Gnocchi from scratch, not for the first time ever, but I seem to recall that my previous attempt a few years ago was not  a great success. Having found a step by step method by Antonio Carluccio in my new Folder Of Good Stuff I had to try again. I baked nearly 1 kg of spuds in the oven, which seems like a lot, but when peeled really not that much is left- I had about 450 g of mash. To that I added 110 g of 00 Italian flour and 1 egg.  Rolled the dough and shaped into gnocchi, cooked in lots of salted water. A super simple sauce was waiting in an adjoining pan- a chunk of St Agur cheese melted with a bit of butter and a splash of milk, a touch of black pepper.

We both liked the end result. Pizia had 1,5 of them too. I liked the texture, but I think what could be improved is maybe that roasted mash, maybe I could put the spuds through the ricer. The sauce will be different next time too. There will be next time, that’s for sure.

I’ve finally got around to do some order in my Good Food mags. I’ve had a massive pile of them, having been subscribed to the magazine for 6 years, I now look through them all, pick what’s good and file it and the rest goes to the recycling bin.  Mainly recipes with kale, quinoa and all the super healthy crap. Not only there is space to be gained, but also lots and lots of good recipes get found. How I missed this one from Jeremy Pang from February last year- I don’t know, having been  a pig for Chinese food. Once found I decided to make it, hoping for similar goodness like a good dim sum.

It is one hell of a weekend project this dish.  First, the pork belly gets marinated and sits in the fridge overnight, then spends half a day in the oven- like I said, a project. That marinade though is a gem, I loved what it did to the pork. I used 4 mashed garlic cloves, thumb sized piece of ginger, finely chopped, 4 tbsps of tomato ketchup, 4 tbsps of hoi sin sauce, 4 tbsps of of caster sugar, 2 tbsps of soy sauce, 2 tbsps of rice vinegar, 2 tbsps of sunflower oil.  Rubbed it in and left to absorb the goodness and then roasted in 140 degrees for almost 3 hours, then increased the temperature to 170 and left for another 30 mins to caramelise the pork. It was falling apart, tender, delicious, dripping with yumminess.

It was accompanied by pickled carrots, a bit uninspired for my taste, so I’ll spare the description and the buns. The buns I don’t count as my life achievement. They were ok, filling, but I hurried them a bit, as got to making them late around 5pm and wanted them for dinner, not for breakfast next day.  250 g of plain flour, half a tbsp of caster sugar, half a tsp of dried yeast- next time fresh!-, 25 ml of milk, 100 ml of water, 1 tsp of rice vinegar and same amount of baking powder.  Kitchen Aid did the hard work, then the dough was supposed to prove for 2 hours, mine only had half that time.  Then knocked  down, shaped into a sausage, cut into 8 balls, shaped into ovals, flattened and brushed with oil.  Then folded in half and left to prove again for 1,5 hour, if one was to follow the recipe. But one was hungry and impatient, so after half that time in they went into a steamer for 8 minutes.

Like I said, the pork was sensational. The buns I’ll do again, but will start earlier and use fresh yeast. Plus will serve with sharper pickle and maybe fresh cucumber. Florek loved it. 🙂

From the latest GF magazine. I loved how it looked on the photo, I love prawns, so I made them, Olutafying stuff as I went. Blitzed about half of a  150 g packet of prawns, roughly chopped the rest. 2 chicken thighs blitzed too, spring onion, half a red chilli, seasoned with soy sauce and pepper. The recipe just called for salt, I used soy sauce. Also chilli gave the whole thing a nice hum. Added a tsp of cornflour too, then tossed in flour, egg and panko, this always works and makes the patty keep its shape nicely while frying. Served on a toasted brioche bun, on the bed of coleslaw( with a dash of yuzu), topped with chili mayo.

We both liked it a lot,  it’s light, tasty and moreish. Yum.

Neither is good butcher.  The lamb I get from him is always fabulous, yesterday I got a piece of pork shoulder. Made a nice, thick, Polish sauce on it, served it with shop bought gnocchi, we ate the lot, but I saved some for Izzie, very curious if she likes it.

My pork is cut into chunks, quickly browned with 2 shallots, then stewed slowly for 1,5-2 hours in chicken stock, liquid topped up every now and then. Some porcini mushrooms enhanced the flavour, chopped carrot a red pepper made it thicker and sweeter. Finished with some flour and more seasoning. Served with French beans. Yum.

For weeks I’ve been craving Krispy Kremes, those with custard and chocolate. Fortunately the nearest place we can get them is Tesco in Ch’ham, close to exactly nowhere, plus they’re quite expensive. So I thought maybe it is time for me to learn to make yeasty dough ( ciasto drozdzowe), as every respectable Polish cook/baker must have it in their repertoire. My Mum makes it well, but she makes it  in a traditional way, kneading by hand. I have a Kitchen Aid, so don’t have to, the hook does all the job.

The recipe I picked is again from the excellent mojewypieki.com, Dorota’s oldest and most trusted doughnuts recipe. Hers was for 40 pieces, I used a third and still managed to make 17. I gave a few to Keeva the neighbour, when passing on her parcels, we’d never manage to eat them all and her daughters like doughnuts, so- nothing wasted and good neighbourly relationship sustained.

