Tuesday, 8 February 2011
Thursday, 23 December 2010
Quick Prawn Paella
Ok, firstly, apologies. It's been far too long since I wrote anything new here. I've been Tweeting (@blokeinkitchen) but that doesn't excuse the tardiness.
Secondly, I know this isn't very appropriate for the season (Christmas dinner recipe will be appearing shortly, honest) but I'm cooking this now and wanted to share it with you.
Paella, for me, is a bit of a pain. Getting those grains of arborio rice to just the right consistency ain't easy. If you want it done properly, go to Ayo's on Nerja beach in Spain. In the meantime, here goes...
What you'll need:
300g raw prawns (with shells)
2 good glugs of olive oil
1 onion
1 carrot
1 teaspoon of tomato puree
500ml chicken stock
6oz basmati rice
2 cloves of garlic
3 cloves
3 cardamoms
1 piece of cinamon
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
2 large tomatoes
1/2 a red pepper
1 handful of defrosted frozen peas
1 chunk of chorizo
A handful of fresh parsley
Here's how you do it:
First, you need to make a stock. Take the shells off the prawns and set them aside, you need 'em. De-vein the prawns by running a very sharp knife down the length of the back of the prawn where you'll see a black vein. Pluck this out and discard.
Finely chop the onion and the carrot. Gently heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the carrot and half the onion and fry gently until you get a bit of colour in the onion and the carrot is softened a little.
Chuck in the prawn shells and continue frying until they change colour. Add the tomato puree and cook out for a couple of minutes, giving everything a good old stir then add the chicken stock.
Now, this is an important bit, so pay attention.
You'll have noticed that I've been specific with the amounts of stock and rice. Normally I wouldn't be so bothered. Amounts of 'some' are usually my method, but this is different. This actually matters because this is how you get the rice 'just-so'.
Bring the stock to the boil then turn the heat down and simmer for 15 minutes. This should reduce the stock to around 300ml. Drain the stock through a seive into a measuring jug to check. If it is less than 300ml, top it up with a bit of boiling water. If there's a little more, put it back in the pan and reduce it a little more, then strain into the measuring jug again. Discard the stuff from the seive.
Add another glug of olive oil into the empty frying pan. Add the rest of the onion, the chorizo (skin removed and roughly chopped - the chorizo, not the skin) the finely chopped garlic, the cardamoms, cloves, cinamon and turmeric and fry gently until the onion has softened.
Add the rice. Give it a good old stir around to get it coated in the seasoned oil.
Important bit No. 2.
Add the stock, add a bit of salt and pepper, bring it to the boil, turn the heat down as low as it will go, put a lid on the pan and leave it for 10 minutes. Don't take the lid of and most definitely don't stir it. As long as you've stuck to the volumes of stock and rice above, it will be perfect.
While the rice is cooking, peel, de-seed and chop the tomatoes, and do the same to the red pepper. Do I need to tell you how to do this? Hmm, possibly, but I haven't got time right now. I do intend to add a section full of useful tips like this once I get the blokeinthekitchen website back up and running but with currently work commitments this is a bit tricky, but I digress. If anyone wants to know how to do this, Tweet me and I'll either reply on Twitter or stick a separate post here, whichever I get time for.
When the 10 minutes is up, take the lid off the rice, add the prawns, the peas and the chopped tomato, pepper and parsley. Give it a gentle stir then put the lid back on. Leave it for 5 minutes or so, until the prawns have turned pink all over and are cooked through.
Actually, it's at this point you could add anything you want - squid, mussels, cooked chicken - whatever takes your fancy. Just make sure that everything is cooked through and warm before you serve it up with some ice cold, crisp, dry white wine.
I'll hopefully be able to add photo's to this very soon. In the meantime, enjoy!
The Bloke
Secondly, I know this isn't very appropriate for the season (Christmas dinner recipe will be appearing shortly, honest) but I'm cooking this now and wanted to share it with you.
Paella, for me, is a bit of a pain. Getting those grains of arborio rice to just the right consistency ain't easy. If you want it done properly, go to Ayo's on Nerja beach in Spain. In the meantime, here goes...
