was there. Malaysian cuisine is a superb mix of Indian, Chinese and the more traditional Nonyan style - Asian fusion no less.

Most of the dishes require a Rempah - which is basically a spice paste. This one was made with amounst other things nuts and fish paste

....as well as chilies and coriander...

I love these whole bamboo shoots. Unfortunatley not fresh but tinned....

And the finished dish. Lovely

Pig Cheeks with Broad Beans and Chorizo

2011-03-13T23:18:00.001Z

Not sure where this one came from. One day I woke up and decided I wanted to cook something different - or at least something slow and long - with a cheap cut of meat.

I popped into the local butchers - not expecting him to have pigs cheek, but he did. Excellent. Not particularly cheap (£5 for this lot) - but certainly interesting

As you can see - they do look 'cheeky' in a slightly disturbing way.

You'll also notice they have a sort of glaze to them, almost gelatinous - which actually does come through in the cooking and final taste/texture. I had a trawl through the cookbooks and tinterweb and seemed the way to cook them was via a braise of some form. I settled on a Mark Hix recipe from a website that was slightly more interesting than most

....and included frying some sliced chorizo!

After the final braise and with the addition of some broadbeans.

A lovely old Spanish meal. I thought the cheeks were lovely. A sweet, almost sticky, jelly like texture. Lou wasn't so sure which meant more for me :o)

Pancake Day 2011

2011-03-08T20:52:00.001Z

I was very excited about the prospect of pancakes with Thomas. Turns out at 15 months you are not so excited yourself - couldn't get him to eat any.

Oh well - more for me and Lou

The whole point of pancake day !

And a perfectly caught pose !

Lamb noodles with black beans

2011-03-05T22:55:00.001Z

A quick and easy one with store cupboard ingredients (and a quick trip to the greengrocers and butchers!)

Will always taste good when you start with this lot...

Fermented black-beans - soaked and chopped

Quick stir fry of the veg

Added the lamb back in - that I'd already crisped up

Added some fresh noodles

Couldn't decide on which photo I liked best (sorry)

Pork with Honey and Cider

2011-02-28T21:51:00.006Z

A simple one from Ramsey's pub food book. An easy way to use up some left over cider from new year!

Not really sure of the point of doing this....but....

Browned pork - ooh err!

And after a long slow braise...lovely jubley

Lamb Chops with Brinjal Bhaji

2011-02-27T22:42:00.002Z

Lou was out and I was in need of meat and curry !

I'd had a Brinjal Bhaji a few days earlier and so decided to make one.

This was actually 'aubergine with pickling spices' according to the recipe I was using

Looking good so far

Crisping up the fat before...

a quick sear....

I had the whole pack to myself !!

With the lovely aubergine curry for accompaniment !

Cod with Leek and Potato Sauce

2011-02-21T18:14:00.001Z

We were down with the family in Worthing - West Sussex. We'd taken Tom for a braising walk on the seafront when we stumbled across a bloke selling locally caught cod. I'd not realised that you could actually get local cod from the shore front at Worthing - so we decided to give it a try.

By total coincidence whilst we were thinking about how to cook them Heston popped up on a Waitrose advert cooking cod. Well - say no more - it had to be done.

It's basically a thick leek and potato soup/sauce with cod (but don't Heston that)

Made a nice vinegarette that was due to be absorbed by the warm Charlotte potatoes

All OK so far

And then it started to go tits up. I've mentioned a few times how I don't enjoy cooking fish. I'm sure you can image how the conversation was going when these started to split up !! Grrrrr!!!

However.....the overall dish was very nice (but not superb). Rather than fillet of fish - we had 'bits of fish' but the sauce was pleasant enough....

Sausage Casserole

2011-02-13T13:05:00.001Z

A cheeky quick one.

Fried off some lovely Toulouse sausages

Leeks and bacon make a lovely base

Gently cooked

Added some butter beans

And the finished article

Tagliatelle with tuna

2011-01-30T18:11:00.004Z

Was watching Jamie's 30 minute meals and he did this. I was inspired by the pan full of aromatics and had to try it.

Tuna, olives, capers, parsley, garlic and anchovies...

And this was what inspired me

After adding the tuna and toms

And finished....simple but nice

Pork in Lychee sauce with crispy rice

2011-01-29T18:30:00.008Z

Lou was off out for the weekend - and so I was left in charge of Thomas. Daddies first weekend babysitting. .And so naturally my thoughts turned to what culinary masterpiece I could cook up whilst the cat was away.

It has to be sichuan - and a good hunt through Fuchsia Dunlops awesome first book and I'd soon settled on this one. It seems a bit of a faff - but I had the time - so why not.

The idea is that you end up baking then deep frying cooked rice to get crispy rice- which you then place in a bowl and pour over the rest of the dish....and it's supposed to crackle away giving pleasure to countless Chinese kids. Would it work.....?

Cooked rice before baking

And after

And then deep fried

It is lovely in it's own right - crispy and chewy.

And for the rest of the dish. It turns out there's no Lychee in the recipe. Lots of Chinese flavours are statements on what the dish is reminiscent of - not what's in it. This one worked - there was a lovely sweet flavour running through it - it really could have been made with lychees

Frying the marinaded pork

And so the finished dish.

The crispy rice was a lovely layer to both the texture and the taste

But - the million dollar question...did it work...well judge for yourself and watch the vid below. There was definitely some cracking - but I think the main problem was the sauce had become too thick with the addition of the corn flour. If I make this again - then I'll be much lighter in that department. However, overfall - a fun nice dish and another success from Fuchsia.

Simple Milk Loaf

2011-01-23T23:50:00.001Z

I've had this feeling I've been missed out on a large part of cooking for some time now - that of making bread. It's a basic and important part of any cultures cuisine. However, I'm afraid I quite like a cheap white medium loaf from the supermarket for my sandwiches.

But still I thought - there must be something in it - and so I was very pleased to get The Handmade Loaf for Xmas. It's a very inspiring book - but not for the faint hearted. The author has travelled the world and has authentic bread recipes from all over the place. Trouble is - there's no short cut and plenty of need for specialist flours and so on. How silly I thought - I until I realised that was the point of the book - and then it made sense!

A fair few of the recipes call for the use of a home made Leaven. If you don't know what that is - wait a while - I'm in the process of making one and a post in the future will detail my results.

This recipe however is far simpler - it's about the simplest in the book - and guess what - it makes simple white bread - rock on!

It still required 3 different flours......and having never really given flour much notice before this in itself was quite interesting. I never knew there was so many - and also how much the graphics designers had been at the packaging

Golden syrup in bread you say - OK lets give it a go

And so when you don;t have either a home-made leaven or fresh yeast - then it's back to the dried stuff

Making the dough

I just liked this photo of the olive oil on the wood - before needing

Can you tell what it is yet...

Nice baps !

Oooh! That looks good

What a result for my first ever loaf !

A lovely sweet moist thick bread...

Which was perfect for a morning snack of homemade jelly on toast - and it was perfect!

Pork Vindaloo

2011-01-18T20:23:00.006Z

I love curry. If I could only eat one cuisine for the rest of my life - it'd be Indian.

And when i find a new curry house - the acid test for me is a Lamb Vindaloo and a Bhindi Bhaji. Try as I might I 've never been able ot recreate that curry house curry flavour. A well done vindi is the pinnacle of that restaurant phenomenon for me..just a sauce, cubes of meat and potato...hot... pungent. I adore it when it's done well.

But....it's sooo difficult to recreate that 'authentic' (!) curry house taste at home. I've a million Indian cookbooks and it's always the same. the results are generally fantastic - but nothing like the 'real' thing (yes yes I know - they are the real thing - but you get my point).

