Category: BBC Radio Leicester

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.

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.





Talking Leftovers on Rupal Rajani’s show for BBC Radio leicester

December 9, 2014
Back in October, I was asked by the lovely Rupal Rajani to appear on her Lunchtime show on BBC Radio Leicester. I regular already appear on BBC Radio Leicester as a Food Friday cook on Ben Jackson’s show.  However, Rupal was doing a Food Waste Challenge for a national campaign called Love Food Hate Waste. This is supported by our Leicestershire County Council. 
Matt Copley had contacted her about this.  They teach people how to make their food last longer through leftovers, storage and saving money on their food shopping Bills.  Rupal was doing really well but wanted to find out more of how herself and her listeners could make their leftovers go that bit further. So I was thoroughly pleased and honoured to help Rupal and appear on her show.

  I had heard a lady previously on the show who was on the challenge also chatting about the fact that she was throwing away bread crusts as her children didn’t like them.  Immediately my head was bouncing with ideas and I wanted to shout out above the rooftops to people on how they could use them. I decided that I would talk about Leftover Bread and give my routine of what I do at home…

You can hear Rupal and I here on this link:

   I assumed that most people acted the same way I do with saving leftovers but it appeared I had inherited the name of being a bit of a, and I quote, from Mr Ben Jackson “A Leftover Queen”!  I quite liked that title, I knew then, that maybe I was doing a bit more than others and once I had been on the show, I knew I could help people with my background, especially from being a Chef.  We are always taught to never throw things away. Of course using things in a safe and correct manner I must add though.  I suppose my knowledge of this always started from being a young child. My Grandma did it, My Mum and Dad did it and as I am a miners daughter, throughout the miners strike in the early eighties I saw my mum always trying to make meals stretch for us. 

  

I had taken in Arancini, which is leftover Risotto rolled into balls, stuffed with Mozzarella, covered in breadcrumbs (Leftover bread) and deep fried. Well, they went down so well, I didn’t have chance to even take a photo of them! The Staff at BBC Radio Leicester Woofed them down! I was thoroughly pleased.  I can always do another version again as whenever I make risotto I purposely do a little more so I can have these for lunch the next day.

Another thing I talk about is making your own tortilla chips which is so unbelievably easy! So I thought I’d share this with you:

*  If you have any Tortilla wraps leftover from such as making fajitas, cut them into triangles, pop onto a baking tray like so:


*  Drizzle with Rapeseed/olive oil and pop what ever seasoning you want, I.E Chilli, Garlic, Paprika or even just sea salt and cracked black pepper! I used a moroccan spice named Ras el hanout on mine. You could even do 5 spice, jerk and even a cinnamon sweet one with Christmas round the corner!

*  Pop in an oven that has been heated to 190c and cook for about 5-8 minutes.  You can deep fry them, but this is healthier alternative.


There you have it… A Homemade snack for film night! 

 Rupal did really well on her challenge, I think overall she saved about £5-6 a week and continues to do it now. If you need any help, tips or advice on this just let me know? as I’d Love to hear from you.  You will also see other leftover recipes appearing soon on here as usual and I will be including lots of Christmas leftover recipes also which I will be sharing some of my personal recipes of which I have been doing for years.



I shall finish off with showing you this Bread Loaf which I haven’t used so it is going in my freezer as if friends/family are coming round for a tipple and I like to put out some nibbles, then this is great to slice into Crostini’s / Bruschetta’s , pop on whatever you have in the fridge in terms of Meats, chutneys and cheese and there you have a cheap and easy Canapé.











Squid Ink Linguini with Crayfish for BBC Radio leicester’s Food Friday

September 18, 2014



After having a quick chat with Ben Jackson, whom I do Food friday with on BBC Radio Leicester, we decided that our listeners wanted dishes that they could pretty much cook along “Real time” with whilst listening to the programme.  It goes out at 4.40pm every friday which is a great time if you want a fairly early dinner.  Thus, then allowing you more time at your local for a quick vino or Pint! 

  A dish that sprung to my mind was a dish that I cook quite often for myself but I wanted a little twist on it.  I would normally cook this dish with “Normal” Spaghetti or linguini and use Prawns instead of crayfish.  Now of course, you could use any other seafood, I just felt that this added real colour and extra flavour as the Squid ink Linguini does have a subtle flavour that I LOVE and I feel we sometimes forget about Crayfish tails also but they have so much flavour in them. I came up with a great Ravioli dish once which I used Crayfish tails so I will share this with you soon. 

  By the way, I have had some comments on that the linguini does look a little strange, but trust me…If you love pasta and combining Seafood…you are going to LOVE IT!

Hear me and Ben Right Here!

Squid Ink Linguini with Crayfish Tails,Tomato,Chilli and Garlic:

Ingredients:
(Serves 2)

–  Approximately 200 g of Squid ink ( Cuttlefish )Linguini or Spaghetti 
–  A 120 g Pack of Cooked and peeled Crayfish Tails ( About 3/4 of the pack is enough for 2 people)
–  A good “Glug” of Olive Oil
–  2 cloves of Garlic Finely Chopped
–  1/4  Red Chilli Finely Chopped
–  2 Sliced Spring Onions
–  Almost half of a little pot of Fish stock (I used a Knorr pot)
–  A good Splash of Dry White Wine ( I used Sauvignon Blanc) 
–  1 Tbsp of Tomato Puree
–  Approximately 10 Baby Plum Tomatoes chopped into 4
–  A pinch of  Caster Sugar 
–  Cracked Black Pepper
–  A Handful of chopped Fresh Basil and Fresh Flat leaf Parsley

Method:

*  Pop your Pasta into a boiling pan of Salted Water and cook for approximately 10-12 minutes or to packet instructions.

*  In a Frying/Saute Pan, Start to fry off the White ends of the Spring Onions and Chilli in Olive oil.

* Add the Garlic and fry for another minute. 

* Pop in then the White Wine and start to simmer, reducing only slightly.

*  Add the tomato Puree, Tomatoes, Pinch of sugar and cracked Black Pepper. Cook for another minute or 2.

* Add a little splash of water to the sauce. Taste…it may need a little more sugar to sweeten.

*  Put the rest of the Spring onions (Green parts) into the sauce.

*  Drain your Pasta keeping a little of the water and  place the pasta into the sauce. Add the Crayfish and coat all the ingredients around the pasta. 

*  Finally add your chopped herbs when the Crayfish are hot and Serve!