Seafood supper...nigella but better

Lisa made this for me tonight. It's a spin on a nigella recipe 'speedy seafood supper' but it's got quite alot more class. It's really delicious and very simple. Give it a whirl This would serve around four .. Particularly if you had it with bread or couscous or rice or something Ingredients pinch saffron threads 250 ml water 2 cloves sliced garlic 2 tbsp olive oil 1 medium sized shallot finely sliced 1 tsp dried tarragon or oregano 250ml dry white wine 1 can chopped tomatoes generous (though to taste) sprinkling of salt flakes 350 gms cod fillet cut into largish pieces 200 gms uncooked prawns 3 tbs ground almonds freshly ground black pepper to taste 1tsp chilli flakes 2 tbs freshly chopped parsley to serve Method Pop the saffron threads into a cup and add 250ml boiling water Heat a large pan on a medium heat and add the garlic and oil And heat gently for a few minutes until softened Then add the shallot and dried tarragon.  Stir it all about until the shallot softens Add half the wine, let it bubble and reduce almost completely, then add the remaining wine and let it bubble for a further minute before adding the saffron water and tomatoes.  Add about a teaspoon of salt flakes, some pepper and the chilli flakes, stir and bring it to the boil. Tip the mixed seafood into the sauce, bring it back up to the boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook gently for just three or four minutes until the seafood is just cooked.  Now add the ground almonds stir again and leave for a minute Taste and add more salt if you need it.  Sprinkle over the parsley and serve in shallow bowls with crusty bread for soaking up the delicious juices.

Its not pizza, its flatbread

just back from Vermont and have to sing the praises of the American Flatbread restaurant at Lareau Farm.
Wood oven, locally sourced ingredients, local beers, decent wines, lovely setting and a fabulous ambience.
If only there was one of these in Esher!
Only let down was that Joe forgot his passport so was forbidden from drinking despite the fact hes twenty-two ... gotta love those Vermont liquor laws
check them out on http://americanflatbread.com/

Baked fruit with a little help from Alice waters

I love baked and poached fruit it's a great way of using up anything in the fruit bowl that's either lacking in enough flavour to eat fresh, or is slightly on the turn.
Today I used some plums, apples and blueberries and gave them a bit of a lift courtesey of an idea I got from Alice Water's 'The art of simple cooking'.
My inspiration came from a recipe for baked peaches, but I think it works pretty well for almost any fruit.

You will need:
Your fruit .... In this case 6 Plums cut in half and stoned, 2 apples peeled, cored and cut into segments, a handful of blueberries
3 Tablespoons Apricot Jam {or any flavor of your favorite jam, as long as it goes well with the fruit
2 Tablespoons Honey
1 cup water {I have also done it with half water, half dessert wine)
zest of one lemon

Method

If you can call it a method

pre heat oven to 180c

Whisk the jam, honey, water, lemon zest in a small bowl.

Put the fruit flesh side up in a baking dish and pour the sauce over it, making sure the tops of the fruit is well covered.

Bake at 180 degrees until the fruit is really soft.  The final cooking time will vary depending on how ripee the fruit is.  {about 20-40 minutes)

Allow to cool and go jammy, eat with yoghurt, crime fraiche or ice cream. I particularly like it with yoghurt and granola.

New book, new year, new paella recipe

Arroz En Paella De Barcelona, Los Jueves (Barcelona-style Thursday Paella Rice)

I wanted to try out one of my new cookery books, I also had two new paella pans from Lisa so it was a bit of a no-brainer that it was going to be 'Paella' from Steve and Neet that got 2012's first run-out. The book has a remarkable 118 different paella recipes.
This is a bit of a bastardisation of the above recipe made to accommodate Martha's dislike of fish and the fact that this was a lazy saturday night in.
However the thing I was most interested in was the use of hob and oven to finish the dish off.
All in all I think it was successful.

Serves four

Ingredients

1litre fish or veg stock
100ml olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
400g chicken, deboned and cut into 30g pieces
8 king prawns (jumbo shrimps), heads removed and tails shelled
150ml passata
6 small chorizo, cut in half
200g green beans, trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths
1 green pepper, seeded, skinned and sliced into thin strips
400g bomba or other short-grain rice
1tsp Spanish sweet smoked paprika
⅕tsp saffron threads, soaked in warm water
1 lime
salt

Method

Heat the stock but do not allow it to boil. Preheat the oven to 150°C.