Ans so it was again....this is a fantastic lovely spicy pungent hot sweet dish and nothing like you'll get in the Raj Tandoori - shame. One day I will find the recipe....

It all starts with a spice marinade (the cinnamon and cardamom really add a layer of difference)

And the 'vin' in vindaloo (or so I understand)

To make a marinade

Some fried onions garlic and chilli to start it all off

Frying the pork with the marinade (after a day)

Chopped toms go in

And it cooks down to this little beauty

Now I love curry and chips....so that;s what i had. A brilliant meal made even better by watching Arsenal cruise past Leeds in the FA Cup 3rd round replay !

Pork Satay

2011-01-10T22:28:00.000Z

I got a great new cookbook for Christmas...the latest from the daddy of Thai cooking...David Thompson's Thai Street food. (thanks Mum & Dad)

It's a large beautiful coffee table cookbook. In fact so large it could actually be a coffee table - which on a purely practical note is a bit of an issue. Not the easiest of reads in bed - or for propping up in the kitchen to follow a recipe. However, I digress......

After a good look through it was difficult to choose the first thing I wanted to cook as there are so many great ideas in the book. However, it being just after Christmas...plainly we had a mountain of peanuts to use up - and so it had to be satay.

The recipe itself is not just about the satay sauce- but ensuring also that the pork has a good marinade in a coconut milk based sauce

The satay sauce was a heady spicy mix of chillies, garlic, galangal, ginger, cumin, coriander...

...and of course peanuts...

Both the marinade and the sauce require palm sugar. If you want to ever cook Thai go get a great big pot like this - keeps for ever and adds a deepness to the sweetness....

Unfortunately it rained tonight - 'cos even though it's currently 2 degrees outside I was determined to BBQ these. Not so & they ended up on the grill -which seemed to work out OK.....

And so - with the satay sauce (which was excellent) and a quick green veg and black pepper stir fry to compliment

And a loving close up on the satay sauce. it made plenty so that's now in the freezer for another day. Cool!

Chicken with Tarragon

2011-01-09T19:39:00.002Z

A last minute change of plan. I had all the ingredients for a Pork Satay (see next post), but it was pointed out that we had an excess of Crème fraiche in the fridge. OK - a quick and easy French classic then....

Got some lovely fresh tarragon from the supermarket - and we were off

Browned and the braised in chicken stock and white wine

Fished with a cream and tarragon sauce, some spinach and roast Charlotte potatoes. Lovely.

Christmas treats

2010-12-25T20:16:00.000Z

We had 9 adults & multiple kids over for Christmas - in our new home. So cooking was contrained by mass feeding. Here's a few samples....

A Nigel Slater easy triffle - lovely (and eaten over several days)

Home made nibbles: Figs with blue cheese and parma ham

Why bother with a turkey when you can have a 10lb Rib of Beef !

After a 2 hour cook (20 minutes sizzle - then low.....)

Judged just about right

We forgot the pigs in blankets !

Mulled Wine

2010-12-24T20:13:00.001Z

As with all things - make it yourself and it's better. Mulled wine is no exception (thanks to Jamie on the web for this one)

A proper festive set of ingredients

What a winter scene....

Very very nice- it didn't last long ! Sweet and spicy and fruity

Beef and Ale Stew

2010-12-05T20:01:00.001Z

It was a cold Sunday morning. I popped around to the local convenience store for a loaf of bread, and I noticed the cheap 'stew' pack. OK I thought - lets see if we can make it sing....

Note the well frozen shin of beef..

The magic ingredient

Slow cooked for 8 hours......

And from a very cheap set of ingredients - a quite refined (and bloody gorgoues) dish of food

Jamaican Baked Chicken with Rice and Peas

2010-12-04T19:45:00.005Z

I was lucky enough to work in Jamaica for 6 months a few years ago. It was a fantastic experience, and I fell in love with the food. It's nothing fancy, but scratch the surface, and try the local dishes and it certainly grows on you. From cow's head soup, to goat curry, and to beef and cheese patties - all good. Nothing, but nothing, can beat stopping off on the way home at some roadside shack for a plate of fresh jerk chicken. Unbelievable !

I'd watched an episode of Anthony Boudain who was in Jamaica - and I simply had to eat it again. I picked up a old cookbook I'd bought out there - and this one caught my eye - mainly cause I love evaporated milk!

Which was mixed with tomato ketchup...!

I've had a can of Gunga beans in the store cupboard for some time now. They can be used in "Rice and Peas" (and so they were)

The cooking liquid for the rice and peas - coconut milk & spring o's amongst other things

The chicken thighs were marinaded in the evaporated milk and tommy k mixture & drenched in breadcrumbs

Lovely - moist and crisp and very bad for you !

You can't beat a plate of rice and peas

Chicken Pie

2010-11-26T22:19:00.002Z

It's bloody freezing in England at the moment. Perfect therefore for a pie!

So - I bought a few ingredients in Waitrose and then noticed Gordon Ramsey had a version in his pub food recipe book. This is a sort of amalgamation of ideas.

The cast:

The recipe called for poaching the chicken. I was a bit worried about this - but actually it turned out to be a great move as it then leant itself to a great stock for the liquor for the pie

After poaching

A loving close up of some bubbling butter and browned mushrooms.

That's the stock I was talking about - after a quick hard reduction

Pre baking.

Note the arty chicken motif

Post bake

And the chicken...

The final product.....absolutely lovely

And this was even better the day after.....

Cullen Skink

2010-11-15T20:34:00.000Z

Having a one year old and a brother with two little one's also means that lunch becomes the new 'going out'. It's great deciding what to have for a Saturday snack...adds a new dimension to my repertoire.

I'd wanted to cook this for ages - it's from the excellent Gordon Ramsey Pub Food. One of the best cookbooks for simple English fare.

Unfortunately I could not get un-dyed haddock at the last minute. I thought it would be a problem...but i'm not sure I could tell what might have been the problem in the end result.

A simple poach in milk. Does that bay leaf really matter !!!

And a flaked haddock into the simple soup of potato, onion, milk and cream. it was lovely

...but having multiple kids racing around the place meant I forgot to take a photo of the finished dish. oops!

Proper Paella

2010-11-10T20:12:00.003Z

I really really hate mass produced tourist Paella. Really hate it.

So...when in Spain I decided to go as authentic as I could. I read in my 'Food of Spanish Markets' cook book that whilst it's generally impossible to get two Spanish persons to agree with what actually makes up a proper Paella - what they will (should) say is that seafood is a no-no.....and thus an authentic recipe followed. Here's my attempt.

The key ingredients are actually rabbit and chicken bits.....

..and some lovely runner beans

Frying off the meat

Plenty of paprika and tomato juice

The real deal

Surely that'as too much liquid

Oh...no...where does it all go ???

And I was most proud of this. A real Paella should have a very distinct 'soccarat' or crust that forms on the base of the Paella. I've never had this in (touristy) restaurants...so I was very pleased with this. It really does add something to the eating experience!

Individual Shoulder of Lamb Roast

2010-09-20T22:50:00.001+01:00

Very very happy with this one. One of my top meals.

Went to the supermarket to buy a shoulder of lamb and found these individual bone-in lamb portions.

And this is what they looked like after 3 hours on a slow roast !

Perfect size (for two hungry people). Actually - you didn't need to be that hungry - they were perfect!

What a great start for the roasties

See - told ya

Served simply with some red cabbage and shredded carrot

So tender you could eat it with a spoon. I know - 'cos I did !

