Chicken Biryani

I am reminded today why I try not to do any shopping above the necessary on a Saturday as to get half a dozen items from the supermarket costs me half an hour. Arriving home a little annoyed my bare knuckles smarting a little from the biting wind, I put together a simple Chicken Biryani to warm from the inside out; quite a change from most days this week, how fickle the mood of an English Spring. Despite a childhood hatred of peas, I respect them in this context where they provide pockets of sweet relief against the spicy hotness of the chicken and rice.

Chicken biryani

 

Viking Fish and Chip Shop, Cambridge

Friday. On my cycle home I pass through a short, intense patch of air laced with the smell of battered fish and chips frying, the scent equivalent of a fog bank before emerging a few moments later back into the clear air. A cup of tea and a rumble of a stomach later, I find myself back at the Viking Fish and Chip Shop, threading myself between the parked cars on the forecourt and joining the queue of hungry punters for a regular Fish and Chips. The décor of the place has not changed since the 1980's and it has the character of a housing estate takeaway, albeit a good one. The standard is not of that found at the seaside joints, like those found in Wells-next-the-Sea (sic) for example, but it is decent. I eat hungrily straight from the paper it was wrapped in.

Fish and chips

 

Lazy Pizza

Exactly as the title. Pizza. Out of the freezer, into the oven and into my mouth 20 minutes later. Still better than yesterday's fish pie.

Pizza

 

d'Arry's, Cambridge

Dinner out this evening after a long day trussed up in a suit at a recruitment assessment centre, as a friend and I stroll into town and to d'Arry's on King Street. It's a warm night but it's absolutely balmy in the restaurant, tropical almost and with a view into the kitchen I feel for the staff in there, it must affect them.
I've previously been here for lunch but not for dinner and have always found the decor welcoming, there are plenty of woods and reds with empty bottles of wine on the walls illustrating their links with the beverage; all of it is lit to complement that style. I like it's two-level layout and intimate tables near the bar to allow for those who only want to take on a tipple from one of the good selection of wines you can have by the glass.
We share a bottle of South African Malbec Rose and some bread and olives while we wait for our food and... it's a big disappointment I'm afraid. The bread and olives are decent but unfortunately my fish pie is not very good. It comes with an overly large pile of rocket leaves masquerading as a salad and a fish pie in a round, white ceramic dish that consists of random chunks of oddly shaped seafood in a bland white sauce which is too runny. And this is covered in actually quite greasy melted cheese. My general rule of thumb for choosing a dish in a restaurant is to pick a dish a can't do better myself at home. Sadly this is not the case here.

Spaghetti

Lazy eating today; my effort only stretches as far as defrosting a portion of Bolognese sauce to have with my Spaghetti and a liberal topping of grated Parmesan cheese. Real lazy. I did toy with ordering pizza, but my sin today is sloth not gluttony! A Tuesday 2-for-1 deal would be too much on a warm, appetite sapping day such as today.

Spaghetti

A Summer Classic

18 degrees Celsius, next to no wind and cloudless blue skies is what it has been for the past few days. If that's not a description of an ideal early summer in England then I don't know what is, everyone is taking advantage of the weather and so do I with the summer classic of... Sausage, Egg and Chips. Only joking. It's my idea of a satisfying dinner at any time of the year...

Sausage, egg and chips

Chicken Noodle Soup

Leftover roast chicken is a wonderful asset to have of a weekend, perfect for a midnight snack, Club sandwiches at lunchtime and this evening for Chicken Noodle Soup. I don't have the green leafy vegetables which I'd like for this or the shreds of spring onion, but I make do with some carrot and add sliced chilli and soy sauce. The result looks quite shoddy but tastes just fine to welcome in British Summer Time.

Chicken noodle soup

 

Roast Chicken

I know, I know, it's a Saturday and what kind of person has Roast Chicken on a Saturday? Me, that's who. I was actually more thinking of a Club Sandwich while perusing Cupboard Love and having got all the ingredients together I thought it to be a touch wasteful to roast a whole chicken and allowing the whole thing to cool completely, just for the benefit of a sandwich as the book advocates, hence my Saturday roast.
I smear the bird with thyme butter and sprinkle with salt before inserting half a lemon into the cavity. Roast potatoes are mandatory and I make a tasty lemon and thyme infused gravy by deglazing the cooking dish. The chicken is moist and tasty with enough leftovers for those Club Sandwiches later.

Roast chicken & roast potatoes just out of the oven

Roast chicken plated up with gravy

 

Potato Omelette (with Stilton)

Dear Spanish classicists,
Please accept my sincere apologies for the addition of Stilton to a classic Spanish dish. It was the logical thing to do, adding it to the omelette, as there were some minor chunks left in the fridge. I'm sure you'll agree that making efficient use of everything is a necessity in these straitened economic times.
Please be comforted that everything else about the dish was as authentic as I could get it, for example, I steeped the softened onions in the beaten eggs before adding the sliced cooked potatoes. I cannot promise it won't happen again, the Potato Omelette (with Stilton), but I think we can all agree it's better to be unauthentic and homemade than processed and endorsed by somebody we think of as a stereotype of a nationality (Frankie Dettori).

