Kedgeree

 A firm favourite in our house! I tend to serve with Mango Chutney as a condiment....

Ingredients (serves 2/3 ish):

• 220g of smoked haddock
• 1 cup of long grain rice (I use basmati as I have a sack of it!!)
• 15ml of lemon juice
• 75ml of single cream
• pinch of grated nutmeg
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 2 hard bolied eggs cut into wedges
• 25g of diced butter
• fresh parsley
• salt & pepper

Place the haddock in a frying pan and cover with water and then poach for about 10 mins. Remove from the pan and remove the skin and any bones. Reserve the liquid for the rice as below.

The volume of rice needs to have double the quantity of cooking liquid. If there is not enough, then top up with water. Bring this all to the boil and simmer for about 15mins. Preheat the oven to 180degC.

Remove the rice when tender and stir in the lemon juice, cream, flaked fish, nutmeg and cayenne pepper. Stir in the eggs with care and then transfer the whole mixture into a buttered baking dish and dot the top with the butter as well. Bake for about 25mins.

Serve with a little chopped parsley, check the seasoning and add Mango Chutney to the side if you fancy it! As the fish is salty, check first before adding any salt. For a richer dish, the rice quantities can be reduced and the haddock and cream can be increased.

Enjoy....

Porcini Mushroom and Spelt Risotto

This is a relatively simple dish that is so rewarding and enjoyable. If you have never tried Spelt (pearled) then delay no longer - it is a great alternative to rice! Mrs H. loves spelt and this dish is no exception!

Ingredients (serves 4 as a starter):

• 30gms of dried Porcini Mushrooms
• 1 litre of chicken stock (or vegetable if you prefer)
• 3 tbs of olive oil
• 1 small onion
• 250gms of Spelt (pearled)
• 50gms of grated parmaesan cheese + some for serving
• 25gms of butter (slightly salted)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Re-hydrate the mushrooms in about 300ml of boiling water and leave to steep for about 30 minutes. Drain and chop (roughly) the mushrooms and reserve the liquid.

Meanwhile heat the oil in a pan and add the onion which has previously been finely chopped. Fry until soft. Now add the mushrooms and fry for a further few minutes. Add the spelt and make sure that all the grains are covered in the oil. Mix the stock and the reserved soaking liquid together and then add to the spelt at about 100ml at a time stirring as you go. When this is absorbed, repeat until the spelt is ‘al dente’. This process takes about 20 minutes but keep tasking to ensure you get the spelt to a consistency you like. (You may not use all the stock mixture)

Remove from the heat and had the parmesan and diced butter and stir in well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan and enjoy.

King Prawns and Rice

Friday last saw Mrs H and I tucking into King Prawns and rice – just the way we like them. The idea of a Thai salad on a cold evening sis not appeal to us! It a quick and simple dish and tastes great. In fact it takes more time to peel the prawns than cook then! The primary ingredient are those type of prawns that are massive – I tend to buy then from my local Korean supermarket – about £10 for 20 and about 150mm’s long. (make sure they are the uncooked variety!) - they are often frozen as they probably come from The far east...

Ingredients (serves between 2/3 people):

• Pack of Super King prawns
• 1 large clove of garlic
• 10gms Butter

For the rice:

• 1 cup of basmati rice
• 1 tsp of groung tumeric
• 2 tbsp of sultanas
• 2 tbsp of pistachio nuts
• 1 tsp of pine kernel nuts
• 1 large onion
• ½ tsp of sugar
• Olive oil

I take a prawn and remove the head. I then cut the prawn lengthways to break open the underside of the shell. The shell is then easy to remove and the prawn can be cooked on a griddle, splayed open. Wash all the peeled and split prawns and set aside.

Boil the rice until just cooked with the tumeric. Drain and wash with hot water and leave to drain. Chop and fry the onion in about 1tbsp of olive oil. When cooked, add all of the nuts and sultanas and fry until starting to turn brown. Add the rice and ensure all is completely mixed well and hot throughout. Keep warm.

Now melt the butter in a hotish pan or griddle and add the garlic. After a few seconds, add the prawns and fry until they change colour to pink – meaning they are just cooked.

Serve prawns on a bed of the rice and spoon over any butter and garlic on to the top. Absolute bliss!!

'Nutty' Rice

This recipe is something that I make when I have cooked rice left over.

Original Recipe – Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Cooked Basmati Rice
• 80ml of Pistachio Nuts - shelled
• 1 cup of small sultanas
• 1 small onion –chopped
• 1 Tsp of Ras-el-Hanout
• Olive oil

Fry the onion in oil until tender, add the sultanas and nuts and toast until golden. Add the rice, and stir the mixture in well until well warmed through. This recipe is really enjoyable but using up bits from the fridge prior to holiday gave it a different edge:

Additional Ingredients:

Additional optional Ingredients (but I tend to add these anyway):

• Small handful of chopped coriander
• Handfull of chopped red & green caspicums
• Handful of sliced spring onions

With this version, add the caspicums with the other nuts and then add the coriander and spring onions at the end. Very tasty and a meal in its own right AND vegetarian! I like to serve this warm but you could just as easily serve this cold.

If you want to add meat, try adding pre-cooked (warm) chicken in small strips

(Modified 30/4/24)

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!!

Lobster and Rice!

As Tescos were selling off frozen lobster at a fiver each, I thought I would buy a couple to have a salad with at the weekend. Once I had removed all the meat from the shells I found that the flavour was a little bland (what did I expect!) so there was a quick change of plan. I warmed the coursely chopped meat in garlic butter and served with a warm 'nut' rice.

 

Ingredients for rice (serves 2 - well!):

 

• 1/2 cup of basmatic rice
  
• 60ml shelled pistachios
  
• 60ml pine nuts
  
• 60ml of small sultanas
  
• 1 small onion chopped
  
• Butter and oilive oil
  
• Saffron
  
• 1/2tsp Salt
  

 

Boil the rice with the safron and salt until tender and then rinse, drain and leave to drain whilst preparing the rest.

Fry the onions in a small amount of butter until starting to turn golden. Then add the remaining ingredients to slightly toast the nuts etc. When toasted, add the drained rice and cook until warmed though for a few minutes or so.

 

Serve with the lobster spooned over the top!

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!!!)