Chicken Chasseur

2010-09-16T21:55:00.000+01:00

Decided on a quick and easy tonight from the Food of France

Get the butter foaming they say

Nicely browned chicken - thighs of course - there is only one cut of chicken to cook with in my opinion

Mushrooms and onions sweating down

post wine / brandy / tomato paste

And the finished dish. Bit weird - tasted a bit like it had come out of a jar! Lou wasn't impressed!

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

2010-09-13T21:46:00.003+01:00

I bought way too many mushrooms for another recipe...so decided to have a simple mushroom soup.

However - found this on the net - which benefited from a small tablespoon of Paprika

Not mushroom on the chopping board !!

Added a bit of Chinese fungus and some dried porcine

And the result....a lovely little number

Last party chilli

2010-09-10T21:51:00.001+01:00

We had our last party in our wonderful house.....so decided to cook a chilli.

Bought most of Sainbury's

From Meals I've cooked at home

It was quite an operation - most rings on the go

And the biggest pot I own

It went down a stormer....and the beauty of it was there was plenty for the freezer

Friday Night Post Hangover Fish Fingers & Chips

2010-09-10T21:41:00.000+01:00

Needs no introduction or explanation !

Beef with Black Beans

2010-09-08T21:41:00.002+01:00

A simple keeper from the Food of China - an awesome cookbook

The key ingredients - every store cupboard should have them

And the result....a 'proper' stir fry

Carnitas

2010-09-04T22:38:00.000+01:00

Very very very happy with this one.

Recently, whenever I go to a good Mexican restaurant I try to order something with shredded pork. I love the pull apart texture - and of course the taste. I'd been reading a few recipes for Carnitas recently, and having a Saturday afternoon spare I decided it was time. I got this recipe from a great cookbook I have called Mexican, which I'd bought when we visited Oaxaca. It's a great little book - full of what I would call authentic dishes - not the obvious high street ones.

Within the book it has a recipe for re-fried beans. Now I love re-fried beans and I've always maintained that if I could recreate these at home I'd be a happy man. On Saturday - I was a happy man !

So the key to the Cartnitas it two fold.

The humble orange is used to both marinate and then slowly braise the pork belly (and it needs to be belly)

At this stage I was a little worried...the pork still seemed a bit tough.

And so to the RFB. Firstly you need to boil up some black beans with some fried onions...(at least 2 hours)

These were added to some more fried onions

You then mash the beans down with some of the cooking liquor

And basically cook until dryish. These were absolutely fantastic - even better than the real thing !

I also made a lovely fresh salsa

And so back to the pork. Basically what happens is you cook very slowly, allowing all the juice to evaporate. At this point the pork becomes meltingly tender- and it also starts to fry in the fat that remains. Awesome!

I drained the pork

And plated it up

A fresh guacamole, some sour cream & a wedge of lime, along with the Carnitas, salsa and re-fried beans. A seriously nice and seriously authentic Mexican. Ole!

Venison En Croute

2010-08-18T21:52:00.009+01:00

When in Rome...or rather - when in Norfolk....

We had a week's holiday at Lou's family cottage. I took up a few cookbooks, and this had to include Cooking At Morston Hall - by Galton Blackiston, which pays homage to the food and cooking of the North Norfolk coast.

After a long deliberation, and knowing that Mum & Dad were joining us, I decided on what is basically a posh diner party dish, but I was swayed by the fact that I was able to get some of the local venison as the star ingredient. Dad was keen to make a guest appearance on the blog, and so was happy to pitch in.

I'm not saying how much this was !

A simple set of ingredients - but what a fuss....as you will see

Dad gets a cameo role in the blog....making the mushroom veloute

Cooking down the mushrooms and fennel after Dad's expert whizzing

Next - the recipe called for parsley pancakes!

Browning my meat !

A layer of puff pastry with a layer of pancakes

Followed by a layer of mushroom sauce

And wrap it all up

Until it looks like a pigs bladder !!!

Bake.....

Happy - but nervous...what's it going to be like....

And how about that. Very happy!

...but to be honest..I think the photos make it look a bit better than it actually was. It was certainly nice - but it didn't have the wow factor - certainly not for the cost/effort/time that went into it.

However - one can't complain at the provenance of the dish....this beast was likely roaming the land in one of the lovely stately homes just close to the cottage only a few days before. Happy days.

And as a little post script....

Very good cold as a salad a few days later....

Cromer Crab Salad

2010-08-17T23:24:00.010+01:00

Another attempt to eat things very close to where we were staying.....which was at the fantastic Oram Norfolk cottage.

This caught my eye as something that might be interesting (from Cooking at Mortson Hall by Galston Blackiston), and knowing that Dad would certainly want to by a Cromer crab when we went up the coast it all seemed like a swimmingly good idea....

Rather pleased with this photo of Cromer pier. Yep - this is the middle of August & the crabs are out there somewhere

Are you pleased to see me - I do you have a crab in your pocket?

We also bought (and not foraged to my disappointment) some samphire

And so the finished salad. The idea was to layer the white and dark meat with a mustard based layer and an avocado/chilli/coriander layer. Unfortunately, I was in charge of the seasoning - and I think I went a bit heavy handed. In my defence, the recipe did not warn about this - but my efforts totally overpowered the delicate taste of the crab (which was lovely as I'd sneaked a few spoons during preparation). A definite lesson learnt: Crab = delicate seasoning. Looks bloody good though !

We'd also bought some lovely smoked haddock from the Cley Smoke House, which I flaked and grilled with some Norfolk cheese.

..and so overall - a reasonable dish - but not great

Dung Po Pork

2010-08-08T23:12:00.008+01:00

I'd been itching to cook Chinese again after having a conversation with a mate about what to cook from the excellent Food of China (check link on left to see what I've done from it)

This one caught my eye - and a perfect bit of pork presented itself at the supermarket. Awesome.

Lou had invited some friends around - which meant I could experiment with a few more dishes...which is exactly what I did!

Firstly the pork was shallow fried until crisp - and then allowed to cool and dry

It was then braised for 3 hours in a sauce of rock sugar, dark and light Soya and Shaoxing rice wine.

Which produced this...

Carved thinly

And presented with the sauce

A seriously nice dish....moist fall apart pork with a lovely...errr..Chinese tasting sauce! Despite the fat Lou and the rest gobbled it up.

And so a beer to celebrate

I also cooked these...which is possibly my favourite chinese dish. fish Fragrant Aubergines from the awesome Fuchsia Dunlop's Szechuan cook book. A heady mix of chilli bean paste (Douban jiang), sugar, garlic, soy, shaoxing rice wine and so on. Doesn't taste fishy - but in my mind tastes amazing. It's very good with pork also

I also cooked a crispy Szechuan beef. Another stonking success. Crispy fried battered beef and carrots with a final sauce of sugar and black rice vinegar. Lovely.

English Onion Soup

2010-08-07T23:02:00.003+01:00

My brother came up with his little ones and so a Saturday lunch was required.

A combination of Jamie at Home and a trawl through the internet and I decided on an English Onion Soup.

A 40 minute slow cook of the onion and leeks produced a deep sweet flavour

The second batch - the first I forgot about as Russ turned up and almost burnt the house down !

Finished with a stock made from the left over braising juice from the last Oxtail recipe.

A lovely Saturday lunch

Pork Chow Mein

2010-08-01T20:05:00.003+01:00

Really pleased with this one. This was far different to the slop you normally get from the local chinky.

The secret on this one was the fresh egg noddles that were first blanched, then left to cool and dry, before frying until crisp. The rest of the chow mein was layered on top - including the sauce, which meant a slow melt into the crispy noodles. It really worked well.

Noodles post blanching

Some chinese chives in the distance.

