Creamy Blue Cheese Linguine

Creamy Blue Cheese Linguine – Serves 2

 Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 100ml dry white wine
• 150g strong blue cheese, crumbled
• 150ml creme fraiche
• 160g dried linguine
• 100g green beans, trimmed
• 60g wild rocket

Method

Step 1
Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onion and garlic for around 5-6 minutes until the onion starts to soften.

Step 2
Add the white wine and simmer for 2 – 3 minutes until it has nearly all reduced.

Step 3
Stir in the cheese and creme fraiche into the onions and wine. Heat gently for around 2-3 minutes until the blue cheese has melted into the creme fraiche and the suace is warmed through. 

Step 4
Meanwhile, cook the linguine in a seperate pan for 4 minutes. Add the green beans to the pan and continue cooking until the green beans are cooked. Drain then return to the pan. 

Step 4
Add the rocket to the pasta and leave for 1 minute, or until the rocket has wilted. Now stir in the hot sauce and your ready to eat.

Serving Suggestion
Serve with plenty of black pepper and if you are a lover of blue cheese, crumble some extra blue cheese over the top!

Wagamamas Warm Chicken Salad

Wagamama’s Warm Chicken Salad – Serves 2

This is possibly my new favourite salad! It’s dead simple to make but absolutely jam packed full of flavour. I’ve chosed to use pork in this recipe, again due to having a gorgeous piece of fillet in the fridge, but the salad works with pork and chicken equally well. You need to mare sure that you get the quantities exactly right for the dressing otherwise it wont taste right – practise makes perfect.

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced (see picture)
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Ingredients for marinade

• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tsp fish sauce
• 2 tsp light soy sauce
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 red chilli, finely sliced
• 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Ingredients for salad

• 2 handfuls mixed salad leaves
• 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander
• 1 lime, halved
• 2 tbsp Wagamamas salad dressing (see below)

Ingredients for Wagamamas salad dressing

• 2 tsp shallot, finely chopped
• 2.5 piece of ginger, grated
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1.5 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1 tbsp water
• 70ml vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce

Method

Right. Quite a long list of ingredients, but it really isn’t as difficult as it looks. First step is to make the Wagamamas salad dressing and put to one side – literally just whisk all the ingredients together.

For the marinade, put all the ingredients into a blender, with the exception of the sesame seeds and blend until smooth – then stir in the sesame seeds. Place the chicken in a dish and cover with the marinade, leaving for at least 2 hours or overnight if possible.

When ready to cook the salad add the chicken to a steaming hot pan with the vegetable oil and cook until a little caramelised at the edges. This will probably take around 5 minutes or so on a high heat. Mix the salad leaves together with the dressing and scatter with the sesame seeds then top with the chicken and your done! Garnish with some lime.

Pork Stroganoff

Pork Stroganoff Recipe – Serves 2

Pork stroganoff – everybody’s heard of it, most people have tasted it, so I thought it would be a perfect recipe to kick of my series of recipes from around the world. Stroganoff is of course a popular dish in many countries, but originates from Russia back in the 19th century and according to “Oxford Encyclopaedia of Food and Drink” was possibly named after Count Alexander Grigorievich Stroganov.

“Stroganoff” is very often cooked using beef; in fact beef is definitely the way to go if you want to stick with tradition, however I happened to have a nice piece of pork fillet in the fridge so I cooked with what I had. If your a vegetarian then feel free to omit the meat and just use mushrooms – try and get some different types of mushrooms as this will give you a better texture and taste. I’ve tasted a lot of bad stroganoff’s in my time – most were far too sickly, usually a result of using double cream. This recipe uses sour cream / creme fraiche so is healthier without losing any of it’s taste.

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 50g chestnut mushrooms. sliced
• 50g shitake mushrooms, sliced
• 200g pork fillet, sliced into strips
• 1 knob of butter
• 3 tbsp brandy
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 150ml creme fraiche or sour cream
• Rice or pasta, to serve

Method

Before you start you want to season the pork strips – this is where the taste really happens so don’t rush this bit! Slice your pork up and place in a bowl; now sprinkle in the paprika, 1/2 of the cayenne pepper, and season (be generous with the cracked black pepper). Now mix this up with your hands and if you can, leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.

