Veggie Week Part 3 - Pizza Fiorentina

Greetings foodies!

Tonight has been a bit boring, my wife had to work late so I was pretty much feeding myself. The recipe for the Pizza I have done today with a pre-made base and sauce, since its a weeknight tea just for me. A bit more special and better I'm sure with a home made pizza base and a delicious rich home made tomato sauce, both of which are easy enough to do. Just seemed a little too much fuss for just my tea, so I've posted it as it was. Quality was pretty good for shop bought ingredients anyway! Want it a bit more special though? Make your own base and sauce - rewarding and extra delicious.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp Olive Oil
1 Small Red Onion, thinly sliced
200g Fresh Baby Spinach
1 Pizza base, 12" or so. Shop bought will do the job.
1 Portion of home made tomato sauce (if you make batches and freeze it like me) or a small jar of pizza sauce
Whole Nutmeg
150g Mozzarella Cheese
1 Egg
50g Gruyere Cheese, grated

Method:

Heat half the oil in a pan. Fry the onion gently for around 5 minutes, until soft, then add the spinach and stir gently for 2 minutes until wilted. Grate in a good amount of nutmeg, Pour off any excess liquid then rest for a minute or 2.

Spread your tomato sauce on the pizza base. Add the spinach mix and mozzarella, season, and place in a pre-heated 220 oven for 8 minutes.

Take out, and make a well in the middle of the toppings. Crack your egg into the well, top the whole thing with the Gruyere, then back into the oven for a further 6-7 minutes.

Serve straight away with Crusty home made Garlic Bread if you wish, or just your favourite crisp Italian White Wine.

Must admit it was very tasty, and I even prepped a second one which the wife had at 1:30am when she finally got in from work. I'll be glad when my fortune comes in as a famous chef so she doesn't have to work these hours anymore! In the meantime I'll just enjoy the new 50" HD 3D TV we just bought with her pay rise :-)

Night folks, best wishes

Tony

Coming soon...

Evening all!

I've been laid up this evening with a migraine, so I'm afraid anyone coming back for part 3 of veggie week is going to be disappointed - I didn't cook a thing tonight I've been in bed. Back to normal service tomorrow, meantime I thought I would let you all in on some of the plans for the blog this year.

The rest of this week will continue the veggie week theme, including recipes like Fiorentina Pizza, Mexican Tortilla Parcels, Souffle Omlette and a Frittata with Leeks and Red Pepper. Other themed weeks will be coming too, so please comment or email with any suggestions and we will be happy to take them forward.

We are hoping to start some guest recipes soon too. Anyone who would like to get involved please drop us an email and we will be happy to sort it out. My little brother Richard has already agreed to pop one on, and as someone who has worked as a chef in the past it should be a good one! Eventually we will be looking to extend this to pro chefs and maybe even feature personalised recipes by some of the more famous stars of the food world, so watch this space!

June will see me take on a professional cooking course with top chef Richard Bertinet, in the classic French Bistro style. It was a 30th birthday present from my amazing wife Sam and I will make sure I share with you all any tips, tricks, recipes and anything else I pick up from the time with him.

Later in the year we should really take off. October 2011 the very lucky Anthony will be marrying his lovely fiance Nadine, and they will be visiting Wales for the honeymoon and catching up with her family. This means Ant and I can really get cooking! There will be mystery box challenges (a la Masterchef!), food tours, adventures, major recipes and of course plenty of blogs to keep everyone involved. We are also planning a visit to France and will of course be popping to some fine French Bistro's for ideas to share with our readers.

So... sorry again about the lack of a recipe for today, but check back tomorrow and hopefully this will just wet your appetite for more cooking with your friends at The BBQ'd Leek.

Good health!

Tony

Veggie Week Part 2 - Stuffed Sweet Peppers

Second day of veggie week, and another simple but super tasty recipe. No photo tonight I'm afraid but it shouldn't be too hard to imagine how they look - they look like peppers stuffed with yummy filling! A little unusual as they are steamed rather than the normal ways of cooking peppers, but it really does work well.

Ingredients:

3 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped
2 Coriander Roots, finely chopped (or use a good handful of coriander leaves if you can't get root)
400g Mushrooms, quartered
1 tsp Thai Red Curry Paste (use home made if you have it, there are some decent enough jars out there if you want to save time)
1 Egg, lightly beaten
1-2 tbsp Light Soy Sauce (to taste)
1.2 tsp sugar
3 Kaffir Lime Leaves, chopped
4 Yellow Peppers, halved lengthways and de-seeded (use red or green if you prefer, yellow are a touch sweeter)

Method:

Use a Pestle and Mortar to grind the Garlic and Coriander Root into a paste, a little salt will help. Don;t grind the leaves if you are using coriander leaf.

Pulse the Mushrooms briefly in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the paste, then the curry paste and stir through before also stirring in the egg, soy sauce, sugar and lime leaves.

Place the Pepper halves into the basket of your steamer, and spoon in a generous spoonful of the filling. Steam over simmering water for around 15 minutes, until tender. Serve straight away, hot and maybe with a watercress salad or some dressed rocket leaves and a simple vinaigrette.



Enjoy everybody! Another healthy one down, you can easily get 1-2 of your 5 a day out of this dish and the kids will love them too. Plenty of variations around on the stuffing, just pop in your favourite spices or herbs. Maybe you could top with some cheese and finish them under the grill for a few minutes? I might try that next time...

Goodnight, more to come so don't forget to check back

With Metta

Tony

Veggie Week Part 1 - Mushroom Balti in Garlic Sauce

Morning food lovers!

This week in the Staniforth house is Vegetarian Week. It seems a great idea for me - costs and calories down, nutrition up and 5 a day on course. Not much to argue with there! Tonight I made a delicious and simple mushroom balti, it turned out really well and was absolutely delicious, only took half an hour to prep and cook too.

Ingredients:

250g Button Mushrooms
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Coriander seeds
1 tsp Brown Mustard seeds
2 tsp Garam Masala
Olive Oil
2 Green Chillis, deseeded and finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
Bunch of fresh Coriander
Small pot of Creme Fraiche (use low fat if you like to cut the calories even more)
Ciabatta, to serve

Method:

Chop any larger Button Mushrooms in half, leave smaller ones whole. Season and set aside.
Dry fry the spices for about 30 seconds to release their aroma. Add about 2 tbsp of good Olive Oil, then add the chilli and garlic and fry over a medium heat for a minute to soften. Tip the mushrooms in and fry, stirring often, for around 2-3 minutes.
Spoon in 3-4 tablespoons of the Creme Fraiche, and stir in until melted. Cook for a couple more minutes to amalgamate the flavours, then finish by stirring in a good handful of chopped fresh Coriander.
Serve with warm Ciabatta.

It doesn't get much simpler, but its really tasty Sam and I really enjoyed it. For variation feel free to use different spices, change out the Creme Fraiche for a soft cheese, or add some wilted spinach for another dimension.

Let me know how you get on!

With Metta to all

Tony

Mexican Tortilla Parcels

Hi everybody!

Sorry for the lack of posts in a little while, there has been a whole lot going on. I've been ill and had my 30th birthday, should be back to normal service shortly. I have some great recipes to blog and some awesome news to update, but for now its late so here is a quick veggie recipe before I hit the hay.

Serves 4:

1.5lb fresh tomatoes
4 tbsp sunflower/vegetable oil
1 Large onion, finely sliced
1 garlic clove - crushed
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 fresh green chillis
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp vegetable bouillon (or a vegetable stock cube)
200g sweetcorn, canned is fine if you drain it well
1 tbsp chopped coriander
150g grated cheddar cheese
8 wheat tortillas

Peel the tomatoes. For those who don't know, its easiest to score a small cross in the bottom then pop them in boiling water for about 30 seconds. Refresh in cold water, and the skins will peel right off. Chop the flesh.