Almost too much frying.....but actually this was perfect

Lovely and fresh and crunchy

the assembled dish...that didn't take long to disassemble!

A loving close up of the noodles

Arty shot of chow mein!?!

Red Thai Fish Curry

2010-07-26T22:12:00.004+01:00

A few weeks ago I made a red curry paste. Tonight was an opportunity to use it. This is quite a simple but very nice dish if you have the right store cupboard!

The palm sugar seems to keep for ages (I mean years)

My home-made Red curry Paste

After a gentle cook with the coconut milk and cream & some bamboo shoots

Very nice it was too.....very very nice indeed.

Beef Short Ribs

2010-07-23T22:03:00.001+01:00

Been wanting to cook these babies for some time. I'd seen them in my Korean book, and so when I ordered the steak for the previous post I included a couple of slabs.

However, upon re-reading the recipes in the Korean book I have, I realised that these are actually more suited for a low slow braise in a stew. Given it's so hot at the moment I didn't think this was a particularly good idea, and so I decided to try and slow BBQ them.

They certainly look the business. Couldn't mistake them for anything but ribs

And so after 6 slow hours in the smoker...something prehistoric turned up!

I still love this view of them

As you can see, the smoker imparted the usual pink tinge....and you can see that they retained an incredible amount of moisture...but....

...they were actually underdone - even after 6 hours. The cut is quite tough, and an under cooked short rib takes a bit of chewing I can tell you. I do believe a few more hours and they would have been great....they were simply OK at this point. (the left over veg cheese back was however very nice!)

Steak-off

2010-07-19T14:01:00.001+01:00

An email popped into my in box a few weeks ago from the East London Steak Company. Have a click through & you'll see they look like they mean business. However, the problem with places like this is that whilst the quality is great, it's damn frustrating having to buy in bulk ......or pay a large amount for delivery on a single steak....(I'm not willing to freeze steaks this good)

Anyway to get over that.....an idea took hold...and before I knew it I was hosting the inaugural 'steak-off'. I'd emailed a few mates with the link - and proposed we get together basically to eat meat. This then turned into a bit of a competition (well we are blokes), and quite frankly an excellent evening.

This is how the story unfolded....

Firstly the box arrived. Delivery time was between 5:30 and 8 am. Now I happen to think that is perfect - as you can take delivery and get to work...knowing you have a treat in store when you get home.

An awesome game of pass the parcel....

You can't complain about that. Longhorn steak and if you use Google maps you'll end up at the field they used to live in !!

This is the core contents of the "White Box". Any evening that starts off like this has got to be good!

Beautiful thick rib-eye - with plenty of fat running through

A superb sirloin - look at the thickness

The macho looking T-Bones

And a strangely shaped rump

So the plan was that we all drew lots to be allocated one of the steaks. Three cooked in the first round - three in the next round - and the winners of either round got to cook the remaining two.

We decided to let each person cook how they wanted, and then we all judged on firstly the appearance (i.e. which of the three looked the best (3), middle (2) & worst (1), and then the same ratings for actual taste.

With 7 people judging a possible 3*7 = 21 points for each steak was up for grabs (in each category) with 42 points as full monty. Note that if a steak was judged last by all it would still manage 14 points. More on that later eh Rob?

Round 1

And Daren gets under way in round one - by apparently eating his raw!

And Rob also starts cooking one of the rib eyes....even though he was a round two contender...more of this later....remember 14 points....

Russ's sirloin in the first round - in which he manages to pull off the amazing trick of turning an absolutely prime piece of well hung steak into something resembling a pork chop!

And so the first round judgement begins....

On the left....Russ's ~~pork chop~~ pan fried sirloin.
Middle - my BBQ'd T-bone
Right - Daren's tenderised and pan fried rump

So...marks out of 21 for appearance were (in classic last place first)

Sirloin (Russ): 7 (Chuckle)
Rump (Daren): 17
T-Bone (Steve): 18

So - the anaemic looking Sirloin predictably got the lowest score. It was damn funny though!

And now for taste:

My T-Bone (score: 13). Juicy - but probably suffered from the fact it was a t-bone and thus difficult to get that consistent finish all the way across

Russ's sirloin (score: 16). The winner on taste. Despite the looks, the bashing he gave to tenderise it meant the steak was very moist and juicy.

And Daren's pan fried rump (Score: 13). I though this was the best of the three. I've always preferred the more wholesome taste of a rump to the refined fillet. I think Daren himself (a fillet man normally) was turned to the rump-side this evening.

And so the round one final scores were

Sirloin (Russ) : 23
Rump (Daren) : 30
T-Bone (Steve) : 31 (yes!)

And the conclusion. Well....if the taste scores had been weighted higher than appearance, then I think Russ sirloin would have won. This was how we concluded it on the night (after a few beers and much laughter). However, in the cold light of day I have re-assessed my thoughts. Even though the Sirloin tasted nice- if I'd been presented it in a restaurant I'd have been mighty annoyed....taste is important - but the whole experience makes up a great meal. Go figure !

And so on to round two!

Mac makes a fine start with the BBQ

Rob's long and slow cooked rib on the right, Mac's BBQ Sirloin middle, and Wayne's pan fried rump (chuckle) on the left.

Appearance scores were:

Rib (Rob): 10 - It looked green!
Rump (Wayne) : 11
Sirloin (Mac): 21

So - Full marks to Mac. It did look superb - but I must mention my lovely wife Lou who was trying to get me some extra marks on the basis that 100's of my previous BBQ meals had added to the overall effect. I could not agree more.

And to taste

Mac' Sirloin (points 19). Fantastic. Nice one Mac

Wayne's Rump (chuckle again) (points 16). I liked this - despite an over zealous use of the Lea & Perrings.

And unfortunately Rob's well overcooked and dried out Rib-Eye. A brave man to slow cook a steak for so long - it could have been great - but......points 7. Rob - don't give up the day job. Oops - too late!

And so the final score for round 2

Sirloin - BBQ (Mac) : 40 (close to the full Monty)
Rump - Pan fried (Wayne) : 27
Rib-eye - Slow cook (Rob) : 17

And so the conclusion

Well - the obvious conclusion is that there aren't many better ways of spending a summer's evening than munching through 8 fantastic steaks with your best mates. It was interesting to see how different these cuts of meats can be served up, and what an amazing difference it makes to the steak. No doubt about it - the meat from the East London Steak company was top notch, and I shall be using them again when I can work out another way of consuming vast amounts of meat at a single sitting. Hopefully they'll open a shop soon.

I think the winning steaks showed that a simple preparation, cooked on a BBQ, with a nice thick good quality cut of meat is a winning combination. Let the ingredients shine through....

Roll on next time.

And Finally

Just a couple of shots of the last two steaks - as cooked by the round winners (Me and Mac). I did the rib-eye with a simple rub and a very brief searing on either side. Then wrapped it in foil and left it for a good ten minutes. It was lovely - crisp on the outside and rare and juicy in the middle. In my opinion the best of the night. However, no photos of the final product as we'd imbibed quite heavily at that point, and hey, who knows, that may have clouded my judgement!

Tandoori Chicken (test run)

2010-07-08T23:10:00.000+01:00

I'm getting annoyed with my tandoor. I've yet to get it so hot that it really sears and tandoors the meat. Indeed, I have always had to finish in the grill / oven. This time I tried a load more coal - and still no luck. Hot at the bottom (to the extent of burning the lowest food) and no cooking the highest at all. What am I doing wrong?? Surely not more coal than this effort.

Anyway - the story....

Made a marinade.

Plenty of coal (or is it??)

Waiting....

Surely that's hot enough ??

153 on the wall - not great.....

