Biscuit overload

Spent a very productive Saturday afternoon in the kitchen this weekend, trying out some of my mum’s biscuit recipes – the ones she used to make when we were kids for Christmas and Easter, lightly spicy and warming.  She’s a great baker and they really stuck in my mind, so i thought, given that I’m now branching into baking, I’d give ‘em a bash.

The first one I’m going to share (will do them one at a time… good things and all that…) is a great recipe for Grantham biscuits – crunchy, ginger biscuits.  Other recipes will include Larkhay biscuits, Cornish fairings and Easter biscuits (with a Christmas twist).

Mum’s original recipe (from a Woman’s Weekly apparently…) used just powdered ginger, but I’ve pepped it up a little bit with some stem – so you get a lovely chewy piece occasionally.  Be warned, these are very moorish!  I’m trying to avoid scoffing the lot before Wednesday when some of the drama gang come round for a meeting…

Recipe

(makes about 16 biscuits – and in keeping with the traditional roots of the recipe, quantities are in imperial!)

2oz Butter

4oz Caster Sugar

4oz self-raising flour

1 tsp ground ginger

20g (ok most of the quantities… i can’t think in imperial…) stem or crystalised ginger, chopped up very small

up to 2 tbsp water

Method

Cream the butter and caster sugar together – this is easiest using a mixer, but works equally well rubbing the butter into the sugar in the same you would flour for a pastry.  You’re aiming for a light fluffy ‘dough’.  Sift the flour and powdered ginger, and add the stem ginger, then the water, and work into a usable dough, but don’t knead too much.

Divide the mix into 16 equal portions (half, half, half, etc…) and shape each bit into a ball, then flatten slightly on to a tray lined with baking parchment.  The spread quite a lot – almost trebling in size – so make sure you leave plenty of room round each, and don’t put them too close to the edge of the tray, or it’ll drop off onto your oven…

Bake on about 150 degrees C (GM2) for about 20 mins until lightly golden.  When done, take them out, but do not try and take them off the tray straight away.  They will be very delicate and soft until they’ve cooled and hardened.  Leave them for about 10 minutes until you can pick the tray up with your hands (though be sensible!! – if your daft enough to pick it up early, not my fault!) and transfer them to a wire cooling rack.

You don’t really need to serve these with anything – they should be slightly soft and gingery, not too hard.

Cooking for the thesps

Had a long but fantastic week last week – playing Bob Cratchit in a very successful am dram production of Christmas Carol with St Paul’s Players in Bristol.  I also offered to do the food for the cast and crew for between the two Saturday shows and was blown away by the response –  homemade sausage rolls, pastillas, rabbit pie, veggie and meat tartlets and cheese and onion plats – and the lot was demolished in the space of half an hour, along with four quiches donated to the effort by another member!

One thing i was really chuffed with was the gluten-free shortcrust tartlets i made.  Gluten-free flour is, according to everyone i’ve spoken to, a major pain to work with – and for the first hour i concurred.  I used my standard recipe, adding just a touch of olive oil to mix, and chilled the pastry overnight.  Getting it out of the fridge the following day i started to work it normally, but it just crumbled… might be my fridge was too cold, but it was turning to chalk – much like the flour itself looked though to be honest!

Anyway, perseverance and working it in small chunks, and letting it up to room temperature really came together.  The recipes (requested by a member of the group) are…

Pastry (makes about 20 tartlets) – very slightly adapted from Richard Bertinet’s shortcrust recipe
250ml gluten-free flour
125ml butter
5g salt
35ml water
1 medium egg
5-10ml olive oil

Combine the dry ingredients and then rub in the butter.  Add the water, egg and olive oil and mix well, working it until combined, but not too much.  Once combined, chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

To roll, divide the dough into at least quarters, and leave out of the fridge until at room temperature.  Roll each section slowly and patiently, adding only enough flour to keep it from sticking – too much and your dough will be too heavy.  Roll it to about 4mm thick and use a 8cm pastry cutter to cut into circles.

Veggie filling
1 onion
20g butter
1 parsnip
1 carrot
30ml cider vinegar
water to cover
all spice
50g sugar
Fry the onion until translucent, then add the root veg until it gets a little colour.  Add the vinegar and all spice, then enough water to cover it and cook until the veg is tender, then uncover, add the sugar and reduce it until the water is absorbed or evaporated.

Meat filling
6 good quality gluten-free sausages, de-skinned
2-3 rashers of streaky bacon, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, finely chopped
2 apples, finely chopped – golden delicious works well
splash of balsamic vinegar
splash of cider vinegar
teaspoon each of thyme and sage
seasoning to taste – and it will take a fair bit

Fry the onion and garlic until tender, then add the apples and cider vinegar – also a splash of water to stop it sticking.  Once the apples have soften, mash slightly and leave to cool.

Combine the other ingredients well and add the apples when cool.  Get your hands in the mixing bowl and squidge together thoroughly, making sure the sausages are completely broken down.

Each pastry circle should take about a tablespoon of either filling. There’s no need to bake the cases blind first, as they’re small enough to cook quickly anyway.  Bake for twenty minutes, then brush the top with whisked egg, and bake for another 10 or until golden.

Ah… breakfast…

Sadly didn’t think about taking a photo of this before I ate it, but will share the recipe anyway and stick a photo up next time i do it! So for now, here’s some nice mushrooms which are a key flavour in this dish…

Did this kind of by accident, but it’s a great breakfast recipe – bacon, mushrooms, hint of garlic and pancakes!

Recipe (makes two pancakes – depends how greedy you are how many that serves…)

100g plain white flour

1 medium egg

about 150ml milk (i tend to add it by eye to get the batter consistency right…)

pinch of salt, pepper and optional all spice

 

3-4 rashers of decent streaky bacon (you want plenty of flavour, none of your watery stuff…), chopped into lardons

40g butter

5-6 chestnut mushrooms chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Pinch of parsley

Good sprinkling of black pepper

splash of white wine

dusting of plain flour

splash of milk

 

Method

Dead easy.  Combine the batter ingredients and whisk until smooth.  Leave to one side for a couple of mins while you prep the filling.

Fry the bacon for a couple of minutes until starting to crisp, then add the butter, mushrooms and garlic, and fry until the mushrooms brown. Add the wine and cook off, then add the black pepper, parsley, then little bit of of flour, cooking it into the pan – you want it to combine with the fat, as if making a béchamel, so keep it moving, then add the milk, combine and then turn off the heat – you want some sauce, no lumps and no burnt bits.

In the midst of the above, i’d have a pre-heated frying pan, or tava (the indian flat pan, ideal for pancakes, used for dosas and chapattis), and start doing the pancakes – just a dash of oil, then enough of the pancakes mix to cover the whole surface of the pan.  Cook on one-side until the visible surface is set, then flip it over and cook for another couple of mins – check it’s done by flipping it again.

Serve each one with some of the filling, then rolled. Great start to a Saturday, all in about 15 minutes!

One to avoid…

For the first time i find myself writing a mainly negative review… having for the time ever asking to speak to a restaurant manager… the villain of the piece?  Well, we thought we’d try Obento – touting itself as “Bristol’s finest Japanese Restaurant” - on Baldwin street in Bristol.  A mistake we will not be repeating… i’m not even gonna do what i normally do and post a map, cos i don’t want to inflict it on anyone! Go to Wagamama’s instead or stay home and order from Easton Express…

Initial impression was very good – seated immediately, and our drinks order was taken with 2 mins, and appeared quickly.  Then came the waiting… Our food order wasn’t taken for half an hour, despite waving and indicating that we were ready to order (no i didn’t wave or click my fingers, but everything but!).

