Marion’s. One, that Miky Drago said last week is much better than any take away. I don’t have take aways, so I can’t argue, but one thing for sure, this was a very tasty stir fry. And simple too.
I used a large, thinly sliced piece of rib eye, which sat in a quick marinade, while the rest of the stuff was getting ready. A good splash of soy sauce, Chinese vinegar, a tsp of bicarb soda and a tsp of cornflour made the marinade. Then the sauce; oyster sauce, soy sauce, some vinegar, some sugar and lots of black pepper, freshly ground. Into the wok I chucked some sliced garlic, roughly chopped shallot, then after a minute or 2 the beef. Seared it quickly, then the peppers, mixed colours, the sauce, the spring onions. Served with rice. Very good indeed, will be looking at more stuff from that lovely lady.
From Paul Hollywood’s book “How to bake”. A piece of posh, expensive French butter was purchased on Friday specifically for this recipe and I started yesterday after lunch.
Dough nr 1 was made out of 500g of strong bread flour, 10 g of salt, 80 g of caster sugar, 10 g instant yeast ( I even had some!!!!), 2 eggs, 90 ml of water and 125 ml of warm milk. Kitchen aid worked it for about 7 minutes, then it rested in the fridge for an hour.
Posh French butter will be handled more carefully next time- straight from the fridge, otherwise it gets warm too quickly and is messy to handle; also next time I’ll roll in out on the baking paper and save myself some swearing. 🙂
The rolling out and folding the butter stuff is all nicely illustrated in the book, it was fun to make and I enjoyed learning new stuff. Last night there was a lovely block of Danish pastry resting in the fridge, 4 times rolled and folded, loosely wrapped in cling film- loosely, as it did rise quite a lot!
This morning I took it out, rolled out, shaped 3 ways and left to prove once more, while the nicest creme pat ever was cooling in the fridge. Creme from the same book, particularly delicious and creamy. Will be using this method from now onwards. 2 egg yolks, 50 g caster sugar, 20 g cornflour nicely whipped together, while 250 ml of milk and vanilla paste were heating up. Hot milk slowly added to the eggs, then returned to the heat and when thick and beautiful, 20 g of butter added. Yum!!!!!
Pastries, when doubled in size were topped with creme pat and some bluberries, the other ones were rolled with cinnamon, sugar and sultanas and baked in 200 degrees for less than 14 minutes, they did brown quickly.
I waited the whole 2 minutes after taking them out, before stuffing one down my gob with a sigh of pleasure. Butter. Butter makes everything tastes good.
We gave Simon and Keava a plate of pastries, the other ones sit on the island and are pinched every now and then by whoever passes by.
10 out of 10, worth every minute and every effort.
The tastiest thing I’ve made in a long time. My fingers still smell of coriander, the last thing on the palate are those wonderful garlic chips.
The recipe comes from Marion’s Kitchen, the same Marion who was a favourite to win Aussie Masterchef in season 1, she didn’t win, but she did very much alright for herself, not only selling a range of Thai sauces and condiments, but running that fantastic youtube channel first of all.
So first job was a garlic clove, roughly chopped and fried till golden, left to cool. A dressing- made with chili, coriander- stalks and all, garlic, salt and lime juice, I also added a dash of sesame oil.
And the dumplings, the beauties! A bag of those lovely Iceland shimps, most of them finely chopped, the rest roughly chopped, for texture. Seasoned with white pepper, salt, sugar, chicken stock and mixed with some cornflour. Gyoza wrappers were defrosting since breakfast, filled them with the prawn mixture and gently poached them. Added my remaining chicken stock to the poaching water, never too much flavour!
Once cooked, that lovely vibrant dressing went on top, alongside garlic chips and fresh coriander. What a lovely plate of food that was.
Florek, not a prawn fan tried 2-3 dumplings and asked for a plate next time I make them. Florek liked my prawn dish, Donald Trump has corona virus, the world is coming to an end!!!
Found a photo of these on mojewypieki.com and made them this morning, but for brunch. Not for breakfast. I’m coping Florek’s effective diet of eating nothing till midday and enjoying lunch then, it seems to be doing good to my waistline ( as I’m writing these words, I’m on my second g&t, munching on some particularly moreish chili and serrano crisps bought 2 weeks ago in Adnams, speaking of dieting!).
