GORGE

Posted on January 8, 2021 by gorgefood

It’s January and I am trying to eat a bit better than I did for half of December, to lose a few pounds obviously but also to help keep me healthy as we need all the goodness we can get right now!

This started out as a standard stir fry but actually tasted like something you would get from the chinese takeaway served with rice! I ate it as it is in the photo ( low carb) but you could definately pair with noodles or rice for a nice treat meal that is not unhealthy.

Ingredients
Serves 2
20 mins – plus 1 hour marinade time.

400g chicken breast or mini chicken fillets
1 Red pepper – sliced
3 Spring onions cut into 1 inch pieces on the diagonal
1 carrot cut into small slices
1/2 head of brocolli cut into small florets
10 – 12 baby corn – sliced in half lengthways
handful of corriander chooped – including stalk
1 tbsp ginger paste
2 inch piece of ginger peeled and cut into thin strips. Ginger Julienne
handful of cashew nuts

Sauce

1 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp Soy sauce
1 tbsp Mirin
1 tsp sesame oil
2 cloves of garlic crushed
2 tsp chilli flakes ( less if you dont want it spicy)
150 ml Water

First of all marinate your chicken with the ginger paste and a teaspoon of salt for at least 1 hour. I like to cook the breasts or fillets whole first and then chop afterwards to keep them moist inside then add to the stir fry at the end. You can just add chicken chunks with the veg to save time but the meat will be quite dry.

When the chicken has marinated, heat a splash of oil in a frying pan and sear each piece for around 2 minutes on each side to brown it a little. Put in the oven at 180 for around 10 – 12 minutes until cooked through with clear juices. Rest for a few minutes and then cut into chucks.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan or wok and then add the vegetables in the following order leaving a few minutes between each addition. Brocolli, baby corn, spring onion, carrot, red pepper and finally the ginger strips and corriander – keep frying and stiring so it doesnt stick until the brocolli gets softer adding a splash of water now and then if it starts to stick.

Mix the cornflour with the soy sauce in a jug and stir to make a paste then add the rest of the sauce ingredients. Add this to the pan along with the cashew nuts and cooked chicken chunks. Warm it all through until the sauce thickens and then serves on its own or with rice or noodles. If it is a bit thick just keep adding a splash of water until you get a good consistency. There shouldn’t be a lot of sauce, just enough to cover the meat.

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Posted on December 8, 2020 by gorgefood

[10-15 Mins]

I have been making this for years after seeing it on a Jamie Oliver cooking show. It was supossed to be a boring tea night tonight.. meat, veg, spuds but I couldn’t do it to myself – I wanted flavour!

PS – Have you noticed you dont need to scroll down through 5 pages of chat to get to my recipes like most sites these days? What is that about? its right below….

Ingredients
for 2
10 – 15 mins

2 Steaks – Ribeye or Rump work well with this.
2 tbsp five spice powder
1 tsp Salt
Chopped corriander
1 red chilli sliced – deseeded if you dont want it too hot.
1 small clove of garlic – grated
1 inch ginger – grated
Juice of a small lime
Drizzle of Olive Oil

Put the 5 spice powder and salt on a plate and mix together.

Place the steaks onto the powder and make sure the steak is completely covered in the powder on both sides and leave for 10 -15 minutes.

Heat a griddle pan with 1 tbsp of olive oil and when hot cook the steaks to your liking ( hopefully no more than medium!)

Leave to rest for 5 minutes and then slice into thin strips.

Put in a bowl with the raw garlic, ginger,chilli, lime juice, corriander and a drizzle of olive oil and mix well.

Serve on its own, with noodles, rice or even on a Bao bun – whatever takes your fancy.

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Posted on March 24, 2020 by gorgefood

The other half was watching a Rick Stein programme one evening after I had gone to bed and liked what he saw… He KNEW that if he recorded it and showed me the next day he would get it for tea very soon! He’s not daft!

This was cooked in an outdoor wood oven on tv but I just used a normal home oven and still got amazing results. This is so simple a child could do it and so tasty.

Ingredients
serves 4
prep time – 5 mins
cooking time 2 – 3 hours
Lamb shoulder cut into large chunks – enough for 4 people.
4 large potatoes – peeled and cut into rough wedges
Oregano – 2 tbsp
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Juice of 4 lemons
2 large sprigs of fresh Rosemary
5 cloves of garlic – Sliced.

Place all the ingredients in an ovenproof dish so that everything is quite spaced out and cover with a generous helping of olive oil – on the tv it said ” don’t stint on the olive oil, lemon juice and oregano” so I didnt! Mix it all together.

