Category: recipe

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Chicken with Lentils and Vegetables

Here is a nice supper dish for these cold and wet March nights.

Chicken with Lentils and Vegetables

Roast some chicken thighs (or half a chicken or whatever cut you like) with some pancetta on top to baste and add flavour. I did roast the chicken on a bed of veg including carrot, onions, mushrooms and red pepper.

Roast some vegetables, I roasted sweet potato slices.

Serve with puy lentils, for these I softened in a frying pan, some finely chopped onion with pancetta. When the onion was nicely soft, I added some red wine and beef stock before simmering it down. Beef stock over chicken stock just because of the colour rather than flavour. I then reduced and reduced this.

When I was happy with the sauce I whisked in some butter (with a fork as it happens rather than a whisk) and then added a tin of Epicure Organic Puy Lentils. I needed to add a bit more stock at this point.

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Tex-Mex

Last night cooked some text-mex style food, I say tex-mex style as it was more of a homage to Cajun and Mexican cooking than authentic cooking.

We had Jambalaya, which I have a technique for, which I picked up from a programme on Cajun cooking some while back.

In a large frying pan, I fry off some smoked bacon (I use pancetta as I have it in the house) with some onions and red pepper.

Fiddes Payne Cajun SeasoningWhen the onions are softened I add some Cajun spices. I am currently using and enjoying Fiddes Payne Cajun Seasoning, there are other seasonings available.

I cook off the spices before adding some spicy sausage, I used a Polish Kabanos, partly as that was available and yes I know it is not very deep south, and after that has cooked off slightly, I go ahead and deglaze the pan with some vinegar (usually balsamic vinegar).

I then add a tin of chopped tomatoes and some tomate puree and leave to simmer for about twenty minutes.

Whilst that is cooking I cook some rice, I use basmati, partly as it only takes ten minutes to cook and mainly as that is what I have in the cupboard.

When the rice is cooked, I stir the tomato mixture and the rice together and serve.

You could make it spicier by adding fresh chillis, I don’t.

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Teriyaki chicken wings.

Had a real nice dinner today , lots of different homemade salads, coleslaw, rice salad, cannelli bean salad and teriyaki chicken wings.

teriyaki chicken wings.

These are very simple to cook, marinade some chicken wings in a  teriyaki sauce and roast or grill in the oven for about twenty or thirty minutes.

I served mine with lime and chopped parsley (as I had run out of coriander).

Delicious.


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Beef Casserole

This was quite a tasty dish, but wasn’t my usual recipe.

Take some braising steak or stewing steak, and in a hot pan, add a little oil (no need for olive oil as the flavour will be cooked out). The aggresively brown the beef. Only brown a little at a time, browning in batches and ensure that the pan is hot so that the beef does brown and doesn’t stew – as you don’t want it to stew at this time.

Once you have browned all the beef, remove the final batch of beef and add some chopped vegetables to the pan. I used carrot, parsnips, leeks and onions. You could also add celery (yuck) or swede or other root vegetables.

Once the vegetables have browned add some plain flour (just a spoonful) and stir.

Once it starts to stick add a splash of red wine and some beef stock, this should deglaze the pan.

Place everything into a casserole dish, lid on and cook in the oven (not too hot) for a hour or so, adding more stock if the dish starts to dry out.

In a frying pan cook some chopped bacon (I used pancetta) and cook off, then remove the bacon and add some button mushrooms and some freshly chopped parsley. Cook for a minute or two, in the main to soak up the bacon flavour.

Add the bacon and mushrooms about thirty minutes before you serve. I also addeda splash of balsamic vinegar as well.

Serve with crusty bread, mash or roasted potatoes with some fresh steamed green vegetables.

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Making coleslaw again and other salads.

Easy.

coleslaw

I use cabbage, usually organic pointed cabbage or white cabbage. I shred this, ensuring I cut the core out first.

I then skin an onion, cut it in half and then cut very fine slices, before adding them to the coleslaw mix.

I grate my carrots.

For the dressing, I add a small spoon of wholegrain mustard, a couple of spoons of creme frache, a couple spoons of mayonnaise and a few grinds from my pepper mill.

Using two spoons I mix the lot together.

More black pepper and a splash of olive oil.

Serve.

Done.

I have also made a rice salad, a pasta salad and a green bean salad. Going to serve the salads with some freshly grilled scallops, prawns and langoustine.

Should be nice.

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Mango Chutney

Watching Saturday Kitchen this morning and really liked the mango chutney which James Martin made.

A very simple recipe which sounded really easy and looked tasty.

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How do you cook mash?

So how do you cook mashed potatoes?

Any tips to make the best mash?

My way is very simple, boil potatoes until they fall off when pierced with a sharp knife (twenty to thirty minutes).

To this I add a splash of milk and a large knob of (unsalted) butter. Mash with a potato masher until nice and smooth.

Season with freshly ground black pepper.

What’s your recipe?

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Tasty Cake

Today the Guardian published a very nice cake recipe as part of a week long baking frenzy,

All this week, as part of Guardian food month, we will be running exclusive baking recipes from some of Britain’s favourite food names. To begin, a treat – top cake-makers Konditor & Cook’s bestselling Curly Whirly chocolate sponge with vanilla-bean frosting 

Today it’s Konditor & Cook’s Curly Whirly cake.

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Hassleback Potatoes

A different way of cooking potatoes.

Take a spoon, place the potato on it, and then with a sharp knife make some slices ensuring you don’t cut all the way through the potato.

Place the potatoes in the roasting tray and baste the potatoes with a blend of olive oil and melted butter.

Roast for an hour and then grate some parmesan on top (if you so wish) and roast for a further ten minutes.

Hassleback Potatoes

Really tasty.

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Southern Fried Chicken Strips

Take some skinless boneless organic chicken thighs, some supermarkets sell them like this, others you will need to skin and bone them. I prefer the thigh meat as it has a lot more flavour than the breast meat (and is cheaper).

Slice into strips.

Coat in flour.

Coat in beaten egg (free range and organic).

I did two different kinds of strips, one with seasoned flour and one with breadcrumbs.

To season my flour and breadcrumbs I usually use a mix of cajun spices.

Shallow fry for a minute or so, until brown.

Drain and put onto kitchen towel on a plate to drain any excess oil. Keep warm.

I served mine with spicy rice.

Quick and easy.