Harvester re-vamp

This is a bit of a re-vamp of two old Harvester favourites; scampi and chips and chicken and chips.  Not a basket in sight, though!

A chicken breast was flattened by beating it half to death with a rolling pin after having been folded in cling film.  This was dipped in beaten egg and then coated with a polenta and paprika mix.  Pan fried in butter until crisp, golden and cooked through; about 4 minutes each side at this thickness.

This was served with buttery new potatoes which had been boiled and then sautéed in garlic and chilli, roasted tomatoes, deep fried scallops (the scampi substitute) and a wasabi mayonnaise on a bed of mixed leaves.  Nice and light - very tasty!

Hardwick Park Farm - farmshop

I recently had a chat with Jill; the lovely lady who sorts out my receipts etc at TBC.  She mentioned a farm shop in Coldharbour Lane, Hildenborough which came highly recommended and which I didn't know existed.  I immediately went on a recce, met Andrea (farmer's wife - luckily no carving knife at hand!) and ended up buying a packet of oak smoked bacon and some sausages.  The sausages are still nestling invitingly in the freezer - I can certainly feel a toad in the hole coming up soon but the bacon we used in a fry up this morning.

I left her my card with blog details on it and must apologise for the late completion of this draft!

We had the bacon pan fried and then with the tomatoes and eggs fried in the residual bacon fat.  The mushrooms were cooked in seasoned butter with a touch of garlic and a handful of parsley to finish off.

A great way to start the late morning - a Sunday lie in, of course - and the gorgeous bacon was most definitely the star.

Felix and Andrea - I will definitely coming back; especially when the mutton or goat is available!

For those of you who are Tonbridge locals - the place is easy to find; just on the right after the sports field.  Their website is www.kentfreerange.co.uk

Pork chops with apple champ

So this evening it was an oven roasted pork chops with apple colcannon.

For the pork chops …I marinated them for an hour or so in olive oil, rosemary, thyme and oregano with a sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper.  These were pan fried to brown on a high heat and then in a 180* oven to finish cooking through for 30 minutes.  It's always difficult, I think, with pork chops to get the balance right between having them cooked though without going dry and having a lovely crisp crackling-like skin.  It's not so bad with a large roasting joint as it takes long enough for the meat to cook through to get the crackling nice and crisp.

It's even worse in this house with lamb chops as we eat them so rare one can still hear the occasional 'baa'!  The trick is in the initial pan fry.  I get the pan good and hot and use only the oil that sticks to the chop from the marinade.  In the pan on one side for a minute to brown the flesh then held upright on the fatty side (using tongs of course!) for another minute to get the fat good and hot.  Back for another minute on the uncooked side and then into the oven.  Works every time!

For the mash...standard creamy mash with plenty of sea salt and white pepper.  Into this was stirred some sweetheart cabbage which had been finely sliced and sautéed in a little seasoned butter.  Finely chopped apple was added just as the cabbage started to soften so both were still the crisp side of al dente.  It worked so well with the pork.

The sauce was a variation of the recently blogged Samuel Pepys recipe with an extra bit of butter and more honey and mustard added.  I reduced the amount of cider vinegar as I didn't was to overpower the apple in the mash.

On tortelloni and olive oil

We were going to have anchovy pasta his evening but when I went to the local Sainsbury's, after my late afternoon dog walk, I noticed some 'Five Cheese Tortelloni' on offer (two for £3) and decided to go with those instead.  I've not had any sort of stuffed pasta for ages but I do know that a heavy sauce doesn't really sit well with them.  I went for a bit of a 'use up stuff in the fridge' thing and opted for a fresh, slightly spicy and very oily tomato sauce.

In a pan I softened a finely chopped shallot in rather a lot of 'Olio del Castella' olive oil.  More about olive oil later on.  Into this went three chopped cloves of garlic, three sliced large chestnut mushrooms, one sliced chilli, five chopped up fresh tomatoes and a good sprinkle of frozen basil.  This stuff is great for this sort of sauce thing; when you don't need the boldness of a 'last second added' fresh herb.  You can keep it in the freezer and it never goes off!  We currently have basil, parsley and mint stocked away for general cooking.

This was all seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and cooked together for just about as look as it took the tortelloni to cook in a pan of salted water (about three minutes!).

The pasta was drained and then stirred into the sauce and served with a good sprinkle of coarsely grated parmesan over the top.

Very yummy indeed!

