I freaking love British Chinese Takeaway chilli beef. Strips of beef, deep fried and coated in spicy sticky sauce. However, it’s not great for the waistline, and it’s always a little underwhelming.
I don’t remember where I read this idea first, but roasting the lamb in a closed roasting tin keeps all the juices in means the potatoes cook in them getting sticky and delicious.
I’ve seen whole fish being fried and served in Chinese restaurants, with some sort of spicy clear “sauce” poured over at the table. Tonight I took a stab at something similar, based on what was lurking in the kitchen.
In my opinion lamb should be cooked very hot and fast, or very slowly, and my preference is for hot, fast and hard, bloody in the middle and black on the outside.
I’ve never been nervous about posting a recipe before, but since a friend linked me to this famous take down of Jamie Olivers fried rice I did consider it twice.
The Caribbean combo of thyme, allspice, habanero, nutmeg and cloves always remind me of sunshine and good times, and when I first saw Levi Roots making Pepper Pot stew on TV years ago, I really wanted to try it.
A super quick tea that I felt was worth a write up. This went from the bag to my face in less than 15 minutes, thanks to microwave rice and fish under the grill.
I’ve not written a post here for ages, life has been crazy busy, but I’ve a little side project to share and here makes as much sense as anywhere else.
I’m writing this on my iPad because my laptop has died, and so far the experience is painful. however, last night’s tea was a good way too use up a pepper and leek that were well past their best.
Orzo is one of those things I love, then forget exists, then read about and rember I love it. Thus it was this week, when I read Nigella’s Chicken In A Pot with Lemon and Orzo
For a couple of Fridays in a row we had the same super tasty, super quick tea. The fish cooks in a tinfoil packet on the same tray as the oven chips so there’s less washing up.
When I saw La Cloake had published the perfect Bostin baked beans I couldn’t resist. Then when I was in Block&Bottle and the chap next to me only wanted half a piece of guanciale (cured pork cheek) I couldn’t resist having a go.
Another use up tea, super quick, idea to plate in less than ten minutes.
You will need A pack of gnocchi A large leek, finely sliced A good grating of Parmesan A couple of tablespoons of sour cream A couple of teaspoons of vegetable oil Do Cook the leeks in a teaspoon of oil on a pretty high heat until mostly translucent and a few crispy bits then set aside Boil the gnocchi in boiling salted water for 2 minutes then drain and set aside Put a a couple of teaspoons of vegetable oil into a non-stick pan on a high heat Add the gnocchi, cook for a few minutes, tossing occupationally.
A simple tray baked dinner that’s excellent with rice and can be dressed up for posh dinner parties by adding a glass of white wine and another of cream for the last 20 minutes of cooking
Every since Our Lady of Survival, Ellen Ripley first brought facehuggers to the worlds attention we’ve had a complex relationship. Yes, they’re harbingers of death, emerging from their cocoons, skitthing about and determined to paralyse you and implant a Chestbuster, but did you know they are delicious?
I love chicken soups, and I thought I’d written about various different styles here over the years but it turns out ( only the once ) but on a cold and miserable Sunday evening, having driven for 12 hours out of the previous 36, I was craving comfort food and the idea of adding dumpling (the stodgy kind, not the Asian kind) appealed.
I thought the cheese savoury sandwich was pretty universal, but after tweeting a photo of mine aroused some curiosity, I guess not. I once lived with a chap who’s family claimed to have invented them, and for this I can only thank them.
Boston baked beans, cooked with treacle and pork, are a world away from tinned baked beans, good as they are. Sadly, they’re also not very gout friendly due to the amount of pork, so I had a stab at making something as close as I could get.
These days I love Marmite. Once upon a time I could not stand it. Previous me was a jerk at times. We tend to buy Marmite in the 1kg tubs, because it’s so much cheaper, but the nature of the sticky black goo makes it difficult to keep the tubs clean, which is frustrating.
I love kedgeree, and it turns out you can make it in an InstantPot.
