TV Dinners

September 27th - As you may have already guessed....I love cooking programmes! This week I caught a recipe from the new Jamie Oliver series on Superfoods which I fancied giving a go. Out came the iPad. Recipe seemed easy.  Chicken and Garlic Bread Kebabs. No bread in but never mind! The diced chicken was marinated, very briefly, in a mixture of crushed garlic, olive oil and thyme (since I did not have the rosemary that the recipe needed) and some white wine vinegar. Then this was threaded onto skewers and fried for about 5 minutes on each side until golden. The salad is spinach and sliced orange, drizzled with lemon and olive oil. Feta cheese is crumbled on the top and the whole lot drizzled with a bit of basalmic vinegar. In keeping with the Greek theme I chucked on a few olives that were left over from the puttanesca pizza....and not scoffed with the glass of red wine while cooking! Definitely a recipe I'll a make again, whether or not it is a superfood, and it tasted great without the bread too.

P S ... Just for the record, we ate our meal at the table!

Blast from the Past

September 26th - While taking in a drawer I came across some old foodie magazines, the ones I used to buy and never make many of the recipes...so I was quite excited with my find and there was a recipe for Pizza Puttanesca.  Well it really was a blast from the past as I used to make loads of homemade pizza for my kids and all their friends who came for tea...and one of my favourite recipes is is an old Delia Smith recipe for Pasta Puttanesca. I mean, what's not to like.  So I made a small batch of bread dough, rolled it out after it had risen and topped with passage, olive oil mixed with crushed garlic, grated lemon zest (unusual addition), anchovies, olives, capers and finely chopped red chilli. 12 minutes in a hot oven and then chuck a bit of basil on the top. I'd forgotten how good homemade pizza tasted!

More Ideas for Salmon

September 21st - The lady from the fish van had left salmon in the fridge for me (I'm on a mission to eat more fish and this is a great new arrangement!) but I've exhausted all the salmon recipes in my recipe books since I need to be trying new ones for the blog.  So I had a look on the internet and found a recipe for Salmon and Couscous from Jamie Oliver. 20 minutes. Super Easy. Dandy. The couscous was covered in boiling water (I added a bit of powdered stock Jamie) and set aside.  Small courgette batons, some baby asparagus, shredded mangetout (not in the recipe) and a finely chopped red chilli were gently fried in olive oil.  A couple of tomatoes were chopped and added to the couscous with some chopped coriander and lemon juice, then the barely cooked veg stirred in.  I pan fried the salmon (still perfecting the crispy skin technique) and put it on top of the couscous mix.  Some yogurt was spooned over to serve. Quick and tasty - just as Jamie said.

A First Chilli Con Carne

September 13th - There has not been much of a summer this year and the weather was cold and wet when I found myself in the butcher's shop on Saturday.  I could not think beyond steak pie with a great dob of puff pastry and lots of creamy mash.  Nothing better.  But Sunday dawned fair and warm. Plan B required.  Where to turn in times of crisis? Delia. Even if it is the Winter Collection.  I've never made a Chilli Con Carne before - mince has nearly always been made into bolognese or lasagne - but here was a recipe for Black Bean Chilli with Avocado Salsa that needed braising steak. 2 chopped onions, a crushed garlic clove, chopped coriander stalks and 2 chopped green chillies were cooked gently in olive oil then removed from the pan.  The beef was chopped up into small pieces then browned before adding a spoon of flour, the onions and a 2 tins of tomatoes to the pan.  This was cooked slowly for 1 1/2 hours then a chopped pepper and black beans added (kidney beans had to do!) and the casserole was returned to the oven for another half an hour.  The salsa was made with chopped tomatoes (skinned...!...well, if you must), avocado, red onion, coriander and lime juice.  I served the chilli and salsa with tortilla wraps and natural yogurt.

Needs No Excuse

September 6th - My son had returned from a summer in Madrid and was only home for a few days and I was longing for a sit-round-the-table-family-dinner.  Lamb was on the menu (one of my new recipes) and there on the front cover of my summer Delicious magazine was the recipe I had been waiting to make - Raspberry Ripple and Pistachio Parfait.  I'd never made a parfait before but the list of ingredients was small so how difficult could it be? Honestly - there should be a warning put on recipes - 'hundreds of bowls required', 'kitchen porter needed for mass dish wash'! Was it worth it? I hear you ask. Definitely. So here goes. The first pot is for the raspberry sauce. 100g of sugar is put in a pot with a little water and boiled and bubbled until reduced and then the raspberries added. This is then pushed through a seive into a bowl to cool with some cling film on the top. Or in my case, via another pot to reduce it a bit more (Pot count 2, Bowls 1). 2 egg yolks were put in another bowl and whisked together with a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste and 50g caster sugar until thick and pale. (Pots 2, Bowls 2) The cream was then whipped until it formed soft peaks. (Pots 2, bowls 3). In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until very stiff. (Pots 2, bowls 4). The egg yolk/cream/egg whites were all mixed together and a handful of chopped pistachios added.  Then this mixture was layered with the raspberry sauce in a loaf tin which had been lined with two layers of cling film.  The parfait was then frozen for around 8 hours. When ready to serve it was sliced, topped with raspberries, some of the leftover sauce and cruched Crunchie bar.  This is to die for......

Three Good Things Mark 2

August 31st - I've noticed a change in my cooking since starting this resolution.  I sort of know what kinds of flavours go together and am pretty confident at chucking various things into a pot to get something quick and tasty but using recipes has pared my cooking back to more basic flavours so you can taste the different ingredients more. I like that! So here's another of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Three Good Things - Chicken, Plum and Soy. Chicken thighs were seasoned and trickled with oil then roasted in the oven for 30 minutes then sliced red chillies (1-4....I used 2), 4 garlic cloves and grated ginger added to the baking tray with 8 halved and stoned plums and 3 tablespoons of soy sauce.  The plums went a bit mushy but this was so spicy and aromatic...and cheap! Give it a try!

Veg Rule

August 21st - The magazines were still sitting out and being thumbed through, mostly when I was hungry! But here's another one I tried. Summer Vegetable Stew with Parsley Pesto. I'd never made pesto before and this involved finely chopping parsley and mixing with extra virgin olive oil, grated lemon zest and lemon juice and parmesan.  To be honest I had to play around with the recipe until I got a consistency I though looked OK.  The stew involved gently cooking onion, leek, carrots and garlic in butter then adding white wine and reducing.  Stock was added before adding cannelini beans, quartered little gem lettuces, spring onions and spinach.  The recipe is supposed to have fresh artichokes in it but I have never seen one of these in our Co-op so a few artichoke hearts were added.  Wholesome. Healthy.  And I did not feel so bad having some chocolate for pudding!