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.

Light mushroom sauce

It must be one of the most uncomfortable things to happen to a foodie - changing a diet due to the health problems and eliminating favourite foods. For somebody who thinks about hundred times a day what to eat, what to cook, who reads cook book every other day and has culinary magazines in every corn of the house and most importantly who loves to share a passion with others - this could even sound like a tragedy. Well at least at first...

I need to avoind my favourite products, for at least 4-6 weeks and then I shall see how I feel.When I first heard what is wrong with my stomach and what foods can make me feel worse I was extremely sad, but also angry in some way and I though I am not going to cook, photograph and write this blog anymore. But then I calmed down, spoke to few friends and they help me realised that I should take this as a challenge and cook tasty food using limited products. I am hoping this is only teporarly though. 

I cooked this light mushroom sauce, without butter and cream, even mushrooms love these ingredients and I had it with quinoa. Normally I would have it with tagliatelle and lashings of freshly gater hard cheese. For a time being I can't have it, still try to make it as tasty as possible. 

I hope you will enjoy it and perhaps it will come handy to somebody who cannot go full fat version. 

Serves 2-3

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1 shallot, peeled and sliced

250g mushrooms (I used brown mushrooms, as I like them for their earhy and fuller flavour)

about 900 ml vegetable stock

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

freshly ground black pepper

salt (I used smoked flakes)

2 level tbspof cornflour mixd with few tbsp water

2 tbsp natural plain yoghurt  (I used Greek)

some chopped parsley

quinoa (millet, rice, pasta, bulghur, couscous), enough to serve 2-3

Heat the oil in a pan and add the shallot then fry over a low heat until soft. Add the mushrooms and fry until lightly browned. Add the stock, soy sauce and season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes. Then add the cornflour mixed with watr stir, bring to the boil and remove from the heat. Add yoghurt and stir. 

Sprinkle with some chopped parsley before serving. I had it with quinoa and some Polish gherkins (sour, from the brine, called ogórki kiszone or ogórki kwaszone), but regular gherkins will work as well.

  

Spelt with peas & grilled halloumi

I bought my first spelt grain by mistake. It was my last day of holiday in Poland, I was shopping in a rush and picked something from a shelf that I thought was a spelt bread flour. This was a whole grain to be used in bread making, however I cooked it instead of adding this to a bread dough and since then I am completely in love with it.

Spelt is very healthy, rich in vitamins, minerals, it contains gluten that is very tolerable by people with gluten intolerance. In Roman times it was gladiators' food. I absolutely love it and use it in sweet and savoury recipes.

Today's recipe also features one of my favourite cheeses - halloumi. It is perfect for grilling as it keeps its shape in high temperatures. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Serves 2

about 500ml spelt grain

200g halloumi 

about  250ml peas (fresh or defrosted)

half red onion, peeled and sliced

juice of half lemon

1 lime

small handful of fresh mint

2-3 springs of fresh thyme, leaves picked

few tbsps of cold pressed rapeseed oil 

few pinches of chilli flakes

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Place the spelt in a pan, cover with water and soak for about 10 hours. Drain, cover with fresh water, add some salt and bring to the boil. Simmer over the low heat until al dente.

While you cooking the spelt prepare the onion - marinate it in lemon and half lime juice.

Cut the halloumi in about 1cm slices, drizzle with some oil, sprinkle with chilli flakes, some salt and pepper and grill on very hot cast iron frying pan.

When spelt is nearly cooked add the peas and cook for about 3 minutes, then drain and return to the pan. Drizzle with little oil, add juices from marinating the onion and chopped mint and thyme. Stir well.

Place the spelt with peas onto two plates, top with marinated onion, grilles halloumi, drizzle with little oil and serve immediately with lime wedges.

Roast garlic & tomatoes risotto with parmesan crisps

Top: Parmesan piles, bottom: Parmesan crisps

Ingredients for this dish are quite similar to those used in my linguine alla trapanese, but today I am serving rice instead of a pasta. Based on the popularity of trapanese recipe I reckon I don't have to introduce all these lovely summer ingredients again.  This is one of our favourite summer dishes and it is a shame that here in Yorkshire we don't have summer at all this year whilst my friends in Poland are complaining about the heat. At least I have my bowl of summer risotto that I can comfort myself with in this rainy and rather cold weather. 

