Smoked trout pate

ground cayenne pepper

lemons

smoked trout

cream cheese

horseradish sauce

Served at drinks with crusty bread & cornichons.

From "Nigella Express"

Also as a starter with Walnut sourdough & cornichons for B-Sam, Lease & Anna Jean. (Anna Jean doesn't like seafood!)

Korean beef burger with chilli mayo

Ingredients (serves 4)

Burgers:
600g coarsely minced beef, not too lean
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 egg, beaten
3 tbsp chopped green onions
2 garlic cloves, finely grated
2cm knob ginger, finely grated
1 tsp sugar
Sea salt and pepper

Onion:
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, halved and finely sliced
2 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar or wine vinegar

Mayo:
3 tbsp whole-egg mayonnaise
1 tsp chilli sauce (eg Sriracha) to taste
4 burger buns
8 soft lettuce leaves
2 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 cucumber, finely sliced

Method

Mix the beef, using your hands, with two tablespoons soy sauce, sesame oil, egg, green onions, garlic, ginger, sugar, salt and pepper. Form into patties and refrigerate for an hour.

Heat two tablespoons vegetable oil in a fry pan and cook onions over medium heat for 10 minutes, tossing well until softened. Add remaining soy, mirin and vinegar and cook for five to 10 minutes more until golden brown. Set aside.

Whisk mayonnaise and chilli sauce. Brush burgers with remaining vegetable oil and grill or pan-fry over medium heat for four minutes on each side until browned (beware of burning). Split burger buns and top base with lettuce leaves and beef burgers. Add a spoonful of chilli mayo and top with soy onions and sesame seeds. Arrange lettuce, cucumber and tomato on remaining bun tops alongside and serve.

Nanna's Chrissie pudding

Day 1
In a very big bowl, soak:
6 cups dried fruit in 1 cup brandy

Day 2
Mix together with brandy soaked fruit and leave to sit, covered:
3 cups plain flour
1.5 cups sugar
2 Tbsp mixed spice
2 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter
2 cups boiling water

Day 3
Add 2 beaten eggs
Scald pudding cloth, sprinkle with plain flour.
Sit cloth into a bowl, fill with pudding mixture, gather & tie off with an inch of space extra for pudding growth.
Boil for two hours (topping up the water as it boils away.)
Hang somewhere dry & keep an eye out for damp/mould!

Christmas Day
Boil to reheat. Douse in brandy, flame & gobble with brandy butter, custard & ice cream or cream.

Takoyaki

for about 50 balls:

Batter:

250g takoyaki mix flour

2 eggs

800ml - 900ml water

Filling:

4 spring onions, chopped

1 packet of tenkasu (tempura flakes)

1 packet pickled red ginger

150g boiled octopus (or prawns)

Topping:

dried bonito flakes

green seaweed powder

takoyaki sauce

japanese mayo

Preheat takoyaki pan & grease the holes

Pour batter in to fill the holes & put some filling in each. Grill balls, flipping with sticks until cooked & brown all over. Sprinkle with toppings and eat.

Gyoza

34 Gyoza:

150g mince pork

90g chives, chopped

3 leaves of Chinese cabbage, sliced

1 Tbsp corn flour

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp oyster sauce

1 Tbsp sesame oil

34 gyoza (or gow gee) wrappers

Soy sauce, rice vinegar  (1:1) & chilli sauce

Scrunch filling ingredients together for a goog while until it turns sticky.

Take a wrapper and wet one edge with water on your finger.
Place a spoonful of filling in the centre of the wrapper & fold in half, adding 4 pleats to the rim along on side so it curls in.
Heat a lidded frying pan & oil lightly. Add gyozas and 150ml water and cover. Cook until water has mostly gone, about 5 minutes. Remove lid & cook another 3 minutes or until brown.

Roast Beef, Gorgonzola & Horseradish Potato Salad

The potato salad can be made a day ahead of time. Horseradish mayonnaise can be served as a dipping sauce with roasted potatoes and vegetables, or spread onto a steak sandwich or burger.  (Crumbed chicken breast, pan-fried and sliced, goes well with this salad, too.)

600g beef fillet
olive oil, for pan-frying
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
120g gorgonzola, crumbled

Horseradish mayonnaise

1/2 cup whole-egg mayonnaise
2 tbsp quality creamed horseradish
1/2 clove garlic, minced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Potato salad

400g chat potatoes, cooked and halved
1 small Spanish onion, finely sliced and blanched
1/2 bunch of watercress, picked, washed and dried
2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup of roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
100g horseradish mayonnaise

Serves 4 as a main-course salad

Preheat oven to 200°C. In a large non-stick pan, heat olive oil over a high heat. Season beef fillet, and sear on all sides until golden brown.

Place beef on a baking tray, and cook in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until cooked to your liking. Rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing (slice against the grain).

For the horseradish mayonnaise, combine all ingredients in a bowl, and season to taste.

To make the potato salad, combine the potatoes, onion, watercress, parsley and hazelnuts in a bowl. Add the horseradish mayonnaise and gently toss to combine.

To serve, divide the potato salad among 4 plates. Top with roast beef slices and crumbled gorgonzola to finish.

Rhubarb gingerbread pudding

500g rhubarb

125g castor sugar

1/3 cup golden syrup (or black treacle)

185g plain flour

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

grating of fresh nutmeg

pinch salt

125g butter

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 egg

2 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Preheat oven to 180C.
Cut the rhubarb into 3cm pieces and put in the bottom of a well-buttered 1-litre ovenproof dish, with the castor sugar.

Measure the golden syrup or treacle and stand measuring cup in hot water so that the syrup will run freely.

Sift the flour, spices, bicarb and salt together.

