Tuesday 31 March 2009

Cottage pie with a difference

As I had mash left over from the weekend, I thought I would russle up a cottage pie.
Try adding a can of lentils (cooked) instead of veg and a teaspoon of ground cumin - simple and tasty!

Monday 30 March 2009

Red Wine Sauce with Balsamic Vinegar

Ingredients (serves 2):

  • 2 Tbsps Balsamic Vinegar
  • 80ml Red Wine
  • 100ml good beef stock
  • 4 shallots
  • ½ tbsp Paprika
  • ½ tsp Thyme
  • Butter
  • Sea Salt & Fresh crushed pepper

Peel and quarter the shallots and gently fry in some butter. Add the balsamic vinegar and boil for a moment. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer until reduced and slightly thick - I also add the juices from the resting meat to give the sauce a fuller flavour. Serve liberally over a fillet steak! This sauce is quick to make and tastes good.

Steaks and being tired!

On Friday I really wanted a nice steak, red wine sauce and some mangetout. Its my sort of soul food, like chilli and cottage pie. (in fact I must post up my gran’s recipe for sausage and tomato pie!)

Well, I cooked the steak in butter and then let them rest in the oven. I prepped the sauce – wine, stock, salt pepper, red current jelly and then did the mash – desiree potatoes, plenty of butter and added ustard horseradish at the end. Well – it just about all failed – the steak was very tender but very blue. I put too much recurrant in the sauce and the wine, I think, had turned. The mash was lovely and then I spoilt it with the mustard etc. Amazingly the mangetout was perfect.

It had been a bad week and I was tired – so it showed in the meal. Jacqui was diplomatic and said she enjoyed it!

A photo of said meal! - an attempt to add some gloss to the blog. Could do better but at least it is a start! I can assure you it looks better than it tastes! 

Not wishing to have this black mark on my copy book, a re-trial was arranged for Sunday! 2 more steaks from the same fillet. We had Roseval potatoes (a new variety that look like charlotte potatoes but have a red skin), a different red wine sauce and French beans. Success!

(See the recipe for the sauce above this post.)

Friday 27 March 2009

Comfort food!

There are times when you just want to sit in front of a fire, watch TV and chill out – a rare treat for me. So to join this trio together will be one of Jacqui’s favourites – Fillet Steak, Mash with Mustard and Horseradish and a red wine & redcurrant sauce – maybe a few Mangetout on the side!

I’m going to have a go at photographs so will post one a two to try out – mind you my photographic skills need honing, to say the least!

Monday 23 March 2009

Tuna & Scallop Thai Curry

From the leftovers in the fridge came a delightful dish.

Ingredients (serves 2):

  • 1  small fillet of Tuna (sliced)
  • 10 small queen scallops
  • Handful of trimmed Mangetout
  • Carton of Coconut Milk
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 tbsp of Thai green curry paste
  • 2 tbsp of fresh paste comprising, ginger,garlic,whole red chilli, fresh coriander,lime zest from one lime, juice of one lime and lemon grass similar quantities
  • (This fresh paste give the curry a clean taste and tangy flavour that bought pastes cannot.)
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • A few Kaffir Lime leaves
  • 1 tbsp of oil
  • 1 cup of Jasmine Rice

Fry the onion in the oil until soft . Then add the Thai pastes and fry for a minute. Add the coconut milk, sugar and lime leaves and leave to simmer for 15 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and continue to simmer for about 5 to 10 mins.  Serve with Jasmine rice that is well cooked and has been left to drain well.

The textures are great and the flavours delightful. If I had tried to create this it would have failed!

Scallops with Wasabi Peas and Seaweed

I served up this dish as a starter to my Haddock course – it went down well but I am still not convinced it is ideal yet!

The scallops were cooked in butter and served with the pea puree (made from frozen garden peas) to which was added freshly mixed Wasabi paste (just enough to taste)

On the same plate I added some spiced seaweed (more on that later) and a couple of ‘blobs’ of balsamic glaze. It was an unusal combination but everyone liked it and nothing was left – so I know I’m getting there!

Once I am happy I have perfected this recipe I will write it up properly!

Smoked Haddock with Bubble & Squeek!

Ingredients (to serve 4):

  • 4 Smoked Haddock Fillets
  • Half pint of milk
  • 4 large potatoes
  • 4oz butter (unsalted)
  • Handful of chpped cabbage (winter greens etc)
  • 4 eggs
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Beurre Blanc Sauce - see recipes below

Do you spell squeak with 2 ‘e’s or an ‘ea’? Well who cares! This is a fantastic main course that will always impress and is guaranteed to get everyone finishing their plates.

