Introducing Hello, My Name Is Shine
10 years ago
Sunday, 27 April 2008
Blog you might want to read
I am so lax at keeping up with my blog that I hadn't realised I had a comment under my apple crumble from Carolyn who runs The Cooks Journal which is a forum that has lots of cooking related info - it's really good for a potter around and to pick up some hints and tips. A recipe I spotted which I think I will try is Leek and Prosicutto Pasta - based on a Jamie Oliver recipe - it sounds really tasty.
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Cheat's dinner - Chicken Pesto Pasta
Making meals from scratch taste better and will be more healthy than processed food, but sometimes you are short on time and even just too tired to think about ingredients and cooking times. For such occasions I use what I call my 'cheat's dinner' recipes. These often combine ready prepared food with some home cooking - creating a meal that isn't as bad as a TV dinner but is quick and easy to pull together.
Every so often I visit my friend Mac at his flat in Edinburgh. We often go out for dinner but when we are feeling a bit skint, we take turns to bring round food and cook at his place. I stay a couple of nights a week in Edinburgh so it's fun to go round to someone's flat and cook a meal, have a glass of wine and have a good gossip.
This dinner came about when I was flailing about in the aisles of the Marks and Spencer outlet at Waverly Station - a place I spend too much time in - as it was my turn to cook and I was running late.
Bag of fresh pasta (I used tagliatelle but any would do)
Pot of green pesto
Packet of chicken breast pieces (I think they are meant for sandwiches but they are like bite sized pieces of chicken breast)
French loaf
Bag of salad leaves
Tomatoes
Cook the pasta as per the instructions. Drain and add back to the pot adding the pesto and stir over a low heat. Slice the tomatoes up and add to the pasta.
For the salad, put the leaves in a bowl, add some olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. If you have it, I like to add some wholegrain mustard. Toss and serve with the french loaf and some butter.
Check the pasta is fully combined and serve (I like to serve it in a bowl).
This all takes about ten minutes but is very tasty and looks like it takes longer. For a proper full-on home cooked version you could make this on a Monday night using the roast chicken from a Sunday dinner and make your pwn pesto. But as a cheat's dinner it is pretty good.
Every so often I visit my friend Mac at his flat in Edinburgh. We often go out for dinner but when we are feeling a bit skint, we take turns to bring round food and cook at his place. I stay a couple of nights a week in Edinburgh so it's fun to go round to someone's flat and cook a meal, have a glass of wine and have a good gossip.
This dinner came about when I was flailing about in the aisles of the Marks and Spencer outlet at Waverly Station - a place I spend too much time in - as it was my turn to cook and I was running late.
Bag of fresh pasta (I used tagliatelle but any would do)
Pot of green pesto
Packet of chicken breast pieces (I think they are meant for sandwiches but they are like bite sized pieces of chicken breast)
French loaf
Bag of salad leaves
Tomatoes
Cook the pasta as per the instructions. Drain and add back to the pot adding the pesto and stir over a low heat. Slice the tomatoes up and add to the pasta.
For the salad, put the leaves in a bowl, add some olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. If you have it, I like to add some wholegrain mustard. Toss and serve with the french loaf and some butter.
Check the pasta is fully combined and serve (I like to serve it in a bowl).
This all takes about ten minutes but is very tasty and looks like it takes longer. For a proper full-on home cooked version you could make this on a Monday night using the roast chicken from a Sunday dinner and make your pwn pesto. But as a cheat's dinner it is pretty good.
Chorizo Stew
I was visiting my sister a few weekends ago and she made this for our dinner. It is a great dish because it is a one pot meal, you can increase the quantities easily if you are feeding a lot of people, it isn't very expensive, and you can make enough to do two nights - it seems to get better overnight being left to marinate in its own juices.
The ingredients are:
New/baby potatoes (small bag)
Chorizo (I just judged at the deli how much I needed)
Onion (two)
Tinned tomatoes (chopped) (three)
Tomatoe puree (half a tube)
Paprika (one teaspoonful)
Chilli (half a teaspoonful)
Garlic (haf a bulb)
Basil (I had a handful left over from another recipe so chopped it and added that too)
Slug of olive oil
I par-boiled the potatoes and while they were cooking bashed up some garlic, finely chopped the onions and chunky chopped the chorizo. I drained the potatoes and then just used the same pot to saute the onions and garlic in some olive oil until the onions were soft. I kept some of the potatoe water in case the sauce got too thick later on but I found I didn't need it. Then I added the tins of tomatoes, basil and spices. I brought that to a simmer and added the chorizo and the potatoes. Covered and simmered for about two hours - although one would do. I added some tomatoe puree at the end to thicken the sauce.
