I enjoy all aspects of food. From the field to the palate. In this blog I will describe my adventures in the kitchen, at restaurants and food fairs and may even share the odd recipe. I am an accomplished cook who is happy at the camp fire or using a sous vide. I hope you enjoy my adventures as much as I do
Tuesday, 11 February 2014
Pollocks it's Monday
Plenty to post this week so sorry this is a day or two late. After all my shopping and cooking over the weekend I knew I had a fair selection of meals in the bank for the week. I wanted something quick and easy for a Monday night. On Sunday I took a couple of pieces of the basil and garlic butter left over from an earlier blog (I packed the extra up into portions and popped them into the freezer). These were popped into a vac pac pack bag and sealed up. Monday night came. I popped the sous vide on to heat up and popped up to my club for a swift pint. On my return, the sous vide had reached 56 C. In went the pollock for a 20 minute bath. Meanwhile I heated my wok and prepared pepper, pak choi, broccoli, ginger, galengal and spring onion. A thinly sliced garlic clove, soy sauce and a pinch of sugar joined the other ingredients for a 4 minute stir fry. I opened the bag and removed the pollock to sear in a hot pan. The butter and juices were added to the stir fry. Once plated up we had a very tasty and fulfilling Monday night meal with minimal work.
Monday, 10 February 2014
Time to learn something new.
Sunday afternoon with the prospect of rain and wind just calls for a good film, a pot of good tea and a slice or two of cake. With this in mind I decided I would try my hand at something new. A week late for the Chinese New Year but coconut rice cake was my task. I also decided that it was time the cherry and walnut cake fend in our house learned to fend for herself.
First the baking lesson.
175g of softened unsalted butter and 175g of caster sugar into the food processor. Personally I enjoy creaming the butter and sugar together by hand but this is supposed to be fun and not hard work for my wife.
As these are blended together on a slow speed add three large eggs, a tablespoon of milk and a few drops of vanilla extract. A pinch of salt gets this all ready for the flour.
Cherries and walnuts to taste ( my wife seems to prefer plenty of fruit and nuts) are measured out. You can chop them if you want but we prefer them whole. 100 grams of plain and 100 grams of self raising flour are measured out and mixed together. A couple of tablespoons over the cherries and walnuts and the rest into the blender.
Mix up the Cherries, walnuts and flour to coat them in flour and help to prevent them sinking. Next add the cake mixture and stir together before pouring into the cake tin. I use a loaf tin pre-oiled with some almond oil. I like to dust the top with caster sugar to give a crunchy top. This then goes into a pre-heated oven at 170C (fan) for an hour. After an hour check with a skewer and cook for a further 15 minutes if necessary.
Lesson over it was my turn to learn something. First I set up the sous vide to cook the batter. I had to raise the base so that I could fill the sous vide to about 1cm below the top of the cake tin but still above the fill level and heat it to 90.5 C. I took 90ml of melted coconut cream (and used a couple of teaspoons to oil the tin), 400 ml of coconut milk, 80 ml of water, 2/3 tsp almond extract,125 grams of caster sugar and 1/3 tsp of vanilla extract and whisked all this together. I then added 300 grams of rice flour, 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp of baking soda. This batter was then put into the tin and covered in foil that was then pierced with a few holes. This then sat in the sous vide with hot water to 1cm from the top for 1.5 hours.
When it came out it was a very uninteresting white 'sponge'. It tasted ok but nothing special. I cut it into cubes, egg coated the cubes, dipped them in desiccated coconut and fried it as per the recipe. Still boring. The addition of a little creme fraiche and a brandy soaked cherry and a little milk (from the cherry brandy further back in the blog) and we now have a nice petit fours. Not sure it is worth all the effort but a good experiment all the same.
First the baking lesson.
175g of softened unsalted butter and 175g of caster sugar into the food processor. Personally I enjoy creaming the butter and sugar together by hand but this is supposed to be fun and not hard work for my wife.
As these are blended together on a slow speed add three large eggs, a tablespoon of milk and a few drops of vanilla extract. A pinch of salt gets this all ready for the flour.
