For The Love Of Cooking

Pearls said:

I'll get one before my soak dear, ice and slice xx

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Absolutely, please. xx

My new favourite dish.... but I don’t add the leeks, substitute them for either asparagus and peas or courgettes and I haven’t been adding the Parmesan. It’s scrummy!!

Okay so... here's my authentic Indian curry base recipe.
Cooking time – 1 hour 40 minutes
Ingredients:
4lb (1.8kg) Onions
1 red pepper
2 chopped green finger chillies (or some mixed. I tend to use mixed more)
1 sliced carrot
100g peeled garlic
100g fresh ginger
2 tbsp tomato puree
8 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp salt
1 bunch of fresh coriander
2 tins of tomatoes
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp paprika

Method
1. Peel the onions and halve and place in a very large pan (with a lid)
2. Peel & slice the carrots and place in the pan
3. Slice the red peppers into large chunks
4. Finely slice the green chillies
5. Blend the ginger & garlic (might have to add a little water and veg oil)
6. Add 2 pints (1150ml water), the chopped red & green chilli peppers, salt, coriander leaf, veg oil, ginger & garlic paste to the pan and put the lid on and turn on the heat
7. After 15 minutes, give it all a stir and reduce to a simmer
8. After another 45 minutes, stir and turn the heat off and leave it to cool
9. Blend all of it with a hand blender or use a food processor until smooth and return to the pan
10. Blend the tinned tomatoes until smooth and place in a separate pan and simmer for 10 minutes (no lid) and add a little veg oil
11. Add the tomato puree, paprika, coriander powder, cumin powder and turmeric to the tomatoes
12. Simmer down for another 10 minutes (no lid)
13. Add the tomatoes to the large pan
14. Simmer on low for another 20 minutes With this Base you can then go on to make some of the curries I've mentioned throughout the site over the years.
Last week for example, I made Beef Strocatto and the leftover beef (which was falling apart) I decided I'd make a curry with the following day.
I made this curry base mix, then added more tomatoes, extra chillies and fresh coconut milk plus cream and it was a hot & spicy curry.. almost a jalfrezi cum Pakistani tomato curry. x

The only thing I forgot, was to take a pic of the beef curry afterwards. Sorry... maybe next time x

Sirloin Steak with Diane sauce, homemade onion rings and chips. Shrimp salad starters.
#OldSkool
Okay so this is a traditional dinner which I made last night.
Starters, ingredients;
Enough fresh shrimp for 3 people or simply a box from Marks/Tesco etc.
Fresh green salad, cue, red onion. Lemon.
Mayonnaise, tomato purée and nutty seeded bread. In our case we used Tesco finest nutty Rye bread with sunflower seeds.

Main course ingredients;
The best sirloin steak you can afford to get (or steak of your choosing)
French mustard (NOT!! Dijon!)
Cream
Three/four cloves of garlic.
One red onion or two shallots
Peppercorns
Beef stock (200ml)
Brandy (triple shot or so)
Two large glasses of good red wine
Maris piper potatoes cut into classic French fries or chips.
Garlic baguette (ciabatta ones are amazing for this)

Onion rings;
150g self raising flour or plain with a touch of bicarbonate of soda.
180ml of soda water or sparkling water.
2 large onions cut into 1cm thick rings.

Method;

First things first, get your potatoes peeled and cut into French fries or chips and your chip pan really hot and then Blanche your chips so they’re half cooked only. Do not fully cook them. Take them out of the pan, pop them into a tray with kitchen roll and simply leave them rest.

The sauce;
In a jug add 250ml of boiling water from the kettle and two organic beef stock cubes (Kallo ones are best)
Chop up your shallots and garlic very finely. Then gently dry fry them in a deep walled frying pan so they sweat a little. Remove them from the pan, wipe the pan dry with some kitchen roll then put back on the heat. Add a small handful of peppercorns until they start to gently smoke. Be very careful here - add the brandy and set it alight, either with a match or by tilting the pan to the flame.
Add your stock then the cream, the onions and garlic, salt, and two large tablespoons of French mustard. Finally add two good glasses of red wine and cook out for half an hour or so. Switch off and allow to cool.

Onion rings;
Add the flour into a bowl with plenty of seasoning and slowly add the soda water stirring continuously. Cut your onions 1cm thick ringlets and then add to the batter mix. You want the mix to be a very thick paste.

Starters;
Mix two large tablespoons of tomato purée with four tablespoons of mayonnaise. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze some lemon juice out and mix it into the Mary Rose sauce you’ve just made. Pop that into the fridge for a few minutes while you wash the shrimp, pop those in the fridge.
Prepare your green salad and very finely sliced red onion. Mix the salad but being very delicate in the order of layering the food.
Start with the green lettuce first, fresh cherry tomatoes around the lettuce, then add cucumber and then your finely sliced onion.

Grab your shrimp and Mary Rose, gently mix the shrimp into the sauce and place carefully into the sauce.
Finally spoon onto the salad.
Butter the bread and cut into small eithts triangles and place around the plate then serve, with a sprinkle of chilli powder or paprika on top.

Season your steaks and put the sauce on a low heat so it simmers nicely and reduces.
Get the chip pan on. Oven on and garlic bread in the oven.
To cook the steak ideally you want a griddle or griddle pan.
A few minutes either side is sufficient for medium rare.

