The Daring Cooks’ February 2012 challenge was hosted by Audax & Lis
and they chose to present Patties for their ease of construction,
ingredients and deliciousness! We were given several recipes, and
learned the different types of binders and cooking methods to produce
our own tasty patties!
I make my own burger patties reasonably often as I like to know what's gone into my burgers. Also, I don't eat beef and it is often a bit tricky to find burgers made from any other meat. I liked the idea of making patties for this month's challenge, but having previously tried out recipes for lamb, pork, chicken and turkey burgers I didn't want to make a meat recipe this time. Instead I chose to make some fishcakes - I figured they were the same shape and cooking method so technically could be counted as a patty!
I decided to use a combination of mashed potato and lightly smoked salmon fillet. To this I added some sweetcorn kernels, finely sliced spring onions, and peas, as well as an egg to bind it all together. I crushed some wholegrain crackers to crumbs and sprinkled these over my patties to make a crunchy crispy outside.
I then grilled these (the challenge was to shallow fry or bake the patties, but I hope I can be forgiven a minor transgression!) and served them with some homemade amai sauce (vinegar, ketchup, tamarind, soy, sugar), new potatoes, and crunchy vegetables. Yummy.
Thank you to the Daring Cooks for getting me to look out a new recipe: I think this one will become a regular feature on my dinner table!
Showing posts with label Daring Cooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daring Cooks. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Monday, November 14, 2011
Daring Cooks November Challenge
First things first - an apology and excuses for lack of posting recently. Two reasons - I just ran a half marathon, so the last few weeks of training didn't leave much energy for cooking anything fancy, and also I've been sewing a lot. Nothing's finished and worth a post yet, but expect lots of sewing posts coming up.
Anyway, onto the Daring Cooks Challenge. This month's challenge was an intriguing one: cooking with tea.
I chose to make Chinese Tea Eggs - a recipe I have often flicked past in my Asian recipe book but never made. They turn out quite pretty with their marbeled whites.
The method was simple but it was quite a long process (although most of the time it doesn't really need any attention). The taste was interesting and less subtle than I had expected, but as you can see from the snap above one egg did split and that was the one I ate - so it may have been a little stronger flavoured than a perfect one would have been. Lightly flavoured with soy, tea, and star anise this was a novelty, and it was pretty good with the crab cakes and peas I paired it with. I'm not sure I'll be repeating this recipe to be honest - its an awfully long process for a hard boiled egg!
Here's the method if you fancy having a try:
Chinese Tea Eggs
2 or more eggs
30ml dark soy sauce
1/2 star anise
2 tea bags
1/2 teaspoon salt
Place the eggs in cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water and leave in cold water until cold. Roll the eggs so that the shells crack but don't break.
Add the soy, salt, tea bags, and star anise to the water. Replace the eggs and bring to the boil again, cover the pan and turn the heat down. Simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hours then remove from the heat and allow to cool in the cooking liquid.
Shell immediately before eating, which its best to do within 24 hours.
Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.
Anyway, onto the Daring Cooks Challenge. This month's challenge was an intriguing one: cooking with tea.
I chose to make Chinese Tea Eggs - a recipe I have often flicked past in my Asian recipe book but never made. They turn out quite pretty with their marbeled whites.
The method was simple but it was quite a long process (although most of the time it doesn't really need any attention). The taste was interesting and less subtle than I had expected, but as you can see from the snap above one egg did split and that was the one I ate - so it may have been a little stronger flavoured than a perfect one would have been. Lightly flavoured with soy, tea, and star anise this was a novelty, and it was pretty good with the crab cakes and peas I paired it with. I'm not sure I'll be repeating this recipe to be honest - its an awfully long process for a hard boiled egg!
Here's the method if you fancy having a try:
Chinese Tea Eggs
2 or more eggs
30ml dark soy sauce
1/2 star anise
2 tea bags
1/2 teaspoon salt
Place the eggs in cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water and leave in cold water until cold. Roll the eggs so that the shells crack but don't break.
Add the soy, salt, tea bags, and star anise to the water. Replace the eggs and bring to the boil again, cover the pan and turn the heat down. Simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hours then remove from the heat and allow to cool in the cooking liquid.
Shell immediately before eating, which its best to do within 24 hours.
Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Daring Cooks October Challenge
A really yummy one from the Daring Cooks this month: Moo Shu, which is stirfry pork with Hoisin Sauce and Pancakes.
I'd never even heard of Moo Shu before this challenge was set, let alone cooked it, but I do generally love Chinese food so I was definitely up for trying it out. The brilliant thing about this recipe is that almost all of it can be made ahead. I made my hoisin sauce in the morning, chopped my vegetables ahead of time, and even made my pancakes earlier in the day. I knew that we'd be cooking late and in a hurry that night, so being able to have everything ready to go was great.
I made my pancakes several hours early and kept them under a damp cloth, just reheating them in the microwave for a few seconds when we were ready to eat. The pancakes weren't as soft as I would have liked. Maybe this is because I made them ahead, or maybe I rolled them too thin? I'm not sure of the reason, but they tasted good anyway.
For my stirfry I chose a mixture of thin sliced Sweetheart Cabbage, baby corn, mangetout, bamboo shoots and spring onions, with about 200g pork and 2 medium sized eggs for the 2 of us. I added a shake of Chinese 5 Spice powder to the recipe given by Daring Cooks but otherwise didn't meddle with it.
With a couple of spoonfuls of hoisin sauce on top of the stirfry, and everything folded into the slightly sesame flavoured pancakes, the flavours blended beautifully.
This is a very messy dinner to eat - even worse than fajitas - but really tasty. For nights when there isn't time for making pancakes I think the stirfry would go well with rice instead: And with that version you wouldn't end up with hoisin sauce dribbling down your arms!
We were having a very oriental week this week - ealier in the week we'd had spicy cured swordfish with noodle broth from the Wagamama cook book - a recipe which I highly recommend.
So the message of the week? Go forth and explore the Orient!
The October Daring Cooks' Challenge was hosted by Shelley of C Mom Cook and her sister Ruth of The Crafts of Mommyhood. They challenged us to bring a taste of the East into our home kitchens by making our own Moo Shu, including thin pancakes, stir fry and sauce.
I'd never even heard of Moo Shu before this challenge was set, let alone cooked it, but I do generally love Chinese food so I was definitely up for trying it out. The brilliant thing about this recipe is that almost all of it can be made ahead. I made my hoisin sauce in the morning, chopped my vegetables ahead of time, and even made my pancakes earlier in the day. I knew that we'd be cooking late and in a hurry that night, so being able to have everything ready to go was great.
I made my pancakes several hours early and kept them under a damp cloth, just reheating them in the microwave for a few seconds when we were ready to eat. The pancakes weren't as soft as I would have liked. Maybe this is because I made them ahead, or maybe I rolled them too thin? I'm not sure of the reason, but they tasted good anyway.
For my stirfry I chose a mixture of thin sliced Sweetheart Cabbage, baby corn, mangetout, bamboo shoots and spring onions, with about 200g pork and 2 medium sized eggs for the 2 of us. I added a shake of Chinese 5 Spice powder to the recipe given by Daring Cooks but otherwise didn't meddle with it.
