Category: recipe

Posted on

Time for a Spanish inspired rice dish

paella

Well we call this paella, but I know it isn’t paella, but it was inspired by paella.

This is a regular dish in our household and this pan of paella was finished off at dinner time.

What goes into the pan, depends on what we have in the house and whether I have been shopping or not. If I am out of the shops knowing that I am going to cook paella, then I will probably buy some cooking chorizo, some squid, and maybe even other kinds of seafood such as langoustine or clams. This time was what we had in the house.

This serves about four people

In preparation I diced a red onion and a large pepper. Well actually I diced half a red pepper and half an orange pepper.

In a hot large frying pan, I put some olive oil and I cooked off some smoked pancetta bacon and a small amount of diced (dry) chorizo. I then added the diced onion and pepper. When this was softened, I added 250g of paella rice. I ensured that this was then coated with the peppers and onions in the pan. I let this cook for a minute or so before adding a splash of white wine (we had that in the fridge). Recently I have been using some Spanish sherry I got from Aldi for Christmas, but that was all finished off the last time I did paella, sorry Spanish inspired rice.

I then (cheated and) added a jar of paella paste from Waitrose. In the past I have used herbs, spices and saffron when making paella, however I do like the jar that Waitrose do as it does taste quite authentic and is quick and easy. Tesco use to do a sachet of paella herbs and spices, but they’ve stopped selling that now. I use to prefer that. 

After stirring in the paste I added some chicken stock. Last time I did paella I used a fish stock, but didn’t have any of that in the cupboard.

Stir once and then leave. 

I once got “told off” by a Spaniard for stirring my paella, so now I just as advised, leave it to cook.

In a separate pan I cooked off the remaining dried chorizo I had sliced, I also added some sliced linguiça sausage from Lidl I had picked in their Iberian week recently. In previous Spanish themed weeks Lidl have done some nice cooking chorizo which I have liked using in my paella dishes. This time though in their most recent week they didn’t do it, hence picking up the linguiça sausage. Not quite a replacement, but worked well with the paella.

We had some cooked prawns in the fridge, so I warmed them up in a pan with some olive oil and mixed herbs.

The prawns, chorizo and lemon slices were added to the top of the paella, with some chopped flat leaf parsley and served.

Overall, delicious.

Posted on

Pan frying some cauliflower

Sometimes I like to roast cauliflower, sometimes I make cauliflower cheese, other times I like to pan fry my cauliflower.

I recently cooked some pan fried cauliflower florets.

These were cooked in butter with some Schwarz seasoning.

The key for me is to ensure that the cauliflower is cooked, but that it isn’t overcooked and falls apart. 

I also slice the florets in half to have a flat edge when they go in the pan. I like a nice caramelisation on the edges which adds texture and flavour.

Posted on

Homemade Hummus

hummus

Having got a food processor for Christmas one thing I wanted to try and make was some hummus.

I used this as the recipe for the hummus.

400g can chickpeas, drained
60ml extra virgin olive oil
50ml water
1-2 fat garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 lemon, juiced then ½ zested
3 spoonfuls of tahini

Drain and rinse the chickpeas in cold running water, and then place in the food processor with the olive oil.

Blitz until you get an almost smooth consistency. Then add the garlic, lemon juice, tahini and 30ml of water. Blitz again until you have a smooth creamy texture. You can add more water if it is too  thick. Season and then transfer to a bowl.

I have made some variations. For the coriander hummus I added a handful of chopped coriander and then blitz again. For the red pepper hummus, I chargrilled half a red pepper on the gas hob. I then removed the burnt skin before chopping it up. This was added to the hummus and blitzed in the food processor.

Posted on

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Muffins

I made some gluten free chocolate chip muffins following a recipe from my blog. It was only after I started making them that I realised I didn’t have natural yogurt. Rather than throw the initial mixture away or go out to buy some natural yoghurt, I used some creme frache I had in the fridge.

Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. 

I bought my paper cases from Amazon, though I later found similar ones in Waitrose.