Serves 2-4

250g arborio rice (or some other risoto rice)

1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped

3 tbsp olive oil

two handfuls of baby tomatoes 

2-3 springs of fresh thyme

4-6 garlic cloves, unpeeled

2 łtbsp balsamic vinegar (supermarket bought will do)

half tsp brown sugar (I used dark muscovado)

about 1.2 l vegetable stock, hot (preferably homemade)

175ml dry white wine

2 tbsp butter

6 tbsp freshly grated parmesan (or vegetarian option)

salt 

freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 180 C. 

Line a baking tray with some kitchen foil and place tomatoes, garlic on it. Drizzle with tbsp of olive oil. Then drizzle tomatoes only with the vinagar, sprinkle with sugar and little salt and add thyme springs. Place in the oven.

On another baking tray lined with some baking paper pour 2-4 heaping tablespoons (according to the number of servings) of parmesan and lightly pat down. Bake until cheese is melted and golden. Remove from the oven and leave it to cool down slightly. When cooled down using large knife gently lift them from a baking tray.

Fry the shallot in 2 remaining tbsp of olive oil in a deep pan until slightly softened but not browned. Add the rice, and fry stirring until it starts to turn translucent. Next add the wine and cook, stirring until wine is absorbed. Next add a ladle of hot stock and stir. and turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside. Keep adding ladles of stock, stirring – you will notice a creamy starch from the rice. This is why you have to allow each ladle to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15 minutes, until the rice is cooked. Season with salt and pepper.

In the meantime tomatoes should be roasted and ready. Remove from the oven, take the thyme springs and pick some of the leaves from the springs - add to the risotto. Squeeze the roast garlic out of its skins and roughly chop then add to the rice. Stir and remove from the heat.

Add the remaining parmesan, butter and stir well and allow to rest for about 2-3 minutes. Please bear in mind when I took this photograph it rested in a hot bowl so it lost some of its creaminess.

Place in serving bowls, top with roast tomatoes, some fresh thyme leaves if you have any left and with parmesan crisp. Serve immediately.

Sticky Five Spice Beef with Fried Ginger

I love the Five Spice mix. It's taste and the whole idea of five different flavours being five different energy fields: wood (sour), fire (bitter), earth (sweet), metal (spicy), and water (salty). Like the concept of yin and yang, the Five Elements Theory is at the cornerstone of Chinese culture. I am not an expert so please find some books or other materials related to this subject. I simply love the taste of this spice mix, even I not entirely sure what is included. Some of them have cumin, some not, others will contain cardamom, and use of pepper is not sure to me: Sichuan or black peppercorns? Nevermind. I get it ready from a shop and do not worry too much about making my own. Not yet, anyway. 

I found this recipe in last "Good Food" magazine and I found it very interesting. Sticky, sweet and spicy, very tender meat is something that I fancy a lot, so I pressumed (and I was right) that this will be an ideal meal for me. I did not use exact quantities. I used brasing steak as they are quite cheap, there is no point of buying more expensive cuts as after two hours of brasing, the meat will be very tender anyway.

 

Serves 2 

2 braising beef steaks, each about 200g, cut into four pieces
2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 onions, peeled and quartered
1 piece of fresh ginger, about 3cm, peeled
3 garlic cloves, peeled
small handful of fresh coriander (leaves + stalks)
2 tsp Five Spice
1 whole anise star
1 tsp black peppercorns, smashed in the mortar
2 tbsp of soft, brown sugar
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp tomato puree
about 250ml beef stock
salt

Heat the oven to 140 C (fan).

Place the onions, ginger, garlic, most of the coriander (save some leaves for garnishing) in the food processor and whizz until smooth paste.

Heat the oil in an ovenproof pan, season beef chunks with some salt and fry oon both side, over a high heat until browned. Then remove from the pan and set aside in a bowl.

Add the whole paste to the pan, and fry for about 2 minutes, rinse the food processor with some water and add the remaining pf the past with the water to the pan. Add star anise, Five Spice, pepper, both soy sauces, sugar, tomato puree and stir. boil for about one minute and next add the beef with it's juices and the stock. Turn the heat down, cover and bring it to boil, then place in the oven.

After 2 hours check if the sauce is not dangerously reduced and close to burn, if so add some more stock. I braised my beef for about 2.5 hrs in low temperature.

Serve it with some cooked basmati or jasmine rice, garnished with some coriander leaves and fried ginger. it is perfect to finish off some Asian dishes.

