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Posted on September 3, 2015 by gorgefood

Its not a pie.. its not a crumble.. it’s a “Crump” and its better than either of the alternatives in my opinion! and judging by the amount left in the fridge, in Mr F’s opinion too!

Its an easy option for a dessert really doing a crumble/crump but I am trying to get my 3 year old interested in food and cooking and we can even go and pick the ingredients together for this one which makes it a fun learning exercise with something nice to eat at the end!

I saw this “crump” concept on a cookery show about 7 years ago now, it was a Masterchef style programme where people had to compete with their best dish and this came second. This is how I remember it…

Ingredients

3 large handfuls of Blackberries – locally picked if possible!
3 Cooking apples (plenty going spare on my mums tree if anyone needs any!)
100g sugar
1tsp mixed spice

Topping
Equal amounts of sugar, flour and butter!
around 100g depending on how big your dish is.

To make the topping there is no need to mix anything up – youneed to put the sugar and flour in an oven proof bowl and place the butter on top and put it in the oven as it is! When the butter melts you then stir it round.

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As the butter is melting, wash your blackberries and wash your apples and put in the dish you want to make the Crump in and add 100g sugar and a teaspoon of mixed spice and mix well.

Add the mixed topping onto the fruit and bake in the oven around 180 degrees (fan) for around 20 minutes or until it looks done. The topping should go hard like lumps of buttery biscuit! If it is not hard, cool it in the fridge first then reheat.

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This one I made yesterday probably had a bit too much butter as I didn’t weigh properly so the topping was not as firm as it should be – BUT after a night in the fridge it is now PERFECT and crunchy! It also tastes great cold.

Sweet fruit covered in an almost shortbread type biscuit topping.

The only thing left to decide is.. custard, cream, ice cream or all 3?!

I went for extra thick Jersery cream.

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Posted on August 26, 2015 by gorgefood

So the menu changed slightly for Friday night, I decided the chickpea salad was a bit boring and when I made the panacottas with vege gelatin powder ( luckily a few days in advance) it was just not the right consistency so got chucked in the bin!

The final menu was

Popadoms with Homemade mango chutney, Yoghurt sauce and sambal sauce
Pea and potato samosas
Hot and sour aubergine
Matar Paneer
Onion rice and Naan
Mango rum and lime syllabub 

Recipes to follow very soon………

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Next weekend I will be hosting a dinner party for lady friends one of which is a vegetarian, so instead of making her the exception we are all going to eat vegetarian! I love a bit of paneer and aubergines are my favourite vegetable so hopefully no one will go away asking where is the meat!

The proposed menu is as follows… but this could be subject to change.

Popadoms with Chutney
Spicy chickpea, potato and beans in tamarind sauce
Hot and sour aubergine with corriander chutney
Matar Paneer
Onion rice and chapatti
Mango lassi panacotta. ( with vegetarian gelatin of course)

I am hopefully going to attempt my first mango chutney and lime pickle if I get time.

Watch this space!!

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Posted on August 26, 2015 by gorgefood

My mother in law taught me this recipe – it is the simplest soup recipe you will ever see but a tasty and filling meal! The kind of soup that is easy to make just before pay day when there is nothing in the fridge and only a tin of beans in the cupboard!!

This is the first soup I ever made and still make it today.

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Ingredients – Serves 2 or 4 as a starter

Tin of Butter Beans
1 – 2 cloves of Garlic crushed. ( depending on size)
Small onion chopped finely
Salt
Pepper

Optional

I also add 2 small sticks of celery and occasionally some chilli to spice it up and a magi cube for extra seasoning or half a chicken oxo but it can be made without.

Lightly fry the onions (and chopped celery and chilli if using) in a little oil until going soft and then add the garlic and fry for a further 2 -3 minutes on a low heat.

Drain the butter beans but keep the liquid.

Add the butter beans to the pan and squash with a fork and cook with the onions and garlic for a few minutes.

Add salt and pepper and then the reserved water from the butter bean can and stock cube if using.

Bring to the boil and then simmer for 10 minutes adding more water if it gets too thick.

