Category Archives: Day-to-day grub

Cook these dishes for supper, lunch or anytime you want comfortable, good cooking

Rice, rice baby….with an apology to David Bowie and Vanilla Ice (oh, Jedward, what have you done?)

Why do I feel the urge to sing “Under pressure” really loudly. Jedward, oh Jedward what have you done to me? Okay so I know they’re not really saying “rice”, and my apologies to Vanilla Ice and of course, the amazing David Bowie.

When was the last time you made real Rice Pudding?  No, not the canned Ambrosia type, but proper, proper Rice Pudding? many peple never do, because they think it’s incredibly complicated, but trust me it’s very, very simple and tastes completely different to the canned variety. (I do have to admit there is a secret place in my heart for canned rice pudding). the home-made variety is as wicked or as angelic as you want it to be (single cream instead of milk is wicked and I love golden syrup on it!). Ellie has become a great afficionado of the home-made variety and to follow is her recipe. She and I both agree that the lovely, browned skin on the top is the best bit..but that’s just us!

ELLIE’S RICE PUDDING

“So, this is such an easy and obvious recipe that it’s almost a non-recipe, really.  However, it’s worth a mention just as an oft-forgotten classic, and as a very simple route to a nice bowl of autumnal comfort.  This will serve 4 as a substantial pudding, or 2 greedy people for a weirdly lovely weekend lunch, that will mean maybe a little soup for supper (but that may just be me).

You will need: 100 grams of pudding rice (note from Kim: Don’t try this with any other type of rice) 50 grams of caster sugar, 700 litres of the milk of your choice (I actually use skimmed – it still turns out quite creamy enough and makes this a fairly low-calorie treat – but anything you like will do; I think soy milk might be nice in this but I haven’t tried it), A little bit of butter for greasing

Optional extras for a bit of flavour – a pinch of nutmeg or cinnamon works well, a bit of vanilla, a squeeze of lemon, whatever.

Method: Switch your oven on to Gas Mark #2/150C or 130C Fan assisted. Grease a medium-sized oven-proof dish.  Mix together the rice and sugar, along with anything else you’re chucking in to the mix, and put into the greased dish.

Pour the milk over the top and give it all a good stir.  Stick in the oven for around two hours, until it has a good skin on the top (the best bit, in my humble opinion) but still gives a good wobble when you give the dish a little shake.

Eat hot from the dish or cold later (the latter being particularly good with a swirl of jam), or better yet hot for pudding and cold for breakfast the next morning.”

I love chicken pie almost as much as I love Lucy

Actually, I really do love Lucy – Lucille Ball, that is, who I think was one of the most talented and wonderful comediennes who ever lived. I mean who could watch the “Vitameatavegamin” scene without falling over laughing? (Go check it out on Youtube if you’ve never seen it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrjWtPhO54s). One of my greatest sadnesses is that she and Desi Arnaz split up, but he did die in her arms…oh dear, enough of that or I may have to go and have a little sob…

Anyway, what a girl needs to cheer her up is a chicken pot pie. By a pot pie, I mean one that only has a top and no bottom (does that make sense?), which means it’s really easy to do.  It is the perfect thing to make if you have leftover chicken, but is so good that it is worth cooking some chicken just so that you can make it. Anyway, this can be as easy or as difficult as you like depending on whether you rush out and buy some ready-made pastry or you indulge yourself in the recipe below, that was taught to me by Alain Roux at ‘The Waterside Inn’ and is flaky cholestrol heaven! Rough Puff pastry is the slightly less complicated little brother of Puff pastry and although it does seem like a real bother to make is a million times worth it once you’ve tasted it. I like to make double quantities and then keep half in the freezer for future use.

Ingredients

2 cups of cooked, diced chicken, 4 leeks, sliced, 1/2 glass dry white wine: For the sauce: 1/2 pint milk, 1 bayleaf, 3 peppercorns, tablespoon of butter, tablespoon of cornflour, salt and pepper to taste. For the Rough Puff Pastry: Either buy a really good qualityready-made butter puff pastry or take 250g of butter, cubed and very cold, 250g of plain flour and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 125ml ice cold water.

Method

First if you are going to make the rough puff yourself do it a couple of hours or even days in advance!

