SIMPLE SIDE DISH

I saw something similar to this on pinterest. Theirs was a lot prettier and better put together but I was in a rush. Nevertheless it made a nice simple side dish for a dinner party and looked like I had done something fancier than chopping and layering!

Two graffiti aubergines, two courgettes and two big tomatoes cut into rounds and layered up with Malden sea salt, cracked black pepper and olive oil. If you haven't switched to Malden sea salt you totally should. It is delicious.

TIPS AND TWEAKS

Next time I will use four tomatoes as their wasn't quite enough. I would also take the time to cut everything much thinner and layer more densely. That way it would cook without burning but look even better.

Happy Experimenting!

WARM SUMMER SALAD

Last week I was given a fantastic thank you present from one of my schools. They keep chickens and grow vegetables in the playground and had a bumper crop that week. I don't know if it was real or just the idea of eating home grown food, but it all tasted ten times better than supermarket stuff!

I need to find out what variety of potatoes the red ones are because they were gorgeous. The skins were almost like a plastic transparent film that flaked off and they were fuscia pink underneath. Any ideas? 

The beetroots were much prettier than supermarket ones and tasted stronger. I roasted them with carrot and sweet potato. Yum!

Today, I turned my attention to the peas and broad beans. Here is the recipe for my summer salad with grilled trout. Hands down the tastiest lunch I've had in months!

RECIPE

Serves 1 (but if served with bread or new potatoes could feed two with an extra piece of fish)

Ingredients

• 1 large fillet of trout
• 2-3 Parma ham
• Handful Broad Beans, double podded (see tips and tweaks)
• Handful Fresh Peas, podded
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• 100g Asparagus tips
• Handful pea shoots
• knob of butter
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat the grill to medium and place a frying pan on the hob on a medium heat. Wrap the trout in the Parma ham and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Grill for 10 minutes, turning halfway through the cooking time.

2. Meanwhile melt the knob of butter in the frying pan and add the asparagus. Cook for 2-3 minutes and then add the spring onions, peas and broad beans. Cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

3. Scatter the plate with the pea shoots, top with the vegetables and the trout.

TIPS AND TWEAKS

The first time I encountered broad beans I double podded them without blanching them first. It took ages and I was almost crying with frustration by the end. Then I tried eating them with the skins on. Bleurgh! No need! First, pod them and then add the beans to a pan of boiling water for 1 minute. Plunge into a bowl of cold water to stop them cooking further. Take one and make a tiny incision with your finger nail through the outer skin, squeeze and the bright green bean will pop out. Watch out, they do sometimes fly out quite quickly!

Happy Experimenting!

SMOKED SALMON AND PRAWN PASTA SALAD

Having spent rather a lot of lunch times recently eating McDonalds, Subway and pork pies I decided to make a big batch of something nicer. It lasts three days in the fridge so if I make it Sunday night I'm sorted until Wednesday. It costs about £6 so it saves some money too.

RECIPE

6 portions

Ingredients

1/2 cucumber, chopped

600g cooked pasta

200g boiled new potatoes, chopped

120g smoked salmon trimmings

200g cooked prawns

300g low fat natural yoghurt

1. Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix. 

2. EAT.

TIPS AND TWEAKS

You could replace the natural yoghurt with a mix of mayonnaise and tomato ketchup with a pinch of paprika. You could add a little dill to the yoghurt. 

Happy Experimenting!

FIVE A DAY CURRY

So apparently we now have to eat 7-10 portions of fruit and veg a day http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26818377. This is lame because I didn't even manage five before so now I have to feel doubly guilty. This recipe is a good one to remedy the guilt. The original recipe is this: Coconut and Spinach with Lemon. As per usual I changed it quite a lot though. The general idea is the same but I added more veg and cheated on the spicing. 

RECIPE

Serves 2 with leftovers

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped roughly
• 2 tbsp curry paste (I used Patak's Rogan Josh)
• 1 courgette, sliced
• 3 medium tomatoes, chopped roughly 
• 4 closed cup mushrooms sliced
• Tin of chickpeas
• 250 ml coconut cream (or tin of coconut milk)
• 400g bag of spinach
• 2 x Sweet potatoes
• 2 tsp Olive oil
• Salt

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius (180 fan). Pierce the skin of the sweet potatoes and rub with 1 tsp olive oil and salt. Place on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 45 minutes until soft.