Fried Ginger 

Serves 2-3

1 piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 tbsp sunflower oil

Heat the oil in a pan, over a high heat. Add ginger and stir fry until crispy and golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and rain the excess of fat by putting the ginger onto a paper kitchen towel for a while. Serve immediately.

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.

Strawberry & millet pudding (with coconut milk and cardamom)

I have burnt the millet. No, it wasn’t a culinary disaster, it was my new pudding. Strawberries are in season, I have gone mad about the millet some time ago. So I thought I would like to try a new dessert. I use to  place some yoghurt and strawberries on a top of cooked millet and eat it – tasty however not the best looking. I wanted something else. 

I have made it upside down and burnt some sugar on the top. Millet brûlée? Why not! With a hint of oriental flavours – coconut milk and cardamom.

Makes 2 

½ cup uncooked millet
about 1½ cup of coconut milk
2 tsp agave syrup (or sugar, whichever you prefer)
3 whole green cardamoms, skinned, black seeds grinded in a mortar
8-10 strawberries, hulled and sliced
2 tsp brown sugar

Rinse the millet under running water.

Sprinkle one tsp of sugar over the strawberries and leave to macerate. 

In a pan boil the coconut milk with cardamom, add agave syrup and millet reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, uncovered. Then turn the heat off, cover and leave in a warm place until all the liquid is absorbed and millet is cooked. At this stage you can leave it to cool down or use warm. 

Divide the strawberries between two ceramic ramekins. Cover with millet, sprinkle with the remaining sugar and caramelise with kitchen blow torch. Serve immediately. 

Cod curry & Fish Fight

Beginning of this year there was a series on Channel 4 called the Big Fish Fight. Channel 4's top chefs: Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Jamie Oliver, Arthur Potts Dawson joined the forces in the Big Fish Fight championing sustainable seafood and celebrating lesser known delicacies of the deep.

Hugh, the actual founder of this campaign (supported by many people and organisations such as Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund) spent quite a lot time travelling around the UK and meeting fishermen marine conservationists, politicians, supermarkets bosses, and of course fish-eating members of the public and it really changed the way he thinks about fish now.

This campaign changed my way of thinking about fish. I simply did not realise that around 40-60% of the fish caught by fishermen in the North Sea are unnecessarily thrown back into the ocean dead. Many different fish live together, fishermen cannot control the species that they catch and all those dead fish dramatically change the natural balance in the sea. Many of these are very tasty, but unfortunately unfashionable. Those chefs shown how to cook delicious fish dishes using less popular types of fish. This is how we, consumers can help to prevent their discard - by rediscovering our taste for them and diversifying our fish eating habits.

Today I will show you fish curry using yes! quite popular cod, however this campaign made me pay more attention to the fish that I buy. I read the labels carefully or ask fishmonger if fish I buy comes from sustainable source. Trying to choose fish from a certified sustainable fishery is another way to support Fish Fight - so check out label for a certificate of the Marine Stewardship Council. This guarantees that the fish you are eating was caught or farmed to a high standard.

This recipe was improvised by me based upon a knowledge about other curries that I cooked in the past. Most of my Indian recipes come from "The food of India. A journey for food lovers". I have made it in the past with salmon and monkfish, however any meaty fish should be fine. I will definitely try it with less popular fish recommended on Hugh's website.


Serves 2-3


about 400-500g cod, fillet, skin off, cut into large chunks
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
tsp ground coriander
tsp ground cumin
tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp turmeric
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
piece of fresh ginger (about 3cm), peeled and finely chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
about 200ml chopped tinned tomatoes
about 400ml coconut milk
salt


To serve:

rice (basmati or jasmine)
fresh chopped coriander or spring onion
quartered lime (optional)

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion until soft, but not browned. Add all the spices, mix well and fry another minute. Next add chilli, ginger and garlic and fry for another minute or so, stirring.

Next add tomatoes and coconut milk to the pan, stir well and bring it to boil. Turn heat down to simmer, add fish chunks sprinkled with little salt, cover and simmer for about 7 minutes. Stir gently half way through.

Serve with rice sprinkled with chopped spring onion (or coriander) and lime wedges.

Smoked salmon & leek risotto

Don't you think it seems like ages since last time I posted risotto on this blog? I have checked - last time I did it in September. Would you believe? We obviously had risotto since then, many, many times. I simply did not have a chance to take some photos, and believe me or not I have a good excuse. Every time I cook risotto I cannot wait to eat it, my hands are shaking, how do I suppose to focus on making a good photo?

