Author: chezj9

Hi I'm Janine. I am the author of the blog ChezJ9. I am a freelance Chef who specialises in recipe development from my kitchen at home. I am also a freelance Food writer also. I love to travel and have a passion for Art and gardening especially in my kitchen one. I love ALL foods especially seasonal food and the provenance of my food is important to me aswell as trying to keep things local. One thing I don't like, is food waste. I try to be as Frugal as I can but also do love to have a treat now and then and a tipple of course.

Root Vegetable Samosas for BBC Radio Leicester’s Food Friday

April 9, 2015

We Love Indian food a great deal in our house and one thing we really like is a good tasting Samosa.  We mainly opt for vegetarian ones as you always have the ingredients in but also means it costs less which is a bonus.

  For this particular Food Friday on BBC Radio Leicester,  I wanted to show just how versatile these can be.  Not to mention how incredibly easy and quick they are! On this recipe, I went with what I had in and to use up of course…and it worked perfectly. The earthy yet sweet taste that came from the celeriac among the bursting sweet petit pois was quite something and what I also love is the crunch of the pastry when you bite into these little delicacies which gives it great fun when you can’t possibly eat them without a cascade of flakey, crispy pastry going all over your Kitchen floor.

   Listen here where you will hear Myself showing Ed Stagg just how quick and easy the Samosas were to make. 

  I did send a tub full of them back to the BBC Radio Leicester team, however I don’t think they quite reached there as Ed loved them so much! 


Root Vegetable Samosas:

Ingredients: ( Makes approximately 14 samosas)

–  Approximately 4 white potatoes Diced Finely (1cm cubes)
–  1/4 Celeriac Finely diced
–  1 Carrot Finely Diced
–  1 small Parsnip finely diced or 1/2 larger one
–  100g of Petit Pois (Defrosted)
–   1 Onion finely diced
–  1 Hot Green chilli Finely Chopped or more if you wish ( Mine were a hot kind )
–  1 Level Tsp Mustard seeds (My Spices are from Spice Kitchen) 
–  1 Tsp Garam Masala
–  1/2 Tsp Hot chilli Powder
–  1 Tsp Mango Powder (Amchoor) 
–  small Handful of Chopped Fresh Coriander
–  Fresh Ginger Grated (Small finger end size)
–  Salt to season
–  A large pack (550g) of Spring Roll Pastry defrosted, keep under a damp tea towel (I Buy from Asian/Chinese Supermarket)
–  Sunflower oil for deep frying plus some for frying your onions and spices
–  2 Large Eggs beaten to use for egg wash



Method:

–  Boil Vegetables except the peas and onions for about 5 mins as you still want a little crunch to the veg.

–  Fry of the chopped onions for a minute or two to soften, then add your fresh chilli, Ginger and dry spices coating all the onions.

– Once the Vegetables are cooked add them to the spiced onion mix leaving a bit of the water they are boiled in as you will need this to loosen some of the dry spices in the Pan.
–  Add your Defrosted peas and chopped Coriander.Stir, coating everything.Put to one side to slightly cool.

–  On a clean flat surface place your Pastry sheet each one by one and slice with a knife into the middle length ways to make a rectangular shape. Using a Pastry brush, brush the edges with the egg wash.

–  Fold the bottom right hand corner to the top of the rectangle,  Diagonally left to make a triangle shape.
–  Fold again towards the left and you will have a bit of excess, this is your last flap for your Samosa. 

–  Hold the Pastry up so you can make a cone shape, Pull away the first fold and fill 1 Tbsp of your mixture. 

–  Place back down on the surface, finish with more egg wash and seal. Continue this process.

–  Once all made, deep fry for a couple of minutes until just turning golden brown. Place onto Kitchen paper to dry off excess oil.

–  Then serve with Chutneys and Pickles of your choice.


Indian Spiced Cauliflower and Kale Fritters for Food Friday on BBC Radio Leicester

March 26, 2015

Often when it comes around for myself to do Food Friday again for BBC Leicester, which is about every month now.   I love to look at what I have already in my Fridge and Cupboards as I want to show people how it is great to tackle a few ingredients and see what you can come up with. I like to show how we can be more frugal by using up things we have and creating something that is quick, easy and has that wow factor.  Other times I have to admit, there maybe a certain recipe I want to cover may it be a particular event or season in the Calendar year.  I have the skills of being a Chef so I obviously want to share that knowledge with our Listeners.

