Jalapeno and Cheese movie snack

Just thought I would share this with you all.... a quick tasty snack ideal for a home movie night.

Spicy cheese tortilla movie bread type thing...

Ingredients:
2 Corn tortillas
Cheddar (large handful grated)
Jalapenos (as many as you dare)


Method:

Lay 1 tortilla in a fry pan
place onto this chopped Jalapenos and cheese
cover with second tortilla

Heat turning occasionally for 2-4 minutes (or until cheese is melted) then cut and enjoy..... you can of course vary the cheese and chilli to your heart desire this however is just what we had in the fridge that needed eating.

Penne with Cream Tomatoes and Pesto

Right tonight for dinner a simple and hearty pasta that is all about the sauce. As with all of my favourite recipes this is impressively simple to make... perfect for a quick supper after a hard day at work.


Ingredients:

Pesto

25g Fresh Basil
20g Pine nuts
100ml Olive oil
25g Pecorino Romano
25g Parmesan
salt

Plum tomatoes:
4-5 large plum tomatoes (peeled if fresh, strained if canned)
250g double cream

Pasta:
Penne Rigante (or any large tube pasta)

Method:

First the pesto:
blend the basil leaves,pine nuts, oil and salt briefly in a blender or hand mixer attachment then add the cheese and blend again.

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta until al dente.
Meanwhile pour the cream into a pan and add the tomatoes cook this slowly for about 10 minutes. After ten minutes or so remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly... then pour in the pesto and mix. When this is mixed add the pasta mix again and serve..... (you may need bread to mop up the sauce as this is far too good to leave)

A light bank holiday lunch with a Peach and Mozzarella Salad

Today we had lunch with a guest... the remit was a light salad lunch! Not an easy task for us butter lovers. So in this instance we have had to fall back on butters' favourite friend, cheese. This lunch is laughably simple and tasty, perfect for a sunny afternoon.

Todays lunch: Roasted vegetable salad and Salad with peach, mozzarella and parma ham (with crusty bread).

Roasted vegetable salad:

1 Red pepper
1 Yellow pepper
1 Round courgette (regular will do but since it was a bit unusual...)
3-4 Large tomatoes
drizzle of olive oil
a pinch of dried oregano
salt and pepper

Peach salad:

2 Peaches
3 Tomatoes (large)
1 Ball of mozzarella (the best you can afford)
3-4 Slices parma ham
Small hand full of rocket (or watercress or a mix of the both)
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

bread:

Waitrose (or your local baker)
Butter (ditto or local dairy/deli)

Method:

Roasted vegetable salad:
cut all of the ingredients coarsely toss into a roasting pan. roast for 20mins at 200 degrees then tip into a bowl to serve

Peach salad:

coarsely chop the peach and tomatoes and place in a ball. Tear into this the mozzarella and parma ham then add the the rocket and mix. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic season with salt and pepper and serve.

Serve with you favourite bread and of course... good quality butter.

Tandoori chicken with Roasted vegetables

Tonights dinner (typed in lieu)

Tandoori chicken with roasted vegetables

Vegetables:
5-6 large green chillies (not particularly spicy is perfect)
4-5 tomatoes (large and fresh)
2-3 Peppers (red/yellow/orange)
2 cloves Garlic (large or 3 small)
oregano
olive oil

Tandoori chicken

chicken drumsticks
tandoori spice mix
yogurt (1 large pot of cheap shop bought runny yogurt)
Lemon

Method:

This does take a little preparation and the chicken needs to marinade overnight but is well worth it in the end.

The day before:
1. Using the a large cooks knife remove the bottom 1-2cm of the chicken drumstick ( this causes the meat to shrink up the bone giving you a little nub of bone to hold onto)
2. Make slits 5-6 on the fleshy part of each drumstick and then place this in an oven proof dish ()just big enough to fit the drumsticks in.
3. Rub with tandoori spice mix (best to buy this) making sure to get this into all of the slits you have cut in the chicken. BE GENEROUS with the spice...
4. Cut the lemon in two and squeeze the juice over the drumsticks and then cover with the yogurt give this a little stir then cover and leave in the fridge over night.

