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Grilled Cos Lettuce Dressing

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Used to dress grilled cos lettuce, this made a good side to barbecued lamb chops. Brush the cos lettuce, halved lengthwise, with olive oil and grill for 2-3 minutes on each side before dressing with this. I think other dense lettuces like red gems or the French sucrine would also work well. Nothing floppy!

The original dressing used melted butter as the dressing oil, which is an approach I have not come across before. I used olive oil but I’m intrigued to try the butter. The oil advantage is that it keeps until you are ready to cook. Your choice.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: n/a

Ingredients

  • 75g salted butter or olive oil
  • 2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
  • leaves from 4 thyme sprigs, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, grated
  • finely grated zest and juice of ½ lemon
  • Salt

Method

If you are using butter, over gentle heat warm it in a small pan together with the remaining ingredients, stirring as it melts. Butter is very good at absorbing flavours. Once it is melted, remove it from the heat but keep it warm.

If you’re going for the oil approach, just whisk the oil and flavourings together in a small bowl. Add a pinch of salt since the butter version uses salted butter.

For grilled lettuce, split your choice of firm lettuces in half lengthwise. brush both sides with a little more olive oil (maybe the oil from the can of anchovies). Grill them on a preheated griddle for 2-3 minutes on each side.


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Posted in Basics Tagged with:

Roasted Aubergine with Anchovies and Oregano

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One from Yotam Ottolenghi that I really like, this side or starter of aubergines is dressed with a flavourful anchovy and herb oil.

According to Ottolenghi: Anchovies and aubergine might sound like an unlikely combination but it’s one that really works. The anchovies bring more of a salty depth to the dish (rather than anything really fishy). This is lovely as it is, spooned on top of toasted sourdough, but also works as a side to all sorts of things; cold roast chicken or a fresh tuna steak, for example.

This keeps well in the fridge for up to 2 days, just bring back to room temperature before serving.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 5 mins
cooking time: 35 mins

Ingredients

  • 4 medium aubergines, sliced into 2cm thick discs (1kg)
  • 100ml olive oil
  • 20g anchovy fillets in oil, drained and finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1 tbs picked oregano leaves
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas 7.

Mix the aubergine in a large bowl with ½ teaspoon of salt. Transfer to two large, parchment-lined baking trays and then brush with 70ml of oil: you want it on both sides of the discs. Bake for 35 minutes, or until dark golden-brown and cooked through. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

In a small bowl whisk together the anchovies, vinegar and garlic with some salt and pepper to taste. Slowly pour in the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, whisking continuously, until combined.

When ready to serve, finely chop the oregano and place in a large bowl along with the aubergine and parsley. Pour over the anchovy dressing, gently mix and transfer to a platter or bowl.


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Posted in Veggies Tagged with:

Sweet Fennel Tarts

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Another from Mark Hix which sounds enticingly interesting. It originated from a pastry chef at The Ivy (wherever that is). It might sound a bit of a wacky dessert, but M. Hix thinks it’s absolutely delicious.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 25 mins
cooking time: 80 mins

Ingredients

  • 2 large/4 medium fennel bulbs, trimmed
  • 2 tsp fennel fronds, chopped (or fresh dill)
  • 300g caster sugar
  • 320g pack ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry
  • 4 tsp icing sugar for dusting
  • 15g unsalted butter, cut into rough pieces
  • vanilla ice cream, to serve

Method

Put the fennel bulbs into a saucepan with the caster sugar. Cover with enough water to submerge them. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 1 hour, or until the fennel is soft to the point of a knife. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool in the syrup.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Unroll and lay thesheet of puff pastryon a clean surface. Cut the pastry into four 13cm round discs and prick all over with a fork.

Put the discs on the lined baking tray. Cover with a second sheet of baking parchment. Add a wire cooling rack on top so they don’t rise while cooking. Bake for 4 minutes, then remove the rack and top piece of paper and turn the discs over. Place the baking parchment and rack back on top and return to the oven for another 4 minutes. Take the tart bases out of the oven and put them aside.

Remove the cooled fennel bulbs from the liquid. Strain 250ml of the cooking syrup through a fine-meshed sieve into a clean saucepan. Simmer the syrup over a medium heat until it has reduced by two thirds – it needs to be clear but starting to thicken. Remove from the heat and leave to cool a little.

Cut the fennel bulbs in half lengthways, then cut each half lengthways into ½cm slices.