I cut chunks off a whole shoulder of lamb but then threw the rest on the bone into the dish too as I didn’t want to waste any lamb.

Cover with foil and cook on a low heat around 150 degrees for between 2- 3 hours. Just check that the potoes are done and the lamb is tender and falling apart and that’s it! Beautiful food does not have to be difficut.

Serve with some crusty bread to dip in the lemony, garlicy oil that ensues!

It is not a very picturesque dish so I hope you get the gist from this photo!

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Posted on March 10, 2020 by gorgefood

This week I decided to see if I could do better than the Masterchef contestants by using the ingredients they were given to create a dish with no recipe in an hour. This is what I came up with using the main ingredients of – Pork fillet, Butternut squash and Kale. Obviously you are allowed to use other things that you may have in your cupboard or fridge though! I wanted to use Sage and pine nuits but didnt have any in.. so pistachio and thyme it was!

Ingredients

Serves 4

1 piece of pork tenderloin fillet
2 inches of chorizo
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
Kale
50ml chicken stock
1/2 a butternut squash
1 tablespoon shelled pistachios
1 pack of serrano ham or bacon

Sauce

2 tablespoons of Honey Mustard – I used this – Honey Mustard
100ml white wine
100ml chicken stock
100ml Double cream

To serve – cubes of roasted potatoes – par boil and roast with olive oil for around 15 minutes.

First of all cut the squash in half and remove the seeds and skin and cut into cubes. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven for around 20 minutes at 180 degrees until soft.

In a food processor chop the chorizo, pistachio, garlic, thyme and a handful of kale until fine. Season with salt and pepper and set aside in a bowl.

When the squash is soft, cool slightly then add to the bowl and mash with a fork and mix everything together to create the stuffing.

Slice the length of the tenderloin fillet without cutting through to the other side – like they cut a subway sandwich roll! open out, season the meat with salt and spread your stuffing evenly across the meat and then put back together as tightly as possible.

Lay 4 or 5 slices of the ham flat on a chopping board and lay the pork across the middle and wrap the pieces of ham around the pork fillet as tightly as you can to prevent the filling from falling out.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan and lightly seal the pork on all sides to crisp the ham before placing on a tray and putting in the oven for around 15 – 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

To make the sauce add the mustard to a frying pan and then whisk in the wine and cook until it starts to thicken. Gradually add the stock adding a little extra if the sauce gets too thick. Check for seasoning as there may be enough in the stock, if not add a little salt. Let the sauce cool down before adding the cream or it will curdle.

When the pork is cooked let rest for 5 minutes and then cut in half and make sure it is cooked through. Any juices left on the baking tray – pour into your sauce.

While the pork is resting, add a knob or butter to a pan and a pinch of salt, when the butter is melted add 2 large handfuls of the kale 50ml of chicken stock and cover until the kale is wilted and stock evaporated.

Slice your pork into thick round slices and serve with the roasted potatoes, kale and creamy mustard sauce.

Next time I cook this I will take some more photos of the various stages and repost! I reckon this would have got me through to the next round if I was on Masterchef anyway!

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Posted on October 21, 2019 by gorgefood

Do you want to know how to make one of the cheapest and simplest tasty pasta dishes ever? Its also pretty low cal too depending on how much cheese you use!

I saw this on another site that I follow called “Sip and Feast” there are some lovely recipes on there and not too difficult. Today I have nothing in my fridge apart from a lonely brocolli thats about to go out of date. I remembered seeing this recipe a while ago so here is my adapted version based on the contents of my fridge and cupboard.

The nice thing about this recipe too is that it is not an exact science – if you want more chilli add it, if you want more cheese chuck it in. It can’t really go wrong!

Ingredients

Serves 4

20 minutes.

1 large brocolli cut into florets and stalk diced.
3 fat garlic cloves – sliced
1 small green chilli – sliced
orecchiette pasta or similar. 4 handfulls for 4 people
Salt and Pepper
Italian hard cheese such as pecorino around 50g grated.
chilli flakes to season.

Boil a large pan of water and add 1 tsp salt. Cut the brocolli into smal florets and cook in the boiling water for just over 5 – 7 minutes then remove from the pan to cool. Using the same water cook your pasta until al dente. DON’T POUR THE WATER DOWN THE DRAIN – this will help to make your sauce.

Don’t throw away the brocolli stalk either – trim the edges and dice.

