Bistec Encebollado – Steak & Onions

This is a spectacularly easy to prepare and nourishing one pot recipe. Perfect for the autumn nights ahead of us. A beef and onion casserole is easily transformed into something far more exciting with a quick- Puerto Rican inspired - sprinkling of spices.
The main reason this is a 'keeper' though is the convenience factor. Combine the meat and marinade ingredients the night before cooking or in the morning before work and leave in the fridge. On returning home pour contents into a large heavy based pan, add the stock and cook. Simple.
The cut of steak used is entirely your choice. Though I prefer to use a cheaper cut for this dish such as a shoulder steak.
This recipe calls for 'Sazon' seasoning which is a Hispanic seasoned salt, not readily available in the UK, so I make up my own batch. It's good flavoursome stuff and I'm keeping the remainder for future use. The recipe for the seasoning comes first.

Sazon seasoning (alternative)
Ingredients-
1 tbs salt
1 tbs ground black pepper
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tbs ground coriander
1 tbs ground cumin
1 tbs oregano 
2/3 tbs bright red paprika
Combine all the ingredients and store in an air tight container.


 Bistec Encebollado
Ingredients-
900g (2lbs) beef steak, sliced thinly across the grain
60ml olive oil
60ml distilled white vinegar
pinch of oregano 
1 1/2 tsp of home made Sazon seasoning 
5 cloves of garlic, crushed and roughly chopped
2 large onions, sliced into rings 
400ml beef (chicken or vegetable will do too) stock
1 bay leaf
Seasoning
1. Place the beef in a Tupperware box and drizzle over it the oil and vinegar. Next sprinkle in the oregano, Sazon seasoning, garlic and the onion rings. Cover and refrigerate over night or for at least 4 hours.
2. Heat a large casserole dish or heavy bottomed pan on a high flame. Add the beef and marinade to the pan, stir and cook for 4 minutes whilst making up the stock. Pour in the stock and add a bay leaf to the pan. Bring the stock to a boil then turn the heat right down and cover the pan. Cook for 50 minutes. Season to taste.
Serve with rice, lime wedges and a scattering of coriander leaves. Provide some 'hot sauce'.

So good- I started eating before I took the picture! 

Kadhai Murgh

This is 'Kadhai' (Kar-a-he) Chicken, which means its a curry made in a big cast-iron pan called a 'Kadhai', but you can use a well seasoned wok, or a large non-stick lidded pan. 

  

Serves 4 

Main ingredients

-1kg chicken breast or boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I prefer it with thigh meat)- cut into 1 inch pieces

-3 tablespoons oil

-1 medium onion - very finely chopped

-5 cloves of garlic - peeled and very finely chopped 

- 1 1/2 inch piece of ginger - peeled and very finely chopped 

- 1 1/4 teaspoon salt

-1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 

-3/4 teaspoon turmeric

- 6 tablespoons natural yoghurt

- 8 tablespoons tomatoes- chopped finely

for the final flavouring:

-big hand full of fresh corriander leaves - chopped 

-2-3 hot green chillies - either chopped if you like it hot, or just peirced a few times and left whole

- 1 teaspoon garam masala

- 7 table spoons fresh tomatoes chopped finely

Heat oil in your pan over a medium-high flame. When oil is hot put in onion, Garlic and ginger. Stir-fry for about 4-5 minutes or until golden brown. 

Add the salt, Cayenne pepper and turmeric. Stir once or twice, then put in the chicken. Stir and fry until the chicken pieces turn opaque on the outside. 

Add the Yoghurt and tomato. Stir and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the yoghurt mostly disappears. 

Cover and cook on a medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, stir now and then to avoid sticking. 

Stir in the final flavouring ingredients, cover again and reduce the heat right down low and cook for a further 3 minutes.  

Serve with boiled rice, chappaties or some nan. 

Salmon in a light, fragrant broth

Ingredients

•400ml/14fl oz chicken or vegetable stock

•3 Kaffir lime leaves

•1 small onion or 3 shallots, peeled, finely sliced

•1 mild red chili, finely sliced

•4 big Chestnut mushrooms or preferably 100g oyster or fresh shiitake, finely sliced

•Half a Red or Yellow Pepper, sliced

•1 tsp caster sugar

•vegetable oil for frying

•2 lightly smoked salmon fillets, With or without skin

•sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

•2/3 inches of cucumber chopped lengthwise into thick matchsticks or 100g/3½oz baby spinach leaves

•1 tbsp Thai fish sauce

•1 tbsp fresh lime juice

•sesame seed oil

•handful of chopped coriander


1.Pop the oven on full whack. Bring chicken stock to the boil in a saucepan, I used 1 chicken stock cube. Add the Kaffir lime leaves, the sliced onion, chili, mushrooms, pepper slices and sugar. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and simmer for ten minutes with the lid on. Add the cucumber/Spinach in the last few minutes.

2.In the meantime, heat a little oil in a non-stick frying pan. Fry the salmon fillets, skin-side down if they have skin on them, on a low heat for a total of about 5 minutes. Then remove from the pan and place on a baking tray brush the tops with a little of the oil from the pan and sprinkle with some rock salt and black pepper and stick in the pre-heated oven for ten minutes. Place required amount of plates in the oven for the last minute.

3.Stir fry easy cook Noodles in the pan that contained the Salmon, as per the pack
instructions (You could use boiled rice). Remove from the pan and place on one of the pre-heated plates. With a slotted spoon and arrange the vegetables from the broth pan over the Noodles/Rice. Place the salmon on top.

4.Add the fish sauce and lime juice to the broth, stir, and spoon it over and around the salmon. Serve after drizzling with a little sesame oil, seasoning and sprinkling with chopped coriander.

London trip March / April 2010
I've been in London for the last few days over the Easter bank holiday, visiting my 'folks' and seeing my brother and sisters. I'm on the train, on the way back to the little grey city in the sky (it might as well be celestial, considering how far away everyone thinks it is), drinking copious amounts of bad coffee and eating far to many of the free biscuit things you get in first class. 

I'm feeling a little melancholy, I had such good time seeing everyone.
One night we went for a movie and dinner at the O2 arena (that's the 700 Million pound tent that we built to celebrate the millennium). It has a decent enough cinema inside and we choose after a lot of deliberation (AND QUEUING) to watch Kick Ass. A decent enough film. Terribly violent and funny, a perfect mix. Hungry, after the movie, we decided to go to the conveyor-belt sushi restaurant Wasabi. It was not so decent. The sushi was cold and tasteless, the service rotten. My sister refused to eat the Noodles that she had ordered from the hot food menu. I don't think I will be a return customer.
As horrified as I was with the dinning experience at the O2, visiting my eldest sister at her new home in Aylsbury was a sure way to (partially) erase the sadness of sub par Japanese cuisine. I had two fantastic meals here, a hearty lamb stew and a snazzy grilled chicken lunch. Oh and then there was my niece. I had so much fun with her!
Here are a few pictures from my trip:

Uncle Ballal and Niece Nusaiba go to the farm:

Quick 'mamoo Billy' I don't trust them behind me.

"quick before the lama notices me?" Ferreting about

The golden bunnie

Can we go now please...

Me, Maa, Moo and Uman:

Lobster with Lemon Risotto

I wont be leaving a recipe here, this was my first attempt at using lobster and as successful as I think it was I have no point of reference as the last time I had lobster in a restaurant was years ago (I've still not visited either Silver Darling or Bistro Verde). Also much to my shame it was a ready cooked lobster and not a live one. Next time I will definitely be using fresher produce! My risotto was good but that was a bit of a cheat as I used a company that have the flavorings added in the rice, in this case lemon peel , black pepper and a number of other herbs.

Here are some picture:

Lemon Meringue Pie.

