Month: November 2011

Categories
cod coriander fish food rye bread

cod rye fingers

chunks of white cod coated in rye breadcrumbs

When I think of “rye bread” I think of “pastrami on…” and that’s about it. Yet I can’t think I’ve even tried it or not. So I was sent some Village Bakery Rye Bread recently and looked at it with arched eyebrows. Mrs. Spud jumped on it, being a fan of the German bread of this type.

I tried some with a little cream cheese at first – it was the savouriness that really got me, and deep flavour. I really enjoyed it. I tried some lightly grilled too and the crispness gave it an interesting texture.

I was sent some with a view to promoting the Try Rye challenge – replacing regular wheat bread with rye bread to lose weight and / or feel less bloated. It’s definitely an interesting alternative, head over to the Facebook page for more information.

I’m always looking for the recipe angle – and it was the flavour possibilities of the rye bread with coriander that interested me. Combined with some superb Farmer’s Choice cod I had the idea of making chunky fish fingers. With a few extra spices and flavourings the rumbling rye flavour and silky cod are brought together to create a great combination.

Cod rye fingers (makes 8):

1 cod fillet

4 slices of Village Bakery Rye Bread with Coriander

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 tablespoon flour

¼ teaspoon paprika

1 egg, beaten

A lemon

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C, and have a baking tray in there already warming up.
  2. In a hot dry pan toast the cumin seeds until popping and then tip on to a plate. Whizz the bread in a food processor to crumbs and then tip on to the cumin and mix together.
  3. Mix the flour and paprika together and season well.
  4. Slice the cod into 8 pieces. Roll the cod in the flour, dip in the egg and then press the breadcrumbs on to the fish. Brush with a little olive oil and place on the baking tray. Bake for 10 -15 minutes until the crumb is crispy and the fish cooked through. Serve with a drizzle of lemon (and pretend it’s fish & chips & peas like in my pic above).
Categories
beef chilli coriander cumin food onion oregano tomato

11 minute chilli

I’m a big fan of chilli, I’ve probably cooked it more than anything else. I particularly like ones that sit there and blip away under their own steam for hours. I was looking forward to cooking a chilli tonight.

But I’d had a rotten evening. Little Miss Spud was rotten sick and was in no mood for going to bed. There were many changes of clothes (for me and her), things to wash, bottles to fetch… Eventually she dozed off, and it was time to cook. I reached for the takeaway menus… but didn’t. I had planned on doing a chilli and gosh darnit, a chilli I was going to make.

I floated the idea on Twitter about cooking a chilli in 10 minutes. “Not enough time”, scoffed Gary Dickenson. “It can’t be done!” wailed Food Urchin. “Keep us posted” urged Simon Loves Food. Well, that was that – no turning back now. I had to do it.

The problem is to develop those flavours does take time. There needed to be some sneaky shortcuts in there to amp it up and cut down the cooking time, hence the ingredients list is fairly long – but generally full of store cupboard stuff. The hard bit is that it’s one of those dishes where you keep adding stuff but by bit and each part needs to come back to the simmer. So I drew together some ideas that I’ve flirted with before: frying mince to release the oils and then add the onion to that, and creating a thick tomato paste packed with flavourings to form a flavour base. So I cooked these parts separately and combined them at the end.

And I have to say it was really tasty, and really worth it. Of course it’s not the same as a slow-simmered chilli ticking away for hours, and it would’ve been nice to stick some kidney beans in there (I just didn’t have any to hand) to nod back to the ‘usual’ recipe. But it’s a good alternative and great for busy weekday evenings. Oh, and it came out at 11 minutes rather than 10, but I can live with that.

11 minute chilli (serves 2):

400g beef mince

Two cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tin of tomatoes

1 tablespoon tomato puree

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 onion, peeled and sliced into half-moons

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon coriander

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon oregano

A large handful of tortilla chips

150ml boiling hot beef stock

Mushroom ketchup

Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (or other chilli sauce you like)

  1. Preheat your oven to top whack, and get two frying pans over a high heat.
  2. Add a splash of oil to both pans. Pop the mince in one of them and let sizzle and stir occasionally to colour all over. Meanwhile in the other pan crush in the garlic and 10 seconds later throw in the tomatoes, puree, and paprika. Keep stirring this too when you have a minute. Both pans should be bubbling fairly furiously.
  3. When the mince is coloured all over it will probably have released some fat. Throw the onions into this along with the cumin, coriander, chilli powder and oregano. Add a pinch of salt and keep stirring.
  4. Scatter the tortilla chips in one layer and pop in the oven for a couple of minutes to warm through and become really brittle.
  5. Now add the beef stock to the mince and again keep stirring and shaking. By now the tomato paste should be quite thick and pulpy, so add this to the mince mixture.
  6. Keep the heat high as you bring it all together and allow it to reduce naturally. Add a shake or two of both mushroom ketchup and hot sauce and check for seasoning. When you’re happy with it serve with the tortillas, grated cheese, soured cream, guacamole, etc. etc. whatever things you like to serve with chilli.
Categories
banana bread cake food walnut

walnut & banana loaf

I’ve never been a fan of banana. At all. But this year my daughter has developed a voracious appetite for them, which is great that she’s eating foods that I don’t, but on the other side means you occasionally get a few bananas knocking about at the end of their ripey life.

So Mrs Spud made some banana muffins and thy were great. So much so, I’m almost a complete convert to bananas in a dessert now. Still not sold on the fruit in it’s raw state, but baked I am fine with.

Hence a year ago I would never have attempted this, a walnut and banana loaf recipe from Jamie’s Great Britain. Someone in the office said I had to try it, so I did. It’s a fabulous teatime treat, all dark and fudgy, combined with this decadent chocolate orange butter.

Walnut and banana loaf with chocolate orange butter (serves 16 (apparently)):

100g walnut pieces, toasted

125g dark brown sugar

125g soft butter

2 eggs

100g plain flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

5 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed

For the butter:

100g dark chocolate

100g butter

75g icing sugar

Zest of 2 oranges

  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Bung the walnuts in the oven for 5 minutes and tip them out to cool.
  2. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then sift in the dry ingredients. Mix to combine into a smooth batter then stir in the walnuts and bananas. Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake for an hour or until a skewer leaves it clean.
  3. While that cooks, prepare the butter by creaming the butter and sugar together. Melt the chocolate gently in the microwave for a minute at a time until smooth. Grate in the orange zest then stir into the butter. Serve the cake in slabs, smeared with chocolate butter.
Categories
beef food worcestershire sauce

worcestershire sauce brisket

I’m crazy about brisket recipes. Just leaving that juicy, flavour-packed meat to simmer away until it pulls apart into those flakes is just irresistible. I just had to give this recipe a go when I saw it in Jamie’s Great Britain.

…And what a disappointment. The texture was beautiful, really tender, but the flavour was frankly medicinal. Definitely a case of too much of a good thing.

Jamie serves his in a sandwich with pickled cucumber, I served mine more as a traditional roast.

Worcestershire sauce-marinated brisket (serves 6 – 8):

1kg beef brisket

2 onions, sliced

1 x 150ml bottle of Worcestershire sauce

1 stick of celery, sliced

  1. Chuck everything in a large casserole dish. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 4 hours until the meat pulls apart. Allow to cool slightly in the broth before serving.
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