To assemble the tarts, arrange the fennel slices in a thin layer on top of the pastry bases, covering the circles entirely. Evenly dust the tarts with the icing sugar and top each with pieces of butter, using them all up. Bake for 7-8 minutes, until the edges of the pastry are starting to go golden. Remove from the oven.

Stir the fennel fronds (or dill) into the cooled syrup and spoon this over the tarts. Serve the tarts immediately with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.


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Posted in Desserts Tagged with:

Tomato Tarte Tatin

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An idea by Mark Hix with whom I’ve had mixed results. This one seemed to work quite well, though the result was rather wet; we’re wondering if the tomatoes might benefit from a little longer in the over to lose some more of their moisture?

The classic apple tarte tatin is an indulgent dessert but the approach also works brilliantly as a savoury dish. When tomatoes are in season, this is a fresh and summery take. You can mix things up with different heritage tomatoes for extra colour and flavour.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 20 mins
cooking time: 1 hr

Ingredients

  • 6 large vine tomatoes
  • 320g pack ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • leaves from a few sprigs of fresh oregano or marjoram
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C/140°C fan/gas mark 3.

Halve the tomatoes top to bottom and place cut-side up on a large baking tray. We used a bun tray to help support them. Season with salt. Put in the oven and cook for about 1 hour, or until they start to soften and turn wrinkly but still hold their shape. Remove from the oven.

Turn the oven up to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6.

Unroll and lay the sheet of puff pastry on a clean surface. With a sharp knife, cut out a circle from the pastry roughly 23cm in diameter (or just a little larger than your tatin dish). Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a 20cm ovenproof tatin dish and use it to coat the base and sides. Season the tomatoes with pepper, then place them in the oiled pan cut-side down, sitting tightly together. Prick the pastry circle all over with a fork, hten lay it on top of the tomatoes tucking the edges in around them.

Bake for about 30mins until the pastry is golden and crisp. Remove the tarte from the oven and leave it to cool for 5 mins.

Once the tarte has cooled slightly, ensure the pastry is released from the edges of your dish, put a plate on top of the dish and quickly invert it to extract the tarte. Scatter with the herb leaves and drizzle with a little more olive oil.


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Posted in Starters Tagged with:

Poulet au Poivrons Rouge

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This turned out to be the recipe of our 2025 camping trip to France. It is a bit tongue-in-cheek. When camping, we strive for one pot dinners and this was a devlopment from what I like to call confit peppers cooked at home. This is really a confit of red peppers with chicken breasts. If you can get the wonderful fresh spring garlic, please do.

Planning

serves: 2
preparation time: 5 mins
cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients

  • 2 boned chicken breasts
  • 2 large sweet red peppers
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 tbs capers
  • olive oil

Method

Halve the red peppers and remove the core and ribs. Cut the halves into half centimeter strips, then halve the strips lengthwise. Slice the garlic cloves, not too finely.

Heat a 28cm saute pan over moderate heat and pour in a good glug – say, a few tablespoons – of olive oil. Add the pepper strips and, stirring frequently fry them gently until they are just soft and glistening. Stir in the garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Try not to brown it at this stage ‘cos it will continue cooking once the chicken is in.

If your chicken breasts still have their fillets attached, separate them. Season both the breasts and the fillets.

Push the pepper mixture to the edges of the pan and add the chicken breasts (not the fillets at this stage) to the middle of the pan. Brown the chicken on one side for 5 minutes. Turn the breasts over to brown the second side for another 5 minutes; at the same time add the chicken fillets. Half way through the second 5 minutes, flip the fillets over to cook their second side.

Remove the chicken to warmed serving plates. Stir the capers, with a little juice, into the pepper and garlic mixture et voila.


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Posted in Poultry Tagged with:

Grilled Chicken Breasts

Posted on by JC — 1 Comment ↓

A nice way to use chicken breasts. Naturally, the herb can be varied; tarragon would work very well.

Planning

serves: 2
preparation time: 2 hrs
cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken breasts, boned & skinned
  • 2 heaped tbs chopped fresh oregano
  • 1½ tbs apple cider vinegar
  • 4 tbs olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 tbs Dijon mustard
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Remove the inner fillets from the chicken breasts. Between sheets of cling film, beat the main chicken breasts to about 1cm thickness. (This makes them cook more quickly and stops them shrinking too much in the pan.) The fillets don’t need bashing.