Heat half the oil in a pan, fry the onion with the garlic and cumin for about 5 minutes until softened. Add the chillis, tomatoes and stirr in the tomato puree. Sprinkle in the bouillon and fry gently for about 5 minutes until the chilli is soft and the tomatoes have not yet broken all the way down. Stir in the corn and coriander.

Sprinkle grated cheese into the middle of a tortilla, then spoon in the mixture. Don't put in too much or it will run out of the sides - you need to fold all 4 edges in so the filling is well encased. Make as many as you want, then fry them for about 2 minutes a side until golden and crisp, it doesn't take long. Serve with more coriander, some lettuce and a sour cream dip for a really great snack, or with some refried beans and crushed potatoes for a tasty main meal. Simple but really tasty - a bit like me I suppose!

I'll post some more recipes tomorrow and get you all updated on what's been happening, but for now - goodnight and good food!

Tony

Venison Curry

So I was lucky enough to get my hands on some good quality Venison.  I wanted to try something different with it, so I thought id try a curry!  Now venison is such a nice flavour I wanted to make sure that the flavour of the meat wasn't lost in curry, so I decided on a tomato based madras.  I also didn't want to cook it for too long as it is very lean and would go tough.  I decided to use my cast iron pot and cook for about 2 hours.

Portions: 4-6 Portions

Preparation: 20 minutes

Cooking: 1 hour and 30 minutes -2 hours

Ingredients

Venison

• 600g stewing venison cut into even cubes

Dry Spices

• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• 4 cloves
• 1 tsp chilli, ground
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp ground cumin, ground
• 1 tsp turmeric, ground

Masala Paste

• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 large red chilies finely chopped
• 1 green chilli finely chopped
• 1 tbsp water

To Cook

• 2 tbsp oil
• 300g canned tomatoes, finely chopped
• 4 tbsp natural yoghurt

Method

1. Start by grinding the dry spices in a mortar pestle or a coffee grinder.
2. To make the masala paste, place all the ingredients in a food processor and puree to a smooth paste, or ground them together in a mortar and pestle, make sure that there are no large pieces of onion or garlic in the mixture.
3. Place the oil in a large saucepan and place it over a moderate to high heat. When the oil is hot add the dried spices and fry them for a minute until aromatic, be careful not to burn them. Add the masala paste to the pan and stir it so it is combined with the dry spices, fry it for 2 more minutes. Place the venison into pan so that it gets coated with the paste, cook it for a few minutes stirring occasionally so that the venison is brown. Stir in the tomatoes and add around half a cup of water to the curry. Reduce the heat to the lowest temperature and leave it to cook for 1 1/2 -2 hours, stirring regularly, add more water if it becomes dry. The meat should be tender and the sauce thick, stir in the yoghurt and cook the curry for a few more minutes.

Serve with rice and poppadoms.  I think a nice riatta or mango chutney would go very well with this dish.

Enjoy

Ant

Sweet Red Onion Chutney

I got inspired to make this when Tony made it, I made a few changes to the recipe, well to be honest I didn't even see his recipe, but it has been so tasty and nothing could beat putting this on top of a nice steak or with some pork chops!

Ingredients

• 2kg red onions or regular onions
• 4 garlic cloves
• 140g butter
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 140g golden caster sugar
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 350 ml red wine
• 350 ml caramelised balsamic vinegar
• 100ml port

Method

1.       Halve and thinly slice the onions, then thinly slice the garlic. Melt the butter with the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan (I found a cast iron pot works best but any heave base will do) over a high heat. Tip in the onions and garlic and give them a good stir until soft and translucent.  Sprinkle over the sugar, thyme leaves and some salt and pepper. Give everything another really good stir and reduce the heat slightly. Cook uncovered for 40-50 minutes, stirring occasionally. The onions are ready when all their juices have evaporated.  They should be so soft that they break when pressed against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon. Slow cooking is the secret of really soft and sticky onions, so don't rush this part.

