Pork chops, in a mustard cream sauce, sauteed new potatoes and carrots, peas parisienne

 

Well , the photo is a disappointment, but the dinner wasn't!  It was film night at KitchenFairies HQ, and I try to theme the dinner with the film.  The film was "Hugo" ... the connection was that the film was set in Gare du Nord, Paris - so it was French Bistro food.

Also, I have no idea if peas parisienne have any authenticity to them - it's just what I have always called leeks, peas and lettuce cooked this way.

Pork loin chops

Olive oil

Meat seasoning (black pepper, garlic, celery salt, paprika)

New potatoes

Carrots

Butter

Leek

white wine

Little gem lettuce

Garlic

Chicken stock

Dijon mustard

Cream

1.  Rub the pork loin chops with the seasoning and olive oil, set aside for an hour.

2.  Peel new potatoes and carrots, cut potatoes in to quarters, length wise, and the carrots into diagonal chunks.

3.  Wash and shred leeks.

4.  In a heavy frying pan with a lid melt butter (lots ... twice as much as you think you need) and add the potatoes, carrots and cup of water.  Put the lid on and simmer for about 10 minutes.

5.  Take the lid off the potatoes and simmer off most of the water.

6.  Sweat the leek off in olive oil, add crushed garlic.

7.  20 minutes to go ... heat butter and olive oil in a frying pan, when hot add the chops and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side.

8.  Stir the potatoes and carrots, put the lid back on and let them crisp up.  Shake about every 3 minutes to stop them catching.

9.  Remove chops from the pan, add white wine to the pan, with a little chicken stock and a teaspoon of dijon mustard, stir and simmer.  Add cream.  Put chops back into the sauce and keep on a low heat.

10.  Add frozen peas and wedges of little gem lettuce to the leeks, add a splash of white wine.  Simmer for 3 minutes.  Add a drop of cream.

11.  Serve, scoff ... it was delicious!  really rich - but fabulous.

Jamaican jerk chicken, rice and peas and salad

Rice and peas

Rice
Kidney beans

Jerk chicken

Olive oil
Chicken breast
Jamaican jerk seasoning

Salad
Garlic infused olive oil
Lettuce

Honestly, this can't really be called a recipe, as it's so easy!  I have cheated with the rice and peas, in that, really they should be done with coconut milk, but we didn't really feel like it... so, I made it much more plain.

1.  Put rice in a pot which can be used on the hob, and then in the oven.  Turn the oven onto to medium.
2. Add the drained kidney beans and enough water to cover, plus an inch.
3.  Bring the rice to the boil, bang the lid on, and put it in the oven.
4.  Marinate the chicken breast in olive oil and the jerk seasoning.
5.  Splash a little garlic infused oil in the bottom of a salad bowl, bung in the lettuce.  Toss when you serve the dinner.
6.  Ten minutes before serving, fry the chicken, in quite a hot pan...

Scoff.

Seasoning would go with chicken, pork, fish and halloumi.

Wild fennel and tomato pesto tagliatelle, prawns and salad

We needed a very quick dinner, and fortunately I had been waiting to try the wild fennel and tomato pesto which I now stock - well!  it is outstanding!  Some good pasta - tagliatelle today and some salad and we were good to go.  I added some grilled prawns as well, to please the gathered ... but there were three views on this!  i) fantastic, love it, having thirds; ii) really good pesto, pasta and salad - would make a really good veggie dinner; iii) nice dinner - but would be fan-bloody-tastic to have this pasta and pesto with steak, or indeed, chicken ... and the same salad would be great too.  I think I come down with iii ... but, damn good pesto, damn good pasta, damn good dinner.

Takes about 12 minutes from cold ...

1.  Put on a pan of water to boil.
2.  Prepare lettuce.
3.  Make salad dressing - a splash of garlic infused olive oil, a squirt of lemon juice and a grind of sea salt and black pepper - into a salad bowl.
4.  Chuck lettuce and very finely sliced half moons of onion into the dressing.
5.  When water is boiling, chuck in the pasta and cook for 4 minutes until al dente.
6.  Grill prawns in hot pan.
7.  When the pasta is done, drain and stir in pesto.  Toss the salad.

Serve, scoff ...   then get the opinions written above ... thinking about it now - I think this pasta/pesto combo would be AMAZING with a good steak.  (Sorry vegetarians!)

Crispy fried fish, tiny roasties and braised peas and lettuce

So, I opened "The Mediterranean Pantry" this week.  One exciting week!!! Lots of lovely stuff for sale, and loads of potential for lots of fun.  Today I invented "Calabrian fish crust mix", for fried fish.  It is delicious, and will be on sale in The Mediterranean Pantry very soon.

So, I took advantage of this and pepped up our traditional Friday night fish and chips ...

Potatoes
Olive oil
White fish
Calabrian fish crust mix
Onion
Garlic
White wine
Petit pois
Little gem lettuce

Instructions, in more or less, chronological order ...