Ingredients

100g unsalted butter softened, plus 1 tbsp, melted, for greasing

140g golden caster sugar

2 large eggs

140g creme frache

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp milk

250g plain gluten free flour

2 tbsp of cocoa

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g of chocolate chips (dark or milk)

20g of fudge pieces to decorate.

Beat the butter and caster sugar together until pale and fluffy. Then add the eggs and beat in for  about a minute. You then need to mix in the yogurt, vanilla extract and milk. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl with ¼ tsp fine salt.

Add this into the wet ingredients and stir in. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips and divide the mixture between the muffin cases.

Bake for 5 mins, then reduce oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and bake for 15-18 mins more until risen and golden, and a metal skewer inserted into the muffin comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then carefully lift out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container.

You can after a day or two, pop them in the microwave for 10-15 secs on high to freshen up.

Posted on

Chewy Chocolate 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.

My preferred oats are the Mornflake Whole Jumbo Oats.

Place the mixture  into a greased tin (or lined using baking parchment) and bake in a 180ºC (160ºC fan)  oven for about 10-12 minutes or until the edges are browned. If you cook for too long the flapjacks will be harder and not chewy.

I cool the flapjacks on a wire rack.

I quite like chocolate flapjack, so I melt a bar of chocolate and cover the flapjack. Once the chocolate has set I cut the flapjack into squares.

Posted on

Time for some Seafood Ramen

Cooked a ramen dish this time last year. I based my ramen on the ramen dishes I have had at Wagamama.

In a bowl I added some cooked rice noodles. On top of this I added some sliced shiitake mushrooms, spring onions, pak choi and sliced red pepper. I then added some homemade ramen broth.

On top of the ramen I added scallops, prawns, squid and a tea-stained hard boiled egg. I also added some gyoza dumplings as well.

Posted on

Time for a Ramen

 

ramen

This was my take on a ramen dish.

In a bowl I added some cooked rice noodles. On top of this I added some sliced shiitake mushrooms, baby spinach, pak choi, Thai basil, coriander and sliced red pepper.

I then added some ramen broth. I used an itsu brillant broth which I heated up in a pan before filling the bowls.

On top of the ramen I added pork belly, pork loin and a tea-stained hard boiled egg. 

The pork belly was cooked on a low heat in the oven. I then finished it off in a frying pan with some (gluten free) chow mien sauce.

The pork loin was rubbed in some seasoning as well as Chinese five spice. This I then roasted in the oven. Once cooked it was sliced and added to the top of the ramen.

I would have liked to add some sliced spring onions, but we didn’t have any in the fridge.

It was a tasty broth, first time I used it, and it worked well with the ingredients. The pork was lovely and tasty.

Posted on

Baking Gluten Free Sausage Rolls

Gluten Free Sausage Rolls

One thing I made a lot of in 2021 was gluten free sausage rolls. I use Jus-Rol’s gluten free puff pastry, which is available from most major supermarkets. It is easy to use and works well.

I cut the pastry into four sections, add the sausage meat, roll the pastry and seal with beaten egg. These are then cut into small rolls. I use baking parchment on a baking tray I then use more beaten egg to glaze the rolls and the back in the oven until the sausage is cooked and the pastry is golden brown.

Delicious when warm, they also work well cold as well.

Posted on

Time for Christmas Red Cabbage

Red Cabbage
Image by Ralph Klein from Pixabay

For Christmas lunch this year I did 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.

This I served with roast festive meats.

Posted on

Pan Fried Cauliflower

Pan Fried Cauliflower

Though I do like cauliflower cheese sometimes it is nice to cook cauliflower in a different way. For a recent Sunday roast, I pan fried cauliflower florets in butter and some Schwarz seasoning.

The key for me is to ensure that the cauliflower is cooked, ensuring that it isn’t overcooked and falls apart. I also like a nice caramelisation on the edges which adds texture and flavour.

I also slice the florets in half to have a flat edge when they go in the pan.

This time I cooked in the pan slowly over a low heat, but if in a hurry I usually brown in the frying pan with butter before moving to the oven to finish off. The oven was quite full this time, so that’s why I did it in the pan instead.