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Ratatouille

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

This is one of my absolute favourites; it positively screams Mediterranean and sunshine at you.

This is one of our weekly staples and can be used in a wonderful variety of ways. What better way to accompany a barbecued shoulder of lamb? Perhaps a little less obvious is that it goes very well with Cajun blackened dishes: pork chop, chicken breast or salmon fillet. More recently, copying a little trick we learned in Madrid, it forms a great base for Heuvos Rotos (Broken Eggs) for lunch.

The moral here is always to make more Ratatouille than you think you need immediately.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 5 mins
cooking time: 45 mins

Ingredients

  • 4 fl oz extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 medium onions
  • a few sprigs fresh thyme (or substitute ½ tsp dried thyme)
  • 2 large sweet peppers (red/yellow/mixture)
  • 3 medium courgettes
  • 1 large aubergine
  • 2 or 3 large vine tomatoes
  • 1 tsp salt (approx)
  • 4 plump cloves garlic

Method

(In the following, all vegetable ingredients should be cut into roughly 2cm chunks.)

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a deep pan large enough to take all the ingredients. Cut up the onion and fry it in the oil without colouring for about 3 mins, together with the thyme.

While the onion is cooking, remover the pith and seeds from the peppers and cut them up. Add them to the pan, stir and continue cooking for another 3 mins without colouring, stirring once more.

While that’s happening, top and tail the courgettes, quarter them lengthwise and chunk them. Add the chunks to the mixture, stir and continue to cook for another 3 mins stirring once more.

Meanwhile, chop up the garlic and crush it with salt. Stir this into the vegetables.

Now top and tail the aubergine and cut it up. Stir this in to the mixture and continue cooking for about another 3 mins, stirring once more.

Meanwhile, core and chop up the tomatoes. Stir the tomatoes into the mixture. Lower the heat, cover and cook gently for about 15 minutes. Stir well and simmer for another 15 minutes.


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Posted in Veggies Tagged with:

Huevos Rotos

Posted on by JC — 1 Comment ↓

OK, I’ve got this under veggies which may be a bit of a stretch given the eggs. This has become one of our staple lunches.

Heuvos Rotos is Spanish for Broken Eggs. It is usually made with fried eggs being broken over fried potatoes, sometimes with jamon thrown in for good measure. However, we first had it in Madrid where the eggs were served over a sort of Ratatouille mixture, though they used green peppers instead of sweet peppers. We now make it as a handy-dandy lunch using left over Ratatouille (I always make enough to have leftovers).

Louisiana hot sauce makes a wonderful addition.

Planning

serves: 2
preparation time: 5 mins
cooking time: 4 mins

Ingredients

  • 4 ladles leftover Ratatouille
  • 2 or 4 (if hungrier) eggs
  • hot sauce, such as Louisiana
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Reheat the leftover Ratatouille in the microwave or pan. Meanwhile, fry the eggs making sure you leave the yolks soft.

Spoon the Rat. into suitable serving bowls. Place the eggs on top of the Rat. Season to taste with salt flakes and coarsely ground black pepper. Shake over hot sauce to taste.

It is de rigueur to break the egg yolks into the underlying veggies. Enjoy.


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Posted in Veggies Tagged with:

Roast Chicken and Mushroom Risotto

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It’s difficult to beat a roast chicken; I make them frequently. With two of us, though, having eaten the breasts hot, we have the legs left over. This is our favourite way of making use of the legs when it isn’t really salad weather.

I prefer not to add parmesan cheese to this – it seems to taste cleaner without – but that’s personal taste. Go ahead and use it if that’s your preference.

Planning

serves: 2-3
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 40 mins

Ingredients

  • 2 roast chicken legs
  • 250g mushrooms
  • 100g unsalted butter
  • 1 modest onion, finely chopped
  • 2 ribs celery, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 140g carnaroli rice
  • 75ml dry vermouth
  • 500ml chicken stock, hot
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Strip the skin off the chicken legs (it goes soggy), remove the meat from the bones and cut the meat into 1cm dice.

Similarly, cut the mushrooms into 1cm dice. Melt about half the butter in your chosen risotto pan over medium high heat and sauté the mushrooms for about 2 minutes. Add 1 chopped garlic clove to the mushrooms, stir and sauté for another 2 minutes. Decant the mushroom mixture into a bowl and reserve. Mushroom flavoured liquid will accumulate with the mushrooms.

Melt the remaining butter in your risotto pan. Sweat the onion and celery in the butter to soften. Add the remaining 2 cloves garlic and sweat for 2 minutes more without colouring. Stir in the rice and cook over gentle heat to make the grains glossy and get the edges translucent. Throw in the vermouth and stir, letting it evaporate completely.

Add the mushrooms and their liquid to the rice and stir. Allow the mushroom liquid to be absorbed. Now start adding the hot stock over medium-gentle heat. Start with a quarter of the stock, stir frequently and let it be absorbed. The stirring releases starch and makes the risotto creamy. Keep it at a gentle simmer.

