Deep fried halloumi, chips and peas

This is a recipe I've adapted from the "Terre a terre" cookbook recipe, a lovely restaurant down in Brighton that serves only veggie food.  It's a truly superb restaurant even if you're not a veggie so if you get the chance give it a go.

The original recipe is very complex so this is a cut down version of it but we all felt that it worked well.  Let me know what you think!

Ingredients
Chips
3 or 4 medium to large potatoes, I like red King Edwards
Olive oil for coating
Salt and pepper
Halloumi
1 block halloumi drained.
1 carton buttermilk (mine was 284ml)
Plain flour for coating
Batter
150g plain flour
75g self raising flour
10ml white wine vinegar
240ml cold water
½ teaspoon baking powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Lemon pickle
1 lemon, pith and peel removed
30ml lemon juice
Peel from 1 preserved lemon
50g caster sugar
1 teaspoon hot chilli sauce of your choice
1 garlic clove
3 turns of the black pepper mill
A pinch of ground coriander
1 tablespoon of coriander leaves
A pinch of salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salad tartare sauce
1 nori sheet
40g flat leaf parsley
60g capers
60g small cocktail gherkins
½ small shallot
2-3 spoons mayonnaise - see method
Quails eggs - 2 or 3 per person
Mushy peas
400g frozen peas
A handful of mint leaves
50g unsalted butter

Method
First prepare the halloumi.  Cut it into bite sized chunks and add to the buttermilk.  Try to soak this for at least a couple of hours, better still, overnight.

Heat the oven to 220°C and put a baking tray lined with foil and a small amount of olive oil in the oven.  First, prepare the chips.  Peel the potatoes and slice them length ways into 4 to get nice big chips, then boil for 4 minutes.  Drain as much water as you can off them and coat them in a little olive oil.  Take the baking tray out of the oven and add the chips in a single layer, then add a few turns of the salt and pepper mill before returning the tray to the oven on the top shelf.  The chips will take approximately 30 minutes to cook and while they're cooking, turn them and coat with the hot oil 3 or 4 times while they're cooking to get a nice, even browning.  If they're cooked before you've finished the rest, turn the oven off and keep the chips warm.

For the Lemon pickle, blend all the ingredients together using a stick blender, put into a small saucepan, bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 2 minutes, then leave to cool.

To make the sea salad tartare sauce, take the nori sheet and heat over a flame briefly (be careful as they burn really easily) to dry out, then crumble into a container suitable for blending all the other ingredients.  Chop the shallot roughly then add this and the parsley to the nori sheet.  Add enough mayonnaise so that you can use the stick blender to blend together to a smooth paste - it needs to be slightly thicker than the mayonnaise.  Now chop the gherkins and capers finely and stir into the mayonnaise mixture.

To make the much peas, boil the peas for 2 minutes, chop the mint finely while the peas boil, then drain the peas, add the butter and mint to the peas, crush with a fork or potato masher and mix everything together with a fork.  Keep this warm.

Add the quails eggs to boiling water, bring back to the boil and cook for 2 minutes.  Drain and rinse in running cold water to stop the cooking process.  When ready to serve, peel the eggs.

To make the batter, whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl to make a smooth batter, then keep in the fridge until ready to use.   Heat about 1cm of oil (I use olive oil or rape seed oil) in a frying pan big enough to take all of the halloumi pieces. Drain the halloumi and shake off some of the butter milk, then roll in the flour to coat all over, dip into the batter and fry in the oil until nicely browned.  Turn the pieces over and do the same for this side.

To serve, plate the chips, halloumi and peas on warmed plates, add a little tartare sauce and place the quails eggs on top, then add a small amount of lemon pickle on the halloumi pieces.  Serve with the rest of the tartare sauce and the lemon pickle on the table.

Chicken gumbo

I'm really enjoying cooking New Orleans and Cajun food at the moment, I love the way it uses ingredients and ideas from so many different styles of cooking and so far, it's mainly ended up tasting great.  This is my take on Gumbo, there are as many recipes as there are cooks so if you like you can leave your own ideas as a comment :)

This was inspired after seeing my friends play some blues in Camden Town at the blues kitchen and I had Gumbo there, which was very good, so I had to find a way to cook my own.  Hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients

4 chicken legs

Cayenne pepper

Salt and black pepper

100ml oil

100g flour

2 onions, finely chopped

2 red peppers, finely chopped

2 sticks of celery, finely chopped

1 litre chicken stock, at room temperature

Bay leaf

200g okra, chopped

200g smoked sausage, thinly sliced

Pinch or dried thyme

1 sweet potato peeled and cut into 5mm dice

A handful of sweetcorn, frozen

A bunch of spring onions, peeled and chopped finely

Rice, to serve

Sweet dumplings

Method

Remove the skin from the chicken and dust with salt, black and cayenne pepper. Leave to sit for at least half an hour (you can prepare the rest of the ingredients while you're waiting).

Set the flour, onion, pepper, celery and stock out beside the stove. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pot over a medium-high heat and then brown the chicken well, in batches if necessary. Set aside.  Turn the heat down slightly and scrape any bits off the bottom of the pan, then stir in the flour. Stir over a medium-low heat until it reaches a deep, rich brown colour, about the shade of melted milk chocolate. (the darker it is, the more bitter the flavour.)

Add the onion, pepper and celery and cook, stirring, for a few minutes until softened.  Gradually stir in the stock, little by little, until you have a smooth sauce, scraping the bottom of the pot as you do so.

Add the chicken back into the pot, along with the bay leaf and thyme, and bring to a simmer. Turn down the heat, cover and simmer for an hour and a half.

Add the sweet potato, okra, sweetcorn and sausage, stir, replace the lid and simmer for a further 45 minutes.  Remove the chicken (keeping the pot on the heat) and, when cool enough to handle, strip the meat from the bones and put it back into the pot, along with the Tabasco sauce and salt and pepper to taste.