Author: jamesclay

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More Paella

Took some courgette, onions, pepper and some pancetta, and fried them together in a large heavy pan with a splash of olive oil.

I then added the paella rice, and it always makes sense to use paella rice, and never any other kind of rice.

Ensuring the rice was coated in the onions, pepper and oil, I added a splash of white wine. I then added saffron and chicken stock. The saffron I had infused in hot water. This helps to bring out the traditional yellow colour in the paella.

Simmer for twenty minutes adding more stock if required.

A few minutes before serving I added cooked prawns and slices of chorizo. I was using cooking chorizo which I had cooked separately. A handful of chopped parsley adds flavour and colour.

The dish was the put together and served.

I would have liked to use more shellfish, but all I had was prawns to hand, nice to have used squid and mussels.

I made mine quite dry this time, in the past I have added tinned tomatoes which makes for a more “wet” paella.

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Sausages

I cooked some Sainsury’s Taste the Difference Ultimate outdoor reared pork sausages.

They were quite nice, meaty, not too salty and didn’t go bang!

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Lentils with Chorizo

This is warming dish, usually suited for winter, but also ideal for those cold wet autumn days.

In a large frying pan, saute some diced onions, pepper and pancetta. I added some stock and tomato puree and simmered for about ten minutes before adding the sliced cooking chorizo. This I cooked for a further five minutes.

The next stage was to add the lentils, I usually use tinned green lentils. I finished the dish with some basil, though parsley would have been better. I did in fact (as you can see from the photograph) serve this with some cooked sausages, but this probably isn’t necessary.

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Duck

I recently had duck at a hotel restaurant.

Slightly overcooked and slice, it was served on a bed or oriental vegetables in a overpowering and salty oyster sauce. Bizarrely it was served with deep fried potato balls rather than rice, which would have been my preference.

I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

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Continental Breakfast

So do you fancy a continental breakfast?

There is something very nice about a proper freshly baked croissant in the morning with coffee.

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Chicken Roulade with Pork Stuffing

I have enjoyed many dishes from Marks and Spencer’s The Cook Menu range. The Chicken Roulade with pork, caramelised shallot and sage stuffing with herb butter was something that sounded very tasty.

The end result was in fact quite tasty.

However at five pounds I am less sure about the value for money.

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Steak with Peppercorn and Mushroom Sauce

A simple but delicious recipe for steak. In this case I used rump steak, but generally I now prefer ribeye.

I seasoned the steak with crushed peppercorns.

I took a heavy based frying pan and placed it on the heat. I put in a splash of olive oil and once this was hot placed the steak in the pan.

Cook the steak to your liking, I cooked mine to medium.

Once the steak is cooked, remove to a warm plate and let it rest.

Add the mushrooms to the frying pan and cook on a high heat. After cooking the mushrooms, remove and then remove the pan from the heat and then add some creme frache or cream.

I sliced (carved) my steak and then added the sauce and mushrooms.

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Taking photographs of food

I really found this blog article on taking photographs of food and the importance of lighting interesting and useful.

Lighting is the most important element of photography. After all, photography means writing with light. Yes you can buy a super expensive professional camera and lots of expensive lenses, but if you do not know how to control the light, then these are useless. Hopefully these three tips will help you understand how to control the light and make great pictures.

If you are a regular reader of this blog you know I take a lot of photographs of my cooking, and I know that these could be better. Taking on board these tips I sure hope so.

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Bottelino’s Special Pizza

This is Bottelino’s Special Pizza.

Very nice it was too! With cheese, olives, onion, pepper, anchovies and then some…

Bottelino’s is an independent chain of Italian restaurants in Bristol and North Somerset.

They do a lunchtime special at my local branch where any pizza or pasta is just £4.95. This makes this £10.95 pizza even better value.

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Something different for breakfast

I do like a cooked breakfast now and again. I also like to vary what I have. I saw Traditional Hogs Pudding in my local supermarket and thought, this is similar but different.

The instructions indicate the best way to cook it is slice it and grill, which I did. It was an interesting taste and texture, reminded me of the inside of a sausage roll.

Nice for a change.