On the day:
1. Cut all of the veg into pieces and place in a roasting dish
2. Crush (dont chop) the garlic and add these with a healthy sprinkle of oregano and a liberal amount of olive oil.
3. Remove the chicken drumsticks from the marinade and lay these on a tray (grease proof is better here than tin foil as it doesn't stick so badly)
4. Place both dishes in the oven (place the veg on the top rack) at 200 degrees for about 20 mins (during this time baste the chicken with the extra marinade)
5. Remove the veg and place these into a bowl, at the same time move the chicken up and grill briefly to give the appropriate finish.

Serve with flatbread or pitta and some mint in yogurt. tasty and quick (well on the day at least)

Stir fired pork with oyster sauce

I cannot believe it took this many recipes in this blog to finally come to the point that we have to say. Although most 'celebrity chefs' are not the best cooks in the world, we do love Nigel Slater. He makes hearty portions with simple combinations of ingredients and is not afraid a little (or a lot) fat. There will be a number of his recipes that will be covered in this blog in the future but this is the first one - stir fried pork with oyster sauce

 Ingredients:
500g pork shoulder, cubed
4 escallion shallots, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
250g mushrooms (we used chestnut, but shiitake are the best)
4 small red chillies, finely chopped, seeds included
3 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1,5 nests of Chinese noodles, cooked

Preparation

Heat some vegetable oil in the wok and place the pork and fry until cooked golden. Cook it in two badges to make sure the pan is not overcrowded and the meat is cooked through. Take the pork out of the wok and set aside. Place the shallots, garlic and chillies into the wok and fry until the shallots are soft but not browned. Then add the mushrooms and cook for 2-3min, then add the pork, vinegar and oyster sauce. Mix everything together over a high heat to make sure everything is hot.

Serve the meat with the cooked noodles, either mixed together or on the side. Enjoy!

Friday dinner - spoil yourself

It was Friday. End of the week. A long week. So to treat ourselves, we used the deep fat frier once again. Not the healthiest of the weeks, but this recipe definitely is one of our favourites. Buffalo wings! I have never met a person who does not like Buffalo wings. They are so tasty, slightly tangy, a bit messy and very cheap to make!

Ingredients:
12-18 chicken wings
10 tbsp Flour
6 tbsp Polenta
6 tbsp butter
6 tbps of hot sauce (Frank's is the best)
1 tbsp tabasco
1 tsp Woustershire sauce
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder

For blue cheese sauce (if you fancy it): 100g blue cheese (such as Roquefort), 150ml soured cream, 2 tbsp mayonnaise, juice of 1/2 lemon

Preparation:

For blue cheese sauce, mix all the ingredient together and set aside.

Mix the flour, polenta and a tiny bit of cayenne pepper and fully coat the wings in the mix. Set aside for a little while to dry. Heat the oil in the frier to 190C. Place 4-5 wings into the basket and let the cook in the frier for 8-9minutes until golden and crispy. Repeat until all the wings are cooked.

Meanwhile, place the butter, hot sauce, tabasco, Woustershire, vinegar, cayenne pepper and garlic powder in the pot and heat until the butter is melted and all the ingredients are fully combined. Preheat the oven to 190C. Once the wings are cooked, place them in a large bowl with the sauce and toss until coated evenly. To ensure the wings do not stick to the baking tray, cover it with foil and them baking paper. Lay the wings on the baking tray, but do not overcrowd it. Place it in the oven for 15-20min until the sauce is dried up, turning them once. Serve with blue cheese sauce, celery and some home-made fries. Enjoy!

