Wednesday 21 October 2015

Devilled mushrooms

Something I’m very partial to for breakfast is devilled kidneys.  Now kidneys are a marmitey  sort of food in that one either loves them or hates them!

However, much as it feels good to evangelise about things one eats that are not universally popular, one has to exercise care because in some cases, e.g. with, say, kidneys, success might turn a cheap delicacy into an expensive one if  demand rose significantly, so I am very happy for lots of people to turn their noses up at kidneys because that makes them eminently affordable for me!

The term ‘devilled’ is used for recipes where normally ‘tame’ ingredients are given a spicy kick, with the addition of mustard or hot sauce or, at times, both.

Quite apart from my predilection for kidneys, I am also passionate about the sauce that causes them to be called ‘devilled’ and a couple of weeks ago while indulging this passion at breakfast one morning, I suddenly thought it would be fun to try to prepare something else in the same way, and as I looked at the little rounded kidney morsels sitting on the toast on my plate, I was somehow reminded of mushrooms and then thought that they would lend themselves to this style of cooking very well.

A few days later, I served devilled mushrooms as a starter at a dinner party to universal acclaim with instant demands for the recipe. so job done, I guess.

Try this with mushrooms – and you need reasonably sized ones since, as I’m sure you will know, they can shrink considerably on cooking.  You need to end up with about half a dozen mushrooms per person.

But once you’ve decided that you like this dish, try adding the extra ‘frisson’ of making it with kidneys, which somewhat intensify the flavour.

Actually, on second thoughts, don’t bother because I’d rather keep kidneys cheap!

Monday 12 October 2015

Moroccan Butterflied Leg of Lamb

So having succeeded in removing the bone from your leg of lamb, the issue becomes ‘What to do with it?’

Now first off, the meat could just be chopped into cubes and used for a variety of lamb-based dishes – much cheaper (and probably better) than ready-bought meat chunks which will probably cost at least twice as much per kilo.

Or one could take it to Australia, stand by a barbecue,  and wait for Christmas.

Or follow these recipes for a glorious, unctuous Moroccan feast.

Now, I am no expert on Moroccan food.  I did go there once, touring round the country on a kind of safari in an ex-military desert truck, but so long ago that I can barely recall the occasion, and w-a-y before I had my present fascination with things culinary.

But whether my ‘Feast’ is truly representative of Moroccan cuisine or not, it’s very good, nutritious, enjoyable and wholesome, and oddly enough for a hot country, rather more reminiscent of our wintry ‘comfort’ food than anything summery.

Vegetable tagine

The tagine may be made with any appropriate vegetables – the one pictured above has sweet potatoes rather than ‘normal’ ones and that worked really well.

Moroccan Rice Pilaf

While I often make a Kashmiri pilao rice, this was the first time I had made this Moroccan variation and it is delicious – I found myself just having it on its own, spoonful after spoonful, hot or cold.  I love it!

I cheated on starters, buying hummus and the like from a supermarket but sometime soon I shall tell how to make really lovely Moroccan appetisers, so stick around.

Saturday 10 October 2015

Moroccan Butterflied leg of lamb

For many people roast leg of lamb is the favourite meat, but carving one of these can be tricky and sot he prospect of a joint of lamb ‘sans’ bone is very attractive.  Now it may be that one wants the bone out just because it makes carving easier or, as here, because it will cook quicker and easier as a flat piece of meat than a round bone-filled one.

I remember on a visit to Australia a few years ago that butterflied leg of lamb was almost ‘de rigueur’ for the ‘barbie’ on Christmas Day so very popular.

If one has access to a decent butcher, it can be done for you at nominal or no cost, but boning a joint of lamb is probably beyond the average meat-counter assistant in a supermarket.  In any case it is not difficult and is quite satisfying (in a smug-making sort of way).

First prerequisite as in all things butchery is a sharp knife.  For this the blade should be neither too long nor too thick – a filleting knife is perfect but any thin-bladed knife will do as long as it is sharp.

Do not even attempt this if you do not have such a knife and if you do have a go, PLEASE mind your fingers – before you start cutting round the back of a bone please be sure you don’t have any part of your hand in the way.

First step is to locate the bone and then press the tip of the knife into the flesh somewhere along the line of the bone.

(The rounded end of the bone can be seen on the left)

Cut along the line of the bone through to the bone, up and down to make a great cleft, thus:

With the tip of he knife cut into the cleft round the top part of the bone (in the thick part of the joint) so that it comes free and looks a bit like the handle of a flintlock pistol.

That’s the easy bit but should give encouragement for the rest.