What you'll need:
300g raw prawns (with shells)
2 good glugs of olive oil
1 onion
1 carrot
1 teaspoon of tomato puree
500ml chicken stock
6oz basmati rice
2 cloves of garlic
3 cloves
3 cardamoms
1 piece of cinamon
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
2 large tomatoes
1/2 a red pepper
1 handful of defrosted frozen peas
1 chunk of chorizo
A handful of fresh parsley
Here's how you do it:
First, you need to make a stock. Take the shells off the prawns and set them aside, you need 'em. De-vein the prawns by running a very sharp knife down the length of the back of the prawn where you'll see a black vein. Pluck this out and discard.
Finely chop the onion and the carrot. Gently heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the carrot and half the onion and fry gently until you get a bit of colour in the onion and the carrot is softened a little.
Chuck in the prawn shells and continue frying until they change colour. Add the tomato puree and cook out for a couple of minutes, giving everything a good old stir then add the chicken stock.
Now, this is an important bit, so pay attention.
You'll have noticed that I've been specific with the amounts of stock and rice. Normally I wouldn't be so bothered. Amounts of 'some' are usually my method, but this is different. This actually matters because this is how you get the rice 'just-so'.
Bring the stock to the boil then turn the heat down and simmer for 15 minutes. This should reduce the stock to around 300ml. Drain the stock through a seive into a measuring jug to check. If it is less than 300ml, top it up with a bit of boiling water. If there's a little more, put it back in the pan and reduce it a little more, then strain into the measuring jug again. Discard the stuff from the seive.
Add another glug of olive oil into the empty frying pan. Add the rest of the onion, the chorizo (skin removed and roughly chopped - the chorizo, not the skin) the finely chopped garlic, the cardamoms, cloves, cinamon and turmeric and fry gently until the onion has softened.
Add the rice. Give it a good old stir around to get it coated in the seasoned oil.
Important bit No. 2.
Add the stock, add a bit of salt and pepper, bring it to the boil, turn the heat down as low as it will go, put a lid on the pan and leave it for 10 minutes. Don't take the lid of and most definitely don't stir it. As long as you've stuck to the volumes of stock and rice above, it will be perfect.
While the rice is cooking, peel, de-seed and chop the tomatoes, and do the same to the red pepper. Do I need to tell you how to do this? Hmm, possibly, but I haven't got time right now. I do intend to add a section full of useful tips like this once I get the blokeinthekitchen website back up and running but with currently work commitments this is a bit tricky, but I digress. If anyone wants to know how to do this, Tweet me and I'll either reply on Twitter or stick a separate post here, whichever I get time for.
When the 10 minutes is up, take the lid off the rice, add the prawns, the peas and the chopped tomato, pepper and parsley. Give it a gentle stir then put the lid back on. Leave it for 5 minutes or so, until the prawns have turned pink all over and are cooked through.
Actually, it's at this point you could add anything you want - squid, mussels, cooked chicken - whatever takes your fancy. Just make sure that everything is cooked through and warm before you serve it up with some ice cold, crisp, dry white wine.
I'll hopefully be able to add photo's to this very soon. In the meantime, enjoy!
The Bloke
Monday, 28 June 2010
Salmon Teryaki With Stir-fried Vegetables and Noodles
OK, it's been a while. Six months actually. Sorry.
Anyway, here's a new recipe that I put together recently. It went down well with The Missus so here goes.
For the teryaki marinade, put 4 tablespoons of soy sauce into a bowl with 1 tablespoon of chinkiang rice vinegar, a crushed clove of garlic and a finely chopped red chilli.
Place two salmon fillets into the marinade and leave them for about an hour, turning them over every now and then.
When you're ready to cook, grill the salmon fillets for about 8 minutes, turning occasionally until cooked through. Keep the marinade.
Now prepare your vegetables. Take a handful each of tender stem broccoli, baby corn, sugar snap peas and spring onions and slice them in half lengthways.
When the salmon is about halfway cooked, heat a little vegetable oil in a hot wok and stir fry the veg for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil and chuck in a couple of sheets of noodles. I use Sharwood's Medium Egg Noodles. They take 4 minutes to cook and I tease them apart in the pan with a pair of tongs to make sure they separate.
When they've got 2 minutes to go, tip the marinade into the wok and bring to the boil then simmer until the noodles are cooked. Drain the noodles, add them to the wok and toss them all around.
