Category Archives: Recipes

Orecchiette with Prawns, Broad Beans and Chilli

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orecchietteAhh, Italy – my gratitude extends to the whole nation. Great wines, great fashion (somewhat lost on me I admit), beautiful scenery, enthusiastic gesticulation and unobtainable supercars – the sort of things that makes one glad to be alive. Of course, if that wasn’t enough then there’s the food which, you may have realised, is where I was going with this intro.

Over the years the Italians have worked their magic to combine the most simple of ingredients into something far greater than the sum of their parts.

Here’s an example: wood fired oven margarita pizza. Bread, cheese and tomatoes, all cooked in a brick oven burning timber as we have for hundred of years. No sous vide, fan assist or thermostats and yet it is delicious and so, so much better for it for some reason. Witchcraft I tell you.

Here’s another, and the ultimate for me – pasta. On its own, it’s simple enough being just flour and water, or flour and egg, but with a few equally simple ingredients you have a dish for anyone. Even the most modest pasta dish has a kind of chic sophistication about it (again, a little lost on me), in fact the simpler the better.

Despite the ‘bean popping’ this sort of dish is one of my ‘late from the office’ go-to meals which is a shame, as it doesn’t deserve to be. It’s everything I love about Italian food. I know there are plenty of ‘rules’ or conventions in Italy on the choice of pasta shapes and accompaniments, but this worked just fine for me.

I’ve written a recipe, but honestly I wouldn’t expect many to follow it. In fact, most of the quantities in this one are approximate – this isn’t an exact science. Think of it more as a ‘serving suggestion’. Lovely with a good Pinot Grigio by the way.

Serves 2

  • 150-200g orecchiette pasta, depending how hungry you are
  • 2 tbsp cooking olive oil
  • About 1 tbsp good extra virgin olive oil to serve
  • 10-15 large raw prawns, deveined if necessary
  • 1 garlic glove, finely chopped
  • A small glass of wine (and a large one for yourself, it’s been a long day)
  • About 200g broad beans
  • 1 spring onion, finely sliced
  • A good pinch of chilli flakes
  • About a tablespoon measure of butter
  • Salt & Pepper.

Boil the kettle and get the water on.

Blanch the beans for a few minutes. I used the water for the pasta to save on pans, just don’t salt it yet. Sieve them out when done, salt the water and then and cook the pasta as instructed.

De-skin the beans by squeezing one end. Discard the skins. Keep the beans to one side.

Prawns and Chilli

In the pan, gently fry the garlic and prawns with a pinch of salt and the chilli flakes until well coloured. Add the wine and rapidly reduce to half the volume. Put in the beans, spring onion and the butter and warm through. Taste and season as needed.

Prawns chilli and broad beans

Drain the pasta when just ready and mix in the prawns and beans and a good lug of the olive oil. Serve with a twist of black pepper.

Orecchiette with prawns, chilli and broad beans

Venison meatballs and lentils

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venison meatballs and lentils

Ah, it’s good to be back after a bit of a busy time. A little bit too much working hard and playing (not quite so) hard means a little less time for writing. Or cooking.

Holidays, festivals and rather messy Stag Do to Hamburg have all featured heavily over recent weeks and so I feel I’ve fallen behind a bit. Food markets seem to be a big feature of late though, they seem to be everywhere at the moment and I’ll be writing about this later.

For now though, I thought I’d share a dish I made last week before departing for Hamburg dressed like a complete tool.

This was another fridge-rummaging, wrinkly-bit-trimming special, to use up the leftovers before I left for the long weekend. I was fairly confident they wouldn’t be used in my absence 😉

This time, some frozen venison mince, a half opened pack of bacon, aubergine from a ratatouille that never was, carrots and a courgette/zuchinni were all involved in this super-hearty dish. Lentils, although one of my favourites were intended as a healthy gesture to ward away the bodily carnage that was to come. Absolutely futile.

green lentils

Serves 2-3

For the meatballs

  • 250g venison mince
  • 2 back bacon rashers, finely sliced
  • 2 shallots, minced
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1-2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tsp mustard (I used English)
  • 1 large handful breadcrumbs
  • Salt and pepper

For the sauce

  • 1 each: carrot, courgette, aubergine, sliced
  • 1 large red onion, coarsely chopped
  • 500ml beef or game stock
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree

Lentils

  • 150g lentils.
  • 750ml stock (chicken or vegetable)

Creme fraiche to serve.