Yours,
The Anglian Eater

Potato omelette (with Stilton)

Italian Meatball Sandwich

Remember those Italian patties from Tuesday? The whole pack of mince was not made of patties; half of it went towards meatballs which I have today in an Italian Meatball Sandwich. Perhaps I'm watching too much Man v. Food at the moment where the main protagonist tends to eat a lot of this kind of fayre, however, I resist the temptation to make it into an outrageous Goliath burger and instead have it in a toasted wholemeal roll with a squeeze of lemon, deli mayonnaise and lettuce.

Italian meatball sandwich

Onion and Stilton Tart

More pastry based shenanigans today, sweating off some finely sliced onions before spreading over a puff pastry sheet and tucking in thyme leaves and chunks of Stilton cheese. I've always found it amazing how an onion, so eye-wateringly harsh in it's raw form becomes sweet and comforting when cooked slowly. A sweet response to Stilton's salty call.

Onion and Stilton tart

 

Italian Pork Patties

Underneath yesterday's mystery stew in the freezer is this packet of pork mince with a use by date of 13 Jan. 2012 I presume, so I'd better use it. The mellow springtime air leads me to light Italian Pork Patties with a salad. I use this recipe substituting the parsley for thyme, which I think goes better with the subtle lemon flavours infused in the patty. After eating I feel fine; no ill effects just yet...

Italian pork patty

 

I can't remember what this is...

You know when something in the freezer loses it's label and you can't remember what it is? I'm in that situation today. So let's see... The meat is chunky so it's probably a stew of some kind, there are clearly carrots involved, another stew staple and mushrooms. Mushrooms. They usually pair with beef. This must be a Beef Casserole! I wish I'd though of this before making the accompanying couscous...

This is a...

Leek, Bacon and Stilton Tart

How long can you leave meat for once you've opened the packet? The bacon from Friday has not yet turned ominously but give it another day... I decline to give it the chance and use the pan fried fat of the bacon to sauté some finely chopped leeks and spread it all on a rectangle of puff pastry with some generous crumbs of Stilton cheese and leaves of thyme. Twenty minutes later and the softened leeks manfully stand up to the task of blending with the twin salt sources of the bacon and cheese. The Leek, Bacon and Stilton Tart is an excellent match for ale, in this case Oxford Gold.

Leek, bacon and Stilton tart

Beef and Guinness Stew

How can you not have Guinness or something containing it on St Patrick's Day? Today's dinner is Beef and Guinness Stew which contains the following ingredients:

• 1 pack of braising beef (400g);
• 1 stick of celery;
• 1 leek;
• 1 onion;
• 1 carrot;
• 2 garlic cloves;
• 1 bottle of Guinness Stout (330ml);
• 1 beef stock cube;
• 1 large sprig of thyme;
• flour; and
• salt and pepper.

The method for this is extremely simple, firstly I dice the beef and dust in seasoned flour, before browning in an ovenproof pan.

1. Browning the beef

While the beef browns I preheat the (fan) oven to 160 degrees Celsius and roughly chop all the veg apart from the garlic cloves which I crush. Next I set aside the beef and brown the veg for a short while in the same pan.

2. Browning the veg

Following that I return the beef to the pan with the veg and add the Guinness, stock cube and thyme. I also add enough water to just cover the ingredients at this point and bring everything to the boil while stirring.

3. Adding the Guinness

4. Adding the thyme and the stock cube

5. Topping up with water and stirring while bringing to the boil

I lid the pan before putting it in the oven and leaving well alone for at least 2 hours.

6. The stew served with new potatoes & green beans

After two hours the stew has a wonderfully velvety consistency as the meat falls apart when pushed with a fork. You can taste a slight bitterness from the stout, which may not be to everyone's taste; indeed I may add a little sugar or increase the carrot quotient (with it's natural sweetness) next time I make this.

Bacon and Fried Egg Roll

There was some discussion in the Guardian a couple of weeks ago about how to cook the perfect bacon sandwich. Frankly, I think a bacon sandwich is a bacon sandwich and there is no perfect version as such because everyone has their own particular preference as to how they like it. My way is to have 3 or 4 smoked back rashers in a freshly cooked, freshly cut, white crusty roll with brown sauce, traditionally HP Sauce. I'm a relatively recent brown sauce convert having previously always had tomato ketchup with such items such as bacon rolls. However, I have found that the rich tanginess of brown sauce is better suited to the saltiness of bacon rather than the sweet, vinegary quality which tomato ketchup brings. However, a Bacon and Fried Egg Roll this evening, leaves a slight dilemma - I go with tomato ketchup.

