December 13, 2015
I love finding new food suppliers – especially Italian. Quality ingredients are always important but with Italian food it is the quality of the ingredient that makes the dish – buy good ingredients and keep the dish simple. I’ve been tasting olive oil and balsamic vinegar from Italiaregina.it – an Italian food and ingredients supplier. There were 3 flavours to test – their Extra Virgin Olive Oil, their Chili Pepper Oil and their Balsamic Vinegar. I’m quite particular about extra virgin olive oil – there’s a huge variation in quality and a bad oil can ruin a dish. Extra virgin olive oil...
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November 8, 2015
The trick with this Beef Short Rib Beer Chili is to roast the short rib and make the sauce separately. Roasting the short rib allows you to control the amount of fat you use and avoids having to skim fat from the dish as you cook. It also allows greater control over the doneness of the meat and the flavour and consistency of the sauce. Beef short rib is the ultimate meat for chili – cheap to buy and spectacularly tasty after a long, slow cook. Make this dish a day in advance and reheat if you can. It allows the flavours...
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May 17, 2015
A pressure cooker is an essential piece of kit – not just for your gadget-loving home-cook but for anyone looking to save time and money in the kitchen while producing great meals. Multiple safety features and modern build quality mean the days of worrying about exploding pressure cookers are long gone (whether this actually ever happened I couldn’t say but it’s certainly a fear we can leave in the last century). The principle is simple – by cooking your food in a sealed environment, steam builds up – increasing pressure inside the pot which, in turn, increases the boiling point of water meaning...
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May 3, 2015
A beautiful Portuguese fish stew, Caldeirada is made using whatever fish you have to hand. Some recipes call for a 50/50 mix of oily and white fish but I think the beauty of this dish is that it allows you to use whatever fish you have available. In this recipe I use monkfish and prawns but you could also try clams, squid, swordfish, cod, hake… Whatever suits your tastes. Green peppers are slightly more authentic in this recipe but I prefer the sweetness and more mature flavour of a developed red pepper. Ingredients (serves 4) 1 large onion – halved and sliced...
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March 14, 2015
This 12 Hour, Slow-Cooked Beef Brisket is the perfect way to turn a tough cut of meat into something that just melts in the mouth. It requires cooking for a long time – more to the point it will take cooking for a long time – you don’t need to be too delicate with a decent piece of brisket. Any good butcher will sell brisket and the larger the piece you can get, the better – it gives you more room for manoeuvre when cooking. Most recipes, including mine, will use a rub or a marinade or both to help it on its...
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February 18, 2015
Don’t be shy with the salt with this Salted Chocolate Caramel Tart – you want a good hit of the stuff. Both the base and the filling are simple enough to put together – it’s a really neat little recipe to have at hand. This is what you’ll need For the chocolate sweet pastry 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder 225g plain flour 95g caster sugar 30g ground almonds 150g butter – softened slightly and cubed 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 1 egg A pinch of salt. For the filling 200g butter 200g light muscovado sugar 200g double cream 200g plain chocolate A...
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February 15, 2015
Bourride is simple enough to put together but the finished dish oozes with flavour. The fennel & fish combination is always going to work but I think it’s the hit of orange that really finishes it off and complements this rich, garlic-infused fish stew. Make the aïoli by hand – there’s really no excuse not to – it all comes together beautifully when mixed by motar & pestle. This is what you’ll need Aïoli 3 cloves of garlic – sliced 1 egg yolk Olive oil – several tablespoons (just keep adding the stuff until you’re happy with the mix) Juice of...
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January 17, 2015
I had the best beef rending I’ve ever tasted in New York about 10 years ago. I’m not sure it was 100% authentic but it was utterly delicious. The beef was fall-apart-amazing, the sauce was thick, almost dry but so dense, fruity and spicy. You need a bit of time for this dish and you need to keep an eye on it. The sauce needs to thicken and coat the meat. That’s the important thing to nail. This is how I tried to recreate it. What you’ll need to feed 4 750g beef suitable for slow cooking – shoulder is...