Start by cooking the lentils in stock until tender – about 45 minutes. Simmer with the lid on until nearly done then take the lid off to concentrate the stock flavour.

Make the meatballs by combining all the ingredients with your hand until evenly mixed.

venison meatball mixture

Season with about a tsp of salt and plenty of black pepper. Mix again to distribute.

Important bit: take a piece of the meat mixture off and fry it. Make any adjustments to the seasoning as you see fit.

Roll the mixture into large meatballs – I got about 9 golf ball sized ones out of it.

frying venison meatballs

Fry the meatballs, onions and garlic in a decent amount of oil using a large lidded frying pan until well browned all over. Add the carrots and mix well. Pour in the stock and tomato puree and leave to simmer for a few minutes with the lid on to soften the carrot. Add the aubergine and courgette and simmer some more (5 minutes) with the lid on until they also softened.

venison meatballs

Finally, for a another five minutes, take the lid off and turn up the heat to concentrate the sauce.

Serve it all on the lentils with the creme fraiche. Filling.

venison meatballs and lentils

Sausage roll. Or, Pork and Apple Pastry, Walnut Pesto and Celeriac & Apple Puree.

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Pork Pasty, Apple Celeriac Puree

Do you ever find that the best laid plans aren’t always the best? So many ‘good times’ in the past have been completely spontaneous.

There are exceptions, of course there are, but I often find the last minute trip away somewhere, unintended meeting of friends in a pub or off the cuff visit to that ‘restaurant we’ve been meaning to try’ are often more enjoyable.

It must have something to do with expectation of course. For any event, there will be an element of ‘rehearsal’ in your mind where you visualise how it’s going to go. God knows we did as teenagers eh fellas? And it was nothing like we imagined 😉

But, lifting the tone slightly, this can often happen when I cook. I sometimes come up with a great idea (or so it seemed in my mind at least), only to find it falls flat when the dish comes together.

Conversley, when the fridge is bare and you’re forced in a Ready Steady Cook  type improvisation situation (though no doubt minus the annoying presenters and studio audience)  you can come up with some corkers. As I said though, it’s probably about expectation isn’t it?

As you probably deduced by now, this dish was a last minute idea. I had celeriac slowly going soft in the fridge along with a half opened tray of pancetta and a piece of blue cheese rapidly approaching maximum ‘stinkiness’.  Add in the remains of the walnuts from my Khoresh Fesenjan last week and it started to come together itself really.

Although I really should call this ‘pork en croute’, or ‘minced pork parcels’, it was, for all intents and purposes, a sausage roll, albeit a posh one. Whatever though, I must admit, pastry work is not my forte, I really must practice to get some nice lattice work going on.

With it, pureed apple and celeriac and a pesto made from the blue cheese, walnuts a little honey and a little more apple.

You could use minced pork for this, it’ll be lower in fat, but I like making my own from belly slices as that fat keeps it from drying out.

Belly Pork and Pancetta

The puree is a little indulgent too, but you don’t need much.

Makes two large pastries (so 2 hungry people or 4 if you want to share!)

  • 1 large sheet ready rolled puff pastry.
  • 400g belly slices, minced.
  • 50g pancetta cubes
  • 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
  • 1 tsp english (if you like it strong) or dijon (if not…)
  • 1 apple, peeled and cored
  • 1/2 tsp mace
  • 1 tsp chopped sage
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 beaten egg for washing
  • Flour for dusting

For the puree

  • 1 celeriac, peeled and cubed
  • 4 shallots, sliced
  • 1 large garlic clove
  • 1 apple
  • 150ml cream
  • About a tbsp butter
  • Salt

For the pesto

  • Two handfuls of walnuts
  • About 40g blue cheese
  • Half an apple, peeled and diced.
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • Salt to taste

For the pastry, blend or mince the belly slices with the pancetta and peeled apple to make a fine mixture. Spoon into a bowl and add the mustards, herbs and pepper.

I used about a tsp of salt, but I strongly recommend frying a little bit in a pan to check the seasoning.

Roll out the puff pastry, and half it (the sheets are a standard size generally, but the size is up to you ultimately!)

Spoon on the pork mixture to the centre of one side of the pastry, not too thickly, so it cooks through.

