Mexican Rice
We are continuing to cook Mexican dishes from the Rick Bayless book that we bought recently. This one looked like a fairly quick and easy dish to cook. It turns out that it’s quick and easy if you happen to have some salsa already made, because making that is the longest part of it.
The recipe is fairly simple – skin some chorizo and then fry it in a saucepan, crumbling it up with a spoon as it fries. When it is done (about 10 minutes), remove it from the pan and pour out some oil if there is too much left. Then add rice and stir that for a while, frying it risotto style. After that, add a cup of salsa which we have a recipe for here. At this point the kitchen filled up with wonderful Mexican-restaurant aromas.
Cook that, stirring regularly, for 5 to 10 minutes until the salsa has cooked down a bit. Then add stock and a dash of salt, put the lid on and let it simmer until the rice is almost cooked. Then add the chorizo back in, along with vegetables – the recipe said to use courgettes (or zucchini since it’s an American book…) but we used green beans as that is what we had available. Let it cook a few minutes longer, then turn off the heat and let it sit with the lid on for another 5 minutes. Then eat!
Bombay-Style Chicken with Red Lentils
We had a roast chicken for lunch yesterday and even though we have large appetites, we never manage a whole chicken so there are always leftovers to contend with. We’ve had some success using cooked chicken in the past so looked to Madhur Jaffrey for inspiration.
The recipe we found called for uncooked chicken but it worked well despite that. There wasn’t a huge amount of heat to this dish but it was reasonably earthy with a good, rounded flavour. If we make it again, I would increase the spicing though and add some chicken stock to make up for the fact that we had previously-cooked chicken.
Bombay-Style Chicken with Red Split Lentils
Serves Two
125g red lentils
1 white onion, chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ginger, finely chopped
750ml water
Chicken
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
Green beans
Coriander, chopped
Combine the lentils, onion, chilli, cumin, turmeric and half of the ginger with the water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer with the lid ajar for 45 minutes.
Add the chicken and the salt, bring back to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes (or 45 if using uncooked chicken).
Put the oil into a frying pan and add the cumin seeds. When they start to crackle, add the garlic and the rest of the ginger and fry until the garlic begins to colour. Add the cayenne and immediately transfer the contents of the frying pan into the pot with the lentils and chicken. Also add the lemon juice, sugar and garam masala and any vegetables you may be using.
Cook on a medium to low heat for five minutes, transfer to a serving dish, garnish with the chopped coriander and serve.
We served this with some Brussels sprouts that we’d sauteed in cumin seed, onion seed and chilli but it really needed some naan bread to soak up the juices.
Pizza and Garlic Bread in our New Oven!
Last week our oven broke, which led to us using Kerri’s mum’s oven, which broke in a different way, which led to disastrous results. This week we had a new oven installed. The most interesting thing about it was that it goes up to 270C! This meant that we had to try pizza in it, because our old oven with its rather rubbish temperatures just wasn’t hot enough to make reasonable pizza.
To save time, last night we made our usual pizza dough, and then after it had done its fifteen minutes rising, we put it into the fridge overnight. This evening we looked in the fridge and the two neat balls of dough had risen further while resting in the fridge and had joined together. We were worried we had ruined the dough, but we made two new balls out of it and put them in a warm place for a while where they plumped up again.
Of course the next thing to do was to turn the oven up to 270 and wait for it to heat up. While we did this, we made our tomato sauce out of San Marzano tomatoes as per the link for the pizza dough above. We also had some Laverstoke Park Farm British buffalo mozzarella (yes!), a few really spicy olives, some leftover rosemary-scented ham and some roasted red peppers. All this went on; the peppers and olives in an orderly fashion followed by the ham and mozzarella in a rather random fashion. Which was fine since the pizza had turned out into a rather mis-shapen square anyway.
We also made some garlic bread, since the dough recipe makes enough for two pizzas. Both were really really good. Nice and thin and crispy with really crunchy crusts. We put it down to a combination of getting the dough right and having it rise till it was nice and light, combined with the higher temperature of our new oven. It’s still not as high as a proper pizza oven, but it did a good job and we only had to cook them for a few minutes each until the cheese was bubbling and the edges were browning.
