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Skorthaliá

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Summertime means that Greek food should be tried on a regular basis. This version of garlic sauce is basically (very) garlicky mayonnaise with ground almonds added for body and texture. It makes a good dip, along with the usual suspects, for pitta bread. It is also supposed to work well as an accompaniment for fish and vegetables.

Planning

serves: ~ ½ pint
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: n/a

Ingredients

  • Yolks of 2 v. large eggs
  • 2 tbs lemon juice
  • 1 tbs white wine vinegar
  • 5 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 8 fl oz olive oil
  • Salt & pepper
  • 3 ozs ground almonds

Method

Put everything except the olive oil and ground almonds into a food processor and blend for 30 seconds. With the food processor running, add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream. The sauce will thicken. If it seems too thick, slacken it off with a little water.

Transfer the sauce into a storage container or serving dish and stir in the ground almonds. It tastes quite lemony at this stage but read on. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving. The almonds will thicken the sauce/dip a little more and the lemony flavour will soften.


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Posted in Accompaniments Tagged with:

Shrimp Etouffée

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This is basically Paul Prudhomme’s crawfish etouffée from his Louisiana Kitchen made with large prawns, which are a more readily available substitute for rarely seen freshwater crayfish. (One day, I must make a crayfish trap for use in the local canal.) I’ve also calmed down the heat a little by reducing the cayenne pepper. If you would like it hotter, you know what to do.

I’ve reduced the amount of flour in the roux a little and it still seems very high. Fear not; there is a reason: the more (i.e. darker) the flour gets cooked, the more it looses its thickening properties. Since this should be a dark roux, it needs more flour to thicken it. Making a darker roux without burning the flour takes a little faith and practice but do have a go. Try a little less at first, if you want. Once experienced, you could try increasing the flour content to the original recipe level of 75g.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients

  • Seasoning mix:1 tsp sea salt1 tsp cayenne pepper½ tsp white pepper½ tsp black pepper2 tsp dried basil1 tsp dried thyme
  • 40g onions, finely chopped
  • 40g celery, finely chopped
  • 40g green pepper, finely chopped
  • 5 tbsp groundnut oil
  • 60g plain flour
  • 700ml seafood stock
  • 40 large prawns, raw & prepared
  • 200g butter
  • 1 bunch spring onions, finely chopped

Method

Start by combining the seasoning mix and dividing it evenly between two small containers. Then combine the chopped onion, celery and green pepper in a bowl.

Now the tricky part – making the roux (a.k.a. cajun napalm). A cast iron skillet is best, preferably of a light interior colour so you can see the colour change. Be very careful not to splash yourself or anyone else. Heat the oil over high heat almost to smoking point. Prepare to stir immediately with a wooden flat bladed spatula and toss in the flour. Stirring constantly and making sure to scrape all the flour from the bottom of the pan all the time, continue cooking while the mixture darkens to a red-brown colour which should take about 3 – 5 mins, depending upon how brave you are with the heat. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chopped onion, celery and green pepper mix together with one portion of the seasoning mix. Continue stirring until the mixture cools.

Bring the seafood stock to simmering point and stir in the roux mixture whisking constantly to avoid lumps. Reduce the heat to low and cook the thickened mixture for a few minutes, stirring constantly, to cook out the flour taste. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In another pan, melt 100g of the butter over medium heat and sauté the prawns and chopped spring onions for a minute. Add the thickened stock mixture and the remaining portion of seasoning mix. Stir well and cook gently for about three minutes; the prawns should be just cooked. Add the remaining 100g butter and stir or shake the pan gently until the butter dissolves (about a minute).

Serve surrounding mounds of cajun rice.


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Posted in Seafood Tagged with:

Cajun Rice

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My version, Anglicized, freshened up (real garlic instead of garlic powder) and cooked differently, of Paul Prudhomme’s “Basic Rice” in Louisiana Kitchen . This is a very necessary accompaniment to Shrimp Etouffée. I like to mould it in ramekins lined with cling film and make a neat mound of rice surrounded by the Shrimp Etouffée.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients

  • 8 oz long grain rice, washed to remove starch
  • 16 fl oz stock (seafood if accompanying shrimps)
  • 1 tbs onion, very finely chopped
  • 1 tbs celery, very finely chopped
  • 1 tbs green pepper, very finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, very finely chopped
  • pinch cayenne pepper
  • pinch black pepper
  • salt
  • 1 tbs butter

Method

Bring the stock to the boil in a small/medium pan and add all the ingredients except the butter. Bring the rice back to the boil and simmer very gently until the rice is cooked. (Take care not to burn it – add a little more stock if necessary.) Gently stir in the butter trying not to break the grains.