Cherries and walnuts to taste ( my wife seems to prefer plenty of fruit and nuts) are measured out. You can chop them if you want but we prefer them whole. 100 grams of plain and 100 grams of self raising flour are measured out and mixed together. A couple of tablespoons over the cherries and walnuts and the rest into the blender.
Mix up the Cherries, walnuts and flour to coat them in flour and help to prevent them sinking. Next add the cake mixture and stir together before pouring into the cake tin. I use a loaf tin pre-oiled with some almond oil. I like to dust the top with caster sugar to give a crunchy top. This then goes into a pre-heated oven at 170C (fan) for an hour. After an hour check with a skewer and cook for a further 15 minutes if necessary.
Lesson over it was my turn to learn something. First I set up the sous vide to cook the batter. I had to raise the base so that I could fill the sous vide to about 1cm below the top of the cake tin but still above the fill level and heat it to 90.5 C. I took 90ml of melted coconut cream (and used a couple of teaspoons to oil the tin), 400 ml of coconut milk, 80 ml of water, 2/3 tsp almond extract,125 grams of caster sugar and 1/3 tsp of vanilla extract and whisked all this together. I then added 300 grams of rice flour, 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp of baking soda. This batter was then put into the tin and covered in foil that was then pierced with a few holes. This then sat in the sous vide with hot water to 1cm from the top for 1.5 hours.
When it came out it was a very uninteresting white 'sponge'. It tasted ok but nothing special. I cut it into cubes, egg coated the cubes, dipped them in desiccated coconut and fried it as per the recipe. Still boring. The addition of a little creme fraiche and a brandy soaked cherry and a little milk (from the cherry brandy further back in the blog) and we now have a nice petit fours. Not sure it is worth all the effort but a good experiment all the same.
Sunday, 9 February 2014
Sous Vide Skate
After my Saturday trip to the market I wanted some fish so it was off to Morrisons as they have the best fish in our area in my opinion. It was not a great day for fish as I discovered. No octopus or monk fish let alone turbot so I had to select from what was available. I managed to get a couple of nice skate wings. Pink and shinny with no smell of ammonia. Back home, a trawl of the internet brought up this rather interesting recipe ( http://www.911cheferic.com/component/yoorecipe/recipe/948-sous-vide-skate-lemongrass-court-bouillon).
After watching the rugby, preparing the oranges to make marmalade tomorrow and putting the shopping away I got ready to cook. That was when I read the recipe through properly and discovered I should have made a court bouillon some hours ago. If we were to eat this tonight I had to change the recipe. While I love to make a stock from scratch sometimes it just has to be a Knorr Stock Pot. 250 ml of white wine, 250 ml water, fish stock pot, 2 star anise, a few all spice berries and a teaspoon of fennel seed later and I had something resembling a court bouillon. A quick cool in an ice bath and we were ready to roll. The stock, a little fresh ginger, some lemongrass and the skate joined each other in the sous vide for an hour at 60 C while the fennel chose a hotter bath in my second sous vide at 85 C.
An hour later I took the bags out of the water baths. Seared some of the fennel in a hot skillet. Prepared the fish sauce, pureed the remaining fennel with the coriander leaves, bread crumbed and fried the skate and we finally sat down to a nice supper. After a pizza for lunch we decided one skate wing between too was sufficient for the supper so I still have one wing left to have a little fun with later in the week along with a slab of pollock.
After watching the rugby, preparing the oranges to make marmalade tomorrow and putting the shopping away I got ready to cook. That was when I read the recipe through properly and discovered I should have made a court bouillon some hours ago. If we were to eat this tonight I had to change the recipe. While I love to make a stock from scratch sometimes it just has to be a Knorr Stock Pot. 250 ml of white wine, 250 ml water, fish stock pot, 2 star anise, a few all spice berries and a teaspoon of fennel seed later and I had something resembling a court bouillon. A quick cool in an ice bath and we were ready to roll. The stock, a little fresh ginger, some lemongrass and the skate joined each other in the sous vide for an hour at 60 C while the fennel chose a hotter bath in my second sous vide at 85 C.