Complete with potato guards

looks promising

Tried it with the lid on

This is after 40 minutes

Burnt at bottom - not cooked at the top.

And so into the oven for a grilling

Lovely once complete - but not how they do it at the Star of India !

Wing Bean Salad

2010-07-06T22:44:00.001+01:00

As I mentioned in the previous post I have a bit of a Thai head on at the moment.

There is a fantastic shop opened up in China Town that is like shopping in a Thai market. They have so much fresh authentic Thai/Asian veg and herbage. In fact - I have a lot of Asian cook books - but there's stuff in the shop that I cannot reference back anywhere. Cool.

So - I bought some Wing Beans....as you do !

The salad is a simple affair. Blanch the beans (taste a bit like a European green bean), crush some dried prawns, cooked chicken, fried shallots, peanuts and a lime and fish sauce dressing

A very different fresh tasting salad.

Tom Yum Kha

2010-07-04T22:38:00.002+01:00

For some reason I've been itching to cook Thai for ages. Since we'd had a lovely roast chicken on the spit the night before, I decided to do my favourite Thai soup.

Went shopping in China town, and was amazed to find a great little pack as shown....nothing better than having to waste all that extra lemon grass ! As it was I also managed to get a red curry paste out of this...so the post for that will come later.

How can a soup with those ingredients not taste superb

And it did...spiced mine up with plenty of red chilli and new about it later :o)

BBQ Smoked Pork Rolls

2010-07-03T22:00:00.001+01:00

I love well cooked pork dishes...as in long slow cooks. So it was a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon and I decided to fire up the smoker.

I used a rolled shoulder...still can't find 'pork butt' anywhere in the UK

After 5 hours smoking

If only - what a meal

Look at the beautiful pink ring - Ooh Err!

And served simply within a soft roll with some coldslaw. Very nice - could have maybe been a bit juicer - maybe left it in for an hour too much ??

Homemade Beefburger

2010-06-23T21:35:00.001+01:00

Using up some left over mince. I read in HFW - the Meat Edition, that you should use at least 200g for each person and just the mince - nothing more...nothing less

So...an uninspiring start...

But that's looking better

And onto the BBQ

Fabulous

A classic combination of toppings

Served with my home made BBQ beans

Smoked BBQ Ribs

2010-06-19T22:55:00.001+01:00

England versus USA. World cup. Perfect excuse.

Take 5 slabs of ribs

Cover with home-made rib-rub and marinade for a24 hours

Stack 'em high on the smoker

Decorate garden in a sad way

Add some South African sausages

and a few chickens

serve with a classic England retro shirt

Sit back and enjoy

Well - the food at least !

Chinese Bacon with Bamboo Shoots

2010-06-09T23:09:00.000+01:00

At lunch one day last week and I was shopping in China Town. I'd seen the packets of Chinese bacon many times before - but never purchased. Why not I thought.

When I got back...I turned to the bible of Chinese cooking...

As luck would have it, I'd also bought some bamboo shoots. Unfortunately not fresh - but I think they are pretty good anyway

The Chinese bacon comes up shrink wrapped. I didn't know what to expect.

Apparently it's been made into bacon via a slow cure with soy, sugar and various chinese spices.

You have to steam it for 20 minutes...and it ends up like this. It is absolutely superb.....almost a sweet and sour, Chinese crispy duck type of effect.

Thinly sliced and simply stir fried with sliced bamboo shoots, chilli and a splash of soy.

A fantastic meal

Saveloy and Sauerkraut and 3 mustards!

2010-06-03T22:48:00.001+01:00

I'd bought some Saveloy from the local butchers on a whim

One of the benefits of the local eastern European communities are the numerous jars of sauerkraut in the local mini-marts. I'd tried to make it myself once - but it wasn't the best. Maybe again one day?!?

Couldn't decide which mustard - which leaves one choice

Simple. Wish I'd had two now!

Oxtail Ragu

2010-06-01T22:55:00.001+01:00

Went for a walk with Thomas and ended up with a bag of Oxtail.

The base for the Ragu

After braising for 4 hours

Gorgeous. Sticky, deep flavours.....

Salad of Duck Confit and Lentils

2010-05-29T23:12:00.003+01:00

Inspired by a Jamie salad from the excellent Jamie Does series. Also inspired by the fact that I had a confit in the fridge that needed to be used up and finally inspired by the fact that I am far to fat and that salads are supposed to be healthy!

Some lovely Puy Lentils

And a very healthy confit of duck!?!. A very useful ingredient - as this was vaccum packed and I'd had it for ages. Need to get some more for the store cupboard.

Made up a salad to mix with the warm lentils

Post roasting...

the final dish assembled. Not a bad effort for a made up one

Chairman Mao's red braised pork

2010-05-27T23:14:00.000+01:00

So...Chairman Mao's favourite dish. Apparently he was not much of a gourmand, and food was not much more than fuel. This simple dish is from the Hunan region & thus is also from the great Fuchsia Dunlop's Hunan Cookbook. She is a genius !

A simple set of ingredients

Not the most auspicious start for a dish called Red Braised!

The secret is in making a syrup with some groundnut oil and sugar

Getting there !

I served it with a dish called - Pulverised Aubergine with Green pepper. I did not have much pepper - so added some mushrooms also

You have to fry the aubergine and then mash it down

And it ends up like this. It does what it says on the tin. Actually it was very nice.

And after a 40 minute braise - so was the pork.Tender and sweet.

That's one for the little red book!

BBQ Leg of Lamb

2010-04-24T22:57:00.002+01:00

Very simply one of the nicest roasts I've ever cooked!

A simple preparation

After about 40 mins

Perfect (still pink inside) and incredibly moist due to the smoke and rotation

Some great roasties and simple veg

And Lou made a superb Oat based crumble...

Tuscan Hunters Stew

2010-04-13T20:54:00.001+01:00

The place we stayed in Puglia had a selection of cookbooks including Jamie's Italy. I don't have this one - so I settled down for an enjoyable browse. This recipe jumped out a mile, and I had to try it....especially as the weather was quite inclement and a stew seemed to be appropriate.

Dried broad beans are massive in Puglia....soaked and mashed to make Fava

The stew is a long braise of beef shin. I had great fun in the butchers pointing at various bits of my body! We got there though!

It's made 'spicy' by the addition of a bucket load of freshly ground pepper. it really did add a kick to the final dish

Before

Decided to do some Polenta. never done it before. Not sure I got it really....bit like wallpaper paste...but I think I may have missed the point ?

After 8 hours of cooking !

The stew was fabulous....deep flavours and melting meat...with a rich spicy sauce. Serving Polenta and Fava was not the best plate construction....three sloppy dishes...but it was nice, and absolutely stonking cold for lunch a few days later

Wood fired Pizza

2010-04-12T20:42:00.004+01:00

Brilliant. Whilst on holiday the place we stayed had a real pizza oven. The only question was when!

Cathy and Keith came round to guide us through the process. At Cathy's instruction she told us that the first pizza had to be just olive oil, rosemary and salt. I was not impressed as I was already planning a meat feast......However....

...it cooked in about 3 minutes and was seriously once of the nicest things I've eaten!

And then the fun begins

It's a lot harder than it looks

Nothing like an outside kitchen

This was mine...Maybe a bit overloaded

Wild asparagus picked from the garden

One of the classics....Anchovies and Capers (not really a fan)

Vincisgrassi

2010-04-11T20:36:00.009+01:00

I like the idea of baked pasta, and this recipe I took with me on holiday from the always excellent Food of Italy. It's basically a Lasagne - but with chicken, mushrooms and Italian sausage. It was as nice as it sounds!

