Curry Con Carne

This mimics my definitive chilli con carne recipe, with just a few substitutions like chickpeas in place of kidney beans. Enough for 2 small portions or to feed one gannet.

Fry 200g mince in a hot wok. Add a big handful of finely chopped onion and mix well. When the meat begins to brown add 2 tsp of crushed garlic, followed by 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp ground coriander and 3 heaped tsp Madras Curry Powder (hot). Fry for a minute or two and stir in half a tin of tomatoes, broken up with the back of a spoon. Season with 1 scant dstsp tomato puree, a scant tsp salt, 1 tsp veg bouillon, 1 heaped tsp ginger puree, a dstsp lime cordial and a pinch of sugar. Check flavour, add a handful of chickpeas and heat through.

 

What I fancied experimenting with was cutting a pappadom into mock-tortilla chips but the supermarket was closed so I shallowed-fried some actual tortilla.....

For the pseudo-pilau rice I add a little oil to the cooking water and Chinese yellow colouring - not turmeric which changes the flavour.

Baked Belly Pork with Apple & Ginger

For the sauce mix together 1 dstsp apple sauce, 1 tsp ginger puree, 1 tsp crushed garlic, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 dstsp Soy and a pinch of S+P.

Slather 4 pieces (6 oz?) of belly pork with soy sauce, an hour before you're ready to start cooking. Sear in a hot wok, skin side down until browned, turn and seal each side quickly. Pour the sauce over and transfer to closed casserole dish. Top with 3-4 cored slices of tart eating apple.

Bake on mark 5 for 25 mins. Uncover, turn up heat to full for 7-8 minutes. I had mine with plain basmati rice and stir-fried vegetables.

Wiener Schnitzel via Turkey

I was on a bit of Viennese Waltz yesterday - started when I began to dip into the recent Observer Food Monthly online and got engrossed in an article on Austrian cuisine by Rachel Cooke

This virtual trip continued when I googled "Skopik & Lohn", one of the restaurants mentioned. A former flatmate once described Vienna as very Fin de siècle, and said I'd love it; last night on the phone, one of my sisters, who lives in Germany, said she wasn't that impressed - she loves Prague and Budapest for that historic-feel. My online search brought forth a mouth-watering picture of the cake display at Hotel Sacher's new cafe, featured in The Independent last year. Then, later, I got into some Facebook chat about Freud and phallic vegetables.....

So, to Wiener Schnitzel - which is now protected in Austria and Germany, and has to be made from veal - improvised from turkey breast. I'm trying not to repeat myself as I did something very similar back in November 2010, "Christmas is coming" . This uses about half the quantities of breadcrumbs and flour - 50g of each, and just a pinch each of salt and pepper for seasoning. Potato salad and sauerkraut are traditional.

Cheat's Sauerkraut
2 small handfuls of shredded white cabbage, in 100ml of boiling water, with a pinch of salt (less than half a teaspoon) and the same of sugar. Add 1 dstsp malt vinegar, simmer on low for 3 mins, covered. Take off the lid, turn up the heat and bubble vigorously until all the water evaporates. Chill.


Quick potato salad
2 smallish (large egg-size?) potatoes, scrubbed and diced. Microwave for 4 mins and poke. Some varieties may take 30 secs-1 minute longer but you want them firm still - hence not cooked in boiling water. Plunge into a bowl of cold water, drain and then mix with a little mayo and a good shake of fine black pepper. Chill.

The spicy tomatoes are here



Now for some Schlagsahne!

Pot-roasted Mediterranean chicken & tomatoes...

....with lazy Lyonnaise potatoes and mashed carrot & swede

Pre-heat oven to hot and in a closed casserole dish put a small handful of sliced green peppers and a medium button mushroom, sliced, and sprinked with a tsp of dried basil,  half a tsp salt and 50 ml of tomato juice. Cover and bake for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sear a boned-out chicken thigh, skin-side down, in a hot wok. Turn and seal the other side for a minute or so. Halve 3 cherry tomatoes, place on top of the peppers and mushrooms, and lay the chicken, skin-side up, on top. Cover and bake for 10-12 minutes, remove lid and cook for the same again.

For the lazy Lyonnaise
Peel 2 medium-sized potatoes (small handful each) and microwave in a closed dish for 4 minutes. Plunge immediately into cold water. In the meanwhile, soften half a medium onion, sliced, in oil and butter, on low.

Cut the potatoes into 1 cm-thick slices and add to the onions with a little salt, some milled black pepper and 1 tsp of lazy garlic - unless you live in a CH47 postcode, in which case you'll insist on freshly-crushed garlic. Up the heat a little, trying to avoid burning the onions. I served mine with mashed carrot and swede, for a bit of a change.

