Cyder with Eloise

Goat Curry with New Potatoes & Spinich

Jan 012012

Ingredients
1kg Goat Meat, I used a leg with bone in so the actual weight in meat was about 800g. Chop the meat into 1 inch cubes, anything left on the bone will fall off in the pot.

1 Onion, diced
3 tsp Root Ginger, finely chopped
6 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped

The spices I have used are as follows but you can add more or less depending on your tastes & spice rack limitations:
3 tsp Chilli Flakes
1 1/2 tsp Brown Mustard Seeds
1 1/2 tsp Yellow Mustard Seeds
3 tsp Ground Coriander
3 tsp Ground Cumin
3 tsp Turmeric
10 curry leaves, crumbled

600ml chicken or vegetable stock, I used home-made but you can use a stock cube but be careful with seasoning as it can be quite salty.

400g Spinach
400g New potatoes, halved

Groundnut oil
Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to low (Gas 3).
Season the goat with a little black pepper and sea salt.
Heat a large frying pan with a little groundnut oil.
Brown the goat in the pan a portion at a time to ensure the meat develops some colour and flavour; if you try to cook it all in one go then it will just sit and cook in it’s own juices. Then set the meat aside.
Heat some oil in a heavy based casserole dish, add the onions and stir gently as they first turn translucent and then start to brown. Add the garlic and ginger and continue to stir for 3 minutes to prevent the garlic from burning; this can give a bitter taste to the dish.
Add all the spices and stir for a further 3 minutes; you may need to add some stock to loosen the dry ingredients into a paste.
Add the goat meat and coat in the spice mixture slowly adding the stock to keep the dish fluid.
When all the stock has been added bring to the boil, then remove from the stove and place in a low oven (Gas 3) for approximately 2 hours. Check on it after around 45 minutes to make sure there is enough stock and if you need to add more do so, repeat until all the meat has fallen off the bone which you can now remove.
Add the new potatoes and cook for a further hour, keeping an eye on the level of liquid, it is best to have some excess stock in the pot to reduce later then have the meat too dry.
When the potatoes are cooked through move the pot back to the stove top and add the spinach, turn the heat up to a simmer, this should not take long as the dish will still be hot from the oven. Simmer for 5 minutes (or longer if you need to reduce the liquid stock) to warm the spinach though before serving.

Veg Box Wednesday

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Jul 062011

Macaroni with Roasted Veg & Cheese
The idea for this came from the roasted veg mac & cheese recipe in this weeks Riverford recipes (no 325).
This is a great recipe for using up left overs in the veg box – I had no crème fraiche, and so I had to improvise so my recipe is quite a bit different – give it a try.

The shallots I used came from Lenny’s dad’s garden and are really tasty. They are so fresh you can use quite a bit of the stalk too.

Serves 2

Ingredients
mixed vegetables – I have used 1/2 red & 1/2 green pepper, 1/2 aubergine, 2 courgettes, 4 wet shallots.
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
150g macaroni
100g parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 tbsp pesto
8-10 cherry tomatoes, halved

Method
Slice the veg into cubes or strips about 1-2cm.
Put the vegetables in a baking dish and toss in the herbs, salt & olive oil to coat. Season well and roast in the oven at 180˚C for about 30 mins, until just tender.
Remove from the oven. While the veg is roasting, cook the pasta, drain and retain some of the water.
Toss the drained pasta in a large bowl with 1/2 the cheese and a couple of tbsp of pasta water.
Spread the pasta over the roasted veg.
Beat the egg with a drop of milk and the remaining cheese and pesto and pour over the dish.
Lay the tomatoes on top.
Bake in the oven at 180˚C for about 10-15 mins, until the top is crispy and turning golden.

Aubergine & Chickpea Curry

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Jun 292011

Completely unrelated to the aubergines – I wanted to post a photo of the progress being made on the barn so I can look back later when it’s all complete.

The idea for this recipe came from “The Best Aubergines Ever” – Madhur Jaffrey’s Ultimate Curry Bible, but has been amended slightly.

Serves 3-4 as a main but works really well as part of a meal served with chapati’s and dal.

Ingredients
400g chickpeas, if using fresh ensure you soak them for 24 hours and then cook for 1 hour in salted water
3 tbsp groundnut oil
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
400g chopped tinned tomatoes
2 whole red chillies, sliced (I leave the seeds in – but it depends how hot you like it)
approx 10 curry leaves, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp tomato purée
50ml water
2 Large Aubergines, sliced
2 tbsp chilli oil (or olive oil)

Serve with
150ml greek yoghurt
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp roasted cumin seeds
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tbsp granulated sugar
20ml boiling water

Mix 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp of cumin seeds in with the yoghurt and set aside.
Mix the remaining salt and cumin seeds with the tamarind paste, add the sugar and dissolve with enough boiling water so that the tamarind mixture until it is of a consistency that you can drizzle off a spoon.

