Roast Chicken With Vegetable Risotto

Hello folks! You're long overdue an update, so here's a little one to keep the tastebuds tickled. Enjoy...

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Sunday afternoon - post church, or work, or whatever you've got on - has long been associated in the UK with the roast dinner. And it's no exception here in Ardeonaig. A bunch of the folk from the centre came to Seon Na Glen for a roast that Cardo and I had put together for them. To be fair, Cardo made the roast (and it was good!) and I put together the risotto.

I'm not sure exactly what flavouring went into Cardo's chicken, but it was very well seasoned. He made sure to baste it regularly while it roasted. Bacon between the skin and breast of the chicken - a wonderful touch.

For the risotto you will need (serves 6):

300g rice (risotto rice is preferable, but we didn't have any - long grain came out okay)
1l vegetable stock
3 slices of bacon
100g baby sweetcorn
100g sugar snap peas

Get yourself a thick bottomed pan and put the rice into it. Crack up the heat and start to add your stock a bit at a time. Make sure to stir constantly as the rice absorbs the liquid. This will help the rice to release starch and give the creamy texture desired from a risotto.

Slice up the bacon into strips and fry it off in a little butter. Also boil the baby sweetcorn and peas - but only for a few minutes. Enough to cook the veg, but not enough to cause them to lose their texture.

When the risotto is almost done, stir through the veg and bacon until it's well mixed together. You now have the base for your chicken - just carve it up and place on top!

Here's some of the group enjoying dinner...

Cardo also finished off the meal with a pear crumble. Superb.

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After everyone had gone, I took the chicken carcass, a few herbs and spices and boiled it up in a litre and a half of water for three hours to create some stock. The seasoning on the chicken helped to flavour the stock too. Sadly I didn't have any root vegetables around - maybe some carrot would have been good. But I now have some stock, maybe for some soup or some sauces... I'm sure I'll use it in an upcoming blog.

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Coming up:
- Might get up to something on my days off. Eyes peeled...

Luke's Microwave Corner: Potato Bake

NB: My apologies for the odd formatting on the last couple of blogs. Especially concerning the picture spacing. Blogger has had some technical issues recently and this seems to be one of the side effects. I could go and edit the HTML, but that would require copious amounts of work on my part as the coding is horrible for a start, and I'm also not the best at that sort of work anyway. So please bear with me in the meantime...


Avid readers (are there any?) might remember that I mentioned the possibility of a remote contributor to the blog. And if you don't remember, you can see for yourself by having a look at the 'Coming up' section of this blog.

Remote is probably the wrong word to use right at the moment as I'm still living in Witney, however once I move away it will definitely be a remote contribution!

All that to say that Luke is occasionally going to pop a recipe on here when he gets his act together (and more regularly when he gets better - get well soon pal!). You may have seen Luke in previous blogs. I think he's been on at least two others.

He has a bit of a reputation for only cooking things he can put in the microwave. Which is not good. To pander to this though, we've decided that he should come up with a recipe that can be cooked in the microwave and would still make a decent(ish) meal. So without further ado, please enjoy Luke's Microwave Corner, Episode 1...

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For your microwaveable potato bake you will need:
- 1kg potatoes
- 4 onions
- 4 slices bacon
- 300g mozzarella cheese
- 1pt milk
- 25g flour
- 25g butter

Start by peeling the potatoes and slicing them very very thinly - the thinner the better. The thinner they are the quicker they'll cook, which is exactly what you want.

Do the same with the onions, and then dice up the slices of bacon. Start to layer this up in a microwaveable dish, starting with the potato, then the onion, then the bacon, and repeat. Finish with a layer of potato on top.

The next step is to make a white sauce. I couldn't think of a way of doing this in the microwave, so unfortunately this part has to break the rules slightly. It's just a standard white sauce recipe - melt the butter and flour together and then whisk in the pint of milk a bit at a time until you get a reasonably thick sauce. Crack in some pepper and salt for flavour.

Once your sauce has thickened up, throw in the cheese and give it a good whisk to ensure that it's all melted and evenly distributed throughout. Take the sauce off the heat and pour it over the top of your layered potatoes.

Into the microwave it goes for about twenty minutes...

Remove carefully...

And serve. To complete the Luke effect, you must pour on lashings of tomato ketchup and more salt.

Not a bad start for the microwave blog - but I'm sure we can do better! Let me know if you have any ideas and I'll pass them on to Luke.

