Mediterranean Chicken Stew

This is one of those dishes that split the crowd.  I liked it a lot, Son & heir liked it and hubby didn't like it much - from which I detect that it may well be a "women & children only" dish!

We had bought a chicken last weekend, as a fall-back position if it transpired that we couldn't get hold of a piece of roasting bacon.  As we finally managed to secure an enormous joint, the chicken went into the freezer and became part of this week's menus.

As such, I simply roasted the chicken during the day and stripped the carcass into two halves of usable meat.  One half went in today's chicken stew, the other was intended for the chicken pie that I had scheduled.

I'm always on the lookout for "things in which to use leftover roast chicken", as we rarely eat more than half a chicken in a roast dinner - which leaves the other half.  Now as much as I like cold roast chicken in sandwiches, it seems that I'm alone in that in our house - and there's only so many roast chicken sandwiches a girl can eat.

The original recipe (which I found on "The Kitchn" - click to view) recommended using a rotisserie chicken for speed, so I reckoned "the other half of the roast chicken" would qualify in this regard.

Believe it or not, apart from forgetting to include two components of the dish (the bay leaves and the lemon juice), I almost followed the recipe as it is set out on the originating blog.  I'm quite sure the lack of bay leaf won't have hurt the recipe any, and I was quite glad I had forgotten the lemon juice, as the tomatoes made it quite acidic enough.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't over-acidic (probably because I'd used the lovely Tarantella tinned tomatoes, which are just beautiful), but I can't help but think that a tablespoon of lemon juice might have tipped it over the edge.  The one addition I made to the recipe was the addition of a tablespoonful of tomato ketchup.  I dunno, I think it just adds a little spicy something to a tomato sauce - and the sweetness often will take the edge off of the tomatoes.

I served it with mashed potato and tenderstem broccoli (you're going to get sick of hearing about that stuff, if you're not already!) and it was a lovely mid-week supper.

MEDITERRANEAN CHICKEN STEW  (Serves 4)

Ingredients :

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, grated
2 tsp dried oregano
400g tin of chopped tomatoes in juice
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
400g tin of chick peas, in water
150ml chicken stock
2 bay leaves
freshly ground black pepper
half a medium sized roast chicken, shredded into chunks
a handful of olives, sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice (optional).

Method :

1.  In a large, deep saucepan, heat the olive oil and add the onion.  Cook until softened but not browned - some 5-8 minutes.

2.  Add the garlic and oregano, cook for a further minute, stirring well.

3.  Add the tomatoes, chick peas, tomato ketchup, chicken stock, bay leaves and pepper.  Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.

4.  Add the chicken meat, stir gently, lower the heat and simmer uncovered for a further 10 minutes.

5.  Just prior to serving, stir in the olives and continue to cook until they have heated through.

6.  Serve with mashed potato and a green vegetable of your choosing.

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Feeding eggs to egg-phobics : Mediterranean Frittata

I love eggs.  There's no two ways about it.  I can't think of any incarnation of eggyness that I would turn down - and I've always said to Son & heir that you won't go hungry all the time there's an egg in the house.

Hubby, however, is a different story.  He has a valid reason (two, in fact) for his reticence towards embracing the loveliness that is all things egg.  When he was just a little chap, he suffered a collapsed lung following on from eating an egg.  Now he admits that it may not have been the egg that did it, but as there was nothing else to blame at the time, the egg copped it.  He also has a big texture issue.  He can cope with runny egg yolk, but that's it.  No solidity to the egg yolk and certainly not the white of the egg.  These two things bring a quite marked reaction in his ability to keep the food down.  If you understand what I'm not saying, here.

However, he will happily chomp his way through an Impossible Quiche, or any pastry-based Quiche and will even contemplate an omelette on occasion.  Eggs in baking are okay too, as they just become a part of a whole and are indistinguishable in their form.  The same goes for meringue, however that's pretty much off the menu list owing to the sugar content.  Eggs in custard are fine - but not a custard tart, as that switches on the texture alert.

Now I like to include eggs in our diet on a regular basis as they are so good for you.  Low in fat, high in protein, they're the perfect little package.  So, when I saw the recipe for this Mediterranean Frittata on www.food4two.wordpress.com and realised that it didn't contain any potato (which hubby has had more than enough of in his life, already), I was very keen to make it.  Needless to say, I love any kind of frittata and am famous for making one which contained defrosted oven chips as its potato component.  It works, if you're brave enough to try!

This little frittata is really lovely.  We all felt that it lacked a little in substance (which is where the potato comes in) and when I make it again (which I will) I'll include some sweet potato, or maybe butternut squash, together with mushrooms - which would be just fabulous with it.

