Category: Lemon

Warm pearl barley salad with courgettes, leeks, herbs and chicken.

September 26, 2017

IMG_2998

 

Even though Autumn has now arrived and we saw the equinox appear on Friday, we are still in that “in-between stage” as I call it certainly food wise.

I cooked this recipe on my regular BBC Radio Leicester slot with Ben Jackson a couple of weeks ago. I came up with the recipe because we are still having lovely bouts of sunshine and like in my garden, I am still harvesting the last of the summer vegetables. I still have Courgettes, baby leeks, carrots, beans, lots of herbs and many more to list. Great for me to create even more recipes with in the next few weeks.

I feel at this time of year we are in the middle of wanting comfort food but maybe somedays you still want food that is quick to prepare, healthy and feels light when eating.

This is a great recipe also for using up leftover Roast chicken. So if you usually have chicken for a Sunday Roast, or in midweek then this is a perfect meal to come up with after. I also wanted to showcase how to use pearl barley in a different way rather that just in stews/casseroles and highlight the lovely herbs in this dish. Pearl barley is inexpensive and you don’t need to use a lot of it.

 

Click here to hear me with Ben Jackson on BBC Radio Leicester showing you just how quick and simple this meal is to prepare.

 

 

Warm pearl barley salad with courgettes, leeks and chicken. 

 

IMG_3014

 

Ingredients:

  • 75g of cooked pearl barley , I cooked mine in a little chicken stock and seasoned with cracked black pepper and sea salt once cooked.
  • 2 tbsps of rapeseed Oil.
  • 2 knobs of unsalted butter.
  • 1 1/2 – 2 Courgettes sliced to the thickness of a one pound coin.
  • 2 baby leeks or 1 small leek finely sliced.
  • 1 large spring onions or 2 small sized ones finely sliced.
  • 2 cloves of garlic roughly chopped .
  • Approximately 100g of leftover roast chicken, shredded. ( I used chicken thighs and cooked mine in rapeseed oil with garlic, lemon thyme, oregano, sage, dill and fennel. Plus seasoned. I also added a few slices of lemon.)
  • A good handful of fresh herbs such as dill, fennel fronds, fennel pollen and mint finely chopped.
  •   A few Squeezes of fresh lemon.
  • Sea salt and cracked black pepper to season.
  • If you want to keep this recipe vegetarian then simply leave out the chicken and chicken stock.

 

Method:

  • Fry off your courgettes for a couple of minutes in rapeseed oil.
  •  Add in your garlic and stir. Then pop in your leeks and cook for a further minute. Again stirring or tossing around the pan allowing your garlic not to stick or burn.
  • Add the white parts of your spring onion, stir and then add in your butter. Cook for a further minute.
  • By now the courgettes will be cooked and glossy with the butter. Season with cracked black pepper and a pinch of sea salt .
  • Add to this mixture your green part of the spring onions and take off the heat.
  • Sprinkle in your fresh herbs but save some dill and fennel fronds for serving.
  • Pour your mixture into a bowl, add to this then your shredded chicken and pearl barley, Squeeze a little fresh lemon into the mix and give it a good stir.
  • Serve into large bowls, add the remaining dill and fennel on top and a little extra squeeze of lemon ( if you like it extra zingy ).
  • You can serve this on its own or with some toasted bread ( a batard type ).  Use the same frying pan to lightly toast your bread if you do and it will give it wonderful flavour.

 

IMG_3038

Spicy Butternut Squash Hummus (East Meets West)

October 10, 2014


Some time back, ooh a few months ago now, I was approached by the Chinese company Lee Kum Kee to do some recipe development Work for them.  I am always passionate about Oriental and Asian food in general so I was keen to know what they wanted.  They wanted me to help out with Recipes regarding an “East meets West” Theme. Something that would later go into a Cookbook, some neck tags and any other promotional material regarding this.  I love a good task on hand and felt that this would challenge me, as my first thought was you should never “fusion” things too much? Surprisingly,  I was proved wrong, in this case anyway…by myself! 
  I don’t normally show much of my Recipe development work but I feel this is very interesting to see how Chinese sauces can be mixed with another cuisine. I won’t post all of them, just the ones I feel stood out the most.  Now, because this was a few months back, some ingredients may not be in season anymore, but certainly squash was a good starter point as, well we see a lot of those in October hey?! 
  You will see a few of these recipes of mine “pop” up so I will put in brackets (East Meets West) so you will know it is from this Project.



Spicy Butternut Squash Hummus:


Ingredients:

–  1/2 Butternut Squash copped into inch squares
–  2 Tbsp Lee Kum Kee Chiu Chow Chilli Oil
–  1  Garlic Bulb split through the middle to create 2 halves to roast.
–  1 Tbsp of Rapeseed Oil
–  200g of Tinned Chick Peas
–  1 Tbsp of Lee Kum Kee Sesame Oil
–  A squirt of Lemon Juice (Fresh)
–  1 Tsp of Ground Cumin
–  Salt and Pepper to season
–  Fresh Coriander for Serving

Method:

–  Preheat your oven to 190c.

