Recipes
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
India has a rather large coast line, considerably longer than ours, and the Indians love of fish is second to no one. So it is rather strange that the only fish on many an Indian Restaurant menu is either a over cooked prawn or a tandoori trout! (Okay, the owner of Cafe Lazeez in Dean Street, London does something phenomenal with salmon, so it is not all bad! Though I think it may have vanished). Well, let us redress that right now.
My local supermarket does some cheap fish late in the evening if you get your timing right. Last night I picked up some coley and smoked haddock for just four pounds for enough for four hungry people. The mix of smoked fish and unsmoked is also rather nice in curry. The core spice ingredient here will be Punch Puran, sometimes thought of as Indian Five Spice, but that is underselling it somewhat. The spice mix varies a little from place to place, but it normally includes fenugreek, cumin, fennel, nigella…. well, you get the idea. This will be a home made curry powder, so get your grinder or stone ready, and away we go.
(more…)
Friday, March 18th, 2011
I have been meaning to write this up for ages as I keep getting asked about boning a chicken. Chicken is a popular food in our household, but I rather like to stick to Free range, both for ethical and taste reasons. But free range chicken is more expensive than other chicken, there is no doubt about that. However, a medium sized Free Range chicken, properly boned, will give nearly the same amount of meat as a packet of 4 intensively farmed chicken breasts – and it is actually only a pound or so more in price. And you get the succulent red meat as well.
Right, what ever chicken you use, this is how to bone it. To be honest, once you get up to speed it takes only about 10 minutes and your get a better product. I have broken this up into stages to make it easier!
(more…)
Thursday, March 17th, 2011
Lamb koftas are one of those dishes that Kebab houses and vans manage to wreck so frequently. A charcoal grilled delight that should be soft, moist and yummy is often dry and tasteless and if it is moist, that is because it has been kept warm in a warming dish for the last half hour. Worse still are the infamous garlic koftas – exactly the same beast, but with garlic powder added! Who on earth invented Garlic Powder? It is revolting.
Unless you go to places like Efes in Great Titchfield Street, London (I used to live opposite them), or Topkapi in Marylebone High Street, another favourite of mine, getting a decent kebab of any sort anywhere is a problem. So, if in doubt, make you own. Koftas, which tend to be lamb, can be mixed with anything – including nuts and herbs. As I am on a diet, the nuts are out for the moment, so I will just go with the herbs. Best served with a little Meze, in my opinion. You can read about a meze here.
(more…)
Thursday, March 17th, 2011
All round the Mediterranean, you will discover a fondness for little and lots – generally lots of little things to eat that add up to one great big thing! For instance, the Spanish have made an international favourite of the Tapas, and many cities around the world have specialist tapas restaurants (though the best ones in Spain are often bars rather than restaurants, and this is their bar food!)
Less successful as a speciality is the Turkish Meze – oh, you find small examples in Turkish restaurants, but rarely do you see the great big spread that starts at one end of the dining table and works its way up to the other! There probably are Meze specialist restaurants – there used to be one in the West End of London, though long since closed now. But I think there could be more.
Anyway, here is my quick take on some meze that you can knock up for spring when you dust down the BBQ!
(more…)
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
Porcetta is a somewhat wonderful beast from the village communities in Italy. A superb family meal, it is often made from the entire belly of pork, boned, and roasted wrapped in foil, stuffed with herbs for hours in a wood oven.
The trouble is, the best thing about it is that all the fabulous fat that gives the roast so much flavour is a bit off-putting for the average British Pallet who appears to be stuck on “can I have something lean?” The compromise is to roast a loin of pork with enough fat to satisfy the chef but a lean enough inside to satisfy those who are determined to ruin a good idea.
Having said all that – this is rather delicious! Right, on with the recipe!
(more…)
Monday, March 14th, 2011
I am a bit into fish at the moment -actually, I am always into fish, it is just that I picked up some cheap mackerel fillets and some line caught tuna steaks (well, the tuna was line caught – not that actual steaks!)
Both these fishies are wonderful on their own; simply grilled with a little salt and a brushing of olive oil. But sometimes you need to go a little further. Staring at me out of my cupboard is a box of good cous-cous that I bought the other day. Cous-cous is often talked about in this country, but going by the fact that in supermarkets it is usually on the back shelf of the ethnic section, a take it that it is not widely used – pity, it is dead simple!
This recipe takes the fish and fries them with fresh peppers, mushrooms, caper-berries and more. Read on, McDuff!
(more…)
India has a rather large coast line, considerably longer than ours, and the Indians love of fish is second to no one. So it is rather strange that the only fish on many an Indian Restaurant menu is either a over cooked prawn or a tandoori trout! (Okay, the owner of Cafe Lazeez in Dean Street, London does something phenomenal with salmon, so it is not all bad! Though I think it may have vanished). Well, let us redress that right now.
