I've had a bit of a 'cupboard day'. Lots of ends of things that wanted using up. I probably could have been a big more imaginative, and this recipe definitely needs some tweaking (spring onions I think are the magic ingredient), but it was still a great 30 minute light dinner.
Ingredients:
2 tortillas (slightly stale is ok)
At least 12 cherry tomatoes (about 16 would work better)
About 50g cheddar cheese (more if you're feeling cheesy), finely grated
A drizzle of olive oil
A pinch of salt
A hearty grind of pepper
A good sprinkling of cayenne pepper (to taste - I like mine hot so put on about half a teaspoon).
I would also add to this 3 spring onions, finely sliced.
Method
Halve the cherry tomatoes. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Put in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes (or from cold for 25 minutes if you're forgetful, like me), or until they're as cooked as you want them. I like mine done almost to burnt.
While you're waiting, grate your cheddar and mix with your spring onion slices.
Lay out your tortillas ready, sprinkle on 1/4 of your cheddar and spring onion mixture onto one half of each tortilla.
When the tomatoes are done (skins dark and crisp, but not yet burned).
Scrape 1/2 of your tomatoes on top of each pile of spring onions and cheddar on your tortillas, then divide the remaining cheese mixture between them, over the top of the tomatoes.
Fold the plain half of your tortillas over to make a semicircle. Well done. You have made two quesadillas. Now for cooking.
Place one quesadilla onto a dry frying pan. Cook on a medium heat until the underside is browned nicely, then flip over with a fish-slice. If you're anxious about flipping, tilt your pan up slightly and turn your quesadilla via its closed edge.
Cook until the other side is also browned. Take out of the pan and place onto a warm plate or into the oven. Repeat for the other tortilla. You could probably do both at the same time but I couldn't figure out the juggling.
Once both are cooked, cut each one in half and pile up with some soured cream and maybe some guacamole on the side (I had neither of these things, but will be doing this again with them).
Enjoy with a cold glass of whatever you fancy. Apple juice is good.
Yum.
Wednesday, 21 January 2015
Friday, 16 January 2015
Tuna quesadilla (or an approximation) thereof
Frugality is not my best thing. I like buying food too much. Nevertheless, frugality is what I'm trying to force myself into at the moment.
If you've ever read my other Blog (21 Days of Positivity), then you may know that one of my New Year's Resolutions is to try to get better about using food up. With that in mind, I scoured through my cookbook collection until I found mention of at least one of the ingredients I was hoping to shift. Jamie Oliver to the rescue with his suggestion of quesadillas. He uses more ingredients than I had access to (or wished to purchase), so I went with the idea, and decided to make it my own.
I remembered my favourite late night snack after I'd been out partying a few years ago (when I lived in a flat by myself - this is not something I'd do with flatmates around, too antisocial at 3am). It was sort of a cheat's quesadilla (a cheatsadilla?) of a tortilla folded in half and stuffed with grated cheddar and half a tin of tuna. Scrummy, but mouth burny if you're a bit the worse for wear and have forgotten how hot hot cheese can be. Cue waking up the next morning wondering why you've got no skin on the roof of your mouth... anyway...
I decided to have a look at what I had to work with:
A very sad little lump of ageing cheddar.
A couple of extremely stale tortillas.
A tin of tuna.
A couple of fat red chillis.
Cherry tomatoes.
I elected to pop to the shops and buy one extra ingredient. Otherwise the mixture would have been far too rich. I bought a bunch of spring onions.
Here is what I used:
For the quesadilla
Approx 50g cheddar, very finely grated.
1/2 red chilli, deseeded and chopped finely.
3 spring onions, thinly sliced into little rounds - the green part can be cut a little more coarsely, but the white should be very thin indeed.
1 can of tuna in oil (oil drained and disposed of) (use sustainably sourced tuna that avoids harming other sea life as much as possible. If you don't, I'll know).
A pinch of ground black pepper
3 tortillas (I used 2, and had too much filling).
For blackened chilli-cherry tomatoes
24 cherry tomatoes, halved.
1tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
a pinch of ground black pepper (coarse)
a pinch of sea salt
For serving, you could have guacamole and some soured cream on hand.
Here is what I did:
I preheated the oven to 180 degrees C.
I tossed the tomato halves in the olive oil, cayenne, salt and pepper, and laid them out face down on a baking tray that I don't mind about. If you are short on time, you could fry them as well.
I put them into the oven and left them there for about 20 minutes (start the quesadillas before your 20 minutes is up) until the skins were blackened and there was a pleasing, chilli caramel on the bottom of the tin. I happen to like the blackened skin, but I'm pretty sure it's full of carcinogens (thanks, whichever paper has put the world off deliciously burnt things), so if you're feeling healthy and wholesome, or feeding it to persons younger than yourself, you might want to pick them off. They go quite crisp, so it should be easy.
I mixed all the ingredients for the quesadilla filling together in a bowl - pretty thoroughly. Don't worry that the cheese seems to vanish with the oil of the tuna. It still does its job and goes all gooey and crispy at the edges. It also glues everything together nicely.
After the tomatoes had been in the oven for about 15 minutes, what I should have done* is divided the quesadilla filling between three tortillas, putting it on only one half of the bread, and then folding the un-filled half of it over on top.
What I should have done next is cooked each of my 3 quesadillas one at a time in a dry frying pan on quite a high heat. I would have used a fish slice to flip each quesadilla when the bread against the pan had begun to brown.
Once you've got your quesadillas brown and crispy on the outside, and gooey and delicious and hopefully leaking a little to form crispy extra bits on the edges, you can cut them into thirds or quarters, and pile them up for people to grab and munch on. Put the tomatoes in a pot by the side. If you've gone for guacamole and soured cream, stick them alongside, too. Yum.
I overestimated the amount of food I can eat, so this was a LOT for one person (except I had half the amount of tomatoes, no extra sides and 2 tortillas, not 3). Nevertheless, it was so yummy that I ate it all anyway. So that's a plus. I am now feeling excessively well-fed.
I'd serve this again if I were drinking zingy apple and ginger mocktails and watching a silly film on tv. It's quick, low mess and should be a pretty easy crowd pleaser. I am looking forward to having occasion to test drive these on friends soon.
Happy eating, and have a lovely weekend.
* I did not do this. I just put a tortilla flat, put all the filling on it and then put the other one on top. Error. What I also did not do is pre-divide my stupidly large flat rounds of quesadilla. So not only were they all open edges, there was also way too much surface area to flip and too much filling weighing it down. Mid flip, using a too-small spatula, my quesadilla decided to fall apart and I ended up with half the filling in the frying pan, burning away. So I had to take the lot out, put my uncooked tortilla on the pan after I'd scraped the worst of it out, get it back on the heat, refill it and then top it with my now cooling crispy top one. It wasn't a disaster, but it was a faff that could have been averted with a little common sense.
If you've ever read my other Blog (21 Days of Positivity), then you may know that one of my New Year's Resolutions is to try to get better about using food up. With that in mind, I scoured through my cookbook collection until I found mention of at least one of the ingredients I was hoping to shift. Jamie Oliver to the rescue with his suggestion of quesadillas. He uses more ingredients than I had access to (or wished to purchase), so I went with the idea, and decided to make it my own.
I remembered my favourite late night snack after I'd been out partying a few years ago (when I lived in a flat by myself - this is not something I'd do with flatmates around, too antisocial at 3am). It was sort of a cheat's quesadilla (a cheatsadilla?) of a tortilla folded in half and stuffed with grated cheddar and half a tin of tuna. Scrummy, but mouth burny if you're a bit the worse for wear and have forgotten how hot hot cheese can be. Cue waking up the next morning wondering why you've got no skin on the roof of your mouth... anyway...
I decided to have a look at what I had to work with:
A very sad little lump of ageing cheddar.
A couple of extremely stale tortillas.
A tin of tuna.
A couple of fat red chillis.
Cherry tomatoes.
I elected to pop to the shops and buy one extra ingredient. Otherwise the mixture would have been far too rich. I bought a bunch of spring onions.
Here is what I used:
For the quesadilla
Approx 50g cheddar, very finely grated.
1/2 red chilli, deseeded and chopped finely.
3 spring onions, thinly sliced into little rounds - the green part can be cut a little more coarsely, but the white should be very thin indeed.
1 can of tuna in oil (oil drained and disposed of) (use sustainably sourced tuna that avoids harming other sea life as much as possible. If you don't, I'll know).
A pinch of ground black pepper
3 tortillas (I used 2, and had too much filling).
For blackened chilli-cherry tomatoes
24 cherry tomatoes, halved.
1tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
a pinch of ground black pepper (coarse)
a pinch of sea salt
For serving, you could have guacamole and some soured cream on hand.
Here is what I did:
I preheated the oven to 180 degrees C.
I tossed the tomato halves in the olive oil, cayenne, salt and pepper, and laid them out face down on a baking tray that I don't mind about. If you are short on time, you could fry them as well.
I put them into the oven and left them there for about 20 minutes (start the quesadillas before your 20 minutes is up) until the skins were blackened and there was a pleasing, chilli caramel on the bottom of the tin. I happen to like the blackened skin, but I'm pretty sure it's full of carcinogens (thanks, whichever paper has put the world off deliciously burnt things), so if you're feeling healthy and wholesome, or feeding it to persons younger than yourself, you might want to pick them off. They go quite crisp, so it should be easy.
I mixed all the ingredients for the quesadilla filling together in a bowl - pretty thoroughly. Don't worry that the cheese seems to vanish with the oil of the tuna. It still does its job and goes all gooey and crispy at the edges. It also glues everything together nicely.
After the tomatoes had been in the oven for about 15 minutes, what I should have done* is divided the quesadilla filling between three tortillas, putting it on only one half of the bread, and then folding the un-filled half of it over on top.
What I should have done next is cooked each of my 3 quesadillas one at a time in a dry frying pan on quite a high heat. I would have used a fish slice to flip each quesadilla when the bread against the pan had begun to brown.
Once you've got your quesadillas brown and crispy on the outside, and gooey and delicious and hopefully leaking a little to form crispy extra bits on the edges, you can cut them into thirds or quarters, and pile them up for people to grab and munch on. Put the tomatoes in a pot by the side. If you've gone for guacamole and soured cream, stick them alongside, too. Yum.
I overestimated the amount of food I can eat, so this was a LOT for one person (except I had half the amount of tomatoes, no extra sides and 2 tortillas, not 3). Nevertheless, it was so yummy that I ate it all anyway. So that's a plus. I am now feeling excessively well-fed.
I'd serve this again if I were drinking zingy apple and ginger mocktails and watching a silly film on tv. It's quick, low mess and should be a pretty easy crowd pleaser. I am looking forward to having occasion to test drive these on friends soon.
Happy eating, and have a lovely weekend.
* I did not do this. I just put a tortilla flat, put all the filling on it and then put the other one on top. Error. What I also did not do is pre-divide my stupidly large flat rounds of quesadilla. So not only were they all open edges, there was also way too much surface area to flip and too much filling weighing it down. Mid flip, using a too-small spatula, my quesadilla decided to fall apart and I ended up with half the filling in the frying pan, burning away. So I had to take the lot out, put my uncooked tortilla on the pan after I'd scraped the worst of it out, get it back on the heat, refill it and then top it with my now cooling crispy top one. It wasn't a disaster, but it was a faff that could have been averted with a little common sense.
Jelly, and why it always, always has to be raspberry.
I may well post again later, but my absolute favourite treat at the moment is a huge bowl of raspberry jelly. I have a jelly mould (which I love) that is pernickety about letting me turn it out (which I don't love). I use two packs of Hartley's, and it lasts me as a treat in the fridge for a few days. It feels naughty and frivolous, but is mostly water, and has the added benefit of being 0 calories. Plus it tastes lovely and is one of the few treats I really enjoy that remains unspoilt by a sore throat if you've got one (which I hope you don't).
Thus far I only eat the raspberry kind; I despise all citrus jellies. The colours, for one, put me off (even if they are natural, green jelly is just too swampy for me), as do the powerful too-sweet tangs that they have going on. I also don't like strawberry because I only came to strawberries as a fruit in my 20s, and have never quite got onto the whole processed strawberry flavour thing (except with fruitella. Fruitella is brilliant).
I haven't explored whether there are other options out there, but for now, raspberry is, for me, king among jellies. Because more kings should wear pink.
Happy Friday!
Thus far I only eat the raspberry kind; I despise all citrus jellies. The colours, for one, put me off (even if they are natural, green jelly is just too swampy for me), as do the powerful too-sweet tangs that they have going on. I also don't like strawberry because I only came to strawberries as a fruit in my 20s, and have never quite got onto the whole processed strawberry flavour thing (except with fruitella. Fruitella is brilliant).
I haven't explored whether there are other options out there, but for now, raspberry is, for me, king among jellies. Because more kings should wear pink.
Happy Friday!
Thursday, 15 January 2015
Feeling rotten - fixed on a budget
I've got a real talent for acquiring ailments you read about in Jane Austen and Wilkie Collins novels. Last night I went for my favourite walk down towards the Thames and stood in the howling wind. Why? Because I love being outside at night. I didn't notice the cold creeping into my bones, though, and this morning I woke up sick with a chill. I get them (as does my mother) fairly frequently. The feeling of cold being lodged in your bones that no amount of hot coffee will shift. In fact, coffee makes it worse because you feel so terribly, terribly sick with it.
So I've been moping (no work at the moment, so I'm at home) and trying to get some job applications done. I know that food is the way for me to heal myself most of the time, but was really struggling to think of anything that I wanted to eat. Until I opened the freezer.
My lunch today was a plain tortilla wrap with 5 piping hot roasted fish fingers inside it. That is all. It was hearty, and warming, and unhealthy enough to feel naughty. I've had plenty of fruit and vegetables lately, so I don't feel like I've skimped on vitamins, and my gosh it helped.
Nose resolutely, and much less coldly, back to the grindstone, I think!
Happy Thursday x
So I've been moping (no work at the moment, so I'm at home) and trying to get some job applications done. I know that food is the way for me to heal myself most of the time, but was really struggling to think of anything that I wanted to eat. Until I opened the freezer.
My lunch today was a plain tortilla wrap with 5 piping hot roasted fish fingers inside it. That is all. It was hearty, and warming, and unhealthy enough to feel naughty. I've had plenty of fruit and vegetables lately, so I don't feel like I've skimped on vitamins, and my gosh it helped.
Nose resolutely, and much less coldly, back to the grindstone, I think!
Happy Thursday x
Wednesday, 14 January 2015
The art of knowing when to spend - also, CURRY!!!
Ah, another lengthy absence. I am good at these. Better than I am at writing. But 2015 seems to be the year of 'having another go'. We are way beyond second chances now, but that's ok, I think.
Another year, another financial disaster (don't worry: this is not a moan, it's merely a description so you'll understand the how and the why) - I have been without a job straight across Christmas and New Year (during which I let my social conscience get the better of my financial one - totally worth it), and am now trying to find something to do with my life and my time, while trying to prevent myself from spending any more.
So this post is about what I've been eating over the last few days, where I'm willing to drop extra cash and where I'll go Basic and beyond.
I was given Meera Sodha's fabulous 'Made in India, Cooked in Britain' book for Christmas. It was an absolute godsend. Through it I've discovered the joy of dal and other wholesome goodies that cost very little to make in vast quantities.
This week, I've eaten 20 minute fish curry, tamarind chicken, Gujarati potatoes and 'Daily Dal' from what has become my new favourite cookbook (sorry Nigel, Tamsin and Delia - I still love you).
The reason all of these have been doable is because many of the ingredients cost very little indeed, especially for the dal. The thing to remember is that, if you're not a curry enthusiast already, you'll either need to buy in various spices, which will make the first spend considerably larger, or you'll need to find someone who loves you and who also loves curry who will lend you their kitchen and spice cupboard for an evening in return for your bringing the other ingredients, and of course, a share of the spoils at the end (this is how I learned to make my first curry - I begged the kitchen time and spices from my mother, who is fully fluent in curry).
Spending on spices is a must if you're going to be making curry often. If you're not going to do it frequently, then consider alternatives (sharing spices with flatmates is a good one; investing in pound shop jars and then buying a couple of tsps of spice off friends/relatives with fuller spice larders might be a good option). The reason I'm pushing not overstocking on spice is because, like all foods (fast food hamburgers and the dreaded mcflurry being two horrible, horrible exceptions), they change appreciably over time. They lose their zing to oxidation - having a large amount of surface area to not very much volume will do that. So if you're not going to get through a jar of spice in a year or less, I'd go elsewhere.
If you're a serious curry fan, then there is a final alternative, which is to buy the whole spices, roast them yourself (if roasting is required) and bash them up in a pestle and mortar, or in a spice blender. This is an excellent gift to ask for if you've got a celebration coming up, as it's the sort of thing relatives are prepared to spend money on (in less lean times, I am the same - I love to give people the tools to make something delicious again and again).
Gosh. Ramble ramble. So - TL;DR - spend money on decent spices, or acquire them for free from people you know.
Back to where to spend.
A lot of the curries I enjoy have a tomato base. Tomatoes are somewhere else I won't skimp. I've cooked with value tomatoes before, and I just don't think that, unless they're the 17p variety, the 10p difference between them and the next level up is worth it. What I love to do is wait for the really nice varieties to be on offer. Napolina tomatoes are usually about £1.10 a tin; if I can get them for 60p or less a tin, I'll buy several and hide them in the backs of cupboards.
I don't eat that much meat or fish at the moment. That's because when it comes to chicken, turkey and pork, I'm really fussy about Free Range. Even though battery hens are a thing of the past, cheap chicken will almost certainly not have led a happy life, and while the birds that are in the supermarket have already paid the ultimate price for our constant desire for poultry, if we stop buying it, yes, there'll be an awful waste of life for a short time, but hopefully (desperately hopefully) the suppliers will change their ways. I don't know. I'm very pro Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on all this.
So I'll wait until there's a good deal on free range chicken. Also, if a recipe calls for breast, ask yourself if it does, really, or if you can just bone and chop up the much tastier thigh meat instead. Or cook with boned joints - I LOVE cooking with whole legs - you get a lot of meat for your money and are often less than half the price of breast meat. Plus you can turn the bones into stock if you cook enough of them. Win.
As for fish, the ocean is in real trouble just now, and it's only going to get worse without a massive turnaround. When I do eat fish, it's always Marine Stewardship Council Certified (look for the MSC logo), and if I possibly can, I also buy the less popular types of fish fresh from the counter. Pollock is brilliant for curry, as it'[s bland on its own, but takes flavour beautifully and has a good texture. I'm careful with frozen fish, because it's not always brilliantly treated, but if you can find a supermarket that does a good line in it, particularly chunked off-cuts from the pricier fillets, get in, enjoy and cook your heart out.
The last thing I've really spent on food-wise lately has been yoghurt. Lots of people might disagree with me on this, but I am a huge disciple of Total 0% - it's the riccotta-ish thickness of it that makes it for me. Whereas with a tub of thick Greek yoghurt, I'll eat half the tub like soured cream, with Total, I'll eat a big spoonful on a whole bowl of curry, and that's enough. Plus it's deliciously sour and unbelievably moreish on a rich, starchy dish. Yes it's more expensive, but I reckon it goes more than twice as far for less than twice the price of its competitors. So I'm sold.
Where to scrimp.
Pulses - avoid supermarkets. Go to somewhere you trust for value - there's a brilliant green grocer's near my parents in Finchley that stocks every type of pulse and grain imaginable in huge bags for low prices. Bad if you've got mice, good if you're on a budget. I do not have mice, so I have bought big.
Rice - Basmati is good, but in the end, you can have a very good meal of cheap rice as long as you're sure it's been properly stored and also as long as it's cooked from fresh. Did you know that slowly cooled or reheated rice is the perfect environment for bugs like salmonella? It's essentially a 3D petri dish - warm, moist and with a permanent supply of starch. Reheating rice is like playing raw chicken roulette. Don't do it.
Onions - buy them at grocers, or better yet at a market where you can buy a whole sackful towards the end of the day for next to nothing. Only do this if you have somewhere sensible to store them. Rotten onion is one of the worst things to find hidden in a kitchen.
Garlic - buy it when you need it. A whole head is only about 40p; overbuying will only lead to sprouting and then you'll lose half your stock to cutting out the green shoots.
Stock - if you need it, make your own if you can. It's cheaper, better, and you get a sense of smugness no number of gel-pots will ever give you. I don't do it all the time, but when I do, I am significantly prouder of myself than I've any right to be, which is a sensation I'd like to share with you all, too.
Drink - if you're low on money, forget booze. Make lemonade, drink water, have tea, buy squash (budget winner if you learn to love it pathetically weak like I do - I like water to taste like it once met a lemon in another life).
I'd write more, but I've just scrolled up and seen how long this post is. Kudos if you've made it to the end! Good lord. It's like writing a stream of consciousness cookbook.
Never mind. Til next time. Perhaps it won't be months and months before I post again, but if it is, there's always 2016 for me to get it right!
Catch you later
xx Alex
Sunday, 27 April 2014
A quick and easy stir-fry
Time and energy were in short supply this evening, but fortunately, broccoli was not..
Recipe - broccoli, spring onion and ginger stir fry
Preparation here is everything, because once this stir-fry starts, you don't have time to get anything ready!
In the pan
- 1 tbsp olive oil. If you have sesame oil, do a tsp sesame and 1.5 tsp sunflower oil. Sesame oil on its own is too pungent.
- 3 thin rounds of ginger, cut into small strips (about 1 loose tsp full).
- half a clove of garlic, sliced thinly.
Vegetables
- 1 small head of broccoli. Wash the stem and slice it thinly (into 2-3mm slices). Cut the florets with long stems - I like mine to be at least 2 inches long, but only about 1cm across.
- Spring onions - greens sliced into 1.5 inch sections, dense greens and whites sliced into thin rounds (mabe 1/8 inch).
To wilt the veg
- 1/3 cup chicken stock (I used Knorr gel stock).
Sauce
- 1/3 thumb-sized piece of ginger, skinned and finely grated.
- 1 large garlic clove, finely grated, mixed with the ginger.
- 1.5 tsp runny honey
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
Carbs
- egg noodles. Straight-to-wok if you want them cooked in, or boil separately if you're like me and like to sit the stir-fry on top of the noodles.
Garnish
- I lacked sesame seeds, but suspect that these, toasted in a pixi-pan beforehand and scattered over the top would have been delicious.
Cooking:
Boil the water for the noodles.
Heat the oil, garlic slices and ginger pieces in a pan. Stir them occasionally. When they start to sizzle, add the broccoli stem rounds and the smaller bits of spring onion. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Don't let the garlic burn.
Add in the rest of the broccoli and then the chicken stock - don't do it all at once, and be mindful that it may spit, so do it with caution.
Noodles go in.
Cook a couple of minutes, flipping occasionally with a spatula until the broccoli is vibrant green.
Add the sauce. Cook until mostly absorbed.
Drain the noodles, allow to steam for a moment, then plate.
Serve stir-fry onto noodles.
If you have them, sprinkle over a few toasted sesame seeds.
Enjoy with a light, crisp fruit juice (cranberry, apple or a still lemonade), a lemon/ginger cordial, or, if you're drinking alcohol, a glass of vino verde or pinot grigio, or a light, zingy beer. I don't drink beer, so I can't make an honest recommendation here.
No photos of this one - couldn't get one without dreadful glare from halogen lights and in the end, gave up and ate it. Sorry! I'll post pics of the next one!
Recipe - broccoli, spring onion and ginger stir fry
Preparation here is everything, because once this stir-fry starts, you don't have time to get anything ready!
In the pan
- 1 tbsp olive oil. If you have sesame oil, do a tsp sesame and 1.5 tsp sunflower oil. Sesame oil on its own is too pungent.
- 3 thin rounds of ginger, cut into small strips (about 1 loose tsp full).
- half a clove of garlic, sliced thinly.
Vegetables
- 1 small head of broccoli. Wash the stem and slice it thinly (into 2-3mm slices). Cut the florets with long stems - I like mine to be at least 2 inches long, but only about 1cm across.
- Spring onions - greens sliced into 1.5 inch sections, dense greens and whites sliced into thin rounds (mabe 1/8 inch).
To wilt the veg
- 1/3 cup chicken stock (I used Knorr gel stock).
Sauce
- 1/3 thumb-sized piece of ginger, skinned and finely grated.
- 1 large garlic clove, finely grated, mixed with the ginger.
- 1.5 tsp runny honey
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
Carbs
- egg noodles. Straight-to-wok if you want them cooked in, or boil separately if you're like me and like to sit the stir-fry on top of the noodles.
Garnish
- I lacked sesame seeds, but suspect that these, toasted in a pixi-pan beforehand and scattered over the top would have been delicious.
Cooking:
Boil the water for the noodles.
Heat the oil, garlic slices and ginger pieces in a pan. Stir them occasionally. When they start to sizzle, add the broccoli stem rounds and the smaller bits of spring onion. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Don't let the garlic burn.
Add in the rest of the broccoli and then the chicken stock - don't do it all at once, and be mindful that it may spit, so do it with caution.
Noodles go in.
Cook a couple of minutes, flipping occasionally with a spatula until the broccoli is vibrant green.
Add the sauce. Cook until mostly absorbed.
Drain the noodles, allow to steam for a moment, then plate.
Serve stir-fry onto noodles.
If you have them, sprinkle over a few toasted sesame seeds.
Enjoy with a light, crisp fruit juice (cranberry, apple or a still lemonade), a lemon/ginger cordial, or, if you're drinking alcohol, a glass of vino verde or pinot grigio, or a light, zingy beer. I don't drink beer, so I can't make an honest recommendation here.
No photos of this one - couldn't get one without dreadful glare from halogen lights and in the end, gave up and ate it. Sorry! I'll post pics of the next one!
Saturday, 26 April 2014
Summer's coming - bring on the Padróns!
Summer is coming. I wanted to use an exclamation mark here, but then realised I've been too caught up with delayed-onset Game of Thrones fever to miss out on the tenuous link. I'm only part way through the first book, so it'll be interesting to see whether I find myself inspired to do GoT themed food later on.
This is not Game of Thrones inspired. This is quick, simple Spanish fare, and if you haven't tried it yet, you have to. Go out and buy some Pimientos de Padrón (Padrón peppers) as soon as you can!
I do as my family does - these go with pre-dinner drinks if I have them, or are a cheeky afternoon snack instead of a packet of crisps. I tend to eat 4 at a time, only because the dimensions of my pixi pan limit me considerably. I love my pixi pan - it's a frying pan whose circumference is a little larger than the palm of my hand.
Here's what you do:
1. Heat oil in a little pan.
2. Pierce your Padróns once on each side with a sharp knife (no picture of this as I only figured it out during a later cooking escapade where one puffed up and exploded. Not fun or safe).
3. Put the Padróns in the hot oil carefully.
4. Allow the skins to blister and turn brown. Keep turning the peppers.
5. Once the peppers are well browned and soft to the touch, place onto a plate sprinkle with coarse-grained sea salt (I absolutely love sea salt, so I used quite a lot here -- you don't need nearly so much as is evidenced by the final picture in which most of the salt crystals are exactly where they were).
6. Allow to sit on the cool plate for a moment or two so that they're not mouth-ruiningly hot, then eat whole, seeds and all (leave the stem, though).
For beer-drinkers out there, this favourite Spanish bar snack goes well with a cold one. If you're more like me, a glass of crisp white wine or Prosecco is good, or if you're like the other side of my personality, a nice, zingy apple juice with a wedge of lime would work well, too. Make sure to add lots of ice.
Enjoy, and bring on the sunshine!
This is not Game of Thrones inspired. This is quick, simple Spanish fare, and if you haven't tried it yet, you have to. Go out and buy some Pimientos de Padrón (Padrón peppers) as soon as you can!
I do as my family does - these go with pre-dinner drinks if I have them, or are a cheeky afternoon snack instead of a packet of crisps. I tend to eat 4 at a time, only because the dimensions of my pixi pan limit me considerably. I love my pixi pan - it's a frying pan whose circumference is a little larger than the palm of my hand.
Here's what you do:
1. Heat oil in a little pan.
3. Put the Padróns in the hot oil carefully.
4. Allow the skins to blister and turn brown. Keep turning the peppers.
5. Once the peppers are well browned and soft to the touch, place onto a plate sprinkle with coarse-grained sea salt (I absolutely love sea salt, so I used quite a lot here -- you don't need nearly so much as is evidenced by the final picture in which most of the salt crystals are exactly where they were).
6. Allow to sit on the cool plate for a moment or two so that they're not mouth-ruiningly hot, then eat whole, seeds and all (leave the stem, though).
For beer-drinkers out there, this favourite Spanish bar snack goes well with a cold one. If you're more like me, a glass of crisp white wine or Prosecco is good, or if you're like the other side of my personality, a nice, zingy apple juice with a wedge of lime would work well, too. Make sure to add lots of ice.
Enjoy, and bring on the sunshine!
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