1.  Chop potatoes into 1 inch cubes - parboil (or microwave) - toss in olive oil and roast in a hot oven.

30(ish) minutes later

2.  Chop an onion, sautee in olive oil until soft, add crushed garlic and a good slosh of white wine.
3.  Chop white fish into 1 inch strips (or leave as fillets if you prefer).  Pat dry with kitchen roll.
4.  Coat the fish pieces with Calabrian fish crust mix.
5.  Fry fish, in hot olive oil - a couple of minutes of each side, in batches, drain on kitchen roll, keeping the batches warm as you go.
6.  Add petit pois to the onions with wedges of little gem lettuce.  Stir until lettuce is wilted.
7.  Scoff.

Delicious.

Spicy, crunchy fish with new potatoes and peas and stuff

A neighbour, very generously, gave us some home grown new crop potatoes.  She was very proud of them - and quite justifiably so, they were DELICIOUS.  I just boiled them simply and sprinkled them with sea salt.  To accompany them I did spicy crunchy fish and lovely spring vegetables.

Fish

Pollock (or other white fish) fillets, cut into 2 inch(ish) piece

Polenta

Malaysian fish curry spice mix

Olive oil

1.  Toss polenta and spice together,  then toss fish pieces in the mix.

2.  Fry (in batches) in olive oil, drain on kitchen paper, and keep warm until veg and potatoes are ready.

Vegetables

1 onion, finely chopped

Olive oil

Clove garlic, crushed

Petit pois

White wine

Little gem lettuce, cut into 6-8 wedges

Radishes, finely sliced

1.  Soften onion in olive oil, add crushed garlic.

2.  Add petit pois and wine, heat through, about 3-4 minutes

3.  Add lettuce and radich, toss through until lettuce has wilted a little - about 2 minutes.

Serve - scoff - have seconds

 
 
 

Smoked trout salad

The summer seems to have deserted the north - but the lettuces in the trug have still clung on, so despite thunder and lightening, it was time to have sunshine in the kitchen.

New potatoes
Hot smoked trout

Little gem lettuce
Parsley
Sorrel
Olive oil
Lemon juice

Tomatoes
Spring onions
Radishes
Salt
Olive oil
Basil

Carrots
Sesame seeds

So 4 salads ...

1.  start by washing and boiling new potatoes.
2.  Wash and spin lettuce leaves, add fresh parsley leaves and sorrel leaves (not chopped up as a garnish, but as salad leaves).
3.  Drizzle on olive oil and squeeze on the juice of 1/2 a lemon.  Toss gently as you serve.
4.  Chop the tomatoes, radishes and spring onions, drizzle with a little olive oil, tear in a few basil leaves and grind on rock salt.
5.  Peel and grate carrots, mix in a spoonful of sesame seeds,
6.  Flake smoked trout into the potatoes,
7.  Scoff

(Turn the heating up and pretend that summer is here)

So, these are vegetables... and a happy new dinner

Get home late - open fridge - make dinner.  OK.  So, no veg box yet - and no onions ... ???

Lots of garlic though, and some green beans, and some mushrooms .... ideas began to form, and door to table - just under an hour, including proper crispy crust on potatoes.... yum

Olive oil
Potatoes, sliced
Celery, chopped
Green beans, chopped
Garlic
Mushrooms (button and chestnut)
White wine
Stock (cube in water)
Frozen peas
Little gem lettuce, cut into wedges

1.  Turn oven up to full whack.
2.  Slice potatoes into 1/2 cm slices and arrange in microwavable/ovenproof dish, with olive oil splished into the bottom.  Drizzle a little more over the potatoes.  Nuke for about 8 minutes - until the potato slices are nearly cooked.
3.  Meanwhile ... chop celery and green beans, and simmer gently in white wine and stock, with a clove of crushed garlic.
4.  Transfer potatoes to hot oven, to cook fully, and crisp up the tops.
5.  Chop mushrooms, cook gently in olive oil, over a low heat in a saucepan until they have released their liquid and concentrated down again.  Season with black pepper.
6.   Let everything tick over for 20 minutes or so ... making sure that nothing gets too dry.  If the mushrooms are all done - transfer to an oven dish and put in under the potatoes.
7.  Add frozen peas and lettuce to the green veg, allow to cook to 5 minutes.

Serve, scoff.... squeeze on lemon juice if you like it.  Honestly, this was brilliant.

Broad bean, courgette and petit pois risotto, with a green salad

Broad beans - what a labour of love! Fortunately, I had someone here handy who enjoys the peace of double shelling them - so I exploit it :).

So, recipe ...

