May 2012
3 posts
Blackened barbecued pork fillets
After a long period of miserable weather the sun finally came out today and gave me the chance to use the BBQ. I thought I’d try this Jamie Oliver recipe which I stumbled across the other day.
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INGREDIENTS (serves 4)
For the marinade
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 clove
1/2 heaped tbsp sweet smoked paprika
zest and juice of 1/4 orange
a few sprigs of fresh thyme,...
Slow-roast shoulder of lamb
In celebration of the bank-holiday last week I slow roasted a whole lamb shoulder for my family. It’s actually one of the easiest things you can possibly cook and results in really tasty, tender and succulent meat.
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INGREDIENTS (serves 6)
2.5 - 3kg shoulder of lamb from the butcher
I whole bulb of garlic
6 onions roughly chopped
8 carrots roughly chopped
Salt and pepper
...
Lunchtime Lamb
The other day I was having a slightly dull morning at work and thinking about a load of lamb shoulder I had left over in the fridge. It was all the slightly fattier bits that didn’t look too appetising. I suddenly felt inspired to cycle home, run it all through my mincer and create some lamb burgers. That’s normal isn’t it?
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INGREDIENTS (serves 2)
400g lamb shoulder or...
April 2012
8 posts
Ravioli of bacon, mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes,...
I spent about 2 hours last night following a pasta recipe that to be honest with you was nothing that special. Tonight I rustled this up in about 15 minutes with some leftover pasta dough and some things I found in the fridge and it was way better. In fact it was delicious!
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INGREDIENTS (feeds 2)
For the pasta
100g tipo 00 pasta flour
1 large egg
For the filling
4 rasher of streaky...
Chocolate brownies
Another find in the Jamie Oliver book were these chocolate brownies. I never usually deviate from my tried and tested recipe - which I’ve actually yet to post on here - but they were delicious and incredibly easy to make.
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INGREDIENTS (makes 10 - 12)
250g unsalted butter
200g best-quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) broken up
80g cocoa powder sifted
65g plain flower...
Haddock in smoked bacon with asparagus and...
Someone cooked a delicious Jamie Oliver curry for me last week. I’d gone off him a bit - mostly due to the ridiculously long lists of ingredients required for most of his recipes - but I had a flick through one of his books that’s been sitting on my shelf untouched for years and found this really simple light dinner. I swapped the mayonnaise for hollandaise which went really well.
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Apple Walnut Cake
It was my mate’s 30th the other day so I made him a cake. It came from a book I got from a great little bakery in New York called Amy’s bread. It’s possibly the most anal cookbook I’ve ever used but everything I’ve made from it has always been delicious. I should really put the amazing carrot cake recipe up here but I thought I’d mix things up and try the apple...
Barbecued spicy lamb & fennel meatballs
Today we had the first BBQ of the year in a sunny interval minutes before it started chucking it down with rain. It wasn’t exactly a traditional BBQ, but I’d been inspired by a great meatball dish I’d had at a restaurant in Soho called Polpo and decided to try and have a go at making something similar.
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INGREDIENTS (serves 2-3)
For the meatballs
500g Pork mince
1...
Briani rice with lamb curry
People often remark that Indian food is a great way to enjoy vegetarian cooking and that most of the curries made in India are with vegetables and not meat. It’s a fair point but there’s nothing like a lamb curry. This is actually based on a Mauritian curry - made on this years Masterchef final by the winner Shelina Permalloo.
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INGREDIENTS (serves 4)
For the lamb curry:
3...
Mango, Pineapple & Mint
After the spicy curry above I served this really simple refreshing dessert. It’s based on a Jamie Oliver recipe I made ages ago but uses mango as well in tribute to the woman who’s recipe I used for the curry - Shelina - who is absolutely obsessed with the things.
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INGREDIENTS (serves 6)
1 ripe pineapple
2 ripe mangoes
Pot of natural yogurt
Bunch of mint
Sugar
METHOD
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Leek & roquefort risotto - the last supper
Today was my last day of having to eat like a vegetarian. It’s something I’m really glad I did and can honestly say it has changed my opinions towards vegetables. I’ve actually found it easier than I thought I would - I’ve not really had any meaty cravings and have realised that it is possible to enjoy vegetarian cooking and eating. Don’t get me wrong - I can’t...
March 2012
9 posts
Veggie Mezze
I had a good friend over for dinner last night and thought I’d try out a few of the Mezze recipes from my veg book. As usual I was slightly optimistic with my timings and she ended up having to do half the cooking, but it was really good fun and tasted great!
P.S. Just to make you aware of the ‘Read More’ button under the photo if you haven’t already discovered it -...
Beetroot, green bean and goats cheese salad
Not sure this really classes as a salad - the huge piece of goats cheese in the middle slightly negates any health benefits, but it tastes amazing. It was inspired by a starter I had at a pub in Kennington last year and was the perfect way to use the beetroots I had in my veg box.
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To be honest with you I’ve made this in the past and just used pre-prepared beetroot added at the...
Eggs Benedict (nearly)
I wouldn’t normally even consider making Eggs Benedict without a nice slice of smoked ham or crispy bacon underneath my eggs - but for any new visitors to this blog - I’ve given up meat for lent. That said poached eggs and hollandaise is still a winning combination.
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It’s probably cheating but I tend to use Delia’s method for making hollandaise which uses a food...
Mushrooms on Toast
I had some veggies to use up so I created a slightly random dinner. Mushrooms on Toast, sticky spiced red cabbage and a green salad. As a plate of food I’m not sure it really worked to be honest, but the mushrooms on toast were a winner.
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If you want to make the sticky spiced red cabbage you can find the recipe I used here. I wouldn’t though to be honest; it wasn’t very...
Veg Box Soup: Carrot and Coriander
My veg box gets delivered on Mondays so thought I’d better use up all the leftovers this weekend before the next one comes. I had a potato, a load of carrots, some parsnips, a couple of leeks and some coriander from this recipe. A soup seemed like the obvious solution.
RECIPE
I just threw it all together so I’m not completely sure this is right but it went something like…
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Patatas bravas
The river cottage veg book has become a life-saver whilst I’m off meat. This is a really simple recipe for patatas bravas. It’s also healthier than the traditional method of deep-frying the potatoes in oil. Whilst admittedly this would make a fantastic side-dish alongside a nice bit of meat, I’d happily eat this on it’s own for supper.
INGREDIENTS (Serves 4 as a...
Warm chilli, feta and coriander baguette
I don’t often swear but bloody hell this was hot! This is a recipe I saw once on a Nigel Slater program. The idea is that the heat of the chilli is balanced with the coolness of the feta and the coriander. I used scotch bonnet’s which are mentally hot but taste amazing. You wouldn’t want it much hotter but this dish really does work.
INGREDIENTS (Feeds 1)
1-2 chillies of...
Pasta with fennel, rocket and lemon
The next veg out of my box that looked like it needed eating sooner rather than later was a fennel bulb. Again referring to the River cottage book (one that comes highly recommended by carnivores) I found this pasta recipe and decided to give it a go.
INGREDIENTS (serves 2)
1 large fennel bulb
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove finely sliced
150g pappardelle pasta
2-3 large handfuls of...
Leek and cheese toasties
Right, so here’s the first of the vegetarian recipes. In celebration of my newfound affliction opportunity, I’ve joined Abel & Cole to deliver me a weekly box of fresh vegetables. It’s a complete rip-off but it does at least provide some inspiration for what to cook. First out was some leeks so I decided to make these toasties, closely based on a recipe from the river cottage...
February 2012
11 posts
Red Hill Farm Rare Breed Pork
I realise that the title of this post is not a great start to my newfound (temporary) vegetarianism, but I assure you that I myself have resisted the urge to buy some of this delicious pork. However that should not stop you from doing so because it’s bred by a very good friend of mine and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Check out their site for the different cuts available and if...
A sad farewell cheese and bacon burger
I can’t believe I’m writing this but I’m giving up meat for lent. Partly as a challenge from a colleague, partly as a challenge to myself to give up something I’ll actually find (very) hard and partly to challenge myself to cook with vegetables more. I’m going away next week so this was the last chance I had to cook meat. Time was scarce to I thought I’d go out...
Fish Curry
Thought I’d give another Masterchef recipe a go tonight, although once again cutting out half of the work. This time it was Shelina’s yellowtail snapper in coconut curry and mango kutcha, but without the mango kutcha…or the yellowtail for that matter.
Tesco didn’t have any yellowtail snapper so I used smoked haddock fillets instead, plus I used mango chutney instead of...
Homemade Sausages
Inspired by a friend’s friend’s blog I thought it would be fun to make our own sausages. I’d recently bought a mincer from here to help with this project that came with everything you need to make sausages. It was possibly one of the strangest things I’ve ever done but also very satisfying!
INGREDIENTS
1kg Pork shoulder, cut into 1 inch cubes
150g Mozzarella
1/2...
Wood-fired Pizza
My friend Alex came to visit for the weekend so I thought it’d be fun to try out the pizza oven I was given for my birthday. It’s not quite your authentic Italian brick affair, but rather an attachment that turns a kettle BBQ into the next-best-thing. We managed to get it up to an impressive 350°C despite it being about -3°C outside; so whilst we were freezing, the pizzas came out nice...
