Category Archives: rice

beef stroganoff

Posted by Gary in beef, food, gherkin, mushroom, rice, sour cream and tagged with

beef stroganoff

I must have made beef stroganoff to a different recipe each time I’ve made it. There’s always beef, always mushrooms, always paprika and a creamy element. But like many of the best recipes, once you hit the familiar targets the rest falls where it may.

I’ve tried this version from Lawrence Keogh on Saturday Kitchen. The key here is the acidity brought by the white wine vinegar and white wine, which gives you a great contrast against the cream. This dish has everything going for it, a sharp-creamy sauce, crunchy pickles, tender meat – what a treat.

Adapted from Lawrence Keogh’s recipe. His recipe calls for a pilaff too, I sped it up by using plain boiled rice on the side

Beef stroganoff (serves 4):

450g rump steak pounded thin and cut into long strips

2 teaspoons sweet paprika

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

30g butter

½ onion, finely chopped

150g button mushrooms, sliced

1 teaspoon tomato purée

50ml white wine vinegar

75ml white wine

200ml double cream

A few slices of gherkin, julienned

125ml sour cream

Flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

1 pinch sweet paprika

  1. Sprinkle the beef strips with the paprika and season with salt and pepper.
  2. Heat a large frying pan with the vegetable oil. Colour the beef as quickly as possible, making sure you keep them as rare as possible, then tip the meat into a colander, reserving any juices that drain off.
  3. Using the same pan, turn the heat down and add the butter, onion and mushrooms and cook for one minute.
  4. Add the tomato purée and cook for few more minutes, stirring the ingredients together. Turn the heat up again and add the white wine vinegar. Cook until completely evaporated.
  5. Add the white wine and cook until reduced by half then pour in the double cream, bring to a boil, and season with salt and  pepper.
  6. Turn off the heat and tip in the beef and juices. Stir through to warm.
  7. To serve, pour the stroganoff into a large warmed serving dish and sprinkle with dill pickle. Drizzle the sour cream over the top then sprinkle with chopped parsley and dust with paprika. Serve with rice.

sproutotto

Posted by Gary in brussels sprouts, food, rice

sproutotto, sprout risottoI couldn’t help myself with the name. Sorry. But I love Brussels Sprouts and try to make the most of them in their season, so I thought I would pair them with unctuous, creamy risotto. If you pass them through a food processor you get lovely, delicate shreds which can be swirled through your rice.

Sproutotto (serves 4):

1 onion, finely diced

1 sprig rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped

4 handfuls of risotto rice

Splash of white wine

About 1 litre vegetable stock (I tried Knorr’s herb stock pot for this one, which was very tasty)

300g Brussels Sprouts

Worcestershire sauce

Large handful of grated parmesan

  1. Get the stock simmering gently in a saucepan.
  2. Fry the onion and rosemary gently in a large casserole dish. When softened add the rice, crank up the heat and stir for a minute. Add the wine and let bubble away to nothing. Turn down to a medium heat and start adding the stock a ladleful at a time, allowing it to almost disappear before adding the next.
  3. After about 20 minutes stock reducing, pass the Sprouts through a food processor to finely shred them. Get a separate pan on and add a little oil. Fry the sprouts for a couple of minutes and then shake over a good helping of Worcestershire sauce along with some seasoning.
  4. Once the rice is tender add the sprouts, parmesan and a knob of butter. Give the rice a jolly good beating, then pop a lid on the pot and turn the heat off. Leave for a couple of minutes and check the seasoning before serving.

porcini steak with mushroom camargue rice

Posted by Gary in mushroom, onion, porcini, rice, steak, thyme

porcini steak with mushroom camargue rice

It’s an idea that’s bubbled around my head for ages so when I saw this recipe for porcini mushroom rump on Michelle’s site that was the kick I needed to follow it through. And it was everything I imagined. The concentration of dried porcini in beef provides an umami kick that’s hard to beat. Combined with nutty, stock-infused rice this is a real treat.

