Of course, now I've had the delicious fillet steaks with stroganoff, my tastebuds are all excited and I'm finding it hard to imagine a day when I'll want to go back to an honest sirloin.
I found myself veering towards the beef section in Tesco, lingering over the fillets and, almost against my control, sliding a particularly nice-looking specimen into my trolley. I'd seen a recipe in Delicious magazine that was crying out to be tested and I'd filed it in the back of my mind ... but clearly not far back enough!
So: my fillet medallions would be cooked the same as before (if it ain't broke ... ) and seved on a bed of creamy mashed potato. But they'd be topped with a yummy-looking green olive tapenade. It's very simple to make, as long as you have a small food blender/mixer/chopper of some kind.
Throw in a handful of pitted green olives with some lemon juice, flatleaf parsley and olive oil, and blitz it. That's all! Just keep tasting it as you go along to check the flavours are all balancing nicely. Then serve a liberal dollop on top of the steaks. I thoroughly enjoyed it - the steak didn't really need any accompaniment, but this sharp, salty tapenade worked fabulously and brightened a fairly standard dinner into something quite different and refreshing.
I think I'd also like to try it with fish sometime - cod or tuna steaks, probably. I've also discovered (at a Christmas party) that it works very well as a stand-alone tapenade served on cocktail blinis too. At least, they went quickly enough and people went "mmm" ... !
Thursday 27 December 2007
Christmas, Christmas, ching, ching, ching
Oh, those sleigh bells! That roasting turkey smell! The constant feeling of bloatedness and indigestion ... yes, Christmas time is here again!
My traditional dinner didn't disappoint. This year I added some sort-of mulled red cabbage (from Nigella's Feast book, but massively changed to suit my own tastes and ingredients!). I shredded some red cabbage and cooked it in a saucepan with red onions, red wine, sultanas, cinammon, black pepper, nutmeg, brown sugar and a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar. I have no idea of the quantities - just keep bunging it in and tasting as you go along! It's great because you can just put the lid on, leave it on a very (very, very) low heat and come back in about an hour and a half! Also, I tend to leave it in the saucepan overnight and heat it up again for Boxing day, to go with the cold meat and bubble & squeak.
My other exciting discovery this year is champagne cocktails, made by heating a little bit of brandy with cinammon, cloves, nutmeg, a bit of sugar, some star anise perhaps ... all the things normally used to make mulled wine, basically. You then leave it to cool before adding a teaspoon to each glass of chilled champagne, with a splash of Angostura bitters. It gives champagne an extra Christmassy kick and looks really pretty in the glass, too!
I also discovered Loyd Grossman's nuts. He doesn't show them on his website so I can't provide you with a link, unfortunately. For about £3 one can purchase a decent-sized bag of mixed roasted nuts with caramelised red onion; I bought them from Tesco but I think most supermarkets probably sell them. They've probably got a lot of added salt, but they're delicious and it *is* Christmas, after all!
My traditional dinner didn't disappoint. This year I added some sort-of mulled red cabbage (from Nigella's Feast book, but massively changed to suit my own tastes and ingredients!). I shredded some red cabbage and cooked it in a saucepan with red onions, red wine, sultanas, cinammon, black pepper, nutmeg, brown sugar and a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar. I have no idea of the quantities - just keep bunging it in and tasting as you go along! It's great because you can just put the lid on, leave it on a very (very, very) low heat and come back in about an hour and a half! Also, I tend to leave it in the saucepan overnight and heat it up again for Boxing day, to go with the cold meat and bubble & squeak.
My other exciting discovery this year is champagne cocktails, made by heating a little bit of brandy with cinammon, cloves, nutmeg, a bit of sugar, some star anise perhaps ... all the things normally used to make mulled wine, basically. You then leave it to cool before adding a teaspoon to each glass of chilled champagne, with a splash of Angostura bitters. It gives champagne an extra Christmassy kick and looks really pretty in the glass, too!
I also discovered Loyd Grossman's nuts. He doesn't show them on his website so I can't provide you with a link, unfortunately. For about £3 one can purchase a decent-sized bag of mixed roasted nuts with caramelised red onion; I bought them from Tesco but I think most supermarkets probably sell them. They've probably got a lot of added salt, but they're delicious and it *is* Christmas, after all!
Friday 21 December 2007
Eating dates
Veering away from food ever so slightly, just for a moment ...
If you haven't got a calendar for 2008 yet, or even if you have but it's really, really boring, perhaps you should consider buying this one. It's a full-colour entertaining calendar produced by Wheelybird, a regular contributor to b3ta, the infamous comedy website. Each month features a very funny illustration of a particular day, event or celebration. There's plenty of space for writing notes, too.
