Ain't no party like an S Club party.

So last weekend hailed the mark of my 22nd year on this earth. 

Coincidentally April is also turning out to be the month of my Dad moving house - as a consequence I felt it would be appropriate to wave a fond farewell to my childhood home with a (dinner) party. 

The night ended up being a culmination of Mexican food, beer pong, my somewhat legendary 90s playlist and far far too much tequila. I was pretty much still feeling worse for wear 3 days later.

Now to the food. I went long with three varieties of chilli (hot, not and veggie), rice, nachos, sour cream and an industrial amount of guacamole. Apart from the positively stupid amount of rice I cooked and minus the odd doggy bag I packed up for a few drunkards to take home in the wee hours, amazingly,  it all got demolished. 

Sadly a few tequilas down I was more interested in eating the food than taking pictures of it meaning that there isn't much photographic evidence of the meal - however the recipe I adopted was the Jamie Oliver cowboy chilli from Jamie's America. The combination of smoked, dried and fresh chilli along with the use of coffee instead of stock is inspired and generates an insane depth of meaty flavor. Personally I opted for a pulled pork version rather than beef but either would work a treat. 

Shout out to Maddy the megababe for the most ridonculous cake a girl could ask for and to Abbie the sly Cinderella sister cleaning up in the wings. 

Love and thanks also to everyone who came from near, far and for all the amazing presents, cards and flowers. You all rock my 90s kid socks.

Serves 8-10

2 kg Pork shoulder, trimmed, cleaned and cubed 

3 tbsp olive oil

3 onions, diced

10 cloves of garlic, crushed

3tsp ground cumin

3tsp smoked paprika

2 cinnamon sticks

2 bay leaves

3 tbsp brown sugar

1tsp dried oregano

500 ml coffee

1 dried chipotle chilli

2 fresh chillies, chopped 

2 Tins chopped tomatoes

2 tins, drained kidney beans

Salt & pepper

Firstly make your coffee and drop in the dried chilli to rehydrate a bit and infuse.

While that is happening, sweat your onions until soft in the oil and then add the garlic, fresh chilli and spices. Sweat for a further few minutes until fragrant.

Add the pork and stir to coat in the spice mix and add your coffee, sugar and the dried chilli chopped up.  Then throw in your tinned tomatoes and season liberally.

Cover and cook on a low heat for as long as you can afford (min 4 hours). Personally I simmered mine for about 5 or 6 and then left in the fridge over night to mature. 

An hour or two before game time shred the meat, I personally fished it all out the sauce, shredded it and put it back in. This also gave me the opportunity to fish out the various cinnamon sticks and bay leaves on the assumption that a dunk person may end up chewing on them.

When the pork is shredded and back in the pot throw in your beans, check the seasoning and bring up to the heat to simmer without a lid on to thicken and reduce for a further half an hour.

Serve with your favorite Mexican condiments, I'd recommend fresh guacamole, sour cream and lime (and tequila).

Noodle Soup (Again).

Living with my Dad is acting like culinary kryptonite at the moment. Most people laugh at me when they learn that my average day involves my Dad and I pinging each other emails across London with subject lines such as 'yummy' and 'lets make this' followed by an evening of cooking and watching  the Good Food channel, all the time discussing how friggin' awesome what we've cooked that day is. If I say so myself we are probably the best fed pair of workers in SW London - at the moment Monday seems to be the day for our version of the Olympics.

There are a fair amount of noodle soup recipes on this blog. This is something I refuse to apologise for because, you know what? There is about to be another. This one sits somewhere between Vietnamese, Thai and Schezuan (I think) and was the product of one of mine and my fathers rather elaborate Monday evenings. It is a feast of textures and layers of flavor and is yours to do what you will with, whether you want it more lime-y or chilli hot etc.

Serves 2

For the Chicken:
4 x Chicken thighs, skinned, boned and blitzed in the food processor
2 tbsp flavorless oil
a good handful of sesame seeds
1 tbsp of runny honey

For The Paste:
1 stick of lemongrass, outer woody leaves removed
thumb sized piece of ginger
2 fat garlic cloves
1 hot red chili

For the noodle soup:
1/2 tin of coconut milk
500ml good chicken stock
juice of 2 limes
2 tbsp soy sauce
bunch of mint finely chopped
a few spring onions shredded
2 bok choy
1/2 a red pepper in slices
rice noodles for two

Firstly get a frying pan on to heat to get screaming hot  - while you wait blitz the ingredients for the spice paste in a processor.

When the frying pan is hot fry the chicken in the oil, smashing it up into the consistency of a course mince. Keep frying and tossing until it goes golden and crunchy.

Add the sesame seeds to toast off and then for the last 30 second stir in the honey ensuring it coats the chicken. Turn out onto some kitchen paper to drain off any excess fat.

Now in a big pan or wok in a little more oil sweat off the spice paste and when fragrant add all the liquids and the noodles. When the noodles are nearly done add the other veg to lightly soften.

Ladle into big bowls and top with the chicken, mint and spring onions.

'Whatever I had in my fridge' Calzone.