Now cut round the bone at the other(narrow) end of the joint so that the bone is now only attached in the middle.

Now cut round the middle part which is effectively a knee joint – it’s a bit fiddly but not difficult.  Take care to cut away the knee-cap as well.

Once the bone is out, the joint looks  like this:

Slice into any thick part and open it out to create as flat  and uniform a slab of meat as possible.  The more uniform it is, the better it will cook.

If you’ve got this far you deserve a drink!

Tuesday 29 September 2015

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Tart

On Friday we had friends coming for dinner and I was to cook an Indian meal.  The plan was to do about 8-10 dishes plus rice and naan bread.  As one of our guests is vegetarian, most of the food would be without meat.

It was my aim that just as each dish made it to the table, it would be photographed and a series of blog posts written about it all, but, know what, heating up 8-10 dishes is no joke and took ages, so by the time it was all on the table, the last thing on my mind was photography.

So here I am, food eaten and very good it was too – we had Rajmah Chawal (red kidney beans curry), curried eggs, matter paneer, spiced eggplant, dal,mushroom bhaji, Bombay potatoes, chicken shashlik, pulao rice and naan, followed by a mango kulfi dessert.  While I have written about some of it before, the remainder would have kept me going in blog for a week – marvellous!

But I have none of it, so whatever next?  Mercifully a good friend came to the rescue.  She had invited us to lunch on Sunday and while, as always, it was excellent, the star of the show was the amazing chocolate tart shown above.

Now while we can all drool over the picture, no recipe do I have, not least because no recipe exists, the dish being just ‘something she knocked up’!  I wish I was that clever – she has promised to try to write it down so hopefully in the fullness of time, we shall have it. (Added 30/9/15)

For the record, it was a shortbread base filled with with a peanut butter cream, then a layer of chocolate, topped with more peanut butter cream and sliced bananas (I think!)

Dream on!

Tuesday 22 September 2015

Roast leg of lamb

When I first came across this recipe I understood it to be Italian in origin but it’s hard to think of anywhere around the northern coast of the Mediterranean where it would not be cooked on a regular basis: Spain, Portugal, France, Greece – lamb with garlic and rosemary would be equally at home in any of them so maybe one could describe this simply as Mediterranean roast lamb.

The important thing to optimise the flavour is getting the aromatics right inside the lamb and this is done with a sharp, thin-bladed, pointed knife.  If you don’t have a knife with a sharp point on it or the blade is really broad, or worst sin of all, it is blunt, don’t waste your time with this dish.  It will absolutely not work with a bread-knife – you have to use the right tool for the job!

Cut some cloves of garlic into strips or slivers – they can’t be too thick or they won’t fit in the little slits we’re about to make and they can’t be too thin or they won’t have the rigidity to be pushed in.

Push the point of the knife gently into the meat somewhere in the middle of the joint – doesn’t really matter where other than not over a bone!  It needs to go in about 1-2cm (½-1″).  Take a sliver of garlic and push the end of it into the slit as far as it will go.

About 2cm (1″) away push the knife in again and fill the slit with another sliver of garlic.

Then working round the joint to create a pattern, repeat this until the joint is thoroughly threaded with garlic to like this (below).

Cut the sprigs of rosemary into 2cm (1″) lengths.  Push the stalk of a piece of rosemary into the same slit as each sliver of garlic.  Joint should now look slightly forested like this

Place in an oven dish, season it well and rub or brush with olive oil and pour a glass of wine over it.  Stick it in the oven and with a bit of luck it will come out looking like the one at the top of this post.

While the oven’s on, you can also bake some panadera potatoes (Panadera is just the Spanish word for baker rather like the French ‘boulanger’) to complete a wonderful Sunday lunch.

Saturday 19 September 2015

Basque Chicken Pie Filling

When I’m preparing a meal like tapas with lots of dishes, I like it when I get to a point where, no matter what transpires, there is a meal for my guests.  I may make additional courses but these are ‘nice-to-haves’ and merely add to the range of food available.

To achieve this reasonably early in the preparation, I like to make something like this Basque chicken pie, or as here, without the pastry crust, Basque chicken stew.  It looks enticing, smells amazing, and has really strong, earthy flavours, but s also substantial enough to form the basis of a meal.

It also has the added pluses of being pretty easy to make and reasonably inexpensive to source.

When I do add the crust, if I’m honest I usually use a ready-rolled pastry sheet which works fine.

This can be served with the incredibly versatile potato dish below, which is also one of my Tapas staples.