Pork pasty filling

Brush the edges with egg to seal and fold the empty side over and seal with a fork. Place a small hole in the top to let the steam out.

Brush with egg wash and place in the oven at 200°C for about 20 minutes but ,as always, a thermometer helps to check the middle is cooked.

Meanwhile, chop the celeriac and boil for about 15 minutes until soft. Finely diced and fry  off 4 shallots and the garlic. Place the lot in a blender, with a peeled/cored apple and the cream. Blitz until smooth ( in batches if need be). Return to the pan and season to taste. Place on a very low heat to warm through then turn it off and put a lid on to keep warm.

To make the pesto, simply blend, or pound in a mortar the walnuts, honey, blue cheese and apple pieces until a coarse paste.

And thats it – serve it all up with a very good cider or a nice Riesling

Pork pastry and Apple Celeriac & Apple Puree

Persian evening and Khoresh Fesenjan

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Khoresh Fasenjan

It’s good to be back after a nice trip away. Divonne, near the Swiss border and Geneva. It was lovely, thanks for asking. I’ll be doing something on this a France a bit later, but I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while now:

A little while back a friends of ours asked if we fancied a Persian supper club. Well, yes,  of course we did. I must admit to being fairly ignorant to food from this region and so jumped at the chance.

It was only when we were given the address that, I became a bit unsure. Thinking it was a special event at a restaurant I was suprised to find out it was actually at someones house. Now, being a ‘reserved’ kind of chap this made me a bit uneasy. Other than the guys I knew who else would be there? My God, what if I to chat to someone boring? Worse, what if I bored them?

Of course I’m an idiot. The whole evening was excellent and as it turned out, the only  couple we didn’t know there were lovely.

Persian supper club

The chef and supper club proprietor for the evening was Afsaneh, who I was delighted to find out made the latter stages of Masterchef last year. The menu was based on food from her native Iran and if you think you’ve had big portions I’d advise you to think again.

photo 2[1]

She actually has a website called Afsaneh’s Persian Kitchen with the details – I do recommend you try it if you’re in the area.

The food was excellent, varied and oh so plentiful. The assortment of Hors d’oeuvres, starters, breads, rice dishes and grains accompanying the meat dishes was amazing and God only knows how hard Afsaneh and team must have been worked to produce the banquet. And then there was the dessert, mint tea and petit fours. A hell of a feat.

So spurred on, I thought I’d try and recreate one of the evenings favourite dishes which, I think we all agreed, was Khoresh Fesenjan, a thick stew made from ground walnuts and tangy pomegranate molasses (to be honest though it was all good, I’ll be trying the others later…). I read around and found a few variations and borrowed bits from them. Otherwise though it isn’t a long ingredients list.

Pomegranate molasses is made from concentrated pomegranate juice, and is a wickedly tangy, sweet and sour condiment. The ground walnut make this a thick and deceptively filling meal on its own. You don’t need much.

I served this with some saffron rice. I think its more authentic to bake the rice until the bottom is a nice golden brown, so I’ll try this next time.

Serves 4. Easily.

  • 200g walnuts
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 chicken thighs, I used boneless and skinless
  • 1 onion, finely sliced
  • 300ml chicken stock
  • 50ml pomegranate molasses (or to taste)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tbsp dried pomegranate seeds
  • 150g basmati rice
  • A pinch of saffron
  • A little brown sugar, again to taste
  • Salt and pepper

 Start by toasting the walnuts in a pan, being careful not to burn them. Allow to cool.

 In a casserole pot, fry the onions in the oil until softened. Add the chicken to brown (in batches) with salt and pepper. Once done, add 100ml of stock and the bay leaves and simmer with the lid on until just cooked through. Strain the stock and pour back with the rest and reserve the chicken and onion.

Blend the walnut until a coarse powder. Reserve a few and coarsely chop them for a bit of texture, which I liked. Pour 200ml of the stock into the pot and bring to a simmer. Stir in the walnuts to make a thick paste. The oil will begin to rise to the top – keep stirring it. Add the pomegranate molasses. I suggest you add little by little to taste as it is quite powerful and sharp. 50ml was about right for me in this case.

Pomegranate molasses

 Add the sugar to balance the flavours and then return the chicken and onions. Simmer with the lid on for an hours, adding a little of the remaining stock to loosen if too thick. Season with salt.

