Mum's Birthday Meal (Part 2)

So I re-read what I posted yesterday in preparation for writing up the rest of the meal and was struck by something. I referred to myself as a student, which, effectively, I'm not anymore.

Obviously after hyperventilating and having a mild panic attack regarding my rapidly oncoming middle-aged-ness (I mean I have a job interview next week, like for a real grown up person J-O-B, Lordy.) i’ve got back to this post but felt that I should point out my mistake.

Aanyway, this is the dip/condiment post of the meal.

First up, the spiced aubergine. This is how I would envision an Italian Caponata would end up if it had a roll around in your spice cupboard. Essentially it is a spiced auberigine stew, but cooked and reduced down so its more of a condiment to pile on crusty bread, I’m pretty sure you could also reduce it even further than I did and chutney-afy it. Might actually try that sometime soon. Good Idea.

Serves 10 (as a tbsp sized dollop)

2 tbsp olive oil

25mm cube fresh ginger, chopped

6 cloves garlic, crushed

800g aubergines, roughly chunked

1 can chopped tomatoes

1tsp fennel seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1tbsp ground corriander

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 1/4 tsp salt 

1. Toss the aubergines in half the oil and put under a hot grill turning periodically until brown on all sides.

2. Sweat the garlic and ginger until fragrant, then add the spices, cook for another minute then add the browned aubergines and tomatoes with an extra can of water and the salt and some pepper. 

3. Simmer until reduced and aubergines are soft. Can be served hot or at room temperature. 

 Next we have the sweet potato dip. This recipie, as are many that I feature on this blog are from the cookbook I received when I carried out a professional cookery training at The Grange Cookery School in Frome. From the entire month of cooking and eating, this is one of the dishes I made and ate which I really remember falling head over tastebuds in love with.  Like most dips it takes some palate intelligence, tasting and adjusting to your liking but its dream worthy when made well.

Serves 10 (again as a tbsp sized dollop)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 kg Sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 small bunch mint, chopped

1 clove of garlic, crushed

2 tbsp tahini

juice of a lemon

1/2 tsp cinamon

2 tbsp pine nuts, lightly toasted

salt and pepper

1. In an oven pre-heated to 220 degrees roast the potato tossed in the oil until soft.

2. When roasted blitz all the ingredients apart from the pine nuts in a food processor.

3. Taste and adjust with more lemon/salt/pepper if necessary and serve with the pine nuts stirred in and drizzled with some olive oil. 

And finally we have some good old tzatziki. My little sister was appointed tzatziki lady for the day as she seems to have serious preferences when it comes to the dip. The cucumber has to be diced (rather than traditionally grated) and it can’t be too garlic-y in her book. Personally I’m more down with a slightly more traditional version but in all honesty there was SO much garlic knocking around this meal perhaps it was good that the tzatziki wasn’t of my usual garlic-bomb variety. Abbie didn’t really follow a recipe for this but this one I’m sure would suffice if anyone is looking to recreate this meal - http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/tzatziki_13049

I’ll post the dessert recipe element of this blogging-meal-extravaganza tomorrow. 

Roasted Vegetable Tart.

Amongst the final weeks of my degree I am really struggling to find time to cook, well more accurately, the time to go to the supermarket. After 2 weeks (don’t ask, I have no idea how I survived) I FINALLY went and turned to a family favorite for my evening meal along with a LARGE glass of wine.

I like to think that this dish has a lot of the satisfaction factor of a pizza, but is crunchier, quicker to make from scratch and somehow fools you into thinking it's healthier. In truth, I’m not sure it actually is given the butter laden pasty but I tend to choose to just not think about that. What ever it is, it's yummy.

Its also hugely flexible, the ‘sauce’ you use on the base could be anything from cream cheese, to tomato puree, to ricotta, to pesto and the topping can comprise of anything really - veg, meat, cheese, the options are endless.

I made individual tarts because I think they’re cuter, however the recipe below is for one big one for convenience factor.