An hour later I took the bags out of the water baths. Seared some of the fennel in a hot skillet. Prepared the fish sauce, pureed the remaining fennel with the coriander leaves, bread crumbed and fried the skate and we finally sat down to a nice supper. After a pizza for lunch we decided one skate wing between too was sufficient for the supper so I still have one wing left to have a little fun with later in the week along with a slab of pollock.
Sunday, 2 February 2014
Two Way Chicken with Fennel
Time for a Sunday roast but I wanted to use the sous vide. After a little hunt around I found this rather interesting recipe that I could bend a little.
I took a small chicken and removed the legs and wings and took out the wishbone. I now pressed the crown flatter and placed it in a vac pac bag with a clementine .I still have a few, slightly dry examples kicking around after Christmas. No good for eating but perfect for adding a little flavour. I added some thyme, rosemary and a star anise prior to sealing the bag an popping it in to the sous vide at 70C for 2 hours.
The legs and wings went into an oiled tray with a little sea salt. Covered in foil it went into the fan oven at 120C for 2 hours. The recipe called for a second oven to cook off potatoes and garlic at 180C for 15 to 20 minutes at the end. Knowing the meat would need resting, I popped the potatoes, thyme and a bulb of garlic, broken into cloves (don't peel the cloves.) in about 10 minutes before the end of the chicken roasting, removed the foil from the chicken and knocked the temperature up to 180C. This crisped off the skin on the legs and the wings before I took them out to rest, back under foil for 20 minutes.
Just prior to this I thinly sliced the fennel (a mandolin is best for this) into a non-metallic bowl. A good pinch of sea salt, the zest and juice of a lemon were then added. This was left for around 20 minutes. Once the chicken was resting I placed a frying pan on the heat with some oil and butter. I removed the crown from the sous vide. Dried it and placed it in the now browning butter and oil mix. Once it was fried off on all sides and had taken on a good colour I placed it in foil to rest.
Next step was to wash the fennel in a bowl of cold water and then leave it to drain in a sieve. Once drained I placed it back in a bowl. I removed the garlic cloves from the oven and popped the potatoes back in for a few more minutes while I finished off the dish. I squeezed the garlic out of the cloves into the fennel and mixed the two together.
Finally, to the plating up. I carved thick slices of the breast from the crown and served these with the leg and wing, some roasted potato and the fennel salad for a simple but very tasty alternative to the traditional roast.
The wine? A Cold Harbour Sauvignon Blanc 2012. A great light wine (10.5%) that means you can enjoy an extra glass or two on a Sunday without worrying about the effect on Monday morning. School night wine :)
I took a small chicken and removed the legs and wings and took out the wishbone. I now pressed the crown flatter and placed it in a vac pac bag with a clementine .I still have a few, slightly dry examples kicking around after Christmas. No good for eating but perfect for adding a little flavour. I added some thyme, rosemary and a star anise prior to sealing the bag an popping it in to the sous vide at 70C for 2 hours.
The legs and wings went into an oiled tray with a little sea salt. Covered in foil it went into the fan oven at 120C for 2 hours. The recipe called for a second oven to cook off potatoes and garlic at 180C for 15 to 20 minutes at the end. Knowing the meat would need resting, I popped the potatoes, thyme and a bulb of garlic, broken into cloves (don't peel the cloves.) in about 10 minutes before the end of the chicken roasting, removed the foil from the chicken and knocked the temperature up to 180C. This crisped off the skin on the legs and the wings before I took them out to rest, back under foil for 20 minutes.
Just prior to this I thinly sliced the fennel (a mandolin is best for this) into a non-metallic bowl. A good pinch of sea salt, the zest and juice of a lemon were then added. This was left for around 20 minutes. Once the chicken was resting I placed a frying pan on the heat with some oil and butter. I removed the crown from the sous vide. Dried it and placed it in the now browning butter and oil mix. Once it was fried off on all sides and had taken on a good colour I placed it in foil to rest.