[Depending on the rice, all or most of the liquid should have been absorbed. If not, leave it to stand while cooling and it see if that absorbs it. As a last resort, drain it and adjust the liquid for next time.]

If you’re feeling fancy, line four ramekins with cling film and pack them (not too firmly) with rice. Fold the excess cling film over the top. The ramekins can be prepared ahead of time and very successfully reheated in “the dreaded microwave” when required. To serve, use kitchen scissors to snip off the covering cling film, invert a plate over the top of each ramekin and flip both right side up. The moulded rice should release cleanly onto the plate with no more than a gentle tap.


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Posted in Veggies Tagged with:

Caramelized Red Onion

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There are various recipes flying around for so-called Red Onion Marmalade or Caramelized Onion. The thing that seems to vary most is the sweetness or otherwise of the recipes. This version was my smashing together of a couple of recipes for a tapas meal. It is slightly sweet and goes very well with chicken or duck livers, either whole or made into a paté.

Planning

serves: lots
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: 45 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 tbs butter
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 2 large red onions, halved and finely sliced
  • 150ml red wine
  • 50ml sherry or balsamic vinegar
  • ~8 tsp golden caster sugar
  • Salt

Method

Melt the butter and olive oil together in a heavy-based pan. Add the finely sliced onions and fry gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, to soften but not colour. Add the red wine, vinegar and a little salt. Set this mixture simmering gently until all the liquid has evaporated (it will take about 30 minutes).

While it is cooking, add the sugar a spoonful at a time to adjust the sweetness to your liking. As the evaporation progresses, watch the heat so that it doesn’t catch and burn.

Put the caramelized onion in a bowl and allow to cool.

This is a wonderful topping for live ras part of a tapas meal but it also works with some cheeses and cold meats.


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Posted in Accompaniments Tagged with:

Sloe Gin

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This is my own adaptation of a recipe which works well for me. What you end up with is liqueur-like but not too cloyingly sweet. The flavour of the fruit should shine through and, perversely, is enhanced by the use of cheaper, less strongly-flavoured gin. Aldi, here we come …

Planning

serves: 1 (joke)
preparation time: 6 months
cooking time: n/a

Ingredients

  • sloes, washed and pricked with a fork.
  • sugar
  • gin (the cheaper the better)
  • almond essence

Method

Your bottles must be clean and dry to start with. Half-fill each bottle with pricked sloes (I prick them as I go and get my fingers in a terrible mess). Depending upon bottle size, add sugar as follows: 750ml bottle – 2oz, 1000ml bottle – 3 oz. (I know those proportions are not quite consistent but it seems ot work.) Top each bottle up with your cheap gin and stopper them.

Find somewhere cool to store the bottles. For the first week, agitate the bottles well daily by inverting them a few times. After the first week leave them well alone (as in, don’t drink them) for at least 3 months and preferably 6 months. Just try to forget them, though further occasional agitations would not go amiss.

After 3/6 months you should have a very appealing deep red liquid. Strain the gin into a single container so as to distribute the sweetness evenly. Using fresh, clean, sterilized bottles (preferably clear glass), bottle and cap the gin. Now drive yourself completely nuts by standing it and leaving it well alone for at least another month, preferably 3 months.

OK, have at it!


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Posted in Drinks Tagged with:

Dukkah

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One triggered by Paul and Liz’s trip to New Zealand in 2009. It made such an impression that Paul had to write about it so there’s clearly a need to make a note of it. The idea is to dip bread in olive oil, then into this Dukkah mixture.

This version comes from Claudia Roden’s, A New Book of Middle Eastern Food .

Planning

serves: An army
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: n/a

Ingredients

  • 500g sesame seeds
  • 250g coriander seeds
  • 125g hazelnuts
  • 125g ground cumin
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Dry roast the ingredients separately, so as not to overcook any). Pound them together until they are finely crushed but not pulverized to a powder. A short blast in an electric blender woudl seem to save a lot of effort. Too long will release oil from the seeds and nuts forming a paste which we don’t want.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

This mixture can apparently be stored for many weeks in covered jars.


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Posted in Accompaniments Tagged with:

Tarragon Chicken

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A swift Internet investigation of either Tarragon Chicken or, in French, Poulet à l’Estragon reveals that there seems to be no standard way to prepare, or even to describe, such a dish. This idea for a roasted whole chicken version was given to me by a former colleague and it seems to work admirably.

The same friend also told me that a Gewurtztraminer wine makes an ideal accompaniment. Once again, he was absolutely right.

Planning

serves: 2/4
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: 1-1¼ hrs

Ingredients

  • 1 medium roasting Chicken
  • 1 pack fresh tarragon (20-25g)
  • 125g butter
  • 30g plain flour
  • 300ml water
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas 6. Put a roasting pan, one that will hold the chicken comfortably, into the oven to heat, also.

