Bread, onion & cabbage bake

Cabbage again. This is my typical veg for Autumn-Winter time, and apart from being filling, tasty and comforting it is also on the cheaper side.

I cooked this dish according to a recipe from my new favourite cookbook (well, didn't follow the exact quantities). This is something that my Polish soul fell in love with immediately, but I also came across Italian inspired recipe for soup using very similar ingredients. 

I prepared two versions, one vegan for myself and other with some extra bacon - for my hard working partner. This however is meat free version and you can adjust it accordingly to your preferences.

Swaps? Use kale or Swiss chard instead of a cabbage.

Extras by Hugh? A sharp cheese such as mature Cheddar or Gruyere sprinkled on each layer of bread would be nice addition and make this more filling.

Extras by me? Add fried bacon cubes to the cabbage or sprinkle the dish with bacon on a plate.

Serves 2-4

8 tbsp olive oil

3 medium onions, peeled and diced

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1 medium cabbage, quartered, core removed, cabbage shredded into about 1cm slices 

half French baguette, robust, good quality, stale (or sourdough bread) cut into about 2cm cubes

400mlhot vegetable stock

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Fry the onion in 4 tbsp olive oil on a low heat for about 15 minutes. Then add garlic, cover and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Boil a bog pan of water, add some salt and the cabbage, cook for about 4 minutes, then drain and leave it to steam for a while. 

Place diced bread in a bowl and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Heat the oven to 180 C.

Layer the ingredients in an ovenproof dish starting with onion, then bread and cabbage. The number of layers depends on how deep your dish is, I only managed to get two layers of each ingredient. Make sure you top it up with layer of bread. Add little salt and pepper between each layer. pour the hot stock over the dish making sure the bread cubes on the top soak some of it. Cover with kitchen foil and place in the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for further 15 minutes or until golden on the top and stock has nearly evaporated. Remove from the oven and leave it to rest for about 10 minutes, then divide into portions and serve.

Peas, broad bean & leek soup with spicy croutons

Ages ago (well, in 2008) I have found very interesting recipe for peas and leek soup by British chef, author of several cook books and boss of the cookery school, well know from BBC programs Lesley Waters  (a former Head Master in Leith's Cookery School). Since then I have been making this soup on a regular basis, it became one of my favourite soups, however over the years I have modified the recipe slightly. Also this time I used bread beans, as I have a surplus from my garden and I know it seems a bit late for fresh peas and broad beans  but believe me or not last Wednesday I picked probably the last peas this year and quite a lot of broad beans are still remaining in my garden... However this soup is also delicious when made with frozen peas, and frozen broad beans are available in UK all year round (anyway these are only optional for this soup; most of the time I make it with peas and leek only). By the way, frozen peas is one of few frozen vegetables that taste as good as fresh. I always have a bag in my freezer. If you use frozen peas make sure it goes to the pan not last minute, but at the end of frying the leeks, just before adding hot stock.

Serves 2-4

4 tbsp olive oil 

2 small leeks, white and light green part, sliced

1 large garlic clove, peeled and chopped 

about 250ml fresh peas, podded

about 200ml fresh broad beans, podded

about 1 l vegetable stock, hot 

2-4 slices of stale bread, cubed
chilli powder or cayenne pepper  

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 180 C. Place cubed bread on a baking tray, drizzle with 2 tbsp olive oil and sprinkle with chilli or cayenne. Place in the oven and bake until crispy and golden. 

Heat the remaining oil in a pan, add leeks and fry until slightly browned, then add garlic and fry for one minute or so. Add hot stock, bring to the boil, low down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Then add the peas and broad beans. If you prefer to skin broad beans then you have to blanch them in boiling water for 3 minutes, drain, peel and put the peeled broad beans to the soup just for last 3 minutes.

Before serving season with salt and pepper (that depends on your stock flavours) and serve with spicy croutons.

Soup. Roast tomatoes, onion & pearl barley

 

I still go through my new cook book and even I had different culinary plans for this month for the last two weeks I have been writing my shopping lists with this book in my other hand. And to be honest - I don't mind this at all!

I already showed you some salads, breakfasts and now I think there is a good time for something warm and hearty, for example a soup. With minimum ingredients, little effort but maximum flavour and satisfaction.

Hugh recommends good chicken or beef stock, I had homemade vegetable stock and I would not swap it for meaty stock, but this is my personal choice. You can also use ready made passata (fresh tomato puree) but in my opinion passata made with roasted tomatoes it absolutely the best and it is well worth making an effort of preparing it. I made mine night before as well as the stock, so next day preparing this soup took me about 30 minutes.

Swaps? Use spelt or short grain rice instead of pearl barley. However for me the barley is what makes this soup special. 

Plus one? Add some Parmesan shaving on the top just before serving. 

Dinneeeeeeeeer's reaaaady!

Serves 4

2kg ripe tomatoes, halved
5-6 tbsp olive oil 
few springs of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
750ml vegetable stock, hot
150g pearl barley, rinsed
1 large onion, peeled and diced 
salt
freshly ground black pepper
some extra virgin olive oil for drizzling (optionally)

Heat the oven to 180C.