Porcini steak with mushroom camargue rice (serves 2):

Handful of dried porcini mushrooms

Couple of sprigs of thyme leaves

½ an anchovy

2 x 300g rib-eye steaks

200g Camargue red rice

500ml beef stock

10 chestnut mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, sliced

1 clove of garlic, crushed

½ a lemon

  1. Put the porcini and thyme in a food processor and chop it until it’s as fine as you can get it. Add the anchovy and some black pepper and blitz a little more. Rub all over the steaks with a splash of olive oil and leave to marinate for a couple of hours or as long as you’ve got.
  2. Get the beef stock on to boil and add the rice. Simmer for 30 minutes until the rice is tender.
  3. 15 minutes before the rice is ready, sweat the sliced mushrooms and onion in a frying pan with a little oil. Toss occasionally until these are tender, then add the garlic.
  4. To cook the steak, brush off any loose rub ingredients while you get a griddle pan reallllly hot. When it’s smokin’, lay the steak on and cook for a couple of minutes on each side. Make sure you rest the steaks well for beautiful texture.
  5. While the steak rests drain the rice and toss together with the mushrooms and onions. Add a blast of lemon juice to lift it up.
  6. Add a sprinkle of smoked sea salt and a dash of extra virgin olive oil to the steak and serve with the rice.

coley kedgeree

Posted by Gary in coley, egg, fish, rice and tagged with

coley kedgeree

I’m a big fan of Great British Menu and love to watch real working chefs and pros sweating and creating to challenge each other. Who are more competitive than top-flight chefs? Real gems come out of it and I’m sure bookings are a dead cert to increase for everyone involved.

This week Michael Smith made an inviting (if not entirely appropriate for this year’s sharing banquet theme) salmon kedgeree which inspired me to have one myself. I winged it, adding what felt right and what I was in the mood for. It usually features boiled eggs but they don’t really do it for me so I’ve gone for scrambled here. Fresh, spicy and filling – what more could you want?

Coley kedgeree (serves 1):

1 frozen coley steak

1 tablespoon madras powder

2 handfuls Basmati rice

1 teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

½ teaspoon coriander seeds

½ teaspoon nigella seeds

1 egg

Splash of cream

Large handful chopped fresh coriander

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  2. Mix the madras with a pinch of salt on a square of foil. Rub the fish into the powder all over and then wrap the parcel up and bake for 20 minutes, or until flaky.
  3. Get a large pan of water on to boil and add the rice and turmeric. Boil for 12 minutes or so until tender, then drain and keep warm while you get on with everything else.
  4. Beat the egg with a pinch of salt and the cream. In a frying pan toast the seeds over a medium heat. When they start to smoke add the drained rice and egg. Keep everything moving around to break the egg up.
  5. The fish should be done now so get it out of the oven and flake into the rice. When the egg is set to your liking take off the heat, stir through the coriander and serve.

paella gabriel

Posted by Gary in chicken, peppers, pork, rice, stock

mallorca paella gabriel

I’m fresh back from a week in Mallorca, and besides the balmy weather, powder-fine sandy beaches and beautiful views, one of my highlights was watching an expert cook paella for me up close. I’ve never had any particular technique for paella, throwing things in and waiting for a bit. But this guy, taking his time and enjoying it (and bursting into giggles throughout) had no qualms about cooking a monstrous dish of rice for 30 people.  And he talked about different versions too, of ones specific to Mallorca, a paella negra made with squid ink, and a gutsy paella brut.

I made my version totally identical to his, even going to a Spanish supermarket to get some powdered orange colouring, and it’s really good. Fishy, meaty and completely enjoyable – though you can omit the fish if your family are as picky as mine! I’ve named this version after him as tribute to his demonstration. Make sure you serve it with sangria.

Paella Gabriel (serves 6):

4 cloves of garlic

300g chicken thighs, roughly chopped

300g pork loin, diced

2 peppers, sliced

Some mussels, opened

Some prawns

2 teaspoons powdered orange food colouring

Large splash of brandy

500g green beans, sliced

500g chestnut mushrooms, quartered

Large handful of peas

1 tin tomatoes

1 pint chicken stock

2 handfuls of rice per person

Lemon wedges, to serve

  1. Crush the garlic and mix with the meats. Add a splash of oil and leave to marinate (overnight, if you have time).
  2. Heat some oil in a large wok or paella pan. Fry the peppers and fish on a sizzling heat until the peppers are tender, then remove from the pan to one side.
  3. Add the chicken and pork and continue to fry. Sprinkle a little salt and colouring.
  4. When the meat is browned deglaze the pan with the alcohol. Allow this to bubble for a minute or two before adding the vegetables. Stir well to coat in the seasonings and then pour over the tomatoes and stock.
  5. Once the liquid had come to the boil, tip in the rice. Simmer for a further 15 minutes, or until the rice is cooked. Stir occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking.
  6. When the stock has been absorbed, turn off the heat and stir the fish and peppers back into the paella. Serve with wedges of lemon.

