Posts by Jess

Spiced Spatchcocked Quail and Beetroot Barely Risotto

April 20, 2015 Comments Off read Poultry

Pearl barely has become my new favourite alternative to Aborio rice for use in a risotto. Ok its not ‘authentic’ Italian but it has a delicious nutty taste, a beautiful texture that goes deliciously with earthy beetroot and is packed full or nutrients. This dish is delicious served with lemony dressed rocket, some tender spice roasted poussin and a gooey quail egg. But remove the meat and its a vegetarians dream. Serve this to your meat hating buddies in place of the stereotyped mushroom risotto or quiche and you’ll be in their good books.

Serves 2

1 x spatchcocked poussin or 2 small quail. Alternatively use chicken legs or breast
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp spice mix (see here)
120g pearl barely
1 pint hot chicken stock
125ml red wine
1 small red onion, chopped finely
1 garlic clove, chopped finely
1 sprig thyme, leaves picked
200g cooked beetroot, pureed in a food processor (save a piece and cut into cubes for texture if you like)
Handful finely grated parmesan
1 knob butter
½ lemon
Rocket leaves to serve
2-4 quail eggs

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Season the bird. Coat in the dry spices and 1 tbsp olive oil and use your hands to rub the mixture into the meat.
Place on a lined baking tray and roast at a high heat for about 40 minutes for a spatchcocked poussin/quail. Baste with the juice twice during cooking. Once ready, remove from the oven and let it rest for a few minutes before carving to serve.
Meanwhile while the meat is cooking, make the risotto. Heat half a knob of butter with a small splash of oil in a saucepan. Very gently sweat the red onion in the butter for about 10 minutes until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for a few more minutes. Season
Turn the heat up to medium high and add the pearl barely. Toast in the pan with the onion stirring all the time. Next add the wine and simmer off until reduced.
Turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and add the hot stock, ladle by ladle, adding more only after each addition has been absorbed. Continue for about 25minutes or so until the pearl barley is tender. Keep adding stock until the barley is cooked but don’t drown the mixture especially towards the end of the cooking time or it will be too runny.
When the barley is cooked, stir through the beetroot puree and cubed beetroot and taste and season again. Bring back up to the heat to warm through.
Add the grated cheese, another knob of butter and a generous squeeze of lemon juice and remove form the heat. Place the lid on top and leave it sit and rest while you see to the quail eggs.
To cook the quails eggs to a soft boil, simmer them in a briskly boiling pan of water for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and then plunge into cold water. When cool enough to handle, remove the shells.
To serve, spoon a generous spoonful of risotto into a warmed bowl. Top with a handful of rocket dressed with plenty of lemon juice and seasoning.
Carve the bird as required removing the legs and the breast meat. Place on top of the rocket. Slice your eggs in half at the last moment and finish the dish with their runny yolk centres and a good grinding of fresh black pepper.

Gingerbread Latte Ice Cream, Salted Pistachio Brittle

April 10, 2015 Comments Off read Sweet Treats

Its Easter, a foodie occasion so I cannot forgo a dessert menu without this icey sweet delight. Coffee is such a crowd pleasing and moresih dessert flavour (if you’re a caffeine lover) as it naturally tops off a dinner and satisfies those bitter fans and the sweet toothed. From tiramisu to coffee cake I love it. But in ice cream….well need I say more. With the subtleyly of the ginger and cinnamon it makes for a ironically warming flavour in this cooling ice cream. Acoompanied with a warm lava centred chocolate fondant it was the perfect finale to Easter lunch.

Ice Cream (Serves 6 modestly)

300ml single cream
1 can condensed milk
2 tbsp coffee granules
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon

Heat the cream until just coming up to the boil. Add the coffee and spices and whisk until all combined off the heat.
Leave to cool.
Whisk in the condensed milk until thoroughly combined and transfer to a container or tupperware to store int he freezer.
Freeze until set! You can remove it from the freezer about 5 minutes before serving to make it easier to serve.