 

Today I got home from work, opened the fridge and let my culinary instinct take over.

It pretty much went like this: *sees left over pizza dough* - "hmm don't fancy pizza. What could I do instead? Flat breads? Nah. Hmm. Not sure. Err…CALZONE." (yes I talk to my fridge).

I stuck it in Google for inspiration and ended up taking Jamie Oliver's advice that anything could go in one very seriously. This is literally a once around my fridge concoction.

If your not a ridiculous food enthusiast and don't have a bread maker a pizza dough recipe can be found here - http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/uncategorised-recipes/pizza-dough.

Makes 4 Calzone.

1 Pizza Dough recipe
Either shop bought or homemade tomato sauce
1/2 a butternut squash, cubed
1 bulb of fennel
4 rashers of bacon
2 cloves of garlic
small bunch of parsley
1/2 a red chill
1/2 a bag of rocket
pinch of dried oregano
Cream Cheese
Parmesan

In a deep frying pan fry off the bacon and then throw in the squash.

After another few minutes sweat the garlic, oregano and chill in until fragrant, add the tomato sauce and a good glug of water.

While the squash softens roll out balls of dough into circles and spread the cream cheese on the dough leaving a 2 cm cheese free zone around the perimeter.

When the squash is soft  and the water has evaporated in the pan add the fennel (added late to retain crunch) parsley, rocket and season. Let the rocket wilt and then allow the mixture to cool.

 Spoon the mixture into your rolled out circles of dough and top with a healthy dose of Parmesan. Try and resist the temptation to over fill them.

 

Fold the dough over into semi circles and then crimp the edges (probably with more talent than I demonstrate here), sprinkle with Parmesan again and bake until golden and crisp (about 15 minutes). 

Salted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am one of those people who has a real thing for salt and sweet flavour combinations. Whether it is cheese and fruit, honey and soy, or my personal favourite guilty pleasure; salted popcorn with a packet of minstrels at the cinema, I'm pretty much a mega fan. I'm aware of the fact that when you are already indulging in something which perhaps isn't the healthiest it makes little sense to pair it with something else that doesn't do your body any good. However, I'm of the opinion that if your going to eat something bad you might as well eat something really bad to make it worth while.

I must say, it does seem these types of flavour combinations are becoming rather trendy at the moment, the various chocolate brands creating salted varieties of their milk chocolate and Heston Blumenthal's Salted caramel popcorn Ice cream to name a few examples.

If you are similarly partial to this idea I implore you to bake these cookies. The brown sugar in them gives them that classic American Cookie style bendy/gooey factor and since making them between my Dad, Sister and Colleagues I think they get mentioned at least once a week making me feel they are definitely worth undertaking again and again.

 

Makes 36-40 Depending on Size.

225g butter
200g soft brown sugar
175g caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
250g chocolate chips
sea salt flakes.

Preheat Oven to 180 Degrees.

Cream the butter, add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg a bit at a time and the vanilla extract.

Mix in the dry ingredients together and fold them in, finally adding the chocolate chips.

Divide mixture into balls on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper allowing plenty of space for spreading.

Bake for 4 minutes, sprinkle with the sea salt and bake for a further 4-6 minutes.

You want to finish cooking them before they colour too much, they might seem too gooey but once the sugars in them have cooled down they will firm up at which point you can transfer them from the baking tray. 

Spicy Coconut Chicken Noodle Soup.

For once I actually have a genuine excuse for my absence from this little Blog. 

I got robbed. Literally. 

Two weeks ago, two young scallywags broke into the house, smashing far more windows that was really necessary to get in and swiped various things in the house including my laptop, iPod and all my car keys, making blogging a bit tricky. The crowning glory moment within this farce was probably having to pay to have my own car clamped so it couldn’t be driven away in the middle of the night.

On a more culinary note, I’m really into noodle soup at the moment. When I have my one treat-eat-out-at-work lunch of the week I have been experimenting with the various noodle soups on offer near my office, I can safely say the superfood sobas at Pod are superior to many out there.

This recipe lies somewhere between a tribute to my favourite Kare Lomen at Wagamama and the Vietnamese Pho noodle soup. It has real depth of flavour and is thoroughly heart warming especially given the arctic weather at the moment. Of course due to my chilli addiction mine was practically lava it was so spicy but the fragrance of the lemongrass and galangal along with the creamy luxury of the coconut milk turns this dish into a real, quick, easy week night treat.

Serves 2-3

For The Paste:

2 lemongrass stalks, outer leaves removed, bruised and roughly chopped

2.5 cm piece galangal root, peeled & roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled & finely chopped

2 onions, peeled & roughly chopped

1 red pepper, deseeded & roughly chopped

1 tsp sweet paprika

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 hot red chili, chopped

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp curry powder

1 tsp shrimp paste 

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Enough noodles of your choice cooked to packet instructions

1 Can of coconut milk

Juice of 1 or 2 limes (depending how juicy they are)

2 chicken breasts, sliced into strips

½ pint chicken stock

For Garnish:

2 handfuls of beansprouts

Finely shredded cucumber and spring onion

Fresh coriander finely chopped

Roasted sesame seeds for garnish

In a food processor blitz all the ingredients for the paste until smooth. Add a touch of water to help it blend if necessary.