Now make the marinade. Add the chopped fresh oregano, vinegar, oil, crushed garlic, mustard and a few twists of salt and pepper to a small glass bowl. Whisk everything together.

Marinate the chicken breasts and fillets for about two hours, turning once or twice.

When you’re ready to eat, put a skillet over medium high heat and, when it’s hot, lift the chicken breasts out of the marinade and add them to the pan complete with the marinade clinging to them. (You don’t need any more oil, there’s enough on the chicken.) Brown them for 3-4 minutes on one side, then flip them over and brown the other side similarly. When you flip them, add the chicken fillets to the pan and turn them over after two minutes (these take less time to cook through).

Once the chicken is cooked (juices clear when pierced), rescue them to two warmed plates. Add the remaining marinade to the pan and bubble it for a minute or two to cook off the garlic. Pour this sauce over the chicken.


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Posted in Poultry Tagged with:

Arroz con Verduras

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As a full fat carnivore, this was the second vegetarian recipe in two weeks that I’d been attracted to. This is the second incarnation.

The original was in the Telegraph Magazine under the crappy title of Spanish Rice. Look that up and you’d get hits about bomba and Calasparra rices or basic rice recipes not swamped with vegetables. So, I’ve retitled it. Being cooked in the oven, this is not a paella. Rather it is what I believe the Spanish would refer to as an Arroz dish. So, the title I’ve settled on, which I hope to be more appropriate, is Arroz con Verduras.

I found I needed to increase the proportion of liquid to rice, compared to the original. Additionally, I’ve ditched chilli flakes in favour of hot smoked paprika. The original also fretted about cut fennel discolouring, which I have never experienced, so I ditched the “rubbing with lemon juice” idea as being unnecessary. Artichokes, on the other hand, which would make a very pleasant alternative ingredient …

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 1 hr

Ingredients

  • 1 fennel bulb
  • olive oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 large red pepper
  • 2 large vine tomatoes, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika (pimenton)
  • 1 tsp hot smoked paprika
  • 400g tin butter beans, drained
  • 1 small sweet potato, peeled & chunked
  • 800ml vegetable stock
  • 3 sprigs rosemary
  • 150g paella rice
  • 2 chicons red chicory, trimmed & halved
  • 100g tenderstem broccoli, trimmed
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Heat your oven to 180°C (fan)/gas 5.

Trim the fennel bulb removing any discoloured outer leaves, then halve it. Now halve the halves so you have four quarter wedges. Cut out most of the hard core but leave enough to keep the quarters intact. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a shallow casserole and brown the cut sides of the fennel wedges – you aren’t cooking them, just browning. Set aside.

Heat another tablespoon of oil and fry the onion and peppers for about 10 minutes until the onion is lightly tinged golden. Add the tomatoes and cook until soft. Add the garlic and both smoked paprikas and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the beans, sweet potato, stock and rosemary. Bring all to the boil, reduce the heat and cook gently for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle the rice in and around the veggies, working it under the liquid. Add the fennel and chicory, let the stock come to the boil, season well then transfer (uncovered) to the oven.

Cook for 15 minutes before laying the broccoli evenly on top and drizzling with a little olive oil. Check to see that there is enough liquid to keep the rice just covered; add a little water if not. Bake for another 15 minutes when the rice should be cooked. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the dish.

Saffron allioli is supposedly a good accompaniment, though my “saffron is pointless alongside other strong flavours” thing kicks in there. Regular allioli would be fine.


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Posted in Vegetarian Tagged with:

Vegetable Tagine

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I remain a commited carnivore but this was a decent vegetable-only dish. It is based on something found on Jamie Oliver’s website but it needed some modification, in my opinion. First of all, the original used expensive saffron which I can never see the point of in something naturally strongly flovoured – saffron is very mildly flavoured and with 2kg of spicy vegetables you’ll never taste it. Secondly, some of the spices in the original needed doubling (which I’ve done) to get a decent Moroccan flavour.

Clearly the choice of veggies is yours and you will undoubtedly have some of your purchases left over for another use. Butternut squash, for example, is large so roast the remaining half with your Sunday joint. If you are like me, you could double up on the chickpeas.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: 1 hr

Ingredients

  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 4cm piece ginger
  • olive oil
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ras el hanout
  • 1 tbs tomato paste
  • 2½kg mixed vegetables (e.g. aubergine, courgette, cherry tomatoes, red onion, butternut squash, sweet peppers)
  • 400g tin chickpeas
  • 100g dried (soft) apricots, chopped
  • 1 preserved lemon (rind only), chopped
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Peel and finely slice the garlic and ginger, then place in a large casserole over medium heat with the oil, cumin, cinnamon and ras el hanout. Add the tomato paste and fry for a few minutes, stirring regularly.

