Categories
butter beans chorizo food tomato

chorizo and butter bean stew

Popped round a friend’s for dinner. It was supposed to be out for tapas – but it turns out that restaurant was closed. On a Saturday! Don’t worry they said, we have just the recipe. And this is it!

Originally this comes from a Waitrose magazine, but as recipes do they get twisted and transformed along the way until they are just the way you like it. Meaty chorizo gives it bags of flavour, tomatoes are sweet/sour and butter beans are soft and comforting.

It also keeps great in the fridge or freezer, scales up well for a crowd – it’s a keeper! For posterity, I asked for a copy and stashing it here on the blog so I have a copy always on hand. Thanks for the recipe!

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chorizo and butter bean stew

This tasty stew suits any time of year, but especially the tail end of summer when you're clinging on the last of the warmth.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Spanish
Keyword tapas
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 369kcal

Ingredients

  • 250 g chorizo sliced
  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 2 sticks celery finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic crushed
  • 1 courgette sliced
  • 150 ml dry white wine
  • 400 g tinned tomatoes
  • 1 tin butter beans drained

Instructions

  • Fry the chorizo in a large, non-stick frying pan until it releases its oil. Add the onion, celery and courgette and cook until softened. Add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds to spread the garlicky flavour around.
  • Turn up the heat and add the wine. Bubble away until there's a thick syrup at the bottom. Add tomatoes to the pan and reduce the heat, simmering for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally to break up the tomatoes, until the sauce has thickened.
  • Stir in the butter beans and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Check seasoning, then garnish with chopped flat leaf parsley and serve with a tomato salad, and crusty bread to mop up the juices.

Notes

Very easy to swap out the beans for any beans or pulses you have that need using up. Puy lentils or chickpeas would be great. This also serves well alongside many things like a jacket potato, rice or tortillas. Serve in smaller amounts with other dishes for a great tapas.
Categories
bread food sea bass tomato

sea bass on panzanella salad

Never work with children or animals… or do loads of things for the first time at the same time. Like I did recently, by (1) cooking sea bass (2) using someone else’s hotplate (3) going live on YouTube. These are the things that went through my head as I pushed the ‘go live’ button and streamed my first ever cooking of sea bass on panzanella salad.

Watch it back for yourself here:

I based this on a dish I’d had at the Blacksmiths on the Isle of Wight. It was a terrific fish dish with a loose nod to panzanella, the Tuscan bread salad designed to use up leftovers. Instead of leftovers ingredients went in fresh and headed in vaguely the same direction. Instead of stewing overnight tomatoes and onion were briefly cooked before being tossed with olives and capers. The fish served on a crouton of french bread finished it off.

The sea bass dish as they serve it at the Blacksmiths pub
Sea bass has a mild flavour, which means it can work well with a lot of different spices and seasonings. Plus, it’s got a really delicate texture that melts in your mouth. This makes it a great pairing for sharp, sweet and salty panzanella.

I was super pleased with how it came out and I’ll definitely be making it again. Possibly not livestreaming it next time though!

If you’re not already subscribed to my YouTube channel, please Subscribe, click the bell and choose ‘All’ to be notified every time I publish a new video or go live.

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sea bass on panzanella salad

A light Summery dish fill of lively flavours.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword fish, make at home
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Servings 1 person

Ingredients

  • 1 handful cherry tomatoes about 10 or so
  • 3 spring onions ½ red onion would also work
  • 1 fillet sea bass
  • 2 slices baguette
  • balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil to garnish

Instructions

  • Get a frying pan over a medium heat. While it heats, halve the cherry tomatoes and finely slice your onion.
  • Add a splash of oil to your pan and gently fry the tomatoes and onion just to soften slightly. They only need 5 minutes max. Remove to a bowl and stir in olives and capers.
  • Season the fish all over. Slice lightly across the skin 2 or 3 times - this will prevent it curling up. Add the sea bass skin side down to the pan and hold with the back of a fish slice or your fingers to convince it to lie flat. After 3 minutes deftly flick the sea bass on to the flesh side and cook for 1 more minute. Transfer to a board or plate to rest while you toast the bread.
  • Put your slices of bread in the pan and cook for 1 - 2 minutes per side to toast.
  • To serve, arrange your tomato mix on a plate and top with the toasts. Place the fish on top and drizzle over balsamic glaze (or really good quality balsamic vinegar) and extra virgin olive oil. Serve immediately.

Video

Notes

This can be bulked up with a little more veg in the salad; peppers and courgettes would be nice. Additionally consider serving with skinny fries to get an odd take on fish 'n' chips. A little rocket would also be really nice.
Categories
chicken coconut curry food tomato

jamie oliver’s cornershop curry

Unashamedly lifted from one of his YouTube videos, I had to write down Jamie Oliver’s cornershop curry as it’s a blinder. It’s not complicated, but I’ve made it twice and people have begged for more.

The whole thing is up there, but I’ve written it out below so I can make it again without having to watch the video! Go and check it out though, lots of classic Jamie shortcuts that don’t compromise on flavour. The gimmick is – as you may have guessed – is it is made from all store cupboard ingredients, or things easily found from your local convenience store. Jamie Oliver’s cornershop curry has now entered my regular rotation as a crowdpleaser. His approach is a fusion of traditional Indian flavours and techniques with a modern twist, making it a popular choice for UK home cooks and foodies alike.