mushroom risotto

Posted by Gary in mushroom, rice

mushroom risotto

If you hate mushrooms, look away now. This is a celebration of the mushroom in probably my favourite form: a risotto. The layering of flavours here results in an earthy, savoury dish of rice that enriches the heart and tastes of pure luxury.

The key to a creamy, tasty risotto is to give that rice a good bashing. Stir aggressively, so that the starch comes away from the surface. This forms the creamy consistency of a perfect risotto. That, and the beating in of butter at the final stage, before letting it rest a moment.

Mushroom risotto (serves 2):

1 onion, finely diced

1 celery stick, finely diced

4 spilling handfuls of arborio risotto rice

2 garlic cloves, minced

A glass of white wine

200g chestnut mushrooms, sliced. Reserve the stalks

8 dried porcini mushrooms

1 sprig of rosemary

1 litre (maybe more or less) good vegetable stock

Couple of knobs of butter

25g parmesan, finely grated

Few drops of truffle oil

  1. Get the stock on to simmer. Add the rosemary, mushroom stalks and porcini mushrooms.
  2. Gently fry the onions and celery in a little oil until translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook for another couple of minutes to soften.
  3. Turn the heat up and add the rice and garlic, stirring the whole time to toast the outer surface of the rice without burning. After a minute add the wine and deglaze the pan with it.
  4. Add the stock a ladleful at a time, taking care not to add the stalks or porcini. Each time stir the rice well and don’t add any more liquid until the previous one has been absorbed.
  5. After about 15 minutes of adding stock taste the rice for doneness. You want something squishy but not complete mush. At that point turn the heat off and beat the parmesan and butter into the rice. Taste, adjust the seasoning and let stand for a minute or two.
  6. Serve by adding a couple of drops of truffle oil and garnish with the chopped porcini.

thai chicken curry with kung po rice

Posted by Gary in chicken, coconut, courgettes, peppers, rice

thai chicken curry with kung po rice

Having both rice and curry paste in the cupboard to use up, I played with the idea of Thai green curry to create a lifting and tasty midweek meal. Using some Tilda Kung Po stir fry rice and other bits and bobs lying around, I lucked on to something pretty nice.

Thai chicken curry with Kung Po rice:

2 chicken legs

Dark soy sauce

1 courgette, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced

1 packet Kung Po stir fry rice

For the sauce:

1 teaspoon Thai green paste

1 can coconut milk

500ml chicken stock

Fish sauce to taste

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
  2. Shake some soy sauce over the chicken legs and rub all over. Pop in the oven for 40 mins until crisp and cooked through. Shred the meat off the bone with two forks.
  3. Put the paste in a pan and sizzle for a minute, then add the remaining sauce ingredients and simmer to reduce.
  4. In a separate pan fry the courgette and pepper in a little oil until tender, then add the chicken meat. Add the rice and cook for a further minute. Combine with the sauce and serve.

smoked cheddar and ham risotto

Posted by Gary in cheese, ham, rice

smoked cheddar and smoked ham risotto

I’ve just got back from a trip to Suffolk. I managed to sample some great food in the area; the Queen’s Head in Woodbridge, the Old Mill House in Saxtead Green, and I fell in love with the mini Brighton-esque seaside town of Aldeburgh. A particular highlight was Lawson’s Delicatessen, a gorgeous shop stacked with olives, coffee ground to order, home-made pies and cakes, olive oil literally on tap, more cheeses than I can name and more besides. Brilliant, especially when caped off with local-caught cod and chips on the seafront.

emmett's of peasenhall, montgomery's smoked cheddarThe in-laws had advised me of a cracking deli, Emmett’s of Peasenhall. It’s been featured in Rick Stein’s Food Heroes, Delia Smith goes gaga over it, and it’s been around for 190 years. It’s a beautiful shop, bowling you over straight away with a tasting table where you can sample some of their bestsellers. Then you can peruse their pickled veg, the usual suspects of olives, chillis and artichokes. Then on to the confectioneries, where you can browse the chocolate-covered ginger, huge shards of chocolate studded with hazelnuts and many more.

