You only live once, and you could look like a hero! (or a twat with bleeding hands....and no one wants to celebrate NY's with a twat with bleeding hands)
Happy New Year!
Friday 31 December 2010
Monday 27 December 2010
Honey, Honey!
Unless your entire household is made up of vegetarians or vegans there is simply no way that you will not have some sort of meat left over from the Xmas festivities.
Personally I tend to favour the naturally more 'moist' birds and beasts at this time of year over the traditional turkey, but even these cuts and joints will be looking pretty damn dry by now - especially after a few days in the fridge...
Now, in my opinon the easiest way to salvage these Christmas endeavours from the bin liner is to find a way to add some moisture back to the meat, cranberry sauces and various chuntneys are fine but here is an incredibly easy way to make a simple honey mustard dressing that will make the perfect accompaniment to that left over turkey/ham/roast beef. It doubles up as a salad dressing of course and best of all it costs nada to make!
Makes a jar's worth:
1 clean & sterilised jar (just pour some boiling in an old jar and the lid to do so)
2 heaped tbsp of Whole-grain mustard
2 generous tbsp of clear honey
2-3 generous tbsp of cider vinegar (white wine vinegar will do)
A very generous glug of olive oil (aprox 8 tbsp)
1 garlic clove, crushed or very very finely chopped
A squeeze of lemon
Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and stir/whisk to emulsify and season to taste. You may well find that you wish to add more mustard, lemon, vinegar or even some chopped tarragon so just play around with it until you have what tastes right to you.
Now carefully pour into your sterilised jar, close, shake and there you go. Perfect to spoon onto lightly tosted bread for a sandwich, perfect for a glaze, perfect for a salad dressing, perfect for keeping in the fridge for a couple of weeks to use as you please.
Best of all you'll never want to buy the stuff from a shop again.
Happy Xmas leftovers!
Personally I tend to favour the naturally more 'moist' birds and beasts at this time of year over the traditional turkey, but even these cuts and joints will be looking pretty damn dry by now - especially after a few days in the fridge...
Now, in my opinon the easiest way to salvage these Christmas endeavours from the bin liner is to find a way to add some moisture back to the meat, cranberry sauces and various chuntneys are fine but here is an incredibly easy way to make a simple honey mustard dressing that will make the perfect accompaniment to that left over turkey/ham/roast beef. It doubles up as a salad dressing of course and best of all it costs nada to make!
Makes a jar's worth:
1 clean & sterilised jar (just pour some boiling in an old jar and the lid to do so)
2 heaped tbsp of Whole-grain mustard
2 generous tbsp of clear honey
2-3 generous tbsp of cider vinegar (white wine vinegar will do)
A very generous glug of olive oil (aprox 8 tbsp)
1 garlic clove, crushed or very very finely chopped
A squeeze of lemon
Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and stir/whisk to emulsify and season to taste. You may well find that you wish to add more mustard, lemon, vinegar or even some chopped tarragon so just play around with it until you have what tastes right to you.
Now carefully pour into your sterilised jar, close, shake and there you go. Perfect to spoon onto lightly tosted bread for a sandwich, perfect for a glaze, perfect for a salad dressing, perfect for keeping in the fridge for a couple of weeks to use as you please.
Best of all you'll never want to buy the stuff from a shop again.
Happy Xmas leftovers!
Thursday 23 December 2010
Wine to take away
I went to a wine bar this evening, a charming little place called "Grapeshots" that I've been walking past on my way to work every day. The place has the type of rustic feel to it that you expect from a traditional wine bar, cosy, with wooden chairs scattered loosely around small intimate tables and a vast range empty wine bottles stacked on shelves around the room, nice.
You can therefore imagine my disappointment when after buying a cheeky bottle of 2006 Californian Wattle Creek "The Triple Play" (£32 bar price not retail) I realised that the only available table was the one right next to a group of ANNOYINGLY loud, pissed up, latecomers to the concept of the work Xmas party. FFS....
I tried to ignore the noise but couldn't, after all all I wanted was a quiet civil drink and a chat, so after a glass and half I decided to leave and go home, bottle in hand of course.
