Spinach Cheese

Chanced on this very good combination, excellent for a starter. Yet again no photo, when will I learn?
It is very fast, so get everything ready before starting. Watchpoints: onion en-dente, dry spinach and do not leave the cheese to heat.

Take about 200gm pre-spring-water washed young spinach leaves. Pick over, nip off any thick stems, discard any spoilt leaves. Grab into one tight bundle and cut across in 1/2inch strips, do not worry if the odd leaf escapes. 

Pre-heat a large and deep covered pan. Medium chop one large white onion, so you have strips say about 5mm x 20mm. Coarsely grated about 2oz of Gruyère cheese. Cut two thick slices of a very good wholemeal loaf, crusts off, toast and set aside to keep warm.

Into the pre-heated pan, a smear of oil, throw in onion, cover over a low heat and watch. No colouring, just turning transparent, test, until soft to bite but still retains crispness. Turn pan to highest heat, off with lid, get the chopped spinach in as soon as possible, turning over with spatula, blend with the onion, as soon as the dry spinach wilts, loses it shape, (it should not throw off any water if the spinach is dry and has not been washed again) take off the heat. Strew with Gruyère, keep turning and let the residual heat of the spinach melt the cheese.

In the meantime soft boil and shell two quail eggs!
Serve immediately on the brown toast, a pile of spinach cheese all topped off with a soft boiled quails egg. Yummy

Crab Rolls

I love Red Mullet, firm sweetish flesh with that shellfish tang. Have not yet come up with the right accompaniment. Getting closer, try these crab rolls. 

Take a large red Karyatis roasted pepper from a jar. Slit along length and open out. Place its length across the top edge of a sheet of cling wrap. Spread a layer of white crab meat along the length leaving 10mm clear of the long edges. Take two kingsized prawns. Lightly cut, no more than halfway through from the inside curl about every15mm so they open out and lay flat. Place along the centre, cut side down. Put two or three stems of chives on either side. Take an anchovy, split in two long lengthways and place alongside the prawn.

Now from the top edge carefully roll the clingwrap, turning the pepper into a roll. Twist off the ends to really tighten up the roll. Place carefully into no more than a soft rolling fish stock, just for a few minutes to warm through. Lift out, set aside to keep warm. When your fish is ready, cut the roll into 20mm discs, slip off the cling wrap and serve.

Aha, remembered to take a photo this time.

crabroll in clingwrap

crabroll with red mullet

Stirfry courgette

On a medium juliet manadolin slice one small carrot, then a medium courgette. Keep separate. In a hot pan over a just off high heat, put in half tablespoon of a mild olive oil. Toss in carrot stir around to soften without colouring. Then add courgette, carry on stirring until it just begins to soften. Then add thin crescents of two ripe sweet tomatoes, stir occasionally in the dying heat, adding 1/8th teaspoon of paprika, a teaspoon of walnut oil and a tablespoon of chopped parsley. Serve immediately. Do not overcook as it will turn mushy, just catch it when the courgette is still slightly al dente. Gave the quantities as I used them. You will need to adjust quantities. The ratio of vegetables to aim at are 1 carrot: 3 courgette: just under 2 tomato.

Remember to take a photo before eating, unlike me. It looks great and has sweet clean flavour.

Chick Pea medley

Rather than lose it, thought I would record this one I came up with. Quantities are as I used so you will have to adjust to suit. About 200gm of chick pea soaked over night, washed in fresh water and drained. Cover with water in pan bring to boil, boil for ten minutes they say, drain, rinse and replace in clean pan with water to well cover. Bring back to simmer with garlic, onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf and cook for about 1.5hr depending on age of pea. Should be really soft, no hardness. Set aside, keep back some liquor.


Cut into 6mm dice, onion and stick of celery, sweat off in a little olive oil. Add half red pepper in same dice. Raise temperature, stir around and just as they begin to soften add two tablespoons of reserved liquor, juice of a lemon. Reduce. Add a very little toasted sesame oil, around 1/16th teaspoon, It should only be a background flavour, not standing out distinctly. Fine chop a red chillie, without seeds and add. Add chick peas and stir in. Dry off without colouring.


Take three tomatoes, skin de-seed and coarsely chop, add to pan, turn over. Add a handful of chopped coriander leaf, adjust seasoning and serve. Vegetables should be soft but with just a suggestion of al-dente and dish should have very little liquid.

Damn, forgot to take a photo again, but it looks good and tastes great.

Slow cook red cabbage

We have a number of hand me down and trusty red cabbage recipes that we love. Tried out this out the other day. Success!  Could be our new favourite. 