Deep fried breaded prawns

Buying a deep fat frier is possibly the biggest sin I have every committed and I am sure my stomach is not going to thank me for it. However, we do not use it too often and sometimes it is just a great way to treat ourselves. The most important rule is to ensure to change oil relatively often to avoid funny tastes and smells coming from it. Buy a smaller one, if you decide to indulge yourself into something a bit unhealthy, as it would be cheaper to change the oil and you would not be able to make too much. This week, we have decided to go for deep fried breaded prawns. Looks like a small snack but in fact, it is a very filling meal.

Ingredients.
One bad of uncooked defrosted king prawns
12tbsp of breadcrumbs
6 tbsp of polenta
2 tsp dried oregano (if you want something different, substitute with cayenne pepper)
2 tsp dried thyme
Pepper
3 Eggs, beatedn
Flour

Preparation
Once the prawns are fully defrosted, dust them with flour and leave on the side to dry further. Meanwhile, mix breadcrumbs, polenta and the herbs with some pepper. Dip 3-4 prawns into the egg and then into the breadcrumb mix and repeat until all of the prawns are coated. Then, repeat the process until the prawns are coated twice. Leave them on the side for at least 30min to dry to ensure that the coating sticks to the prawns.

Heat the oil in the deep fat frier to 180C. Once heated, place 5-6 prawns in the basket and fry for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown. Make sure you do not overcrowd the basket and repeat until all prawns are cooked. Place the prawns on the kitchen towel to dry and serve with sweet chili sauce (you can get it from any supermarket but we would suggest to try any Chinese shop in your town - the sauce is much better and cheaper). Enjoy!

Mac and Cheese

It was Wednesday, mid-week and usually around this time of the week, we get a bit lazy and tired and less interested in cooking fancy meals. Mac and cheese is a good mid-week meal: it's quick, tasty and full of cheese! And everything feels just a bit better with a hearty doze of cheddar! The portion was rather big for two people (we still have some left over) so if you do not feel like overeating, reduce the portion. The secret is to make sure that to one portion of macaroni, put in two portions of cheese

Ingredients:
200g macaroni
500g cheddar, grated
Butter
200ml double cream (if you're trying to make it skinny, put milk instead)
1 escallion shallot
 Mushrooms (quartered) or pancetta - cooked until softened (to add more body, if you do not have either, don't worry, it will still taste good)
Breadcrumbs

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 220C. Parboil the pasta (about 5min). Meanwhile, make the cheese sauce. Pour the cream into the pan and add small knob of butter and cheese. Whisk until thick and melted. It should have a similar texture as cheese fondue.

Once the pasta and sauce are done, pour everything into an ovenproof dish, mix well and add mushrooms or pancetta. For the crispy top, cover it with breadcrumbs and place the dish in the oven for about 15-20min until the top is golden. Enjoy!

A bolognese of sorts

Tonight we had pasta with a beef sauce.

some would call this Bolognese some wouldn't, some would call this a ragu, some wouldn't. in the world of food there are many rules for naming you only have to look at the DOC list to get an idea how seriously some take this.... in this house we don't care as long as it is tasty. Tonight we cooked a beef sauce for spaghetti, the recipe is one that has grown ingredients and lost ingredients over the course of time but this version is always tasty and certainly went down well tonight...

Ingredients:

beef mince 1 regular size packet
2 escallion (banana) shallots
2 cloves of garlic
1 spear of celery
200g chestnut mushrooms (sliced and then halved)
3-4 anchovies
3-6 chilli flakes (no more or else you will ruin the flavour)
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 small bunch fresh basil
oregano
salt and pepper

Spaghetti - enough for 2


The method:

Firstly prepare your ingredients. crush the garlic, finely chop the shallots, finely chop the anchovies and slice the celery thinly.

heat some olive oil in a frying pan until hot but not smoking add to this in the anchovies,garlic,celery and shallots. fry for a minute until the shallots are starting to soften and the anchovies are starting to dissolve. Add the mushrooms, season and then fry until the mushrooms are starting to pick up colour at this point add the chopped tomatoes then half fill the can with water and then add this water. add oregano and the chill flakes then reduce the temperature and allow to simmer (don't be tempted to keep stirring just leave it be).