Place halved tomatoes in an ovenproof dish, sprinkle with chopped garlic, add bay leaves, thyme springs and drizzle with 3 tbsp olive oil. Place in the oven and roast for about an hour. Tomatoes should be soft, little wrinkly and start to caramelise on the edges. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool down. Them place in the sieve and using a ladle press all the juices. There should be only skins and peeps left on the sieve and you should get around 500-700ml of passata. 

In a pan heat 2-3 tbsp olive oil and fry the onion for about 10 minutes, over a low heat until softened. Next add the barley and mix until covered in fat. Add hot stock, passata and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the barley is cooked. 

Divide between serving plates/bowls and before serving drizzle with some extra olive oil. Serve with a piece of good bread.

Very mild, but very rich summer vegetable curry (vegan)

 When I recently found out that spicy dishes, onions and garlic are not very good for my stomach I was devastated because I like hot dishes and could not imagine making curry without chilli or garlic. Apparently rice is also not very good for me, so I should not eat it very often. "Say good buy to Indian food" - I thought to myself at first but then decided to go for milder version and have curry on it's on (or with naan only). So I made this rich, but not too spicy summer vegetable curry and it was so satisfying and surprisingly filling - I never thought I will not miss a bowl of rice with my curry. 

I used some of my own home grown vegetables (woo hoo! for the first time I managed to grow my own and I am so proud of myself!) and added some boiled chickpea just to include more starchy ingredient and forget about the missing rice. I used milder shallot instead of sharp onion and reduced drastically amount of garlic (normally I would go for at least 4 cloves!).

It was sooooooo good!

Serves 4

2 tbsp of sunflower oil

1 medium shallot, peeled and diced

1 garlic clove, grated

1 piece of fresh ginger (walnut size), grated

2 tsp garam masala

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp whole yellow mustard seeds 

1 tsp black onion seeds (Nigella seeds, kalonji) and some extra for topping the dish 

400ml tomato passata or chopped de-seeded tomatoes 

400ml coconut milk

2 handfuls of fresh coriander, finely chopped with the stalks, some leaves reserved for topping the dish

2 big handfuls of French/green beans, trimmed (and optionally halved) 

1 medium courgette, halved and sliced  

1 cup boiled chickpea

¾ cup fresh peas
salt 

Heat the oil in large pan and add the shallots. Fry for few minutes, until slightly softened then add the garlic and ginger and stir fry for about one minute. Next add the garam masala, turmeric, mustard seeds and black onion seeds and fry until very fragrant and start to pop. Add tomatoes, coconut mil, season with some salt, stir and bring to the boil. Then add the chopped coriander, beans, cover and simmer for about 7 minutes. Next add the courgettes, chickpea, stir and simmer for about 5 minutes. Next add the peas and simmer for 3 minutes.

Adjust the seasoning before serving and sprinkle with some fresh coriander and some black onion seeds.

Vegetable & chickpea tagine

I don’t know how about you but I can smell the spring in the air. It is getting warmer, the nights are pulling out, I find it much easier to wake up in the morning and go back home with more energy after long day at work when there is still some daylight. New house gives me a lot of energy, even at the beginning it took a lot away from me. Now I am back and running again – cooking our favourite dishes. 

I hope I will have enough time, energy and patience to practice more with my camera, especially now when I have “Plate to Pixel” book that gave a lot of new thoughts and ideas on how to use my camera more efficiently. Again new house helps a lot – it has decent windows and faces south, so I do get much more daylight comparing to the old place. I would recommend this book by Helene Dujardin of the excellent and well known Tartelette blog to anybody who is not a professional photographer and wants to take better photos of food. Food wise I am not so keen on meat recently. I go through my vegan and vegetarian cook books in hope they will inspire me, so yes – there will be more meat free recipes on this blog in next few weeks. It seems like my body needs something else than hearty meat stews that we had quite often this winter, or perhaps I just can’t wait the spring veg and fruit season. 

Today I will serve you a bowl of very aromatic and tasty vegetable… Well… Tagine? To be honest I still do not have this special dish, even my best friend was rather amazed my kitchen is lacking this piece of equipment. Well, it is still on my wish list and I will get it one day.  So I made this Moroccan inspired dish using an ovenproof dish, can I still call it tagine?  Anyway, roasted vegetables are one of my favourite ones, their flavour and aroma is so intensified by roasting they amaze me every time I eat them. Spiced up by some aromatic spices are even better (if you have ras-el-hanout mix spice do not hesitate to use it – I run out of mine, so used several spice). Everybody who thinks the vegetables are boring (I know few people who actually think this way!) should be sent a bowl of this lovely tagine. 

 Serves 3-4 

2 tbsp neutral oil  

4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped  

about 2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1 small red chilli, finely chopped  

¼ tsp turmeric
½ tsp sweet paprika  
1 tsp ground cumin  
1 tsp ground coriander  
small piece of cinnamon bark

2 onions, peeled and each cut into 8 wedges  

3 carrots, peeled and chopped into large batons

3 parsnips, as above

1 medium swede, as above

3 medium potatoes, as above

1½ cup of boiled (or canned, drained) chickpea

about 125ml dry red wine (I used shiraz) 

tsp of honey  

400ml can of chopped tomatoes  

400ml water or vegetable stock  

10 prunes  

salt

freshly ground black pepper  

almond flakes and chopper parsley or coriander to garnish (optionally)

Heat the oven to 150 C. 

