Chili Con Carne

Chili Con Carne

Ingredients (feeds 6)

800g of steak mince

1 stalk of celery finely sliced

1 Onion finely chopped

3-4 Garlic cloves crushed and finely chopped

1 Green pepper with core and seeds removed cut into slices

A handful of mushrooms sliced

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

A fresh salad tomato cut into chunks

1 tin of kidney beans in water

100g of bacon lardons

1 or 2 chilis chopped (depending on personal preference for heat)

Half a glass of red wine

Quarter of a pint of beef stock

2 teaspoons of chili powder (hot or mild - again according to personal taste)

1 table spoon of paprika

2 teaspoons of ground cumin

1 teaspoon of marjoram

Accompany with: boiled rice or baked potatoes, refried beans, sour cream, guacamole and grated mild cheese.

The cooking:

Before you start, season your raw steak mince with plenty of salt and pepper and set aside for about 5 minutes. Fry ingredients off in a pan then transfer to an over proof dish for baking as you go along. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C and prepare your ingredients. 

Start by browning your mince. This is a recipe where you do not necessarily need premium quality mince to get the best out of it. In fact fatty mince gives it a better flavour. Once it is browned, it is inevitable that a certain amount of watery liquid will have been rendered off. Decant it away (as it tastes terrible) and put your mince into an oven proof casserole dish big enough to take all these ingredients. Rinse and wipe the pan (no need to be fastidious about it) then add a few drops of olive oil and over a medium heat,  fry up your celery, peppers, onion, mushrooms and garlic together. While they are in the pan, put your lardons onto a tray and into the oven and crisp them up. Once the vegetables are softened and golden add them to the casserole dish as well. Now using the same pan, turn up the heat and reduce down your wine till the liquid roughly halves in volume. Add that to the dish and by now your lardons should be crispy so add them too.

Into the casserole dish pour the stock, the chopped tomatoes (tinned and fresh), the cumin, the marjoram, chilli powder and paprika. If you have elected to use them also at this point add the chopped fresh chillis. Now here is as good a point as any to bring this topic up. Personally I like my chilli to have more of a "smokey" flavour than anything else. But I know there are people out there who are not satisfied until they break out in a sweat. It's up to you. Without the fresh chillis this will be a mild, smokey dish with a small hint of heat.With them added, make sure you have some water on hand when you eat it. Especially if you use the seeds as well as the flesh.

You should by now have used all your ingredients except the kidney beans. Give the whole lot a good stir so it is thoroughly mixed, then put a lid on the dish and bake in the oven for 2-3 hours, The longer the better. In fact if you have the time, drop the temperature to 170 and cook it all day. Check it every now and again and give all the ingredients a good stir. If it starts to dry out then add more wine. If it starts to resemble soup then pour off the surplus liquid. Good chilli needs to be the consistency of unset concrete in my view. Add the beans for the last 20 minutes of cooking.

Serve up with rice or on a baked potatoe with a side of refried beans. Give your guests a selection of toppings to add, preferably soured cream, grated mild cheese and guacamole. This is a good dish for a buffet at a party.

Chicken And Chorizo Casserole

Chicken And Chorizo Casserole

Ingredients (to serve 4):

4 Chicken legs separated into thighs and drumsticks (skin on)

A Whole Chorizo, peeled and cut into chunks

1 Sweet white onion, peeled and finely chopped

2 Garlic cloves peeled, crushed and finely chopped

A small handful of fresh thyme, chopped

2 Teaspoons of dried sage

3 Red peppers cut into 1 inch chunks

50g of Bacon lardons

6 Cherry tomatoes halved

100g of butter beans

3 cubes of dehydrated/powdered chicken stock

Olive oil, salt and pepper

Quarter of a glass of red wine

Quarter of a pint of chicken stock

A small hand full of black olives

An optional extra; a few slices of black pudding if you wish

The cooking:

Begin by crumbling the stock cubes into 4 tablespoons of warmed olive oil (warm your olive oil by popping it into an oven proof jug or bowl and heat at 150 degrees for about 2-3 minutes - do not use a microwave). Stir until thoroughly mixed into a paste then liberally baste over the chicken pieces and season with salt and pepper. Fry the chicken peices on a medium heat in a pan for about 5 minutes each side, until the chicken turns golden, then set aside in an oven proof casserole dish.

In a teaspoon of olive oil, and on a medium heat, fry the onion until softened, then add the chorizo to the same pan. After 2 to 3 minutes add the red wine and turn up the heat to reduce down so the liquid content roughly halves. Then add the peppers, sage, garlic, thyme and lardons (and black pudding too if you are using it). Once golden, add it all to the casserole dish, pour over the stock. Give it all a big stir and pop it into an oven pre-heated at 180 degrees and cook for about an hour and a half to two hours (or until the chicken is starting to come away from the bone). If it starts to dry out, add more wine. Half an hour before the end, add the tomatoes and the butter beans and mix thoroughly.