Blend until smooth, check the seasoning and serve with a hot crusty roll with butter!

You may also want to sprinkle with a few chilli flakes if you like a bit of spice.

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Posted on August 4, 2015 by gorgefood

An impressive beast of a pie that feeds around 12 people! I made one recently and took on a camping trip and we ate it on the beach. Looks like a lot of effort but it really is not that difficult. Need to make sure I seal the top better next time though as a lot of the fat ran out and left me with only a thin layer of jelly. Great if you don’t like the jelly though I suppose!

Probably costs about a tenner to make but much better than buying one from a supermarket.

This recipe was in Olive magazine last month.

Ingredients

Eggs 7
750g block shortcrust pastry
butter
1 kg lean pork mince
6 sausages skinned. The recipe said pork and herb but I used Lincolnshire, Choose whatever you prefer.
250g unsmoked back bacon rind and fat cut off and diced ( although I will leave some fat on next time)
1 tbsp fennel seeds crushed
2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley finely chopped
1 tbsp sage 3 tbsp, finely chopped. I couldn’t find fresh so used dried. Sage is always the hardest herb to find!
egg 1 beaten 

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Heat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Lower the eggs into boiling water and cook for 7 minutes then cool immediately and peel. Trim the end off each to make sure there is yolk in every slice!.

Roll out Âľ of the pastry saving some for the pie lid.

Line a lightly buttered 22cm spring-form cake tin with the pastry, leaving an overhang to attach the lid securely. I didn’t leave enough and my pie leaked a little.

Mix the pork mince, sausage meat, bacon, fennel, and herbs in a large bowl. Add 2 tsp sea salt and 1 tsp ground black pepper and squidge together with your hands. You may want to fry a tiny piece of it to check the seasoning, its a lot of ingredients to go to waste if it is not right!

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Add half of the mix to the tin, and make little dents for the boiled eggs.

Place the eggs on top in a circle, gently pushing them down into the meat, then add the rest of the meat on top.

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Roll out the rest of the pastry and cut to fit the top of the pie.

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Press the edges together tightly making sure there are no gaps and make a hole in the middle for steam to escape.

Put on a tray and cook for 1 hour 20 minutes. Check it is done by poking a skewer in and making sure it is piping hot and steam comes out. Cool in the tin and chill overnight.

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Release from the tin and serve with piccalilli!

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Posted on July 28, 2015 by gorgefood

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I have been wanting to make this one for months now after I saw in in BBC Good Food magazine but never got round to it and always struggled to find the black beans! Then I found some in Morrisons. Gave it a go for tea tonight and it is going to become a staple mid week tea in this house I think! Really hearty and filling and would be a perfect tea on a Monday night after a Sunday chicken dinner.

Only takes about 10 – 15 minutes to make with very minimal fuss.

Ingredients

Serves 2 as a large meal but could do 4 with sides.

1 tbsp olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, crushed.
small bunch of Coriander stalks finely chopped and Leaves picked and left aside for garnish.
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 tsp Cumin powder
2 tsp Chilli flakes ( depending on how hot you want it – this will be quite mild.)
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 can Black Beans – drained.
1 pint of Chicken stock
175g Chopped Kale ( a couple of large handfuls)
250g of shredded leftover roast chicken ( I used a packet of ready cooked chicken thighs and took the skin off.)
50g Crumbled Feta Cheese.
2 Toasted Tortillas.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the garlic, chopped coriander stalks and lime zest and fry for 2 mins. Then stir in the cumin and chilli flakes and stir for another minute.

Add the tomatoes. black beans and chicken stock and bring to the boil. Squash some of the beans against the bottom of the pan to thicken the sauce.

Stir in the kale and simmer for 5 minutes, then throw in the chicken pieces and heat through.

Season with salt pepper and lime juice and serve in shallow bowls.

Sprinkle with crumbled feta and the coriander leaves.

lie each tortilla wrap in a small dry frying pan and warm on each side for about 1 minute until slightly crisp.

Next time I may add a dried chipotle chilli for a spicier and smokey taste.