  •  *On a clean surface place the flour in a mound. Make a well in the middle and add the butter and the salt.
  • *With your fingertips, squeeze the butter and salt roughly in to the flour, until the mixture feels grainy but there are still small pieces of butter in it, it should look quite rough.
  • *Gradually add the iced water and mix with your fingers until it is all incorporated and forms a ball.
  • *Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 20 minutes.
  •  Flour the worksurface and roll out to approx 20 x 10 cms, fold it into 3 and then turn it round one quarter.
  • Roll the pastry to the same shape and fold in three again.
  • Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  • Take it out of the fridge and place back on the floured surface and repeat your last process i.e. rolling, turning a quarter twice.
  • Wrap it up in clingfilm again and place back in the fridge for a final 30 minutes and it is ready to use.

Meanwhile, place the chopped leeks in a small saucepan and add the white wine, place over a low heat for about 5 minutes until the leeks are soft and cooked and have incorporated most of the white wine. In another non-stick saucepan, add the butter and the cornflour and place over a low heat. Mix continuously until the butter and flour are well blended (this is called making a roux). Add the milk little by little stirring thoroughly until well blended each time and then when all the milk has been added, place the peppercorns and the bayleaf and stir until it gently comes to the boil.  the sauce should then have a thick, smooth consistency. If it is too thin, add a little more cornflour mixed with cold milk until it is nice and thick. Season with salt and pepper to your own preference. Take off the heat and add the leeks and the chicken to the white sauce.  I often throw in a handful of frozen peas or diced cooked carrot at this stage.

You are now ready to assemble your pie! Place the chicken and leek mixture at the bottom of your pie dish.  Roll out your pastry so that there is enough to cover the whole dish then make a few small incisions in the middle for the steam to escape. use extra pastry to make a double border round the outside, or pretty shapes – whatever you like! Brush all over with a little milk or egg yolk and place in the oven, Gas Mark 4, Fan assisted 160 degrees, non-fan 180 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until the pastry is risen and golden.  This is lovely served with plain, mashed potato.

Enjoy and do use this pastry for any other savoury pies such as steak and ale.

Mushroom Soup for the soul…

It’s raining, it’s gloomy and even worse…it’s cold! I need cheering up! They say chicken soup is good for the soul, I am sure a lot of things are good for the soul, but forget about meditation and living an exemplary life,I am going to go along with the humble mushroom, those fabulous versatile little fungi. 

 

This soup can be as simple as you like, after all you know that I believe strongly that there is a place in society for Campbells (aka Batchelors) Condensed Mushroom soup,as it does make the base for a quick sauce, but why not make your own? It’s so easy!

You can do the quick simple version OR you can make it fancier and put foamed cream and truffle oil on top and serve it with a herb and garlic bruschetta for a dinner party. Anyway, here is the basic recipe.

You will need:  500g of mixed mushrooms – any type you want-washed and sliced, 100g of butter divided in to two 50g portions, 1 large or 2 small mild, white onions (Don’t use red onions, they go a sludgey grey colour), chopped, 2 cloves of garlic, crushed. 1 litre of strong chicken stock (use vegetable stock if you prefer, or if this is for a dinner party, substitute a quarter of the stock with white wine.) 1 tablespoon chopped, fresh thyme, 1 bayleaf, 4 tablespoons of double cream, salt and pepper to taste.

Method: Place 50g of the butter, the chopped onion, bayleaf, thyme and garlic in to a large saucepan and cook on a low heat for 5 to 10 minutes until they are soft and translucent looking but do not let them start to go brown…this is called sweating! Add the chopped mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the stock and bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for a further 20 minutes. Take out a few of the chopped mushrooms and place on one side to use as a garnish. Then either place the mixture in to a food processor and blend or use one of those lovely hand held blenders straight in to the saucepan to liquidise your soup.  Taste and season according to your preferences.  At this point, you can place it in the fridge and heat it up later if you want to, or freeze it. When you’re ready to serve, heat it until boiling, then whisk the remaining 50g of butter in to the soup,  remove from the heat and place in to bowls, add a small amount of cream on top of each bowl  and some of the reserved mushrooms. 

