food, reviews and of course coffee
Today sees the start of British Food Fortnight.
It is the biggest national celebration of the diverse and delicious range of food that Britain produces.
I am going to try and blog about British food over the next two weeks (or maybe not, depends on what I fancy cooking).
I do like a nice rice salad.
The problem I have with some you can buy is that they are either too salty or too wet! So where possible I try and make my own.
This is a very simple recipe and you can adjust quantities to taste, how much you want, how much you have in the fridge.
Cook some rice.
I use basmati rice, in the main as it is so simple to cook, and cooks in ten minutes.
While the rice is cooking, in a frying pan add some olive oil and then add pancetta, onions, red pepper and courgettes. After that has cooked for a while add some mushrooms.
Ensure that they are cooked through and turn off the heat.
Now you could add the pepper, mushrooms, even the courgette raw, but I prefer to have them cooked.
Once the rice is cooked, drain and then to stop it cooking further and to cool it down rinse well with cold water.
Put the cooked rice in a bowl, add some mayonnaise and some creme frache.
Then add the cooked mixture.
Stir with a spoon until the rice and cooked mixture is evenly coated. As with a lot of salads though you could serve this straight away, it will improve if you leave it in the fridge for a few hours.
Excellent.
Tonight I had a meal I had cooked and put in the freezer just for these kinds of nights when I come back late from work and really don’t feel like cooking. I had let it defrost and then heated it in the oven (rather than the microwave) and served it with some gnocchi. Gnocchi was decided upon because it only takes two minutes to cook (yes it was from a packet, I don’t have the patience (or the skill) to cook it from scratch, especially on a week day evening.
Originally it had taken a few hours to cook, time I had then, but on an evening tonight would have been impossible.
The art of cooking something like braising steak or stewing steak is long slow cooking, cook it too fast or not long enough, you will get something very tough and chewy and rather tastless.
The beef I cooked was tender, melt in the mouth tender, and a very rich sauce.
Excellent.
Venezuelans are attempting to cook the biggest stew in the world – enough to feed 40,000 people, officials say.
No this blog entry is not about going out in the middle of night and snaffling a couple of chickens from the local farm.
I have virtually always roasted or fried my chicken, or used it in casseroles. After watching Saturday Kitchen on the BBC I decided to try something new and poach the chicken. I have poached chicken before in foil parcels, but never just as it is.
I took some water, added a carrot, an onion, a chunk of leek, some red pepper, black peppercorns and a bunch of parsley.
I then poached the chicken for about ten to fifteen minutes. I then put it on a plate to rest.
When I was ready to serve up, I pan fried the chicken in a hot pan with some butter just to add some colour.
I served the chicken on a bed of leeks with beans, carrots and roasted potatoes.
Poaching the chicken added a multitude of flavours and made the chicken very moist and tender. Verdict of the table was that it was delicious.
This is a simple easy recipe for cooking chicken.
One of the key things about cooking chicken this way is that it stays really nice and moist with lots of flavour.
Firstly take four chicken thighs, now you could use a whole chicken, half chicken or other chicken pieces. I much prefer chicken thighs over the breast meat as it has a lot more flavour (in my opinion).
Continue reading “Chicken with mushrooms, tomatoes and courgettes”
Last night I cooked a very nice meal and it only took 15 minutes from scratch.
Ingredients
Pork medallions (or you could use loin steaks, pork chops or tenderloin)
Olive oil
Black pepper
Rice
Green beans
For the sauce
Pancetta
Onion
Parsley
Flour
White wine
Creme frache
So first boil the kettle with fresh water to cook the rice and the green beans.
Whilst the kettle is boiling put two pans on for the pork and the sauce. Add a dash of olive oil to both pans. When the oil is hot, add the pork (ensure it is dry) to one and the pancetta to the other.
Ensure the rice is washed, I now use basmati rice all the time, in the main as it cooks easily without sticking and only takes ten minutes. Put separate pans on for the rice and the beans. Time the rice for ten minute, the beans should be cooked after ten minutes as well.
Once the pancetta is cooked, add the onion, finely chopped.
Check the pork, turning if needed.
Once the onion is softened add a spoonful of flour to the pancetta and onion and stir well, then add a good dash of white wine. When it starts to thicken take off the heat.
When the pork is cooked, remove to a warm plate and allow to rest, this will make it tender.
Deglaze the pork pan, by adding a good dash of white wine. Add the pancetta and onion sauce and a couple of large spoonfuls of creme frache, add the parsely and freshly ground black pepper.
Stir.
Put the rice on the plate, you can just spoon it on, if you have more than fifteen minutes then I use a ramekin, spoon the rice into the ramekin and then upturn onto the plate, looks neater than a spoonfuls of rice.
You can either leave the pork whole, or slice depending on what you prefer.
Cover the pork with the sauce.
Serve with the green beans.
Fifteen minutes from entering the kitchen to on the table.
Sorted.
If you go to some service stations (Moto if I remember correctly) you will find Ritazza coffee shops.
I don’t recall seeing this brand on the high street, only on the motorway.
I recently enjoyed a nice Americano from Ritazza and (despite the picture) the coffee was served in a real mug as opposed to the cardboard cups you sometimes get. I was also able to get skimmed milk which was a bonus.
Though I still believe that the food at motorway service stations leaves a lot to be desired, I am relieved I can find a decent cup of coffee.
Now all they need to do is make the environment more welcoming!
I do like a lager now and again especially in the summer. It’s not as though I don’t like a good real ale, but during the summer, a bottle of lager reminds me so much of my travels to France and Italy back in the 1990s.
One of my favourite bottled lagers is Peroni.
If I am at an Italian restuarant for lunch I will often choose Peroni over wine. It has a distinctive taste and freshness and I really find it very refreshing.
I was inspired to make this by a cannelli and chorizo salad I found in Morrisons, but decided I wanted to make it myself using fresh(ish) ingredients.
I took one can of cannelli beans, I did think about using dried, but tinned are so much easier (no cooking required). These were washed, drained and put in a bowl.
I added some good olive oil, a dash of balsamic vinegar, cooked pancetta and red pepper, chopped sun dried tomatoes and a good grind of black pepper.
Tasty.