recipe Archives - Page 11 of 16

January 15, 2015

Homemade Quiche

Quiche

I haven’t made quiche for a while now, but over the weekend decided to throw one together.

I made some shortcrust pastry and baked it blind in the oven in a flan tin. Everytime I do that I always think I should be using some baking beans, but I don’t have any, so I lined the top of the pastry with baking parchment and used another pan on top to keep the pastry flat. One tip I picked up from the television was to fold the pastry over the edge of the flan tin and once cooked this is carved off, and creates a level pie base.

I filled the base first with some fresh spinach and the cooked onions, peppers, mushrooms and pancetta. I then added some grated mature cheddar cheese. There are lots of choices when it comes to quiche fillings,

I placed the flan in the oven and then filled it, covering the rest of the filling with an egg and milk mixture.

The quiche is then baked in the oven until the egg has set and the top of the quiche has started to brown.

Delicious warm, it can also be served cold with salad.

November 21, 2014

Lighter Flapjacks

I used the following recipe to make some lighter flapjacks.

150g unsalted butter
75g brown sugar
75g golden syrup
350g of oats
50g of rice krispies
50g of cashew nuts, or use peanuts

In a pan place the butter, sugar and syrup together. I find one way to measure the golden syrup is to put the pan on the scales, zero the scales and then add the syrup.

I put the pan on a low heat, better to take your time than burn the mixture. Once the sugar, butter and syrup are bubbling slightly take it off the heat and stir in the oats.

The stir in the rice crisps and nuts, now I should add at this point I actually used coco pops, but the principle is the same. The cereal provides a lighter crunchier texture to to the flapjacks. The nuts provide a harder crunch to the flapjacks.

This recipe uses more oats than my previous recipe, so these flapjacks are less rich and sticky. Place the oat mixture into a lined tin, press it into place with a fork or the back of a spoon.

The flapjacks are baked in a pre-heated 200ºC oven for about ten minutes or until the edges are browned.

Leave the flapjacks to cool in the tins, or they will fall apart. After they have cooled, cover in melted chocolate, let it set and then serve.

November 20, 2014

Crispy Chilli Squid

Over the last few years I have written various reviews of crispy squid from various restaurants. I find that how places cook and treat squid gives a comparative indication of the quality of the cooking.

I do cook squid myself, but most of the time I either stir fry or griddle the squid. This time though I decided to cook crispy chilli squid.

I took the squid and cut it up into what I can only describe as one inch squares and included the tentacles. These were then tossed in seasoned flour. The flour had black pepper and dried chilli flakes added. This is then left for about thirty minutes. The combination of flour and the wet squid results in a kind of tempura batter, without needing to add anything else to the flour.

Crispy Chilli Squid in flour

The squid was then quickly deep fried in hot oil. The squid was drained on kitchen paper.

Crispy Chilli Squid

It was served with a sweet chilli dip. For added heat add some freshly sliced red chilli to garnish.

September 21, 2014

Plain and Fruit Flapjacks

I used the following recipe to make some plan flapjacks and some that contain fruit and nuts.

150g unsalted butter
50g brown sugar
100g golden syrup
250g of oats

In a pan place the butter, sugar and syrup together. I find one way to measure the golden syrup is to put the pan on the scales, zero the scales and then add the syrup.

I put the pan on a low heat, better to take your time than burn the mixture. Once the sugar, butter and syrup are bubbling slightly take it off the heat and stir in the oats.

Place half the mixture into lined tin using baking parchment (or a greased tin). I then added the mixed fruit and nuts (well what I had in the cupboard was cranberries, raisins and cashew nuts) into the oat mixture, before placing that into another lined tin.

The flapjacks are baked in a pre-heated 200ºC oven for about ten minutes or until the edges are browned.

Leave the flapjacks to cool in the tins, or they will fall apart.

August 20, 2014

Chicken in a Barbecue Sauce

This recipe can be used to grill chicken on the barbecue, or as I did, finish off in a hot oven.

For me, the key to tender moist barbecued chicken is to avoid leaving it on the grill for too long, otherwise it will dry out. However this leaves the risk that the chicken is not properly cooked and could cause food poisoning. My solution is to poach or steam the chicken first, and then finish off on the barbecue, under a hot grill, or in a really hot oven. The end result is crispy tasty skin, and moist tender chicken.

Taken some chicken thighs, I much prefer chicken thigh, there is more flavour. Place them in a pan of boiling water, and bring back to the simmer. Poach for 10-15 minutes, remove from the pan and leave on a warm plate for a minutes. This is mainly to let them dry, you can speed up this process using some kitchen towel. I usually drizzle some olive oil on the chicken before placing it on the barbecue, under the grill, or placed into a hot oven.

For the chicken in the photograph I made my own barbecue sauce, basted the chicken in it along with onion and sliced peppers and placed it under the grill.

The sauce was a quick one, made from a mix of tomato ketchup, tomato puree, golden syrup, balsamic vinegar, cajun spices and flakes of chilli. Another sauce I use now and again is the Reggae Reggae Jerk Sauce.