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Posted on July 21, 2015 by gorgefood

I have just rustled this up for tea and it only took about 15 minutes! including making the curry paste! luckily I had all the ingredients in my spice cupboard. If you made a large batch of the curry paste and save it you could make it in 10 minutes easily.

This comes from the book – “Curry Nation” by Madhur Jaffrey. I took this book out of the library as there is no more room in my house for recipe books and magazines! This way i get to pick the best recipes out of loads of books and put them on here for future reference which is part of the reason for my blog! This curry felt all wrong as soon as I started  – it went against everything I have ever learnt about making a curry but I trusted the author and what a curry it was! A few tweaks next time and this will probably be my favourite curry recipe.

Ingredients

For the curry paste ( Basaar mix)- this will make around 100g of curry paste. The recipe only calls for one tablespoon.

50g Chilli powder
25g Paprika
2 tsp Tumeric
1 1/2 Tsp ground Corriander
1 1/2 Tsp ground Cumin
1 1/4 Tsp Garam Masala
1 Tsp ground Fenugreek
1 Tbsp Dried Fenugreek leaves (Methi)
1/8 teaspoon Asafoetida
4 teaspoons of Mustard oil (I used olive)

Mix all these ingredients in a bowl and drizzle in the oil and rub the oil into the spice powders. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. You could even freeze small blocks for future curries.

Karhai Ingredients

2 medium tomatoes blended
1 tomato – quartered
500g Skinless boneless chicken thighs cut into chunks. Breast if you must.
1 medium Onion – chopped finely
3 tablespoons grated Ginger
1 1/2 Tablespoons grated Garlic ( Or you could just use the frozen blocks for both ginger and garlic)
3 Tablespoons Yoghurt or creme fraiche
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon of the Basaar Curry paste.
1 tsp ground Cumin
1 tsp ground Coriander
4 Tablespoons olive oil.

Mix together the raw chicken, blended tomato, onion, garlic, ginger, yoghurt, asafoetida and salt and put into a dry, cold, large wok – preferably about 9 inches in diameter and then turn the pan on to the highest heat setting you can get.

Cook the chicken stirring continually for about 5 minutes then add the Basaar paste, coriander and cumin and stir for a further minute.

Pour in the oil last, incorporate and cover for 1 minute then stir in the tomatoes. Stir for a few more minutes until the oil has pooled on the surface.

I did add a bit more salt a knob of butter and a splash of white wine vinegar at the end for a bit of a tangier, richer taste though. Try it first and see what you think!

Done!

The book says ” This curry is made in an almost upside down manner: the oil is added after the ingredients are practically cooked. This technique relies on a very high cooking heat to dry off the cooking liquids leaving the oil to brown the meat and seasonings.

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Posted on June 24, 2015 by gorgefood

This is a dish I recreated based on a meal I had in Boppard, Germany on my recent holiday. After a few days in Germany I was starting to turn into a sausage..

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so went for something a bit different on the lunch menu. I ordered “Penne noodles?! with wild garlic pesto rocket, and fresh parmesan. Bad translation of pasta I hoped.

EuroRoadTrip (1054)

The dish I got was really nice and one of the best things I ate over my 2 week tour of Europe and I did not expect I would find it here! When the dish arrived I was glad that it was actually pasta and not some strange noodles, smothered in garlicy pesto, toasted pine nuts and a few roasted cherry tomatoes which really made the dish. I decided then that it was one to tweak at home!

The original dish

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Ingredients – serves 2

Penne or Tagliatelle
3 tablespoons of Wild garlic pesto – I wanted to make this myself but where one buys wild garlic from in Ashton under Lyne I have no idea! I made do with this;
Wild Garlic Pesto
10 Cherry Tomatoes 
1 heaped tablespoon pine nuts
2 large garlic cloves finely sliced
Parmesan shavings
Rocket
Olive Oil

Coat the tomatoes in a little olive oil and salt and roast in the oven until they start to split then put aside.

While these are roasting get the pasta on to cook in salted water until al dente.

