Swahili Chicken - East African Cuisine

Swahili Chicken

I adapted this recipe from a book 200 Curries by Sunil Vijayakar - Hamlyn. This is a fabulous book presenting recipes from all over the world and has a great introduction section where it lays out information about different spices for curry addicts like us. It presents recipes in a simple format with variations and beautiful photographs to boot. If you need some curry inspiration or would like to try something a little different, it is a great addition to your cookbook collection.

Handmade Venison Ravioli

Venison ravioli

I have made pasta a few times and each time it becomes a little easier with practice. Making fresh egg pasta takes you back to your primary school days and memories of pulling play dough through a machine to make a vaguely monster like model of your mum. This is far more sophisticated, but just as fun! The trick is to allow yourself enough space and perhaps request an extra pair of hands be on standby. Alternatively, why make it difficult! Just split your dough into smaller lumps. Sometimes the best answers are the obvious ones.

Steak Bearnaise

I have always been a bit dubious about having any kind of sauce with my steak. If I'm going to eat a steak, then I want to be able to taste every last bit of it without it being masked by some other flavourings. To be honest, I'm not sure what changed in my thoughts, but I decided to try steak with a Bearnaise sauce. I think it was more to do with the desire to practice a new technique rather than the actual final dish. Perhaps not the most sensible of ideas but it did come out really well and we both really enjoyed this.

Sausages with Puy Lentils

Going down the French route with this one. Try to use puy lentils if you can find them, but if not, then green lentils will be fine. I guess you should really use some French sausages such as Toulon sausage, but we just used some standard ones from the butchers. But they must be large ones! This is a dish full of strong flavours and is a real winter-warmer.

Porter Braised Beef Cheeks

My poor camera skills really haven't done this dish justice. I have eaten A LOT of cow in my life, but I think this was probably the tastiest piece I have had. The combination of porter, winter vegetables, herbs, 24 hour marinade time and 10 hours of cooking produced a lump of meat that was so full of flavour, soft and rich. Following the success of our Oxtail Pie, we decided to go to the other end of the animal and try to make something special out of the cheeks. In the same way that the oxtail needs very long and slow-cooking, likewise the cheeks also need similar preparation to be made palatable. Although this recipe does take a long time, nearly all of the time is either the meat marinading in the fridge, or cooking in the oven. So we urge you to give this one a go because it is delicious.

British Sausage Week - Proper Bangers n Mash

So last week was British Sausage Week and so when in the butcher we got a couple of links of big thick Yorkshire sausages. The best way to eat them is surely with a big pile of buttery mashed potato and thick onion gravy - good ole bangers 'n' mash. Apparently we so affectionately call the sausage a "banger" because during World War 2, when food was scarce, they filled the sausage full of cereals and water which would cause the sausage to burst open and "bang" when cooking. So, there you go.

A Very Slow-Cooked Oxtail Pie

This one was two days in the making (everybody knows a good curry tastes a thousand times better the following day!) Couple this with the fact that a good pie is my single favourite food, I was sure I would be on to a winner with this one - and I was. Steak pies are a very common thing, but I wanted to spruce it up a little and I did this by using oxtail as the main ingredient. This is a cheap ingredient (one tail cost me about 6 quid) which, if cooked in the right way, is unbelievably full of flavour. It has definitely grown in popularity recently - I guess this is due to its cost during this terrible financial crisis we are in! Whatever the reason, this is a great ingredient and I think this way of cooking and serving it really does make for something pretty delicious.

The Royal Oak in Ripon - Review

Royal Oak, Ripon

It's fun to spend a day in a new place discovering what is on offer and browsing windows and menus. We recently had a drive up to Ripon for the day and were pleasantly suprised by the range of foodie treats on offer. The cathedral was impressive and the large market town feel made us feel welcome. We spent some time looking in the well established Deli on Duck Hill, enjoying the range of Yorkshire produce including Taylors tea and coffee, unusual global food items and a huge amount of cheese! There were also a great deal of cafes. An interesting looking wine bar named Squiffy's caught my eye and we are due to give that place a whirl one time soon.