My sister also added chick peas, fried bacon and fried the chorizo before adding it. I didn't have any chickpeas so just upped the potatoes and we had had a bacon buttie for breakfast so figured we didn't want more bacon in our dinner. It made a great Sunday dinner with some homemade bread and there was enough for dinner on Monday night. The chorizo gives it such a lovely smoky taste and the potatoes when cut were fresh and white against the tomatoe-y sauce.
The ingredients are:
New/baby potatoes (small bag)
Chorizo (I just judged at the deli how much I needed)
Onion (two)
Tinned tomatoes (chopped) (three)
Tomatoe puree (half a tube)
Paprika (one teaspoonful)
Chilli (half a teaspoonful)
Garlic (haf a bulb)
Basil (I had a handful left over from another recipe so chopped it and added that too)
Slug of olive oil
I par-boiled the potatoes and while they were cooking bashed up some garlic, finely chopped the onions and chunky chopped the chorizo. I drained the potatoes and then just used the same pot to saute the onions and garlic in some olive oil until the onions were soft. I kept some of the potatoe water in case the sauce got too thick later on but I found I didn't need it. Then I added the tins of tomatoes, basil and spices. I brought that to a simmer and added the chorizo and the potatoes. Covered and simmered for about two hours - although one would do. I added some tomatoe puree at the end to thicken the sauce.
My sister also added chick peas, fried bacon and fried the chorizo before adding it. I didn't have any chickpeas so just upped the potatoes and we had had a bacon buttie for breakfast so figured we didn't want more bacon in our dinner. It made a great Sunday dinner with some homemade bread and there was enough for dinner on Monday night. The chorizo gives it such a lovely smoky taste and the potatoes when cut were fresh and white against the tomatoe-y sauce.
Wholemeal bread
I like baking bread but hardly ever get time to do it. Kneading bread is very therapeutic and the smell of it baking is amazing. The best bit though is slathering a freshly baked slice with butter and jam....mmm....
I was inspired to bake some bread by an article I read in the Guardian about the lack of quality in today's shop bought bread by Andrew Whitely. The article is called crust of living and is a good read. And it reminded that a while back I bought Whitely's book, bread matters, but hadn't read it or used any of the recipes from it. So, I decided I would have a read and also see if there was a recipe for some wholemeal and sturdy bread I could use for a chorizo stew I intended to make for the Sunday dinner.
The book contains a good history of bread making and explains about how the bread we buy from the supermarket shelf is so full of chemicals to make it taste good and last longer but in a way that is quick to turnaround and get it into shops that it has stripped the bread of the ntrional value and fantastic taste you get from a bog standard home baked loaf. In fact, the industrial bread making process probably contributes to the rise in things like ceoliac disease and stomach problems.
The recipe I used is the first one in the book and is a basic wholemeal loaf recipe. I cadged some fresh yeast from the Tesco bakery staff - the shop itself doesn't stock it and they don't sell it from the bakery - they gave it to me for free. You don't need fresh yeast (dried is fine) but I wanted to bake with it to see what it was like.
Ingredients
600g stoneground strong wholemeal flour
5g sea salt
8g fresh yeast
400g water
Put the flour and salt in a bowl. take a quarter of the water in a small bowl/jug and dissolve the yeast using your fingers. Add the yeasty water to the flour and salt. Hold the bowl with one hand and with the other mix the ingredients - I imagined my hand was a like a big spatula. It will take a few minutes but the dough will start to form. When it does, lift it out of the bowl and knead for ten minutes. Whitely says you don't really need to flour your work surface, which is true, but if you have a surface that scratches easily I would suggest you either use a large chopping board or stop every so often to take the sticky residue that forms off the surface. Otherwise its a fair old elbow grease job at the end that could scratch your work surface. If you have solid marble worktops then good on you and feel my jealousy!
The pop the dough back in the bowl and cover with a plastic bag. The dough should rise in two hours - if it gets very high, just knock it back by folding it over itself a few times. You need to make sure though that the plastic bag cover 'stands up' from the tin a bit as you don't want the rising dough to stick to it - so make it pointy as though its a wizard hat sitting over the tin.
Grease your loaf tin and then start on making the dough into a loaf. Whitely uses a particular techniquie of making a long sausage out of the dough and folding it over three times, repeating with a shorter sausge and folding over twice. I don't know what magic property this might give your loaf. I did it and it worked out fine but no different to my usual kneading-it-about-a-bit and making it into a shape that will fit the loaf tin.
Whitely also suggests the dough should reach about halfway up the tin. To be honest, my loaf came out a bit small so either I didn't knead enough, my tin is a bit bigger than I thought or - which is what I will do next time - I need to make a bigger dough. I think I will add an extra 200g of flour and ratio the other ingredients up as the bread itself was fine to taste.
Cover the loaf tin with the plastic bag and leave to 'prove' - I usually wait until the dough is rising above the tin. Pop it into a preheated oven at about 230C and turn down to 200C after ten minutes. 30-40 minutes cooking time should be enough.
The bread is great for mopping up gravy and cooking juices and I served it with chorizo stew. I liked the recipe and the book gives you lots of hints and tips and certainly makes you wonder about shop bought bread. In a way it doesn't really take that long to make your own bread but even then I am not sure how you would manage to bake bread yourself all the time. But I think I will try to do so a bit more often.
I was inspired to bake some bread by an article I read in the Guardian about the lack of quality in today's shop bought bread by Andrew Whitely. The article is called crust of living and is a good read. And it reminded that a while back I bought Whitely's book, bread matters, but hadn't read it or used any of the recipes from it. So, I decided I would have a read and also see if there was a recipe for some wholemeal and sturdy bread I could use for a chorizo stew I intended to make for the Sunday dinner.
The book contains a good history of bread making and explains about how the bread we buy from the supermarket shelf is so full of chemicals to make it taste good and last longer but in a way that is quick to turnaround and get it into shops that it has stripped the bread of the ntrional value and fantastic taste you get from a bog standard home baked loaf. In fact, the industrial bread making process probably contributes to the rise in things like ceoliac disease and stomach problems.
The recipe I used is the first one in the book and is a basic wholemeal loaf recipe. I cadged some fresh yeast from the Tesco bakery staff - the shop itself doesn't stock it and they don't sell it from the bakery - they gave it to me for free. You don't need fresh yeast (dried is fine) but I wanted to bake with it to see what it was like.
Ingredients
600g stoneground strong wholemeal flour
5g sea salt
8g fresh yeast
400g water
Put the flour and salt in a bowl. take a quarter of the water in a small bowl/jug and dissolve the yeast using your fingers. Add the yeasty water to the flour and salt. Hold the bowl with one hand and with the other mix the ingredients - I imagined my hand was a like a big spatula. It will take a few minutes but the dough will start to form. When it does, lift it out of the bowl and knead for ten minutes. Whitely says you don't really need to flour your work surface, which is true, but if you have a surface that scratches easily I would suggest you either use a large chopping board or stop every so often to take the sticky residue that forms off the surface. Otherwise its a fair old elbow grease job at the end that could scratch your work surface. If you have solid marble worktops then good on you and feel my jealousy!
The pop the dough back in the bowl and cover with a plastic bag. The dough should rise in two hours - if it gets very high, just knock it back by folding it over itself a few times. You need to make sure though that the plastic bag cover 'stands up' from the tin a bit as you don't want the rising dough to stick to it - so make it pointy as though its a wizard hat sitting over the tin.
Grease your loaf tin and then start on making the dough into a loaf. Whitely uses a particular techniquie of making a long sausage out of the dough and folding it over three times, repeating with a shorter sausge and folding over twice. I don't know what magic property this might give your loaf. I did it and it worked out fine but no different to my usual kneading-it-about-a-bit and making it into a shape that will fit the loaf tin.
Whitely also suggests the dough should reach about halfway up the tin. To be honest, my loaf came out a bit small so either I didn't knead enough, my tin is a bit bigger than I thought or - which is what I will do next time - I need to make a bigger dough. I think I will add an extra 200g of flour and ratio the other ingredients up as the bread itself was fine to taste.
Cover the loaf tin with the plastic bag and leave to 'prove' - I usually wait until the dough is rising above the tin. Pop it into a preheated oven at about 230C and turn down to 200C after ten minutes. 30-40 minutes cooking time should be enough.
The bread is great for mopping up gravy and cooking juices and I served it with chorizo stew. I liked the recipe and the book gives you lots of hints and tips and certainly makes you wonder about shop bought bread. In a way it doesn't really take that long to make your own bread but even then I am not sure how you would manage to bake bread yourself all the time. But I think I will try to do so a bit more often.
Tuesday, 1 January 2008
Christmas Apple Crumble tip!
I have just finished making my Christmas Apple Crumble and remembered a wee trick I use. I like my crumble to have some mushy apple-y bits and to have some more 'bite-y' apple bits. I could never manage to get both until I had a light bulb moment - I cut a third of the apple very thin (mush!) a third medium slice (btw mush and bite) and a third thick sliced (bite!). It works really well. I also sprinkled some cinnamon powder into the crumble mix - mmmmm - and christmassy smells!
Monday, 31 December 2007
Hogmanay
Tonight is New Years Eve - or Hogmanay. While I like a party, a few years ago we stayed in on our own for Hogmanay and had a really good time cooking dinner for ourselves and relaxing, eating the food we like and watching the bell's come in. And so that is what we have done since. Sometimes, like tonight, my sister and my best friend will come round before the bell's - and I make my best friend first foot me just after midnight.
For dinner, my husband is cooking this time around and he is making his famous mushroom risotto. It has a mix of mushrooms, a load of parmesan, and I love the smell and sound of the Vermouth as it goes into the pan. He serves it with a good crusty bread and a salad of green leaves and cherry tomatoes. The toms are a good companion to the creaminess of the risotto. He got the recipe from a Jamie Oliver recipe book and it has become a firm favourite. The basic risotto recipe can be adapted to whatever takes your fancy.
For the bell's, I don't really make much myself but we have some items that are traditional to have. Some are traditional all over Scotland, and some are traditional to my family:
Shortie (shortbread. Sometimes I make my own but I have gone with Dean's all butter shortbread this year)
Cherry cake (because my Gran always served this)
Ginger cake (my own favourite - with real butter)
Cheese balls (must be from M&S!)
Madeira cake
Christmas cake
Hot Bites - sausage rolls, and the party food you get from the freezer section - usually some asian inspired snacks appear!
It sounds like a lot but you pick at it through the evening and over New Year's Day.
For dinner, my husband is cooking this time around and he is making his famous mushroom risotto. It has a mix of mushrooms, a load of parmesan, and I love the smell and sound of the Vermouth as it goes into the pan. He serves it with a good crusty bread and a salad of green leaves and cherry tomatoes. The toms are a good companion to the creaminess of the risotto. He got the recipe from a Jamie Oliver recipe book and it has become a firm favourite. The basic risotto recipe can be adapted to whatever takes your fancy.
For the bell's, I don't really make much myself but we have some items that are traditional to have. Some are traditional all over Scotland, and some are traditional to my family:
Shortie (shortbread. Sometimes I make my own but I have gone with Dean's all butter shortbread this year)
Cherry cake (because my Gran always served this)
Ginger cake (my own favourite - with real butter)
Cheese balls (must be from M&S!)
Madeira cake
Christmas cake
Hot Bites - sausage rolls, and the party food you get from the freezer section - usually some asian inspired snacks appear!
It sounds like a lot but you pick at it through the evening and over New Year's Day.
Leftovers
Some people work out their Christmas meat very carefully so they don't have many left overs but I love leftovers. First, I love a Christmas sandwich and I like to be inventive about what to make.
This year, I was at my Mum's for Boxing Day, where she made a great buffet, and I had my sister round the next evening, so my leftovers had a day to sit and relax! I made the turkey breast by setting it in an oven proof dish with the gravy. This way, the leftover meat which is usually not as good as what you had on Christmas Day can benefit from the gravy juices as it heats up. I also made a recipe from my 'Nigella Express' book - a very welcome Christmas present - a potatoe and mushroom gratin. In the recipe, she finely slices potatoes. keeping the skins on, and part cooks them with some full fat milk (enough to cover the tatties) and some white wine (I added a tbsp for each portion), while cooking finely sliced mushrooms in garlic and butter and oil. I followed the same outline but I had some cream left over, and it is the season of indulgence, so I added that to my potatoes. I also used more garlic because I love it and added a spoonful of mustard. It worked very well - a tasty alternative to roasties.
After that, I cut up the rest of the meat and divided it into freezer bags. It is always nice to have home roast poultry in the freezer to use when you are to busy to actually go through the rigmarole of roasting something when you are late in from a busy day at work.
Another left over I have is some mincemeat from making mince pies, so for New Year I am going to make a 'christmas' apple crumble. You make up your crumble ingredients as usual but to make use of the mincemeat I put a layer of apple on the bottom of the dish, then a layer of the mincemeat, the the rest of the apple. It makes for a really good pudding on a cold day.
This year, I was at my Mum's for Boxing Day, where she made a great buffet, and I had my sister round the next evening, so my leftovers had a day to sit and relax! I made the turkey breast by setting it in an oven proof dish with the gravy. This way, the leftover meat which is usually not as good as what you had on Christmas Day can benefit from the gravy juices as it heats up. I also made a recipe from my 'Nigella Express' book - a very welcome Christmas present - a potatoe and mushroom gratin. In the recipe, she finely slices potatoes. keeping the skins on, and part cooks them with some full fat milk (enough to cover the tatties) and some white wine (I added a tbsp for each portion), while cooking finely sliced mushrooms in garlic and butter and oil. I followed the same outline but I had some cream left over, and it is the season of indulgence, so I added that to my potatoes. I also used more garlic because I love it and added a spoonful of mustard. It worked very well - a tasty alternative to roasties.
After that, I cut up the rest of the meat and divided it into freezer bags. It is always nice to have home roast poultry in the freezer to use when you are to busy to actually go through the rigmarole of roasting something when you are late in from a busy day at work.
Another left over I have is some mincemeat from making mince pies, so for New Year I am going to make a 'christmas' apple crumble. You make up your crumble ingredients as usual but to make use of the mincemeat I put a layer of apple on the bottom of the dish, then a layer of the mincemeat, the the rest of the apple. It makes for a really good pudding on a cold day.
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