I used 333 g of plain flour, 17 g of fresh yeast, 40 g of sugar, 170 ml of milk, 2 egg yolks, 33 g of melted butter, a splash of whisky ( that prevents the dough from taking in too much fat when frying), a zest from half a lemon and a pinch of salt. First I made zaczyn out of some of the flour, all the yeast, some warm milk and some sugar- all those from the ready weighed ingredients, nothing extra. Mixed it all and left covered for about 20 minutes until frothed up, yeasties have been busy. 🙂 Added that to the rest of the ingredients waiting in the bowl of KA, attached the hook and let it roll for about 12 minutes. Then covered and left in a warm place for 1,5 hour, until more than doubled in size. Then knocked it down, formed small doughnuts with a cookie cutter- I didn’t want the giant ones, was also worried if they’d cook. Then again left them to prove till doubled in size and proceeded to fry them in veg oil heated up to 175 degrees. It’s a quick process and very enjoyable, as the beauties were very light and nicely risen, I only used a little skewer to flip them.

The only jam I had was  a strawberry one, next time I’ll use either raspberry or maybe some lemon curd, I’m thinking, either way will be investing in a proper syringe to stuff them with. One day I’ll use custard and that will be tricky to pour into the doughnuts.

Final touch was a bit of maple glaze and they were ready. I was super happy when I cut through the first one, it was like a cloud. Dorota woman is a genius. Craving satisfied. 🙂

I saw the recipe online in GF and immediately wanted to try. Pulled pork is nice, but takes long to make, plus it makes me feel a bit guilty- what’s the point in sweating on the floor with Chodakowska and then munching on a pig.

Chicken was fun to make and not too long. I had boneless thighs, which I seasoned and rubbed with chipotle paste.  Then made a marinade with more chipotle, some bbq sauce, small carton of passata, some chopped shallot and a splash of water.  My chicken was placed in a baking dish all nice and cosy,  covered with marinade and it wnet to the oven for an hour in 160 degrees, under alu foil.  After an hour the foil went and the temperature up to 200 for another 20 minutes.  The sauce reduced nicely, chicken fell apart under the forks, mixed with the sauce was excellent.

Served with coleslaw and an avocado salsa- by the recipe too, but I found it too strong, it nearly killed the chicken in that tortilla. Guacamole would have been better I think. But still very pleased with the whole thing.

I recently purchased some fresh and fragrant Chinese 5 Spice, needed it to make something from 15 minute meals. I used it today to make a pork stir fry, turned out to be particularly lovely, so it landed here. Very difficult to make an enticing photo of a stir fry though.

Pork fillet, thinly sliced, tossed in a mixture of beaten egg, 2 tsps of 5 spice, same amount of cornflour and brown sugar.  Once quickly fried on the wok, it got removed, mixed veggies fried- a shallot, a carrot, some asparagus, green peas, bell pepper, 2 crushed cloves of garlic. Then the cooked rice. Then pork back in. Lovely flavour, which I sexed up with soy sauce and sesame oil. Yum yum.

I made us some sufficient lunch this afternoon, which is why dinner was to be smaller and simple.  My lovely child made me super happy at the lunch table,  when she pushed away her bowl of chicken and carrot cream soup and picked some cauliflower and french beans off my plate and  was happily munching on them, disregarding her lovely soup.

Back in old times, when we used to live in Ruislip and often ate at Pizza Express, they served a few dough balls with garlic butter as a starter. This evening I made some for us. Regular pizza dough I normally make, just formed into balls, baked in 220 degrees for about 7 minutes, fresh garlic butter, some salami and rocket, some parmesan and a glass of French red. Simple, delicious, enjoyed in the company of my lovely man, who appreciates good food as much as I do. 🙂

Inspiration came from a chap called Guy Fieri, who presents “Diners, Dive-in’s and Drives” on foodnetwork.com. I liked the look  of it, but did not follow the recipe blindly to the dot. I did make my filling out of red onions, sweated with some sugar, cooked for nearly 20 minutes. Some roasted garlic “from the jar” was to be added, probably common thing in America, not here, so I just roasted my own garlic, mashed it and added to the onions, when they cooled a little. Chopped coriander. Salt, pepper, parmesan. All rested in the fridge overnight. Then spreaded over 8 tortillas and again left in the fridge for about 6 hours. Guy recommends leaving off some stuffing as a dipping sauce, that didn’t convince me, dip- yes, by all means, but something slightly sharper, not the sweet onions again.

I cut my “cake” into 8 triangles, then grilled, like on the picture, until black, charred marks appeared and the whole triangle was heated through.

Overall, it’s a nice idea, we had it with some sausages on the side and a salad, finally drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

Link to the original:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/garlic-onion-tortilla-cake-recipe.html

We continue down the nostalgic route. This evening one of Ubon and Nobu’s classics, awesome, oily and flavoursome new style sashimi.  I watched a quick video on youtube to remind myself the ratios of yuzu soy and the oils, sliced my salmon and got cracking. The only thing was, I made  waffles in the afternoon for myself and Iz, so I wasn’t exactly starving, shall we say. But still, enjoyed my solo dinner- Florian’s away at work, 4 dinners all by myself. 🙁

I sliced the salmon as thinly as I could, smeared with crushed garlic, a touch of julienne ginger on each slice, some chives and sesame seeds.  A drizzle of yuzu soy, which I made with 3 tbsps of soy to 1 of yuzu. Tasted yummy, so I proceeded. Some sunflower oil got heated up with a bit of sesame oil, until it was smoking and then the fish was seared with it, sizzled nicely on the plate and smelled most inviting. In the restaurant it used to have a cherry tomato tempura in the middle of the plate.

I had it on a bed of rice to soak up the oil a bit and make it more into a dinner than a starter. Very pleased with myself.  Thumbs up.