Tuesday 25 September 2007

Eggs-perimental

Italian-style stuffed chicken

Now: I stole this recipe from a restaurant. No, actually, that's not strictly true - I don't wish to imply chicanery. This recipe was in fact passed onto me in a legitimate fashion from a friend who acquired it from the chef of a restaurant I used to eat in a few years ago. Sadly, the experimental restaurant in question is no longer open. But, on the up side, I now know how to make one of the chef's easiest and most delicious dishes!

I made up the title of the recipe based on the fact that most of the ingredients are of Italian origin. I use really good quality sunblush tomatoes and mozzarella, although I think you can compromise a bit on the quality of the ham (it doesn't matter so much when it's oven baked).

Firstly butterfly a chicken breast (ooer!). I always deliberately choose round and plump pieces of chicken for this, so that my knife doesn't just slice right through. Press your hand down flat onto the top and slide a sharp knife into the side so that you can flap it open completely. Inside the chicken, stuff some fresh mozzarella cut into small pieces and a few finely sliced sunblush tomatoes. Then flap the chicken back over the top and wrap the whole thing in two slices of Parma ham. I normally put these in the oven under some foil (see my previous ranting about chicken not being too overcooked!) for about half an hour, sprinkled with a bit of black pepper and olive oil.

That's about all there is to it! I serve these with green vegetables - something like mangetout or sugar snap peas is ideal - and some roast potatoes. I have also perfected a really simple sauce made from double cream heated with a small spoonful of red pesto.

It's the sort of recipe that's a little bit fiddly at the outset but can happily be left in the oven while you go and do something else. And not only is it delicious, but it particularly complements the rose Rioja to which I'm currently addicted!

Monday 24 September 2007

The Cricketers (not the Cricketer's Arms!)

It was my dad's birthday last week, so I wanted to take my parents out for a pub lunch. I also wanted them to see some of the nicer parts of Essex, so we decided to go to The Cricketers in Clavering. It's famous for being owned/run by Trevor and Sally Oliver, parents of good old Jamie 'put it in me 'elmet' Oliver. Indeed, as soon as we walked in the door we were confronted by a fairly large selection of his cookery books (signed copies, of course!). I'm all for this: parents spend a lot of money bringing up their kids, so why not make a little back if your son makes it big?!

The decor was typical of an Essex country pub - a shade on the twee side with, unsurprisingly, a lot of cricket memorabilia dotted around the place. We'd reserved a table in the bar area, which turned out to be a good move because it was fairly busy, even at a quarter to one. We were shown to our table by a very young barman/waiter - in fact all of the serving staff seemed very young, but also very helpful. I mentally awarded a few Brownie points straight off because nobody pounced upon us to ask what drink we wanted to order as soon as we had sit down. Also, the bread with dipping oil on the table was a nice touch and raised my expectations from 'good pub grub' to 'restaurant-standard food'.

The menu was extensive and quite impressive - it's proper food with some nice touches and twists here and there. We're a fairly big-eating family, so haute cuisine-style portions wouldn't have gone down at all well! We all ordered a starter - I went for artichoke hearts wrapped in Parma ham with a beetroot salad. I expected the beetroot to be very sweet and moist, to cut through the saltiness of the ham and I wasn't at all disappointed. I tasted a little of the duck liver parfait too, which was pretty good. My husband's salad of avocado with almonds and pomegranate was the only disappointment - the avocado was a touch on the mushy side and the whole thing was over-saturated with vinaigrette.

For my main course I chose lamb shank with root vegetables and mash. The lamb was cooked to perfection and I liked the fact that this was also served with mixed vegetables and new potatoes. The meal on its own would probably have been filling enough, but ... well, better safe than sorry!!

My family also sampled the lemon sole (served really simply with only lemon) and the guinea fowl (topped with delicious parsnip crisps) and both seemed to go down extremely well. Not a lot was left on the plate, at least!