Fried down the chicken and sausage

Dried and fresh mushrooms

Before topping & baking

And after

Served with some local greens. It was excellent - and even better a few days later :o)

Veal Steak with Fresh Peas and Broad Beans

2010-04-10T20:38:00.007+01:00

Took the opportunity when in Italy to cook some veal.
However - I think I might have asked for the steak to be cut a bit too think!

Happiness is shelling peas and drinking beer!

Cooked in a light broth

Just OK really!

Bak Kut Teh

2010-03-25T22:40:00.003Z

Hard core Chinese this one.

I was lucky enough to spend a few months working in KL a few years ago - and I persuaded the guys in the office there to show me some of the real Malaysian food. One evening I will never forget was a drive across KL to a small grotty roadside stall that was apparently the best Bak Kut Teh in Malaysia. Bak Kut Teh can be roughly translated as 'Pork Bone Tea', and the guys were justifiably proud. I remember it being quite a dish - fragrant and full of shall we say interesting bits of pig.

I left KL with a small bag of the BKT spices as a parting gift, but sadly I had never gotten round to using them...until I found myself on baby sitting duty and well - it seemed only right. As I was as work that day, I made a trip to China Town and bought myself another packet of the spices, as I was not sure the ones I was given several years earlier would still be up to the job.

Also bought some Morning Glory! Chuckle.

The China town spice mix...Normally I'm not one for a pre-mix - but take a look around the internet for some of the numerous things that could go into Bak Kut Teh....I was not going to source that lot

Before the 2 hour simmer. I used both the mix and also the whole herbs I got from my colleagues in KL. Absolutely no idea what I was putting into the dish (the ginger like stuff at the top)

As I mentioned - I also bought some Morning Glory. Turns out it's a sort of hollow Chinese spinach. I found a recipe to cook it with preserved tofu....and as Lou was out that made sense. However, sadly the jar of preserved tofu I'd had knocking around for a few years has gone mouldy when I opened it....so has to resort to Oyster Sauce, Not such a problem!

After cooking. Note the whole head of garlic and the shitake mushrooms

The finished dish. It was superb. A great broth....fantastic deep flavours - almost herby - definitely Chinese. The pork was literally melt in the mouth. And it tasted even better the day after!

Lancashire Hotpot with Steamed Treacle Pudding

2010-03-20T20:00:00.001Z

This dish has been on my radar for ages - literally a decade - and I've never actually got round to cooking it. However, my bruv was up and we were off to the Arsenal West Ham game (which we won 2 - nil - champions???), and since it had been pushed back to 5:30 - it seemed like a sensible dish to prepare in advance...ready for the post match/beer celebrations.

It was quite simply superb. The recipe called for chops from the best end of lamb - but Sainbury's had a half price deal on leg of lamb - so I ended up cutting great chunks off one of these. Pan frying in seasoned flour and then stewing for 2 hours....I luckily had some frozen gravy that I used as the basis for the stock. It was melt in the mouth tender at the end. A fantastic dish.

Did it taste better for the stock pot ? I'm sure the old Speckled Hen in the distance helped also.

Made a stock with the lamb bones

And some fresh rosemary from the garden

Frying the lamb

Before 1

Before 2

And 2 hours later...

Severed up with some steamed and buttered spring greens...Yum

And Lou followed up with a perfect home made treacle tart!

Green Pepper and Pork with Preserved Mustard Cabbage

2010-03-15T23:10:00.000Z

A quick and easy one.

It turned out very nice which was a surprise as there was not a great amount of seasoning in it (no soya for example) - only a small amount of Shaoxing Rice Wine. It meant the taste of the green peppers really stood out.

The preserved mustard cabbage is one of those Chinese delicacies that takes some getting used to. I think it's quite important to properly rinse - as the flavours can be quite pungent.

Frying the peppers until they are quite 'dry'

And there we go...simple but nice

Pan Fried Lemon Sole with Samphire

2010-02-28T22:44:00.001Z

Despite being a foodie I'm not really into my fish...with is annoying given I live 10 minutes away from Steve Hatt - probably the best fish monger in the country!

Once a year I trundle down there....panic about what to buy....spend a fortune, and then proceed to screw up the cooking of whatever it was I ended up with.

I thought today was no exception as I was half way through trying to get the skin off the damn soles. Why didn't I get them to do it - I always think "it can't be that difficult"!

Anyway - 20 minutes of pulling, shouting and general mullering of the fish, and I'd got most of the skin off.....but even now my fingers stink! What is it about fish! Give me a steak any day!

Anyway....I'll stop moaning - it actually turned out quite nice!

Skin on !?!

The samphire was delicious....just a quick 2 minutes in boiling water - no salt needed!

Everything tastes good fried in butter

With more butter on top (lemon and parsley too)

Sausage Egg Chips and Beans

2010-02-25T22:43:00.001Z

Sometimes you just have to....

Roast Rib Of Beef

2010-02-21T22:03:00.000Z

This one's for Andy....

£37 !

Nicely aged

Fresh Horseradish.....looking arty ?!?

1 hour 30 in the oven (20 mins blast and the rest at low heat)

Total result. How happy was I !

The perfect Sunday afternoon....

These babies rivalled Auntie Shirley's !

Cinesine Pasta with Italian Sausage

2010-02-08T19:46:00.001Z

In celebration of our recently booked holiday to a friends awesome villa in Puglia, I decided a little Italian was in order to get myself in the mood.

There's a fantastic Italian deli round the corner from me - that I tend not to use as it seems was over priced. However - I was out for a walk with Thomas - and in such a good mood I decide to patronage it.

There was no plan - but there were some lovely looking Herb based sausages and I found a bag of 'very small pasta' - Cinesine apparently. I have plans for these stuff now - I think a baked dish will be great with these bad boys!

Made it up....

See - they are small

The sausage was a revelation...as you can see from the fry - it was bright pink with a fantastic flavour. It really made the sauce - although next time a little less salt as the sausage was quite salty

Made a fresh tomato sauce and added the fried sausage

The finished dish. It was lovely.

Fish Fragrant Slivers of Pork

2010-01-29T19:38:00.001Z

Lou was supposed to be out and I was Baby Sitting! Great - time for Sichuan! Unfortunately Lou's night was cancelled. Not mine though :o)

From the awesome Sichuan Cooking by Fuscia Dunlop you get the history of the strangely named dish....

“The so-called ‘fish-fragrant’ flavour…is salty, sweet, sour and spicy, and infused with the heady tastes of garlic, ginger and spring onions. The hot taste comes from pickled chillies, which also stain the cooking oil a brilliant orange-red. The most classic fish-fragrant dishes are based on pickled chillies chopped to a puree with a cleaver blade, although some versions use Sichuan chilli bean paste instead… This delicious combination of flavours is thought ot have originated in traditional Sichuanese fish cookery, which would explain why other ingredients prepared in the same fashion whould have instantly recalled the taste of fish to those who are them, hence the name. Some food experts, like the famous chef Xiao Jianming of the Piaoxiang Restaurant in Chengdu, say the flavours conjure up the actual taste of little crucian carp (ji yu), which are widely eaten in Sichuan – another explanation for the title. The term may also be connected with the fact that whole crucian carp, which may also be connected with the fact that whole crucian carp…are sometimes actually added to vats of pickling chillies to improve their taste.”

Always good to have in the store cupboard - dried cloud ear fungus

I cannot resist - every time I cook Chinese it has to have a Bok Choi in Oyster sauce. kick it up a notch!

Before the chilli oil does it work in terms of infusing....

And after - fantastic

Mmmmmmm

Sorry Lou - it had to be cooked!

