Chicken Chow Mein (Step-by-step guide)

This is a recipe with a step by step guide on how to make an authentic delicious homemade Chicken Chow Mein. The word means 'fried noodles', chow meaning 'fried', mein meaning 'noodles' and is a Chinese dish popular throughout Britain, the United States and India.

It really is very simple to make as it takes about 5 minutes to cook - its all about the preparation. There are six easy steps to the preparation for this dish, which takes no more than 15 minutes and one you have them all ready, you're good to go whenever you are hungry.

Ingredients:    (Serves 2 large portions)

2 medium chicken breasts, skin removed
1 tbsp. sake (Chinese rice wine)
3 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. cornflour (corn-starch)
1/4 cup (60ml) chicken stock (use 1/2 stock cube)
1 tbsp. hoisin sauce
large pinch of pepper
2 spring onions (scallions)
1 small carrot
1/2 green pepper
100g mange tout
handful cooked small prawns
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 red chilli
inch piece garlic
120g medium egg noodles

Step 1:
In a small container put the 1 tablespoon of Sake, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, the teaspoon of cornflower and whisk together. Slice the chicken and add to the marinade. Sir together. This is the chicken and marinade. Set to one side

Step 2:
In a separate container mix the chicken stock, the remaining 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, the hoisin sauce, pepper and stir together. This is the sauce for the dish. Set to one side

Step 3:
Slice the spring onions. Put the green part into a bowl. This is the garnish. Set to one side.

Step 4:
Put the white parts of the spring onion in a container and then slice the carrot, mange tout, onion and green pepper and add to the white part of the spring onion. Set the veg to one side.

Step 5:
Finely slice the garlic, chilli and ginger. Put in a separate bowl.

Step 6:
Cook the noodles in boiling water for 2 minutes and drain. Refresh in a colander under cold water to stop the cooking process and put in a bowl with a teaspoon of oil to stop them sticking.

You will now have six containers. The chicken marinating, the sauce prepared, the noodles cooked and the vegetables separated (below).

Garlic mix, Veg mix and Garnish

I love preparing all this and then getting on with something else in the knowledge that I can have a fantastic meal when I want that will be such a pleasure to cook as it takes five minutes!

Okay so now lets cook. In a wok or large pan, heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil (peanut oil is more authentic if you have it). Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and sizzle for 10 seconds. Add the chicken and its marinade and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the container of vegetables and cook, stirring in the hot oil for a further 2 minutes. Remove the veg and chicken from the pan and put into a bowl.

Heat another tablespoon of oil in the same pan and add the noodles. Stir fry for 2 minutes and then push them to the sides of the pan leaving a space in the middle. Pour in the prepared sauce and mix in. Then put the chicken and vegetables back in the pan and stir all together. Add the cooked prawns to heat through for a minute. That's it!  Serve on a large plate topped with the green onion garnish and eat!

Note: The Sake wine is easy to buy in most stores nowadays and although you don't use much, it lasts for ages. Keep it to one side and you will find you get through it if you like dishes like this. Alternatively you can drink it the way it is meant to be drunk. Put the bottle in a bowl of hot water to heat up and drink it hot. Delicious!

Perfectly Comforting Lasagne

I am only calling this perfect because I have cooked lasagne so, so many times with varying ingredients and this particular one was my favourite. I think its partly the half pork mince and half beef mince that makes it taste so much better, and also the use of just parmesan cheese. The pork mince is almost sweet and adds a lovely edge to the beef. I have used dried pasta sheets (cheap ones at that) and it tasted no different to when I make my own pasta. And I didn't put cheese all the way through it but just added parmesan to the béchamel sauce and topped with a bit more. Simple and perfect.

Ingredients for bolognaise:

250g lean pork mince
250g lean beef mince
4 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
1 large white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 small (or 1/2 large) carrot, chopped
200g button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried basil
400g tin chopped tomatoes
glass of red wine (or white if preferred)
100ml boiling water
1 beef stock cube

For béchamel sauce & lasagne:

35g butter
50g plain flour
600ml milk
60g parmesan cheese, fine grated (or use Grana Padano - is much cheaper and tastes the same) 
200g dried lasagne sheets (about 10 sheets)

Method:

Dry fry the meats in a large pan. If you use lean mince there should still be enough fat in that and the bacon to not need oil. (Try to avoid the fatty mince which usually has too much water in it too, making the meat 'stew' which is unpleasant). Add a teaspoon of oil if you find it sticking. 