  

Serves 4 (if very hungry)

2 tbsp Olive oli

1 sheet pre-rolled puff pastry.

½ tub cream cheese or ricotta

2 tbsp pesto

2 large sweet potatos, peeled and cubed

2 courgettes, cubed

handful asparagus spears, chopped

2 onions, wedged

2 cloves of garlic, whole

1 large aubergine, cubed

Freshly grated parmesan

Firstly get your veg on. Throw it all in a roasting tin with some olive oil and seasoning, roast until soft and you can easily push a knife through the potato.

While this happens get your pastry ready, score the pastry about 2 cm in from the edge to outline the edge of your filled section. Spread the cream cheese and then the pesto on top inside of these lines, leaving the 2cm boarder clear.

When the veg is ready pile it on top of the cream cheese and pesto then top with the parmesan.

Bake the tart until the edges of the pastry rises and turns golden. 

Veggie soba noodle soup.

Last week was crazy. No exaggeration. One of my two dissertations, a 15 minute documentary, was due last Thursday meaning I was literally chained to an editing booth at university for the entirety of the week. In all honesty I don’t think I had a real meal for about 48 hours over Wednesday and Thursday. Again. No exaggeration. Wednesday night saw a dinner of  a multi-bag of salt and vinegar chipsticks and an energy drink. Things were bad.

My body however was only on the road to further destruction with the celebration of my 21^st birthday on Friday night. Needless to say by Sunday after I’d finally sobered up I was feeling rather fragile and in need of some nourishment.

This is one of those things that you eat and just know it’s doing you good, its like the cure-of-all chicken noodle soup but japanese-y, with a good kick of chili to clear out your sinuses. It’s very economical and because you cook everything in the broth you don’t loose any of the  good for you stuff  in the veggies. Plus it’s probably the easiest thing I’ve ever made.

Serves 2

2 bundles soba noodles

1 carrot, cut into battons

handful of sugar snap peas

1 onion, sliced

½ red pepper, sliced

thumb sized piece of ginger, cut into matchsticks

1 fat garlic clove, chopped

½ red chili, sliced

1 good quality veggie stock cube

½ tsp toasted sesame oil

lime juice

soy sauce

sugar

Literally throw everything apart from the lime, soy and sugar in a pan and cover with cold water.

Bring it up to the boil and simmer until the noodles are cooked, you want the veggies with a bit of bite left in them

Now add the last three ingredients to taste until it works for you, ladle into big bowls and nourish yourself.

Thai Sweet Corn fritters and Tom Ka Soup.

This is two components of a sharing platter at one of my favorite Brighton restaurants the vegetarian mecca that is Food for Friends. I bought my dad the cookbook a while back after he took me there for lunch and have been DYING to cook these recipes eversince.

Him, my sister and myself went to a friend’s for Easter Sunday lunch and we were asked to proved the starter and this is what we (meaning I) put together.

It is SO worth finding your way down to a local Asian food market and getting yourself the fresh kaffiar lime leaves, lemongrass, galangal and tom ka paste. It really adds a freshness and vibrancy to the final product that you will never get from the freeze dried varieties you can get from Waitrose etc.

Also I apologize for the quality of the photos – I’d left the camera I usually use in Brighton so was reduced to using my sister’s iPhone.

Adapted from the food for friends cookbook:

Serves 6

For the soup:

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

3 sticks of lemon grass, outer leaves removed and chopped

25g galangal or ginger, chopped

1 red chili chopped

1 small white onion, chopped

1 small bunch of coriander, leaves and stalks chopped

30g green curry paste

70ml water

1 veg stock cube

1 tin coconut milk

1 tblsp tom ka paste

3 tbsp tamari

50g palm sugar

2 kaffir lime leaves

juice 1 lime

handful coriander leaves

In a pan heat some oil and sweat off the onion, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, chili and coriander.

When that is soft, add the water, curry paste and stock cube, simmer for 15 minutes then ass the coconut milk and tom-ka paste.