In a large frying pan or wok heat 1 tbsp olive oil and gently fry the garlic and chilli and diced stalk for a few minutes before adding the brocolli florets. Using a slotted spoon fish the pasta out of the water and add to the frying pan with the grated cheese. Add a ladle of the cooking water and cook and stir gently until everything is warm adding more water if needed. This is not a very saucy dish though, its just to coat the pasta in flavour.

Season with salt, pepper and chilli flakes and serve with a drizzle of olive oil and some more grated cheese on top.

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Posted on September 5, 2019 by gorgefood

I was told that by the other half that this is one of the best desserts I have ever made and it takes a lot less effort that a lot of things I have tried! It is really simple and also cheap but will definitely impress at a dinner party. If you don’t like pears, use apples but when they are cooked I cant really tell the difference to be honest!

I will have to take a better photo next time, it is best served with cream but by the time I go round to taking a pic there was none left and they had all been scoffed!

Ingredients

Serves 4 in individual ramekins

4 pears
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp brandy
100g sugar

1 pack of sweet brioche rolls
100g softened butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp sugar

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees gas mark 4

Peel and core the pears, cut into chunks and put into a saucepan with the sugar, rum and lemon juice. Cook gently until the pears have gone soft and cool.

While this is cooking, mix the butter, cinnamon and 1 tbsp of sugar together in a bowl. slice the brioche rolls in half and butter the cut side with the mixture.

Line your ramekins with the brioche slices butter side against the side of the ramekin until you have a “cup” of brioche. Fill with the cooled pear mixture and then place a slice on top.

Bake in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes until crispy on top.

Cool slightly then turn out onto a plate and serve with custard, ice cream or Chantilly cream!

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Posted on August 30, 2019 by gorgefood

This was an invention that I made during a rainy day in the camper van in Sarnen, Switzerland. Nothing in the fridge and no chance of going to a Swiss supermarket where it is 15 swiss pounds for 2 chicken breasts! I had luckily picked up a packet of these small gnocchi bites at our previous stop in Italy so decided to try and make something nice with what I had in. Ideally I would have liked to have used sage but I found a rosemary bush on our campsite so gave it a whirl and it was lovely.

I went camping again last week and guess what I made again! Its a great easy meal and very tasty.

The first version I made was with small pieces of gnocchi which worked really well, if you cant find them you could cut the big ones in half or if you have some time and patience.. make your own! I did not have this time or patience in a camper van with 2 kids!

Ingredients

Serves 2 as a main meal.

1 packet of gnocchi
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
3 cloves of garlic chopped fine.
50g butter
olive oil
salt
1 tsp chilli flakes – optional
A handful of grated parmigiano Reggiano cheese
Salt and pepper

Cook the gnocchi as per the instructions in salted boiling water until soft and then drain and set aside.

Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a frying pan and very gently warm the garlic for about 5 – 10 minutes on a very low heat making sure it doesn’t go brown and crispy – you just want to infuse the garlic flavour into the oil.

Chop the rosemary and add to the oil along with the butter ( this is not a healthy dish) and chilli flakes if using.

Add the gnocchi into the frying pan with a grind of salt and pepper and warm through.

Sprinkle with the grated cheese and serve!

Easy peasy and very tasty.

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Posted on June 25, 2019 by gorgefood

I have to share this one for many reasons, firstly and most importantly, it is REALLY tasty. It is also very easy, cheap, low carb and low calorie. You could make this as a pasta dish if you wanted to bulk it up a bit or serve with some garlic bread but I was trying to be good and keep the pounds off!

Ingredients

10 minutes to prepare – 20 minutes to cook
Serves 2 or 4 if served with pasta/bread.

1 large punnet of cherry tomatoes – halved
1 heaped tablespoon of capers
1 tbsp caper vinegar from the jar
2 tsp sugar
4 garlic cloves peeled and thinly sliced
4 large chicken breasts
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp chilli flakes – optional
Salt and pepper.
A handful of fresh basil.

First of all put the chicken in a plastic food bag and bash until half the thickness and season with salt and pepper this will help it to cook evenly. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan and then fry the chicken breasts for 2- 3 minutes on each side to get some colour then set aside.

Add a splash more olive oil and add the tomatoes, garlic and capers and stir on a medium heat for about 5 minutes until the tomatoes start to go soft taking care not to burn the garlic.

Add the caper vinegar, white wine vinegar, sugar, chilli flakes, a grind of salt and black pepper and a splash of water and bring to boil until it starts to thicken.