As usual, I was underwhelmed by the puddings, although they were of a higher standard than your usual pub fayre. I had a semi-freddo with fig and prune - nice, but far too much. But it was the only thing that stood out from a list of creme brulees and apple pies ...

I'm very glad we decided to try this pub and I think I'd go again, though probably only for Sunday lunch. I don't see it as much of a weekday or Saturday evening venue. I was pleased, however, by the seeming committment to local produce and I definitely liked the attempt to bring some fancy touches to traditional pub cooking. This is the sort of place Stansted airport should promote far more in their marketing, rather than banging on about London all the time (... but that's another post!)

Tuesday 18 September 2007

Spanish rose

My new favourite wine is this rather nice Gran Familia rioja rose, available from Tesco. It's made with Tempranillo grapes and is as good quality as any red rioja I've ever tasted.

It's surprisingly dry for a rose wine and has some lovely fresh berry flavours. I think it tastes great chilled but not as icy cold as I'd have a white wine. I'm not going to spout any nonsense about what food it goes with - drink it whenever you like!

Wednesday 12 September 2007

Press lightly to coat

Incidentally, you may have noticed that I don't use 'recipe-speak' - y'know, all that "Drain, toss and serve" nonsense. I don't care if it's a recognised convention, a short cut, a time-saver or whatever - I just don't like it at all.

There's something so ridiculously bossy about the whole thing. I don't take kindly to instructions being snapped at me in this way. "Drain! Toss! Leave! Serve!" It's not very polite. I also find it very impersonal and I get the impression these people have never cooked a day in their lives, let alone the recipe they're describing. There's no engagement with the subject matter, no "don't you find ...?" about it.

But of course, it can all be pretty confusing too!

"Leave for 20 minutes", it says. What, I've got to go out?! But I'm in the middle of cooking dinner! Halfway through a recipe last week I read "Remove from pan, leave and keep warm". So, I slung a a few blankets around my shoulders, put on my hat and coat and set off out the back door. "Where are you off to?" shouted my husband. "Just following a recipe - it's going to be delicious!" I yelled back, while rubbing my hands together and stamping my feet. Got to keep warm - it might be an essential element!

As you can see, I get into all kinds of pickles (mmm ... pickle!). But I think the impersonality and lack of foodie enjoyment is my main reason for disliking cookery books. I certainly prefer to receive recipes through word of mouth or tasting and testing, rather than reading. I also prefer trying things out and learning for myself instead of following instructions to the letter.

That's not to say all recipe books are confusing, dreary or bossy. Good old Nigella writes her recipes like stories or poems and she fully engages with everything she says. There's no doubt that she's cooked every one of these dishes and has had a great time trying out and changing the details. There's always a "I usually find ..." or "it's up to you, but I prefer ..." thrown in. Her use of language, too, is a cut above a standard recipe-writer - things like "blitz until you've got a ruby-glowing pile of shreds" inspires me so much more than "process into small chunks"!

I'll leave you with one of my favourite Nigella sections, taken from Feast (by Nigella Lawson, 2004). The recipe in question is cornbread, cranberry and orange stuffing, for a Christmas turkey, and this bit appears at the end. I just love the gratuitous nature of this random 'kitchen' hint:

"Should you have any stuffing left, here's what I suggest you do with one or two slabs. First, fry a rasher or two of bacon in a drop of oil then, when it's crispy, remove it to a plate and quickly fry the leftover stuffing in the bacony fat. When done on both sides, let it join the bacon and eat them together, joyfully".

Monday 10 September 2007

The old ones are the best

A variation on a cottage pie

Yes - I don't really have a proper name for this dinner. It's a bit like a cottage pie but with minor twists, essentially!

First of all I get the boring bit out of the way - peel two potatoes (Maris Piper seem to do the trick), cut them into small cubes and boil them for a while ... probably about ten minutes. Just a bit longer than you'd usually boil potatoes for, so that they're starting to break up and are very soft to the touch. Once they're done, drain them and add a little bit of double cream (or milk, if you don't want it to be too calorific) and mash them until they're very smooth. And phew - that's the potatoes done. I hate mashing!

