Proper comfort food this one, not for the lactose intolerant though. Serves 6 easily.
Take 4 boneless and skinless chicken thighs, chop into roughly equal chunks and gently fry until cooked through and brown on the outside. As you're doing this cook 500g of macaroni as per the instructions on the packet, then drain. Preheat the oven to 180C.
Remove the chicken from the pan but leave the oil. Add 100g of butter and once melted a tablespoon of hot/smoked paprika along with salt & pepper. Add 100g of plain flour and stir until you have a nice smooth paste. Keep adding milk to this in small amounts, stirring or whisking as you go to ensure it stays smooth. You'll probably need about 750ml of milk, but every time is slightly different. Once you've got a nice smooth sauce throw in a big handful of finely diced (better) or grated cheese. No need to splash out on the expensive stuff here, but don't use crap either.
Once that's melted into the sauce stir in the pasta and chicken making sure everything is coated and the chicken is evenly mixed through. Spoon this mixture into a greased oven dish.
Grate a whole load of cheese and mix with a handful of breadcrumbs, sprinkle this evenly over the top and bake until crispy and crunchy. Cold white wine would be a very good idea about now.
Monday 7 November 2011
Toad in the hole
Fairly simple this one, in honour of National Sausage week I get our sausages from http://www.taylorsofsale.co.uk/ or make them myself but feel free to substitute with any high quality ones. Take 3 eggs and break into a glass, look how far up the glass the eggs go. Pour the eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk to break them up completely. Fill the same glass with plain flour and whick this in to the eggs until smooth, repeat the process with full fat milk. Season as desired, if you fancy some chopped thyme in the batter could be nice, or sage (not too much though). This is a basic batter recipe for Yorkshire pudding and can be easily scaled up or down the basic idea is equal quantities by VOLUME of egg, milk and flour. Put the batter in the fridge or at least out of the way. Put the oven on to 190C, as it's warming up put the dish/tray you'll be cooking it in into the oven along with a generous splash of oil (or even better dripping/lard) to heat up with the oven. This is vital, if you forget you need to put the dish & oil in and leave for at least 20 minutes when the oven's hot. When the oven if up to speed and the dish & oil are really hot you can continue. Fry a pound of thin sausages in a pan to brown them off. This is now where you need to work quickly - take the tray out of the oven, tip in the sausages, pour the batter around (it should sizzle) and get it back into the oven as soon as possible. Bake for 25-30 minutes and serve up straight away.
Onion gravy goes great with this and it's a nice touch to use the pan you brown the sausages in to make it.
Finnish style meatloaf
Medium chop, fry & brown one onion.
While that's happening take 200-300ml of breadcrumbs, pour over 100ml of cream and 100ml of water (or milk) and one egg yolk (optional) - mix these all together.
Add the onion to this along with 500g minced beef, 250g minced porkand one beaten egg.
Mix all of these together along with salt, pepper and a generous amount of jauhelihamauste. If you can't get it then you'll not go too far wrong with oregano & paprika, if you like a spot of chilli wouldn't go amiss but that's up to you.
Form the mix into a classic meatloaf shape, remembering that the more even the shape, the more even the cooking and put into a pre-heated oven (180C) for about an hour depending on how thick it is. Let it rest for about 5 minutes after cooking.
Meanwhile make the brown sauce (and mash if you're having that, but if you're thinking about adding boiling water to flakes you need to go away and re-evaluate your lifestyle choices).
Medium chop one large onion and fry in a little oil until it's brown, add about 50g of butter and fry melted. Add 50g of plain flour and keep stirring over a medium-high heat until the flour incorporated and then browned. At this point add stock or water. Obviously stock tastes better (real stock that is, tap water is better than a cube). Add when the stock/water is hot and stir until you have a smooth sauce, you can serve as is or strain the onions out. A welcome addition here would be a spoonful of mustard stirred into the sauce at the last minute.
Serve it all up with mash and or salad.
While that's happening take 200-300ml of breadcrumbs, pour over 100ml of cream and 100ml of water (or milk) and one egg yolk (optional) - mix these all together.
Add the onion to this along with 500g minced beef, 250g minced porkand one beaten egg.
Mix all of these together along with salt, pepper and a generous amount of jauhelihamauste. If you can't get it then you'll not go too far wrong with oregano & paprika, if you like a spot of chilli wouldn't go amiss but that's up to you.
Form the mix into a classic meatloaf shape, remembering that the more even the shape, the more even the cooking and put into a pre-heated oven (180C) for about an hour depending on how thick it is. Let it rest for about 5 minutes after cooking.
Meanwhile make the brown sauce (and mash if you're having that, but if you're thinking about adding boiling water to flakes you need to go away and re-evaluate your lifestyle choices).
Medium chop one large onion and fry in a little oil until it's brown, add about 50g of butter and fry melted. Add 50g of plain flour and keep stirring over a medium-high heat until the flour incorporated and then browned. At this point add stock or water. Obviously stock tastes better (real stock that is, tap water is better than a cube). Add when the stock/water is hot and stir until you have a smooth sauce, you can serve as is or strain the onions out. A welcome addition here would be a spoonful of mustard stirred into the sauce at the last minute.
Serve it all up with mash and or salad.
Friday 4 November 2011
Spicy Carrot Salad
You will need
3 large carrots
Half a ripe melon
Bunch of spring onions
One red onion
Bunch of coridaner
A piece of ginger about the size of your thumb
Tamarind paste & Chillis (as much/little as you like) OR the chilli-tamarind past from Zumar
Handful of peanuts
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of wine vinegar
Sugar to taste
Chop the melon into medium chunks
Finely chop the spring onions
Finely slice the red onion
Shred the carrot - don't grate it, a Kom Kom miracle knife is perfect for this
Put all the other ingredients in a blender and give it a whizz
You should have a reddish sauce with little chunks of peanut and flecked with green from the coriander - taste it to see if you want more chilli or if it needs sugar/vinegar. It won't need salt due to the soy.
Mix everything together in a large bowl about half an hour before serving.
3 large carrots
Half a ripe melon
Bunch of spring onions
One red onion
Bunch of coridaner
A piece of ginger about the size of your thumb
Tamarind paste & Chillis (as much/little as you like) OR the chilli-tamarind past from Zumar
Handful of peanuts
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of wine vinegar
Sugar to taste
Chop the melon into medium chunks
Finely chop the spring onions
Finely slice the red onion
Shred the carrot - don't grate it, a Kom Kom miracle knife is perfect for this
Put all the other ingredients in a blender and give it a whizz
You should have a reddish sauce with little chunks of peanut and flecked with green from the coriander - taste it to see if you want more chilli or if it needs sugar/vinegar. It won't need salt due to the soy.
Mix everything together in a large bowl about half an hour before serving.
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