Posts Tagged ‘stock’

Harissa Leg Of Lamb & Boulangère Potatoes

Sunday, March 27th, 2011

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Like the previous recipe, this one also pairs up lamb with some heat and punchy flavours. The harissa loses some of it’s heat in the cooking, and creates a lovely tangy, spicy, sticky crust on the lamb. I got my hands on a fine leg of Yorkshire lamb from my new favourite meat source, Marky Market. It’s a great idea. Mark gets up every day to go to Smithfields and Billingsgate, you place your order the day before, and then he delivers to your door. Brilliant.

In terms of prep time, the potatoes are a bit of a faff, but the lamb is simplicity itself, so it’s swings and roundabouts. We served it with a gorgeous heritage tomato, red onion and mint salad, and a tzatziki (you can find the recipe for the latter here).

Ingredients

(for the lamb)

2.5 kg leg of lamb

90g Harissa paste

90g 0% fat Greek yoghurt

Juice and zest of one lemon

(for the potatoes)

1.7 kg of potatoes (Desiree / King Edward)

1 white onion

1 red onion

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Tomato Risotto

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

They’ve been repeating the Jamie Does… series on More 4 recently, and aside from the shocking title sequence, I think it’s a pretty enjoyable show. I like the idea of zeroing in on a region’s cuisine as opposed to skimming the surface of a whole country, something that the late great Kieth Floyd did so well.

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One of the dishes that got my mouth watering the most was the tomato risotto he cooked in Venice. There was just something beautifully simple about the risotto and the tomatoes cooked in olive oil that made me want to give it a go. I’m sure there’s an accompanying book for the series, but I haven’t bought it, so this recipe is a approximation of what I saw of the idiot box. It worked for me, so should do for you too.

Ingredients (serves 2)

For the risotto

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 large celery stalk, finely chopped

100g arborio rice

100 ml white wine

1 litre vegetable stock

Handful of grated Parmesan (about 25g)

Olive oil

Unsalted butter

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the tomatoes

15-20 mini plum / cherry tomatoes, halved

1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped

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T&T #1 – Great British Food’s Lancashire Hot Pot

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

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As mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been looking at new features to add to Hand To Mouth. My friend Dazzler suggested I try re-creating recipes from weird and wonderful books, which I thought was a great idea. This first ‘Tried & Tested’ post fits more into the latter category, as it comes from a rather lovely new cookery book called ‘Great British Food‘.

Put together by the guys behind the brilliant Canteen mini chain of restaurants, this Lancashire Hot Pot stays true to their ethos of cooking gutsy, tasty, good quality, British grub. The recipe calls for leg mutton, which I couldn’t get hold of at the time of cooking, so instead I used shoulder of lamb.

The recipe takes a bit of prep, but once you get going it’s pretty easy, and it tastes reet good.

Ingredients (serves 6)

50g butter

250g onions, sliced

1kg boned leg of mutton, 3-4cm dice

150g carrots, sliced

10g fresh thyme, leaves picked

3 bay leaves

700g floury potatoes (Maris Piper), peeled ad thinly sliced

500ml meat stock

100ml meat stock

Salt and black pepper

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Leftover Roast Chicken Pies

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

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There are few meals as satisfying as a roast chicken. Even if you’re having a REALLY shit day, a roastie can turn tings around. What’s more, there are always leftovers, which means there’s always another meal or two to be eeked out of the carcass.

We roasted a particularly big bird last weekend, so I decided to do the leftover chicken justice by making a few pies. It’s a pretty easy recipe, especially if you buy ready rolled puff pastry from the supermarket. The below will make 4 small pies or one biggun. Here’s how it’s done.

Ingredients

250g roast chicken – mixture of white and brown meat

1 large leek, finely chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

1 large clove garlic, chopped

2 rashers smoked bacon, chopped

70g chestnut mushrooms

300ml chicken stock

1ooml single cream

100ml white wine

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Soupe A L’Oignon

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

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It’s bloody cold in London right now, and add hangovers into the mix from all the Christmas partying, you need some seriously restorative food to get you back on an even keel. This French onion soup ticks all the boxes in terms of comforting, warming and tasty sustenance, and will have you ready for that next session of festive boozing before you can say zut alors!

Ingredients

Olive oil

Large nob of butter

1kg of onions

5 fat cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped

70ml French brandy

150ml French white wine

750ml chicken stock

750ml beef stock

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