Add the carrots and garlic and continue to stir until meats cooked through and beginning to brown. Add the mushrooms and herbs. Crumble the stock cube over the mixture and stir in. Add the chopped tomatoes, wine and water and turn up heat to cook off the alcohol. Stir well and turn the heat to a simmer. Leave to cook, uncovered for about 45 minutes to an hour , stirring occasionally, for flavours to develop and the sauce to thicken.

To make the white sauce, melt the butter in a medium pan. When melted, add the flour in one go and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 1 minute and then add the milk, a little at a time. Keep adding milk and stirring to get a smooth sauce the consistence of double cream. Don't make it too thick as you will need to pour it on the pasta. Add half of the grated parmesan and stir through.

To assemble use a 9 inch square lasagne dish and put 1/3 of the bolognaise in the bottom. Add a layer of dried pasta sheets, then 1/3 of white sauce. Repeat ending with white sauce and sprinkle over the remaining parmesan. Cover with lightly oiled kitchen foil and pop in the oven, set at 200 C for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and return to the oven for a further 20-25 minutes.

Serve with salad and a buttered baked potato if liked. Or garlic bread. All good!!

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes - Retro Recipe Day 5

I haven't had Lemon Meringue Pie for years. I distinctly remember the flavour like it was yesterday though, as I am sure many people can. I simply had to make it for retro week. However, The Bloke and I would never get through a whole pie so I had to downsize. And bring it up to date. So here we have my Lemon Meringue Cupcakes.

You can easily buy lemon curd in a jar. It makes this recipe take no time at all. But I have also added the recipe for homemade lemon curd too, as its just a nice thing to make yourself if you have the time.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

For the meringue:

Whisk together two egg white until stiff peak stage and slowly add 100g sugar in 3-4 stages, continuously whisking until glossy. Set to one side while you make the cupcakes.

For the cupcakes:

100g butter
100g caster sugar
100g self raising flour
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla essence
zest of 1 lemon

Cream together the butter and caster sugar until light and incorporated. Mix in the first egg and then the second whisking well. Whisk in the vanilla essence and lemon zest and fold in the flour. Note: This is a basic cupcake mix (excluding the lemon zest) that you can make with any added flavour or topping.

Fill the paper cases about two thirds up and cook at 180 C for 10 minutes.

Pipe the meringue on top of the cupcake and put back in the oven for a further 10 minutes, until browned on top.

There are two ways to incorporate the lemon curd. One is to put a teaspoon in the middle of the cupcake batter. You add a couple of teaspoons of the batter into the paper cake, then a teaspoon of lemon curd, topped with another couple of teaspoons of batter. Then cook for 20 minutes before topping with meringue and using the grill to brown the meringue. But personally, this way I find the curd gets a bit lost.

The way I did it was when the meringue topped cakes came out of the oven after its second 10 minutes, I let them cool for an hour, and simply lifted off the meringue top (it comes away easily). Added the curd to the top of the cupcake and put the meringue back on top. This way you are guaranteed a generous amount of the lemon curd!

The recipe for the lemon curd is:

175g sugar
110g butter, cubed
2 eggs
juice from 2 lemons

Put the ingredients into a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. Keep whisking until it thickens. It takes about 20 minutes so have faith. When its thicker, put into a sterilised jar ready for use. You can use any leftover curd to put on toast. Delicious!

Jerk Chicken & Calaloo Stuffed Rolls & Pork Beanos

Now this may look like I am veering off Retro Week, but I assure you I'm not so please bear with me! When I was a little girl back in the 70's, my mother used to make what she called 'Beanos'. I don't know if this was a name she made up or a recipe she came up with but it was simply baked beans in pastry - which looked a bit like a Cornish pasty. I loved them so had a go at making them the other day. I wasn't impressed. The pastry was just.. too much really and it was lacking something. I guess my taste has changed over the years. But it got me thinking of another story.

When I was in my twenties, I went to lunch with the receptionist one day. She was a lovely girl called Yvette whose roots were in Jamaica. She took me to a Caribbean bakery and she had a hot roll filled with salt fish (Ackee). I was a vegetarian in those days so opted for the Calaloo version (Calaloo is a Jamaican vegetable, similar to spinach/greens). It was delicious.

With both of these stories in mind I made these. First batch are ciabatta rolls filled with Jerk Chicken and Calaloo and the second batch are filled with tiny pork meatballs and beans. Lets start with the chicken ones.

For these I used a ciabatta bread mix which I have talked about it the past. Its quick and handy (pic at the bottom of this page). The pack I bought made eight large rolls. You make the dough to packet instructions - add water and a splash of olive oil - and have your fillings ready. Cut the dough in half (half for chicken, half for pork & beans).