I experimented with different flavoured Halen M̫n salt on the garlic bread Рthe celery salt went particularly well, giving it both herbal and spicy notes.
Food Blogging just gets Tougher and Tougher
I spent Friday at the Masterchef Live (previously the BBC Good Food Show) event at Olympia, courtesy of the blogpaper. Arriving early gave us a good opportunity to wander around while it was quiet and check out what was on offer. With a full timetable of Invention Tests and Masterclasses throughout the day, it was necessary to plan our visit with military precision.
We started in the Cookery Experience area watching a ‘Cook-Off’ which was introduced by Olly Smith and hosted by Top-Chef-and-Restaurateur-John-Torode and Ingredients-Expert-Greg-Wallace. Previous winners, James Nathan (who now works for Rick Stein) and Thomasina Miers (owner of Wahaca) were given 20 minutes to create a dish from mystery bags which included prawns, pork chops and chocolate. James was crowned the eventual winner for his chilli prawns as John and Greggy (as he’s affectionately called by John) bemoaned the lack of heat in most dishes they were expected to judge.
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this as much as I did; having watched a lot of Masterchef lately, I was beginning to tire of the hackneyed phrases and cliches but John and Gregg were much more natural than they come across on camera. Olly Smith was of course as brilliantly extravagant and boisterous as he always is.
After this, we did a little wandering around the 200 producer stands on the top floor before dropping into one of the Masterchef Theatres for a cookery demonstration. I’ve not been to a food event like this for a while and I’ve previously been a little disappointed with some of the exhibitors as the same ones seem to turn up all the time but this seemed to draw a much more diverse crowd showing plenty of things I’d not seen before.
I picked up some Palestinian olive oil, having read about it earlier in the year. It had a distinctive grassy and slightly bitter taste to it and was much more developed in flavour than the Mediterranean oil I’m used to. I also tasted some really good Croatian oil that isn’t yet available in the UK but I’ll be looking out for it when it does arrive.
Rice bran oil was another thing that found it’s way into my shopping bag. Billed as a healthier alternative to vegetable oil, at £1 for 250ml it seemed worth a shot. I’m yet to try it yet and am already beginning to suspect that it’s going to be another one of those ingredients that looks interesting but languishes at the back of the cupboard until the use by date has expired. Which is why I left behind the black garlic.
Alongside oil, cheese was probably the most represented food at the event. I could have spent a fortune but limited myself to some Laverstoke Park Farm mozarella. Stephen and I have had it before and loved it and it was perfect on our Friday night pizza.
Although we had already sampled a fair amount of food, we ate lunch in the Restaurant Experience area which, much like at Taste of London, features several pop-up versions of well-known restaurants. Having seen Theo Randall cook a leg of lamb earlier in the day, I headed towards his Intercontinental stand and opted for the Cape Sante: scallop, pancetta and lentils with capers, parsley and chilli. It wasn’t a huge portion but it was very good, the classic combination of fish and pork was given an earthy, wintery feel with the addition of the puy lentils and the chilli.
The afternoon was spent tasting yet more food and I also spent some time wine tasting. There wasn’t anything particularly remarkable in this area but the Crabbies Ginger Beer was very good though and would be lovely on a hot day.
Seven hours after I’d arrived, my sore feet and arms told me it was time to take my oil and cheese home. I can’t say that this event Changed My Life but it was good to see lots of interesting, new producers in one place and be able to taste their products before buying them. I’d have a cupboard full of black garlic otherwise.
Full set of pictures can be seen here.
Four Bean Chilli
I won’t go into too much detail about this as we’ve cooked it several times before, albeit with varying varieties of bean (it’s a great way of using up small amounts of beans that are hanging around in the cupboard, just make sure they are of a similar size).
What I did do differently this time is cook the dried beans without having soaked them first, as per Rick Bayless’ comments in his book “Mexican Kitchen”. Although opinion varies on this, he maintains that there is no scientific evidence to prove that soaked beans aid digestion, they just cook quicker. The only way to cope with the digestive issues is to eat more beans. We eat them a lot so I figured we would try it this way and see what happens. I prefer dried beans to tinned because I find they keep their firmness and don’t break down but I’m not always organised enough to remember to soak them overnight.
