Poach franks
Blanch savoy cabbage leaves
Boil some sliced onions
Grate some mature cheddar
Toast bread and butter
Assemble: Bread, v generous smooth Dijon mustard, cabbage, franks, onions, cheddar, season, other bit of bread.
Welcome to the blog! I write recipes here for things I have cooked, trying to include useful information.
Showing posts with label cheese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cheese. Show all posts
Wednesday, 16 November 2016
Epic bacon sandwich
3 slices back bacon
Brie cheese
Thickly sliced tomatoes
Rocket
Balsamic vinegar
Bread
Butter
Fry the bacon, though after turning place a slice of brie on each slice.
Fry the tomato slices alongside the bacon.
Toast the bread. Butter.
Assemble as follows: Bread, bacon, tomatoes, seasoning, rocket, balsamic, other slice of bread.
Brie cheese
Thickly sliced tomatoes
Rocket
Balsamic vinegar
Bread
Butter
Fry the bacon, though after turning place a slice of brie on each slice.
Fry the tomato slices alongside the bacon.
Toast the bread. Butter.
Assemble as follows: Bread, bacon, tomatoes, seasoning, rocket, balsamic, other slice of bread.
Wednesday, 6 July 2016
Zuchini balls
3 courgettes (or zuchini, up to you. Yes they are the same thing)
50g goat's cheese or feta
2 tbsp finely chopped mint
1 egg
Ground black pepper
A pinch of flour
Breadcrumbs - optional
Coarsely grate the zuchini. Place in a colander over a sink. Salt very generously with fine salt. Toss together with your hands and leave to drain for 30 minutes.
After this time, squeeze together into a ball with your hands. This ought to be sufficient though you could always twist in a tea towel if you liked.
Mix together in a bowl with the other ingredients except the breadcrumbs. Tbh it's pretty hard to make it bind together, though the pinch of flour should help. It's not neccessarily a problem you just have to be careful when you fry them...
Roll into golf ball sized peices with wetted hands. Dredge either in seasoned flour or breadcrumbs and fry in a generous amount of olive oil. Like I say above it is a slightly delicate operation when it comes to frying them so don't turn too early and try to fry at the right kind of pace.
Serve on their own with lemon wedges.
50g goat's cheese or feta
2 tbsp finely chopped mint
1 egg
Ground black pepper
A pinch of flour
Breadcrumbs - optional
Coarsely grate the zuchini. Place in a colander over a sink. Salt very generously with fine salt. Toss together with your hands and leave to drain for 30 minutes.
After this time, squeeze together into a ball with your hands. This ought to be sufficient though you could always twist in a tea towel if you liked.
Mix together in a bowl with the other ingredients except the breadcrumbs. Tbh it's pretty hard to make it bind together, though the pinch of flour should help. It's not neccessarily a problem you just have to be careful when you fry them...
Roll into golf ball sized peices with wetted hands. Dredge either in seasoned flour or breadcrumbs and fry in a generous amount of olive oil. Like I say above it is a slightly delicate operation when it comes to frying them so don't turn too early and try to fry at the right kind of pace.
Serve on their own with lemon wedges.
Friday, 11 September 2015
Rice-stuffed tomatoes with ham and cheese
Large tomatoes
Risotto rice
Onion
Butter
Ham
Cheese
Peas
Wash and slice the tops off the tomatoes. Spoon the insides out as much as possible with a spoon, retaining the juice and pulp (see: 'Spanish tomato bread').
Half cook a risotto with the butter, onion and rice. Of course if you have stock, white wine, celery or whatever else available you can use those in this. Cook it for about 10 minutes rice cooking time. At the time you finish there should be roughly the same amount of liquid as rice in the saucepan (add more if there isn't).
Cube the cheese and ham and mix this with the rice along with the peas (still frozen is fine). Spoon this filling into each tomato, again so that rice comes half way up each tomato and liquid fills the remainder. Put the lids back on each tomato, pour over a little vegetable oil to held prevent burning and dryness and bake at 170C for 40 minutes. Baste and cover if you need to.
Filling the tomatoes doesn't actually need that much rice so I would suggest you keep cooking the rest of it!
Lots of variations possible. Nice served with salad leaves, fried potatoes, bread or as they are. Warm or room temperature I would suggest.
Risotto rice
Onion
Butter
Ham
Cheese
Peas
Wash and slice the tops off the tomatoes. Spoon the insides out as much as possible with a spoon, retaining the juice and pulp (see: 'Spanish tomato bread').
Half cook a risotto with the butter, onion and rice. Of course if you have stock, white wine, celery or whatever else available you can use those in this. Cook it for about 10 minutes rice cooking time. At the time you finish there should be roughly the same amount of liquid as rice in the saucepan (add more if there isn't).
Cube the cheese and ham and mix this with the rice along with the peas (still frozen is fine). Spoon this filling into each tomato, again so that rice comes half way up each tomato and liquid fills the remainder. Put the lids back on each tomato, pour over a little vegetable oil to held prevent burning and dryness and bake at 170C for 40 minutes. Baste and cover if you need to.
Filling the tomatoes doesn't actually need that much rice so I would suggest you keep cooking the rest of it!
Lots of variations possible. Nice served with salad leaves, fried potatoes, bread or as they are. Warm or room temperature I would suggest.
Thursday, 25 June 2015
Pasta with spinach, gorgonzola and cherry tomatoes
Serves 2
1 bag of leaf spinach (they seem mostly the same size to me)
15g butter
100ml double cream
150g gorgonzola cheese
Handful cherry tomatoes
200g pasta
parmesan, salt, pepper
Wash the spinach. Get a large pan of water boiling. Drop the spinach into this pan. Stir with a wooden spoon and cook for one minute maximum. Drain into a colander and wash immediately with cold running water. When cool, gather the spinach up in a ball which you squeeze as tightly as possible to eliminate liquid. Chop finely.
Meanwhile melt the butter in a large frying pan and lightly saute the cherry tomatoes with some seasoning. Add the spinach and other sauce ingredients to this pan, and at this point you can put the pasta on to cook.
Simmer the sauce well until it has a nice coating consistency and concentrated flavour. You can adjust with salt. pepper and lemon juice.
When the pasta is cooked add it to the frying pan and give everything a bit of a cook together before serving with parmesan.
1 bag of leaf spinach (they seem mostly the same size to me)
15g butter
100ml double cream
150g gorgonzola cheese
Handful cherry tomatoes
200g pasta
parmesan, salt, pepper
Wash the spinach. Get a large pan of water boiling. Drop the spinach into this pan. Stir with a wooden spoon and cook for one minute maximum. Drain into a colander and wash immediately with cold running water. When cool, gather the spinach up in a ball which you squeeze as tightly as possible to eliminate liquid. Chop finely.
Meanwhile melt the butter in a large frying pan and lightly saute the cherry tomatoes with some seasoning. Add the spinach and other sauce ingredients to this pan, and at this point you can put the pasta on to cook.
Simmer the sauce well until it has a nice coating consistency and concentrated flavour. You can adjust with salt. pepper and lemon juice.
When the pasta is cooked add it to the frying pan and give everything a bit of a cook together before serving with parmesan.
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Grilled pork chops with Roquefort and sage butter
It is definitely worth investing in a heavy, ridged and cast iron stove-top grill pan. See picture below for an example.
Grilled pork chops with Roquefort and sage butter
Serves 2
2 pork chops, bone in, 1 inch thickness. Look for good marbling of the meat and even cutting of the chop. Should be bought from a butchers or good supermarket meat counter.
Oil and seasoning
For the butter:
50g salted butter. Cut into peices and leave at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften.
50g Roquefort cheese
1tsp very finely chopped washed sage leaves (measured when chopped). Take time to chop them finely.
Generous pepper
A little salt
To make the butter, place all ingredients into a small bowl and mash together with a fork.
Place the chops on a plate. Rub with oil then season both sides well. Leave for 30 mins ideally to come to room temperature.
Pre-heat the grill ie. leave the pan over a high heat for 5 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 190C.
Lay on the chops, turn the heat down slighly and leave them for around 4 minutes. Listen for the right intensity of cooking.
Once they are well browned, turn them over and brown the other side before placing into the oven to finish cooking. The key to how long this next stage will take is the thickness of the chop. If they are 1 inch you will need to leave them in the oven for around 12 minutes. I once bought a big packet of pork chops from a supermarket and ate them all week, pan frying them. I found that by the last one I had got the hang of cooking them so they were thoroughly cooked but not dried out.
Remove from the oven to rest, still in the grill pan, for 4 minutes.
A couple of minutes before serving smear a tablespoon of the butter on each chop with a knife. Serve onto a plate, tilt the grill pan and spoon most of the fat away but there should be some lovely gravy to also pour over the chops. Let's be honest we want chips with this.
