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.
Boxing Day Bubble and Squeak
Boxing Day wouldn’t be Boxing Day without bubble and squeak. All the leftover vegetables, along with the bacon, were fried and served with the leftover meats. Gravy for Stephen, brown sauce for my mum. One of my favourite meals of the holiday.
Christmas Lunch 2009
With just three of us for Christmas lunch, it seemed silly to eat something as large as a turkey so we opted for chicken instead. Thinking it would be easy to find, we didn’t order one which meant Stephen scouring the supermarket shelves on Christmas Eve. He eventually tracked this down in Waitrose which meant we didn’t have to eat fishfingers for lunch.
Having watched a variety of celebrity chefs discussing the merits of different fats in their Christmas shows, we opted for goose fat to roast the potatoes in. We used this last year and didn’t detect a discernible difference, this year’s potatoes though were probably the best we’ve ever cooked: creamy, fluffy insides with thick, crunchy coats that were perfect for soaking up gravy.
Since our chicken was giblet-free, we used some chicken legs as a base for the gravy. Roasted in the oven with a selection of vegetables, this made for a brilliantly rich and deep gravy. Bread sauce made with brown bread instead of white looked a little odd but had a great flavour.
And lastly, the vegetables. Cauliflower which was supposed to be covered in a cheese sauce and baked but got forgotten about until it was too late. Carrots for colour on the plate, Brussels sprouts sauteed with shallots and bacon and savoy cabbage with shallot. This would have made a perfectly acceptable meal in itself such was the variety of flavour but instead provided a fine accompaniment to the meat and potatoes.
There was Christmas pudding later on but we forgot to photograph that.  The pudding was left over from last year and was even better this time.
Fish
A quick and easy assembly-job for Christmas Eve: dressed crab, crayfish tails and smoked salmon served with horseradish creme-fraiche and some toasted bread. A gentle start to the inevitable onslaught of food the next few days will bring. And the first in a series of very yellow-looking photographs.
Cumberland Sausage
We’ve had this in the freezer since our visit to Cumbria at the end of the summer. Every time we considered eating it, we realised it was just too big for the two of us so we took it to my mum’s and ate it with her instead.
This wasn’t as soft and melty as the previous example, probably due to us cooking it too quickly but we still enjoyed it. Even with three of us, there was still enough left for Stephen to have for breakfast the next morning.
Drunken Beans with Coriander and Bacon
Normally, when I don’t have a plan for dinner, I start with the meat or fish and work from there. Tonight’s dinner however was conceived entirely around the avocados. Planning ahead for last weekend’s Mexican meal, I bought the only four avocados I could find which were rock hard. I put them into a paper bag with an over-ripe banana and hoped they would soften in time to turn into guacamole. They didn’t and Stephen was duly sent off to find some ripe ones. I promptly forgot about the originals until now, almost two weeks later. I was expecting to have to throw them away but they were mostly OK, a sure sign of just how far you need to plan ahead if you want ripe avocados.
Anyway, I turned those into more guacamole and flicked through Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen for a bean-based dinner. Although we haven’t done any cooking this weekend, we’ve eaten well and were both in the mood for something lighter than the mostly meat-based dishes we’ve enjoyed recently. This dish had the added benefit of not needing much attention leaving me free to finish the Christmas wrapping.
The original recipe called for pinto beans but I substituted kidney beans. It also suggested using a combination of pork shoulder and bacon, I just used bacon.
Drunken Beans with Coriander and Bacon
Serves Three (two for a main course with one portion of leftovers for lunch)
11/4 cups beans
8 slices streaky bacon, chopped
1 white onion, diced
2 green chillies, deseeded and chopped
Salt
11/2 tablespoons tequila
1/4 cup coriander, chopped
Rinse the beans and add to a saucepan with five cups of water. Remove any beans that float to the top, add half the bacon and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat so the water gently simmers, partially cover with a lid and cook for two hours, or until the beans are tender. You’ll need to keep on topping up the water (or just add more to begin with).
Fry the remaining bacon until crispy, remove from the pan and set aside (I made a mistake here and added them straight to the beans). Fry the onion and chilli until the onions are a deep, golden brown – about 10 minutes. Add to the beans, season with salt and cook for 20-30 minutes.
If there is a lot of water remaining, boil over a medium-high heat until some of it has dissipated. Squash or blend some of the beans until you have a texture you’re happy with.
Stir in the tequila and coriander and top with the reserved bacon (unless you accidentally added it earlier on).
I reduced this down quite a lot so we could eat it with tortilla wraps, it would have worked just as well as a soup though. The end result was very smoky which was perfect for a cold evening like tonight, the tequila and coriander cut through that well and the guacamole helped to lift all the flavours too.