You simply then just get the dough half and cut it into 4 equal pieces. Press out into a round of about 5-6 inches and fill the centre of the dough with one of the fillings. Pull up the sides and press to seal, using a little water if needed. Put onto a floured baking sheet, seam side down and complete the others. Then take the other half of dough, cut into four again and stuff with the other filling. Put onto a separate floured baking sheet. Leave them all for 15 minutes to rise.

For the Jerk Chicken & Calaloo

I marinated two small skinless chicken breasts in my jerk marinade, which I always have in my fridge (recipe here), for an hour and then baked, covered, in a 200 C oven for 20 minutes. Then I shredded the meat and put into a bowl. I chopped an onion and fried it gently in one tsp. of oil and when cooked added that to the chicken. Then I added 4-5 tablespoons of Calaloo (picture of the tin at the bottom of this page) and stirred together.

For the Pork & Beans

I seasoned about 200g pork mince with salt, pepper and garlic powder and made into one inch balls. Then fried in a little oil until browned and added to 400g tin of baked beans. 

 

The great thing about these rolls is that they can be eaten hot (microwave for 1 minute) or cold. You can bag them up and take to work for lunch, or take them on a picnic with the comfort of no spillages like you would with normal sandwiches!

I got a text from The Bloke at lunchtime today...a very happy man. He LOVED them both.

Here is the Calaloo - you can get it in most stores. And a picture of the bread mix. Happy baking!

Rustic Chicken Keiv - Retro Recipe Day 4

So here we still are with Retro Week and I'm noticing that the things I want to cook from back in the 70's and 80', are often ones that have stuck around and are still eaten today. The main reason for that is, I believe that food has got better in general. Some of the recipes I could cook are unhealthy and full of cheese, pastry, eggs and even more cheese.

So I ignored the steak and kidney pudding (I can't bear suet), the chicken cordon bleu and the vol-au-vents. The jam roly poly (suet again) and the eggs mornay. And stuck with the classic Chicken Kiev. This one was cooked on the bone and coated in large crisp Panko breadcrumbs,and baked - not fried!

Now I won't lie and say making this is the easiest thing in the world. The reason for this - and this stresses out some top chefs too - is to ensure the garlic butter doesn't leak out before you serve it. There are many ways to get this right. Some chefs believe that its best to make the garlic butter and freeze it before shallow frying. Some use cocktail sticks. Some make the whole thing and freeze it before cooking. Some use the mini fillet you find inside the chicken breast to enclose it. You don't always get the mini fillet with a cheaper multi buy chicken breasts, so its probably best to buy as a pack of two on the bone, or purchase from the local butcher. This is the way I have done it.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, on the bone, skin removed.
25g butter, softened
2 tbsp. parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
flour for dusting
3 eggs
pack of panko breadcrumbs

Method:

Mash the garlic and parsley into the softened butter until incorporated. Set to one side on the counter. Remove the mini fillet from inside the chicken breast and lay between two pieces of cling film. Using the bottom of a pan, bash the mini fillet to thin it out. Set aside till needed. Make a pocket in the chicken breast, being careful not to cut all the way through. Put about a teaspoon of the garlic butter in the pocket and close gently. Cover the cut with the thin slice of mini fillet and gently press to attach. Repeat with the other chicken breast.

Dust both kievs with flour and gently lower in the beaten eggs, and then the breadcrumbs. Dip again carefully in the egg and then the breadcrumbs to give a thick coating. Place in a baking dish and chill for a few hours to set.

Set the oven to 190 C and bake the keivs for about 40 minutes or until golden and cooked through.
Serve with a wedge of lemon, with chips and green beans or peas. The joy (relief!) you feel when you cut open the cooked kiev and the butter oozes out is unmeasureable!

A 1970's Buffet as a Main Course - Retro Week Day 3

Making all this food was so nostalgic. The funny thing is that some of these dishes last the test of time. Quiche Lorraine, Devilled Eggs, Prawn Cocktail and Scotch Eggs were buffet dinner party classics! We had this last night which was perfect as it was sunny in the garden until late. In fact it was the hottest day of this year so far and I had spent half of the day cooking and half of the day gardening - getting all the seedling in for the year.

After 4 hours of gardening, all I wanted was a shower and a dinner all ready for me. And it was - I had pre cooked it earlier. My 1970's buffet!

The Scotch Eggs are actually quails eggs (as are the devilled eggs), as I wanted them small. And the usual sausage meat stuffing around the eggs is Irish White Pudding, which I mixed with a little chopped bacon, finely chopped onion, both cooked, and fresh chopped parsley. Then they were dunked in egg and breadcrumbs and then baked to keep them low fat. I don't see the need to deep fry things when they can be baked. (the full recipe you will find on my website here).