Quick Beef and Mushroom Stir Fry

2010-01-27T21:38:00.000Z

A bit of beef and a few bits and bobs from my Chinese Larder

The holy trinity of chinese marinades

Fermented Black beans

Huevos rancheros

2010-01-24T20:34:00.001Z

On Friday night we'd had a quick Mexican fajhitas (not on the blog!). There was, as always - some tortillas and various bits left over.

On Sat we were in Giraffe - and one of their brunches is Huevos Rancheros. Ah ha - Sunday evenig's tea was born.

As left over meals go - this was right up there!

That Chorizo had seen better days. I darn't look at the sell buy date!

Cubed and fried

Made a salsa with the chorizo and fresh toms.....browned off the totillas in a large pan - dumped a few eggs on top with the cheeses and lobbed in under the grill

Before

After

Served with an obscene amount of sour cream and guacamole. Very good!

Pot au Feu

2010-01-17T21:14:00.000Z

Inspired by an elderly lady sitting next to me in Chez Paul last week, I decided to have a go at this French classic. It also helped that I was in Ridley Road market and they had some 'shin' for sale.

I also got to use my fantastic shiny new casserole pot!

Some bacon frying

I always chuckle when a recipe asks for this sort of thing

Before

And after...

Unfortunately - the shin was far to 'cheap' a cut - and ended up being all gristle. Shame - as the sauce was excellent. Not the greatest dish - and certainly not like a classic Pot au Feu. You win some - you loose some.

New Years Eve Curry Cook Up

2009-12-31T18:36:00.000Z

Blimey....having a three month old certainly puts a hold on the creative cooking evenings. Well at least ones where I can also be bothered to photo and blog them. Wouldn't change it for the world though.

Myself and Lou invited ourselves down to the relatives in Worthing for New Year. I great time was had by all....and myself and my cousin did the cooking.

Here's the story...

First - make up a fresh Garam Masalla....definately worth it when you are making this many dishes.

Getting ready for a Sag Gosht

Dried chick peas for the Channa Masalla

Please don't tell anyone how much Ghee goes into these dishes !

Muttar Paneer - a request from Lou

For the pickled aubergines

Two cousins...one book....two editions...

The butter chicken on it's way

I love Bhindi

The Chana finished. Awesomely pungent

The finished butter chicken. Can you spot the Ghee!?!

Get stuck in. Happy cooking in 2010!

Cabbage Stuffed with Oxtail & Foie Gras

2009-12-23T22:52:00.002Z

So..this was inspired by a meal in Paris a few weeks ago. Most of the food I'm eating whilst working in Paris is fairly boring, but this one stood out. I had no idea what I was ordering, and it turned out it was the speciality of the restaurant. It was certiainly superb. Thus, when I was in Riddly Road market the other day, the lure of the oxtail proved too much.

Having found a few recipe ideas, I cobbled this together. The restaurant version had Foie Gras, and so I dusted off 'that' tin from the back of the cupboard.....

I braised the oxtail for 3 hours....

....and had to stop myself eating the whole lot then and there. Such a fantastic flavour

Refeshed cabbage leaves

Mixing in the foie gras

Before

After

With a lovely wine reduction. Fantastic.

Chicken Dopiaza

2009-12-18T21:51:00.003Z

The first India dish I ever knew the literal translation of was Dopiaza, meaning 'Two Onions'
It either relates to twice the amount of onions to meat, or onions cooked two ways. Either way, I love this dish when it's done well - when the sweetness of stewed onions is a magnificient feature of the taste.

In this recipe (from the awesome Food Of India), I did onions two ways (minced and stewed), and probably had about twice as much as the meat - so a DoPiaza squared ?

The reason for the dish....

Minced onions, garlic and ginger. Cooked slowly this forms the basis of the thick sauce. It's also the basis of a basic curry gravy and can be used for many standard curry dishes

Fried chicken and large chunks of onions.

The final dish....Lovely

I decided on a little lentil side dish. Parridu. This is simply stewed red lentils, cooked in coconut milk.

The secret of the dish....a spicy onion mixture made with black onion seeds and cumin.

...which gets added to the lentils at the last minute

Duck Breast with Leeks

2009-12-15T21:35:00.001Z

Made this one up. Very nice.

From Meals I've cooked at home

Used the little casseroles for a quick potato dish

Plenty of fat being released

A great result

Sichuan Hot and Numbing Beef

2009-12-02T08:43:00.005Z

This extremely authentic Sichuan 'snack' is a right faff to make, but the results are absolutely amazing. Every time I make it - I never do enough (the meat tends to disappear).

This time I cooked it whilst preparing a Roast Chicken for some friends. Yep - it was a strange starter for an English Roast....but they certainly didn't mind and we polished the lot off. It's another one from the awesome Fuscia Dunlops Sichuan Cookbook. Click on the Sichuan or Chinese cuisine links for a few more posts.

As you can see - it's going to be fragrant.

These are the basic marinade ingredients. I can't really se that it makes much difference, especially as they are so whole - but that it is the recipe

The marinaded beef is then deep fried until crispy

And then slowly stewed in a fragrant chinese broth of the marinade ingrediaents, star anise, soy and sesame oil, cinamon and so on....

Until you are left with a glistening sticky mess....

These sichuan peppers are from my trip to China. If you've never experienced their numbing (not hot) effects - then get down to China Town now!

A highly spiced dressing of sichuan pepper, chilli and sesame oil.....

The finished article. Chinese billtong/jerky I suppose....but worth the hassle.

Finished with some fried dried sichuan chillies.

Pad Thai

2009-12-01T08:51:00.006Z

This was tremendous. Cooked from The Food of Thailand, it was probably one of the most authentic dishes I've cooked from any cookbook I own. Often with a noodle dish it ends up being...well noodles in a wok....but this was somehow different. Fantastic layers of flavour and the right balance of ingredients. Certainly helped having the full complement of bits and bobs, including the sparingly used dried shrimps.

Key ingredients are the roasted peanuts and the dried shrimp

I threw in a spare Thai aubergine (as you do!)

I love doing this....

The finished article

The wedge of lime did make a difference

Steak, blue cheese sauce and shitake mushrooms

2009-11-22T21:14:00.000Z

Decided on a steak....and somehow got the idea of a blue cheese sauce. Realised I didn't have a clue how to make one. Turns out it's easy....beat together some mature blue cheese with a load of butter and 'Robert is Your Fathers Brother' !

A heart attack in a small chinese bowl...

Grilled cooking rocks

Fresh shitake - can't beat 'em

Lovely

Sausage Meat Pasta Bake

2009-11-12T21:20:00.000Z

For some reason I'd got an idea for a pasta bake inside my head...

Had a decent set of ingredients ready to go in the fridge

Made a fresh tomato sauce and used up the Thai basil....seemed to work OK!

Nice and crispy

Also added some cabbage. This also worked very well. It was a bit of a left overs meal - but it was great

The secret of any good pasta meal - bags of cheese.

The finished article. Very good indeed.

And a small homage to the baking dish. How cool/old skool is that !

Thai Green Chicken Curry

2009-11-08T21:53:00.002Z

I can think of nothing more relaxing than cooking a curry from scratch. This was fairly extreme even for me- down to the real coconut cream! Followed the recipe from the Food Of Thailand - and it was superb.

It was all inspired by a trip to China Town where I saw this fantastic bunch of Thai Sweet Basil

The ingredients for a proper green curry paste

One of my fav kitchen gadgets - the mini blender

I've learnt to only use the soft middle layers - so no more picking woody bits from my teeth!

The finished paste - with enough in the pot for the freezer!

