Chicken Curry
So, as you can imagine, a 2 kilo chicken generates rather a lot of leftovers. I’m not great with chicken leftovers, they scream PIE to me and unfortunately, that doesn’t fit with our current efforts to eat healthily. Admittedly, a chicken curry doesn’t automatically scream HEALTH but Stephen found a Good Food recipe that was quick and easy and also claimed to be reasonably low fat. On reading the comments though, it appeared that opinion was divided with some claiming it to be the best chicken curry in the world evah and some citing it as blander than a bland thing.
We decided to stick with it but increase the spices and substitute chicken stock for water in the hope that it would be both healthy and un-bland. And it worked! We basically used the same amount of spices that the original recipe recommended for four servings for just two of us and even increased those in some cases. The result wasn’t a spicy, deep curry but it had a decent amount of heat and was certainly fragrant. This dish cooks in a relatively short amount of time which leant a lightness that was perfect for this time of year. The potatoes didn’t really add much so I would leave those out next time. The coriander garnish worked well and added to the fragrance so I would increase that.
Chicken Curry (recipe copied from Good Food but amended to allow for increase in spicing).
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
3cm root ginger, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp hot chilli powder
230g can chopped tomatoes
150g potatoes, peeled and chopped
250g leftover chicken
1 tsp garam masala
Blitz the onion, ginger and garlic in a food processor with 1 tbsp chicken stock until smooth.
Fry the cumin seeds in oil for a few seconds. Add the onion paste and brown over a medium heat.
Sprinkle in the turmeric and chilli. Add the tomatoes and fry for 5 minutes. Stir in the potatoes and 250ml hot water, season generously. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the chicken and garam masala. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until cooked. Garnish with coriander and serve.
Salsa Verde Chicken Salad
Knowing we were going to be away this weekend, we placed an online shopping order so that we didn’t return home to an empty fridge on Sunday night. We do this every now and again and it works well but usually we stick to basics like milk and bread. This time however, Stephen was keen to barbecue a whole chicken and, knowing we wouldn’t have time to get to the butcher, I included a Duchy Originals chicken on the order. We’ve had these chickens before and really enjoyed the flavour, we normally pick them up from the store though so we can choose the size we need; not an option when shopping online which is how we found ourselves in possession of a 2 kilo chicken, double the size we would normally buy.
The barbecue plan didn’t come to fruition either as our neighbours had just filled up their washing line and gone out for the evening. Being the considerate, friendly neighbours we are, we decide to roast the chicken in the oven instead.
It’s been a while since we last barbecued a whole chicken so I’m not sure what that would have added to the flavour but I can’t imagine much could have bettered what we had. As I mentioned before, we’ve really enjoyed these chickens before and this one seemed particularly good with an almost gamey aroma that drove us crazy with hunger while it roasted. We kept the stuffing simple and just used some parsley, thyme and bay leaves. Seasoned, obviously, and rubbed with oil before sitting in the oven for the duration of the cooking time with just one turn.
Not wanting a traditional roast dinner, we had already decided on a salad and opted for a salsa verde dressing since we had some leftover from yesterday’s fish. The ends of the salad from Friday with some sliced spring onions, some boiled new potatoes, a handful of roasted pistachios and a little fresh parsley and mint completed the dish.
We both really enjoyed the end result. The salsa verde worked brilliantly with the other ingredients and added a fresh, zingy lift to the overall flavour. The chicken, as we hoped, was full of flavour and definitely able to stand up to the powerful salsa verde. The pistachios added a pleasing crunch too.
While a recipe isn’t required, below is a note of how we assembled the dish.
Salsa Verde Chicken Salad
Start by roasting your chicken. We left the cooked chicken to rest and then sliced up the amount we needed and left that to cool to room temperature.
We already had our leftover salsa verde but you’ll need to make this if you don’t have leftovers.
If you’re using pistachio nuts (or other kinds of nuts, pine nuts or hazelnuts would be good) then they will have more flavour if you roast them ahead of time and leave to cool.
Boil or steam some new potatoes and leave to dry out. When still warm, add the salsa verde and stir through the potatoes until they are well coated. Add some olive oil to loosen. We didn’t use all of the salsa verde but kept some back to add later on.
When both the chicken and potatoes have reached room temperature, add the chicken to the potatoes, season with pepper (you probably won’t need salt because the anchovies and capers in the dressing will be enough) and add the salad leaves and sliced spring onions. We also added a handful of torn mint and parsley. Add the nuts, mix the whole lot together so that everything is well coated and serve with the extra salsa verde.