Add some water, say 250 ml to get things going. Trim and chop your veggies into sizeable chunks, adding them to the pan as you go. (Don’t peel butternut squash; it isn’t necessary.) Add the apricots along with the preserved lemon rind, then tip in the chickpeas, juice and all.

Season with some salt and pepper (you can always add more later) and give everything a good stir being careful not to throw your veg all over the top of the cooker (my pan was pretty full). Simmer gently for about 40 minutes.

Rose harissa rippled through some natural Greek yoghurt made a very pleasant accompaniment and you can, of course, serve it all with couscous.


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Posted in Vegetarian Tagged with:

Seafood Stock

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A classic seafood stock, perhaps for seafood rice dishes, made ideally from langoustines or, failing that given the lack of availability in the UK (most are exported to Spain or France), large prawns can be substituted. This is required for Arroz Roja with Langoustines.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 1 mins
cooking time: 1 hr

Ingredients

  • 8 langoustines or large prawns
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 celery stick, chopped
  • 60ml white wine
  • 1.5 litres fish stock or water
  • fresh tarragon sprig
  • 150g tomatoes roughly chopped
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Start by peeling the langoustines/prawns and set the flesh aside for your main purpose. Roughly chop the heads and shells for the stock.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Gently fry the onion, carrot and celery for a few minutes until softened. Add the chopped langoustine/prawn heads and shells and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the white wine, bring to the boil and cook for a minute, then add the fish stock or water, tarragon and tomatoes.

Cook for 40 minutes, then push everything through a fine sieve over a large pan, pressing with a wooden spoon to extract as much flavour as you can.


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Posted in Starters

Arroz Roja with Langoustines

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Langoustines can be difficult to source in the UK since most of our excellent examples from Scotland are exported to Spain or France, tragically. Large Prawns make a decent substitute. Use the shells and heads to make the seafood stock.

This is essentially a seafood paella. I’m clearly collecting coloured paella recipes. I got hooked on Arroz Negro (black rice) some years ago nad now here is Arroz Roja (red rice). In a departure from normal practice, here the seafod is cooked separately, though. Mr. Stein’s original uses, in his inimitable fashion, a pinch of chilli flakes but I’ve gone for some hot-smoked paprika instead, to supplement the sweet paprika.

I usually write my paella recipes for two because that’s the number most suited to my domestic paella pan, though scaling up is a simple affair.

Planning

serves: 2
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: 25 mins

Ingredients

  • 8 langoustines or large prawns, flesh of
  • 4 tbs olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • ½ tsp sweet paprika
  • ½ tsp hot smoked paprika
  • 1 tbs tomato purée
  • 200g tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 roasted red pepper (bottled or freshly roasted), chopped into 1cm pieces
  • 200g paella rice
  • 600 ml seafood stock
  • 200g haddock fillet, skin on, cut into 4 pieces
  • 3 tbs allioli (to serve)
  • 2 tbs fresh parsley, chopped (to serve)
  • 2 fresh lemon wedges (to serve)
  • Salt & pepper

Method

In a paella, large skillet or shallow flameproof casserole dish (28-30cm/11-12in), heat 4 tablespoons of the olive oil over a medium heat. Add the onion and fry gently for about 5 minutes, then add the garlic and fry for a minute without browning. Stir in both paprikas, tomato purée, chopped tomatoes, chopped red pepper, shellfish stock and rice, then season with salt and pepper. Stir once, then bring up to the boil and simmer vigorously for about 6 minutes. Turn the heat down and cook for a further 12 minutes, until the stock is absorbed and the rice is pitted with small holes. [Standard paella practice.]

A few minutes before the rice is due to finish cooking, heat the remaining olive oil in a separate pan over a medium-high heat. Add the haddock, skin-side down, and cook until the flesh is opaque. Add the langoustine/prawn meat and cook for about 30 seconds or so until pink, turning them once.

Divide the rice between two plates and top each with two pieces of haddock and four langoustines/prawns. Garnish with allioli, chopped parsley and a wedge of lemon, if you like.


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Posted in Fish, Seafood Tagged with: