Eating Tales

A friend (the one with a lovely SLR camera!) came over this weekend with a bowlful of quinces. It turned out we both wanted to make membrillo (quince paste) – so this was a joint venture! Membrillo is a Spanish quince paste which is commonly eaten and delicious with cheese. Traditionally membrillo was eaten with mature cheese that had come to the end of its year and was dry, salty and more savoury than the cheeses made in Spring.

We followed a recipe from this months Delicious magazine (kindly provided on subscription by my mother-in-law). I have always been served membrillo in slabs with cheese but this recipe stores it in a jar and it has a consistancy more like jam. I have seen recipes with lemon juice in and this would help it set more if you wanted to serve it in slabs. We sampled the results last night and it was delicious. I look forward to eating it at Christmas time- it would make a great gift too! There was a slight grainy texture in parts and this I presume was from the centre of the fruit where the flesh was extremely hard and grainy and we struggled even to cut through it! This could just be down to variety as i’m sure there are many.

Here is the recipe, I have looked through a few and there are lots of variations, some even bake the final paste, some use vanilla pods and some boil the quinces first. This was the most basic of the recipes but we had to have it done within a couple of hours. It is infact Jose Pizarros’ family recipe, head chef of the celebrated Spanish restaurant Brindisa where my Spanish friend took me on a trip to London. It must be authentic!

Ingredients

1kg quinces (skin on)
880g granulated sugar

Wash quinces well, peel and cut out any bad flesh, then core and cut into cubes. Put them in a large saucepan with the sugar, then place over a gentle heat and keep stirring while the mixture heats up. Once it’s cooking, place a lid on top to stop any water from evaporating and to prevent the sugar from burning. Stir every 10 minutes.

After about 30 minutes, the fruit should start to look sloppy (ours didn’t, but again I assume this was the variety as another recipe said to cook untill soft enough to be able to crush with a fork, which ours were). Remve lid and continue to simmer the quinces until the liquid has reduce to a light syrup and the quinces are a coppery colour. This will take approximately 45 minutes.

Blend with a hand blender, puree until smooth. Transfer into sterilised jars. Store in the fridge where it will keep for 6 months. Once opened use within a month.

Having been to the dentist 5 times in a week and being full of cold I have been on cooking strike. Last night I wanted to make something very quick and easy and I only had limited ingredients (ones that I would probably not usually use in a Chinese soup) as I haven’t done a grocery shop either! Inspite of being very simple it turned out to be pretty tasty. I’ll add the recipe below but I didn’t measure anything so if you want to make it add the ingredients to taste.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 litre Beef Stock

2 Star Anise

2 Sticks of celery

1 Leek

1/4 small cabbage

3 blocks of flattened egg noodles

1 piece of Salmon

Soya Sauce

Sesame Oil

Black Pepper

Bring beef stock to the boil with the 2 star anise. Meanwhile shred all the vegetables very finely, add to the stock with the egg noodles and boil for about 3/4 minutes. Season with pepper. Steam the piece of salmon and serve on top of the noodles.

We only wanted one piece of salmon between us, but you could do 2. These quantities also made more than enough noodles and soup, so there is more for lunch today! We ate this dish with chilli sauce made by my Dad as he had a large crop of chillis from the garden this year. To make the chilli sauce mix the ingredients below to taste. I have made this before and have never measured quantities-it always works!

Chilli sauce ingredients:

Chillis-sliced finely

Vinegar

Garlic-crushed

Sugar

Whilst walking the dogs in the Cotswold countryside I stubbled upon vast quantities of wild blackberries. The dogs decided they absolutely loved them and sat beside me woofing for berries to be thrown in their direction! After I picked about a pound of berries I heading home to make blackberry and apple jam. I’ve added the recipe below. I tested for setting point after boiling for 10 minutes and it wasn’t ready. I continued to boil testing every few minutes for around a further 15 minutes. On the final test the jam didn’t form a wrinkly skin when pushed with a finger but it did hold the line. I decided this would be good enough and the jam has perfectly set.

Get picking- they’re free!

Blackberry and Apple Jam

500g blackberries

500g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped

juice of 1 small lemon

1kg granulated sugar

Put the blackberries and apples in a pan with the lemon juice and 100ml of wated and cook until soft, about 10-15 minutes.

Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Test for setting point.

Put into steralised jars.

On Friday night we had a couple of friends over for a curry. I spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen and cooked a lamb rogan josh, saffron rice, onion bhajis, tomato and coconut dal, popadoms and a tomato and chilli sauce.

