"The best Curry I've ever cooked"

The Perfect Chicken Curry

Well last night they said, (daughter no.2 & wife no.1) to me that this was the best curry I have ever cooked. It was almost chicken Tikka Massala but not quite, not as sweet, not too hot. Anyway try it for your self. It’s very simple. Serve it with basmati rice and naan (that is if you can find some decent shop bought naan).

Serves 4

Ingredients.

Section 1

3 Chicken Breasts

2 Lime

200ml Live Yoghurt

Salt & Pepper

Section 2

2 tbs Vegetable Oil

2 Onions

2 Cloves of Garlic

1 Good lump of freshginger

I Red Chilli or 1 heaped tsp Chilli Powder

1tsp Ground Coriander

1 tsp Cumin Seed

1tbsp Turmeric

2 tbsp Muscovado Sugar

1 tsp Tomato Pureé

Section 3

2 Tomatoes

100ml cream or crème fraiche

Method

Dice the chicken breast, place in bowl. Squeeze the lime over the chicken.

Coat with yoghurt, season with salt and pepper and leave covered for at least 30 minutes.

Place pan on a medium heat, chop onions medium coarse, add to pan. Make sure the onions do not colour, Chop the remainder of the ingredients in section 2 and add to pan together with the spices & tomato pureé. Cook gently for at least 10 minutes.

Add the chicken & yoghurt mixture to pan and cook for 15 minutes or until chicken is tender & cooked through. Whilst the chicken is cooking, chop the tomatoes coarsely and add to pan for the last five minutes of cooking.

Check the chicken is cooked. Remove pan from heat, add crème fraiche. Return to heat while stirring. Serve with the rice

Yummy Veggie Burgers

Yummy Veggie Burgers

I am not the keenest of vegetarian food fans but I had to find a decent tasting vegetarian burger as it had been requested by a client as part of a barbecue I was catering in June.

The commercial available veggie burgers were either tasteless, (the main feature of Quorn), coated with breadcrumbs, (at which point it is no longer a burger), or containing so many additives and ingredients not known to a simple chef that I felt the only course was to make my own.

I consulted widely (many thanks to KatetheBake) and came up with the following recipe which has a good taste, appearance and consistency but in no way beats 200 grams of the finest minced beef.

Ingredients

1kg Butternut Squash

2 tablespoons olive oil

2  medium onions

2 cloves garlic

I tsp dried or fresh oregano

1 teaspoon ground Coriander

500 grams red kidney beans (either cooked or canned)

Bunch fresh coriander, chopped (or cilantro if you are American)

Juice of 1 lime

150g dried breadcrumbs (or more to taste)

I tablespoon Xanthan gum

2 tablespoons Engevita

150g dried breadcrumbs (or more to taste)

Salt & Pepper to taste.

Method

1) Cut peel and de-seed the squash, cut in chunks, place on roasting tray sprinkle with, salt & pepper & drizzle with Olive Oil. Place in a pre-heated oven, 180c, for 40 minutes or until soft.

2) While the squash is cooking gently fry the onions and garlic till soft but not brown.

3) Place the cooked or tinned kidney beans in a food processor & process into a smooth paste. Add the oregano & dried coriander blitz or a few more minutes. The remove contents of processor to bowl.

4) Process the squash then combine with the kidney bean mixture. Add the lime juice, fresh coriander, Xanthan gum and Engevita. Add salt & pepper to taste. Start adding & mixing in the breadcrumbs until you get a mixture that will hold together in a ball.

5) Make into burger like patties. Heat oil in pan, cook patties for a minute either side or longer if cooking from frozen.

The patties can be frozen & cooked from frozen.

Baked Sea Trout with Pink Fir Potatoes & Hollondaise Sauce

It felt like the first day of Spring the sun was shining and it was Shoreham Farmers Market. I walked to the always busy fish stall and bought a line-caught Sea Trout, a big boy weighing in at around 2kg more than enough for the three of us for supper. The fish itself had a bright eye and deep red gills the best signs of a freshly caught fish and less than a tenner. What a bargain.

At the vegetable stall run by Crumbs of Sussex (http://www.crumbsofsussex.co.uk) I bought some gloriously misshapen Pink Fir potatoes. Naturally I had to make some Hollondaise sauce so the eggs came from the local farm in Steyning and the salt free butter from the Bookham (http://www.bookham.com) cheese & pasta stall. With few suitable local vegetable around I bought some green beans & mangetout from the local Co-op.

