Not Quite Paella

I make no claims about the authenticity of this but it makes for a delicious Paella-style dish.  I sauteed sliced onion, a Romano red pepper and the remains of last night's fennel bulb with half a horse-shoe of chorizo in olive oil, until all was just beginning to become tinged gold and the oil has rendered from the sausage.  Grate in a couple of garlic cloves, add half a teaspoon of hot smoked paprika and a teacupful of Bomba or Callasparra Valencia rice (Waitrose sells it).  Stir well, then stir in a mixture of 3/4 pint veg stock, a teaspoon of tomato puree, a good pinch of best-quality saffron (I use Iranian, brought from there by my friend Noshin) and 1/4 pint of dry white wine.  Bring to the boil, turn the heat right down, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  Then stir in about 12 peeled de-veined King prawns and tiny broad beans or petit pois.  Cover again, and simmer for 4-5 minutes.  Finally, add chopped parsley and serve with lots of lemon chunks.  Lovely!  We started the meal with fresh corn cobs with chilli and coriander butter and washed down with Margaritas - Ay Carrumba!!!!

Rice and Peas

What to cook, now the hot weather has finally arrived?  I like a salad along with the next woman, but I need carbs as well.  I find that I get a lot of inspiration from the food cultures of hot countries in this weather, and the possibilities are endless.  To go with some simple baked salmon with a tangy fresh guacamole sauce, I thought I'd cross cultures from the Gulf of Mexico to the Caribbean.  The national dish of Jamaica, Rice and Peas, fitted the bill as a savoury, soulful accompaniment, nice served just warm, and the leftovers will happily freeze until a day when appetites are larger.  For a very generous pot for two with leftovers, saute a chopped onion in a tablespoon of sunflower or rapeseed oil until soft and translucent, then stir in 2 bay leaves, a quarter of a teaspoon each of ground cumin, ground coriander and allspice, and crumble in a small dried chilli.  Stir into the onions, and cook gently for a minute or so.  Now measure Basmati rice to 5floz in a measuring jug and rinse.  Stir into the spicy onions.  Tip in a 160ml tin of coconut milk, then add 200mls of veg stock (Marigold is fine) - sorry for mixing my Imperial and Metric.  Put a sprig or two of fresh thyme in, then drain and rinse a 400g tin of kidney beans and stir in.  Bring to a simmer, turn the heat down really low, and cover.  Cook for 20 minutes or so until all the liquid is absorbed.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.  Put a couple of sheets of kitchen paper over the pot and replace the lid and let the rice sit like this for up to half-an-hour.  Then serve with jerked chicken, a coconut and fruit Caribbean chicken curry or on its own for a protein-packed vegan supper.  As I say, the leftovers freeze well if cooled and frozen quickly, and reheated until piping hot in a microwave.

Sweet Chilli Prawns and Vegetable Cha Han

Sorry for the rubbish photo, taken quickly on my Blackberry.  This was a simple, quick and healthy supper.  Those of you who have eaten in Wagamama will be familiar with Cha han, or fried rice.  I love it, and use Basmati rice boiled for 10 minutes then cooled under a running cold tap.  The rice must be cold before you start frying or else the warm starches make it all gloopy, and we don't want that.  Use whatever veg you have, blanching the harder ones before frying.  I used finely chopped carrot, asparagus, courgette and fresh broad beans, blanched and slipped out of their skins.  Fry an onion in rape seed and sesame oil til turning golden, then add the drained rice and blanched veg, and fry, stirring occasionally, until piping hot and with some crusty bits.  Yum!  Season well with pepper and a good splosh of soy saucee, then mix through an omelette (made with one beaten egg) that you have rolled up and sliced.  Transfer to a dish in the oven and keep warm whilst you deal with the prawns.  Wipe the wok, then add a spoonful of rape seed oil and a splash of sesame.  Over a high heat, stir fry the de-veined prawns for a minute or so on each side until they are pink but still juicy.  Now add a tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce, a dash of soy and a squeeze of lime and stir to coat.  After just a few moments, spoon the prawns and their sticky glaze on top of the rice and devour, with more lime for squeezing over.  Totally scrummy.

Courgette Rice Bake

This is like a quiche without the pastry, the carbs coming instead from some cooked rice. Boil a couple of tablespoons of basmati (or use leftover rice) and drain when just cooked. Meanwhile, saute a small, finely chopped onion in a couple of teaspoons of olive oil until soft. Grate a large courgette and squeeze excess moisture out in kitchen paper. Beat three eggs and grate about 70g of good strong cheddar. Now, combine it all in a bowl with a good amount of seasoning and a shake of Tabasco to give it some poke. Add some finely-chopped fresh herbs too, like parsley, chervil, a little tarragon, basil - soft herbs, whatever you have. Tip into a baking tin, lined with baking parchment, or a reliable non-stick container. Bake at 170C for 25 minutes until golden brown and set. This is plenty for two, with a fresh tomato sauce or salad and some lovely runner beans. You can gussy this up with ham, chorizo, prawns, and vary the spices, favourings etc

Asian Rice Salad with Salmon

A chat with a friend on Facebook inspired me to knock this salad up for lunch tomorrow - it consists of cooked basmati rice (about 100g dry weight for 2), mixed with a dressing of coriander, lime juice and zest, a little olive oil and some sweet chilli sauce (the same as I used to dress the pasta with crab earlier).  This was mixed with grated carrot, chopped cucumber, a spring onion and some chopped mint.  I had some cooked salmon so that has been popped on the top to be flaked and forked through as we eat it for lunch.  Smells divine, and the spoonful I tasted was pretty good too.  Season well with salt and pepper - cold rice always needs it.  Dunno the cals - probably around the 450 mark because of the salmon, but it is good fat, man!  Omegas and all that sh!t.

Cardamom Rice Pudding with Roast Rhubard

One of the joys of growing up in the 1960s and 70s was being given Ambrosia Rice Pudding for dessert - do they still make it?  I shall have to have a look.  With tinned mandarin oranges, it were a real treat!  I love rice pudding of any sort, although I am not a fan of the skin on a baked pudding.  This version came to me via Fiona Beckett's 'Frugal Cook' blog, and she bakes arborio rice in evaporated milk with sugar and cardamom pods.  I used full cream fresh milk instead.  By covering the dish with foil and stirring regularly, you keep away the dreaded skin.  It is amazing how little rice - about 65g - is needed for a pint of milk and a couple of tablespoons of sugar.  A long, slow bake, covered with foil, yields a lovely creamy pud, that I prefer served cold.  You can vary the flavourings with classic vanilla, nutmeg or cinnamon.  I sometimes use some coconut milk to replace ordinary milk for a lovely twist, nice after a light Asian meal.  I followed Fiona's lead and served roast rhubarb, done my usual way with orange zest and juice.   But fresh pineapple or pureed mango are nice at this time of year. 

Kedgeree

Ah, Kedgeree....for me, this is true comfort food, a dish I grew up eating, and which always reminds me of my dear old Dad, who would probably have killed for a plate of it.  Over the years, I've made it many ways - pre-cooked rice with the other ingredients stirred in, with and without a creamy curry sauce, all delicious.  But now, I make it in one pan, by the absorption method, which is much simpler.  Now, some recipes I have seen omit any spices, and simply have a dish of cooked rice, smoked haddock, boiled egg and parsley - imagine that, no spices?!  Not right, not right at all.  Anyway, how I make it (for 2): boil a couple of good-sized eggs, and poach some reaaly good, undyed smoked haddock very gently in water to cover for about 5 minutes.  Drain, and cool, then flake into large juicy chunks.  Finely chop an onion, and gently cook in about 25g of butter until lightly golden and softened.  Stir in a level teaspoon each of turmeric and ground coriander, and half a teaspoon of garam masala powder.  I also added a little chopped green chilli, simply because I had some.  Now, measure in a jug 7floz of basmati rice, then tip into a seive and rinse.  Add to the buttery onions along with 14floz of hot water from the kettle.  Stir, cover, bring to the boil then turn right down and cook for 15 minutes until all the water has been absorbed.  In the meantime, peel and chop the eggs, flake the fish and chop a good handful of parsley - for once, I think the curly parsley is best here.  When the time is up, stir the egg, fish and parsley through the rice with a fork, cover again and leave to sit for a couple of minutes, then eat.  Nom nom!

Ham, Leek and Courgette Risotto

I love making risotto, although I know a lot of people panic about it. I actually find the process of stirring for 20 minutes or so to be therapeutic - you can veg out and stare into space, waking up in time to add the next ladle-full of stock. No surprises in this recipe - sweat finely chopped leeks in butter, add your rice and fry gently for a few minutes. Add a good splosh of white wine or (my favourite) white vermouth. Now add some finely chopped courgettes and start adding hot vegetable stock, stirring whilst it is absorbed. At the end, I stirred in a little chopped cooked ham, a little more butter and some grated Parmesan - what the Italians call mantecare or mounting the risotto. Put a lid on, and allow to settle for a minute or two. The final texture is your choice - again, the Italians have a word - all'onda or with waves, so it should have some moisture to it.

Fragrant Persian Chicken Pilaff [#241]

I made chicken biryani recently and wondered if this might not be too similar, but it was a different dish altogether - milder, gentle and very soothing. Brown chicken thighs very well, then sautee an onion in the residual juices in the pan. Add quite a lot of crushed cardamom pods - about 10 - a stick of cinnamon and a few cloves, plenty of black pepper and some salt. Then add part-cooked basmati rice (boiled for about 4 minutes, after soaking in cold water for 2 hours). Also add 2 bay leaves, and a handful each of sultanas and toasted pine nuts. Return the chicken to the rice, drizzle with 2 tablespoons of water in which some saffron has been soaking, then clamp a lid on and cook over a very low heat for 3/4 of an hour. At the end, the rice has fluffed up, and a lovely spiced rice crust will have formed on the bottom of the pan. We'll definitely make this Alastair Hendy recipe again.

Chicken Biryani [#232]

Phew! I'm stuffed, if you'll pardon the expression. This Chicken Biryani was an altogether more delicate and elegant version of the dish than you'll ever get at the local take-away - chicken thigh pieces marinated in lemon juice, garam masala and yoghurt, then cooked with masses of pureed onion, garlic and ginger, ground almonds and water until tender, with a thick fragrant 'gravy'. This is then layered with partially cooked rice flavoured with cinnamon and cloves and drizzled with saffron-infused water, covered tightly with foil, and baked for half-an-hour or so. We served this with a spicy vegetable 'sabji' - rich with coriander and chilli - which was a great contrast. The trouble is, we kept going back for just one more spoonful........as I say, stuffed, and a happy Hubby is now slumped, replete, in front of the rugby.

Chicken and Rice Salad [#104]

I must admit that I approached this recipe with a little trepidation - cold rice and chicken, anyone? Let me tell you, it was delicious! It needs a vibrant dressing, of course, to bring it to life, and Nigel's use of Asian flavours was just right - chilli, lime, nam pla. I added chopped coriander as well as the mint. Lovely, served with a watercress and tomato salad. Healthy, quick and cheap and leftovers for hubby for lunch too. As for the the sprouting beans, I picked up a little tub of sprouting bean and pea salad from Marks and Sparks which was perfect. Sadly, no online recipe - buy the book!!!

Chicken Roasted with New Garlic and a Pea Pilau [#82]

A whole head of lovely fresh garlic, boiled and skinned, is added to the roasting chicken near the end of its time in the oven and then mashed into the pan juices, which I also scented with fresh bay leaves. Very nice with the pea pilau that accompanies it. Lovely Spring supper, with glazed Chantenay carrots and purple sprouting. No online recipe available, I'm afraid, so 'buy the book'!