Method
Heat the oil in a large heavy based pan.
Add the brown mustard seeds and stir for a few seconds, they will start to pop, now add the onion and cook on a high heat until the onion starts to brown slightly, then and add the chickpeas, garlic and remaining ingredients. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer, cover the pan and cook for 20 minutes (or longer to improve the flavour if you have the time), stir occasionally and add more water if required.
Heat your oven to 180c (Gas 4).
Lay the sliced aubergine out on a baking tray and lightly brush the chilli oil over the top, sprinkle with a little salt. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until the aubergine starts to brown, remove from the oven and turn the slices over, brush the second side with the chilli oil and then return to the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and layer on a large serving plate.
Spoon the tomato and chickpeas over the aubergines, top with the yoghurt and then drizzle the tamarind mixture over the top.

Goat Curry with Potatoes

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Jun 122011

We were discussing goat meat the other night with some friends and someone said it’s a shame we can’t get goat meat around here, then on Saturday morning at the local farmers market in Oundle low and behold the Wobbly Bottom goats cheese stall was selling goat meat. We couldn’t resist.

This recipe would work just as well with lamb, pork or beef. The original recipe idea was taken from Madhur Jaffrey’s Ultimate Curry Bible however we made quite a few changes.

Serves 4

Ingredients
2 tbsp cumin seeds, roasted & ground
7-10 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 birds eye chillies, finely chopped
2 tbsp garam masala (Guyanese Garam Masala Recipe)
2 tbsp curry powder
3 tbsp groundnut oil
1 onion, sliced
4 spring onions, chopped
3 tbsp celery tops, finely chopped
1kg Goat Meat (on the bone), chopped into chunks
600ml water
2 tsp salt
100g new potatoes

Method
Roast and grind the cumin seeds and then mix in a bowl to a paste with the chillies, garlic, curry powder, garam masala and a dash of water.
Heat the oil in a large pan and add the spice paste, fry for two to three minutes and then add the meat, cook for two minutes adding a splash of water as required.
Add the onion, celery and spring onions, then add the remaining water and bring to the boil, reduce to a low heat cover and cook for a minimum of 1 hour either on the stove or in the oven, until the meat falls off the bone.

Pop to the pub for a while as the meat cooks.

When you return add the potatoes and remove the lid to reduce the liquid, this will take approximately 15-20 minutes. When the potatoes are nearly ready cook your rice.

Guyanese Garam Masala

Recipes 1 Response »

Jun 122011

1 tbsp Coriander Seeds
1 1/2 tbsp Cumin Seeds
1 1/2 Fennel Seeds
1 1/2 Fenugreek Seeds
1 1/2 Black Peppercorns
3/4 Brown Mustard Seeds
3/4 Nigella Seeds
3/4 Whole Cloves
1/2 Allspice
3/4 Ground Turmeric

Roast all the spices (Other then the turmeric) and then transfer to a pestle & mortar. Grind the spices to a fine powder.

Paella with Scallops and Wet Garlic

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Jun 082011

A kind friend give us some scallops the other day so here is a simple paella recipe also using in season wet garlic.

Serves 2

Ingredients
1 red pepper
20g butter
2 wet garlic bulbs, with stalks, thinly sliced
1 large white onion, sliced
6-8 scallops, halved depending on their size
175g paella rice
500ml hot stock (I used 400ml Chicken and 100ml Shrimp – but you could use Vegetable also.)
a few sprigs of saffron soaked in a drop of hot water.
1 tsp smoked sweet paprika
1 red chilli pepper, sliced

Method
Grill the red pepper until the skin starts to blacken and blister. Remove from heat and leave to cool slightly, then remove the skins and slice.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan or paella pan.
Add the onion and garlic and fry lightly until soft but not coloured.
Add the paella rice and stir in for about a minute.
Pour over 100ml of the stock, turn the heat down to simmering and slowly add the rest of the stock as the rice soaks it up.
Place a lid on the pan and cook for 5 minutes – keeping an eye on the rice so that it does not dry out, if it does add more stock or water.
Add the sliced red peppers, saffron, paprika and chilli and cook for a further 5 minutes, the rice should now be slightly al-dente, if more stock is required add to it and keep cooking but when the rice is ready add the scallops and cover again for 3 minutes.
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Serve.

Bouillabaisse

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May 162011

A Bouillabaisse traditionally has at least 5 different types of fish, however when your making it for just the two of you this can be expensive and filling! So I hope you’ll accept one of my fish being an anchovie.

This is the fish I used, however use what ever fish you fancy or can get hold of, the dab and gurnard were very cheap so I did not mind using them whole.

The stock base can be made prior to the soup and frozen for future use, but always use a home-made stock and not a stock cube for this dish.