Cream the butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy, then beat in the syrup. Beat in the egg & milk. Fold in the spiced flour.

Spoon the batter over the rhubarb and bake for about 45 minutes until pudding is well-browned and tests cooked with a fine skewer.

Serve with thick cream or ice cream.

Fennel & anchovy gratin

(Serves 4)

·         50g butter

·         2 medium brown onions, finely sliced

·         4 garlic cloves, sliced

·         6 sprigs thyme

·         Salt and pepper

·         1 large fennel bulb, trimmed and finely sliced

·         300ml chicken stock

·         60g bread crumbs

·         45g anchovies, chopped

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180C. Melt butter in saucepan and add onion, garlic and thyme. Season and cook until soft.

Remove thyme stalks. Add fennel to onions and stir to combine. Place in four oven-proof gratin dishes. Pour over chicken stock. Mix bread crumbs with anchovies in a small bowl and spread on top of fennel.

Bake for 40 minutes or until breadcrumbs are crisp and golden and fennel is soft. Served with smoked trout, rocket salad and bread.

Ricotta, chickpea & rocket salad with lemon-anchovy dressing

(Serves 2)

·         400g canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

·         sea salt and freshly ground pepper

·         1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

·         juice of 1 lemon

·         2-3 handfuls fresh rocket

·         150g fresh ricotta

Lemon-anchovy dressing

·         2 anchovy fillet, finely chopped

·         1 cloves garlic, finely chopped

·         freshly ground pepper

·         60ml extra virgin olive oil

·         1/2 tbsp lemon juice

·         1 handful basil leaves, torn

·         1 handful mint leaves, finely chopped

·         1 small handful flat-leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped

Method

To make the dressing, whizz the anchovies, garlic and a little pepper, oil, lemon juice and the herbs, until you have a thick green slush.

Mash 1/2 the chickpeas in a bowl.

Add salt and pepper, the olive oil and the lemon juice, and mix well, then fold in the remaining whole chickpeas.

Place some chickpea mixture on each of 4 plates.

Place the rocket beside the chickpeas and drizzle with half the dressing.

Divide the ricotta among the plates, drizzle with the remaining dressing and serve.

Warm smoked salmon, pea & brussel sprout salad

Serves 2

Salad

·  200g smoked ocean trout or salmon

·  2 slices pancetta

·  150g small brussels sprouts

·  150g green beans, topped, not tailed

·  100g peas

·  2 poached eggs

·  Sea salt

·  Cracked black pepper

Dressing

·  1 tbsp wasabi paste/horseradish cream

·  Juice of 1/2 a lemon (or 1 Tbsp lime juice)

·  1 tbsp olive oil

·  2 tbsp mayo (or sour cream or yoghurt)

Method

Heat oven to 200C. Place fish on an oven tray lined with baking paper and cover lightly with foil. Arrange pancetta alongside and bake for 15 minutes, or until fish is just hot and pancetta is crisp. Whisk dressing ingredients together, season and set aside.

Cook brussel sprouts and beans in simmering salted water for three minutes. Add peas and simmer for two minutes, then drain well and strew over four warm dinner plates. Roughly flake fish into bite-size chunks and arrange on top. Add poached egg and pancetta, season well and serve with dressing.

To poach an egg

Fill a frying pan with water to 10 centimetres deep and bring to a simmer. Add one teaspoon of white vinegar. Break an egg into a small cup and slip it into the water, then repeat with remaining egg. Simmer for 3½ to four minutes, spooning hot water over the eggs once or twice to set the tops. Remove with a slotted spoon.

Mum's Pav

Oven at 120C

4 egg whites beaten until stiff,
add 1 cup of castor sugar slowly,
add 1 teasp of vinegar and 1/2 of vanilla.

Pile on a baking tray in a 8" or 20cm circle dragging knife up the sides sot form a pattern. Bake for 1 to 1.5 hours till crisp on the outside.  Top  with whipped cream, strawberries and passionfruit pulp.

Jamaican (me) lamb?!

lamb shoulder
onion
curry powder
ground ginger
cayenne pepper
lemon juice
chicken stock
tomato puree (or paste?)
pineapple
pear
bananas
brown sugar cinnamon

Heat oven to 160
In a casserole dish, brown the lamb in batches and sautee the onions.
Add curry powder, ginger, cayenne pepper, salt, lemon juice, stock, tomato paste & cook for 2.5 hours.
Add pineapple & pear, cook a further 20 mins.
Serve with fried banana & white rice

Sausages with soft polenta and mozzarella

 (Serves 2)

·         1 tbsp olive oil

·         250g good thick sausages, skinned

·         1 garlic cloves, finely sliced

·         100ml light red wine

·         Half jar of tomato passata

·         1 rosemary sprig, chopped

·         1/4 tsp dried oregano

·         1 ball buffalo mozzarella, drained

·         150ml milk

·         200ml vegetable stock

·         75g instant polenta

·         1 tbsp butter

·         1 tbsp grated parmesan, plus extra for serving

·         Sea salt and pepper

·         1 tbsp sage leaves

Method

Heat oil in a frying pan. Pinch sausage meat into bite-sized chunks and drop into the pan. Add garlic and cook over low heat, turning meat until browned.

Add wine and bring to the boil. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, rosemary and oregano and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Tear mozzarella into small pieces.

To make polenta, bring milk and stock to the boil. Gradually whisk in polenta, swapping to a wooden spoon when it thickens. Stir over gentle heat for five minutes. Beat in butter, parmesan, sea salt and pepper and pour onto four warm dinner plates. Spoon sausage stew on top, and scatter with mozzarella, sage and extra parmesan.

Let the mozzarella warm and soften in the heat on the way to the table.