With a couple of spoonfuls of hoisin sauce on top of the stirfry, and everything folded into the slightly sesame flavoured pancakes, the flavours blended beautifully.
This is a very messy dinner to eat - even worse than fajitas - but really tasty. For nights when there isn't time for making pancakes I think the stirfry would go well with rice instead: And with that version you wouldn't end up with hoisin sauce dribbling down your arms!
We were having a very oriental week this week - ealier in the week we'd had spicy cured swordfish with noodle broth from the Wagamama cook book - a recipe which I highly recommend.
So the message of the week? Go forth and explore the Orient!
The October Daring Cooks' Challenge was hosted by Shelley of C Mom Cook and her sister Ruth of The Crafts of Mommyhood. They challenged us to bring a taste of the East into our home kitchens by making our own Moo Shu, including thin pancakes, stir fry and sauce.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Daring Cooks August Challenge
So this was this month's Daring Cook's Challenge:
Mary, who writes the delicious blog, Mary Mary Culinary was our August Daring Cooks’ host. Mary chose to show us how delicious South Indian cuisine is! She challenged us to make Appam and another South Indian/Sri Lankan dish to go with the warm flat bread.
I had mixed success with the dishes. Sadly I couldn't get my appam's out of the pan in one piece! They kept sticking (not sure why; I'll have to try again to find out). Most of them came out like this:
Not exactly flat breads! The flavour was lovely though, so definitely worth another try in the future.
I did manage one partially successful flatbread on the final attempt. Even though its a bit rubbish it felt like an achievement!
The Shrimp in Coconut milk curry that I served with the appams was delicious. I added spinach and sweet potato to the recipe provided by Mary to make it go a little further. That recipe's definitely a keeper.
Now if only I could master those dratted Appams!
Mary, who writes the delicious blog, Mary Mary Culinary was our August Daring Cooks’ host. Mary chose to show us how delicious South Indian cuisine is! She challenged us to make Appam and another South Indian/Sri Lankan dish to go with the warm flat bread.
I had mixed success with the dishes. Sadly I couldn't get my appam's out of the pan in one piece! They kept sticking (not sure why; I'll have to try again to find out). Most of them came out like this:
Not exactly flat breads! The flavour was lovely though, so definitely worth another try in the future.
I did manage one partially successful flatbread on the final attempt. Even though its a bit rubbish it felt like an achievement!
The Shrimp in Coconut milk curry that I served with the appams was delicious. I added spinach and sweet potato to the recipe provided by Mary to make it go a little further. That recipe's definitely a keeper.
Now if only I could master those dratted Appams!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Daring Cooks July Challenge
This month's Daring Cook's challenge was to make a pasta or noodle without the aid of a motorized machine. We were however allowed to use a hand-crank pasta roller.
The challenge presented me with a conundrum - I got a pasta rolling machine at Christmas and have made my own pasta a few times since then, so I could take the easy route of making a recipe I know, or I could investigate a different kind of pasta. It seemed more in the spirit of the Daring Cooks to attempt something new, so I started to look around for ideas.
I've been reading a memoir by Josceline Dimbleby recently. Its a meander through her life and travels, interspersed with lovely recipes and photographs. Towards the end of the book there's a chapter on a visit to the Gujarati district of India, and a recipe for Khvandi, which she describes as a kind of Indian pasta. It sounded intriguing, and we were planning a curry night, so I decided to give the recipe a try and serve it as a starter.
It is an unusual method for a pasta - you boil the ingredients (gram flour, tumeric, chilli powder, yoghurt and water) down to a thick paste;
then spread it into a greased tray and leave it to set;
The idea is to then cut it into strips and serve it garnished with herbs, seeds and some dessicated coconut.
Mine didn't set though! I imagine I needed to simmer the mixture for longer before spreading it out to set. I will give this another try at some point because the flavours were good - a little bit spicy and sour. Definitely interesing.
This non-setting disaster left me with very little time to acheive a Daring Cooks dish for this month - or at least one that was edible. I got in there with only hours to spare, making Jamie Oliver's Pici with tomato sauce (from the Jamie's Italy cook book) for dinner on the day this was all due to be posted! Pici is an eggless pasta made from semolina flour and formed into tubes. Previously I have always made egg pasta in sheets or strips, so this was still something new for me even if it is a little unadventurous!
Here's what I did - mix the semolina flour to a dough using a little water. Kneed it until silky and smooth:
Wrap in clingfilm and leave it in the fridge until needed.
Divide it into small pieces, place a skewer in the middle and roll the dough around it to form a tube of pasta:
Mine were a little thicker than intended because my skewer was a bit of a thick one for this task - the thinner the better.
Served with very tasty cauliflower from the farm shop, tomato sauce and prawns, this made a good dinner. It was fairly straight-forward to make really.
Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks' July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!
The challenge presented me with a conundrum - I got a pasta rolling machine at Christmas and have made my own pasta a few times since then, so I could take the easy route of making a recipe I know, or I could investigate a different kind of pasta. It seemed more in the spirit of the Daring Cooks to attempt something new, so I started to look around for ideas.
I've been reading a memoir by Josceline Dimbleby recently. Its a meander through her life and travels, interspersed with lovely recipes and photographs. Towards the end of the book there's a chapter on a visit to the Gujarati district of India, and a recipe for Khvandi, which she describes as a kind of Indian pasta. It sounded intriguing, and we were planning a curry night, so I decided to give the recipe a try and serve it as a starter.
It is an unusual method for a pasta - you boil the ingredients (gram flour, tumeric, chilli powder, yoghurt and water) down to a thick paste;
then spread it into a greased tray and leave it to set;
The idea is to then cut it into strips and serve it garnished with herbs, seeds and some dessicated coconut.
Mine didn't set though! I imagine I needed to simmer the mixture for longer before spreading it out to set. I will give this another try at some point because the flavours were good - a little bit spicy and sour. Definitely interesing.
This non-setting disaster left me with very little time to acheive a Daring Cooks dish for this month - or at least one that was edible. I got in there with only hours to spare, making Jamie Oliver's Pici with tomato sauce (from the Jamie's Italy cook book) for dinner on the day this was all due to be posted! Pici is an eggless pasta made from semolina flour and formed into tubes. Previously I have always made egg pasta in sheets or strips, so this was still something new for me even if it is a little unadventurous!
Here's what I did - mix the semolina flour to a dough using a little water. Kneed it until silky and smooth:
Wrap in clingfilm and leave it in the fridge until needed.
Divide it into small pieces, place a skewer in the middle and roll the dough around it to form a tube of pasta:
Mine were a little thicker than intended because my skewer was a bit of a thick one for this task - the thinner the better.
Served with very tasty cauliflower from the farm shop, tomato sauce and prawns, this made a good dinner. It was fairly straight-forward to make really.
Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks' July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Three ways with Potato Salad - Daring Cooks
The June Daring Cooks Challenge was to make a delicious, healthy potato salad.
This is a challenge which really suits me as I like to make myself varied lunches to take to the office rather than always having a soggy sandwich. Potato salad falls into this system rather well, and expanding my lunchtime menu is always a good thing.
I decided to take this challenge seriously and do some decent experimentation rather than just making one version of the dish.
First up; Lemony potato salad with asparagus
A lunchtime outing took me to a farm which was selling fresh asparagus. It seemed a crime to walk away without some while its in-season and fresh from the field. This was the starting point for my potato salad. What goes with asparagus and potatoes? Lemon seemed like a good, tangy choice.
Also in the fridge that morning; spring onions, half a red chilli, some yellow pepper, parsley, and a packet of ham, so I chopped them all up and added them to my tupperware tub. Some mint from the garden too.
The dressing was a dessertspoon of olive oil, a couple of dessertspoons of lemon juice, a squeeze of lime and 1/2 teaspoon of sumac whisked together.
The resulting salad was colourful, flavourful and tangy. I suppose it might be pushing it to describe it as potato salad since it had lots of other things in it too!
At the weekend I was back home for my sister's wedding. I needed a decent lunch on saturday before the ceremony - filling but not bloating. Potatoes were perfect for this.
On this occasion I decided to go with a more Oriental flavour combination, so I ended up with:
Potato, plum sauce and sesame seed Salad
This is how I made it:
Steam the potatoes, add a sprinkle of sesame seeds and a splash of light soy sauce. Make a dressing from a dash of plum sauce, about a dessertspoon of rice wine vinegar, a squeeze of lime, some chopped coriander leaves and a sprinkle of chilli flakes.
I served the potato salad with a sliced smoked chicken breast, some lettuce leaves, and a handful of fresh mint leaves. The weather was appropriately warm and sunny to eat in the garden, close the eyes, and pretend I was really in Asia.
And finally....a bit of a wild card. I came across a recipe on the BBC website which intrigued me, Potato, green bean and rhubarb salad with almond pesto. Find the recipe here.
Raw rhubarb? I'd never thought to have rhubarb any way but stewed. I like it when my preconceptions are challenged so I resolved to make this one. I kept it for a day at home though, just in case it was nasty and I had to make a different lunch!
I should have had more faith. The salad was beautiful. Colourful and a fantastic balance of flavours. The raw rhubarb was tart and crunchy but not sour, the warmth from the chilli flakes enlivened the potatoes, and the almond and parsley pesto tied the whole dish together. I highly recommend this!
I amended the BBC dish slightly, so here's my final version:
Potato, Rhubarb and Green Bean Salad with Almond and Parsley Pesto (for 1 person)
150g new potatoes (I used Cornish Royals as they're in season here and delicious)
pinch of chilli flakes
salt and pepper
50g green beans (trimmed)
2 spring onions - white part only, sliced
1/2 stick of rhubarb (approx 35-40g) finely sliced
Squeeze lemon juice
For the pesto
20g blanched almonds
1 clove fresh garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil
Handful of fresh parsley
Scrub the potatoes, sprinkle with a small amount of salt, then steam them over simmering water for 20 minutes, or until cooked.
Add the green beans for the last 5 minutes in the steamer so that they are lightly cooked but retain a slight crunch.
Meanwhile make the pesto by blending all the ingredients together. Add more olive oil if you aren't eating the salad that day.
Remove the potatoes and beans from the heat, sprinkle with a pinch of chilli flakes and some freshly ground black pepper. Put aside to cool.
Chop the spring onions and rhubarb and arrange potatoes, beans, rhubarb and spring onion on a plate. Dab the pesto round the plate and squeeze a little lemon juice over the top.
Serve and enjoy.
Thank you to the Daring Cooks for helping me to expand my lunchtime salad options!
Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!
This is a challenge which really suits me as I like to make myself varied lunches to take to the office rather than always having a soggy sandwich. Potato salad falls into this system rather well, and expanding my lunchtime menu is always a good thing.
I decided to take this challenge seriously and do some decent experimentation rather than just making one version of the dish.
First up; Lemony potato salad with asparagus
A lunchtime outing took me to a farm which was selling fresh asparagus. It seemed a crime to walk away without some while its in-season and fresh from the field. This was the starting point for my potato salad. What goes with asparagus and potatoes? Lemon seemed like a good, tangy choice.
Also in the fridge that morning; spring onions, half a red chilli, some yellow pepper, parsley, and a packet of ham, so I chopped them all up and added them to my tupperware tub. Some mint from the garden too.
The dressing was a dessertspoon of olive oil, a couple of dessertspoons of lemon juice, a squeeze of lime and 1/2 teaspoon of sumac whisked together.
The resulting salad was colourful, flavourful and tangy. I suppose it might be pushing it to describe it as potato salad since it had lots of other things in it too!
At the weekend I was back home for my sister's wedding. I needed a decent lunch on saturday before the ceremony - filling but not bloating. Potatoes were perfect for this.
On this occasion I decided to go with a more Oriental flavour combination, so I ended up with:
Potato, plum sauce and sesame seed Salad
This is how I made it:
Steam the potatoes, add a sprinkle of sesame seeds and a splash of light soy sauce. Make a dressing from a dash of plum sauce, about a dessertspoon of rice wine vinegar, a squeeze of lime, some chopped coriander leaves and a sprinkle of chilli flakes.
I served the potato salad with a sliced smoked chicken breast, some lettuce leaves, and a handful of fresh mint leaves. The weather was appropriately warm and sunny to eat in the garden, close the eyes, and pretend I was really in Asia.
And finally....a bit of a wild card. I came across a recipe on the BBC website which intrigued me, Potato, green bean and rhubarb salad with almond pesto. Find the recipe here.
Raw rhubarb? I'd never thought to have rhubarb any way but stewed. I like it when my preconceptions are challenged so I resolved to make this one. I kept it for a day at home though, just in case it was nasty and I had to make a different lunch!
I should have had more faith. The salad was beautiful. Colourful and a fantastic balance of flavours. The raw rhubarb was tart and crunchy but not sour, the warmth from the chilli flakes enlivened the potatoes, and the almond and parsley pesto tied the whole dish together. I highly recommend this!
I amended the BBC dish slightly, so here's my final version:
Potato, Rhubarb and Green Bean Salad with Almond and Parsley Pesto (for 1 person)
150g new potatoes (I used Cornish Royals as they're in season here and delicious)
pinch of chilli flakes
salt and pepper
50g green beans (trimmed)
2 spring onions - white part only, sliced
1/2 stick of rhubarb (approx 35-40g) finely sliced
Squeeze lemon juice
For the pesto
20g blanched almonds
1 clove fresh garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil
Handful of fresh parsley
Scrub the potatoes, sprinkle with a small amount of salt, then steam them over simmering water for 20 minutes, or until cooked.
Add the green beans for the last 5 minutes in the steamer so that they are lightly cooked but retain a slight crunch.
Meanwhile make the pesto by blending all the ingredients together. Add more olive oil if you aren't eating the salad that day.
Remove the potatoes and beans from the heat, sprinkle with a pinch of chilli flakes and some freshly ground black pepper. Put aside to cool.