Divide the noodles and vegetables into 2 bowls, place a salmon fillet on top and pour over any sauce that's left.
Enjoy!
Anyway, here's a new recipe that I put together recently. It went down well with The Missus so here goes.
For the teryaki marinade, put 4 tablespoons of soy sauce into a bowl with 1 tablespoon of chinkiang rice vinegar, a crushed clove of garlic and a finely chopped red chilli.
Place two salmon fillets into the marinade and leave them for about an hour, turning them over every now and then.
When you're ready to cook, grill the salmon fillets for about 8 minutes, turning occasionally until cooked through. Keep the marinade.
Now prepare your vegetables. Take a handful each of tender stem broccoli, baby corn, sugar snap peas and spring onions and slice them in half lengthways.
When the salmon is about halfway cooked, heat a little vegetable oil in a hot wok and stir fry the veg for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil and chuck in a couple of sheets of noodles. I use Sharwood's Medium Egg Noodles. They take 4 minutes to cook and I tease them apart in the pan with a pair of tongs to make sure they separate.
When they've got 2 minutes to go, tip the marinade into the wok and bring to the boil then simmer until the noodles are cooked. Drain the noodles, add them to the wok and toss them all around.
Divide the noodles and vegetables into 2 bowls, place a salmon fillet on top and pour over any sauce that's left.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Tiramisu
Ok, here's The Missus' favourite dessert - tiramisu. I could bore you by telling you that tiramisu is apparently Italian for 'pick-me-up', but I won't. I'll just get on with the recipe.
Usually I don't bother with ingredients but with desserts I think it's important, so here goes.
2 free range organic egg yolks
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
a few drops of vanilla essence
250g/8oz of marcarpone cheese
175ml/6floz of strong black coffee
2 tablespoons of Marsala wine
1 tablespoon of brandy
15g/5oz of sponge fingers
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
Mix the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until they are creamy. Mix in the drops of vanilla essence then gently fold in the marscarpone until you have a smooth creamy mixture.
Mix the coffee and Marsala together in a large bowl. Quickly dunk the sponge fingers into the liquid. Don't soak them or they will become soggy and fall apart.
Place a layer of sponge fingers in the bottom of a large glass bowl and cover them with a layer of the marscarpone mixture.
Continue layering in this way, finishing with a layer of marscarpone. Sieve over a dusting of cocoa powder.
Put the whole thing into the fridge and chill for at least 3 hours.
The Bloke
Usually I don't bother with ingredients but with desserts I think it's important, so here goes.
2 free range organic egg yolks
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
a few drops of vanilla essence
250g/8oz of marcarpone cheese
175ml/6floz of strong black coffee
2 tablespoons of Marsala wine
1 tablespoon of brandy
15g/5oz of sponge fingers
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
Mix the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until they are creamy. Mix in the drops of vanilla essence then gently fold in the marscarpone until you have a smooth creamy mixture.
Mix the coffee and Marsala together in a large bowl. Quickly dunk the sponge fingers into the liquid. Don't soak them or they will become soggy and fall apart.
Place a layer of sponge fingers in the bottom of a large glass bowl and cover them with a layer of the marscarpone mixture.
Continue layering in this way, finishing with a layer of marscarpone. Sieve over a dusting of cocoa powder.
Put the whole thing into the fridge and chill for at least 3 hours.
The Bloke
Saturday, 24 October 2009
Poached Salmon With Pasta and Wholegrain Mustard Sauce
Right, I've been promising to write this recipe up for ages now and, as usual, I've just been too lazy.
This recipe was a result of a lot of experimenting after buying a rather large whole salmon. I found that some of the steaks I'd cut were quite bony so decided to poach a couple of them, break the fish into chunks (picking out the bones while I was as it) and adding to pasta.
The problem was the sauce. It took about four attempts to get to this stage (it was a very big salmon) and I've done this twice now with success, finally getting the all-important 'thumbs up' from The Missus.
Well, I've rambled enough, here's the recipe, as always this serves two.
