Chinese Squid

So, I’m back from Croatia and have discovered lots of ways to eat squid, and not just in a seafood pasta.  The squid I had in pasta was very good but the Croats also seemed quite keen on stuffing small ones with cheese and Dalmatian ham before grilling or barbecuing them.   Nice, but the ones I had were a bit tough and slightly overpowered by the strong cheese and ham.   Anyway, Croatian food aside, this recipe is actually one I made before my holiday but didn’t have time to post.   I’ve called it Chinese squid but I’m not sure if the Chinese really would cook it this way – I never had any squid like this when I was in China.    But, without a better name for it…  It’s really important that the squid is cooked quickly so it’s still tender.   The vegetables should also still be crunchy and  light – but you don’t need to use these vegetables, I just used what I had.   And finally, the lime gives it all a nice zing.

Ingredients – Serves 2

2 squid, chopped into bite sized pieces

1 green pepper, sliced

1/4 white cabbage, sliced into thin strips

3 spring onions, sliced

1 onion, sliced

1 clove of garlic, sliced

1 knob ginger, sliced into sticks

1 chilli pepper, thinly sliced

2 tbsp flour

3 tbsp soy sauce

Juice of 1 lime

How to Make Chinese Squid

1. Make sure everything is prepared before  you start cooking so you can  cook everything quickly.   Heat a dash of flavourless oil in a wok and about 1/2 cm in a saucepan.  If you are serving it with rice, the rice should be almost ready when you begin.

2. Add all the vegetables to the wok.   Keep stirring.    They will only take about three minutes.    Add the soy sauce and the lime juice at the end.

3. Toss the squid in the flour and then add the squid to the saucepan with the oil.   The squid will only take 1-2 minutes.   It will puff up a bit and turn white.   When ready remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon and put on kitchen roll to drain off the excess oil.

4. Serve the squid on top of the vegetables.

 

Duck Kebabs

This dish is part of the 365 Challenge which is run by Murdoch Books.  The team are cooking their way through each dish in Stephane Reynaud’s 365 Good Reasons to Sit Down to Eat.  This time I chose to make the duck kebabs.

I was a little sceptical about how this recipe would work as some of the 365 participants have said that Stephane’s Asian food does not seem to work as well as his European dishes, that it sometimes seems as if something is missing.    With this in mind I looked at the ingredients and thought a bit of ginger would be lovely in the sauce along with the garlic.  But, there were not many ingredients anyway and I didn’t want to alter the dish too much – maybe next time, I decided.   The main thing I did change was that I marinated the duck in the sauce for about 2 hours before cooking it, whereas in the original the sauce is just brushed onto the duck when it goes in the oven or on the barbecue.    I would say this step is essential.   It allowed the flavours to get into the duck and made it really tender.   In fact it was absolutely delicious.   I enjoyed it so much that it didn’t need that extra ginger I was considering.  I served it with stir fried vegetables and noodles and added the leftover marinade to the stir fry.    Oh, and one more thing I changed.   I could never just leave it at a pinch of mild chilli.  The only chilli powder I have is hot, and of course I used a generous half teaspoon full.

Ingredients – makes 2 skewers

1 duck breast

1 green pepper

1 clove garlic

2 spring onions (bulb ends only)

1/2 tsp hot chilli powder

1 tbsp mazola oil

2 tbsp soy sauce

How to make Duck Kebabs

1. Prepare the marinade.   Crush the garlic and put in a bowl with the chilli powder, oil and soy sauce.

2. Remove the skin and chop each duck breast into about 8 pieces.   Add the duck to the marinade.   Stir to coat well and put in the fridge for at least an hour.

3. Heat the oven to 200C.   Take the duck out of the fridge and thread onto skewers with the chunks of green pepper and spring onion.

4. Put the kebabs in the oven for about 8 minutes.   They should still be pink inside.

 

Watercress Risotto

Mushrooms or chorizo or butternut squash or bacon or…

Risotto is one of those dishes that has hundreds of variations and I almost never make in exactly the same way.  It’s creamy and comforting and perfect for any time of year.   You could even say it’s stress-relieving – all that standing over the stove and stirring.   With this risotto I was aiming for a spring flavour.  Peppery watercress, sweet peas and spring onions.   Adding the pinenuts gives a nice crunch and change in texture too.