The couple who’d arrived 20 mins after us ordered at the same time, and their food arrived first – leaving us waiting expectantly, but increasingly grumpily as takeaway orders and other food flew out of the kitchen.  20 mins later, still no food, so I asked one of the waitresses, and she replied two minutes.  10 later, still nothing, so i pressed again, and suggested that we’d be walking if nothing came out soon, to which an excuse was made that there’d been a problem in the kitchen – fine, but why not tell us and at least bring us something to keep us going…?

However, food duly arrived about 5 minutes after that complaint.  The food itself was passable – but by no means great, either on the Bento box front, or the sushi.  Didn’t compare to the fabulous Easton Express takeaway, and the sushi was akin to what Tesco serves up in little plastic trays… but at least it was food, and we were rather hungry by this time.

So we ate, with little explanation of what stuff was when it arrived (again at irregular intervals…) and i popped to the gents after – to be greeted with a pile of sick in the corner of one cubicle (from the previous day… i won’t go into detail, but it was obvious…), and the other in a less than pleasant state too.

So… for the first time in my life I asked to speak to the manager, who turned up about 5 minutes later.  Explaining our various issues, he really didn’t look bothered – and added that we hadn’t even been asked for another drinks order… the excuses were unforgiveable in a restaurant. “We’re busy”, with a chorus of “everyone ordered lots of sushi” – well duh! it’s a bloody Japanese restaurant and you have a 50% off offer on sushi! Not exactly a surprise, surely??

Suffice to say, after threatening to walk, then offering to pay only half, I finally agreed to a 20% discount on top of comp drinks – so yes it only cost us £24 for a meal for two.  But in comparison to some of the great food available for a comparable price elsewhere in Bristol, and given the service, cleanliness and lack of care, I think I’d have to be offered money as well as a free food to step back inside Obento.  Shocking.

From our American cousins - Pulled Pork

It’s been a while! just realised it’s two months since I last posted anything! Been a few changes at Chez Newton, and been very busy with my other pre-occupation, preparing with my Am Dram group for our production of Christmas Carol later this month.

Monday was another example of what happens when you let Fox run amok and brainwash millions of people… however… I have some great friends in DC and in deference to them and as a show of support (!), this is a fantastic recipe which I've adapted from one my friends, Chris and Eeva Moore, fed me last year during my escape to DC for a week.  This should definitively not be served at a tea party…

Pulled pork is a dish from the Southern States – Jamie Oliver did a version of it on his US tour a couple of years ago, over a barbecue over about 18 hours… very slow cooked.  This one is a much quicker recipe – the meat is gently poached over about 6 hrs instead.

It’s very simple to do, with a few US-style sides.

Recipe

One good sized shoulder or leg of pork

One large onion

150 ml white wine or cider vinegar

enough water to cover the joint.

Sauce

70ml Soy Sauce

Good pinch of five spice

75g brown sugar

1 can of tomatoes (chopped)

2 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp chilli powder

2 cloves of garlic (crushed)

Method

Dead easy – take of any skin off the joint and reserve – you will use this for crackling at the end.  Don’t do anything else to the joint at this stage (i.e. tie it, season it, butterfly it or anything).

Place the joint in a pan which is big enough to take it and the liquid – and so it doesn’t touch the sides – add the onion, water and vinegar, then put on a low simmer, covered, for about 6 hrs, until very tender – in fact pretty much falling apart – you shouldn’t need to cut it at all once it’s done..

Combine all the ingredients for the sauce and stir until smooth – you can also throw in a little thyme if you’d like.  It should be sweet and hot – a barbecue sauce, basically.

Splash a little white wine vinegar on the skin you removed earlier, then slice and season with salt – roast it for half an hour until crackling.

Serve in a roll with coleslaw and the crackling on top (my friend Chris made a fantastic red cabbage version – very simple, half a red cabbage, mayo and white wine vinegar – worth the effort, believe me!), with fries on the side.

My fave salad – duck, crisps and parmesan

This is a dish from a couple of weeks ago that is one of the only salads I like to do! – very simple, light, summery, lets the ingredients speak for themselves …


Ingredients (serves 2)
2 good sized duck breasts
2 –3 medium potatoes
Parmesan
Good bunch of mixed leaf salad (rocket, basil leave, spinach, etc.)
Salt and pepper to taste
Splash of balsamic
good slosh of sherry or brandy (whichever – rice wine works really well too)


Method
Season and then pan fry the duck breast, start by browning the flesh side to seal it, then flip it over on to the skin side, pour the balsamic vinegar over the flesh side and cook it slowly until all the fat renders off (this can be reserved and makes great roasties!) and the duck is pink in the middle but just cooked.

Finely slice the potatoes as thin as you can, or using a mandolin if you’ve got one (to get the ‘man crisp’ crinkle cut look!).  Fry until golden, then drain and shake off, then re-fry – you want them crispy.  Once they come out, season them with salt and pepper.

Once the duck is cooked, take it out, turn up the heat and cook off the sherry.  Slice the duck quite thin and serve on the bed of salad with the reduced sherry dressing over the top.  Surround it with the crisps/chips and shave some parmesan over the top.

More lamb!

Tonight’s offering is my favourite (to cook anyway) lamb curry – straightforward to cook, tasty and spicy.  Given that this is the third curry (to date) on here, you’ll have gathered this is one of my favourite foods!

The longer you cook the lamb in this dish the better – slow cooked over 12 hours wouldn’t be a bad thing!  Our old favourite curry house in Cornwall had one lamb dish which you had to order 48hrs in advance so it cook marinade and then cook for the best part of a day! We even had it for Christmas dinner one year – picked up on the Eve of course :-)

Ingredients (serves 4)
For the lamb
Whole shoulder of lamb
Tandoori curry paste (enough to marinade the whole joint)
1 btsp Tandoori spice blend
2 tbsp plain yoghurt
2 tsp lemon juice

For the curry
1 large onion
Half a bulb (yes you read that right) of garlic, crushed
1 butternut squash
2 tsp curry powder (madras if you’ve got it)
1 tsp cumin
1 large red chili, finely sliced
1 tsp coriander
2 tbsp ghee
2 tbsp chopped coriander
about 500ml water


Method
Start with the lamb. Score the joint all over and pretty deeply (but don’t cut through), then rub the tandoori paste all over it, and sprinkle the lemon juice over it – also season it at this stage.  Leave it in the fridge for at least 4 hrs, then combine the powder and yoghurt and coat the marinated joint with the mixture, and leave it in the fridge for at least another 2-3 hrs.  (The longer you can marinade it for the better – a day would be ideal, but is also a little unrealistic!)

Once marinated, put in on a roasting rack and place in a pre-heated oven on about gas mark 2.  Cook it until the marinade starts to harden, then cover the lot in foil and cook it for as long as necessary so that the meat pulls easily from the bone – this could take a while…

Meanwhile… finely chop the onions and cube the butternut squash and fry both in the ghee until they start to pick up colour, then add the curry powder, dried coriander and cumin, and the garlic.  Fry until the onions are golden, then add about a third of the water, the chili and half the chopped coriander. 

Get it onto a fast simmer and cook until the water’s absorbed, then add another third, cover and leave on a very low simmer. 

Once the lamb is falling apart, shred it or cube it, and add it to the curry pan.  Add more water if needed to loosen the curry, and cook until the two parts are nicely combined.  Add the rest of the coriander and serve.

I usually serve this with a naan bread from our local oriental supermarket, the Bristol Sweet Mart – they’re not thick and floury like the standard curry house fare but thinner – almost like a lavash bread.  I cook these on a metal oven tray over a direct flame (don’t use your favourite non-stick obviously!!).  Melt some ghee on the tray then pop the bread in, plain side down. 