Chop the spring onions and rhubarb and arrange potatoes, beans, rhubarb and spring onion on a plate. Dab the pesto round the plate and squeeze a little lemon juice over the top.
Serve and enjoy.
Thank you to the Daring Cooks for helping me to expand my lunchtime salad options!
Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Daring Cooks April Challenge
The Daring Cooks April Challenge has been a goody. It has really made me think, puzzle and try to be inventive. Sadly, I'm not sure that I've succeeded on the invention test - I found it difficult to come up with anything non-obvious - but at least it tickled my brain cells!
So here we are: The april challenge was to make a "savoury edible container and fill it with something appropriate".
My immediate thought was to use a pumpkin and stuff it with interesting goodies before roasting it, but I rejected the idea as obvious, and also Dan doesn't very much like pupmkin so it would have been a little antisocial.
Then I thought I could make Pain Bagnat, which I have been meaning to try out for some time. This I rejected beacause the bread in pain bagnat isn't EXACTLY an edible container since the bread and filling are all squashed up together.
An interesting suggestion was made by Dan. He's recently been to Poland for work and had a traditional soup called Zur which he really enjoyed. It was served in a hollowed out round loaf of bread. I loved this idea, but due to time constraints I had to reject it for this challenge as I only had one free weekend to cook before the challenge results had to be posted. Given that I was going to be looking after 3 children that weekend making both bread and a complex soup didn't seem very practical, so I'm keeping this idea for a future occasion.
What to do, what to do......?
Chilled soup in an ice bowl was the front-runner until I saw someone else had already done a salad in an ice bowl. But then, in a dull day at work, I finally came up with the idea to make a savoury sorbet in a savoury cone. The idea pleased me because ice cream in a cone is so familiar, but the taste will be surprising. (Incidentally the savoury icecream research has brought up a few other to try at a later date.)
So, here we go....a gazpacho soup sorbet in a spiced tortilla cone.
Step one: I found a gazpacho recipe which sounded ideal in the Riverford Farm Cook Book. A lovely sounding combination of tomato, cucumber, chilli, herbs and red pepper, which looked beautiful and spring-fresh once all chopped up together:
Step 2: blend everything up and then push it through a fine sieve. I fully expected it not to look at all pretty at this stage!
Step 3: Add olive oil and chill for a few hours. Churn in an icecream maker the afternoon before you want to serve it for dinner, then freeze for at least half an hour.
Step 4: dampen a tortilla wrap (or a portion of one if that's the right size for you - I used about 1/2 of a tortilla for each cone) with a mixture of water and a little olive oil.
Step 5: roll it into a cone shape and secure with a cocktail stick. Sprinkle with a little salt and smoked paprika. Scrunch up some foil into a small ball and place inside the cone so that it doesn't collapse in the oven.
Step 6: place in a preheated oven at 220C for about 8 minutes until the cone is crispy and slightly golden.
Step 7: Allow the cone to cool then scoop your sorbet into it.
Step 8: finely chop some fresh mint leaves and mix with a couple of teaspoons of yoghurt (you can't have icecream with out toppings!), put a blob on top of the sorbet, and enjoy!
I have to admit that I wasn't sure how this would turn out - whether I would actually even be able to eat it, if it would delicious or totally disgusting! In fact, it made a really lovely, quirky, bite sized starter.
We enjoyed it before our sunday dinner on an unseasonably warm spring day, and it was brilliantly refreshing. My tastebuds enjoyed the confusion of having something that was a little bit spicey hot from the chilli at such a cold temperature.
The whole idea has proved a bit of a talking point in my office - opinion is divided on people believing this to have been delicious or inedible!
Blog-checking lines: Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th here at The Daring Kitchen!
So here we are: The april challenge was to make a "savoury edible container and fill it with something appropriate".
My immediate thought was to use a pumpkin and stuff it with interesting goodies before roasting it, but I rejected the idea as obvious, and also Dan doesn't very much like pupmkin so it would have been a little antisocial.
Then I thought I could make Pain Bagnat, which I have been meaning to try out for some time. This I rejected beacause the bread in pain bagnat isn't EXACTLY an edible container since the bread and filling are all squashed up together.
An interesting suggestion was made by Dan. He's recently been to Poland for work and had a traditional soup called Zur which he really enjoyed. It was served in a hollowed out round loaf of bread. I loved this idea, but due to time constraints I had to reject it for this challenge as I only had one free weekend to cook before the challenge results had to be posted. Given that I was going to be looking after 3 children that weekend making both bread and a complex soup didn't seem very practical, so I'm keeping this idea for a future occasion.
What to do, what to do......?
Chilled soup in an ice bowl was the front-runner until I saw someone else had already done a salad in an ice bowl. But then, in a dull day at work, I finally came up with the idea to make a savoury sorbet in a savoury cone. The idea pleased me because ice cream in a cone is so familiar, but the taste will be surprising. (Incidentally the savoury icecream research has brought up a few other to try at a later date.)
So, here we go....a gazpacho soup sorbet in a spiced tortilla cone.
Step one: I found a gazpacho recipe which sounded ideal in the Riverford Farm Cook Book. A lovely sounding combination of tomato, cucumber, chilli, herbs and red pepper, which looked beautiful and spring-fresh once all chopped up together:
Step 2: blend everything up and then push it through a fine sieve. I fully expected it not to look at all pretty at this stage!
Step 3: Add olive oil and chill for a few hours. Churn in an icecream maker the afternoon before you want to serve it for dinner, then freeze for at least half an hour.
Step 4: dampen a tortilla wrap (or a portion of one if that's the right size for you - I used about 1/2 of a tortilla for each cone) with a mixture of water and a little olive oil.
Step 5: roll it into a cone shape and secure with a cocktail stick. Sprinkle with a little salt and smoked paprika. Scrunch up some foil into a small ball and place inside the cone so that it doesn't collapse in the oven.
Step 6: place in a preheated oven at 220C for about 8 minutes until the cone is crispy and slightly golden.
Step 7: Allow the cone to cool then scoop your sorbet into it.
Step 8: finely chop some fresh mint leaves and mix with a couple of teaspoons of yoghurt (you can't have icecream with out toppings!), put a blob on top of the sorbet, and enjoy!
I have to admit that I wasn't sure how this would turn out - whether I would actually even be able to eat it, if it would delicious or totally disgusting! In fact, it made a really lovely, quirky, bite sized starter.
We enjoyed it before our sunday dinner on an unseasonably warm spring day, and it was brilliantly refreshing. My tastebuds enjoyed the confusion of having something that was a little bit spicey hot from the chilli at such a cold temperature.
The whole idea has proved a bit of a talking point in my office - opinion is divided on people believing this to have been delicious or inedible!
Blog-checking lines: Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th here at The Daring Kitchen!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Daring Cooks March Challenge
This month's challenge from the Daring Cooks was a Peruvian speciality; Ceviche.
What a treat! I love fish and seafood and adore sushi and sashimi. When I think about it its strange that I'd never thought to try Ceviche before, so it was brilliant to have it suggested.