Recipes

Sea Trout

Ingredients

Sea Trout

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Lemon Juice

Method

Brush some foil with the oil, place the cleaned fish on the foil, season well,  sprinkle with lemon juice. Place in an oven pre-heated to 180c. Check after 20 minutes, if the flesh is soft & lifts easily from the bones it’s done, otherwise return to oven for a further few minutes.

Hollondaise Sauce

Ingredients

6 Egg Yolks

250 grams unsalted butter

Salt

Pepper

Lemon Juice

1Tablespoon Wine Vinegar

Method

Fine sauces such as Hollondaise and Mayonnaise hide terrors for some cooks but with care they are both simple to cook.

Ideally you need a double boiler – if you don’t have one place a bowl over a pan of near boiling water.

Place the egg yolks and vinegar in the top of your double boiler, whisking gently. Start adding the butter , roughly a teaspoon at a time letting the butter combine with the egg yolk, keep stirring gently all the time. Once the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, remove from heat. Place the top part of boiler into a bowl of iced water to prevent further cooking. Add lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste.

Cook your vegetables & potatoes to taste – I prefer mine al dente. What a lovely meal, mostly local and almost healthy!

Dinner for 125(ish)

Dinner for 200 - easy enough, a disorganised client - not unusual, a badly arranged venue - par for the course. All three together a bit difficult.


I then adjusted the menu to allow for the lack of space at the venue, the menu was finalised as:
Starter: Crayfish Cocktail followed by Pheasant with a Cranberry, Orange and Red Wine Sauce served with Red Cabbage, Green Beans and New Potatoes in a Herb Butter, (recipes at the foot of the article) and a desert made by "a chocolate expert" which the client was to provide.


The evening went swimingly apart from the desert which turned out to be a cake called a Japonnaise from a local bakery chain. This confection turned out to be and iced chocolate sponge topped with chocolate butter cream.


The other thing the guest didn't seem to like was the fact that they had to to the washing up. The organisers decided that the guests at this £75.00 per head should roll up their ballgowns and do the washing up. To save money! They guests were not happy but it was for charity. Hey Ho!


Recipes:


Crayfish Cocktail
Ingredients:
Crayfish (shelled, allow about 8 per person)
Rocket
Mayonnaise
Lemon
Paprika

Method
Add the zest and the juice of one lemon to 250ml of mayonnaise, mix the crayfish in with the mayonnaise, coating well. Place Rocket in a glass or small bowl lay crayfish mayonnaise mixture on top, decorate with slice of lemon.


Pheasant with a Cranberry, Orange and Red Wine Sauce (serves 4)
Ingredients
2 Oven Ready Pheasants (allow ½ a bird per person)
1 Large Onion (sliced)
2 Oranges
250 gm Cranberries
Glass Red Wine
Garlic (thinly sliced)
Fresh Thyme
Flour
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil
Chicken stock

1 large casserole sufficient for all the pheasant


Quarter the birds and dust each piece with seasoned flour. Zest and juice the oranges.
Heat enough olive oil to cover the base of your casserole. Brown the pheasant in your casserole putting it aside when nicely coloured.
When you have finished browning the pheasant de-glaze the pan with the red wine. Gently cook the onion and garlic in the pan until transparent but not brown. (Add another drop of olive oil as needed)
Replace the pheasant in the pan pour in the orange juice and tip in the cranberries. Heat gently until it starts to bubble. Top up the casserole with the chicken stock so the pheasant is covered. Add the sprigs of fresh thyme. Place lid on casserole and put in oven for 2 hours on about 160c.
Serve with green beans and new potatoes.

This sauce and method also works well for Guinea Fowl


Bon appetite!

Cranberries for Christmas

Years ago in the midst of time I won a Gold Award for my Cranberry Sauce. That was back in the day (God how I hate that expression) when a Gold Award at The Great Taste Awards meant something.

Well, when a few days ago I ended up with a shed load of Cranberries left over from a function I got the old pan out and created.

Now if you want to make an award winning Cranberry Sauce just follow the recipe below.