While it’s frying, sprinkle the other side with a little tap water (i run my hand under the tap and flick the water on it), then flip the bread over – you want it slightly charring, but not burnt! If you’ve got to do a few (i allow one bread person, unless it’s just me and Trina in which case, we split the other one between us - they come in packs of three…), keep them in foil while you cook them –they’ll stay tender and warm.

Quick and easy – Lamb and mash with Salsa Verde

Had a good few days food wise – some fantastic food down in Cornwall (picnic and the Minack courtesy of Kingsley Village at Fraddon), and some great barbecue food at the in-laws and family friend's - you know who you are! – oh and some fish and chips from Barencutt's in Wadebridge and a pleasant hour or so sampling the local wines at Camel Valley Vineyard – dead good!

I also came back from Kernow with about a kilo of fresh damsons and had my first bash at jam making – rather successfully as it turned out! Had to re-heat it and add a touch of lemon juice to get it to set fully (it was jam, but a touch runny), but it tastes bloody great!

Tonight’s offering is one of my all-time favourite dishes – very quick and easy to do and very, very tasty.  The dish comes from the ‘All About Meat’ course I did at Bordeaux Quay in Bristol a few years ago, a course i would very highly recommend.



Ingredients (serves 2)
2 tbsp finely chopped each of fresh basil, parsley and mint
3 cloves garlic
5-6 anchovies (preserved)
2 tbsp preserved capers, rinsed
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (for the salsa verde)
1tsbp white wine vinegar
2 lamb steaks
2-3 medium potatoes
1 tbsp butter
Milk as needed to texture the spuds


Method
Mash the garlic, anchovies and capers in to a paste (with a touch of salt if needed, depending on how salty your capers and anchovies are – if they’re in salt rather than oil or vinegar).  Combine the paste with the herbs in a pestle and mortar and mix in the white wine vinegar and add the olive oil in stages – it shouldn’t be runny, it should be nicely moist.

Taste it at this point and adjust the flavours to taste – don’t be afraid to add more herbs, especially the mint and basil, if you want it quite fresh.  Put the Salsa Verde in the fridge while you do the rest to let the flavour develop.

Quarter the spuds and boil in cold water until tender, then mash and combine with the butter and as much milk as required to get the potatoes to the desired consistency. Keep warm.

While the potatoes are boiling, preheat a heavy frying pan. Oil and season the lamb steaks, then fry on a medium/high eat until the fat is mostly rendered but the meat is still pink inside – no more than 3-4 mins a side depending on the thickness of the steak.

Serve the lamb on a bed of mashed spuds, topped with the salsa verde.  It also tastes great with a touch of balsamic or balsamic reduction – you can either do this in the pan after the lamb has come out, or there are some great reductions on the market – my current fave is an apricot one from an italian market in hammersmith from a couple of years ago…

enjoy!

Review – Cafe Grounded, St. George

Once again, reviewing one of our favourite local restaurants.  We discovered grounded a couple of years ago and have been popping in every couple of months for great pizza and fantastic desserts ever since.  Grounded is quite unassuming – it looks like a standard boho style little cafe.  But a look at the menu gets you thinking, as does the great range of beers and decent wine list.  Inside and out, there’s a relaxed atmosphere, though it can get a little crowded inside at times.

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I tend to order pizza, and this time, for the first time ever, i order a 12” Calzone… trina goes for a veggie one, and we get one of their fantastic garlic and rosemary flatbreads to share – oh and some olives (yes we were hungry…).  We also go for a bottle of their house rose, which is a great, light and sweet accompaniment to pizza.  This comes to about £40.

The calzone when it turns up looks like a giant Cornish pasty! It’s enormous – I'm sure it was a 12” base, but it looks like it’s been stretched over the toppings of what would normally be 2 pizzas!  Still, i manfully struggle through, though have to share a few mouthfuls with Trina to finish it!  Trina’s own is nice, though the chestnut mushrooms are a little overpowering, and the base is a little soggy.  This is a bit of a shame, as Grounded really do the best pizza bases i’ve tasted – but they can occassionally pile on the tomato sauce and the middle goes soggy – possibly the pizza stone isn’t hot enough or the oven is too full and the heat’s not even…  But otherwise, it’s tasty!  The rosemary garlic flatbread is as ever amazing.

On to a second bottle of rose, and then we decide to get some dessert to take out for ‘breakfast’ (i.e. we’ll eat it after the walk home when we don’t feel quite so piggy!).  I chose a the baked cheesecake with brownie base – really light and fluffy, beautiful texture and flavours.

In all, Grounded is a little more expensive than our other local eateries, but is a nice treat for a change, and the food is very high quality.  We’re moving to Southville soon, and are really looking forward to trying out Grounded’s sister cafe over there – i hope it’s the same atmosphere and great food – highly recommended.

Mushroom risotto

This is a very quick and easy risotto recipe – i’ve served it this time with pan fried cod, but it works just as well on it’s own.  A good risotto should be creamy and not too stodgy – add enough liquid so the rice is cooked (yes it will take a while), and it moves a little on the plate – you’re not, however, making cement! 

The first time i made risotto i firstly tried to do it in a wok, secondly put in twice as much rice as i needed to, and ended up stirring it in shifts with Trina for the best part of an hour – we got through two bottles of wine (admittedly only one went in the risotto…) and about three pints of stock! don’t do that…

Ingredients (serves 2)

1 white onion or shallot, finely chopped

7-8 chestnut mushrooms, sliced

2 rashers streaky bacon

1 generous tbsp olive oil

about 100g Arborio rice

4 cloves garlic crushed

1 large glass of white wine

about a pint of good vegetable or chicken stock, with some saffron mixed in for colour

50g butter

20g grated parmesan

seasoning to taste

1 tbsp chopped parsley

 

Method

Start by gently frying the onion and mushrooms until they pick up a little colour, then add the rice, making sure that each grain is covered in the oil – but keep it moving so that it doesn’t catch or burn. 

Add the wine and let the alcohol cook off, then add the garlic.  This is where the stirring starts.  You don’t need to stir constantly, but you do need to keep it moving otherwise the rice won’t cook evenly and you’ll end up with some cooked and some chewy.  Once the wine is almost fully absorbed by the rice, add about half of the stock, let it come up to temperature (low simmer), then, again, keep it moving. 

Once that lot’s absorbed, check the rice – you’ll need to use your judgement here.  The rice should be about half way, which will still be quite crunchy – add about half of the remaining stock, let that cook in then check again.  If it needs it, you can add the rest.  If not, add the butter, parmesan and parsley, and stir until it’s the right consistency – add a little more liquid if it needs loosening, but not too much – you also don’t wont rice pudding!

You can pretty much put any combo in this recipe – simply replace the mushrooms and bacon with your choice of ingredients.

At Last… poussin breast with gnocchi

For those of you (hopefully most…) who didn’t see my starless turn on Britain’s Best Dish, this is what I cooked – with the caveat that this one actually works, the gnocchi is not ‘horrible’ (Burton Race is a rude git), the sauce is the right consistency cos it hasn’t sat under lights for ten minutes, and the poussin isn’t dry for the same reason!! Oh, and rather than being cooked over almost two hrs, it takes about 40 mins… ;-). The really annoying thing is that we were told to plate up on a plate, and then i was criticised for not using a bowl! How dumb is that!

Ok, moan over. 

I think this is a good little dish, came about by mistake, but tastes great.  Given that it took me weeks to get the gnocchi like gnocchi, if i was you i’d resort to a packet (pictured…)! But I’ve included it below nonetheless…

Thanks to all the support and kind words from everyone over the process, including the ITV production team who were all lovely, even if the ‘stars’ weren’t!