In an ovenproof dish with a lid heat the oil and add the garlic, ginger and chilli and fry for about one minute, stirring. Next add the turmeric, coriander, cumin, paprika, stir and fry until the spices are very fragrant. Add the onions, carrots, parsnips, swede, potatoes, chickpeas, stir and add the honey and wine. Let it boil for a while until almost all wine is evaporated. Next add the tomatoes, water (rinse the empty tomatoes tin) and the cinnamon bark. Season with salt and pepper, stir, and add the prunes then cover.  Place in the oven and roast it for about 1½ hour.  Check with a knife if the vegetables are cooked through, adjust the roasting time accordingly. 

Sprinkle with some almond flakes and chopped parsley or coriander just before the serving. You can serve it with bread or cuscus, but this already is quite filling dish due to the potatoes.

Tomato soup with gremolata (for anniversary)

It has been two years since I started blogging. Today I would say exactly the same as last year. Although I slowed down little bit, still enjoy blogging. I hope you enjoy my posts, like the recipes and photographs and all I hope for that there will be more to come in years and you will still be here. Just want to say thank you and send you my best smile!

Today again I have for you an anniversary recipe for tomato soup. In the middle of winter you need and kick of vitamin C so why do not sprinkle warm soup with some gremolata? Enjoy! 

Serves 4-6

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and diced

tsp brown sugar

2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped 

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

3 x 400g tinned, chopped tomatoes

about 1.2l vegetable stock 

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Gremolata

handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped  

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

zest of whole large lemon

To prepare gremolata mix all the above ingredients just before serving.

In large pan fry the onion on the olive oil and after few minutes add the sugar. Fry until the onion is softened and add the garlic. Fry for about 2 minutes, then add the vinegar, stir and leave it to bubble away. Then add tomatoes, hot stock, stir, bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Using hand blender whiz the soup until smooth, season with salt and pepper and serve with some gremolata on the top.  If it seems too thick you can add some more stock.

Pork ribs braised in mead & sauerkraut

I am one leg in our old house and one leg in the new one. We still have plenty of things to pack and move, some cleaning to do in both places before we definitely change the address. Not much time to cook anything decent, but we cannot survive all week on the bowl of pasta with pesto (well, I can… My well built man seems to struggle on this kind of diet), so I try to cook one pot dishes that are suitable for reheating and keep us going in this busy time.

This is one of the Polish dishes that join two very popular in Poland ingredients: cabbage (in this case sauerkraut) and pork. I am sure there is quite a lot of different ways to make this dish, but this is my own and favourite way to cook ribs in sauerkraut – with a hit of sweetness from mead (honey wine) and prunes.  Also the fennel loves pork as much as the cabbage. This time I did not use the caraway seeds, typical for Polish cuisine. Hope you will enjoy it.

I hope to be back on the track soon, when everything gets sorted with the new home (end of February hopefully!).   

Serves 4-6

1.5kg pork ribs

4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

3 tbsp dark soy sauce

2 tsp smoked paprika

freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp goose or duck fat

1 large onion, peeled and diced

1 tsp fennel seeds, slightly crushed

¾ cup of mead (honey wine - I used Polish dwójniak variety)

6 prunes, sliced into thin strips

2 bay leaves

2 all spice  

few whole black peppercorns

1.2kg sauerkraut, drained, about cup of fluid reserved

salt

First marinate the ribs, preferably overnight, or at least for 2 hours. Mix the soy sauce with chopped garlic, smoked paprika and pepper and rub into the ribs, cover and leave in a fridge.

When ribs are marinated, season them with little salt, heat the duck or goose fat in large heave bottom pan and fry the ribs on both sides until browned. Do it in batches, do not overcrowd the pan, so they actually fry not cook. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the onions to the pan and fry for few minutes until slightly softened, then add fennel seeds and fry for about a minute, stirring all the time. Next add the mead and leave it to reduce slightly, using a spatula or wooden spoon scrap all the bits from the bottom of the pan – they have lots of flavour.

Next add the drained sauerkraut to the pan, as well as the marinate used for rinbs (if any left) prunes, bay leaves, peppercorns, some salt and all spice. Mix well; add the ribs and any juices they released during the resting, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. If it seems a bit dry and starts to catch at the bottom of the pan during the cooking, add some fluid reserved from the sauerkraut.

Serve with some mash potatoes or a generous slice of good bread. It definitely tastes better when reheated and cooled down several times.

Chickpea, spinach & sundried tomato curry

I stumble over the cardboard boxes. Marlon constantly jumps in them letting me know that perhaps I should start packing. Or perhaps something completely opposite: “please, please, do not take these away, these are my favourite toys”. 