   I had to laugh at Ben’s reaction to when I told him what I had decided to cook.  His response was, “Apparently we are doing something spectacular with a cauliflower!” Which I do believe our little humble cauliflower over the last couple of years has lost its pizzaz. I personally LOVE cauliflower (Has to be British over personal choice mind you).  It is so versatile and I hope to share many other recipes, however it is going out of season, but still widely available.  I won’t tell you what you can do with it as you will just have to listen Here at Ben and Myself chatting about this fantastic Vegetable. 

One thing I need to add is that since I did this recipe for BBC Radio Leicester, I actually feel that they should have been called Patties rather than Fritters as with a Fritter it is more likely to be covered with a Batter, which these are not. 

Indian Spiced Cauliflower and Kale Fritters:




Ingredients:

Makes about 20 fritters

– 1 Whole Cauliflower broke into its florets
– 3 handfuls of Curly Kale chopped
–  1 1/2 sweet potato chopped into 1/3’s if large
–  1 medium onion diced finely
–  3 cloves of Garlic
–  1 tsp of Cumin seeds or ground if have it ( I use Spice Kitchen for all my spices )
–  1 tsp of Ground Coriander
–  1/2 tsp of Turmeric
–  1 tsp of mustard seeds
–  1/2 tsp of chilli powder (hot)
–  1/2 large green chilli diced finely
–  1 Lime 
–  Small handful of flat leaf parsley chopped
–  Plain flour to coat fritters
–  Rapeseed oil 
–  Salt and pepper to season
–  Lime


Method:

*  Boil the Sweet potato until soft, take out of pan and dry onto some kitchen paper.

*  Boil the cauliflower until soft.

*  Fry off the onions and all spices, leave to one side to cool.

*  When the Cauliflower is soft, take out with a slotted spoon, pop onto kitchen paper to dry. Leave water to keep boiling for the Kale to go in.

*  Cook the Kale for a couple of minutes and once again, dry off with kitchen paper and chop down.

*  Into a Bowl mash with a potato masher all the veg and add the onions and spices. Add Salt and Pepper to season.

*  Add the chopped parsley, mix all together and start to make a ball in your hands with mixture, pat into a fritter/Patty shape, dust with plain flour and fry off in a hot pan with rapeseed oil in.

*  Fry for a few minutes each side and serve in a bowl with salads, chutneys and wedges of Lime.

Sweet Potato, Kale and Bacon Hash topped with Poached Egg

March 11, 2015




Ive always loved Kale and its different varieties, have done for years.  Love all greens really, but with the curly Kale option, I find it is so easy to just throw into any dish to give you that extra green oomph for your vitamins in a day. I eat it that much, maybe I should think of putting it on my growing list for my Kitchen Garden this year? 

  Recently I threw together a dish of “odd’s and sod’s” that were in my fridge and made a sublime little supper for myself.   The recipe did of course, suprisingly involve Kale but in a rather different way…with Bacon and Egg. 
  I am always going to cook this recipe from now on as it is so quick, it uses things up and theres hardly any ingredients to it. You can tweak a few things but these ingredients work through being sweet, yet salty, all manners of different tastes.  
  
  If you are going to try this recipe, You must go and buy some Sriracha sauce first. I have been using it in my Asian cooking for years and it is my favourite Hot sauce.  I drizzle it on a lot of foods including Hot spicy noodle broths. It seems now a lot of major sauce brands are trying a version them selves. I’ll never change my brand though. 
So Here is my simple Supper, or maybe even a Brunch recipe? An easy dish for an occasion? With an optional Hot sauce.



Sweet Potato, Kale and Bacon Hash topped with Poached Egg:

Ingredients:
(For 1 approximately)

–  1 Tbsp of Rapeseed oil
–  1/2 Tbsp of Maple syrup
–  1 large Garlic Clove finely diced
–  1/2 Red Onion sliced finely
–  1 Sweet potato diced roughly
–  1-2 rashers of Bacon chopped
–  couple of small Handfuls of Curly Kale
–  1 egg for poaching
–  2 tbsp of White wine vinegar for the poaching
–  To finish, some Sriracha Hot Chilli sauce for on top if required. 
  (I buy mine from Wang Fung Hong in Leicester)

Method: 

*  Boil the Sweet potato until soft.