***

Coming up:
- Soufflé tomorrow... probably try pistachio and cheese.
- Still got a few bits and pieces that I can upload. I'll try to find some time to turn them into a coherent blog.

Restaurant: Brasserie Blanc, Oxford

My apologies for the length of time in between blogs recently, but with the move to Scotland imminent and trying to sort out selling my house and so on, it's rather slipped down the priority list.


Having visited Brasserie Blanc last night as a little 'leaving do', I thought it must be time for a blog...


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The Brasserie is a more affordable, homely version of Raymond Blanc's Manoir. This is not to say that the food is any less though. In fact it really was fantastic. Let me share a little with you.


As the restaurant is not particularly exclusive, I was able to get a table for four by booking only one day in advance - it is well worth booking though. We went midweek and the place was absolutely packed.


Upon arriving you are greeted by a plethora of authentic French staff - and this is one of the touches I found particularly pleasing about the place. As a French restaurant, it makes sense to have French staff front of house. The accents, the ability to pronounce the options on the menu... these things make a difference - help to add to the illusion that you might be eating in France. It's part of the show. 


I must also share my appreciation for our particular waiter, ably assisting us in deciding what to choose, what drinks to pair with what food, and put up with a little humour at his and our expense. Especially Deon taking so long to choose...


And choose we did. Having been shown to the table (right in the middle of the restaurant - fantastic for people watching - especially the lady who was obviously a critic, taking notes on her iPad), we made our choices for the evening.

Kicking off with the starters, Liz and Alta both settled for the snails in garlic butter, while Deon chose mussels and I went for Comté cheese soufflé. I had decided against mussels as they are something I have prepared before myself, and when eating out I like to go for something I wouldn't normally cook. The soufflé was delicious - the light pastry giving way to a melted cheese centre, all sitting on a bed of apple, apricot and walnuts. Not dazzling by any means, but certainly a good taster for the rest of the evening. I did have to taste the snails, never having had them before, but I found them to be not too dissimilar from mussels, perhaps having a slightly less distinct flavour (though they were buried in garlic) and a little tougher too.

The main dishes blew away any fears of a less than excellent dining experience however. With Deon, Liz and I all plumping for Barbary duck breast, it was Alta walking alone with the beef stroganoff. I didn't try the beef, but Alta assures me it was the best she's ever had. I'd have to say that the duck was definitely the best duck dish I've eaten in my time as well. It was such a well balanced dish, with the sweet of the carrots and fatty flavour from the duck being expertly cut through by the sharp orange and lime sauce that topped them. The potato and turnip accompaniment was divine, being layered through with some sort of cheese.  

As with all good restaurants though, the puddings are always the flagship. And Brasserie Blanc is certainly no exception. Deon and I chose the steamed lemon sponge, which was absolutely fantastic. The sponge was deliciously light, and the lemon sauce was a perfect balance of sweet and sour with the crème fraiche acting as the perfect foil, stopping the lemon becoming too cloying on the pallet. 

It was the girls's choice of dessert that absolutely stole the show though. Having ordered soufflé for starter, I'd avoided ordering the sweet version for afters, but I think that was possibly a mistake - even though etiquette tells me better. If God has a flavour, it is most definitely the pistachio soufflé served up in Brasserie Blanc. This monstrously sized pudding is so light on the inside, falling away as you dig into it, and the fresh pistachio flavour coming through the eggy centre was just to die for. Who cares about the chocolate ice cream on the side? That was nothing on this wonderful creation. If you go to the restaurant for one dish - make it this one. Though it must be said that Liz is a little odd and did not like it. For shame.

And to finish, we ordered a chocolate fondue for the table. Again, perfectly poised between sweet and bitter - the dark chocolate against the freshly baked pastries.


And it is this balance which typifies the dishes on the restaurant's menu. Be it the gherkins in the rice for the stroganoff to give extra crunch and a piquant flavour, or the aforementioned cream with the lemon pudding, there is always a nod to the refined pallet. 


Pound for pound, the restaurant is more than reasonable, and the staff are flawless. All round an excellent evening as can be seen from the smiling, demon eyed faces in the badly taken photograph below...

From left to right: Liz, Deon, Alta and myself. The man that took this photo was rather bemused... I can't say I'm surprised. Jericho at 11pm. A curious place for a group photo indeed.