Six years since I moved out from my family home: almost two thousand kilometres away, few hundred hours on Skype, few things that my Mum gave me before I left and many others that I collected over the years. Those things simply bought in the supermarkets, a present from former employer, who got rid of some odds and ends in the pub or B&B, treasures found on car boot sales or charity shops. Nearly for free, or literally for nothing – one man garbage is another’s man treasure. An odd glass that can handle almost half large bottle of mineral water - ugly but practical. Clay bowl that presents hummus in a beautiful way. A cup that was left behind by beloved Sister, when she moved out of the house we shared few years ago.  New house is a good opportunity to sort things out – things and thoughts. I always try to go to the new home with a fresh mind, without bad memories, but I simply can’t get rid of many things collected over the years. 

For example I have this really old tea towel with some printed hens. It has few holes in it, but I can’t just bin it – my Mum gave me this one and I love it more than any other posh tea towels. I also have some cards, letters, or just notes collected over some period of time – I love them because not many people nowadays send a traditional post. I cannot just burn them in the fireplace. Are books my fetish? Yes. Is this weird? Perhaps. I love the smell of paper and the paint and will not replace it with new high technology reader. The most recent one that my partner bough me for last Christmas and secretly sat and look ate the photographs reminding him the best meal we had in our life. So I get rid of the dust like they do it on films and place all of them in the boxes. I wrap the plates using huge “Sunday Times”. For the next few weeks we will only use: two plates, two cups, two pans. We need to pack and be ready to move.  

I also gradually use up some ingredients that perhaps we little forgotten and spent too much time in the kitchen cupboards.  I am getting used to the idea of cooking dinner of whatever is left in the freezer, cupboards and fridge. From the next month going to the shop to get some extra shopping will be even more time consuming, so I need to be more disciplined. There is half pack of the dried chickpea, great to make vegetable curry. Too few vegetables? Lacking a bit of colour? Do not worry; there are some sundried tomatoes in the fridge. At first I wasn’t too sure if it will go well together, but is tasted incredibly. Surprising, new flavour combination. 

Serves 4 

2 tbsp sunflower oil or clarified butter (ghee)

1 medium onion, peeled and diced  

4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped  

1 red chilli, peeled and finely chopped  

about 2.5 cm piece of fresh ginger   

¼ tsp turmeric

about 3 cups of chickpea, boiled and drained

400ml coconut milk 

300g fresh baby spinach  

about 8 sun dried tomatoes from the jar, drained and sliced into strips

salt

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onion. Fry for few minutes until slightly softened and add the garlic, chilli and ginger. Fry for about one minute and add turmeric. Stir so the spice covers the onions and next add the chickpea and coconut milk. Stir, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes. Next add the fresh spinach, do it in few batches, always wait until the previous batch is wilted. It looks like a huge amount of spinach at first but when added to the pan it goes down a lot. Seson with some salt. When the last batch of spinach is added place the sun dried tomatoes in the pan and stir again.  Bring to the boil and remove from a heat.

I serve it with Peshawar naan bread. This dish is suitable for reheating however the spinach is not very good looking when re-heated. Still tasty though!

 

Spicy carrot & red lentil soup

Hearty soups are fantastic for winter times.  One pot, healthy, satisfying bowl of soup is the best meal when you come back from a cold weather. Especially this one is good for you – warming due to the spices and really thick and filling thanks to the lentils. It is little bit similar to a world known classic carrot and coriander soup, yet different. Hates gonna hate, as they say. And to all haters – I fart in your general direction.* And this soup helps me to fart. Good health! 

Serves 2-4

about 500g carrots, peeled and coarsely gated

about 150g red lentils

about 1.2l vegetable stock (preferably hot)

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1-2 tbsp tomato pure

¼ tsp of chilli powder

pinch of cinnamon

1 tsp of ground cumin  

2 tsp of cumin seeds

salt

handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped with the stalks, few leaves to decorate the soup

2-4 tbsp of plain natural yoghurt (I used Greek Total)  

Heat the oil in the large pan, add the onion and fry for few minutes until softened. Add the garlic and fry for about one minute. Then add the spices: ground cumin, cinnamon and chilli, mix well and add the carrots and lentils. Stir, add the stock, some salt, tomato pure, stir again, cover, bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile fry the cumin seeds in a pan without oil (dry – roast), until fragrant. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Next add chopped coriander and boil for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and at this stage you can leave it chunky, or smooth it with blender. I prefer it 50/50, so I whiz the soup for few seconds.

Finish with some plain yoghurt, sprinkled with some roasted cumin seeds and garnished with fresh coriander leaves. It goes well with some naan bread. 

* "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"

Chicken baked with fennel, tomatoes and olives

Christmas is gone and I did not have a chance to make my Christmas card for my readers. New Year's Eve is gone and I did not even mention one or two recipes that would perhaps inspire you to make some lovely snacks for this special night. I even thought about my own calendar but it is only an idea in my head, I only managed to select photographs and did not have a slight chance to make it alive. I worried about his for a while but then I thought that there are more important things and I shouldn't really worry about this. Yes, blog is very important part of my life, but time spent with my sister is even more important, especially I gave my blog on everyday basis, but to see my sister is very rare. I did not feel like taking photographs, cooking something new, for few weeks I only cooked things that I already know and like. I fed those who I love and this was most important to me. Now when I am back to blogging I hope you, my dear readers, will excuse me if suddenly I feel like not posting anything for a while and do something else. This year I simply feel like I do not have to do anything. I don't have to force myself. However I want to do so many things.

