Breaded Veal with New Potatoes and Mushroom Sauce
As Kerri was working late today, I offered to organise dinner and have it ready for her when she arrived home. As it was, I ended up working a bit late too and then arrived in Waitrose on the way home without a clue as to what I would cook. I wandered around a bit without being particularly inspired, until I saw the veal.
Coated in seasoned crumbs and pan fried, the veal was good. I also made a mushroom sauce to go with it, which went well with it and with the new potatoes. The potatoes were very good, tasting slightly nutty. We also had some spring greens (the most non-seasonal sounding vegetable in the middle of winter!) which we wilted and sauteed quickly with garlic and butter; they were delicious.
Chilli and Baked Potatoes
Kerri had put on a big pot of chilli today, which we ate with baked potatoes. The chilli was good, a mix of minced beef and beans, and the potatoes had very crunchy skins (mostly because we left them in the oven for a long time while we waited for the beans to cook through…).
Peanut Chicken Noodles
Last night when we were wondering what to cook this evening, Kerri chose this recipe as it looked like it would be fairly quick and easy to cook. It doesn’t say anywhere on the page but I imagine it’s Malaysian-inspired given the peanuts and kecap manis. When I got home and we were about to start cooking it, the Good Food web site went down and we couldn’t see the recipe and couldn’t remember much about it. Oops.
So we just started making things up and I mortar-and-pestled some chilli, garlic and ginger into a paste with some salt as that seemed like a good way to kick things off. Then the web site came back and we realised that what we had done so far was fine, and we just needed to add some coriander and peanuts to it. Good news. Frying the paste didn’t go so swimmingly – it kept crumbling and breaking up and burning rather than frying properly and adding more oil didn’t help as it just soaked into the peanutty paste straight away.
Eventually we just added the chicken and then the vegetables (couldn’t find pak choi so just used baby corn and mange tout which we had) and soy sauce (didn’t have kecap manis), lime juice and a dash of water. Then we added in the noodles which we had overcooked, but that was fine because the slightly mushy noodles soaked up the tasty sauce.
Indian Chicken in “Fried Onion Sauce”
When I arrived home this evening, I was greeted by the delicious smell of this cooking. We had found it in Madhur Jaffrey’s “Indian Cookery” and decided on it over the weekend while trying to be good and planning our meals this week ahead of time. Kerri had started on it shortly after she arrived home from work, which was very nice of her!
It was delicious but could have done with more sauce. Maybe it would have been soup then but that doesn’t matter since the sauce was really good and we would have eaten it all anyway. The addition of the fried onions gives it a lovely, slightly sweet flavour.
The recipe says it serves 4 to 6, which we halved for the two of us. Next time we would still use half the chicken, but would make the whole 4 to 6 person amount of sauce. Greedy I know. This is the recipe in its original form:
Indian Chicken in Fried Onion Sauce
Serves Two
1.25kg chicken joints
350g onions, peeled
4cm cube fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic
7 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 tablespoons natural yoghurt
600ml water
225g tomatoes, peeled and very finely chopped, or tinned tomatoes
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaf (we didn’t have any of this)
Cut the chicken into serving pieces. Whole legs should be separated into drumsticks and thighs. Whole breasts should be cut into 4 to 6 pieces. Skin all the chicken pieces.
Chop half of the onions coarsely. Cut the remaining onions into halves, lengthwise, and then crosswise into very thin slices.
Put the chopped onions, ginger and garlic into the container of an electric blender. Blend to a paste.
Put the oil in a large, wide pan or a large, deep frying pan (preferably non-stick) and set over medium heat. When hot, put in the sliced onions. Stir and fry the onions until they are a deep, reddish-brown colour. Remove the onions with a slotted spoon, squeezing out and leaving behind as much of the oil as possible. Put on a plate and set aside.
Take the pan off the heat. Put in the paste (keep face averted). Put the pan back on the heat. Stir and fry the paste until it is brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Now put in the ground coriander, cumin, turmeric and cayenne and stir once. Put in 1 tablespoon of the yoghurt. Stir for 30 seconds or until it is incorporated into the sauce. Add all the yoghurt this way. Add the chicken pieces and stir them around for a minute.
Pour in the water, add the tomatoes and salt. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer. Cover, turn heat to low and cook for 20 minutes. Sprinkle in the garam masala and the fried onions. Mix. Cook, uncovered, on medium heat for 7 to 8 minutes or until the sauce reduces and thickens.
Skim off the fat and put the chicken in a warm serving dish. Sprinkle the fresh coriander over the top.
Puttanesca
Today was my first day in my new job and, as I wasn’t sure what time I would be home, we planned something quick and easy for dinner. I’m glad I did because this allowed me to get started on the sauce when I got home and shower while it was simmering, essential after eight and a half hours in the freezing cold (I’m working in a deli without any heating and despite wearing four layers I was completely frozen when I got home).
Tomorrow I’ll be home a little earlier so can attempt something more creative, after I’ve let my hands defrost enough to be trusted with a knife.
Roast Rib of Beef
Like most people, tomorrow we go back to work (I actually start a new job) after the Christmas and New Year Holiday. As a final fling before the inevitable new-year guilt kicks in, we chose a rib of beef for lunch today, served with roast potatoes, roast parsnips, Yorkshire pudding and vegetables.
We followed Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s method for cooking the beef: cook on high (230C) for 20 minutes before reducing the heat to 160C and cooking for a further 22 minutes* then resting for 30 minutes. This produced a slightly less rare meat than we were hoping for but the intense flavour of the well-hung meat came through regardless. It smelt faintly cheesy to me and reminded me of the difference in flavour between mutton and lamb.