 (If you don’t want your arteries to fur up instantly, omit the additional butter and cream and use low-fat creme fraiche instead.)

 If you are serving this for a dinner party, I like to foam the cream using my espresso machine and serve the soup in capuccino cups, then add a few drops of truffle oil on top of the hot cream foam and a few chopped chives or parsley.

If you want to serve your lovely soup with some bruschetta, mix some softened butter with crushed garlic and chopped fresh herbs (a little bit of chopped red chilli is nice, too). Take a part baked baguette and slice thinly. Spread the butter mixture on top of the baguette and bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes at the recommended heat, or until the bruschetta are crispy and browned.

Going Japanese, I think I’m going Japanese, I really thinks so…

 I don’t know, a hint of tempura and I’m already binding my feet and looking for the nearest tea ceremony. I did go to a Tea Ceremony in Kyoto many years ago, and I’d love to say it was an uplifting experience, but actually I ended up with a very numb backside from sitting for three hours whilst waiting for the amazingly beautiful tea hostess to get the inspiration for our ceremony. Basically, you all sit there, admittedly in stunning surroundings, quietly contemplating (yes, for 3 hours!) until she suddently shrieks the word that enters her head, in this case it was “spring”. Maybe I’m just not enough in tune with the world of meditation, but I have to admit, that when they then poured my my cup of what looked like and tasted like mouldy grass cuttings, I was extremely glad it was all over. Oh well.

Anyway, a quickie for the weekend, make tempura. It’s fun and it’s very easy, but it is better if you have got a deep fat fryer…go out and buy one…you’ll be triple frying chips and Mars bars in no time at all. So for a prawn tempura, you will need some lovely big, raw prawns, de-veined but with the tails left on. 2 egg whites, 25g cornflour and 50ml of soda water. You can fry these in a  saucepan filled with oil, but make sure the temperature is at least 180 degrees. I used chilli jelly as a dipping sauce. 

Method: In a  bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff.Then in  a separate bowl mix together the cornflour and soda water. Fold in the egg whites gently, so as not to beat out all the air. Dip the prawns into the mix, making sure they are thoroughly coated, the lumpier it looks, the better.   Deep-fry the prawns for one to two minutes until golden, drain quickly on kitchen paper and serve immediately.   I am experimenting at the moment with adding turmeric to the mixture and serving with a more curry-like dipping sauce, and even more excitingly with substituting champagne for soda water. watch this space, I’ll let you know the outcome!

Cream cheese and chilli jam

We had the neighbours round yesterday and to start with, I put out a big plate of tortilla chips and a load of dips, including hummus, salsa, guacamole and cream cheese with chilli jam. Here is a fact, the cream cheese dip with chilli jam always goes completely in the first half hour irrespective of how much you put out. It’s as if there is something secretly addictive in it that makes you actually incapable of only having one dip in it.

The best thing about it, is that it really is the easiest dip in the world to make and th recipe was given to me by the lovely Joyce and there’s a woman who knows a thing or two, about good, simple cooking.

Go for it.

JOYCE’S LOVELY CREAM CHEESE CHILLI DIP

All you will need is 1 packet of cream cheese, I used philadelphia, but you could in fact use a block of any good, really creamy cheese.

 1 small jar of either sweet chilli dipping sauce, or my own lovely home made chilli jam (recipe below or buy it, up to you!). 

 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh mint and

 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh basil and

 a large bag of plain tortilla chips.

Method: All you do is turn out the cheese on to a large plate, place the majority of the chopped herbs on the top (Joyce adds chopped red pepper, too), leaving a little for decoration on the side.  Spoon the chilli jam over the top of the cheese and serve. that’s it – pure genius, Joyce. 

This is what it will look like VERY quickly.

 

 

Quick recap on the Chilli Jam recipe…(loosely based on Nigella’s)

  • 150g fresh red chillies with seeds removed
  • 150g red peppers, seeds removed ( I like to use green and yellow as well for a rainbow effect)
  • 1kg jam sugar
  • 400ml cider vinegar
  • 200ml apple juice

Method

  1. Place the cut-up chillies into a food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped. Add the red pepper and pulse again until they are chopped in to small pieces
  2. Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar and apple juice over a very low heat with as little stirring as possible
  3. Scrape the chilli-pepper mixture out of the bowl and add to the pan. Bring the pan to the boil, then leave it to bubble gently for 10 minutes.
  4. Take the pan off the heat and allow it cool for about 30 to 40 minutes
  5. Ladle into clean, sterilised  jars.