If you are, like me, risotto maniacs or perhaps you just want to learn to how to cook this dish I believe today's should be a good one for you. It is a classic flavour combination and in my opinion is dead easy to make. A good winter risotto while I am waiting for all those lovely season vegetables like peas or asparagus.

I have improvised, if you want you can add the salmon to the risotto just before resting it, I prefer uncooked smoked fish on the top. Bon appetite!


Serves 2-4

about. 25 g butter
1 leek, white and light green part, cut lengthwise and sliced
about 200g arborio rice (or other risotto rice ie. carnaroli)
about 150 ml dry white wine
zest and juice of one lemon
about 1l vegetable stock
about 250g smoked salmon
few tbsp chopped fresh dill
salt
freshly ground black pepper



Keep the stock hot all the time.

In a separate pan heat half of the butter, add the leek and fry very slowly without colouring until softened. Then add rice and turn up the heat.

Fry the rice, stirring all the time. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the lemon zest, juice and wine and keep stirring until alcohol will evaporate.

Once the wine has cooked into the rice, add a ladle of hot stock and turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring – you will notice a creamy starch from the rice. This is why you have to allow each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15-20 minutes, until the rice is cooked. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove from the heat and add the remaining butter, stir well and allow to rest for about one minute. At this stage you can add salmon, but I preferred it on the top. Finish it up with smoked salmon and chopped dill. Serve immediately, risotto cannot be reheated.

Sweet & sour chicken

To all working-class people!

A spectre is haunting Europe - spectre of plastic, artificial food! Rotten Western countries has overpowered us with quick instant dishes, ready made sauces from the jars, even East very often betray us - I bet your local Chinese take away add some magic powder to their meals. Also they contain massive amounts of sugar and salt! We would be able to feed all members of proletarian movement with those amounts!

Those who have been reproached with the desire of loosing few inches in their waists in new year should stop buying take away dishes and start to cook their own classic Cantonese dishes at home.

Let the take away bars tremble! You have nothing to lose but your chains. They have great amount of taste to win.

Lovers of sweet and sour dishes of all countries, unite!

Happy New Year to all my readers!

Right, after this ridiculous introduction inspired by one of the most absurd things I have ever read* please let me invite you to my kitchen for an absolute Chinese classic dish, that most of you probably know and like, however I am not sure if you know hoe to cook it from a scratch at home. It is worth as much effort as it takes to cook it - it is tasty, and you know what you eat and it only takes less than 30 minutes to make.

The recipe for sweet and sour sauce comes from "Foolproof Chinese Cookery" ** by Ken Hom, that contains easy to make, step by step everyone's favourite Chinese recipes. It goes nicely with chicken, prawns or pork. It is also up to you to decide what vegetables you want to use - those that I used today, or perhaps thinly sliced carrots, exotic mushrooms or water chestnuts.

Serves 2

tbsp groundnut oil
fresh ginger, a walnut size
2 garlic cloves
4 spring onions
2 small chicken breasts
red bell pepper
green bell pepper
tinned bamboo shoots, 120g drained
piece of fresh pineapple (I used a quarter of small one, you can use tinned instead, but in my opinion fresh is more tasty)
salt
black pepper

For the sauce:

150ml good quality chicken or vegetable stock
2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
3 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 ½ tbsp tomato puree
3 tbsp rice vinegar or cider vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp corn flour (starch) or potato flour blended with 3 tbsp water

Prepare all the ingredients so they are ready to stir fry: peel and finely chop the garlic and ginger, slice the spring onions diagonally, deseed peppers and slice into strips, thinly slice the chicken breast, cut pineapple into bite size chunks.

Heat the oil in a wok or deep pan and stir fry over a high heat the ginger with garlic and half of spring onions (I save the darker, top parts for garnishing) for about 30 seconds. Add the chicken breast stir fry until seared. Next add the peppers and bamboo shoots, season with salt and pepper and meantime prepare the sauce.

Mix all of the sauce ingredients except the corn flour and set aside.

After about 5 minutes of frying the vegetables with chicken add the pineapple and fry for another minute or so then add the sauce and bring to the boiling point. Add the corn flour blended with water, mix well and cook for about 30 seconds - the sauce should be thick after this time, so remove it from the heat.

Serve with boiled rice and sprinkled with some spring onions.

* The Communist Manifesto, originally titled Manifesto of the Communist Party (German: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei)
** I believe my sister Miki didn't have bad intentions when she gave me this book of which title contains the word "foolproof", ha, ha! I have made a very good use of this book and would recommend it to anybody wanting to cook easy Chinese dishes at home.