For about 8-9 rolls I used 2 tall glasses of strong bread flour, 0,5 tsp of salt, 1 tbsp of melted butter, a small egg, 1 tsp of sugar, 7 g of fresh yeast, 3/4 tall glass of tepid milk. Made the starter first- a bit of that flour,milk and all the yeast, then mixed it all in with the remaining ingredients, leaving butter till the end. The dough proved for about 1,5 hour, then, using a little rolling technique I picked up from Paul Hollywood I formed the rolls, placed them on the baking parchment, dusted with flour and left to double in size again.
I sprinkled them with some water and baked for about 15 minutes in 190 degrees. They were very much enjoyed with a lovely, creamy tomato soup, some pate and some mature cheddar. Recipe going into the book, to be used again!
While sitting through a vegetarian weekend in Suffolk recently I felt like doing a Sunday roast. Ewa’s was available, so was Mariusz, Tommy Banks’s recipe for roast pork belly was looking at me, there were no excuses.
I’ve done that roast today, pork was ok, but not mind blowing. There was quite a lot of leftovers, as Mariusz had to turn around before Oxford, there were issues with gear box. Luckily Ewa made it and she took some food for Sophie, who works on Sundays.
Dessert was a success. I made it yesterday and it went, all of it. Just the way I like it, the plates to the dishwasher, job done.
50g of pecans nuts, toasted, blitzed with 3 tbsps of icing sugar. 150 g of plain flour ( I added a bit more), 75 g of cold, unsalted butter. 1 whole egg. The dough chilled in the fridge for about an hour, then got rolled out and chilled again, then baked blind in 200 degrees for about 20 minutes and a few more without the beans.
For the filling I used a 250 g tub of mascarpone, 150 g of Greek yoghurt, coconut flavoured, unlike the recipe that called for plain, 6 tbsps of maple syrup and some vanilla paste. Really nice indeed. Fresh blueberries and raspberries on top. While the last piece of it was being eaten in the garden I remembered that I was going to drizzle it with extra maple syrup before serving. Next time maybe. And I think I’ll be doing my own shortcrust pastry, the very crumbly one, as those pecans didn’t really bring anything amazing to the dessert. Good, but could be better!
The world has come to an end. Husband said- you’ve found me a lamb dish that I like. I know, right? 🙂
It’s been a good day. Lots of visible work around the house got done, a cake with plums got baked, 3 productive hours in the garden were spent too. And then, having washed the dirt off my fingernails I got cracking with dinner. Recipe comes from Waitrose magazine, I’ve bought all I needed there yesterday and ended up with a lovely dinner this evening.
First I trimmed and roughly chopped 2 lamb leg steaks, seasoned with salt and herb pepper and browned off on olive oil. Large chopped onion and 2 mashed garlic cloves in. Some green beans, not in the recipe. A small amount of fresh rosemary, 2 bay leaves, 2 fresh tomatoes and a good splash of passata, a tsp of honey, some salt, 200 ml of chicken stock. All this left simmering under the lid while orzo cooked to the packet instructions. Once the lamb was soft, orzo went into the casserole, shortly before serving a good handful of fresh spinach, just to wilt.
We had it with crusty bread and a half bottle of French rose. Eaten to the last grain of orzo. Delicious. And will be made again.
Carbonara is Florek’s favourite pasta, alongside pesto. I’ve made it many times, sometimes with pancetta, sometimes with smoked streaky bacon. Never came across guanciale in the UK, so could not test this one.
Marco Pierre White was a guest chef in Masterchef Australia, that I’m still binging on, he made his version of carbonara and I tested it last night. the crowd was divided; we both liked it, finished the lot, agreed it was on the lighter side and very tasty, but if it was better than the bacony one with garlic that I normally make? Not sure. I bought some of that mega thin, sliced pancetta and roasted it in the oven, while the pasta was cooking. Risky business that, as pancetta was so thin it needed to be watched in order not to be burnt. Right before assembling the dish, I finished it off on the pan with 2 crushed garlic cloves.
3 egg yolks gently whipped with a splash of double cream- if Marco Pierre White uses cream- clearly that is a legal thing to do. Well seasoned, some grated parmesan chucked in. This was my first ever carbonara with virtually raw egg yolks. Once the pasta was cooked and drained, I added the yolk/cream/parmesan mix to it and tossed it well, away from the heat. It certainly was much lighter and creamier than my usual one. Only then pancetta was added, more parmesan and that was that. Still not sure if this is the way I’ll be doing it next time, but it had to be tested.