***


You may have noticed a little change to the blog - I'm now running a twitter feed down the right hand side, so even if I don't blog so much, there'll always be a wee taster to keep you going. Make sure to follow me and keep yourself up to date with the happenings in my culinary world.


Once things are sorted with the house and my evenings are less packed I'll try to get a few more recipe based blogs on the go again. 


***


Coming up:
- Alta and I are going to try to make a soufflé at some point. Wish us luck!
- I have a couple of other little blog ideas that should make their way to this page soon. Eyes peeled...

Food Travel: Scotland

I was up in Scotland last week for an interview for an assistant cook position at Abernethy Ardeonaig.

I got the job and I'm delighted to be able to turn a hobby and interest into something that I'll enjoy working on day after day. So expect a few blogs covering the sort of thing I get up to in my new role - start in six weeks, can't wait!

Needless to say, I took the opportunity to start getting used to some of the food I used to love so much in Scotland that you just can't get in England. Nothing quite like home comforts...

***

Dad and the rest of the family were driving up to Scotland to visit his cousins in Nethy Bridge, so I hitched a lift as far as Glasgow. I stayed with a couple of friends before setting off the next day for Killin. This would mean a train from Glasgow to Stirling, a bus from Stirling to Callander, and one final bus from Callander to Killin. Plenty of opportunities to stop for a bite to eat en route!

I had to get to Glasgow Central station from Uddingston first. Uddingston is a little suburb on the outskirts of Glasgow, but it does hide one of Scotland's most well known bakeries - Uddingston is the home of Tunnock's!

The main site where such delights as Tunnock's Tea Cakes (the little chocolate covered domes of melty soft mallow and biscuit) and Caramel Wafers are baked sits opposite a smaller Tunnock's bakery where freshly baked wares can be picked up, as well as lots of little themed trinkets and gifts. A lovely little shop to visit - and the staff are particularly friendly folk too! Having bought a pack of caramel wafers, it was time to head to the station and get into Glasgow.

I didn't leave myself much time in Glasgow due to needing to get through to Killin for the interview. My next stop was in Stirling where it was time for elevenses. That called for a quick stop at Greggs, not strictly a Scottish chain (indeed, originally founded in Newcastle), but it always reminds me of going into the city centre with mum and getting a Greggs for lunch in George Square. And so it was that I came to have a lorne sausage and bacon roll with brown sauce. Perfect.

And then to wait on the bus to Callander, which is a tiny wee place that is all high street and not much else. While it is a pretty town where the mountains meet the buildings at one end, it is fairly touristy and attracts the sort of buses full of the elderly who'd like to visit a wee tea shop before going on to somewhere more interesting - like Stirling or Glasgow - where there is a little more to see.

With an hour and a half to wait before the bus to Killin - and the final leg of the journey! - I found myself in one of the tea rooms which was notably empty. A scone and some Irn-Bru later, I had a last wander round to admire the tacky tourist shops.

And finally I got to Killin where I was picked up to go to Abernethy and spend a few days working with the team there and having my interview. As I've already said, I got the job and am looking forward to starting in a few weeks. I won't go into any detail on the stuff I got up to at the moment as I'm sure I'll write a couple of more detailed blogs on the new job in the near future.

Back down to Glasgow it was then to catch a plane back home. But first to take in a few home comforts before the flight. First up was to go to the chip shop for a Scotch Pie supper. Please note that a 'supper' is 'with chips'. There's some Scottish for you. A scotch pie is just a mince pie with a crunchy outer crust and soft top crust. It's another dish that reminds me of when I was a wee boy, going to the football with dad and getting a pie and bovril at half time. The scotch pie is widely sold at football grounds across Scotland, with few exceptions (perhaps the most notable being Forfar, where the pie tends to be substituted by the local favourite - the bridie. Sort of like a pasty, but better.).

And to follow, a quick wee trip to the Greggs on George Square for a pineapple cake. Which are just delicious - and one of mum's favourites. A pastry case filled with a pineapple jam, topped with whipped cream and then covered in a thick, brittle pineapple icing. Just stunning.

And last but not least, dinner in the airport - what else to finish a trip back home than the traditional and best - haggis, neeps and tatties!

***

When I got home, I had been inspired by seeing one of my old favourites, the pizza crunch, in the chip shops in Glasgow. So I had to have a go...

It's very simple, so I won't take too long explaining it. You just buy a cheap pizza - the cheaper the better. And generally only cheese or pepperoni. Though if you wanted to be a wee bit exotic, I expect that ham and pineapple might work okay too.