Ingredients:

125g soft salted butter, 6tsp water / 1tsp lemon juice mixed, 200g plain flour, Grated zest of 1 small orange

Juice of 2 good lemons + 350ml cold water, 3 eggs, 120g sugar, 45g corn flour, 200-250g caster sugar.

Method:

1. To make the pastry: beat the butter with an electric hand mixer. Beat in the lemon juice mixture (1 teaspoon at a time). Sift in all the flour and mix well. Bring together into a smooth lump of dough.

2. Roll the pastry out onto a floured surface and line a 22cm flan dish. Prick the base and bake blind at 180 degrees Celsius for 15 – 20 minutes till crisp but not too brown. When baked leave to cool for 30 minutes.

3. Place the lemon juice in a jug and make it up with water to 350ml.
4. Separate the egg whites and yolks, putting the yolks in a small bowl.
5. Add sugar and corn flour to egg yolks in bowl and blend in water/lemon juice. Make sure there are no lumps.

6. Pour into this mixture into the pan and bring to the boil, stirring until it has thickened.

7. Allow to cool for a few minutes.
8. Pour the lemon filling into the flan dish. Place in a cool place until the meringue is made.

9. Whisk the egg whites till firm peaks form. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of caster sugar till firm (2 to 5 minutes) then add a tablespoon at a time whisking for at least 1 minute after each addition.

10. Swirl or pipe the meringue on top of the lemon mixture. Sprinkle with a little caster sugar and bake in the oven at 150 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 120 degrees Celsius for a further 20 minutes until the meringue is crisp but not too brown.

11. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes (preferably 1-2 hrs), before serving.

Make perfect rice

Say good bye to Uncle Ben, I'm sure he's a pleasant enough feller, but you really ought to be able to cook up a batch of boiled white rice by now! Its quick and more economical than buying packets of microwave rice and besides what do you do if your ever caught in a rice emergency and all you have are loose rice grains!?

Being a big rice eater and not and not being big on measuring (hence the lack of baked good on this blog) I can now perfect rice with my own approximations, but to help you out I have weighed and measured all the required amounts.

Plain Boiled Rice
Basmati rice (or other long grain white rice) 200g
Water 400ml
pinch of salt

1)Wash rice in the cooking pot (one with a tight fitting lid) with cold water a couple of times, until the water is noticeably less cloudy. Drain all the washing water.
2) Take the rice to the hob and add your measured water to the rice. I have found that your water should cover the rice and rise about a 1-2cm above your rice. 3)Bring the water to a boil on a medium to high heat this may take about 2-3 minutes give the rice a good stir to make sure it is not sticking to the pan. Don't stir too much or you will break up your rice and cause more starch to be released.
when the water is boiling quickly pop the pans lid on and immediately turn the heat down to its lowest setting. Leave the rice in the pot, lid unmoved for 12 minutes.
4) When the time is up turn the hob off and tilt the pan lid to let some steam out of the rice, you can also now gently separate the rive with a fork.
Done.
Note: This quantity of rice give me enough for two hungry people.
In Chinese the word for food is the same as their word for rice
Rice is the main food for half the population of the world
Rice is grown in over 100 countries and every continent except Antarctica
96% of the worlds rice is eaten in the area where it is grown

My clever neice singing... well sort of!

Halloween Cupcakes

There's been a bit of an explosion in the popularity of cupcakes at the moment. Walk past any bakery worth its salt and you will see the most immaculately decorated, minuscule, cakey, bakey delights in pride of place on display. There's nothing wrong with a cupcake so much so that hundreds of the little treats have been used by some to replace a traditional wedding cake! The best part about baking cupcakes is the decorating; I could go wild if let loose with a spatula and some icing so having a theme helped hone it in a little! though you might disagree! (Pumpkins! If only I had found that orange food dye)

CUPCAKES
Makes 12
4oz/115g butter, at room temperature
4oz/115g caster sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
half tsp vanilla extract
4oz/115g self-raising flour Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/gas mark 3. Line a 12-hole cupcake tin with paper cases.
In the food processor or a tabletop mixer, beat the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth.
Turn off the motor and add the flour. With the pulse button, or brief bursts of the beater, mix the flour in, stopping as soon as it is blended.
Divide the mixture between the paper cases.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and springy to the touch.
(recipe from the Times)

ITS BAKING MONTH!
Lemon Meringue Pie
Rolo Brownies
Cup cakes

Recipes to follow!

Sticky Chicken Drumsticks with Home made Baby Potato Cajun Wedges!

What you need for the chicken:
Drumsticks
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp tomato purée
1 tbsp Dijon mustard

Mix together the wet ingredients till you get a nice thick sauce. Make 2-3 slashes on each of the drumsticks and then pour the marinade over the chicken. Coat thoroughly and then leave to marinade for 30 minutes or overnight (in the fridge).

When ready to cook preheat the oven to 200c and place the chicken into a roasting tray and cook for 35 minutes turning occasionally.
Thats the chicken, feel free to add some cloves of garlic around the roasting chicken if you like or some ginger syrup into the marinade.

For the Cajun wedges:

Baby potatoes

Pinch salt
Cajun spice mix 2 table spoons

2 Tbs olive oil (or garlic oil)

Bring a pot of water to the boil and add a pinch of salt. Boil the potatos for 10-15 minutes until tender and then drain. On a clean board cut the potatoes in to halves length ways. Put potatoes back into empty pot and pour over the oil, cover the pan and shake lighlty until all the potatos are coated then remove lid and sprinkle over the Cajun spice mix. Topple wedges on to a backing tray and bake in the oven at 200c for 30-40 minutes. Check midway between cooking and give them a light shake about.

Another family visitor; that's five down and two to go! This time I had my youngest sister (Mina) over, shes been to Aberdeen before but this time she was here for a little longer. We ate out in Aberdeen a couple of times Yatai is one of my favourite Japanese restaurants and I highly recommend it: http://www.yatai.co.uk/Yatai_-_Aberdeens_Japanese_Restaurant/Home.html

We also had lunch at Soul (333 Union Street, Aberdeen) a former church with original stain glass windows is a good lunch spot, thought the staff aren't great!
One night we got fish and chips from the 'famous' Hilton chipper. I dont make it a habbit to get my tea from a chipper, but if the mood ever does occour this one is the BEST!
"Hilton Road chipper just down fae the six roads is one of the best chippers around mmmmmm....fine"
"The rosehill chipper in its hey-day was suuuuperb, but the back hilton chipper gets my vote..."

"Hilton Road Chipper [was my favurite] when I used to live in Aberdeen, top stuff there"
Just some views on Chip shops from the unofficial Dons Website!

But my favourite part of the visit was our day trip to Glasgow.

We made a real crappy video diary of the day, so have a watch!

What do you do with a few left over strawberries and a ripe banana?

Strawberry's. Banana chopped. Brown sugar. Double cream. Milk. Whizz. Vanilla ice cream.

Strawberry milkshake done!

Pan fried chicken pasta with feta

I wasn't even going to put this recipe on the blog but have just put my fork down and reconsidered!

Its really good, perfect combination and so simple. Though I reckon you could play about with it a little; I might add juicy sun-blush to this next time.

for 1-2

cooking oil

2 garlic cloves

chicken breast

butter

rosemary

rock salt

salad onion x2

red chili chopped

good hand full mange-tout (or runner beans)

hand full of salad leaves (rocket and water cress)

whole grain Mezze Maniche pasta (big penne)

extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

cubed feta cheese

olives marinated in parsley oil (optional)

Cook pasta according to pack instructions.

Heat some cooking oil in a pan on a medium-low heat and infuse the garlic in the oil for a few minutes. Season the chicken breast lightly and then fry for 5-6 minutes then turn over and cook on the other side for 5-6 minutes. You can make a slit through the breast if it is very thick to check for pinkness. Towards the end of the cooking time add a few nobs of butter to the pan, basting the meat with the oil and butter. Remove from the pan when golden in colour.