Next step was to wash the fennel in a bowl of cold water and then leave it to drain in a sieve. Once drained I placed it back in a bowl. I removed the garlic cloves from the oven and popped the potatoes back in for a few more minutes while I finished off the dish. I squeezed the garlic out of the cloves into the fennel and mixed the two together.
Finally, to the plating up. I carved thick slices of the breast from the crown and served these with the leg and wing, some roasted potato and the fennel salad for a simple but very tasty alternative to the traditional roast.
The wine? A Cold Harbour Sauvignon Blanc 2012. A great light wine (10.5%) that means you can enjoy an extra glass or two on a Sunday without worrying about the effect on Monday morning. School night wine :)
Monday, 27 January 2014
Time to see the boys :)
Six nations rugby starts at the weekend and a much awaited invitation to pop round my friends house for a 'rugby soiree' arrived. This can only mean two things. Time to have the Michael taken and time to make bacon. It has been a while since the last clan gathering so the sous vide was not in play then. Time to add to the mix.
The sous vide is a great toy for food creations but a must for mixollogy unless you are into liquid nitrogen. Remembering that the boys like their rum cocktails I decided to knock up a litre of something beyond a mojito. The weekends sojourn to the market had rewarded me with, amongst other things, limes, lemon grass, basil and mint. A short stop at the supermarket added to the potential with a litre of supermarket bargain basement white rum. A good bunch of mint, 3 crushed (a steak tenderiser did the job well) lemon grass stalks, three stalks of basil, the rind from three limes and the juice from one, a ziplock bag and a litre of rum took a bath together at 60C for an hour and a half (longer means stronger flavour). I let this cool over night and then strained it back into the bottle for delivery to the glass on Saturday. A few chefs perks came my way and a touch of fresh mint, a touch of fresh lime and some ice (possibly sugar if you have a sweet tooth) will see us well on the way to a Caribbean feel to a cold, wet day of watching the rugby.
My friend has promised us plenty of food so I will not be on point to produce home made bacon sandwiches this time but I thought I might just drag along a few vacpack slices of home made bacon to help with the morning after. 500grams of salt, and the same of muscavado sugar, two vanilla pods, half a nutmeg and a good teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper went into the blender with two tablespoons of maple syrup. A handful of this underneath and on top of a good looking back joint of pork every day for the next 5 days will see a great bit of bacon rinsed in water then washed in some malt vinegar ready to hang in an airy and dry place until Saturday morning before being sliced and packed. Happy eating boys.
The sous vide is a great toy for food creations but a must for mixollogy unless you are into liquid nitrogen. Remembering that the boys like their rum cocktails I decided to knock up a litre of something beyond a mojito. The weekends sojourn to the market had rewarded me with, amongst other things, limes, lemon grass, basil and mint. A short stop at the supermarket added to the potential with a litre of supermarket bargain basement white rum. A good bunch of mint, 3 crushed (a steak tenderiser did the job well) lemon grass stalks, three stalks of basil, the rind from three limes and the juice from one, a ziplock bag and a litre of rum took a bath together at 60C for an hour and a half (longer means stronger flavour). I let this cool over night and then strained it back into the bottle for delivery to the glass on Saturday. A few chefs perks came my way and a touch of fresh mint, a touch of fresh lime and some ice (possibly sugar if you have a sweet tooth) will see us well on the way to a Caribbean feel to a cold, wet day of watching the rugby.
My friend has promised us plenty of food so I will not be on point to produce home made bacon sandwiches this time but I thought I might just drag along a few vacpack slices of home made bacon to help with the morning after. 500grams of salt, and the same of muscavado sugar, two vanilla pods, half a nutmeg and a good teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper went into the blender with two tablespoons of maple syrup. A handful of this underneath and on top of a good looking back joint of pork every day for the next 5 days will see a great bit of bacon rinsed in water then washed in some malt vinegar ready to hang in an airy and dry place until Saturday morning before being sliced and packed. Happy eating boys.
Sunday, 26 January 2014
Sunday roast with a difference.
I managed to pick up a bargain in the supermarket again. I do so love it when they reduce their meat in perfect time for Sunday. A nice rack of lambs ribs with a garlic and lemon baste for slow cooking. Perfect if you have plenty to do and visitors too. Having prepared a nice caraway seed cake at breakfast so it was fresh for our visitors when they came round for afternoon tea and got our breakfast ready it was time to get things clean and tidy.