Ceviche is fish or seafood cured in citrus fruit rather than cooked. I chose scallops and cured them in lime juice, nectarine and tarragon. I sliced each scallop into 3 or 4 rounds so they were pretty thin, and they took just 20 minutes to cure in the fridge.
I served them up with some salad leaves and toasted pecan nuts as a starter:
I took the idea of adding the tarragon and nectarine from a recipe I found on the BBC website, and they were definitely tasty additions. I also enjoyed having the earthiness of the pecan nuts to balance out the sharper citrus flavours. I think walnuts would also work. I spooned the marinade liquid over the top of the scallops when I served them, and I would caution against this - in future I will drain it off before serving as otherwise the dish does become a bit too sharp.
All in all, this recipe is definitely one I would do again, but its best either as a starter or a light meal on a hot day.
The monthly challenge did suggest that we could also try Papas Rellenas, which are a kind of potato cake - stuffed with a meat mixture (typically beef) and fried. They sound delicious and I'm sure I'll give them a go at some point, but this month was a bit busy so I decided to stop at one Daring Cooks recipe.
Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.
What a treat! I love fish and seafood and adore sushi and sashimi. When I think about it its strange that I'd never thought to try Ceviche before, so it was brilliant to have it suggested.
Ceviche is fish or seafood cured in citrus fruit rather than cooked. I chose scallops and cured them in lime juice, nectarine and tarragon. I sliced each scallop into 3 or 4 rounds so they were pretty thin, and they took just 20 minutes to cure in the fridge.
I served them up with some salad leaves and toasted pecan nuts as a starter:
I took the idea of adding the tarragon and nectarine from a recipe I found on the BBC website, and they were definitely tasty additions. I also enjoyed having the earthiness of the pecan nuts to balance out the sharper citrus flavours. I think walnuts would also work. I spooned the marinade liquid over the top of the scallops when I served them, and I would caution against this - in future I will drain it off before serving as otherwise the dish does become a bit too sharp.
All in all, this recipe is definitely one I would do again, but its best either as a starter or a light meal on a hot day.
The monthly challenge did suggest that we could also try Papas Rellenas, which are a kind of potato cake - stuffed with a meat mixture (typically beef) and fried. They sound delicious and I'm sure I'll give them a go at some point, but this month was a bit busy so I decided to stop at one Daring Cooks recipe.
Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Daring Cooks February Challenge
This month's Daring Cooks Challenge got me excited - it was a Japanese recipe. Perfect as I have a Japanese cook book which I rarely use, and that makes me feel a little guilty. The challenge was to make a cold soba noodle salad and some kind of tempura. Tempura has been on my wishlist for quite some time, so it was great to have the push to finally attempt it.
So as to assuage my cookbook guilt I tried a recipe from my own book rather than taking up one of the suggestions given by Daring Cooks, but I kept in the spirit of the challenge. I made soba noodles with a dipping sauce made from shoyu (japanese soy), mirin, water and bonito powder, and served them garnished with nori (crisp seaweed), with spring onions and wasabi paste on the side. For my tempura I chose a mix of green beans, prawns, and baby corn. It all made a fantastic lunch.
I had been confident that Dan would like the tempura (its deep fried - a no brainer!), but I was surprised and pleased by how much he enjoyed the noodle dish too. Definitely one to do again. Although, I made a massive mess in the kitchen!
The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com
So as to assuage my cookbook guilt I tried a recipe from my own book rather than taking up one of the suggestions given by Daring Cooks, but I kept in the spirit of the challenge. I made soba noodles with a dipping sauce made from shoyu (japanese soy), mirin, water and bonito powder, and served them garnished with nori (crisp seaweed), with spring onions and wasabi paste on the side. For my tempura I chose a mix of green beans, prawns, and baby corn. It all made a fantastic lunch.
I had been confident that Dan would like the tempura (its deep fried - a no brainer!), but I was surprised and pleased by how much he enjoyed the noodle dish too. Definitely one to do again. Although, I made a massive mess in the kitchen!
The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Daring Cooks January 2011 Challenge
Hurrah! The Daring Cooks January Challenge was to make Cassoulet. Last time I had Cassoulet was in Southern France near Carcassonne, and I've been meaning to try making it myself for quite some time. Walking round the walls of Carcassonne in the morning we could smell them starting to make the dish for the lunchtime customers. A wonderful garlic-y waft.
The gap between Christmas and New Year seemed the most logical time to make the recipe. It takes several days to put it all together, so I couldn't see myself feeling inspired once I'm back at the grindstone. Also, since we'd had roast duck for Christmas dinner, the leftovers from that seemed like the perfect starting point for Cassoulet.
So, Monday saw me starting to cook dinner for wednesday.
Here's the method:
I started with breast of lamb: I placed it in a casserole with half an onion, a couple of chopped celery stalks, 1 chopped carrot, some thyme and covered the lot with a glass of white wine and some water. I then put the lid on and cooked it at 140C for 3 hours. I turned and basted the meat 2 or 3 times during the cooking time.
Once it came out of the oven I put the meat between 2 chopping boards, weighed it down with a few tins of beans, and left it for 3 hours. I strained the cooking liquid and put it in a jug in the fridge overnight. Then I chopped the lamb up into long slices, arranged it on a wire rack over a roasting tin and cooked it for 20 minutes at 180C.
I already had a cooked duck leg from Christmas Dinner (otherwise I would have had to roast one at this point), so I chopped the meat off the bone and put that to one side too.
Next up were the beans: I weighed out 200g dried cannelinni beans and covered them in water and left them to soak overnight. The next day I drained the beans, rinsed them a couple of times, then placed them in a heavy based pan. I took the lamb stock out of the fridge, skimmed the fat off the top, and poured the liquid into the pan, topping it up with cold water to cover the beans. Then I added a few sprigs of parsley and a shake of dried thyme (as I had no fresh thyme to hand). I brought this little lot up to the boil, boiled it hard for a couple of minutes, skimmed the top, then turned it down to simmer for about 1hr 20 mins. Once the beans were done I drained them, reserving the liquid again, and fishing out the parsley.
Next were the pork sausages: I twisted each of the 2 sausages into 3 sections and cut them up.
Then, slice 1/2 an onion and 4 garlic cloves finely. Melt about a dessertspoon of duck fat and gently fry the onion. Add the garlic after about 5 mins and continue to fry until the whole lot is soft. Then add a handful of chopped pancetta or streaky bacon. Continue to fry gently for a few more minutes.
Then, layering up the casserole. I started with a layer of beans (1/3 of the quantity) in the bottom of your casserole dish, then added 1/2 of the onion mix, 1/2 of the lamb, 1 or the sausages, 1/2 of the duck slices, repeated the layering, then topped with the final 1/3 of the beans. I poured the stock over the lot, added a little more water until it comes about 2/3 of the way up the mixture. I sprinkled the mix with a small handful of breadcrumbs.
This is what it looked like (remarkably, a lot like it should really!):
I put the mix to one side for several hours for the flavours to develop (overnight is perfect).
The next day, I preheated the oven to 170C and put the casserole in for 1 hour (without the lid); once it had formed a gold crust I stirred it all through, put it back for another hour until another crust had formed, then repeated once more.
