Bacon and Parsnip Pasta

January 27th, 2009

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I’ve been thinking of using parsnip with pasta for a while, but just hadn’t come up with the right way of doing it, then I came across this Jamie Oliver recipe and I earmarked it for the weekend.

I personally think he’s got the proportions a bit wrong, too much bacon and not enough parsnip, plus I think it was a little too oily, but that might just be my generous hand with the butter.

Either way, I definitely think I’m onto a winner and I love this way of cooking parsnips in long thin strips, I actually think it could work quite well in some sort of carbonara or with creme fraiche and pine nuts.

Definitely something to add to the (growing) parsnip repertoire.

For the recipe, click here.

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Posted in Meat recipes, Pasta recipes | 2 Comments »

Baked Eggs

January 24th, 2009

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I love, love, love eggs and the weekends are quickly becoming all about my eggy treat in the morning. Paired with buttery potato bread toast and a special coffee (made in the stove top espresso maker with Monmouth Coffee), isn’t this what weekends are made for?

Generally, I always defer to scrambled eggs, but recently we’ve been experimenting with a new and delicious variation – baked eggs. In its simplest form, an egg cracked into a ramekin (or heat proof cup in our case) topped with a generous spoonful of cream, some seasoning and final sprinkling of grated cheese and then baked until the white is firm and the yolk golden and liquid.

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Haha, yes it does seem so simple, but I am yet to crack the perfect timing, first you take it out and the white is still liquid so you pop it back in and things look promising… but before you know it, the yolk is hard, given the propensity of eggs to firm up a lot once removed from the heat especially in its snug little ramekin.

Hugh inspired me a few weeks ago with this tarted up recipe using garlic and thyme, so we gave it a go and not too much of a disaster, we managed to retain the runny centre , now I see that as with boiled eggs, you have to be very careful with timing, waiting patiently by the oven until they look set, but with a wobble in the centre.

See Hugh’s recipe here.

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Courgette and Bulghar Wheat Salad

January 23rd, 2009

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Lovely nutty bulghar wheat with plenty of mint and coriander – the base for a classic tabbouleh. This time I used courgette, cut into small pieces and fried until golden along with a decent hit of chilli for a full flavoured salad that improves with age, making leftovers perfect for lunch. I also made a simple tahini sauce to drizzle over that is perfect with roasted vegetables too.

We had it as part of the mezze spread, but it would be good with haloumi, lamb or chicken. Of course, you can always use couscous if you don’t fancy/have bulghar wheat.

Ingredients
Serves 4 as a side dish

200g bulghar wheat (approx 1cup)
2 medium courgettes (approx 300g)
1 small bunch coriander, chopped
1 small bunch mint chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 chilli finely chopped
6 spring onions, sliced
juice ½ lemon
3tbsp olive oil

  • Cover the bulghar wheat with 500ml water (add a little vegetable stock for flavour), cover and simmer for about 5mins until all the water is absorbed, then turn off the heat and leave for 10mins.
  • Meanwhile, cut the courgettes into 4 lengthways and slice out the fibrous central bit, and slice into thin crescents.
  • Heat a pan and fry the courgettes in 1tbsp sunflower oil until golden, season well and add a squeeze of lemon juice.
  • Once the bulghar wheat is cooked, combine in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
  • Serve on a large plate with the tahini sauce drizzled over

Tahini Sauce

1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
2tbsp tahini
2 tbsp yoghurt
2 tbsp water

Mix the ingredients together well, adding a little more water if necessary to loosen the mixture.

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Hummus with crispy lamb and pine nuts

January 21st, 2009

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This recipe from The Moro Cookbook jumped out at me straight away, hummus with crispy lamb and pine nuts. Its simple enough, make some hummus and spread onto a plate. Then fry some lamb mince with a touch of cinnamon until golden and crispy, throw in some pine nuts and tumble it onto the hummus.

Delicious. This was gobbled up in record time.