I opted for Basil as my herb of choice, which naturally went very well with the courgette and sun dried tomato.  One note on the courgette - instead of slicing it into rounds, I cut it into ribbons with a potato peeler.  This was largely to camouflage it from Son & heir, who has declared a hatred of the poor old courgette.  It worked, as he never noticed it and ventured the opinion that he liked it but for the sun dried tomatoes.  Well, I'm quite prepared to admit that one can never win when trying to feed an almost-teenager.

Where the cheese was concerned, again owing to Son & heir's long list of dislikes I steered clear of Feta.  Instead, I used a creamy and crumbly Cheshire cheese which has an almost lemony flavour and which went just beautifully with the remainder of the ingredients.  When I mentioned the cheese to Son & heir he commented "there was cheese on it?" which I consider to be a positive, even though he didn't notice how lovely it was.

Yet another deviation from the original recipe was that instead of using green beans, I pressganged some leftover Tenderstem Broccoli into use.  I honestly think that you can't go wrong with Tenderstem.  Just cut it to the size that would be manageable in the recipe it's intended to work with and it does its job beautifully.  Incidentally, asparagus would do a similar and just as tasty, job.  I cut each piece of tenderstem into three - two pieces of stalk and one fluffy piece is far easier to handle than trying to manhandle a long piece of broccoli into the pan!

So the recipe I'm including here is my version of the original, which you will find if you click on the link to Food4two above.  However, I'm quite sure that like a lot of these frittata recipes, anything along the veggie line that you would like to include would go just as nicely.  The only thing you need to watch is that a) you don't make the mix too wet by putting something pulpy in it and b) that whatever you're including, goes well with its fellows.

MEDITTERANEAN FRITTATA (serves 4)

Ingredients :

1 courgette, cut into ribbons
1 tbsp olive oil
a handful of Tenderstem broccoli, cut into 3 pieces
5 eggs (I used lovely Burford Brown eggs, just to make it a bit more special)
a handful of sliced basil
freshly ground black pepper
six or so halves of sun-dried tomato, chopped
75-100g of Cheshire cheese, crumbled.

Method :

1.  In a deep frying pan, heat the olive oil and add the courgette slices.  Fry gently until the courgette is tender.

2.  At the same time, heat a saucepan of salted water to boiling and blanche the Tenderstem pieces for 3 minutes, then drain and reserve.


3.  In a bowl, whisk the eggs with the basil and pepper.  You can add a teensy pinch of salt, depending on how salty your cheese is.  I opted not to do this, as the Cheshire cheese was quite salty enough.


4.  Once the courgette is cooked, add the tenderstem pieces and the sun-dried tomatoes to the pan and pour over the egg.


5.  Once you're happy that the vegetables are evenly spaced, add the cheese in crumbles over the top.  You can push the bigger pieces down into the egg to secure them a little if you wish.


6.  Cook on a medium heat for a few minutes - or until the bottom and sides have set.  Then slide the pan under a hot grill for another 2-3 minutes until risen, golden and cooked through.  There should be no wet egg visible if you press down in the middle of the frittata.


7.  Serve warm with salad and crispy croutons.
  
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Roasted Butternut Squash & Goat's Cheese Risotto

Hubby is the undisputed Risotto King in our house.  I have to admit that I don't feel the need to learn how to make a risotto, as his are so superb I just couldn't match them.

This last one, for instance.  Goodness me, but each mouthful was a combination of salty, sweet, earthy, cheesiness.  Each mouthful is slightly different to another, depending on how much squash you take, or how much goat's cheese you take.  It's beyond me how anyone (for instance, on Celebrity Master Chef last night) could find risotto boring.  However, it obviously happens - and all I can think is that whatever they've been eating that they found so boring, couldn't possibly have been a true risotto!

The Butternut Squash was roasted in little dice shapes prior to being included in the risotto, which gave it that beautiful smokey flavour.  Hubby mashed half of the cooked butternut and mixed it into the risotto to boost the base flavour, but didn't use any of the goat's cheese in the risotto - just sprinkled it over the top with the remaining butternut.

There really is something comforting about a plate of lovely risotto.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH & GOAT'S CHEESE RISOTTO  (feeds 2)

Ingredients :

500g or so of butternut squash, peeled and cut into dice
1 tbsp olive oil
700ml vegetable stock (we used Marigold Vegetable Bouillion)
25g butter
2-3 small shallots, finely diced
150g arborio rice (or any risotto rice)
150ml white wine
25g finely grated parmesan cheese
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
creamy goat's cheese, sufficient to crumble over, to serve.


Method :


1.  Heat your oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7.

2.  In a bowl, toss the squash in the oil together with some seasoning.  Scatter into a shallow roasting tin and roast for 30 mins until it is brown and soft, just caramelised on the edges.

2.  Meanwhile, prepare the risotto. In a saucepan, bring the stock to the boil and keep on a low simmer.

3.  In a separate pan, melt half the butter over a medium heat. Stir in the shallots and sweat gently for 8-10 mins until soft but not coloured, stirring occasionally.