Anyway, I really like Californian wines, a lot of people say that they lack elegance and finesse which in some cases is true but this is a nice example of something above average. The wine gets the name "Triple Play" from the three grapes that make the wine: Syrah (95%), Viognier (3%) and Petit Syrah (2%).
This effectively makes it qualify as a Rhone style blend so if you like wines from that part of France you have a very rough idea of what to expect from this one.
Obviously the huge difference in climate (amongst other things) ensures that this wine is different from the same style blends that you'll find in France, this is particularly true of the fruit which is riper. The usual hints of spice, liquorice and black fruit (black cherry, blueberry and plum) are all there, perfect if you are after a bold wine to stand up to meaty, gamey dishes. All round it's fairly well balanced, definitely worth a try if you come across it but I wouldn't suggest going massively out of your way to get hold of a bottle.
Trivia: California accounts for nearly 90% of American wine production. The production of California alone is greater than that of Australia.
You can therefore imagine my disappointment when after buying a cheeky bottle of 2006 Californian Wattle Creek "The Triple Play" (£32 bar price not retail) I realised that the only available table was the one right next to a group of ANNOYINGLY loud, pissed up, latecomers to the concept of the work Xmas party. FFS....
I tried to ignore the noise but couldn't, after all all I wanted was a quiet civil drink and a chat, so after a glass and half I decided to leave and go home, bottle in hand of course.
Anyway, I really like Californian wines, a lot of people say that they lack elegance and finesse which in some cases is true but this is a nice example of something above average. The wine gets the name "Triple Play" from the three grapes that make the wine: Syrah (95%), Viognier (3%) and Petit Syrah (2%).
Obviously the huge difference in climate (amongst other things) ensures that this wine is different from the same style blends that you'll find in France, this is particularly true of the fruit which is riper. The usual hints of spice, liquorice and black fruit (black cherry, blueberry and plum) are all there, perfect if you are after a bold wine to stand up to meaty, gamey dishes. All round it's fairly well balanced, definitely worth a try if you come across it but I wouldn't suggest going massively out of your way to get hold of a bottle.
Trivia: California accounts for nearly 90% of American wine production. The production of California alone is greater than that of Australia.
Tuesday 21 December 2010
A roast to remember
I had a great day yesterday, a good stint at the local boozer, a snowball fight, great company and great food and drink all day long. And what better way to treat friends on a cold winter eve than by serving up a roast of some description.
Personally I'm not a massively keen birds (the avian type that is), I'd much rather go for the bigger beasts and joints like a fore rib of beef or a leg of lamb, in my opinion they just taste a lot better!
Yesterday I went for shoulder of pork (boned & rolled), 3 kilos of it! It is such a tasty bit of meat and pretty cheap too, my piece cost just under £14. So after having some smoked salmon on toast for breakkie and a cuppa I started by making a spice rub for the pork.
For a joint of that size you'll need:
6-8 cloves
4 tbsp of fennel seeds
2 tbsp of coriander seeds
2 tbsp of black pepper corns
3-4 large pinches of rock salt
4 garlic cloves
zest of 1 lemon
1 dry chilli
Bash it all up in a pestle and mortar until you have, well, a paste. Score the skin of the pork (or just get your butcher to do this in advance), drizzle in a little olive oil and work the paste into the skin and all over the joint. Cover, refrigerate and leave for at least a few hours.
This should now leave you to prepare any other meal components (we later made a celeriac gratin and spiced apple sauce which I'll write up another time), or just go to the pub! Just make upon your return you bring with you a small bottle of dry cider.
When you're ready to roll preheat the oven to as hot as it will get (around 230 degrees) rest the pork on a rack in a roasting tin and slide it in for 25 mins skin side up. A good tip is to turn the joint upside down, prod it with a skewer or carving fork a few times and squeeze the lemon you zested all over. Turning the joint upside down will allow it to retain moisture as it cooks because the fat and juices can't escape through the skin. Slide back in the oven at 150 degrees and cook for another hour.
Now pour about a 100ml of your cider over the meat so that it trickles into the roasting tin and slide back in for 1 more hour. During this period occasionally pour more of cider over the meat, you don't need to use it all.
When the timer goes turn the heat back up to around 230 degrees, turn the pork skin side up again and cook for a final 20-30 mins just to crisp it up again. Remove and allow to rest making sure friends and pets don''t get too close. Seriously, the pork will be to die for. Serve with whatever sides you prefer but just make sure you have a dollop of apple sauce (home-made or bought in). I'd suggest serving all this with a medium bodied white, high in acidity to cut through the fattiness of the pork, try a Chablis, it will work really well...
Personally I'm not a massively keen birds (the avian type that is), I'd much rather go for the bigger beasts and joints like a fore rib of beef or a leg of lamb, in my opinion they just taste a lot better!
Yesterday I went for shoulder of pork (boned & rolled), 3 kilos of it! It is such a tasty bit of meat and pretty cheap too, my piece cost just under £14. So after having some smoked salmon on toast for breakkie and a cuppa I started by making a spice rub for the pork.
For a joint of that size you'll need:
6-8 cloves
4 tbsp of fennel seeds
2 tbsp of coriander seeds
2 tbsp of black pepper corns
3-4 large pinches of rock salt
4 garlic cloves
zest of 1 lemon
1 dry chilli
Bash it all up in a pestle and mortar until you have, well, a paste. Score the skin of the pork (or just get your butcher to do this in advance), drizzle in a little olive oil and work the paste into the skin and all over the joint. Cover, refrigerate and leave for at least a few hours.
This should now leave you to prepare any other meal components (we later made a celeriac gratin and spiced apple sauce which I'll write up another time), or just go to the pub! Just make upon your return you bring with you a small bottle of dry cider.
When you're ready to roll preheat the oven to as hot as it will get (around 230 degrees) rest the pork on a rack in a roasting tin and slide it in for 25 mins skin side up. A good tip is to turn the joint upside down, prod it with a skewer or carving fork a few times and squeeze the lemon you zested all over. Turning the joint upside down will allow it to retain moisture as it cooks because the fat and juices can't escape through the skin. Slide back in the oven at 150 degrees and cook for another hour.
Now pour about a 100ml of your cider over the meat so that it trickles into the roasting tin and slide back in for 1 more hour. During this period occasionally pour more of cider over the meat, you don't need to use it all.
When the timer goes turn the heat back up to around 230 degrees, turn the pork skin side up again and cook for a final 20-30 mins just to crisp it up again. Remove and allow to rest making sure friends and pets don''t get too close. Seriously, the pork will be to die for. Serve with whatever sides you prefer but just make sure you have a dollop of apple sauce (home-made or bought in). I'd suggest serving all this with a medium bodied white, high in acidity to cut through the fattiness of the pork, try a Chablis, it will work really well...
Saturday 18 December 2010
One of "top 50 things to do before you die" (allegedly)
I've had a packet of yeast in our cupboard for some time now so today, I make bread.
Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods around, it can be traced back to Neolithic times and is loved by pretty much everybody. In fact I can't think of another type of food that is so widely used, every nation has their own individual interpretation - pizza, bagels, brioche, baguettes, tortillas, chapatis, focaccia to name a few...and in some countries the word for "food" is bread!
Now I'm not sure whether I'd go as far as saying that making bread is one of the things you should definitely do before going to other side (I can think of a few more entertaining ways to pass a few hours) but it is damn rewarding and really easy to do.
Makes two white loafs:
1kg of flour
10g of yeast
15g of salt
600ml of warm water
That's it!
Start by mixing all your ingredients in a bowl (just make sure it is big enough). Try to use just one hand as you'll need the other one to hold the bowl steady. Mix well until you have, well, dough!
Once you have a nice ball of dough things get a bit more physical as this is the point when the kneading begins. Put your dough on a flat surface and whilst holding one end begin working it away from you before rolling it back up. See below.
Do this for around 10 minutes until you have a nice elastic feel and a more 'complete' look to your dough.
To get a nice round shape just round it gently with your hands and tuck the dough under itself until you have something that looks like the below, it's a lot easier than it sounds believe me.
Place your dough ball in a lightly greased bowl, cover well (I used a bin liner secured with an elastic band!) and leave in a warm place for an 1 hour and a 1/2 to prove. Now crack open the wine!
The dough should have by now almost doubled in size, tear it in half and flatten both parts down on a floured surface. Now grab an edge and fold it towards the middle as below.
Repeat until you've done this for all sides, your dough should now look like the image below.