Sweat the paste in the oil and when fragrant throw in the chicken strips. When they have sealed add the liquids and noodles and bring to a simmer. 

When the chicken is cooked through ladle into deep bowls and serve with the various garnishes. 

White Chocolate and Raspberry Muffins.

Upon reaching this weekend all I really wanted to do was curl up with the latest episode of MasterChef. Seriously, work had been crazy and I was feeling rather under the weather. However I must say, when I do finally reach the weekend after a busy week I often find it hard to turn off and just allow myself to laze around. 

To keep myself entertained and housebound in an attempt to give my body the quiet weekend it obviously needed I decided to bake. It ended up being quite an elaborate affair.  

Amongst the homemade pizza, shortbread and various other culinary adventures I embarked on over this weekend these muffins were the stars. The tart raspberries marry wonderfully with the sweet white chocolate and the buttermilk keeps the muffins fabulously moist. The seal of approval for me was my dad eating 2 in one 4pm sitting.

Adapted from Lorraine Pascale’s ‘Home Cooking Made Easy’,

Makes 12 muffins.

350g self-raising flour

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

Pinch of Salt

250g Soft brown sugar, plus extra for topping

350ml buttermilk

2 eggs

150g butter, melted and cooled

200g raspberries

150g white chocolate in small-ish chunks.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C and lines your muffin tins with squares of baking parchment.

Put the flour, bicarb, salt and sugar in a big bowl and stir to combine. Add the buttermilk, eggs and butter and stir everything to get a smooth thick batter.

Fold in the raspberries and chocolate and spoon evenly into your tin.

Bake for 15 minutes until lightly golden then give each muffin a sprinkling of the sugar and put back in the oven for 10 minutes more to finish baking until a deep golden color.

Serve hot or cold. 

***For anyone who reads this far down this post - I now have around a dozen muffins for my dad and I to work our way through. If anyone wants to stop by and contribute to the eating effort it would be greatly appreciated. Well done for reading to the end.***

Meat and Two Veg. Fancy Style.

So despite my declarations of loyalty to my little Blog unsurprisingly something came along to bugger them. To explain my month long absence could be rather complicated but to put it simply, a full time London based job, whilst still trying to maintain my Brighton citizenship along with my sanity and some semblance of a social life is not cohesive with a large amount of free time.

Before you get me wrong though, I enjoy the busy-ness and the new job. It is film production orientated and Old Street based and a steady income whilst learning loads are some of the larger perks of the situation. However. It is also admittedly rather dangerous regarding my retail habits. I managed to spend £50 in Urban Outfitters yesterday and then a further £70 in Zara (must open a saving account and start doing sensible things with my money).

But anyway back to the case in hand. This recipe is firm family favorite and with my little sister heading back to boarding school Sunday evening it seemed like a fitting way to set her up for the week. It is absolutely delicious but surprisingly light, given of course you don’t stuff yourself, but I must say it probably doesn’t exactly fit the Indian summer we’ve been subjected to over the last few weeks.

Serves 4

4 Venison Steaks at room temperature trimmed and lightly covered in olive oil and seasoned.

1kg floury potato, Maris Piper or something similar

1 head of cabbage, shredded

a couple of sprigs of rosemary

½ a red onion finely chopped

½ a garlic clove finely sliced

2 good knobs of butter

400ml red wine

400ml good stock, ideally chicken

1 dessert spoon red currant jelly

olive oil

salt and pepper

Firstly chop your spuds so they’re about the size of a big walnut and par boil them for a few minutes.

Drain them and let them sit and steam for a minute whilst you shred your cabbage.

Tip the potatoes back into your empty pan, cover them in a couple of good glugs of olive oil, season liberally and gently rough them up a bit. The idea is to get the edges of each potato to go a bit flaky and floury but these bits to stay stuck to the potato with the olive oil because this is the bit that will go amazingly crunchy when roasted.

Tip them out onto a roasting tray and nestle a few sprigs of rosemary rubbed with olive oil amongst them. Stick the whole lot in a hot oven say about 220 degrees turning every 15 minutes until they’re gloriously golden and crunchy (around 30-40 minutes).

Whilst your potatoes are roasting get on with your sauce, in a knob of melted butter and a glug of oil sweat the onion and when soft add a sprig of rosemary and your garlic. 

Sweat that until fragrant, add your stock and wine and leave to simmer until it has reduced by two thirds. At this point stir you can sieve the sauce if you want, I couldn’t be bothered.

Stir in the red currant jelly and whisk in a cold knob of butter to thicken the sauce slightly. Leave to keep warm.

Steam your cabbage and when everything is ready it's venison o'clock. 

Fry for 5 minutes on each side for medium and 4 on each side for rare, if you must have it well done go ahead and massacre it but you might as well go and have a chew on a pair of old leather boots. Just saying.

(Apologies for how fluro the photos are. My dad's kitchen lights combined with a crappy camera don't equal the most forgiving photos. )