Monday 26 May 2008

De Neils Curry

This is a mish mash curry that takes influence from both India and S.E. Asia. This is a home devised recipe but is a real corker.

Curry is a well favoured meal in the UK but there is no need to turn to a tin or take-away as it is dead easy to rustle up your own top notch curry and it is possible to make your own creations like this one of mine.

Ingredients

Spice mix
1 onion
2 tbs groundnut oil
4 cloves
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fenugreek
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp cinamon
1 tsp paprika
3 cardomon pods
3 red birds eye chillies (de-seeded and finely chopped)
3 tsp garam masala

Curry
2 chicken fillets
one sweet potatoe
3 tomatoes
300ml coconut milk
one tsp tamarind paste
4 green birds eye chillies (whole)
250ml reduced fat creme fraiche

Method

Start by making the spice mix. Put all the ingredients (except the oil and onion) in a mortar and pestle and pound to a paste as far as possible (whole cloves are nasty if you crunch on one when trying to enjoy your curry so at least make sure these are bashed a bit).

Heat the oil in a frying pan and start to saute the onions then add the pasted spices fry off for a good fie minutes or so - stirring regularly. This gets the spices working and is an importnt stage in the process.

Remove from the heat and set aside whilst the rest of the dish is created.

For the curry

Peel the sweet potatoe and slice into small discs the thickness of a 1 pound coin but the size of a 10 pence piece. Add these to the frying pan and cook off for a few minutes. The add the cubes chicken and add three tomatoes (quartered). Cook until the chicken is sealed all over then add the stock. To make this warm the coconut milk with the tamarind. Add the spice mix that was created previously and the whole green chillies, stir well. Cook for 20 minutes at a low simmer in the pan, or so until the chicken is cooked.

Just before serving add the creme fraiche and stir through - natural yoghurt could also be used if desired. To finish sprinkle with freshly chopped coriander.

I served with Naan bread a great product for mopping up any left over sauce.

Beef and Mushroom Stew with Dumplings

Right then this is good British grub simple, and delicious. It wont win a Micheline star but it will put a smile on the face of the eater.

Ingredients

500g stewing steak cut into chunks
6 mushrooms
one onion
1 beef stock cube
2 tbs turkey gravy granuals
two bay leaves
6 dashes of Worcester sauce
1/2 pint beer
flour
50g suet
100g self raisimg flour
a few sprigs of fresh thyme

Method

Start by softening the onion (roughly chopped)in a casserole dish with a tablespoon of sunflower oil. Add the stewing beef tossed in seasoned flour.

When the beef is browned add the mushrooms (cut in two) and add 500ml of boiled water mixed with the stock cube and turkey gravy (lighter and fresher than beef gravy granuals). Drop in the bay leaves and Worcester sauce and cook for an hour and a half.

To make the dumplings mix the suet, self raising flour and finely chopped thyme (remember to season them up with salt and pepper) with a few tablespoons of water. The consistency should be non sticky to the hand but still feeling moist.

Make golf ball sized dumplings and add to the stew. If you want soem veg add it at this point. I lobbed in some broccoli but carrots are a good choice as well. Given the flour basis of the dumplings there is no need for extra carbohydrates e.g. potatoes.

Add some extra moisture (I used half a pint of beer) and cook for 20 minutes and then serve.

pollo a la dolchelatte

Chicken is so versatile but by itself it can be a bit bland. If using a chicken fillet simply cutting a slice to make a cavity in the breast makes a great pocket to pack flavour into the meat.

Using salty and strong flavoured dolchelatte is perfect for this purpose. Tht being said Gorgonzola, Stilton and Roquefort all perfectly suitable for the job.

I also add some herbal flavour inn the for, of 2 dried bay leaves.