4.  Stir the rice into the shallots until completely coated in the butter, then stir continuously until the rice is shiny and the edges of the grain start to look transparent.


5.  Pour in the wine and simmer until totally evaporated. Add the stock, a ladleful at a time all the while stirring the rice over a low heat for 25-30 mins, until the rice is cooked al dente (with a slightly firm, starchy bite in the middle - which should be less bite, rather than more bite).

6.  The risotto should be creamy and slightly soupy. When you draw a wooden spoon through it, there should be a wake that holds for a few moments but not longer.
 
7.  When the squash is cooked, mash half of it to a rough purée and leave half whole. When the risotto is just done, stir though the purée, then add the parmesan cheese and butter and leave to rest for a few mins.

8.  Serve the risotto scattered with the whole chunks of squash and crumbled goat's cheese.


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A week of new recipes! Meal planning w/b 13 Sept 11

I had left this week's menu planning a bit late - largely owing to being a bit busy, alternating with a marked tendency towards falling asleep at short notice.  Consequently, Monday had rolled into play without any forward planning - or any shopping list - having been done.

Your time will come, my beauties!

Fortunately, I had a fair old selection of recipes that I'd accumulated from my ramblings across the internet.  I'd collected them into a folder entitled "Untried" - which is an intriguing title, I find.  *chuckle*  So, hubby and I went through the folder, chucking out those which I was either dreaming about being suitable (such as those utilising things like brussels sprouts) and those which were just unachievable for whatever reason - usually price-based.

From the wreckage, we managed to accumulate the required six nights of meals (allowing for the fact that Son & heir was demanding Macdonalds with menaces, for one night).


So here's how it's all looking :

Tues : Son - pizza, adults - Goat's Cheese & Squash Risotto

Weds : Cheshire cheese frittata with salad

Thurs : Macdonalds (*sigh*)

Fri : Mediterranean Chicken Stew with Mashed Potatoes

Sat : Chicken & Mushroom Filo Pie with carrots, swede & broccoli

Sun : Beef stroganoff with rice

Mon : Ham & cheese pasta.

Hmmn.  There seems to be a bit of a cheese and chicken bias going on there.

Last night was Pizza night for Son & heir, which gave us the opportunity to indulge in one of hubby's gorgeous risottos.  This one was born of the fact that we still had half a butternut squash left from Sunday's dinner, with no home to go to.  So, he made a risotto with roasted butternut and goat's cheese.  I'll blog about it next, so won't go into detail here - suffice to say, it was gorgeous and I recommend it to you.

Tonight is Frittata, which I've been yearning to make for aeons but hubby has always been dead against it because of the potato content.  This frittata, however, contains no potato!  I found it on www.food4two.wordpress.com which is a source of some fabulous inspiration.  The original recipe included Feta cheese which is regrettably a no-no where Son & heir is concerned.  So I've bought some lovely creamy Cheshire cheese to use instead, hoping that the flavours won't be too far distant yet acceptable to the young sir.

I've also indulged in some of Clarence Court's gorgeous Burford Brown eggs, just to make it a bit more special.  We'll have the frittata along with some salad.  Typically, today the weather has chosen to throw it down with rain (and hubby's out on his electric bike! Yikes!) and it's more like a stew or sausage & mash day, but there we are.  You just can't anticipate what the weather will do - apart from rain, that is.

I think perhaps we should skip lightly over Thursday nights excursion to Macdonalds.  Least said, soonest mended.

This last weekend, because we were having distinct trouble finding a piece of bacon to roast, hubby picked up a chicken to use as a fall-back position.  Consequently, I've got a chicken sitting in my freezer, needing to be used up.

Friday's Mediterranean Chicken Stew, I found on The Kitchn blog.  I will roast the chicken in the day and use half of it for this stew, then the other half for Saturday's Chicken pie.

The original recipe for the stew recommends pairing it with Cinnamon Couscous, but - amazingly - hubby suggested it might be better suited to our palates (with more than a nod towards Son & heir) if we put it with some mashed potato.  I may even include some green vegetables such as broccoli with it.  It's a tomato-based stew, with onion, garlic, oregano, chick peas and olives.  I thought it sounded like a lovely comforting Friday dinner.

Saturday's Chicken & Mushroom Filo Pie has come from Hollowlegs' blog.  I noted this one when she first published the recipe what seems like ages ago now (last January, in fact!) and have taken this long to give it a whirl.  I'm not exactly a one-woman whirlwind, let's just accept it.

Except with me, it's Stroganoff rather than ice cream.

The recipe for the Beef Stroganoff booked in for Sunday lunch, is another one from The Kitchn.  I have tried a couple of different stroganoff recipes just lately but neither of them have satisfied the Stroganoffs of memory.  This one, with its red wine and sour cream, may just be the one.  I'm hopeful, if nothing else!  I'll be making it with shin of beef and I suspect it may well find itself chuckling in the slow cooker.  Well, it's out now - I might as well make use of it, eh?