Saffron Water

Cook the rice as you normally would. I use the absorbtion method, using twice the amount of water to rice in a shallow pan. Add some hot water to a bowl and blanch the saffron to colour and flavour it. Add this to the rice towards the end of cooking.

Khoresh Fesenjan and Saffron Rice

Curried Lamb Shanks and Naan Bread.

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Curried Lamb Shanks

OK, so even I’m getting over BBQ food at the moment. And salads, lovely as they are in the garden with a glass of something cold are getting a bit tiresome.

It’s a bit weird that I don’t see curry as a summer food as the Indians eat this in far warmer climes than these, but maybe it’s just me. So, fight fire with fire I say and with my added side-quest to get my wife to enjoy a lamb dish this a pretty risky proposition.

I'm slaving away. The muggy gets my chair. Hmm...

I’m slaving away. The moggy gets my chair. Hmm…

I’ve managed to establish that Helen’s dislike of lamb is down to the ‘lambiness’ of some dishes. Now this is a major breakthrough. We recently went to a brilliant Persian supper club meal with friends (more on this in a later post) and she thoroughly enjoyed the slow cooked lamb. I think I’ve deduced therefore that whilst the Sunday roast will never be an option, maybe this type of dish will, having had most of the fat rendered out.

So, I bought a couple of lamb shanks, classic slow cooking cuts, from a local butcher. Otherwise, I didn’t need to look far for inspiration as I’ve been meaning to make a dish I found on an app I have for  Hyderabadi Shanks by Alfred Prasad on the Great British Chefs website. A great website by the way and well worth a browse.

I made a few minor tweaks for our own tastes/available ingredients but otherwise tried to stay faithful to the recipe. I slow cooked the shanks for about 3 hours and then left them to  rest overnight before finishing the curry the next evening.

To accompany this, some homemade naan breads. Simple in theory, these are fairly difficult to do in domestic ovens, as the lovely light airy versions you find in restaurants are made using a super-hot tandoori oven. I improvised using a pizza stone in the oven at full whack – a respectable 275°C (530°F). The results were pretty good to be fair.

Naan Breads

The recipes make about 5 (or more depending on size) but freeze well for later on.

Serves 2:

For the curry:

  • Two lamb shanks
  • 4 tbsp oil
  • 1 1/2 onions, thinly sliced
  • 6 garlic cloves and a large piece of ginger
  • 6 cloves
  • 4 cardamon pods
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
  • 1 tbsp mustard seeds
  • 1 tsp hot chilli powder
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tbsp ground coriander
  • 4 tbsp yoghurt
  • 3 ripe tomatoes, diced
  • Chicken stock – about 500ml (enough to cover the lamb) or water if not.
  • 1 tbsp garam masala and a good handful of chopped coriander stems/leaf to finish.
  • 1 threaded carrot to serve.

For the naan breads (makes 4-5 large)

  • 500g strong bread flour
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 sachet of dried instant yeast
  • 200ml milk
  • 100ml yoghurt (about 4 tbsp)
  • Melted butter to finish, if you like.

I used dried coriander and cumin and so dry roasted them first in the hot pan and ground them in a spice mill. Set aside.

Make a paste out of the garlic and ginger by blending them with a little water (or a good old fashioned pestle and mortar)

Add the oil to a large oven proof pan and fry the cardamon, mustard seed, onion, and cloves for a couple of minutes. Push to one side and add the lamb shanks to brown well, with a good pinch of salt.

Add the ginger/garlic paste and stir to coat. Then the  rest of the spices – the chilli powder, coriander, cumin and cinnamon. Continue to fry for a couple of minutes – it smells amazing.

Lamb shanks with spices

Add the yoghurt and tomatoes and simmer in the oil for a few minutes more then cover the lamb with the chicken stock.

Curried Lamb Shanks

Simmer on the hob on the lowest heat setting, or in the oven at 140°C/280°F for 3 hours. Rest over night if you can, but it’s not necessary.

When ready to cook, remove the lamb from the sauce and set aside in a roasting pan. I covered it with foil and used my smaller oven to warm (only 100°C/210°F)

Pour off any unwanted oil (there was quite a lot) and blend the sauce until smooth. I used a stick blender for less washing up 😉

Simmer gently until thickened. Once done, turn off the heat and once stopped simmering stir in the garam masala and coriander stems/leaves.