There are 4 main parts – the bubble, the fish, the sauce and the egg – the sauce is as described earlier and so I will outline the other steps:

The Bubble can be prepared by boiling potatoes until tender, mashing – I prefer to use a potato ricer which always gives good smooth mash – and then whisk in plenty of butter. Season with salt and pepper.

When I say plenty of butter, I mean it! Cook some cabbage – winter greens  (I usually steam mine)  and when cooked, shred and then add butter to coat. This can then be stirred into the mash and left to one side, covered until ready to fry.

Meanwhile gently poach smoked haddock fillets in milk until just cooked – this only takes a few minutes per fillet. Transfer to a tray and keep covered and warm in the oven until ready to serve. I remove the skin just before serving to ensure they remain whole. The skin will come away easily and the haddock will flake sho be gentle!

You can now fry the bubble and squeak mixture until it starts to brown on the pan and then keep warm until it is ready to serve. I often cover the fying pan with foil and place in the oven.

Poach eggs carefully in boiling water (add vinegar to the water to help) to poach.

You can now prepare the plates, which have been previously kept warm – mash on the plate, next the haddock on the mash (skin removed), then the poached egg on the top and rounded off with a liberal pour of the beurre blanc sauce. Just great.

NB. You can prepare the poached eggs by cooking for less time and then removing early from the water and plunging into iced water. When you are ready to serve add to boiling water for 1 minute. I tend to time it all so that the eggs come straight out of the pan onto the haddock.

Beurre Blanc Sauce

I'll leave this recipe here but my revised sauce is better! : Sauce MkII

This will be required for the Smoked Haddock & Bubble recipe.

This is a useful and great tasting sauce for fish etc.

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp of White wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp of White wine
  • 2 finely chopped shallots
  • 1 tbsp of double cream
  • 6 oz of butter (slightly salted)

Add the shallots, white wine and vinegar to a pan, bring to the boil and reduce. Then add the cream and reduce a little more. Dice the butter and then add to the pan and whisk the mixture by hand until even. Strain the sauce to remove the shallots and season with a little salt and pepper.


Thursday 19 March 2009

Scallops and Stuff!

Whether I am mad or just stupid, I don’t know but yesterday was experimentation day! It sort of reminds me of the time I used to spend with my old mate Stuart re-creating chemistry experiments in some old shed – normally with an accident or two!

So the idea came to experiment with scallops and see what I could serve them up with. I went to a Korean Supermarket to buy some fresh scallops and whilst there I picked up an array of goodies adorned with ‘toe-nail clippings’ – ie all that writing that looks like hieroglyphics to me!

So, I ended up with a bag of mixed dried seaweed, various sauces and potions etc etc. I’ll tell you more about those over the coming weeks.

Experiment number one was to look at the mixed seaweed – this needed to be hydrated in warm water and it expanded to huge lumps of weed that smelt of the sea – I am still trying to decide if the texture was right with the scallop as they were very soft. They were chopped. flash fried with garlic, ginger, chilli, oil and a tiny bit of soy sauce but this made the mixture very glutinous – leaving them to stand for a while really improved the texture. The taste was very complimentary but I wasn’t happy with it. So, I think the next stage is to consult a book or two to point me in the right directon so that I can get the flavours and textures I am after.

Tomorrow I will experiment with scallops on a bet of pureed pea and wasabi – not sure if they will all go together but I’ll let you know.

Seared tuna next! I seasoned the tuna steak and served this up on some spicy egg noodles – fresh tuna, lightly cooked is so good.  Noodles were not too powerful so as to distract from the Tuna but again – it didn’t set the taste buds alive.

Back to the lab ….

Monday 16 March 2009

Curry Sauces and more!

Im not one to go for pre prepared sauces but last night I was a little surprised by the contents of Meahs Freshly made Indian Sauce. It was very good! Now, you see, I can knock up a very good Indian curry, but the Dhansak sauce I tried was amazing. Now I hear you ask What were you doing in the first place buying it! Well the truth is that my wife was given a selection to try out.

The sauce will make a decent curry for 4 people just add chicken and fried onion (as in the case of the Dhansak) and leave to cook. Very simple and easy ideal for a mad rush etc. These days I dont want a curry every week, but it is certainly worth having a tub in the fridge. (Being freshly made, they dont have a long shelf life) Not sure how much they cost I think about £4.50 a tub but well worth it!

I have a feeling this week is going to be fish week! On Sunday we had a meal out in Godalming taking my elderly mother out to lunch ( Im 89 years old, you know!’)    I had a very nice sword fish with panfried vegetables and it was very good not sure the pesto butter complemented it but still very good. Anyway, this spurred me on and what with the lovely weather and winter on the back burner, I thought I would put fish on the menu this week. I also have a lunch to prepare on Saturday so will probably go for fish as well as some of the guys have special diets!

