Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category
Thursday, March 1st, 2012
Cheap cuts and slow cooking are very much de rigueur at the moment, so this recipe should be bang ‘on trend’. Or something.
Whilst making this yesterday, I was wondering if anyone has actually calculated the cost of energy used during slow cooking and whether that means cheap cuts are still worth it (Aga and Rayburn users aside). I don’t know what the answer is, but when you taste this slow cooked ox cheek ragu, you’ll soon forget about all that. It’s worth it.
Like the filling for my Ox Tail Sliders, you’re going to need a fair amount of time (4-5 hours) to cook the ragu, so this is weekend biznizz. Serve with a wider pasta, from Tagliatele up, to give the sauce plenty of surface area to cling to.
Ingredients (serves 2 hungry people)
500 g Ox Cheek
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 large stick celery, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
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Tags: Bay, Beef Stock, Carrot, Celery, Cheap Cuts, Chianti, Garlic, Italian, Onion, Ox Cheek, Pasta, Ragu, Red Wine, Rosemary, Slow Cooking, Tagliatelle
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | 7 Comments »
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
Last Sunday I was invited to take part in Big Apple Hot Dogs food blogger meet up / competition Blog Eat Blog. The brainchild of BAHDman Abiye, the idea is simple. Food bloggers create their own topping for his dogs, they bring them down to the Vibe Bar, eat dogs, drink beer and somehow a winner is chosen. Having played a small part in Abiye’s story, and a as a lover of dogs and bit of a challenge, I couldn’t resist.
Now, you’ll think I’m bragging when I say that I SMASHED it and won my heat, but I should probably mention that the other three competitors didn’t show up, which is a bit of a shame (lazy buggers whoever you are 
). This being the case, it was a bit of a hollow victory. But a wins a win, right? Right??
Anyway, it was a good afternoon of dogging and boozing, and my Turkish inspired slaw seemed to go down pretty well with the punters. There are three more heats over the next few Sundays, so why not get yourself down to Brick Lane and beat off the Sunday blues with a Pimp Steak.
I’m not 100% sure when the final is, but I’ll be there with my Turkish Slaw, and if you want to make some of your own, here’s how its done (NB. this makes a pretty large quantity, so scale back as required).
Ingredients
2 red onions
1.5 heads of spring cabbage
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Tags: #BlogEatBlog, Big Apple Hot Dogs, Blog Eat Blog, Cabbage, Carrot, Flat Leaf Parsley, Greek Yoghurt, Hot Dogs, Hummus, Maras Biberi, Mint, Pul Biber, Red Onion, Street Food, Turkish Slaw
Posted in Recipes, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Sunday, February 5th, 2012
We are pretty much slap bang in the middle of Vacherin season, which runs from late September to early April. This creamy, smooth, slightly nutty and super runny cows milk cheese is an Alpine speciality traditionally sold in round wooden boxes, cinched with a piece of spruce bark.
Vacherin is great eaten at room temperature with some bread, but a killer way of serving it is baked. Particularly when it’s been snowing. It’s like a fondue without the hassle and the Abigail’s Party baggage, and is great lunch for two.
Pre-heat your over to 180 – 200c, then remove all the plastic wrapping from the cheese, but leave it in it’s box. Slice a fat clove of garlic, and then using a sharp knife, pierce the Vacherin’s rind and slide in the slices. Pour over around 50ml of white wine, and then put the cheese into the oven to bake until it’s golden brown and bubbling (15minutes or so).
Serve it with whatever you like, but I like a good mix of raw veg like raddishes and carrots, some hunks of good sourdough, a few boiled potatoes (pink fir are particularly good), a pear and a bit of salad.
Then just dunk in your vehicle of choice, and get cheesy.
Tags: Abigail's Party, Alpine, Baked, Carrots, Chese, Cows, Fondue, Garlic, Milk, Mont D'Or, Pear, pink Fir, Potatoes, Raddishes, Salad, Season, Sourdough, Vacherin, White Wine
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
Its as cold as a witches tit here in London at the moment. The kind of cold that gets into your bones, and wont shift until it’s made to. Which is where this chorizo and chickpea stew comes in. A bit of a riff on the Spicy Spanish Stew I do, this is hotter, spicier, smokier and has all the ingredients to give you that Ready Brek glow, but without having to shovel some unpleasant gruel down your neck.
I use Brindisa’s picante chorizo, as I like it the best, but you can use whichever cooking chorizo floats your boat. Don’t use the salami like cured stuff, as it doesn’t really work for this recipe. Lets crack on.
Ingredients (serves 3-4)
6 cooking chorizo
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium hot red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp maras biberi
1 tin of chopped tomatoes (400g)
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Tags: Brindisa, Chickpea, Chilli, Chorizo, Cold, Garlic, Hot, Maras Biberi, Onion, Piquant, Ready Brek, Smoked Paprika, Smokey, Spicy, Stew, thyme, Tit, Tomato, Weather
Posted in Dinner, Recipes | 3 Comments »
Friday, January 20th, 2012
Like pretty much anyone with taste buds and a working nose, I love bacon, and having a stab at curing my own is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, in fact ever since I read this article by Tim Hayward a few years ago.