Once the tomatoes are in bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook the spaghetti. About 2 minutes before the spaghetti is ready add the basil to the sauce (just tear this up and stir in) season again if necessary.

Drain the pasta then add the sauce and serve. simple.

It isn't pretty, it isn't difficult but it will knock seven shades out of anything you will get in a restaurant (unless you pay through the nose of course).

Bon appetit

a monday in april

Tonights meal is a bit of a long job (so long we went to bed without posting on the night!)

Duck confit and parmesan potatoes (with some greens)

Tonight we are having duck confit.... sounds tres chic but in reality it is simple and tasty.

Ingredients:

For the duck:
2 duck legs (1 per person)
2 cloves of garlic
thyme
pepper
nutmeg
salt
Duck Fat

For the potatoes:
Potatoes 4 or 5 medium size floury potatoes
butter
parmesan

Greens:
tenderstem broccoli
white wine vinegar

The method:

Prepare the duck this will cook for a long time in a low oven so we're gonna tackle this first

Pre heat the oven to 220 degrees.

Pour boiling water over the ducks skin. This reduces the amount of fat and allows it to crisp up properly. Dry the skin with some paper towel and rub salt onto the skin. Crush the garlic/thyme/nutmeg and pepper together in a pestle and mortar then rub over the skin of the duck Place the legs in an oven proof dish skin side up the place in the oven for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 100-120 degrees add 2.5 tablespoons of duck fat at this point and leave this basting occasionally for 2.5 hrs.

As soon as the duck goes in slice the potatoes into thin discs and par boil these for around 5 mins until they are becoming tender. Remove and drain. Then layer in a ramekin with butter and parmesan throughout the layers into and add to the oven as soon as they are ready they will need about 1.5hrs if they are going in with the duck but if you have the luxury of having 2 ovens place these in a separate oven at 200 degrees for 40mins to 1hr.

The greens... these are best steamed (keeps the crunch) I like to add a little white wine vinegar to add a little bite to the flavour.

then enjoy!

(ok we skipped the greens but there were looking a bit iffy after more than a week in the fridge)

Thai green curry mussels

Hello, and welcome to our blog. We cook something new every day, sometimes with the help of cookbooks, sometimes our imagination. We aim to post daily to share our experiences of cooking food and hopefully convince that ready meals are not the best option after a day at work!

Tonight for dinner: Thai green curry mussels with hand cut chips

While we usually cook them with white wine or tomatoes, I remembered that we had a tub of Thai green curry paste in the fridge. A risky experiment but it clearly works. The unusual taste makes the mussels slightly different and coconut milk gives dish some body. And mussels always have to have fries to go with!

The ingredients:
- 1 shallot
- some mushrooms (we used chestnut, but any can do. If you do not have any mushrooms, try adding other vegetables that you would normally put in a curry)
- 1 teaspoon of fish sauce
- 3 tablespoons of Thai green curry paste
- 1 can of coconut milk
- 1 kg of mussels, cleaned
- a small handful of fresh basil
- a few potatoes

Chop the shallot and quarter the mushrooms. Heat a little bit of oil in a big pan, and fry the shallots and mushrooms. Once cooked, add the fish sauce and the curry paste, fry for 30 seconds. Then, pour in the coconut milk, get the sauce to boil and add the mussels. Cover and leave to steam until its cooked (about 5min). Serve with some chopped basil leaves.

Meanwhile, cut the potatoes into fries and deep fry them for about 5-7min at 170C. Then take them out, increase the temperature to 190C and cook for another 5min. We have a deep fat fryer (not advisable for anyone particularly concerned with healthy living, but it tastes sooooo good), but can also be done in a small saucepan with oil. Once the fries are done, season them with salt and serve along with the mussels.

Enjoy!