Once the decks were clear then I filleted the farmed turbot I also managed to get yesterday. I love it when the fish is fresh enough to still have the slime that indicates it is newly caught. These turbot did not disappoint. Thanks to a fish course down at Rick Steins some years ago I am more than capable of cleaning and filleting fish quickly and efficiently. I soon had 8 good fillets that were soon vac packed with chunks of the watercress sauce I made up and froze yesterday. In short order there were two tasty meals in the freezer ready for a quick cook in the sous vide after a busy day at work.
With supper in a few hours the lamb went into the oven at 160C for some 3.5 hours. This will make it nice an succulent. Finally I had a little time to relax. A nice walk during one of the rare dry spells in the UK at the moment. An excellent pint of Hogs Back T.E.A (a local real ale) and it was time to head back to put the accompaniment to the lamb in the oven. Neither of us fancied a standard roast and a large butternut squash had arrived in the veg box on Friday so I decided to roast off half of the squash for an hour and fifteen minutes (45 minutes if it had been at 180C ) minutes. Meantime I quartered and sliced a good size leek and softened that off in a little olive oil. Once the squash was soft I scooped out the flesh. Mashed it with a little butter and pepper. Mixed in the leek, some walnuts (50g) and some Stilton cheese (80g) . The lamb was taken out of the oven and given some time to rest. Meanwhile I re-filled the butternut squash skin with the mixture and returned it to the oven at 180C for a further 15 minutes. A quick gravy to coat the meat and it was time to serve up. I poured a teaspoon of maple syrup over each of the butternut squash portions and we were ready to eat.
I've always liked the term unctuous when directed at food. It conjures up a creamy or luxuriantly oily dish. This was exactly that. The creamy butternut squash and the Stilton made for a soft and very creamy accompaniment for a delicious cut of lamb.
Once the decks were clear then I filleted the farmed turbot I also managed to get yesterday. I love it when the fish is fresh enough to still have the slime that indicates it is newly caught. These turbot did not disappoint. Thanks to a fish course down at Rick Steins some years ago I am more than capable of cleaning and filleting fish quickly and efficiently. I soon had 8 good fillets that were soon vac packed with chunks of the watercress sauce I made up and froze yesterday. In short order there were two tasty meals in the freezer ready for a quick cook in the sous vide after a busy day at work.
With supper in a few hours the lamb went into the oven at 160C for some 3.5 hours. This will make it nice an succulent. Finally I had a little time to relax. A nice walk during one of the rare dry spells in the UK at the moment. An excellent pint of Hogs Back T.E.A (a local real ale) and it was time to head back to put the accompaniment to the lamb in the oven. Neither of us fancied a standard roast and a large butternut squash had arrived in the veg box on Friday so I decided to roast off half of the squash for an hour and fifteen minutes (45 minutes if it had been at 180C ) minutes. Meantime I quartered and sliced a good size leek and softened that off in a little olive oil. Once the squash was soft I scooped out the flesh. Mashed it with a little butter and pepper. Mixed in the leek, some walnuts (50g) and some Stilton cheese (80g) . The lamb was taken out of the oven and given some time to rest. Meanwhile I re-filled the butternut squash skin with the mixture and returned it to the oven at 180C for a further 15 minutes. A quick gravy to coat the meat and it was time to serve up. I poured a teaspoon of maple syrup over each of the butternut squash portions and we were ready to eat.
I've always liked the term unctuous when directed at food. It conjures up a creamy or luxuriantly oily dish. This was exactly that. The creamy butternut squash and the Stilton made for a soft and very creamy accompaniment for a delicious cut of lamb.