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December 19, 2014
Forget the goose vs turkey debate, it’s the roast potato that is the real star of a Christmas Dinner. Get your spuds wrong and it just isn’t a proper festive feast. The secret Plan ahead, cook ahead and then freeze. If you can avoid making roast potatoes on the big day with a perfectly made batch ready to go, you leave nothing to chance and guarantee you’ll have perfect roast potatoes served on time. Freezing your potatoes allows you to finish the cooking process on the big day knowing they’re already perfectly cooked. If you do have a water bath and...
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November 22, 2014
This is a slightly revised version of a piccalilli recipe I posted a couple of years back. I’ve sweetened things up slightly with a bit more pear and apple and increased the quantity of mustard seed. Ideally you need to make it now. The piccalilli takes about a month to mature – if you make a batch this week, it will be ready for Christmas. Piccalilli ingredients Veg of your choice – I used 1 cauliflower, 1 courgette, 1 cucumber, 2 pears, 1 apple, a handful of green beans, 8 – 10 shallots 150g salt 1 tablespoon ground tumeric 1.5 tablespoons mustard seeds 1...
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November 2, 2014
I recently managed to purchase half a pig from a local farmer – the head was used in this recipe for brawn. A pig’s head isn’t really something you’re going to be able to pick up at the butcher’s counter at your local supermarket but – if you do have a decent enough proper butcher’s shop, it’s always worth asking what else they have going. You may find trotters and pig’s heads are available at little or no cost provided you ask for them alongside some other purchases. Once you’ve sourced half a head and 3 or 4 trotters, the...
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October 12, 2014
This Red Slaw is quick and simple. I’ve not used mayo as I wanted something fresh and crunchy without any sloppiness. This slaw really suits being matched with rich meats and BBQ food. The sesame seeds don’t add that much in the way of flavour – it’s more about the texture. And that’s important. Here’s what you’ll need 1/2 red onion – peeled 1 beetroot – peeled 1/4 red cabbage 1 red pepper The dressing 1/2 tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce – the shop-bought stuff is fine. 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 or 3 teaspoons cider vinegar A scattering of...
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October 12, 2014
I’ve been searching for the perfect burger bun for a while now. Or rather – I’ve been thinking about the qualities a perfect burger bun should have. More to the point – this bun also needs to stand up to juicier stuff like pulled pork as well as accommodating a decent burger. The bun needs to be soft and light but not fall apart half way through eating. It needs to be fluffy but not condense into a glue-like paste when you put it in your mouth. There needs to be sweetness but not overly so (on this point I know...
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September 28, 2014
Don’t be shy with the Stilton in this Stilton & Walnut Quiche recipe – you need a decent hit of strong cheese for it to make sense. Cooking times will vary from oven to oven so only take my timings as a guide and just keep an eye on things. For the pastry 200g plain flour 100g cubed butter 1 egg yolk Salt Approx 1 tablespoon of cold water For the filling 120g Stilton 100g walnuts – broken into small pieces 160g cream cheese 3 good quality eggs 150ml single cream 5 or 6 thyme sprigs – picked Salt & Black Pepper –...
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July 6, 2014
Making your own salt beef is reasonably straight forward – all you need is time, plenty of space in your fridge and, of course, the ingredients. Starting with the meat – you need a decent sized piece of brisket – 2kg should do it. For the brine you’re looking to spice it up to suit your taste – I love the sweet aniseed of Star Anise so I go fairly heavy in that direction. I don’t want to overdo it with the cloves though so maybe just 1 or 2 would be enough for a week’s brining. The saltpetre isn’t...
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June 25, 2014
Every so often you’ll see deals on whole salmon at your local supermarket. If they seem in decent enough condition, they’re well worth the money. You can feed yourself and your family for the best part of a week from 1 salmon. You’ll need to fillet the salmon yourself but it’s a handy thing to be able to do. Ask the person at the fish counter to de-scale the fish though – it’s not really that much fun to do and you’ll be finding fish scales around your kitchen for days after doing it yourself. Beetroot-Cured Salmon is a variation...
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