Tuna Tapenade Tribute

Very fishy: one round of classic smoked salmon and cream cheese, together with an open sandwich of my tapenade-inspired paste. The original that I developed uses black olives (more authentic) but today I used stuffed green ones.

Method:
Mix together half a tin of tuna chunks, 5 chopped olives, 1 scant tsp garlic puree, 1 tsp finely chopped red chilli pepper, 1 scant tsp lemon juice, 2 dstsp olive oil and 1 tsp mayo. Blend with the back of a spoon.

AZ's Homemade KFC

Sometimes - particularly when you or I have come back from the pub with the munchies - only so-called junk food will satisfy. This is a dish I tend to batch-produce and freeze: only takes a few minutes of "ping", and my cheat's tip is to put it - and the microwaved jacket potato - under a hot grill to crisp up.

For enough crumb to make 6 pieces, mix together 100g breadcrumbs,100g flour, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp dried mint, 1 tsp parsley,1 tsp cracked black pepper and 1 tsp cajun spices (chilli/cayenne, cumin, garlic, thyme, oregano & pepper). Dip chicken pieces into a bowl of beaten egg and then into the crumb mix. Shake off excess, deep-fry to seal, and then bake in a hot oven for approx 20 mins.

Rather than chips I had a jacket potato stuffed with full fat cream cheese, home-made coleslaw and I used up some spinach leaves in a mixed salad.

Berber-style Stuffed Chicken Thigh & Salad

It was one of those days when I craved Middle-Eastern/North-African flavours but wasn't really in the mood for lots of couscous or rice - hence the accompaniment of spiced wedges. I don't know how many cuisines I raided to arrive at the final dish.

For the marinade:
1dstsp oil (Olive or Veg), a pinch S+P, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 scant tsp cumin, 1 scant tsp crushed garlic and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Mix well and rub the skin of the boned chicken with the mixture and then marinate skin-side up. I had 2 thighs to myself which was a bit greedy - one large one would have been ample. Stand for at least an hour.

For the stuffing:
1 heaped tsp of couscous mixed with 30ml of boiling water. Add a pinch of salt and 1 tsp finely chopped red onion, 1 tsp finely chopped peppers, half  a tsp of ground cinnamon and 1 tsp dried mixed fruit. Leave to stand for about 15 minutes, fluffing occasionally with a fork.



With the boned chicken thigh skin down, spoon some filling into the middle, roll up, tucking the ends in, and secure with cocktail sticks. Roast uncovered in a very hot oven for 30 minutes.

For the spicy wedges:
A big  handful of potatoes - skin on - cut to desired size mixed with a little vegetable oil, a shake of sea-salt, a pinch of cracked black pepper, a pinch of chilli powder, a pinch of paprika and1 tsp of crushed garlic. Cook for the same length of time as the chicken.

The salad was just a bit of whatever I had in the fridge, with a tomato-flavoured dressing: 2 tsp tomato ketchup mixed with 2 tsp French dressing and couple of shakes of Worcester sauce. Simples!

Business in Birkenhead Buffet

 Last Thursday I had the pleasure of doing the catering for the third networking event held at Ashville Lodge, the home of The Wirral Society for The Blind & Partially-Sighted, overlooking Birkenhead Park.

The guest speaker was Geoffrey Prince - dubbed GuruGeoffrey by Ida Moos - who is always fascinating to listen to, whether yarning about his time on the New Brighton lifeboat, turning his house in New Brighton into  the Hollins Hey Hotel, scuba-diving in exotic climes or his boat-building business in Birkenhead. The glass is always half-full, never half-empty. As I type, he has just posted on Facebook another of his truisms: "Successful people are the ones who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others throw at them."

 Positive thinking is essential.

I try to balance familiar food with some new experiences: my chicken tikka kofte are always a hit, whilst the sausage and baked bean fritters were utterly new - but very well received, nonetheless.

Tikka Kofte ready to fry

Sausage & Baked Bean Fritters

I've been trying to buy dried haricot beans for about a month but neither Asda nor Tesco are stocking them so I've switched to pinto beans for my home-made baked beans. This recipe uses sausagemeat, minced onions, mashed cooked beans, seasoned with S+P, chives, Worcester sauce, tomato ketchup and puree, bound with a mixture of flour, breadcrumbs and beaten egg. I form them into little cakes, deep-fry to seal and then bake in a medium oven for about 15 - 20 minutes.