Finger licking fun – sticky chilli ribs

This really is a dish to eat with people you know very well, because it really should be eaten with your fingers.  the delicious, sticky sauce needs licking off those dainty digits and you need to eat the tender pork from the bones.  Not everyone’s cup of tea, I know, but if you do love spare ribs, this is a great dish for you.  If you really can’t bear to eat with your fingers but love the taste of the pork with barbeque sauce, you could use spare rib pork chops instead and then eat them much more demurely with a knife and fork. This sauce is also good for chicken. Anyway, for finger-licking fun, you will need: 

 1 tablespoon olive oil,  2 garlic cloves (crushed), 1 onion – finely chopped, 1 large red chilli – chopped,  2 tablespoons of sun dried pureed tomato, 1 can of tinned tomatoes, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of fresh chopped sage or ¼ tablespoon of dried, 2 tablespoons brown sugar , 5 fl ozs of beef stock , 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce , 1 teaspoon of wholegrain mustard, spareribs of pork (cook as a rack or cut individually – up to you)

  • Over a medium heat, heat oil in a frying pan , add garlic, onion and chilli and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes. The onions should be soft, but not brown.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients except the pork, and cook on a low heat for 10 minutes
  • Place the ribs in a baking dish and pour the sauce evenly all over them
  • Bake for one hour at Gas mark 6/200°C/180 Fan until they are brown and crispy, basting every 15 minutes
  • Serve with fingerbowls and plenty of serviettes, you can garnish the top with chopped spring onions and chopped red jalapenos for extra heat if you wish.

If you want to prepare the sauce in advance, allow it to cool, refrigerate and then add to the ribs, marinating them for a while will really add to the flavour.  If you are cooking this for a main course, serve with baked potatoes, green salad and lots of crusty bread. For a starter, simply serve on their own.

Forget the BBQ – make a paella

Why do all men think they are barbeque experts? A friend of mine is fond of saying that “behind every great man there is a woman rolling her eyes” and I believe that behind most great barbeques, there is a woman who has done all the preparation, sorry if that sounds sexist!   What is that all about? Let’s abandon the burgers and cook something exciting!  The Spanish won the world cup and Wimbledon, and they also know a thing or two about how to cook outside for a large crowd. Paella is an art, I feel like weeping when I see an insipid plate of boil in the bag rice, adorned with a few frozen prawns, a bit of red pepper and a chunk of chicken and someone has the audactity to call it a paella.  My paella awakening occurred a couple of years ago we went to the extremely weird, but definitely worth visiting, Festival in Valencia called Fallas.

It involves a lot of very dangerous fireworks, burning effigies on bonfires, dancing, eating and drinking.  On every street corner, neighbourhoods compete to build weird and wonderful wooden statues, which they end up burning. It is an incredibly social event and they make massive and I mean massive paellas, which they eat accompanied by copious amounts of wine.

What amazed me the most, was that not only could they serve up to 100 people but they cooked these enormous dishes over a wooden fire,  I mean you can’t turn the gas down to simmer for God’s sake! The pure Valencian paella is with chicken, rabbit and snails, the spanish never mix fish and meat, that is for the tourists. It is chicken based or seafood based, but never “mixta”. Having seen the light, I went home and ordered a gas fired paella cooker form the internet ( I think lots of garden centres stock them now), but you can make it with a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan. This recipe is for a chicken duck and chorizo paella but you can easily adapt it for seafood, using squid, mussels and swordfish for example. The quantities are for 12 people, so cut in half or quarters depending on the size of your pan.

You need: 700g paella rice 1 jar of roasted red peppers/pimentos or 2 chopped fresh peppers, 1 can of tomatoes, 2 ½ litres of chicken stock to which you add,  1 teaspoon of saffron strands and juice of 3 lemons), 4 teaspoons sweet paprika, 1 medium onion, 4 cloves garlic, chicken and duck cut in to large chunks, small cooking chorizos, 4 lemons and chopped fresh parsley or coriander depending on your preference.

  • Heat olive oil in pan and fry meat and chorizo until nearly cooked – remove
  • Make “Sofrito” – fry onion and garlic, fry until soft but not brown
  • Add tomatoes
  • Return meat and add sliced peppers to the pan and cook until the sauce is thick for at least 5-15 minutes
  • Add the stock to the pan – taste for seasoning, should be quite salty
  • Add rice and distribute evenly
  • Bring to the boil – DO NOT STIR – keep heat quite high and bubbling
  • After about 10 minutes, the rice should start to appear through the liquid
  • Turn down the heat really low,  to a simmer for a further 10-15 minutes
  • Try rice, should be “al dente”

This is the scary bit….cover the pan with foil and turn heat up to HIGH for 2-3 mins to make the “Socorat” – you should hear the rice popping aginst the foil as it caramelises on the bottom.  Turn off heat – when ready to serve garnish with  lemon quarters , I also add coriander or parsley, but that is optional

Serve it with garlic bread and a tomato salad. Viva Espana!

Crown of Duck – no tiaras but a sticky, whisky and maple syrup sauce

I was inspired by our recent visit to the Waterside Inn to cook duck…..well that and the fact that they had crown of duck on special offer at Sainsbury’s – £5, a bargain! It is fantastic that you can buy this nifty little chap, which is virtually just the breast with the wing tips so cheaply these days. I do bemoan the loss of the legs as I adore a nice confit, but this is a quick hit, so we can save the confit for another day. I am cooking my crown of duck with maple syrup and whisky marmalade (the whisky is optional). You will need 1 crown of duck for 2 people. First of all, pre-heat the oven to 190C/170C for a Fan oven, Gas mark 5. Then  place the crown in a large frying pan, and cook skin side down for a couple of minutes until the skin  is brown, place the duck in a roasting try and drizzle a least 2 tablespoons of maple syrup over the breast, roast for 45 minutes, whilst this is roasting mix 2 tablespoons of chunky seville marmalade with 1 tablespoon of whicky, take the duck out and smear the marmalade mixture all over the duck, place back in the oven for 30  minutes (or 40 if you don’t like your duck pink). Take out of the oven and do rest it for 10 minutes before serving (the duck, not you, although a glass of red wine and your feet up is always nice!). I love this served with new potatoes and mint butter and green peas.

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday – our first guest blog!

Big thanks to Pete Russell for the following article. Pete is a fellow foodie and now resident in California we will be looking to him and the lovely Linda for lots more New World items. Read on….

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday.

To be truthful, for Pleasant Valley read Tri-Valley, that area bounded by California’s Central Valley to the east and the Diablo Range Segment of the mighty Pacific Mountain System to the west, and centered on the only gap in the Diablo Range, about 20 miles east of San Francisco. So what was pleasant about our Sunday? We had considerable success with our new 3-burner BBQ grill, no mean feat considering the wind that whistles through that gap on its way from the great Pacific Ocean to the Central Valley, California’s (and the USA’s) major growing area. You see, our previous outdoor grill struggled to overcome the wind chill of the area, and we’d all but given up cooking outdoors. 

 So armed with French Sherberts, we set about creating Fire-Roasted Garlic-Herb Chicken. The Chicken is moistened inserting a herb butter between the flesh and the skin, basted with a roasted garlic paste, and cooked on the BBQ grill using the indirect heat method. We partnered the Chicken with Roasted Summer Vegetables and Creamy Parmesan Orzo.   The proper Chefs amongst you will now be able to repeat our success, but for ordinary mortals (like ourselves), here’s what you do to prepare a meal for two. 

