Articles Tagged with “Recipes”
06/04/2008: Tagliatelle with Fennel and Asparagus
It is nearly asparagus season in the UK (although you can buy imported asparagus all year round). Here’s a recipe I made up tonight…
Ingredients
- 250 g saffron tagliatelle, or plain tagliatelle
- 10 asparagus spears
- ¼ fennel bulb, finely sliced
- 2 tbsp fennel pesto
- lemon-infused olive oil, or plain olive oil
- zest of 1 lemon, or 2 lemons if using plain olive oil
- 1 tsp saffron, if using plain tagliatelle
- 30 g butter
- salt
Method
Boil the asparagus and tagliatelle in separate saucepans of salted water. The asparagus will take about 5 minutes. The tagliatelle may take from 3 minutes to 10 minutes, so consult the packaging. You want to time things so that the tagliatelle finishes cooking about 5–6 minutes after the asparagus.
When the asparagus is nearly cooked, heat the butter and a generous glug of olive oil in a griddle pan. Drain the asparagus and add it with the fennel to the griddle pan.
When the pasta is cooked,…
09/03/2008: Monkfish with Pancetta, Fennel & Saffron
Here’s a recipe I’ve reverse engineered after having eaten it at the Jolly Sportsman last month.
Ingredients
- 2 monkfish fillets
- 8 slices pancetta
- 2 medium potatoes
- ¼ savoy cabbage
- ½ bulb fennel
- ½ tsp ground saffron
- 30g butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 100 mL milk
- 100 mL chicken or vegetable stock (optional)
If monkfish is not available, any other white fish will make a reasonable substitute. Haddock works well. What is important is that the fillet must be long and thin, with a cross-sectional area of about a square inch (say, 2 cm by 3 cm), and should be boneless.
Method
Clean the fennel and slice very finely. Heat about a quarter of the butter and a tablespoon of the oil in a small frying pan, and sauté the fennel until it starts to brown. Stir in the saffron, then add the stock, or a little salted water. While the other parts of the meal are cooking, keep an eye on the…
10/02/2008: Mince & Dumplings
Ingredients
Mince
- 450g minced beef
- 250g beef stock or water
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 large carrot, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 4 strands thyme
- small bunch parsley
- 1 tbsp Worcester sauce
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
Dumplings
- 150g plain flour
- 75g suet
- salt
- pepper
Method
Heat the sunflower oil in a pan and fry the onion and beef until brown. Add the carrot, tomato puree, Worcester sauce, herbs and stock. Leave to simmer while you prepare the dumplings.
Preheat an over to 200°C.
Mix the suet, flour and seasoning in a large bowl. Add a little water and work into a heavy dough. The dough shouldn’t be particularly sticky — add a little flour if it is.
Divide the dough up into eight pieces and roll them into balls.
Transfer the beef mix to a casserole dish. Place the dough balls on top of the beef mixture. They shouldn’t sink in too far. Bake for about 35 minutes, uncovered.
29/01/2008: Chicken & Chorizo Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 skinless chicken breast fillets
- 100g Spanish chorizo sausage, chopped
- 150g dried penne or similar dried pasta
- 1 red pepper
- 1 yellow pepper
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- small handful parsley, chopped
- 2 tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Method
Chop each pepper into 4–6 sections, discarding the stalks and seeds. Grill the chopped pepper, skin side up until the skin is charred and blackened. Place the grilled peppers in a plastic bag, seal and set aside to cool.
Prepare the pasta according to the directions on the packet.
Meanwhile, finely chop the chicken. Fry in olive oil until brown and then add the chorizo and garlic.
When the peppers have cooled enough to be handled, remove from the bag. Peel off the charred skins and discard. Chop the flesh of the peppers and add it to the chicken and chorizo. Also, add the paprika and stir well.
Once cooked, drain the pasta. Add the parsley and pasta to the chicken and chorizo mixture and stir together. Heat through and serve.
26/01/2008: Fennel, Sausage and Bean Casserole
This recipe is ideally made with plain pork sausages, or pork & leek. Try to avoid overly seasoned sausages. If peeling the tomatoes is too much bother, using half a tin of tomatoes would probably work fine.
