Coriander & Chilli eggs - for lunch or breakfast!

What a time to be thinking about entering a competition? It's madness here. However, seduced by the possibility of fame, fortune and trip to Australia, I thought "Why not?" and emailed off to enter the Gourmet Garden Blog Off/Cook Off competition.

Next thing I know, a lovely selection of their tubes of fresh herbs arrives in a cute little pouch. While you can't beat fresh herbs, there are loads of opportunities to use these beauties - in fact when they arrived, I'd run out of fresh garlic and chillies anyway, and as fresh coriander often spoils pretty quickly, I can definitely see the advantage of the tube when you need it for flavour rather than as a garnish in particular.

Now, because of one thing and another, I have decided to take the quick and easy approach to my entry (or entries - I have used the tubes quite a lot, but I need to carve out some time to blog them!), so here's the first:

Coriander and Chilli Eggs

Ingredients for 1 (easily doubled)

splash of olive oil
2 tomatoes, deseeded and roughly chopped
1/2 red pepper, deseeded and chopped to similar size
1 tsp Gourmet Garden Coriander
1/2 tsp Gourmet Garden Chilli (or to taste)
1 egg
2 spring onions, sliced
1 tortilla wrap

1 small frying pan
grill proof serving dish (optional if you can put the frying pan under the grill!)




Turn on your grill to medium - high. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the tomatoes and red pepper, cook for a minute or so to start the juices running, then stir in the Coriander and Chilli.

Once the tomatoes and peppers are semi-cooked and the herbs are nicely incorporated, grind in some salt and pepper, stir again, then take off the heat. If you are using the grill proof serving dish, scrape the sauce into the dish, and quickly make a well in the centre of the sauce (or just make the well in the sauce in the frying pan) and crack the egg into it.

Pop the dish/frying pan under the grill, and cook for 8-10 mins until the egg is cooked. This will depend on how hot the frill is and how close your dish/pan is to the element - keep an eye on it!

If you have room under the grill, fold your tortilla in half and pop it under too for a couple of minutes to crisp up.

Serve the eggs with the tortilla and extra salt and pepper as desired.

I ate this for lunch, and it was very tasty. The chilli was sufficiently spicy and the coriander gave a great flavour to the sauce. If you were feeling brave and a little like a taste of Mexico, it would work well as a kind of huevos rancheros style breakfast.

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Espresso Hot Fudge

Looking for the perfect gift for the holidays? Chances are food is something even the pickiest gift receivers on your list will love. Here is a great recipe for homemade espresso hot fudge that will last up until a month in the fridge. A great homemade gift idea would be a "Homemade Ice Cream Party Kit". You could make homemade fudge, salted carmel, edible glitter, and other fun ice cream toppers, put them all in their own containers and give it as a gift!

PS- Instead of espresso you could add cinnamon, cayenne pepper, more salt, coconut or peppermint. Vary the flavor addition to your liking.

Recipe-
1 stick butter, cubed
1/2 cup good quality semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 and 1 tbs. sugar
3/4 teaspoon espresso powder
pinch of sea salt

In a heavy bottom sauce pan melt the butter over low heat. Once the butter is half-way melted add the chocolate and stir constantly, you do not want burnt chocolate! After the chocolate is mostly melted, constantly whisk in the sugar, cocoa and 3/4 cup of heavy cream on medium low heat. Whisk until sauce is thickened and smooth about 2 minutes. Then add the remaining cream and whisk for another minute. Finally, add the vanilla, espresso powder and salt and whisk until incorporated and the alcohol from the extract cooks off. Take off the heat, put into containers and cool. Enjoy!

Happy Eatings

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Almost disastrous Mango and Passion Fruit Roulade

I set myself a challenge to find a low fat (ish) dessert that I could take along to a bring and share supper with some friends. The Good Food website has a brilliant thing at the bottom of the home page - if you ever look that far - where you can use a drop down menu to choose the top 5...... There's a lot of choice, and low and behold, one of the options is 'low fat desserts'. "That's the one for me", I thought. I clicked and the options came up including one that rang a bell. Turns out it was a dessert mum had made a while ago and had raved about.

And so here it is: Mango and Passion Fruit Roulade bookmarked from the Good Food website. A meringue base which you roll up, filled with Greek yoghurt, mango and passion fruit.

There are some nights when I should just stay right out of the kitchen. Last night was one of them, but I knew I would have no time today, so I needed to get the meringue made.