Barley risotto with roast pumpkin & beets

Risotti are one of my biggest love affairs in the kitchen but also I love buckwheat or barley so much that I was extremely happy to use them in the same way I use arborio rice. Especially that those two are very typical for Central of Eastern Europe and sometimes I miss some Slavonic flavours. This dish is a very nice mix of Polish (barley) and Italian (method and parmesan) influences, a perfect Autumn dish.

This time I have incorporated pearl barley into a risotto recipe that I have found in “Good Food” magazine for spelt risotto. Also I have changed it slightly as I though using a mascarpone cheese in quite buttery and creamy dish is too decadent. Not mentioning that I did not have this cheese at home… Anyway – the outcome was extremely tasty. I have tried this sort of dish before with some mushrooms but this time I though it is the right time to start pumpkin season. So here we go!


Serves 2

about 200g pearl barley
about 30g butter
large, white onion, peeled and diced
ok. 150ml dry white wine
ok. 1l vegetarian stock
2-3 olive oil
half small butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into bite size chunks
2 fresh beetroots
spring of fresh rosemary
handful of freshly grated parmesan
freshly grated black pepper

Sprinkle the unpeeled beets with some oil and place in the oven (180C) until soft. Cool down slightly, peel and dice. Set aside.

In a pan melt half of the butter and fry the onion until soft. Add the barley and mix until covered in fat. Next add the wine, stir and leave it to evaporate. Next add a ladle of hot stock, cover and leave until most of the stock is soaked. Uncover, add some more stock; do not let the barley to dry out. Cook until the barley is soft, over a medium heat. It will take about 20 minutes. Season with salt (if needed, sometimes stock is quite salty, so you do not need an extra salt) and pepper.

Meanwhile roast the pumpkin on a baking tray. Sprinkle with some olive oil, pepper and add rosemary. Roast in 180 C until soft, but still firm. For last 3 minutes add the beets to reheat them. Remove the rosemary.

When the barley is cooked remove the pan form the oven, ad the remaining butter and parmesan, stir well and set aside for minute, or two. It should become quite creamy.

Place onto the plates, add some roasted vegetables on the top and serve immediately.

Green bean curry

There seems to be a strong catholic tradition in Poland that makes people not to eat meat on Friday. Fish is allowed, but can be quite expensive, some people do not like it, sometimes it is difficult to buy fresh, tasty fish in Poland without spending a fortune. I would think that sticking to this tradition makes Polish people aware of many tasty vegetarian dishes. Unfortunately I can still see some people mourning about Friday diners. They are lacking of inspirations, sometimes have to adjust dinners to few other members of family who do not certain food i.e. fish. Sometimes they have a problem with cooking filling, comforting dish to other members of family who do not accept dinner without meat. I would like to make it clear that it is not my tradition, but still in my opinion not eating eat at least once a week it good for health and environment. I prefer to eat meat 2-3 times a week myself, so I have no issues with that.

Even if we drop the idea of cooking fish, there is still a huge amount of vegetarian dishes that we can cook. Why not to cook vegetarian curry for a change? In India due to the religious restrictions many people is on vegetarian or vegan diet and their food is fantastic! The veg curry ideas are endless and it is your own imagination that limits you. Use seasonal vegetables, in winter stick to frozen or tinned ones and create your own tasty curry. I made this one, because my boss gave me a bag of various beans and I wanted to utilise it in dish that is tasty, filling and is suitable to reheating next day for lunch. If some of the people still do not like this idea I am going to cane them with green beans.


Serves 2-3

2-3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 red chilli, seeds removed if you prefer mild curry, finely chopped
piece of fresh ginger, approx. 3cm, peeled and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
half tsp turmeric
half tsp mustard seeds
tsp ground coriander
tsp garam masala
large red onion, peeled, cut into eight pieces, each split into single layer
ok. 400g green beans, cut into bite size pieces
ok. 200ml chopped tomatoes (preferably skinned)
400ml coconut milk
salt

In a pan fry the garlic, chilli and ginger for a minute, next add all the spices and fry for 30 seconds. Next add onion and fry for a minute and add tomatoes, beans and coconut milk, season with little salt. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until beans are soft.

Serve with rice (preferably basmati, we run out, so had it with wholegrain and it was OK), naan bread and chutney mango. Next day I had it with rice only and it was very tasty too.