Heat the oil in the pan over low heat, add the garlic and saute until lightly browned.
Add the chorizo then the chicken pieces and saute for a few minutes until brown all over, then remove from the pan. Add the king prawns and saute for a few minutes until lightly browned. Remove them from the pan and set aside. Add the green beans and green pepper strips to the pan and saute for a few minutes until the vegetables have softened.
Reduce the heat to low, add the rice and cook for a few minutes, stirring with a wooden spatula, until thoroughly coated and translucent; do not allow the rice to burn. Add the passata and stir the ingredients well, deglazing the pan by scraping up any bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spatula.

Add the smoked paprika, stir through and cook over moderate heat for a few seconds, taking care that it does not burn. Pour in the hot stock, stir until combined and spread out the ingredients evenly in the pan. Add the saffron and grate the zest of the lime over the paella, and bring to the boil. If you have a timer, set it to 17 minutes. Cook over high heat for 5 minutes until the rice rises to the surface of the liquid. Taste and season with salt if necessary, bearing in mind that the flavours will become more pronounced as the liquid evaporates. Put the paella in the preheated oven for 7 minutes.

Remove the paella from the oven and arrange the king prawns, monkfish, quid, langoustines and mussels on the top of the price, put the pan back in the oven for a further 5 minutes, then remove the paella once again. Cover the paella with a clean, damp dish towel (or leave in the oven once turned off), allow it to rest for 3 minutes, then serve.

Home for Xmas.

It was lovely to have everyone home for Xmas. Whilst we were preparing for the big event we also managed to spend a bit of family time in the kitchen, watching the telly, catching up and snacking at the bar.

Here are some great canape recipes from Sybil Kapoor that we found in House and Garden.


Roast tomato relish

ingredients

750g baby plum tomatoes
1 medium red onion, finely diced
1 fat clove garlic, finely chopped
4 tbs ex virgin olive oil

method

heat oven to 180c

mix rest of ingredients in a roasting tray. Roast for 45 mins until everything is soft. Leave to cool

roughly mash together and season to taste.


Spiced Lamb burgers

ingredients

4tbs olive oil
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1 thai red chilli seeds removed and finely chopped
2 tsp ras al hanout or garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander, finely chopped
1 small bunch fresh coriander
500g lean minced lamb
finely grated zest of two lemons
salt and ground black pepper

Method

Heat 1 tbs of oil and cook the onion, garlic and chilli gently for 5 - 10 mins until soft.

Add the dried spices, fry for 1 minute then tip into a bowl


Add the fresh coriander, lamb, lemon zest, salt and pepper.

Heat a pan with 2 tbs oil in and cook for approx 4 minutes a side or until cooked.

Scatter with more coriander leaves and serve with the tomato relish.

Paprika potato wedges

ingredients

6tbs sunflower or light olive oil
1tbs smoked sweet paprika
1.5 tsp ground cumin
1.5 tsp whole cumin seeds
1.5 tsp sea salt or to taste
8 medium potatoes unpeeled

method

Heat oven to 180c

mix together the oil and spices in a large bowl.

Halve the potatoes lengthways and slice each half lengthways into 4 wedges.

Thoroughly coat the potatoes in the spicy oil and spread out on a non-stick roasting tray.

Roast for around 40 mins or until golden and crispy

Serve with the guacamole

Guacamole

ingredients

2 ripe avocados
1 cloves garlic
2 tbsp. fresh lemon or lime juice
2 tbsp. finely chopped red onion
2 tbsp. chopped coriander
few drops tabasco
Salt and pepper

method

Cut avocados in half and remove pits.
Scoop the flesh out of the skins with a spoon into a mortar and mash it roughly with a pestle. Stir in lime juice, onion, cilantro and some salt. Taste and add more salt and lime juice as needed.


Variation: For a spicy guacamole, add a red chilli seeded and finely diced.

The Sweeney massive arrive

The 27th was pretty full on day of entertaining with the Sweeneys plus Sam, Bob and Bobs new wife, tomiko (sp?) arriving for lunch and the Bryant family coming for tea.

We needed something easy to make and we were also in need of a bit of healthy food after two days of absolutely stuffing ourselves.

This recipe (which I have blogged about before) was absolutely on the money.

Serves 4

Thai Chicken burgers

Ingredients

* 600 g minced (ground) chicken
* 1 onion, finely grated
* 85 g fresh white breadcrumbs
* 1 garlic clove
* 1 lemongrass stalk white part only, finely chopped
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
* 2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest
* 1 tablespoon fish sauce
* 2 teaspoons caster (superfine) sugar
* Fresh mint and coriander (cilantro) leaves
* sweet Chilli sauce (bottled)


Method

Put the chicken mince, onion, breadcrumbs, garlic, lemongrass, coriander, lime zest, fish sauce and sugar in a large bowl and mix together well with your hands.