Hubby is responsible for Monday's Ham & Cheese pasta and, to be honest, I'm not really sure what he's got in mind.  The whole idea is to use up the remains of the pot-roast bacon from this last weekend, which I have consigned to the freezer.  However, he's having kittens about the odd colour the top surface has gone and may well opt to bump this one in favour of something different.  If so, then I'll have a whole heap of ham to use in whopping great doorstep sandwiches over the weekend.  Hmmmn, or ham omelettes.  Or maybe ham and eggs.  Or how about ham & tomato bruschetta?  The possibilities are endless.

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Celery gratin with pot-roast bacon and roasted vegetables

It occurred to me, when I was pondering on how to cook the enormous piece of bacon that we'd procured for Sunday lunch, that as I had the slow cooker out still - it made sense to use it.

I had previously been intending on pot-roasting the bacon, however it was such an enormous piece that I doubted it would fit into any of our saucepans.  So having a sudden brainwave about the slow cooker solved that problem and also got it out of my hair for the cooking period.  I could then concentrate on cooking the other components of the dinner.

At the end of some six or seven hours in the slow cooker, the meat just fell apart.  The top surface had become a slightly odd colour, which I take to have been due to the celery, carrot, onion and other vegetables in the stock.  The flavour was just divine!


I had two fresh beetroot left over from the Borscht and decided to roast these along with some potatoes, carrots and a butternut squash.  I'd wanted to try roasted beetroot for quite some time, so that played into my hands beautifully.  Who knew that roasted beetroot was as lovely as that?  The flavour was very akin to those beetroot crisps you can get, but with the intensity of the softer centre.  Just lovely.


I doused the butternut squash pieces in cumin powder and a little pinch of chilli flakes, which always go so well with butternut squash.  Following roasting, it made for an interesting change of pace in the flavour profile of the whole meal.

However, the unexpected star of the whole proceedings was the Celery Gratin.

Many years ago, I would ring the changes in my diet of microwave dinners by every so often buying a can of celery hearts and mixing up a cheese sauce to pour over them.  I so enjoyed this for a change and the Cauliflower Cheese we made the other day reminded me of it.

Now I know I had resolved to make another cauliflower cheese to have with roast bacon, but I had a feeling that a celery version would be well received by the assembled masses (a.k.a. hubby and Son & heir).  I was right where hubby was concerned, but it was a bit of miss where Son & heir was concerned, who had to be "encouraged" to eat the celery.

However, I thought it was gorgeous - and even had the leftovers for lunch the following day, which tells you how nice it was.

In this, rather more serious version, I used fresh celery and par-boiled it before baking, as I hadn't made one before and wasn't sure how long it would have required to cook from raw.  As it turned out, the 2-3 minutes par-boiling was just perfect as its texture was tender but still fairly firm at the end of the 45 mins baking.

I sprinkled it with breadcrumbs and a little more grated cheddar, to give a nice contrasting crunch.  All in all, it rather upstaged both the bacon and the beetroot!

CELERY GRATIN (serves 4)

Ingredients :

2 celery hearts, or alternatively, 2 bunches of celery - tops, bottom & hoary outside stems removed (use the tops and stems in a stock)
150g butter
2-3 tbsp flour (depending on how thick you like your sauce)
1 pint semi-skimmed milk
half a tsp Cayenne pepper
100ml double cream
1 tsp Dijon mustard
250g mature cheddar, grated
25g parmesan, grated
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
a couple of handfuls of breadcrumbs.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat oven to 180deg C/Gas Mark 4.

2.  Prepare the celery by making sure it is scrupulously clean.  This may very well mean you have to dismantle the structure of the hearts, but better that than grit between your teeth!  Chop into pieces some 2 inches long and put into a pan of boiling water for 3 minutes.  Drain and place into a deep baking dish.

3.  Arrange the celery evenly across the dish and set to one side.

4.  In a non-stick pan, melt the butter and when foamy, sprinkle on the flour.  Stir like billy-o, ensuring all the flour is swallowed up by the butter.

5.  After 2-3 minutes cooking, add a splash of milk and stir like crazy to avoid lumps forming.  Continue to add milk and stir until the sauce achieves the quantity and consistency you're looking for.

6.  Add the cayenne, mustard and cream and stir to combine, keeping the sauce at a low simmer.

7.  Add all but a handful of the cheeses and stir to combine.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.

8.  Pour the sauce over the celery, making sure every bit of the celery is covered.

9.  Sprinkle on the breadcrumbs and the last handful of cheese and place into the oven for 45 minutes.

Serve.

Slow cooker beef stew & dumplings with Tenderstem broccoli

As the days have suddenly become decidedly autumnal, so my thoughts have turned to beautiful dark stews, studded with fluffy dumplings.