Then there’s the glory: the cold meats counter. They smoke and cure their own meats onsite and take an awful lot of pride in their work. Something I went back for a couple of times was their Suffolk Black ham, all treacley and rich with a powerful cure flavour. Absolutely divine and worth a detour for. To take home with me I grabbed a couple of things: smoked Montgomery cheddar and ham offcuts. Contrary to the picture you get a great chunk of leftover bacon for just £1. So good.

I could just snack on both of these, but I wanted to do something that would celebrate both of these princely ingredients. So I settled on risotto, and boy did it do them justice: a smoky and rich risotto, packing a punch every mouthful. Great stuff.

If you ever find yourself passing through this area, pop in. You’ll be at least £50 worse off but you’ll take home a clutch of great stuff for the larder.

Smoked cheddar and bacon risotto:

200g smoked bacon lardons

1 onion, diced

200ml white wine

1 sprig of rosemary

4 handfuls of arborio risotto rice

500ml vegetable stock

50g smoked Montgomery cheddar, grated

½ teaspoon sesame oil

  1. Get the stock on to boil in a small pan. Fry the bacon in a little oil until coloured on all sides. Remove to one side for later.
  2. In the same pan as the bacon add the onion and fry over a gentle heat with the rosemary until the onion has softened.
  3. Add the rice and turn the heat right up. Keep tossing the rice around to get a lovely toasted edge to it. After a minute, add the wine and bubble away until the liquid has disappeared.
  4. Turn the heat down to medium and add a ladleful of stock. Push the rice around until the liquid is absorbed. Keeping adding a ladleful of stock at a time, allowing it to reduce until the rice has a lovely al dente texture. Discard the rosemary.
  5. Add the bacon back to the pan and stir the cheese through. Check for seasoning – probably won’t need any! – and serve with a swirl of sesame oil (not too much), grating a little extra cheese over.

thai rice soup with chicken

Posted by Gary in carrots, chicken, courgettes, food, rice, stock and tagged with

thai rice soup with chicken

It was one of ‘those’ Mondays; very little in the cupboard and mouths to feed. What I did have however, was some Tilda Stir Fry Thai Green rice and one of Jo Pratt’s recipe cards from a recent cookalong. Using that as a starting point I knocked up a ten min din which was slurpy, filling and had that tickle of heat rolling through your mouth and leaving you with a warm feeling in your belly.

The Tilda rice helpfully skips all the pastes and mounds of herbs and spices, which gives it a real authentic taste. It may sound like a complete shill but I believe in the product – we’re all busy people and these kinds of ethical prepared foods give us handy shortcuts. Sometimes you have the time, and you can bash down a Thai paste and simmer the ingredients gently. Sometimes you don’t and that’s where these come in.

I decided to use a yaki soba style sauce to enrich the broth, and yanked courgettes and carrots from the garden for veg. However my coriander was looking decidedly ropey and attempting to go to seed, so rather than use the leaves I went for a coriander “bouquet garni”, tying some stalks together and leaving it in the soup to give out flavour as it cooks. I’d prefer to use the greenery but it’ll do in a pinch.

(PS. Note the oversize teacup serving dish. I really must get around to buying Chinese style soup bowls – I have the spoons but no bowls!)