 

For the quails eggs, half the hard boiled eggs and mix the cooked yolk with a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 1/4 tsp. of cayenne pepper, one finely chopped cornichon and a little mayonnaise. Pop it into the cases and sprinkle with more cayenne pepper.

The Quiche Lorraine was kept simple - pastry case baked blind and left to cool. Chopped bacon and onion added to the case along a couple of handfuls of grated cheddar. Topped with 4 eggs whisked with 250ml single cream and some chopped parsley. Popped in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 170 C, you have the perfect quiche Lorraine.

The Prawn Cocktail was the easiest. I sautéed king prawns in butter, garlic and chilli flakes and set them aside until plating up. The Rose Marie sauce is just mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, cayenne pepper and tabasco sauce.

The credit for the plating up goes to The Bloke - who has seen me plate up so many times now he is an expert! All made earlier... I just had to put my feet up and enjoy with a little bread and butter (so 1970's) and a glass of wine. It was a Sauvignon Blanc though...you didn't expect me to have Blue Nun did you??!

Faggots - Retro Recipe Day 2

Yes you heard me, faggots. You all remember these right? Well the original recipe has a fair bit of offal in it so I have made them slightly differently (no heart,just some liver) as offal is not so popular these days. They have a taste of their own and are just lovely.

They are so very British and were cooked as a cheap food, but I think its time for a revival.

Ingredients:     (Makes about 14)

110g pork shoulder, chopped
110g pigs liver, chopped
250g pork belly, chopped
80g breadcrumbs
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp. parsley (fresh or dried)
1 tsp. thyme
salt & pepper
7-8 strips of streaky bacon

Method:

Put the meats into a food processor and blend until well chopped and combined. Put into a bowl and add the breadcrumbs, herbs, seasoning and mix well. Put into a container and chill in the refrigerator for half an hour.

Stretch each piece of bacon with the back of a knife on a chopping board to thin and lengthen a bit and cut in half. Make a ball of the faggot mix (just under 2 inches) and roll a piece of the bacon around it. Put onto a baking tray and complete the remainder.

Set the oven at 170 C and cook for 40 minutes. Serve with boiled potatoes and homemade onion gravy (recipe here).

You'll be surprised how good they are. Similar to standard meatballs but with OH so much flavour. Retro food at its best!

Rhubarb & Custard Cream Biscuits

During this retro week of cooking I wanted to make some biscuits that make me think of my childhood. And two stood out to me. Custard creams and garibaldi. I loved them both although I don't eat that many biscuits these days.

The rhubarb in the garden is doing particularly well already this year, so I went out and cropped a handful...thinking how nice rhubarb and custard creams would be..

Ingredients:

500g rhubarb, cut into inch pieces
1 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. sugar
splash of water
220g plain flour
60g custard powder
30g icing sugar
180g butter, cold and cubed
1/4 tsp. vanilla essence
60g butter
225g icing sugar
3 tbsp. custard powder
5-6 tbsp. stewed rhubarb
1/4 tsp. red food colouring (unless your rhubarb is particularly vibrant!)

Method:

Put the rhubarb in a small pan with a splash of water, the honey and sugar. Cook for about 20 minutes to break down and cook the fruit. Turn off heat and leave to cool.

In a mixing bowl put the flour, icing sugar, custard powder and vanilla essence. Rub in the butter with your fingers. It will seem crumbly but keep going until fine breadcrumb texture. Press together to form a dough and wrap in cling film. Chill for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough in between two sheets of cling film to a height of about 3mm and use a cookie cutter to make rounds (about 2 inch.) Pull together the dough scraps, re roll and re cut. Prick with a fork and put on a baking sheet covered with baking paper. Chill again in the fridge for 15 minutes. Cook at 180 C for 10 minutes until lightly golden. Remove and leave to cool. You should have about 24 biscuits.

For the filling, use a hand blender to whip the butter until light. Add the icing sugar and custard powder a little at a time until half used. Then add the rhubarb and whisk further. Then add the remaining icing sugar and custard powder to have a smooth creamy filling. Add a tiny bit of red food colouring if needed. You will probably have a bit too much of the buttercream, but it freezes really well!

Use a piping bag to fill the centre of half of the upturned biscuits and top with another half. Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes. Then enjoy with a cup of tea in the garden!

To anyone who may be curious about the cookies in the background of the photo above - that is the second batch of oat, raisin & hazelnut cookies that I made last week (I froze half the dough). Only after cooking them, I drizzled with white chocolate. Even better!

