Armenian kebabs

If you want a quick and easy meal for after work and are prepared to plan ahead, this is the one for you!   Alternatively, prepare it in advance before you go out and leave it to marinade in the fridge to cook when you get back from the pub or club and save yourself the cost of a kebab :-) You can also cook these on the barbie and they'll taste even better, but make sure you leave the barbie to cool slightly before cooking them otherwise they'll burn on the outside.

You need to marinade the meat, ideally overnight, so be warned!  Rowena is especially keen on shish kebabs so she'll love this I'm sure.  It's not too expensive either, especially if you make it by buying lamb chops and cutting them up into pieces - this cost me a tenner for three people.

Ingredients
1 decent size lamb chop per person, fat and bone cut off and chopped into 2cm cubes
150ml red wine
50ml oil - olive oil by preference
1 small teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt

To serve
Lettuce or Salad leaves - I prefer Little Gem lettuces
1 medium tomato
A few slices of cucumber
A few slices of raw onion
1 green chilli (optional)
Half a lemon or lemon juice
1 pitta bread, toasted
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method
First, mix all the marinade ingredients together in a non-metallic bowl and add the diced lamb.  Cover and put in the fridge ideally overnight but for at least a few hours.

Next day, turn the grill on full then thread the meat cubes onto skewers (I use metal skewers but you can use wood if you prefer) then place them under the grill, adding a little of the marinade over the top to keep the meat moist.  If you're using the chilli, top, tail and deseed it and cut in n half lengthways and add it to the grill pan with a little of the marinade.  Cook the meat, turning regularly, until it is slightly browned on all sides - it takes bout 10-15 mins with my grill.

While the meat is cooking, prep all the salad. Shred the lettuce, quarter the lemon, slice the tomtato, cucumber and onion and slit the pitta bread across the long side to make a pocket.

Once the meat is cooked, put it on the plate and while it's resting for a couple of minutes lightly toast one side of the pitta.  I prefer serving it all separately so you can mix and match what you put in your kebab but if you prefer you can assemble them in advance, it's up to you.

Finally, serve with some chilli sauce - there's my recipe here if you want to make your own!

Hot and spicy tofu

Many years ago we used to visit the Penang Satay House restaurant (if my memory serves correctly) on Turnpike Lane, Woodgreen, London.  We had many a lovely Thai meal there and the satay was fantastic, but one dish that was fantastic and I've never found a recipe for it was a Tofu dish that was marinaded in a hot and spicy sauce.  This is my attempt to recreate the dish - long years may have dimmed my memory, but I thin this is pretty good!

Ingredients

1 350g pack firm soy bean tofu

Sechuan pepper

Salt

plain flour

salt

oil for frying

1 dessertspoon light soy sauce

1 dessertspoon dark soy sauce

1 dessertspoon fish sauce

1 dessertspoon chinkiang vinegar

2 teaspoons chilli oil

½ teaspoon honey

Fresh coriander (optional)

Method

Chop the tofu into 1cm slices and carefully coat the slices with a little salt, a good few grindings of sechuan pepper and a coating of a little flour.  Heat the oil in a pan until it is hot, then fry the tofu on both sides until golden brown.

Combine the soy sauces, fish sauce, vinegar, chilli oil and honey together and once the tofu is golden, chop it into bite size pieces and add it to the mixture.  Adjust for taste with chilli and fish sauce and serve as is with a little chopped coriander for garnish or use it to make some Pad Thai.

Asian style turkey burgers with rice and guacamole

This was from a website originally, but I've made a few changes to the recipe as the ingredients left the burgers rather bland.  We had this as a midweek meal and it was really quick to prepare and cook and perfect for a Tuesday in our house where we are all doing different acivities.

Ingredients

500g turkey mince
75g breadcrumbs
30g packet of fresh coriander
1 fresh green chilli
1 large red onion
juice of 1½ limes
1½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons Worcester sauce

To serve

Plain boiled rice
Avocado and cucumber guacamole
Lime cut into thin slices
Pepperdew peppers sliced into strips
Chopped fresh coriander

Method

Make the avocado and cucumber guacamole first using the linked recipe, put it into a bowl, cover with cling film and push the film onto the surface before sealing to exclude all the air so the guacamole doesn't go brown.

Now make the burgers.  Peel and chop the onion and chilli as finely as you can, then wash and chop the coriander leaves making sure you leave a few for garnish.  Add the Worcester sauce, breadcrumbs, onion, coriander, chilli, lime juice, salt and pepper to a large bowl and mix together well.  If you're cooking these later, cover with cling film and keep in the 'fridge.