Another good one from Paul Hollywood’s book. I’m enjoying it with a cup of tea on a cold June evening, will be making it again and Wiola just asked for recipe too. I was able to spend a few productive hours in the kitchen today, as Iz had company upstairs. The kids are still not back at school, but Iz and Lili are now seeing each other regularly to play, so today I could cook. And bake. In peace.
For the loaf I used 4 medium sized overripe bananas, mashed them up with 125 g of sugar- which is half of what Hollywood’s recipe recommended, but I thought it was not needed. Bananas are sweet, especially overrripe. To this banana/sugar mixture I added 125 g of very soft unsalted butter, combined it well, then added 2 eggs, 250 g of plain flour, but by bit, while kitchen aid worked, 2 tsps of baking powder, a bit of cinnamon and finally 120 g of chopped pecans, substitute for walnuts. Onto the baking tray, smoothed out and into the oven at 190 degrees for less than 40 minutes, till the skewer came out dry.
Very, very nice indeed. I gave Marcin half, when he came to collect Lili, they are loving it too.
Another culinary success today was a thick sauce I’ve made with 2 duck legs, which accompanied kluski slaskie. My child, not a big meat fan not only had seconds, but specifically asked for “some more of that duck meat”. And Florek, who stirs clear of duck as a rule also said that the sauce was very good indeed.
Duck legs were seasoned well, browned all over, then a large shallot and a red onion chopped went in, a splash of chianti, chicken stock, some lemon thyme ( discovered when making mussels, phenomenal herb!) and some porcini. This all cooked under the lid until the meat was lovely and tender. I then blitzed the sauce till nice and smooth, having removed the thyme stalks first, separated the meat from the bones and added it to the sauce, some green beans, separately cooked and finished with some chopped parsley. I thought it was delicious and I kept on licking it while making the dumplings. My kinda food!
Last week we decided it was time to join the club of The People Who BBQ. We rather enjoy membership of the Tesla Owners Club, where drivers greet each other on the road just because they also drive one. Not everywhere, mind, Cheltenham area, Cotswolds, further down the A40 the greetings don’t work anymore.
Lidl had these little beauties on offer from Thursday morning. At £80 a piece. Today, on Sunday there were none left!
But we’ve got one. We’ve tried it a couple of times already, there were great sausages, burgers and also chicken skewers- mind blowing ones! The smoky flavour is just unbeatable!
This afternoon some lovely prawns made a debut. They sat in the marinade of garlic, chili flakes, salt, parsley, coriander, lime zest and juice and olive oil since early lunch time and later on they got grilled and were devoured with some lovely French rose. So much of that rose , in fact, that I’m having trouble spelling!!! But they were some of the best shrimps I’ve eaten in a long time. Next weekend Mariusz is coming over, there will be steaks and more grilling. It’s going to be epic! 🙂
So, to continue our quest to eat less carbs, I have taken out my strong bread flour out today and decided to see if I can bake some baguettes. I can indeed, it turns out. 🙂
From 500g of flour, 20 g of fresh yeast and a splash of water I’ve made a starter, then added 10g of salt into the remaining flour and slowly added a bit less than 350 ml of cold water. Once all the ingredients were combined, kitchen aid did the great job of working the dough for about 7 minutes. It was quite sticky and runny, but was left to prove in a square tin lined with cling film and lightly oiled, covered and sat on the garden table till more than doubled in size. Then 4 small baguettes were formed. I watched a youtube video on how to handle baguette dough. The recipe I was using was Paul Hollywood’s, but I didn’t want to mess up all this lovely air in the dough and will be using a special French bread tin, that Maz has ordered for us.
Shaped baguettes were proving for another hour and a bit, then transferred onto the lined baking trays, slashed with a razor and dusted with flour. Baked in 220 degrees for 25 minutes with a tray of boiling water on the bottom of the oven for crust.
So, 4 small baguettes were done, 2 were eaten on the spot by the 3 of us, with butter. Third one accompanied the courgettini for dinner, 4th was given to Keava.
We loved them. And will be making them again, it wasn’t all that difficult.
Courgettini were also fantastic. And I was right- a rich, garlicky tomato sauce, spiked with chili and topped with parmesan is the way to go. This dish will also be made again and often, maybe not always alongside a tone of fresh bread!