At this point I took the cassoulet out of the oven, spooned 2 portions into small casserole pots (there were 2 more portions left over after this), splashed a little more water in, and allowed it about 40 further minutes in the oven.
Once a final crust had formed, I served it with crunchy crusty bread and green salad. Very filling. A very appropriate dinner for a cold winter's day, and goodness I felt like I deserved it after all the effort of cooking it!
Another major hit with Dan (unsurprisingly - lots of fat and meat is always a hit with him!).
BlogChecking lines: Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.
My recipe was a cross between the Anthony Bourdain recipe and Elizabeth David's one from French Country Cooking, adapted slightly to my own tastes and fridge contents.
The gap between Christmas and New Year seemed the most logical time to make the recipe. It takes several days to put it all together, so I couldn't see myself feeling inspired once I'm back at the grindstone. Also, since we'd had roast duck for Christmas dinner, the leftovers from that seemed like the perfect starting point for Cassoulet.
So, Monday saw me starting to cook dinner for wednesday.
Here's the method:
I started with breast of lamb: I placed it in a casserole with half an onion, a couple of chopped celery stalks, 1 chopped carrot, some thyme and covered the lot with a glass of white wine and some water. I then put the lid on and cooked it at 140C for 3 hours. I turned and basted the meat 2 or 3 times during the cooking time.
Once it came out of the oven I put the meat between 2 chopping boards, weighed it down with a few tins of beans, and left it for 3 hours. I strained the cooking liquid and put it in a jug in the fridge overnight. Then I chopped the lamb up into long slices, arranged it on a wire rack over a roasting tin and cooked it for 20 minutes at 180C.
I already had a cooked duck leg from Christmas Dinner (otherwise I would have had to roast one at this point), so I chopped the meat off the bone and put that to one side too.
Next up were the beans: I weighed out 200g dried cannelinni beans and covered them in water and left them to soak overnight. The next day I drained the beans, rinsed them a couple of times, then placed them in a heavy based pan. I took the lamb stock out of the fridge, skimmed the fat off the top, and poured the liquid into the pan, topping it up with cold water to cover the beans. Then I added a few sprigs of parsley and a shake of dried thyme (as I had no fresh thyme to hand). I brought this little lot up to the boil, boiled it hard for a couple of minutes, skimmed the top, then turned it down to simmer for about 1hr 20 mins. Once the beans were done I drained them, reserving the liquid again, and fishing out the parsley.
Next were the pork sausages: I twisted each of the 2 sausages into 3 sections and cut them up.
Then, slice 1/2 an onion and 4 garlic cloves finely. Melt about a dessertspoon of duck fat and gently fry the onion. Add the garlic after about 5 mins and continue to fry until the whole lot is soft. Then add a handful of chopped pancetta or streaky bacon. Continue to fry gently for a few more minutes.
Then, layering up the casserole. I started with a layer of beans (1/3 of the quantity) in the bottom of your casserole dish, then added 1/2 of the onion mix, 1/2 of the lamb, 1 or the sausages, 1/2 of the duck slices, repeated the layering, then topped with the final 1/3 of the beans. I poured the stock over the lot, added a little more water until it comes about 2/3 of the way up the mixture. I sprinkled the mix with a small handful of breadcrumbs.
This is what it looked like (remarkably, a lot like it should really!):
I put the mix to one side for several hours for the flavours to develop (overnight is perfect).
The next day, I preheated the oven to 170C and put the casserole in for 1 hour (without the lid); once it had formed a gold crust I stirred it all through, put it back for another hour until another crust had formed, then repeated once more.
At this point I took the cassoulet out of the oven, spooned 2 portions into small casserole pots (there were 2 more portions left over after this), splashed a little more water in, and allowed it about 40 further minutes in the oven.
Once a final crust had formed, I served it with crunchy crusty bread and green salad. Very filling. A very appropriate dinner for a cold winter's day, and goodness I felt like I deserved it after all the effort of cooking it!
Another major hit with Dan (unsurprisingly - lots of fat and meat is always a hit with him!).
BlogChecking lines: Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.
My recipe was a cross between the Anthony Bourdain recipe and Elizabeth David's one from French Country Cooking, adapted slightly to my own tastes and fridge contents.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Daring Cooks December Challenge
This month's challenge: Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.
So, poached eggs....I didn't feel inspired, I confess. I do poach eggs rather a lot anyway, so it wasn't a challenge which pushed me to make something I wouldn't otherwise have thought of. On the otherhand, Dan is always a happy man when eggs benedict are on the breakfast menu, so he was in heaven!
So, ta dah! Eggs Benedict feature again.
I won't bother to describe the method again, but I did realise that I had been overly cautious with the butter the last couple of times I made hollandaise sauce, and that was probably the reason for it curdling. It worked better this time.
So that I'm not totally cheating (and that would not do!) I am planning to make chorizo and potato hash with poached eggs later this week - that will at least be a new recipe including poached eggs.
UPDATE: I have been poaching away, and eating lots of eggs. I think eggs might just be my favourite fast food. I tried out the Chorizo and Potato Hash recipe, and it proved to be a massive hit with Dan. I liked it too, so thumbs up all round for that one. Find the recipe on the BBC Good Food site here.
So, poached eggs....I didn't feel inspired, I confess. I do poach eggs rather a lot anyway, so it wasn't a challenge which pushed me to make something I wouldn't otherwise have thought of. On the otherhand, Dan is always a happy man when eggs benedict are on the breakfast menu, so he was in heaven!
So, ta dah! Eggs Benedict feature again.
I won't bother to describe the method again, but I did realise that I had been overly cautious with the butter the last couple of times I made hollandaise sauce, and that was probably the reason for it curdling. It worked better this time.
So that I'm not totally cheating (and that would not do!) I am planning to make chorizo and potato hash with poached eggs later this week - that will at least be a new recipe including poached eggs.
UPDATE: I have been poaching away, and eating lots of eggs. I think eggs might just be my favourite fast food. I tried out the Chorizo and Potato Hash recipe, and it proved to be a massive hit with Dan. I liked it too, so thumbs up all round for that one. Find the recipe on the BBC Good Food site here.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Daring Cooks November Challenge
So... here we go with another Daring Cooks Challenge.
Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.
However, I'm not really a chocolate puddings person, and the challenge did say that any sweet souffle was OK as long as it was a true souffle and you hadn't made it before. So instead I made rasberry souffles.
I followed this method (enough for 2 people):
Take 130g rasberries and heat over a gentle heat. Once they start to release their juices add a splash of water and 10g caster sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 10 or 15 minutes until the sugar is dissolved and the rasberries have disintegrated. Set the pan to one side to cool.
Once the rasberries have cooled slightly push them through a sieve, discarding the seeds and pips. Allow the rasberry puree to cool.
Grease 2 ramekins with a little butter and then place about a tablespoonful of rasberry puree in the bottom of each.
When you're nearly ready for pudding preheat the oven to 200C.
Whisk one egg white until it holds soft peaks:
Then add 40g of caster sugar and whisk again until the mixture is glossy.