Grilled pork chops with Roquefort and sage butter
Serves 2
2 pork chops, bone in, 1 inch thickness. Look for good marbling of the meat and even cutting of the chop. Should be bought from a butchers or good supermarket meat counter.
Oil and seasoning
For the butter:
50g salted butter. Cut into peices and leave at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften.
50g Roquefort cheese
1tsp very finely chopped washed sage leaves (measured when chopped). Take time to chop them finely.
Generous pepper
A little salt
To make the butter, place all ingredients into a small bowl and mash together with a fork.
Place the chops on a plate. Rub with oil then season both sides well. Leave for 30 mins ideally to come to room temperature.
Pre-heat the grill ie. leave the pan over a high heat for 5 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 190C.
Lay on the chops, turn the heat down slighly and leave them for around 4 minutes. Listen for the right intensity of cooking.
Once they are well browned, turn them over and brown the other side before placing into the oven to finish cooking. The key to how long this next stage will take is the thickness of the chop. If they are 1 inch you will need to leave them in the oven for around 12 minutes. I once bought a big packet of pork chops from a supermarket and ate them all week, pan frying them. I found that by the last one I had got the hang of cooking them so they were thoroughly cooked but not dried out.
Remove from the oven to rest, still in the grill pan, for 4 minutes.
A couple of minutes before serving smear a tablespoon of the butter on each chop with a knife. Serve onto a plate, tilt the grill pan and spoon most of the fat away but there should be some lovely gravy to also pour over the chops. Let's be honest we want chips with this.
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Tartiflette Savoyarde
Reblochon is quite an expensive cheese. Probably because it tastes so good.
Other than clarifying that you should use waxy potatoes, I really can't improve on the brilliant recipe in the link below.
Tartiflette Savoyarde
Other than clarifying that you should use waxy potatoes, I really can't improve on the brilliant recipe in the link below.
Tartiflette Savoyarde
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Macaroni cheese
I actually have no idea how my mother's macaroni cheese tasted so good as a child. There was one with bacon bits in and tomato on top for my dad and sisters, and one without the tomato for me. I was very fussy! It might have been a Delia recipe.
Hopefully there are some tips in here for beginner and advanced alike. One addition could possibly be half a teaspoon of English mustard powder, which I think would be really nice in a cauliflower cheese sauce to be served with roast beef.
Macaroni cheese
Serves 2
25g butter
Pour the contents into
a gratin dish, sprinkle evenly with more cheese (or top with sliced tomatoes, parmesan and oil as per the photos below), salt and pepper the
surface. Bake at 180C for 20 minutes then finish browning it under the
grill.
Last thing, let it cool for five minutes before serving. Piping hot macaroni cheese tastes of very little.
Hopefully there are some tips in here for beginner and advanced alike. One addition could possibly be half a teaspoon of English mustard powder, which I think would be really nice in a cauliflower cheese sauce to be served with roast beef.
Macaroni cheese
Serves 2
25g butter
20g plain flour
300ml milk
decent handful of mature cheddar (has to be mature) plus more for on top
salt
ground white or cayenne pepper
squeeze of lemon juice (or white wine vinegar)
grating of nutmeg
200g macaroni or penne
The first thing to do is to boil the kettle for the pasta water.
Gently melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour and cook gently for 1 minute, whisking. It should bubble well but not brown at all. Add the milk 1/3rd at a time, whisking and cooking after each addition until thickened. Once all added simmer gently for a few minutes, whisking every now and then so it doesn't catch on the bottom. At this point you can put the macaroni into a large volume of heavily salted boiling water.
Gently melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour and cook gently for 1 minute, whisking. It should bubble well but not brown at all. Add the milk 1/3rd at a time, whisking and cooking after each addition until thickened. Once all added simmer gently for a few minutes, whisking every now and then so it doesn't catch on the bottom. At this point you can put the macaroni into a large volume of heavily salted boiling water.
Add the cheese to
the sauce, bit of salt and pepper, squeeze of lemon and nutmeg if you
have it. You need to leave the macaroni very slightly underdone as it
will continue to cook in the oven, so taste it constantly until ready.
The
big secret is to have a generous amount of sauce for the amount of
pasta... drain the pasta into a colander and add to the sauce. Add only enough pasta from the
colander to the sauce, mixing as you go, so that the proportions are
right. Use the pasta's cooking pot if the sauce saucepan is not large enough - but add the pasta in the same way and save what you don't need for something else.