Great on its own. If you want it to go futher then serve with rice to pad it out. Deserves a full bodied red Rioja or Ribera del Duero.

Harissa Lamb, Merguez and Couscous

Harissa Lamb, Merguez and Couscous (Serves 4)

Ingredients:

4 Lamb Chump or Loin Chops

4 Table spoons of Harissa Paste

1 Teaspoon of Cumin

4 Merguez Sausages

Some Good Olive Oil

100g of Dried Couscous

300ml of Boiling Water

Half a Cucumber, Peeled and Cut Into Chunks

Handful of Chopped, Fresh Coriander

1 White or Red Chicory (also called "endives") Cut Into Chunks

Cherry Tomatoes Halved

A Handfull of Black Olives

30g of Pui Lentils

4 Sundried Tomatoes sliced

Juice from a quarter of a lemon

3 to 4 Tablespoons of Greek Yogurt

The Cooking:

A couple of hours before cooking, make a marinade using the Harissa, cumin and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Prod your lamb chops all over with a pointed knife and liberally coat with the combined paste, covering on both sides and put to one side in a covered dish.

Make your salad by combining the cucumber, coriander, chicory, cherry tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, lentils and olives in a bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice, then cover with yogurt and stir well until all is covered.

Fry your marinated lamb chops in a tea spoon of olive oil for approximately 8 minutes each side on a medium heat to leave it nicely pink in the middle, or 10 minutes each side if you prefer it more cooked. You can cook the merguez along side the lamb, and frying for 5 minutes each side until browned and cooked through. Alternatively you can bake both in an oven at 190 degrees. The lamb for 30 minutes, the merguez for 20. Turning regularly so they cook on both sides.

Prepare your bed of couscous by boiling 300ml of water and pouring over 100g of couscous in a pot and cooking on a high heat until the moisture has all been absorbed (about 7-8 minutes). Then serve up. Nice and spicy without being hot. Serve with a dollop of yogurt and a dollop of sweet chili jam if you have it, This would also be great for a summer barbecue.

Luxurious Chicken, Gammon and Leek Pie

Luxurious Chicken, Gammon and Leek Pie

Great idea to plan this as part of a 3 day menu, where you have gammon on day 1, roast chicken dinner on day 2 and use the left overs to make this delicious pie on day 3. Failing that, boil 3 chicken breasts in chicken stock in a covered pan for 10 minutes and roast a joint of gammon and use what you need to for this recipe and keep the rest back for another day.

Ingredients:

Approximately 300g of cooked chicken, skinned and cubed

Approximately 300g of cooked gammon, with surplus fat cut off and cut into cubes

2 Leeks cut into slices

1 Onion finely chopped

250ml of Chicken Stock

200ml of milk

150ml Double Cream

75g on Unsalted Butter

Half a Glass of White Wine

50g Grated Mild Cheddar

2 Cloves of Garlic, Crushed and Chopped
2 Table Spoons of Plain Flour

Puff pastry to cover the dish your pie is in

The Cooking:

Lightly fry your leeks and onion on a low heat, using 25g of your butter. When softened, add your garlic and fry for a minute, then the wine. Increase the heat and reduce the wine down. Once the quantity of liquid has halved, reduce the heat, add the rest of the butter and once melted, add the flour. Keep stirring to form a goo, then gradually start adding and stirring in the milk a few drops at a time. Once all the milk has been added, continue to add the stock in the same way. Turn up the heat to allow to thicken. Finally add the cream and grated cheeses, stir it in then remove from the heat once the cheese has melted and let the mixture cool. When I do this, I usually do this preparation in the morning. Then I leave the mixture in the saucepan with a lid on through the day, until I am ready to do the final prep (below) before serving, as it only takes 30 minutes it can be done in tandem with mash and veg prep.

For the final stage, preheat an oven to 190 degrees C. Add the chicken, gammon and cooled mixture to an oven proof dish. Stir it all together. Cover with a puff pastry lid. Peirce with holes to let the steam out while cooking, and brush with a beaten egg to create a glaze. Place into the oven for 30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and golden.

BRIOCHE AND BUTTER PUDDING

BRIOCHE AND BUTTER PUDDING

Ingredients (to serve 6):

200g of Brioche Fingers

60g of Dried Sweet Cranberries

300ml of Double Cream

300ml of Milk

50g Unaslted Butter (Softened)

2 Whole Eggs

2 egg Yolks

40g Castor Sugar

4 Tablespoonfuls of Warmed Apricot Jam

3 Teaspoons of Brown Sugar

20ml of Grand Marnier

The Cooking:

Grease the inside of an oven proof dish with a generous knob of butter, then follow up with 2 table spoons of the jam, spread all over. Butter the edges of the brioche fingers and arrange them in the dish, tightly packed together with the butter acting as a cement between each, and a sprinkling of cranberries between each layer. Sprinkle what's left over the top.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and egg yolks together with the castor sugar. Once fully combined, add the milk, cream and Grand Marnier and whisk to a cream (by hand). Pour the mixture over the brioches. Press them down firmly to ensure they fully absorb it, and are submerged below the surface of it. Leave for 20 minutes to continue absorbing.

