Goan-Style Lobster (Lagusta Xec Xec)

Another solid dish from Atul Kochhar. I made a variation here and, when the sauce ingredients were complete, I blended it all together and strained it out so make a smooth sauce. There a subtle, nice heat to it but not overpowering at all.

4 live lobsters
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions, sliced
1 green chilli, finely chopped
½ teaspoon GINGER-GARLIC PASTE
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
50 ml tamarind pulp
150 ml coconut milk
2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander leaves
2 tablespoons butter
SPICE PASTE
200 g fresh coconut, grated
2 dried red chillies
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
4 cloves

Put the lobsters in the freezer for 2 hours, until almost frozen, this will render them unconscious. Then add them to a very large pan of boiling salted water and simmer for 2 minutes.

Remove from the pan, immerse them in chilled water, then drain. Remove all the meat from the shells, keeping it whole, discard the black intestinal vein that runs down the tail flesh and the stomach sac and gills from the head. The meat will just be blanched, not completely cooked, at this stage.

Next make the spice paste. Lightly toast the grated coconut in a dry frying pan, then tip it on to a plate and leave to cool. Toast the dried chillies, coriander seeds, peppercorns and cloves in the pan for 2 minutes or until lightly coloured, then remove and leave to cool. Put the toasted spices and coconut in a food processor or blender with a few tablespoons of water (or coconut milk) and blend to a smooth paste. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a wok, add the onions and green chilli and saute for 5-7 minutes, until light brown. Srir in the ginger-garlic paste and turmeric and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the spice paste and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the tamarind pulp and simmer for 2-3 minutes, then pour in the coconut milk and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in 2-3 tablespoons of water to adjust the consistency to a thin sauce. Sprinkle in the chopped coriander.

Heat the remaining vegetable oil in a non-stick frying pan and saute the lobster meat for 3-4 minutes. Add the butter to the pan and let it melt, then spoon it. over the lobster to form a light glaze.

Bring the sauce to a simmer. Traditionally this dish is completed by adding the cooked lobster meat to the sauce, simmering for a minute and then serving. But I like to serve the shiny pink lobster sitting on the beautiful, deep yellow sauce, accompanied by boiled rice or a salad.

Fillet of Beef with Traditional Champ, Slow-Roasted Mushrooms and Cabbage and Bacon, Served wth Stout Gravy

My best friend Jeff as arrived from the States and we made a conscious decision to really push the boat out in terms of meals. This is from Great British Menu and was pretty awesome. We used the leftover champ to make bangers and mash the next day. Anyhow, I don't have a lot of time to write... just know that this was very good and pretty easy to throw together.

600 g tightly packed Savoy cabbage
rapeseed oil
4 rashers of back bacon, preferably Pat O'Doherty's black bacon, rinds removed, cut into lardons
4x160 g fillet steaks, preferably Kettyle Northern Irish
salt and pepper
SLOW-ROASTED MUSHROOMS
50 ml rapeseed oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
leaves of 1 sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
leaves of 3 sprigs of thyme, finely chopped
4 flat cap mushrooms, stems removed and caps peeled
CHAMP
1.5 kg potatoes, preferably British Queens, peeled
100 ml whipping cream
4 spring onions, chopped
50 g salted butter
GRAVY
350 ml Irish stout
3 tablespoons redcurrant jelly
sprig each of rosemary and thyme
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to to 130C/110C (fan).

First prepare the mushrooms. Mix together the oil, garlic, rosemary and thyme. Arrange the mushrooms gill-side up on a non-stick baking tray, pour over the oil and herb mixture, and season with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Roast the mushrooms for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, cook the potatoes for the champ in boiling salted water for about 20 minutes until soft, then drain and mash until all lumps are eliminated. Bring the cream and spring onions to the boil in the pan, add the mash and beat until smooth. Season and add the butter. Set aside in a warm place.

Cut the cabbage into six or eight wedges. Discard the thickest part of the core, but leave a little to help hold the leaves together. Heat a little oil in a frying pan until it is very hot and fry the bacon until crisp. Add the cabbage and mix with the bacon, then reduce the heat, cover the pan with a lid and cook slowly for 5-10 minutes or until the cabbage is tender. Season and set aside in a warm place.

Remove the mushrooms from the oven and keep warm. Increase the oven temperature to 200C/180C (fan) and place a baking tray inside to heat up.

Season the steaks all over. Heat a heavy frying pan until red hot, then add a little oil. Place the steaks in the pan and sear all over (top, bottom and sides). Transfer the steaks to the hot tray and finish cooking in the oven, allowing 4-5 minutes for medium-rare meat. Remove the steaks from the oven and leave to rest in a warm place while you make the gravy.

Deglaze the steak juices in the frying pan with the stout, then boil to reduce by about three-quarters. Add the redcurrant jelly, rosemary, thyme and garlic, and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain and season, then keep hot.

To serve, put a mushroom in the middle of each warmed plate. Top with cabbage and bacon, and then a steak. Spoon a quenelle of champ on top of each steak, and drizzle the gravy around the plate.

Baby Squid with Ginger Salsa

This was our first real foray into fusion cooking... Nobu Matsuhisa makes his money off of this style of cooking and his restaurants are considered to be among the Top 50 in the world. His style is very minimalist, and often fuses Japanese with South American cooking.

I am at a loss to describe why this works, but it does. There are a few components to deal with here, but on the whole, extremely easy to prepare. The salsa makes this whole thing work and deals with flavor profiles which are unfamiliar and intriguing to me. Very interesting to eat!

TOSA-ZU SAUCE

5 tablespoons soy sauce
8 tablespoons rice vinegar
4 g dried bonito flakes (can be found as Asian markets - key ingredient in Dashi, the base Japanese stock for soups)

Mix these together.

GINGER SALSA

100 g finely chopped red onion
25 g finely chopped root ginger
100 ml TOSA-ZU SAUCE (that you just made)

Combine all the ingredients and mix well.

BABY SQUID WITH GINGER SALSA
8 baby courgettes
olive oil for brushing
6-7 baby tomatoes
100 g cleaned fresh baby squid
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons GINGER SALSA (see page 243)

Preheat a hot grill or barbecue. Lightly brush the courgettes with olive oil and grill or barbecue for 2 minutes, turning them halfway, and allow to cool.

Preheat the oven to 230C. Place the tomatoes, squid and courgettes in a bowl and season with sea salt and pepper and a little olive oil. Put all the ingredients in an ovenproof ceramic dish or similar and spoon the ginger salsa over the top.

Bake for 5 minutes and serve straight from the oven.

Lemongrass Soup with Shrimp (Tom Yum Goong)

This is the classic Thai hot-and-sour soup. It is good stuff. Spicy, but not so much to be off-putting.... it's just right and just hits you in a special spot in your soul. It calls for a homemade Thai chile paste, which I made, and it keeps for a year. It's worth making!

THAI ROASTED CHILE PASTE
6 large dried red chiles
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
2 shallot, unpeeled, halved
2 teaspoons dried shrimp paste
2 tablespoons dried shrimp
3 tablespoons tamarind water
2 tablespoons palm sugar or brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
⅓ cup vegetable oil

In a dry pan or wok over medium heat, fry the chiles, garlic and shallots, stirring often, until they darken and become dry and brittle. When the chiles are charred on both sides, after 3-5 minutes, transfer to them to a plate. Leave the garlic and shallots in the pan until they darken and feel tender when pressed, about 5-8 minutes longer, then transfer to the plate. Split open the chiles and shake out the seeds. Peel the garlic and shallots. Wrap the dried shrimp paste in foil and place directly on top of a burner turn on to medium high heat. Toast, turning once or twice until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Open the packet; if the shrimp paste crumbles, it's ready. Let cool.

In a blender, process the dried shrimp into a fine powder. Add the chiles, garlic, shallots, dried shrimp paste, tamarind water, palm or brown sugar, salt and 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil. Blend until a smooth paste forms. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, warm the remaining vegetable oil and add the paste. Reduce the heat to a gentle sizzle and fry the paste, stirring frequently, until it darken to a deep reddish dark brown and has a sticky, oily consistency, 10-15 minutes. Let cool, transfer to a jar, cover tightly, and refrigerate for up to one year.