Spicy BBQ Pork and Pungent Mustard Salad

A spare-rib pork chop marinated in 50ml (olive) oil, with 1 tsp lazy garlic, a scant tsp Madras curry powder, 1dstsp of lemon juice, half a tsp salt, 1 level tsp ground cumin and 1 level tsp ginger puree.Leave for at least an hour to infuse.

For the salad: 1 heaped dstsp chopped celery, a quarter of a medium apple (green or russet) in small dice, 1 dstsp chopped onion - I used red - a small handful of shredded white cabbage, 2 dstsp cooked chickpeas, and 1 heaped dstsp each of carrot and swede blanched in boiling salted water for 2 mins and refreshed under running cold water.

For the dressing: a scant tsp of English Mustard powder dissolved in 1 tsp of balsmic vinegar, then blended with 2 dstsp mayo and  half a tsp sugar; a scant tsp tomato puree blended with a further tsp balsmic vinegar and 1 tsp olive oil, then mixed into the mayo. Toss the veg well.

Heat a ridged griddle pan to smoking hot, shake off excess marinade and cook one side for 2 minutes, flip and cook for a further 2 minutes; flip and turn through 90 degrees for another 2 minutes and flip again. Cooking times will depend on thickness of the meat - my chop was only approx 2cm thick. Rice would probably been more suitable.....

Liver & Onions, Mash and Mushy Peas

I feel sorry for people who don't like liver - put off, I daresay, by the shoe-leather dished up at school. I'm no fan of pigs liver (or kidney, come to that), but give me lambs', calves' or even slow-braised ox-liver.........And heart (for Valentine's day), which might not impress your beloved, though!

The first time I ever cooked liver was when I was at college in London - we had my flatmate's mother coming for lunch and I suppose I was out to impress. I never consciously LEARNED to cook at all - just found that I'd absorbed skills by mooching in the kitchen while my mother was making dinner, or "Supper" as she called it (being a southerner).

So, liver......she'd dip it in flour, fry it in a little oil with onions, add beef stock to cover, and simmer it while she cooked the potatoes and veg. Ox - which I don't  remember her ever buying - takes about an hour. I tend to batch-cook everything so this is enough for 3 meals - liver is much more filling than the  equivalent weight of meat: 500g liver floured and fried to brown. 3-4 handfuls chopped onions softened. Add liver and stir in 300ml hot water + 1 hpd dstsp beef bouillon (Oxo). Simmer on low for 10 mins.

Home-made mushy peas? Forget all the soaking with bicarb etc - I tip a whole packet into the pressure-cooker and cook for about an hour-and-a-half, take off the lid and boil vigorously until you've got the right consistency. Again, I portion (in washed-out Buttery tubs), and freeeze....
Yum!

Simple Suppers: Hamburg Steak on a garlic croute

OK, so it's a home-made burger on a piece of baked toast!

Cut a slice of good quality bread to about half-an-inch thick and use a bowl or similar, slightly larger than your burger, as a template to cut around. Spread with butter and 1 tsp lazy garlic. Bake in a hot oven for about 20 minutes.

With clean hands (!) knead about 200g of mince until it feels like a uniform consistency. Add a very little salt - I seldom salt raw meat because it draws the juices out - and a pinch of pepper. Knead again into a tight ball and then flatten into a round about an inch thick.

Chill the burger in the freezer for a max of 1 hour. Take out and leave at  room temp for 20 mins. Cook under a very hot grill for about 5-8 mins on each side for medium-rare - longer if you don't like your mince red still!

Just before the burger is finished whack the garlic croute under the grill for 30 seconds to crisp the top. I had mine with a jacket potato slathered with full-fat soft cheese and a salad of cos lettuce, shredded cabbage and carrot, peppers, cherry tomatoes, raw courgette and anchovy-stuffed olives. And my own recipe French Dressing which relies on lots of ENGLISH mustard.

English Beef & Ginger Chow Mein

I've called this "English" because my local supermarket didn't have many of the ingredients I wanted: no beansprouts or pak choi so I used sweetheart cabbage; no bamboo shoots, so I substituted thin slices of swede (turnip to my US brethren) and, finally, I finished it with a little beef gravy.....

You need 2 big handfuls of cooked noodles and a  big handful of blanched carrots & swede (substitute for bamboo shoots) before you start the stir-fry. Soften some sliced green peppers (2 dstsp?) and a handful of chopped onion in a little veg oil. Turn the heat up and add a big handful of frying steak in strips, a medium mushroom sliced, 1 dstsp lazy garlic and 1 dstsp ginger puree. Stir well, lower heat and add 1 dstsp soy and 1 dstsp lime cordial and a handful of very thinly shredded cabbage. Add the cooked noodles noodles (2 big handfuls) and stir in 100ml gravy (approx), another dstsp soy and 1 dstsp of sesame oil. Check seasoning - I added a little salt; you may want a pinch of sugar or chilli.......