After 15 minutes further simmering add the rest of the ingredients, mix well and blend until smooth.

Serve with a final squeeze of lime and scattered with black roasted sesame seeds.

For the fritters:

2 sticks of lemongrass, outer leaves removed and  bruised

4 tsp of ginger/galangal

3 cloves of garlic

4 kaffir lime leaves

small bunch of coriander

1 tblsp thai green curry paste

juice 1 lime

salt and pepper

600g fresh sweet corn, lightly steamed.

2 tbsp sugar

1 egg, beaten

a little plain flour

In a processor wiz up the first 8 ingredients then tip into a large bowl with the sweet corn, egg, seasoning and enough flour to create a very stiff batter:

In some vegetable oil fry dollops of the mixture, flattening them out a bit and only flipping when they have had enough time to properly set and brown on the first side:

Drain on kitchen paper and serve with a garnish of julienne of carrots, spring onions, green mango, and toasted cashews drizzled with some lime juice.

Olive Focaccia.

MMMmmm. Carbs. MMMmmm. Carb-y carb-y goodness.

I must say, I could live without meat, I could live without sugar but a life without carbs would not be a good one in my book.

If you hadn’t worked it out I’m definitely not one of those girls who comes out with the constant refrain of ‘oh, sorry, I’m on a carb free diet’ or ‘I’m just trying to not eat carbs at the moment’. Ohhh no.

Don’t get me wrong, those who do it are welcome to. Just means there is more for ME.

NOM.

Aaannyywaayyy…

I loooveee foccacia bread. Love love love love. It’s definitely my favorite type of bread. Throw in some olives and some nice oil and vinegar to dip in and I’m a gonner.

You’ll be likely to find me a few hours later, twice the size and covered in tell-tale crumbs.

So this is officially one of my favorite things. EVER. (I’m quite enthusiastic about it if you hadn’t noticed…)

4 cups Strong bread flour

1 tsp Sea salt

½ tsp Sugar

2/3 cup Tepid water

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp easy bake yeast

½ cup olives, roughly chopped.

Pre heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the water and yeast and leave to stand until a head forms.

In a large bowl combine the flour, salt and sugar. Add the liquids (it will be sticky).

Knead it until it forms a smooth dough which springs back if you poke it.

Leave in an oiled bowl to rise covered in clingfilm until its doubled in size.

Knock back briefly and mix in the olives then push flat into a well oiled tray (Like this:)

Leave to rise a bit again for around 20 minutes then dimple, sprinkle with some more salt and olive oil.

Bake until it develops a golden crust and sounds hollow when tapped on the base.

Devour (in one sitting if you're me).

Sweet and Spicy Tofu.

If you live in Brighton, you no doubt will have come across Pompokos and fallen in love at first bite. If you haven’t. Well. I don’t really want to know you if I’m honest. Because then we can’t go together.

For those poorly educated souls reading this who don’t know what/where Pompokos it’s a (very) small Japanese restaurant in Brighton. The food is humble, cheap and fast. No exaggeration here. A main course is less than a fiver and you’ll receive it less than 10 minutes after ordering (I think the fastest I’ve ever received my food is within 3 minutes…as long as they keep doing it I don’t want to know how).

They specialize in huge bowls of sushi rice topped with your choice of meat cooked to your liking, Japanese Katsu curries and various side dishes from gyoza to miso soup and octopus balls (which one of my housemates confirms are actually rather tasty..!) . They also do various yaki-soba-type stir-frys but from a wealth of experience I can confirm that the rice bowls and curries are where it’s at.

My personal tipple when there is either Pumpkin Katsu Curry (bread crumbed and deep fried pumpkin with a Japanese curry sauce) or Tori Chilli Don (Rice topped with fried chicken and onions in a spicy, tangy sauce) with a side of some obligatory chicken gyoza. I can’t lie, whenever my day has the prospect of Pompokos I agonize over the decision between these dishes ALL DAY.