You will need 1 cup of rice (yes, yes, American measures, but rice is best cooked by volume) Just short of two cups of water 2 pieces of smoked fish (I used two pieces of smoked coley) 3 eggs 3 fat spring onions, finely sliced A cardamom pod A heaped teaspoon of hot curry powder Half a teaspoon of garam masala A small handful of parsley, finely chopped 2x knobs of butter Do Saute the onions in the butter until soft Add the rice, cardamom, curry powder and stir Add the water and then prop the InstantPot Trivet in Balance the fish and eggs on the trivet Cook on rice mode, which is 12 minutes Let the steam out Fluff the rice, peel then chop the eggs and fish and mix Stir though the parsley, garam masala and second bit of butter Results Savoury, lightly spiced, very satisfying.
I can’t bring myself to call this beef rendang, because that would be a travesty. It is however super tasty and features some of the same flavours and it quick.
Our household loves roast potatoes done in the airfrier. War lass loves nachos. I am less keen on them. Luckily it turns out that you can marry the two things and everybody loves them!
This year my gout has been really painful, to the point where I started a new side project www.gout-is-shit.com. I’ve also had to cut out from my diet all pork, offal, game, fish, shellfish, beer and whiskey.
I very rarely fry fish, but our FishBox contained a couple of big fillets of Forkbeard so I thought I’d give it a go. I used a very thin tempura like batter.
Super simple, but it tasty, super savoury. Multiple options. Doing the potatoes under the grill makes it easier to get a good even crispy finish compared to in the pan and without using tonnes of oil.
Mince and dumplings are great (I’ve written about how much I enjoy savoury mince and dumplings). Beef bolognese is great. At some point, somebody combined the two.
I wrote this before HelloFresh had some sort of meltdown leading to missing boxes, poor communications and ultimately us canceling our subscription. It was helpful for a while though.
You will need A pair of salmon fillets Enough potatoes for two, cut into cubes A slice of a block of unsalted butter roughly 1am wide The juice and zest of half a lemon A teaspoon of capers A bag of samphire A sprig of thyme A big sprig of parsley A quarter of a clove of garlic Olive oil Do Shake the potatoes with a teaspoon of oil and stick in the airfrier on 180 for 20 minutes Drop the samphire into boiling water for 2 minutes and drain, set to one side When you’re about ten minutes off the potatoes being ready, make the salmon Put a good slug of olive oil into a pan and once it’s hot add the salmon in skin down (it should sizzle) Cook skin side down for a few minutes, then turn them over Turn the heat down and add the butter, thyme and garlic Add the lemon zest and capers, keep it cooking for a few minutes, pop the salmon on it’s side if you need to to help it cook though Add the Parsley, samphire and lemon juice, stir round, cook for another minute or two Pile the potatoes into the middle of the plate, point the rest over the top.
I was very skeptical of Fish Finger Bhorta when I first saw it, not because of the fish fingers, but the English mustard. When it was being discussed on TV Nigella mentioned that is was suitable for anything crunchy, so tonight I switched in in a family favorite.
I love the Rivers of London books and all thought it Peter Grant raves about the groundnut chicken dish his mum makes. After a bit of googling I found that groundnuts are another name for peanuts (and fascinatingly in Nigeria “peanuts” are groundnuts dipped in dough and fried).
I love Chinese meals of rice, greens and meat. This months meatbox had a lovely slab of pork belly in it so I got to scratch my itch and try using the Unknown Tingly Green Sauce I last had it in Tingly Chinese Chicken
I love Indian pickles, especially lime pickle. I’ve not had much luck in the past making them, but this worked out well and used up a glut of fresh chillis from a grocery box delivery.
Growing up I hated mince and plain boiled potatoes, which is a shame because other than me it was something of a family favorite. Having grown up, I still don’t enjoy boiled potatoes, but I discovered dumplings, and that changed everything.
My friend knows I’m always interested in unusual food, so when you messaged me to see if I wanted a jar of “this tingy chilli oil that my wife loves and you can’t get in the UK” I jumped.
