A double header – time to Curry Up. Week Seven & Eight.

So I have been a little slack and needed to catch up on my challenge – but to be fair I had just moved and had a new cooker and hob to figure out – but enough of my excuses.

To try and make up for my tardiness I decided that this week it would be a double header of recipes – a curry with home made roti.

The curry recipe comes courtesy of a gentleman I have know for at least 25 years, although we only reconnected since my foray into social media.
@stevejack0 is a pretty handy home chef himself and is an absolute curry fiend.
Jacko sent me not only a number of recipes for curry, (his pork filet one may well appear at a later date), but he also sent me the recipe for making my own curry powder, which is included in this dish.

The roti accompaniment came from one of my Instagram followers, @sabz79, who I also discovered is on twitter under the name @msfoodie79.
Sab is Mauritian by descent and this is her mother’s recipe – so I really wanted to do it justice.

I set about checking my cupboards for all the ingredients, searching unopened boxes before eventually wandering out to the local supermarket to get the rest.
Once fully armed with my ingredients I set about making my curry.

I followed Jacko’s curry powder instructions and was left with a lovely heady aroma filling my new kitchen – I don’t propose to go into the detail of this as it’s outlined in the recipe, however it is a great way to start this dish, (and the leftovers can be kept in an airtight container for your next curry

I seasoned the chicken putting it to one side as I set about chopping the onion.
Once chopped I started to cook off the onion, curry powder and spice mix

Once the onion and spice mix was cooked through I added the chicken, stirring it thoroughly

I now added the chicken stock, covering the dish allowing it to gently simmer, stirring occasionally

As the pot gently bubbled it was time to prepare my roti dough.

I combined the flour, salt and butter and began to work it with my fingertips until I had a breadcrumb like consistency.

Once at this stage I slowly added the water until I had formed a floury dough ball.

It was now that the hard work was to begin.
I kneaded the dough for about 5 minutes or so eventually leaving it to rest in a warm cupboard for 15-20 minutes

Keeping an eye on my curry it was now time to roll out my roti’s
I divided the dough into two and then again into four.
I rolled each piece out individually into a squarish shape, (this was the hardest part), and then oiled it. Once oiled I folded the dough in half, oiled both sides before folding and oiling again.

This process builds layers into the roti that makes it lovely and flakey once cooked.
I carefully laid out all the freshly rolled and oiled roti and then heated my pan.
My curry had cooked down and the sauce was lovely and thick and even though we were having the roti I cooked a small amount of basmati rice to go with the curry.
I heated the pan until smoking hot and placed the first roti in the bottom.

As the roti cooked they puffed up. I pressed down lightly with a slice to make sure the whole surface area was cooked before flipping it over and cooking the other side.
What you are left with is a lovely toasted bread, lighter than a naan but with more body than a chapati, perfect for the curry.

I plated up and fed my hungry guinea pig, (known as the wife), even presenting her with a ramekin formed dome of rice, (poncy I know).

 had made curries before, but never had I really made one completely from scratch and nor had I ever made roti’s, (although I will never buy bought ones again!!). 

Week Six – Time to get spicy.

This week it was time to delve into something a little more spicy than I had already attempted and with that in mind I turned to the recipe sent to me by @feelgd_foodbk.

Katy, the real life person behind the twitter name, has been a huge help to me ever since the inception of this challenge. She has not only supplied me with a tasty recipe but has made sure that the word of my challenge has been spread far and wide, (As well as inviting me along to the fabulous Westival run by City Pantry).

Katy is a foodie extraordinaire. She cooks, she promotes, she organises, in fact if you can think of a role within the genre Katy probably does it. Her time line is filled with delicious meals, recipes and foodie adventures and I urge you to take a look at what she is up to.

Any hoo, back to this weeks challenge.

I assembled the ingredients and set about my preparation.

The first thing I needed to do was prepare my sausages. I returned to my favourite Gloucester Old Spot snags and nipping them in the middle I then twisted them to make two smaller sausages and then separated them.

I then cut up the pancetta that I had and heated up my pan.

I fried off the small sausages until golden brown and then set them to one side.

I then added the onion, garlic and pancetta to the pan and fried them off in the oil and residue left from the sausages.

As you can image the smell in the kitchen was devine and I was already salivating.

Katy suggests using chorizo instead of the lardons / pancetta, but for this attempt I stuck to her original recipe – and I wasn’t disappointed.

Once this had all cooked down I returned the sausages to the pan and added the peppers, smoked paprika, cayenne and a whole fresh red chilli.

Now was time to add the chopped tomatoes, bay leaves and kidney beans. I stirred the mixture through and then added the secret ingredients- balsamic vinegar and honey.

These ingredients adds a subtle barbecue hint that developes as the dish cooks and you may wish to add a little more of each depending on how long you cook it for.

I added the stock and after a final stir I put it in the oven – pre heated to 160 degrees celsius and let it bubble for about an hour, checking it every 10 – 15 minutes to make sure it wasn’t drying out.

Katy reccomends serving this dish with mashed sweet potato or rice, but this time around I went for something simple and just served it with a side of warmed wholemeal pitta breads.

Whilst there is an argument, (not from me!), that this is more a wintery dish I would tend to disagree. This is a dish that can have seasonal items added to it, can serve a plethora of people and if you really want to try and add some extra “Summer” to it why not use left over sausages from the weeknd barbecue and let the heady, smokey aroma take you back to lounging in the garden.

I knew that Katy wouldn’t let me down and this recipe is delicious, spicy, simple to prepare and cook and most of all very satisfying.

With this particular recipe I was obviously left with some hearty left overs for lunch the following day. 

To bulk this out a little bit I added half a cup of basmati rice and poured in some more chicken stock to loosen the mixture. I then returned the pot to the oven for about 15 minutes for the rice to absorb all of the stock and fluff up, making lunch the next day for my wife and I much more interesting than a boring old sandwich.

As always the ingredients and method follow, so give it a go and let me know how you get on by hash tagging your images #52weeksofeatingmytl

Simon

@twohungrymen

Ingredients / method from @feelgd_foodbk.

Spicy Spanish sausage stew (serves 4, but quantities can easily be increased if there are more mouths to feed)
6 – 8 good quality sausages
4 rashers of smoked bacon, or 100g chorizo
1 large red onion, peeled and diced
2 cloves of garlic
2 bell peppers (red, orange and yellow will all emphasise the Southern feel of the dish)
1 tin of kidney beans
1 tin chopped tomatoes
250ml – 500ml chicken stock (depending on how long you can leave the stew cooking)
1 medium red chilli pepper (optional)
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
1 dash cayenne pepper
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons (or more) balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons (or more) runny honey
Olive oil
Seasoning (salt and pepper)

Split your sausages in half by gently squeezing the middle section and twisting the ends in opposite directions, then cutting through the knot in the skin.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the small sausage patties until they turn golden brown.

Using a heavy-based pan or casserole dish and some of the oil from the browned sausages, fry together onions, garlic and smoked bacon until soft. I used some impressive soft and fresh chorizo from the local Spanish food market in my camp-side version of this stew, and I’d recommend using than instead of lardons if possible. (just fry the spicy sausage until the bright red oil mixes in with the onions).

Put the sausages back in the pan, along with summer-hued bell peppers. Now add smoked paprika to the casserole, plus a dash of cayenne pepper and a fresh red chilli if your family are spice fanatics!

Pour chopped tomatoes into the spicy sausage mix, along with kidney beans and a few bay leaves. If your children aren’t willing to try kidney beans, regular baked beans also work well and will give the sauce extra sweetness.

The secret ingredients that transform this dish are sharp salty balsamic vinegar and sweet honey. Start by adding equal quantities of each, plus a generous handful of seasoning. Depending on how urgently you need to put dinner on the table, increase the liquid level with some chicken stock, bring the sauce to the boil and let it bubble for at least 20 minutes. Keep testing the sauce to check its flavour – the stew should take on a deep barbecue flavour as it develops, and may need more honey or balsamic adding to enhance its richness.

The spicy sausage stew is ready to serve once the sauce has transformed into a thick gravy. Mashed sweet potatoes, rice, wedges, or chunks of fresh bread are all ideal accompaniments for mopping up the pool of fiery tomato liquor

A quick dinner – Charred Broccoli and Bavette Steak

Tonight I found myself adapting a skinny dinner recipe of Gizzi Erskine’s.

As I walked the dog I pondered what I could have for dinner and I decided that I quite fancied a steak and veggies.

I wandered into Waitrose and perused the shelves for some inspiration.
What I was greeted with was some reduced price tender stem broccoli and a lovely looking piece of bavette steak.
Last week I had cooked something similar with asparagus but decided to go off menu with the broccoli.
I collected my ingredients and hurried home to cook up a storm.

One of the food bloggers I follow on twitter – @hollowlegs – recently posted some photos of her charred broccoli and it was this post that had given me the idea of putting it with my steak.