Salted Pistachio Brittle

Very general measurements and method here! If in doubt use a sugar thermometer.

200g caster sugar
160g roughly of golden syrup
3 tbsp water
60g pisatchios, crushed
1 tsp malden salt
1 tbsp unsalted butter

Line a baking tray with non stick parchment (grease with oil if you want)
Crush the nuts and mix with the salt and set aside.
Mix the sugar, syrup and water in a pan. Heat on a medium high heat but do not be tempted to stir. Allow it to melt and begin to caramelise and bubble. Leave for 5-10 minutes or so bubbling away until the syrup beings to turn golden. Watch very closely here as you don’t want it to catch and burn or turn too dark. When a golden brown colour add the butter and remove from the heat and quickly pour onto the baking tray.
Immediately scatter over the salty nuts evenly and leave to set. It will harden quickly, within 10 minutes! Once poured out and still soft though you can move the tray around to make it thinner if required by tilting.
Once set, peel from the parchment and break carefully into shards for each guest

Indian Fish

March 29, 2015 Comments Off read Seafood

You can use any fish here. I made this with a generous plumpy salmon on Mother’s Day, a clean mango ribbon salad, coriander lime chickpeas and Peshwari naan. However, sea bass this evening served with pistachio, coriander and cinnamon raisin rice and greens was equally as delicious and adoring. Both with this creamy, cooling cardamon laden, lime spiked yoghurt splashed slap-handedly over the spicy garam marsala crust is enough to satisfy even the most adoring Indian take-out stalker.

Serves 2

2 x salmon or seabass fillets
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tbsp olive oil
150g natural yoghurt
Juice and zest 1 lime
1 tsp ground cardamon

Mix together the garam masala and oil in a bowl and coat the fish fillets with your hands. Set aside in the fridge to marinade for 2 hours or so
Meanwhile, mix together the yoghurt, lime zest and juice and the cardamon. Season and taste.
If using salmon, preheat the oven to 200°C. When ready to cook, bring a frying pan up to a high heat. Add 1tbsp of olive oil.
When hot, add the fish skin side down and hold down to prevent the skin curling up.
Fry for 2 minutes until eh skin is lovely and crisp. If using sea bass, fry until just cooked and turn onto the flesh side to finish cooking for the final minute (about 3 minutes cooking in total). If using salmon, fry until the skin is crisp and then place in the hot oven for about 7 minutes depending on their size. If they are thick fillets (2inch or so) allow this time. If thinner (1cm or so) allow about 5 minutes, Do not overcook!
Serve the spicy, warm and soft fish fillets with a spoonful of creamy yoghurt and scattering of fresh coriander leaf.

Amaretto Pannacotta, Rose Rhubarb, Pistachio Shortbread

March 16, 2015 Comments Off read Sweet Treats

A beautiful, delicious, creamy, soothing, sweet and flavoursome dessert to top off a wonderful Mother’s Day supper. My mother personified in a pleasing dessert. Elegant, beautiful and who doesn’t love a creamy vanilla speckled pannacotta? Obviously with a splash of booze as it was only fitting and with the simplest quirky touch of rose for added originality. And as one of my mums favourite puddings it was always on the menu. With shortbread of course. I think I’d have been hung and gutted if I hadn’t made any if I’m honest. Even if we were having pancakes! You can totally adapt this recipe too adding different liquors and roasting different fruits. Adding different nuts and flavours to your biscuits too. Try frangelico pannacotta, hazelnut shortbread and cinnamon honey roasted figs.