*  Take out the Sweet potato with a slotted spoon and place onto kitchen paper on a plate.Leaving the water in the saucepan for your Kale.

*  Fry off the Bacon in a frying pan, then after a minute or two add the onions.

*  Pop in the Kale to the saucepan to cook for about 2 minutes.

*  Add the drained Sweet potato to the frying pan mix and add the garlic.

* Pop in the maple syrup to make the sweet potato caramelise and the bacon taste wonderful.

*  Drain the Kale on kitchen paper. Add to the Hash mix.

*  Poach your egg.

*  And Serve… Adding the Sriracha sauce if you wish.






Pot Roasted Partridge with Parsnips, Perry and Pearl Barley

January 24, 2015

If you follow my cooking regularly then you may recall just before christmas I was eating quite a bit of Game, as it is in Season, well, I still am! Although we don’t have much longer left of the game season, until early February if Im not mistaken?

So, one Sunday, there was a dish that I cooked that absolutely blew myself and my Fiancé away and the great thing about it is that there were hardly any ingredients or cooking to it;  Just great flavours. Also, there were no herbs in this which I always cook with, so that amazed me.

   Anyway, We had been given two Lovely Partridges and two Pheasants from my Father who lives up in Yorkshire. I decided to Pot roast the Partridges this particular Sunday as being a Chef I know that being a small bird it can easily dry out, so occasionally I prefer to pot roast Game and of course when one is cooking on a Sunday afternoon, there is more time to sip at a lovely Red wine and read the 17 supplements of the Sunday Paper.

  I had some Perry knocking about in the pantry so instead of Wine I thought this would make a lighter touch, maybe add some pears also but in the end I didn’t need to even add the fruit it was that flavoursome and so quick for a Sunday Lunch/Dinner. However the perry added a really nice Flavour.
  If you are a meat eater and you aren’t sure about Game, please try cooking Partridge first as its lighter than Pheasant. It is a great little, versatile Bird.
  
 This recipe is a keeper for myself and my family now and I hope this one will travel through our generations.  It was one of those dinners that you just sat back and smiled for about an hour after! Oh and I just had to call my Father to tell him how nice they were.
  It has also received a nickname that we find rather quirky, called “All the P’s” .
Which I can see my Partner shouting one Sunday morning, “What’s for dinner darling?” …”Oh All the P’s today”… “Brilliant!”


Pot Roast Partridge with Parsnips, Perry and Pearl Barley:
(“All the P’s”)


Ingredients:
(Serves 2)

(We did one Partridge per person but there were some left for sandwiches the next day)



–  2 Oven ready Partridges 
–  1 Tbsp of plain Flour to dust the Birds
–  1 Tbsp Rapeseed oil
–  Couple of Knobs of Unsalted Butter
–  50g Pearl Barley
–  250ml of Perry (Pear Cider) You may not need it all as season to taste
–  1 Large leek sliced 
–  2 medium sized Carrots chopped fairly chunky
–  1 Onion diced 
–  Homemade chicken stock or 1 gel pot of chicken stock to roughly 800ml water ( depending how big your partridges are) 
–  1 large parsnip chopped the same size as your carrots
–  Cracked Black Pepper to taste

* I served my dish with Creamy Mashed Potatoes and Spring Cabbage.

Method:

*  Cook the Pearl Barley first in a separate pan with a bit of chicken stock to packet instructions. When Halfway through, add Carrots, then after 5 minutes the Parsnips. Less washing up all in one pan and guaranteed not to overcook the Partridge this way.

*  Preheat Oven to 180c-190c

*  Dust the Partridges in flour, add rapeseed oil and a knob of butter to a Casserole/heavy bottomed pan and place Partridges in, searing off (Browning) each side for a minute or two.

*  Take the Birds out and place onto a plate. Add onions to the hot pan, cook for a couple of minutes. Add 250 ml of Perry and stock so when the Partridges are placed back in, it just covers them.

*  Place into the oven with pre cooked veg from earlier, adding the leeks. Put a lid on and cook for 20-30 minutes. Any more than this will dry the bird out.