Toast some pine nuts in a dry pan until they start to go a little darker then set aside.

Fry the garlic in some olive oil in a large frying pan on a low heat so it doesn’t burn then add the pesto and cook for a few more minutes. When the pasta is done toss it into the frying pan and mix together well. Check seasoning and add salt if necessary.

Serve the past up in 2 large bowl, sprinkle with the toasted pine nuts and scatter the cherry tomatoes on top with a handful of parmesan shavings then top with rocket and drizzle with a little olive oil.

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The original dish had grated parmesan on top which you could do but I prefer the shavings as it adds more texture to the dish.

Great dish for non meat eater and meat eaters alike!

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Posted on June 24, 2015 by gorgefood

Pork Vindaloo!

Not as scary as it sounds as you can control the amount of heat you want.. this recipe makes a hot but tasty dish without burning your mouth off! The use of vinegar makes this distinctive not a shed load of chillis.

Really simple to make too but make sure you start well in advance and marinade your meat for at least 8 hours if not overnight.

I got this recipe from the BBC Good Food Magazine.

Ingredients

1kg pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into bite-sized cubes ( or any other meat you would prefer
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 large onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp mild chilli powder
250ml chicken stockhandful coriander leaves

Marinade

6 green cardamom pods
½ tsp black peppercorns
125ml red wine vinegar – White will do if you don’t have red.
1 heaped tbsp finely grated ginger
4 large garlic cloves, finely grated
1 tsp golden caster sugar
6 small dried chillies – adjust according to your taste – this makes a fairly hot curry.
pinch of ground cloves
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
ÂĽ tsp turmeric

Bash the cardamom pods to remove the seeds and grind these with the peppercorns using a pestle and mortar. Mix with the rest of the marinade ingredients, mix everything together and pour over the pork in a bowl. Cover and leave to marinate  for at least 8 hrs, preferably overnight.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the onions until starting to soften. Add the chilli powder to the pan and cook for 1 min. Take the pork out of the marinade and add to the pan and cook for about 5 mins, stirring so it doesn’t burn. Add the marinade to the pan with the stock and bring to the boil.

Simmer and cook for 40-45 mins until the meat is soft and the sauce thick. There wont be a lot of sauce, it should be sticky in consistency. Pick out the dried chillies as these can be quite nasty if you swallow one whole! scatter with chopped coriander and serve with rice and naan or chapatti.

A really tasty and rich dish that is really simple.

Sorry no photo this time as I scoffed it too quick, but everyone knows what a curry looks like!

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Posted on May 9, 2015 by gorgefood

This afternoon I studied  my Curries of the world” cookbook by Atul Kochhar and decided on a North Indian curry dish mainly because I had all the ingredients in the house and it looked simple but am so glad I chose it! This is a rich and spicy curry that is really easy and quick to make and doesn’t have any crazy ingredients that you can’t find in the shops.

This curry is actually quite healthy too if you limit the amount of oil you use in the recipe and maybe miss out the butter! although I think a knob of butter right at the end gives it a really rich taste.

I have adapted this recipe a bit to suit my tastes as I couldn’t for the life of me imagine eating a curry with 4 – 5 dried red chillis and  3 -4 chopped green chillis! The amount of chilli I used was actually perfect for my taste which is probably around a Madras/Jalfrezi strength but you can adjust the amount of chilli to suit. I also added some onion to the dish as I like some texture to my curry.

The recipe in the book is as below..

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But the ingredients I used are as follows;

Ingredients

Serves 4

2 Tbsp oil
1 large packet of skinless boneless chicken thighs. You can also do as the recipe says above if you want meat on the bone or choose breast although I don’t recommend that as it is dry.
2 Tbsp garlic paste – You can buy this in a jar but you can also just blend garlic with water
2 long dried red chillis pounded in a pestle and mortar to make a coarse powder.
1 Tbsp coriander seeds, toasted then ground
8 Tomatoes chopped
1 large green chilli chopped and de seeded. (adjust according to taste)
4 tablespoons raw finely grated ginger
Bunch of coriander chopped – including stalk.
1 Tbsp Tomato puree
1 Tsp Garam Masala
1 Tsp dried fenugreek leaves ( you can find these in any asian supermarket with the other spices)
Salt
Large knob of butter
1 large onion – half sliced and half chopped finely.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the chicken pieces until lightly coloured then remove from the pan. I chopped each thigh into about 4 pieces but you could also leave them whole.

