Category: carrots

banh mi muffuleta

Give me an excuse to do a posh sandwich, and I’m there. Inspired by a recipe in a recent issue of the Jamie magazine, this recipe crosses the Vietnamese baguette with the New Orleans superbap. Truth be told it’s only a little of both, but gives you an idea where it’s heading.

One of my colleagues came round for lunch and I had to make this for him. He loves Asian inspired flavours so it was right up his street. This also marked the first time I cooked with and tasted pork cheeks. Much more offaly than I was expecting, though the texture was sticky and tender. I liked them, but I’d rather have pork belly. I felt it pushed this sandwich in an odd direction; I’d like to try it again with a more conventional pork cut such as shoulder or leg.

Read my colleague’s Richard blog at Everydayleader. Thanks to Farmison for the pork cheeks.

Banh mi muffuleta (serves about 6 – 8):

1kg pork cheeks

1 onion, sliced

8 cloves garlic

500ml chicken stock

4 tablespoons soy sauce

4 tablespoons fish sauce

1 bag stir fry veg

Spiced rice vinegar (any sweet vinegar would work well)

1 large square loaf (I used a sour dough pave)

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Layer the onions and garlic in a baking dish. Season the pork all over and put this on top of the onions. Put the pork in the oven for 15 minutes to get the meat warmed up. Remove from the oven, turn down to 160°C and add the chicken stock. Cover with foil and roast for 1½ – 2 hours, until tender and juicy.

Remove the pork from the oven to rest and strain off the liquor, reserving for later. Leave the oven on and gently warm the bread for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile heat a large wok as hot as it will go, add a splash of oil and stir fry the veg for 3 – 4 minutes until starting to to go tender. Add the onions, garlic and cooking stock into the pan, adding sweet vinegar to taste. Simmer for 2 more minutes before straining off the juices.

Slice the pork cheeks and season with a pinch each of salt and sugar. Cut the bread horizontally and drizzle with oil. Layer the pork on the bread, then the veg on top. Drizzle over a little of the reserved cooking juices to taste, plonk the other half of the bread on top, press down and serve in thick wedges.

beef carrots celery chicken food potatoes

smokey BBQ beef hash

I think I’m due a badge: I’m the last person in the UK to never have eaten at Nando’s. If I walk past a branch around dinner or lunch there’s always a queue around the block. I’m not sure why. It seemed to creep into the public consciousness out of nowhere. I’m sure it’s wonderful, but I’ve just never felt the compulsion to try it.

Therefore I was nonplussed when a bottle of Nando’s Smokey BBQ sauce dropped through my letterbox. But I was intrigued. It was a little tangy, a little sweet, a little spicy… so it ended up in this hash, which owes a small debt to Jools’ Pregnant Pasta.

Smokey BBQ beef hash (serves 2):

2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

1 celery stick, chopped

1 rasher bacon, diced

400g beef mince

4 tablespoons Nando’s Smokey BBQ Portuguese Peri-Peri marinade

200ml beef stock

Get a large pan on very hot. Add a splash of oil and add the carrot, celery and bacon.

After a couple of minutes stir-frying the bacon should be starting to colour. Add the mince and a grind of seasoning. Continue to stir-fry for another 8 – 10 minutes.

Add the BBQ sauce and stock. You want it quite soupy for serving with potato. Stir to combine well and check for seasoning. Serve with a jacket potato and creme fraiche.

carrots celery food red onion sage sausages squash

simply sausage ragu

Here’s a dish perfect for this time of year, but still doesn’t feel like stodge-o-rama thanks to the amount of veg involved. The star ingredient is the sausage, a meaty banger from Simply Sausages. I used their No.1 Recipe Smithfield Original, a relatively unadorned sausage which gives the pork plenty of space for flavour. Mrs. Spud and I thought it was quite simply the best sausage we’ve ever eaten.

The technique is inspired by a similar recipe from Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals. Essentially process a whole bunch of root veg and fry with bacon and tomatoes as a sauce base! It’s a recipe with lots of room to maneuver, by just swapping the veg in and out you get a different taste each time. And even if you take it easy it should be 20 mins work, tops.