Next gently fold in the remaining rasberry puree using a metal spoon:
Spoon the egg white mix into the ramekins. Some people like to smooth the tops flat, but personally I like them a bit imperfect and blobby on the top:
Put them on a hot baking tray in the centre of the oven to cook for 10 minutes. Serve straight away.
Mine got scorched a bit on the top, but that didn't seem to adversely affect the taste.
Yum.
Souffles are a marvellous Recipe-of-the-Week discovery. They are pretty easy to make, quick to cook, delicious, and (depending on the kind you make) surprisingly low-fat.
Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.
However, I'm not really a chocolate puddings person, and the challenge did say that any sweet souffle was OK as long as it was a true souffle and you hadn't made it before. So instead I made rasberry souffles.
I followed this method (enough for 2 people):
Take 130g rasberries and heat over a gentle heat. Once they start to release their juices add a splash of water and 10g caster sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 10 or 15 minutes until the sugar is dissolved and the rasberries have disintegrated. Set the pan to one side to cool.
Once the rasberries have cooled slightly push them through a sieve, discarding the seeds and pips. Allow the rasberry puree to cool.
Grease 2 ramekins with a little butter and then place about a tablespoonful of rasberry puree in the bottom of each.
When you're nearly ready for pudding preheat the oven to 200C.
Whisk one egg white until it holds soft peaks:
Then add 40g of caster sugar and whisk again until the mixture is glossy.
Next gently fold in the remaining rasberry puree using a metal spoon:
Spoon the egg white mix into the ramekins. Some people like to smooth the tops flat, but personally I like them a bit imperfect and blobby on the top:
Put them on a hot baking tray in the centre of the oven to cook for 10 minutes. Serve straight away.
Mine got scorched a bit on the top, but that didn't seem to adversely affect the taste.
Yum.
Souffles are a marvellous Recipe-of-the-Week discovery. They are pretty easy to make, quick to cook, delicious, and (depending on the kind you make) surprisingly low-fat.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Daring Cooks Challenge #3
Dolma/Cold Stuffed Grape Leaves
Our October 2010 hostess, Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness, has challenged The Daring Cooks to stuff grape leaves. Lori chose a recipe from Aromas of Aleppo and a recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.
This was the October challenge from the Daring Cooks website. I was pretty excited to have a go since I love stuffed vine leaves.
First things first though; an expedition was required to find somewhere that sold preserved vine leaves. None in Sainsburys, or Marks&Sparks, or Tesco, or the Greek deli in Oxford. Hmmmm. Where next?
Fortunately I had a monday evening trip to London last week, and even more fortunately some elementary googling told me that there was a Greek Grocery on Moscow Road. The Athenian Grocery turned out to be a veritable treasure trove of yummy treats. I'll be back. But in the meantime, a packet of vine leaves in brine were procurred, carried across London, taken to a concert, and traipsed back to the Cotswolds via Oxford. I hope they enjoyed their evening out.
It was easy to make the filling for these, and they were easy to cook. The fiddly bit was separating the vine leaves ready to roll up without ripping them. I knew all those years of striving to unwrap my Cadburys creme eggs without tearing the wrapper would come in handy one day! Excellent training for separating preserved vine leaves. I did rip a few, but they were mostly OK, and there were more than I needed in the pack anyway. A few did spilt during the cooking or when taking them out of the pan, but they were mostly fine. The taste was good.
Given how much I like eating stuffed vine leaves I'll definitely make these again. I won't put quite so much filling in each one next time (must remember that rice expands with cooking!) and hopefully that will solve some of the issues of them splitting.
Now then...when am I next going to be passing Moscow Road in London?
Also, this Sunday I finally made Dan one of his very first recipe requests; Beef Wellington. I served it up with Dauphinois potatoes, which made him one very happy man. He ate too much though. In fact, he was so greedy that he had to lie on the sofa after to let his stomach recover. Although now I think about it, that was probably an elaborate ruse so get out of doing the washing-up.
Our October 2010 hostess, Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness, has challenged The Daring Cooks to stuff grape leaves. Lori chose a recipe from Aromas of Aleppo and a recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.
This was the October challenge from the Daring Cooks website. I was pretty excited to have a go since I love stuffed vine leaves.
First things first though; an expedition was required to find somewhere that sold preserved vine leaves. None in Sainsburys, or Marks&Sparks, or Tesco, or the Greek deli in Oxford. Hmmmm. Where next?
Fortunately I had a monday evening trip to London last week, and even more fortunately some elementary googling told me that there was a Greek Grocery on Moscow Road. The Athenian Grocery turned out to be a veritable treasure trove of yummy treats. I'll be back. But in the meantime, a packet of vine leaves in brine were procurred, carried across London, taken to a concert, and traipsed back to the Cotswolds via Oxford. I hope they enjoyed their evening out.
It was easy to make the filling for these, and they were easy to cook. The fiddly bit was separating the vine leaves ready to roll up without ripping them. I knew all those years of striving to unwrap my Cadburys creme eggs without tearing the wrapper would come in handy one day! Excellent training for separating preserved vine leaves. I did rip a few, but they were mostly OK, and there were more than I needed in the pack anyway. A few did spilt during the cooking or when taking them out of the pan, but they were mostly fine. The taste was good.
Given how much I like eating stuffed vine leaves I'll definitely make these again. I won't put quite so much filling in each one next time (must remember that rice expands with cooking!) and hopefully that will solve some of the issues of them splitting.
Now then...when am I next going to be passing Moscow Road in London?
Also, this Sunday I finally made Dan one of his very first recipe requests; Beef Wellington. I served it up with Dauphinois potatoes, which made him one very happy man. He ate too much though. In fact, he was so greedy that he had to lie on the sofa after to let his stomach recover. Although now I think about it, that was probably an elaborate ruse so get out of doing the washing-up.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Daring Cooks Challenge August
May I present this month's Daring Cook's challenge; pierogi.
Bear with me here. I know they don't look that tasty.
Pierogi are basically a heavier version of stuffed pasta as far as I can tell, although they were described in the recipe as a dumpling. They seem to be a Polish thing. The filling was a free choice but was meant to reflect your locality. I went for garlic, basil, goats cheese and whizzed up courgette. It may be tenuous, but we have a lot of basil in the garden right now and courgettes seem to be in season. The stuffing mix was a bit too liquid really but just about manageable.
Given how like a heavier stuffed tortellini pasta this was, I made a tomato sauce and toasted some pinenuts to sprinkle over the top.
I think I'll experiment with other fillings. I have a hunch that roast squash, garlic and pancetta would be a good combo.
The really good thing about this dinner was that the work could be done in advance leaving just boiling the pierogi for when you are ready to eat.
The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.
Bear with me here. I know they don't look that tasty.
Pierogi are basically a heavier version of stuffed pasta as far as I can tell, although they were described in the recipe as a dumpling. They seem to be a Polish thing. The filling was a free choice but was meant to reflect your locality. I went for garlic, basil, goats cheese and whizzed up courgette. It may be tenuous, but we have a lot of basil in the garden right now and courgettes seem to be in season. The stuffing mix was a bit too liquid really but just about manageable.