I hope 2012 will be happy for you and those who you love and care about. I wish you lots of love, joy and happiness. 

Please enjoy my first post in this year - simple, tasty and satisfying dinner. 

Serves 2 

2 chicken breasts, fillets with skin on

1 fennel bulb, cut into 8 wedges

some cherry tomatoes

some whole black olives

some olive oil (I used fennel infused)

2-3 fresh thyme springs

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Place the fennel in an ovenproof dish, drizzle with little olibve oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with some kitchen foil and place in the preheated to 200 C (fan) oven.

Meanwhile season the chicken breasts, heat the frying pan then add little olive oil and fry the breast skin side down until golden. Turn on the other side and fry for about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the pan and place in the oven together with the fennel. Add the thyme springs and bake uncovered for about 8 minutes. Next add the tomatoes and olives and bake for further 5 minutes. Serve immediately on its own or with some potatoes roast in olive oil.

Italian style tripe

Finally I got round to cooking a tripe. Not that I have a childhood trauma or something, because in my closest family nobody ate tripe as far as I remember, however this is not very popular ingredient nowadays, especially in the United Kingdom. During the Industrial Revolution, especially in northern part of England tripe was a very popular snack. Poorest part of the society when coming back from shift in factories use to grab piece of tripe drizzled with some vinegar – it was cheap and fast food. There were special places where the whole process of cleaning and cooking quite smelly tripe took place. This is very interesting period in history of British food. On one hand there were poor working class people eating cheap cuts but on the other the Industrial Revolution changed the availability, distribution and production of food like never before. This period also brought the first food adulteration due to a rapidly increasing population. The food industry had a difficult time dealing with shortages of materials and in an effort to keep costs down, bulked up food items with bad quality fillers. One of the products that suffered the most was tea. On the other hand due to the expansion of railway system food was transported to the many places that could not get before. Faster transport meant better quality food available to more people... What I was writing about? Oh yes, the tripe.

Nowadays it is ingredient quite difficult to find and the whole process of bleaching and blanching the tripe is quite long and it makes tripe nearly as expensive as stewing beef. This could be a reason that people don’t buy it anymore and even good butchers don’t have it in stock all the time. I have ordered some and after searching the internet I found few Italian recipes. I didn’t want to cook tripe in traditional Polish way – spicy in broth with lots of marjoram, because my partner can’t stand them this way – I think he was forced to eat them when he was a child. So we both ate Italian style tripe and it was tasty, however it isn’t something that I would cook on a regular basis. I believe I haven’t found my perfect tripe recipe yet.  

This recipe is a compilation of few that I came across and to be quite honest the photos revealed something more stew like – thick, with little sauce. Mine tripe was more like a soup, thick and filling though. Marjoram is my addition, because I think it goes very well with tripe. As far as I am concerned this recipe is quite close to the traditional Trippa alla Romana, because of the use of wine and pecorino cheese. 

Serves 4-6

750g tripe, bleached, pre cooked and cut into strips  

4 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, peeled

2 carrots, peeled  

2 celery sticks  

3 garlic cloves, peeled  

150ml dry white wine  

200ml vegetable stock  

2 x 400ml tins of chopped tomatoes  

2 peperoncino peppers  

2 bay leaves  

few tsp dried marjoram

salt

freshly ground black pepper  

handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped if large leaves

handful of freshly grated pecorino cheese (parmesan will do if you don’t have pecorino)

Chop the celery, carrots and onions very finely. I used food processor.

Heat a large pan and add olive oil. Next add the chopped vegetables and fry for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. Next add the wine and cook until nearly all of it evaporates. Add the tripe, whole garlic cloves, bay leaves, whole peperoncino peppers, tomatoes with the whole juice, stock to the pan. Season with salt and pepper (lots of pepper!), add marjoram, stir, cover, turn the heat down and simmer for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Serve with some grated pecorino and fresh mint on the top.

Butternut squash, leek & walnut bake

It is not the best looking dish. It is difficult to hold together when removed from a roasting dish, but even bit deconstructed it still tastes good. I did not want to use cream, eggs or more cheese, I wanted something light and use all leftovers I had in the fridge. My partner was away for few days and I could not be bothered to do some shopping or cook something more adventurous. I do not fancy cooking three course dinner if I have to eat it on my own. It is no fun. Do you think so?

Serves 2-4 

about 1.2kg butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and sliced (I used a mandolin with a crinkle blade)

3 small leeks, sliced, white and light green part, together about 275g

1 large garlic clove, peeled and chopped

about 25g butter

large handful of walnuts, roughly chopped  

about 300ml vegetable stock

freshly ground black pepper

freshly ground nutmeg

4 tbsp grated cheese (I used half pecorino and half cheddar – leftovers)  

Place an ovenproof dish on the hob and melt the butter. Next add the leeks and fry, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Next add the garlic, fry for about minute and remove from the dish. Set aside. 

Place half of the squash on the bottom of the dish (I do not add any slat, because stock and cheese are salty enough), add some pepper, nutmeg and place the whole leeks on the top. Sprinkle with the half of the walnuts, cover with the remaining squash. Again sprinkle with some pepper and nutmeg, add half of the hot stock, and cover with some kitchen foil. Place in the preheated (180C fan) oven. 