Despite what you think, it’s actually really easy. In fact I’d say anyone blessed with a pair of arms could do it. It requires no culinary skill what so ever, just a very few ingredients and a bit of time. In fact less than a week. Just think, a week after reading this you could be tucking into a sarnie made with your own bacon. Excited? You should be.
I substituted the maple syrup in Tim’s cure for black treacle, as I wanted to try something a bit different, and I used a smaller joint, but the rest of the method is pretty much as described in the link above. The only other thing you’ll need is a tupperware box big enough to accommodate the joint.
Ingredients
1kg loin of pork, skin removed and boned
400ml black treacle
300g unrefined sea salt
Method
Day 1: Go to a decent butcher and ask him / her for a boned loin of pork with a finished weight of around a kilo. Also ask them to remove the skin, but leave the fat on. Take the joint home, pop it into your tupperware box, and then cover in 200ml of the black treacle. Give the joint a good rub all over, making sure it’s nicely coated, and then pop on the lid and stick it in the fridge.
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Tags: Article, Bacon, Black Treacle, Butcher, Cure, Guardian, Home, Loin, Pork, Sel Gr, Tim Hayward, Unrefined Sea Salt
Posted in Breakfast, Reading, Recipes | 9 Comments »
Friday, January 13th, 2012
We moved to South East London a few weeks ago, and last weekend finally made it down to Brockley Market.
It’s only been going for a few months, but the organisers have pulled together a really nice selection of stalls including organic fruit, veg, meat, as well as a few street food style vendors and some great coffee. Special mention should go out to Mike & Ollie for their delicious mackerel wrap, and the Mother Flipper burger I sampled. Brunch of champions.
In general I have a bit of a problem with the prices of farmers markets in and around London, particularly when it comes to meat, so I decided to set myself a challenge. Spend a tenner or less to put together some decent grub. After spying a nice slab of chuck steak at Jacob’s ladder, I hit on the idea of making pasties. I cheated a bit as the flour and butter I already had at home, but including the cost of store cupboard ingredients I probably still only spent £8 or £9, which is pretty decent for 4 chunky pasties.
Ingredients
For the filling
450g chuck steak
1 medium carrot
1 medium potato
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Tags: Bake, Brockley Market, Carrot, Chuck Steak, Cornish, Crimping, Onion, Pastry, Pasty, Potato, Salt, Swede, White Pepper
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 10th, 2012
It would have been Elvis’ birthday on Monday (8th Jan), so in honour of The King I knocked up this version of his his favourite grubs, the peanut butter, bacon and banana sandwich.
I first heard about his ’snack’ of choice some years ago whilst watching a documentary about his eating habits. He was a man with a legendary appetite, even persuading his cook to smuggle bag loads of hot dogs into the hospital where he was being treated for the kind of things that a bunch of dogs would really not have helped.
Based around the Fools Gold Loaf created by the Colorado Mine Company that Elvis famously traveled cross the country to get his hands on, there seem to be lots of different versions of this sandwich out there, but the one I recall from the doc is this one based around the four Bs. Baguette, Bacon, (peanut) Butter and Banana.
The King was known to wolf down piles of these in one sitting, but for those of us with a more moderate constitution, this recipe serves two. Oh, and I candied the bacon in maple syrup, as I figure he would have liked that.
Ingredients
1/2 a baguette
2 tbs smooth peanut butter
4 rashers of bacon
1 ripe banana, sliced
1 tbs maple syrup
Butter for frying
Method
First up, get your frying pan on the heat and drop in a large nob of butter. Once it’s sizzling, get your bacon in there. Elvis reputedly liked his bacon crisp, so give it plenty of time in the pan.
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Tags: Bacon, Baguette, Banana, Birthday, Colorado Mine Company, Elvis, Food, Fools Gold Loaf, Peanut Butter, Presley, Sandwich, Snack, The King
Posted in Recipes, Snack | 1 Comment »
Friday, January 6th, 2012
This post should have gone out around Thanksgiving / Christmas time, but it didn’t. And now it’s too late. Story of my life.
BUT turkey is a much underused meat in this country, it’s low in fat, and if cooked right is pretty tasty too. So hopefully, this recipe will enable some of you to get your burger fix whilst being a bit healthier in January. Oh yeah, and sweet potatoes are officially a superfood now too. Think I turned that one around…
The long-ish ingredient list suggests that this is quite an involved recipe, but it really isn’t. Once you’ve got everything together, it’s pretty easy. The red pepper relish works really well with the burgers, as does a bit of creamed horseradish instead of ketchup or mayo. I like the robust sponginess of ciabatta with these, but feel free to use whatever bread tickles your fancy.
Ingredients (serves 2)
For the patties
400 g turkey mince
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 tbs parsley, finely chopped
(more…)
Tags: Burger, Ciabatta, Creamed Horseradish, Garlic, gruyere, Healthy, Onion, Red Pepper, relish, Spring Onion, Superfood, Sweet Potato, Tabasco, Thanksgiving, Turkey
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | No Comments »