Serves 6

Amaretto Pannacotta

500ml double cream
125ml milk
40g caster sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla pod
2 tbsp amaretto liqueur (or another if preferred, e.g. Frangelico?)
3 leaves/sheets gelatine

Find yourself either 6 pannacotta moulds (This is if you want to turn these out onto a plate to eat. It is up to you. I prefer the less hassle and neater presentation approach to serving these in glasses) or 6 glasses of choice to serve you pannacotta in and place on tray.
Heat the double cream, milk, sugar and cinnamon stick in a saucepan over a medium heat to dissolve the sugar and infuse the cinnamon.
Scrape the vanilla seeds from the pod and whisk into the heating cream. Add the pod too and bring to just under a simmer.
Remove from the what and leave to infuse for 20 minutes or so.
Soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water meanwhile.
Sieve or pick out the cinnamon stick and the vanilla pod and discard. Bring the pan back onto the heat and warm through.
Squeeze out the gelatine leaves and then whisk into the warm cream.
Transfer the mixture to a good reliable pouring jug and divide the mixture between the glasses. (TIP: Measure the mixture first and then divide this by 6 so that you end up with 6 even glasses. It is also worth whisking the mixture between pouring so you don’t end up with all the tasty black and precious vanilla seeds at the bottom of the jug!)
Carefully place the tray in the fridge and leave to set. Ideally make these in the morning for use for dinner.
Bring to room temperature for about 5 minutes before serving. Turn out any that are in pannacotta moulds. Serve with the warm rhubarb compote on top.

Rose Roasted Rhubarb

500g pink forced Spring Rhubarb
1 tbsp runny honey
¾ tsp rosewater
1 tbsp rose petals
Handful pistachio nuts, crushed

Preheat the oven to about 160°C.
Cut your rhubarb into 2inch chunks on the diagonal.
Place in a baking dish and drizzle with the honey. Add the rosewater and mix.
Cover with foil and roast for about 30 minutes until its soft. remove the foil and return to the oven for about 10 more minutes or so.
Serve warm on top of the chilled pannacotta, scattered with a few rose petals and some crushed pistachio nuts.

Pistachio Shortbread

125g cold, cubed butter
175g plain flour
60g caster sugar
40g pistachios

Preheat the oven to 180 and line a baking tray with parchment
In a food processor, combine the butter, flour and 50g of sugar and blend until it begins to clump and form a dough
Next in a pestle and mortar pound the nuts coarsely until you form small pieces.
Add half to the dough and pulse again briefly in the processor to diffuse.
Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and use your hands to bring to a ball of dough.
Halve the dough to make it easier to work with as you can now deal with it in two batches. Roll to the thickness of a pound coin and then use a cutter of choice to make your shortbread before placing on the baking tray.
Combine the remaining pounded nuts with the 10g of sugar and scatter liberally over the biscuits.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until just beginning to turn a light golden brown.
Leave to cool before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

To serve: Serve the pannacotta slightly chilled (remove from the fridge for about 5 minute before serving) topped with the warm rhubarb and a side order of buttery shortbread

Harissa Salmon

March 14, 2015 Comments Off read Seafood

This is a beautiful salmon recipe. Not just aesthetically but a taste bud teaser too. And not just for salmon….the first time I made this I used a lovely white sea bream fillet which also stands up to the harissa flavour well. Harissa is a lovely firey Tunisian paste made form red peppers, hot chillis and spices and has a natural affinity with rose from its neighbouring Moroccan friend. Salmon filliets rubbed in this spicy paste and cooled with a vibrant lime and turmeric yoghurt were a match made in North African Tunisian heaven.

Serves 2

2 salmon (or sea bream) fillets
1 heaped tsp harissa paste
½ tsp ground cumin
150g natural yoghurt
1 lime, juice and zest
Small knob of fresh turmeric
½ tsp ground turmeric
Coriander to garnish
Rose petal to garish (optional)
Brown rice/couscous to serve