 

Steak Diane - Retro Recipe Day 1

Well I promised retro food and the first one had to be the classic Steak Diane. This is originally from the USA and was very popular at English dinner parties and restaurants everywhere in the 1960's and 1970's. By 1980 it was considered to be rather dated - but I know many people who still cook it. And that is because its gorgeous.

Its simply just a steak which you pound until its thin, so it cooks fast. You then make the sauce quickly in the pan juices. Back in the day they would flambé the brandy at the table, but I just did it on the stove top.

Ingredients:

2 sirloin steaks
1/2 cup beef stock (cube is fine)
2 tsp. tomato paste
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp. butter
1 shallot, chopped
4 tbsp. brandy
1/3 cup double cream

Pound the steaks until fairly thin. In a jug, whisk together the stock, tomato paste, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Fry the steaks in the butter until cooked how you like it (I went for one minute so it was rare)and remove from the pan. Cover with kitchen foil to rest while you make the sauce.

Add the shallot to the same pan and fry quickly. Add the brandy and set it alight (carefully!). When the flame subsides, let the brandy cook until mostly evaporated (it'll take just a minute or two). Add the stock mix from the jug and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring as it thickens. Add the cream and cook for 2 more minutes. The sauce is ready and the steaks will be rested.

Serve the steak with the sauce poured over the top. I also served this with hand-cut baked chips and peas. Really, really tasty!

Irish Spiced Beef

This is an Irish recipe which I believe hails from County Cork, but is a cured beef that is sliced thinly and eaten with brown bread and butter and chutney at Christmas time.

I tried this because we get through a fair bit of cooked sandwich meat which is relatively expensive and doesn't last for long once opened. This mini 500g beef joint I bought was only £5.50 and its lasting for ages. You can just cook it as it is, of course, but this way it is cured and tastes more like pastrami. After curing it lasts for about 3-4 weeks in the fridge. The only odd ingredient involved is saltpetre which is actually sodium nitrate (£3.49 Amazon for loads) and is used to cure meats.

Ingredients:

500g mini beef joint
20g soft dark brown sugar
1 tbsp. allspice berries
1 tbsp. juniper berries
1 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. saltpetre
1 tbsp. sea salt

Method:

Trim off any excess fat on the meat and rub in the sugar. Put it in a covered bowl in the fridge for 12 hours.

Grind together all the spices and salt. Rub all over the meat, cover and return to the fridge for 6-7 days, turning daily.

After 7 days, put it in a sauce pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and summer for 1 hour. Leave to cool and then slice.

I like this in a sandwich with mayonnaise, mustard and cornichons. Delicious. Not only does it keep for 3-4 weeks but you know what's in it - unlike pre-packed meats!

Pork stuffed with Irish White Pudding & Bacon

Last weekend when I returned back from Ireland, the only food product I brought back with me was a few packs of white pudding. You can buy it in all supermarkets in England, but I like to bring it home.

Its similar to black pudding and contains pork meat and fat, suet, bread and oatmeal formed into a large sausage and is usually eaten sliced and fried with a hot breakfast. Or an 'Irish Fry' as they fondly call it.

I wanted to do something else with it so have used it as a stuffing to go into a pork tenderloin. And how delicious it was!

Ingredients:

1 pork tenderloin
1 tbsp. oil
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
1/2 onion, chopped finely
4 rashers streaky bacon
2 handfuls breadcrumbs
small bunch parsley, chopped
approx. 80ml double cream, to bind
1/2 pint red wine
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
drizzle of runny honey

Set the oven to 180 C. Trim any excess fat off the pork tenderloin and cut down the middle 2/3 of the way through to create a large pocket for the stuffing. Set to one side.

Fry the onion, bacon and garlic in a frying pan until beginning to brown. Leave to cool for 5 minutes and then put into a bowl with the white pudding, parsley and breadcrumbs. Mix thoroughly and use the cream to bind it a little. Put the stuffing into the pocket in the pork and pull up the sides to the filling is encased. Secure with string in 4 about 4 places.

Put the pork into a roasting tray with the cut side up.Smear with the mustard and drizzle honey over the cut part. Pour the wine into the base of the roasting tin and cover with tin foil. Roast for 30 minutes, covered. Then remove the foil and cook for a further 15 minutes. You may need to top up the wine a little to stop it evaporating completely. Remove from oven and leave to rest for 2 minutes before slicing.

For the gravy:
I chopped 1 shallot and fried with 1 tbsp. butter. When cooked, add 1 tbsp. flour and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add a little chicken stock and a little of the cooking liquor to make the gravy to the consistency you like.