Ingredients

Serves 4 as a starter with plenty of bread for dipping

1 portion of hummus
1 onion, finely chopped
2tbsp olive oil
½tsp cinnamon
150g lamb mince
To serve:
Paprika
1 small handful parsley, chopped

  • Spread the hummus onto a large plate.
  • Meanwhile cook the onion in the olive oil over a low heat for 10mins until golden and crispy, add the cinnamon and transfer to a bowl.
  • Turn the heat up high and add the lamb, break the mince up into small pieces as you go and fry until golden and crispy, add the onions, pine nuts and fry for a few mintues more until the pine nuts begin to toast.
  • Tumble onto your plate and sprinkle with the parsley and a little paprika.
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Carrot and Cumin Salad

January 19th, 2009

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I wasn’t convinced by this recipe at first, as you probably know, I like my carrots raw or at the very least roasted. Like I said, this salad where they are boiled and then dressed in a fragrant cumin seed dressing did not convince me straight away.

Whilst I wasn’t blown away, its definitely tasty and something new to do with carrots. It also worked really well with the other dishes of the mezze. I reckon it would go well with grilled fish or chicken too.

Ingredients
serves 4 as a side salad

500g carrots, peeled
1tsp cumin seeds
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1tbsp lemon juice
1tbsp olive oil
pinch sugar
1 small bunch coriander, chopped

  • Boil the carrots until tender, drain and leave to cool slightly.
  • Meanwhile, toast the cumin seeds in a dry pan until you can smell the cumin.
  • Transfer to a bowl with the lemon juice, sugar, garlic and olive oil. Mix well and season.
  • Once cool, slice the carrots thinly and toss with the dressing and coriander.
  • Serve at room temperature.
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Broad Bean Dip

January 18th, 2009

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I got the Moro cookbook as a late birthday present and as is always the way, I have leafed through it several times but not actually cooked from it yet. I decided to persevere, as its always good to try new recipes, but also as everyone seems to love the book (I spotted it in a picture in the Leon cookbook, which is definitely a good thing in my book ).

I think part of the reason why I’ve not rushed into cooking things from this book is the recipes are ‘a heavy blend of Arabic and Hispanic dishes that offer warm spices and fiery sauces’ -definitely out of my comfort zone.. Think Spanish tapas meets Morocco, meets Turkey meets Lebanon…

Anyway with friends coming over for pre-partying dinner, I decided to bite the bullet and create a Moro mezze feast. First up is this broad bean dip (more recipes to follow), blended with lots of mint for a perfectly summery dip. As its (unfortunately) winter, I used tinned broad beans, but I have a feeling fresh broad beans would make this heavenly, I also imagine frozen broad beans would be better than tinned, but I couldn’t get any.

What follows is my version of the recipe.

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Broad Bean Dip

300g broad beans

If using frozen, tip into a bowl, pour over boiling water, leave to sit for 5mins and drain throughly
If using fresh, 300g is the podded weight and they should be boiled for about 5mins until soft, remove the skins to reveal the bright green flesh.
or just drain a can of tinned beans.

1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 lemon
1tbsp yoghurt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small bunch mint, chopped.

Add all the ingredients to a food processor (except the lemon) and blend until smooth, now add a squeeze of lemon juice and some seasoning until it tastes good. Think fresh and zingy flavours.

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Swede Chips

January 15th, 2009

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We’re really into winter now, every week we continue to get more and more root vegetables. Whilst I’ve had great success roasting parsnips and carrots, I’m still not sure what to do when faced with a swede, of course you can always throw it into soup or stew and grated, it makes a great addition to slaw. I’ve tried making mash, but I wasn’t so convinced although its definitely marked as something to try again.

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These swede chips however, did work. Swede wedges roasted with plenty of seasoning and a bit of garlic until golden and crispy, then a little cheese grated over. Perfect, try them in place of potato chips for a vegetable hit.

See recipe here.

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Beef, Mushroom and Guinness Stew

January 13th, 2009

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Another gem utilising my slow cooker. Inspired by this article by Nigel Slater we used cheap chunks of braising steak slow cooked with mushrooms, plenty of sweet onions and carrots and Guinness, to counteract the slight bitterness of the Guinness, I added a couple of tablespoons of prune jam that I had in the fridge, any other fruit jelly or sauce would work well, such as apple sauce, to give a rich and round flavoured stew.

Of course something this warming, with copious amounts of gravy cries out for a mash of some kind. As it is so rich, I’m thinking some kind of root mash would work well or colcannon. We had swede chips with ours, sweet and crispy they worked perfectly with the stew.