Inevitably, much in the same way as word association, (stew : slow cooker), these thoughts are swiftly followed by the hope that maybe this year, I'll be able to use the Slow Cooker successfully.

I've owned a slow cooker, in one incarnation or another, for what seems like donkeys' years now.  My first one was a tiny slow cooker which would feed one person.  I believe it used to be my Nanna's and was put away to await a new owner when she passed away.  I was only too pleased to inherit it when my Mum suggested it, as at that time, I was working a 9-6pm job five days a week, plus walking two lurchers and taking care of two horses outside of work time.  I would generally find myself looking hopefully in the fridge at around 9pm each day and resorting to horrid ready-made microwave dinners.  My slow cooker changed all that.  I would feel sorry for the dogs, having to sit in the flat while I was at work and smell the dinner slowly chuckling away in it.  They always got the leftover gravy at the end, so even the dogs knew that the slow cooker was A Very Good Thing.


However, when my medium-sized slow cooker finally died, I replaced it with an enormous version that would easily take an entire chicken, plus all the veg.  Quite apart from anything else, it took up a prodigious amount of space on the worktop, which was a bit of a pain.  Being able to cook lovely stews and roast entire chickens in it offset these difficulties.  Then, for some strange reason, I lost my slow cooker muse and instead of turning out great meals, I went through a phase of everything either turning to water or everything tasted of "slow cooker", i.e. boiled and pallid.


Looking back, I suspect what happened was that I got over-confident with it.  I began cutting corners and instead of (for instance) browning the meat before the slow cooking began, I would just throw everything in, switch it on and expect it to be lovely.  Not surprisingly, it wasn't.  Another aspect was that with a sudden reduction in the amount of money we were bringing in each month (another story entirely), I couldn't afford to buy the cuts of meat that were suited to slow cooking.  Those horrid frozen chicken breasts that are more water than meat immediately come to mind.  Nothing could make those things taste good.

Makes your mouth water!

As a result, my lovely slow cooker has resided at the back of the pan cupboard for nearly two years now.  However, in the meantime, I've begun taking cooking a whole lot more seriously and have achieved a certain level of self-education with it.  As a result, I've forgotten the horrid short cuts that I used to take and now understand how to achieve flavour in food.


I was hugely intrigued to give the slow cooker another go.  I was more than a little trepidacious that the lovely, dark, rich-gravied beef stew that I had in my mind's eye would turn out to taste not of Beef Shin, but of slow cooker.  It had to be done, though.  After all, I had the biggest slow cooker in the world not only taking up space in my cupboards, but it was a cheaper method of cooking than using the stove.  It should have been a no-brainer, as they say.


So, at around 10am, I sat down with knife and chopping board, hubby stood ready with peeler - and we commenced the cutting-and-a-peeling that is necessary to produce a beautiful beef stew.


It isn't a five-minute job, assembling a really good stew, it takes some time.  However, once you've got everything trimmed, peeled, diced, chopped and out of the cupboards, it's a simple matter of processing it through the browning, sweating, par-cooking and composing (that'll be the gravy) and on into the slow cooker.

Thereafter, all you need do is waft past on occasion, casting a sidelong glance at the contents through the glass lid, and sigh wistfully - right up until that moment when you've got an hour to go and you can safely lift the lid, stir the contents, drop in the dumplings and really begin to anticipate dinnertime.


My slow cooker Muse has returned - and very glad I am too.


SLOW COOKER BEEF STEW WITH DUMPLINGS  (feeds 4)


Ingredients :


800g beef shin, trimmed (start with 800g, to allow for wastage through trimming)
3 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, sliced finely
9 small round shallots, topped & tailed and peeled, but left whole
1 fat clove of garlic, chopped finely
9 chestnut mushrooms, wiped clean, but left whole
2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunky pieces
2-3 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunky pieces
2 celery sticks, de-stringed and chopped finely
enough swede for your own preference, peeled and cut into chunky pieces
1 medium potato, cut into fine dice
6-8 baby new potatoes, washed and left whole
3 tbsp plain flour
2 tsp vegetable bouillion powder
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
150ml red or white wine (I used white, as it was what I had available)
500ml beef stock (from a cube is fine)
1 tsp wholegrain Mustard
1 tsp Bovril
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 large gherkins, chopped
a large handful of curly parsley - including stalks - chopped fine.


For the dumplings :


100g self raising flour
50g vegetable suet
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
water, to combine.


Method :


1.  In a non-stick frying pan, heat up 2 tbsp of the oil and, when up to temperature, brown the pieces of beef.  Once they have taken on a good dark colour, decant them into the slow cooker, taking care to replace the lid and turn it on to low.


2.  Add the onion and shallots to the frying pan and cook until the onion has begun to take on colour and is softened.  Add the garlic and mushrooms to the pan and cook for another 1-2 minutes.  Decant into the slow cooker.