SOUP
¾ pound large shrimp, in the shell
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 stalks lemongrass, midsection only, smashed, 2" lengths
6 slices fresh galangal or 3 slices dried
6 Thai green chiles or 8 serrano, cut in half crosswise
6 cups chicken stock
8 kaffir lime leaves, spices removed
1-2 tablespoon roasted chile paste, or to taste
1 cup drained canned straw mushrooms
4" piece bamboo shoot, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons fish sauce
¼ cup lime juice
1 fresh red chile, sliced into rounds
¼ cup cilantro

Peel and devein the shrimp, reserving the shells. Rinse the shrimp and set aside.

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, warm the vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add the shrimp shells and fry them, stirring, until they turn bright orange, about 1 minute. Toss in the lemongrass, galangal, green chiles, chicken stock and 4 of the lime leaves. Raise the heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes to devdop the flavors. Remove from the heat and pour the stock through a sieve placed over a clean saucepan. Discard the contents of the sieve.

Add the chile paste, straw mushrooms, and sliced bamboo shoot to the saucepan, stir well, and bring to a boil over medium heat. When it is boiling, add the shrimp and the remaining 4 lime leaves and cook until the shrimp rum bright orange-pink, 1-2 minutes. Season with the fish sauce and lime juice, then taste and adjust the seasoning.

Ladle the soup into warmed bowls and garnish with the red chile slices and coriander leaves.

Coconut Chai Creme Brulee

Here's another original from me. I had been wanting to infuse a creme brulee with tea for awhile and chai, with all of it's wintry spices, seemed like the way to go for this time of year. I think next time I could even go for a bit more coconut milk in the custard mixture... that said, the tea flavor came shining through and overall, turned out delicious.

No photo here because, let's face it, creme brulees don't look that different from one another. The difference is in the eating.

400 ml double cream
400 ml coconut milk
10 medium egg yolks
80 g caster sugar
2 tablespoons loose strong chai tea

Gently warm the cream with the chai and leave to infuse for 1 hour.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until pale in color.

Re-heat the cream and add to the egg yolks and sugar being careful not to over whisk to prevent a froth from forming.

Pass through a sieve to remove the chai tea.

Bake in a water bath in a very low oven at 160°C until just set (approx 1 1/2 hours).

Chill for at least 3 hours.

Sprinkle a thin layer of caster sugar over the top and caramelise with a blowtorch.

Asian-Seared Duck Breast with Roasted Parsnip Puree with a Cherry and Red Wine Reduction

I was going for a little something Christmas-y and a little bit Asian when I thought this up. I had wanted to do duck with a cherry sauce for awhile and this delivered pretty much what I expected. The parsnip puree was wonderfully smooth and rich and a nice foil to the sharpness of the sauce and the meatiness of the duck. It didn't take too long to throw together either!

4 duck breasts
2 teaspoons five-spice
salt and black pepper
400 g parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks
vegetable oil
salt and black pepper
drizzle honey
½ teaspoon ground ginger
100 milliliters double cream
1 cup Pinot Noir
1 cup chicken stock
⅓ cup dried cherries
1 teaspoon Grand Marnier
salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.

Trim the duck breasts neatly and score the skin in a crosshatch pattern, being careful not to cut through to the flesh. Combine the five spice, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Rub the duck skin generously with the spice mixture and season the flesh side as well. Set aside.

On a roasting tray, drizzle a little vegetable oil. Put the parsnip chunks on it and season with salt and pepper. Work it around with your hands to ensure a good coating of seasoning and oil. Roast the parsnips for 30 minutes, turning over once during the roasting.

Meanwhile, combine the cream, honey and ground ginger in a small saucepan. Heat until just warm. Set aside.

Also, put the red wine, stock and cherries into a small saucepan and bring to a boil, reduce to a sauce consistency, about 20-25 minutes. Add a splash of Grand Marnier and season. Set aside and keep warm.

When the parsnips are done, put into a blender with some of the warm cream mixture and blend until very smooth, adding more liquid as needed to adjust the consistency. Check the seasoning. Pass through a fine sieve and keep warm.

Place the duck breasts, skin side down, in a cold heavy-based skillet. Heat the pan over high heat. When the duck starts to sizzle, cook for 5-6 minutes, until a nice crust has formed on the skin. Turn over and cook the flesh side, just to color it. Drain the fat out of the pan, put the duck breasts back on their skin sides and cook in the hot oven for another 5-6 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let rest for 6 minutes. Meanwhile, ensure your other components are warmed through and checked for seasoning.

Slice the duck breasts on the bias. On the plate, place some parsnip puree. Fan the duck out over the puree and drizzle with sauce and cherries. Serve.

Pate de Campagne

This is, without question, the porkiest thing I have ever eaten. And while I hesitate to talk up my own cooking too much, I will say that Vanessa has said this is the best pate she has ever tasted. I loved it.

Now, I know I have mentioned Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook. Well, this is another in a series of ABSOLUTE KNOCKOUT dishes. I mean, everything we have made out of that cookbook has been FABULOUS, no mediocre dishes at all. Add this to the list.

We served it with some cornichons and a small mixed-green salad with a little raspberry vinaigrette... which you will need a little something to cut through the meaty richness.

225 g pork liver, cut into chunks small enough for the meat grinder
225 g pork fat, cut into chunks small enough for the meat grinder
450 g pork shoulder, cut into chunks small enough for the meat grinder
½ tablespoon black pepper
scant pinch of allspice (careful!)
5 garlic cloves
2 shallots, thinly sliced
75 ml Cognac
75 ml white wine
4 sprigs of flat parsley
1 tablespoon salt
1 egg
caul fat to wrap
225 g duck fat

PREP
In the large bowl, combine the liver, pork fat, pork shoulder, pepper, allspice, garlic, shallots, Cognac, white wine, and parsley and cover.
Refrigerate overnight. That was easy.

CONSTRUCTION
The next day, remove the mixture from the refrigerator, add the salt, and pass everything through the strong meat grinder which you have fitted with a medium blade. The grind size should not be too small (paste) nor too large (chunks). Basically, you're looking for a grind size about that of meat loaf. If you don't have a durable meat grinder, suck up to your friendly neighborhood butcher and take your mix down to him. He should like you by now; he doesn't get a lot of calls for pork liver and pork fat. (If that's also not an option, trim off as much sinew as possible, cut the pork into small dice, and hope for the best.) When your meat and other ingredients are ground up, add the egg and mix through by hand. Preheat the oven to 325°F/170°C.

Next, line the terrine mold with one big piece of caul fat (or overlapping pieces, if you must) so that plenty of extra flops over the edge-enough to cover the top of the pate when you fill the mold. Fill the terrine with the ground mixture, packing it tightly. Lift the terrine and firmly drop it onto the work surface (easy, don't go nuts) a few times, to knock out any air pockets. Fold over the remaining caul fat to neatly cover the pate, trimming and tucking until it looks nice. Now cover the whole megillah with foil.

COOK
Set up a bain-marie inside the preheated oven. Put the filled terrine in the center. Obviously you do not want the water level to be so high that the water leaks into the terrine mold. You want just enough water so that it comes up below the rim. Cook the terrine in the water bath in the oven for about 2 1/2 hours, or until the internal temperature is 160°F/70°C (this is where your meat thermometer comes in). When done, remove from the oven and allow to cool. Place the weight on top of the terrine (still in foil) and refrigerate overnight. The next day, remove the weight, remove the foil, melt down the duck fat in a small saucepan, and pour it carefully over the pate. Then refrigerate again for a few hours. The pate will keep in the refrigerator for at least 5 days.

SERVE
Serve with cornichons and maybe a tiny salad. If you did everything right, the pate, when sliced, should be firm and moist, not dry or crumbly. The color should be uniform, not pink at the bottom and gray on the top. It should be cooked through, and the slices should have structural integrity, meaning they don't break when you cut them.

Seared Loin of Tuna, Horseradish Mash and Sauteed Wild Mushrooms

Don't ask me why this works. I can't figure it out. OK, so I guess that tuna is a really meaty fish... as close as you'll get to red meat. And if that's the case why not put a mash with horseradish with it. The tuna is strong enough to hold up to it, right?

It is. I wouldn't have thought of this but here you have it. And it is good. Really simple to throw together, too.

4x200 g tuna steaks
500 g Maris Piper or Desiree potatoes, peeled and diced
200 g unsalted butter
20 milliliters milk
10 milliliters double cream
4 tablespoons creamed horseradish
8 g fresh horseradish
salt and white pepper
400 g mixed wild mushrooms, cleaned
1 small shallot, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
120 g wild rocket
balsamic vinegar
olive oil

Place the potatoes in a large pan, cover with cold water, add salt and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the potato will break under a little pressure, Drain well and return to the pan drying any excess moisture out over avery low heat. Warm the butter with the milk and cream and mash into the potatoes, (For a more refined mash, a potato ricer may be used before you add the warm liquid). Add the creamed and grated horseradish and check for taste.

In a small pan add the diced shallot and sweat with no colour, add the mushrooms and fry over a high heat, season to taste.

Lightly oil and season the tuna steaks. Heat a non-stick pan on a high heat and carefully lay the steaks down on one side. After 2 minutes turn the fish over and cook for another 2 minutes, this should give a rare-medium piece of fish. If you prefer your tuna more well cooked simply turn the heat
down a little and add an extra 3-4 minutes to the cooking time.

Lightly dress the rocket with olive oil. To finish, drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar around the dish.

Slow-Roast Pork Belly with Warm New Potato Salad and Smoked Bacon Runner Beans

This is a Gary Rhodes recipe (for US readers - he is a well-known restaurateur and TV chef in the UK) which featured pork belly. Pork belly is not something I was familiar with prior to coming to the UK, but now, I can't get enough of it. The mustard sauce which accompanies the beans along with the acidic tang of the creme fraiche in the potato salad are amazing. Put it with slow-roasted, super juicy, well-seasoned pork belly and it is a revelation.

1 kg boned pork belly, rind left on and scored
1 tablespoon olive oil
Maldon sea salt
a twist of black pepper
POTATO SALAD
675 g new potatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 spring onions (scallions), finely shredded, or 1 heaped tablespoon chopped chives, or both
150 ml creme fraiche
RUNNER BEANS
450 g runner beans, finely sliced
100 g pancetta, diced
1 tablespoon Dijon or wholegrain mustard
50 g unsalted butter, diced

Season the meat side of the pork with salt and pepper. Turn the belly joint, brush with the olive oil and season with a generous sprinkling of salt. Place the belly, rind-side up, on a wire rack sitting over a baking tray. Place in an oven preheated to 160C/325F and roast for 3 hours. During this time, the melting fat will baste the meat. When cooked, the joint should be crisp on top with a super-succulent texture beneath, so soft it will carve with a spoon. Remove the pork from the oven and leave to rest until just warm.

Meanwhile, cook the new potatoes in boiling salted water until just tender. Drain well, cut each potato in half and season with salt and pepper. Stir together the olive oil and lemon juice, sprinkle this mixture over the potatoes and spoon through to ensure all are coated. Cover and keep warm.

The sliced runner beans can be cooked at the last moment. Simply plunge them into boiling salted water and simmer until tender. Depending on their thickness, this can take anything from 1 to 5 minutes. Drain well and set aside. The pancetta can be crisped in advance. Heat a frying pan (skillet) and, once warm, add the pancetta and fry over a medium heat. The fat will be released, the pancetta slowly becoming crisp. Drain and add to the runner beans.

Just before serving, mix the shredded spring onions or chives and the creme fraiche with the warm potatoes. To finish the runner beans, heat a few tablespoons of water in a small saucepan with the mustard. Once simmering, whisk in the butter until emulsified, to create a loose mustard butter sauce. Season with a pinch of salt and a twist of pepper. Divide the pork belly into 4 strips, placing each on a plate with the runner beans and pancetta. Drizzle the beans with the mustard butter sauce and offer the potato salad separately.

Chicken Liver Crostini (Crostini Toscani)

After yesterday's curry lunch onslaught, we went for lighter fare for dinner. A good plate of chicken liver pate and some nice Chianti were the way to go last night. It's super simple to make and tastes great. As always, use good wine to cook with. If you are going to drink an Italian red (such as the recommended Chianti) along with this, you should spare 1/2 cup of it with which to cook. Your mouth will thank you for it.

We stayed in a B&B outside of Florence a few summers ago and got to cook a full-scale dinner under the instruction of the owner. It was delicious and this is the recipe:

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, cut into 1/8-inch dice
1 tablespoon capers
2 tablespoons anchovy paste or 4 anchovy fillets, rinsed and patted dry
8 ounces chicken livers, rinsed and patted dry
½ cup dry red wine, such as Chianti
2 tablespoons tomato paste
salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 1-inch-thick slices Italian peasant bread

In a 10-12" saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat until smoking. Add the onion, capers, and anchovy paste (or anchovies) and cook the onion is until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.

Add the chicken livers and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the wine and tomato paste and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Transfer the chicken livers to a food processor and pulse 5 or 6 times, until chopped to chunky puree. Transfer to a bowl.

Meanwhile, preheat the broiler. Toast the bread, turning once, until golden brown. Spread the liver mixture over the toasts and serve immediately.

Chicken Madras with Turmeric Rice

I generally like to cook complicated stuff on the weekends because I have the time and I figure that's the way I'll learn more about food. I like to try out new techniques and preparations. Not this weekend though.

I am usually suspicious of any cookbooks which bear the phrases "Best Ever...." or "Quick and Easy..." The self-proclaimed "Best Ever" genre is rarely the best ever. While the "Quick and Easy" folks may produce quick and easy recipes, but there's usually a lot of shortcuts (e.g., jarred sauces) and they come out tasting like crap.

You could imagine my reluctance when I begrudgingly chose the Turmeric Rice from Madhur Jaffrey's "Quick and Easy Indian Cooking" and the Chicken Madras from "Best-Ever Curry Cookbook". But, dang it, we wanted some curry and I was determined to make this work.

Let me say this:

The rice was ridiculously good. And quick. And easy. I didn't change one thing about it apart from seasoning it with some salt and pepper at the end. I will never serve curry with plain steamed rice again. This was just too good.

The curry was spicy and yummy and, yes, probably the best one I've made. You could say it was the Best Ever. I DID change it a bit in that I toasted equal quantities of whole spices (to replace the ground quantities asked for in the recipe) and ground them in a mortar and pestle fresh out of the pan. You can REALLY taste the difference when you do this. Who knows when your ground coriander was ACTUALLY ground? It loses something over time. Also, I upped the green chiles to 3 instead of 2. I like the heat.

Lastly, I used a corn-fed organic free-range chicken. I used a mixture of leg, thigh and breast meat, which texturally speaking, is much more interesting to eat. Not to mention thigh meat is my favorite.

I would also recommend using 1 large onion instead of 2.

Can't wait to finish this off in a few days!

Turmeric Rice (Peelay Chaaval)

2 cups basmati rice
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cloves
1 bay leaf
4 cardamom pods
1 stick cinnamon
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chives, finely sliced

Put the rice in a bowl and wash well in several changes of water. Drain and leave in a strainer set over a bowl.

Put the oil in a heavy saucepan and set over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, put in the cloves, bay leaf, cardamom pods and cinnamon. Stir once or twice and put in the garlic. As soon as the garlic turns medium brown, put in the rice, turmeric and salt. Stir gently for a minute. Now put in 2 1/4 cups water and bring to a boil. Cover tightly, turn the heat down very, very low, and cook for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with chives before serving.

Chicken Madras

450 g chicken breast fillets, skinned
3 tablespoons tomato puree
1 large pinch ground fenugreek
¼ teaspoon ground fennel seeds
1 teaspoon grated fresh root ginger
1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon chilli powder
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
300 milliliters water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions, diced
2-4 curry leaves
2 fresh green chillies, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander (cilantro), plus extra sprigs to garnish
naan bread, to serve

Cut the chicken breast fillets into cubes. Mix the tomato puree in a bowl with the fenugreek, fennel, ginger, ground coriander, garlic, chili powder, turmeric, juice, salt and water.

Heat the oil in a wok, karahi or large pan and fry the onions with the curry leaves until the onions are golden. Add the chicken and stir for 1 minute to seal.

Pour the tomato sauce and spice mixture into the pan. Stir for 2 minutes to ensure the ingredients are well mixed.

Lower the heat and cook for 8-10 minutes, then add the chiles and fresh coriander. Garnish and serve.

Pizza with Speck, Gorgonzola and Rocket

We love a good pizza and this one, while not our most creative effort, stuck with some basic good pizza-making doctrine and produced a good, quality result.

The pizza dough recipe can be found in earlier posts. I keep using the same one, it's Jamie Oliver's pizza dough recipe and it has never let me down.

I've said before and I'll say again: BUY A PIZZA STONE. If you really like the flavor of a wood-fired pizza, you're going to want one of these. Honestly, as the pizza stone was heating under the broiler for an hour or so, the smell of the just the stone heating up permeated the kitchen and upstairs of our flat. The best thing is, the more you use it, the better it smells, and it passes it along to the flavor of your pizza. Plus when it is screaming hot, and you lay your dough on it to start the assembly, it is already cooking the crust. It ALWAYS comes out perfectly light and crispy. I would not be able to achieve these results otherwise.

1 quantity BASIC PIZZA DOUGH
olive oil, for brushing
125 g ball of buffalo mozzarella, drained and torn into small pieces
100 g gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
3 thin slices speck or prosciutto, cut into pieces
salt and black pepper
small handful rocket leaves
extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Turn on the broiler (UK=grill) to it's highest setting. Position the rack about 4 inches below it. If you have a pizza stone, let it get nice and hot in there for about an hour or so.

Make the pizza dough. Let it come to room temperature. Roll it out to the thickness of a pound coin.

When you are ready to make the pizza, pull the screaming hot pizza stone out of the oven and sprinkle some cornmeal over it to prevent sticking. Lay the pizza dough on it and drizzle it with regular olive oil. With a pastry brush, spread the oil around until coated completely.

Lay the speck, mozzarella and gorgonzola cheese around evenly. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and bake for about 5 minutes, until the cheese is nice and bubbly and has a few brownish spots.

Remove from the oven, top with the rocket leaves and drizzle with good extra-virgin olive oil. Slice and serve.

Turkish Delights, Revisited!

We had our friends Tim and Fran (AKA "Mrs. C") around for diner last night. Tim and I looked through an excellent Eastern Mediterranean cookbook called Spice, by Chef Ana Sortun of Oleana Restaurant in Boston.

The dished turned out great. My only wish is that I had the services of a professional photographer. The beef dish was melt-in-your-mouth and the sticky glaze that went over it was wonderful. I mean, a real revelation. You wouldn't guess that by the picture, though, in that it looks like a big brown blob. Trust me. You'll want to try this.

The mussel dish had a nice, smoky balance with the leeks as a perfect counterpoint. Dessert was a small, but it packed a WALLOP of flavor - with the scent and taste of rosewater running though it.

C-Licious: Orange-Coriander Sangria

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 cup orange juice, fresh
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon sugar in the raw or brown sugar
4 slices orange or blood orange , for wetting glasses and garnish
1 cup cognac or good brandy
2 cups floral white wine, such as Spanish Verdejo or Muscadet from Loire or Portugal
4 cups ice
1 cup sparkling water
⅛ teaspoon orange blossom water

In a small skillet over low heat, lightly toast all the coriander seeds for 6 to 8 minutes. constantly shaking the pan. The seeds will release some of their oils and you will be able to smell them. Remove 1 teaspoon and set aside.

Add the orange juice and granulated sugar to the small skillet with the 2 tablespoons coriander and bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn off the heat, cover. and let the mixture cool, allowing the coriander flavor to steep for about 15 minutes. The mixture should then cool completely for about 12 hour in the refrigerator.

Blend the cooled orange mixture in the blender for about 30 seconds on high speed. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a small pitcher or bowl. The syrup should be a deep orangey-amber color.

Grind the reserved teaspoon of coriander in a spice grinder until very fine. Mix it with the sugar in the raw and transfer it to a small bowl or saucer.

Wipe an orange slice around the rim of each glass, leaving the glass rim a little wet. Dust the rims of the glasses with the coriander and sugar by dipping them into the mixture.

Mix the syrup with the cognac and wine in a pitcher with the ice. Add a cup of sparkling water and the orange-blossom water. Pour into glasses.

Garnish each glass with orange slices and serve.

Steamed Mussels with Leeks and Smoky Paprika

2 tablespoons European-style butter, such as Plugra
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
¾ cup Chardonnay or Spanish albarino
16 ramps, root ends trimmed and washed or 2 leeks, white part only, root ends trimmed, 1/2" rounds
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon Aleppo chiles
32 mussels, scrubbed and debearded just before cooking
1 tablespoon lemon juice
sea salt, to taste

In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter with the olive oil. When the butter starts to brown, stir in the garlic and cook for 2 minutes, stirring until the garlic begins to release its aroma and becomes a little sticky.

Add the wine, ramps, paprika and Aleppo chilies. Stir and continue to cook for 3 minutes until the wine reduces to 1/2 cup and the ramps start to soften and become limp.

Add the mussels co the pan and cover them with a tight-fitting lid or heavy baking sheet. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5 to 6 minutes until the mussels open.

Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and the lemon juice and season with very little salt (the mussels should be salty, so you won't need much).

Divide the mussels (8 per person) into 4 warm bowls (just out of the dishwasher or warmed for a minute in a 350°F oven). Divide the juices and leeks evenly among the bowls. Serve with fresh crusty bread, lightly grilled or freshly baked to soak up the juices once the mussels are gone.


Braised Beef Short Ribs with Vanilla-Glazed Carrots

8 beef short ribs, weighing 6-8 pounds
4 tablespoons kosher salt
1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup dry Riesling, or other non-oaky white
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons tamarind paste
4 medium carrots, peeled
2 tablespoons butter
½ vanilla bean
salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Season each of the short ribs generously with the kosher salt. Lay them Side by side in a large, heavy roasting pan.

Scatter the onion, chopped carrot, and the bay leaf over the ribs.

Combine the vinegar, wine, brown sugar and garlic in a small mixing bowl and pour the mixture over the short ribs. Place the tamarind in the same bowl and add 1 cup of hot water to dissolve it a little. Whisk the tamarind to loosen it and then add it and the liquid to the short ribs. There may be pulp and seeds from the tamarind, which you can strain out after cooking.

The liquid should come 3/4 up the sides of the short ribs. Add more water if necessary.

Cover the pan tightly with foil and then again with a second layer of foil.

Place the pan in the oven and braise the short ribs for 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Remove the foil and check that the short ribs fall apart when poked with a fork.

Remove the ribs carefully with tongs, place them onto a serving dish, cover, and set aside at room temperature.

Strain the liquid (you should catch any tamarind seeds or bits of garlic, onion and carrot) through a fine strainer into a large container.

Chill the pitcher of liquid for at least 1 hour so the fat rises to the top. Remove the fat; it should form a large, solid chunk at the top when cold.

While the braising liquid is cooling, slice the carrots slightly on the bias into 1/2-inch-thick ovals.

In a medium saute pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds with a knife into the melting butter. Add the carrots and 1/2 cup water. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the carrots on medium heat until they soften and become lightly glazed, about 10 minutes. Add the lemon juice and stir. Reseason.

In a large, deep-sided saute pan over high heat, bring the skimmed braising liquid to a boil and add the short ribs. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer the short ribs for 20 to 25 minutes, until they start to glaze in the sauce. The sauce will thicken after 15 minutes. Keep warm.

Roll the short ribs around in their sauce, using a pair of tongs, to make them a little more glazed and sticky. place each short rib on a plate and spoon on a little extra sauce. Serve with glazed carrots.


Palace Bread: Syrup-Soaked Bread Pudding with Thick Cream and Pistachios

3 ¾ cups sugar
1 ¼ cups honey
1 tablespoon rosewater
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 large baguette, cut in four 6" pieces, crusts trimmed and removed
1 cup mascarpone, at room temperature
½ cup pistachio nuts, lightly toasted, finely chopped

In a large, shallow saucepan or saute pan big enough to hold the loaf of bread, combine the sugar and 1 cup of water. Bring this to a boil over medium-high heat.

Stir in the honey, bring to a simmer and reduce heat to medium-low. Continue cooking until the honey-syrup darkens to light amber. This will
take about 18 minutes.

Add the rosewater and lemon. At this point, the syrup should be quite thick.

Put the bread in the pan and carefully push it down into the syrup with the back of a ladle. Ladle the syrup on top. Slowly simmer the bread in the syrup for 30 to 40 minutes, continuing to submerge and baste the bread with syrup. From time to time, carefully add small amounts of water to thin the syrup and prevent it from becoming too dark and sticky.

When the bread has turned a translucent amber color all over, remove the pan from the heat and set it aside to let the bread cool slightly and absorb most of the remaining syrup.

Transfer the bread to a cutting board and, with a serrated knife, cut it into 8 squares and then again into 16 small triangles.

Serve two pieces of bread on each plate topped with 2 tablespoons of mascarpone cheese and a generous tablespoon of chopped pistachios over
the mascarpone.

Apple Puff-Pastry Streudel

This recipe originally called for phyllo dough, but we couldn't get our hands on any, so I used puff pastry. It was awesome, especially when you put a bed of cool vanilla yogurt underneath and top it with hot streudel and put some mint on it.

One note: There will be some liquid left over after you cook the apples down in the sugar and spices. SAVE IT and use it to glaze the finished streudel log before it goes in the oven. It will run off and caramelize in the bottom of the loaf tin. Which is nice...

6 green apples, sliced
½ cup dried cranberries or dried cherries
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6 sheets phyllo dough
cooking spray
½ cup amaretti biscuit crumbs
12 ounces vanilla yogurt
12 sprigs mint
36 raspberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the apples, dried cranberries, brown sugar and cinnamon in a saucepan and cook for about 10 minutes or until tender. Let stand for 10 minutes to cool.

Layer 2 sheets of the phyllo on a work surface and spray with nonstick cooking spray; sprinkle with cookie crumbs. Repeat the layers 2 times with the remaining sheets. Spread the apple mixture over the phyllo. Roll the phyllo from the 12-inch side to enclose the filling.

Place the roll on a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before slicing to serve. Arrange on serving plates.

Serve with vanilla yogurt or frozen vanilla yogurt and top with the mint and raspberries. You may also serve with cinnamon cream.

Kedgeree (Machchi Ki Kichri)

I can't explain kedgeree to you, not being from around here. But enough people know about it to make it a favorite with some folks. Atul Kochhar is an Indian chef, among the first to get a Michelin star for Indian food in the world. This is his take on it, which has a delicious Indian twist. We used cod and it turned out flaky and translucent. The rice was flavorful and wonderful.

400 g pollack or ling fillet (or any white fish), in 8 slices
1 tablespoon butter or ghee
2 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cloves
3cm sticks cinnamon
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon cumin seed
20 g ginger, finely chopped
1 small red chili
200 g long-grain white rice
60 g yellow split peas
30 g mung lentils
70 g fresh coconut , grated, or dessicated coconut
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
400 milliliters FISH STOCK
1 ½ teaspoons salt
pinch sugar
1 tablespoon coriander, chopped
CORIANDER AND PEANUT CHUTNEY
100 g coriander leaves
50 g mint leaves
35 g roasted peanuts
10 g fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 green chile, chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon water (whiz all of these up in a blender together until it makes a paste)
MARINADE
½ teaspoon salt
½ tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon red chili powder
½ teaspoon turmeric
Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade and rub them over the fish. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes.

Heat the butter or ghee and a tablespoon of the oil in a large saucepan, add the cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, cumin seeds, ginger and red chilli and cook for about a minute, until they splutter. Add the rice, yellow split peas, mung lentils and coconut and saute for a minute or two. Add the turmeric. fish stock or water, salt and sugar and cook over a low heat for
10-15 minutes, until the rice and lentils are tender. Remove from the heat, sprinkle with the chopped coriander and keep warm.

Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan and fry the pieces of fish over a medium heat for 1-2 minutes per side. Divide the kedgeree between 4 serving bowls, put the fish on top and then top with the coriander and peanut chutney.

Creole Chickpea Stew (Garbanzos Criollos)

We have always been fans of doing kind of a 'Soup of the Week', which usually is geared towards using up vegetables which won't get used up cooking our other meals for the week. This time, we went with a Creole soup from a book about healthy Latin cooking.

As you can see from the ingredients, it's pretty much vegetables. I made a few additions:

1 green chile, seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Because, let's face it: Creole cooking SHOULD have some heat.

Also, know that this did take a good bit of salt and pepper (especially salt) to bring out all of the flavors properly and I did tinker with the cumin and oregano levels. Taste before serving, and if you are not tasting a specific taste element that should be in there, add it, little by little until it's right. If you think it tastes bland, guess what, so will your guests.

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
1 very small onion, finely chopped
4 scallions, trimmed and finely chopped
6 rocotillo chile peppers or 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon dried oregano
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
4 culantro leaves, finely chopped or 1 T chopped cilantro
6 tablespoons parsley, chopped
1 green chile, seeded and chopped (optional, but recommended)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional, but recommended)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups VEGETABLE STOCK
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
salt and black pepper
1 tomato, seeded and thinly sliced

Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, scallions, chile peppers or green bell peppers, red bell peppers, garlic, cumin, and oregano. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft but not brown. Add the chopped tomatoes, cilantro, culantro or cilantro, and 3 tablespoons of the parsley.

Cook for 5 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is thick and fragrant. Stir in the tomato paste; cook for 1 minute. Stir in the stock or broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in the potatoes. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 6 minutes. Stir in the chickpeas and simmer for 6 minutes, or until the potatoes are done and the sauce is thick and flavorful. Season with salt and black pepper.

Transfer to a serving bowl and top with the tomato slices. Sprinkle with the remaining 3 tablespoons parsley.

Sauteed Veal with Wild Mushrooms and Leeks

We had a good night on Friday, all the way up until one of us sustained a slight head injury. The details aren't so important, but suffice it to say that one of us didn't have the biggest appetite yesterday. So the order of the day was a small, compact dinner without a lot of fuss.

This tasted really, really good. I will reprint the recipe as it appears in one of my CIA cookbooks. I made a few modifications to it, which I think improved it overall. I'll stick those at the end. This serves 10 people. We cut in in half to make enough to have it twice.

VEAL RUB
2 ¼ teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons black pepper
2 teaspoons thyme
1 kg veal top round
MUSHROOM AND LEEK SAUCE
280 g leeks, diced
120 milliliters vegetable stock
600 g wild mushrooms, sliced
600 milliliters beef stock
TO SERVE
2 teaspoons thyme, chopped

Make the veal rub by combining the minced garlic, pepper and thyme. Rub the veal with the mixture and sliced the veal into 100g portions.

To prepare the sauce, in a large skillet, sweat the leeks in 60ml of the stock until tender. Add the mushrooms and saute until tender. Add the remaining stock as needed to prevent the mushrooms from burning. Add the beef stock and simmer until heated thoroughly.

For each portion: Place some mushroom and leek mixture on a plate. Slice the veal (if desired) and fan out over the top. Top with sauce. Garnish with chopped thyme.

MY TWEAKS:
1) I added a knob of butter the the mushroom and leek mixture and let it cook into the liquid.

2) To the pan I did the veal in, another small knob of butter. Put it in when you flip them over and as the butter melts, baste the meat with the melted butter in the pan. This works for virtually any meat you mean to cook quickly in a pan and is a time-honored restaurant technique for steaks.

3) When the veal is done, removed from the pan and stick in a warm oven (50C/120F) just to keep warm. Meanwhile, drain the mushroom and leek mixture, reserving the liquid, which should have infused with mushroom-y flavor. Add that to the pan that the veal cooked in (with all the butter and any bits left behind). Bring this to a boil and let it reduce down to a sauce consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

Muscat Zabaglione with Blackberries and Amaretti

Vanessa likes to eat egg whites for breakfast. We've started holding onto the yolks to see what happens. This is what happens with some spare egg yolks and some berries that we had to use up quickly. Simple and delicious. Zabaglione is totally satiny and awesome.

6 egg yolks
¼ cup caster (superfine) sugar
¼ cup Muscat Baumes de Venise or other sweet wine, such as Madiera or Marsala
1 punnet blackberries
4 amaretti biscuits, lightly crushed

Combine the egg yolks, sugar and wine in a large bowl and whisk until combined.

Fill a small saucepan 1/3 full with water and bring to a simmer. Place the bowl over the saucepan (careful that the water doesn't touch the bowl underneath) and whisk the mixture in the bowl for 10 minutes, or until thickened.

Place the blackberries and most of the crushed biscuits in a bowl. Pour the zabaglione over the top and scatter the rest of the biscuits over the top. Serve immediately.

Daube Provencale

Wow. This was tasty. The key to the whole thing for me was just the zest of one orange. One orange's worth of zest brought enough of a citrusy punch to balance the whole thing out. And talk about easy....

I know I have mentioned the Anthony Bourdain cookbook, Les Halles Cookbook. I probably mentioned it alongside phrases like "...everything I have ever made out of this book has been not just good, but a knockout." Well, here's one more meal to toss onto the 'knockout' pile. It's just really perfect.

I made one minor change, which was to 'turn' 8 new potatoes and 8 sections of carrot, which were added in in the final 15 minutes, just to cook through, but not so long that they lost their vibrant color. I think it made the finished dish look more colorful and refined, not to mention they tasted really good with the soft, yummy lamb. There's no excuse for not trying this.

NOTE: "turning" vegetable is a cheffy trick to make vegetables resemble little oblong football-like shapes by carving them into shape. It's a trick I learned working at 8 King's Road and is considered a classic French preparation, as this dish is itself a classic French dish.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1.35 kg lamb neck and shoulder, with bones or 900g boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 2 inch pieces
salt and pepper
225 g slab bacon, cut into lardons
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup white wine
1 cup strong, dark veal, chicken or lamb stock
1 small carrot, coarsely chopped
1 bouquet garni (2 sprigs parsley, 2 srpigs thyme, bay leaf, 6 black peppercorns, tied in a bundle)
zest of 1 orange
8 new potatoes, peeled and "turned"
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 1/2" lengths "turned"
4 sprigs of flat parsley, chopped

PREP THE LAMB
Heat the olive oil in the Dutch oven on high heat. Add the butter. Foam it. Let it subside. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Sear it on all sides in the hot pan, in batches if need be, until all of it is deep, dark brown. When browned, remove from the pan with the tongs and set aside.

COOK THE STEW
Add the bacon to the still-hot pan and cook until it's crispy and has rendered out its fat. Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside. Discard most of the fat and then add the onion, celery, and garlic to the pan. Cook over medium-high heat until the vegetables have caramelized (browned), about 5 minutes. Using the wooden spoon, stir in the tomato paste and cook it for about 1 minute. Stir in the flour and cook for an additional minute. Stir in the wine and scrape up all that brown stuff. Bring the wine to a boil, reduce by half, then add the stock (and a teaspoon of demi-glace if you have any). Bring back to a boil and reduce immediately to a simmer. Add the lamb, carrot, bouquet garni, orange zest, and bacon. Season with salt and pepper, cover the pot, and simmer over low heat for about 90 minutes, occasionally skimming the fat from the surface of the stew. After 90 minutes, add the potatoes to the stew and cook until they are tender, about 12 to 15 minutes. Skim the stew a final time, making sure there's no film of fat floating on the surface, then serve in a big old bowl, garnished with the chopped parsley.

Mexican Thanksgiving

If there's one thing in this world we love, it's good Mexican food. Well, it just so happens we have a few fellow US Navy officers stationed around here, who are good friends, and feel similarly about Mexican food.

So the menu was:

Starter: Black Bean Soup with Toasted Cumin Crema
Main: Homemade Chicken Tamales with Red Mole Sauce
Vanessa's Mexican Rice
Dessert: Mexican Hot Chocolate Ice Cream with Chili

(NOTE: Most of these ingredients can be ordered in the UK from Cool Chile Co. or MexGrocer, found online)

Soup. It is a Bobby Flay recipe which is really tasty and has a nice balance through the use of red wine (not a common Mexican cooking ingredient, mind you) which really works. The crema is a perfect accent.

Tamales. They are a labor of love, for sure. They can take awhile to make from start to finish, but they are are delicious. There are really four components to contend with :the masa dough, cooking and shredding the chicken, the mole (pronounced MO-lay) sauce, and the final assembly. It is an absolute holiday staple in Mexican households.

Vanessa's rice. Straightforward and delicious every time, it is fairly easy to throw together. Perfecting it with the right amount of cumin and such is where the real art is.

Ice cream. Mexican hot chocolate is awesome. If you've had it before, you know that it brings chocolate and cinnamon together in perfect harmony. I added just a hint of chili to get some warmth going, but not enough to make it spicy. A nice yummy end to the meal.

Margaritas. Accept no substitute and don't skimp on alcohol. Buy the good stuff, and you will be rewarded. Here is the super-easy recipe (DO NOT ALTER THIS RECIPE IN ANY WAY):

1 part FRESH-SQUEEZED lime juice from ACTUAL limes
1 part Cointreau or Grand Marnier (do NOT use triple sec or any other orange-flavored liqueur)
2 parts GOOD-QUALITY tequila (Patron and Sauza are good. Cuervo is acceptable)

Shake in a shaker with ice. Strain into a glass. Enjoy.

Hope you give some of these a try soon...


SOUP

1 lb. dried black beans, or 6 cups canned black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 medium Spanish onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 cup red wine
3 jalapeno chiles, roasted, peeled, and seeded
1 poblano chile, roasted, peeled, and seeded
4 cups Enriched Chicken Stock, low-sodium chicken broth, or water
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

TOASTED CUMIN CREMA
8 ounces crema, creme fraiche, or sour cream
1 tablespoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE SOUP
If using dried beans, pick over them to remove any stones, put them in a large bowl, and add enough cold water to cover by at least 2 inches. Let soak for at least 8 hours or overnight. Drain well.

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the carrot, onion, and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Add the wine, bring to a boil, and cook until reduced by half.

Add the beans and reduce the heat to medium. Add the jalapenos, poblano, and stock and simmer for 30 minutes if using canned beans, or 1 to 1 1/2 hours if using dried, until the dried beans are cooked through.

Remove from the heat and add the lime juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Using a blender or food processor, puree half of the soup and return it to the pot (alternatively, use an immersion blender). Bring to a simmer before serving. Ladle the soup into individual bowls. Drizzle with the toasted cumin crema and top with a few tablespoons of each of the relishes. Serve immediately.

FOR THE TOASTED CUMIN CREMA
Put the crema in a small bowl, add the cumin and lime juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste.


TAMALES

MASA
24 dried corn husks
¼ cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen (thawed)
2 cups masa harina
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup CHICKEN STOCK
3 tablespoons lard or shortening, at room temperature

Place the corn husks in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Let soak for 2 hours. Meanwhile, puree the corn kernels in a food processor or blender. In a large bowl and using a wooden spoon, combine the masa harina, salt, and baking powder. Gradually add the hot water, stock or broth, pureed corn, and lard or shortening. Stir vigorously for 5 to 15 minutes, or until the dough is moist and pliable but not sticky. The consistency should resemble that of Play·Doh. (The longer you beat, the more air will be incorporated into the dough, making lighter-tasting tamales. Alternatively, you can make the dough in a standing mixer fitted with a paddle or dough hook. Beat the dough at high speed for 15 minutes.)

MOLE
5 ancho chile pods, stemmed and seeded
3 guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
2 tablespoons raisins
1 cup hot water
3 tomatoes
1 medium onion, quartered
3 cloves garlic
1 corn tortilla, torn into pieces
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons sliced almonds
1 slice toasted bread
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried marjoram
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon lard or olive oil
1 stick cinnamon
1 avocado leaf, optional
salt and black pepper
1 chicken, poached until done, meat picked off and shredded by hand

In a medium bowl, combine the chile peppers, raisins, and water. Let soak for 20 minutes, or until softened. Heat a comal or medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the tomatoes and roast, turning occasionally, for 8 minutes, or umil the skins are charred and blistered. Transfer to a plate. Add the onions and garlic to the pan. Roast, turning occasionally, for 8 minutes, or until slightly charred. Transfer to the plate with the tomatoes. Add the tortilla pieces to the pan and roast, stirring, for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Transfer to the plate. Separately add the sesame seeds and almonds to the pan and roast, stirring often, for 2 minutes each, or until lightly browned.

Drain the chile peppers and raisins. Working in batches, combine the chile peppers, raisins, tomatoes, onions, garlic, tortilla pieces, 1 1/2 tablespoons of the sesame seeds, the almonds, bread, oregano, marjoram, and cloves in a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth.

Heat the lard or oil in a large deep saucepan over medium heat. Add the pureed tomato mixture, cinnamon stick, and avocado leaf (if using). Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until thick and fragrant. Add the reserved stock and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.

Add the shredded chicken and mix through to heat and combine. This is the filling for the tamales.

TAMALES
24 dried corn husks, soaked in water for 2 hours

ASSEMBLY
Place 1 of the corn husks flat on a work surface, tapered end toward you. Mound 3 heaping tablespoons of the masa mixture in the center of the top half of the corn husk. (The mound should be oblong and be about 3 inches square.) Make a shallow groove the length of the corn mixture. Place a spoonful of the filling mixture (with not too much sauce) in the groove. Pinch the sides of the groove together to encase the filling. Roll the corn husk over the top to enclose the filling. Fold the bottom (pointy end) over the top end to encase the tamale. Tie the bundle using strips of corn husk for string. Repeat to use the remaining corn husks and filling.

Insert a steamer basket into a large pot. Add 1" of water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stack the tamales to the basket, cover, and simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until the dough is set and comes away easily from the corn husks when tested. Remove the string before serving.

MEXICAN RICE
3 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon chicken flavor base
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
½ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ cups white rice
½ green or red bell pepper, sliced
¼ onion, sliced
1 tablespoon cumin

Combine the tomatoes, chicken base, garlic, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the water and blend well.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the rice and cook, stirring, until It begins to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the bell pepper and onion and allow to cook for 2 to 3 more minutes until tender. Drain off any excess oil.

Add the tomato mixture and cumin to the rice and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add 2 cups hot water, stirring well, then cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the rice is tender and all the liquid is absorbed, 5 to 10 minutes longer.

ICE CREAM
500 milliliters whole milk
284 milliliters double cream
216 milliliters milk
1 tablet Abuelita or other Mexican chocolate, melted in a little milk
6 egg yolk
6 tablespoons caster (superfine) sugar, divided
1 teaspoon chile de arbol powder or 1/2 tsp cayenne

Combine the milks, cream and 3 tablespoons of the sugar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar together until a pale yellow. Add the melted chocolate and fold in.

Once the milk mixture has reached a simmer, slowly add a third of it to the egg yolk mixture, stirring rapidly, to temper the yolk mixture. (NOTE: if you dump the hot milk mixture in too fast, it will scramble and cook the eggs. You're looking to gradually raise the temperature of the eggs here. You don't WANT to scramble them)

Return the now heated egg mixture back to the milk mixture in the saucepan. Bring back to a simmer, reduce the heat to low and cook for about 10 minutes, until nice and smooth and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Transfer to an ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's directions. Freeze until needed, allowing 15 minutes to thaw before scooping.

Kabocha Squash Soup with Amaretti, Sage and Brown Butter

We had this kabocha squash laying around for awhile and we had been trying to figure out what to do with it. Well, we wound up making a nice, hearty soup with it which turned out really nice and flavorful. Aside from having great autumn flavors, there is a nice subtle sweet note provided by the amaretti biscuits. The brown butter adds a nice, nutty rich note. This is super easy and awesome. Try it!

800 g kabosha squash, peeled, seeds scooped out, chopped into chunks
4 large cloves garlic
olive oil
salt and black pepper
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 small carrot, peeled and chopped
1 bay leaf
12 sage leaves, chopped
1 liter vegetable stock
3 amaretti biscuits, ground into a powder
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons butter

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.

Prepare the squash as directed and lay them out in a single layer on a baking sheet. Add the garlic cloves and drizzle generously with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper. Mix everything around with your hands to coat evenly. Place in the oven and roast for 20-25 minutes, until starting to brown and getting soft.

Meanwhile, start the rest of the soup. Heat a large pot over medium heat with a few glugs of olive oil. When hot, add the onion, celery, carrot, bay leaf and a good pinch of salt and pepper and sweat the vegetables off slowly, about 8-10 minutes until starting to get some color on them. Set this pot aside until the squash is ready.

Remove the tray from the oven and squeeze the garlic out of their skins. Add the squash and the garlic to the pot and place on high heat. Add the vegetable stock and sage leaves and bring to a boil. When boiling, reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes or so, until all of the vegetables are tender (particularly the carrot).

Meanwhile put the butter into a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until it starts to go brown and has taken on a nutty aroma. Set aside.

When the vegetables are cooked, add the amaretti biscuit powder and brown butter and remove the bay leaf. Puree the mixture using a hand blender or in a few batches in a regular blender. Adjust the consistency with a little boiling water, if necessary.

Return the mixture to the pot and season with salt and pepper. Heat through and serve in warmed bowls.

Venison Stew with Bitter Chocolate

This was, plain and simple, quintessential winter eating. This is a Gordon Ramsay recipe taken out of the newspaper a few weeks ago. It is awesome. The slight sweetness for the chocolate and the little fruity acidic hit from the vinegar balance out a rich and delicious stew. Can't wait for leftovers!

Olive oil, for cooking
150 g smoked bacon, chopped
1 kg boned leg or shoulder of venison, cut into large chunks
3-4 tablespoons plain flour, seasoned
250 g shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 sticks of celery, roughly chopped
1 medium swede, peeled and roughly chopped
Few thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon mixed peppercorns, crushed
500 ml red wine
500 ml brown chicken or beef stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1-2 teaspoon raspberry vinegar, to taste
20-30 g dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids), grated, to taste

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Drizzle a little oil into a large ovenproof casserole dish and sauté the bacon for 4-5 minutes over a moderate heat until lightly golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Put the chunks of venison in a large bowl or plastic bag with the seasoned flour and toss well to coat. Shake off the excess flour. Add a little more oil to the casserole and fry the venison in batches over a moderate to high heat, until browned on all sides. Remove from the casserole and set aside with the bacon.

Add a final drizzle of oil to the casserole dish and tip in the shallots, garlic, carrots, celery and swede. Sauté the vegetables with the herbs and crushed peppercorns for about 8 minutes, stirring frequently, until the shallots are soft and golden.

Return the bacon and venison to the casserole and pour in the red wine. Give everything a good stir with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom of the dish to loosen any sediment. Bring the wine to the boil, then pour in the stock and add some salt and pepper. Return to the boil, then cover with a lid. Transfer to the oven and cook for 1½ hours, or until tender.

Remove the casserole from the oven and strain the meat and vegetables through a large sieve or colander, set over a saucepan to catch the sauce. Discard the bay leaves and thyme. Tip the meat and vegetables back into the dish and cover to keep warm.

Add the raspberry vinegar to the sauce and reheat gently. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the chocolate until it melts and the sauce is smooth. (If it turns grainy, pass it through a fine sieve.) Taste and adjust the seasoning, then pour the sauce over the venison and vegetables and stir well to coat. Serve immediately with creamed cabbage and mashed potato.

Spiced Lentil Soup

We've been cooking lately on a bit of a budget, as this holiday season promises to be a bit expensive. That said, we didn't want to sacrifice any flavor and we're not resorting to any microwavables or ramen noodles just yet.

This was a nice, spicy, filling soup. I played with the recipe a bit and added a touch of heat with a bit of cayenne at the end to round it all out. I also cut some pitas around the edge to make two flat discs out of one, then I baked them off with some olive oil, garlic and cumin to dip into the soup.

This soup (if made with a touch less liquid) would make a great hot or cold dip, if one were so inclined.

Plus, the whole thing is pretty good for you.

275 g split red lentils
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons garam masala
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon tomato puree
800 milliliters VEGETABLE or CHICKEN STOCK
TO FINISH
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon kalonji (black onion) seeds
3-4 tablespoons natural set yogurt
coriander leaves

Rinse the lentils in a colander and drain well. heat the olive oil in a medium pan and add the onion and garlic. Saute for 4-6 minutes until lightly golden. Stir in the ground spices and tomato puree and cook for another 2 minutes.

Tip in the lentils and pour in the stock to cover. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes or until the lentils are very soft, giving them a stir every now and then. You may need to top up with a little more water towards the end if the soup seems too thick. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Ladle half the soup into a blender and whiz to a puree, then pour back into the pan. The soup should be somewhat chunky. Adjust the consistency again if necessary, adding a little more boiling water to thin it down.

For a little extra spice and fragrance if required, heat the 1 tbsp olive oil in a small pan and tip in the mustard and black onion seeds. When they begin to pop, pour the mixture over the soup and stir.

Ladle the soup into warm bowls and top with a spoonful of yogurt and a few coriander leaves. Serve with warm Indian bread on the side.

Pigeon Salad with Hazelnut Vinaigrette

We were down at the farmer's market in Southsea this weekend and had been having the craving for some game lately. This is certainly the time of year for game around here, so we picked up a bunch of pigeon breasts, along with some venison and wild boar sausage (coming soon to this blog, I expect).

The pigeon tasted fabulous! Cooked to a nice pink, it had a surprisingly meaty (and not too gamey) flavor which was nice with the salad. I used walnuts and walnut oil, as I could not find the hazelnut stuff.

breasts from 8-12 wood pigeons
sea salt and black pepper
olive oil
knob butter
2 heads oak leaf lettuce, washed and torn
4 large cooked beetroot, peeled and diced
75 g roasted hazelnuts, lightly crushed
few wild rocket leaves, optional
HAZELNUT VINAIGRETTE
50 milliliters sherry vinegar
100 milliliters olive oil
50 milliliters hazelnut oil

For the vinaigrette, whisk the ingredients together and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Season the pigeon breasts with salt and pepper. heat a heavy-based frying pan with a little olive oil until hot. Add the pigeon breasts, skin side down, and fry for about 3 minutes until the skin is crisp. Turn over and cook the other side for about 2-3 minutes, adding a knob of butter towards the end. As the butter melts, spoon it over the pigeon breasts to baste them. They should feel slightly springy when pressed. Transfer the pigeon breasts to a warm plate and leave to rest, lightly covered with foil, while you assemble the salad.

For the salad, toss the lettuce together with the beetroot, a handful of the crushed hazelnuts and some of the vinaigrette. Divide the salad amongst individual plates.

Slice the pigeon breasts thickly into 4-5 even pieces. Drizzle a little vinaigrette over them to keep the meat moist. Arrange the breasts on top of the salad and scatter over the remaining hazelnuts. Drizzle over a little vinaigrette and finish with a few rocket leaves if you like.

Mango Soup with Lychee Granita

This one is from Jason Atherton, who runs Maze Restaurant in London. I went there for my birthday a few months ago (photos to follow in another post).

Anyhow, he is a skilled chef who is inspired by the recent movement of small plates (tapas-style) and tasting menus. The dinner we had there (13 courses) was incredible. I'll post that info this week.

The texture of this soup is amazing. It's not velvety. It's satiny. I can't describe it. The mixture of the lychee granita with it is sublime. Best of all, this takes virtually no skill to execute. But, man, it delivers.

MANGO SOUP:
2-3 large overripe mangoes
200-250 ml lychee juice
200 ml light sugar syrup (page 240)
LYCHEE GRANITA:
500 ml lychee juice
LYCHEE ICE CUBES:
400g can lychees in syrup
few mint leaves, shredded
TO SERVE:
drizzle of sugar syrup (optional)
handful of baby mint leaves

First, make the lychee ice cubes. Drain the lychees and reserve the syrup. Put one lychee and a little shredded mint into each compartment of an ice-cube tray. Fill the tray with the reserved syrup and freeze until solid.

For the lychee granita, pour the lychee juice into a wide shallow container and freeze for 2-3 hours until semi-frozen. Scrape the granita with a metal spoon to loosen the ice crystals around the edges and mix them into the still-liquid center (but don't beat, as you want to achieve a granular texture). Return to the freezer for a few more hours.

For the mango soup, peel the mangoes and cut the flesh away from the stone. Chop roughly and whiz to a smooth puree in a blender or food processor. Mix in 200 ml lychee juice and the sugar syrup, adding a little more lychee juice as necessary to get the desired consistency. Pass the puree through a fine sieve and discard the fibrous pulp.

To serve, pour the mango soup into chilled bowls and drizzle with a little sugar syrup if you like. Scrape the lychee granita with a strong metal spoon and place on one side of each bowl. Scatter the baby mint leaves over the granita and serve immediately, with a few lychee ice cubes on the side.

Pumpkin Gnocchi with Crisp Pork Belly, Seared Squid and Peanut Milk

This is a recipe from Le Champignon Sauvage (French for "The Wild Mushroom"), a restaurant here in the UK which has two Michelin stars. The chef there sources a lot of wild herbs and hard-to-find ingredients which are overwhelmingly local.

Anyway, I picked a dish which didn't have any 'crazy' ingreidient that would be too hard to find. This was pretty wonderful and a two-day affair. It was a nice light dinner with bags of flavor. I had the jones for pork belly recently and this hit the spot. Unfortunately, folks don't eat a lot of pork belly in the States. Too bad. It is incredible.

The pumpkin gnocchi was Vanessa' favorite part. We have another pumpkin here in the house. We had thought soup was it's destiny, but it might now be turned into gnocchi and put with some sage brown butter or something. Yummy.

PORK BELLY
1 kg pork belly, boned
50 g unsalted butter
1 carrot, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 liters WHITE CHICKEN STOCK
sprig thyme
½ bay leaf
50 milliliters olive oil
PUMPKIN GNOCCHI
400 g pumpkin, preferably Crown Prince, seeded
a little olive oil
65 g tipo '00' pasta flour or strong
½ egg, beaten
25 g Parmesan, grated
50 g unsalted butter
PEANUT MILK
50 g unsalted butter
½ onion, sliced
400 milliliters milk
50 g peanuts, toasted until golden
SQUID
18 baby squid, no bigger than 'pinky' length, cleaned
30 milliliters olive oil
few drops lemon juice

CRISP PORK BELLY
Scorch any hairs off the belly pork with a blowtorch. Heat the butter in a casserole large enough to hold the belly, then add all the vegetables and sweat for 4-5 minutes, until softened but not coloured. Add the chicken stock and herbs and bring to the boil. Add the pork and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Place in an oven preheated to 150C and cook for 4-5 hours, until the meat is tender enough to pierce easily with a knife. Carefully remove the pork from the stock and place on a tray lined with clingfilm. Cover with another sheet of clingfilm and place a heavy tray on top with a weight. Leave in the fridge overnight. The next day, trim the pork and cut it into strips 2cm thick along the length
and then into 4cm pieces. You will need 3-4 pieces per person.

PUMPKIN GNOCCHI
Place the pumpkin on a baking tray, drizzle with a little oil and cover with foil. Roast in an oven preheated to 200C until the flesh is very tender. Remove from the oven and scrape the flesh off the skin. Push the flesh through a fine sieve. Gently mix the pumpkin with the flour. Season with salt and pepper, then add the egg and Parmesan and stir until the mixture forms a loose ball. Sprinkle the worktop with flour and roll the gnocchi into 2 long sausages. Cut each sausage into 12-15 pieces and shape them into small balls. Lightly press each ball with the back of a fork to make the traditional line marks. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and drop in the gnocchi, cooking them in 3 batches. When they rise to the surface, scoop them out of the water into a bowl of cold water.

Drain well, place in a container and sprinkle with just enough olive oil to coat and prevent sticking. Turn the gnocchi over in the olive oil, then place in the fridge until needed.

PEANUT MILK
Heat the butter in a pan, add the onion and sweat for 3-4 minutes. Add the milk, the roasted peanuts and 100 ml liquid from cooking the pork belly and simmer slowly for about 30 minutes. Place in a blender and pulse - just to break up the peanuts. Leave to infuse for 1-2 hours, then pass through a sieve and season to taste.

SQUID
Heat a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan over a medium-high heat. When you can feel the heat coming off it, add half the olive oil and then half the squid. Season the squid with salt and pepper, cook for 1 - 1 1/2 minutes, then turn. Cook for 1 minute and transfer to a warm plate. Wipe the pan clean and repeat with the remaining oil and squid. When all are cooked, re-season them, adding a few drops of lemon juice.

SERVING
To finish the belly pork, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, add the pieces of pork and cook until golden on one side. Flip over and cook the other side until crisp and golden, then season with salt and pepper. Remove from the pan and place on a piece of kitchen paper to remove excess fat.

To finish the gnocchi, heat the butter in a large non-stick pan, add the gnocchi and cook until golden on both sides. Season to taste.

Divide the squid, pumpkin gnocchi and crisp pork belly between 6 bowls. Gently reheat the peanut milk, then froth It up with a stick blender and pour it over everything.