Bacon and fried egg roll

Maple Syrup and Chilli Salmon

Cooking a dish that you've half remembered from a magazine while pretending to be involved in a conversation is a probably a bad start to convincing dining, luckily it's only me having Maple Syrup and Chilli Salmon. I make a marinade of maple syrup, soy sauce and chilli sauce to spread over salmon fillets before cooling in the fridge for an hour.
I serve with roasted (only because I have the oven on for the fish anyway) new potatoes and a salad.
The first bite of the salmon reveals a surprisingly subtle sweetness with soy sauce bringing a certain depth and right at the end, a little chilli spice. This is actually very nice. Despite looking like it was bathed in Cola...

Maple syrup and chilli salmon

 

Lemon and Chilli Spaghetti

A simple Italian theme today with Lemon and Chilli Spaghetti. Spaghetti tossed in an dressing of lemon zest and juice, olive oil, grated Parmesan cheese, freshly chopped chilli, salt and pepper. A scatter of steamed sugarsnap peas lie on top.
Whilst pottering around the kitchen I come across an unopened bottle of Guinness which gets me thinking about St Patrick's Day this coming Saturday...

Lemon and chilli spaghetti with sugarsnap peas

 

Summer Chicken and Basil Stew 2

Two days later after sitting in the fridge the Summer Chicken and Basil Stew is better. More flavour infused with a thicker consistency it has a beautiful quality that soaks wonderfully into hand-cut bread. The only component that waned after 48 hours and a reheating are the now limp basil leaves, but that's a small price to pay.

Summer chicken and basil stew

 

Chinese Pork Patties with Stir Fried Veg

Dinner with the Folks tonight and Mum goes Chinese of sorts and cooks spiced Chinese Pork Patties with Stir Fried Veg and plenty of rice. The patties are essentially a cross between a burger and a dumpling squashed into a wok under intense heat so that a crispy crust forms. Mum is a little disappointed with these as they're not as crunchy as they should be. More flour required next time apparently. She does two types, one plain and one in a sweet and sour sauce the latter of which has a pleasing tartness not found in the sickly concoctions of your local Chinese takeaway.

Chinese pork patties with stir fried veg

 

Summer Chicken and Basil Stew

A beautiful Spring day accompanies my drive from west to east today with hazy sunshine lighting the mild air; something of an early Summer feel to the day inspires me to make Summer Chicken and Basil Stew using this recipe.
Basil is a very delicate herb which I don't usually use, especially a whole packet worth (around 25 grams) like today, but it's light flavour does add that summery characteristic to the stew. However, for my taste it needs to be cooked for longer with a thicker consistency than I have here. I use Friday's remaining gnocchi to soak up the stew.

Summer chicken and basil stew

Party Food

I'll set the scene: The venue was a Scout Hut and there was cheesy music on a cheap stereo.
There were sandwiches made by somebody's mum, there was cheese and pineapple on sticks and there were slices of quiche.
There were marshmallows and jelly also.
My friend had quite a 30th birthday! Oh, there was a bouncy castle too.

Mustard Pork Chops

I seem to be bastardising other people's recipes a lot lately and it happened again today despite going to the supermarket earlier this evening with the express intention of picking up all the ingredients that I would need. Fail. It was supposed to be this recipe for Mustard Pork Chops, but I make the following substitutions:

• Out: garlic oil, In: olive oil;
• Out: grainy mustard, In: English mustard;
• Out: double cream, In: a little stirred in cornflour.

Strangely despite not being in the main ingredients list I manage to pick up the gnocchi which I have for the first time. Fact. The whole is very nice but you can see how the dish would benefit from some garlic flavours.

Mustard pork chops with gnocchi

 

Not-enough-rice Risotto

The intention here was to whip up a Prawn and Pea Risotto, but compared to when I made it last time, I don't have enough rice, just the bottom of the packet and no fresh parsley for garnishing. It still tastes good despite the proportions being wrong. There is one upside to today's dinner in that I use a slightly different technique for slicing the leeks, instead of rounds I cut them in half longitudinally before slicing finely. The result is that the leeks meld better into the mixture even though it's a Not-enough-rice Risotto.

Not-enough-rice risotto

 

Baked Pork Chops with Fennel and Leeks

I did a quiz today on British food thinking that I know at least something about this, more than your average surely, which is of course a build up for a fall. 7 questions and a pricking of the food knowledge ego later, I stare back at my final score of 3 out of 7. Utterly shambolic.
Anyway, today for dinner I have Baked Pork Chops with Fennel and Leeks. I soften thick slices of the vegetables in a frying pan before removing, turning up the heat and sealing the seasoned chops. On the way to the oven I add lemon juice, white wine and the veg to the frying pan and bake the lot for 15 minutes. The tastes here are quite soothing rather than searing, even though the lemon brings an acidity to the plentiful juice to be mopped up with a roll. The fennel brings mild anise, the leek mild onion, both pleasant and slightly unusual tastes to pair with pork.