You should now have a loaf bread just like the one below and one less thing to do on your "before I die list"!
Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods around, it can be traced back to Neolithic times and is loved by pretty much everybody. In fact I can't think of another type of food that is so widely used, every nation has their own individual interpretation - pizza, bagels, brioche, baguettes, tortillas, chapatis, focaccia to name a few...and in some countries the word for "food" is bread!
Now I'm not sure whether I'd go as far as saying that making bread is one of the things you should definitely do before going to other side (I can think of a few more entertaining ways to pass a few hours) but it is damn rewarding and really easy to do.
Makes two white loafs:
1kg of flour
10g of yeast
15g of salt
600ml of warm water
That's it!
Start by mixing all your ingredients in a bowl (just make sure it is big enough). Try to use just one hand as you'll need the other one to hold the bowl steady. Mix well until you have, well, dough!
Once you have a nice ball of dough things get a bit more physical as this is the point when the kneading begins. Put your dough on a flat surface and whilst holding one end begin working it away from you before rolling it back up. See below.
Do this for around 10 minutes until you have a nice elastic feel and a more 'complete' look to your dough.
To get a nice round shape just round it gently with your hands and tuck the dough under itself until you have something that looks like the below, it's a lot easier than it sounds believe me.
Place your dough ball in a lightly greased bowl, cover well (I used a bin liner secured with an elastic band!) and leave in a warm place for an 1 hour and a 1/2 to prove. Now crack open the wine!
The dough should have by now almost doubled in size, tear it in half and flatten both parts down on a floured surface. Now grab an edge and fold it towards the middle as below.
Repeat until you've done this for all sides, your dough should now look like the image below.
Turn over and place under a a damp cloth for 45 minutes, this process will allow the dough to rise again.
Now lightly flour a baking tray (what else), make a few slashes on the surface of your dough like in image below and slide into a preheated oven (200 degrees), leave for roughly 40 mins.
Thursday 16 December 2010
A proppa winter warmer
I had my work Xmas party last night and unsurprisingly spent most of the day feeling pretty shit! The one thing that kept me going was the thought of coming home, eating something hearty with a cheeky glass of red and watching last night's recorded episode of "the Apprentice". But what to eat!?
Well, with 1/2 a kilo of mince in the freezer and some Ambo potatoes in the veg trolley there could only be one option. Cottage Pie!!!
I bloody love a good cottage pie, here's how I make mine.
Serves 2 very hungry people but can easily serve 4:
3 carrots
1 large onion
1 stick of celery (optional)
1/2 kilo of mince
A good handful of petit pois
4 potatoes (I used Ambo but any will do)
2 tbsp of Worcester Sauce
1 tsp of Tobasco
1 tsp of Tomato puree
1tsp of Grain Mustard
50g of butter
50g of cheddar (grated)
Start by putting a pan of water on the boil and add the peeled potatoes.
Grate 2 of the 3 carrots into a bowl, hold the other one back to chop thereby ensuring more texture. Finely chop the onion and the celery and add to the carrot. Fry all of these in a little oil on a medium heat for 10 mins until they begin to take on a little colour.
Add the beef, season well and leave to brown for a few minutes before adding the Worcester Sauce, tomato puree, Tobasco and peas. Gently cook until the potatoes are tender.
Drain the spuds, add the butter and a dash of oil and get mashing! Add the cheese and mustard, season well and mix everything together until you have a nice, smooth consistency.
Spoon the beef into a an earthenware dish and carefully layer the mash on top using a fork to create lines that will add texture but also crisp up in the oven.
Sling the dish into a preheated oven for 20-25mins at 180 degrees and pour yourself another glass of wine! My choice tonight was a 2002 Gran Reserva Rioja.
Plate up and serve with a bowl of lightly dressed salad (oil, red wine vinegar and pinch of salt works just fine). Happy days!!
Well, with 1/2 a kilo of mince in the freezer and some Ambo potatoes in the veg trolley there could only be one option. Cottage Pie!!!
I bloody love a good cottage pie, here's how I make mine.