Shape into 6 patties, then cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat a barbeque or chargrill pan and brush with a little light flavoured oil such as grapeseed or canola.

Cook the patties for 4 minutes each side or until cooked through.

serve with sweet chilli sauce on the side


Asian slaw

Ingredients

For the slaw
2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp rice vinegar, or white vinegar
2 large Carrots, cut into thin matchsticks
2 large handfuls shredded white cabbage
2 large handfuls shredded red cabbage
4 stalks Celery, trimmed, cut into thin matchsticks
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
1 large handful fresh Vietnamese mint leaves, (or ordinary mint leaves)
1 large handful coriander leaves

For the sweet chilli dressing

1 tbsp rice vinegar, or white vinegar
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp Fish Sauce
2 long red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
1/2 tsp Salt


Method

For the slaw: mix together the sugar and rice vinegar, then add the carrot and leave to marinate for 20 minutes.

For the dressing: mix together all the ingredients, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.

Put the white and red cabbage in a large mixing bowl. Drain the carrot and add to the cabbage with the celery, onion, mint and coriander. Add the dressing to the salad and toss together.

Roast beef with rosemary with roast potatoes from Lucca for the Cook family

We had the whole Cook family over for lunch on December 28th. We had overdosed on turkey by this time so were in need of some good old red meat. This deceptively simple recipe for cooking fillet of beef is easy to prepare and absolutely delicious. Although I should warn those who don't like their meat on the rare side of pink that this is not for them, you could of course cook it for longer but it would be a crime to cook fillet until it was grey!
We had it with one of our favourite standby dishes from the same River Cafe Classic cook book, Roast potatoes from Lucca.

Roast Beef with Rosemary

Ingredients For 6

1kg - 1.5kg Piece of beef from the thick end of the fillet
sea salt and ground black pepper
10 sprigs of fresh rosemary (or more if they are short. You need to cover the whole length of the meat)
extra virgin olive oil
1 glass red wine, preferably Chianti.

Method

Pre heat oven to 225c

season fillet all over with s and p

Make a layer of rosemary on a board using half the sprigs, place the fillet on top and then cover with the remaining rosemary. it should be completely covered.

Now tie with butchers string (or the great silicone ties Martha gave me...see below)

Choose a roasting tray in which the beef will fit snugly. Drizzle the tray with olive oil, add the filet and then drizzle more oil over. Place a piece of foil over loosely and put into the oven.

The River cafe recipe says to roast for 10 minutes, then turn the meat over, add the wine, replace the foil and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes for medium rare. My experience has been that means that the meat is extremely rare even for a blood loving carnivore like me. I would cook it for at least another 5 minutes but obviously caution is required to avoid over cooking. If you have a meat thermometer you want the meat to be between 50 and 52 degrees at the centre when you take it out of the oven.

Once you have removed the beef from the oven let the beef sit in the roasting pan for 5 minutes. Now remove the rosemary and place the meat on a warm serving dish. Starin the juices into a jug and serve the beef cut into slices about 1cm thick with a little of the wine juices and plenty of olive oil poured over it.

Roast potatoes from Lucca

ingredients

1.5kg waxy potatoes
1 medium red onion peeled
6 garlic clove, peeled and kept whole
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
6 sprigs fresh sage
120ml dry white wine
100ml ex virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fennel seeds crushed

method

Pre heat oven to 200c

peel potatoes and slice into very fine slices (5mm) use a mandoline if you can.
Put them in cold water to wash off excess starch, drain and pat dry and then put in a large mixing bowl.

finely slice the red onion and, keeping the garlic cloves whole just press them to partly crush them. Wash the herbs and pull the leaves from the woody stems.. Add the onion, garlic and herbs to the bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss well to make sure the potatoes and herbs are coated with the oil and wine.

choose a baking tray that will fit all the potatoes in spread in not too thick a layer (but not too thin or they will burn at the edges). Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 25 mins.

Remove the foil , then, using the back of a large spoon or a potato masher, breakup the potatoes and herbs to make a rough mash. Drizzle with olive oil.

Return the tray to the hot oven and roast for a further 30-45 mins, until the potatoes are brown and crisp and still light and fluffy underneath.