Add two further quarters of the stock separately, stirring and allowing it to be absorbed with each addition. With homemade (unseasoned) stock, I season this as I go.

Now stir in the chicken meat and add the final quarter of stock. Keep the gentle simmer going and stir frequently. When this liquid is almost completely absorbed, the rice should be tender. A risotto should end up slightly wet, though.

If you would like to add about 50g of freshly grated parmesan, now is the time do it. Stir the risotto to let the cheese melt. Adjust the seasoning.

Cover the pan and let it sit for a couple of minutes before serving with a fresh green salad.


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Posted in Poultry Tagged with:

Risotto Milanese

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

This is the traditional accompaniment for Osso Buco when you are not watching your figure.

Depending on how you are serving this, I’d use either beef stock or chicken stock but home made, not nasty dehydrated cubes. I personally find brown chicken stock a good, easier alternative to beef stock which can be tricky, for me, anyway.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: 25 mins

Ingredients

  • 240g carnaroli rice
  • ½ onion, finely chopped
  • 50g parmesan, freshly grated
  • 1 tsp saffron threads
  • 80/100g butter
  • olive oil
  • 200ml dry white wine
  • 1l stock, kept hot
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Melt 80g of the butter over medium heat together with a little olive oil to stop it burning. Add the chopped onion and soften it for a few minutes. Now stir in the rice and cook it for 2-3 minutes until it becomes translucent around the grain edges, stirring frequently. Add the white eine and bubble it away until it evaporates, stirring frequently again.

Now we start adding the hot stock ladel by ladel. Add the first and stir in the saffron threads. Maintain a reasonable simmer and stir frequently as teh liquid is absorbed. Add further ladels of stock as it gets absorbed and continue stirring now and then.

You’ll probably need to add about 750mls of the stock by which time the rice should be very nearly cooked. Turn off the heat and aprinkle on the parmesan without stirring, together with another knob of butter broken up. Let it sit for two minutes during which time the rice should finish cooking and the parmesan will melt.

Season with a little salt (careful, the parmesan is salty) and pepper, then stir it all together quite vigorously.


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Posted in Accompaniments Tagged with:

Osso Buco

Posted on by JC — 1 Comment ↓

This is classic braised, thick slices of veal shin hailing from Lombardy. Now that Rose Veal is available, we can enjoy it again. The marrow in the centre of the bones is particularly prized to the extent of providing special spoons to access it.

There appears to be a debate as to whether tomato should be included or not. I love tomatoes so they are in my version, though I found fresh Italian plum tomatoes which are less intense than the canned variety.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

  • 4 pieces of veal shin, about 4cm thick
  • flour, to coat
  • 4 tbs butter
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 stick celery, diced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, sliced
  • olive oil
  • 200ml dry white wine
  • 300ml chicken stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 sprig fresh thyme
  • 400ml can tomatoes, chopped
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Tie veal shanks with string to stop them falling apart in cooking. Season with salt and pepper, then dust with flour.

Heat a large frying pan and add enough olive oil to cover the base. Brown the veal on both sides.

Select a braising pan large enough to fit the veal shins snuggly and place pan on a moderate heat. Melt the butter then add the onion, celery, carrot and garlic. Stir the vegetables for about 10 minutes until they are slightly coloured. Deglaze the pan with the wine, then add the stock, tomatoes, thyme and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer and nestle the veal back into the pan.

Cover the braising pan and place in the oven for approximately 2½ hours. The veal should be very tender. I would resist straining and reducing the braising liquid, especially if using tinned tomatoes, because it gets a bit too intense, in my opinion.

This is traditionally served with Gremolata and Risotto Milanese.


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Posted in Meat Tagged with:

Gremolata

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A classic Italian condiment for adding zest to meats, whether roast or braised. My first encounter was with Osso Buco.

Planning

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

Ingredients

  • A large handful of flat leaved parsley
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 2 unwaxed lemons
  • olive oil
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Pick off all the parsely leaves. Mince or finely chop the garlic cloves. Zest the lemons. Chop these three ingredients together and put the mixture in a bowl. Slacken the mixture slightly with a little extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.


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Posted in Accompaniments, Sauces Tagged with:

Smoked Mackerel Paté

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I’d wanted to do something along these lines for some time and finally did. This is pared down to the minimum to let the mackerel speak for itself.

Planning

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

Ingredients

  • 200g hot smoked mackerel fillets, skinned
  • 100g light cream cheese
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Once skinned, break up the mackerel roughly and throw it in the bowl of a blitzer. Add the light cream cheese (e.g. Philly light) and the lemon juice. Don’t swamp the mackerel with too much lemon. Now put in a few twists of black pepper and salt, being careful not to overdo these either. Blitz for 20-30 seconds or so to mix thoroughly and to get a texture that you like.

Pack the paté into individual serving pots for a dinner party starter.

I like to serve this with lightly toasted sourdough bread … and butter, of course.


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Posted in Starters Tagged with:

Merluza a la Koxkera

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Or, Hake with Clams, Asparagus, Peas and Parsley, if you prefer. The Spanish love their hake and this is a very pleasant way of serving it taken from the eminent Mr. Stein’s book, Spain.