Thanks to Amanda from ZPR for the sausages!

Simply sausage ragu (serves 4):

6 No.1 Recipe Simply Sausages

2 rashers of bacon

2 carrots, trimmed and peeled

1 stick of celery, trimmed

Bunch of sage

1 red onion, peeled

½ butternut squash

250g penne

2 cloves garlic

1 tin of tomatoes

1 Knorr Rich Beef Stock Pot

Good-quality balsamic vinegar

Preheat the grill on medium, get a large pan of salted water on to boil and put a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Get your food processor ready too.

Pop the sausages under the grill and cook for 10 – 15 minutes, turning regularly.

In the food processor whizz up the bacon and add to the pan. While that fries add the carrots, celery, sage and onion to the food processor, whizz that up and add that to the pan. Finally blitz the squash and add that to the same pan. Add some salt and pepper. Toss the veg regularly.

While that cooks in the pan, add the pasta to the water and cook according to the packet instructions.

Crush the garlic into the veg pan, and after a minute or so more’s cooking, add the tin of tomatoes. Half fill the tin with water and add to the pan along with the stock pot. Stir well. If it’s looking a little dry add some of the pasta cooking water to loosen it.

When the sausages are cooked cut into slices, drain the pasta and toss both through the veg. Check for seasoning and serve, dressing with balsamic vinegar.

breadcrumbs cardamom carrots chicken cloves curry food peppers rice

chicken katsu curry

Whenever my son is offered a treat out to a restaurant, say for a birthday or good school report, before I’ve even finished the question he replies “Wagamama“. And he always orders the same thing: chicken katsu curry.

I’ve hard arguments with people on Twitter about Wagamama in the past; that it is lowest common denominator stuff, that it’s Westernised muck… they are aiming at global appeal to be sure. I can’t speak to its authenticity but I know I like what their kitchen serves up. My favourite dish by a long shot is yaki soba, and I must’ve had it a hundred times in and out of the restaurant.

But the katsu curry is really good too. Super-crunchy chicken and a spiky curry sauce, with fluffy rice to soak it up. I have got the Wagamama cookbook but this recipe isn’t in there, so here’s my interpretation which I think is pretty damn close. They have salad alongside theirs, I went with some more Autumnal veg in fitting with October diets. But it’s the curry sauce I’m absolutely overjoyed with, a dead simple and really tasty condiment that goes with so many things.

Chicken katsu curry (serves 4):

4 chicken breasts

100g panko breadcrumbs

2 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons flour

Mugful basmati rice

1 star anise

4 cloves

3 cardamom pods

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 Knorr chicken stock pot

White wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Patak’s curry paste (whichever flavour you like)

400ml coconut milk (I like Maggi’s powder)

You’ll need two frying pans and two saucepans on the go for this one. Sorry about that. You should also put the oven on a low setting, about 100°C and pop a baking tray in there.

Get the large saucepan over a medium heat and add the rice, the star anise, cloves, cardamom and two mugfuls of water. Cover and stir occasionally while you get on with everything else.

In another saucepan, gently fry the carrots for a minute in a little oil. Then barely cover the carrots with water and add half the stock pot. Simmer. After 5 minutes, add the peppers and when all the liquid is reduced add a punch of sugar and a dash of vinegar – check for seasoning.

In a saucepan over a high heat, add the curry paste and cook out for a minute. Then add the coconut milk and the other half of the stock pot. Simmer until thick.

Get a large frying pan, cover the base with oil and set it over a medium heat. Between two pieces of clingfilm bash the chicken breasts with a rolling pin until 1.5cm thick. Dust with seasoned flour, dip in egg then coat in breadcrumbs. Fry the chicken in batches as your pan allows, browning on both sides and transferring to the baking tray while you finish the rest.

When all the chicken is cooked, the rice is fluffy (it will probably need some salt and pepper) and the veg is tender, serve with lashings of the curry sauce.

Gary Fennon

Tags food