– Place the Butternut Squash into a baking tray and drizzle over the Chilli oil. Place next to it (in foil) the Garlic bulb in two halves, drizzle over with Rapeseed oil, close up like a Parcel and Roast both in the oven for 20 minutes or until soft.

–  Allow the Squash and the Garlic to cool.

–  Squeeze out half of the garlic cloves into a Blender or Processor along with the Butternut squash.

–  Add the rest of the ingredients and Blitz to a smooth Paste. You may need to add a touch  more lemon juice, salt or oil to get the correct consistency.

–  Serve with some Warm Pitta Breads, an extra drizzle of Sesame oil and fresh Coriander on the Hummus. (You could even try my Flatbread recipe which is under my Spiced Moroccan soup recipe)

A Tea Time Treat

July 16, 2014



So I seem to have been hit by a bit of a baking bug recently and thinking about my Pastry chef days. Either that or I have hit a time in my Life when I actually DO have a sweeter tooth than I thought! 
  Thing is as you know by now I only write what I feel is right, when it feels right and so on… And this does. So lets just go with the flow!

  You will begin to see soon a pattern forming with the lovely Herb, Lemon Verbena. I am besotted with it! I am very proud of my little bush of it gleaming away against all my other Herbs. I love the smell and taste that it has in both Sweet and Savoury dishes. Savoury being so far of the Herby Chicken Goujons recipe I developed last month. So, now turn for a sweet dish.

 Lemon Verbena Fruit Shortbread with Lavender Sugar:

Ingredients:
(Makes approximately 12-14 round biscuits)

–  115 g of Unsalted Butter cubed and softened
–  180 g Plain Flour Sifted (plus a little extra when rolling)
–  55 g of Caster Sugar
–  finely Zest Half of a lemon
–  1 Tbsp of Finely Chopped Lemon Verbena
–  25 g of Dried Raisins and Dried Blueberries
–  A small amount of Lavender Granulated Sugar for sprinkling on top, (I infuse my own Sugar)
*Note: If you don’t like Lavender infused sugar, just use normal Granulated Sugar.

Method:

–  Preheat Oven to 170c


–  Place Flour, Butter and Sugar into a mixing bowl and start to mix with fingertips to allow to crumble.

–  Once starting to form together add in the fruit, zest and lemon verbena.Mix together until it forms a dough such as like this:



–  Start to roll out the dough to flatten to about 1/2 cm thick. It will start to stick and crumble especially if it is warm in the Kitchen.

– Cut out your Biscuits. I used a 7cm cutter:


–  Lightly Grease your baking tray, place the shortbread on allowing to give space to expand a little when baking. Prick the Shortbread with a fork and sprinkle on the Lavender sugar.

– Pop into the Oven for approximately 12 minutes or until starting to ever so slightly brown at the edges.

– Allow to cool on a cooling rack before tasting, If you can resist! 


Going "WILD" For Wild Garlic

May 28, 2014

Last year when the lovely season of the Wild Garlic came upon us, I didn’t actually find any until, sadly, the end of the season.  I tried my best with what I did find but it had grown a bit too far on and the true flavour wasn’t there anymore.
  However, this year I found a great spot, practically on my doorstep! I was thrilled as you can imagine.
  However it has come to that time of the year where it has either gone, grown too big or has overgrown weeds over it.  I almost feel quite sad as there’s so much you can do with Wild Garlic, I absolutely LOVE its unique flavour and the prettiness of the flower buds. So now it is fizzling away till next year, if you can get hold of some still around. Do try a pesto with it. It will keep in the fridge for a few weeks at least, or even do a pickle/vinegar?
  I realise that many people will have done this with Wild garlic and rightly so as we do it with other leftover herbs, so why not this? 
  Here is just a couple of things that I did with mine this year.  I do plan another recipe if my last batch lasts! 

Wild Garlic Pistachio Pesto:
(Makes 1 small Jar):

One thing I must add about this recipe is that pretty much whenever I do pestos’s I always like to use either pistachios or cashew nuts rather than Pine nuts. I find the pine nuts are more bitter, but that’s just my preference.

Ingredients:

(These ingredients depend on the size of your jar and also your taste) – Be as Flexible as you want with it! 

–  50g of Wild Garlic Leaves
–  20g of Pistachio nuts (shelled )
–  20g of Parmesan Cheese
–  Sprinkling of Pink sea salt (any good sea salt will do) and cracked black Pepper
–  1 Tbsp of Fresh lemon juice
–  2 Tbsp of Rapeseed oil ( olive oil can be bitter )

– Simply Place all ingredients into a Blender/Processor and Blitz! Add extra seasoning, oil or cheese if you need to.

This Pesto is great in all sorts of recipes, the list is endless! Once you have done this, you will never turn back.

And the result of this pesto? An obvious choice to pair with Pasta but this dish is what I keep devouring myself with lately. I am eating bucket loads of it as I love it! It’s such a quick Pasta dish to rustle up when you’ve had a busy day and can kick back with a large Glass of Wine. Perfetto!