Serves 2 very hungry people but can easily serve 4:
3 carrots
1 large onion
1 stick of celery (optional)
1/2 kilo of mince
A good handful of petit pois
4 potatoes (I used Ambo but any will do)
2 tbsp of Worcester Sauce
1 tsp of Tobasco
1 tsp of Tomato puree
1tsp of Grain Mustard
50g of butter
50g of cheddar (grated)
Start by putting a pan of water on the boil and add the peeled potatoes.
Grate 2 of the 3 carrots into a bowl, hold the other one back to chop thereby ensuring more texture. Finely chop the onion and the celery and add to the carrot. Fry all of these in a little oil on a medium heat for 10 mins until they begin to take on a little colour.
Add the beef, season well and leave to brown for a few minutes before adding the Worcester Sauce, tomato puree, Tobasco and peas. Gently cook until the potatoes are tender.
Drain the spuds, add the butter and a dash of oil and get mashing! Add the cheese and mustard, season well and mix everything together until you have a nice, smooth consistency.
Spoon the beef into a an earthenware dish and carefully layer the mash on top using a fork to create lines that will add texture but also crisp up in the oven.
Sling the dish into a preheated oven for 20-25mins at 180 degrees and pour yourself another glass of wine! My choice tonight was a 2002 Gran Reserva Rioja.
Plate up and serve with a bowl of lightly dressed salad (oil, red wine vinegar and pinch of salt works just fine). Happy days!!
 |
| Phwoar! |
Tuesday 14 December 2010
Phwoar, sausage and broccoli, a combination that takes me instantly back home. Every year on the 12th and 13th of December in Sorrento (Campania, Italy) the locals get together for "la festa di Santa Lucia", an important religious prequel and festival to Christmas.
Kids set of fireworks, a huge bonfire is lit and everybody eats, lots.
The hero of the event is by far the sense of community that brings everyone together and the food is really what helps drives that. My highlight was always the sausage and broccoli which came grilled and in a crusty bread roll, delicious. Tonight that is pretty much what I ate.
Serves 2:
Extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
1 dried chilli
4 good quality pork or venison sausages
1 head of broccoli
1 bunch purple sprouting broccoli
1 handful of cherry tomatoes
1 teaspoon of tomato pure
1/3 glass of water
Chop the head of broccoli into halved florets but leave the purple sprouting spears whole. Once this is done bring a pan of salted water to the boil and begin frying the sausages in a little oil. Put the broccoli in the boiling water turn down the heat and cook for just a few minutes until very slightly softened.
Add the chopped garlic cloves and chilli to the sausages - which by this point should have taken on a nice golden brown colour - strain the broccoli and add to the pan. Give a good stir and add the halved cherry tomatoes, cook for a few more minutes until these have softened. Season well.
If it starts to look a little dry just mix the tomato pure with the water and use it a bit like a stock.
Plate up, drizzle a little oil and go for it with a nice glass of red, a local Taurasi in my opinion, also referred to as "the Barolo of the South". Cheers!
Just in case you were wondering, the name Lucy derives from the Latin "lux", meaning light. St Lucy is the patron saint of the blind and those with eye problems.
Kids set of fireworks, a huge bonfire is lit and everybody eats, lots.
The hero of the event is by far the sense of community that brings everyone together and the food is really what helps drives that. My highlight was always the sausage and broccoli which came grilled and in a crusty bread roll, delicious. Tonight that is pretty much what I ate.
Serves 2:
Extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
1 dried chilli
4 good quality pork or venison sausages
1 head of broccoli
1 bunch purple sprouting broccoli
1 handful of cherry tomatoes
1 teaspoon of tomato pure
1/3 glass of water
Chop the head of broccoli into halved florets but leave the purple sprouting spears whole. Once this is done bring a pan of salted water to the boil and begin frying the sausages in a little oil. Put the broccoli in the boiling water turn down the heat and cook for just a few minutes until very slightly softened.
Add the chopped garlic cloves and chilli to the sausages - which by this point should have taken on a nice golden brown colour - strain the broccoli and add to the pan. Give a good stir and add the halved cherry tomatoes, cook for a few more minutes until these have softened. Season well.
If it starts to look a little dry just mix the tomato pure with the water and use it a bit like a stock.
Plate up, drizzle a little oil and go for it with a nice glass of red, a local Taurasi in my opinion, also referred to as "the Barolo of the South". Cheers!