Bake for about 20 minutes, uncover, add the remaining stock, sprinkle with cheese and bake for further 15 minutes or so. 

I had some immediately, and the leftovers were suitable to reheat in the microwave.  

Chicken, butternut squash & date tagine

I have to admit I was inspired by several Moroccan recipes when making this dish, however I still do not have a traditional tagine dish and often wonder if it would work in ordinary European kitchen. Do you, dear readers, have this dish and use it in the oven or on the hob?

This dish is very easy to make and you can relax in total laziness while waiting for the dinner and smoke a pipe with bored facial expression, making those rings with a smoke. If long you use chicken on the bone the flavour will be more intense but you will wait longer for a dinner. I do not smoke a pipe and wanted this dinner quickly so I used boned chicken thighs.

Serves 3-4

4 tbsp of neutral olive oil
6 chicken thighs fillets (skinless) 
2 onions, peeled and cut into wedges
2 garlic cloves, peeled 
2.5cm piece root ginger, peeled
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp harissa paste
juice and zest of one lemon 
large handful of fresh coriander - leaves and stalks
1 cinnamon stick
400g tin cherry tomatoes (or chopped tomatoes)
about 12 dates, stoned
about 350g butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed and chopped into large chunks
salt
freshly ground black pepper

First prepare the spicy paste. In a food processor place: one onion, garlic, ginger, most of the coriander leaves and all coriander stalks, lemon zest and juice, 2 tbsp olive oil, harissa, cumin and paprika. Mix until smooth.

Heat the oven to 180 C (fan).

In large ovenproof dish with a lid heat the remaining olive oil, season the chicken thighs with some salt and pepper and fry on both sides until slightly browned.  Remove from the dish and set aside in a bowl.

Add the whole paste to the pan and fry for about minute or two, next add the onion, squash and tomatoes. Rinse the food processor with some water and add to the pan - you will get all that remains and flavour into the dish and make the sauce less thicker. Next add the chicken with all the juices from the bowl, put the dates on the top, add cinnamon stick and cover. Bring to the boil and place in the oven.  Keep in the oven for about 40 minutes. Chicken on the bone, needs about 60 minutes.

For a change I served it with a quinoa, not a couscous, sprinkled with the remaining coriander leaves.

To be quite honest - it was very tasty, however in this kind of dishes I prefer the prunes or dried apricots. Even some raisins. However tried it yourself with different dried fruits to decide which is your favourite one.

Ground turkey curry

Or don't judge a book by its cover...

Basically food is like the men. It can be good looking, but after a while you discover there is nothing exciting underneath this beauty cover. Food wise you can get those lovely looking, modern dishes finished with champagne foam and liquid nitrogen but the taste is not there.

On the other hand with not very handsome man you can get a whole bunch of virtues that were not so obvious from a first sight. Again with food, some dishes not particularly good looking can be extremely tasty.

The reason I am writing this is that I want to prepare you for a not good looking dish. However if you give it a chance you will not regret.

I have found many recipes for Murgh Keema (ground chicken curry) and adapted them to my taste. Also I used ground turkey instead.





Serves 2-3

500g ground turkey
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2-3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 medium onion, peeled
1 fresh green chilli (deseeded for less heat, or with seeds for little bit more spice)
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled
tsp of turmeric
half tsp ground coriander
150ml thick natural yoghurt (I used TOTAL and I think it is the best one)
200ml chopped tinned tomatoes
approx. 250ml frozen peas
salt
big handful of fresh coriander (leaver to top up the dish, stalks for more flavour)
about 100ml of water


Heat the oil in a big pan. Meanwhile I chopped chilli, garlic, ginger, onion and coriander stalks in mini chopper - I had coarse paste. Stir-fry it in the hot oil over a high heat for about one minute. Next add turmeric and coriander and fry another 30 seconds.

Next add the meat and fry, dividing big lumps with a wooden spoon, until slightly browned. Next add potatoes, about 100ml water, generous shake of salt, mix well, cover, turn the heat down and simmer for about 10 minutes. Next add peas, tomatoes and yoghurt mixed with little salt. Mix well, cover and simmer for further 5 minutes. Yoghurt may curdle a little bit - it really depends on the brand.

Serve in the bowls, garnished with some fresh coriander. You can chop some coriander and generously sprinkle the dish.

Celeriac, blue cheese & walnut bake

Yes, I am still dating intriguing Mr. Celeriac. My feelings towards him are getting stronger and stronger…

Some time ago I wanted to make a twist on traditional potatoes dauphinoise and use celeriac instead but after I have read this book I could not resist some new experiment. Although the author did not mention celeriac but celery I decided that I will take a risk and mix it together with blue cheese and walnuts in one dish.

This was the most definitely the best celeriac dish I have ever made. I love Mr. Celeriac even more and I desire more suppers with him.


Makes 2 as a main dish
or 4 as a side dish

big celeriac, about 800g, peeled and finely sliced
handful of shelled, chopped walnuts
about 100g blue cheese (I used Blue Stilton)
about 100ml milk
about 100ml double cream
about 100ml vegetable stock
freshly ground black pepper
little butter for greasing

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Grease an ovenproof dish with some butter and fill with sliced celeriac.