Liver and Onions

I love it. Liz hates it. Liver is one of those ingredients that divides opinions. I get why some people don't like it, I really do. It does have a different texture to 'normal' meat and it definitely has a richness that we are not always used to. But I am sure some people don't eat it for slightly different reasons; reasons to do with their pre-conceptions about eating liver and other kinds of offal. People for some reason become squemish or are put off at the very thought of eating these kinds of food. But there is no doubting the health benefits (click here to see a thorough explanation by Mark Sisson) and it is REALLY cheap (2 portions of lamb's liver will cost less than a quid in the supermarket). Add to that fact that by following just a simple recipe you can have a genuinely tasty meal, then I urge you to give it a go.

Shaun Hill's Chicken Escalope with Tarragon and Leeks

In our house we have a bookshelf absolutely full of cookbooks. They have usually been bought for us as gifts and, as lovely as they are, we are both guilty of not really putting them to much use. Very often they get forgotten about and we just use the internet as our source of foodie inspiration. With all these great recipes and ideas just lying around, we thought we should make a greater effort to put them to good use. I took the first one I came to (which was literally right next to me on the coffee table) and decided to choose one recipe to cook. The book I picked up was by Shaun Hill and is called "Better gravy and other kitchen secrets". We haven't eaten chicken in a while and so I went straight for the poultry section and went for his "Chicken Escalope with Tarragon and Leeks".

Roast Duck with Passionfruit Sauce

It was Liz's birthday at the weekend and so I did my best to prepare a birthday meal worthy of the occasion. Since her recent conversion from vegetarian to carnivore, Liz has been very adventurous with her food - a whole new gourmet world has opened up to her! One animal that we haven't tried together is duck. So I bought a crown of duck and made a lovely passionfruit sauce to go along with it.

Mutton Curry with Cauliflower "Rice"

 

I think that behind traditional British cuisine, Indian food has to be our next favourite food. Here in England, Indian food is extremely popular due to the large population of Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi people who live in this country. There are huge cultural ties between Britain and this part of the world and this is undoubtedly the reason for our fasciantion with this kind of food. The key to this food is in the spices used and it is these spices which came to our shores with those returning from the Crusades. Using and combining these spices can be a little daunting at times. But it doesn't need to be difficult to create a rich, deep and spicy curry and making something simple like my Mutton Curry with Cauliflower "Rice" would be a good place to start.

Oat-rolled Herring with Beetroot Puree

Last week in the supermarket was a big pile of reduced fish for sale. We decided to buy bags and bags of different fish including cod, bream and these herring. Most of the other fish went into our fish pie but the herring remained in our freezer. Although Liz really loves any kind of fish, cooked in any way, I am a little more cautious when it comes to oily and pungent varieties such as mackerel, sardines and, in this case, herring. As such, I prefer to fry these kinds of fish in plenty of butter and serve them with plenty of little side dishes so as the flavour blends in with the other food and is less empowering. We all know that fish can be battered in either breadcrumbs or a wet flour mix (as in our traditional fish 'n' chips) but I wondered if something different could be used - oats.

Chicken with Rhubarb

 

Our house is full of cookbooks, but one which has caught my attention more than most is the Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit - www.flavourthesaurus.com It gives a comprehensive guide to how different flavours can work together. These are very often quite strange pairings but it has started to make me think I should be a little more experimental in the kitchen. So last night for tea, we made a rhubarb sauce to go with our roast chicken.

Hearty Fish Pie

Food doesn't get much more British than a hearty fish pie. It is believed that it was brought to our shores by the Romans, who would prepare a similar dish when they were on a fast day (for example during Lent when they could not eat meat). A variety of poached fish and seafood, covered in a white sauce and topped with mashed potatoes (the original versions probably had a pastry lid), it is an easy and simple way to enjoy fish.