Just in case you were wondering, the name Lucy derives from the Latin "lux", meaning light. St Lucy is the patron saint of the blind and those with eye problems.
Sunday 12 December 2010
An old friend
When I'm hungover the only thing I look forward to doing is eating something tasty and comforting to bring me back to the land of the living. A hearty weekend breakfast usually does the job but when you wake up at 7pm on a Sunday (a new personal best BTW) eating "the works" doesn't rank highly on most people's agenda.
An alternative was required, something easy to make and most important of all comforting. This evening therefore I turned to a dear old friend, the underrated, often overlooked home-made sandwich.
I love sandwiches, not the dirty mass produced ones you tend to find in supermarkets and service stations, they're just fundamentally wrong in every possible way. Prawn? Tuna and sweetcorn? Egg and watercress? No chance......
For my sandwich I used some lightly toasted brown bread, pickle on one slice and grain mustard on the other. Cheese is pretty much a must for any proper sandwich so I chose brie. To this I added a thick slice of ham from the local butchers followed by a twist of pepper and a folded leaf of Romaine lettuce. Job done.
Simple, very easy to make but bloody tasty, shame I had to share it...
Oh and a bit of trivia too, Romaine lettuce leaves are particularly fragile compared to other types of lettuce and are often damaged during transport. Despite being the most nutritious their inherent fragility makes it the least widely grown lettuce around. And just in case you were wondering where the name comes from it apparently reached the West via Rome (in Italian it's called lattuga romana), hence the name 'romaine'.
I might go and make myself another one.
An alternative was required, something easy to make and most important of all comforting. This evening therefore I turned to a dear old friend, the underrated, often overlooked home-made sandwich.
I love sandwiches, not the dirty mass produced ones you tend to find in supermarkets and service stations, they're just fundamentally wrong in every possible way. Prawn? Tuna and sweetcorn? Egg and watercress? No chance......
For my sandwich I used some lightly toasted brown bread, pickle on one slice and grain mustard on the other. Cheese is pretty much a must for any proper sandwich so I chose brie. To this I added a thick slice of ham from the local butchers followed by a twist of pepper and a folded leaf of Romaine lettuce. Job done.
Simple, very easy to make but bloody tasty, shame I had to share it...
Oh and a bit of trivia too, Romaine lettuce leaves are particularly fragile compared to other types of lettuce and are often damaged during transport. Despite being the most nutritious their inherent fragility makes it the least widely grown lettuce around. And just in case you were wondering where the name comes from it apparently reached the West via Rome (in Italian it's called lattuga romana), hence the name 'romaine'.
I might go and make myself another one.
Saturday 11 December 2010
Wine to dress a Xmas tree with
So I thought I'd start this humble attempt at blogging by writing about a wine I just bought a few hours ago at one of the local wine shops, a 2006 Chateau du Moulin Puisseguin Saint-Emilion.
Not expensive or indeed complex enough to hold on to for a prolonged period of time I think it makes for perfect immediate afternoon winter drinking, particularly during the the dressing of a cheeky Xmas tree (I give it minutes before the cats have pulled the whole thing down...).
Puisseguin is located to the northeast of Saint-Emilion on the right bank of Bordeaux, it is classified as one the few "satellites" of the region. Overall the style of the wine is not too dissimilar to others from the area, the main differentiator being the quality of the land on which the vines are planted.
Grapes used are Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Nice, fruity, medium bodied and subtle tannins, it certainly isn't a Petrus but for less than a tenner you can't really go wrong. Let's just see how it stands up to the shots of Tequila that are destined to make an appearance later this eve....
Not expensive or indeed complex enough to hold on to for a prolonged period of time I think it makes for perfect immediate afternoon winter drinking, particularly during the the dressing of a cheeky Xmas tree (I give it minutes before the cats have pulled the whole thing down...).
Puisseguin is located to the northeast of Saint-Emilion on the right bank of Bordeaux, it is classified as one the few "satellites" of the region. Overall the style of the wine is not too dissimilar to others from the area, the main differentiator being the quality of the land on which the vines are planted.
Grapes used are Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Nice, fruity, medium bodied and subtle tannins, it certainly isn't a Petrus but for less than a tenner you can't really go wrong. Let's just see how it stands up to the shots of Tequila that are destined to make an appearance later this eve....
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