 Firstly, to ready yourself for your ordeal, construct your French Sherbert.   Take equal quantities of gin, cointreau, freshly squeezed orange and freshly squeezed lime juices, pour into a cocktail shaker with about 6 larges cubes of ice and shake aggressively for about 15 to 20 secs or until your arm falls off. Strain into a 5oz cocktail glass and garnish with segment of lime. I use a 1oz (30ml) pour, so that makes 4oz of cocktail which fits nicely in the 5oz glass. This cocktail produces a fresh tingle on the tongue reminiscent of lemon sherbert, and according to an acquaintance, is ‘fabulous, I could drink buckets of it’. Freshened by the Sherbert, the prep can now begin.  For the roasted garlic paste, about 120ml, you’ll need: 2 heads of garlic, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt (oi-vey) (Not sure we can get this, Pete, is ordinary salt ok?), a child’s handful of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, ground black pepper, pinch of cayenne pepper, 3 tablespoons water.

  1. Preheat an oven to about 400F. 
  2. Trim the pointed ends of the garlic heads until all or most of the cloves are exposed, usually about a quarter down the head. Place the heads, cut side up on about a 6 inch square of aluminum foil and top with a little of the oil. Wrap the foil around the garlic so that it is completely enclosed.
  3. Place near the middle of the oven and cook for 35 to 40 mins. 
  4. Unwrap and allow to cool for 10 minutes or so. 
  5. Cut the whole heads in half, lengthwise and squeeze the roasted garlic from their skins. 
  6. If the Sherbert has gone to head, good quality roasted garlic cloves or puree is available in most good supermarkets. 
  7. Now, mash the roasted garlic with a fork, adding all the remaining ingredients. 
  8. Put aside to be used later to baste the chicken.

For the provencale herb butter, assemble:

  • 1 tablespoons dried basil
  • 1 tablespoon crushed fennel seeds
  • 1 tablespoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoons garlic salt
  • 1 teaspoon crushed, dried rosemary
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground, dried orange peel
  • 1 tablespoon softened, salted butter.
  1. Mix all the herbs together in a bowl and mash 1 tablespoon into the softened butter. Set both the remaining rub and the herb butter aside to use with the chicken.

Finally, for the chicken you’ll need:

  • 1 fresh chicken, cavity excavated, about 3.5 to 4 lbs
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary or thyme leaves
  • an instant read thermometer to check doneness of the chicken.
  1. Preheat the BBQ grill to 350F using the outside burners. You’ll be cooking using the indirect method so be sure that you have at least 1 burner unlit. Of course, it the weather is inclement, you can use an indoor oven.
  2. Separate the skin from the breast and the legs of the chicken by gently inserting an index finger under the skin at the neck end. By gently moving your finger around, separate the skin from the meat. Gradually ease your whole hand under the skin, loosening the skin from the breast legs and drumsticks. 
  3. Spoon the herb butter evenly under the skin by rubbing the skin to spread the butter. Spoon the remaining rub into the chicken cavity and rub it all around the walls. 
  4. Tie the chicken legs together with kitchen twine, and rub the vegetable oil onto the outside of the chicken.
  5. Mix the garlic paste and fresh herbs into a bowl and put aside.

You’ve completed all the chicken prep now, and the grill should be at the or about 350F, so you can go ahead and cook the chicken: 

  1. Brush the grill grate and coat with oil. Remember, this is grill grate with no burner lit beneath it.
  2. Place the chicken on the grill over the unlit burner and cover the grill. Set a timer for 40 mins. Note that the chicken will be done when an instant read thermometer, inserted into the thickest part of a breast, reads 170F; this should be in about 60 to 75 mins.
  3. Dependant upon how confident and macho you’re feeling, you may wish to take this opportunity to mix another French Sherbert, however, the side dishes do now need attention!
  4. When the 40 min timer expires, start basting the chicken with the garlic/herb paste and start the orzo. Baste chicken again after a further 10 mins.
  5. When chicken is cooked (170F in middle of breast), remove chicken from grill, cover with foil and leave to rest for 15 mins. Leave 1 grill burner on and start cooking veggies.
  6. When chicken is rested, carve and serve with the veggies and orzo.

For the grilled summer vegetables you’ll need:

  • 1.5 lb assorted summer veg, cut into 2 cm (between 1/2 and 1 inch) cubes. Choose from summer squash, courgette/zucchini, red onion, red/yellow peppers, etc.
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil.
  • salt & pepper, a grill wok (see picture).
  1. Coat the vegetables with oil and season with salt & pepper. I fond this easiest by placing all the ingredients into a plastic freezer bag and shaking it until the veggies are coated. Set aside until needed.
  2. While the chicken is resting, coat the grill wok with oil, empty the veg into wok and place on a grill grate over an active burner at cook for 15 mins.
  3. Remove and serve with chicken and orzo.