Meanwhile, make the naan dough by combining everything and kneading until smooth and stretchy. I used the dough hook on my mixer – a Godsend – but keep an eye on it or it can be over kneaded. I used the stretch test after 5 minutes and it was done.

Leave to rise once until double the size somewhere warm and get the oven ready. I got the pizza stone in the middle of the oven and set it to max. Flatten and portion the dough and roll out to a tear-drop shape, brush with oil and when the oven is ready, place it straight onto the stone. It bubbles up really quickly and can burn so watch it carefully! Brush with the butter once done if you are using it. Cook them all whilst the oven is on and freeze the excess for another day.

Naan Breads

Plate up the lamb shanks and pour over the sauce generously. Finish with the carrot, a naan bread and a Cobra beer.

Curried Lamb Shank

Char-grilled Seabass and Panzanella Salad

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IMG_0077-impIf you’re reading this I’d imagine you have a bit of an interest in cooking and good food, which can be both a blessing and a curse when going out to eat.

See, like most of you, it becomes quickly apparent when a dish arrives, how much effort went into the preparation and the ingredients involved. Once you’ve established this, it quickly  becomes even more apparent whether the price you’re paying is ‘fair’.

Last night we went out for dinner at a decent chain Italian restaurant in the City, mainly, seeing as the weather is so good, for the outdoor seating. I tend to avoid chains, as invariably I leave, at best, underwhelmed, or at worst slightly annoyed. Whilst most are very nicely decked out with exposed timbers, shabby-chic fixtures and theme driven posters, a majority of them with their advantageous locations have high ground rents and wage bills and, therefore, squeezed margins. So what gives? Inevitably it’s the food, be it in the quantity or, and more importantly, the quality.

Lat night I ordered the Cacciucco – a kind of Tuscan fish stew with Sardinian fregola. Perfect summer food I thought. But then when it arrived the squid (both pieces) were more akin to a fan belt. It also comprised a handful of fregola, two small slivers of fish, three very small clams, two mussels and a prawn. Yes, a single prawn. Two large pieces of bread were added, presumably to resemble anything like a meal and take up half the plate – completing the illusion.  All for a “bargain” £16.95.

If there were £2 worth of ingredients in the dish I’d be surprised, especially at wholesale prices. I was hardly expecting Bouillabaisse from the Southern coast of France but still…

Ah, well, weather was good and the Peroni was cold.

Across town there’s a great  family run restaurant called Panis. I’ve mentioned it before. It won’t win a Michelin star but it’s proper Sardinian food with half the decor and half the price.  The service is also great and no loyalty cards are being pushed. Sadly, no al-fresco dining, but lesson learned.

So being the bloody-minded type, I had to force the point home by making one of the most modest of salads – panzanella – and with it, some seabass fillets. The cost? £7 for both of us. £6 of it being the fish.

IMG_0057-imp

The key ingredient of panzanella of course it some stale bread, it’s a brilliant way to use up an old loaf if you’ve too many breadcrumbs already, or even if you don’t.

I used a mixture of tomatoes (oven drying some of them) for a bit of variety, some green leaves, and herbs from the garden. The dressing itself was also so simple, even forgoing the balsamic for the more austere red-wine vinegar.

IMG_0062-imp

Marjoram doing nicely in the garden

Not sure what variety this is, should have taken note. Anyone?

Not sure what variety this is, I should have taken note. Anyone?

IMG_0053-imp

I cooked the seabass on the grill outside with woodchips for smoke and whilst delicious, mine did break. A schoolboy error for the presentation. Unfortunately the other one was being tucked into by Helen….

Serves 2:

  • 2 seabass fillets
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt

For the salad:

  • Half a red onion, finely sliced
  • A mixture of tomatoes, halved or quartered
  • Stale bread, cut into cubes. As much as you need.
  • 2 tbsp capers
  • 1 sprig of marjoram or fresh oregano, leaves removed
  • A few basil leaves

For the dressing:

  • 2 tbsp good olive oil
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 to 1 tsp sugar (to taste)
  • Salt to taste

Make the dressing up then separate and add the finely sliced onions to mellow a bit while you do the rest.

I made oven dried tomatoes by halving 4 of them, sprinkling with a little salt and baking on a tray for about 15 minutes at 160°C/320°F. Remove and leave to cool.