Place the dish inside a roasting tin, and pour water into the tin so it comes approximately 1/2 of the way up the sides of the dish. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Place into an oven, preheated to 180 degrees C and bake for 45-50 minutes.

When you pull it out of the oven, glaze with the remaining apricot jam. Leave to stand for 10-15 minutes.

Serve warm with double cream. 

Duck in Port and Berry Sauce with Pack Choi and Mash

Duck in Port and Berry Sauce with Pack Choi and Mash

Ingredients (to serve 4):

4 Greshingham Duck Breasts

70g of Dried Cherries and Berries

300ml of Port

200 ml of Chicken Stock

50g of Unsalted Butter Cut into Cubes and Softened

Small Handful of Fresh Thyme

2 Pack Choi

2 Garlic Cloves Crushed and Finely Chopped

Olive Oil

3 Tea Spoons of Soy Sauce

4 Maris Piper Potatoes

50ml of Creme Fraiche

100ml of Milk

The Cooking:

Before you start cooking, score slashes into the duck skin and sprinkle coarse sea salt over it and rub in. Leave to one side for 30 minutes. The pack choi will also need to be halved length ways (from top to bottom), laid in a bowl, sprinkled with the crushed garlic, the soy sauce and a drizzle of olive oil, and tossed so the whole of the greenery is covered in the garlicy, sticky mixture. Leave it to soak it up. You will also need to pre-heat an oven to 180 degrees C. 

In a large pan, fry your duck breasts, skin side down over a medium heat for about 12-14 minutes. Once the fat from the skin has all rendered and the skin is left golden and crispy, turn them over to gently fry on the other side for about 2-3 minutes, then transfer into the oven for no more than 20 minutes. Unlike chicken, duck is meant to be served a bit pink in the middle so no need to leave any longer than this. Take 2 teaspoons of the duck fat and put in a separate pan to fry the Pack Choi in. Then disregard all bar 1 tablespoon full of fat which you will use to make the sauce. You don't need any more than that. In the interests of not blocking drains with fat or wasting good food in general, I recommend what you take out of the pan, you pour into a container and keep until the next time you want to make roast potatoes. Roasties cooked in duck fat are awesome!

To make the sauce, add the port to the hot duck fat on a medium heat and stir with a whisk until it deglazes. Add your thyme, cherries and berries and chicken stock, turn the heat up to bring to a bubble, stirring all the while. Once it starts bubbling add half your butter cubes (25g) and continue to stir in. When the sauce has reached it optimum temperature, it will start to thicken. Turn the heat down to a gentle simmer, retrieve your duck breasts and add them flesh side down, to the pan with the sauce in it. Pour any juices in there as well.

Make you mash by peeling and slicing your potatoes and boiling them in a pan with half water and half milk in it and a dash of salt. After 15-20 minutes or so, the potatoes should be soft enough for you to push a fork through without much effort. At this point, drain and mash. Add the rest of your butter, your cream and your milk and with a whisk, stir into a light, fluffy puree. Season generously with black pepper and salt.

Finally, take your marinated pack choi and fry for 2 minutes each side in the duck fat you set aside in a separate pan. Once it has started to wilt it is ready to serve up.

Make a bed with the mash, lay your duck breasts on top and a pack choi half next to it on each plate. Strain your sauce from the pan into a jug or grave boat. Finishing touch, spoon a coupe of cherries and berries onto your duck and serve. Good dinner party staple this. Simple to do but looks impressive and tastes supreme.

Curried Parsnip Soup

Curried Parsnip Soup

Ingredients (serves 3):

1 Large parsnip, peeled and chopped

2 Onions, peeled and chopped

3 Cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

2 Maris Piper potatoes peeled and sliced

1 Table spoon of mild curry powder
1 Tea spoon of chili flakes
1.3 Litres of vegetable (or chicken) stock

1 Tea spoon of cumin

A pinch of paprika

A dollop of creme fraiche

Salt & pepper to season

The Cooking:

Melt the butter in a large pot over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and lightly fry for 5 minutes. Add the potato, parsnips, curry powder, cumin and chili flakes, stirring so all the vegetables are coated. Pour in the stock and bring to a simmer. Cover with a lid and cook for 20 minutes. 5 minutes before the end seasons well. Then Blitz in a blender until smooth.

Serve with a powdering of paprika and a dollop of creme fraiche with some rustic, crusty bread. Possibly the best tasting soup in the world. It also works with  pumpkin flesh if you want to substitue the parsnip. You will need about 150g of it.