We had this as a main course (a huge pile of it) but it would make a good side dish. It’s super savoury, with all the boxes being ticked (sour, sweet, salty, spicy, stuck on bits, burnt bits, squidgy bits, everything).
This was an excellent tea made by my girlfriend, well worth a write up. Pre-rolled pastry is a great shortcut to delicious dinners.
You will need A pack of pre-rolled puff pastry Half a large onion (finely sliced) A pack of smoked salmon (great use of the cheap packs of offcuts) Half a small tub of soft cheese A big squeeze of lemon juice A good scattering of capers Egg if you’re bothered about glazing the edge a slug of olive oil Do Softened the onions in a pan with the olive oil until translucent Let them cool a bit Add the soft cheese and lemon juice Bake the pastry on a sheet at 180 for a few minutes Pile it all into the middle of the pasty and spread towards the edges, leave as much crust as you’d like Scatter with salmon and capers Egg wash the crust if you’re into that sort of thing Return to the oven and bake until the edges are golden and the topping has a hint of char Result I’m sure this was meant to feed six but we didn’t let that get in the way.
Many years ago this was made on Blue Peter and from that point on it became a family favorite and Christmas tradition. Famously one of my elderly relatives absolutely refused to share the piece we gifted her each year.
Gado gado is one of my favorite dressings, sour, sweet, hot, salty, deeply umami. Rather than the usual noodles, I broke out the airfrier, and crisped a heap of potatoes.
Perfect for a cold day as the nights draw in, this used up some sausage meat in the freezer from last Christmas, some past their best parsnips and the last of my homegrown apples.
I’m trying to reduce our food waste by not letting anything spoil, so tonight’s dinner was the reduce of googling “aubergine and beef”, because we had some aubergine needed using up our The Christmas Farm meatbox contained are beef cut for stirfry.
This week I ran across okonomiyaki on twitter (mostly because I jokes about the potential farts from a cabbage and egg based meal), but we had a big green cabbage to use up, so I figured I’d have a go.
This morning I noticed that since I started posting more to Instagram I’ve basically stopped updating here, which is bad badness. Where you post matters, because ultimately you’re putting all your effort into growing their platform, and they own you and your audience, so this morning I downloaded most of my content from there and rolled the last few months worth into this post.
Over lockdown we’ve been getting deliveries from Grainger Market which have been tremendous. The veg boxes always come with a net of garlic bulbs and so we’ve got quite a stash.
One of my favorite cookbooks at the moment (I collect them so we have a few) is Perfect Plates in 5 Ingredients by John Whaite and recently we ate the chickpeas cooked with chorizo and cider, a marvelously savoury dish.
It’s been an amazing summer for fruit and during lockdown I’ve been walking a lot round a local industrial estate, listening to podcasts and occasionally picking fruit.
This week I read an article about redbeans and rice which looked delicious. I didn’t have any of the ingrediants, but the idea of soupy beans cooked with strong flavours and pork sounded great so I improvised.
I’ve always strayed away from baba ghanoush on menus because I thought it would be slimy. Last weeks vegetable box included a pair of big purple aubergines and I didn’t want them to go to waste.
This week the content of our veg box lead to a super dinner. Firstly we had a tonne of garlic (2 nets, 12+ bulbs) and we had fresh aubergines, avocado, tomatoes and a massive loaf of bread.
I’ve written about shin beef chilli in the past, but when a big chunk of shin landed in our meatbox I couldn’t resist giving it the InstantPot treatment.
I saw this Mongolian Beef recipe this morning and it ticked all the boxes, sweat, sharp, crispy fried bits and such lovely colours, so it went on my mental list to make.
This week we got a great delivery from Grainger Market, salad, fruit and an Indian Cookbox from Hector Hall. I’ve always loved dhal, it’s great comfort food.
This is probably a complete travesty, but it’s a dead easy and super tasty. The InstantPot left-right-left of saute, pressure cook, saute is an absolute winner.
driving home this afternoon I caught a bit of Radio4s Food Programme about pasties and couldn’t resist cooking some up this evening. I’ve spent a week in Minsk with work and one of the things I’ve really enjoyed (and that reminded me of eating in Czech Republic in the late 90s) was the use of cumin, so I decided to break it out tonight.
