Wednesday, 16 December 2015

Creamy Leek Egg Yolk Ravioli on a bed of Butter Fry Almond Chorizo Leek


I love British leeks specially when they are in season. I use them in stir fried , soup, stew and pastry.  In this dish I uses leeks in pasta as well as a base for my ravioli. It give a lovely delicate flavour to my dish.
200g plain flour
250g British leeks
6 eggs
25g butter
100g cream cheese
2 tablespoon flaked almonds
70g sliced chorizo
Grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper
To make the pasta:
Slice 50g of leeks thinly. Blanch in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain. Chop in a liquidiser to form a leek puree’.

Put the flour on a work surface.  Add in a pinch of salt. Make a well in the centre. Add the egg in the centre of the well. Add in leek puree. Slowly mix the flour in the form a soft dough. Add some water if needed.

Roll out the pasta sheet with a pasta maker of a rolling pin to 1mm thickness. Cut out into 10 pieces of 120mm round circles.
To make the filling: Finely chopped 25 g leeks and 25g Chorizo. Mix that with the cream cheese. Separate the egg yolks from the other 5 eggs.

Divide the cheese filling into 5 portions. Place each portion on a round pasta circle. Place an egg yolk on top of the cheese. Place another pasta circle on top. Moisten round the edges and press to seal the ravioli. Repeat with the rest of the ravioli.
To cook the ravioli:

Heat a pan of salty water. Lower the ravioli into the water one at a time. Cook the ravioli  for 2-3 minutes. Removed the ravioli from the heat while the egg yolk is still soft.
Slice the rest of the leek. Melt butter in a frying pan, add in flaked almonds and fry till golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside .Add sliced leeks and chorizo in the pan. Fry for 1 minute till the leeks are soft and tender. 
To serve: Arrange the leeks on a warm plate. Place one cooked ravioli in top of the leeks and chorizo. Sprinkle with flaked almonds, parmesan cheese and black pepper.


This dish can be served as a starter or a main course.

Thursday, 19 November 2015

Plaice Papillote with herb crust and tomato salsa

This is my entry for the Clover #NothingArtificial Challenge

I grow a lot of my own vegetables. Everything is organically frown with nopesticide and insecticide. Thses are some of my home grown organic vegetables tha I used in my Clover #NothingArtificial Challenge





 Poatoes
                                                                  Spinach
Tomatoes
                                       My Fresh  Herbs are growing really well this year

I always like to cook natural food. This is my Nothing Artificial  recipe

Plaice Papillote with Herb crust and home made tomato Salsa. I serve my fish with boiled new potatoes with the skin on and  spinach


4 fillet of plaice
1 clove of garlic ( chopped)
2 tablespoon breadcrumbs
1/2 beaten egg
Juice of 1 lemon
75g of Clover
Salt & pepper
4 tomatoes
2 teaspoon chopped herbs
400g new potatoes
200g fresh spinach

(Serves 4 people)

Method:
1 Cut 8 pieces of foil 30cmx30cm. Brush the foil with melted Clover. Put the plaice fillet in the centre of the foil. sprinkle with chopped garlic, lemon juice,chopped herbs, salt and pepper. Top with a knob of clover. Place another piece of foil over the top , seal the edges to make an envelope to enclose the fish. Repeat with the other 3 fillets. Place the fish envelope on a baking tray and bake in the centre of the oven 180C/ Gas 6 for 10 minutes.
2.  Make the herb crust with bread crumbs, mixed herbs, egg, lemon juice and a teaspoon of clover. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix well. Remove the top foil from the fish. Put a spoonful of the herb mix on the fish. Put the fish back in the oven without the top foil. Bake for another 5 minutes till the the crust is golden brown an crusty.
3. Chopped the tomatoes finely for the salsa. Heat a knob of clove in a pan. Add in chopped tomatoes, garlic and chopped herbs. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Season to taste.



 3. Wash the new potato and place in the pan and boil for 15 minutes. Drain and sliced. Cook spinach in water for 1 minutes till soft and tender. Drain.
4. To serve: put the fish with the foil on a warm plate. Add salsa, potatoes and spinach. Dot with Clover. Allow the clover to melt onto the fish and the vegetables. Garnish with a sprig of dill and basil

This is my entry for the Clover #NothingArtificial Challenge

Thursday, 20 August 2015

Devil's Spicy Pulled Turkey Pirate Boat


#TurkeyTractorChallenge

Devil's Spicy Pulled Turkey 

This dish oringinated from Malacca, a city on the South West of Malaysia. The Turkey is cooked slowly in Nyonya's ( Malacca native women) spices and coconut cream. The turkey meat is shredded and serve in the rich  spicy cooking sauce and garnished with chillies, crispy fried onions, cashewnuts and coriander. The slow cooking and the hot and spicy flavour will sure to suit the pirates' palates. The Pirates can obtain plenty of fresh coconuts from the beaches of Malacca to make this dish


This year British Turkey teamed up with Red Tractor for a #TurkeyTractorChallenge competition. The theme is "Pirate". I got very excited so I  jumped on board and came up with this delicious slow cooked Devil's Spicy Pulled Turkey recipe. This is a traditional Malaccan Dish.  It is inspired by the pirates on the Strait of Malacca. Strait of Malacca is a stretch of sea sandwich between the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Sumatra. For centuries Piracy in Strait of Malacca has always been a threat to the Mariners. The calm and sheltered sea of the Strait made an ideal hiding place for pirates.


