Category: recipe

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Cooked Red Cabbage

red cabage
Image by eurippon from Pixabay

For Sunday lunch I cooked some red cabbage. I didn’t have all the ingredients in the house for my festive red cabbage recipe, so I did a variation of it.

Ingredients

knob of butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, finely sliced or chopped
1 x 500g (or half a) red cabbage, shredded finely using a food processor (white core discarded) or with a knife.
2 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
splash of red wine
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced

2 tsp cranberry sauce

Method

Heat the butter and oil in a lidded saucepan. When hot, add the onion and fry gently until softened. Stir in the cinnamon and season. Add the cabbage and fry for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until glossy. Stir in the sugar, apples and Balsamic vinegar, cranberry sauce, add a splash of red wine. Cover with a lid and let it cook gently for 30 minutes.

If you aren’t using the cranberry sauce, taste the cabbage and add a little more sugar if it’s too tart for your taste.

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Borlotti Beans

I make this dish quite often, sometimes as a main meal, usually as an accompaniment.

In large frying pan, cook off some diced pancetta with a splash of oil.

When the bacon has been rendered and is browned add some diced red onion, diced peppers, and diced mushrooms. Cook on a low heat until the peppers and onions have softened. The mushrooms are there for flavour.

To the softened onions and peppers, add a spoonful of plain flour. Stir in.

I then add a Knorr chicken stock pot, some garlic puree, and dried herbs.

To this mix I add some water. I then let this cook for about thirty minutes. The key is to thicken the sauce.

I really like the Cirio Borlotti Beans that come in the Tetra Recart™ pack. These are ready to use and once added to the pan, they just need heating through.

If I am doing a main course, I may add a second pack of pulses, sometimes lentils, or cannellini beans.

Other variations are to remove the bacon and use a vegetable stock to make this a vegetarian (or vegan) dish. Sometimes instead of chicken stock, I use a deep rich beef stock, I also use some tomato puree when using beef stock.

You could add some protein, roasted or pan fried duck, slow roasted pork belly or grilled chicken, all work well with the beans. Other times I have added some sausages, I quite like the Polish hunters’ sausage you can get at most supermarkets.

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Gluten Free Fruit Pancakes

This is a quick and simple method to make small fruit fluffy pancakes. 

I take a cup of self-raising gluten free flour, a cup of milk, one egg, a large spoon of sugar and some vanilla essence. For regular flat pancakes, I would normally use plain flour.

Whisk the ingredients together until you have a smooth batter.

Add some finely chopped strawberries and halved raspberries. I use about two to three strawberries and six raspberries for the batter.

I have a specialist small pancake pan which I can use for cooking these. I brush the pan with some sunflower oil and spoon (not too much) of the batter into the pan. They will spread and expand, so I try not to fill the gaps in the pan and let the batter expand to fill the space. Cook one side and then the other.

You have to take care to ensure that the pancakes cook all the way through, but isn’t overdone (or even burnt) on the surface. I do find turning them can be quite messy, so be careful. My method is two spoons, one to get under the edge of the pancake, and the other to ensure it stays in place. The second spoon usually gets quite messy.

Serve with syrup.

You can of course omit the fruit to have fluffy pancakes.

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Gluten Free White Chocolate Cookies

Cookies

I have a recipe for gluten free white chocolate cookies which I have been using for a few years now which works really well.

I adapted it from a recipe I had, which didn’t work so well, so I made a few changes.

85g of unsalted butter
100g of light brown sugar
30g of caster sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
200g of gluten free plain flour
75g of white chocolate chips
1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 180℃ and line two baking trays with baking parchment.

Add the butter to a heat-proof mixing bowl. Melt the butter in a microwave for approx 50 seconds, until just liquid. Ensure it has fully melted. I find that slicing the butter into thin slices speeds up the process.

I once tried melting the butter in a pan, but the butter was too hot so the white chocolate chips I added later then melted. It’s important that the butter isn’t too hot.

Add the brown sugar and caster sugar to the warm butter, stir well.

Now the add the vanilla essence and the egg. Sometimes, depending on the size of the eggs, I replace the single large egg, with two egg yolks.

Mix into a smooth batter consistency.

Sift the plain gluten free flour into the batter and combine into a soft shiny cookie dough. I use to add xanthan gum, but have found it isn’t always necessary.

Add the white chocolate chips

Spoon the dough into small balls onto the baking trays.

Put them into the oven to bake for 10-12 minutes.

They are ready when they are starting to brown slightly but will still be very soft. Leave them on the tray to cool for five to ten minutes before transferring carefully to a wire rack to cool.

This recipe makes about twelve cookies.

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Homemade bean dish

I originally called this dish a cassoulet. However I didn’t think it was an authentic cassoulet, so checked for a definition of what a cassoulet is.

Cassoulet is a rich, slow-cooked stew originating in southern France. The food writer Elizabeth David described it as “that sumptuous amalgamation of haricot beans, sausage, pork, mutton and preserved goose, aromatically spiced with garlic and herbs”.