Ingredients
- 4 Sausages
- 2 × 440g tins of cannellini beans, drained
- ¼–¾ bulb of fennel
- 4 medium tomatoes
- 300 mL chicken stock
- olive oil
Method
Submerge the tomatoes in boiling water. Simmer until their skins split. Remove the tomatoes from the pan and run under cold water. Peel their skins off and chop the tomatoes.
Grate the fennel with a cheese grater, or chop very finely.
Chop each sausage into 6–8 segments. The skin may tear or come loose — discard any loose bits of sausage skin.
In a casserole dish, heat a generous amount of olive oil. Fry the chopped sausages, stirring continuously to prevent them from sticking. Cook for 5–10 minutes, until they are browned.
Add the beans, tomatoes, fennel and stock. Stir until well mixed. Simmer gently for about 30 minutes.
Serve with focaccia or a similar bread.
17/01/2008: Ham vs Bacon vs Pork
Many people are unsure of the difference between pork, bacon and ham. Pork is, quite obviously, the meat taken from a pig. But where do bacon and ham come in? Mrs Beeton’s Everyday Cooking supplies the answer…
15/01/2008: Gnocchi all’Amatriciana al Forno
This is a very easy Italian-style meal of my own creation, combining gnocchi with a simplified sugo all’amatriciana. If you prefer, macaroni or another small, cut pasta could be used in place of gnocchi.
Ingredients
- 500g pack of gnocchi
- 400g tin of tomatoes
- 6 rashers of pancetta, or 4 rashers of unsmoked streaky bacon
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2–3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- a small handful of parsley, chopped
- black pepper
- 150g mozzarella
Method
Preheat an oven to 190°C.
Prepare the gnocchi according to the instructions on the packet. Drain and set aside.
Dice the pancetta or bacon and fry with the onion, garlic and chilli. When cooked through, add the tomatoes, black pepper and parsley. Simmer for ten minutes.
Stir the gnocchi into the sauce and then transfer the mixture to a large ceramic baking dish, such as one suitable for making lasagne. Pat down and flatten the surface using the back of a wooden spoon.
Scatter torn mozarella over the top of the dish and bake for 30–40 minutes.
09/01/2008: Mushroom and Tarragon Stuffed Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 skinless chicken breast fillets
- 4 large mushrooms
- 1 baby leek, finely sliced
- 75g ricotta or Philadelphia cream cheese
- 40g butter or margerine
- 20g dried porcini mushrooms
- small handful of tarragon, roughly chopped
- 4 cloves of smoked garlic, or 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed
- 2 tbsp mushroom ketchup (optional)
- salt & pepper
- 4 cocktail sticks
Method
Put the porcini mushrooms into a mug or cup and fill the cup with boiling water to rehydrate the dried mushrooms.
Chop the fresh mushrooms very finely (pieces should be about the size of peas) and fry them with the leek and garlic in about 30g of butter. When brown, transfer mixture to a small mixing bowl. Allow to cool slightly.
Drain the porcini mushrooms and chop them. Add the porcini mushrooms and cheese to the mushroom and leek mixture and stir together. Place in the fridge to cool and set.
Preheat an oven to 180°C. Grease a small baking try with the remaining butter.
With a sharp knife,…
08/01/2008: Recipes
I spent a while the other day re-arranging the old recipes on this site and moving them into the “blog” bit rather than the “articles” bit. Hopefully they’ll now be a bit easier to find. Sorry for breaking their URLs.
01/09/2003: Pork a’l’Orange
This can be served with the same accompanying vegetables mentioned in my
recipe for Pork Dijonaise or with some crusty French bread.
Ingredients
- 2 pork steaks
- 1 orange
- 250mL orange juice
- 2 sprigs of parsley
- thyme
- salt and pepper
- butter
Method
Heat a little butter in a frying pan. Fry the pork in the oil for about 8 to 10 minutes on each side. When the pork is done, take it out of the pan and leave it somewhere to keep warm.
Add the orange juice and a little thyme, salt and pepper to the frying pan. Heat ferociously, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile cut thin cresent-shaped slices of orange. Arrange them on serving plates with the pork.
When the volume of orange sauce has reduced to approximately half, pour it over the top of the pork. Decorate with a sprig of parsley and serve immediately.