Ingredients (1 serving)

1 whole poussin
1 tsp ras el hanout
1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
6 cloves garlic
3-4 sprigs of thyme or lemon thyme
100ml good quality olive oil
2 banana shallots
300ml water for making stock from the carcasses
50g bacon lardons
200g chestnut mushrooms
100g butter
2 fresh bay leaves
2 glasses white wine
1 whole nutmeg
2 strands of saffron
150ml double cream
100g parmesan
salt and black pepper in mills for seasoning

For the gnocchi (makes 2 servings):

3 medium floury potatoes
small pinch of turmeric
250g plain flour
1 free range egg
seasoning to taste

Method

Remove the poussin breasts from the bird, leaving the last wing knuckle in place. Then break the carcass into two.

Mix together the ras el hanout, oregano, 2 cloves of garlic, a little bit of thyme, salt and pepper and a splash of good olive oil, and bash into a paste in a pestle and mortar.

Stuff the poussin breasts just under the skin with the herb and spice mixture.

Fry the carcass in a wide pan for a couple of minutes to brown, with one of the shallots (halved), then cover in water and bring to the boil for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, finely chop the other shallot, the rest of the garlic, the bacon and mushrooms.

Fry all the mushrooms and bacon and half the garlic and shallot in a pan half the butter, adding a couple of sprigs of thyme and one bay leaf. 

Once the mushrooms have browned enough, add 1 glass of wine and cook off the alcohol then add 1 ladle of the poussin stock and bring to boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, adding a little more stock as necessary. Grate in about half of the nutmeg and add a couple of strands of saffron.

In another pan, add the rest of the chopped shallot, garlic and butter and fry over a medium heat with the other bay leaf, then add the poussin breast, skin side down to brown off, seasoning to taste. Add the rest of the thyme.

Add the cream to the pan with the mushrooms and bring to boil until thickened (about 5-6 minutes).

Turn the poussin breast over and grate some parmesan on to the skins, then turn back over to crisp.

Once crisp, turn back on to other side and add the other glass of wine to the pan, leaving it to reduce.

Remove the poussin breast from the pan and rest it for a couple of minutes while cooking the gnocchi, then add the deglazed remnants to the sauce, stirring in.

For the gnocchi

Bake the potatoes in a microwave for about 8–9 minutes.

Peel the potatoes and push through a ricer. Season and add a tiny little bit of turmeric.

Add the flour and egg and knead it in.

To shape the gnocchi, roll the gnocchi dough into long sausages then cut them into 2cm sections. Lightly flour a fork with long tines. Then press the gnocchi pieces onto the tines of the fork and roll the dough back on itself to form a small, cylindrical, shell-like shape.

Place the gnocchi straight into boiling water and cook for about a minute. Drain and serve.

Lamb koftes

One of the great things about Easton is the variety of eateries.  My favourite starter at La Casbah is Lamb Koftes, and they’re also one of my favourite things to eat when we visit Trina’s sister in Istanbul – though I’m yet to be converted to the true Istanbul speciality of Cig (raw) kofte!!

Anyway, this is my take on them… the sauce is kind of a harissa sauce, although without the red peppers - paprika and chilli give it the colour.


Ingredients (makes about 12 koftes, c. 2.5” long)


for the Koftes

350g lamb mince
2 tsp each of coriander, cumin, chilli powder, paprika, ras el hanout
1 tsp each of salt and pepper
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 egg
fine semolina for dusting

For the harissa sauce (makes enough for two lots of koftes, so freeze half of it)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small aubergine, chopped into small squares
1 medium sized carrot – the older the better, as it’ll be sweeter – chopped very small (0.5cm cubes max…)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed
splash of balsamic vinegar
8-10 dried apricot segments
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp each of ras el hanout, coriander and cumin, 3 of chilli powder
About 400 ml water

Method
Combine all the ingredients for the koftes, except the semolina, mix thoroughly, then former into sausages about 2.5” long and 0.75” thick.  Place these on a plate in the fridge for an hour or so to firm them up, so they hold their shape.

For the sauce, fry the carrots for about 4 minutes until they start to colour, then add the onion until it goes golden, then the aubergine and garlic. Fry until all the oil’s been absorbed (add a little more if it looks too dry - the aubergine should start to release some once it's cooked), then add the spices, tomato puree and apricot.  Cook for about another minute, then slowly add the water, letting it absorb before adding more. Once it won’t take any more, add the rest of the water, cover and simmer for about an hour.  Once everything is soft (check the carrots), blitz mix until almost smooth, then return to the pan and keep on a low heat while you cook the koftes.

Pre-heat enough oil in a heavy frying pan to just cover the whole surface (don't put too much in, as they'll release a lot of fat while they're cooking anyway...).  Dust each kofte in turn in the semolina, so it’s completely covered, then add them to the pan. Brown on each side, turning regularly – you need to make sure each side is sealed, otherwise they’ll split.  Keep turning frequently until cooked – about ten minutes.

Tonight I've served this with a light salad, a few bits of feta cheese, and some pitta breads – i like the breads run under a splash of water, then fried in a tiny amount of oil and kept warm in tinfoil – it makes them nice and soft.  However, Trina moans about this, so otherwise, just toast ‘em!

Crispy duck

Tonight’s recipe is a quick and easy one after a day at St. Paul’s carnival drinking a variety of things in cans, and eating some great Caribbean food – goat curry, patties, saltfish fritters and jerk chicken!
So tonight’s is a light bite, using the remains of the duck from last night (i always buy whole ducks, as they’re much better value than buying the overpriced breast, and it only takes a minute or two to trim it down to the best bits – and you can use the carcass for stock).

The main cheat in this recipe is that i do always buy the pancakes – either from the supermarket, if they have them, or from our local chinese – they don’t seem to mind! I really hate duck ‘pancakes’ served in tortillas, the texture is completely wrong, way too floury, and the bread just doesn’t go with hoi sin sauce at all… one day hopefully supermarkets and caterers will wake up to it!!

Anyway...

Ingredients

for the sauce (adjust slightly to taste)
1 tbsp dark molasses sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp rice wine or white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp five spice
1 tsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp sunflower oil

For the duck
2 largeish duck legs
sprinkling of five spice
Shredded spring onion

Method
Sprinkle the duck legs with a pinch of five spice, the place on an oven tray in a pre-heated oven on gas mark 4, and cook for an hour or so until tender, then remove and strip the flesh from the bones.  Put the meat back in the oven on the same tray (to keep the fat that’s cooked off) and cook for another half hour.

Combine the ingredients for the sauce, and mix well – adjust to your own taste, I like mine quite sweet.

Shred any of the larger pieces of duck, then serve with the shredded spring onion with the pancakes!
Dead simple

Malabar duck

I’m back! after a week or two not really doing much interesting cooking (possibly as a psychological result of gnocchi and ITV…) I though I’d make a come back with a recently discovered but already firm favourite recipe.  It comes from Gordon Ramsay's Great Escape: 100 of My Favourite Indian Recipes

(the one with gratuitous pics of him on every other page, thankfully mostly fully clothed…). I'm not a huge Ramsey fan, but he does do some great stuff, and this recipe combines two of my favourite things - duck and curry! As you probably would expect by now, i’ve made a few amendments to better reflect my own tastes.  Trina loves this dish, and it went down well with her folks too.  It’s a really nice blend of spice and sweet, which has a lot in common with Thai and Vietnamese food - and i guess quite similar to the Kerelan flavours I love too, particularly in use of coconut.