Gilt Head Bream
We spent another weekend in Kent and visited Broadstairs on Saturday. The weather was good and we enjoyed honeycomb, hazelnut and mango ice-creams from Morellis, a lovely old-fashioned ice-cream parlour overlooking the beach.
Broadstairs doesn’t have a working harbour unfortunately so, on the way back to my mum’s, we stopped off in Whitstable to pick up some fish for dinner. While we were deciding what to have, we sat on the seafront and ate whitebait while drinking beer and enjoying the last of the sun, we didn’t want to leave.
We did however have to get our fish into the oven so, armed with two large gilt head bream, we made the short journey home and began making some verde and a potato salad. Unfortunately, the potatoes ended up very over-cooked so we ended up with mashed potatoes instead of the afore-mentioned salad. They actually worked very well, especially with some of the salsa verde stirred through.
The fish was cooked quite simply, drizzled with oil and stuffed with parsley, bay leaves, lemon slices and garlic before being roasted in the oven for 30 minutes. A little too long actually (20-25 would have been sufficient) but it didn’t really matter as the fish stayed moist and tasted brilliant.
We used Rick Stein’s recipe for salsa verde, copied below.
Salsa Verde
15g flatleaf parsley leaves, chopped
5g mint leaves, chopped
3 tbsp capers
6 anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained
1 clove garlic, crushed
Combine the parsley and mint leaves, capers, anchovy fillets and one garlic clove. Mash together with a pestle and mortar to form a coarse paste and season to taste with a little salt.
Lamb Kofte and Fattoush
I’ve been reading a lot about sumac recently and having managed to track some down, decided to use it in lamb kofte with fattoush. The kofte recipe is Jamie’s and uses almost a whole jar of sumac which neither of us really felt it needed, I think I’d probably halve that next time.
The fattoush is an amalgamation of a variety of recipes I found online and based on what we had available, the recipes I came across varied wildly so it’s hard to tell how authentic this was. What was really un-authentic about it was that we left out the toasted pitta bread since we were eating the lamb and salad on top of a flatbread.
We also made up a dressing by adding some lemon juice, spring onion and garlic to some natural yoghurt.
Stephen really enjoyed this but I wasn’t so keen, the huge amount of spices in Jamie’s recipe meant the meat was very dry. I’m not sure about the texture of the sumac either, I found it very gritty and think it would benefit from grinding before being added to the kofte mixture.
Fattoush – Serves Two
Salad
Half cucumber, deseeded and sliced into half-moon sized pieces
4 tomatoes, chopped
4 spring onions,
finely sliced
Lettuce leaves, chopped
Small bunch mint, finely chopped
Dressing
150ml olive oil
2 lemons, juice and zest
1/2 garlic clove, crushed
30g sumac
Salt and pepper
Blend all ingredients for the dressing together and pour over the salad.
Ratatouille
We’ve had limited success with ratatouille in the past, mostly I think because I usually cook it and I don’t like it very much. As much as I try to pay the same due care and attention to everything I cook, I tend to get distracted if I’m cooking something I don’t like; it doesn’t help when you’re not entirely sure how it’s supposed to taste either. Stephen loves ratatouille though so I made some up earlier in the week for him to take to work and eat for lunches. Although he’s too polite to say so, I think when I’ve cooked this for him in the past I’ve made it too soggy. This time I managed to keep my patience and cooked all the elements separately which led to a much firmer dish.
This is based on a Sophie Grigson recipe from her book Vegetables.
Serves Two
4 courgettes, sliced lengthways and then cubed
1 aubergine, cut into chunks the same size as the courgette
1 red pepper, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 teaspoon corainder seed, roasted and crushed
6 large tomatoes, deseeded and roughly chopped
Bouquet garni
Salt and pepper
Start by frying the courgettes until they are browned all over. Remove from the pan and allow to drain on some kitchen paper.
Add some more oil if necessary and then fry the aubergine until they are brown. Add to the courgettes.
Again, more oil if needed and then fry off the pepper. Add to the courgette and aubergine.
Next, on a very low heat, cook the onion until it has softened but not browned. Add the garlic and coriander and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the tomatoes and the bouquet garni, season and cook for 20 minutes.
Add the reserved vegetables back to the pan and cook for 10 minutes.
Broad Bean, Pea and Lemon Spaghetti
This is another recipe from The Modern Vegetarian by Maria Ella. After the success of last week’s broad bean dish, we were keen to try something else that had been recommended to us from the same book, even if it did mean yet more bean shelling. The original recipe included asparagus which we left out since the season is over, we also used creme fraiche instead of the suggested double cream.