Ingredients

chicken breast
2 slices of dolchelatte cheese
2 bay leaves
olive oil
salt and pepper

vegetables to serve with

Method

Cut a slit in the chicken to make a pocket. Stuff the pocket with the dolchelatte and bay leaves. rub the outside with olive oil and season well. Place in an oven proof dish and put in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve with fresh vegetables - I had new potatoes, chanterelle carrots and French beans

Monday 5 May 2008

Oriental Wild Boar


Obviously pork has a limited place in asian cuisine (given the religious preferences of not an insignificant proportion of SE Asia). Wild Boar, however, is probably more akin to the type of pork meat encountered in Asia - the standard European pig (as popular in Britain and Denmark) is a different proposition so when I had a look in the freezer and saw we still had some wild boar steaks this easy throw together was an easy decision.

Ingredients

Marinade
1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce
1 teaspoon Rice Wine Vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 wild boar steaks

Quick cook noodles, mange tout and baby corn to serve.

Method

Add the marinade ingredients to a dish, mix and add the Wild Boar (coat on both sides and set aside for an hour to marinade).

Grill for 5 or so minutes on each side. The other ingredients take about 4 onutes to boil in a pan.

Pork Balls

Nothing to do with pig's testicles - but a cunning twist on the Chinese takeaway favourite (and not very Chinese at all really).

Having 2 kilos of pork between two of us was clearly going to be a multiple meal situation - or at least the same sandwiches for a week.

Ingredients

Pork Balls
chunks of cold roast pork
3 slices of bread (cheap white sliced is best)
chilli chutney
one egg

Sweet and Sour Sauce
2 tbs tomato ketchup
4 tomatoes (diced)
one onion
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar

Method

Start with the sauce - add the onion (finely sliced) to a sauce pan and start to heat gently in some sunflower oil. After the onions have softened add the diced tomatoes - keeping the heat at medium. Add the ketchup, sugar and red wine vinegar and continue to heat gently - stirring frequently. This will take about 15 minutes in total to cook down. Whilst you wait crack on with the pork balls.

Cut the crusts off the slices of bread. Then slice into thirds and coat them on the inside with chili chutney. Seal the bread around the meat, pressing to seal. Beat the egg and season. Dip the bread balls into the egg and then add to a hot pan with sunflower oil. Turn frequently until evenly crispy.

Guacamole


Guacamole is simple,tasty and whilst high in cholesterol its the right type of cholesterol.

The key thing to do is make sure that your avocados are very ripe. If you make sure of this you can't go wrong. I use a bit of my own birds eye chilli chutney (about a half teaspoon) to zing it up a bit.

Ingredients

5 very ripe avocados
1/2 teaspoon of chilli chutney (you could use Bajan Hot pepper sauce or tabasco - just make sure it is a wet chilli sauce i.e. not dried chillis or chilli powder)
teaspoon of olive oil.

Method

mash the avocados with a fork and mix the rest of the ingredients - if you like it chunky just mash a little less.

I served with warm toast.

Roast Loin of Pork Stuffed with Peaches and Garlic

We went to the wholesalers today and got a cracking load of garlic and a big 2 kg loin of pork.

I have done a variation of this many times over the years. Using fruit with meat is not widely enough used as the natural sugars combine well with the meat and any herbs - when roasting like this cutting a cavity to allow the fruit to get into the meat does a wonder.

Ingredients

a 2kg loin of pork
one tin of peaches in syrup
2 cloves of garlic
one teaspoon of oregano
olive oil

Method

Slice a slit into the loin (make sure you don't go all the way throughand ensure not to go to the ends.

Add the peaches, some salt and pepper, the garlic (crushed) and the oregano. I re-used the elasticated string that the meat came in but if you don't have this tie with butcher's string.

I roasted, wrapped in foil, for about an hour and a quarter and served with roast butternut squash and courgettes.



Steak Frites

As a youngster I remember going to France on a camping holiday and having steak frites on the ferry - dead simple, bloody in the centre and charred on the outside. Chips all crispy and the juice of the steak there to be mopped up with the last of them.

For this don't use fancy cuts like fillet or rump - the thin frying steak is perfect. Use a griddle pan (ensure well heated before putting your meat in) oil the meat before putting into the pan then add a good cube of butter on top.

I griddled a tomato to go with and a bit of lambs lettuce (it made me feel better about the healthiness (or lack of)).