But however nice risotto is, what would be really good after this Italian dish would be some lovely Italian ice-cream.   Well, a few weeks ago I was visiting Tinned Tomatoes‘ blog and saw that she had received a visit from the Fairy Hobmother  at Appliances Online and had received a sparkly new electric mixer.    Wow! I was impressed.   It must have been a hot day because I left a comment wishing for an ice-cream maker and promptly forgot about it.  Well, today I too received a visit from the fairy.  Unfortunately they weren’t able to give me the ice-cream maker I’d been wishing for, but they can give me an Amazon voucher and Amazon do sell ice-cream makers, so my wish is on the way to being granted.    The Fairy Hobmother might pay you a visit too, just leave a comment saying what you would wish for.

Ingredients – serves 2

200g risotto rice

3 large handfuls of watercress, chopped

2 tbsp peas

1 onion, finely diced

2 spring onions, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Vegetable stock

2 tbsp grated parmesan or grana padana

Salt

Black pepper

2 tbsp pine nuts (optional)

How to make Watercress Risotto

1. Heat a little olive oil in a saucepan.   Add the onion and crushed garlic.   Stir until soft.

2.  Add the rice and stir for a couple of minutes until it is translucent.   Begin adding the stock, a little at a time.  Keep stirring and gradually add more stock.   If you run out of stock add hot water from the kettle

3. As the risotto is cooking, toast the pine nuts.   Add them to a dry frying pan over a low heat.   Keep shaking the pan so they don’t burn.   When they are golden, take off the heat.

4. When the risotto is almost ready, add the frozen peas.   When the peas are almost ready stir in the watercress and spring onion.  Cook for another couple of minutes.

5. Take off the heat and add the parmesan.   Stir in, season and serve.    Top with the toasted pine nuts.

 

Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo

It’s that time of the month again!   Time for the Daring Kitchen challenge.   This month we were challenged to make gumbo.   At first I though it a good choice.   I like a nice easy one pot meal.    And then, with the deadline drawing near, I suddenly thought perhaps it hadn’t been such a good idea.  Maybe it wasn’t so simple! Ah! I’d thought, a spicy one-pot meal – I can make that any time.     Yes, of course I could make it any time, but the whole point of the exercise is to make it before the 14th of the month in order to be able to blog about it.   So, you could say there was a slight scramble to make this at the end.   Now, that’s not always a bad thing, but when it means you miss out a key flavour then it’s a sure sign you need to be more organised.   Now, I didn’t miss out the creole spice blend or the roux, it wasn’t quite that bad!    I just missed out the Worcestershire Sauce.    I wasn’t sure how bad a mistake this was so I turned to google and did a search for chicken and sausage gumbo. There it was, one of the ingredients in the first recipe that showed up.   I quickly ignored it and looked at the second one – no Worcester Sauce.   Excellent.   Clearly not important.

What is important when making a gumbo is the roux.   In fact, this is what really makes a gumbo, a gumbo.  It’s also important not to burn it and keep stirring all the time as if any bits get caught on the bottom of the pan they are likely to burn and ruin the flavour.   Because of this, it is a bit more labour intensive than other stews and all the vegetables need to be chopped up first.   One ingredient I forgot to get was okra which I’m sure would have gone really well in this.    And another ingredient I didn’t get was file powder which is used to thicken and flavour the gumbo, not because I forgot, but because I’d left this to the last minute and so didn’t have time to find out where I could buy it.   As I’ve no idea what it tastes like, I don’t know if it would have made a big difference or not.   Overall, it was very tasty but next time I would add a fresh chilli to the gumbo as well as the spice blend.  I felt it needed just a little more flavour – or maybe that was the missing Worcester Sauce!

Blog-checking lines: Our May hostess, Denise of There’s a Newf in My Soup!, challenged The Daring Cooks to make Gumbo! She provided us with all the recipes we’d need from creole spices, homemade stock and Louisiana white rice, to Drew’s Chicken & Smoked Sausage Gumbo and Seafood Gumbo from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh.

Spice Blend Ingredients

1/2 tsp celery salt

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp ground allspice

How to make the Creole Spice Blend

1. Mix all these ingredients together.   It will make enough for the recipe below.  The original recipe also contained garlic powder and onion powder which I didn’t have but I added crushed garlic.