For the orzo: (for those like me who said “What the *** is orzo?” it is a very fine pasta, looks a bit like pearl barley!)

  • 1/2 tablespoon butter, 100g orzo
  • 160 ml chicken stock
  • 160 ml water
  • 15g grated Parmesan
  • 1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil
  • salt & pepper, 2 teaspoons toasted pine nuts.
  1. Heat the butter in a medium saucepan over a medium heat.
  2. Add orzo, cook for 3 mins, stirring constantly.
  3. Stir in stock and water, bring to the boil.
  4. Reduce heat and simmer until liquid is absorbed and orzo is done, about 15 mins.
  5. Remove from heat, stir in parmesan, basil, salt & pepper.
  6. Sprinkle pine nuts over and serve with chicken and veggies.

We had a bottle of local (Livermore Valley) 2004 zinfandel which was soft enough not to overpower the orzo, but robust enough to counter the roast garlic chicken and veggies.  You should have enough chicken left over for a chicken Caesar salad lunch for two, and two Nigella chicken pies.

Thanks Pete, you might have enough left to make my chicken and ham pot pie  recipe to follow this week as an homage to The Archers veal and ham pie. You can follow Pete on his own blog site  http://russep3.tumblr.com/ for more of his excellent commentaries and recipes

Contact me, guest bloggers for your moment in the sun….you know you want to

 

Dipping and Diving, or should that be ducking? bring back 70’s party food

The dip is a bizarre phenomenon isn’t it? So Abigail’s Party they were the ultimate sophistication in the 70’s and looked wonderful next to the cheese and pineapple hedgehogs and vol au vents. Then they went a bit out of fashion and disappeared in to trendy foodie wasteland  but I believe there is still a place in the universe for a good dip, especially with drinks. I have already shared my recipe for Mexican 7 layer dip, so today as the last in our easy-peasy series, here are two really classic, simple dips and they are all based around one of my food heroes – Waitrose wholegrain mustard mayonnaise. If you can’t be bothered to make your own mayonnaise, and you can’t get hold of my first and true love, ready-made mayonnaise,  Amora with Dijon mustard (it’s worth the trip to France, honestly or there is a company called Frenchclick who import it) then this little Waitrose gem is worth having in your store cupboard. It’s lovely on chips and my daughter Katy likes it on her baked potato, but it makes a brilliant base for a dip. My first dip is TUNA DIP which is lovely served with hot pieces of pitta bread. You will need a can of dolphin friendly tuna (remember we love Flipper) preferably in olive oil, but with the oil drained off, 1/2 a jar of mustard mayonnaise (if you can’t get it, add a tablespoon of wholegrain mustard to ordinary mayo), 1 large tablespoon of hot horseradish sauce, and 1 tablespoon of finely chopped spring onions. It’s bizarre but no-one ever gets the flavour of the horseradish, but they enjoy the unexpected heat. That’s it – just mix them all together and serve, perfect if people turn up unexpectedly. Another dip based on the mayo, is CHICKEN AND RED ONION. You will need a cooked chicken breast (a ready cooked one is fine), skin removed chopped in to very small pieces, 1 small red onion or 1/2 a larger one, chopped in to very fine pieces, 1/2 jar of the wonder mayo, 1 stick of celery, very finely chopped, 1 tablespoon finely chopped, fresh coriander, salt and pepper to taste. Mix them all together and serve. I like this with bruschetta made from very thinly sliced french bread, smeared with sun dried tomato paste and a drizzle of olive oil, placed in a low oven until they are crispy, but any dipping implements, like tortilla chips or pitta would do.

So, exciting things coming next week…our very first guest blog all the way from California, Mr Pete Russell will take centre stage on Monday. I’m off to review the White Oak in Cookham, tonight, followed by lunch at my beloved Waterside Inn tomorrow to celebrate my mother’s birthday and another lunch out on Sunday. Food heaven! Have a lovely weekend and I’ll be back Monday, considerably fatter than I am today…