Baby Plum Tomato and Mustard Salad, with Carrot and Olives

Good to have occasional salads during winter (both vegetable and fruit varieties).Halved baby plum tomatoes, diced red pepper and garlic, in a mustard sauce of either American or German yellow mustard. I was looking for a courser Dijon mustard at first, but I settled on American mustard. The tomatoes were drizzled in Olive Oil before the mustard was added, along with a little salt and some basil. Allowed to stand for at least half an hour. 

A single carrot was batonned, and then blitzed for ten seconds in a Kenwood mini-chopper, along with coriander leaf and some tarragon. Served with stoned black olives, preserved in brine.  

Tarragon Chicken, with a Garlic and Tomato Salsa

Normally Tarragon chicken has a white sauce, suffused with tarragon. But sometimes, as here, it is served with a garlic and tomato salsa.

Diced white onion stir-fried in a little olive oil, along with six diced cloves of garlic, cooked at a medium heat. Allow to brown a little before adding the plum tomatoes and the juice. Break up the tomatoes with a spatula or fish slice. Add the vegetable stock. Stir together thoroughly. Allow to simmer under glass for between 45 minutes and an hour.

Once cooled the salsa was added to a casserole dish, and a teaspoonful of dried tarragon was shaken across it.

The roast chicken was cooked a couple of days ago. I added two chicken breasts from the fridge (with skin) to the casserole dish, and added a dusting of sea-salt to the skin, rubbing it in a little. Place the dish in the bottom half of the oven, preheated to 190 deg. C, and cook for thirty minutes.

Decant the chicken onto a serving plate, and spoon the garlic and tomato salsa on top. . Serve as is, or with some grated cheddar cheese, parmigiano reggiano cheese, or just black pepper.

Also a great dish served with a further dusting of tarragon, and green beans.

Beef Korma

Made with stir-fried beef strips, peas, scotch bonnet chilli, garlic, and a korma sauce made with turmeric, cream and ground coconut.

Cook the beef until it begins to brown, Add the chopped chilli (1 chilli should be enough) and the garlic. After a couple of minutes add some boiling water and the garden peas. Allow most of the water to evaporate.

You can make the korma sauce from scratch with the turmeric, cream, ground coconut, coriander leaf, and a little sugar (chopped dates are an alternative), or you can add a commercially available korma sauce. Add cumin if you like.

Cook for another seven minutes or so, stirring the mixture frequently.

Serve with boiled basmati rice.

Egg Noodles and Pork in Hoisin and Garlic Sauce

A really simple dish which can be prepared quickly. Roast pork from a carved joint cut into strips and stir-fried with garlic and chopped spring onion. Cook at a high heat until the pork begins to brown.

Turn down the heat, and add the hoisin and garlic sauce. Stir in thoroughly and simmer under glass for five minutes. After which it is ready to serve.

The egg noodles (Sharwoods) were prepared in slightly salted boiling water, for ten minutes or so, until soft.

The noodles can be drained and served as they emerge from the cooking pot, but they can also be stir-fried until crispy. A matter of choice.

Chestnut Smoked Gammon with Stewed Apples and Gravy

Gammon joint from Sainsbury's (1.5kg), roasted in the oven for 30 minutes for each 500g, plus another thirty minutes, with the kitchen foil removed. Sliced with an electric carving knife.

The gravy was made in a small saucepan with water, a teaspoonful of cornflour, and ham stock. Stir frequently while boiling from room temperature.

The apple was peeled, and I used a segment cutter to core it and make eight segments, which were then finely chopped. Cooked in another saucepan with a little water. Stir frequently, and mash with a spoon after five minutes or so, or a masher. Allow to cool.

The slices of gammon were placed in a flat lidded non-stick pan,  and the gravy was poured in. Cook slowly for twenty minutes, moving the contents of the pan around and turning the slices frequently.

Serve the ensemble with peeled boiled potatoes, batoned carrots, and fresh black pepper. Can also be served with cranberry or red currant sauce, instead of an apple sauce. Will serve 6 to 8 people. Simple and delicious!

Chicken in Hoisin Sauce with Garlic

A mixed pepper stir-fry, topped with roast chicken in a hoisin and garlic sauce. With green and white cabbage, white onion, shredded carrot, bean sprouts, and some finely chopped root ginger.

The pieces of chicken were placed in a bowl in a steamer, and steamed for ten minutes, then the sauce was stirred in, and then the lid of the steamer was replaced, and the combo was cooked for another ten minutes.

Which gave me time to cook the stir-fry in a wok, starting with the ginger in hot sunflower oil for a minute, and then the chopped peppers and other vegetables were added. I turned the heat down, and stir-fried for seven to eight minutes, stirring the contents of the wok with a bamboo paddle every thirty seconds or so.

decant the stir-fried vegetables onto the serving plate, and spoon the chicken pieces in the sauce on top. Delicious and quick!

Chicken with a Tomato and Blue Stilton Sauce

Stir-fried pieces of chicken breast, in a Stilton and tomato sauce, with onion, red and green pepper, mushroom, chicken stock, black pepper, organo, basil, and served with brocolli spears and potato waffles. 

The chicken stew was prepared first. Once stir-fried until golden brown, the chicken pieces were decanted into a pot with some water, the chicken stock and the tomato passata, into which around 100g of Blue Stilton cheese had been added in small pieces, and stirred for ten minutes until all of the cheese is dissolved. Then the vegetables were added as they were prepared, while the sauce simmered. Add black pepper and cook under glass for between thirty and forty-five minutes, at a low heat. 

