Squash, Chicken and Couscous one pot - A Random Recipe

I've been a bit rubbish with blogger challenges recently, I start off the month with all the best intentions then before I realise, it's the next month and I've missed it again. Not this month however, this month I was determined..





Dom challenged us this month to go back to basics with the original random recipe challenge of simply picking a cookbook at random then randomly picking a recipe from that book. Now I have a slight confession to make the recipe may have been random but the book usually wasn't, its hard to shuffle cookbooks (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).
so to make this month properly random, I decided to use the ever growing pile of Good Food Magazines building up in the corner. I grabbed an handful and randomly shuffled through them (much easier). I landed on the August 2011 issue and landed on page 48-49, I then closed my eyes and randomly dropped a coin on the pages to pick a recipe. so I give you.......

Squash, Chicken and Couscous one pot
Ingredients
2 Tbsp Harrisa paste
1 Tsp each of ground Cumin and Coriander
2 red onions, halved and cut into thin wedges
2 skinless chicken breasts, bite sized chunks
1 small butternut squash, chopped into bite sized pieces, no need to peel
2 X 400g Tins of tomatoes
zest and juice of 2 Lemons
200g Cherry Tomatoes
140g Couscous
small bunch of coriander

Method
Heat a large non-stick casserole dish or pan on the hob.
Add the harissa, spices and onions, stir and cook gently for 10 minutes until soft.
Add the chicken and brown for 5-10 minutes.
Add squash, stir to combine, add a splash of water if it starts to stick.
Cook for a further 5 minutes.
Tip the canned tomatoes in with 1/2 can of water, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
Add the lemon zest and juice, cherry toms, couscous and seasoning.
Cover and turn off the heat, leave on the hob for 10 minutes, then stir through the coriander and serve.

Verdict
A very nice one pot dish. I altered the recipe a bit, substituting chicken breasts for thighs (cheaper/tastier) and I used Pomodorino Tomatoes instead of Cherry Tomatoes. The recipe states to not bother peeling the squash, personally I would, but that's just me, also next time I may add a little less lemon. This is also rather nice cold the next day so good for pack lunches etc...

Lemon Tart

I do like a lemon dessert and I'm usually drawn to these on a menu first, well either that or desserts involving rhubarb. One of my personal favourites is the classic lemon dessert, the lemon tart or tart au citron (hey check me out I'm multilingual) depending on which side of the English channel you are on. But having eaten my fair share I have never actually made one, so as usual I thought I'd give it a go.

Lemon Tart
Ingredients

Pastry
210g Plain flour
35g Icing sugar
125g Butter, cold and cut into cubes
1 Egg yolk
1 tsp of water

Filling
5 Large eggs
225g Caster Sugar
125ml Double cream
Zest and juice of four lemons

Method

Pastry
Mix the flour and sugar together, add the butter.
Rub the butter into the flour gently between your fingertips until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the yolk and water and mix together.
Using you hands bring together the mix into a dough ball, don't overwork.
Wrap tightly in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 30mins to an hour.

Get two sheets of cling film, spread one across the work surface, place the dough in the middle and spread the other sheet over the top.
Roll out gently in between the two sheets of cling film (this method stops any excess flour being added to the pastry and drying it out).
Remove the top layer and using the bottom layer drape the pastry into a 26cm fluted tart tin.
Press gently into the tart tin and using a rolling pin roll across the top to trim off the edges.
Push the edges up a couple of millimetres to compensate for shrinkage.

Gently press a layer of foil into the tin and fill with baking beans.
Bake in a preheated oven (180C) for 12 minutes.
Remove the foil and beans and bake for another 12 minutes.
Remove from oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Filling
Whisk up the eggs in a bowl until combined.
Add the remaining ingredients and whisk again until well combined.
Transfer to a jug and pour into the cooled tart case.

Bake in a preheated oven at 140C for 30-35 minutes.

Remove from the oven and when cooler remove the tart from the tin.

Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

Enjoy

Ultimate Steak Sarnie

Yes I know it's a bit of a claim to make and I'm sure you all have your own version of this culinary masterpiece but here is my version of the mighty steak sarnie.








I think for a steak sarnie to be successful it relies on a few key parts;

The Steak
Obviously it's not gonna be a steak sarnie without this is it, but what cut? Personally I don't think you need to buy anything more pricey than rump steak, sirloin is a bit expensive to put in a sandwich and if anybody puts fillet in there I will hunt you down and confiscate it. Buy it from your butcher not a supermarket for a much better quality piece of beef. The steak in the picture cost me £5, filled a dinner plate and was enough for 3 sandwiches.

The Bread
A nice crusty ciabatta is my choice for this and not, as my dad suggested, a couple of slices of hovis...

Greenery
A bit of variety I think is needed here, Don't bother with iceberg, it has it's place but this is not it. Try watercress or rocket for a nice peppery flavour.

Beyond these elements I reckon you cant go wrong with most other additions...apart from cheese, back away from the cheese.

Ultimate steak sarnie (makes one)
Rump steak (as much as you wish )
Half a ciabatta loaf
Handful of mixed leaves

Fried onions
Splash of oil
half an onion

Butter dressing
Splash of oil
1 clove of garlic
Large lump of butter
Herbage of your choice, I went for rosemary.

Method
Slice your ciabatta and layer up with a good handful of greenery.
Season your steak with olive oil and black pepper and salt.
Thinly slice up the onion and fry gently in a frying pan until soft and golden brown, set aside.
Crush the garlic and fry gently in a saucepan until slightly golden, add the butter and herbs, set aside.

The Steak
Get a griddle pan and place it on the hob until it achieves nuclear temperatures, hotter than the fires of hell is required for this.
Gently lay your steak away from you on the griddle and leave it alone. Do not touch, poke, prod or move it until its time to turn it over.
In terms of timings, it all depends on how well you want your steak cooked and how thick your steak is. Mine was about a centimetre thick and took about 1 -1.30 minutes on each side for medium rare.
Once done on both sides, leave to rest for a few minutes on a warm plate.

Slice up and layer on top of the greenery.
Drizzle over the garlic herb butter and top with the fried onions.
Use the top layer of the ciabatta to soak up the juices left up on the plate after slicing the steak.

Belissimo!

Raspberry and Dark Chocolate Muffins (ish)

I knew these wouldn't work before I even started. However... I went ahead anyway as I'd bought the stuff to make them and I thought I would try my luck.  It's quite tricky to make muffins when you don't have a decent tray to support them in the oven and it's a sad sight watching a muffin case flatten as mixture is poured into it. If you have the required equipment I'm sure they would work quite well...they tasted nice anyways.


Raspberry and Dark Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients
250g Plain Flour
20g Baking powder
170g Light brown soft sugar
170ml Whole milk
2 Eggs
110g Soft Butter
150g Raspberries
70g Dark Chocolate, cut into chunks.


Method
Add all ingredients to a bowl, apart from the raspberries and chocolate.
Mix with an electric whisk or hand power until all ingredients are combined.

Stir in the chocolate and raspberries, gently. Don't over mix.

Spoon the mixture into muffin cases in a muffin tin (if you have one). (watch as they start to flatten, shed a tear... just me this bit then?)
Stick into a preheated oven at 200C
Bake for around 15 minutes until golden brown on top and risen.
Remove and cool on a wire rack

Enjoy

Black Banana Cake

It's been awhile since I did any decent cooking or baking, what with the madness that has been the last few weeks. So to get back into it I thought I would do something fairly easy but very tasty. While wondering what to cook, I had a wander round my kitchen and found some rather ripe and squishy bananas which reminded me about Nigel Slater's black banana cake....