First, poach the salmon. I've used two steaks but you could use a couple of fillets. Put the fish in a frying pan deep enough to allow you to cover the fish with water. Chuck in a couple of bay leaves and four or five whole peppercorns. Cover the fish with boiling water and simmer for about 8 minutes. You can, of course, bypass this step and buy ready-poached salmon. M&S do nice poached salmon fillets.
Remove the fish from the pan and drain on some kitchen paper, allowing it to cool while you get on with the sauce.
Finely chop 1 shallot and a couple of cloves of garlic. Add this to a saucepan with a couple of glugs of extra virgin olive oil. Soften over a low(ish) heat, taking care not to brown, then add about a wine glass of dry white wine.
Point of interest here. Don't be fooled into thinking you can use rubbish wine for cooking. Rule of thumb, if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it.
Bring the wine to the boil and simmer until the smell of alcohol has gone then add about a tablespoon of wholegrain mustard. Stir this in then simmer for about 5 minutes or so.
While that's simmering away, go back to the fish. Remove any skin and break the fish into bite-sized chunks, making sure you pick out all the bones.
Now, cook some pasta in loads of boiling, salted water for about 10 minutes (check with the packet).
While that's cooking, finish the sauce off. Add a couple of heaped tablespoons of creme fraiche, season with salt and pepper, add the salmon, stir through and warm through over a low heat.
When it's cooked, drain the pasta and divide into two bowls. Spoon the salmon sauce over the pasta, giving it a gentle stir through, then scatter over a handful of roughly chopped parsley.
Goes nice with a glass of ice cold Gavi.
Cheers
The Bloke
This recipe was a result of a lot of experimenting after buying a rather large whole salmon. I found that some of the steaks I'd cut were quite bony so decided to poach a couple of them, break the fish into chunks (picking out the bones while I was as it) and adding to pasta.
The problem was the sauce. It took about four attempts to get to this stage (it was a very big salmon) and I've done this twice now with success, finally getting the all-important 'thumbs up' from The Missus.
Well, I've rambled enough, here's the recipe, as always this serves two.
First, poach the salmon. I've used two steaks but you could use a couple of fillets. Put the fish in a frying pan deep enough to allow you to cover the fish with water. Chuck in a couple of bay leaves and four or five whole peppercorns. Cover the fish with boiling water and simmer for about 8 minutes. You can, of course, bypass this step and buy ready-poached salmon. M&S do nice poached salmon fillets.
Remove the fish from the pan and drain on some kitchen paper, allowing it to cool while you get on with the sauce.
Finely chop 1 shallot and a couple of cloves of garlic. Add this to a saucepan with a couple of glugs of extra virgin olive oil. Soften over a low(ish) heat, taking care not to brown, then add about a wine glass of dry white wine.
Point of interest here. Don't be fooled into thinking you can use rubbish wine for cooking. Rule of thumb, if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it.
Bring the wine to the boil and simmer until the smell of alcohol has gone then add about a tablespoon of wholegrain mustard. Stir this in then simmer for about 5 minutes or so.
While that's simmering away, go back to the fish. Remove any skin and break the fish into bite-sized chunks, making sure you pick out all the bones.
Now, cook some pasta in loads of boiling, salted water for about 10 minutes (check with the packet).
While that's cooking, finish the sauce off. Add a couple of heaped tablespoons of creme fraiche, season with salt and pepper, add the salmon, stir through and warm through over a low heat.
When it's cooked, drain the pasta and divide into two bowls. Spoon the salmon sauce over the pasta, giving it a gentle stir through, then scatter over a handful of roughly chopped parsley.
Goes nice with a glass of ice cold Gavi.
Cheers
The Bloke
Sunday, 4 October 2009
Pan-Fried Sea Bream With Pineapple Salsa
This is more to tell you about the salsa than the bream as I've already written about this before - here http://blokeinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/06/pan-fried-sea-bream.html. I wanted to do something a little different to go with it and remembered that I had a pineapple and plenty of chillies so I'd give it a bit of a Caribbean treatment.
I filleted, boned and skinned the fish myself but as I mentioned in the earlier recipe, you can get a fishmonger to do this for you. When I finally get my act together, I intend to include how to do this in my video content. In the meantime, see the above post for how to cook the fish.
