Morrocan Meatballs

Here is a rich and tasty dish. You can experiment with a range of sauces but the tomato one here is rich and tasty!

Ingredients:

• 450gms Minced Lamb
• 1 x red onion – peeled and grated
• 2 x cloves of garlic – crushed
• 2cm piece of ginger – grated
• 2 tsp of gropund cumin – I prefer grinding the seeds myself
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
• Olive oil
• 200ml of decent chicken stock
• Handful of chopped fresh coriander.

Put the lamp, onion, one crushed clove of garlic, half the ginger and spices in a bowl and mix together well – add seasoning – finish mixing and then form the mixture into small balls. I tend to end up with about 40 of the chaps.

Heat 1tbsp of olive oil in a large pan and then add the meatballs – cook in batches until brown and then remove and put to one side. Now add the rest of the garlic, ginder and spices and cook for 2 mins. Add the tomatoes, sotch and season and simmer for about 15mins. Now add back the meatballs and cook until the sauce is nice and thick – approx 30mins (or less) Prior to serving, stir in the coriander. Serve this with anything you like – I prefer couscous but Jacqui prefers spaghetti or similar – either way use some more coriander in it!

The couscous can be made with stock, butter and coriander stirred in at the end. Enjoy

Belly Pork and Red Cabbage

It’s a sort of a dish that was very trendy but it is such a good meal and tasty. It does not have to be cooked for ages providing that the pork is not too thick and done like I suggest below.

The Pork:

My belly pork is a strip of belly, about 3cms thick and coiled up with the skin on the outside and skewered through. Dry the skin and rub salt into it to ensure you get a crispy ‘crackling’. I tend to put mine in a very high oven for about 25 mins and then turn the oven down to about 150deg for another 20 mins or so until the skin is cooked. Remove the ‘coils’ from the tray and put to one side. Using a decent stock, deglaze the roasting tin (after you have pured off most of the fat) and reduce until a rich sauce.

Reg Cabbage Ingredients:

• Vegtable Oil
• ½ Red Cabbage – shredded
• ½ Onion – diced
• ½ Cooking apple – peeled, cored and diced
• ½ Glass of red wine
• 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• 30gms of brown sugar
• Knob of unsalted butter

Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the butter. Fry the red cabbage for a few minutes and then add the onion and apple and cook for a few minutes more. Add the remaining ingredients and cook further stirring well in the first few minutes. Turn the heat down, cover and simmer until the cabbage is softer (I prefer to serve mine with a slight bite to it) Season to taste. Remember that the salt from the pork chops can make the sauce slightly salty so better to not add any here if you can.

Serve the belly pork on a bed of red cabbage. I add dauphinoise potatoes and then pour the gravy/jus around the serving. Enjoy.

Rubbish Meal!

It’s not often I complain but I have to admit that I had an awful meal last Saturday evening.

A certain pub in Downside, Cobham server up the worst plate of fish and chips I have ever eaten.

Complaints fell on deaf ears…. I may not go there very much but that’s probably a blessing!!

Rant over!

Sausage and Tomato Pie

You will probably dismiss this dish as far too simple and not worth it – believe me it is.

It is a dish that my mother used to do and I think came down the family. Perfect. Don’t try and use lean or all meat sausage meat – you need a good one but some with some fat in it.

Ingredients:

• 2 large ripe spanish tomatoes
• 450gm of pork sausage meat – i.e. skinless
• Enough mashed potatoes for a casserole dish
• Butter
• Milk
• Fresh ground salt and pepper

Peel potatoes and put into boiling water to cook. Chop the sausage meat into large rough pieces and put into a small oven proof dish, spaced out, with a little water and place into oven approx 170 deg until they start cooking. Dip toms in boiling water until skins crack- then peel skins off. chop into large pieces and place into the oven proof dish with the sausages and mix in together. Season with salt & pepper. Back in oven until potatoes ready to be mashed and mixed with butter and milk (The more butter, the richer the mash). Take oven dish back out and heap mashed potatoes on top and back into oven for approx 40 mins and until cooked and potatoes slightly crispy on top. Serve on its own with sauce of your choice or if you are me – it has to be Lea & Perrins sprinkled all over.