Ingredients (for 2 – or 4 if you’re not as piggy as we are!)
Two good sized duck breast fillets, skin on, whole
2 tsp of curry powder
1 tsp fenugreek
1 inch of root ginger, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp ghee or butter, or 1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 medium onion
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp garam masalla
seeds of 1 cardamom pod, crushed
5-6 curry leaves, crushed
50g raisins
1 can coconut milk


Method
Rub the curry powder, fenugreek, ginger and garlic on to the duck breasts, including skin side, and leave to marinade in the fridge for an hour or two. 

Heat a heavy bottomed frying pan on a medium heat, then place the duck fillets skin side down – let them cook pretty slowly, you want the skin to crisp up but not burn.  Reserve the garlic and ginger for adding to other pan.  You don’t need any fat in this pan – the fat from the duck skin should render down anyway.

In another pan, heat the ghee until liquid, then throw in the onion, and the garlic and ginger from the rub/marinade.  Let it brown a little (make sure it doesn’t burn) then throw in the coriander, chilli and garam masala.  In many recipes, you add the garam masala last – if you want to do this, it’s fine – it just means the spice doesn’t cook out for as long, so you get more of the powdered flavour.  However, Gordon says, to add this here, and in this instance I agree!

Let the spices fry for a minute or so then add the curry leaf, cardamom seeds and raisins, and stir in for another couple of minutes, then add the coconut milk, mix thoroughly and bring to a gentle simmer.
The duck should by now be pretty crispy on the skin side.  Flip the fillets over to seal them, no more than a minute.  Then, keeping the skin out of the liquid, lay the fillets into the other pan.  Cook them on a lowish simmer for about 5-6 minutes, no more – you want the lovely pinkness of a rare duck breast.

Remove the breast once done and leave to rest – bring the liquid to a quick boil for a minute or two reduce it and thicken.  Serve on a bed of plain basmati rice (see my earlier missive) – duck breast sliced thinly on top, then the sauce around the sides.

Pretty damn good i think!!

Pizza!!

Having tried and ignominiously failed to produce adequate gnocchi (which you will see at some point in August unless the gods smile at me and ITV sinks into deep blue sea in the meantime…), i’ve returned to my first true italian love affair… PIzza!! Added to which, the footy’s on and i wanted something quick and snacky for tonight…

The dough recipe is adapted from Richard Bertinet's olive dough recipe.

Ingredients (for two c. 12” pizzas)
420g strong bread flour
100g fine semolina
10g salt
15g dried yeast
320g hand hot water
50g olive oil

combine the dry ingredients and mix, then add the oil, then the water.  Stir, then use a spatula or your hands to combine fully, then turn out on to an unfloured work surface.  Work the dough until it’s holding together and coming up from the surface pretty much cleanly – don’t flour the surface until this point, then be sparing – the more flour you add, the heavier the dough.

Once it’s smooth, lightly flour the surface and knead until silky and not sticky, then plaice in a floured bowl to rest – cover with a cloth and put it in a warmish place.

Once rested, divide the dough into two large balls on a floured surface, then roll or tease the dough balls to the desired diameter and thickness (i like mine as thin as you can get them without breaking) and place one of the pizza breads a pre-heated pizza stone or baking tray, then add the toppings.  Cook in a preheated oven (gas mark 6) for about 20 mins - try not to make the toppings to wet, or the centre of the pizza will be quite sloppy.

For toppings today, I chose a tomato (300g pureed), shallot (1), and basil sauce (sprinkling, adding 1 chopped clove of garlic and a splash of balsamic), then artcihoke and pancetta on one, and crayfish on the other, both finished with mozarella, parmesan and cheddar… pictured :-)

I need to buy another pizza stone however! I part-baked 'em so they wouldn't need to be on a stone,  then added the toppings a couple of hours later - tasted good, but the middle went a bit soggy, and i think it would've worked better if i could've put them both on their own stone and cooked them from scratch straoght to service.... ah well, live and learn... - my motto for the week i think!!

Dom’s lasagna

This recipe does what it says on the tin – it’s lasagna.  But there’s a few things thrown in to bring out the flavours and make it more moorish…

Ingredients
(Serves 4)
1 shallot or onion, finely chopped
50g pancetta or lardons
4 cloves garlic, crushed
200g button or chestnut mushrooms, chopped
500g lean minced beef
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp paprika

1 tsp all spice

1 tsbp balsamic vinegar or 1 glass of red wine

1 tbsp sun-dried tomato pesto
1 can chopped tinned tomatoes
1 tsp dried basil
50ml water
1 stock cube
6-8 sheets of lasagne (depending on the size and shape of your dish)
50g butter
1 tbsp plain flour
1pt milk
50-100g cheddar
20g grated parmesan

Start by frying the shallot, garlic, pancetta and mushrooms until soft, then add the Worcestershire sauce, soy, balsamic (if using the wine, add just before the tomatoes instead) and the paprika and all spice.  Mix well and fry until the onions are soft.  Add the mince, season to taste, then fry until it picks up colour then add the pesto, basil and tomatoes (and wine if using). Add the water and stock cube, then cover and leave to simmer for 20 mins.

Meanwhile make a white sauce - melt the butter in a pan, then add the flour, whisking to combine.  I cheat here... the constant stirring annoys me, so i bosh all the milk in at once and leave it on a low-medium flame until it starts to turn - check it regularly.  Then whisk it to make sure it doesn't get lumpy.  Once it's got to a nice double cream consistency, you can put in about 2/3rds of the cheese cheese.  You can also flavour this with a touch of all spice if you want.

Put half of the mince in a good-sized rectangular dish, and lay half the lasagne sheets over it, then add the rest of the mince.  Place the rest of the pasta on top and cover with the white sauce, then top with the rest of the cheese.  Then bake on gas mark 5 for about 25-30 mins until the cheese has melted and the pasta is cooked.

Fish Tagine

Tonight’s offering is a sweet fish tagine which combines some of my  favourite foods – a sweet rich sauce, light flaky fish and some nice bread.  I’ve served it on couscous this time, but that’s optional – it may be a wee bit heavy for some (we’re both sitting here rather full as I write this…).  The fish borrows a dish at a great little Moroccan restaurant in Easton called La Casbah (review to follow next time we go there), particularly in it’s use of raisins to sweeten the sauce.  Anyway, enjoy.

Ingredients (serves 2)

For the fish
1 Shallot or small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tsp ras el hanout
1 tsp all spice
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp tomato puree
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
100ml water or good fish stock
50g raisins
1 tbsp apricot jam
Salt and pepper to taste
2 good size fillets of white fish, chopped into strips about 3cm width

For the bread
200g wholemeal flour
100g strong bread flour
2 tsp baking powder
10g dried yeast
10g salt
100g hand hot water (100ml)
2 tsp caster sugar
2 tsp ras el hanout, plus 1 more for dusting the bread

For the couscous 100g fine couscous
1 tbsp good quality olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Boiled water as per instructions on the couscous - depending on grain bought, this varies from 1:1 couscous to water to 0.5:1

You need to prep the flatbread first.  Combine all the dry ingredients and mix, then add the water and mix.  Knead into the bowl then turn out onto your work top and knead until a firm dough forms.  Flour your surface lightly (don’t add too much flour or the dough will be too stiff) until the dough is silky and smooth – not sticky – then form into a tight ball.  Put into a floured bowl and cover, then leave it in warm (not hot) place for about 30 mins.  Meanwhile preheat your oven and baking tray or breadstone to 220 degrees.

After half an hour, turn your bread out into a floured surface and divide into 4 (you will have 4 breads… sorry just realised that, but the quantities work best, you can keep the rest in the fridge for a few days, then add more flour and hey presto, more bread).  Flatten or roll them into 1 cm thick teardrop or triangle shapes.  Leave them to rest while you do start the tagine.