Pork sausage & thyme risotto

As I mentioned few times in the past we both love risotto and it is our Friday night celebration to cook risotto and have it with a glass of wine. Our culinary heaven. We prefer vegetarian risottos but few people asked me if I have a good recipe for risotto with meat. I have to admit I was not very keen to make meat risotto but I decided to experiment with this dish few weeks ago.

I have to admit it was nice, but not as nice as any veggie risotto. Even my partner, who is a great meat lover pointed out that we should stick to veggie version of this dish. However I will post the recipe here, so meat lovers cannot feel ignored anymore - at least when it comes to cooking risotto.


Serves 2-3

onion, peeled and finely chopped
200g arborio or carnaroli rice
approx. 25g butter
approx. 150ml dry white wine
approx. 1 l vegetable stock
approx. 200g pork sausage (I used pork and herb sausages from local butcher)
2-3 tbsp fresh thyme, leaves picked
2 handfuls freshly grated parmesan
freshly grated black pepper


Keep the stock hot all the time. In a separate pan heat half of the butter, add the onion and fry very slowly without colouring until softened. Then squeeze the meat sausage out of the casing into about walnut size pieces and fry until browned. Next add rice and turn up the heat.

Fry the rice, stirring all the time. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the wine and keep stirring until alcohol will evaporate.

Once the wine has cooked into the rice, add a ladle of hot stock and turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring – you will notice a creamy starch from the rice. This is why you have to allow each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15-20 minutes, until the rice is cooked. Season with pepper.

Remove from the heat and add the remaining butter, half of parmesan and most of thyme leaves (leave some for garnishing). Stir well and allow to rest for 2 minutes – this will make risotto really creamy and oozy. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan and thyme leaves and serve immediately (as risotto cannot be reheated!).

Lemon & courgette risotto

We both love risotto and sour dishes. This risotto seems to be an ideal dinner for us and when courgettes are in season we eat it quite often. We tend to cook risotto on Friday night when we know we can totally relax and have our favourite bottle of wine. There is no shopping to do, there is no need to rush anywhere – we can have this refreshing, comforting bowl of risotto and enjoy ourselves. I have to admit we always regret when our bowls are empty even our bellies are full.

As I am a great fan of risotto I have to say it again – it has to be creamy and oozy, so please do not trust the recipes giving 400ml of stock to 200g of rice which I have come across recently. It will be too dry. I assume that some people rather have stylish picture of dry rice than a real classic dish.


Serves 2-3

small shallot, finely chopped
200g arborio or carnaroli rice
approx. 30g butter
juice + zest of one lemon
approx. 150ml dry white wine
approx. 1 l vegetable stock
small courgette, sliced
handful of fresh basil
2 handfuls freshly grated parmesan
freshly grated black pepper


Keep the stock hot all the time. In a separate pan heat half of the butter, add the shallot and fry very slowly without colouring until softened. Then add add rice and turn up the heat.

Fry the rice, stirring all the time. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the lemon zest, juice (reduce the amount of juice if you do not like sour dishes) and wine and keep stirring until alcohol will evaporate. Season with pepper.

Once the wine has cooked into the rice, add a ladle of hot stock and turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring – you will notice a creamy starch from the rice. This is why you have to allow each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15-20 minutes, until the rice is cooked.

For the last five minutes add courgette and stir gently so you do not tear up the slices.

Remove from the heat and add the remaining butter, half of parmesan and whole basil leaves. Stir well and allow to rest for 2 minutes – this will make risotto really creamy and oozy. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan, some more pepper, garnish with basil and serve immediately (as risotto cannot be reheated!).

Roast polenta with pesto & vegetables

My first “polenta experience” was not very promising. Few years back we went skiing to Italy and we were hoping for a culinary journey as well as some exciting sliding down the slopes. Unfortunately the food in our hotel was dreadful and the only decent food we managed to eat was in the small restaurants and bars on the Dolomites’ slopes.

One night they have served a polenta in our hotel. It was pale; it looked like poo and did not encourage me to taste this dish. But I thought to myself “do not judge the book by its cover” and I gave it a go. When I swallowed a spoonful I thought I will never eat it again.

Later on I was tempted several times by lovely magazine pictures of polenta cut into the blocks, and then fried and served with meat stews. I decided to cook it at home to see if I really hate it so much. Surprisingly it was very tasty, even before frying, but when I left it to set and cut into pieces which I have fried and served with beef stew, I have fallen in love with this product.