 

The other success of the evening for me was the "Chiantishire Bean" Crostini - a recent adaptation of my classic hummus recipe: 13th March 2011. My only disappointment was that nobody else seemed to be as addicted as I am to my new vegetarian dish, Spicy Mexican Refried Bean Dumplings.

Ah well!

Barbecued Sardines & Salad

As soon as the clocks go forward my diet seems to switch to a Mediterranean-style one - I usually eat late anyway - with a very heavy emphasis on "burnt" meats and salads, accompanied by potatoes or rice, and frequently both. I love fish also, but this is not a dish I would attempt in company because boning sardines after they're cooked is such a messy, inelegant business. I picked up the sardines - or were they pilchards masquerading as sardines - from the reduced bin in Tesco: 71p for 6, which is incredibly cheap for 2 meals. I suppose some people are squeamish about gutting fish - I was, once upon a time - but, now, like boning meat, it is almost second nature. I did find my cat in the kitchen sink, apparently licking it after I'd rinsed the fish, but heigh-ho!

For the marinade:

Mix together about 50ml of olive oil, 2 tsp crushed garlic, 1 tsp lemon juice and 1 tsp rock salt - I'm not normally precious about different varieties of salt but I do think this made a big contribution to the final taste. Be sure to open up the fish and rub the marinade inside for best results. Leave for a couple of hours, turning once.

Cooking:

To get the desired texture I griddled AND grilled the fish - started off on a smoking hot ridged griddle pan, turned once after a few minutes, then putting the pan under a pre-heated grill for a few more minutes on each side. If I was a bit more dextrous I would be able to able to take off the head and backbone with a knife and fork - I used my fingers!

Accompaniments:

The salad was the usual suspects: lettuce and baby spinach, peppers, cherry tomatoes, red onions, stuffed green olives, a few cooked chickpeas and sliced courgette which I use in winter salads in place of cucumber.

Potato purists will probably be shrieking in the streets at the way I cook mine - scrubbed and thinly sliced, then microwaved in a closed casserole dish for about 3 minutes. To me, it's the equivalent of steaming, so the surface of the potatoes don't get mushy. Rinse, dip in the marinade and then fry in a hot wok. I also had plain boiled basmati rice.

Postscript:
After I got back from the pub I finished the marinade off by dipping crusty bread in it - delicious!

Chicken & Aubergine Hash

I was reading yesterday about a famous New York restaurant called the Minetta Tavern which was revamped in 2008. One of the items on their menu, as a side order of all things, is a dish called Duck Hash. The mouth-watering photograph showed something quite different to a British version of hash - this was more like potatoes Lyonnaise with chunks of duck meat in the skillet. Having just bought some (reduced price) chicken thighs I thought I could wing it, so to speak!

Parboil a big handful of peeled potatoes in salted water. In a hot wok fry 2 small boned chicken thighs, skin side down. When the skin is nicely coloured  take out and chop into chunks about 3cm square. In the meanwhile soften a good handful of chopped onions - I used red and white - in the pan. You may need to add more fat - poultry fat or dripping preferably, though vegetable oil will suffice. Add the drained potatoes, with a big handful of diced aubergines, a small handful of peppers and 2 tsp crushed garlic. Put the chicken back in with 1 scant tsp salt and a pinch of pepper. Keep shaking the pan to prevent sticking. Cooking will take about 5 minutes.; just before everything is ready  add 1 scant tsp of cumin and 1 tsp of Soy sauce.

Mix gently, cook for about a minute and serve. I had mine with baby corn and baton carrots.

My Latin Liver

 I first did this dish back in 1998 at Grandma Becky's Kitchen in Hoylake. During a camping holiday in Cornwall a few years earlier I'd been amused by the way the locals greeted everyone "Hello, my lover".......

This variation omits the oregano I used then and substitutes a basic bechamel white sauce for cream.

Cut a handful of lamb's liver into strips, shake in flour and fry in a little oil until golden brown. Set aside. In a little oil and butter soften a small handful of onions and peppers; add 2 tsp of crushed garlic, 1 sliced mushroom and about the same quantity of sliced courgette. Add the liver, 1 tsp basil and 1 tsp flour. Stir well and gradually whisk in 200ml milk.

Simmer and add 1 heaped tsp of chicken bouillon powder and S+P to taste. Add more milk or water if necessary.