Ostrich Steak with a Simple Paprika Sauce

Ostrich Steak

We have an ostrich farm close by to where we live and the meat is top draw.

Cut a couple of baking potatoes into wedges and bake at 200 degrees for 35-40 minutes

In the same oven dish add some chopped peppers for 20 minutes and some baby tomatoes for 10 minutes.

In a frying pan heat some olive oil and goats butter until close to smoking.

Add well seasoned ostrich fillet steak to the pan, three minutes each side. At the same time add a dozen chopped mushrooms to absorb the flavors from the pan.

Remove the ostrich to rest and add 200ml of creme fraische with a tablespoon of paprika and stir through.

Seafood Paella

Seafood Paella

A loin of cod (skinned)
12 king prawns (cooked)
4 baby octopus
6 asparagus spears
an onion
a clove of smoked garlic
safron (soaked in 200ml boiling water)
6 chestnut mushrooms
12 fresh basil leaves ripped
250ml vegetable stock
salt and pepper
paella rice
glass of white wine
ounce of goats butter

Chop and fry the onion in a big glug of olive oil until clear.

Add the paella rice and stir until the grains are starting to look clear.

Add the glass of white wine until absorbed by the rice

Then add the safron and its stock and the vegetable stock.

boil for 25 mins or until the rice is cooked

add the cod cut into chunks and the vegetables. After 2-3 minutes add the prawns and the squid cut into rings/tentacles (remember to remove the spine).

After 2-3 minutes stir in the butter and basil then serve.

Thai Tuna Stir Fry with Coconut Milk

Thai Tuna Stir Fry with Coconut Milk

1/2 an inch of fresh ginger
1/2 a star anis
1/4 tsp astofedia
2 birds eye chillies
1 clove of garlic
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tin of light coconut milk
250g fresh beansprouts
2 bok choi
2 kafir lime leaves
6 shitake mushrooms
6 button mushrooms
chopped coriander
2 Fresh Tuna steaks
250g wild rice

Grind the ginger, star anis, half the chili, black pepper, astofedia and garlic in a mortar and pestle.

Add to a hot wok with a dash of groundnut oil heated until just short of smoking. Fry for a minute and the add the beansprouts.

Stir fry for 3 minutes and add the kafir lime leaves, add the two types of mushrooms (sliced). After a minute add the bok choi (chopped)and the rest of the chili.

Add the coconut milk and heat until boiling. Then add the tuna (cut into strips)for 3 minutes.

Add half the chopped coriander.

Serve on the wild rice and sprinkle with the rest of the corriander

Spicy Lentils

Heat a tablespoon of groundnut oil in a small skillet pan.

When hot add 3 crushed cardomon pods, sprinkle of fenugrek, sprinkle of coriander powder and some crushed chillies. After a minute or so add a chopped red onion and fry until soft.

Add a good portion of dried red lentils (I use the variety that do not require overnight soaking).

Stir the lentils into the onion and spice mix and start to add some stock. Keep adding the stock a little at a time (a bit like a risotto method) topping up when the lentils have absorbed the previous stock.

Towards the end throw in a few green beans.

Cod in Lemon and Garlic

In a dish layer slices of lemon and a sliced clove of garlic.

Place a fillet of cod on top and season the flesh of the cod with salt and pepper.

Drizzle the cod with a good glug of olive oil, sprinkle with some chopped parsley and then layer a sliced clove of garlic and some lemon slices.

Place in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

Ideal served with french beans and boiled new potatoes.

Spicy Sicillian Sauasages

This is a good quick throw together dinner

Sausages have traveled a journey over the last few years with wider varieties being available in the supermarkets.

These sicillian sausages were made with lots of garlic and crushed chillies.

Cut the sausages into big bite size pieces and cook in a frying pan in olive oil and part way through cooking add a half dozen ripe baby tomatoes cut in half. Add a dash of balsamic vinegar and half a dozen pickled green chillies roughly chopped into 1 cm long bits.

Either serve with cous cous, bulgar wheat or wholemeal pasta (as we did)

Potato, Mushroom and Stilton Bake

Potato, Mushroom and Stilton Bake

We had some friends over for dinner and had some left over Stilton - this was a good quick rustle up dinner.

Chop a dozen mushrooms into halves and scatter in the bottom of a lasagna dish. Add 6 chopped spring onions and drop two teaspoons worth of dijon mustard around the dish.

break the stilton into small hazelnut size chunks and spread evenly around the dish.

Add a teaspoon of dried sage.

Layer the dish with sliced new potatoes that I boiled for 5 minutes and then spread some creme fraiche on top and season with black pepper.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 30 mins.

Rabbit Risotto

Rabbit Risotto

Last nights rabbit was stripped of any extra meat (particularly the fore legs) and then added to a litre of water and a couple of bay leaves and boiled to make some stock.

This was used as the stock for a risotto which was warmed to just short of boiling for the risotto making.

Fry a chopped red onion in olive oil until soft and add a crushed clove of garlic.

Fry a cup of arborio risotto rice for 3 minutes or until the rice starts to go see through. Add a glass of white wine and wait for it to be absorbed by the rice.

Add a small ladle of stock at a time replenishing when absorbed by the rice. Continue until the rice has become soft.

Add a chopped red pepper (helps with the colour) and half a dozen chopped mushrooms.

Stir through a tablespoon of grated parmesan and a knob of goats butter. Season to taste.

Roast Rabbit with Sausage Stuffing

Roast Rabbit with sausage stuffing

Take a fresh rabbit - we got ours at the local farmer's market and drizzle with olive oils and a crushed clove of garlic.

Make the stuffing using sausage meat. We just took some black pepper sausages (with a sprinkle of crushed chillies) and removed from their skins - about 3 was enough to amply fill the rabbit.

Wrap the stuffed rabbit with parma ham, drizzle with olive oil and season

Put in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for an hour basting every 15 mins and turning over half way through.

I should have taken a photo of the rabbit before I took the meat off as it looked quite impressive, was just keen to devour it.