I served this with the last of the season brussel sprouts, shredded which I sautéed with some par boiled new potatoes. Delicious!

Now I need to come up with something else to do with the white pudding!

Sea Bass, Swede & Chorizo with Wild Garlic Chimmichurri

I thought up this recipe at 2.30am - I think it actually woke me up! I had already planned to have a lovely crispy skinned, pan friend piece of sea bass, but the swede, sweet potato and chorizo sounded interesting. And I love Chimichurri which is an Argentinian green sauce usually made with parsley and oregano. I had some wild garlic leaves that needed to be used up, so why not? And it certainly looks impressive enough for a dinner party without too much work!

For the sea bass:

I rarely like frying food but sea bass, in particular, is lovely pan fried as you get a beautiful crispy skin. I don't know about you, but flabby undercooked skin is something I would give to one of the cats. Cooked like this is delicious. All you do is cut little slices in the skin (as above), season with salt and pepper and fry a tablespoon of oil skin side down. The whole time (about 5 minutes). It doesn't need to be turned over. Spoon the hot oil over the white flesh towards the end of cooking and when you take it out of the pan the skin will be lovely and crisp.

For the swede:

Half a head of swede
1 sweet potato
1 small cooking chorizo (about 80g), chopped
25g butter

Peel and chop the swede and potato and boil until tender. Crush with a fork - don't mash till smooth, you want it very roughly mashed. Add the butter with a generous helping of black pepper and stir through. Fry the chorizo in a small dry pan, there should be enough fat in the chorizo to cook it without oil. Add the crispy chorizo to the swede/potato crush and stir through. Serve in a chefs ring with the fish on top of it..

For the sauce:

A large handful wild garlic leaves
1 small clove garlic
1 shallot, chopped
1/4 tsp. chilli flakes
juice of 1/2 lemon
3 tsp sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
3-4 tbsp. olive oil

In a hand blender, blitz the leaves, garlic, shallot and chilli flakes until finely chopped. Add the lemon juice, vinegar and enough oil to make a loose sauce. Chill until needed.

The sauce can be used with any fish or meat. I am looking forward to trying it with a nice fillet steak. Or maybe some crispy chicken..

Toffee Apple Cookies

Interesting little cookies I made today. I had no eggs in the fridge and was too busy to go out so I worked a way around it by using apples blended and chopped in the mixture. Pretty good! The toffee element is actually the topping which I used from a jar of Dulce de Leche which I bought when I was in the Canary Islands. I knew I'd find a use for it!

Dulce de Leche translates as 'candy made of milk' and is basically sugar and milk boiled together. It can be bought in England - but many people use the other method of boiling tinned condensed milk in water for 2-3 hours. (If you do this PLEASE make sure the unopened can is submerged in water and don't walk away and leave it. If the water boils dry the can will most likely explode!). Fortunately, you can also buy tinned and jarred caramel too. I believe you can also melt actual toffee sweets too - but I have yet to try that!

Ingredients:

85g packed brown sugar (I used muscovado)
120g butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla essence
2 small apples, chopped finely
200g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Method:

Set the oven to 180 C. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper. To make it stick and sit flat, sprinkle the baking tray with water first.

Put the sugar, butter, vanilla and one of the chopped apples in a food processor and process until smooth. Put into a mixing bowl and add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix to get a sticky dough. Fold in the other chopped apple with a spoon or spatula.

Put a heaped dessertspoon of the mixture on the tray and press a little to flatten out (use wet fingers to stop them sticking to you). Repeat, leaving about an inch in between each cookie. Cook for 8 minutes. Remove cookies and press a small hole in the centre of the cookies using a (clean) thumb or the back of a teaspoon. Put back in the oven for a further 5 minutes until golden. They will still feel soft but that is fine. Put onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

For the topping, Get a piping bag and pipe the toffee sauce (or dulce de leche) on the top. If you don't have a piping bag a teaspoon will do fine - it will just not look quite as pretty.

Eat   -    Enjoy!!!

 

Aloo Saag Gobi Curry (Vegetarian)

Not being able to decide last night on whether I fancied Aloo Gobi (an Indian potato and cauliflower bhaji) or a Saag Aloo (an Indian spinach and potato bhaji) - I decided to make them both together. And came up with this recipe for Aloo Saag Gobi Curry

This is great as a side dish or as a main dish served with my easy flatbreads (recipe on the blog), and a nice tomato, onion and coriander salsa. Its down now as one of my favourite vegetarian recipes.