Devil's Spicy Pulled Turkey Boat

I used British Turkey thigh for this recipe because it give a better flavour. The long and slow cooking in spice and coconut milk makes the turkey very tender, succulent and delicious. I used Red Tractor chilli, tomatoes, carrots and potatoes in the slow cooking to add extra sweetness to the recipe. I also garnished my dish with Red Tractor red and green chillies and coriander leaves.



Devil's Spicy Pulled Turkey Boat
Ingredients:

1 British Turkey thigh ( 800g) Red Tractor
1 cup coconut cream
3 tomatoes ( chopped) Red Tractor
1  carrot ( chopped) Red Tractor
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 tablespoon tamarind juice
2 stalks lemon grass
200g potatoes ( peeled and shaped into nuggets) Red Tractor

Spice Paste:
2 red chillies( chopped) Red Tractor
2 onions
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1 tblespoon chopped galangal
1 teaspoon  ground turmeric
1 teaspoon paprika
3 tablespoon rapeseed oil  RedTractor
1 teaspoon salt

Garnished:
Toasted cashewnuts
Sliced red and green chillies Red Tractor
Coriander leaves Red Tractor

1. Place all the ingredients for the spice paste in a blender and puree until smooth. Set aside.
2. Heat up a heavy based frying pan. Put all the spice paste  in the pan and fry for 5 minutes until aromatic.
3. Place the Turkey thigh in a casserole or a slow cooker. Add in coconut cream, lemon grass, tamarind juice, brown sugar, salt and  spice paste. Stir well. Place the casserole in low  oven Gas mark 1 or 120C for 4 hours. If a slow cooker is used, turn on the lowest setting and cook the turkey thigh for 4 hours till the meat falls a part. Add the potatoes in the sauce cook till tender (towards the last half an hour before finish cooking).
4. Remove the turkey from the pot. Leave to cool slightly. Pull the spicy turkey into shreds using  forks. Put the pulled turkey back in the aromatic spicy sauce and mix it well. 

5. Serve with Pirate's gold Nugget Sambal potatoes and pirate's jewels coconut rice. Garnish well.

Pirate's Gold Nugget Sambal Potatoes:
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 2 fresh chilies
  • 2cloves sliced garlic
  • 28g  tamarind paste
  • 2 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1 teaspoon Malay shrimp paste ( optional)
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoon rapeseed oil Red Tractor
Place all the ingredients except the oil in blender. Blend to a paste. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add in the sambal and fry for 3-4 minutes. Remove the potatoes from the casserole and add to the sambal sauce. Mix well and serve

Coconut Jewel Rice:
1 cup of cooked rice
150 ml. coconut cream
2 tablespoon peas
2 tablespoon Fresh sweetcorns Red Tractor
1 tablespoon chopped tomatoes Red Tractor
8 tomatoes shells Red Tractor
Place the rice and the coconut cream in a pan. Add in all the vegetables , Slowly bring to the boil. Stir constantly till the rice is soft and creamy. Spoon the rice into the tomatoes shells and serve.

Devil's Spicy Pulled Turkey Pirate Boat: garnished with chopped and whole toasted cashewnuts, fried crispy onions, red and green chillies and coriander leaves.





I like to cook the Pulled turkey in double the quantity so that I can use some for sandwiches the next day. This is my Spicy Pulled Turkey Pirate Sandwich.


 Pirate's Spicy Pulled Turkey Sandwich

Alternatively for a pirate party, I baked a Pirate ship pastry and filled it with Spicy Pulled Turkey. Absolutely delicious.


Monday, 27 July 2015

Waste Less Journey

I don't like wasting food. I like to plan my menu in advance so that I don't have to throw food away.

When I roast a chicken on Sunday for my family I always use up all the leftover for meals or snack for the following week. Below is how I used up the leftover food from Sunday



Roast Chicken on Sunday with roast potatoes and all the trimmings.

Any left over chicken I use it to make Toasted Curry Chicken Sandwiches for lunch on the next day


Recipe:
100g leftover Chicken
2 slices of  leftover bread ( I keep bread in the freezer)
2 tablespoon Tikka Masala curry paste
2 tablespoon leftover vegetables ( carrots, peas, potatoes or sweetcorns)
Butter 
Method:
1. Cut chicken and vegetable into small pieces and mix in curry paste.
2. Butter the bread on one side. Place the filling in between the bread to make a round of sandwich with the buttered sides on the outside.
3. Heat up an electric toasted sandwich maker. Place the curry sandwich inside. Toast the sandwich till golden brown and piping hot on the inside.
What a hot and spicy quick lunch.

Sometime I also use leftover chicken and vegetables for Chicken fried Fried Like the dish I made below or Chicken and vegetable chow mein

Leftover Chicken fried Rice


Chicken and vegetable Chow Mein

 Leftover Chicken bone
 With the chicken bones, I boil it up with a few carrots , onions and bay leaves to make some lovely chicken stock.
With chicken stock, I add some leftover sweetcorn, chicken meat, beaten egg and spring onions. This made a delicious chicken sweet corn soup.



Leftover Bread

I definitely don't throw away leftover bread. I keep it in the freezer. I use it for toasted sandwiches, bread and butter pudding. Sometimes I make it into breadcrumbs for coating meat like schnitzel.


Bread and butter pudding: made with leftover bread, beaten eggs, milk, spices and raisins

Hunter's Veal Schnitzel  
made with veal and coated with leftover breadcrumbs and fried till golden brown, serve with a delicious mushrooms and sweet pepper sauce.



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