Place milk, double cream, crumbled cheese and stock in a pan and bring to boil. Season with pepper (no salt required, cheese is quite salty), and leave it to simmer until the cheese is melted.

Pour sauce over the celeriac and sprinkle with walnuts. Cover with piece of tin foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Then uncover and bake for further 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven, leave it to cool down a bit for few minutes and cut with a knife. Portions are easy to remove from the dish by using a spatula or a fish slicer.

I served a quarter of the bake as a side dish together with roasted chicken breast, stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in Italian ham.

Potato & leek gratin (+ ham version) & review

Thanks to CSN Stores I had the opportunity to test KitchenCraft Master Class Stainless Steel Mandolin Set. It came in a full gift/storage box. Seven interchangeable stainless steel blades - for various slicing, shredding are included. Also it has large safety guard to protect fingers - quite handy for me, as I tend to cut fingers when slicing. Ideal for slicing, chopping and grating and perfect for making quick and easy garnishes, especially for someone who like me does not have a variety of fine or coarse slicing or grating blade within a food processor. With this one I decide how thick the slices should be. The instructions make it clear how to set the blades up and there is a scale on the side of the main unit (in inches and mm) to allow you to set the slice thickness. All the blades come in their own box, quite handy for storage and due to the safety reasons - they are sharp.

Some of the blades you have to use together and unfortunately there are no instructions on how some of the blades must be used together otherwise they won't do the job. However, I believe it is not difficult thing to work out.

It is very stable, has non slip holders, so there is no way it will move on the worktop.

So far I used it to slice potatoes and it work very well, however I have seen some reviews saying that it is not working with softer stuff like tomatoes - instead it squishes them. Quite honestly - my main idea of using mandolin was slicing root veg (mainly for gratins, so the vegetables cook evenly) and so far I am happy with it.

Certainly not as good as the professional, worth ₤200 (or more) but will do the job in a household, I think keen cooks should be delighted. The 25 year guarantee is a bonus. Definitely good value for money.





So today I decided to show you my favourite potato and leek gratin, that can be easily converted to meaty one by adding few slices of ham. Gratins were the main reason of buying this mandolin, as my food processor has a coarse slicing blade which is too thick and it takes ages to cook gratin. I am not a qualified skilled chef therefore I am not able to slice vegetables by hand into even slices. This mandolin came really handy.


Serves 2

5-6 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 large leek, finely sliced (I use white and light green part)
little bit butter
2 bay leaves
salt
freshly ground black pepper
150ml double cream
150ml milk
100ml vegetable stock
2 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
2 slices of cooked ham (optional)
2 handfuls of grated mature Cheddar (or your favourite cheese)

Preheat the oven to 170 C.
Butter two ovenproof dishes and place potato, leek and ham (skip for veggie option) in even layers, starting with potatoes and finish off with potatoes too. Sprinkle each layer of potatoes with pinch of salt and pepper. Tuck the bay leaf to each dish.

Prepare the sauce. Pour the stock, cream and milk into a small saucepan, add the garlic and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove the garlic and pour the sauce over layered potatoes.

Place the dishes on a baking tray lined with baking paper to catch any spills (mixture bubbles and tend to runs out the dish whilst baking). Cover loosely with kitchen foil and place in the oven for about 40 minutes. Then uncover and bake for another 25 minutes. After this time sprinkle with cheese and bake for another 15 minutes.

Serve warm and remember to remove the bay leaves from the dishes before serving. Very good on its own but it can also complement some meat, as a side dish.

Squash & turnip crumble

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has an excellent kitchen with AGA oven, huge fireplace and obviously lovely wooden dining table. I have a big wooden dinning table myself but I am little bit jealous of his kitchen. And his lifestyle. I wish I could have this nice upper class country lifestyle, have lots of time to maintain my own veg garden, fruit trees and go fishing. Unfortunately I have to work 8 hours a day, I don’t have my own cottage or even a greenhouse. So one thing that I can do similar to Hugh is cooking lovely stuff inspired by his recipes. At least the jealousy can mobilise to make good things sometimes…

When I first time saw root veg crumble on his TV show I could not stop thinking about it. I thought that I make my own inspired by his recipe. Squash was quite natural choice because it is in season now. So I made the most beautiful crumble I ever had, and because roasted veg are quite sweet I cannot tell that it was 100% savoury. Very interesting! You have to try it.

Serves 2

half medium butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into bite size chunks
medium turnip, peeled and cut into bite size chunks
large carrot, peeled and cut in four lengthwise and then into about inch pieces
medium onion, peeled, halved and sliced
garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
half tsp honey
half tsp wholegrain mustard
few springs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
salt (I used
sea salt with lemon peel and thyme)
freshly ground black pepper

For the topping

piece of stale bread (I used piece of ciabatta about one bread roll size), roughly diced
50g walnuts
handful of oats (I used Scottish porridge oats)
tbsp freshly grated parmesan


Heat the oven to 180 C.

Mix the olive, garlic, honey, thyme and mustard together.