Gumbo Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, diced into large chunks

2 smoked sausages (I used Polish kabanos)

50ml oil

50ml white flour

1 onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

2 sticks celery, finely diced

1 tomato, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2-3 tsp Creole spice blend – see recipe above

1 bay leaf

Pinch dried thyme

1tsp Worcestershire Sauce

Tabasco, according to taste (I used quite a lot, but then maybe I was making up for the lack of Worcestershire sauce)

300ml Chicken stock

How to make Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo

1. Prepare the spice blend and crush one clove of garlic.   Rub this into the diced chicken and set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a saucepan.   Add the flour and whisk or stir with a wooden spoon.   Keep stirring and don’t let any of it burn.   I found it easier to use the wooden spoon as I could get into the corners of the pan.   The roux will gradually darken to a deep brown.

3. After about 15 minutes turn the heat down and add the diced onion.   After about 10 minutes the sauce will be glossy and caramelised.   Add the chicken and stir to brown all over.

4. Add the sausage and the rest of the vegetables, including the other clove of garlic.  Keep stirring for another couple of minutes.

5. Add the thyme, bay leaf and chicken stock. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 45 minutes.   Stir every now and again and skim off any oil that rises to the top.

6. Cook a little rice to serve under the gumbo.

7. When ready, season with Worcester Sauce and Tabasco before serving.

8. Serve in bowls with the gumbo on top of the rice.

 

Melon and Cucumber Gazpacho

This is my second recipe for the 365 Challenge.   I’ve never made gazpacho before and the only chilled soup I have ever had has been a traditional tomato gazpacho in Spain.   I have to admit that I am not a big fan of cold soup, but there is something very refreshing about this.   It’s ok in my kitchen but it would be so much nicer to sip it on a sun-kissed terrace by the Mediterranean.   I can dream!

But, before you rush off to make this, let me warn you that it is an acquired taste.   Bizarre was the verdict of my husband, not helped by the fact that he is colour blind and did not realise that there were two different flavours until he had finished it.   I don’t want to put you off but the vinegar and olive oil almost made me feel I was drinking vinaigrette.

I made half the amount of soup as the original recipe suggested and we ate it all between the two of us, although I would have preferred a smaller portion so would use this amount to serve four if I made it again.   I upped the proportions of mint and spring onion and missed out dill from the melon gazpacho as I couldn’t find any.    In retrospect the dill would have been good as, along with the lemon, it would have helped balance out the sweetness of the melon.

I hoped, when I poured the melon soup on top of the cucumber soup, that the two layers would sit on top of each other but I found instead that the melon soup sank into the middle and the cucumber soup remained around the outside, as you can see in the picture.  Now, I wonder if I tried to pour it as if it was an Irish coffee…

Ingredients – Serves 2-4

1/2 cantaloupe melon, diced

1 cucumber, diced

10 mint leaves

1 spring onion, roughly chopped

50ml white wine vinegar

70ml extra virgin olive oil

A few drops of Tabasco sauce

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Salt

How to make Melon and Cucumber Gazpacho

1. Put the cucumber, spring onion and mint into a blender.  Puree till smooth then add the vinegar, olive oil, Tabasco and a little salt.   Blitz again.   Taste.   Add extra seasonings if necessary.  Divide between the glasses.

2. Put the melon and lemon juice in the blender and puree till smooth.   Season.   Pour the melon mixture into the glasses on top of the cucumber mixture.

 

Inspired by Masterchef: Mango Parfait and Lime Ginger Jelly

It’s a little sad to think that this is my last Masterchef post of the series.   I’ve enjoyed watching each episode, making notes and thinking of what I could make.   At the same time, the last few weeks have been very hectic as I’ve been away at weekends and been very busy at work so I haven’t always had as much time as I’d have liked.   Even so, I’ve managed to make something every week including lots of things that I had never made before, such as the Frangipane tart and the dumplings.   As a result, I feel I have learnt a lot and developed my cooking.  And I have to say, I’ve done it all in the much less stressful environment of my own home rather than in the Masterchef studio.   I’d still like to take part in Masterchef, but as you’ll see from the picture below, my presentation skills are still not quite up to scratch.