Heat the butter in a wok or frying pan and fry the onions and mushrooms on a medium heat until they are soft.  Turn up the heat and fry the pork strips for several minutes until cooked. Now the fun bit… Flambe! Pour in your brandy and then, using a match, carefully set fire to the brandy in the pan and burn off the alcohol. This looks great if you have guests round! Once the flame has died, stir in the mustard and your creme fraiche / sour cream and gently simmer. Taste the sauce and adjust the cayenne pepper to taste, seasoning if required – I like it to have a bit of a kick so I go crazy with the cayenne pepper!

I have always served stroganoff with brown rice, but I know a lot of people like stroganoff with tagliatelle and this is great too. A bit of rocket or some greenery such as brocoli really completes the dish in my opinion. Enjoy!

A few ideas for my blog….!

My blog has been up and running for a couple of weeks now and thought I would give you an update on a few of the ideas I have for the blog, and some of the recipes that I plan to post within the next couple of weeks.

The first idea is actually something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but never got around to doing it. Basically I love travelling, I love foreign food, and just love the whole experience of trying new things so I thought why not do this as a feature on my blog? I figure if it’s something I’m interested in then hopefully my readers will be too. Every month I am going to try cooking some fabulous international dishes, and give you, the readers, a step by step account of how it went! Some recipes will be from countries I’ve visited, others from other resources such as the library, books and the internet.

Take a look at my Moules Mariniere and Thai Green Curry for the first two entries as part of my ‘Cuisine by Country’ section  (See category drop down menu) – if you’ve not tried them yet then hopefully you should be in for a nice surprise!

On a separate note, I’ve already drawn up a list of over 35 recipes that I want to put on here – as and when I cook them I will post them up, hopefully with some photographs to illustrate. My next post will be a Beef Stroganoff so look out for that!

Moules Marinieres

Moules Marinieres Recipe – Serves 2

The very thought of eating mussels gets me all excited as it nearly always means I am on holiday somewhere! Probably the best mussels I have eaten have been in France; sitting in a bistro bar with a glass of Leffe beer definately springs to mind! However, the last time I ate mussels was at ‘La Grande Braderie’ in Lille last year.

La Braderie is probably one of the largest garage sales in the world as on the first weekend of September, people are allowed to set up stalls on the streets of Lille, and sell whatever old stuff they want to get rid of. Every single street is rammed with people. Not just from Northern France either; people visit from all over France and even Europe flock to Lille for this event. The day soons turns into evening and the party in the streets continues well into the next day.

The traditional dish of the Braderie is Moules Mariniere, and it is customary that all the restaurants that serve mussels for the occasion, pile their mussel shells on the pavements and compete for which one will end up with the biggest pile of shells. Needless to say that it can get a little bit smelly the day after! Here is just one restaurants pile below!   

I’ve tried to recreate a recipe I was given from my friends who live just outside Lille – I have made a few changes but I like to think that this has improved it slightly.. I’m sure being French they wouldn’t agree though! For the frites I actually try and make a slightly healthier version by roasting sliced potato in the oven with some herbsand oil; it isn’t traditional but I prefer it. 

Ingredients for the Mussels

• 1kg mussels
• 1/2 an onion, finely chopped
• 3 spring onions, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp creme fraiche
• 1 handful parsley, roughly chopped
• 1 bunch of thyme
• 1 tsp chives, chopped
• Olive oil
• 150ml white wine (1 glass)
• Squeeze of lemon juice
• Black pepper

Ingredients for the Frites

• 2 potatoes, sliced into chip shaped pieces
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 1 tbsp of Herbs de Provence
• Olive oil

Method

If your having frites with the mussels you need to make these first as they take around 30 minutes to cook in the oven and the mussels only take around 10 minutes to cook. So, place your sliced potatoes onto a roasting tray with the rosemary and Herbs de Provence sprinkled over the top. Coat in olive oil and mix up with your fingers until all are covered, then put them in the oven at 180 C for around 30 minutes. Cooking times will vary depending on how thick your chips are and how crispy you like them… just keep checking them.

For the mussels, clean the mussels in cold water, scraping away any barnacles and pulling out the beards that protrude from between the closed shells. If any mussels are slightly open, a short tap should make them close, letting you know they are still alive. Any that dont close should be discarded.

Heat up the oil in a large saucepan and add the onions and thyme and cook for 2 minutes. Now add in the mussels, give the pan a shake and cover for a further 2 minutes. Take off the lid, pour in the wine, cook and cover for a further 3 minutes. Pour the mussels into a colander, ensuring that you retain the juice falls in a dish. Add the sauce back to the pan and stir in the creme fraiche and all the herbs. Heat up the sauce and add the mussels back to the pan briefly to ensure everything is piping hot. Squeeze some lemon over the mussels and your done

Serve the mussels with bread/frites, a side bowl to place the shells and a bowl with water and a slice of lemon to clean your fingers. 

Oven Baked Salmon with a Roasted Vegetable Salad

Oven Baked Salmon with a Roasted Vegetable Salad – Serves 2

I never get bored of eating salmon, I just can’t. There are so many different ways of cooking salmon, not to mention the different types you can get, that I’m constantly thinking up new things to do with salmon. That coupled with the fact that it is a true health food, ensures that your body will stay lean and strong. Did you know that besides being high in protein and omega-3 fats, salmon will also provide you with your entire daily requirement of vitamin D in one sitting – quite a feat I’m sure you’ll agree! I’ve baked the salmon in the oven here, but if you’re in a hurry, salmon can be cooked in the microwave in just a couple of minutes, and your guaranteed that the result will be lovely, moist fish.

Today I decided to stick with the health theme and prepare a roasted vegetable salad to accompany the fish.  I have to say that this is one of my favourite salads – perfect for those days when you want a little bit more than ‘a few leaves’ and something a bit more substantial. The great thing about this salad is that it goes really well with a whole host of foods, and it more than stands up for itself if served on it’s own.

I tend to change the vegetables I use each time I make this to keep it interesting – peppers, shallots and butternut squash work really well, but just experiment and see what comes out!

Ingredients

• 2 skinless fillets of salmon
• 1 sweet potato, cubed 
• 1/2 of a large red onion, sliced
• 40g feta or goats cheese, crumbled (adjust to taste)
• 3 large handfuls mixed salad leaves (e.g. rocket, lamb lettuce & spinach)
• A good glug of olive oil
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Herbs de Provence
• Salt & Pepper

Method

First step is to heat the oven to around 190 C and start preparing the vegetables in the meantime. Place your vegetables onto a roasting tray and drizzle with a good glug of olive oil, then mix it all up with your hands until all the vegetables are covered. Finally sprinkle the vegetables with some mixed herbs – I use Herbs de Provence and they are fantastic! For the fish, place the salmon fillets on a seperate roasting tray, ensuring to grease the tray first and season well with salt and pepper. Now depending on the size of your vegetables and the thickness of your fish the cooking times will vary, however I find that around 25 minutes at 190 C will get the vegetables just right (a little crispy) and cook the salmon perfectly.

While the fish and vegetables are in the oven you want to start preparing the rest of the salad. Wash your salad leaves, then place them into a large bowl. Once your vegetables are ready add them to the salad bowl and crumble in some feta and/or goats cheese into the bowl. To dress the salad I usually make a olive oil and vinegar dressing using 2 parts olive oil to 1 part balsamic vinegar and coat the salad well.

Dish up and your done – this goes perfectly with a nice white wine sat out in the garden on a summers day! 

Tuna Melts

Tuna Melts – Makes 4 Melts 

I really pondered whether to put this recipe on here – it is so simple to make that nearly didn’t bother. The turning point was when I was flicking through one of Jamie Oliver’s recipe books yesterday and he had a recipe in there for a bacon sandwich – no word of a lie. Now I think he’s a fantastic chef but there is only so much you can do with a bacon sarnie!

This was probably my most common meal at university as it’s so quick and cheap to make it left plenty of time for going out partying (I mean studying!). I used to make these for the whole house in exchange for not doing the washing up that day!

I usually choose BBQ sauce, but you can use tomato ketchup, mayonnaise or any sauce of your choice. Personally I think that mayonnaise is the sauce of the devil (it is made by Hellman’s so I think I’ve got a point), but it’s all down to personal preference which sauce you prefer. As it’s such a simple recipe I tried to ‘posh’ it up a bit, so I used bagels, but it works equally well on standard sliced bread!

Ingredients

• 4 slices of toast (or bagels)
• 100g can of tuna chunks / steak
• BBQ sauce
• 150g cheddar cheese, grated

Method

Step 1
Firstly, toast your bread (or bagels) until lightly toasted, then generously spread your sauce onto the bread, making sure you get right up to the edges.

Step 2
Split the tuna between the four slices of toast and squash down with the back of a fork, then cover with the grated cheese.

Step 3
Place under the grill for a couple of minutes until the tuna has heated through and the cheese is melted and all bubbly. Enjoy

Authentic Thai Green Curry

Thai Green Curry – Serves 2

If I have a signature dish then this is definately it. Just ask pretty much any of my friends who have been round for dinner; they’ve all had this cooked for them at some point, and there’s a running joke that it’s the only thing I can cook! I first learnt how to make this on a cooking course in Thailand (Koh Phi Phi) back in 2006 and it’s been my favourite dish to make ever since. In fact it’s probably down to this cooking course that I became interested in cooking, and in particular fuelled my fascination for international food. 

The great thing about Thai curries is that you can make them as spicy or as mild as you like – in Thailand they have them hot, and I do mean HOT! Nearly all of the ingredients used should be fairly accessible – if your struggling, you can replace the galagal with ginger and use normal basil leaves instead of the Thai sweet basil although it will give the curry a slightly different taste. If you live near a specialist oriental store then get yourself down there and see what you can find!

 

 Ingredients for the Paste

• 3 large green chillies (to taste), seeds removed & finely chopped 
• 1 tsp grated galangal (ginger is a good substitute)
• 2 tsp lemongrass, finely chopped
• 3 kaffir limeleaves, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tsp shallot, finely chopped
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 handfulls of Thai sweet basil, roughly chopped

 Ingredients for the Curry

• 2 skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
• 400ml can of coconut milk
• 1 green curry paste recipe (see above)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil (for frying)
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 handful green beans, cut in half
• 1 small tin of bamboo shoots
• 1 small handful basil leaves, for garnishing
• Red chilli flakes or finely chopped fresh red chilli to garnish (optional)

Method

Step 1
First make the paste. Take all the ingredients for the paste (except the oil) and put them into a pestle and mortar and give them a good bashing. Add the oil and continue to pound the ingredients until you have a smooth paste consistency. You can use a food processor if you like but I just love using my pestle and mortar. I usually use all of the paste in one go, but if you want to make extra, you can stick the paste into a container, cover with oil and it should last for a week or so in the fridge.

Step 2
Now for the curry itself. On a low heat, add the oil and all of the green curry paste into a pan and mix well – this will ensure that the flavour of the paste will really come out in the chicken. Add the chicken and fry on a low / medium heat until the chicken is starting to cook through.

Step 3
Give the can of coconut milk a good shake and add to the pan, along with the fish sauce and the sugar and simmer until the chicken is cooked. Just before the chicken has cooked, add in the bamboo shoots and green beans, and simmer until the green beans are cooked but still retain their ‘bite’.

Serving Suggestion
I usually serve this curry with rice, although it works just as well with noodles or some type of roti / flatbread. Garnish the curry with a few basil leaves, a wedge of lime and a sprinkle of red chilli flakes.

Note: It actually doesn’t matter if you use only red chillies as it is the basil that gives the colour, not the chilli – in fact I think a mixture gives a great colour to the dish.

Welcome!

So I thought I would start writing a blog today! I’ve read enough of them in my time so I should be able to figure out what to do… but then again only time will tell! I’m going to use the blog mainly as a record for myself; posting up recipes, photo’s and maybe even the odds story or two – you never know someone may even read this one day!   

Anyway, a little bit about me before I start. I’m originally from Yorkshire although I haven’t really spent that much time there recently. I studied up in Newcastle University for 4 years – fantastic place and would recommend it to anyone. After uni, I travelled around the world with my girlfriend which was by far the best thing I’ve ever done… absolutely amazing – I’ll definitely do it again sometime! It was definitely travelling that got me into cooking; seeing all the different flavours and ingredients people use around the world… it’s fascinating.

I now live in Crouch End in North London which is a really cool place. Loads of restaurants and a really awesome vibe around the place. The problem with having restaurants on your doorstep though is that it takes some real restraint not to spend a packet each month!

Anyway, hopefully you’ll enjoy reading what I’ve got to say, and if not, at the very least I hope you’ll find a few recipes that you like!

Cheers for reading!
Andrew