Heston's (very slow) chilli
I had a load of people over for dinner tonight and decided to do Heston’s chilli. Despite taking quite a few shortcuts it still took a ridiculously long time to make and involved lots of different processes. Not sure it tasted any better than the Nigella recipe I usually use which takes about half an hour!
INGREDIENTS (Feeds 4)
For the spiced butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1½ tsp ground...
Midnight Feast quesadilla
The past couple of nights I’ve got a bit peckish late at night and rustled up one of these entirely unauthentic quesadillas with things I found in the fridge.
INGREDIENTS:
Flour tortilla
Gruyere cheese (left over from this)
Christmas chutney
Creme fraiche (left over from this) or sour cream
Parma ham (left over from this)
METHOD:
Get the griddle nice and hot. Spread the chutney...
Salad Main - Beef tagliata
On second thoughts this really isn’t a salad so much as a big bit of steak with some rocket on top - but it’s progress! According to Heston the official name for it is tagliata - an Italian dish of seared steak, sliced and served with rocket and parmesan shavings.
INGREDIENTS (For 2)
Olive oil
1 large or 2 smaller sirloin steaks (about 400-500g in total)
2 garlic cloves, peeled...
Salad starter - Peach and Parma ham
Somewhere on this blog about a month ago I think I vowed to try and start making some healthier recipes. I thought I’d have a go at a couple of salads again from Heston’s cookbook. The first I did as a starter - peach, parma ham, Gruyere and rocket.
Heston’s recipe is much more detailed giving exact weights for ingredients but I just sort of guessed everything. I also cheated...
Slow-cooked beef with horseradish mash,...
Inspired by last nights episode of Masterchef, I thought I’d try and recreate Emma’s slow-cooked beef - although I decided to leave out the onion ice-cream! I’ve amended it slightly to make it easier, (a bit) healthier and to avoid words like jus. The whole thing shouldn’t take much longer than an hour.
I changed parts of the recipe based on what I had in the fridge, but...
Heston's Banana and Bacon Cookies
My sister bought me Heston Blumenthal’s latest cookbook for my birthday the other week entitled ‘Heston Blumenthal at Home’. The recipes, unlike in his previous books, are at least achievable; however most do require you to have a fair bit of time on your hands. I needed something quick to take to a dinner party and the simplest thing I could find were these crazy sounding...
January 2012
8 posts
Chicken Chilli Men
As it’s Chinese New Year I thought I’d cook something oriental. This is more of a Japanese dish, although strictly speaking it’s a Wagamama dish, so I’m not sure how authentic it really is. It’s my favourite at Wagamama though so I thought I’d have a go at recreating it.
I did a search and managed to find a recipe which I got a bit carried with and followed...
Quick Apple Chilli Chutney
It was my birthday yesterday and I had lots of people round in the evening. I cooked a whole shoulder of pork and a whole shoulder of lamb and somehow managed to forget to photograph them (though I might upload the recipes anyway as they were very tasty). There was a bit of the chutney I made left though so I managed to get a shot of that.
This is a really simple chutney that is best eaten on...
Perfect Burger (Attempt #2)
Inspired by another amazing burger this time from Honest Burgers in Brixton Village (the healthy eating is going well!) I thought I’d have another go at making my perfect burger.
RESULT
This time I got the butcher to mince the meat which was much more successful than my last attempt. However I was slightly let down by Tesco’s buns so next time I think I’ll make my own. It...
Paul's Pizza
Today I thought I’d stick with one of my own recipes. I’m not usually one to blow my own trumpet but this was one of the tastiest pizzas I’ve ever eaten! Trouble is I spent so long photographing the thing it was a bit cold when I came to eat it.
This all sounds like quite a lot of hard work but it’s easier than it sounds and is honestly really fun to do.
INGREDIENTS...
Lemon, Asparagus & Lemon Risotto with Lemon
A slight knock to a reputation that is otherwise held in very high esteem; today was the first time I was disappointed by a Nigel Slater recipe. I should have trusted my instincts - 2 lemons really seemed like too much for this risotto and despite using less than 1 it was still all I could taste. A valuable lesson in tasting as you go along rather than inadvertently following someone elses...
Emergency Soup
‘Emergency’ is perhaps a little dramatic but in fairness I was very hungry and the lack of supplies in my cupboards was quite frankly embarrassing for someone who claims to be into their cooking. The only things to be found were some slightly sad looking veg left over from before Christmas and so soup was my only real option.
I’m slightly loathe to give you the recipe for...
Poached Eggs
Not sure this really constitues a recipe so to speak, but in terms of finding things to eat there’s not many things as simple and as instantly gratifying as poached eggs on toast. I’d be quite happy to eat it at any time of the day or night (in this case breakfast).