This seems to vary slightly each time I make it but the main recipe stays the same. We have a new oven so I realised that the garlic and chilli didn’t need 30 minutes at 190 but just 15 minutes, I guess our thermostat must have been off previously. I also used two tins of tomatoes. Aside from that, the only other thing I did differently was omit the cumin, simply because I didn’t have any.
Bean Chilli
Serves Four (if served with rice or baked potatoes)
4 tbsp olive oil
2 large red chillies, roasted, deseeded and pulped
4 garlic cloves, roasted and then pulped
2 tsp ground cumin – not this time but I would usually use it
1 tsp ground coriander seed
1 tsp chipotle chilli powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp smoked paprika
Glass red wine
1 large onion, finely chopped
500ml beef stock
2 tins chopped tomatoes (800g)
2 tbsp tomato purée
Salt and pepper
Bay leaf
500g mixed, dried beans
1 tsp cocoa powder
Handful chopped coriander
Roast the chillies and garlic in the oven for about 15 minutes, on 190 degrees, before removing from the oven leaving to cool down. Remove the seeds from the chilli and squash together with the garlic.
Boil the dried beans for 1 hour 15 minutes (or until just tender) and then rinse well.
Grind the coriander seed and cumin together in a mortar and pestle and transfer to a bowl, mix with the chilli powder, cinnamon and paprika.
Soften the onions in a frying pan with some salt, add the garlic and chilli pulp to the softened onions with the tomato puree and let it cook together for a couple of minutes. Into this mixture, add the powdered spices and cook for a further couple of minutes. Deglaze with some madeira and allow the alcohol to cook out.
Next, add the stock, tomatoes and the bay leaf and season. Allow to cook for about half an hour before adding the beans, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for an hour and a half.
Remove from the heat and refrigerate overnight. Add the cocoa powder and reheat. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve.
As ever, I didn’t cook this last night so left it to cool for four hours before reheating.
The lack of cumin seemed to make quite a difference to the overall flavour, it wasn’t quite as deep and round as it normally is. Nor was it as hot as usual but chilli strength can vary so this is always a bit of an unknown.
Mexican Prawns with Tomato Salsa and Avocado
This recipe comes from our new Mexican book, Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen. We haven’t read through it in a lot of detail just yet but this recipe caught Stephen’s eye so we decided to cook it tonight. It’s straightforward but the beans we opted to serve with it require a little more attention which I wasn’t really paying at the time. I added too much water at the beginning and didn’t realise until it was too late. I didn’t have time to reduce the liquid down so I drained it away and probably drained away most of the flavour too. Some extra salt, a squeeze of lime juice and some chopped coriander rescued it pretty well though.
The prawns were good but even though I’ve eaten warm avocado a couple of times I still find it a little challenging. In hindsight, this would have been better with some flavoured rice and some crunchy tortilla but it wasn’t a disastrous combination.
Tomato Salsa
Serves Four
2 medium-small ripe tomatoes, cored and finely chopped
3-5 chillies, finely chopped
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 small white onion, finely chopped and rinsed
11/4 teaspoons salt
1 packet coriander, finely chopped
Mix together the tomatoes, chilli and garlic. Add the onion and salt. Stir in the coriander. This benefits from being made ahead and kept in the fridge.
Prawns
Serves Four
24 prawns, peeled and de-veined
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 small avocadoes
6 tablespoons coriander, chopped
Olive oil, for frying
Cover prawns with one tablespoon of the lime juice, salt and pepper and leave to marinate for 30 minutes. Pat dry with kitchen towel.
Dice the avocado.
Heat oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and lay the prawns in one layer. When half done (about 2.5-3 minutes), turn the prawns, add the salsa and remaining tablespoon of lime juice to the pan. When the prawns are cooked, remove from the pan and set aside but leave as much of the salsa in the pan as you can.
Add the avocado to the salsa and cook for 1.5-2 minutes.
Arrange the prawns on a serving plate, cover with salsa and sprinkle with coriander. Serve!
Spaghetti with Cabbage and Bacon
Another attempt to use up the cabbage mountain cobbled together from various recipes and suggestions I found online. It was very simple and tasted good but could have used a lot more cabbage.