Pork chops with fennel and leek

 

Chicken and Sweet Pepper

A food based chuckle from me at work today as my boss is talking about the various vegetables he grows on his allotment:

"We've only just finished last year's potatoes, it was a good season last year, but we're going to try something different this year, that Chinese vegetable... er, what's it called... Gok Wan... No, I mean Pak Choi."

I can't help but burst out laughing.
Today's dinner is ludicrously simple. Just 3 ingredients: Bread, Chicken and Sweet Pepper. This is one from The Flavour Thesaurus and involves cooking the chicken and peppers in a pan for a while until the peppers give up their juice and the chicken is pot roasted, around 30-40 minutes. I'm a  bit short on the sauce, but it does have the "rich complexity" that is frankly unbelievable for just two ingredients.

Chicken and sweet pepper

 

Roast Chicken Leg and Spring Onion Couscous

The Traditional Sunday Roast is late by a day, though if this was 100% Traditional there would be not so subtle glances of horror, exhalations of disgust and tutting on what this world was coming to.

"Spring onion couscous? A salad? With roast chicken? Is NOTHING sacred?"

But clearly this is a Monday and nobody cares for my Roast Chicken Leg and Spring Onion Couscous.

Roast chicken leg with spring onion couscous

Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe

There is famously no definitive recipe for Bolognese sauce, though in 2010 there was some effort to define it; however many edible variations exist, including the Guardian's perfect recipe. I've based today's dinner on this recipe in the Telegraph.


My Ingredients for Spaghetti Bolognese:

• Olive oil;
• 180g of lardons (1 pack);
• 1 chopped onion;
• 3 crushed cloves of garlic;
• 500g of beef mince (1 pack);
• 1 glass of red wine;
  
• 1 chopped carrot;
• 1 stick of chopped celery;
• 400g of chopped tomatoes (1 tin);
• Bay leaves;
• 1 small mug full of beef stock (using half a stock cube);
• 1 tablespoon of tomato puree;
• A dash of Worcestershire sauce;
• Grated Parmesan cheese and ground pepper to serve.

So this is what I did:

1. Brown the lardons in the oil

2. Soften the onion and garlic

3. Turn the heat up and brown the mince

4. Add the wine and reduce for 5 mins

5. Add the carrot, tinned tomatoes, celery, beef stock, tomato puree, bay leaves & Worcestershire sauce

6. Bring to the boil, cover & simmer for 1.5 hours

7. The consistency should be stew-like, not watery!

8. Serve with spaghetti, grated parmesan and pepper

Fried Egg Rolls

Oddly it was only once away from home that I realised that a fried egg has yolk and white separated when served rather than mixed together like an omelette. My Mum (of Chinese origin) always insisted on whipping them together and cooking it speedily. Usually in a wok.
So how to keep the yolk and white separate and cook the top of the egg? Until today I had used the technique of flicking the hot oil in the pan onto the top of the egg, which resulted in moon-shaped fried eggs, due to the tipping of the pan to do this. Today, I cover the eggs with a saucepan lid until a whiteness comes over the yolk. These are more regular shaped and go into toasted rolls with ground pepper and tomato ketchup. Fried Egg Rolls.

Fried egg rolls

Grilled Pork Chop with Rice

A late dinner today after expending some willpower watching other people eat in the pub, knowing that a Grilled Pork Chop with Rice is awaiting me on my return. Cooking something rather more involved than sticking a pizza in the oven after the pub is always a bit more frenetic than normal with the extra urgency to sate the hunger, which can sometimes lead to utter disasters. Not on this occasion as I continually remind myself to keep a watchful eye on the grill. I season with a dash of soy sauce before eating in front of QI.

Grilled pork chop with rice

Smoked Mackerel with Wilted Spinach

For me smoked mackerel has an association with childhood specifically for occasional Sunday breakfasts and for being pretty much the only other time, apart from barbecues, when my Dad would cook. Mum, rather ironically for she is a lover of belachan (the pungent Malaysian shrimp paste), refuses to have anything to do with smoked mackerel on account of it's strong taste, and would steadfastly stay in bed until the deed was done. My Dad, my sister and I, always had it slathered in tomato ketchup followed by a glass of orange juice to supposedly to negate the aftertaste.
Tonight, I take a very different tack and counterpoint the Smoked Mackerel with Wilted Spinach, the strong with the clean with a dousing of lemon juice and add the rest of yesterday's sugarsnap peas and some couscous for good measure.

Smoked mackerel with wilted spinach