As Jacqui says: Simples!

Monkfish with Crayfish Rissotto

I am still perfecting this. The Risotto is about there but the sauce…. Well I know what I want… but any suggestions welcome

Ingredients:

• Risotto Rice
• Knob of butter
• 2 Shallots, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• Glass of decent dry white wine
• 500ml of quality fish stock
• ½ Cup of chopped monkfish
• ½ Cup of Crayfish tails
• Sea Salt and Freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly grated parmesan
• For the sauce – TBA

The problem with this dish is getting a decent fish stock. If, like me, you are sometimes strapped for time I will use a pre-made stock. This time I tried buying fresh fish stock from Waitrose – it was dreadful – in fact I have sent a letter of complaint to Waitrose as it was so bad. So I ended up making my own! Use any recipe but add any offcuts from the monkfish to it. For this dish I use monkfish tails. In France it is possible to get baby monkfish tails – easy to fillet and cut up. The bones are ‘chucked’ into the stock. Fry the shallots in butter add garlic and when soft, add the rice and coat well. Add the wine and stir until absorbed. Then add the stock, a ladleful at a time until it is absorbed into the rice. The rice should still be firm when finished but not crunchy. Finally stir in the crayfish, monkfish and a couple of tablespoons of parmesan. Serve in the centre of the plate and pour sauce around the edge. You could even consider adding fresh cooked samphire to the top of the risotto mound!

The sauce I want is a lobster bisque type sauce but I am struggling to get it right at the moment. I will edit this post when it is done!!

Pain perdu de pain d'épice

Well, this one got me going! My French is still poor but getting there - until you see this on the menu!

Pain perdu de pain d'épice . What on earth is that? Well it transpires that Pain Perdu is not lost bread but similar to French toast or ‘eggy bread’ – just a little sweeter so ideal as a pudding.

By substituting gingerbread (pain d'épice) for the bread, you get an interesting pudding – now that has to be worth a try! Cinnamon bread could also be used!

French dishes!

We travel to France a lot. Whether for a holiday, car rallies etc or whether it is off to our apartment in Le Touquet, we always try to get a bit of culinary excitement in! This last weekend was no exception. I managed to order a set meal at our one of our favourite Bistro's in Le Touquet and for €15 Euros managed to get a Mussel Quiche for starters, a mixed grill brochette as my main, a Tarte Tatin for my pudding and followed by an Expresso - not bad value. Jacqui chose a lamb Tagine – a massive bowl of heaven! Even in today's climate the value was superb and the quality great. All too recently I have been disappointed with the quality or thought it just too expensive – confidence now restored!!

Watch out on this space for my Mussel Quiche. (There was also a lavender mustard sauce on the menu!!)

A visit to a French delicatessen (epicerie) meant we also didn't come home empty handed.. Truffle Oil spray, Melon Syrop and some culinary lavender. Ooh, so much to choose from! Now, where is my pan.......

The heat and cooking!

I’m sort of glad that I am not a full time cook! I need to be hungry to enjoy my cooking and in this heat (I’m not complaining) my appetite is diminished. This, of course, is made up by my terrific thirst. This is normally satiated by a cider, cold Guinness or a decent beer (most colours apply!). In addition to not being that hungry it is far to warm to ‘slave over a hot stove’! I suppose in one way or another this is an excuse for not updating the blog! Ha!

The list of dishes to do in the near future is:

• Belly pork with pork loin
• A fresh crab, lime, mango and coriander starter – done this before and it was superb
• Canapes – got a wine tasting coming up in due course and need to experiment – any ideas?
• The famous sausage and tomato pie - do you deserve this recipe?