For the tagine, fry the onions and garlic together with all of the spice until the onion starts to brown. Then add the balsamic and tomato puree and fry for another 30 seconds or so. Add the the water or stock and bring to a low simmer.  Let this reduce and  for ten minutes, then add the apricot jam, raisins and sliced fish. Keep on a low simmer until the rest is cooked.

At this point, put your bread in the oven for about 10 mins until it is a golden brown colour.

Meanwhile, season the couscous in a bowl and add the oil (you can also add a small pinch of turmeric for colour if you want too).  Add the requisite amount of water to the couscous and stir through with a fork, then cover for five minutes.  The couscous should be light and fluffy when done – stir it through again with a fork to break up any clumps.  Take care not to add too much water – make sure you check the instructions on the packet carefully – you don’t want to end up with mush.  You can also add chopped fresh coriander if you like.

Serve the tagine on a bed of coucous with the bread on the side.  Enjoy with a glass of  white – semillion chardonnay or similar.

NB. in the picture above i’ve thrown in a can of tuna, but with hindsight i think that made it too heavy – you want the sauce thick and rich, but not too heavy.

Taste of Easton – Eastern Taste

In the four years we’ve lived in Easton, visits to Eastern Taste have become a fixture in our culinary lives – from social gatherings of 8-10, to a quick curry for the two of us early on a Friday evening, Eastern Taste is exactly what you’d want and expect from a local curry house.

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Compared with the fashionable Thali 50 yards down the road, Eastern Taste looks a bit old-fashioned – it’s menu too is traditional, with the large range of curries you would expect and, in some circumstances, dread. As with many such establishments, it does help to know what to order, but unlike many you aren’t limited to the specials only.  From starters, to specials, mains and sides, the quality is consistently high and very tasty. 

Particular favourites for me are the Karahi, Pathia, Madras and especially the Balti – all curry houses think they can do Balti, but this is definitely a great example of the dish.  Trina’s usual favourite is the Vindaloo (her palate will take more of a beating than mine) – quite a dry heat in comparison to the sweeter Madras, but very edible.  I usually go for Tikka’d meat rather than straight as there’s a bit more flavour.  Prawn and other fish dishes, and veggie sides are also great – the Sag Aloo is fantastic.

The restaurant is BYO – typical for Easton and cuts your costs down. Typically we manage to spend about £25 between us for popadums, starters and mains (they also know us well and Trina get’s her own plate of sliced onion to accompany the popadums…). 

The service is very friendly, and they usually squeeze us in if it’s just the two of us – it can get busy, especially Thursday to Saturday, so it’s worth booking.

In all, a great place to spend an hour or an evening.

Looking forward to cooking normally again…

Has to be said, while I’m excited at the opportunity to make an arse of myself on national TV, I am looking forward to getting back to cooking proper dishes again – added to by the fact that we’re currently trying to run the freezer down in prep for the house move…

The Gnocchi marathon went quite well today – finally got to a stable and repeatable gnocchi, though i had to bite the bullet and stick egg in it.  I’m still not 100% confident that I’ll be able to pull it off, but I think once the sauce is on it, it should be fine… fingers crossed.

I also established the reason for my bread results being a little mixed… my scales have a margin of error of around 100g depending on how hard i put the dish down on top!  Even more irritatingly, I purchased replacement scales which then buggered up as soon as i got ‘em home. I do love Kitchens up on Whiteladies, but two trips in two days is a little annoying.  On the other hand the ricer i bought in there worked a treat.  I had to resist buying extras in there though – always a problem…

Barbeque tonight – doing a pretty traditional one tonight, sausages, burgers, pork chops… i have on made the burger baps however, courtesy of the great Richard Bertinet’s Dough book, with a couple of tweaks – i’ve added some ras el hanout to the dough mix to give it a lovely fragrant flavour, and drizzled some great lemon olive oil on top.  Trina’s folks brought it back from their Peninsular travels in the spring and it tastes amazing – really light olive oil with a lovely citrus overtone.

Will be doing a review of my favourite local curry place tomorrow or Sunday, though I’m also tied up with rehearsals most of the weekend.  So, catch y’all on the flipside…. Enjoy the sun ;-)

‘Pueblo’ Pie

This recipe was born at Uni – a product of being a bit skint, wanting some good warming food and having a packet of mince.  It’s a spicy take on traditional cottage pie, replacing the traditional English veg with peppers, and chucking in spices.  The other main variation which I added after reading a Latin American cook book was to add sweet corn to topping.  Anyway, enjoy…:

Ingredients
(Serves 4 – unless it’s me an Trina, as we have been known to pack this away between us over several hours… particularly in the run up to finals…)

400g beef or lamb mince (I find beef works better with this one as it’s less fatty)
1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 red and 1 green pepper, sliced into chunky slices
3 tsp of paprika (or 2 of smoked paprika)
2 tsp cajun spices
1 tsp hot chilli powder
1tsp cumin
1 glass red wine
1 tbsp HP sauce
1 can of tinned tomatoes
1 good quality stock cube/sachet (I may be a victim of advertising, but i really like the Knorr Stock Pots that Marco Pierre-White advertises…)
4 floury potatoes
1 corn on the cob
50g of grated good mature cheddar (have to recommend the Tickler that Trina’s firm make – bloody gorgeous)
2 tbsp sunflower oil

Method
Start by seasoning the meat – and mixing about half of the paprika, chilli and cajun into the mince.  Then brown the mince in a heavy wide pan with half the oil (don’t put too much in at once as it will overload the pan and the meat will start to stew rather than brown…). Once browned, remove the meat and chuck in the onions and peppers and rest of the spices – cook until tender and the onions have started to brown, then throw in the red wine and cook off the alcohol.  Add the meat back to the pan, and the tinned tomatoes, HP and stock cube.  Cover and let this cook on a low heat while you’re doing the rest.  You want it to be relatively thick.

Boil the potatoes as normal until tender, then remove and mash with a little butter or milk (you don’t want to make them too runny, but you do want them to be spreadable).  Also cook the corn on the cob until tender, then scrape off the corn with a fork.

Pour the filling in to an ovenproof dish, then spread the mash over the top, then sprinkle the corn, then the cheese over the top.  You can finish it with a dusting of paprika or flaked chilli depending on how hot you want to make it.  Place the pie in pre-heated oven (about 200 degrees, Gas Mark 6) for about 20 mins until the cheese browns.  Then serve and eat… carefully – it’ll be quite hot!!

Tired of spuds

Cooked no less than 6 different incarnations of gnocchi last night with varying degrees of success... The last batch (the one that I eventually served with dinner) wasn't too bad though didn't have the firmness of texture it should have - though at least it didn't turn to mush this time!

Anyway, taking a day off tomorrow to try and perfect it - will be doing an emergency run to Kitchens on Whiteladies to buy a potato ricer (sworn by several Italian chefs online to get more air into the mixture), then spend the day with yet more potatoes, slightly burnt hands (currently scarred by a bowl breaking in half during washing for no apparent reason....).

On the upside, the sauce that accompanies the dish, and the marinade for the poussin both worked brilliantly last night... Though I think my housemates choice to have it with potato waffles was inspiring but possibly an indictment of my own gnocchi making skills! I'm wondering whether I should try and sneak a packet in or just apolgise in advance and serve it with sauté spuds instead... We'll see...

By the way, as soon as I get the gnocchi right, I promise I will post more original recipes with pictures...