*  After 20 minutes, check that the partridges are cooked thoroughly, cover over juices.

*  Season to taste as you may not need salt, just the cracked black pepper.

*  And Serve…

This recipe was great served with creamy buttery mash and some Spring cabbage as the thick juices just tumble over. 





Chinese steamed Sea bass with Stir Fried Greens for Food Friday on BBC Leicester

January 20, 2015


One thing that I get asked a lot by people, especially Mums with children (Teenagers more) is how to create take away favourites at home.  If I am not mistaken, I do believe we are calling this a “Fake-away” .  I have always cooked Takeaway favourites at home particularly Chinese dishes for many reasons: 1, Healthier. 2, It’s being Frugal. 3, you know exactly what is in your food and 4, you can get the Children involved with you in preparing it.  I could go on. 
  So last Friday was my Slot for doing my regular Food Friday programme with Ben Jackson on BBC Radio Leicester.  I felt that I wanted to do a “Fake-away”dish that is super Healthy, Super quick and also fairly Cheap… Well it’s certainly cheaper than picking up the Phone and ordering a banquet! 
  It’s also January, you may want to loose a few pounds? Or just changing the way you eat? Get some more Fish into your Diet? It was Friday after all, so a healthier Fish Friday! 

   I felt I should share a dish I regularly cook for myself.  It has hardly any ingredients in it but is PACKED FULL of flavour. Plus this style of cooking is so easy to do and such a great interacting dish, by if you put this in the middle of the table, you can all get stuck in. It’s a great dish to do for an intimate dinner also where you just do not want to spend all night slaving over the stove, if you know what I mean! 
  Even though it may not look spectacular, it has been a real hit so far. Listen here to hear Myself showing Ben how to do this Quick, Simple, healthy dish.
  
By the way, Ben couldn’t wait to dive in as you can see by the pictures as I haven’t one with all the fish intact! Sorry! 

Chinese Steamed Sea bass with Stir fried Greens


Ingredients:

(For the Sea Bass)

–  1 whole Sea bass or Sea Bream
–  3 inch piece of Fresh Ginger Julienned (Sliced finely length ways)
–  5 spring Onions julienned (sliced Length ways)

(For the dressing)

–  2 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce (I used one specifically for Seafood) (I buy all my sauces from my local Chinese Supermarket Wang Fung Hong in Leicester)
–  2 Tbsp Dry Sherry ( I used Pedro Ximenex )
–  Juice of 1 clementine or half an Orange
–  2 Tbsp of Water

(For the Sir Fry Veg)

–  2 tsp Raw Organic Coconut oil ( I use Lucy Bee )or another oil you have but Coconut will add extra flavour
–  5-6 Leaves of Pak Choi
–  3 inch piece of cucumber Sliced length ways 
–  approximately 10 sugar snap peas Sliced Length ways
–  2 cloves of Garlic sliced (Chopped Roughly)
–  1/2 Red chilli Diced finely 
–  2 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce ( Wang fung Hong )
–  1 Tbsp Oyster Sauce ( Wang fung Hong)
–  2 Tbsp Water
– Pinch of caster Sugar

Method:

–  Preheat your Oven on a warming setting, about 100c

–  Take a Large Wok and fill with approximately 1/4 Litre of water and place a grid of some kind so you can place a plate on top or if you have a bamboo steamer…Even better! 

–  Turn the heat up high so your water will start to boil but not too Rapid.

–  Put in Half of your sliced Ginger and Spring onions into the cavity of the fish, score diagonal lines through the skin of the fish, about 4 but making sure you don’t go too deep.

–  Place the fish onto your Plate or Steamer and cover with a lid or in my case I used another Wok. Steam for about 10 minutes.

–  After 10 minutes place the rest of your Spring Onions and ginger on top and half of your dressing over the fish. Continue to stem for a further 5 minutes.

–  Once cooked and the flesh will just flake away, place into the oven on a large serving dish with the dressing, veg and juices to keep warm.

–  In the meantime Stir fry your veg in the Coconut oil and as the veg starts to cook down after a couple of minutes add your sauces, water and sugar.

–  Serve as it is on large dishes so people can dive in and you could also serve some Noodles and Boiled Rice if you wish.