Begin by marinading the salmon fillets. Mix together the cumin and harissa in a bowl and rub the salmon fillets in this paste all over. Season and set aside for a few hours in the fridge to infuse
Meanwhile, make the yoghurt. Mix together the yoghurt, zest and ½ the juice of the lime and season. Grated in the turmeric root (careful it will stain your hands!) and finally stir in the ground turmeric.
Season well and taste. Add more lime juice if you think it needs more zesty taste. Set aside
When ready to cook your salmon, heat to over to 190°C.
Heat a frying pan over a medium high heat and add 1tbsp oil.
Fry the salmon, skin side down to crisp the skin for about 1-2 minutes. The harissa may catch and look burnt but this is ok. Turn to sear on the flesh side for a further minute to create a golden crust.
Immediately transfer to the oven on a foil lined baking tray and cook for about 5 minutes depending on how thick your salmon is. Don’t be tempted to over cook this! Salmon will take no time at all in a hot oven and will carry on cooking when removed anyway.
Serve the salmon on a generous spoonful of your creamy yoghurt. Top with a scattering of rose petals and chopped coriander alongside some rice or couscous.

Banana and Blueberry Bread

March 7, 2015 Comments Off read Sweet Treats

How on earth we are already in March I don’t know?! I began the year with a triumphant new years ambition to develop my humble blog, challenge my culinary skills and pepper it with new recipes. However due to a number of unexpected hurdles over the past months this hasn’t been actioned as much as I’d like! With a very busy and eventful week at work under my belt and a browning bowl of bananas sitting provocatively on the kitchen table I thought of nothing better than to create the comforting, warming and homely delights of a banana bread loaf to scoff with tea. Studded with crunchy pecans and soft sharp blueberries it is delicious eaten alone or toasted with ice cream. I love the use of muscovado sugar in this recipe which was a deviation from my usual (and reliable) recipe using a more refined caster sugar. But its treacle like flavour and depth adds a decadent dimension to this classic.

Makes 1 loaf or 4 mini loaves

250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
125g softened butter
235g muscovado sugar
400g ripe bananas (about 4 )
1tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten
100g blueberries
50g chopped pecans
1-2 tbsp demerara sugar
½ tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line 1 x 400g loaf tin or 4 small loaf tins
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and muscovado sugar until creamy and fluffy.
Gradually beat in the eggs, bit by bit.
Mash the bananas with a fork in another bowl and add the vanilla extract. Combine thoroughly with the butter and sugar mixture.
Sieve the flour and baking powder over the mixture and fold in to combine.
Gently fold in the blueberries and pecans until evenly distributed
Spoon the mixture into the lined tins.
Scatter the top with a generous dusting of ground cinnamon and then top with the crunchy demerara sugar to create a nice crust.
Bake in the oven for 35 minutes for the small tins and around 50 minutes for a large loaf tin. Check after 30 minutes regardless and remove from the oven when a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Leave to cool in their tins and then remove.
Slice and serve layered with cinnamon mascarpone, yoghurt or warm with ice cream.

Chocolate Fondant with Frangelico Mascapone

February 17, 2015 Comments Off read Sweet Treats

I’ve always been in awe of the chocolate making process after watching an enlightening series featuring the modern day Willy Wonker, Willie Harcourt-Cooze. An enthusiastic middle class chocolate dreamer, he set about to live his dream of authentic chocolate making. To me, England feels like a country of chocolate addicts, or more likely, sugar addicts disgusing themselves as cacoa enthusiasts!? Without sounding like a chocolate snob, many of the milk chocolate bars that litter the countries newagents shelves have such a low cacao/‘chocolate’ content that in some countries it would be illegal to title this chocolate!

I’m an adorer of the dark stuff. The darker the better. I’ve always been amazed at how a 100% bar is created? With no sugar to bind it together its a pure cacao lovers heaven. Its painful sharing my 90% bar of goodness, when I just know that the majority will screw up thier faces in fright as they force down the ‘bitter soap’ they’ve just eaten as they compare to the likes of our dairy milk. But my chocolate interest has promted me to sample styles made from a variety of beans from all over the world and to really appreciate the differences in flavours. refining my love of the pure taste and the lower sugar content.

