Curried Potatoes

Curried Potatoes

Great by themselves with chapatis - I served as an accompaniment to my Roast Chicken (see next post).

Ingredients

1 onion
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garam masala
small potatoes
2 tablespoons sunflower oil

Method

Finely slice the onions and mix with the spices in an oven proof dish. Add the oil - mix well and place in a hot oven for 10 minutes. This softens the onion and gets the spices working. Add the potatoes (diced) and put back in the oven for 20 minutes.

Pork Schnitzel with Apple Bubble & Squeak

I travel to Germany a fair bit so normally I get my pig ration out there. These schnitzels though are a homemade special and I think are excellent as a quick and easy dinner.

Ingredients

Pork leg steak
chopped rosemary
dried breadcrumbs
one egg

one cooking apple
one small savoy cabbage
6 small potatoes

Method

For the schnitzel beat the pork with a rolling pin to flatten/tenderise the meat.

Dip in egg and then into the breadcrumbs and chopped rosemary that should be mixed together.

Shallow fry on a medium heat on both sides until the meat is coked through.

For the Apple Bubble & Squeak first put the potatoes on to boil. With 5 minutes to go add the cabbage (sliced into inch long strips) then the cored and chopped apple with 2 mins left. Drain and mash with a little salt and butter.

Jerusalem Artichoke Rosties

The Jerusalem Artichoke is in season. My mum bought a load up from her garden this week and I just love the smokey taste of the little blighters.

The problem is my wife finds them a bit overpowering in flavour so I devised a recipe to try and make them more suitable to her palate.

Ingredients

2 large Jerusalem artichokes
4 new potatoes
1 onion
50g cheddar cheese
1 egg
salt and pepper
chopped chives

Method

grate all the ingredients (except the egg of course - it would be stupid to do that) into bowl and mix together.

Season with salt and pepper and add the chopped chives.

Let stand for 5 minutes then squeeze out as much moisture as you can and discard the liquid.

mix in the egg to help bind the ingredients.

Heat a frying pan with goundnut oil until just short of smoking.

Form a golf ball size of mixture into a pancake shape, first giving it a good squeeze to remove as much moisture as possible.

Fry until golden on both sides.

Three was a good portion for me. I served it with red kale and some bacon ribs glazed in a chilli, tomato and basil mixture that I devised. No doubt the Rostis were a hit, my wife loved them too.

Salmon Fishcakes

Salmon Fishcakes

Ingredients

600g skinned and boned salmon
generous handful of coriander
100ml goats milk
good knob of goats butter
salt and pepper
2 tsp chillie chutney (see previous post)
egg
flour
dried breadcrumbs
500g mashed potatoes (I used King Edwards)
sunflower oil

Method

Poach the salmon in the milk with the stems of the coriander and some salt and pepper for 10 mins. Set aside to cool and flake.

Boil the potatoes and then mash in a little of the poaching milk and a good knob of goats butter. Let cool

Chop the coriander leaves and mix with the mashed potato, flaked salmon and chillie chutney.

Shape into patties using a small fist of the fishcake mix.

Cool in the fridge for an hour then dip in the beaten egg, then the flour and then the dried bread.crumbs. Shallow fry in sunflower oil. Dry on kitchen towel and serve.

I served with grilled peppers in olive oil and garlic.

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.