Wednesday 11 March 2009

Pasta - Update!

Well, it went well. I used a simple pasta recipe of 8oz of 00 flour, 2 eggs , 1 tsp salt and 1 tbsp oil.

The filling ended up being prawn, crayfish ('cos I had some in the fridge already!) and ricotta with a bisque sauce made from the prawn shells.

The pasta was good but not great, so I may now try moving to more egg yolks to make it a bit richer and less bland in colour  so more experimenting yet.

The pasta machine was very easy and worked a treat.  As for the bisque sauce, I thought it was too strong and I mixed the remainder with more cream and that helped a lot.  Will keep you posted

Pasta etc

Well, tonight will be ‘pasta night’ ! I tend to buy fresh pasta and concentrate on the sauces myself but tonight I am going to have a go at making my own pasta!

I shall let you know how it goes and how the pasta machine (from ebay) performs. I fancy doing a ravioli so will research on something tasty …

 

Alternatively I could try and emulate Carluccio’s Giardinera dish!!

Monday 9 March 2009

Sticky Toffee Pudding

If you like sweet sponge deserts, try Marco Pierre Whites recipe for this classic (my version is in his Mirabelle Cookbook) I cooked this at the weekend and served it up – 6 clean plates later! I use the best dates possible (normally Medjool as these have a natural caramel flavour) and follow his recipe and it is perfect. The toffee sauce needs a little practice and I prefer putting less lemon juice in it – either way it is superb. (When I get time I will add this recipe). I even have substituted normal flour with gluten-free flour and it works.

Kedgeree

Anna, this one is for you! Of course you need to source the Mango Sauce !!

For those of you who have never eaten kedgeree, try it - I guarantee you will want another plateful !!

Ingredients:

  • 1lb Smoked Haddock
  • 1 cup of Basmati Rice
  • 2 tbsp of Lemon Juice
  • 4fl oz single cream
  • Pinch of fresh grated nutmeg
  • Pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 2 hard boiled eggs
  • 2 oz butter
  • Chopped parsley (optional)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Tiptree Spicy Mango Sauce to accompany!


Poach the Haddock in milk for about 10 mins until the fish flakes easily. Remove and separate from the skin and also tak out any bones. Set aside. Whislt you are poaching the fish you can boil the rice in salted water until tender. I tend take the rice off the heat when ready and wash with boiling water a couple of times and them allow to drain properly. Once ready, stir in gently the lemon juice, cream, fish, nutmeg, cayenne and egg (chopped). Put into a baking dish and dot the mixture with bits of the butter. Bake for 15/20 mins or so in a preheated oven at 180deg. If nexessary, you can cut down on the rice proportion - depending on whether you want to pad it out or not. Serve with a good ‘dollop’ of the spicy mango sauce on the side – enjoy!

(Serves 4 - or 2 if you really enjoy it!!!)

Spicy Lamb Tagine

If you like Moroccan Tagines, you will love this. Its all fairly easy to do and you can just bung it in the oven – like I tend to do!

 

Ingredients: 

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1kg of Lamb – lean and diced
  • 1 Tin of chopped tomatos
  • 2 onions – halved and sliced
  • 1 Beef Tomato – thinly sliced
  • 50gms Butter
  • 50gms Dates – pitted and roughly chopped
  • 100gms Dried Apricots roughly chopped
  • 1 pint Beef or Lamb stock
  • 2 tsp of Honey
  • 2 Cloves of garlic – chopped
  • 2 tsp Ras El Hanout
  • 1 tsp Tumeric
  • 1 tsp Chilli powder (miss this out if you don’t like the food too ‘hot’)
  • 1 tsp Ground ginger
  • ½ tsp Saffron – soaked previously in a little warm water
  • 2 tbsp chopped coriander (garnish when serving)

 

Brown the meat in the olive oil and set aside. Melt the butter to a frying pan and then add the spices and cook for a few minutes, then add the onions and garlic and cook until soft and golden. Mix this with the meat together with the remaining ingredients in an ovenproof dish and tight fitting lid. (I use an oval Le Creuset Casserole dish) Place in a preheated oven @ 160deg for approx 2 hours. Inspect and turn the meat every now and then. After 2 hours you can remove the lid to allow the tagine to become thicker and richer if it should it need to. The chilli can vary considerably and so I suggest go add less than more as this can give quite a kick. You can easily avoid the chilli and still get a rich spicy dish! I serve with either a fruity rice or a couscous with oven roasted vegetables.

(Serves 6)

 

 

Friday 6 March 2009

Dauphinoise Potatoes

Tonight I tried this recipe by Mat Follas (Masterchef Winner 2009)

http://www.thewildgarlicblog.co.uk/search/label/MAIN

I must admit that is works very well as a recipe (tastes great) but I cooked mine for a little longer. Even tasted good when cold.