Ingredients

Cranberries

Orange Juice

Sugar

You need half the quantity of sugar to Cranberries. (Eg 1kg cranberries - 500g sugar).

Place pan on a medium to hot hob.

First pour enough orange juice in the pan to generously cover the base.

Add the sugar, start to melt the sugar in the orange juice. If there appears to be insufficient orange juice for the volume of sugar, then add some more juice.

Once all the sugar has melted and you have an orange syrup add the Cranberries.

Stir the pan occasionally to coat all the Cranberries with the orange syrup. After a few minutes the Cranberries will start to pop. Once the majority have popped remove the pan from heat.

And that is all there is to it! Either bottle in sterile jars or keep in the fridge, will last for up to 3 months in a cold fridge.

Happy Christmas cooking!

Pasta with Sausages & Red & Yellow Pepper Sauce

You know when you get stuck for things to cook you often revert to a list that you rotate. This dish is a family favourite easy and quick to cook.

This recipe comes originally from Marcella Hazan's book "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" The sausages the recipe suggests are Italian sweet sausages. I use a very herby sausage, made by my local butcher in Shoreham as my alternative. I also make no appologies for using tinned tomatoes - life is too short to skin and seed tomatoes!

The ingredients are:
3 peppers (2 red 1 yellow or vice-versa)
Olive oil enough to cover the bottom of your pan 1/2 cm or 1/4 inch
I medium onion chopped
4 sausages
Small tin chopped tomatoes
Salt
Pepper
Parmesan (some for cooking & some for the table)
Penne roughly 500 grams

First bake the sausages in the oven for about 20 minutes on 180c. While this is happening put the peppers which you have already seeded and cut into halves under a hot grill for a few minutes. Remove any charred skin from the peppers, then cut into pieces roughly 1 inch square (can''t work out what that is in cms).

Remove sausages from oven and slice into 1/2 inch pieces (roughly1cm ish)

Put your pan on a medium heat, add the oil to the pan, then sauté the onion until it becomes pale brown, cook the sliced sausage for a couple of minutes before adding the peppers which need gentle frying for seven or eight minutes. Then add the tomatoes and season well. Let the pan simmer for 20 minutes. Whilst the sauce is simmering cook the pasta. When the pasta is cooked sprinkle with Parmesan and some butter or olive oil and toss thoroughly.

Then add the sauce to the pasta. The sauce can be cooked ahead of time and reheated - I would not reccomend freezing.

Sticky Toffee and Chocolate Pudding

Feeling in a pudding sort of mood and knowing that the only way I can keep three women in my life quiet I resorted to chocolate.

Gordon Ramsay's book "cooking for friends" has many simple recipes that are economic to produce and use mostly standard store cupboard ingredients. This sticky toffee & chocolate pudding has all those attributes. Apart from the medjool dates which cost around a fiver each. (Small exaggeration).

Prior to assembling the ingredients you have to rush down the corridor stripping off and getting dressed in whites (optional step, does nothing to improve taste of food). Prepare 8 small pudding basins or ramekins by buttering them, lining them with buttered baking parchment.

The ingredients are:

First ingredients:

200g dates pitted

175g dark muscovado sugar

250ml water

100g butter (lightly or unsalted)

1tsp vanilla extract

I tbsp strong coffee

3 large eggs

Second Ingredients

150g flour

50g cocoa powder

1tsp bicarb

1tsp baking powder

Sauce Ingredients

100g dark muscavado sugar

75g butter (lightly or unsalted)

250g double cream

Put the sugar,pitted & chopped dates in the water - simmer till soft. Add the remaining first ingredients and process till smooth. (Make sure you remove all the date stones otherwise you get a tsunami). Once processed put the ingredients in a bowl.

Combine all the second ingredients and then sieve into bowl containing the first ingredients folding and stirring gently. Once mixed divide evenly among the 8 basins or ramekins. Place in oven for 25 mins at190c or until the sponge is ready.

While waiting for the sponges to rise combine all the sauce ingredients in a pan and heat gently until all the ingredients are melted and combined.

Remove pots or ramekins from oven and remove sponges once they are cool enough to handle. Pour sauce on top. Serve with cream.

Mrs Woody ate one but daughter no. 2 managed two. I thought they were light and sweet and chocolaty - but I'm not keen on puds.