South Indian Mackerel

This dish is an ideal starter if you’re looking for a lighter way to start a curry – it’s got it’s roots in dishes we had when we visited Kerala a couple of years ago, and borrows from that area with the addition of a banana as a flavour – it’s sweet and a little spicy, but not so much that it overwhelms the fish. This recipe is a starter and uses mackerel, but would also work well with meatier fish like monkfish, or even scallops.

Ingredients 
(Serves 4) 
For the fish
4 small fish – mackerel or similar
A little plain flour for dusting, with a touch of turmeric and cumin added
Salt and pepper for seasoning
1/2 tsp cumin, yellow mustard seed, dried red chilli.

For the Sweet potatoes
1 medium sized sweet potato, cubed into 1.5cm cubes
1 Onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2cm root ginger finely sliced
50ml water
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp yellow mustard seed
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 dried red chilli
Pinch of turmeric (for colour only)
200 ml coconut milk (you can sub this with coconut block and increasing the quantity of water)
2 tbsp coriander leaf (for garnish)

For the bananas
2 bananas (the less ripe the better)
1 tsp amchoor (dried mango) powder
1 tsp cumin powder
Pinch of turmeric

Fillet the mackerel, removing the backbone and head completely.  The easiest way to do this (apart from getting your fishmonger to do it…) is to cut behind the gill with a thin filleting knife, then reverse the knife in the cut and slicing back down toward the tail – keep as close as you can to the back bone. Do this on both sides and you should get to nice fillets.  You can either slice our or pick out the rib bones and the small bones that run through the middle of the fillet.

Once boned, lightly season the fish and sprinkle the spice on to the flesh side of the fish, then leave in the fridge for an hour or two.

Fry the onions, garlic and ginger in about half the oil until tender.  Add the spices and sweet potato, tossing it until the sweet potato has picked up a little colour. Add a little water and cook until most if absorbed and a paste has formed, then add the dried chilli and coconut milk and simmer gently until the potato is fully cooked and the sauce has thickened and coated the rest.

Peel the bananas and slice them into 5mm thick slices (looks best if you go slightly diagonally, as this gives a longer slice).  Sprinkle with the spices then fry in a pan or on an oven tray until crispy.

Retrieve the mackerel fillets and dust the skin side with the flour mixture. Place skin-side down in a pan (heated to medium heat) with a little ghee or oil.  Press down the middle of each fillet for a few seconds as you place them so it doesn’t curl.  They should take just a couple of minutes to cook through – don’t turn them over, they should cook through from the skin side.

To serve, use a slated spoon to place some of the potato onto the middle of the place, then place two fillets in an X over the potato.  Serve the bananas round the edge of the potato and garnish with the coriander. You can also serve this with chapati, or for real authenticity, on a banana leaf.

Accidental potato dumplings…

Oops. That didn’t really work… trying to replicate the success of thursday’s gnocchi with fresher potatoes which split in the pan led to the accidental discovery of a perfect accompaniment to the pie we had… potato dumplings… very wet spuds, too much flour, kneaded to death rolled and then dropped in gravy with onions and garlic… turned out to be quite tasty, but definitely not as intended…

Will be taking a couple of says off to just cook gnocchi i think… whyohwhyohwhy did i say i’d do this??

Breakfast review – Tinto Lounge, Bristol

Right then, first bash at a review – met up with a friend for brunch this morning at Tinto Lounge on Gloucester Road.  It’s a nice, friendly little bar/cafe/eatery up in Horfield with quite a wide menu (burgers, steaks, all sorts, and brunch stuff served all day…), teas and coffees and some decent beer on tap – two very good ones today, Bath Ales Dark Hare stout, and nice lighter ale, also from Bath Ales, called Toga Man, which I particularly enjoyed as it was served in an old-fashioned pint pot!  Given that it was breakfast i also bowed to convention and had a coffee.


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On to the food.  Service was a wee bit slow today – it was quite busy with lots of families in, and not a huge amount of space.  The kitchen also seemed to be prepping for a later service, but the waiting and bar staff were friendly and apologetic (our food turned up at about 10 minute intervals…).  Trina and our friend Jason both had eggy bread (£4.50) with bacon and maple syrup – American stylee.  It looked really good and Trina managed to polish hers off pretty much before mine arrived! Reliably informed it tasted good and was great value.

I went for their standard Lounge Breakfast (£6.50).  Good quantity – gives two slices of bacon rather than one (which really annoys me).  But… what i’d assumed was a sliced sausage was a strange sausage patty, the bacon was a bit on the crispy side, and the toast was a bit underdone… they also appear to have left my baked beans under a heat lamp for a few minutes too long, as they had that lovely skin on… On the upside, the patty was actually quite tasty, the black pudding was nice, the egg was perfect (though served with a parsley leaf, which was somewhat redundant…) and the hash browns were… well… hash browns.  In all, it was good and filled a hole – good enough to require a pint of Toga Man to wash it down… – but if we go there again, i think i’ll join the fashionable crowd on the Eggy Bread.

Overall, i like Tinto – the staff are friendly and while it’s a little crowded (it could lose a table or two)it has a good buzz about it.  I have eaten there once before a few years ago, and the food then was also good quality – simple but nicely done.  Overall, 3.5 our of 5 i think – though the beer and service definitely helped that mark.
Cheers!

Welcome

Hi everyone, this is the blog’s unofficial launch day (official one to come when a few more people know about it i think!) – or rather, a cheeky way to bring it to all my Facebook friend’s attention, just in case they hid my posts for being an opinionated git during the election :-).

Not quite sure what I'm going to cook tonight – I've got some large King Prawns out of the freezer and some granary bread baton left over so i might do some sort of Mediterranean thing i think. Will tell you later…
Anyway, one thing i think it might be helpful to share was a word about rice. Quite a few people struggle to get rice consistently right, and it can be a faff – you have to check it over and over again, and there’s still the inevitable ‘oh crap’ moment when you realise it’s gone slightly over… Well there is a way to get it right consistently – works particularly well on Basmati.

Wash the rice and shake all the water out of it.  Then heat a small amount of oil in the pan you’re going to cook it in (just enough oil to lightly coat the rice, not loads) – you can add any spices at this stage too if you’re doing pilau or other flavoured rice.  Once the oil is hot, add the rice and stir it for a minute or two to coat it all.  Then add the water…

The water should be boiled prior to adding, and then comes the trick.  Add the same amount of water by volume as the amount of rice – you can do this by eye or by measuring if you want too.  Keep the pot on a medium-high heat until the water starts boiling, then put the lid on and take the pot off the heat.  The rice will keep cooking and will absorb all the water in the pan – but won’t overcook. 

Once done, you can either serve straight away, or leave it to cool.  If you cool it, spread it out on large plate or dish so it cools as fast as possible, then refrigerate it (only once cold).  Don’t serve lukewarm rice or leave rice out once it’s cooled – it’s one of easiest foods to get food poisoning from…
Anyway, lecture over, hope that’s helpful to some of you!

Big fat pork pie

Right, this is what I've baked for tonight's dinner.  Not for me your ginsters or pork farm pork pie, oh no.  This is my own special recipe for chunky pork pie, to be served hot or cold.  It uses sausages and pork fillet - you can also chuck in bacon, pancetta and other filling as you want to.  This'll be served with  new potatoes and whatever green stuff Trina buys and makes me eat...

Ingredients
Approx 150g short crust pasty - you can buy it, or this recipe looks pretty good (I'd reduce the water content a little)- i can't put the one i use on as i think it's copyright...