So when a work collegaue refreshingly and surprisingly bought in some tasty samples of his families homemade chocolate from their humble little Cotswold business – Doble & Bignall – I was keen to devour a piece and was taken by the first bite. Like beer, cheese and wine, chocolate varies in flavour substantially. Not just with the percentage but with the beans and country. Doble & Bignal have a small range of bars using beans from the likes of Panama and Venezuelan. The chocolate is smooth, tasty and distinctive. Perfect for a cheeky recipe. I kept the fonadant simple (I know…me not messing with a recipe!? Shocker) Firsty because shamefully this was the first fondant I’d attempted ever to make and the goo-cented, molten chocolate lava that should sterotypicaly weep from the middle like a happy sobbing child was far too much pressure to meddle with at this stage. So instead, go crazy on accompaniment. Frangelico mascapone, vanilla and orange ice cream or just heavily doused in a thick wall spporting, cement-like spatula of whippped double cream.

Serves 6

Fondant

85g caster sugar
150g unsalted butter
150g dark chocolate (E.g. Doble & Bignal’s bar)
3 whole free range eggs
3 whole eggs yolks
1 tbsp plain flour
Soft butter and cocoa powder to line the moulds

Start by greasing 6 small dariole moulds with butter. Dust with cocoa powder and shake of any excess. Set aside on a baking try.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
In a heatproof bowl combine the sugar, butter and chocolate and melt over a pan of barely simmering water. Allow to melt fully then set aside to cool slightly.
When it is luke warm, whisk in the eggs continuously. The mixture will begin to thicken but keep whisking (don’t be tempted to add the eggs while the chocolate is still too warm of the eggs will scramble…yuck). Then fold in the flour.
Pour the mixture evenly into the moulds and then chill for at least 25 minutes.
Bake in the oven for about 12 minutes. Take out of the oven, run a knife around the edge and turn out onto a plate. Serve with a dollop of your chosen cream and watch and enjoy in awe as (hopefully) your gooey fondant melts all over your plate…!

NOTE: I took my first test fondant out of the oven after 10 minutes and it still felt a little squishly in the middle to the touch. With the risk of having an overocoked fondant I took it out anyway. Shamefully on turning out it collapsed all over the plate….hence the additional mintues. However, oven will vary so perhaps cook for less time and do a touch test before remving the whole batch if the pressure is on…!

Frangelico Mascarpone

Please note – I did this by taste so the below measurements are a total guide. Start with less and keep adding more sugar and liquer until it is to your taste.

250g mascarpone
About 4 tbsp sieved icing sugar (or as much as you like just to sweeten)
1-2 tbsp frangelico liquer (to taste)

Whisk the frangelico and icing sugar into the mascarpone, tasting as you go along to sweeten as you like.

Seabass in a Fragrant Coconut Sauce

February 11, 2015 Comments Off read Seafood

As an avide foodie I crave and adore nothing more than a night in with a new recipe, ingredient, technique or guest to experiment on for the blog! Cheaper, more fun and far more relaxing. However, since moving to London the expanse of diverse, exciting and vibrant culinary pop-ups, restaurants, cafes and bars has stolen part of my attention which had been held hostage to the blog for a long while. I rarely eat out, only really on occasion. And then, nothing pains and bruises me more than ordering (or eating!) something I could have made myself. Be it better, warmer, larger or cheaper! Hence, I choose my dining locations carefully and my menu choices with thought.

However, as a fellow foodie, my willing sister and I venture out on a monthy or so basis to one of London’s restaurants to excite our taste buds, get inspiration and frankly for a girly catch up. Our list of ‘must try restaurants’ is only growning sadly. It seems that once one is ticked off another is added. We’ve had some great food but last Friday, after long frustrating working weeks, a home cooked delicious meal was in order. A few luxurious king prawns, a little love, time and attention and an aromatic riesling guaranteed and certainly delivered a more relaxing, cheaper, (boozier…..ahem…..) and enjoyable evening. This dish was delicious and hit the spot for flavour, decadence (without being time consuming I add, especially if you miss out the stock infusion at the start) and highly satisfying. Followed by a few too many scoops of my cheats salted caramel ice cream it was agreed that an evening in was far more rewarding and enjoyable than filling London’s bars and tills with our hard earned cash!