Get the chip pan extremely hot, drop the half cooked chips in, get your steaks on.
When the chips are cooked drain and add to a baking tray into the oven for a few minutes. Grab a heavy pan and take a few ladles of hot oil (be careful) and add to a very high heat - then slowly drop your onion rings in, turning occasionally.
When done, remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm in the oven while you cook the rest.
From there cut the bread up, leave the steak rest for a few minutes then serve everything while it’s piping hot.
Pour a good glass and then feet up, drink up and enjoy.

I know this is not a quick and easy recipe and bit more of a longer post, but hope you enjoy it. x

Nom nom

Okay so this one is for @Vanezza by request.
This is beef ragu and is a very rich, tasty and simple dish which takes about 20-30 mins prep time and about 4 hours cooking time.
So you need;
20 g dried porcini mushrooms or simply use fresh mushroooms
5 beef cheeks , trimmed or as I did today - use 2kg/4lb of beef shin (yes it works a peach)
olive oil
150 g piece pancetta or a small piece of gammon
2-3 sticks of celery
2 red onions
3 carrots
3 cloves
8-12 cloves of garlic
½ a cinnamon stick
1 bunch of mixed fresh herbs , such as sage, bay, rosemary, thyme, basil, parsley.
500 ml red wine - any will do but the drier the better.
1 jar of passata.

Method
Preheat the oven to 160ºC gas mark 3.
Cover the porcini with boiling kettle water and leave to rehydrate.
Season the beef cheeks or shin with sea salt and black pepper, then brown them in a large casserole pan on a high heat with a splash of oil, turning until well coloured all over.
I used a cast iron casserole dish which is hob to oven okay? Simply brown the meat then get ready to pull it out and leave the juices in the pan which we will come to next.

Then, slice the pancetta into lardons.
Chop the celery, onions and carrots into rough 1cm dice. In a pestle and mortar, crush the cloves with 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, then peel and pound in the fresh garlic.

When brown, push the cheeks to one side of the pan or take the shin meat out (pop it on a plate for a minute) and reduce to a medium heat.
Add the pancetta and cinnamon, stirring until the pancetta is lightly golden. Drain the porcini, save the fluid, then roughly chop and add to the pan with the vegetables. Tie the herbs together (I made a bouquet garni using muslin cloth) then stir in with the garlic mixture. Fry for 15 minutes, or until soft, stirring occasionally.

Pour in the wine, let it reduce by half, then pour in the reserved porcini water and the passata. Fill the passata bottle with water and pour into the pan.
Cover with the lid and cook in the oven for 4 hours, or until the meat is extremely tender and the sauce has thickened. Taste the sauce and season, if needed, then serve. Check the dish every half an hour or so and stir it up.
I used linguine and served with extra matured parmesan and garlic bread.
Bon appetit x

This is using beef shin. Yep, beef shin. Three huge chunks of it weighing in at four pounds and eventually it shredded down to like a pulled beef. Delicious.

Lips_Pearls said:

Okay so this one is for @Vanezza by request.
This is beef ragu and is a very rich, tasty and simple dish which takes about 20-30 mins prep time and about 4 hours cooking time.
So you need;
20 g dried porcini mushrooms or simply use fresh mushroooms
5 beef cheeks , trimmed or as I did today - use 2kg/4lb of beef shin (yes it works a peach)
olive oil
150 g piece pancetta or a small piece of gammon
2-3 sticks of celery
2 red onions
3 carrots
3 cloves
8-12 cloves of garlic
½ a cinnamon stick
1 bunch of mixed fresh herbs , such as sage, bay, rosemary, thyme, basil, parsley.
500 ml red wine - any will do but the drier the better.
1 jar of passata.

Method
Preheat the oven to 160ºC gas mark 3.
Cover the porcini with boiling kettle water and leave to rehydrate.
Season the beef cheeks or shin with sea salt and black pepper, then brown them in a large casserole pan on a high heat with a splash of oil, turning until well coloured all over.
I used a cast iron casserole dish which is hob to oven okay? Simply brown the meat then get ready to pull it out and leave the juices in the pan which we will come to next.

Then, slice the pancetta into lardons.
Chop the celery, onions and carrots into rough 1cm dice. In a pestle and mortar, crush the cloves with 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, then peel and pound in the fresh garlic.

When brown, push the cheeks to one side of the pan or take the shin meat out (pop it on a plate for a minute) and reduce to a medium heat.
Add the pancetta and cinnamon, stirring until the pancetta is lightly golden. Drain the porcini, save the fluid, then roughly chop and add to the pan with the vegetables. Tie the herbs together (I made a bouquet garni using muslin cloth) then stir in with the garlic mixture. Fry for 15 minutes, or until soft, stirring occasionally.

Pour in the wine, let it reduce by half, then pour in the reserved porcini water and the passata. Fill the passata bottle with water and pour into the pan.
Cover with the lid and cook in the oven for 4 hours, or until the meat is extremely tender and the sauce has thickened. Taste the sauce and season, if needed, then serve. Check the dish every half an hour or so and stir it up.
I used linguine and served with extra matured parmesan and garlic bread.
Bon appetit x

This is using beef shin. Yep, beef shin. Three huge chunks of it weighing in at four pounds and eventually it shredded down to like a pulled beef. Delicious.

View attachment 57679

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Thank you so much sounds and looks gorgeous :mwah:


Vxxx

Vanezza said:

Thank you so much sounds and looks gorgeous :mwah:


Vxxx

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You're most welcome. It's beautiful. Tis a Jamie Oliver dish this one, which I have then slightly amended to my own style as you do. x