On one of the Polish culinary blogs I have found a new (to me) lovely way to prepare the polenta. Similar to topping a pizza base, but instead of dough girl used the polenta. My recipe is completely different as I did not have all of the ingredients such as tomato pesto or mozzarella, but I have done something so delicious that I am going to experiment with different toppings in the future. I used what I had in the fridge and cupboards that day. Use you imagination and top it with whatever you fancy.

Serves 2

120g polenta
2 handfuls of spinach
small piece of cheese (I used local Jervaulx Blue)
2 garlic cloves
2-3 tbsp olive oil
small courgette
large tomato
few basil leaves
salt
pepper
balsamic syrup for garnishing

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Prepare the polenta accordingly to producer’s instructions. Transfer it onto a tray lined with a baking paper and shape into a circle making sure it is levelled.

Prepare you pesto by putting spinach, garlic, cheese, some freshly ground pepper and 2 tbsp of olive oil into a food processor. Mix until smooth and set aside.

Using a veg peeler cut courgette into a strips lengthwise. Fry in a non stick pan with tbsp olive oil until al-dente.

Spread the pesto over a polenta, top with courgette strips and tomato divided into eight pieces.

Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes. I used grill for last 3 minutes.

Transfer onto a plate, garnish with fresh basil and balsamic syrup.

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!

Peas & rocket risotto

Summer and fresh peas finally arrived! Would you believe I have something in common with one of the Hairy Bikers? I would be able to eat all of the fresh peas when podding, like David Myers. When he was a young boy his mum used to ask him to help her with podding peas. She told him to whistle when doing this and every time the whistling stopped, she was shouting: you eat the peas again! I really wanted to eat this risotto and because I would not be able to buy some more fresh peas on Friday night I used some common sense and podded the whole cup of fresh peas without eating it.

Not long time ago when awaiting fresh peas I was really keen to cook a classic Italian risi e bisi, which has more soup like consistency, but I completely forgot about it but I hope I will be able to cook it this summer and show it on my blog. Today I show the outcome of my Friday’s night improvisation.





Serves 2


about 30g butter
1 onion or shallot, peeled and finely chopped
approx. 1 litre vegetable stock (I also boiled peas pods in it)
150g risotto rice (such as arborio or carnaroli)
150ml dry white wine
handful of rocket + few leaves for topping
cup of fresh podded peas
zest of one lemon (make sure you zest yellow part only, white one is bitter)
salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese


Keep the stock hot all the time. In a separate pan heat half of the butter, add the shallot and fry very slowly for about 15 minutes without colouring until softened. Then add rice and turn up the heat.

Fry the rice, stirring all the time. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the wine and keep stirring for minute, until alcohol will evaporate.

Once the wine has cooked into the rice, add a ladle of hot stock and turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice does not cook too quickly on the outside. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring – you will notice a creamy starch from the rice. This is why you have to allow each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15-20 minutes, until the rice is cooked. For the last 5 minutes add lemon zest and peas. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove from the heat and add the remaining butter, 2 tbsp parmesan and rocket (save some for later). Stir well and allow to rest for 2 minutes – this will make risotto really creamy and oozy. Serve immediately (as risotto cannot be reheated!) sprinkled with the remaining parmesan cheese and some rocket on the top.

Five or less ingredients #1

I was quite temped to buy a new cookery book last week, but luckily for my purse, and more importantly for my shelves that have run out of space, Magda has told me not to do so! Being very optimistic she told me that possibly about half of the recipes will be crap and certainly I am able to cook better dishes using my own knowledge. The book that was tempting me was about tasty food made from four ingredients.

So I sat with a pen and a piece of paper and wrote a list of dishes that require five or less ingredients to prepare. I was quite impressed with the outcome , especially when I was making this list I still did not check any of my cookery books or magazines.

Therefore I have decided to start a new series. Just to explain how it works:

I am hoping to show tasty and easy to make five or less ingredients dishes. List of ingredients will exclude salt, pepper and water, as I presume everyone has those at home at all times. Sometimes possibly you will see some fresh herbs for garnishing, but these are not included and I only use them for photographing purposes and they will not have a major or any impact on the taste of the final dish.

I will also use ready buy products such as good quality powdered bouillon (stock), puff pastry, pesto or curry paste. Anyway I do use them on everyday basis, as not always I have spare time to cook homemade stock (or I run out of the frozen one) or make my own pesto. Not even mentioning homemade puff pastry, which is gorgeous and buttery but time consuming.