I checked out the recipe. My chosen tin was a little bigger than the one specified and I was potentially feeding more people than the 6 specified. No problem. I decided to add an extra egg white in and increase everything by a third. I already had 2 whites left over from the Crema Catalana I made, and I did actually remember to get them out of the fridge and use them. Not bad going. I separated another egg, added the white to my mixing bowl, then separated the fourth egg. But then I had a crisis. I'd already had one conversation with mum about how well the meringue would make in advance and how to store it. I'd decided to make the meringue bit and keep it separate from the filling until the last minute, but would the meringue keep?

I rang her and had another discussion, which ended rather unsatisfactorily with "Well, Sal, it's such a long time since I made it that I honestly can't remember, but if it's a bit soggy, well, it'll still be delicious."

Hmm.

I decided to make the meringue, roll it in greaseproof paper and store it overnight, rolled, and so I cracked on: whisked the egg whites till frothy, added the sugar (increased by a third), whisked, added the vanilla, vinegar and cornflour, whisked. I spooned my meringue into the tin as instructed, and into the oven it went. 

Then I saw the fourth egg white, sitting, lonely in the ramekin I had separated it into.

Language ensued. Still, there was nothing I could do, and I tried to console myself with the fact that the eggs were particularly large so could may be take the extra sugar, and not be too disgustingly sweet.

Then I wondered what to do with 2 egg yolks and a white. Lemon Curd. Of course: and I can stir it into the Greek yoghurt and offset some of the sweetness caused by there being too much sugar in the meringue...

In the end it was lemon and orange curd, because I had half an orange in the fridge, also left over from the Crema Catalana. If I get round to it, I may well post about the curd, but let me just say that anyone who suggests that it will only take 10 minutes of stirring to produce this ambrosial thing is lying. At the critical point when the meringue needed to come out of the oven and first be covered with a damp piece of greaseproof paper, and then, 10 minutes later, to be rolled up, I was still stirring furiously, keen to avoid lemony scrambled eggs - it has happened to me before. I know what I'm talking about...  

Anyway, the meringue got rolled ...

...and the curd didn't turn into scrambled eggs.

Roll forward to this evening. It's been a busy day and I thought I would take 5 minutes just to share the outcome.

Having had a hectic day, I got home via shops to do some last minute birthday shopping for the Husband who celebrates tomorrow. There was a certain amount to get done - a complicated situation relating to times tables (don't ask), presents to wrap, tea to make for the kids etc, and finally, time to unroll the meringue to fill and re-roll, triumphant.  Or not:

Still, undeterred, there was still a pudding to be made. I used 300g Greek yoghurt and stirred in about 1/2 the curd to spread over the meringue, then scattered over chopped mango and the pulp from 2 passion fruit, then had a go at rolling.

And do you know, it turned out not bad:

 













I'm linking up to Bookmarked Recipes for December on the Tinned Tomatoes blog, although it feels like a bit of a cheat because I've actually got round to making it very quickly after actually bookmarking it - but I have been meaning to look out this recipe for some time, and so hopefully that's OK!

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Braised Mince lives again - Chilli

Here it is again - remember that braised mince I was telling you about. So far it's turned up as lasagne and cottage pie in the last few weeks, and here it is again, this time as chilli.

This is a hottish version - if the kids were going to eat it, I'd use plain old smoked paprika, and probably a little less of it.

As well as your portion of braised mince (see the link above), you will need:

1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, ditto
2 tsp hot smoked paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 cinammon stick
2 glasses of red wine
1 can chopped tomatoes
splash of mushroom ketchup (or Worcestershire sauce)
250g chestnut mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced
1 400g can of kidney beans
250ml stock

First, heat a splash of olive oil in a pan and fry the onions and garlic till softened. Stir in the smoked paprika, cumin, coriander and cinammon stick and cook for a minute or 2 before tipping in the red wine. Bring to the boil and simmer till the wine has reduced by about half.

Add the chopped tomatoes and mushroom ketchup, and simmer for a couple more minutes, then add the braised mince, mushrooms, kidney beans and stock, and then simmer it all gently for about 45 mins till it's thick and rich.

Serve as you like - tortillas, chopped avocado, grated cheese, soured cream all go down well as accompaniments . Or, if, like me, you'd forgotten that you were going to have chilli, some rice, salad and creme fraiche that was left over from the weekend's pudding will do. And the rest of the wine.