Arrange the plate with the salad ingredients.

Season and grill the fish until just done – sea bass doesn’t take long if at room temperature, just few minutes.

Arrange it on the plate with the rest and dress the salad with the, making sure the bread gets plenty of the vinaigrette.

Enjoy with a sense of smug satisfaction!

Seabass and Panzanella Salad

 

 

 

BBQ Leftovers Salad

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Pulled pork salad

Well summer is here, Murray just won his first Wimbledon, the Lions won down-under and ‘al fresco’ food is irresistible during these long days.

I often think this would be a different nation with decent weather as at the first glimpse of sun and everyone is out and about. In town, any available outside seating, and there isn’t much, is taken and plumes of BBQ smoke are rising from the gardens. Great times…..except for the bad tan-lines but otherwise, yes, great times.

I ‘did’ a BBQ on Sunday and, as ever, prepared far too much. I got the Webber kettle grill out and slow roasted a piece of pork until falling apart, soaked wood-chips and all. It made the most amazing crackling too. Suffice to say it was such a shame to waste it and so in a vain attempt to do something healthier, I combined some of the leftovers into a salad.

BBQ Pork

(a stylised Twitter pic!)

No recipe as such here, but this was super-quick and hugely customisable. I used an asian style dressing but a simple cider-vinegar version would have worked nicely too. I also had some of Helen’s homemade coleslaw left which finished the dinner off nicely.

BBQ pork salad

Portobello Pizzas

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Portabello pizzasI’ve been very busy again of late and with that comes the inevitable late nights in the office. So whilst I can’t complain that business is good, it does tend to mean that dinner sways toward restaurants or (and please don’t judge me), grabbing something on the way home.

We try not to do the latter very often if I can help it and so anything I do make is on the quick and simple list.

These Portobello pizzas are great for this, in fact we both liked them so much I’ll be doing it more often. I cannot for the life of me remember where I got the idea, but it wasn’t mine, and so can’t give due credit, but thanks anyway whoever it was.

I ransacked the fridge for ingredients and found the end of some really good Raclette cheese, some spicy cooking Chorizo, and ageing green peppers. Now, that’s not a bad start I admit.

I made a couple of types here: a plain veggie friendly ‘Margherita’ (though very tenuously named) and a version with Chorizo and peppers. I did both as although I don’t eat a lot of pizza, I’m turning into a bit of a purist and tend to prefer pizza with few, if any, toppings other than tomato and cheese. I love Chorizo though.

portabello mushrooms

Both were equally good. I added some breadcrumbs for a bit of crunch and I suppose this was bordering on “stuffed mushrooms” but I’m sticking to my guns on this one 😉 Oh, and no mozzarella, but still…..

For two people, you’ll need more chorizo

  • 4 large Portobello mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed and stalk removed.
  • Garlic oil (or oil and a finely chopped garlic clove)
  • 1 large tomato, sliced
  • 4 handfuls grated cheese – take your pick, but I had Raclette which was good.
  • Marjoram leaves (or Oregano or Basil)
  • 2 tbsp. single cream (optional)
  • 1 heaped tsp. wholegrain mustard
  • 2 handfuls coarse breadcrumbs
  • 1 small Chorizo sausage, halved and sliced
  • 1 green pepper, diced
  • Salt and Pepper

Get the oven on to 180oC/350oF.

Lay the prepared mushrooms on a baking tray and sprinkle with the herbs, a little salt, pepper and the garlic oil. Roast for about 5 minutes until wilting.

Roasted mushroom

Add a slice of tomato to each (beefeater would be good) and add a little more salt. Cook for another ten minutes or so until the mushrooms are tender, the tomato is “oven-dried” and the flavour concentrates.

Whilst happening, and if using, cook the Chorizo and peppers in a small pan. No need for oil, the Chorizo has plenty in it. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside.

Mix the cheese, mustard, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper.

Take the mushrooms out the oven and top with the Chorizo/peppers if using and a pile of the cheese mixture. Bake or grill until the topping is melted and slightly browned.

Enjoy the carb-conscious alternative to pizza!

Portabello pizzas

Seasoned Wok-er

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Char Siu pork stir fryIn a recent recipes I posted I talked about ‘authenticity’ in cooking. I think there was a general concensus in the comments that followed that it’s also good to push recipes a little and try out the odd extra ingredient here or different combination there.