We both enjoyed this but weren’t as excited by it as we were the braised broad beans; I think I should have used more basil and lemon. As ever, bacon would have been a really good addition too.
Serves Two
150ml creme fraiche
Juice and zest of one lemon
450g fresh broad beans, podded
200g spaghetti
450g fresh peas, podded
2 tablespoons mascarpone
40g Parmesan cheese, grated
Small bunch of basil, torn
Salt and black pepper
Start by putting the pasta on to cook. At the same time, cook the broad beans until tender, remove from the heat, rinse in cold water and remove the outer skins.
About five minutes before the pasta is cooked, take a separate pan and add the creme fraiche and lemon zest, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for three minutes.
At the same time, cook the peas until tender. Drain and add to the broad beans.
Drain the pasta, reserving some of the water and return to the pan. Add the lemon juice and seasoning. Next add the creme fraiche, the mascapone, the parmesan and stir together. Finally, add the vegetables and the basil, stir until incorporated and serve.
I found the timings quite difficult, the original method was written for fresh pasta and suggested cooking the vegetables in the same water as the pasta. I didn’t have fresh pasta though which is why I worked it out as above. I’m not sure how Maria Ella’s version would have worked with broad beans though anyway, since the double podding takes a while and would mean everything else would be going cold while you were shelling beans. Unless you can double pod before cooking but I tried this and made a mess.
Beef Rendang
This dish has been following us around lately, we saw Rick Stein cook it last week and then Dan from Food Urchin also posted his version. We saw it as a sign and resolved to make it as soon as we could.
As with most South East Asian dishes, there are various different recipes available, all of which vary quite considerably. Now that we know a little bit about the principles of that kind of cooking, we’re more confidently able to mix and match our favourite elements. While it may not be wholly traditional, the end result generally appeals to our tastes which, for us, is part of the fun of cooking something from scratch.
Serves Two
Paste
1 onion, chopped
2 large red chillies, chopped
3 gloves garlic, crushed
Thumb sized piece of ginger, grated
1 stalk lemongrass, chopped
Zest of half lime
1/2 tbs ground coriander, roasted and then crushed
1/2 tbs ground cumin, roasted and then crushed
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
Vegetable oil
1 can coconut milk
500g of braising steak, cubed
1/2 tbs soft brown sugar
Salt
1 tsp tamarind concentrate/paste
Juice of half lime
Start by making the paste. Combine all elements and then either blend in a food processor or bash in a mortar and pestle.
Heat your wok until it’s hot, add some vegetable oil and the cream from the top of a tin of coconut milk. Fry until the combination begins to split.
Add the paste and fry until it darkens and becomes aromatic. Add the beef, ensure it is well coated with the paste and cook until browned all over.
Add the rest of the coconut milk, the sugar and salt, the tamarind and the lime juice. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat, simmer for one hour.
Remove from the heat, leave to cool and then refrigerate overnight. When ready to eat, heat the curry slowly and serve with jasmine rice.
I cooked this yesterday and then left it in the fridge overnight so that the flavours could develop, interestingly I think we both preferred yesterday’s version as the ginger and lemongrass came through much more and added a lightness to the overall flavour. I’m happy with the way this turned out but next time I need to remember to increase the chilli.
Puy Lentil Salad with Mozzarella
We had some leftover mozzarella from the weekend and had decided we wanted to eat lentils this evening (it’s a Monday thing) so decided to combine the two in a salad. I had a quick browse online and came across a Good Food recipe which matched what I had in my head fairly closely so, that’s what we did.
The end result was good but the sundried tomatoes we used in place of the suggested sunblush tomatoes were a little too strongly flavoured. The rest was good though and the mint and lemon juice gave a good lift to the earthy lentils.
200g Puy lentils
1/2 red onion , finely chopped
1 lemon, juiced
Olive oil
3/4 red pepper, roasted
4 sundried tomatoes, sliced
1 ball mozzarella
Small bunch mint
Serves Two (with a small portion left over)
Cook the lentils in simmering water for 20 minutes. Drain. Meanwhile, soak the red onion in half the lemon juice for 5 minutes. Roast the sliced red pepper in some oil for 20 minutes.
Once the lentils are cooked, add the oil, lemon juice, drained onion peppers and tomatoes.
Stir through the mozzarella and mint, season and serve with some grilled bread rubbed with olive oil.