Potatoes with chorizo

Thursday 17 September 2015

Asparagus with Jamon

Most Spanish dishes are incredibly simple and this is a perfect example of that. with only 2-3 main ingredients, asparagus, Serrano ham and olive oil (this also works really well with chorizo instead of the ham).

This combination of Jamon or chorizo with a green vegetable is quite common in Spain.  In addition to asparagus it’s found with Brussells sprouts , French beans, broad beans, etc. and always cooked in much the same way.

As part of the tapas meal on Sunday I did a Russian salad but because one of my guests cannot eat potatoes, I used cauliflower cut in tiny florets (below) and that works just as well, so, pardon the pun, food for thought!

Russian salad made with cauliflower

Tuesday 16 September 2015

Marinated red peppers

I’m not sure how it has taken me so long to get round to because I used to cook it all the time, but finally, here it is, my guide to preparing some Spanish dishes, generally referred to as Tapas.

Of course, Tapas, strictly is not a set of recipes but rather a style of serving, rather like Greek or Turkish Meze.  I’m not sure there can be anyone left who doesn’t know the origin of Tapas, but just in case he or she is reading this, the word Tapas means ‘lid’ and it comes from a piece of bread placed atop a glass of wine to keep the flies off.  In time, something tasty came to be added to the bread and the rest is history.

But because of that, although much Tapas -style food is Spanish in origin, anything may be served up in this way as Tapas merely describes the method of serving (i.e. little platefuls) rather than the food itself.  I once had some coronation chicken atop a piece of bread in a bar in Madrid – honest!

Just to prove the point, the dish in the photo above is actually Italian in origin (Balsamic’s the give-away!) but it works really well as part of a Tapas selection so that’s where we’ll start.

And of course, the converse is true that while not all Tapas is Spanish in origin, not all Spanish food is Tapas (although any of it can usually be served in that manner.  If someone placed a whole slow-roasted shoulder or leg of lamb on the table in front of you with a mountain of roast (Panadera) potatoes, one would not reasonably describe the meal as Tapas, while indubitably Spanish.

While this recipe for Marinated peppers calls for fresh peppers roasted and skinned, I tend to use a jar (or tin) of ready-roasted red peppers which one can pick up nowadays in most supermarkets at a price well below that of fresh peppers.  I must admit I’m rather partial to roasting and skinning red peppers (bit like popping bubble-wrap as a means of relaxing in my opinion and I’ve been known to do it just for fun) but sometimes time does not permit and the bottled variety do a good job.

So over the next few days I shall recount a few dishes I put together on Sunday for a little lunch party.  Most important is not to be afraid of cooking something a bit different.

Jumping-off point for any Tapas style meal (for me, at any rate) is a plate of Spanish (Serrano) ham (or better-still the superior Iberico) and some Manchego cheese, preferably one described as Viejo (aged).  While a lot of supermarkets now sell Manchego, some of it I find is a bit rubbery and not of great quality, so try to get a good one – not cheap but worth it.

Now if you think my platter of Jamon (above the cheese) is a bit untidy, you’re absolutely right as a) I’m just not very good at it and b) a lot of pre-packaged Jamon has a tendency to stick and doesn’t separate easily.

Ham, cheese and a few olives and you’re off to a flying start.  More later

Monday 15 September 2015

Moussaka

Moussaka has long been one of my favourites and it is a dish I’ve made for years using a recipe that’s lost in the mists of time – possibly as old as Greek mythology itself, though much more of a hit than a myth!

There’s something about lamb and aubergine that just works so well – the combination crops up all over the Middle East.

But ever one to try something new, when I saw Rick Stein on his way from Venice to Istanbul making moussaka in Greece, it looked so inviting that I thought I would give it a go –  the way everything was fried in olive oil à la Grècque just looked so tempting.

Rick uses beef in his recipe but the connection between lamb and aubergine was so great I felt compelled to use lamb.  It took ages to fry everything (whereas my normal way is quite quick) but I was sure the result would justify the time.

But in the end, it just underwhelmed me.  Actually, in truth I found it a bit lacking in flavour on the day I made it but very good the next day (and the one after).  It was as if the olive oil had subdued rather than enhanced everything else so it only really tasted of the oil.

So nice try, but I’ll stick to my own way, main difference being multiple layers of potatoes and aubergine interspersed with the meat sauce.  I did however like his version of the Béchamel sauce so I shall continue to use that.

Oh, and Rick, the reason you can use Gruyère cheese if you can’t find Graviera is that the latter is just the Greek word for the former – they are one and the same!