I have altered the recipe slightly, adjusting to what I had in my cupboard. The original recipe is here

Black Banana Cake
Ingredients
175g unsalted butter
140g golden caster sugar/35g muscavado sugar
75g ground almonds
2 eggs
175g self raising flour
2 very ripe bananas
drop of vanilla extract
100g dark chocolate/50g white chocolate (cut up into tiny chunks)
sprinkle of brown sugar

Method
Preheat the oven to 170C
Line the base and sides of a loaf tin (20cm/12cm)
Beat the sugars and butter together until light and fluffy
Slowly beat in the eggs to the butter mixture
Beat in the flour and almonds
Chop up the bananas into small pieces and mix gently into the mix along with the chocolate and vanilla extract. Do not over mix.

Spoon the batter into the loaf tin, dust with brown sugar and bake for 1 hour - 1 hour and 10 mins

Cover the cake with foil if the top starts to darken to quickly.
Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack

Serve and enjoy.

Chicken in a Spicy Coconut Broth

What is it with Thai soups? From my, albeit, limited experience of them the more they look like dish water the more amazing they taste. Every spoonful is a constant battle for the taste buds attention with a complex blend of different flavours and this one is no exception.





The recipe is a very easy one from Ramsay's World Kitchen and I could literally drink the broth by the gallon.

Recipe serves 4-6 as a starter

Chicken in a Spicy Coconut Broth (tom ka gai)

Ingredients
2 boneless chicken breasts
Sea salt and black pepper
400ml tin of coconut milk
600ml water
3cm fresh root ginger, peeled and sliced
4 kaffir lime leaves, ripped up
1 lemongrass stalk, halved length ways
2 red chillies, halved length ways and deseeded
1 Tsp palm sugar or light brown soft sugar
21/2 Tbsp of Fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
100g button mushrooms
handful of coriander leaves

Method
Slice the chicken into bite sized pieces, sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside
Pour the coconut milk into a pan along with 600ml of water
Add the ginger, kaffir, lemongrass, chillies, sugar, fish sauce and lime juice
Bring to a simmer and cook gently for about 5 minutes, allowing the flavours to infuse
Add the mushrooms and simmer for 3 minutes
Add the chicken and simmer until cooked through, about 2 minutes.
Serve by discarding the chili, lemongrass, ginger and lime leaves or be traditional and leave them in but don't eat them.
Garnish with coriander

Enjoy

100 Blog Posts

Waaaaay back in the summer of last year, I had finished my degree and waiting for my next qualification to begin in September. One day I got bored and decided to have a go at writing a blog. I figured if I was to stick at it then it would have to be something I was interested in. so what better than food? Pretty much every single part of my life revolves around the stuff in some way so I may as well write about it as well.

I never actually thought I would be sat here writing my 100th post, I figured once I started University again by September I'd get bored with it and leave it to be forgotten in the depths of the Internet but alas no and here I am writing this and wondering what blog post 101 will contain.

It's been a fun 11 months. The blog plus Twitter has opened up many an opportunity and events that otherwise I would never have known about it. So I think to mark 100 posts I'll recap on some highlights:

Recipes
Birthday cake - easily one of the best cakes I've made and my first venture into sugar craft

Buttermilk scones - the first ever recipe post.

Beef wellington - Christmas Dinner, beats turkey any day

Chicken and papaya curry - The first blogger challenge hosted by Dom at Belleau Kitchen

Chocolate, honeycomb and truffle cake - well just look at it, it's huge!

Fig Tart - another blogger challenge, a thing of beauty.

Events

My Secret Tea Room - hosted by the delightful 'Bakelady' with superb home baking and my first ever underground supper club

The Spice Club - another underground supper club hosted by Monica and her lovely family, superb Indian food.

Test Space Kitchen - a deconstructed whole hog followed by a huge Eton mess in an abandoned run down old building? you couldn't make this stuff up.

Clandestine Cake Club - turn up with a cake in a random location, eat loads more of other peoples cake, meet lots of lovely people. drink tea. - brilliant

Well there you are, a few highlights since I started and I haven't mentioned all the superb restaurants I have visited in Leeds, Sheffield,  London, Edinburgh etc...

Here's to the next hundred, hope you will join me.

Cheers