And it mentions tea several times, which is nice!
If you haven't got a calendar for 2008 yet, or even if you have but it's really, really boring, perhaps you should consider buying this one. It's a full-colour entertaining calendar produced by Wheelybird, a regular contributor to b3ta, the infamous comedy website. Each month features a very funny illustration of a particular day, event or celebration. There's plenty of space for writing notes, too.
And it mentions tea several times, which is nice!
Thursday 20 December 2007
The goose is getting fat and he's not alone
Christmas = food, in my world. I'm always wildly excited about all the possibilities and new recipes, then end up having the same stuff year after year. Not that I'm complaining - traditional Christmas dinner is one of my favourites, closely followed by bubble and squeak with leftover turkey and pickles!
But, ever the adventurer, I've been through all the supermarket magazines and good ole Nigella's book to find some new stuff to try.
What's your favourite Christmas dinner or recipe? What are you most looking forward to eating over the festive period? Or do you hate it all and long for the traditional January cut-down?!
But, ever the adventurer, I've been through all the supermarket magazines and good ole Nigella's book to find some new stuff to try.
What's your favourite Christmas dinner or recipe? What are you most looking forward to eating over the festive period? Or do you hate it all and long for the traditional January cut-down?!
The steaks are high
I'm always very tempted by beef stroganoff. It has a lot of easy-eating, comforting, warming appeal and seems suitable whatever the season. Imagine my annoyance, then, when attempt after attempt to make it produced mediocre results!
I've followed numerous recipes - this one from the Waitrose website was just strange and bland. Delia's recipe wasn't bad but still didn't give a satisfyingly meaty and flavoursome outcome. The sauce always seemed to be too creamy and flat, and the meat overcooked.
Now, meat being overcooked is the worst possible thing for me, so I decided to take action! I bought some lovely-looking fillet steak for my next attempt. But it looked so plump and so delicious I just couldn't bring myself to cut it into strips! And thus a delicious dinner was born!
I made the stroganoff almost as usual - I gently fried some sliced red onions in a great big frying pan, then added a little bit of brandy and turned up the heat to help it reduce. Then I added some slices of mushroom and stirred in a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, a shake of black pepper and a crumbled beef stock cube (this addition of stock really helps). Lastly I mixed in a small tub of creme fraiche and left it all to simmer for a little while.
Rather than adding steak to the mixture I cooked the medallions of fillet steak just on their own, for about six minutes (but most people probably need it to be cooked for a little longer than that). I gave them a tiny crust of black pepper before putting them into the griddle pan, too. This means I get perfectly cooked, seared-on-the-outside steak, rather than leathery, cold strips!
I always use wild rice with stroganoff, so I cooked this in the meantime and, rather than placing it onto a plate and adding the other stuff on top, I mixed it into the frying pan with everything else for a couple of minutes. This means nothing gets cold and gets rid of any excess water from the rice. So,serving this all becomes very simple: great big dollops of rice and stroganoff mixture onto a plate with a medallion of steak plonked on top!
And, of course, a massive glass of red wine by the side ...
I've followed numerous recipes - this one from the Waitrose website was just strange and bland. Delia's recipe wasn't bad but still didn't give a satisfyingly meaty and flavoursome outcome. The sauce always seemed to be too creamy and flat, and the meat overcooked.
Now, meat being overcooked is the worst possible thing for me, so I decided to take action! I bought some lovely-looking fillet steak for my next attempt. But it looked so plump and so delicious I just couldn't bring myself to cut it into strips! And thus a delicious dinner was born!
I made the stroganoff almost as usual - I gently fried some sliced red onions in a great big frying pan, then added a little bit of brandy and turned up the heat to help it reduce. Then I added some slices of mushroom and stirred in a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, a shake of black pepper and a crumbled beef stock cube (this addition of stock really helps). Lastly I mixed in a small tub of creme fraiche and left it all to simmer for a little while.
Rather than adding steak to the mixture I cooked the medallions of fillet steak just on their own, for about six minutes (but most people probably need it to be cooked for a little longer than that). I gave them a tiny crust of black pepper before putting them into the griddle pan, too. This means I get perfectly cooked, seared-on-the-outside steak, rather than leathery, cold strips!
I always use wild rice with stroganoff, so I cooked this in the meantime and, rather than placing it onto a plate and adding the other stuff on top, I mixed it into the frying pan with everything else for a couple of minutes. This means nothing gets cold and gets rid of any excess water from the rice. So,serving this all becomes very simple: great big dollops of rice and stroganoff mixture onto a plate with a medallion of steak plonked on top!
And, of course, a massive glass of red wine by the side ...
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