Serves 4

4 seabass fillets
8-10 large raw whole king prawns (win heads and shell) Optional – if you want to make a flavoursome stock. Raw cleaned prawns are fine if not.
2 tsp coconut oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Thumb sized piece ginger, grated
20g tumeric root, grated
1 large red chilli (heat according to taste)
350ml fish stock
400ml coconut milk
1 stick lemongrass
1 Kaffir lime leaf
2 tbsp fish sauce
Bunch spring onions, chopped
Large bunch coriander, chopped
2 limes, 1 cut into wedges to serve
Around 8oz rice – I used red Camargue rice
Greens to serve e.g. mange tout, pak choi etc.

[This first step is optional and can be skipped. It will add a depth of flavour to the dish by using the shells and heads to enrich your fish stock. Peel the shells and heads from the prawns keeping the prawns for later. Heat a little oil in a saucepan on a medium high heat and add the shells and heads. Fry for about 5-8 minutes until they turn pink and begin to release their flavour and oily orangey juices. After this time, add the hot fish stock and simmer gently for about 4 minutes.
Sieve through a fine sieve into a jug or another saucepan retaining all the liquid but then discard the shells. Keep the stock warm until needed.]
Next, heat a tsp of coconut oil in a heavy based saucepan. Fry the ginger, tumeric, garlic and chilli for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the stock and coconut milk and bring to a simmer.
Bash the lemongrass with the back of a knife a few times to open up the layers and add to the pan with the lime leaf and simmer gently for about 10 minutes to reduce the sauce and let the faours infuse.
Add the fish sauce (I suggest adding it a tbsp at a time and tasting in between as once its in you can’t take it out again!).
I made this a day ahead and I really think it benefitted from some time infusing in the pan while quietly chilling in the fridge (especially using the lime leave and lemongrass which will release thier flavours endlessly). I recommend at this stage to remove from the heat and leave to cool and infuse overnight. If not, continue as below.
Simmer (or reheat, depending on your method) the sauce until you reach the desired creamy consistency you prefer then remove the lemongrass and lime leaf and discard. Stir in the chopped spring onions and coriander. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Keep warm while you prepare the rest.
Cook your rice and add the juice of 1 lime to the drained hot grains and set aside to keep warm.
Heat a frying pan over a medium high heat and add another tsp or so of coconut oil. Cut your seabass fillets in half if you wish, and score the skin to stop them curling up on frying. Fry, skin side down for 2-3 minutes, flipping only whe the skin is crisp and the flesh is almost done which you will see when the majority of it has turned white.
While the seabass is cooking, add your prawns to the hot coconut sauce. Add them when the sauce is barely simmering to gently and lightly cook the prawns. Don’t overcook these or they will go all chewy. They need very little time and heat so a brief blast in the hot sauce until they just turn pink will do sufficiently.
To serve, divide the lime rice among large warmed soup bowls.
Top with the seabass fillets and divide the creamy sauce around the outside. Scatter with any reserved coriander and a juicy zesty wedge of lime!

To serve – I served mine with some briefly blanched sugar snap peas and mange tout. Drained and dressed quickly with a teaspoon of sesame oil while still hot and scattered with nigella seeds.

NOTE: This would also work very well with salmon. Feel free to gently poach the fillets in the coconut sauce for a different technique. Serve with any greens you like. Another addition would be to grate in some fresh coconut for added texture and taste.

WINE: Served with a lovely aromatic riesling to balance with the spice in this dish. Or a beer if you prefer! See here for some lovely suggestions.