Ingredients

Serves 4

750kg stewing beef, cut into chunks
5tbsp flour
2 onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlics, finely sliced
250g mushrooms, sliced in half
1 sprig thyme
1 can Guinness
150ml water
2tbsp redcurrant jelly or apple sauce
1 small bunch chopped parsley to serve

  • Heat a large casserole on the hob.
  • Meanwhile sprinkle the flour over the beef with plenty of seasoning, turn the beef and make sure its well covered.
  • Add a little oil to the pan and fry the beef in batches until brown all over. Remove and set aside.
  • Add a little more oil and fry the onions and carrots over a low heat for about 10mins. Add a splash of water to the pan and scrape the bottom to lift of any sediment.
  • Add the thyme, bay leaves, mushrooms and beef to the casserole with the Guinness and water.
  • Cover and cook in the oven at 170C for 2 hours until the beef in meltingly soft.
  • Stir in the apple sauce and season to taste.
  • Serve sprinkled with parsley.

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Posted in Dinner recipes, Meat recipes, Stew recipes | 1 Comment »

Steak with Colcannon Mash and Creamy mushroom Sauce

January 11th, 2009

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Yes, this was as outrageous as it sounds. Not exactly in keeping with January healthy eating, but sometimes when it’s cold outside, you need something fortifying and creamy. However, all is not lost! There must be a good 2 portions of veg in the colcannon and mushroom sauce.

I’ve already written about steak before and so has Jamie Oliver; it goes without saying that you need to start with good quality meat (preferably organic). Really, with something this simple and good, its all about starting with the right ingredients, proper butter, decent potatoes… I really think you can taste the difference with organic potatoes. I’ve given lots of variations on mash here, and the colcannon recipe is here, if you don’t fancy a creamy mushroom sauce, you could try this port and mushroom sauce instead.

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Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients

Serves 4

250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
squeeze lemon juice
1 tsp grain mustard
1 small tub creme fraiche

  • Heat a frying pan, tip in the mushrooms (I always fry mushrooms in a dry frying pan for a while first as they tend to eat up oil) and fry until all the liquid that seeps out of the mushrooms evaporates and the mushrooms are golden-brown.
  • Add a knob of butter along with garlic and continue to fry for another minute.
  • Add the mustard, lemon juice and creme fraiche. Warm through and season generously with lots of black pepper and a little salt.
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Simple Egg Fried Rice

January 9th, 2009

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A simple recipe, perfect for using up leftovers and shoehorning in extra vegetables.This recipe works best with cold rice, so next time you cook rice, cook a bit more for the next day! (Although we use freshly cooked rice as often as not). Top with whatever interesting bits and bobs you have, toasted cashew nuts, coriander, sliced spring onions, extra chilli…

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Oh, and a little tip. I normally buy a massive chunk of ginger, grate it all up and freeze in ice cubes to use for stirfrys and curries.

Serves 4

Ingredients

3tbsp sunflower oil
1 red chilli, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, grated

Optional: approx 300g cooked and shredded chicken or ham

Approx 500g vegetables, cut into similar sized pieces, e.g.
*carrots, sliced or cut into batons
*peppers or courgettes, sliced into strips
*mushrooms, sliced
*peas
*sweetcorn
*beansprouts

350g cooked rice
4-6 eggs, whisked and seasoned
2tbsp soy sauce

To serve:
100g cashew nuts or peanuts, toasted and chopped
1 small bunch coriander or spring onions, chopped
sweet chilli sauce

  • You need a really large wok to cook this all at once, if you don’t have one, try making it in 2 batches.
  • Make sure all your vegetables are prepared before you start cooking.
  • Heat a wok until its as smoking and as hot as possible. If you’re using nuts, you can toast them in the pan whilst it warms up, but make sure they don’t burn!
  • Add the sunflower oil, allow to heat up for a few minutes then throw in the garlic, chilli and ginger, stirring furiously, you don’t want them to burn.
  • Now add the vegetables and cook for 3-5mins until beginning to brown.
  • Throw in the meat in using a stir for a few more minutes.
  • Now tip in your rice and continue to fry for another minute or so.
  • Make a well in the centre and tip in the eggs, keep stirring and frying until the eggs are completely cooked.
  • Finish with a splash of soy sauce.

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