Stuffed Pork Fillet
We’ve not had much luck with stuffed pork loin and sadly, this was no exception. While the flavours worked well together, the pork unfortunately dried out. The original recipe did say to cook the pork in a foil bag with the top left open which we thought seemed a bit pointless, perhaps that would have helped to keep the meat moist though.
This was a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe which is very simple, just slice a pork fillet in half and stuff with a sausagemeat stuffing, tie up and cook for one hour. He suggestions serving with mashed potatoes which we did but I think roast potatoes and gravy would have worked very well.
The Quest for Perfect Pizza
It seems very self-obsessed to call something that you’ve cooked yourself “perfect” but, having spent a fair amount of time getting our recipe just how we wanted it, I think we’ve finally mastered our own version of perfect pizza.
We’ve experimented with different types of dough and have finally settled on Jamie Oliver’s recipe – we do still have some trouble getting it to rise in our draughty kitchen but it doesn’t seem to affect the finished dish.
Our preferred tomato sauce is easier than versions we’ve used before and has just the right balance of richness and sweetness: a simple case of frying some garlic until it begins to colour, adding a tin of good tomatoes and some herbs with a touch of salt and pepper and cooking for just a few minutes.
Toppings vary, this one was chilli, anchovies, capers, lemon juice and lemon zest – another Jamie recipe. Salami or cured ham usually feature though, as do olives. Our favourite mozarella comes from Marks and Spencer although there seem to be new brands popping up all the time so this changes depending on where we happen to be shopping.
The real key to perfect pizza though is the cooking method. A pizza stone makes a huge difference, it transmits heat in a way that a regular baking tray doesn’t and is something we’ve used right from the start. A hot oven is crucial too. We thought using the barbecue was the way to go but, after several attempts, we realised we just couldn’t keep the heat in for long enough to create the crunchy base that is so important.Â
The revelation came in the form of Heston Blummenthal, well known for his pursuit of perfection. His method for perfect pizza requires a cast iron frying pan and an oven heated for 20 minutes by the grill. We use his grill method but in conjunction with the pizza stone and it works a treat: if Stephen’s singed hair wasn’t a good enough indicator of just how hot the oven was, our oven thermometer registered an amazing 300 degrees, quite a feat considering the dial only goes to 190.
We still haven’t mastered the black, blistered edges that pizza cooked in wood-fired oven creates but I’m not sure we’re ever going to manage that in a domestic oven. This is as close to perfect as I think we’re going to get but I’m quite happy with “almost-perfect pizza”
Pizza Dough – makes two pizzas (this is originally Jamie Oliver’s recipe for 6-8 pizzas with quantities amended for 2 pizzas and the method altered to allow for a hand mixer)
250g Tipo ‘00’ flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
4g dried yeast
1 teaspoon golden caster sugar
160ml lukewarm water
Sieve the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. In a jug, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes (until it starts to bubble slightly) then pour into the bowl. Mix together with a wooden spoon and then knead with a hand blender until you have a smooth, springy dough. Place the ball of dough on a flour-dusted surface and flour the top of it. Cover with cling-film and leave for 15 minutes.
Remove the cling film and knead the dough around a bit to push the air out with your hands, form into bases and top with tomato sauce.
Tomato Sauce
Olive oil, for frying
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Small bunch or oregano or basil
Tin of tomatoes, juice discarded
Salt and pepper
Fry garlic in olive oil until it just begins to colour, add the tomatoes, herbs and salt and pepper and break up the tomatoes. Cook on a low heat for five minutes. Blend if preferred and leave to cool.
Toppings
I don’t think I need to tell you what to put on top, (although I would tell you not to use pineapple, if you asked me) but I would say don’t forget to oil the edges of the dough as it makes a big difference to the all important crunch factor. A final point is, let the pizza cool before you slice or start to eat. Aside from the fact that cheese heated to 300 degrees will remove a layer of skin from your fingers, it will allow everything to set and the base will continue to crisp as it cools down.
Method
Remove all but one shelf from the oven, add the pizza stone and turn the grill on to maximum. Shut the door and leave the oven to heat up for 20 minutes. When you are ready to cook your pizza, remove the stone from the oven, close the door so the oven heats back up, and add the base to the stone*. Add the toppings as quickly as you can and return the stone to the oven, shut the door and leave the pizza to cook until the cheese has melted and the edges of the pizza have coloured. This will probably take about five minutes.
*Ideally, you should assemble the pizza before sliding it on to the stone so that as little heat as possible is lost, we haven’t ever managed this successfully but give it a go if you’re feeling brave.