This dish is somewhat of a tribute to Pompokos, and a rather yummy one. As usual I didn’t really have any meat in so opted for a tofu version and made it ridiculously spicy but use your own (probably more sensible) judgment as far as the chili goes and you'll enjoy this.

Serves 2 hungry people.

200g Firm tofu, cubed

3 tbsp corn starch

1/3 cup sweet chili sauce

1/3  cup soy sauce

1/3 cup stock (either chicken or veggie)

4 fat garlic cloves, chopped.

2 tbsp Sesame seeds, toasted.

Chili flakes to your chili preference

½ tsp toasted sesame oil.

1-2 tbsp Sunflower oil.

Large onion, chopped into small wedges.

Handful of Sugar snap peas.

Dust your cubed tofu in the cornstarch and then in a wok heat the sunflower oil.

When hot throw in the tofu and fry, as it starts to turn golden throw in the onion.

As that softens, combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl to create the sauce and when the tofu is crisp and the onion soft but still with some bite pour in the sauce and the sugar snaps and simmer until it reduces and thickens.

When the sauce has reduced and looks sticky-ish taste to check the seasoning and adjust as necessarily.

Serve with rice or noodles garnished with more sesame seeds. 

Tomato, Red Onion and Chilli Chutney.

Happy New Year!

This is a belated post. A very belated one, considering it is Christmas related but wanted to share it after seeing the success of the recipe.

Nearly all my Christmas presents this year had a homemade theme, largely because come the end of the year I was nearly flat broke and also because I had a theory that my family (specifically my parents), would appreciate something I had made with my own hands more than something I could buy. I mentioned my plan to my housemates and they jumped on the bandwagon meaning that on a cold afternoon in the run up to Christmas we had an almighty chutney making venture.

Needless to say it was rather epic, considering we needed to peel and chop 3kgs of tomatoes and then 1.5kgs of red onions. Regretfully I took on the onions. Yes, there were LOTS of tears - but don’t worry I’ve scaled down the recipe here.

The most amusing part of this process had to be acquiring the jars to store the chutney in. It had to be in the most economical way possible. Of course.

Our solution? Off we went to ASDA and bought the cheapest thing they had on sale that was in an appropriately sized jar.

This was the result:

That, is 8 jars worth of ASDA, own brand, 22p, Lemon curd.

Gross huh?

But it did thankfully, provide us with this (after they had been sterilized via the dishwasher):

Anyway, to get back to the chutney. This really is an exercise of taste, I cannot reiterate HOW much one has to taste, season and adjust throughout the cooking process to make it sing.

But I promise you; the results are worth it, the jar I gave to my mum for Christmas Day had been devoured by the end of Boxing Day. No exaggeration.

Makes 2-3 jars and was created from an amalgamation of recipes including one from the BBC Good Food website.

500g red onions, peeled and sliced

1kg tomatoes, skinned and chopped

1 hot chilli, finely, chopped

4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1 bay leaf

½ tsp paprika

150g brown sugar

150ml red wine vinegar

lots of salt and freshly ground pepper

In a little oil, sweat the onions until soft then add the garlic, chilli and bay leaf, sweat until fragrant and then add the rest of the ingredients.

Simmer for 1 hour and at this point taste it. Is it too sweet? If so add more vinegar. Not sweet enough? Add more sugar, this kind of thing will largely depend on nature of the tomatoes used.

Season the hell out of it until your happy with the way it tastes then increase the heat and gently boil until it gets thick and jammy.

Place in sterilized jars and leave to cool before covering, will keep in the fridge for 6 weeks or so.

NOTE: Its banging with some strong chedder cheese. 

Creamy Green Vegetable Risotto with Lemon Thyme.

Risotto.

It is a thing of joy if done well and a stodgy, claggy mess if not prepared with enough care. It seems this balance is often something difficult to master. However, being a risotto lover I would like to think that I have somewhat managed the art.

Risotto’s issue is that it is temperamental. One has to give it as much love and attention as you want it to give you. A risotto that has not been prepared with care will never sing in the way one that has been lovingly stirred and seasoned will do.