I got the recipe for the lamb rogan josh from Delicious magasine and I was surprised at how authentic it tasted. The recipe for the dal came from Rick Steins new book and the onion bhajis and tomato and chilli sauce recipes were from The Ballymaloe cookery course book. The recipes and photos are below.

Lamb Rogan Josh (Being a fairly short recipe from a magasine I was assuming it wouldn’t taste so authentic, but I was pleasantly surprised, however it wasn’t as quick to cook as the recipe was short!)

800g boned shoulder of lamb cut into 2.5cm pieces

150g natural yogurt

2tbs ground almonds

1 large onion roughly chopped

2.5cm piece of fresh ginger

5 garlic cloves

5 tbs vegetable oil

5 cardamon pods

2 bay leaves

4 cloves

1/2 cinnamon stick

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tbs ground garam masala

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

2 tbs tomato puree

227g chopped tomatoes

handful of chopped coriander leaves

Marinade the lamb in a bowl with the yogurt and almonds for at least 2 hours of overnight. In a food processor, whizz the onion ginger and garlic into a paste.

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Add the cardamon, bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon and cook for 30 seconds. Add the onion paste and cook for 10 minutes until the onions are golden.

Add the lamb and marinade and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until the meat is browned. keep stirring to stop it sticking. Add a splash of water if it gets really dry.

Add the powdered spices, tomato puree and a splash of water, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Season well, stir in the chopped coriander, then serve with basmati rice cooked with a little saffron added to the water, and naan bread.

Wine Note The peachy flavours of fruity Viognier are spot on with the rich tomato of this spicy sauce.

Coconut dal with tomatoes and curry leaves (from Rich Stiens far eastern odyssey)

This dal is very common in Sri Lanka and tastes exactly as you might expect, like an Indian dal but noticeably flavoured with coconut, cinnamon, pandan leaf and curry leaves. As in the rest of the Indian subcontinent, you would almost always expect to have dal as part of any meal.

250g red lentils

1 green cayenne chilli, sliced

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

4 x 2.5 cm pandan leaf

200ml coconut milk

3 tbs coconut or vegetable oil

100g onions or shallots, finely chopped

15g garlic, crushed

3 dried red kashmiri chillis, broken into small pieces

12 curry leaves

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp black mustard seeds

7.7cm cinnamon stick

1 tsp freshly ground coriander seeds

150g tomatoes, roughly chopped

Put the lentils into a pan with the green chilli, turmeric, pandan leaf and 1 litre of water. Bring to the boil and simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes or until the lentils have broken down and the mixture has reduced and thickened quite considerably.

Add the coconut milk and leave to simmer, stiffing now and then, for another 15-20 minutes or until it has thickened once more.

When the dal is cooked, heat the oil in a small frying pan. Add the onion and garlic and fry gently, stirring now and then, until golden brown. Add the dried red chillies, curry leaves, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, cinnamon stick and ground coriander and fry gently for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and cook for another 1-2 minutes until they have just softened.

Tip the mixture into the dal, stir will and season with 1 teaspoon salt or to taste. Simmer for 5 minutes then serve.

Onion Bhajis ( From Darina Allens Ballymaloe Cookery Course)

Serves 4 as a starter

110g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp chilli powder

2 eggs, beaten

150ml water

4 onions, finely sliced

2 tbs snipped fresh chives

vegetable oil for deep frying

Sift the flour baking power and chilli powder into a bowl. Make a will in the centre, add the eggs, gradually add in the water and mix to make a smooth batter. Stir in the onions and chives. Season will with salt and pepper.

Just before serving, heat the oil to about 170 degrees. Fry dessertspoons of the batter for 5 minutes on each side until crisp and golden, and drain on kitchen paper. Serve hot or cold with the tomato and chilli sauce.

Tomato and chilli sauce

Serves 4-6

25g green chills, de-seeded and chopped

200g tinned chopped tomatoes

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 dessertspoon caster sugar

1 dessertspoon soft brown sugar

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons water

salt and freshly ground pepper

Put the chilli garlic and tomatoes into a stainless steel saucepan with the sugar, vinegar and water. Season, and simmer until reduced by half.

Back in 1990 on a family visit to Asia we were served CHICKEN RICE on what seemed like a daily basis. Whether it was a meal out at a restaurant, a meal from a street food stand or a home cooked meal in. It was so popular with the locals and it seemed they couldn’t get enough of it! We ate and loved it, but by the end of the long 8 week holiday we had had enough of our fair share of it! In fact we couldn’t face another bowl of it.

Eighteen years later when I returned to Asia with Mark we arrived to Singapore to be presented again with plates of chicken rice! It was delicious and brought back memories of that family holiday all those years ago. This time though we only had it a couple of times and on our return to England we had not had enough of it.

Nearly two years has past since the latest trip to Asia and we have not seen Chicken Rice available anywhere, neither restaurants or take-aways that we have been to in the UK have served this dish. The dish is deceptively plain sounding yet it is sometimes considered the ‘national dish’ of Singapore.

So i decided to recreate it at home. Having found no cookbooks with the recipe i researched the dish online and have recreated my own version of the recipe. Please do try it, it is suprisingly delicious for such a simple recipe!

CHICKEN RICE

For the chicken:

1 whole chicken

2 garlic cloves

4 slices of ginger

2 spring onions

For the rice:

600g thai fragrant long grain rice

2 tbsp chicken skin and fat (removed from the chicken)

2 tbsp water

1 inch piece of ginger lightly smashed

2 garlic cloves lightly smashed

1/2 tsp of salt

3 cups chicken stock

2 pandan leaves if available

For the chilli dipping sauce:

10 large fresh red chillis

2cm piece of ginger

2 cloves garlic

1/4 tsp salt

juice of 1 lime

2 tbs chicken stock

1tsp rice vinegar

2 tsp granulated sugar

For the ginger dipping sauce:

60g ginger

4 cloves garlic

1/4 tsp salt

juice of 1 lemon

2 tbs chicken stock

For the soy dipping sauce:

1 tbs oil

1 tsp sesame oil

1 clove garlic

5 tbs light soy sauce

1 tbs sugar

3 tbs water

Garnish with fresh coriander leaves, sliced spring onion and sliced cucumber

Place the coarsely chopped spring onion, ginger and garlic inside the chicken. Place in a stock pot of boiling water and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Skim off any froth that rises to the top.

Turn the hob off. Cover the pot and let it stand for 25  minutes.

Remove the chicken and rinse with cold water until cool. Then rub the skin sparingly with sesame oil.

In the meanwhile make the rice. Wash in a sieve until the water runs clear. In a wok add the chicken fat and 2 tbs waters. Bring to a low simmering boil until the oil is released from the fat. Add the ginger and garlic and fry well. Remove and discard the chicken fat and add the rice which has been well drained and the salt. Stir fry briskly for 1-2 minutes. Transfer the ingredients to a pan and add the chicken stock and pandan leaves. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the water reduces to the same level as the rice and when steam holes appear in the rice cover with a lid and turn to a very low heat and cook for 20-30 minutes or until the rice is cooked to taste.

To make the chilli sauce blend the ingredients in a liquidiser. Do the same for the ginger sauce.

To make the soy sauce combine all the ingredients in a small pan and heat the mixture until the sugar dissolves and then set aside to cool before use.

To serve, remove the wings (use for stock). Then remove the thigh and drumstick from the breast. Remove the breasts from the carcass and cut each joint and breast into 1 inch strips. Serve with rice and garnish.

Having rooted through boxes to find our pasta machine i decided to try out some new recipes that I learnt at Ballymaloe. This recipe is the best i have tried for pasta. It results in a delicious pasta that is not tough or chewy, which i have found has happened using other recipes. This recipe uses just plain flour rather than ‘00′ pasta flour. It is simply flour and egg.

I used organic eggs bought from Daylesford Organic. Their chickens are free roaming and feed on grass, resulting in eggs with incredibly yellow yolks and therefore a pasta with a wonderful colour.

Homemade pasta recipe

400g (140z) plain white flour

1 teaspoon salt (optional)

3-4 organic eggs

Sift the flour into a bowl and add the salt if using. Whisk the eggs together, make a well in the centre of the flour and add in most of the egg. Mix into a dough with your hand, adding the remainder of the egg only if you need it. If it is much too wet it is very difficult to get it right; the pasta should just come together but shouldn’t stick to your hand- if it does, add a little more flour.

Knead for a few minutes until smooth and then put on a plate covered with an upturned bowl for 1 hour to relax. Divide the dough in half and roll out one piece at a time as thinly as possible, keeping the other piece covered. You ought to be able to read the print on a matchbox through the pasta.

A long, thin rolling pin is a great advantage but you can manage perfectly will with an ordinary domestic rolling pin.

Pasta can be flavoured and coloured in all sorts of ways. Add anything from tomato puree for orange pasta to squid ink for designer black pasta.

I used a pasta machine to roll my pasta and made totellinis with a cheese filling. I served it with a roasted red pepper sauce. Here are the recipes.

Pasta machine

Mix together 50g (2oz) freshly grated parmesan. 110g (4oz) fresh ricott, 1 lightly beaten egg or 2 egg yolks, 1tablespoon chopped fresh basil or parsley and salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Cut the pasta into 5cm (2inch) rounds put 1/4 tsp of the filling in the centre and fold in half and then place your little finger in the middle and fold the two points to cross over in the middle. then fold back the outside edge.

Tortellinis filled with cheese

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Makes sufficient for 450g(1lb) pasta

4 red peppers

vegetable oil

50g (2oz) parmesan

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

25g (1oz) almonds

1/2 garlic clove crushed

1/2-1/4 tsp lemon zest

salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 200c/400f/ gas 6

Rub a little oil onto the skins of the peppers, and roast for about 18 minutes or until the skin is wrinkly and the peppers are slightly soft. Put into a bowl , cover with clingfilm or a tea towel for about 5 minutes. Then peel and deseed but do not wash. Whizz the peppers, Parmesan, salt, pepper, almonds, garlic, lemon zest and balsamic vinegar in a food processor. Taste and correct the seasoning. The sauce can be stored in the fridge under a film of oil. Toss freshly cooked pasta into the sauce, serve with plenty of basil and shavings of Parmesan.

Now I’m back home i have been thinking about what to do next. One of my various ideas is to give cookery lessons and demonstrations. So i decided to have a trial run.

Last week a  friend who is eager to learn to cook was my first student!

She has decided she wants to learn to cook Chinese, starting with the basics. We cooked Chinese braised chicken with steamed rice and stir friend vegetables with garlic. For dessert we made banana bread. ( Which of course is not Chinese!)

So we started with the banana bread, using incredibly black bananas. Once that was in the oven we moved onto the braised chicken. We sliced all the onions on the mandolin so they were nice and fine and then we prepped the chicken. I had jointed the chickens before she arrive which left me to show her how to prep a chicken leg which we divided up into thighs and drumsticks, the thighs were boned and skinned and we cut through the sinues on the drumsticks.

Whilst the chicken was slowly braising we went out and picked vegetables for the stir-fry from the garden. There is nothing better than the taste of homegrown vegetables, they can be cooked so simply and yet taste so good. We picked a sweetheart cabbage, french and runner beans.

We came in and put the rice on to steam and then stir fried the vegetables at the last minute when the chicken had finished cooking.

All in all it was a very successful afternoons cooking. The banana bread rose perfectly and was wonderfully moist with an intense banana flavour. ( This is the perfect way to use up any black bananas you would never choose to eat!) The vegetables were fresh and not at all overcooked and the chicken was so simple but with a truely authentic Chinese flavour. ( I have recently found some very old Chinese cookbooks and have adapted the recipes for everyday cooking. Some of the ingredients and measurements needed rethinking! This chicken recipe is one of those. )

Here are the recipes from my first lesson to try:

CHINESE BRAISED CHICKEN

Serves 4

600G CHICKEN LEGS AND THIGHS

225G ONIONS

3 TBS DARK SOY SAUCE

1/2 TBS SUGAR

2 TBS WHITE WINE

250ML WATER

Cut the chicken into pieces.

Shred the onions.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan and stir fry the onions until they start to colour slightly. Add the chicken pieces and stir-fry briefly.

Add the soy sauce, sugar, wine and water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes or until most of the sauce has reduced and the chicken is cooked.

STIR FRIED VEGETABLES WITH GARLIC

Serves 4

600g VEGETABLES

2 CLOVES OF GARLIC

2 TBS LIGHT SOY SAUCE

2 TSP SESAME OIL

2 TBS COOKING OIL

Slice the garlic thinly.

Cut the vegetables into bite size pieces.

Heat the oil in a wok and then fry the garlic until it turns light brown at the edges.

Add the vegetables in order of the hardest and largest vegetables first (like broccoli or carrots) to the lightest vegetables last (like bean sprouts). Stir constantly  over a medium heat and add the soy sauce.  Cook for a couple of minutes and taste to check if cooked.

Season with pepper.

Finally add the sesame oil before serving.

NB If the vegetables start to stick to the pan at any point add a couple of tablespoons of water.

STEAMED RICE

75G OF RICE PER PERSON

 EQUAL VOLUME OF WATER

Measure 50g of rice per person. Place in a measuring jug and measure the same volume in water as the rice.

Wash the rice in a sieve until the water runs clear.

Place in a pan with the measured quantity of water and bring to the boil. Simmer until the water reduces to the same level as the rice and then turn the heat down to the lowest setting and place the lid on to finish the cooking.

After 15 minutes give the rice a stir with a fork and then set aside until ready to eat.