Tuesday 15 September 2009

Tuesday 30 June 2009

Finished at last.

Well its been nearly 5 years and I am finally leaving the Jobcentre. Have had some good times here and have met and worked with some great people. Won’t miss the work at all and cant wait to get stuck into cooking full time. I will be starting as a Junior Sous Chef at a cool Gastro style pub in Suffolk from the 8th of July. http://www.anchoratwalberswick.com

Will be updated my blog along the way with lots more recipes, my head is full of them just need to find the time to write them all down.

New life starts from now I guess scary stuff.

Tuesday 23 June 2009

Pan fried Scallops with Crisp Pancetta and Salsa.

This is the dish i cooked at the Suffolk Fest of the sea in Southworld. Its a really great summers dish and very quick to cook. Great for a simple starter, or add some nice new potatoes or a salad to turn it into a main course.

Serves 4

You will need:-

12 rashes of pancetta.
12 scallop’s coral removed.
Sea salt and pepper.
Olive oil
For the salsa.
Large handful of cherry tomatoes chopped.
Large handful of green olives, stones removed and chopped.
Juice of 1 lemon.
1 handful of chopped herbs. Parsley and coriander is good.
Salt and Pepper

Method

In a hot pan fry the pancetta until crisp, remove and keep warm.
Turn the heat up. Season and fry the scallops in the same pan with the fat left from the pancetta, add a knob of butter if the pancetta doesn’t give off much fat, cook for around 2 mins on eat side. Meanwhile in a warm pan add a good lug of olive oil add the tomatoes and the olives and just warm do not fry. After a few minutes add the lemon juice and the herbs, Season. Olives have a high salt content so be careful when you season. On a warm plate spoon on the salsa, top with the scallops and rash of pancetta.

Monday 15 June 2009

Mussels with leeks cider and cream.

Now this is my kinda food, I love mussels and there are so many things they go with, I will be posting a bunch of mussel ideas over the next few weeks so keep a look out. All of these mussel recipes work really well wrapped in tin foil and cooked on a hot BBQ.

Serves 4 as a main or 6 as a starter.

You will need:-

1 kg Live mussels cleaned.
2 Leeks trimmed, washed and finely chopped .
2 Chopped cloves of garlic.
1 bottle of cider, Suffolk aspell if you can get it
100ml of double cream.
1 lemon
A handful of chopped fresh parsley
Olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Method

Heat a large heavy bottomed pan. Add a splash of oil and sweat the leeks and garlic for a few minutes. Turn the heat up to full, throw in the mussels and the cider and place a lid of the pan, after about 2 minutes give the pan a good shack up and continue to cook for another 2 minutes. The mussels are cooked when they are open, throw away any that haven’t opened. Add the cream and bring to the simmer. Add the parsley lemon juice and season to taste. Not to much salt as the mussels give out a lot of salt. Serve this with chunky chips of some nice bread.

Spicy Lamb and nut Koftas with a mint yogurt dressing.

This is again something i cooked on ITV This Morning, its a must for the BBQ.
You will need:-

Makes around 8

500g of Lamb Mince
1 chilli
Cumin seeds
1 garlic clove
1 White slice bread crumbed
1 lemon zested
1 egg
1 hand full of shelled pistachio nuts chopped.
Skewers
Yogurt
Bunch of mint.

In a pestle and mortar, bash up the chopped chilli garlic and cumin seeds. Mix with the lamb mince, add the bread crumbs, nuts, egg and lemon zest, season and mix well.
Soak the wooden skewers.
With wet hands mould the lamb mix around the skewers. Leave in the fridge for about 1 hr.
Finley chop the mint and stir into the yogurt.BBQ the Koftas for about 10 mins on a high heat and serve with flat bread or salad and spoon over the yogurt.

Wild Mushroom and Herb Chicken Wellington

This is a dish i cooked in the semi,s of Masterchef. I also cooked it on ITV This Morning. Its a great dish, easy to make and great for dinner parties as you can make it all ahead of time.

You will need:-

Serves 4

Mixed Mushrooms any combo.
Olive oil
1 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 handful of fresh thyme, chopped
4 chicken breast Wing Bone on if poss
1 pack of puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
2 heaped tablespoons wholegrain mustard
1 large wineglass of white wine
140 ml double cream

Method.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6. Chop up the mushrooms – half rough and half fine. To a hot pan, add a couple of lugs of olive oil and slowly fry the garlic with mushrooms for about 10 minutes. Season to taste and stir in the chopped thyme. Allow to cook. Pull back the chicken fillet on the breast and, keeping it intact, score into the breast and stuff the chicken with the cooled mushrooms.
Roll the pastry out. Slice into 4 pieces, lengthways, and wrap around chicken breast. Brush the pastry with a little egg, and cook in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. While the chicken is cooking, put the mustard and white wine into a hot pan and allow to reduce until you’ve cooked away the alcohol smell. Add the cream and simmer until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, then remove from the heat and season to taste. Slice each chicken breast into 3 and serve with a bit of sauce and a little drizzle of olive oil if you like.