2. Place the rest of the olive oil, onion and curry paste into a deep frying pan over a medium heat. Fry gently for 2 minutes making sure the onion doesn't brown.

3. Add the courgette and mushrooms to the frying pan and fry gently for a further 5 minutes. Then add the chickpeas, tomatoes and 250ml water before adding the coconut cream. Stir and break up the coconut cream gently until it has melted in. Leave this to simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes or until the courgette is soft.

4. Wilt in the spinach by one handful at a time and stirring gently. You should be able to incorporate all 400g if you're patient!

5. Serve the amazing veg concoction over the baked sweet potato. OMNOMNOMNOM.

TIPS AND TWEAKS

This was such a tasty meal and the only reason I used the veg I did was because they were in the fridge. You could use anything! Carrot and cauliflower would be awesome as they curry well. Odd bits of pepper or sweetcorn could be good too. I think just go for it with whatever you have. The essentials are pretty much just the chickpeas, spinach, curry paste and coconut cream. 

Happy Experimenting!

EASY TAPAS

I promise I will henceforth make more of an effort when photographing food :s I've been given tips by my sister-in-law and so hopefully they will start getting better! Her tips were:

1. Natural Light -  here I have literally stood in the light which is apparently the dumbest thing you can do...

2. Close ups - get up close and personal with the food otherwise you find yourself having to explain in detail that it is in fact a sweet potato not a steak.

3. Make sure the background is a different colour from the food - natural backgrounds are good but the wood in this picture is the same colour as the food so a slate would have been better.

4. Make your food look nicer than this! - I am very often STARVING by the time I plate up so I throw it at the thing so I can get. it. in. my. face.

So I will try these out in my next post.

RECIPE

Serves 2 (if you are big eaters)

Patatas Bravas

• 3 Medium-sized Potato, peeled and chopped into 2cm cubes
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive Oil

• 1 red chilli, chopped (remove seeds if you want it mild)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and oil a baking tray with olive oil. 

2. Parboil the potato for 10 minutes then drain in a colander. Shake the colander gently until the surface of the potato is fluffy. This will crisp them up in the oven.

3. Place the potato in the baking tray, tossing in the oil and seasoning with salt and pepper, and bake for 30 minutes or until crisp and golden.

4. Meanwhile, place a glug of olive oil, the chilli, garlic and paprika in a saucepan. Fry gently for 2 minutes and then add the tinned tomatoes and sugar. Simmer for 10 minutes and then season to taste.

5. Serve the potatoes topped with the tomato sauce.

Garlic Mushrooms

• 200g Closed Cup Mushrooms, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Tbsp White wine Vinegar
• Handful Parsley, chopped

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and fry the garlic gently for 2 minutes. 

2. Add the mushrooms and fry gently for 10 minutes. Lastly, add the vinegar and parsley and heat through before serving.

Chorizo in red wine

• 200g Chorizo Sausage, chopped into 1cm rounds
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• Olive Oil
• 250ml red wine

1. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan over a medium heat and fry the garlic and onion gently for 3 minutes.

2. Add the chorizo and fry for 2 minutes to release the oil, add the red wine and simmer gently for 15 minutes, then serve!

Salt and Pepper Squid

• 4 small squid, cut into rounds
• 200g Plain Flour
• 1 Tsp Maldon Sea Salt
• 1/2 Tsp Ground Pepper
• 500 ml Sunflower Oil

1. Heat 4cm of sunflower oil in a deep frying pan (I used a Wok).

2. Mix the flour, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add the squid rings and tentacles, toss them in the flour until lightly coated.

3. Test that the oil is hot enough by dropping in a small piece of squid. If it floats and fizzes it's hot enough. 

4. Cook the squid in batches until it is crisp and golden, and place on kitchen towel to soak up any excess oil before serving.

TIPS AND TWEAKS

I definitely wouldn't try making these all at the same time straight away although it is possible!

The chorizo basically cooks itself as do the mushrooms. You could just whack all the ingredients in and cook those two dishes slowly whilst you deal with the potatoes and squid.