My recommendation – not sponsored! – is to use Geeta’s mango chutney. It’s so good. Sweet but really heavily spiced, it builds a great base for this gravy and serve more on the side for dipping. Terrific!

I make one significant change: I brine the chicken breasts. If you have the time dunk your meat in salted water for a few hours beforehand; the chicken will be moist and so tasty. Very difficult to overcook too. Completely optional but I always do that if I’ve had time to prep.

By using ingredients that are readily available in most UK convenience stores, this dish is very accessible regardless of location or cooking experience. What’s great about Jamie Oliver’s cornershop curry recipe is that it can be easily adapted to suit different tastes and dietary requirements. For example, you can swap out the chicken for tofu or chickpeas to make it vegan or vegetarian-friendly. You can also adjust the level of spiciness to your liking, by adding a more potent curry paste. The versatility of this recipe makes it a go-to for busy weeknights or impromptu dinner plans, and the fact that it’s both delicious and nutritious is an added bonus.

Want more midweek curries? Try my turkey tikka, or this cauliflower and lentil curry. Or for more of a showstopper, my whole roast chicken katsu curry.

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jamie oliver's cornershop curry

A dead easy weeknight curry recipe you can knock out with common ingredients.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Keyword curry, easy
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Brining 6 hours
Servings 4
Calories 1300kcal
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

For the chicken and brine:

  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 1 star anise
  • table salt see method
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

For the curry sauce:

  • 1 tablespoon curry paste whatever you like
  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 4 cm piece of ginger
  • 1 large pepper deseeded and diced
  • 1 heaped tablespoon mango chutney
  • 400 g tinned tomatoes
  • 400 g light coconut milk

Instructions

For the brine:

  • Cover the chicken with a sheet of greaseproof paper, and bash them to about 2cm thick. Take a bowl deep enough to carry the chicken and put on scales. Fill with water and note the weight. Work out 6% of that weight (I usually shout at Google for the answer) and add that much salt. Add the star anise and turmeric, stir well and submerge the chicken. Leave in the brine between 3 and 6 hours.

For the curry sauce:

  • Peel and coarsely grate the onions, garlic and ginger. Put a large non-stick pan on a medium heat with 1 tablespoon of oil and the grated onion, garlic and ginger, stirring regularly.
  • After a few minutes add the pepper. Once the veg has softened, stir in the curry paste, followed by the mango chutney. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring regularly to avoid it catching and burning.
  • Add the tomatoes, breaking them up with a wooden spoon and scraping up any sticky bits from the base of the pan. Simmer for a few minutes.
  • Pour in the coconut milk then simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the consistency of your liking. You may wish to add a splash of water to get it right.
  • Drain and pat dry your chicken, discarding the brine ingredients. Either using a grill or frying pan, cook the chicken quickly on both sides over a high heat.
  • Remove the chicken to a board and thickly slice. If the chicken isn’t cooked through that's a good thing, as it will finish cooking in the sauce and not be overcooked. Stir the chicken slices into the simmering sauce for the last 5 minutes, or until cooked through. Season the sauce to your liking.
  • Serve the curry with rice and / or bread, and extra mango chutney.

Notes

You can sub out the protein for almost anything else, a piece of fish, cauliflower, tofu, seitan, whatever you want. Sub in a hotter paste for more fire in your belly.
Categories
food garlic orange pate potatoes red onion tomato

so what else is new?

A round-up of little bits and pieces I’ve been mucking about with at Spud HQ.

Trying (and failing) to make Heston Blumenthal’s meat fruit

I had a lot of fun recreating this iconic recipe from Dinner by Heston. Meat fruit is a trompe l’oeil whereby a mandarin sphere encases chicken liver parfait. I made some terrible mistakes. Watch how I got on.

Kathy’s continental potatoes

Do you listen to the Off Menu Podcast? Ed Gamble and James Acaster ask guests to name their favourite starter, main dish, side, dessert and drink. It’s an excuse for some fun chat. One of their dream guests was the incredible Kathy Burke, who had a homely and delicious sounding menu. Her side dish of “Kathy’s Continental Potatoes” spoke to me for some reason so I had to make it. And whaddya know, they’re great!

Boxtails

The lovely people at Boxtails sent me some of their cocktail sachets to try. Letterbox-friendly, their boxes come in a variety of flavours. I’ve tried a bunch, to the point where I can’t remember what I’ve drunk now! Though I do recall the Bramble being tasty. Word of warning, they are pretty strong! I recommend plenty of ice. And then have another one.

Garlic and black pepper seasoning

I’m a little obsessed with this seasoning from Santa Maria lately. Readily available in supermarkets. I’ve been grinding it over roast potatoes, into meatballs, over broccoli… whatever I can get my hands on. Love it!

Gumbo Recipes

I’ve been playing around with Gumbo recipes lately. Chuck in some ingredients and you get some recipe inspo back atcha. Gumbo crawls recipe sites (including this one!) and pulls in ideas. Other sites have done this but I like the wide variety of sources it uses. Give it a try!

Floyd on France

I’ve been reminding myself what an absolute treat the show Floyd on France (iPlayer link) was. 7 episodes of self-deprecating, leisurely escapades in food and cooking. It feels like the whole thing is made up on the spot and it’s all the better for it. There’s never been another presenter like Keith Floyd. Go revisit if you’re in the UK. And if not, Floyd on Fish is easily found on YouTube.

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