Set the rice to boil and while it's cooking fry the burgers.  I like to cook them in a non stick griddle pan with a little olive oil.  Cooke them on a medium heat until they are browned on each side, then leave them to rest while you plate up.

Drain the rice and serve in a mould to add a little interest to the dish, add a couple of spoonfuls of guacamole then pile the burgers next to them.  Decorate with the thinly sliced lime, coriander and pepperdew peppers and enjoy!

A favourite Sunday lunch, slow roasted pork belly

Of all the roasts, this is probably my favourite.  I know it's very fatty, but slow roasting reduces the fat by quite a bit and leaves to meat tasty and melting in the mouth.  Most of the cooking fat is simply thrown away, but it's essential to use some of the cooking juices for the flavour.  Best of all is the wonderful crackling :-)

Ingredients

2-3 ribs of pork belly per person depending on appetite, skin scored

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

½ teaspoon of salt

5 cloves of garlic

5 or 7 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 large carrot

1 large or 2 small onions

Salt and pepper to taste

1 large old potato per person

1 small brown onion per person

600ml chicken stock

125ml white wine

A handful of curly kale per person, tough central stalk removed
2 large teaspoons cornflour

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C.  Dry fry the cumin seeds and black peppercorns in a non stick pan over  medium heat until they release the flavour.

Add the seeds to a mortar with the salt. Pick the leaves off the thyme and add them to the mortar, then crush the garlic cloves and add these too.  Grind the mix together until it's a paste.

Peel the carrot and the onion, chop into medium chunks and add them to a roasting tray so you can rest the meat on them.

Prepare the meat by washing and drying thoroughly, then coat the underside of the meat with the herb and spice mixture and add it to the roasting tray skin side up on top of the onion and carrot.  Now add a liberal amount of salt to the skin, cover the meat with aluminium foil and place in the oven.

Peel the potatoes and onions and slice them thickly (1 cm slices is perfect) and add them to a second roasting tray.  At this stage I add a couple of cloves of garlic sliced thinly but this is optional.  Add a sprinkle of salt and a good few grindings of black pepper and mix the potatoes, onion and garlic together.  Pour the chicken stock over the mixture and set to one side.

After 30 minutes, take the meat out of the oven and check to see if the carrots and onions are starting to brown, if not then put the meat back and leave for another 10 minutes. When the carrot and onion is browning, turn the heat down to 150°C, take the meat off and scrape the cumin and peppercorn mix off the bottom into the roasting tray.  Now place the meat on top of the potato and onion mix and put it back in the oven for 3 hours.

Meanwhile, make the sauce.  Drain the fat from the roasting pan keeping the juices. De glaze the roasting pan with the white wine to get off as much of the roasting juices as possible - you may need to add a little water to this. After 1½ hours of cooking, decant off about 200ml of the stock and roasting juice mixture from the oven  and add this to the sauce.  Turn the heat to medium under the sauce and start reducing the sauce to concentrate the flavour.  As you cook more vegetables, add 100-200ml of the cooking water to the sauce when you drain them to add more flavour.

When the 3 hours is up, take the meat out of the oven, put it on a warmed plate and cover with foil to rest it.  At this point, if the potatoes and onions still have a lot of liquid, add it to the sauce leaving about ½cm in the bottom of the tin.  The potato and onion mixture should be nicely browned on top, if it isn't turn the oven up to maximum and put the mix on the top shelf to crisp it off.

Cut the skin off the meat and brown it under a hot grill to make the crackling.  I find the best results are to put the grill pan on the bottom of the shelf leaving a 10cm gap between the element and the skin otherwise the crackling will burn in some parts but won't be cooked in others.

Meanwhile cook the kale for no more than 2 minutes in boiling water, drain and keep warm. Mix the cornflour with a little water and add this to the sauce to thicken, season to taste and keep the sauce warm.

Carve the pork and plate up, add a spoonful or two of the potato and onion mixture, a little cracking and some kale and serve with the sauce and a glass or wine.  I prefer white with pork, but read works equally well!