To go with the fish, I did some cheat's sauteed potatoes. Take a few handfuls of new potatoes and boil them for about 15 minutes in salted water. Heat some vegetable oil in a decent sized roasting dish at 240 degrees (gas mark 9). Drain the potatoes and run them under cold water to cool them enough to handle. Cut the each potato into 8 pieces and season well with black pepper and paprika. When the oven is hot enough, take the roasting dish out and add the spuds. Give them a good toss and put the dish back in the oven for about 20 minutes, giving them a toss after about 10 minutes.
So to the salsa. Very simple really. Finely chop about a quarter of a red onion, a quarter of a red pepper, a whole chilli (depending on how hot you like it, seeds in or out - up to you) a couple of cloves of garlic and about a centimetre of ginger and a couple of slices of pineapple.
Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and fry the salsa until the edges of the pineapple are slightly singed, remove from the heat and add a handful of roughly chopped parsley. Give it all a good stir and you're done.
Serve a couple of fillets of the pan-fried bream with the potatoes, the salsa and some fine green beans.
The Bloke
I filleted, boned and skinned the fish myself but as I mentioned in the earlier recipe, you can get a fishmonger to do this for you. When I finally get my act together, I intend to include how to do this in my video content. In the meantime, see the above post for how to cook the fish.
To go with the fish, I did some cheat's sauteed potatoes. Take a few handfuls of new potatoes and boil them for about 15 minutes in salted water. Heat some vegetable oil in a decent sized roasting dish at 240 degrees (gas mark 9). Drain the potatoes and run them under cold water to cool them enough to handle. Cut the each potato into 8 pieces and season well with black pepper and paprika. When the oven is hot enough, take the roasting dish out and add the spuds. Give them a good toss and put the dish back in the oven for about 20 minutes, giving them a toss after about 10 minutes.
So to the salsa. Very simple really. Finely chop about a quarter of a red onion, a quarter of a red pepper, a whole chilli (depending on how hot you like it, seeds in or out - up to you) a couple of cloves of garlic and about a centimetre of ginger and a couple of slices of pineapple.
Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and fry the salsa until the edges of the pineapple are slightly singed, remove from the heat and add a handful of roughly chopped parsley. Give it all a good stir and you're done.
Serve a couple of fillets of the pan-fried bream with the potatoes, the salsa and some fine green beans.
The Bloke
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Bloke Pasta With Chorizo
This is something that I love cooking when The Missus is out, as she is tonight. It only takes about 12 minutes to cook which means that you can knock it up at half-time and tuck in while you're watching the second half.
Right, first get your pasta on. Tonight I used some chilli penne as I had a craving for lots of chilli but I've done this with all sorts of different pasta, whatever I have in the house. Cook the pasta in accordance with the instructions on the packet, normally about 12 minutes.
While that's going on, turn your attention to the sauce, such as it is.
In a frying pan, add a good few glugs of good extra virgin olive oil. Add a couple of cloves of finely sliced garlic, as much chilli as you fancy, and a couple of inches of sliced chorizo. Warm all this through, don't fry it. This will release the paprika from the chorizo into the olive oil and soften the garlic.
When the pasta is cooked, drain it and add it to the frying pan. Chuck in a load of roughly chopped parsley and give it all a good mix about.
Tip the lot into a bowl and grate over a jolly good dose of parmesan. Grab a beer, sit down in front of the telly and watch the rest of the footy while you've got the house to yourself!
The Bloke
Right, first get your pasta on. Tonight I used some chilli penne as I had a craving for lots of chilli but I've done this with all sorts of different pasta, whatever I have in the house. Cook the pasta in accordance with the instructions on the packet, normally about 12 minutes.
While that's going on, turn your attention to the sauce, such as it is.
In a frying pan, add a good few glugs of good extra virgin olive oil. Add a couple of cloves of finely sliced garlic, as much chilli as you fancy, and a couple of inches of sliced chorizo. Warm all this through, don't fry it. This will release the paprika from the chorizo into the olive oil and soften the garlic.
When the pasta is cooked, drain it and add it to the frying pan. Chuck in a load of roughly chopped parsley and give it all a good mix about.
Tip the lot into a bowl and grate over a jolly good dose of parmesan. Grab a beer, sit down in front of the telly and watch the rest of the footy while you've got the house to yourself!
The Bloke
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Guitar Hero?
Posts