3.  Add the remainder of the vegetables to the frying pan (I did it in two batches) and fry until beginning to take on colour.  Again, decant into the slow cooker.  When all the vegetables are in, stir to combine.


4.  Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the frying pan and heat.  Sprinkle in the flour and bouillion powder and allow to cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring to prevent burning.


5.  Add the wine and allow it to frizzle, while you stir like crazy, trying to avoid huge lumps.  It is inevitable that some lumps will occur - but don't fret, as these will disperse once in the slow cooker.  Add the beef stock and continue stirring.


6.  Once up to a simmer, reduce the heat and add the mustard, bovril, tomato puree and worcestershire sauce and stir to combine.  Season to taste and once thickened to your satisfaction, decant it into the slow cooker.  It is best to go for a really quite thick gravy at this stage, as the juices from the meat and vegetables will serve to dilute it as they cook.


7.  Finally, add the gherkins and parsley and give everything a good stir.  Replace the lid, turn it up to high and leave it for a minimum of 4 hours.


8.  At this stage, mix up the dumplings by placing the flour, suet and a pinch of salt & pepper into a bowl and add sufficient water to mix up the dough.  I always opt for a sticky mix, as we like rustic looking dumplings, as opposed to shaped, smooth dumplings.


9.  Remove the lid from the slow cooker and stir the contents.  Then, spoon small amounts of the dumpling mixture onto the surface of the stew and leave them where they fall.  Replace the lid and turn the slow cooker down to medium.  Leave to cook for another hour.


10.  Serve with some tenderstem broccoli, for a lovely splash of green on the plate.


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Macaroni Cheese - the gold standard

You may remember my talking about my Hubby's longing for a macaroni cheese recipe that didn't involve a roux-based sauce.  He had a memory of a macaroni cheese that a friend's wife had made for a dinner party, which he was sure contained wine - and was itching to re-create that.

Well, he'd gone a little way along that route by learning how to make a roux-based sauce, so that at least he understood the process in order to deviate from it.  I detailed his learning process in the blog posting about the Cauliflower Cheese - and indeed it was a beautiful cheese sauce.

Like me, he'd scoured the internet and my recipe books, looking for a recipe that satisfied all his criteria, but without success.  So he took a recipe that was nearest to what he wanted, and adapted it with the best bits from several other recipes.

I can confirm that the Macaroni Cheese he came up with was quite categorically the best Macaroni Cheese I have ever tasted - and was perfectly able to see it on a dinner party menu.  Macaroni Cheese isn't the first thing you'd think of for a dinner party, but this one is quite simply the Gold Standard for Macaroni Cheeses.

The cheese sauce was made more in the style of a fondue, rather than a cheese sauce.  As such, it contained the desired white wine, simply loads of cheese (cheddar and gruyere) along with cream and milk.

As if that wasn't enough, the whole dish was sprinkled with a mixture of buttered breadcrumbs, herbs, parmesan and salt which gave it a lightness of texture and a simple delicious crunch.

It's not the cheapest Macaroni Cheese in the world - but I'd go so far as to say that it is certainly the best I've ever had!

3 January 2018

I've just made a version of this macaroni cheese - following the recipe apart from three differences.  I used The Black Farmer's Sweet Mature Cheddar and a ball of Mozzarella in the cheese sauce - which were both SUCH a success.  The cheddar is truly packed full of gorgeous flavours and the mozzarella, well, mozzarella makes any cheesy thing wonderful.  The last difference was that I skipped the breadcrumb and baking part completely.  Did we mind?  Not one bit.  Here's how it looked.  SO yum.  

MACARONI CHEESE  (feeds 4-5)

Ingredients :

225g macaroni pasta
5-6 rashers lean unsmoked streaky bacon
3 tbsp butter, plus a little for the breadcrumbs
3-4 small shallots, chopped
2 tbsp plain flour
150ml white wine
100ml whole milk
300ml double cream
115g gruyere cheese, grated
115g mature cheddar cheese, grated
2 tbsp fresh chives, chopped finely
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
pinch of cayenne pepper
pinch of nutmeg
110g crusty breadcrumbs
enough parmesan to grate over.


Method :


1.  Pre-heat oven to 200deg C/180deg C fan/Gas mark 6.


2.  Cook pasta in boiling salted water according to packet directions until tender to the bite.  Drain well, but do not rinse.


3.  In a large frying pan over a medium to high heat, melt the butter and add the bacon.  Fry until fat is rendered and just beginning to turn crusty around the edges.  Add the shallots and cook until golden, approx 3 minutes.


4.  Sprinkle mixture with flour and cook, stirring all the time, for around a minute.  Add the wine and stir, then the milk, still stirring, making sure to collect all the flavour from the bottom of the pan.  Add the cream and continue to stir.  Sprinkle in the cheeses, a handful at a time, continuing to stir until each handful is melted before adding the next.