Not really a recipe but fry off the bacon until the fat has rendered and transfer to a plate. Drain some of the oil (if there’s a lot) and then slowly sweat the onions until softened. Add a clove of garlic and half a red, chopped chilli and cook for about two minutes. Return the bacon to the frying pan, add the shredded cabbage with a little water, put a lid on and cook for about three minutes.
When your pasta is cooked, drain and return to the pan. Add the onion and bacon, some grated parmesan and some black pepper, combine and serve.
Some cream would have been a really good addition but a drizzle of good olive oil worked well.
Bubble and Squeak
I don’t normally eat hot lunches, preferring a sandwich or cheese on toast to soup or leftovers but today I thought I should make a start on the vegetable mountain that’s taken up residence in our kitchen.
We’d planned a roast chicken for lunch yesterday but since my mum’s oven had broken we had to freeze the chicken. Along with the chicken, we had a large bag of potatoes for roasting and a cabbage to go alongside which we brought back to London with us. Some of the potatoes are destined for tortilla which Stephen will take to work for lunch but that still left us with a fair amount left over which is why I opted for bubble and squeak for lunch today.
Traditionally, bubble and squeak is made with leftover roast potatoes and vegetables but I cheated and steamed some potatoes and cabbage instead. These were combined and then added to the frying pan that I’d used to soften some shallots, garlic and sage.
It didn’t taste quite the same as the traditional version but it made a pretty good lunch. A fried egg would be a good addition if you’re that way inclined. Now I just need to think of a way to use up the rest of the cabbage.
Bonfire Food
This title was suggested by my brother and it’s very apt, not just because we cooked the brownies and cheesecake to take to a bonfire party.
Our oven is broken and we’re waiting for a new one to be fitted. Having suggested we take dessert along to the afore-mentioned bonfire party on Saturday night, Stephen and I took the ingredients to my mum’s to cook there. Only, once the assembled desserts were in the oven, we realised her oven had also broken and both dishes were burnt.
We tried to rescue the cheesecake by scraping off the top layer and, while it tasted pretty good, it looked terrible and certainly not fitting for a party. The brownies didn’t fare any better so we made a quick stop at the local supermarket on the way and picked up some ready-made versions.
Arriving at the party, we got on with setting up the barbecues for the lamb legs and other assorted meat products we were to cook that evening. Only the charcoal wouldn’t light and one barbecue went out completely halfway through. Luckily we were able to rescue the meat so we didn’t starve, we just ate a bit later than planned.
Today, we had toast for dinner.
Fish Fingers
Another recipe from the Mark Hix book we’re currently reviewing: British Seasonal Food. The beginning of the November chapter is mostly concerned with mushrooms, particularly lovely-looking chanterelles, then moves on to slow-cooked meat recipes, with a couple of dishes using smoked fish too. And then fish fingers. I’m not sure what makes fish fingers fitting for November, but it sounded like a great idea so we went with it. The recipe suggested haddock, but the haddock in the shop didn’t look that great so we got cod instead. Line-caught of course, which makes it more sustainable, but we still felt a bit bad about it.
This is one of those things that really just needs to be an idea more than an actual recipe, such is its simplicity. Cut some fish into fingers, then dust with flour before dipping into beaten egg and coating in breadcrumbs. Then fry. The recipe said to fry in a heavy-based frying pan in a thin film of oil, which is what we did, but I think the ones in the picture in the book must have been deep-fried or at least contained turmeric or some other colouring in the crumbs because they looked a consistently lovely and golden orange, whereas ours didn’t. The other thing that the recipe didn’t point out is that the fingers will be a lot shorter when they finish cooking, so if you want nice long fish fingers then cut your fish longer than you think it needs to be.
However, the proof was in the eating and they tasted delicious. A lot like fish and chip shop fish actually, despite the fact that they were in crumbs rather than batter. We did attempt to make proper tartare sauce to go with them, but much like last time we did so, it didn’t emulsify properly; tasty but too runny. For my last mouthful I added some Halen Môn spiced sea salt and it was brilliant; I wish I had tried it earlier. Next time we make this (I am sure there will be a next time) we will try adding some spices to the crumbs and see what happens.