Cook your pizza in the oven, then quarter it (or smaller slices if it's a large pizza), let it cool and then batter and deep fry the slices. Delicious. And highly nutritious of course.

***

I assure you that my diet is not normally as terrible as this blog entry may make it seem - I'll try to get a few more reasonable blogs up soon!

Coming up:
- Looking into a bi-weekly feature by a remote contributor. Stay tuned for more details!
- Possibly a blog on the new job.
- Whatever else I'm cooking in the near future...

Cooking for 50+

Last weekend was a work event for our younger constituents. That should immediately tell you that this blog is about cooking for a high number of people, rather than cooking for the older generation.

The brief was to cook dinner and dessert on Friday and Saturday night, and lunch on Sunday afternoon.

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I wasn't alone in the kitchen - I had the help of the lovely Liz, Alta, Emma, and the microwave specialist Luke (microwaving steaks, Luke, really?) to get me through.

Friday night was chilli and rice followed by swiss roll. I've blogged my chilli recipe before, so really it was just a case of multiplying up the numbers.

The swiss roll was an adventure though. I've only done it once before, so cooking it for 50 kids was worrying me a little. Thankfully we had a whole host of other cakes and goodies, so even though I only made enough for about twenty in the end, it was still okay.

You will need:

- 225g self raising flour

- 225g caster sugar

- 9 eggs

- Jar of jam

Thankfully for my whisking arm, the kitchen was equipped with a wonderful Kenwood mixer. This meant that beating all the sugar and all 9 eggs together was completely hassle free.

Once the eggs and sugar were well whipped (forming stiff peaks), it was just a case of folding in the flour and then pouring the mixture into a big baking tray.

I'd preheated the oven to 180°C, and then just shoved in the tray for twenty minutes.

Once the cake had risen a bit and coloured nicely, it was time to take it out. Hopefully you'll have greased your tin a wee bit better than I did...

Lay out a clean tea towel and sprinkle it quite generously with caster sugar before turning the cake out onto it. If you haven't greased the tin, be prepared to give it a good old whack - and pray you don't break up your swiss roll.

Then it was time to spread the roll with jam (all the way to the corners!) and then carefully, very carefully, roll it up using the towel to lever it over without breaking.

***

Saturday was undoubtedly the success story of the weekend foodwise. With a menu that boasted both lasagne and trifle, I was always going to be onto a winner.

I had never cooked lasagne before - so starting by cooking for 50 was a little nervewracking. Thankfully though, I had much support from Alta to bring it all together.

You will need:

- 1kg lasagne sheets

- 7kg beef mince

- 6 tomatoes

- 4 cans chopped tomatoes

- 1kg onions

- 4 cloves garlic

- 3tbsp tomato puree

- 4tbsp mixed herbs

- Plenty of salt and pepper to season

- 2 beef stock cubes

- 1kg cottage cheese

- 1kg cheddar cheese

I haven't included the ingredients for the white sauce here. It's just flour, butter and milk, but I'm unsure of the quantities we used. It was a lot. An awful lot.

We started by greasing two very large, deep sided baking trays.

Then, while I got the mince mixture ready, Alta put together the white sauce.

First, I minced the garlic and finely chopped the onions, frying them off in a little oil. Quickly following this was the mince - browning 7kg of mince takes about thirty minutes.

Once the mince has browned, add in the tinned tomatoes, chopped fresh tomatoes, the tomato puree, herbs, crushed stock cubes and just a ton of salt and pepper. Leave this for another half an hour to an hour to cook through and allow all the flavours to come together.

Once you've made your basic white sauce (mix together the butter and flour to form a roux, then add in milk until you have the quantity and consistency you want), take it off the heat and stir in the cottage cheese and a good helping of cracked black pepper to taste.

Once your sauce and your mince mixture are both cooked, it's time to construct your lasagnes. This recipe would easily serve 60 - so make sure you have two big trays or three reasonably sized ones to build it all in.

Start by laying a little white sauce on the bottom to help stop the pasta sticking. Then apply one layer of pasta, a generous layer of mince, then the sauce and repeat, finishing with a layer of pasta topped with white sauce. Grate your cheddar over this and then whack it in the oven for a good forty minutes at 180°C.