Red Pepper pasta sauce

This is a quick and easy sauce to knock up and then freeze for a really quick tasty supper through the week.  This recipe makes 2 good sized portions for 3 people.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 large red peppers
2 red onions
4 clover garlic
2 400g cans Italian chopped tomato
1/2 a teaspoon of smoked paprika
1/2 a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
Salt and ground black pepper

Method

Peel and finely chop the onions, peel and crush the garlic.  De seed and slice the peppers into 5 mm slices, then chop into 3-4 cm lengths.  Heat the oil in a large sauté pan and add the onion and garlic and fry until slightly softened.

Add the chopped peppers and sauté over a high heat until they start to brown  Add the chilli and smoked paprika and cook for a further 30 seconds.

Finally add the two tins of chopped tomatoes, bring to the boil and reduce until you have the sauce consistency you prefer with pasta - we like ours quite thick.  At this point, leave it to cool fully, split it into however many portions you want and freeze them.

To serve, thaw out the sauce, heat it and add some freshly chopped basil.  Serve with the pasta of your choice and some grated parmesan.

Smoked Haddock Chowder

This is based on an Ainsley Harriott recipe, it's easy to prepare and tastes good too.  You can buy the smoked haddock in advance and freeze it but you can't freeze the prepared dish well as the potato doesn't freeze well, but if you know better, let me know!  These quantities server 4 if you're hungry.

Ingredients

25g unsalted butter
1 leek
1 onion
2 rashers smoked back bacon
600g undyed smoked haddock
450ml skimmed milk
2 bay leaves
300g peeled potatoes
500ml fish or chicken stock
150g frozen sweetcorn
3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
30g pack of flatleaf parsley

Method

Chop the onion, leek and bacon finely, melt the butter in a large sauté pan, add the onion, leek and bacon and sauté over a medium to low heat for 10-15 minutes to soften but not colour the mixture. Meanwhile prepare the fish by putting the bay leaves, fish and milk into a pan, bring the milk to the boil then turn down to simmer for 10 minutes then turn the heat off.

Peel the potato and cut into 5mm dice, then rinse and add to the onion, leek and bacon mix, add the stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the potato is soft.  Drain the fish adding the cooking milk directly into the potato, onion, leek and bacon mixture.  Add the sweet corn and mustard, stirring to mix them well. You'll need to bring the mix to the boil a second time as the corn will cool things down, once it's boiled, continue cooking over a very low heat while you prepare the rest of the dish.  At this stage, the mixture should be a fairly thick soup consistency, if it's too thin reduce it down while you prepare the fish.

Wait for the fish to cool enough to flake into bite size chunks. Separate the leaves from the stalks of the parsley and chop roughly, now add the fish and the parsley to the mix and heat through until it's all piping hot.

Serve in soup bowls with nice crusty bread and enjoy!

Home made Minestrone - so different to shop bought version!

We had some Cavolo Nero left over, so I made a minestrone soup.  The River Café recipe is the closest to this but I can't find Swiss Chard in Ware for love or money :(  This is the winter version; they also do a summer version but it's not that time of year yet and it has too much cream in it for my liking!  This serves 4 as a supper dish served with extra virgin olive oil, fresh grated parmesan and a crusty baguette.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large red onion
2 carrots
1 head of celery
½ a bulb of garlic
1 30g pack of flat leaf parsley
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
160g pack of Cavolo Nero
1 large head of spring greens
1 can cannellini beans
500ml chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve

Extra virgin olive oil
Freshly grated parmesan
1 baguette

Method

Peel the onions, carrots and celery and chop into large pieces.   Set aside the celery leaves for later.  Chop the onions, carrots and celery in the food processor finely to create the soffrito.  Heat the oil in a large pan and add the soffrito and fry over a medium heat until well cooked.  This takes quite a while.

While the soffrito cooks prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Peel and thinly slice the garlic, chop the parsley finely, prepare the chicken stock.  Prepare the cavolo nero and spring greens by cutting away the stalks, then slicing into thin strips and finally chopping to leave 5mm long slices of greens.   Wash the greens and leave them to drain.  Open the cannellini beans and drain, then take a quarter of the beans, add a little chicken stock and purée until smooth, setting this aside for later.

By now the soffrito should be cooked; add the garlic and half the parsley and cook for a further 5 mins.  Add the chopped tomatoes and reduce.

Once the tomatoes have thickened, add half of the greens, the remaining cannellini beans and the chicken stock, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 mins.  Adjust the seasoning to taste and add the rest of the greens, cannellini bean purée and the herbs and warm through until the greens are just cooked.

Serve in bowls with a warm crusty baguette, olive olive oil and parmesan.