Re heat the oil and add the garlic paste, red chilli powder and coriander seed mix and cook for 1 minute. Then add the tomatoes and onions and mix well. Cook over a medium heat for around 15 – 20 minutes being careful to not to let the tomatoes dry out too much. I added a little water as the tomatoes started to stick to the pan.

When the tomatoes have gone soft add half the ginger, the green chilli and most of the chopped coriander (hold some back for garnish) and some salt.

Stir in the tomato puree and cook for 3 – 4 minutes then add the chicken back in and bring to a simmer. Cook for 15 – 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through ( this amount if time will depend on how big the pieces of chicken are). Keep an eye on the dish though so it doesn’t get too dry and add water if needed.

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When the chicken is cooked add the garam masala, fenugreek and the rest of the ginger and cook for another 2 – 3 minutes. Taste the curry and add salt and butter as required and scatter with the rest of the chopped coriander.

This one is definitely a keeper!

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Posted on April 26, 2015 by gorgefood

This is a midweek meal that i make when I have loads of bits of vegetables to use up and wanted to eat low carb, it turned into my father in law’s favourite dish too, he wouldn’t stay for tea though so I would send him home with one from the freezer! He particularly liked the ” Orange Stuff” on top and used to request it by that name, I think he even wrote it in last years birthday card!

I used to try and sneak as much veg as I could into it to give him lots of goodness as his favourite meal would have been chocolate cake and ice cream!

There are many ways to change this dish, just chuck in or leave out what you want its pretty simple really.

Ingredients

1 packet of minced beef
1 stick of celery chopped – optional
2 carrots
1 large onion
large handful frozen peas
2 Oxo cubes/Stock cubes/ 1stock pot

1 tsp Thyme
1 tsp Rosemary
2 tsp Mild Curry powder
Salt
Pepper
5 sweet Potatoes chopped
Half a butternut squash – cubed
Half a swede – Chopped
Grated Cheese.
Dried Polenta ( optional)
1 tbsp cornflour
Brown sauce

You can use anything in your meat mixture though; you can add beans,
lentils, any type of chopped up vegetable. Swede, Parsnip, Broccoli,
peppers, sweetcorn, turnip, mushroom etc. As I said earlier its a good way to use up your leftover veg at the end of the week and get your 5 a day in one meal!

Peel and chop your potatoes Swede and squash and boil in a pan of salted water that covers the potatoes with 2 teaspoons of salt until soft (about 15 – 20 mins)

Chop up your vegetables into diced sized pieces. ( carrot, celery and onion and any other vegetable you may have) Heat a little oil to a frying pan or cast iron pot and add the chopped veg with a pinch of salt. Fry until soft.

Remove these from the pan and add the packet of minced beef. Fry until it is all brown and drain off any fat.

Put the vegetables back into the pan with the meat and add some salt, a tablespoon of cornflour, pepper, herbs  and 2 oxo cubes and a pinch of mild curry powder and fry for 2 minutes. Then add about a pint of boiling water.

Cook this for 2 minutes then turn down to a very low heat for about 15 minutes. If it is not thick enough add some cornflour paste. I add some brown sauce too to give it a zing.. about 3 big squeezes.

Whilst this is cooking, Drain the water from your potatoes and mash them with a bit of butter and salt.

Add the meat mixture into an oven dish and then top it with the mashed potato and drag a fork along the top to make small tufts and sprinkle a little bit of dried polenta ( to give it a crunch) and then cheese on top.

Cook in the oven on 180 degrees until the potato becomes slightly crispy on top. Be careful not to burn the cheese though, if its getting too dark cover loosely with a piece of foil.

Serve with buttered bread and HP Sauce!

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