9 September 2015

ARC Gloria

Once again I find myself apologising for not keeping this blog up-to-date but when I tell you why, I hope you’ll understand.

I do a number of different things to earn my proverbial ‘crust’ and one of these is the occasional provision of sound systems for modest events.  This last weekend we had been engaged to provide sound for an outdoor event which was part of the Thames Festival, the annual celebration of London’s great waterway.

Now for those who think this might be a breeze, let me set the record straight.  We loaded our cars with all the requisite equipment on Friday night (the ‘we’ being my son, a qualified sound engineer, and I, an enthusiastic amateur) ready for the morning.

Due on site at the venue, Potters Field next to Tower Bridge, by 8.30am, we set off around 7.30.  When we got there, the main stage was ready for us.  For some reason and unusually, we were not allowed to drive our vehicles onto the well-maintained grass and so had to traipse everything from the nearest roadway on foot across the grass to the stage.  A lot of the equipment is heavy so this was a rather hard start to the day, but we were refreshed and cheered with the thought that the lovely grass was getting more churned by our constant walking back and forth carrying kit than it would have been with a single drive onto it in the cars.

It took us a couple of hours to get everything set up ready for the event start at noon.  We ran the sound system throughout the day dealing with a number of acts (for ‘we’ read my son), finishing at about 6.30pm.  It was not a particularly nice day weather-wise – it was cool, overcast, and had rained a little and there were not a vast number of people in attendance but we had had a good day.

When you spend a whole day on your feet, literally not sitting down at all, strange things happen to the body – everything that can go south does so, and you become very conscious that your blood is having difficulty climbing back up the veins in your legs, having enjoyed the free ride down through the arteries; the knees and feet swell and the legs feel a bit sore.  Normally that’s OK because one gets the next day or two to recuperate but on this occasion, we were back on duty on the morrow.

I got home on Saturday evening about 8.30pm – we left the large items of kit there as there was overnight security so we did not have much to pack away.  However, sleep after such a day is difficult and so I only managed a few hours.

On Sunday morning we were back at the venue again by 8.30am and this time, while my son rearranged his setup as he had not been happy with it the previous day, I set up a smallish PA on a stage for Colombia Day, a day of celebration for many of London’s Colombian community.

I have not had much contact previously with Colombians but I was immediately struck but the pleasantness and courtesy of everyone I came into contact with.  As I was setting up, so were a great many others who were to sell a wide range of Colombian food throughout the afternoon.  I was looking forward to this aspect of the day!

The first act due on stage had apparently got stuck on a train near Bristol and telephoned to say he would be a no-show – a sad but inevitable concomitant of unpaid acts – but we eventually got going and ended our part of the afternoon with a wonderful band, who took turns with an incredibly enthusiastic dance troupe, who did more costume changes than I have ever seen anyone make, and considering there were 8 of them this was no mean logistical feat.

During the afternoon, the crowd had grown considerably with a veritable wall of people building up between the stage and catering areas.  This was estimated at from 5-6,000 people, just in our part of the park.  I never got to try it but apparently the food queues were 1-2 hours long, matched only by the lines of people waiting to gain access to a toilet on another part of the site.

At 6pm the crowd moved to the main stage where the final Colombian band were to play in anticipation of the day’s main event, the passage of the Colombian square-rigger (shown above), the ARC Gloria.

Sharp at 7, Tower Bridge opened wider than I personally have ever seen it, and this majestic sailing ship came west under the bridge just missing the top by what seemed like inches, the whole crew lined up on the mast spars wearing jumpers in colours that made up the Colombian flag, and singing the national anthem (theirs, not ours!) to music provided by a military band lined up on the stern (that’s the rounded bit at the back!)

It turned through 180° just by HMS Belfast and then stopped while the band played more music.  Tower Bridge then reopened and it passed eastwards whence it had come.

The crowd were ecstatic, absolutely beside themselves with happiness and so it took a while before they dispersed and once again, legs stiff with fatigue, we started de-rigging our systems as darkness descended on the park.

By the time we had packed everything away and stowed it back in the cars it was already 9.30pm.  It took another hour to get back to our storage facility and drop the kit off, resulting in a 10.30pm homecoming, very tired.

Nonetheless, despite the discomfort and general weariness, we’d had a lovely day with lot of really lovely people doing something that made lots of people very happy – it doesn’t get much better than that.  (Actually, it does, because despite all that, we get paid as well!)

So once again, the question is, what has all this to do with food, and the answer again is nothing, which is precisely how much of the wonderful-looking Colombian food I managed to get, but I wait in confident anticipation that my turn will come, and I am so looking forward to that.