(Jamie Oliver: eat your heart out!)

Paprika Turkey & Med Veg with Porky Roasties

I would have probably made this with veal if it was cheaper and more readily-available (to say nothing of its ethical status).......

Soften a small handful of sliced peppers and onions in a pan - I used rendered gammon lard (more later) - and then add some sliced mushrooms and courgettes and 1 heaped tsp lazy garlic. Stir-fry for a couple of minutes and set aside. In the same pan, with a little more oil/lard sauté a turkey breast dredged in paprika. Turn and add 1 more dstsp garlic puree, half a tin of tomatoes, 1 dstsp tomato puree, a scant tsp oregano and S+P to taste. Add the cooked vegetables and heat through.

For the roasties
I cheated (for me) because I was in a hurry so I par-boiled the spuds, cut smaller than usual,  first - I know a lot of people do that as a matter of course. I'd preheated the oven to high and, in a shallow dish, melted some  lard created when I made some pork scratchings last week from leftover gammon rind, drained and strained.

 I do strongly believe in head-to-tail animal husbandry and, even if I do say it myself, the pork scratchings were the best I've ever tasted!

Chicken À L’Orange with Whisky & Ginger

This is distinct case of do as I say, not as I do: I didn't make enough marinade/sauce to serve with the finished dish!

I was talking to a friend online last week, looking for inspiration as ever, and she said she was having roast duck. Ah. says I, I haven't had that for ages - and conceded that duck isn't very expensive nowadays. But I had boned-out chicken thighs (skin on) in the freezer.......

4 heaped dstsp marmalade, dissolved in 100ml hot water. Add 2tsp ginger puree, 2 dstsp whisky and S+P to taste.Boil vigorously to reduce to 180ml. Put the chicken thighs (2 small per person) in half the marinade, reserving half (like wot I didn't!) to serve as a pouring sauce, for at least 2 hrs. Heat a solid hob-oven pan and sear the chicken, skin side down. Pour over the marinade and bake in a med-high oven, uncovered, for 12-15 mins.


I served mine on a bed of mashed carrot and parsnip with a timbale of basmati rice. Would have been a big improvement with more sauce!

Old English Bangers & Colcannon

I bought the sausages from a stall in  Birkenhead Market - £1.90 a pound - and I fancied something a little bit different from my usual onion gravy so I came up with this white onion sauce. As it's James Joyce's birthday today I did colcannon rather than straightforward mash or bubble & squeak.

White onion sauce
Small handful of finely-chopped onion and1 cup of milk. Infuse on v. low heat with a little S+P and a tiny pinch of nutmeg for 20 minutes. Thicken with a scant tsp of arrowroot dissolved in a little water. Check seasoning - I like mine peppery.

The sausages were very thick - in fact, they came in a round like Cumberland sausage - so I baked them, rather than frying or grilling.

 Colcannon
1 medium-sized potato, scrubbed and cooked in boiling salted water until tender. Drain except for 50ml of water, cover and steam for 5 mins. When cool, peel and mash with a knob of butter. Gently fry 2 small handfuls of chopped cabbage with 2dstsp chopped parsley and a knob of melted butter; add 100ml of water, salt lightly and bring to the boil. Cover and reduce to a v. low simmer until tender, stirring occasionally. Turn up the heat and boil vigorously until only a dstsp of cooking liquor remains. Add the mashed potato and stir in 50 ml of milk, whisking constantly over a medium heat until you get the smooth consistency desired. Check seasoning and serve.

Home-cooked ham with parsnip & chive mash

There's a stall in Birkenhead Market which sells gammon "corners" ridiculously cheaply - £4.99 for 2.2 Kg! I cut mine in half and sliced the thin end for bacon; the other I boiled in the pressure cooker for about an hour-and-a-half and left to cool. For this dish I hand-carved some - the rest I'll do on my electric slicer.

Parsley Sauce:
On a very low heat infuse 4 dstsp fresh chopped parsley in 1 cup of milk for about 20 minutes. Add S+P, a scant tsp veg bouillon powder and turn the heat up. Dissolve a scant tsp of Arrowroot in a little water - or cornflour if you're not as posh as me - and stir gradually into the sauce. Add 1dstsp of the ham water and check seasoning.

Potato, Parsnip & Chive Mash
Peel  and chop an equivalent amount of potato and parsnip - one medium one of each should suffice. Boil in lightly-salted water until tender, adding 1 dstsp of dried chives a couple of minutes before the end of cooking. I would have used fresh chives but my greengrocer didn't have any, and the spring onions (another alternative) were way too expensive! Drain, reserving the cooking liquor to moisten when you've finished mashing. I always make my mash in advance and microwave to serve. The cabbage and shredded carrot were cooked in the ham water, the Irish way.

To serve, put the ham into the sauce, whack up the heat for no more than a minute.......and enjoy!