So, what about the equipment used? Well, a little while back, I posted a comment on a nicely seasoned wok in a post by Conor Boffin. Geek! I hear you shout, and you’d be right, but this is a good example of where authenticity works best.

Like the Moroccan Tagine, or the Paella pan, some things just work best because they’re designed for the purpose.

I’ve had a number of woks over the years, mainly cheap ones it must be said, but all had a non-stick coating on, and all inevitably failed in some way. Either the non-stick coating ‘stuck’ (Ken Hom, you really let me down here), or the pan simply couldn’t get hot enough to cook the ‘Chinese way’.

And so finally, spurred on by Conor’s aforementioned photo, took the time to go out to the Chinese supermarket in the City and invest in a proper carbon steel one.

I say ‘invest’ but it was a fraction of the price of my current one. I got a round bottomed version as I have a dedicated burner on my hob, but a flat bottomed one is needed otherwise, or for ceramic hobs apparently.

Once home, I set about seasoning it based on a number of internet sources and Youtube videos. The process effectively renders the wok non-stick and stops it rusting and was far simpler than I thought:

Wash the the pan gently with a foam pad and washing up liquid to thoroughly remove the manufacturer’s protective oil coating. On the biggest hob you have, heat the wok on high heat until it starts to discolour and smoke fiercely. Don’t lose your nerve!  Turn it round to heat evenly, it’ll turn golden brown and blue.

Turn the heat down half and carefully wipe the inside of the wok with some groundnut oil using tongues and a folded up wad of kitchen paper. Heat until smoking again and wipe off the oil – the paper towel should be brown/black. Repeat the wiping and heating until it stops colouring the paper towel.

Wok seasoning

Now, this never happened for me, the paper was just “less brown”. Maybe it was simply burning in the heat, who knows,  but I repeated the last steps about ten times to be sure. It turns out that was enough (and probably overkill to be honest).

Armed with my new wok and oozing authenticity, I set about making a stir fried dish for dinner…

My new seasoned wok

I’d defrosted some Char Siu pork fillet from the freezer, uncooked and still marinating nicely. I recommend this actually, I used the same recipe as I’d written about before, but it ultimately had far more flavour.

Char Siu pork stir fry with fried rice:

  • 1 Char Siu pork fillet – recipe here
  • Groundnut oil
  • 2 tbsp Soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp rice wine
  • Mushrooms (of your choice) sliced.
  • 1 medium onion, finely sliced,
  • 1 thumb sized piece of ginger, grated or chopped finely
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
  • 2 spring onions, one finely sliced, one less so for serving
  • 1 pak choi cleaned and separated.
  • 150g grams long grain rice, cooked and cooled
  • 1 egg
  • Sesame oil to serve

Drain the Char Siu pork from the marinade (and reserve it). In a hot oven(200°C/400°F), roast the pork until just done, it should take 20 mins or so. Use a thermometer so as not to overcook it.

Slice and allow to rest a little. Heat the wok with 3 tbsp groundnut oil until smoking. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and stir fry for a few seconds. Add the mushroom for a minute more.

Tip in the sliced pork and any resting juices. Keep the heat high. and stir to colour. Add 1tbsp soy sauce, rice wine, and some of the reserved marinade and stir well. Lastly, add the pak choi and finely sliced spring onion. Stir well to coat.

Stir fried vegetables

Set aside in a bowl and keep warm

Wipe the wok clean with a paper towel (wow – non-stick!), reheat and add a little more oil. Get it hot again. Fry the rice for a minute on high heat then make a gap in the middle and crack an egg into it. Stir rapidly to scramble and mix into the rice. Add a tbsp soy sauce and stir fry for a couple more minutes, until dried and evenly coloured. Season with a few drops sesame oil to taste.

Serve the dish up with some jauntily sliced fresh spring onion on top.

Mackerel with James’ Rhubarb and Beetroot Feta Salad

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Mackerel and Rhubarb with Feta & Beetroot SaladAs a kid, I distinctly remember our friends and neighbours growing their own fruit and veg, my folks included. Even better, there was a genuine co-op going on. People would pass any excess across the fences when they had too much for themselves. The more entrepreneurial would have a roadside table with an honesty box, sometime flogging some seedlings or eggs. Continue reading →