So, olive oil.  I'm no expert but I do know the difference between cheap (everyday) and the more expensive 'good' olive oil.  I'm sure we all have supermarket brand oils which we use for our general cooking needs but I always have a bottle of Olio del Castella for when I want to be a bit more extravagant.  It's only about £7 for a litre bottle (it's the hexagonal one in most supermarkets - you can't miss it!) and it has a really good 'green' flavour which comes through well in oily sauces such as the one I did this evening.  It's certainly the one I use in out anchovy pasta and it's also the one I use for salad dressings or for pouring over something like a mozzarella and tomato salad.

I'm sure there are better (more expensive) oils on the market but this is certainly my failsafe brand when I want the actual flavour of the oil to come through rather than to just use it as a cooking medium.

Lobster Thermidor

We bought a few frozen cooked lobsters from Lidl's recently.  Great value at only £5.99 each.  A couple of them came out of the freezer yesterday for this evening's Lobster Thermidor.

I softened a finely chopped shallot in about 25g of butter.  Once soft I added 100ml of white wine, 500ml of fish stock and about 200ml of double cream.  This was reduced by half on a fairly high heat.

Whilst this was reducing I cut each of the lobsters in half, removed the white meat from the tails and claws and then returned the chopped meat into just one of the halves.  The goo from the head I discarded.

Once the sauce had reduced I added a good handful of chopped parsley, about half a teaspoon of English mustard and the juice of a lemon.  Seasoned with sea salt and pepper.  The sauce was then spooned over the meat in the shells.

A good grating of parmesan cheese over the top and then under a hot grill for a few minutes to turn the cheese golden brown and heat the lobster meat through.

I served it with some frites and minted mushy peas.  Scrummy!

Light supper

Hectic day for us both, today.  I was up early for work and The Woo had all the prep for grandson, Jack's, birthday party.  I popped in to the party for a bit of 'Happy Birthday to you' singing after work and then home to walk the pooches ( a cunning ploy to avoid helping at clearing up time!).

We had planned a sausage pasta tonight but decided to go quick and simple instead.

I rustled up a couple of three-egg omelettes each; made with eggs courtesy of the girls and some grated Dunhay Cheddar that had been reduced at work.  £2.44 (PTD - prior to discount) for a huge chunk - bargain!

Now settling in with a glass or three of wine and 'Strictly' on the telly.  I love my life!!

Shell and sky

Tonight we had a dish that was inspired by our visit to Yo! Sushi on Monday when we had, amongst other things, a plate of deep fried scallops with a wasabi mayonnaise.

We bought four lovely looking pigeon breasts at Tonbridge Farmer's Market on Sunday and I came up with a version of Surf and Turf; which I have called Shell and Sky because, hopefully, I'm marrying the pan fried pigeon breast with some deep fried scallops and using my version of the wasabi mayonnaise as both a dressing for some new potatoes and as a dip on the side of the plate.

First off I made the wasabi mayonnaise.  This was a ramekin full of mayo with a good glug of olive oil bunged in and then wasabi powder added, to taste, and stirred in.  Covered and popped in the fridge to let the wasabi do its job.  Be careful, though…it gets hotter the longer it's left!

Then I softened about 3/4 of a finely sliced small red onion in about 25g of butter, a little olive oil and a touch of seasoning.  To this was added a peeled clove of garlic and a small chilli which had been finely sliced.  Once all was lovely and soft I turned of the heat and removed the garlic as all I wanted was an infusion of flavour and not a massive kick. This was left to rest for the flavours to get acquainted.

I cooked enough Charlotte potatoes for two; about 300g, in some salted water.  The potatoes had been cut into a 1cm dice.  As soon as the water came to the boil I turned it off and let the potatoes slowly cook in the hot water as I wanted to turn them into a sort of fondant for the finished dish.

We bought some lovely small Patagonian scallops from work (Yep!  Half six until half two today!) and these I panéed in flour; into which had been mixed a fair bit of paprika and a little hot curry powder, a beaten egg and a some wholemeal breadcrumbs which had been dried out in a low oven for a few minutes.  These went into the fridge until easy to deep fry.  If you don't know how to panée something it's three easy steps.  Coat in flour…dip in beaten egg…and then coat in breadcrumbs…simples!

Once ready to go I turned the deep fat fryer on to around 185* and let it heat up.  I put a low heat under the oniony, buttery mixture and added the drained potatoes to let them slowly cook and absorb loads of the buttery goodness.

I pan fried the pigeon breasts, which had been rubbed with olive oil and lightly seasoned on both sides, in a little butter on a high heat.  One minute each side and then left to rest in the hot pan.  We like ours really, really pink but if you like them a little more done you can either pop them in a 180* oven for two to three minutes or keep pan frying and basting them for the same length of time.

The scallops were deep fried for a few minutes until crisp and golden brown.

Once cooked through the potato/onion mix was dressed in some of the wasabi mayonnaise.  Turn the heat off first, though, and allow to cool for a few minutes otherwise the mayonnaise will curdle.

The potatoes went onto a plate with some baby leaves.  The scallops were arranged round the plate with a little pickled ginger.  The pigeon breasts went onto the leaves and the last finely sliced quarter of red onion was scattered over the top.  A dollop of wasabi mayonnaise on the side of the plate and it was job done!

The Woo loved it and so did I…try it - it's an absolute winner.  The scallops alone I could have eaten about a hundred of on their own!

Japanese Inspiration

Met The Woo from work today and we went over to Bluewater to get a couple of bits (which we didn't get in the end!) and hit Yo! Sushi for Blue Plate Monday!  Great afternoon and an amazing inspiration for a bit of grub I'll do later in the week.  All will be revealed so watch this space!

Remembrance Day

Bit of a lie in this morning and then up and out to Tonbridge Farmers' Market.  If you live locally and haven't been you really should.  It's on the second Sunday of every month in the car park next to Sainsbury's in Sovereign Way.  Steve Woods has done a great job building it up and it's now a thriving local market with loads and loads of stalls.

Lots of people there this morning and a lovely way to observe the two minutes silence at 11am.  So great seeing the whole place come to a standstill and amazing to share the moment with local people in a genuinely local environment.

We munched on a couple of very tasty sunshine pasties and then stocked up on my favourite Kentish cider; Dudda's Tun from Pine Trees Farm in Doddington.  This along with some lovely looking pigeon breasts, a guinea fowl, some goats cheese with stem ginger and some more with a chilli crust AND, to top it all, a bottle of 'Nip from the Hip' blackberry rum should keep us going for a bit!

Back home and a dog walk over the fields for me while The Woo and Sam had a clean round the kitchen then off to Cathy's house for a gorgeous Sunday roast chicken dinner with her daughters and a mutual friend, Lee, and his girls.

Now chilling out waiting for Countryfile to come on with a glass of wine.  I love my life!

Lamb with orange roasted chantenay carrots

I just love those small chantenay carrots that are around this time of year and am definitely going to grow them on the allotment next year.

This evening we had slow roasted shoulder of lamb and minted crushed peas; both of which I've blogged about before.  There were, of course, the obligatory roast potatoes.  With these I served some orange roasted chantenay carrots.

The carrots were lightly topped and tailed.  I actually didn't bother with the really tiny ones, to be honest.  Washed, patted dry and then into a small roasting dish which had been heated up in a hot oven with a little vegetable oil in the bottom.  The carrots were stirred around until coated with the hot oil and then I sprinkled over the zest of an orange and a little salt.

Cooked for only about 10/15 minutes as they are so small and then I squeezed over the juice of half the orange just prior to serving.  The carrots were sweet and fresh from the zest and the warmed orange juice leached into the gravy and gave it a lovely citrus note to help cut through the fatty lamb.

I sometimes do lamb shanks slow cooked in a liquor to which has been added orange and lemon zest and juice.  This reminded me of that and worked really well.

Baked beans

We love beans on toast in this house and I enjoy making my own version with a rich tomato sauce and a mixture of beans for different colours and textures.  This evening The Woo's out with Annie at a Girlie Night so we decided to have a quick version for supper before she headed off.

This is a great budget meal and really ramps up ordinary baked beans into something a little bit special. You can add more of less of the things you want or, more importantly, if on a budget as a student etc -  whatever's in the fridge or cupboards.  For example, for the chorizo part of this meal I used about a 6" length but just a few slices will give as much flavour if you need or want to stretch things out a bit.

So...I softened a small sliced onion in a little olive oil and added a couple of chopped garlic cloves.  In went a couple of roughly chopped chillies from the garden, the sliced chorizo, a few sliced mushrooms, a squeeze of tomato puree, about a third of a teaspoon of smoked paprika and some salt and pepper.  I also added a small glug of red wine to ours but only 'cos I was opening the bottle anyway!

This was all cooked together until the chorizo had leeched out its lovely paprika oil and then a tin of baked beans was added and stirred in.  Heated until the beans were warm through and then onto some lovely buttered rustic bread.  Topped with grated cheese it certainly hit the spot!

Braised lamb shanks

Dropped The Woo off at work this morning then straight into Waitrose for an early shop.  My meat guru, Cathy, sold me three lovely looking lamb shanks and that was this evening's supper sorted.  We had a few bits in the fridge which, as usual, needed using up so tonight's offering was slow braised lamb shanks with roast potatoes, roasted chantenay carrots in orange juice and a leek and mushroom gratin.

For the lamb I softened a mirepoix of onion, carrot and celery in olive oil and then added a couple of chopped cloves of garlic, a couple of bay leaves, a good squeeze of tomato puree, a few sprigs of thyme and rosemary, about a pint of vegetable stock and about 2/3 of a bottle of red wine.  This was brought to the boil and then turned down to a simmer.  In a separate pan I browned off the lamb shanks in a little more olive oil; seasoning with sea salt and black pepper as I went.  The shanks were added to the pan of sauce and then the covered pan went into a 140* oven for three and a half hours.

The roasties were fairly bulk standard but I had run out of goose fat (shock horror!) so they were done in a half and half mix of lard and vegetable oil.

I topped and tailed the tiny chantenay carrots, coated them in vegetable oil in a small roasting dish, grated the zest of an orange over the top and put them in the oven for the last 20 minutes of cooking everything else.  I squeezed the juice of half the orange and a sprinkle of salt over them about 5 minutes before they came out.

The leek and mushroom gratin was a bit of an experiment that seemed to work really well.  I softened three sliced leeks in loads of butter and a little olive oil in an oven proof frying pan.  To this I added a few sliced mushrooms and some halved cherry tomatoes.  Seasoned with sea salt and white pepper the softened vegetable mix was covered with grated mature cheddar and into the oven until the cheese was golden brown.

The shanks came out of the oven half an hour before serving and left to rest wrapped in foil.  The sauce was strained and then reduced to make a lovely unctuous jus.  The oven was cranked up to 200* for the potatoes to brown off and the carrots and gratin to cook properly.

It worked really well.  A very satisfying autumnal warmer.

Prawns two ways

Yesterday we bought a deep fat fryer which resulted in almost perfect frites to accompany our moules.  This evening I decided to have another play with it as I was so impressed by its performance.

I wanted to do something with tempura prawns and so came up with this.

I a large pan I gently cooked together a finely sliced onion, a couple of sliced chillies,  a few cloves of chopped garlic, a little grated ginger, some halved cherry tomatoes and a couple of teaspoons of sun- dried tomato paste in a little olive oil and then added a touch of seasoning.  All cooked together for about five minutes for the flavours to develop.  This was set aside until almost ready to serve when I then re-heated it, added a few medium sized raw prawns and a couple of handfuls of frozen peas and cooked until the prawns were pink and juicy and the peas cooked through.

This was all mixed in with enough cooked linguine for the two of us and sprinkled with some chopped chives; mainly for colour but also for the light oniony bite.

For the 'two way' prawns I made a light tempura batter using a mixture of two-thirds plain flour to one third cornflower.  This was mixed together with enough chilled soda water to an emulsion paint-like consistency.  It's important not to over work the batter and a few small lumps of unmixed flour add to rather than detract from the finished prawns.  When the prawn sauce was almost ready I dipped half a dozen lovely big prawns in the batter and deep fried them at 180* until crisp and golden.  Out onto some kitchen roll to drain while the linguine was drained and added to the sauce and then served together as a finished dish.

The crunch of the prawns was delicious with the softness of the prawn linguine with a lovely bite of chilli as a back note.

Well worth the effort and expense of the deep fat frier.

Paid gig

Yesterday Alex stopped by on his way from Brighton back to where he is based in Suffolk.  The Woo and I said a quick hello then left him with Sam to chill out with a film while we nipped off to TBC for Kylie's Kitchen's first paid gig.

Despite a tussle with the key safe to get the kitchen keys out all went very well.  The lasagne seemed to go down a treat and the roasted green beans with cherry tomatoes, peppers and aubergine; all prepared by The Woo, was a visual hit!

Back home for our own lasagne and a posher version of the roasted beans with Alex, Sam and the lovely Lydia and then goodbye to Alex as he headed north west ready for an early start at work today.

An evening of red wine and 'Strictly' results curled up on the sofa was a great end to the day.

Today I'm looking after The Jackaman for a bit while his Mum and Dad do a few bits and pieces so we're just about to watch Shrek before he has his lunch.  Later Annie and Ben are back for some of The Woo's moules to celebrate his birthday.

Happy Birthday, Ben!

More paprika chicken

So this evening was a bit of a leftovers night as we had some chorizo, mushrooms, potatoes and cream that needed using up and I soooooooo hate to waste food.  I bought some chicken legs from Haywards for a bit of a family favourite; paprika chicken.  I served it with some leek and sweetcorn mash and a chorizo and mushroom cream sauce.

The chicken I simply marinated in olive oil, loads of garlic, a bit of chilli and half a teaspoon of paprika.  This was seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Pan fried to brown the skin in only the oil from the marinade and then popped into a 180* oven for around 40 minutes.  I basted the chicken pieces twice during cooking to keep them nice and moist and the skin crisp and full of flavour.

For the mash I boiled enough potatoes for the three of us; The Woo, Cath and yours truly.  When done they were well mashed with plenty of butter, cream and white pepper added.  The water was heavily salted so they didn't need any more.  To this I added a couple of sliced leeks which had been softened in butter and a small can of sweetcorn added to the leeks for the last few minutes of cooking.  All mixed together to make a very tasty accompaniment to the chicken.

The sauce was simply the leftover chorizo (about 8") thinly sliced and gently fried in butter and olive oil with a finely sliced onion, some chopped garlic, a little chilli and a few sliced mushrooms added.  The paprika laden juice was slowly cooked out of the sausage and the leftover cream was added at the last minute to make the sauce nice and creamy.

It worked really well.  The chicken was nice and spicy, the mash with leek and sweetcorn worked a treat and went perfectly with the chicken.  The sauce was a revelation, made everything nice and moist and great to mop up with the last bit of mash.

Pickled onions

I picked up three and a half kilos of fairly small organic onions at work yesterday for the princely sum of 50 pence so decided to have a go at pickling them for Christmas.

Yesterday evening I topped, tailed and then peeled the small to medium sized ones and ended up with two and a half kilos of fine specimens.  These I placed in a large bowl and sprinkled over 70g of sea salt; giving the whole thing a good stir round to ensure that the salt was evenly distributed.  I covered them with a clean tea towel and left (well out of dog reach) until I got home from work today.  If you leave them lie this for any longer than 24 hours they will lose their crunch.

Today I put three litres of pickling vinegar into a large stainless steel saucepan and added 12 teaspoons of pickling spice (4 per litre) and 170g of sugar per litre (680g).  I heated this gently until all the sugar had dissolved.  It doesn't take much heat at all but, most importantly, don't let the mixture burn!

Whilst this was going on I sterilised the three (one litre capacity) vinegar jars and one extra jar I had just in case the onions didn't fit.  The sterilisation was simple.  All I did was put the jars and lids on the quick half-hour dishwasher cycle and let them cool down a bit; upturned on clean kitchen roll.

The onions went into the jars (good job I did the extra one - moral of this story is to always have an extra sterilised jar just in case!!) and the spiced vinegar was poured over the top.  The jars were then gently tapped to release any air pockets.  On went the tops and the jars left to cool.  I'll store them out of the light in a cupboard and we'll try the first batch with leftovers on Christmas Day - or maybe Christmas Eve with some wine and cheese!

Dyb Dyb Dyb Dab Dab Dab

This afternoon, after work, we picked up half a dozen dab fillets for well under five pounds.  A packet of samphire was also sitting there reduced so we grabbed that as well.

On the menu this evening was pan fried dab and samphire stir fry, roast potatoes, roasted green beans with vine tomatoes and hollandaise sauce.  This came in at about £3 per person for The Woo, Sam and me; so a bargain, really.

I put the potatoes on first.  Brought to the boil in a pan; drained and then in a 180* oven, dredged in duck fat and left to crisp up for about 45 minutes.

The green beans were topped and tailed, tossed in olive oil and spread onto a roasting dish.  A bulb of garlic was cut in half and bunged in the pan.  Vine cherry tomatoes were arranged on top and the whole lot was drizzled with more olive oil and seasoned with sea salt and ground black pepper.  These were put in the oven for the last 20 minutes of the potato roasting.

The dab took hardly any cooking at all but the fillets were thin and various sizes so I knew they would break up.  I seasoned them with sea salt and black pepper and fried them in butter in a large pan.  As they started to break up I added the samphire and gently stirred the whole lot round for a couple of minutes.  This created a sort of stir fry effect.

All served up with a good lug of The Woo's hollandaise sauce.  Yummy!