5.  Stir in 2 tbsp chives, mustard, a pinch of salt, the cayenne and nutmeg.  Add the pasta to the sauce and stir lightly to combine.

6.  Add to a baking dish.

7.  To make the breadcrumb mixture, (which can be made ahead of time), in a food processor pulse the breadcrumbs with one and a half tbsp of butter, 1 tsp chives, grated parmesan and a pinch of salt, until mixed.

8.  Sprinkle over the pasta and bake until the top is browned and the cheese sauce is bubbling, around 15-20 minutes.

Serve.
 
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More Cornish Pasties!

Look at 'em, all golden and lovely!

Hooray!  We actually got around to making those Cornish Pasties we'd been promising ourselves for the last two weeks.

I made them exactly how I describe in the Cornish Pasty blog post here and didn't even tinker about with the ingredients.

Oh!  I'm fibbing.  I did change one thing, which was when putting the filling in each pastry circle, I decided to put half the steak mince on the bottom, then the vegetables, then the other half of the steak mince on the top.  I felt that would give a better distribution of meat to vegetable, which is exactly what happened.  So I'm pleased with that.  

Three lines cut into the top - traditional R us.

I'm also pleased that, this time, I was well enough to eat one!  Again, I served them just simply with some baked beans.  They are so huge that they really don't need anything more than that - and I did, in fact, consider not having baked beans but keeping the tomato ketchup bottle close by, which would certainly have worked.

You can even see the pepper!

Hubby did the rolling out of the pastry, thank goodness, and we had a little production line going.  We did investigate the proposition of making more, smaller pasties - but the division of the pastry was too confusing, so we just went with what worked previously.


Never mind your shop bought pasties, these pasties truly are the best I have tasted since my ex-fiance's Mum made some, around ooooh, some 34 years ago now.  Now that's not bad going, I'd say!


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Borscht! Deep purple goodness.

As many of you know, we had been growing a little collection of beetroots in the garden - just as an experiment and to see how they'd get on.

Well, we harvested them the other day and only one of the ten or so was a particularly good size.  Which was okay, as we hadn't thought any of them would come to anything.  Next year we'll have to plant them a bit further apart, I think.

However, I'd been putting some thought into what I'd do with them if any were any good - and had the thought of Borscht floating around in my back of my head.

Now Borscht is not something I'd ever had (prior to last night, anyway), nor was it anything that had particularly appeared on my radar as being something that I just had to try.  I like beetroot - and a salad just isn't a salad without it - but an entire soup made from beetroot?  That was a bit more of a challenge.

Having spent time thinking about it though, I had (sort of) committed myself to giving it a go.  So, I researched various recipes and put a bunch of fresh beetroot on the shopping list.  I didn't plump for one particular recipe, eventually I took the best bits from three different recipes and made my own - which accorded with the image I had in my mind, of what Borscht looked like and tasted like.  Which was tricky, because as I say, I'd never seen it (other than in photographs), much less tasted it!

Having heard all kinds of horror stories of kitchens being painted purple (one Twitter friend dropped a panful of the stuff), and having watched Nigel Slater turn his hands purple when grating a beetroot, I also put a pair of rubber gloves on the shopping list.

My recipe required a number of the vegetables to be julienned and I didn't much fancy turning the chopping board purple, so I'd been pondering on this conundrum for a while.  Ultimately, I utilised a version of Rachel Allen's method of rolling out pastry - and put a double sheet of cling film onto the worktop, which I then put the mandolin onto and julienned the beetroot onto that.  (What, use a knife?  Not when there's a mandolin around!).  This stroke of inspiration (as well as the rubber gloves), meant that absolutely nothing got dyed purple and the beetroot could be conveyed from whole to julienned, then from worktop to saucepan, without any evidence appearing on the worktop, chopping board, floor or my clothes.  (The latter of which is completely amazing, if you know what a muck magnet I am usually!).

As for the flavour, well, it's not exactly beetroot - but the earthiness is there and not overpoweringly so.  The sweetness of beetroot is there, naturally.  However, it seems as though the combination of flavours does that unusual thing in that they combine, amalgamate and come forth in a collection of flavours that is unlike anything you've ever had before.  Nothing is a huge flavour, nothing outweighs anything else.  Even the cabbage is welcomed with open arms by the remainder of the flavours and just sort of disappears.  I can completely understand the addition of vinegar at the end, as this serves to sharpen up the taste, giving you a complete and rounded flavour as a whole.  Borscht has umami by the bucketload.



The recipe is all about preparation.  If you get the vegetables sliced up and prepared before you start cooking, it's just a simple matter of putting items one after the other into the saucepan until they're cooked.

BORSCHT  (feeds 2)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp butter

4 slices streaky bacon, cut into thin strips

1 medium potato, diced small

1 large carrot, julienned (use the mandolin)

1 stick celery, de-stringed and chopped fine

2 shallots (or 1 onion), chopped

200g raw beetroots, skinned and julienned

100g sweetheart cabbage, sliced finely

600ml beef stock

a tinned plum tomato, chopped finely

the juice from the tomato tin

2 tsp red wine vinegar

salt & pepper

sour cream.