Or you could make the mushrooms, potatoes and chorizo in advance and reheat them whilst making the squid. The potatoes would not be quite as crispy though.

Happy Experimenting!

FRIED SPRATS

...with crispy potatoes, mangetout and yellow courgette

Sprats are great if you like fishy fish. My partner wolfed them down happily and said it was a great meal. I gingerly ate some then stuck to veg! They are small herrings, but I don't know what a herring tastes like, so I'd say they are a lot like mackerel...except more so. That slightly metallic taste of mackerel is there but they are not as meaty and mild as mackerel (which I've learned to love). From my point of view they are not worth the phaff but I'm sure my partner will be begging me to make them again!

I started off gutting them. This was so much easier than I thought. A small cut behind the head at the top of the back bone and then pull the head slowly. All the guts come out in one this way and you can do a quick rinse in a bowl of cold water, pat dry and they're ready to cook.

Sprats ready to cook

I decided to use a spice mix I got in Turkey last summer that went well with mackerel. I think you could replace this with something along the lines of: dried garlic flakes, sea salt, chilli flakes and cumin in equal quantities. I used about a teaspoon of this and a tablespoon of plain (all-purpose) flour to lightly coat the sprats before shallow-frying in sunflower oil. After about 2 mins the fish feels a little harder and the skin starts coming away and crisping up, this seemed to be the right time to take them out!

I served them with steamed mangetout (overcooked - oops) and yellow courgette, as well as some little cubes of baked crispy potato. I used a trick found on pinterest for these, soak them for 20 mins in cold water before draining, patting dry and baking in olive oil. They go crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, and this did seem to work quite well. I've attempted to write the full recipe for this meal below including a couple of tweaks I'd use next time.

RECIPE

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 20 Sprats, beheaded and gutted (yum!)
• 1 Tablespoon Plain All-purpose Flour
• 500ml Sunflower oil
• Pinch each of garlic flakes, chilli flakes, sea salt and cumin
• 2 handfuls Mangetout
• 1 Yellow Courgette, cut into strips
• 2 large potatoes, peeled,cut into cubes, and soaked in cold water for 20 mins

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6/220C/425F. Drain the Potatoes and pat dry. Put them on a baking tray, coat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.Bake in the oven for 40 mins turning half way through.

2. Mix the flour and spices together and lightly coat the sprats using this mixture.  

3. Put the sunflower oil in  a large pan over a high heat. Drop in one sprat, when it begins to bubble then drop in a few more. The sprats should be crispy and cooked through after about two minutes in the oil.

4. Add the vegetables to a steamer at this point and steam whilst cooking the sprats in batches. 

TIPS AND TWEAKS

Hopefully, the potatoes veg and sprats should all be ready about the same time if you follow this order, though you may want to start them ten minutes before step two (my potatoes were done too soon as I started them way too early).

The veg will literally only need a few minutes or it'll be overcooked like mine!

I would serve the fish with some sort of dip, like garlic mayonnaise, and a wedge of lemon.

Happy experimenting!

EASY PITA BREADS

Today ended up being a snow day in the West Midlands so I had pretty much the whole day off. I got restless pretty quickly waiting to cook my sprats so I decided to have a look online and find some baking to do. Pinterest offered the answer (obviously). 

I decided to have a go at this recipe: http://www.underthehighchair.com/2009/04/diy-pita-bread.html. This blog is lovely and has loads of ideas with stunning pictures.

TIPS AND TWEAKS

These pita breads are incredibly easy and if you don't have the fancy machinery (dough hook and the like) it still works!

I started with the mixture of warm water and yeast mentioned in the recipe and then added the flour in two batches and kneaded by hand on a floured work surface. The resulting rounds are shown above. I think that I should have rolled them thinner and maybe made more than six, as suggested in the recipe as they were BIG.

The finished results were great. They are seriously the most entertaining things I have ever cooked. I shrieked 'They're rising!!' to Mr F and he came running thinking I'd burnt myself!

I would definitely recommend giving these a go. They are 10 times better than shop bought and I got them made in half an hour. Yay!

Happy Experimenting!