Regarding statistics, by far and away the most popular dish of the series has been Ottolenghi’s Chilli and Black Pepper Tofu.   Not only has it has the most views of all my Masterchef dishes, it has been the most popular post of the last 7 days, 30 days, and the last quarter, narrowly beaten into third place over the last year by creamy chorizo pasta and slow cooker chicken tagine.   I suspect it may soon overtake these two dishes and become the most popular dish of all time.

When deciding what to make this week I was very tempted by Tim’s trio of burgers.   Not, however tempted to make them his way as I didn’t fancy raw beef, just to make all my favourite burgers as minis.  But, I ate so much meat last weekend that I was craving vegetarian food all week and so the burgers will just have to wait.   When I decided on Sara’s parfait I have to admit that I wasn’t actually quite sure what distinguished a parfait from a mousse, a fool, a panna cotta or any other creamy looking dessert often made in a ramekin.   The main reason I chose it is that mango is my favourite fruit, and so it had to be good.   Anyway, with a bit of research I discovered that a French style parfait is a frozen creamy dessert, but there is also an American style parfait, which is served in a glass with cream and fruit, possibly more like what I would think of as a fool.    Then as I was doing my research into how to make a French style parfait, I actually came across Sara’s recipe on the BBC Food website.    For all I know, all the other dishes I’ve made are there as well, I just haven’t checked yet, and I don’t think I want to.  It was more fun to develop them myself.    Anyway, due to lack of time, I did follow Sara’s recipe for the parfait, I just reduced it by a third, so it would serve 4 instead of 6, and actually found there was only enough for 3 servings.    Instead of making a passionfruit glaze, I decided a lime and ginger glaze would complement the mango well and give it a sight Caribbean flavour.   Although I kept taking it out of the fridge to stir, I obviously didn’t do it quite often enough so it turned out more like a  jelly than a  glaze.    At one point it was perfect as a glaze, thick and smooth, the next time I looked at it, it was set.     I would advise making it an hour before serving if you want it as a glaze.  If you’re happy for it to be a jelly, you can make it whenever’s convenient, which for me, was straight after making the parfait.

Now, as I’ve said, this dish would not win the Masterchef final for me in terms of presentation, the cling film must have had  quite a few creases in it, and the jelly looks like a kid’s been playing with it when I put it on the top of the parfait.  I hope it won’t put you off.   Personally,  I thought the star was the lime jelly, I loved it, and thought it went really well with the parfait.   My husband prefered the parfait and wasn’t quite so keen on the jelly.   We’ll just argue between ourselves about who has the better palate…

I’m also sending this to Sweet as Sugar Cookies’ Sweets for a Saturday.

Parfait Ingredients

160g Mango

46g sugar

120ml Cream

2 egg yolks

Jelly Ingredients

Juice of 1 lime

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp grated ginger

1g gelatine leaf

How to make Mango Parfait

1. Puree the mango in a blender.

2. Put the sugar and egg yolks in a bowl.   Mix together with a fork then put over a pan of simmering water and use a whisk to beat until pale, fluffy and tripled in volume. Remove from the heat.

3. Fold the mango puree into the egg and sugar mixture.

4. Whisk the cream until it thickens but doesn’t go too stiff.  Mix the cream into the mango mixture.

5. Line 3 ramekins with cling film. Pour the mixture into the ramekins.  Put in  the freezer for 2 hours.

6. When ready to serve, turn the ramekins upside down and pull gently on the cling film to release the parfait.

How to make Lime Ginger Jelly

1. Soak the gelatine leaf in cold water for up to 5 minutes or until soft.

2. Put the lime juice and sugar in a bowl. Heat in the microwave till the sugar dissolves and the juice is hot.

3. Add the soft gelatine leaf to the  lime juice.   Stir in so it dissolves and add the grated ginger.

4. Put in the fridge till ready to serve.   Keep taking it out a stirring, especially if you want it to be more like a glaze than a jelly.   Serve on the side as a jelly, or on the top as a glaze, but only if it hasn’t set as much as in the picture below.