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Crema Catalana - and a review

Time seems to be racing ahead again. I have been stomping round thinking that it's very cold for the time of year - the time that I'm thinking of being early October perhaps - but no, actually, it's December. With all that brings with it. I am not ready. Time to bury my head a little further in the sand, safe in the knowledge that I may not have any presents ready, but I have a Christmas Cake in the tin, some mincemeat in a jar and a turkey on order. I've also now turned some cranberries that I found at the bottom of the freezer into cranberry and orange sauce.That'll do nicely.

My friends at Baytree Cookware on the other hand, seem to be much more geared up for Christmas. They asked me if I'd care to test drive this pretty little French porcelain dish by Pillivuyt, and I was happy to oblige. 

In an attempt to dispel the cold, and thoughts of that for which I am not prepared, I wanted to capture something with a little warmth in it, with a nod to sunnier climes, so I put together a crema catalana, a version of creme brulee from Northern Spain. Orange and cinnamon scented custard under a crisp sugar top. For a moment, I was transported to a Catalan restaurant in the French town of Perpignan where I celebrated my 21st birthday with a similar dish... 

We had this for pudding after roasted duck breasts and plums . 

Now, an exercise in 'fessing up. I've never made this before, and I was a little rushed, and didn't leave the custard long enough in the fridge - a bare 4 hours - before scorching the sugar for the topping, and so the custard wasn't as solid as it should have been. My sugar topping was crisp, and cracked satisfyingly, but as you can see from the picture, not all of it melted, so it didn't give the clear brown stained glass effect. That said, it was totally delicious - and the combination of the shards of the burnt sugar against the soft, slightly warm fragrant custard was divine. Definitely something I need to practise again - and indeed the Husband reckoned it was worth getting a kitchen blowtorch for. Any excuse for a new gadget.

This little dish is perfect for a double serving of this gorgeous dessert.

Creme Catalana

serves 2

300ml double cream
1/2 cinammon stick
zest of an orange
2 large egg yolks
40g caster sugar
1 tbsp cornflour

demerara sugar for the crunchy topping (or perhaps caster sugar...)

Pour the cream into a pan, add the cinammon stick and the orange zest, bring the boil then take off the heat and leave to infuse for an hour or so.

 Separate the eggs and do something clever with the whites like freeze them, clearly labelled of course, for another time. Beat the yolks with the sugar till pale and thick, then sift in the cornflour and beat till there are no lumps. If the cream mixture is still warm, strain it into another bowl. If it's been infusing a bit longer than an hour and is quite cool, warm it up again before straining. Beat a couple of tablespoons' worth of the cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture, followed by the rest of the cream, then return to the pan and cook over as low a heat as possible, stirring all the time, till it thickens and coats the back of a spoon, and you can leave a finger trace through it.

of course, then you'll just have to lick the orangey custard off your finger...

When the custard has thickened, pour it into your dish (or individual ramekins) cool and then chill in the fridge, overnight if possible. When it's time to serve, and if you don't have a blowtorch, pre-heat your grill as hot as possible. Sprinkle the top of the custard with a thin layer of sugar, and blast under the grill till the sugar has melted and caramelised. You have to watch it like a hawk. Remove from the grill and allow to cool so that the sugar top hardens.

Share graciously with your dining partner

Baytree stock a wide range of Pillivuyt, including this rather lovely cow cream jug, 

... and a 'fat and lean sauceboat' which looks pretty cool and incredibly useful.

They also, rather helpfully, stock blow torches. Guess what's on my Christmas list...

The views expressed in this review are my own – I was not required to provide a positive review, nor was I paid to write the review.

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Forever Nigella - Cranberry & Orange Sauce

Allow me to be unfashionable and say that I love turkey. I love sprouts (as long as they are properly cooked). Stuffing, bread sauce, roast potatoes and parsnips. And gravy. I could bore you rigid with how much I adore gravy. Especially (controversial) cold, the day after. But I won't.

I'm happy to try different methods of cooking the various elements, and often I'll have to substitute something for something else depending on how organised my shopping has been. We did try goose once (it was fine), and when we've been to my brother in law's, we've had beef as the main event, but if I'm in charge, it will be turkey and all the trimmings gracing the Junkie table, thank you very much. 