My verdict on the matter is to pour yourself a glass of wine and enjoy watching the magic of the rice swell as you add stock. I do at least, but then again I am a mega food geek.

Anyway, I’m of the opinion a risotto should be oozy but not too wet. However a trick I usually employ is to always make it a bit wetter than it appears to need to be. This way while it stands at the end of the cooking process and as you eat, it doesn’t dry up leaving you with a bowl of stodge.

I would also advise you to season with black pepper liberally, it really adds an extra dimension and some bite to this silky and comforting plate of loveliness. I am unashamed to say that despite making enough with which to intend leftovers I ate the lot. I enjoyed it so much I simply couldn’t resist.

Serves 3

2tbsp olive oil

A large knob of butter

1 pint of chicken or veggie stock.

200g risotto rice.

Half a large onion, finely chopped.

1 clove of garlic, crushed.

A large leek chopped.

2 tbsp cream cheese or mascarpone.

Two handfuls of sugar snap peas, quartered.

 A glass of dry white wine.

1 tbsp thyme leaves.

 Large handful of freshly grated parmesan.

Salt and freshly ground black pepper.

To start with get your stock hot.

Secondly in another pan melt half the butter and then add the olive oil to raise the butters burning point. Over a low heat sweat the leeks until really soft then stir in the cream cheese or mascarpone.

In different wide based but tall sided pan add rest of the butter and olive oil and sweat the onion until it looks slightly translucent, then add the garlic and continue to sweat until fragrant.

Increase the heat, add the rice and fry until it looks slightly translucent then add the wine and simmer until you can’t smell the harsh alcohol scent coming off the ingredients and the liquid has absorbed into the rice.

Turn your heat back down and ladle by ladle add the stock adding the next after the previous one has been absorbed. During this process continue to stir. This will massage the starch out of the rice resulting in a creamy, oozy risotto.

After 8 minutes throw in the peas and a further 2 minutes later check the rice, if it is cooked but with a slight bite then it is done. Stir in the creamy leek mixture, thyme, parmesan and season. 

At this point I feel it is crucial to cover the risotto and let it sit for 5 minutes. This helps it relax and helps the flavors to mingle. Loosen with some water if necessary and serve immediately. 

Southern Indian Vegetable Curry.

Now, there is absolutely no denying it. I am a complete chili addict. I'm the person that could be eating pizza, pasta, a roast or a burger and will ask you to pass whatever appropriate spicy condiment is on offer. Be it hot sauce, horseradish or crushed chilies, if it makes my mouth burn, I'm all over it.


Taking this into account one may assume that Southern Indian cuisine may not be my bag. With all those subtle flavors of mustard seeds, curry leaves, coconut milk and no promise of chili to assault my taste buds,  you may predict me uninterested. But no. 


Having been fortunate enough to travel around India I completely fell for every element of its cuisine and after sampling the traditional breakfast of Southern India, a Masala Dosa (aka the KING of all breakfasts) I fell head over heels for this type of food. 


The recipe that follows is a take on Southern Indian cooking and ticks all of the expected boxes with a bit of added chili for some bite, simply because I couldn't resist. 

Serves 4

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed.

2 large handfuls of spinach or the leafy end of the chard, shredded.

1 large onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

a thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

4 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped

a bunch of curry leaves

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 ½ tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

1 can of coconut milk

fresh coriander, chopped

In a wok or large, deep pan on a high heat add your oil and mustard seeds, when they start to pop add the onion.

When the onion begins to soften, add the garlic, chili, ginger curry leaves and spices, fry that for 3-4 minutes then add the chopped tomatoes and sweet potato and season.

Fry this for another 2 minutes to develop the flavors then add the coconut milk, cover and simmer until the potato is soft all the way through.

Add the spinach or chard and wait for it to wilt, taste, check the seasoning, then serve with rice, scattered with the fresh coriander and a wedge of lime to squeeze over.