Category: Frugal

Homemade "Sun-Blushed" Tomatoes

April 21, 2015

This is something Ive always done for years with Tomatoes.  I first picked it up when I was a Commis Chef many years ago in a fine dining restaurant.  In the restaurant kitchens, it is so hot, we used to just place them under the Pass lights to do this.  In hot countries or in summer, yes you could just place them in the sun but I find and easier way of doing this and one that doesn’t attract wasps or flies! 

  I had a huge interest from people when I did these, it was lovely, so I just had to share it. There is also going to be a recipe that pairs these with something that will come shortly after.

   This is a great way of using up tomatoes when they are starting to “turn”. I used Baby Plum tomatoes in this recipe but you can do it with any, just have to have them longer in the oven (Low and slow) and the bigger they are, slice them thinner. Once you have done this you will never turn back.

  


Homemade “Sun-blushed” Tomatoes:


Ingredients:

* N.B – I haven’t put any measurements/weights down in this recipe as it’s your call on how much you make.

–  Tomatoes, I used Baby Plum
–  Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper
–  Selection of Herbs chopped , I used Parsley, Basil, dried Thyme and Rosemary but you could also use oregano, Marjoram, tarragon etc…
–  Rapeseed Oil or good quality Olive oil to drizzle and marinate in the Jar so have a full bottle handy
–  3-4 Cloves of Garlic
–  Caster Sugar to sprinkle




Method:

*  Preheat your oven to 100c-120 c, depending on how powerful your oven is and size of tomato. For these tiny ones. Mine took just over an hour. Just keep checking them. 

*  Slice your Tomatoes and place onto a baking dish/tray

*  Sprinkle a bit of sea salt, Cracked Black Pepper, dried (Homemade) Thyme, Rosemary and sugar

*  Drizzle with oil and  place in the oven for anything between 1 hour and 2, as stated above.

*  Keep checking your tomatoes every 20-30 mins. 

*  In the meantime when you are waiting, Sterilise your chosen Jar, start to add your oil and Garlic.

*  A couple of minutes before they are done, I added on top some fresh parsley and basil to cool down with but placed them into a cool dish.

* Once they are cooled add to your jar and you’re done. Keep in the fridge. And the oil that comes off this will be out of this world! Do not throw it away! 









Spring Lamb Stew with Vegetables and Pearl Barley

April 14, 2015


Last thing you need on a Sunday is to have yourself slaving over a Hot Stove cooking a Large Roast Dinner. Especially now the weather is beginning to become slightly warmer.
    In this recipe, yes it does take some time, however, it is all in one pot as you can leave it to carry on with your Planned activities. Of course, it isn’t just a recipe specifically for Sunday’s but I chose this as an easier option for you.

  This Recipe is Light, Fresh and Easy to do.  You don’t want to overpower this either with bold flavours as you want to capture that Lovely Spring taste of the Lamb, the Sweetness of those Peas popping away in your mouth and a favourite of mine…The Pearl Barley being velvety along the stew’s juices.  

  I have used stewing Lamb in this as the bones will give the extra flavour you need.  I personally like to pick up the Bones with my Hands and get every last Morsel I can Find.
  A dish like this  is always a great winner for me when you can pop it down as a talking point on the dinner table, tuck in and not to forget, there is a MUST for some Crispy Bread to mop up those last bits that have been sitting patiently at the bottom of your bowl. 

  This Recipe capture’s seasonality at its best, It can be done quite inexpensively and will have you craving for more. 




Spring Lamb Stew with Vegetables and Pearl Barley:

Ingredients:
(Serves 4-6 people depending on size of Lamb pieces you buy)

–   1 Kg Of British Stewing Lamb (approximately 8 pieces) You could use Neck of Lamb also
–  1 Tbsp of Rapeseed Oil 
–  A Splash of Dry White Wine
–  2 Onions Roughly Chopped
–  2 Large Garlic Cloves finely Diced
–   3 Tbsp’s Tomato Puree
–  Homemade Chicken stock or 1 Stock pot (Knorr) to every 4 pieces of Lamb you have 
–  A good handful of Chantennay Carrots ( 200g roughly) Halved lengthways 
–  100g Pearl Barley cooked before hand in a little Chicken stock
–  4 medium potatoes diced into cubes of 6. I used Shannon but any will do.Could even use new season Baby ones.
–  1 Large Leek sliced a centimetre thick.
–  5-6 Spring onions Sliced into 4  
–  Small Sprig of Rosemary chopped finely 
–  100g of Petit Pois
–  A few sprigs of Fresh Mint chopped finely
–  A couple of Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley chopped finely 
–  Salt and Pepper to season




Method:

*  Take your Lamb Pieces and pat dry with Kitchen Paper. Season Your Lamb with Salt and pepper if required.

*  In a Heavy bottomed Casserole Dish/Large Saucepan heat up the Rapeseed oil and start to sear of the Lamb just till browned on the outside. Placing each pieces of Lamb into a separate dish once browned on the outside.

*  Fry off your Chopped Onions for a minute or two.

*  Add your splash of White wine to de glaze your large saucepan( allow juices to come away)  Add Your Lamb, Chicken Stock and 2 Tbsp’s of Tomato puree. Cover with water covering everything. 

*  Simmer away for 1/1/2 – 2 hrs adding water when needed.

*  Cook your Pearl Barley to packet instructions with a little chicken stock added and leave to one side.

*  After 2 hours or when the Lamb is starting to soften and theres about 30 mins to go. Then add your Carrots, Garlic and Rosemary.

*  Then pop in your potatoes after another 5 minutes.

*  When your carrots are starting to soften, add your Leeks, rest of your tomato puree and the  Cooked Pearl Barley.

* After another 5 minutes add your Spring Onions and Petit Pois. Only cook for a further 2-3 minutes

*  By now the lamb should be falling off the bones and the veg all cooked. Now Finish with your Chopped Fresh Mint and Parsley

*  Finally, Serve into Bowls with Crusty Bread 








  







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.


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.