Olive oil
2 spring onions, chopped
Crushed garlic
risotto rice
large bag of broad beans, double peeled to a small handful of green gems
1 courgette, diced
Italian herbs
white wine
vegetable stock
frozen petit pois
grated fontina and parmesan
lemon zest, juice of lemon
seasonning, specially black pepper

Salad

olive oil
garlic
lemon juice
salt and pepper
spring onion, sliced thinly
radish, sliced
cucumber (small amount, diced)
cos lettuce, sliced to about 1 inch pieces

1.  Put the salad dressing ingredients in the bottom of big bowl, whisk together.  Chuck on onion, radish and cucumber.
2.  Sautee onion briefly in olive oil.  Add diced courgette, crushed garlic, and toss in oil for a few seconds.
3.  Add risotto rice, and stir until each grain is finely coated in oil.  Shake in herbs.
4.  Add a glass of white wine and simmer.
5.  Add vegetable stock, simmer.  Keep adding stock and simmering for about 5 minutes - then add broad beans.
6.  Carry on adding vegetable stock and simmering until nearly dry until rice is nearly done.
7.  Add a handful of frozen peas and another ladle of stock.
8.  After 2 minutes, turn off the heat, stir in cheeses and let the rice suck up the final juices for 5 minutes.
9.  Sprinkle on lemon zest and squeeze in lemon juice.
10.  Serve, with a good grinding of black pepper.
11.  Chuck shredded lettuce onto salad and toss - serve with risotto.

Summery and delicious.  Made me feel better after a few days of grim viral bleaugh-ness.

Tofu nuggets, pasta salad - to make lettuce boats

So, I understand, tofu is very good for you - and it's also very reasonably priced (from the right place).  But, it can be so bland ...really so,so, so bland.  So I had a scout about on the interweb - and a look at what was in the fridge, and this is what I came up with.  They were very nice - but I say "nice" because with the flavours behind them, without the tofu the mixture would have been hugely flavoured (over flavoured realy) - the tofu pulls it all down several notches.  So what you get is a crunchy "nugget" with a silky velvety, pleasant mouthful inside.  Served with (gluten free) pasta salad, home made mayonnaise (http://kitchenfairies.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/veggie-paella-and-salad.html) and gem lettuce "boats" to scoop it all into.

Tofu nuggets

1 red onion
1 leek
Garlic
1 red pepper
mushrooms
sun dried tomatoes
chili flakes
cashew nuts
herbs
firm tofu
polenta
olive oil

1.  Saute onion and leek in olive oil until a bit soft.
2.  Add red pepper, mushrooms, crushed garlic, tomatoes and chili flakes and cook for a few minutes.  Leave to cool.
3.  In a food processor blitz tofu, vegetable mixture, a handful of cashew nuts and a fistful of herbs (parsley, oregano, marjoram).
4.  When blitzed, put in the fridge to solidify a bit (it wont change much unless you stick an egg in).
5. Take spoons of mixture and coat in polenta.
6.  Fry for 1-2 minutes on each side (I am sure deep frying for 2 minutes would be great).
7.  Drain on kitchen roll.

Pasta Salad

1 red onion
sweet corn
olive oil
pasta (gluten free pasta twists)
cherry tomatoes
gherkins

1.  Chop red onion and chuck in sweetcorn and good glug of oil.
2.  Meanwhile cook pasta according to packet instructions.
3.  Drain pasta and throw into onion, sweetcorn and oil - toss about so that all pasta has a film of oil on it.
4.  When cold add cherry tomatoes, shopped into halves/quarters - and chopped gherkins.

Serve with gem lettuce leaves.

Scoff.

Fish and chips

Fish and chips - yes - but spicy fish, roasted potatoes and lovely green veg - absolutely delicious, and very very good for us.  AND, used up some lettuce from the veg box to very good effect.

Olive oil
6 potatoes
1 leek
white wine
garlic
fish fillets (pollock in this case, cooked from frozen)
spicy seasoning (blackenned cajun, could be any number of other mixes)
frozen peas
little gem lettuce

Start with the potatoes - they will take an hour an a half, start to finish, the veg will take 20 minutes and the fish about 15.  Either the fish or the beg can be held in the oven for a few minutes without ruining - but not for too long.

1.  Wash potatoes and chop into bite sized pieces - skin on for my preference, but it does depend what they are like.  Boil in salted water for 5ish minutes.  Meanwhile have a roasting tray in the oven at 180, heating up a couple of tbsp of olive oil.
2.  Drain potatoes, toss in the hot oil and roast for an hour.
3.  30 minutes later, start thinking about the rest of it - chop and wash the leek, sweat down in olive oil.
4.  Fry fish in olive oil, seasoning with your chosen mix - I fried from frozen, so gently and for about 10 minutes.
4.  When leeks are soft, add garlic and a glass of white wine, simmer for a few minutes.
5.  5 minutes before serving add a cup of frozen peas and wedges of little gem lettuce.

Yum.  That is all.  Much better than heading to the chippy - and cheaper, I think.  I estimate - fish £1.50, veg £1 .. other bits £1.50 max (including (optional) wine) £2 each - and there are some potatoes left for breakfast... can't wait!