150g pork fillet, chopped into small chunks (no bigger than 2cm cubes)
3 good quality pork sausages
1 golden delicious apple, cubed in 2cm pieces
1 small shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped and crushed
Seasoning to taste (i like mine quite peppery)
1/2 tsp All spice
Pinch of grated nutmeg
1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar (or cider)
1 beaten egg (in addition to what's in the pastry - for brushing)

Combine the  ingredients except the egg (and pastry obviously...) - squeeze out or cut open the sausages. Mix thoroughly - you can check the seasoning by removing a small amount and frying until cooked, it will taste approximately the same.  Refrigerate this for an hour or two.

Roll out about 3/5ths of the pastry until it's about 2mm thick and line a small flan tray with it (no bigger than 20cms).  Line this with baking parchment, cutting it to size but leaving enough to overlap the sides of the tray (add the trimming to the rest of the pastry) and fill the cavity with baking beans or rice.  Bake this 'blind' for about 15 mins. Once the blind lightly baked, remove it and remove the beans and paper, and leave it to cool for about 20 mins or so. 

Roll out the last two fifths of pastry to make the lid of the pie - no more than 2-3mm thick, and large enough to cover the whole of the filling and meet the base of it.  Fill the cavity of the pie with the filling, leaving a small gap round the outside.  Brush the pastry edge with the beaten egg and place the lid over the top, pressing it down firmly slightly into the gap so it joins the base, and using a fork to press down around the edge.  Make a couple of air holes in the middle of the lid and brush the whole of the top with egg.  Bake on about 200 for 20 mins, then for a further 20min on about 120.  If you want to make it darker, brush it with a bit more egg before you turn the oven down.  Serve hot or cold.

Got it right at last!!

Woohoo!!! texturally perfect gnocchi!! just need to sort the seasoning a little now!! Trina's just scoffed it and loved it

Mini Pastilla's

This recipe was put together for a birthday party I catered for - it was a cold buffet and we wanted something that minimised mess and cutlery, but wasn't the traditional curly sandwich-type fare.  So I came up with this - the mini pastilla.  I got the idea from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Cookbook- he makes a larger one using rabbit, with scrambled egg and coriander under the lid.  The principle of this is much the same - it's a small filo parcel with slow-cooked spicy meat inside, dusted with icing sugar - very very edible, and great hot or cold.

Ingredients
(makes about 8-10 parcels - depending how big you do them!)
400g lamb - any cut will do, except breast - chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large (pref banana) shallot, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped and crushed
sprig of thyme

1 Bay leaf

1 cinnamon stick

1 glass red wine
50g Dried apricot
Honey
2 tsp Ras el Hanout spice blend (you can get this from Asian supermarkets, or otherwise this is a typical blend)
1 tsp Allspice

1/2 a grated nutmeg

Pinch of chili powder (optional)
1 pint good veg stock

1 pack of filo pastry
A few fresh coriander leaves

Butter for brushing onto pastry

Icing sugar for dusting

Brown the meat in the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan, sealing on all sides, then remove from the pan.  Add the onions and garlic, then the bay leaf, cinnamon stick and thyme, frying until the onions are lightly covered.  

Return the meat to the pan and add the red wine, frying until the alcohol is cooked off, then add the apricots, honey, and other spices and a few fresh coriander leaves.  Stir to combine, remove the bay leaf, thyme sprig and cinnamon stick, add the honey, then cover the lot with the stock and cook on a low heat for a couple of hours, until the meat is falling apart and the juices are thick (add water or more stock if it's too dry and the meat isn't cooked).  Once cooked, transfer to a shallow dish an allow to cool.

To make the parcels, take one filo sheet and divide it into 4 (each sheet will make 2 parcels - you can just half the sheets to make larger ones).  Brush butter on to one side of one sheet and lay another at 90 degrees to it (making a rough cross).  Place a tablespoon of the meat mixture into the middle and fold the pastry layers over the top, sealing with more butter.  Continue until you run out pastry or meat - you don't have to be particularly neat, it's sposed to look rustic...

Once you've made them all, bake them on a tray until the pastry's golden - should be about 20 mins.  If you're serving them straight away, dust them immediately with the icing sugar.  If you're serving them cold, wait until they're cool, then dust them.

Then eat them.

Gnocchi mk3

So last night's attempt at gnocchi was a little on the unsuccesful side...! they looked great when i'd made and rolled them, up to the point i tried to get them out of the pan... at which point, they kind of turned into one large blob of potato dough. Bugger.

So gonna have another bash tonight - this time going to try boiling them, adding more flour and possibly an egg.  The addition of the turmeric did give a much better colour, just got to get the texture - and structure - right now... I've been told today that my first round will be on 14th June - just under three weeks away - so will be eating gnocchi approximations for at least that long! good job it's cheap to make!

A first recipe to keep you going

Right then, here goes nuthin...

Pan fried cod fillet

This one is a homage to Rick Stein, courtesy of his Seafood book, but with a few tweeks - mostly to the sauce and seasoning, which is much richer and sweeter than in the original. A similar dish to this got slated in the semis of Masterchef last year as a fusion too far, but I think it's a great combo - it's about the contrasting flavours, textures, richness and creaminess, really decadent, but simple to do.

(Serves 2)

Two decent sized fillets of cod - about 200g each - pin boned, but skin still on.

1 tbsp of sunflower oil

Flour for dusting

Sprinkling of five spice

4 floury potatoes for mashing

2-3 spring onions

2 tbsp soy sauce

Bunch of fresh coriander

2 tbsp of brown sugar or palm sugar (or about the same of honey)

600ml fish or veg stock

3-4 cherry tomatoes sliced into quarters

Butter and/or milk for the mashed potatoes

Salt and pepper to season

Combine the soy sauce and stock and bring to boil, then add the sugar. Reduce by about two thirds, until it's a thin syrup, then keep hot.

Fry the spring onion lightly in a little butter until just tender - don't brown them as it will taste bitter - then leave to one side.

Peel and boil the potatoes until ready to break apart, drain , then mash well, adding the butter and/or milk (I use butter in this recipe as you don't want the mash to be thin). Then combine the potatoes with the spring onion.

Preheat a heavy frying pan on a medium heat and Season the fish, then turn flesh side down and dust with the flour and tiny pinch of five spice. Place gently in the pan skin-side down and cook until done - you can turn them over if you want to, but be careful when you turn them back or serve them that they don't break up on you...

Add the coriander and tomatoes to the sauce and stir.

Serve with a nice bed of mash in the middle, place the fish on top of the bed and pour the sauce liberally over the lot. then eat.

First ever blog

Hi everybody (or probably nobody...)

this is my first foray in to the realm of blogging, and what better thing to blog about than something we all have to have everyday - food! So the plan is to do a regular (if not daily) blog talking about what i've cooked that day, or meals i've had out and about.

So... here goes... today i found out that i've got through to the heats for a cooking show - the dish i'm preparing is a bit of strange hybrid born out of having things in the cupboard/fridge, a quick trip the supermarket, and a couple of poussin... and potato gnocchi.

I've been making pasta for a year or so - i don't do it all the time but it's nice and relaxing on a sunday afternoon, and tastes great. But i'd never had a go at making gnocchi before - for uninitiated (which included me until a few weeks ago) it's made with potato and flour rather than eggs, flour and olive oil, and there's a definite knack to it - my first attempt came out grey (interestingly it often seems to have a little turmeric on to give it the same colour as egg pasta... check next time you're in the supermarket) and a bit stodgy, so attempt number two is tonight, and i have to have it cracked in three weeks. So the next few weeks may well be an update on progress towards perfick gnocchi (or moaning cos nothing seems to work...).

I don't think i can post the recipe i'm cooking for the show at this point - will need to check - but will do as soon as i can - it's simple and with one exception, you can get everything from your local supermarket. In the meantime, this is what it looks like.