Ox cheek can be an acquired taste. A great big slab of meat that can be quite irony and offally. Someone that doesn’t need convincing is our Kavey, who can wax on the subject for hundreds of words. If you haven’t joined the army of converts, maybe this sous vide ox cheek recipe will change your mind.
I’ve been trying video recipes again. Sadly not at the luxurious Food@52 kitchens but in my own.
Freedom Food are asking for people to come up with a video recipe featuring Freedom Food ingredients and Fairtrade produce, so I’ve gone with pork and pineapple to recreate that Chinese takeaway classic, sweet and sour pork. It takes around ten minutes to cook and is really versatile – you can swap out the pork for chicken or fish, or even skip meat all together. Cubed tofu would be a tasty substitute. You can also serve it with the carb of your choice. I’ve gone with rice but it would be just as tasty with boiled noodles or even better, crispy noodles.
You can find this video for sweet and sour pork on my YouTube channel. If you’d like to vote for it in the competition, or enter yourself, go to the Freedom Food page.
I was recently sent some recipes by Ocado written by Sophie Michell. Apparently they’re under the banner of “Tweet Yourself Thin”. I’m not entirely sure I got the concept of being tweeted recipes every day but I had halloumi, courgette and aubergine to use up so it hit me at the right time. And it’s refreshing, zingy and tasty. It’s intended to be a lunch dish but I added a wedge of baked polenta to pad it out a bit.
Halloumi, courgette and aubergine with tomato vinaigrette (serves 2):
250g halloumi
2 courgettes
2 medium aubergines
For the dressing:
2 ripe plum tomatoes, peeled
2 cloves garlic, minced
75ml extra virgin olive oil
25ml balsamic vinegar
1 pinch of caster sugar
1 tsbp of chopped fresh basil
- Slice the halloumi, aubergine and courgette into even slices. Heat a large griddle pan and griddle the veg on both sides until nicely charred.
- Blitz the dressing ingredients together and season to taste.
- When the veg is done, add the halloumi for 30 secs each side until slightly charred and warm. Serve immediately dressed with the vinaigrette and a splash more balsamic.
If you’re a regular reader of this blog you might notice I do a lot of things “from scratch” (I really hate that phrase, like a badge of snobbish one-upmanship), because I enjoy it and I like knowing what goes into my dinner. In my time of course I’ve used pasta sauces and the like, and they range from OK to pretty good to truly vomit-inducing (usually ones that involve mascarpone).
I chucked it in a pasta bake with some chorizo and courgette, and it was lovely. Well worth a try – certainly if you find it on promotion, as it was in my local Sainsbury’s. At least bask in the glow of making a small donation to a good cause 🙂
Seriously good pasta bake (serves 4):
400g fusilli
100g chorizo, roughly diced
2 large courgettes
1 jar Seriously Good cherry tomato and balsamic sauce
Cheddar cheese
Some basil leaves, shredded
Splash of balsamic vinegar
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Get a pan of salted water on to boil and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Get on with the rest of the recipe and when ready, drain until needed.
- In a large oven-proof pan, heat a little oil and add the chorizo. Cook briefly until it starts to colour on all sides, then add the courgette.
- Continue to fry for 3-4 minutes, tossing frequently so the courgette gets coated in the rich chorizo juices and is starting to turn tender.
- Add the sauce, then refill the jar half-full with water. Sloosh it around to gather up the dregs of the sauce and pour into the pan. Bring up to the boil and then add the drained pasta. Make sure everything is well-mixed and pop into an oven for ten minutes, or until the tops of the pasta sticking out are starting to turn dark-brown.
- Scatter the basil over the top, grate some cheddar over and sprinkle with balsamic. Grind a little black pepper on top and a swirl of your best extra virgin olive oil, then return to the oven for a further minute or two, until the cheese has melted. Serve piping hot.