Nigella does Christmas in a big way. I don't have her Christmas book, but Feast has a massive chapter devoted to all things Christmas related, and her recipes now form the core of my approach to my Christmas meal - although nothing, I repeat NOTHING is going to convince me that sweet potato and marshmallows is a good idea. Sorry, Nigella.

As part of my 'clear out the freezer to fill it again' campaign that I always end up undertaking in the run up to Christmas, I found a bag of cranberries left over from last year lurking at the bottom of the bottom drawer this morning. In a very quick turnaround, I have knocked up the cranberry sauce that will grace our table, based on the method in Feast. It's hardly challenging, and what I love about making the sundries like this is that you can make them to your taste. I think Nigella has a sweeter tooth than me, and I also often find shop bought sauces too sweet, so I have reduced the sugar and added the zest and some juice of an orange.


300g cranberries
zest of an orange
juice of half and orange
150g caster sugar
50ml water

Put everything in a pan. bring slowly to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Bubble away for 10-15 minutes till you have cranberry sauce. Keep an eye on it, and splash in some more water if needed.

Simples.

It's basically cranberry jam, but rather than storing it as jam, I am putting it in the freezer.

As the Forever Nigella event this month is all things Christmas, I couldn't possibly let this pass without linking up. It's hosted by Laura on her blog lauralovescakes and I'm looking forward to seeing the other posts as they get linked up during the month.

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Meat and fruit? Roast duck breast with plum sauce

My immediate reaction when anyone suggests a recipe combining fruit with meat, without being specific, is a kind of inner grimace. What normally springs to my mind is the Moroccan lamb or chicken and apricot/raisin combination. It's just too sweet for me, and those kind of combinations need to be tempered with other flavours to tone that down. Nigella's African Chicken is a case in point - it's one of the meals I cook most regularly from Kitchen - the children absolutely love it - and involves marinading chicken pieces in a sauce of apricot jam, but the sweetness is offset by mustard, ground ginger, Worcestershire sauce. Without that, I couldn't stomach the apricot-iness of it all. Not that I don't like apricots, you understand, just not with meat.
 
However, that fruit/meat induced grimace is a hugely misplaced over-reaction on my part. I don't really know why it's that which springs to mind, because I can point to any number of meals I cook and eat regularly where meat and fruit do actually work brilliantly together - anything pork with anything apple, for example; lamb with redcurrant jelly. To my mind, and more importantly my palate, it's the sharpness of the fruit cutting through the fattiness of the meat that I love, and that works. Another fantastic dish that highlights how well fruit and meat do work together, is duck and plums - it's just a brilliant celebratory pairing. The classic that everyone thinks of, perhaps, is crispy Peking duck with pancakes, plum sauce and those little strips of cucumber or spring onion - the darling of the Chinese restaurant, but you can also cook plums in a rich sauce spiced with star anise. to go with duck breasts that are pan-fried, then finished off in the oven.

Oven Roasted Duck Breasts & Plums
serves 2
 
2 duck breasts
salt and pepper
couple of sprigs of thyme
knob of butter

olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
4 plums, stoned and halved, each half sliced into 3 pieces
300ml beef stock (I used a Kallo organic beef stock cube)
50ml freshly squeezed orange juice (I had already zested an orange for a dessert I was making)
1 star anise
40g soft brown sugar

Heat the oven to 180C. 

Wipe dry the duck breasts with kitchen roll, score the skin with a sharp knife and grind some salt and pepper over the skin. Set aside. 

Heat a lug of olive oil in a pan, add the chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes till softened. Add the plums and sugar and stir till the sugar has dissolved before adding the stock and orange juice, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes or so till the plums are soft and the sauce has thickened slightly.




To cook the duck, heat a frying pan, ideally one which you can put in the oven. Lay the duck breasts in, skin side down, and cook for 6-7 minutes. Turn the breasts over, add the thyme sprigs and the butter, and when the butter is melted, baste the meat then pop the pan in the oven. Depending on how well cooked you like your duck, leave it in the oven for 5-6 minutes, for pink, and up to 10 minutes for well done. After the alloted time, remove the pan from the oven, baste the meat with the pan juices again, then cover with foil and allow to rest for 5 minutes or so.

To serve, slice the meat and serve on a bed of baby leaves with the plum sauce on the side. 

Not the best presentation, granted, but go with the flavours!

 
Some new potatoes, parboiled then roasted in olive oil with a good sprinkle of sea salt flakes, go really well too.

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