In an ovenproof dish arrange all vegetables and pour the olive mixture over them. Season with salt and pepper, mix well with a spoon, cover with piece of tin foil and place in the oven, for about 20 minutes.

Process the bread and walnuts in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Mix with the oats and parmesan.

Uncover the vegetables and increase the temperature to 200 C. Roast for about 8-10 minutes, then cover with topping and roast until golden and crispy.

Perfect on its own, but also I am going to serve it with roast lamb in the future.

Sausage & veg casserole

Recently I did not have a time to cook complicated dinners everyday. Therefore I was flicking through my old magazines cut-outs and cookery books in search of recipes for one pot easy to make and suitable to reheat dishes. I was really exited to try this one (from some ancient Good Food magazine), but I have changed it slightly. I reduced the amount of stock, and added the butternut squash that is in season now and one of my favourite veg - it was very good idea indeed.


Serves 2

4 pork sausages (I used Italian style garlic & herb sausages)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow pepper , deseeded and sliced into wide strips
1 red onion , cut into 8 wedges
half butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into bite size bits
400g can chopped tomatoes
100ml vegetable stock
handful fresh basil
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Heat oven to 200C.

Put the sausages, pepper, butternut squash and onion into a roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Then roast for 20 minutes.

Then tip tomatoes and stock over the sausages. Add most of the basil (save some for garnishing) and stir well. Roast for another 20 mins.

I served it with some sourdough bread drizzled with little olive oil and sprinkled with coarse sea salt and then grilled in the oven for few minutes whilst the casserole was getting ready.

Bobotie & yellow rice

That day I was really hungry and wanted some meat, something new, that would surprise me. I remembered a nice picture of beef dish from South Africa, have found it on the internet and checked a list of the ingredients. I had all of them at home so I decided to go ahead with my first bobotie!

I could not find South African chutney in my local delicatessen so I used Indian mango chutney, which I think was not too bad with bobotie. Actually I think it went together very smoothly. Also when discussing the recipe on Good Food I have received a message from girl called Karen (cheers!), who use to live in South Africa. She has send me a yellow rice recipe which was a perfect accompaniment for my bobotie. Like she said "It is a bit rich but what the hell". I tell you: it is great and if you are making a bobotie you must go for it too. I have changed the method slightly though.

After I had my bobotie, which was so delicious that I am going to make it again I read that in South Africa they serve it with thing called blatjang - kind of a fruit relish that is made from apricots, onions, sugar, vinegar and spices and combines a variety of taste - sweet, hot, fruity, and tangy. I will definitely make it next time when cooking bobotie and this lovely yellow rice.


Bobotie

Serves 3

500g minced beef, preferably low fat
stale white bread roll
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2 tbsp butter or ghee
approx. 2.5cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
tsp ground cumin
tsp sweet paprika
tsp curry powder
tbsp red wine vinegar
tbsp Worcestershire sauce
tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp dried apricots, cut into thin strips
2 eggs
approx. 150 ml milk
salt
pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Soak the bread roll in the milk, then squeeze excess of milk, make sure you save all the milk, and set the bread roll aside. Add the eggs into the milk, season with salt and pepper and mix well. Set aside for later.

Fry the garlic and ginger in a pan with the butter for 2 minutes. Next add the beef, stir well, crushing the mince into fine grains until it changes colour to brown.

Next add Worcestershire sauce, bread roll, vinegar, tomato puree, raisins, apricots, cumin, paprika, curry, some salt and pepper and stir well.

Place the meat into an ovenproof dish and pour the egg and milk mixture over the meat. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the top is set and golden.

Remove from the oven, set aside for few minutes and cut into servings. Serve with chutney and yellow rice.


Yellow rice

750 ml boiling water
250ml rice
30g butter
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 stick cinnamon
125ml seedless raisins

Fry the rice with turmeric in a pan with butter until all grains are covered in fat. Next add sugar, salt, cinnamon and water and keep over a heat until it reaches boiling point, then cover and boil until the rice is cooked nearly dry. Add the raisins to rice and stir lightly with a fork and finalise cooking over low heat until dry. Watch out for burn.


All there is left to say is: Smaaklike ete! *

* bon appetite!

Chicken with oranges and black olives

My version of dish also known as "Spanish Chicken". From "Healthy One-Pots" by BBC "Good Food" magazine.

Serves 4

4 skinless chicken legs (often I use thigh or breast fillets, as it is much quicker to cook boneless meat)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, peeled and sliced
2 red peppers, deseeded and sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
handful of black olives (I prefer with stone and not from a brine, you can use any you like)
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp dried mixed herbs (I think basil, thyme, sage and oregano go well with this dish - combination of two of them will do)
1 orange, unpeeled, washed and cut into eight segments
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Fry the chicken in heavy based pan in olive oil over a high heat until brown. Remove from a pan and set aside, then fry the onions, garlic, peppers. After 5 minutes add chicken, tomatoes, spices and herbs, season, cover and simmer gently for about 40 minutes if using chicken with bones; fillets need about 10 minutes only. If using fillets add oranges to the pan straight away, otherwise add them after about 20 minutes of simmering.

Next you need to add olives - they need to be cooked for about 5 minutes. Season if necessary and serve i.e. with cuscus. You can garnish with some fresh herbs.