Next I slice one small red onion very finely and gently fry it in a tiny bit of olive oil. Once it's started to go opaque I add a splash of red wine and turn up the heat until the alcohol evaporates. You can tell when this is, because if you bend your head over the pan and sniff it shouldn't sting your nose!

So - winey onions coming along nicely, I turn my attention elsewhere by peeling and chopping one small carrot, placing it in a bowl in just enough water to cover it, and blitzing it for about a minute and a half in the microwave. When it's done, I add the drained carrot pieces to the pan with the onions and use the water to make up about a third of a pint of gravy (usually three teaspoons of beef gravy granules, half a vegetable stock cube and another splash of red wine - but this can be varied to 'the gravy of your choice', if you're the sort of person to have such a thing!).

Next I add the minced beef to the onions and carrots. I always go for lean steak mince - a little more expensive, but it's worth the extra cost not to have fat seeping out as soon as it starts to cook. Once it's started to brown I add a pinch of paprika, some black pepper and squeeze of tomato puree to the pan, then stir in the gravy and let the whole lot simmer for about five minutes on a really low heat.

To assemble the whole thing, I spoon the mince mixture into a shallow baking dish and place thin slices of tomato across the top, just enough to cover the mince. The creamed potato is usually just sufficient to provide a thin layer on top, and I scatter some grated Parmesan over it before placing it into a hot oven for about ten minutes. I just like to wait until the cheese is melted and stringy, and some potato peaks have gone brown and crispy. I normally serve this with some green vegetables and a glass of red wine on a cool autumn evening!

Wednesday 5 September 2007

Salad days

Today's lunch recipe:

I saw a nice-sounding packaged salad in Tesco and thought I'd buy the ingredients and copy it, rather than spend a fortune on it.

First of all I sliced an apple fairly thinly and placed it into a dry frying pan (no oil or butter). I blasted it (blast - ha ha!) on the hob for a minute or two before transferring the whole pan to the grill for about five minutes. See, I'm all smug now I have a gas hob and can actually heat something intensively like that at the drop of a hat. I don't know whether I'd have employed a different technique if I'd been using an electric hotplate.

So - on with the salad. Along with the apple I tossed some walnuts, red grapes, sunflower seeds, mixed lettuce and chunks of Wensleydale.

I added a very tiny amount of a variation on the usual dressing (lemon, olive oil, wholegrain mustard - without the honey on this occasion) on the if-it-ain't-broke basis. But really, just a very tiny amount because otherwise it wilts the lettuce and makes the cheese go mushy.

That's all. Yum!

Tuesday 4 September 2007

Currying favour

I went to Katana @ The International last night, after spotting their excellent offer on Toptable. Two courses and a glass of Prosecco for £12 - a mere snip!

I'm not particularly a connoiseur of Asian and Oriental food, but I do like it and I'm getting more used to the flavours involved. I started with Malaysian lamb satay, because I thought it would make a nice change from chicken and I liked the idea of it being marinated in ginger. The peanut sauce was highly coconutty, which actually made it very refreshing and a good foil to the spicy lamb.

For my main course I ordered a Thai green chicken curry, which is slightly out of my comfort zone. Thai green curry always looks tempting but usually gets shelved in favour of something more familiar because I'm not a fan of anything too hot. I'm glad I gave it a go because the flavours were lovely and the chicken was cooked perfectly for me. It was slightly on the hot side which, I find, just deadens the taste. I wish more restaurants would tone down the spiciness just a tiny bit so that the fresher flavours have a bit more room to come out and play!

As Thai food goes, though, this was well-presented, exactly right in terms of portion size and of a high standard. I'd certainly recommend it while this special offer is going on. The cocktail bar downstairs also looked fairly tempting, if we'd had more time!

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