And so to the fresh coconut cream

If you ever cook Thai - then invest in some Palm Sugar. Seems to keep for ages and adds a lovely depth to the sweetness

Thai Eggplants - ooops - I mean aubergines

Once all the above is made- the rest is straightforward

Claypot Tofu with Mushrooms

2009-11-06T22:13:00.001Z

Another one from the fantastic Rasa Malaysia blog. It was Friday evening, and I'd not cooked much this week - my three week old son has other ideas :o)
As I work close to China Town I decided to pop in on the way back. I settled on this one as I'd always wanted to get a proper Chinese Clay Pot (after a particularly awesome meal in Malaysia once - a Claypot chicken in a massive street food restaurant in the shadow of the Petronas Towers). However, I was very disappointed as the China Town supermarkets only had a few cheap looking very expensive options. No opportunity for a new cooking toy......Le Crueset it is then!

Tofu again...I really have got into this amazing ingredient. Only fresh though!

Lightly fried until golden (I remembered to get Firm not Silken this time !)

Decided on a few Sichuan Peppercorns. I love that tingle

Reconstituted dried mushrooms

Before braising (with a liberal amount of white pepper)

A small side of Bok Choi with Oyster and Garlic

Chinese in Indian (fusion!!??!!)

Post braising...in my "Le Crueset Clay Pot"

Lovely. Thanks Rasa Malaysia.

Chicken and Date Tagine

2009-11-01T21:38:00.006Z

I really don't like AWT. Never have. It was compounded one day whilst watching one of his shows with the phrase "I'm going to cook a Tagine, but we can simply do it in a saucepan. No need for the fancy cookware".

Hmm....What laziness. The whole point of a Tagine is that it is cooked in the conical shape dish that allows the steam from the cooking process to flow up to the point of the cone, where is condences (as it's colder), and falls back down into the middle of the dish. It forms a fantastic 'self-basting' type effect that keeps all dishes amazingly moist (infact - most of mine somehow seem to add water and end up spilling over the side. Why could AWT not be bothered to mention this before cooking it in a saucepan. Ho Hum!

This is from Food of Morocco. A recent addition to the excellent Food Of series.

Normally not a fan of fruit in cooking - but the middle eastern / north african dishes are an exception, where they seem to be core to the dish, rather than a fancy addition.

These dates are soooo moorish (joke?)

Colour the chicken with onions, cinammon & powdered garlic

Adding the saffron and dates. Does 'Sainsbury's saffron really make a difference???

And that's why it's important to do it properly. Imagine the juices flowing to the top of the conical lid, and condencing as it's colder, to drop right back into the middle of the dish. A perfect design.

Where did that liquid come from???

Fantastic. Juicy sweet chicken and a homemade spicy Cous Cous

Hawaiian Pizza

2009-10-27T19:04:00.001Z

First day back at work after paternity :o(

Lou was back at home and little Tom had decided to play up a bit. She rang and said she would like something ‘plain’. Damn I thought – as I always think of a spicy curry, or fragrant Chinese as my fist cooking options. I’d settled on a creamy pasta dish when we passed a Domino’s pizza. Ah ha – that’s a better idea!

Once I’d then convinced myself not to cook my version of an American Hot – I thought – I know lets go cheesy, so to speak, and have a Hawaiian!

Made a fresh pizza base

And some fresh tomato sauce

I love Mozzarella…but would it be enough?

Well – it is a Hawaiian!

Secret to a good pizza – use less sauce. Pizzas I made at University (a few years ago now!) would end up swimming and never have a crispy base. Simple – watch the guys make it in New York and see how little they actually use. Even this is too much really

Before…

After – very very nice (but I’d prefer a bit more cheese – just because….)

Coq Au Vin

2009-10-25T19:04:00.003Z

Rather perversely I had a real desire to cook Coq Au Vin for some time now. Perverse in the fact I’m spending so much time in Paris and complaining about the boring food, & I am due to return next week after 2 weeks paternity.

However, never let that stand between a cook and his belly!

So, off I went to get some standard ingredients. I’m using a recipe from the Food Of France – great book – great series as I’ve said many times. Check out the links to the right.

The onions were from a new green grocers near us. Just an unassuming place near Stoke Newington Green – we have 100’s like it. However, this place is very different. The guys who run it (Turkish?) stuff the place full of the most fantastic fresh & varied vegetables and salad. It’s only been around for a few months – and is busy all the time. Check out the street map link.

View Larger Map

Marinated the chicken in red wine, bay leaf and thyme. Used just thigh as my current fav chicken bit – and I think I will skin it next time

Some pancetta (ok- not particularly French)

Fried off the onions and mush

And the chicken. Should have done a couple of batches – didn’t crisp as much as I’d like

After 40 minutes bubbling

Really nice….sauce at just the right consistency. Made plenty for the freezer

Roast Pork Belly on the rack

2009-10-18T19:49:00.000+01:00

An old skool one. This is from the inspirational Appetite by Nigel Slater. A simple concept - just cook to enjoy....experiment and see what happens....the whole book is written by giving a 'starter' receipe and then several ideas for how to cook it in different ways. I think this book still has a lasting effect on my cooking approach today.

So - having been 'inspired' by this receipe almost a decade ago when my cousin cooked it for me and my mates (and earned great respect in doing so), it seemed like a good idea to try again.

Take a belly of pork...

And a few ingredients for a marinade

Mash it all up

And marinade

Some fresh runners in a local shop - had to be done

Cook the pork on a rack - over the pots. Plenty of mess everwhere - but hey - who cares when the pots taste that good !

Ooh Baby !

Richie boy looking forward to it

Perfect

Lamb Shanks

2009-10-05T20:51:00.010+01:00

One of Lou's this one (including the photos). From Marcus Wareing's Perfection. Interesting concept for a cook book - he takes a simple dish and shows several techniques for how to cook to perfection. So...does it work....let's find out.....

Braise your Shank (ooh err)

The stock gets goings...

Thsi is known as a cartouche (getting the idea of the book?)

After braising for several hours

Stop playing with your food!

So - the verdict.
Lovely photos - shame about the food. It was nice - but not perfection. The lamb did not really pick up much flavour from the sauce - which itself was too liquidy. Possibly needed a bit longer - but we were hungry!

Salmon with Bhindi Bhaji

2009-10-04T21:09:00.000+01:00

A totally made up one this.....
We'd been shopping in Hackney and came across the small aubergines and the okra.
I love Bhindi Bhaji - and this was a very passible effort.

Decided to bake these little beauties

I love Okra

The bhaji on it's way. This is simply made by frying the Okra with the usual suspects (Corriander, Cumin, Turmeric etc.) The secret is then quite a lot of water and allow it to turn into a rich smooth sauce

Eh Voila

Salmon

gridled....

The okra was 10/10 - the salmon lovely - and the aubergines needed something

Jambalya, Guacamole and Key Lime Pie

2009-10-03T17:39:00.006+01:00

Bit of a states-side theme tonight.

We are still waiting for the little 'un to arrive - and so we had a free weekend. We asked some good friends of ours - Nic and Andrea - around, and they obliged by flying in from Greece for the evening.

All set for the evening...

This Jambalya receipe came from Emeril Lagasse. If you ever watched food programming in America you'll know what I mean by Kick it up a notch... . I food hero of mine. Below are the ingredients for his Cajun Essence!

And this is what is looks like - freshly made

The holy trinity of Cajun food - onions, peppers and celery

Should have been Duck.....but nothing wrong with a bit of thigh ;o)

How cute is that ? (Lots of onions!)

Fresh Guacamole (note MOLE - see previous post)

Arty shot of Guacamole

Not forgetting the Jambalya

Lou says I'm not allowed to say I thought it was a bit stodgy

And not forgetting Lou's tremendous Key Lime Pie