Ingredients:

1/2 head cauliflower, broken into smallish florets
250g spinach
1 tbsp. oil
1 onion, chopped finely
1-2 green chillies, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 inch piece ginger, chopped
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. fenugreek
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped into 2cm pieces
3 large tomatoes, chopped
50ml water
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp. garum masala

Put the cauliflower pieces on a baking sheet, drizzle on a little oil and bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 180 C. Remove and set to one side. Wilt the spinach in a pan OR in a colander under a hot tap. Drain and leave to one side.

In a pan, fry the onion in the oil until softened. Add the garlic, chillies and ginger and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the powdered spices apart from the garum masala and stir well. After a couple of minutes add the potatoes, tomatoes and wilted spinach along with 50ml water. Stir well and leave to simmer on a low heat for 15-20 minutes uncovered and stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender and the sauce thickened.

Add the roasted cauliflower, lemon juice and the garum masala and cook for 2 more minutes. Now you can serve hot with flatbreads and a tomato, coriander and onion salsa. Perfect!

Easy Moroccan Chicken with Couscous

This is one of the dishes that I cooked to leave at home in the fridge for The Bloke as I was in Ireland at the weekend. He was working night shifts, so wanted something tasty and easy to reheat. I wanted something quick to cook, as I was making a few things for him the morning I was leaving for my flight.

This is actually adapted from an award winning dish called Million Dollar Chicken. It took me about 20 minutes to cook so it worked for me and he said it was delicious! Most of the ingredients are store cupboard staples too which is handy. I simply call it Easy Moroccan Chicken with couscous.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces     (Serves2)
1 tbsp. oil
1/4 cup sliced almonds
80g green beans, cut into 1cm pieces
2 cloves garlic, sliced
250ml passata (sieved tomatoes)
60ml water
1 tsp. chilli flakes
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 tbsp. dried currants
1 tbsp. runny honey
500g couscous

Method:

In the pan, heat the oil and gently fry the almonds until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. In the same pan, cook the chicken and garlic on a medium heat for 5 minutes until just about cooked. Cook the sliced green beans in boiling water for 5 minutes.

In a bowl mix the passata, water, currants, honey, chilli flakes and spices. Then add this to the chicken. Cook on a low heat for 10 minutes and then add the almonds. Cook for 5 more minutes and season with a little salt and pepper. Serve over couscous.

There was even some left for me when I got home and it was lovely!

Duck Noodle Salad & Cauliflower Tempura

I always find it odd going on holiday, as being away from the kitchen is so unnatural to me. But I have been away for a few days and not put up any recipes, so I will give you one that I cooked last week - its one of my favourites and is taken from a salad I used to have in Canary Wharf on my lunch break when I used to work there years ago.

I am not generally a huge fan of duck as I really don't like fat on meat. I know its an each to their own thing but, I just would prefer to have lean meat with the flavours added from spice/herbs and the like. I tend to buy duck fillet strips - no skin and no fat. They are perfect for this dish of Duck Noodle Salad with Cauliflower Tempura. Its one of those you can prepare earlier and cook quickly in literally a few minutes.

Ingredients:

175g sliced lean duck
1 tsp. Chinese Five Spice
1 tsp. sesame oil
140g noodles (any type you like)
1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
1 inch piece mooli, sliced thinly (optional)
1/2 small red pepper, sliced thinly
3 spring onions, sliced diagonally
80g mange tout sliced diagonally
2 tbsp. hoisin sauce
1 tbsp. soy sauce
sesame seeds to garnish

Marinade the duck for about an hour in the Chinese Five Spice and sesame oil until just before cooking. Cook the noodles in hot water for a minute or two and drain. Refresh under cold water, drain again and set to one side. Stir fry the duck for 4 minutes or until cooked and add the vegetables for one minute only. Add the hoisin and soy to the pan and mix quickly. Then plate up the noodles and pile the duck on top. Garnish with sesame seeds and enjoy!

For the Cauliflower Tempura:

1/2 cauliflower, cut into bite sized florets
100g flour
1 tsp. turmeric powder
pinch of salt
175ml iced water
2 eggs
vegetable oil for frying

Cook the cauliflower florets for 3 minutes in boiling water and drain on a tea towel. Leave to dry out a bit so that the batter sticks well to them.

Put the flour in a bowl with the turmeric and a pinch of salt, mix together. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and first whisk the egg yolks with the iced water and add them to the flour. The lumps of ice won't melt, but that's fine, it'll keep the batter cold. Whisk together to make a smooth batter. In a separate bowl whisk the egg white until stiff and then add them to the batter, gently folding in to prevent losing the air that you have whisked in. Add the cauliflower pieces to the batter and heat the oil to about 2 inch depth in a deep heavy based pan.