Right! Lets try first recipe. It is turkey stir fry in caramel sauce served with rice. The recipe comes from "Quick & easy Vietnamese" Nancie McDermott and I have made few alterations to it.

I have tried it before with pork, which is probably my favourite one but chicken, turkey or even king prawns are fine.



Turkey stir fry in caramel sauce

Makes 2

400g of turkey, cut into bite size strips
4 tbsp brown sugar
6 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)
half tsp chilli powder
rice to serve (allow 80-100g uncooked rice per person)
ground black pepper (quite a lot)
2 tbsp cold water
2 tbsp hot water

Mix the meat with fish sauce, pepper and one tbsp of sugar and set aside.

Place 3 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp of cold water in non stick pan and boil until it starts to bubble and changes colour to honey-like and it is quite syrupy. Next add 2 tbsp of hot water and leave it to erupt for a little while, then add the meat with marinade. Stir until it is all covered with the caramel sauce and keep on the heat until most of the juices evaporates and meat is quite sticky.

Serve immediately with cooked rice.

Beef & green vegetables stew (served with buckwheat)

Buckwheat

Buckwheat certainly deserves attention, because is very tasty and healthy. It is widely used in Poland, Russia and Ukraine. In my home it always is a great company for stews, either with meat or vegetarian ones.

I served this stew with buckwheat that I dry roasted before boiling. You do not have to roast it before boiling – I did it because in Poland the most popular is buckwheat which was already roasted. It has a nice brown colour and it taste better.

It is good to fry the buckwheat in little vegetable oil (lard or goose fat should be fine to) and add stock or water, bring to the boil and turn the heat down to a minimum level just to keep it warm until the liquid is absorbed. Allow 2 parts of liquid to one part of buckwheat.

I hope you like it, if not you can always serve this stew with any other wheat or potatoes.

Beef stew

Quite often I do not use any fat to fry the meat before adding to stew, but place beef into a boiling stock. It saves some calories and time. You can obviously fry the meet if you wish and then add the stock.

Serves 3-4

400g stewing beef
2 onions, peeled and roughly sliced
garlic clove, peeled and roughly sliced
handful of dried wild mushrooms (porcini)
3 cups of vegetable stock
1 cup of ale or stout (if you do not want to use alcohol at all use an extra cup of stock)
12 asparagus spears, wooden ends removed, each spear cut into half
cup of green beans (I used frozen cut beans)
half cup of peas (again I used frozen one)
tbsp corn flour (corn starch)
salt
freshly ground black pepper


In a big pan boil the stock and add meat, onions and garlic. Cover and boil for few minutes. Next add beer, porcini mushrooms, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for about 60 minutes or until the meat is tender.

For the last 10 minutes add bottom parts of asparagus, for last 5 minutes asparagus tops, peas and beans. Cover and simmer.

Meanwhile mix the corn starch with 3 tbsp of water and add to the pan, boil for further minute – it will thicken the sauce little bit.

Check if the frozen vegetables are cooked and serve.

Asparagus & lemon risotto

Serves 2-4


about 30g butter
1 onion or shallot, peeled and finely chopped
bundle of asparagus (allow at least 4 asparagus per person) - trimmed and halved
approx. 1 litre vegetable stock (I always boil it using asparagus wooden ends)
200g risotto rice (such as arborio or carnaroli)
150ml dry white wine (if I don't have white, I use dry rose)
lemon and zest of one lemon (make sure you zest yellow part only, white one is bitter)
salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese


Keep the stock hot all the time. In a separate pan heat half of the butter, add the onion and fry very slowly for about 15 minutes without colouring until softened. Then add rice and turn up the heat.

Fry the rice, stirring all the time. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the wine and lemon juice and keep stirring for minute, until alcohol will evaporate. Season with salt and pepper.

Once the wine has cooked into the rice, add a ladle of hot stock and turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside. After 5 minutes add the bottom parts of asparagus - they need to boil little bit longer than tops. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring – you will notice a creamy starch from the rice. This is why you have to allow each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15-20 minutes, until the rice is cooked. For the last 5 minutes add lemon zest and asparagus tops. Asparagus heads are more delicate than the bottom parts and do not require long time to cook.

Remove from the heat and add the remaining butter and 2 tbsp parmesan. Stir well and allow to rest for 2 minutes – this will make risotto really creamy and oozy. Serve immediately (as risotto cannot be reheated!) sprinkled with the remaining parmesan cheese on top.