For the stock
5 tbsp olive oil
2 medium brown onions
3 celery stalks
1 large carrot
Leftovers from 1 filleted plaice
1 Gurnard
1 Dab
50g whole brown shrimp
3 litres of water

Place all the above in a very large stock pot and bring to the boil, cover and simmer for approximately 1 hour then sieve into another pot. Be careful as this will be hot.
Rinse out the sieve and lay some muslin material over it and pour the stock back into the stock pot through the material.
Bring to the boil and reduce the stock down to appropriately 1.5 litres

For the soup
1 large brown onion, roughly chopped
2 anchovie fillets, roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
150g fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 stalks of wet garlic, roughly chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp parsley
2 tsp tomato purée
2 tsp lemon juice
1 bay leaf
500ml fish stock – as above
1 Gurnard
2 Pouting Fillets
2 Tilapia Fillets
1 handful of raw peeled prawns (The shells can be used in the stock or soup base)

Place all of the above except the fish into a large pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30 minutes and then strain all the soup base though a sieve into another pan.
Prepare the fish and chop larger fillets into 1 inch cubes.
Bring the pan up to the boil and add the fish, simmer for 5 minutes or until the fish is cooked through, season with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serve with some fresh French bread and alioli.

Jerusalem artichoke and wild mushroom risotto

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Feb 072011

Artichokes and wild mushrooms both have an earthy flavour that I think compliment each other.
This recipe can be done without the cream if you wish.

Ingredients
50g dried porchini mushrooms, rehydrated in 100ml of boiling water
1 tbsp olive oil
250g wild mushrooms, chop any large mushrooms
200g carnaroli (risotto) rice
500ml chicken stock, hot
100g (approx 2) Jerusalem artichokes, no need to peel, just wash well and chop off any really gnarly bits.
100g butter
100ml cream
1 tbsp dry sherry
course sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
parmesan cheese to garnish

Method
Heat the olive oil in a large heavy based pan. On a medium heat soften about 200g of fresh mushrooms in the oil for about 5 minutes, then add the rice. Stir the rice in with the oil and the mushrooms so that it starts to pick up the flavour then add 250ml of hot stock. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more stock as required.
Meanwhile prepare the artichoke purée. Grate the artichokes using a course (Microplane) grater. Heat half the butter in a small pan and add the artichoke, stir while the butter is absorbed and then the cream until also absorbed. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Now add the softened dried porchini’s to the rice and the remaining stock/soaking liquid from the porchini’s as required. Continue simmering until all the rice is cooked.
Add the artichoke purée and sherry then season with salt and pepper. Take off the heat and cover.
In a frying pan heat the remaining butter and lightly sauté the remaining mushrooms.
Serve the risotto with the sautéed mushrooms scattered on top and some freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Raspberry Puddle Pudding

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Jan 312011

This pudding is so good we made it twice. The first recipe I tried was from Olive magazines March issue, Lemon & Vanilla puddle pudding but we enjoyed it so much that I adapted it to the following recipe for two.
I’m looking forward to trying this again with maybe some white chocolate.

Serves 2

Ingredients
25g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
75g raspberries
10ml lemon juice
2 eggs, separated
25g plain flour
110ml milk
the seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
icing sugar for dusting
double cream to serve

Method
Heat the oven to 180/fan 160c/gas 4. Beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the remaining ingredients one at a time stirring each ingredient in until you have a smooth batter. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until firm but not too stiff, and fold into the fruit mixture.
Half fill a deep baking tray with hot water. Pour the pudding mixture into buttered ramekins (or you can use one large dish) and put the ramekins in the baking tray.
Bake for 45 minutes until the top is lightly browned and set, the underneath will remain soft with a fruity puddle.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle with icing sugar. Break into the soufflé crust to pour in the cold cream and serve.

This would make a great valentines day dessert if served in heart shaped ramekins like these from Le Creuset.

Chicken Pilaf

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Jan 252011

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
1 celery stick, chopped
1 garlic glove, peeled and sliced finely
2 large field mushrooms, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
200g long grain & wild rice
350ml chicken stock
250g cooked chicken, chopped
50g flaked almonds
salt & pepper to taste

Method
Heat the oil in a pan on the stove and soften the onions and celery. Add the garlic, mushrooms, cinnamon, oregano & thyme and rice then stir though for about 1 minute. Pour in the chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and cover the pan. Cook for approximately 15 minutes or until the rice is cooked and the stock absorbed.
Remove the cinnamon stick and then add the chicken and almonds and cook for a further 5 minutes, add more stock or water as necessary.
Season and then serve immediately with some chopped parsley.

Older Entries

Cyder with Eloise

Goat Curry with New Potatoes & Spinich

Veg Box Wednesday

Aubergine & Chickpea Curry

Goat Curry with Potatoes

Guyanese Garam Masala

Paella with Scallops and Wet Garlic

Bouillabaisse

Jerusalem artichoke and wild mushroom risotto

Raspberry Puddle Pudding

Chicken Pilaf

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