Fry the cauliflower pieces, only a few at a time, until crispy. Keep the cooked ones warm in a low oven. Serve with a dip made with half soy, half white vinegar and a dash of sesame oil.  Scatter with chopped spring onion for garnish and serve hot with the duck noodle salad. Yummy!

Note: You could also add some orange segments to the salad and a little orange juice to the dressing. I didn't have any to hand but would probably have done if they had been in the fruit bowl!

Oat, Raisin and Hazelnut Cookies

It a Friday - definitely a day for cookies! Today we have these biscuits made with porridge oats. I haven't been eating my porridge recently so seemed to have rather a lot of it. So what better than to make a sensible breakfast into a sensible (well...maybe not) cookie. It also was a great way to use up some of the black treacle that's been sitting in my cupboard since I made a Christmas cake! These are my Oat, Raisin & Hazelnut Cookies.

Ingredients:   (Makes about 60)

250g butter
200g packed dark brown sugar
50g caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp. black treacle
1 tbsp. vanilla essence
200g all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
pinch salt
200g porridge oats
200g raisins
100g chopped hazelnuts

Method:

Soak the raisins in hot water for 10 minutes to plump up, then drain on kitchen paper. Then cream together then butter and both sugars using a hand whisk or a wooden spoon.. Add the eggs and combine well. Then add the black treacle and vanilla essence, mixing all well together.

Add the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and mix with a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined. Finally add the porridge, fruit and nuts and mix well until you get a sticky dough. Wrap in cling film and chill for an hour. At this stage I tend to half it and freeze half of the dough which you can freeze for up to 3 months (make sure you defrost well before cooking next time).

To cook, cover 2 baking sheets with greaseproof paper. A good way to get the paper to stick to the sheet with a sprinkle of water. Make small balls of a about an inch and a half and place them on the baking sheet. Press lightly with a fork to flatten slightly. Continue, leaving about an inch between each cookie. Put in the oven, set at 170 C for 10 minutes until the just beginning to brown and remove. They will still look very soft at this stage so leave them to cook on the baking tray for 5 minutes before putting onto a wire rack to cool completely before eating. I say this but I ate two that were still hot as I couldn't wait!

Enjoy!

Thai Green Chicken Curry

The funny thing about doing this blog is that its very telling. I tend to cook whatever I fancy at the time, so I am never really sure what my favourite food is. But looking back over the posts on the blog - it appears that I slightly favour Asian food. But considering my love for punchy flavour and chillies aplenty, maybe that makes sense.

The main reason I made Green Curry last night at all was actually because last weekend we went to a place called Hoo Hing in Leyton, London. They are an Asian wholesalers and you can get all sorts of goodies there. One of them was some mini aubergines which are perfect for this dish. You can use normal purple large aubergines of course, but if you can get the baby aubergines it gives it that extra touch of authenticity. I love them.

As with many if these recipes, you can make your life a lot easier by buying green curry paste, I recommend the 'Thai Taste' brand. But here I have made the paste first as I had all of the ingredients and all you need is a mini blender (about £15 in Argos). It does look like a long list but the flavour is worth it and it is the main part of the recipe. The curry takes no time at all!

For the paste:

1 stalk lemongrass, sliced finely
1 shallot roughly chopped
5 cloves garlic, peeled
1 inch piece of galangal, or same of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
3 green chillies (1 used 2 medium heat and 1 Thai birds eye, seeds included)
handful fresh coriander
handful fresh basil
2 tbsp. fish sauce
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. shrimp paste
1 tbsp. palm sugar (normal sugar is fine)
juice of 1 limes
2 tbsp. coconut milk.

Put all of the above into a blender and blend to a loose paste. You will need all of this paste to make a curry for two.

Chicken Thai Green Curry

2-3 chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
curry paste (as above or 3-4 tbsps. of ready made)
3 kaffir lime leaves, chopped or freeze dried, crumbled
180g mini aubergines, quartered or 1 large chopped
1 can (400ml) coconut milk
100ml chicken stock
1 tsp. fish sauce
1 tsp. palm sugar
basil to finish

Method:

Pour half a can of the coconut milk into a pan and heat. Add the curry paste, stir and cook for about 10-15 minutes until fragrant and the spices have cooked. Add chicken and cook on medium heat for another 5 minutes. Add the aubergines, stock, remaining coconut milk, sugar and fish sauce. Leave to cook for another 10 minutes until sauce glossy and the smell in the kitchen is amazing. Serve with the basil over the top and a little steamed rice on the side. Yummy!