Creamy Tagliatelle with Chicken, Mushrooms and Wild Garlic pesto:

(Serves approximately 1-2 people)


Ingredients:

–  Approximately 200g of Tagliatelle Pasta
–  1 Tbsp of Rapeseed oil (no more as there is oil in the pesto)
–  2 Spring Onions finely chopped
–  1/4 of Leek finely sliced
–  3-4 Chestnut mushrooms sliced
–  100-150g of Cooked Roast chicken shredded 
–  1/2 chicken stock cube crumbled into sauce
–  1 Tbsp of the Wild Garlic pistachio Pesto (as above ) more if you like it to be more of a garlic Flavour.
– A Good Splash of Dry White Wine (100ml)
–  150ml of Double cream

Method:

–  Cook the Tagliatelle to packet instructions.

–  Fry off the leeks and mushrooms until starting to soften.

– Add the Shredded Chicken, Spring Onion and chicken stock and cook for a further couple of minutes. 

– Add the Pesto, coating all of the mixture.

– Pour in the Wine, reduce a little and then add the cream. 

–  Drain the Pasta but use maybe 2 Tbsp of pasta water into the sauce. Place Pasta into the sauce and serve into warm bowls.


Finally, You may recall my recipe for St George’s Day when I made the Wild Garlic and fennel bread. 
 That bread actually lasted me a full week, which was great. They were some leftover and I didn’t have much room in the freezer so I decided to do a Panzanella, which is a traditional Tuscan summer salad.  There have been many different versions of this and mine isn’t very traditional, I added meat, mine was more dry and I added Wild Garlic, a kind of Italy meets Leicestershire’s Hedgerows! However it was a very lovely Lunch the day I made it.

Panzanella with Salami and Wild Garlic:




Ingredients:

(Approximately for 2 people)

–  A couple of slices of Wild garlic and fennel bread, torn into chunks for croutons
–  A handful Selection of Peppery Salad leaves (Rocket, Mizuna, Red Chard etc…)
–  1 Yellow Bell Pepper 
– 1 Red Bell Pepper
–  120g of Ripened well baby plum tomatoes
–  1-2 Tbsp of baby capers from a Jar 
–  Few slices of Italian Salami torn into pieces 
–  3-4 Basil leaves torn
–  1 Tbsp of Good quality Extra Virgin Olive oil
–  10 Wild Garlic flower Buds (already started opening) 
–  Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper to season

Method:

–  Take your Bell peppers and either Roast in the oven until skins are starting to turn black or Burn onto a Gas flame (If confident) *Note, as I am a qualified and trained chef, I have done this many a time*

– Once black, peel off the skins revealing a lovely soft sweet flesh and slice lengthways 

–  Coat the Bread for croutons in a little Sea salt, Black Pepper and olive oil and either pop in a dry frying pan to toast or again you could place in the oven.

–  Arrange all of the ingredients in a bowl, drizzle with Olive oil and Serve. A simple, But impressive salad.























Lemon,ricotta and blueberry pancakes

May 16, 2014

In our House, one of our Favourite Breakfasts have to be My Blueberry Pancakes.  Wether it is someones birthday or just because we have a bit more time on a Sunday, having this really brightens us up for the day ahead.  They’re not too sweet, not too savoury and the sensation of Blueberries popping in your mouth is like Gigantic Caviar (of course without the fish taste)!  Even as a dessert… this would be great.  

  When I last did these, I decided to change my recipe slightly as I had some ricotta to use up. I had never put it in before and thought it should add an extra maybe creaminess, tang or even make them lighter?  Well, in fact, it did all three! The new recipe worked straight away, which is always a thrill! And they were better than ever! 
 This is my new improved recipe and My Fiance loves these better so there’s no turning back! 


Lemon Ricotta and Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients:

–  175g Self Raising Flour
–  2 tsp Caster Sugar
–  1/2 tsp Baking Powder
–  Pinch of Salt
–  1 Egg separated
–  200 ml Semi Skimmed Milk
–  1 Tsp Vanilla Extract or pod
–  100 g of Ricotta Cheese
–  1 Zest of Lemon
–  1 tbsp of melted unsalted Butter
–  Blueberries
–  Icing Sugar
–  Creme Fraiche to serve

Put the Flour, Caster Sugar, Vanilla Extract, Baking Powder and Salt into a bowl and then whisk in the Egg Yolk, milk and Ricotta until you have a nice smooth Batter.


Whisk the Egg White and Fold in to the batter.

Heat a non stick Frying Pan and use a very small amount of oil. When the pan is hot put a spoonful of mixture and flatten out with a ladle. Sprinkle some blueberries on top and you’ll start to see the bubbles forming, flip and cook the other side. 



At this point you could have a plate warming in the oven and start stacking them up to keep warm. 
 Serve the Warm Pancakes with a Sprinkling of  Icing Sugar and Creme Fraiche on the side.