Saturday, 25 January 2014
Market day and a good mood
Woke early this morning and felt like it might be a cooking day. We rose gently, some pain au chocolat and a delicious (large) cup of spiced tea set me up for the short walk to the local market. There is a great fruit and veg stall there. On the front of the long stall is all the fruit and veg most of us would recognise. Behind that, set out behind the staff serving the customers is another long display of the exotics. Methi leaves, galangal, chillies, mooli, okra and dozens of other items I have yet to play with and learn their names. My basket was soon filled with herbs, peppers, asparagus, rhubarb and a whole lot more including a large bowl of oyster mushrooms.
We returned home with our purchases just in time for lunch. I put a pan on the heat and sweated off some sliced onion with minced garlic. Meantime I hammered out two small rump steaks ready for flash frying. Once the onions were browning I added a small amount of red wine to colour the onions and added a handful of the oyster mushrooms to cook through for a minute or so. I then set this aside, wiped the pan and put it back on a high heat. A touch of oil and butter soon started to smoke telling me it was time to fry off the steak. A minute or so each side had the meat nicely coloured. I had toasted off some fresh chunks of grand paysan bread ready to take the steaks. Once the pan was clear, a dash more of red wine deglazed the pan. In went the onions and mushrooms to mix in with this flavoursome jus for a second or two before being doled out onto the steaks. A quick spread of good English mustard on the top section of the bread and the steak sandwiches were ready.
The rest of the day was spent cooking off the other goodies I had purchased. Two bunches of watercress and a good measure of creme fraiche were blended to a fine mix and poured into a tray in the freezer to set. I'll cut this into pieces later and put it into sous vide bags with filleted and rolled farmed turbot I picked up for £4 a fish. These will then be frozen ready for a quick but delicious meal later in the week.
I fried off a chopped onion, a stick of celery and two sliced garlic cloves in a large pan. A litre and a half of vegetable stock was added and the remainder of the oyster mushrooms, some thyme and parsley. 15 minutes of simmering followed before I used the Bamix to blend this to a thick mushroom soup. 400ml of creme fraiche was also blended in to make a delicious and warming meal for later in the week. Enough for six large and filling bowls. They are now ziplock bagged and cooling ready for the freezer.
With all that cooking out of the way all that is left to do is to clear down the kitchen, set the dishwasher off. Put some potatoes, swede and cabbage on to cook along with the Haggis. Sit back with a nice scotch and look forwards to a pleasant Burns night in front of the fire while a storm beats on the windows outside.
We returned home with our purchases just in time for lunch. I put a pan on the heat and sweated off some sliced onion with minced garlic. Meantime I hammered out two small rump steaks ready for flash frying. Once the onions were browning I added a small amount of red wine to colour the onions and added a handful of the oyster mushrooms to cook through for a minute or so. I then set this aside, wiped the pan and put it back on a high heat. A touch of oil and butter soon started to smoke telling me it was time to fry off the steak. A minute or so each side had the meat nicely coloured. I had toasted off some fresh chunks of grand paysan bread ready to take the steaks. Once the pan was clear, a dash more of red wine deglazed the pan. In went the onions and mushrooms to mix in with this flavoursome jus for a second or two before being doled out onto the steaks. A quick spread of good English mustard on the top section of the bread and the steak sandwiches were ready.
The rest of the day was spent cooking off the other goodies I had purchased. Two bunches of watercress and a good measure of creme fraiche were blended to a fine mix and poured into a tray in the freezer to set. I'll cut this into pieces later and put it into sous vide bags with filleted and rolled farmed turbot I picked up for £4 a fish. These will then be frozen ready for a quick but delicious meal later in the week.
I fried off a chopped onion, a stick of celery and two sliced garlic cloves in a large pan. A litre and a half of vegetable stock was added and the remainder of the oyster mushrooms, some thyme and parsley. 15 minutes of simmering followed before I used the Bamix to blend this to a thick mushroom soup. 400ml of creme fraiche was also blended in to make a delicious and warming meal for later in the week. Enough for six large and filling bowls. They are now ziplock bagged and cooling ready for the freezer.
With all that cooking out of the way all that is left to do is to clear down the kitchen, set the dishwasher off. Put some potatoes, swede and cabbage on to cook along with the Haggis. Sit back with a nice scotch and look forwards to a pleasant Burns night in front of the fire while a storm beats on the windows outside.
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