Put the chicken back into the pan and add a splash of water of the sauce is getting too thick – cover and simmer for 8 – 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

Take out the chicken and thicken the sauce if needed by turning up the heat then pour over the chicken and decorate with some fresh basil leaves and a grind of black pepper over the top.

For a spicier dish just add more chilli flakes or fresh chilli – I get told off for putting chill in every meal though 😉

See – easy peasy!

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Posted on April 26, 2019 by gorgefood

This is a chicken take on a cauliflower dish I had at Lily’s restaurant recently called Gobi Manchurian. I thought it would be nice with crispy chicken too AND there is way too much cauliflower on the blog. It is quite simple to make the sauce as you are using things you probably have in your cupboard already – the frying of the chicken is a bit time consuming and messy but definitely worth it in the end.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

Takes around 45 minutes

8 Chicken thighs skinless and boneless
Vegetable Oil for deep frying

Batter
100g cornflour
100g plain flour
Pinch of black pepper
Pinch of salt
150 ml water

Sauce

4 spring onions thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic chopped
1 tbsp chopped ginger
3 tbsp of chilli sauce – you could use sweet chilli for a milder dish.
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp sugar
100ml water

Mix the dry batter ingredients in a bowl and gradually add the water stirring to avoid any lumps. Cut the chicken into 1 inch strips and coat in the batter.

Heat a large pan of oil for deep frying on a medium heat and drip a bit of batter in to see if it sizzles. When the oil is hot enough, cook the chicken pieces in small batches ( around 8-10 strips at a time depending on the size of your pan) for around 5 minutes and put the cooked crispy chicken on kitchen roll to drain off the excess oil while you do the next batch. If you chuck it all in one go they will just stick together and the oil wont be hot enough to get it crispy. Make sure you check a couple of the larger pieces of chicken to see if they are cooked through as it is hard to tell when coated in batter.

As you are doing this you can easily prepare the sauce in another pan. Heat a splash of oil in a large frying pan and add the spring onion and fry for a few minutes, then add the garlic and ginger for another few minutes. Add the sauces, soy, sugar and vinegar and mix together with a pinch of salt and black pepper. Add 100 ml of water and simmer for a few minutes until the sauce thickens – if it is too thick just add a splash more water – you need enough to just coat your chicken pieces.

Chuck all your crispy chicken pieces into the sauce and mix together for a few minutes to warm through and coat evenly and serve immediately before it has chance to get soggy!

You could serve with rice or noodles or even put in a wrap. If you want this vegetarian just swap the chicken for Cauli! You could also make it spicier by adding some fresh chilli with the ginger and garlic.

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Posted on April 24, 2019 by gorgefood

Came across a few recipes for this Tuscan soup recently so made my own take on it – It was beautiful and something I will definately make again soon. Great mid week meal or winter warmer! If you wanted to make a vegetarian version of this just leave out the pancetta, use vegetable stock and add more cannelini or butter beans.

Ingredients
Serves 4
Preperation and cooking time – 1 hour

2 onions – diced
3 celery stalks chopped
2 large carrots cut into chunks
4 cloves of garlic – crushed
2 courgettes cut into small chunks
5 leaves of cavolo nero – remove the stalk and chop. You could also use half a pack of Kale if you can’t find any cavolo nero.
1 can of canellini beans
1 pack of pancetta – around 200g
Olive oil
1 sprig of fresh rosemary ot 1tsp dried
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
The rind of parmigiano reggiano and some grated cheese to top.
3 tbsp tomato pureé
3 pints chicken stock ( I used 2 chicken “stock pots” to 3 pints of boiling water)
Stale crusty bread – buttered

Heat a little olive oil in a lage pan and fry the pancetta and garlic for 3- 4 minutes.
Chop all your vegetables (onion, celery, carrot, courgette) and add to the pan and saute gently for 5 – 10 minutes until softened then add the tomato puree and stir round until all mixed together.

Add the cavolo nero or kale, beans, cheese rind, chilli flakes, rosemary and chicken stock to the pan and bring to the boil then simmer on a low heat for 20 -30 minutes.

Check the seasoning and add more salt and a grind of black pepper if required but be careful as the pancetta is quite salty itself. If there is not enough liquid as you are simmering just add some more as you need this to be a soup consistency rather than a stew. The stale bread to soak it all up.

Butter the crusty bread ( I used rolls) and lay in the bottom of a large bowl and spoon over the soup and leave to stand for a few minutes until the bread soaks up all the flavour. Grate a little parmigiano reggiano over the top and drizzle a little olive oil and enjoy!!