While it was in the oven it was time to sort out the trifles. I'd set the jelly with some fruit in the night before, so it was just a case of piling on the custard and whipping several litres of cream (again with the magical Kenwood mixer) to spread over the top.

I will admit now, that for the sake of time and convenience I was using packeted jelly and custard. Maybe I'll make it all properly some day, but I really wasn't going to be faffing about when I already had so much to make.

The final touch was to grate some chocolate biscuits over the top. Job done.

***

Sunday was by far and away the simplest to do - just putting 50 or so baked potatoes in the oven (for four and a half hours!!) and preparing plenty of salad, beans, tuna and grated cheese to go with them. Easy.

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And that was my biggest catering adventure to date - bring on more!

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Coming up:

- No idea...

Haggis Risotto

To use up the last of the haggis, I decided to make a risotto... One word of warning - make sure your stirring hand is up to the job. 20-30 minutes of constant stirring is a pain in the wrist.

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You will need:

- 400g risotto rice

- 1l or so of beef stock

- Some haggis

- 1 onion

- 2 cloves garlic

- 300ml white wine

- Salt and pepper to season

- Butter and cream to finish

Start by very finely chopping up the onions and garlic and frying them gently in some oil and butter. I used some chilli oil to give the dish some extra kick.

After the vegetables have softened a little, add in the rice and fry it out for a couple of minutes until the butter and oil is all absorbed.

Crank the heat all the way up before adding the wine. Pour it in to the pan and, constantly stirring, work the rice until it has absorbed all the liquid. The stirring helps to bring out the starch from the rice to give the creamy finish that is associated with risotto.

Once the wine is all gone, start to pour in the stock a bit at a time. The same rules apply - stir constantly, and wait until all the liquid is absorbed before adding more. Taste frequently to check the seasoning - adding pepper or salt as needed - and also to check how cooked the rice is. Stop adding stock if the rice is cooked through.

There really is some rice behind the steam in the above photo...

Once the rice is cooked, all that is left is to add in a large knob of butter and a splash of cream. Stir this through to give a rich finish to the risotto, and then leave it to sit for a couple of minutes while you heat through the haggis to crumble over the top.

The ingredients listed should cook enough for about 4. If you're going to have any leftover then crumble the haggis through it and stir in rather than leaving it on top to dry out in storage.

***

Coming up:

- Egypt. Still. Really.

- Frittata for lunch... should find its way on here.

Apple Juice Battered Pork

So, after all the recent Burns festivities, I was given a haggis that was leftover by my colleague, Linda.

Having pondered over what to do with it, I settled for two dishes. One I made today and the other I'll do tomorrow night.

Today I made apple juice battered pork with mashed potato and sliced haggis. Tomorrow I'll be finishing off the haggis in a risotto.

Let me set the scene a little. First of all, pork and haggis is a little unusual - but chicken stuffed with haggis is not uncommon. I had pork leftover, and I just thought as another white meat that it would be a decent partner (and it was). This is essentially a leftovers meal - spare chops, haggis and a couple of potatoes in the cupboard.

As for the apple juice batter (think beer batter, but the beer substituted with apple juice), I'm afraid that this is not an idea that I can claim as my own. I was talking about the 'art of battering' with another colleague, Sammy, and she suggested that instead of an apple sauce with the pork, use an apple juice batter instead - put the flavour directly onto the meat as it were.

Intrigued, I had to give it a go. The conversation also led to the idea of irn bru duck with an irn bru reduction being mooted... but we'll see about that!

Anyway, below is how it all went.

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You will need (to serve one):

- 2 large potatoes

- Salt, pepper, butter and milk for the mash

- 1 slice of boiled haggis

- 1 pork chop

- 225g plain flour

- 200ml apple juice

- 100ml soda water

I'm not going to explain mashed potato again, as you can find it here. Plus, I'm sure you already know how.

Anyway, I had a whole haggis, but I only needed a slice for tonight. I boiled the whole thing though, and just kept the rest in the fridge for tomorrow.

For those who don't know, a haggis looks like this.

To boil it, you just wrap the whole thing (skin and all) in tinfoil and stick it in a pan of boiling water. For one this size (just a bit bigger than a fist), it'll take about forty five minutes.

When there's about fifteen minutes left for your haggis, get your potatoes on for the mash before turning your attention to the batter.

It's very, very simple - 225g plain flour whisked together with 200ml apple juice and 100ml soda water. The soda water keeps the batter nice and light, while the apple juice gives flavour. You want the batter to be fairly thick - a little like pancake batter. Make sure to be heating some oil in a pan to deep fry the pork while you make the batter.