Pick the best young leaves from the tips of the tarragon stalks and reserve them to add to the sauce when it’s made. Cram the remaining tarragon (whole, no need to chop) along with 100g of the butter into the cavity of the chicken.

When the roasting pan is hot, add the remaining 25g butter so that it melts then put the chicken into the pan. Season the skin of the chicken lightly with salt and pepper and return it to the oven to roast. While the chicken is roasting, chop the reserved tarragon leaves. Cooking time will naturally vary depending on chicken size but 50 minutes to one hour 10 minutes usually does it; check using the tried and trusted thigh-piercing technique and make sure the juices run clear.

Remove the chicken from the oven. The butter will have been well flavoured by the tarragon and most will have flowed from the body cavity into the pan. Tilt the chicken to encourage the remaining juices out, then keep it warm while you make the sauce.

Put the roasting pan with the tarragon-flavoured butter onto a gentle heat and stir in the flour. Cook the butter in the flour for a couple of minutes. Now you are essentially making a white sauce but with water. (I was tempted to use chicken stock once. Don’t – it’s better with water.) Add the water gradually, stirring between additions to avoid lumps. When all the water is added, increase the heat slightly and bring to simmering point. Simmer for a couple of minutes to cook out any raw flour taste. Season with salt, papper and the reserved, chopped tarragon.

Collect any juices running from the chicken while resting and when you carve it and stir them into the sauce.


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Caponata

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This is a difficult-to-describe concoction: aubergines in a tomatoey, pickley kind of mixture – a sort of Italian slightly sour ratatouille. It makes a great addition to a series of dips for some pitta bread when nattering with friends and a few preprandial drinks.

Planning

serves: 4-6
preparation time: 20 mins
cooking time: 40 mins

Ingredients

  • 500g aubergine, peeled & diced (1cm)
  • 4 tbs olive oil
  • 100g celery, finely chopped
  • 50g onion, finely chopped
  • 3 tbs wine vinegar mixed with 2 tsp caster sugar
  • 400g tomatoes, chopped (or 1 can plum tomatoes, drained)
  • 2 tsp tomato purée
  • 6 green olives, pitted & slivered
  • 1 tbs capers
  • 3 anchovy fillets, pounded smooth
  • 1 tbs pine kernels
  • Salt & pepper

Method

If you feel the need, degorge the aubergine chunks in the traditional manner by sprinkling with salt and leaving to drain for 30 minutes. (Personally, I don’t find this necessary these days. I suspect the food engineers have been at the aubergines.)

Heat half the oil in a large, heavy frying pan. Add the celery and cook gently, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes to soften (without colouring at this stage). Stir in the onions and cook for another 8-10 minutes to soften and for everything to become lightly coloured. Transfer to a bowl with a slotted spoon.

Add the remaining olive oil, increase the heat and sauté the aubergine cubes, stirring and turning for about 8 minutes until they are lightly browned. You may need to add a little more olive oil. Return the onion and celery mixture to the pan and stir in the vinegar & sugar mixture, the tomatoes, tomato purée, green olive slivers, capers and anchovies. Season a little with salt and pepper being careful of the salt (due to the anchovies). Simmer uncovered, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes.

Stir in the pine kernels and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and vinegar (there should be a slight but not overpowering sourness).

Leave to cool before refrigerating until needed.


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Posted in Starters Tagged with:

Roast Butternut Squash Risotto

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Butternut squash has become very popular, almost ubiquitous, and it’s an orange colour so it must be good for you. I think it is at its best roasted when the full flavour develops. As well as making a good accompaniment to a Sunday roast or, better still, a Sunday barbecued joint, roasted butternut squash shines very well in this risotto recipe.

Planning

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

Ingredients

  • 1 butternut squash
  • 1 tbs coriander seeds
  • 1 dried red chilli, seeds removed
  • Salt & pepper
  • olive oil
  • 100g butter
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 1 rib celery, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 wineglass dry white vermouth
  • 320g risotto rice
  • 75g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
  • 1 ltr chicken stock, hot

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas mark 5. Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. (If you can be bothered, pick the seeds out of the pith and reserve them for later. They can be roasted and added to the dish.) Cut the squash into 1cm slices. Don’t bother to skin the squash, the apparently waxy, hard skin gets softer with cooking.

Crumble the dried red chilli into a pestle and mortar with the coriander seeds and a pinch of salt and pepper. Grind all this together, mix with a tablespoon or so of olive oil and rub this all over the butternut squash slices. Put the squash in a roasting tray and cook in the oven for about 30 minutes. If you’ve reserved the squash seeds, stir them in to the roasting tray and roast for another 5 – 10 minutes, otherwise just leave the squash for the additional time. Remove the squash from the oven and allow it to cool enough to handle. It will have shrivelled a little and be quite soft now; chop it into chunks of about 1cm.