Ingredients:

  • 4 medium potatoes (Maris Piper or King Edward)
  • Garlic
  • 200ml cream
  • 200ml milk
Chop several garlic cloves finely and start browning it in a pan, once translucent and starting to brown add cream and heat slowly, adding milk when simmering then take off heat. Leave for 30 minutes to infuse. This creates a lovely nutty, garlicy infusion ...

Peel and Mandolin potatoes finely and layer in dish with salt & pepper between each layer (use plenty of seasoning ... more than you think you should !). Do not wash the slices as the starch will bind the dish together when it cooks.

Strain garlic cream and pour into dauphinoise dish till potatoes are covered. Cover with foil and place in the oven at 200C for 30 min (adjust times depending on depth of potatoes). The foil stops it burning.

Take foil off Dauphinoise and press down potatoes firmly (this is key to the dish binding and not becoming a collection of potatoe slices floating in cream !).

Put back in over at 160C and check every 15min, pressing down. Take out when brown on top and the cream mixture is absorbed.

This freezes well, we make an oven tray full at home and freeze what we don't eat, reheat at 160C.

Spicy 'Onion Squash' Soup

Here is a perfect soup for a cold evening by the fire – actually it doesn’t have to be cold!

I love the flavour of Onion Squash – not sure how readily available they are but I get them from my local Waitrose.

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil (or butter 50gms)
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 red chilli, chopped 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 onion squash, flesh cubed (or butternut if not available)
  • 1 tbsp medium curry paste – I tend to use something like a Rogan one
  • 500ml/½ pint good vegetable stock
  • 200ml/7fl oz coconut cream – or one small carton/tin
  • 2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped


Heat the oil in a non-stick pan. Add the onion, chilli and the garlic, and fry for 4-5 minutes until softened. Stir through the curry paste and fry for a further minute. Add the squash and continue to fry for 5 minutes. Pour over the stock and coconut milk, bring to the boil, and cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the squash is tender. Transfer to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Return to the pan, add the coriander, and season well. Garnish with coriander and serve with plenty of crusty bread – mmmm, enjoy!

Notes: If using the Thermomix, put squash peeled and roughly chopped, onion (peeled and quartered) and butter into the bowl and chop at speed 5 for 6 seconds. Scrape sides down and then soften for 5mins, speed 1 @ 100deg. Then cook for 12 mins @ 100deg, speed 2. Then puree for 30/40 secs, speed 9.

(Serves 4)

Porc Medallions in a Cider, Mustard and Cream Sauce

This is one of Jacqui's favourite sort of meals. These are the sort of recipes in France that just seem to be part of memorable meals out.

Ingredients:

  • 1 small onion
  • 20gms butter
  • 200ml Cider
  • 100ml Double Cream
  • 1 Tbsp Full Grain Mustard
  • 8 Pork Medallions
  • Freshly ground Pepper and Salt

Seaon the pork both sides with salt and pepper. Fry (medium/high heat) the medallions of pork in a little butter until slightly brown on both sides, cover and put into a warm oven until ready for serving.

Finely chop the onion and fry (medium heat) in a knob of butter until starting to brown, add the cider and reduce, then add the remaining butter and when melted add the mustard. Whilst stirring well now slowly add the cream (do not allow to boil) You should now have a reasonably thick sauce but this can be thickened as required with a basic roux. Whilst the meat has been resting it will have let out juices – these can be stirred into the sauce. Season and then serve the pork with the sauce. Serve with Dauphinoise potaotoes and a little buttered cabbage or other vegetable of your choice. Nice with a glass of cider as well !!

(Serves 4)

Wednesday 4 March 2009

Lambs Hearts

I have also said that I intend to start cooking meals I have never done before and /or never tried. My business partner, Alan, suggested Lambs Hearts – I have neither tried them or cooked them so tomorrow I wil try and source the little gems and see what they are like. Next on the list will be a Bouillabaisse - I have done this before but never succeeded in recreating the ones I try in France or the Med. Its not until you think of fish that I realize how bad availability is in Hersham. I come from the Fylde coast and I was used to having fish from Fleetwood on a regular basis. We have a river at the bottom of our garden so maybe I will try and catch a few Perch to try!!  

Tuesday 3 March 2009

The start of something new!

Its very daunting starting something new - even a blog!

The name - well it stems from two routes! The first is the idea of a French Style Bistro and the the second word is from when little Charlie Mein (well he was little once) came on holiday with us in France and was unable to pronounce Matthew - Mattmoo was about all he could manage. It stuck !

I'll try and give you an account of my trials and tribulations on the cookery front.

I will try and get those tastebuds working overtime!

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