Take the pork chop and dust it well with some spare flour before coating it thoroughly in the batter. Carefully lower the chop into the hot oil, and it will take about 10 minutes to cook through and for the batter to brown nicely. You can trim the fat of the pork before frying it, but it's fine either way. It really all depends on how healthy you want to be - but to be honest, if you're making this, you probably don't really care about that.

Once the pork is done, lay it on some kitchen roll to absorb any excess oil, and make your mash.

Your haggis should be done now too, so drain the pot, take the foil off the haggis and then take a slice of it for the meal. You can fridge the rest.

Now just arrange it all on your plate and enjoy an appley pork chop with some superb sides!

***

Coming up:

- Haggis risotto tomorrow night.

- I will get that Egypt blog up - it's in the works. Quite long though...

Burns Lunch

Work is now over and I'm home blogging about lunch today - as it was a late celebration of Robert Burns' Birthday.

Scotland's national poet and one of her greatest heroes, Burns is remembered for his often satirical poems on the church and politics, as well as his beautiful works written in old Scots dialect.

As I was in Egypt last week (Burns' birthday is 25th January), I held a wee shindig at work this week to remember him - and to give all the English a wee taste of Scotland... The haggis!

***

For those who don't know, to celebrate Burns Day, it is tradition to bring the haggis to the table to the sound of a tumultuous pipe band (sadly the music at work wasn't quite so loud as it could have been), and is then recited to with one of Burns' most famous works - the Address to a Haggis. The haggis is ceremoniously sliced open with a sgian dubh during the third verse.

The haggis will be served with mashed potato, mashed turnip (sometimes mixed with carrot), and whisky (and sometimes a whisky sauce... or just whisky poured over the haggis. Really.). But for the purposes of work, we drank Irn Bru with lunch.

Then, time is taken to recite Burns' poems or sing songs. I've uploaded a video of me butchering 'A Red, Red Rose' too... Just for you all to have a laugh.

All in all, I think it was a good wee change from a usual work lunch, and something new for a few of the staff. Superb.

***

Coming up:

- Egypt blog.

Daniel Fast

Well, it's a new year, and it's been nearly a month since my last update.

As updates go, this is more about food and an introspective look at myself rather than any particular recipes (though there will be one!).

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Basically, a few days ago at work, my colleague Dan had played a video by LifeChurch in devotions. The picture below is of Craig Groeschel, the minister who leads the church.

Generally, the video is a sermon on the start of a new year and how we should approach it from a spiritual perspective. Have we been apathetic spiritually? Are there things we need to change in the coming year?

Anyway, at about 19 minutes in, Craig talks about fasting to seek God at the start of the year - putting God first by denying yourself. Remembering to pray or to think on the things of God when you get hungry or are tempted to break the fast.

I decided to give it a go, following the fast that Craig and his church have taken up (though starting today I'm a little behind...). That is to say, the Daniel Fast. Whether I'll last the 21 days that they're suggesting I'm not sure. But if it gets me into a rhythm of seeking God first, then even if I don't manage 21 days, then that's a good start.

***

Needless to say, I had to augment my shopping list to deal with the fast. At first I thought it was going to be very very easy. It's still eating, right? But looking through the food list and what is allowed, you really have to cut out a lot of stuff. No sugar, butter, meat, bread, white rice or processed pasta and more? I'm looking forward to the challenge and I hope that it brings me closer to God this year.

***

If you're thinking about it as well, then be encouraged - I managed to make an enjoyable meal this evening.

It was a wee bit spur of the moment, and nothing fancy, but it was good.

I don't have any pictures or anything as I wasn't even planning to blog this, but changed my mind. So here goes. Also, this way, if anybody spots any mistakes in what I'm doing - if I've used any ingredients I shouldn't have, do let me know!

I cooked some wholewheat conchiglie in one pot while I prepared a few vegetables.

I diced a red onion, and chopped up two tomatoes and a handful of mushrooms. I sautéed these off in some garlic infused olive oil for a couple of minutes until the onions started to brown. I cracked in some black pepper and a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of chilli powder.

Allowing thirty seconds or so for the spices to heat, I then poured in a tin of chopped tomatoes and a couple of teaspoons of tomato purée. Don't worry, I checked the cans and purée for banned ingredients before I added them.