To follow if you’re feeling like you need a Friday treat…………

Mix 1 can caramel condensed milk, 300ml single cream, 1 ½ tsp flaky maldon salt, crumbled in a tupperware. Freeze until set and then devour! NO CHURNING INVOLVED! (Crumble in some roasted hazelnuts, walnuts peanuts or pecans if you like)

Celery Soup

February 3, 2015 Comments Off read Vegetables and Salads

I first saw this recipe on a recent cookery show. ‘Which show?’ you might be wondering in bemusement because to me it feels as if television has become hostage to culinary ‘entertainment’ over the past year or so. And as a foodie I’ve ironically become frustrated and uninterested in them. We’re getting mixed messages about how cooking can be express-train fast (Jamie ahem…) using (expensive) pre-bought and usually additive laden ingredients. In utter confliction we’re being patronisingly taught that we can all cook to a budget if we spend a little more time in the kitchen and buy sensibly. As if this wasn’t a mixed enough message chefs are instructing us to be eating healthily and avoiding manufactured pre bought goods! And finally at the end of all these mantras we’re smacked round the face with a diabetes inducing screenful of cake and butter and ‘comfort food’? Rant over, this is one of the reasons I’ve avoided foodie programmes. However, like I said, I recently caught an episode of Tom Kerridge trying his hand at TV chef (cringe….sorry Tom). I’ve always admired his honest hearty cooking but when I saw a soup made of celery and his trimmed down physic I did wonder if he’d fallen off the foodie wagon. But don’t panic! Tom doesn’t let you down on sustenance….trust his gusty recipe and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Light and delicate in flavour but a wonderfully filling and satisfying soup it makes a change from the usual suspects…

Serves 4

1 sliced onion
2 grated garlic cloves
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 small potato, diced
1 litre hot chicken stock
1kg celery, chopped (leaves reserved for garnish)
Bunch chives or flatleaf parsley
About 4 tbsp mascarpone cream

Start by heating the rapeseed oil in a heavy based saucepan. When hot soften the onion for 5-10 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a further few minutes.
Add the diced potato and cool for 3-4 minutes to soften. Then add the hot stock and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for about 8 minutes or so until the potato is soft.
Add the celery and continue to simmer for a further 5 minutes of so until soft.
Using a hand blender, puree the soup until smooth and velvety. Add the mascarpone and the herbs and plenty of seasoning to taste.
Blend again and serve, topped with a little rapeseed oil and a scattering of extra chives/parsley and some celery leaves.

Hoisin Chicken

February 1, 2015 Comments Off read Poultry

Bill Granger has inspired yet another comfortingly Asian and finger licking dish for this weekends menu. Perhaps its the chilly and wintery weather that has blanketed London recently? The defeated gloom and pessimism only English winter can bring to the weather beaten faces of a us resentful Brits caused me to find myself reaching again for my colourful sunny copy of Bill Granger’s ‘Everyday Asian’. Cooked to inspire some colour and sunshine into the tail end of January. Today the weather was mediocre and after a day of chilly London adventure, I returned home to a warm tasty and sticky bowl of hoisin chicken and rice.

Serves 4

Hoisin Chicken

At least 8 piece of chicken (a mix between thighs and drumsticks)
100ml hoisin sauce
1 tbsp chilli sauce
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp five spice powder
Garnish – sesame seeds, sliced spring onions, lime wedges, chopped fresh coriander

Broccoli

1 large broccoli
2 tsp soy sauce
½ tsp sesame oil
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 tsp runny honey

Start with the chicken. Mix the marinade ingredients in a large baking dish and add the chicken pieces. Coat well. Leave to marinade for at least 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Roast the chicken for 35 minutes until cooked and glazed.
Meanwhile, cook your rice if you are having this as a side dish.
Mix together the dressing ingredients and lightly boil the broccoli just before the chicken is ready. Drain and leave to dry out a little. While still warm, toss with the dressing.
Serve the chicken with rice (if you wish) and the broccoli. Scatter over sesame seeds, sliced spring onions and chopped coriander and any extra sticky glaze if you like!