When you are ready, make the risotto. Get the stock hot in a separate pan ready to add to the risotto in batches. In your chosen risotto pan, melt half the butter over moderate heat. Reduce the heat to low, add the finely chopped onion, celery and garlic and fry gently for about 10 minutes to soften without colouring. Now add the rice; increase the heat slightly and, stirring constantly so as not to burn it, cook the rice for about 2 minutes when it should begin to look a little translucent. Add the vermouth and let the alcohol bubble off so the angels can have it. 🙂

Once the rice has absorbed the vermouth, you can start adding the stock, which should be very hot so as to keep the simmer going. Add the hot stock one ladle at a time. With the first ladelful only, add about half a teaspoon of salt. Adjust the heat so that the stock simmers and the rice does not cook too quickly. Stir the rice frequently to help release the starch and make the traditional creamy consistency of risotto. As each ladelful of stock is absorbed, add another and continue simmering and stirring. In this manner, it should take about 15 – 20 minutes to get all the stock incorporated.

Now stir in the diced, roasted butternut squash. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper now, remembering that the Parmesan cheese (added next) is salty so go easy. Add the parmesan cheese with the remaining half of the butter and stir again. Cover the pan with a lid and let it sit for two minutes; this reheats the squash but most importantly makes the risotto wondefully unctious. (Now there’s a posh word for some posh nosh.)

If you’ve roasted the squash seeds, sprinkle them on top. A few sage leaves quickly fried in butter wouldn’t go amiss, either.

This really just needs a good leafy salad, appropriately dressed, for accompaniment.


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Posted in Veggies Tagged with:

Hasenpfeffer

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The classic germanic hare stew taken from French Regional Cookery – Alsace , or so I thought. (Well, Alsace does suffer from a French/German identity crisis.) Before I’d cooked this, given my basic knowledge of German, I thought that the pfeffer part of the name might imply that it were a little peppery. It seems not, more’s the pity. Apparently, pfeffer also refers to thickening a dish with blood, just as in the very English jugged hare. Somewhat disappointingly, this might as well be called lièvre au vin or lièvre Bourguinon , for it closely resembles both. It does taste good, nonthemore for that.

Planning

serves: 6
preparation time: 3½ hrs
cooking time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

  • 225 g green bacon, diced
  • 1¾ kg hare, jointed, blood & liver reserved
  • salt & pepper
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 onions, sliced
  • 4 tbs olive oil
  • 2 tbs Marc d’Alsace or brandy
  • 50 g butter
  • 18 small onions, peeled
  • 18 button mushrooms, wiped
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 25 g plain flour
  • 350 ml red wine
  • 350 ml game or beef stock
  • bouquet garni
  • 5 tbs single cream
  • parsley sprigs for garnish

Method

Put the hare into a bowl and season with the salt, pepper and thyme. Add the bay leaf and one of the sliced onions. Combine the oil and Marc d’Alsace or brandy , and pour it over the hare. Turn the joints until well coated and set aside to marinate for 3 hrs.

Meanwhile, blanch the bacon in boiling water for a minute then drain and dry it. Melt half the butter in a frying pan and fry the bacon until golden. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and reserve. Now add the baby onions to the butter and fry for 5 minutes to clolour them slightly. Remove and reserve. Similarly, fry the mushrooms in the butter for 2 mins, remove and reserve.

Melt the remaining butter in the frying pan and add the last two sliced onions and crushed garlic. Fry for 4 – 5 mins until golden. Add the flour and fry gently until golden, stirring constantly.

Drain the hare, reserving the marinade, and pat the joints dry with kitchen paper. Add the hare to the roux and cook, stirring constantly, until browned. Pour over the red wine and stock and stir thoroughly before adding the bouquet garni. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer gently for 1½ hours until tender.

Transfer the hare to a flameproof casserole and add the reserve bacon, baby onions and mushrooms. Now add the reserved marinade to the pan in which the hare was browned, stir well to deglaze and strain the contents into the casserole. Cover the casserole and cook in a preheated oven at 175°C, gas mark 4 for 1 hour. 10 mins before the end, chop the reserved liver, stir it into the casserole and continue cooking.

Remove the casserole from the oven and place it over moderate heat. Mix the reserved blood with the cream and stir it into the casserole. Cook gently for about 5 mins, stirring all the time and be careful not to let it boil or it will curdle!

Serve the hasenpfeffer garnished with parsley sprigs and accompanied by noodles.


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