2.       Pour in the wine, balsamic and port and simmer everything, still uncovered, over a high heat for 25-30 minutes, stirring every so often until the onions look quite dark and the liquid has reduced by about two-thirds. It's done when drawing a spoon across the bottom of the pan clears a path that fills rapidly with syrupy juice. Leave the onions to cool in the pan and then scoop into sterilised jars and seal.  Can be eaten straight away, but keeps in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Tips:  Reducing even more will make the chutney more like a jam.  If you want it really sticky add a bit more sugar, maybe 200g and reduce until when you scrape the bottom it stays parted for a few seconds.

You could also look at splitting the balsamic to half balsamic and half white wine vinegar, I used a white wine liqueur vinegar in mine and it was fantastic, this can be hard to get hold of though and is not cheap!

Ant

Hot Cross Yum!

Hi everyone - readers, friends, miscellaneous...

Today I had an early finish at work, which is rather rare. I spent the afternoon sat by the local canal reading my new recipe book in peace while the ducks swam by, it was rather blissful. My eldest daughter was allowed to stay up late with me and help make todays subject - a delicious pudding made from hot cross buns. We all have them left over after buying them BOGOF at the supermarket, so this is a great way to get shot of them and treat yourself to an indulgent, delicious and really simple pudding.

You'll need:

2 Eggs
250ml Milk
1 Tablespoon Caster Sugar
6 Hot Cross Buns
25g Butter, softened
75g Dark Chocolate Chips
A few drops of Vanilla Extract (or the scraped seeds of a vanilla pod if you prefer)

Simply half the buns and butter them generously on the insides. Lay the bottom halves in the bottom of a baking dish, and sprinkle over about 2/3 of the chocolate chips before putting the tops back on. Beat the rest of the ingredients together well, and pour the liquid over the buns evenly. Sprinkle over the rest of the Chocolate, then bake for about 25-30 minutes at 160 degrees until just set.

Then serve and enjoy with your feet up watching TV, or with your family after a nice dinner. Not much simpler than that, but I guarantee you will love it. No picture today I'm afraid - we demolished it before I remembered to take one! Feel free to add your own little touches too, that's the beauty of cooking I feel. I'm sure some Orange Zest would be lovely, or how about some more unusual ingredients like Cardomom in the custard?

I have some very tasty meals planned this week and weekend including Salmon En Croute, Beef and Red Wine Casserole with Mustard Mash, Lambs Liver with Caramelised Onions and some Spiced Pork Chops which I will of course share as I go - so stay tuned!

Peace, Health, and great food to all!

Tony

Fish Pie

I love seafood and I love pie, so its a given I would love Fish Pie.  This is one of the easiest things you can make and it is so tasty you will make it over and over again!

Ingredients

• 400g skinless white fish fillet
• 400g skinless salmon fillet
• 200g green ocean prawns
• small pot of crab claw meat
• 600ml milk
• 1 small onion , quartered
• 4 cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 eggs - hard boiled
• small bunch parsley , leaves only, chopped
• 100g butter
• 50g plain flour
• pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• 1kg floury potato , peeled and cut into even-sized chunks
• 50g cheddar , grated

1. Poach the fish. Put the fish in the frying pan and pour over 500ml of the milk. Stud each onion quarter with a clove, then add to the milk, with the bay leaves. Bring the milk just to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish.  Lift the fish onto a plate and strain the milk into a jug to cool. Flake the fish into large pieces in the baking dish.
2. Peel the eggs and slice into quarters and place evenly on top of the fish, then scatter over the chopped parsley.
3. To make the sauce, melt half the butter in a pan, stir in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes over moderate heat. Take off the heat, pour in a little of the cold poaching milk, then stir until mixed. Continue to add the milk gradually, mixing well until you have a smooth sauce. Return to the heat, bringto the boil and cook for 5 mins, stirring continually, until it coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, then pour over the fish.
4. Heat oven to 200C. Boil the potatoes for 20 mins. Drain, season and mash with the remaining butter and milk.  To top the pie with the mash, start at the edge of the dish and work your way in, remember to push the mash right to the edges to seal. Fluff the top with a fork, sprinkle with cheese, then bake for 30 mins.