Yup, what I cooked wasn’t a cassoulet. I didn’t use haricot beans, mutton or goose, and didn’t slow cook it either. Maybe something to try at another time.

I did though make a dish with beans, pork belly, and Polish sausage. 

In a large deep frying pan, I have a lovely large pan I got at IKEA which is ideal for this.

I added a splash of olive oil to which I added some pancetta. After cooking this for a while I added chopped garlic, with diced red onion, peppers and mushrooms.

I cooked the pancetta, onions, peppers, and mushrooms until the onions and pepper were softened. I then added some flour, stock, and some tomato puree. I cooked this for a while (ten minutes) before adding some sliced Polish sausage and some cooked pork belly chunks. The pork belly I had slow roasted in the oven for an hour.

After ten more minute I added two packs of beans, one cannellini, and one borlotti. As they are already cooked I was just warming the beans through.

I served this with some roasted potatoes and cooked vegetables.

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Homemade Mexico City Nachos

Having really enjoyed the Mexico City Nachos from Wahaca, I have now been making this dish quite often myself.

Homemade Mexico City Nachos

I used some tinned black beans, I also had some other mixed beans and sweetcorn. To this I added some tortilla chips, and then dressed the dish with guacamole, sour cream, grated cheese, a tomato salsa, Mexican cheese dip, and some homemade pickled red onion. I added some freshly chopped coriander as a garnish.

It was a really nice and fresh dish, and was a good but slightly different version of the dish I had in London.

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Homemade Mexico City Nachos

Having really enjoyed the Mexico City Nachos from Wahaca, I have now been making this dish quite often myself.

Homemade Mexico City Nachos

I used some tinned black beans, to this I added some tortilla chips, and then dressed the dish with chopped fresh red pepper, avocado, guacamole, sour cream, grated cheese, a homemade tomato salsa, and some homemade pickled red onion.

It was a really nice and fresh dish, and was a good copy of the dish I had in London.

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Made some paella

I made and cooked a paella, or a Spanish inspired rice dish.

paella

I diced an onion and a pointed red pepper.  In a hot large frying pan, I put some olive oil and I cooked off bacon lardons, and some diced chorizo.  I then added the diced onion and pepper. When this was softened, I added some sliced mushroom. Once this was stirred in I added 250g of paella rice.

To this I added some paella seasoning, paella seasoning, Carmencita Paellero Paella Spice Mix.

This is according to the description the number one selling spice mix in Spain.

I ensured that the rice was coated I added a splash of sherry. I then added some chicken stock and water. Stirred once and left it to cook.

I added some more water as it cooked.

Before serving I added some cooked sliced chorizo, freshly chopped parsley, and some chunks of lemon.

I served this with some freshly cooked fish and salad.

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Festive Red Cabbage

As we approach Christmas I am reviewing my processes and recipes for Christmas dinner.

Red Cabbage
Image by Ralph Klein from Pixabay

For Christmas lunch this year I am planning to make some festive red cabbage.

Ingredients

knob of butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced or chopped
1 x 500g (or half a) red cabbage, shredded finely using a food processor (white core discarded) or with a knife.
2 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
splash of Port
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tbsp soft brown sugar
3 eating apples, peeled, cored and diced
2 tsp redcurrant
2 tsp cranberry sauce

Method

Heat the butter and oil in a large lidded saucepan. When hot, add the onion and fry gently until softened. Stir in the spices and season. Add the cabbage and fry for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until glossy. Stir in the sugar, apples and Balsamic vinegar, add a splash of port. Cover with a lid and let it cook gently for 30 minutes.

At this point I set it aside while I cooked the rest of the lunch. Ten minutes before I served lunch, I put it back on the heat and stirred.

Stir in the redcurrant and cranberry sauce (you don’t need to use both, you could use one or none) and cook for a further 10 minutes. If you aren’t using the sauce, taste the cabbage and add a little more sugar if it’s too tart for your taste.

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My recipe for Bolognese

spaghetti bolognese
Image by -Rita-👩‍🍳 und 📷 mit ❤ from Pixabay

This is my recipe for making Bolognese sauce for serving with spaghetti or other pasta.

500g minced beef, I try and get 5% or 10% fat mince, otherwise the end result can be a bit greasy

Splash of olive oil

One onion, diced

One carrot, finely diced. The carrot is there to add some veg to the dish as well as flavour

One red pepper, diced

Handful of mushrooms, chopped

Splash of balsamic vinegar

Knorr beef stockpot

Dried Italian herbs

Tin of tomatoes

Tomato purée

I usually use a big pan for cooking this dish. I heat the pan add the olive oil and then brown off the mince until it is all done. If you have excess fat in the pan then drain the cooked mince and discard the excess oil and fat.

Add the onion, carrot and pepper. You can add extra vegetables at this point, or extra pepper. After a few minutes add the mushrooms. 

Once the onion is soft and cooked, add the tin of tomatoes, the herbs, the tomato purée and the balsamic vinegar.

Cook for at least 20 minutes on a low heat, though longer would ensure that the beef is tender.

Serve with spaghetti or a pasta of your choice. Add freshly grated Parmesan to taste.