The brocolli spears were steamed for ten minutes until tender, and the potato waffles were prepared in a toaster (three minutes). An easy and delicious meal!

Chicken with a Tomato and Blue Stilton Sauce

Vegetables in Hoisin & Garlic Sauce, with Crispy Noodles

Brocolli spears, chopped mushroom, red onion, red chilli, and bamboo shoots, in a hoisin and garlic sauce, served on a bed of crispy noodles. 

The vegetables were stir-fried in a little sunflower oil at a medium heat for about 15 minutes, until tender. Alternatively, the vegetables can be parboiled first, and the stir-fry time reduced. Then the sauce was added to the wok, and stirred in thoroughly to the vegetables. Allow to cook under glass for another four to five minutes. 

The crispy noodles were prepared first, by soaking in boiled water for five minutes. Drained, and allowed to dry a little. Then they were decanted into a wok brushed with sunflower oil at high heat until the underside of the noodles becomes crispy (check by turning at the edges). Turn the noodles over several times over the next two minutes, then decant to the serving plate, and add the vegetables in the hoisin and garlic sauce. 

Vegetables in Hoisin & Garlic Sauce, with Crispy Noodles

Chicken in an Oyster and Spring Onion Sauce

A simple stir-fry dish, served with flat rice noodles (Blue Dragon brand). I chopped a breast of chicken into small strips and stir-fried them slowly for ten minutes at a medium heat, in a little bacon fat (sunflower oil will do instead, if you prefer). Then I added six sliced mushrooms and a handful of chopped green beans to the stir-fry. Cooked for another eight to ten minutes, stirring frequently. The oyster and spring onion sauce came from Aldi, who do a small range of stir-fry sauces. Cooked for another four or five minutes before serving. 

The rice noodles take eight minutes to cook, unless you intend to add them to the stir-fry, in which case they should be cooked for around six minutes. 

Chicken in an Oyster and Spring Onion Sauce 

Omelette, with Belly Pork and Churrasco Salsa

A simple omelette made with thin strips of grilled belly pork, green pepper, and shredded tomato. The belly pork and the vegetables were stir-fried for three to four minutes in a saute pan, with some churrasco salsa. I prepared two large eggs in a bowl, and beat them together for a minute. Once the vegetables were piping hot, I added the beaten eggs to the saute pan, and covered it with glass, and turned down the heat. The omelette was cooked until the top side was firm (effectively cooked by steam and the temperature inside). The omelette was not turned over. 

Served with white pepper on a spiral of churrasco salsa. 

Omelette, with Belly Pork and Churrasco Salsa

Hoisin Chicken

Hoisin sauce is a thick sauce often used in Chinese cuisine as a glaze for meat, for stir fries (as here), or as dipping sauce. It is dark in appearance with a sweet and salty taste. There are of course regional variants across the vastness of China, but hoisin sauce usually includes soy beans, ketchup, maple syrup, red chillies and garlic. I bought mine ready made from the local Aldi store (cheap and ready to go). 

This is a very simple dish to prepare.  Cut breast of chicken into chunks and stir fry in sunflower oil at a medium heat until the chunks begin to go golden brown (twelve to fifteen minutes depending on the heat applied). After around seven minutes I added chopped spring onion to the chicken. Stir often to prevent burning. 

Add the hoisin sauce to the wok, and stir in thoroughly. Cook for three to four minutes at a medium heat. Serve with boiled basmati rice. Delicious!

Hoisin Chicken

Venison Sausage in a Red Currant Sauce

Low fat venison and pork sausages in a red currant sauce, served with boiled swede and potato, and a parsley garnish.

The sauce was made with cornflour and water, with some pork stock, which was boiled until it thickened. The red currant component came from a jar of red currant jelly - two teaspoonfuls of it. The dish has a delicious combination of flavours.

Venison Sausage in a Red Currant Sauce

Chorizo with Penne Pasta and a Cheese Sauce

Sliced chorizo sausage, with penne pasta, chopped chestnut mushrooms, chopped red pepper, in a cheddar cheese sauce. Serve with lots of freshly ground black pepper.

Chorizo with Penne Pasta and a Cheese Sauce

Whiting Fillet, with Roast Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

Leftover boiled potatoes brushed in sunflower oil and roasted in the oven for twenty five minutes at 180 deg. C. Whiting brushed in sunflower oil and lemon juice,  and roasted in the oven for fifteen minutes at 180 deg. C. Sprouts cooked in the steamer for fifteen minutes. Serve with tartare sauce, or just as it is.

Whiting Fillet, with Roast Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

Roast Gammon in a Sherry and White Wine Sauce

Sliced Roast Gammon joint, in a sherry and white wine sauce, flavoured with a hint of mace. Served with green beans and roasted parsnip. I had this today and it was delicious! No herbs, no pepper. Just the sauce, which was thickened with a smidgin of cornflour.

  

Roast Gammon in a Sherry and White Wine Sauce

Green Bean and Lentil Soup

Chopped green beans and a chopped head of celery blended together. Red lentils added and simmered for 45 minutes. Blended again, with organic chicken stock, a dash of Worcester sauce, and a pinch of Tarragon. Black pepper to taste. Delicious lukewarm.

Green Bean and Lentil Soup

Pork fillets in a mustard and black pepper sauce.

 Pan-fried pork fillets, with a sauce made with blended carrot, onion, mustard powder, freshly ground black pepper, fresh coriander, paprika, thyme and rosemary.

Pork fillets in a mustard and black pepper sauce.

Beef in black pepper sauce

Beef in black pepper sauce, with fried mushrooms and Spanish onion.

Beef in black pepper sauce (May 2013)