Given how like a heavier stuffed tortellini pasta this was, I made a tomato sauce and toasted some pinenuts to sprinkle over the top.
I think I'll experiment with other fillings. I have a hunch that roast squash, garlic and pancetta would be a good combo.
The really good thing about this dinner was that the work could be done in advance leaving just boiling the pierogi for when you are ready to eat.
The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Daring Cooks Challenge No.1!
Ok, so I was rather excited to have a try at my first Daring Cooks challenge.
It was a great one to start on too - we both found it delicious and it was definitely something I wouldn't have thought of doing without it being suggested by someone else.
So, I am proud to present.......Asian Noodle Salad with Cashew Dressing
It was easy to do. I made the cashew butter and the sauce a couple of days ahead and it kept in the fridge perfectly well. The dinner was then the matter of about 15 minutes preparation - some light chopping and mixing and soaking of noodles. All quick and easy.
And here's the recipe if you fancy having a go yourself - I highly recommend it.
Yield: 4 servings
notes: You could add or substitute your favorite vegetables. Shredded cabbage, bean sprouts, and slivered carrots would make nice additions. The dressing is equally as good with peanut butter rather than cashew butter.
Ingredients:
Cashew Butter:
240 ml cashews
Cashew Dressing:
1 cm slice of fresh ginger, chopped
8 cloves garlic, more or less to taste, chopped
120 ml cashew butter
60 ml soy sauce
3 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons vinegar - I used rice vinegar
3 Tablespoons toasted sesame oil
75 ml water
Hot sauce to taste (optional) - I added a pinch of chilli flakes
Noodle Salad:
225g thin rice noodles
1 tablespoon olive oil
225g small or medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used large prawns as that was what they had in the village shop, so I actually used slighty more in weight)
1 large red bell pepper, cored and seeded, cut into thin strips
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, sliced
60 ml sliced spring onions
60 ml chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped cashews (optional garnish) - I omitted these
Lime wedges (optional)
Directions:
1.Make cashew butter: Grind cashews in food processor for about 2 minutes until smooth.
2.Prepare cashew dressing: Combine ginger, garlic, cashew butter, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, and water in food processor or blender. Process/blend until smooth. Be sure to process long enough to puree the ginger and garlic. The dressing should be pourable, about the same thickness as cream. Adjust consistency – thinner or thicker -- to your liking by adding more water or cashew butter. Taste and add your favorite hot sauce if desired. (If the cashew butter was unsalted, you may want to add salt to taste.) Makes about 360 ml dressing. Store any leftover dressing in the refrigerator.
3.Prepare noodles according to package instructions in salted water. Rinse and drain noodles. Set aside.
4.Heat oil in large non-stick pan over medium heat. Add shrimp to the pan and sauté for about 3 to 4 minutes or until opaque throughout. Alternately, cook shrimp in boiling water for about 2 to 3 minutes or until done.
5.Slice basil into thin ribbons. Combine noodles, bell pepper, cucumber, onions, and basil in a large bowl. Add about 120 ml cashew dressing; toss gently to coat. Add more cashew dressing as desired, using as much or as little as you’d like. Scatter shrimp on top. Squeeze fresh lime juice over salad or serve with lime wedges. Sprinkle with chopped cashews if desired.
The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.
It was a great one to start on too - we both found it delicious and it was definitely something I wouldn't have thought of doing without it being suggested by someone else.
So, I am proud to present.......Asian Noodle Salad with Cashew Dressing
It was easy to do. I made the cashew butter and the sauce a couple of days ahead and it kept in the fridge perfectly well. The dinner was then the matter of about 15 minutes preparation - some light chopping and mixing and soaking of noodles. All quick and easy.
And here's the recipe if you fancy having a go yourself - I highly recommend it.
Yield: 4 servings
notes: You could add or substitute your favorite vegetables. Shredded cabbage, bean sprouts, and slivered carrots would make nice additions. The dressing is equally as good with peanut butter rather than cashew butter.
Ingredients:
Cashew Butter:
240 ml cashews
Cashew Dressing:
1 cm slice of fresh ginger, chopped
8 cloves garlic, more or less to taste, chopped
120 ml cashew butter
60 ml soy sauce
3 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons vinegar - I used rice vinegar
3 Tablespoons toasted sesame oil
75 ml water
Hot sauce to taste (optional) - I added a pinch of chilli flakes
Noodle Salad:
225g thin rice noodles
1 tablespoon olive oil
225g small or medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used large prawns as that was what they had in the village shop, so I actually used slighty more in weight)
1 large red bell pepper, cored and seeded, cut into thin strips
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, sliced
60 ml sliced spring onions
60 ml chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped cashews (optional garnish) - I omitted these
Lime wedges (optional)
Directions:
1.Make cashew butter: Grind cashews in food processor for about 2 minutes until smooth.
2.Prepare cashew dressing: Combine ginger, garlic, cashew butter, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, and water in food processor or blender. Process/blend until smooth. Be sure to process long enough to puree the ginger and garlic. The dressing should be pourable, about the same thickness as cream. Adjust consistency – thinner or thicker -- to your liking by adding more water or cashew butter. Taste and add your favorite hot sauce if desired. (If the cashew butter was unsalted, you may want to add salt to taste.) Makes about 360 ml dressing. Store any leftover dressing in the refrigerator.
3.Prepare noodles according to package instructions in salted water. Rinse and drain noodles. Set aside.
4.Heat oil in large non-stick pan over medium heat. Add shrimp to the pan and sauté for about 3 to 4 minutes or until opaque throughout. Alternately, cook shrimp in boiling water for about 2 to 3 minutes or until done.
5.Slice basil into thin ribbons. Combine noodles, bell pepper, cucumber, onions, and basil in a large bowl. Add about 120 ml cashew dressing; toss gently to coat. Add more cashew dressing as desired, using as much or as little as you’d like. Scatter shrimp on top. Squeeze fresh lime juice over salad or serve with lime wedges. Sprinkle with chopped cashews if desired.
The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
And in other news
Last week I cancelled my Vegetable Box.
I feel terribly guilty.
But, for the last few weeks the selection has been distinctly uninspired, and frankly tired looking. The final straw was a box last week containing mushrooms and tomatoes that already had some very interesting looking mould cultures growing on them, and a lettuce that was brown and slimy inside. Yuergh!
So, no more veggie box fridays.
On a more positive note, I signed up to the Daring Cooks so will be getting a new recipe once a month from them. I can't wait for my first one. It'll be great having a go at other people's ideas and hopefully forcing myself out of my cooking comfort zone.
I feel terribly guilty.
But, for the last few weeks the selection has been distinctly uninspired, and frankly tired looking. The final straw was a box last week containing mushrooms and tomatoes that already had some very interesting looking mould cultures growing on them, and a lettuce that was brown and slimy inside. Yuergh!
So, no more veggie box fridays.
On a more positive note, I signed up to the Daring Cooks so will be getting a new recipe once a month from them. I can't wait for my first one. It'll be great having a go at other people's ideas and hopefully forcing myself out of my cooking comfort zone.
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