Category: vegetable recipes

Categories
bread carrots food pork sandwich

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)

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
Categories
cabbage cheese food gherkin pastrami sauerkraut

reuben-style sandwich

Goodness, those New York delis know how to make a decent sarnie, don’t they?

This is a take on classic Reuben sandwich, which has about a thousand origin stories. Whatever its beginnings, this stacked snack is packed with sharp, salty, savoury delights. I can’t claim this is authentic; just “inspired by”. I’ve put lovely, lovely Comté in here. The sweet nuttiness is brilliant with the strong meaty flavours.

I had to buy an enormous jar of sauerkraut to make this; just as well I’ve discovered I have a real appetite for it!

Reuben style sandwich (serves 1):

6 inch french stick bread

2 gherkins, sliced

2 slices pastrami

1 slice salt beef

30g Comté cheese, grated

Mayonnaise

English mustard

1 heaped tablespoon sauerkraut

  1. Preheat your grill to high. Slice the bread in half and pop under the grill and heat the cut side until dry and crisp. Remove one side from the grill and spread over mayo and mustard as desired. Brush the other side lightly with oil, top with the sauerkraut, meats, gherkins and cheese and put back under the grill until the cheese starts to melt. Sandwich together and munch happily.
Categories
breadcrumbs broccoli chicken coriander cumin food noodles oyster sauce

chicken katsu with oyster noodles

I do love panko breadcrumbs. The ridiculous extra crunch the Japanese breadcrumbs give is so satisfying. So I was really looking forward to chicken coated in panko when I got home.

Until I realised I didn’t have any eggs. The typical pane station is flour, egg, breadcrumb. But with no eggs what was I going to do? I figure all it needed was something for the breadcrumbs to stick to. So why not the chef’s friend cornflour? My only problem was avoiding that gluey taste that cornflour can give, so I added some ground spices to mask the flavour. Seemed to work pretty well. To the point in fact where I don’t see the need to waste an egg on breadcrumbing again!

This is an easy to rustle-up, easy to multiply dinner that is a great combo of crunchy chicken and slurpy noodles. You could use any sauce you like with the noodles – even a splash of soy would do.

Chicken katsu with oyster noodles (serves 2):

2 chicken breasts

1 teaspoon cornflour

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

Milk

A little plain flour

Panko breadcrumbs

4 noodle nests

1 litre chicken stock

Large handful of broccoli florets, cut into bite-size pieces

A pinch of chilli flakes

1 carrot

A pinch of sesame seeds

  1. Get a large pan with shallow oil over a medium heat, and a saucepan for your noodles over a high heat.
  2. Lay out a sheet of cling film and dust with salt and pepper. Put the chicken on this and lay another piece of chicken on top. Using a rolling pin, bash the chicken to approx 1cm thin.
  3. In a bowl combine the cornflour, cumin and coriander. Add milk until you get a thick, sludgy paste. Set up a breading station, with one bowl of plain flour, your cornflour sludge, and the breadcrumbs. Dust the chicken with flour, dip in the cornflour paste and then in the breadcrumbs. Make sure they are well coated.
  4. Lower the chicken into the oil gently. When done on one side flip over until done, then drain on kitchen paper.
  5. Get the chicken stock on to boil in the saucepan and add the noodles. After 3 minutes or when the noodles are done, drain them and rinse well with cold water.
  6. Add the broccoli back to the noodle saucepan, add the chilli along with a splash of water. Peel the carrot and use the peeler to shave into strips into the broccoli. Jam the lid on and cook fast. After about 3 minutes the broccoli should be tender, so add the oyster sauce and toss well. Cook for a further minute and then add the noodles back to the pan, tossing well to mix. Serve in a bowl topped with sesame seeds, and top with the sliced chicken.
Categories
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

  1. Get a large pan on very hot. Add a splash of oil and add the carrot, celery and bacon.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
Exit mobile version