Stirring frequently until the sauce had heated through, I took it off the heat while I drained the pasta, leaving just a little of the pasta water to pour into the sauce for extra flavour and thickening. Just like the Italians.

***

Stick your pasta in the bowl and ladle the vegetables and sauce over the top. Sorted.

***

Coming up:

- More recipes based on this fast I should think...

Honey And Balsamic Glazed Chicken And Rice Pudding

So, it's been a fair wee while since I blogged. Looks like December's going to be the lightest month in terms of blogs this year. Ah well.

This one's a cracker. Or at least the food is... the writing may leave something to be desired.

***

Starting with the honey glazed chicken then. I winged it a little on the glaze, so I'm really not sure of the quantities.

I mixed about two parts honey to one part balsamic vinegar. Threw in a dash of worcestershire sauce to cut through the sweet taste and crunched in a good cracking of black pepper. Mix it all thoroughly together with a little water (just enough to get a good consistency for pouring) and there you have it. I was cooking ten chicken legs, so I made about enough to fill half a small dessert bowl.

The chicken is very easy to prepare. Take your drummers and score through each one a couple of times right down to the bone. This will allow the chicken to absorb more flavour from the glaze as it cooks. Ideally, to get the most flavour, you would marinade the chicken in the glaze for a few hours.

Heat the oven up to about 180°C before putting in the chicken. It'll take around 30 minutes to cook through. Brush the glaze onto the legs and pour any excess over the top before putting them into the oven.

Every ten minutes, pull out the chicken and baste the legs with the glaze that has run off.

When it's ready, serve it up... I went with some sweet potato mash and sweetcorn. Then I realised that this made the plate decidedly yellow.

For the mash I just boiled the potatoes before mashing them up with a lot of butter, about 40ml cream, a pinch of salt, and a good cracking of pepper.

Then it was time for pudding...

***

With the cold weather, there's nothing for it but to make hot, filling puddings. Yes.

For rice pudding you will need:

- 180g short grain rice (pudding rice)
- 75g caster sugar
- 410g evaporated milk
- 1pt milk
- 25g butter
- jam (optional)

This is a spectacularly easy pudding to put together. You hardly have to do anything.

You need an oven proof dish, maybe about 10" long and at least 2" deep. Lay the rice in the bottom with the sugar before pouring on all the liquid. Then float little chunks of butter on the surface.

Heat the oven to 150°C and then place the whole lot into a shelf somewhere in the middle of the oven.

Leave it for half an hour before giving it all a good stir. Then leave it for another half hour before stirring it all again. Then repeat one more time. The last time, the rice should be starting to absorbing the milk and swelling up. Make sure it's not sticking to the bottom before putting it back in the oven for the final half hour (that's 2 hours total cooking time).

Give the lot a good stir before serving into bowls. Apply jam or other toppings liberally.

***

Coming up:

- No idea. It's Christmas... probably won't blog again until the new year.

Chilli Con Carne

So the mystery of the secret weekend cooking can be revealed!

It was mum's birthday at the weekend, and a lot of family and friends were down from Scotland - as well as a few others from England - so I cooked a big pot of chilli to sit with all the rest of the food that my sister and her friend had put together.

As a side note, the promised tangerine sorbet has not come to fruition as I've been sick since Saturday and so haven't gotten around to it. My bad.

***

I forgot my camera when I went to mum's, so I just have one picture that I took with my phone. It's not especially brilliant, but who doesn't know what chilli looks like?

You will need (cooking for about 20):

- 4tbsp oil
- 4 onions
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 2kg beef mince
- 500ml red wine
- 800g canned, peeled tomatoes
- 800g red kidney beans
- 8tbsp tomato puree
- 8tsp dried ground chilli
- 2tsp ground cumin
- 2tsp ground coriander
- 2 beef stock cubes

This is a fantastic recipe in that it can all be put together in one pot. For this many people, the cooking takes around 2 hours or so.

Start by dicing the onions up very small. Crush the garlic cloves and then fry them off with the onions in the oil. Once they start to brown, add in all the mince and brown it too.

The mince takes a fair wee while to brown all the way through. Just keep turning it over in the pan until it all takes on colour.

Now for the wine - pour it all in and then cover the pan for a few minutes until the whole lot starts to boil. Let the alcohol cook off for about five minutes.