RECIPE
For tips on how to cook great poached eggs read this post.
P.S
I’ve just got a new phone so hopefully...
Salmon and Dill Fishcakes
Creating this blog has been great. I’m not holding it entirely responsible - I think Christmas has been the main culprit - but as it’s grown so has my waistline. This marks the first of some healthier recipes which will hopefully rectify the situation. Hopefully they won’t be too boring!
For some reason - I think horror stories from my mother’s childhood - the word...
December 2011
17 posts
Game Pie
This was also one of 2 pies that fed 15 or so hungry friends on a New Years holiday to Devon. It was another recipe from the Ginger Pig book and had an insane amount of meat it in. Venison, partridge, wood pigeon, pheasant, pork belly, chicken and bacon.
Most of the meat came freshly shot from the Chatworth Estate in the Peak District and bought to Devon by my friend Jo. It was then marinaded...
Chicken & Ham Pie
The observant among you will notice this is not on the ‘Turner Table’. My brother gave me the excellent Ginger Pig cookbook for Christmas and I made some pies over the holidays that I felt deserved a place here. This was actually one of two that fed all 20 or so members of my family (The other one had a chicken on it).
RECIPE
Coming soon
Christmas Pasta
A bit of an experiment tonight - I wanted to try and create Christmas pasta for a dinner party starter. I made brie and cranberry ravioli, stuffing tortellini and sage and onion sauce.
INGREDIENTS (For 6)
For the pasta
2 large eggs
200g tipo 00 flour
For the fillings
A standard slice of brie
A jar of cranberry sauce
Proper stuffing
For the sauce
Butter
Sage
An onion
METHOD
Coming...
Mulled Wine
This is my favourite mulled wine recipe, by Jamie Oliver. You make a thick syrup first so that you can infuse the flavours of the fruit and spices without burning off all your alcohol.
INGREDIENTS
2 clementines
peel of 1 lemon
peel of 1 lime
250g caster sugar
6 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
3 fresh bay leaves
1 whole nutmeg
1 whole vanilla pod, halved
2 star anise
2 bottles of...
Proper stuffing
I must admit that even till recently I would always just use a bit of Paxo when in need of some stuffing. Until I realised how easy and how infinitely more tasty it is to make your own.
RECIPE
Soften 2 medium onions, peeled and roughly chopped in 30g butter over a low heat. Once the onions are pale gold, remove them from the heat and stir in 6 finely chopped sage leaves, a handful of coarsely...
Chocolate chip cookies (attempt #2)
Right, perhaps slightly sooner than I was anticipating but here is attempt 2 in my quest to find the perfect cookie. Today is a recipe called ‘crispy, chewy, chocolate chip cookies’ from a website called Smitten Kitchen.
RECIPE
http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/crispy-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies/
RESULT
These cookies looked amazing. Much thicker than the first attempt and...
Speedy (and tasty) Stir-fry
Whenever I used to hear the words stir-fry my heart would sink. My experience had always been of slightly soggy, overcooked vegetables that had been fried for ages. The whole point of a stir fry is to get the pan as hot as you possibly can and fry everything very quickly - once you’ve chopped everything up the whole thing should take no more than 5 minutes.
INGREDIENTS (for 1)
...
Slow Cooked Pork Shoulder (with fennel, rosemary...
This is essentially very similar to this recipe, but much easier as it goes in the oven rather than the BBQ which is quite frankly a lot simpler and a lot warmer at this time of year. One advantage is that you can sit the pork on a bed of vegetables which helps keep it nice and moist and also helps creates a delicious gravy. It takes about 9 hours to cook but is absolutely worth the wait as the...
Fig, Honey and Mascarpone Tart
Thought I’d try and use figs for the first time as ‘tis the season. I found this Nigel Slater recipe which I definitely need to hone but it tasted rather good none-the-less.
INGREDIENTS (serves 6)
For the pastry:
225g plain flour
125g fridge cold butter
90g sugar
2 egg yolks
For the filling:
10-12 figs
2 tablespoons honey
6 tablespoons mascarpone cheese
150g crème...
Perfect Burger (Fail #1)
I went to the burger shop Byron the other day with my little brother and had the most delicious burger I think I’ve ever eaten. So I decided to try and recreate it…
It really was very tasty - and here I’m still talking about the one I had in Byron. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and am slightly ashamed to say I’ve been back 3 times since. Second one was also...
3am Tipsy Cake
It was my work Christmas party last night. I got in at about 3am, a little bit tipsy, dressed as Buzz Lightyear and then remembered I’d promised to make a cake for my friend’s birthday. Goodness knows what was going on in my head but despite the odds it actually looked pretty good and tasted alright too. Thanks in large part to Nigella’s fail-safe recipe…
INGREDIENTS
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