Enjoy!

Ant

2 for the price of 1

Evening all

Sorry for the lack of updates the last couple of days, I have been rather snowed under and not well at all. I've barely had time to cook, let alone blog about it! Anyway, here is an update - last nights dinner and one from tonight also.

Last night I decided I wanted to go a bit restaurant style, so I designed a meal myself with that in mind. I cooked Pork Fillet Medallions with Celeriac, Potato and Apple Rosti and a Cider gravy. It was easy enough - grate the ingredients for the rosti (about twice as much potato and celeriac as apple) squeeze out the water from apples and potatoes, then pan fry in butter pressing it down into shape all the time. The sauce took a while - 500ml of chicken stock and 500ml dry cider. Tsp of honey and tsp of mustard then simmer down for an hour until thick, finally adding a couple of tbsp of double cream for richness. Then simply pan fry the medallions and serve - finished dish below. One of the nicest things I have made, would be nice with some wilted spinach too but I just didn't have any in.

Tonight was a little simpler. Pan roasted Duck Breast on Teriyaki Egg Noodles. Tip for cooking the duck - get the pan nice and hot and add the breast (scored) skin side down. Reduce the heat and give it 6-8 minutes, depending how pink you like your duck, then turn it over for another 5 minutes for a delicious crispy skin and well rendered fat which leaves the meat moist and tender. Nothing worse than overcooked Duck, but not much tastier than a well cooked one! Delicious with the sweet sticky sauce and the soft noodles. Teriyaki sauce is easy to make too from Soy Sauce, Mirin and Sugar/honey. You can add other things for different flavours and it keeps really well too.

A quick mention for my unwell youngest daughter, Ceridwen. She has a cold bless her and at 1 year old its taking a lot out of her so get well soon princess. Also huge congratulations to my lovely wife Sam on getting her 2nd promotion (and a pay bump!) in 6 months doing her new job - pretty soon she'll own the company and can bankroll my own restaurant!! And a private jet to fly to Oz every other weekend for footy and food in the sun with my best bud Ant.

Ah well, a man can dream. We did win the Lotto this week, but £87 won't really cover it. Maybe next week...

All the best everyone

Tony

Simple is best

Hi everyone

A long day today, very long. Busiest day of the month in work as always, not quite enough sleep last night, then knocked off my motorbike on the way home by some fool not looking where they were going. Seriously, right up the back of the bike while I stopped at a roundabout. No damage, bike is fine a little pain in my leg from trying to catch it (!!!) and a rip in my coat - could have been a lot worse. So what do you need after that day?

A nice juicy ribeye steak. YES PLEASE!

salad layout

The dish, complete with steak knife which was a present from my best bud Anthony!

Kept it simple - a nice salad underneath and the juicy steak on top (medium of course, my favourite and rare for the wife) with some garlic and pepper butter on the top. Perfect.  Salad was a simple mixed leaf, red sweet pepper, spring onion, cucumber and beetroot salad for the wife, though I left out both the beetroot and cucumber because I didn't fancy them today. The really great thing about making food yourself is you only need to put in what you want, not like buying it from a Supermarket!

Anyway, washed it down with a nice pear and berry cider, and watched Junior Masterchef Australia (marvelling at the standard of the 12 year olds!!!) cuddled up with Wifey. I guess the day wasn't that bad after all.

Be well, eat well and to all bikers especially - ride safe!

Tony