Thai rice soup with chicken:

2 chicken breasts, diced

2 cloves garlic, finely sliced

1 litre chicken stock

1 tablespoon chilli dipping sauce

1 pack Tilda Thai Green Rice

1 medium carrot, cut into matchsticks

1 medium courgette, cut into matchsticks

Bunch of coriander stalks, tied into a bundle

1 small red onion, cut into rings

Sesame oil

For the yaki soba sauce:

100ml light soy sauce

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

  1. Get the yaki soba sauce on: put all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Whack down to low and allow to reduce gently until syrupy. Put to one side.
  2. Heat a little oil in a wok until smoking and add the chicken. Stir fry quickly until the chicken is white all over, then add the garlic. Fry for another 30 seconds and add the stock and chilli sauce.
  3. After bringing the stock to the boil add the carrot and rice. Continue to cook for another minute and then add the courgette, ½ the yaki soba sauce, coriander bunch and rice. Bring back to the boil and simmer for another few minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Taste to see if it needs more yaki soba sauce (if not this can be kept refrigerated for another day).
  4. Remove the coriander and serve in bowls, garnished with onion and a few drops of sesame oil.

lamb and prawn peking rice

Posted by Gary in food, lamb, prawns, rice

lamb and prawn peking rice with spring onions and red pepper

Imagine my surprise when I was invited to a product launch by Tilda demonstrating a range of ready-to-stir-fry rices complete with flavourings. Unlike some foodies I have no aversion to prepared foods if the content is good and the results are delicious; in the real world we have people to feed often on a certain budget in a limited time. I’ve used the already-cooked rices and noodles many times before, and these stir-fry specific ones seem like a neat shortcut.

First a word about the venue. It was hosted at the 52 Cookery School, an ordinary looking Georgian building hiding a mazey, eclectic and beautiful interior. Clearly a working house built around entertaining and cooking, it was a quirky and adorable venue that hid charms around every corner. (The foot-operated toilet flush stymied many). A spiral staircase, a cooker the size of many small cars and dozens of steps are just some of the delights of this delightful place.

A series of recipes were presented in an amiable and easy-going style by Jo Pratt. She cooked a Thai prawn soup, sesame chicken toast, peking duck wraps and a lamb dish, all bolstered with the rices promoted. They were all tasty, particularly the soup which I’ll be trying myself soon. And then the chaos began.

We quickly assembled ourselves into small groups and clustered round gas-fired woks to begin creating our own stir-fry masterpieces. I partnered with Kavey and Anne, foragers of the highest order who immediately zoomed off to procure the best ingredients. Sneaking sideways glances at the ‘opposition’ Kavey began marinating lamb in soy sauce while I got on with stir-frying garlic slivers (that quickly burned and got flicked out of the pan). Anne found a mound of veg and quickly we began to throw stuff into the pan with gay abandon. Maintaining my stir-fry rules of 1) keep it as hot as it will go and 2) keep stirring I was designated stirrer. When we decided we’d cooked long enough, we all sat in a cool courtyard and tucked in, spoons a-blazing into our pile of rice and goodies. Jolly nice it was too. The ingredients benefited from short but scorching cooking, retaining their flavours and no doubt nutritional content too. The Peking rice possessed a pleasant aroma and satisfying building block to the meal.

Despite attending the event in full knowledge of the PR sorcery being performed on me I genuinely like the products. The light cooking of stir-frying gives advantages in being quick and fresh-tasting, and rice an effective way of pushing the meal out a little further. Lovely stuff. Apparently they’re available from Waitrose at £1.79 for two sachets (each serving two), so do give them a try as a quick meal fix.

Lamb and prawn peking rice:

1 lamb leg steak, sliced into finger-sized pieces

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 clove garlic, sliced thinly

1 inch of ginger, cut into matchsticks

½ red pepper, sliced

½ red onion, cut into half-moons

1 sachet of Tilda Peking stir-fry rice

2 spring onions, 1 cut into rings and another into matchsticks

Handful of peeled prawns

Few coriander leaves, chopped

  1. Leave the lamb in the soy sauce to marinate (in an idea world, for a couple of hours. In our example, about 14 seconds).
  2. Get a wok dead hot and add a couple of tablespoons oil. Heat until smoking and add the garlic. Cook for one minute until fragrant and add the lamb.
  3. Keep the lamb moving around the pan until coloured all over, then add the ginger, pepper and onion.
  4. Continue to stir-fry for a couple of minutes until the veg starts to feel tender, and then add the rice, rings of spring onion and prawns.
  5. Keep stirring until the prawns have turned luscious and pink. Serve with sliced spring onions and stir through some coriander.