Adding a little more butter to the pan if needed fry they salad onions the chopped chili rosemary and mange-tout. Stir fry quickly on a medium high heat for 3-4 minutes, until the beans are tender.

Drain the pasta and drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over the top and then add to the pan with the beans. Season with a little rock salt and pepper. Cut the chicken into little pieces and add them to the pan as well. Toss and combine together before carefully mixing in the salad leaves. Turning the heat right down cover the pan for about 3-4 minutes letting the salad wilt a little.

Remove the covering and toss-in the feta cheese and olives if using. Serve in warm bowls.

Nasi Goreng

What's the different between prawns and shrimps? There's apparently an international debate on this point: http://www.biology-online.org/biology-forum/about1016.html

What ever you want to call them I brought a pack of our curly pink friends, a big pack of the small variety not normally known to produce as spectacular a result as their much bigger full-bodied cousines/friends/brothers/sisters? But they were perfect for this very quick and no-fuss recipe.

This Indonesian meal is traditionally eaten at breakfast in the far east. I wont be giving up my Cheerios just yet; I love to eat this dish served with some pickled beet root and a variety of chilly sauces!
 Edit *Nasi Goreng paste of a good standard is available in most regular supermarkets now. Substitute it with the red Thai curry paste if you like and then also miss out the Oyster sauce using 2 teaspoons of fish sauce instead.* 

cooking oil

2 eggs (whisked)

2 salad onions chopped

2 cloves garlic
1 chicken breast sliced thinly 

small courgette -chopped into fingers 

pepper chopped

small pack -mange tout

half Cucumber chopped into 1 inch pieces 

red Thai curry paste 2-4 table spoons (brought or your own)

small cooked prawns 200-250g

juice from half lime + wedges to serve

2/3 table spoons fresh coriander

Left over boiled rice (I cooked my rice with peas)

2 table spoons soy sauce

1 table spoon oyster sauce 

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1) Heat some oil in a large non stick pan and add the whisked egg. swirl around the pan so you get a thin layer of the egg, cook until just set then flip over for 30 seconds. Remove from the pan roll up and chop into ribbons.

2) Add a little more oil to the pan and when hot fry the chicken until just sealed. Add the chopped spring onions and garlic, after a few minutes of frying on a medium high heat add the curry paste, frying for a few seconds before adding the courgette and pepper pieces. Stir fry on a medium high heat until the vegetables are just nearly cooked (4-5 min) then add the mange tout, the prawns and the rice to the pan; shake and stir the pan until everything in mixed.

3) Pour in the soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame seed oil and squeeze in the lime juice. Scatter on the coriander and cucumber pieces.
Serve in big bowls with the ribbons of omelet strewn on top and a slice of lime.  

Peppered Tuna stake with Mash and Oriental vegetables.
I really enjoy tuna steaks, firm, meaty and very easy to cook. A very sensible choice for the rushed cook, tune steaks cook well on a griddle or simply fry in a pan with a little oil just searing the outside so that you don't dry the fish out.
For this recipe:
First drop two large, skinned and chopped potatoes into a pan of salted boiling water and cook until soft (12-15 minuted).
Grind pepper corns on to a plate until it is lightly covered, then place the tuna steaks (brushed with a little light olive oil), on to the ground pepper until they are covered also sprinkle over a pinch of ground salt. Place a pan with a little oil in it on a medium high flame and add the steaks when the oil is heated. Cook this way for 2-3 minutes each side until the pink flesh has just disappeared.

Prepare the mash; Drain the potatoes when soft, snip into the pan two spring onions and some salt and pepper. Next add about 25g of butter and a little milk. Mash.
I made a little oriental style dressing to drip over the asparagus that I served with the tuna (you could use broccoli or green beans instead), by stirring together a little soy sauce, oyster sauce and garlic olive oil.