 

Inspired by Masterchef: Steamed Pork Dumplings

I’ve just got back from a long weekend away so this post is very very late.  Everyone will have forgotten all about this episode by the time I get around to posting.  Masterchef has already finished and I still have one more post to do too.    Well, this dish is inspired by  Jackie, the vegetarian with a love of Asian street food.  So why have they got meat in?   Well, for one of her last dishes she made three dumplings – 2 vegetarian ones and one pork one.    The judges liked the vegetarian ones better.   So again, why the pork?   Well,  I have to be completely honest here.   I just couldn’t remember what stuffing had been used for the other dumplings.   Not a great reason I know, but I also felt like using pork.   Again, my logic may  not quite make sense but I am not a huge fan of dumplings.   I think it’s the soft texture and lack of crispiness.   Even so, I would happily make these again.   They were full of flavour and the rice pancakes made them lighter than a doughy dumpling would have been.

Next weekend I will be posting my last Inspired by Masterchef recipe for this series, but I am planning to do the same for future series’.

Ingredients

300g pork

10 rice paper pancakes

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 knob of ginger, finely diced

1 chilli pepper, finely diced

1/2 tsp coriander

1 tsp mixed peppercorns, crushed

1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tbsp plain flour

Dipping Sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

1/2  spring onion, finely diced

1 Chilli pepper, finely sliced

How to make Steamed Pork Dumplings

1.Mix all the ingredients for the dumplings.   When the mixture is well combined, form it into meatballs.

2. Fill a bowl with warm water.  Put in one of the rice paper pancakes.  When it is soft and pliable take it out.  Use a teatowel to absorb excess water.  Put a meatball in the middle and wrap the pancake around it.

3. Put all the dumplings in a steamer and steam for about 15 minutes.

4. While the dumplings are steaming prepare the dipping sauce.  Mix all the ingredients together.   Taste and then adjust and seasonings if necessary.

 

Hot Cross Buns

This month the theme for Fresh from the Oven was hot cross buns and the challenge was hosted by Sarah of Simply Cooked.  Hot cross buns are traditionally eaten for breakfast on Good Friday, not that I’d ever had them for breakfast on Good Friday until this year, and even then, they were more brunch than breakfast.  Not only was it a first for eating these buns for breakfast, it was a first for making them too.   When I first found out about what the challenge was I was delighted as it would give me a chance to prepare something I knew I really wanted to make but I’m sure wouldn’t have made if it hadn’t been for the challenge.

I did consider not making the traditional ones.   My husband doesn’t like dried fruit so I considered making them with chocolate instead which I read is popular in Australia, but in the end I felt that as it was my first attempt I should try to make traditional ones and I can always be experimental next time.   There was of course an upside to my other half not liking currants.   He picked them all out and left them on the side of his plate.   All the more for someone else…

Ingredients

450g strong plain flour

50g caster sugar

7g fast-action dried yeast

1 tsp salt

1 heaped tsp mixed spice

100g currants

1 tbsp dried milk powder + 50ml water or 50ml milk

1 egg, beaten

50g butter, melted

For the Crosses

2 tbsp plain white flour

A little water

For the Glaze

1 tbsp caster sugar

A little water

How to Make Hot Cross Buns

1. Dissolve 1 tsp sugar into 150ml of warm water.  Add the yeast and leave it to become frothy.

2. Sift the flour, mixed spice and salt into a large mixing bowl.   Add the sugar, currants and milk powder (if not using milk).   Mix in and make a well in the middle.

3. Add the yeast mixture, melted butter, egg and most of the water or milk.  Mix with a wooden spoon.   It should form a dough.  Add the extra milk/water slowly if necessary.

4. Knead the dough for about 6 minutes then put it in a lightly greased bowl in a warm place to rise. Cover with a damp tea towel or plastic bag. Leave for an hour.

5. Knock the dough back and knead briefly.  Divide into eight and  place on a baking tray with enough room for each to expand.  Mark a cross on each one and leave to rise again for about 30 minutes.

6. Before putting in the oven make the crosses.   Mix a little water into the flour so it forms dough.   Form into sausages and lay on top of the buns where the crosses have been marked.

7. Bake in the oven at about 220c for about 12 minutes.

8. Put the sugar and water for the glaze in a small saucepan.   Heat up until all the sugar has dissolved.   As soon as the buns come out of the  oven brush them with the glaze and leave to cool slightly.

9. Serve warm with butter and jam.