Method :

In a large heavy pan, melt butter and lightly fry the bacon until fat has rendered and is becoming brown.

Then add the shallots and fry until softened.

Add the potatoes, carrots, celery and beetroot and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add beef stock, tomatoes and tomato juice plus some pepper and bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer.

Add the cabbage and stir to combine.  Bring back to a simmer, cover and cook until potato cubes are done.

Take a potato masher and gently crush the soup, to break up the potato but not mashing the vegetables.  Give a good stir and taste for seasoning.  (Add loads of  black pepper – it can take it).

Add vinegar and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Serve with a swirl of sour cream.

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Getting back in harness : Menu Plan w/b 6 Sept 11

I think that title - "Getting back in harness" - is entirely appropriate, as that's exactly what it feels like.  Having been away from interesting and new recipes for a couple of weeks, it feels good to get back to some new ideas.

Here's what's on the menu for this week :

Tues : Son - Pizza. Parents - Borscht & crusty bread.

Wed : Cornish pasties & baked beans.

Thurs : Macaroni cheese.

Fri : Lemon & yoghurt baked chicken with savoury rice.

Sat : Slow-cooker Beef Stew & cobbles, with tenderstem broccoli.

Sun : Roast bacon, roast butternut squash & beetroot with celery gratin.

Mon : Tuna pasta bake.

How does that lot look, then?

Tuesday's pizza day was in full effect yesterday, which enabled us to have Borscht for the first time.  I'd never made it before, much less tasted it before, so it was all a bit of a voyage of discovery.  However, it was a completely delicious discovery, which hubby declared was his "best soup evar!".

Anyway, I've done a blog post in which I talk all about it and give the recipe, so I won't witter on here about it.  Watch the blog, as it's the next one to be published!

Tonight is another go at making the Cornish Pasties that got bounced in favour of an indian takeaway, last week.  I'm in a much better place to be making them today, so I think everything worked out just fine in that regard.  I was going to be serving salad with them, but it's been so cold and miserable outside just lately, we decided to opt for good old Baked Beans instead.

Now, Thursday is an Important Day.  Hubby is cooking a Macaroni cheese, which is something he's never attempted before.  He's following a recipe, rather than just winging it, so we've no reason to believe that it'll go anything other than perfectly.  We've got some lovely streaky bacon and have invested in a small pack of Gruyere cheese (incidentally, have you SEEN the price of that stuff? Are the cows made of gold, or what?) so we're all set for a goodie!

I thought that, on Friday, it would be nice to have a fairly easy dinner.  So I'm making the Lemon & yoghurt baked chicken as described on "Everyday Mom's Meals" blog.  All I've got to do here, is remember to defrost the chicken on Thursday, so that it can marinade overnight!  I'm serving it with savoury rice, which I have to admit, I've bought a couple of packets of the stuff.  So shoot me!

When I lived on my own - when I had the horses - savoury rice was one of my staple meals.  I could mix it up, then pop it in the microwave and take the dogs for a walk while it cooked.  With a couple of sausages that had been baking in the oven, it made a superbly quick and remarkably satisfying meal which was very well received at 9pm after two visits to the horses and a day at work!  So this is a bit of a trip down memory lane for me.

I'm really looking forward to Saturday's beef stew.  I've been yearning for a lovely thick warming stew made with Shin of beef, for ages.  To help hubby out, who has had E-NUFF potatoes for a while, I'll be baking some cobbles (scone-like objects) to go with the stew and I'll add some tenderstem broccoli on the side.  Should be gorgeous!

Sunday's dinner formed in my brain a bit back-to-front.  It all began with my wanting a celery gratin (celery hearts in cheese sauce with breadcrumbs on, baked in the oven).  So then I had to think of a roast meat that would go well with it - hence the bacon turned up. 

Being a Sunday dinner, it required a bit more than just the bacon and celery, so I finally decided upon a butternut squash, roasted in the oven, along with the leftover beetroot that didn't get used in the Borscht and some potatoes to make Son & heir happy.  A bit of an odd way of assembling a meal, but I think it works!  Well, I suppose we'll find out, eh?

Monday, as ever, is a storecupboard dinner day.  There was a time that I hated Tuna Pasta Bake and would have been very happy not to have ever seen one again.  Then (and I am a tad embarrassed to admit this), came Homepride's Tuna Pasta Bake sauce in a jar.  I seriously suspect they've put something terribly addictive in this sauce, as I absolutely love it and would be very happy to carry on eating the bake until either the cows came home or until time immemorial.  Considering how negative I am towards sauces such as this, it really is remarkable just how much I love the stuff.

All of which makes a potentially fairly tedious day's meals a much happier prospect.

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