Next up is all the seasoning. Add in the tomatoes from the cans (make sure to chop them well first if they aren't pre-chopped), the tomato puree, the chilli, cumin, coriander, and crumble in the stock cubes. Give the whole lot a good stir before covering once again.

Turn the heat down a bit and leave the pan to simmer for about an hour.

Once the hour is up, uncover, add in the kidney beans and cook for a further twenty minutes.

Once this time is up, you're ready to serve - best with rice and pitta breads.

Enjoy!

***

Coming up:

- Who knows?

November Catch-up

I haven't updated anything like as much as I could have done this month... so this blog may be a little longer than usual. Or a lot longer. It really depends on just how long I can be bothered to type for (it is 23:26 at time of writing) and whether the wonderful sounds from OceanLab coming from my speakers are enough to keep me awake.

Anyway, there will be a fair bit to chew through, so let's crack on.

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On the 21st I was very much in the mood for some steak. Peppercorn sauce. Onion rings. Chips. Yes yes yes.

I'm not going to list the ingredients, because this is so simple to do (I'm excluding the chips and onion rings here because they were out of a bag. Shame on me, whatever.)

Start by crushing a few whole peppercorns with a mortar and pestle. You can use pre-ground black pepper I suppose, but the flavour wouldn't be as intense.

While crushing the peppercorns, set a heavy based pan with a little oil on a high heat. Once the oil is up to temperature, pat some salt and pepper into the side of the steak you are going to lay facedown in the pan. Stick it in the pan and then pat in more seasoning onto the reverse.

I was cooking rumpsteaks, about half an inch thick. For this sort of size and cut, two minutes on each side is an adequate amount of time to fry. Once the steak has cooked, set it aside to rest but keep the pan you were using - just lower the temperature a little.

Time to add your peppercorns into the pan. Allow them to heat in the beef juices for a while to release their flavour and aroma. Add to this one beef stock cube and about 3tbsp water. Let this all simmer down before adding about 150ml cream. Stir it all together well so that it combines - do not let the sauce overheat and split.

Once the sauce is ready, you're ready to plate up. Pile up the chips, onion rings, steak and liberally douse the lot with peppercorn sauce.

***

Next up was to make a cake for a colleague who was leaving work and moving to Scotland. Finally the mystery of the reasoning behind the caramel sauce is revealed!

The trial run from the last blog meant that the caramel worked much better this time around... however the cake as a whole didn't.

I should start by saying that the cake was a bit of a concept idea, so I was never sure whether it would work. Though I don't see a reason why it wouldn't. I think it was just down to some poor execution on my part which is why it never saw the light of day at work (sorry everybody!).

The idea was to create a cheesecake with a peanut brittle base and a banoffee topping. With a peanut brittle base, the cheesecake could not be baked, so it would be a gelatin set affair.

I'm not going to put a recipe or anything up, because mine clearly didn't work. But one day I'll get it sorted. For now, I have a bowl of all the three elements mixed together in a large lumpy mess. It tastes good, but it's no finished article. Basically I think I didn't get the temperature of the sugar mixture up high enough when making the brittle so it never set so as to give a 'snap' when broken. It went firm but a little gooey.

Like I say though, still delicious, and I'm getting through it gradually (it's sickly sweet).

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And finally, to show that not everything I eat or create has to be extravagant or amazing or even remotely tasteful, I had cheese on toast with beans this evening (before going out for a curry...).

Here is what I did to the beans...

You will need:

- The contents of your stockcupboard (You must not discriminate - whatever comes to hand!)

Heat a little butter in a pan, just enough to fry off half a red onion, finely diced with a good helping of salt and pepper.

Once the onions are browned, it is time to put the beans in the pan. At this point, your recipe may vary drastically from mine - just mix stuff in from your stockcupboard. Leave nothing out. I threw in a good dash of tabasco, a splash of HP sauce, and some worcestershire sauce too. Give it a good stir and allow the beans to heat through.

Serve on toast and cheese. High cuisine indeed.

***

Coming up:

- It's the Christmas meal for a few of our friends this coming Monday (some of them are away over Christmas and we are having a farewell dinner sort of thing) and I am bringing pudding. Tangerine sorbet is definitely on the menu, and I had said chocolate fondants too... but I feel that's a little ambitious for ten people. So it'll be some sort of hot rich pudding followed by the sorbet as a cleanser.
- I'm cooking over the weekend too, but that's a secret for the moment (similar situation to the caramel story!), but all shall be revealed.