Put a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Chop an onion and clove of garlic fairly fine and throw into pan to sweat off. Finely shred one red cabbage, about 2.5lbs. I used the largest dice on my hand mandolin and that turned out just right. Add to pan, cover, turn from time to time until cabbage glistens and has just soften and compacted a little.


Transfer to slow cook pot. Peel, core and fine slice one large bramley apple. Add. Take zest of one orange, two tablespoons of a dark sugar, a generous scraping of nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste and add. Add roughly half a cup of red wine, a half cup of red wine vinegar and a cup of water to pot. You need a little liquid to get it started but not too much as it will throw of more as it cooks. Stir, cover and leave to cook for upto 2.5 hours, just giving it the odd turn over.


I was surprise at how long it took. The cabbage never loses a slight soft crunch, but the flavours do not really blend and mellow until after about the two hours. It is a taste thing, you decide bearing in mind my comments. Enjoy

Slow Cook Partridge

Ingredients:

2 brace partridge

½ lb small dice smoked bacon

1 stick celery, stringed and cut into 1” segments together with the heart and young leaves.

2 clove garlic coarsely chopped

6-8 young thin carrots, brushed clean

1 onion coarsely chopped

handful of parsley

2 bay leaves

2lb of apples, peeled, quartered and cut into thin moons. I used Russets which keep their shape and are sweetish

Juice of one lemon and 2” of lemon peel

¼ pint cider brandyr

¾ pint chicken stock

3 Tblspn olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

In a large frying pan on a high heat, put in diced bacon and turn until coloured. Tip fats to one side, take off bacon and scatter around in slow cooker bowl.

Return pan to heat and sear all sides the partridge that you have wiped dry. When well coloured set aside.

Scatter garlic, carrots, chopped onion, lemon peel, celery segments and heart in slow cooker bowl with the broken bay leaves.

Put apple slices as they are cut into a bowl and toss in lemon juice.

Stuff two or three apple segment into the body of each partridge and press each bird breast down into the slow cooker bowl.

Pour off any excess fats and deglaze the frying pan off the heat with the cider brandy, stir in all the crusty pieces and pour over the birds together with the chicken stock.

Scatter the remainder apple pieces with the lemon juice around the birds, pressing into any gaps. Season to taste.

Cover slow cooker bowl, put in base, set to low temperature and leave to slow cook for four hours.

Check birds are moist and very tender. Take out birds and set aside in a warm place with about half of the apples and vegetables pieces.

Blitz the remainder apple and vegetables with the sauce until thick. Rub through a sieve, return to a clean pan and reduce over high heat until thick and smooth.

Take the breast and leg meat off each bird, arrange on a plate with the reserved apple and vegetable in the centre. Drizzle with the sauce, serve with the left over sauce in a separate boat. 

In the heat of the moment forgot yet again to take a photo. Note to self, I will really have to do better.

Curried Batter and Curried Chick Peas

Just came up with a couple of dishes that struck the right notes, spicy but not in your face, so worth recording.

First off, Hake fillets in a light curried batter.
To a cup of chick pea flour add tablespoon of ground coriander, half teaspoon of ground white pepper, turmeric and ginger, large pinch of asafoetido and cayenne. Add about half pint of water mix to smooth thin paste until like single cream. Beat the yolk of one egg, you may need to use another egg depending on the size of fillets. Beat egg white separately until beginning to stiffen, fold into chickpea batter mixture.
Dip Hake fillets into seasoned flour, dust off excess, dip and coat in egg yolk and then into batter mixture. Slid into corn oil at 190C in a wok, after a few minutes, turn over until all sides are just golden. Take out and put on paper towel to absorb excess oil. Eat immediately.

Chick Pea Curry
Precook the chick peas, reserve about a pound of the cooked peas with cooking juices to cover. Use the remainder perhaps to make a houmous. In a covered small pan, sweat off a large onion cut small in a tablespoon of olive oil. When softened, take off lid turn up heat and drive off moisture. Add about three tablespoons of chicken stock, carry on cooking till all moisture absorbed, repeat. Then drain chickpea juice into pan and carry on until moisture is just driven off. Be careful you cannot rush this or turn your back on it, it will quickly colour, then burn, not what you are after.
Now add tablespoon ground coriander, half teaspoon ground cumin and quarter teaspoon ground fenugreek. Blend. Then add two tablespoons of dark molasses sugar, turn until absorbed then add a whole can of chopped tomatoes. Stir in, drive off excess moisture, turn down heat to very low, to let flavours absorb,. Keeping stirring occasionally taking care not to burn. Add reserved chickpeas with one small red chille, seeds removed and chopped fine, leave for a few minutes to warm then turn off heat and leave to stand on ring to absorb any moisture. Stir a good handful of coarsely chopped coriander leaf. Serve