Overall I have been using this method for a while now and have had good results.

August 14, 2014

Chewy Flapjack

This is quick and easy recipe that results in delicious, moist, sticky chewy flapjacks.

150g unsalted butter
75g brown sugar
75g golden syrup
200g of oats

In a pan melt the butter, sugar and syrup together. I find the easiest way to measure the golden syrup is to put the pan on the scales, zero the scales and then add the syrup.

Once the sugar, butter and syrup are bubbling take it off the heat and stir in the oats.

Place into a greased tin (or lined using baking parchment) and bake in a 180ºC oven until the edges are browned.

Slice whilst still warm.

You can add fruit, if you like; add to the sugar, butter and syrup mixture when it is bubbling and cook for a few minutes.

If you like chocolate chips in your flapjacks, I find that they melt, so I freeze mine for a few hours, that way they hold their shape in the warm oat mixture.

July 29, 2013

Slaw

Though I have been known to go out and buy small tubs of coleslaw I much prefer to make my own. I recently made a slaw to accompany a meal I had cooked. I used a variation of my usual recipe.

Half a white cabbage thinly sliced into strips.

Two carrots, sliced thinly, I used a cheese slicer to get strips of carrot.

A parsnip, similar to the carrots, sliced thinly.

Half a red onion, sliced thinly.

Half a brown (or white) onion, sliced thinly.

Half a red pepper sliced thinlu.

Mix with three spoons of mayonnaise, two spoons of creme frache and two teaspoons of mustard.

It works better if you can let it stand in the fridge for a few hours or even overnight.

It tasted fresh, crunchy and delicious.

April 22, 2013

Grilled Chicken

Grilling chicken pieces is probably one of my favourite ways of cooking chicken and it’s interesting how different it tastes to say roasting or pan frying.

For my most recent dish of grilled chicken, I took a selection of chicken thighs. Personally I find that the leg meat of a chicken as a lot more flavour and the bone helps keep the meat moist and tender. The problem with grilling breast meat is that it can dry out and become tough.

I took the thighs and in a mixing bowl to make a marinade, I added olive oil, garlic, chopped parsley, black pepper and some white wine vinegar. I mixed the meat until they were well coated in the mixture.

The chicken pieces were then placed skin side down on the grill and grilled for about ten minutes. They were then turned and cooked for a further ten minutes or until the skin has gone crispy.

You need to be careful to not undercook or overcook the chicken, so you do need to watch it.

I would also say after turning the chicken to brush them with the remains of the marinade.

The end result is beautifully moist, succulent chicken, with tasty crispy skin and wonderful flavours.

I served mine with a simple risotto and steamed vegetables., but it would also work well with a selection of salads.

April 11, 2013

Rhubarb Crumble

Over the last year or so I have been attempting cooking more deserts. One that has worked well for me has been rhubarb crumble.

The way I make this is I take some nice fresh rhubarb, cut it into half inch chunks, place in a saucepan, add a glass of white wine and some sugar and cook for about ten minutes.

The recipe I did look at talked about using port, well I didn’t have any port, but I did have some white wine in the fridge so I used that.

In terms of sugar, a lot depends on how sweet you like your crumble, I personally prefer a slightly more tart fruit filling over a sugary sweet one, so add sugar to taste.

Leave the fruit mixture to cool and make the crumble topping (or cheat and buy one).

Place the fruit mixture into a dish and top with the crumble mixture.

At this point, if I have made a few, I will place the spare ones in the freezer. If I want to eat it now place in a medium oven for 20 minutes or until the crumble starts to brown or the fruit bubbles through.

Serve with custard (or cream if you are that way inclined).

November 25, 2012

Persian Jewelled Rice

I’ve had a jar of Tesco Persian Jewelled Rice Paste in my cupboard for a while. Having a little time today I decided to go ahead and use it.

I took some onion, pepper, courgette and mushrooms and sauted them off in a frying pan with a little butter and oil.

I then added the Jewelled Rice Paste and cooked it off for a couple of minutes. I then added 200g of basmati rice and 400ml of boiling water.

Placed a lid on the frying pan and let the rice simmer for 15-20 minutes until the rice had absorbed the liquid and was tender.

With spices and citrus flavours, it was really very nice. It was quite dry so you might need some sauce or chutney to go with it. According to the jar it recommended having chicken in the dish, I didn’t I went with vegetables instead.

It’s not “cheap” at £1.99, but the thing is with a dish like this, that you have basically cooked yourself, it does taste a lot fresher than reheating a chilled ready meal from the fridge. I think in the future I might have a go at making my own version of the paste using the ingredients as a guide.

Orange Juice From Concentrate (26%),Carrot (25%) ,Sultanas (10%) (Sultanas, Sunflower Oil) ,Lemon Juice From Concentrate (7%) ,Onion Purée ,Orange Zest (5%) ,Butter ,Vegetable Oil ,Sugar ,Cinnamon Powder ,Cornflour ,Sea Salt ,Roasted Cumin Seed ,Black Pepper ,Ground Cardamom ,Ground Saffron.

Overall I found it an easy dish to make and it was really nice to eat.