I heated my wok adding a little rapeseed oil, soy sauce and a dash of Worcester sauce. Once the pan was smoking I added the broccoli tossing it in the oil.
Once it was all coated I turned it down slightly and then put on my griddle pan.

I added a little oil and once this pan was smoking I added my steak.
Now, I like my steak rare enough that a good vet could revive it, so literally two minutes each side and my meat was done.

I removed my broccoli and placed it across my plate, sprinkling it with some sesame seeds.
I removed the steak from the pan and cutting it on the bias I then lay it across my slightly charred, al dente broccoli.

This dinner is fast, great, simple and ideal for when you’re on your own or even super-sized to have with friends

Suffice to say that I demolished this dinner in double quick time – leaving just enough room for a after dinner mint.

I didn’t plan to actually blog this dish – hence only a couple of photo’s, but seeing as Helen Welch, ( @helenwelch331 ) wanted to know “How” I thought I’d throw this piece together.
Give it a go – and enjoy
So

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Week Five – a Turkish egg-stravaganza

This weeks challenge recipe was sent to me courtesy of @foodgoblin1 – or as I will refer to her, Lucy.

Lucy answered my request for help by not only retweeting the hell out of my link but by sending me her recipe for Turkish Baked Eggs.

This was another new one for me and I was looking forward to a tasty treat so I checked the list and assembled all the ingredients.

I set about chopping the onions and peppers and cooked them down in a little olive oil.

Once they had caramelised a I added the spinach and allowed it to wilt in the heat of the pan.

I transferred the contents into an oven proof dish and made two small wells for the eggs.

I took Lucy’s advice and cracked the eggs into a separate cup and poured them into the hollows that I had made and this certainly made the operation a little easier.

The only adjustment I made to the recipe was the quantity of ingredients as I was only cooking for myself on this occasion – the wife missing out this week – and not wanting to make too much of a pig of myself I cut the ingredients down a little.

I placed the dish in the oven that I had pre heated to 150 degrees celsius and I set the timer for 12 minutes.

I heated a small pan and dropped the butter into it. Once the contents were foaming I added the smoked paprika. 

After cooking it through for a minute or so I took the smokey nectar off the heat and put it to one side.

The final part of the accoutrements was the yoghurt. I took the Greek yoghurt out of the fridge adding the crushed garlic and a pinch of salt. I mixed the ingredients together until it was smooth and like the butter, put it to one side ready for plating up.

The alarm pinged and it was now time to check on my eggs.

I removed the dish from the oven and could see that the egg whites were now firm and the yolks still quite runny.

I was supposed to have made my own flat bread to go with this dish, however I had just run out of time. I did however have a couple of wholemeal pittas available to me and I duely toasted these to have with the meal. 

I spooned the eggs and vegetables on to my plate and dressed them with the yoghurt and paprika butter.

This was a truly tasty midweek dinner, relatively quick and easy, but with subtle flavours to tantalise the taste buds. The pitta was the perfect accompaniment to the dinner, although I would have proffered to have made my own flat bread – but just me being picky.

For me this would make a great breakfast, along the same lines of Huevos Rancheros and I would consider adding some chorizo to the recipe, but I wouldn’t make any huge changes.

This was another great dish – and I can’t thank Lucy enough for getting involved in my challenge.

What follows is Lucy’s actual ingredients and method. Give it a go and let me know how you get on, hash tagging your photos #52weeksofeatingmytl .

Simon

@twohungrymen

Recipe 

Ingredients (serves 4):
2 red peppers, finely sliced
2 white onions, finely sliced
4 Burford Brown eggs
60g butter
2tsp smoked paprika
4tbsp Greek yoghurt
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
250g spinach, washed
Olive oil, for frying
salt and pepper

Method:
1. Heat the oven to 150C / Gas Mark 2.
2. In a frying pan over a low-medium heat, cook the red pepper and onion in a little olive oil until very soft and carmelising.
3. Add the spinach to the softened peppers and onions, season liberally and cook for 3-4 minutes, until the spinach has wilted and the moisture evaporated.
4. Transfer the pepper mixture to an oven proof dish and arrange in a layer of 4-5cm thick.
5. Make two deep wells in the pepper mixture and pour in the eggs (it helps to crack them into ramekins first, then pour them into the baking dish). Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the whites have just set. While the eggs are cooking, make the other components.
6. Paprika butter: heat the butter in a small saucepan until it foams and starts to go a light golden colour. Add the paprika and a little salt, allow to bubble for a few minutes then turn off the heat
7. Garlic yoghurt: combine the yoghurt with the garlic and a large pinch of salt.
8. When the eggs are out of the oven, drizzle them with the yoghurt and then the butter.