I’m lucky enough to be able to buy frozen clams, albethey from Thailand, in my local Waitrose. Mr. Stein says you can use frozen peas but I remain unconvinced. Naturally I’v emodified it a little.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients

  • 4 x 200g pieces hake, skinned
  • 200g asparagus tips, in 4cm lengths
  • 250g fresh garden peas (podded weight)
  • plain flour for dusting + 1 tbs
  • 6 tbs olive oil
  • 4 plump garlic cloves, finely sliced
  • 100g shallots, finely chopped
  • 175ml dry white wine
  • 100ml fish stock
  • 250g clams in the shell
  • 1 tbs parsley, chopped
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Season the hake pieces with salt and set aside for 15 mins or so. Meanwhile, drop the asparagus tips and peas into well salted boiling water (modification – I use the fish stock for this) and simmer for 2 minutes. (We aren’t cooking them completely at this point.) Drain the veggies and, if you’ve used the stock instead of water, keep it for later, of course.

Dust the hake pieces in flour and shake off the excess. Heat 4 tbs oil in a large frying pan on medium heat and fry the hake for 2-3 minutes on each side until lightly coloured and almost cooked through. Lift the hake onto a plate and set to one side.

Add 2 tbs oil to the pan and cook the garlic and shallots over medium heat until lightly golden. Stir in the 1 tbs flour then gradually blend in the wine and stock to make a smooth sauce. Bring to a simmer, return the hake to the pan and cook for a minute. Add the clams, peas and asparagus, cover and cook for 2-3 minutes until the clams have opened and the fish is cooked through.

Adjust the seasoning of the sauce, scatter over the parsley and serve.


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Posted in Fish Tagged with:

Thai-style Chicken Noodle Soup

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This is from Waitrose Food magazine where it was just called Chicken Noodle Soup. I suspect this is fusion food but the influences look very reminiscent of Thailand so this is my title. In any event, it looked interesting enough to try and more like a meal in a bowl.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time:

Ingredients

  • 1 modest free range chicken
  • 8 black peppercorns
  • 2 stalks lemongrass, squashed
  • 60g resh ginger, sliced
  • 20g fresh ginger, finely chopped
  • 1 bunch spring onions, trimmed
  • 6 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 2 star anise
  • 25g fresh coriander, stalks & leaves separated
  • 250g pak choi, heads quartered lengthwise
  • 2 red chillis, 1 finely chopped, 1 finely sliced
  • 200g rice noodles
  • juice of 1 lime
  • 1 lime quartered to serve
  • 2 tbs Thai fish sauce
  • Salt

Method

Slice 2 of the spring onions and reserve for serving.

Pick a saucepan or flameproof casserole just large enough to hold the chicken and put it in together with the remaining spring onions halved, the peppercorns, star anise, lemongrass, sliced ginger, garlic and coriander stalks. (Phew!) Pour over enough water to just cover the chicken. Bring it to a simmer, add about 1tsp salt, cover and cook gently for an hour, or until the chicken is just cooked.

Lift the chicken from the broth, draining it well into the pan, and set aside on a board to cool. Strain the cooking liquor into a large bowl. Discard the aromatics.

Clean the pan and return the strained liquid. Reduce the liquid over medium-high heat to leave about 1½ litres.

When the chicken is cool enough to handle, pull it apart discarding the skin and bones. Shred the meat into bite-sized pieces.

When the broth has reduced, add the reserved spring onions, the chopped ginger, quartered pak choi and 1 chopped red chilli. Add as much of the chicken meat as you think necessary, reserving the remainder for sandwiches or risottos. Simmer the soup for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile cook the rice noodles according to the pack instructions.

To serve, divide the noodles between 4 warmed bowls. Stir the lime juice and fish sauce into the broth and ladle it over the noodles. Add the sliced red chilli and coriander leaves. Have quartered lime and extra fish sauce to hand as desired.


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Posted in Soups, Untested Tagged with:

Bhindi Bhaji

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A part of my attempt at BIR (British Indian Restaurant) curries, Bhindi Bhaji is one of our favourite vegetable accompaniments.

Planning

serves: 2/3
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients

  • 500g fresh okra
  • 2 medium onions, halved & finely sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
  • 1 medium green chilli, sliced
  • 2 medium tomatoes, diced
  • ½ tsp ground corianger
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • ¼ tsp ground turmeric
  • ½ tsp mild chilli powder

Method

Wash, top and tail the okra, then cut into 1-2cm lengths. Pre-fry these in vegetable oil for about 5 minutes. Set them aside in a bowl.

In a little more oil, over medium heat fry the onions until soft and translucent, stirring frequently. Stir in the sliced garlic and chilli and fry for 2 minutes more. Now return the okra to the pan and continue cooking, mixing to blend all together. Add the tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes or so to start them breaking down. Stir in the spices and cook for about 5 more minutes before serving.


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Posted in Veggies Tagged with: