Crispy Chicken, with Rice and Peas

 A simple chicken dish, made while I was waiting on a Wimbledon match starting a couple of days ago. A bit like a Louisiana Gumbo. Made with roasted chicken thighs, which then were chopped up and refried. Last time I had a real Louisiana Gumbo was actually in the British Embassy compound in Abu Dhabi, in the mid 90s. They served quite a lot of it, and it was pretty good.

Abu Dhabi is one of the original Trucial States, which signed a deal with the UK to allow British access to territory for the protection of the states. So Britain has access to harbour facilities, as does the US, who signed up later (we have the bigger embassy compound :-). I mention this, since it is likely that the chefs who cooked the Louisana gumbo were American, and knew what they were doing. 

Shepherd's Pie

A dish made to use up some leftover ground lamb from the fridge. I added freshly podded peas to the minced lamb and lamb stock, plus the herbs rosemary and coriander and decanted the mixture into a traditional pie dish. Boiled potato was mashed with a little salted butter, and this made the crust of the pie.

Cooked on the middle shelf of an oven preheated to 190 degrees C, until it begins to brown. Which should be around an hour or a little longer. Watch carefully by eye, particularly if you don't have an accurate oven thermometer.  

Spicy Garlic Lamb and Spinach

Ground minced lamb which had been browned and then simmered under glass for two hours. Then I added diced mushrooms, lamb stock, oregano, and two bay leaves. Then simmered again under glass for another 45 minutes, with some onion gravy granules. I added diced spinach leaves and spring onion, plus half of a chopped yellow pepper. 

I added several crushed cloves of garlic, and a couple of red chillies, which I removed (along with the bay leaves) after an hour or so. 

Served with steamed potatoes (thirty minutes or so), and boiled podded peas. 

King Prawn Curry with Spinach

Prawn curry with spinach, with the basic recipe stolen from the 'Jono and Jules do food and wine' site. https://jonoandjules.com/2018/07/30/prawn-spinach-curry/

I skipped the extra sugar, and the coriander, but otherwise it is very similar. I created some creamed coconut, and mixed it all together with the Madras curry powder and the tomato puree. I added lots of diced spinach.

The rice was steamed earlier in the day, and spinach and the peas were added. The king prawns (from Vietnam) were added to the top of the steamed rice, and steamed once again for fifteen minutes.

Served with the tomato and curry salsa. Delicious!

Pollo Napolitano

Great Italian chicken dish, simmered very slowly under glass (for forty minutes) after sealing with a brief stir-fry, along with four cloves of garlic. I made the neapolitan salsa in the same pan, adding the various ingredients one by one (including the tomato puree), stirring frequently.

The peas were fresh from the Co-op, so I spent ten minutes or so extracting the peas from the pods. Cooked separately in salted water for ten to fifteen minutes under glass.

Utterly delicious meal! Often eaten with a dressing of grated Parmigiano Regiano (or some other Italian cheese), but the dish is fine all by itself. 

Smoked Haddock Risotto

Smoked Haddock, baked in the oven for sixteen minutes at 150 deg C. Broken up with a fork, and mixed with basmati rice and garden peas, stir-fried in a little olive oil.
 

Breaded Haddock Fillets

My favourite way of serving shop bought breaded fish fillets, whether cod, haddock, basa fish, etc. Really easy to prepare. 16 to 18 minutes in a roasting tray on the middle shelve of an oven preheated to 180 deg C. The (semi-skinned) potatoes were boiled for twenty minutes on the hob, These peas came from a can, and were heated in a small saucepan. Served with a little black pepper.

 

Cumberland Sausage, with Peas and Chopped Tomato

A relatively simple winter dish, made with Cumberland sausage, peas, tomato, and a pork-flavoured onion gravy.

I used to love Cumberland sausage, because it was loaded with herbs, and the flavour infused the added gravy. You have to be careful about your choice of sausages now, because most manufacturers use fewer herbs.Which is why I added extra Sage to this dish. The coiled ones are probably best. 

The sausages were cooked at a medium heat for about twenty-five minutes, turning them every seven minutes or so. I made up the basis of the gravy in a jug (onion gravy granules and the stock). All cooked together in a separate pan. I added the chopped tomato and the peas. Cooked under glass for another twenty minutes. Delicious!

 

 

 

Haggis in the Neolithic

Hard to know a lot of things about Neolithic culture. However the cooking strategies that we know about point to a way of cooking and eating which tell us how they might have prepared various dishes. Modern haggis in Scotland is made to be cooked in boiling water, as it was in the neolithic. Some of us now steam it instead, along with the vegetables which traditionally accompany the dish (turnip or swede, and potato). I commit heresy by adding mashed carrot to the turnip, because it needs to be sweetened a little. 

There were no carrots available in the neolithic (they arrived with the Romans), and potatoes didn't arrive until after Columbus. So how did they eat haggis in the neolithic? The turnip was easily available, though not the most attractive root vegetable.. It needs to be sweetened. What they did have was pease pudding (essentially mushy peas). That adds sweetness to the dish. So this experimental dish may be close to how they actually served this food.  Absolutely gorgeous!.                                                      

 

 

Ham Hock with Peppers, Spinach and Rice

The first dish I made with the ham hock was a soup. Once it had cooled in the pan, I removed most of the fat from the suface, and spooned out some of the meat and vegetables (peas, leek and carrot). I added them to a flat pan with some lightly fried red and orange pepper strips, cooked in olive oil. Then I added two handfuls of undiced spinach leaves. Plus two squirts of tomato puree, and 200 mls of boiling water. 

The dish was allowed to simmer under glass for half an hour, after which the spinach shrivels (as it does). 

Served with basmati rice cooked in slightly salted water, and a little sage mixed through.

 

Ham Hock soup, with Leek and Peas

Ham hock soup, with leeks and garden peas. Utterly delicious. The ham was cooked for an hour and a half in water, and then I added a diced leek. Cooked for another hour, and then I added half a can of garden peas. Cooked for another forty-five minutes. No added salt, no added spices, no added stock. Just delicious as it is!
 

Haddock Risotto

 A delicious haddock risotto with turmeric basmati rice. Also includes half a red onion, a diced carrot, and a third of a courgette, cut into cubes, plus half a tin of garden peas, drained before serving. The rice was cooked for fifteen minutes, and the heat was turned off, and the peas added. The other vegetables were cooked in the base of a steamer for twenty minutes. The fish was the last thing to be cooked in a dish in the steamer (no more than fifteen minutes). Dressed in black pepper. No herbs, no stock. 

Salmon and Pollock Seafood Pie

A strightfowrard oven based meal.  A tray of fish pieces intended for a fish pie: I used the salmon and the pollock for this. Cooked on a base of julienned purple onion, in a wheat and milk sauce, dressed in fines herbes and vegetable stock. 

The fish base was covered in mashed and textured potato, mixed with salted butter, and cooked for at least an hour at 180 deg C on the middle shelf of the oven. Served with garden peas, cooked separately. 

As a Scot, I love fish food. It was a major part of our diet until recently. We've been favoured with ingredients and dishes from all over the world. I can live with all of it :-).

 

Ground Lamb, Sweetcorn and Ginger

Ground lamb cooked with onion or leek, peas and ginger. Plus diced garlic, and half a small tin of sweetcorn.

The lamb was browned for twenty minutes before the other ingredients were added.

 The ginger was diced, along with a clove of garlic. Added to the pot with the sweetcorn and peas, along with the diced onion. Cooked for another twenty minutes under glass. After that the tomato puree was added, along with some water.

Served with boiled rice, Chinese style (sticky enough to be picked up with chopsticks).

Minted Ground Lamb with Potato and Onion Patties

Ground lamb with potato and onion  patties.

The potato and onion patties were prepared under the grill, after having been steamed together for twenty five minutes. Then mashed together. Dressed in coriander leaf. I used a pastry cutter as a mould, which works really well.

The ground lamb was prepared in the usual way - browned in oil for twenty minutes or so. Along with diced leek. And dried mint.

After that the lamb was simmered in a lidded pot for an hour or more, with added tomato puree, some potato pieces, chilli, Tabasco sauce, coriander, oregano, plus vegetable and lamb stock, And green peas. 

Mince, Peas, and Potatoes

A traditional British dish, particularly liked in Scotland, where it is known as 'mince an' tatties'.

The mince was browned in a drizzle of sunflower oil for twenty minutes, beginning at a high heat before the heat being turned down. I added half a large leek, cut into strips lengthwise, and then diced. Stirred frequently, and cooked at a low heat for another twenty minutes. Often an onion is used instead of a leek.

After that boiling water was added to the pan, plus the beef stock. Allowed to simmer under glass for an hour or so, by which time the leek has begun to dissolve and thicken the dish (stirring will speed up this process).

Served with garden peas, and boiled potatoes (peeled red rooster potatoes in this case).

That's it. No herbs used at all. Sometimes diced carrot is added in addition to onion or leek.

Cauliflower Cheese Tray Bake

Cauliflower florets in a cheddar cheese sauce made with cornmeal.

The cornmeal, milk and cheese sauce was made first.

The chopped baby plum tomatoes, carrot, garden peas (from the pod), diced mushrooms were added to the cauliflower florets in a non-stick oven proof dish. The bubbling cheese sauce (100g of cheese) was poured over the top of the vegetables.

A further 150g of cheddar was grated over the top of the dish, spread as evenly as possible.

The oven was preheated to 190 deg C (about 25 minutes to wait) and the dish was placed on the middle shelf. Cook for at least 45 minutes, and judge by eye when it is ready.

Serve dressed with freshly ground black pepper. Delicious!

Pea and Ham Soup, with Kamut Grains

A traditional soup made with simple ingredients: freshly podded peas from Somerset, boiled in salted water. Cook for thirty minutes until soft, along with diced spring onion.

Add diced ham (almost any kind of ham will do) and vegetable stock. Add a handful of Kamut grains (adds flavour and acts as a thickener for the soup).

Simmer for at least half an hour before serving (an hour is good). The peas can be mashed, but the soup is fine without doing this.

Serve with black pepper. Good with buttered bread of any description.

Minestrone, with Yellow Peas and Coriander

A simple minestrone soup made with diced coriander, dried whole yellow peas (hydrated overnight), broken pasta, carrot, diced spring onion and dwarf beans, plus half of  a green pepper, a couple of squirts of tomato puree, and one clove of garlic.

Cooked for forty-five minutes under glass at a low heat. After which the herbs (basil, parsely and oregano) were added, along with the chicken and vegetable stock. I also added half a teaspoonful of fish sauce (Asian nam pla, which resembles the fish sauce used by the ancient Romans), and a few shakes of ground white pepper.

Simmered under glass for a further forty minutes or so, before serving.

Split Pea, Carrot and Leek Soup

A pretty straightforward soup along traditional lines - essentially a split pea and carrot soup.

All the vegetables were diced and boiled for about 35 minutes until tender. Then they were mashed, and then blended.

After that I added the chicken and vegetable stock, and the oregano.

Cooked for a further fifteen minutes, and ready to serve!