Last thing, let it cool for five minutes before serving. Piping hot macaroni cheese tastes of very little.
Saturday, 26 February 2011
Spaghetti carbonara
My housemate James Marshall and I tested a decent number of carbonara recipes while at university. In fact, we ate little else for about a year. This is how I cook it these days. It's actually very similar to the recipes described by both Rick Stein and Marcella Hazan, in ingredients. Rick Stein's fantastic YouTube video is available here but I have spelled out a few details below. Note that with regards to the spaghetti, fresh pasta is possibly too rich and eggy for a rich and eggy sauce, so use dried, and leave it firm to the bite when cooked. Chewing releases the flavour.
Spaghetti Carbonara
Serves 2
Dried spaghetti of a good brand
1 egg plus 1 yolk
Grated parmesan (or pecorino or half-half)
Pancetta or streaky bacon strips
Olive oil
Butter
1/2 small clove finely chopped or crushed garlic (depending on strength)
Finely chopped parsley
Begin by boiling the kettle to get the spagetti cooking as soon as you can. Get the pancetta pieces frying with a bit of olive oil in a small saucepan.
Meanwhile prepare the sauce by combining the egg and yolk with around a tablespoon of grated cheese and some black pepper in a mug. You might not need salt given the salty cheese and bacon. Note that the recipe can easily be done for one person (post work?), in which case I would use one egg and break it gently over a sink to dispose of a small amount of white and keep the right balance with yolk.
If the well cooked bacon has thrown off a huge amount of fat you may like to remove some of it, otherwise proceed by adding a tablespoon of olive oil, a knob of butter and the garlic and parsley. Return to a low heat to just infuse the oil with the garlic.
By this time the spaghetti will be cooked, so you can drain it, however here comes a crucial detail. You are going to add the spaghetti and the egg mixture to the pancetta pan, however you must allow the pancetta pan to cool first otherwise the egg will scramble. And note that if it is a thick, heavy based saucepan you will probably need to let it cool for a good few minutes. If the pan is already cool enough you can transfer the pasta straight into it with tongs and spoon in a little of the salty pasta water to boost the sauce.
All the recipe books tell you not to put the pan back on the heat once you've added the egg, but I don't agree with this. It's fine, as long as it's a very low heat and you keep stirring the contents. Of course the aim is to thicken the sauce without scrambling the egg.
One tip is to grate some parmesan onto the plate before placing the spagetti on top (with more cheese and black pepper). It's not heathly but it is cheap, quick and delicious!
Spaghetti Carbonara
Serves 2
Dried spaghetti of a good brand
1 egg plus 1 yolk
Grated parmesan (or pecorino or half-half)
Pancetta or streaky bacon strips
Olive oil
Butter
1/2 small clove finely chopped or crushed garlic (depending on strength)
Finely chopped parsley
Begin by boiling the kettle to get the spagetti cooking as soon as you can. Get the pancetta pieces frying with a bit of olive oil in a small saucepan.
Meanwhile prepare the sauce by combining the egg and yolk with around a tablespoon of grated cheese and some black pepper in a mug. You might not need salt given the salty cheese and bacon. Note that the recipe can easily be done for one person (post work?), in which case I would use one egg and break it gently over a sink to dispose of a small amount of white and keep the right balance with yolk.
If the well cooked bacon has thrown off a huge amount of fat you may like to remove some of it, otherwise proceed by adding a tablespoon of olive oil, a knob of butter and the garlic and parsley. Return to a low heat to just infuse the oil with the garlic.
By this time the spaghetti will be cooked, so you can drain it, however here comes a crucial detail. You are going to add the spaghetti and the egg mixture to the pancetta pan, however you must allow the pancetta pan to cool first otherwise the egg will scramble. And note that if it is a thick, heavy based saucepan you will probably need to let it cool for a good few minutes. If the pan is already cool enough you can transfer the pasta straight into it with tongs and spoon in a little of the salty pasta water to boost the sauce.
All the recipe books tell you not to put the pan back on the heat once you've added the egg, but I don't agree with this. It's fine, as long as it's a very low heat and you keep stirring the contents. Of course the aim is to thicken the sauce without scrambling the egg.
One tip is to grate some parmesan onto the plate before placing the spagetti on top (with more cheese and black pepper). It's not heathly but it is cheap, quick and delicious!
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