This week I ran across The Cury Guy’s spicy chicken wings and couldn’t resist. Whenever I buy chicken breasts from Block’n’Bottle the wing is still attached.
Beanbeans are a staple of Mexican and texmex food, but they’re not that common in the UK. You can get them in tins but they’re faily expensive and they’ve never had the texture I remember.
I’ve love pastrami ever since I first ticked a food tourism box by going to Katz Deli, being overwhelms by it all but managing to order it on rye, and fell in love.
Early this week I saw a tweet about a Smitten Kitchen post from last year for braised ginger meatballs in coconut broth which looked excellent and I was excited to try it when I got home.
I love a real Christmas cake, a dark fruit cake, slightly too soft, a little booze, and disproportionately more marzipan than strictly necessary. This year I decided to to follow the very excellent Completely Perfect by Felicity Cloake.
The more I use the Instant Pot, the more I appreciate being able to easily use different cooking techniques without doing more washing up. Recently I’ve used it a few times to make curries and uncovered the left-right-left of Instant Pot cookery: saute - pressure cook - saute.
Whilst noodling through John Whaite’s very excellent Comfort I ran across his fig, prune and port tart tatin. I’ve always rather enjoyed tart tatin, with it’s unctuous and gooey fruits and pleasingly crisp base/top, and it’s the time of year when dried fruits are often on offer in the supermarkets.
I remember this from growing up, but didn’t know where it came from. A bit of googling suggests it was probably from Nigella Christmas. The original recipe calls for snipped sage leaves.
You will need For the dough 200g of plain flour 60g fat (I used some lard) About 6 tablespoons of cold water For the filling In total it should add up to a couple of big handfuls
Instance I joined the Cult of Instant Pot I’ve become a fulltime convert. The thing I love about it most is having everything in one pot which does everything.
This is an enriched bread dough, with a bunch of seasonal fruit, a dose of spice and some light brown sugar. I threw in a tangarine too, which lead to too much moisture and to load sinking in the middle, but it tasted great.
Roughly this time last year I made 5 ingrediant tomato meatballs for the first time and it is excellent, we’ve had it numerous times. Tonight I decided to enrich it a little with some leftover double cream and tweak the spice mix a bit.
Yet more Completely Perfect for a Saturday tea, but this time I went off piste when following the perfect sausage rolls. I love a sausage roll, they’re much better than the sad limp party food they are thought of as.
I’m continuing to work my way though Felicity Cloake’s excellent Completely Perfect and for a Saturday night what’s more fitting than the perfect chicken tikka masala with the perfect naan.
I got a copy of Felicity Cloake’s Completely Perfect for my birthday and I’ve been working through it for the last few months. It’s brilliant, you should absolutely buy a copy.
The airfrier came into its own this week when I discovered I could use it to make tiny cubed roast potatoes. Delicious in their own right, but excellent as part of the bulk of a meal.
Another Friday night fake takeaway, though this time probably just as unhealthy as the bought variety. I realised I’d never had a vindaloo before, always writing them off as too hot (and thus generally not very flavoursom), but the combination of pork and mustard always sounded good.
I love Chinese food, especially dim sum and Sichuan hot pot, but when it comes to takeaway, naff English style dishes are my weakness. There’s something about crispy fried things in a slightly gelatinous sauce that really hits the spot.
Tonight was one of those nights where I wanted something quick, tasty and passingly healthy. “Vegetable corner” of the kitchen looked like it needed a clearing out, so it was a good excuse to roast it all.
This year I’ve had more success than last year growing chillis, so it was high time I made a chilli with them. I also managed to grow a tonne of herbs, so I thought I’d make use of them too.
Many years ago, whilst watching Buffy, Spike (the best Buffy character) mentioned Blooming Onions. The idea piqued my interest, and then I forgot about it.
