All 2016th Posts

Pepsi brined smoked turkey with Southern trimmings

One of the things we ate in Texas which was so much better than expected was smoked turkkey at Kreuzs in Lockhart (after a morning of blasting away with all the firearms banned in the UK).

WeightWatcher Friendly Lemon Peel and Pork Meatball Pasta

Pork mince isn’t very diet friendly, but it is delicious and a little goes a long way. I have a lot of dried lemon peel left from an experiment (to be blogged) so I thought I’d combine the two.

WeightWatcher Friendly Salmon En Croute

After an epic roadtrip round the States (more on this another day) I’m back on Weightwatchers and tryng to keep my daily calorie intake down.

Redneck sous vide beef

Sous vide (cooking at low temperature for an extended period) has been around for a while and was originally the realm of top end chefs with expensive kit.

Kimchi miso soupy bowls

Recently I’ve been really craving kimchi, the wierd fermented spicy cabbage. It’s an aquired tste, but once aquired it seems to go with anything.

Toads in the hole

An old favouite with a few new things. Black pudding and roasted onion add more variety and the beer in the batter gives a great crispy finish.

Miso poached teriyai chicken

After a trip to Wagamammas this weekend I realised I’d not had miso in ages, and my donburi had some excellent sweat sticky chicken. I thought the combo of the two would be rather good.

Charred steaks

I love thin cut steak, but it’s virtually impossible to cook well. On a thick cut steak I love crispy blacken outside and a super rare middle.

Hotwings

There are few things as American as hot wings in my eyes, and I bloody love them. They’re great vechicals for hot sauce too, which is handy because eating it with a spoon is generally frowned up.

Spanish Hotpot (again)

I trie dthis before and it didn’t really work, but the flavours were about right and it was the consistency that was wrong. Attempt two (mostly to use up bits in the fridge)!

3 minute stir fry

I completely forgot to take a photo before this was basically all eatten, sorry about that. This went from ingrediants to IN MY FACE in less than 5 minutes, including plating up and contementation.

Spanish Fish

A little while ago the Two Hungry Boys mentioned Perfect Plates in 5 Ingredients by John Whaite and I impulse bought a copy. It’s excellent, and a lovely read.

Beef Wellington

Beef wellington is one of those things which looks amazing, combines some expensive ingrediants but it surprisingly easy. The trick to it is manage to cook the pastry whilst keep keeping the beef rare.

Baked lemon chicken

I love takeaway Chinese lemon chicken so much. Even when it’s bad, it’s good. I’ve already blogged a fakeaway version already using chicken being quickly deep fried, but this version is very easy on the weight watchers points, and that’s pretty important to me right now.

Sausage Rolls

I love a good sausage roll. Every so often I buy a cold one from a shop and they’re always dissapointing. With pre-made pastry they’re stupidly easy to make too.

A very rich pork chop with mushrooms

One day I’ll cook mushrooms without cream, but that day is not today. I boody ove mushrooms, and when you leave them chunky they’re so good as part of a main course.

A midweek curry (that started life as ragu)

Sometimes you make something and it’s OK, but it’s not grea, and sometimes you can turn one dish into another. Luckily this was one of those meals.

Breaded pork chop

I had a great pork chop that had been lurking in the freezer for well over a year and needed eating. Instead of grilling it fully loaded or deep fried it, I decided to bread and bake it.

Ramekin baked turkey brurgers

Turkey mince makes a great burger but because it’s so low fat it’s difficult to keep them together in the pan. Step forward baking. Because all the juice is kept in they’re juicy.

Camping food: Chorizo Potatoes

Second dish of the trip, this cooks up quickly because the hard to cook bits (the potatoes) are done in advance. You will need A couple of big potatoes A coupe of chorizo A medium sized onion Butter Do Dice the potatoes and stick under boiling water for 5 mins Drain and set aside.

Camping food: Moroccan Lamb

I’m just back from driving round The North Coat 500 whih was tremendous fun. Knowing I was camping for a few days I wanted to take some food with me but everything I read in “quick ccampfire meal” type blog posts involved boiling huge amounts of water.

Scotch Pickled Eggs or Pickled Scotch Eggs

I’m funny about eggs. I love an omlette, but I’m not keen on soft eggs, be they fried or poached. I’d also never eat a hardboiled egg on it’s own, but I love a scotch egg or even a pickled egg.

Thai turkey meatballs

I love turkey. It’s a great meat, seemingly only eaten at Christmas, but it’s low fat, super tasty and often on offer. I’m planning on eating more of it this year and although tasty in itself it’s great at soaking up flavours.

Rich tarragon roast chicken

I didn’t manage to get any photos of the cooking process here sadly, and only just remembered to get a picture before it all vanished.

Moroccan Livers

I don’ like liver, until I crave it, so when I read an excellent looking recipe for a Lebanese liver dish a few days ago I was suddenly craving it hard.

Salad topping seeds

I had an excellent salt beef sandwich down at Cookhouse this week and it came with a well dressed salad topped with a toasted seed mix.

Pan scones

I’ve been craving scones and baked things. Sadly they’re not great for weightwatchers points. Today I stumbled upon cheese gridle scones on the excellent food blog tamarindandthyme.

Ribs

BBQ masters will hate everything about this, but the result, tender, moist, hot but not crazy hot, is well work the pay off. These were baked in the oven then finished on a reasonably hot BBQ with a smoke box.

Sex, drugs and Lobster Roll

Lobster is one of life luxuries which is regularly abused. There’s just no need for cream, wine, fried onions etc, just let the gentle flavour shine right through.

Weightwatchers friendly Sweet and Sour Prawns

As I started writing this up I realised I’d already written up sweet and sour pork which is pretty much identical. This one however is much lower in fat and thus far less WeightWatchers points (which I’m counting at the moment.

Sushi

Hello! I am an interloper! I usually cook weird things like ox heart and pigs tails (along with the more run-of-the-mill stuff) but my love of anything you can eat with chopsticks runs deep.

Haggis, rice and spice

I follow and love several American food blogs, but one of the things that gets right under my skin is the trite banging together of cultures in one dish.

Homemade chicken kebab

Kebabs have a bad name in the UK and looking at the pavement detritus on a Sunday morning, I’d agree. However a good kebab is a think of wonder, and one of the things which makes it great is a good bread rather than a poor pita.

Pinked Gin

I love a gin martini and I love sloe gin (of which I have an excess), but sometimes sloe gin needs that extra kick of strong alcohol.

Deep fried pork chop

Years ago I saw a South American dish on TV which involved a double chop (side to side, not 2 bones thick) with the strip of belly attached that was marinades in garlic and other things then deep fried.

Livers on toast

I keep thinking I should eat more liver, but I’m really not sure i like them, but I do love pate, thus, using a very similar method to the delicious muthrooms on toast from a little while ago I had a very tasty dinner.

Blue cheese and mango pickle crumpets

I first had blue cheese and mango pickle in a sandwich in the much missed Tony & Frankies. Good in a sandwich, better on a crumpet.

Perfect roast potatoes

Perfect is a big claim, but these are pretty damned good. I’ve pinched a bunch of ideas from other people over time I’ve no idea who but probably my gran, Nigel Slater and Nigella.