The potatoes suffered a little from all the temperature changes but they were still pretty good. The Yorkshire pudding was the best we’ve achieved in the new oven, a perfect balance between doughy insides and crispy edges.
The vegetables looked pretty.
* These vary depending on the weight of the joint obviously, but the main idea was to give it an initial “sizzle” at high temperature before turning it down. For smallish (under 2kg) joints, it’s 20 minutes at 210C to 230C and then 10 minutes per 500g at 160C. He also suggests using a meat thermometer to keep exact track of it if you want to, and getting the temperature to 50C for rare beef. Ours went a bit over that due to inattention, probably 55C, which is likely why it wasn’t quite rare. It’s still less than the 60C that our meat thermometer suggests for rare beef though – Hugh says that the long resting time keeps it heating through for a while longer.
Chillied Lamb
Finally back in our own kitchen after the Christmas and New Year period and with only ourselves to please, we went for something spicy. We first saw this recipe when cooking from the Blue Elephant book last week and resolved to cook it soon.
The lamb is a slightly unusual choice and one I’m not sure if I’m all that keen on. The other flavours were good and typically Thai but I think I would have preferred this with chicken. I still enjoyed it though. It was nice to potter around the kitchen, cooking something spicier than we’ve been eating lately, something quick and easy, enjoying a glass of wine, listening to the radio and just getting back to normal after the excitement of the last couple of weeks.
Chillied Lamb
Serves Two
2 Spanish onions, sliced
4 red chillies
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tsps red curry paste
6 tsps vegetable oil
300g lamb leg, sliced
120g mixed peppers, sliced
60g baby corn, halved
60g button mushrooms
3 tbsps coconut milk
3 tbsps green peppercorns
2 tsps sugar
2 tbsps fish sauce
12 basil leaves
Coriander leaves, for garnish
Make a paste of the onions, chillies, garlic and curry paste.
Heat the oil in a wok, when hot add the paste and fry for 30 seconds. Add the lamb and stir-fry for a further minute.
Add all the vegetables and cook for 2 minutes.
Next, add the coconut milk, water and all the remaining ingredients except the basil leaves. Mix well, add the basil and remove from the heat.
Garnish with the coriander leaves and serve with jasmine rice.
Bruschetta and Coq au Vin
We spent a brilliant New Year’s Eve with some friends who have just moved into a new house. Since they weren’t familiar with their kitchen, we offered to cook something to bring with us and ended up settling on coq au vin (similar to this recipe but not completely, I’ll update the recipe at some point). We had originally planned something Thai but we were still at my mum’s without a mortar and pestle and easy access to a Thai supermarkert. This was quicker, easier to source and meant we weren’t doubling up on ingredients that would fill our already bursting cupboards when we got back to London.
We started with a bruschetta of green pesto, mozarella, tomato and basil. Not the satay originally planned to go with the Thai food as we managed to inform our hosts of our menu change just in time.
Happy new year!
Coq au Vin
Served Four
1 whole chicken, jointed with the carcass reserved
250g bacon, chopped (or lardons)
1 large onion, chopped
6 shallots, quartered (or halved if small)
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bottle red wine
300 ml chicken stock
2 bay leaves
6 sprigs thyme
Salt and pepper
250g button mushrooms
Season the chicken pieces and then brown them. Remove from the pan and set aside until later.
Fry the bacon until the fat has rendered. Remove from the pan.
Fry onion, shallots and celery until softened. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute.
Add the bacon back to the pan and deglaze with the wine. Add the chicken stock, the carcass and all the other ingredients (apart from the mushrooms) and bring to the boil. Season with salt and pepper and then simmer for 20 minutes. Add the browned chicken and mushrooms and cook for a further 20 minutes.
Just before serving, remove the chicken, bacon etc. from the pan so you’re just left with the liquid. Discard the chicken carcass.
Add in a paste of flour and butter, bring to the boil and cook for a few minutes to thicken the sauce.
Return the other ingredients, stir to incorporate and serve.
Chilli and Chicken Fajitas
It was my brother’s 30th birthday last week so, apart from the surprise dinner which we didn’t photograph, we invited some people to my mum’s house for his choice of dinner. He opted for chilli con carne which we duly provided, alongside a bean chilli for the non meat-eaters and some less spicy chicken fajitas for the children.
We weren’t certain of numbers or who would want to eat what so ended up with quite a lot of leftovers which we sent home with people. Nothing like leaving a party with a doggie bag.
Tom Yum Goong and Chicken Satay
The plan was for something light and spicy to counteract the amount of heavy food we’ve eaten over the last few days. The chicken satay was a last minute and very welcome addition.
Tom Yum Goong
Serves Two
4 small green chillies
2 coriander roots and stems
600ml chicken stock
12 thin slivers galangal
2 stems lemongrass, finely chopped
4 kaffir lime leaves
8 small button mushrooms
8 king prawns, deveined
2 tbsps fish sauce
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp Nam Prik Phao (we used some roasted chilli paste from the local Thai supermarket)
Crush the green chillies with the coriander root and stems.
Heat the stock to boiling point, add the galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and mushrooms and bring back to the boil.
Add the prawns, fish sauce, crushed chillies ans coriander roots and stems, lemon juice and Nam Prik Phao and simmer for 1 minute.
Garnish with coriander and serve.
Chicken Satay
Serves Two
325g chicken, cut into strips
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 coriander root and stem
1/2 stem lemongrass
1 tsp curry powder
2tsp ground turmeric
1tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
250ml coconut milk
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp white pepper
Start by making the marinade: pound the garlic into a paste together with the coriander root and lemongrass. Thoroughly stir the paste and all the other ingredients together.
Add the chicken and ensure they are well coated. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Thread the meat onto skewers and grill for 5-6 minutes per side, basting with the excess marinade until cooked through.
Serve.
