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Pollo al Ajillo

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Said to be the most popular way to cook chicken in Spain, as the name implies this is something of a garlic fest. As usual, variations abound. This is my most successful execution which, typically, was my first attempt. It was in Spain and is essentially a combination between the eminent Mr. Stein’s approach, calling for marinading the chicken pieces in garlic, and the equally eminent approach taken by Moro using masses of fresh bay. Recipes usually state, “white wine or fino sherry”. In my view, the sherry is essential.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 4 hrs
cooking time: 40 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 chicken, ~1.5kg
  • 1 bulb garlic, separated
  • 5 tbs olive oil
  • 200ml fino sherry
  • 6 fresh bay leaves
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Marinate the chicken. Remove the legs, breasts and wings of the chicken. Skin the breasts (including the first part of the wing) and legs. Leave the skin on the middle part of the wings. The Spanish would leave the bones in the legs but I like to bone it for my guests: two chunks of meat from each drumstick and two from each thigh. Separate the fillets from beneath the breasts and cut each breast into, say, four chunky pieces. Put the chicken pieces into a suitable glass bowl. Skin four of the plumpest garlic cloves, crush them and, with a tablespoon of olive oil, massage them into the chicken pieces. Leave it to marinate, stirring it occasionally, for three hours, if possible, but at least an hour in any case.

Heat the remaining 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet or frying pan – you want all the chicken to fit in one layer. Gently fry all the remaining garlic cloves, skin still on, until lightly browned then remove them from the pan and set aside. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and cook them, turning occasionally, until golden all over. The chicken should be barely cooked through; the breast pieces should need ~10 minutes so rescue them before they overcook and leave the leg pieces to cook for about 5 minutes more. Increase to a high heat and add the sherry, bay leaves and browned garlic cloves to the pan, scraping the gooey bits off the base. Return the breast meat to the pan and bring it all to a boil. Reduce the heat a little to keep a moderate boil going to reduce the liquid, turning the chicken pieces in the sauce occasionally. Reduce the liquid to about a quarter, agitating the pan to help form an emulsion with the olive oil. Adjust the seasoning to taste (without drinking too much of the juice!).

If you’ve got a cazuela instead of a skillet/frying pan, I’m sure that would add an air of authenticity. Use a heat dispersing mat, though. 😉


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Posted in Poultry Tagged with:

Parsley Soup

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Just occasionally, I end up with a huge bunch of parsely when all I really need is a relatively small amount. Here’s a tasty way to use up the excess so that it doesn’t go to waste.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients

  • 125g flat-leaf parsley
  • 75g butter
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 300g potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 750ml chicken stock
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Strip the leaves from the parsley and chop up the stalks. Roughly chop the parsley leaves.

Melt the butter in a suitable saucepan over low heat and sweat the onion, potatoes and parsley stalks for a few minutes. Add a few spoonfuls of the chicken stock to keep things moist and continue cooking until the potatoes are barely done. Add the rest of the chicken stock, bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer cooking for a further 10 minutes. Stir in the parsley leaves and cook for 1 more minute before pouring everything into a cold bowl to stop the parsley overcooking.

Liquidise the soup before reheating gently and adjusting the seasoning to serve. Garnish with fresh parsley if you’re being posh.


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Posted in Soups Tagged with:

Beef Rendang

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Researching this recipe was a very educational process in that it added weight to three features that I generally hold to be true. Firstly, for any given recipe there are as many variations as there are cooks/chefs. Secondly, many commentators on Internet content are insulting idiots, in this case racist insulting idiots. The racism involved here was between Indonesians and Malays all offensively disputing the heritage and preparation of Beef Rendang. Thirdly, American interpretations frequently simplify recipes to the point of being unrecognisable.

I hope this potentially daunting list of ingredients encapsulates the essence of the celebratory dish which, I think, originated in Indonesia but was adopted with gusto by the Malaysians. It was certainly very tasty and well worth the effort, though not the burning of my hand with v. hot kerisik , which seems to be one of the distinctive ingredients. Read on.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 30 mins
cooking time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

  • 2 tbs kerisik: ½ block creamed coconut or 40g dessicated coconut
  • 3+1 fresh lemongrass stalks
  • 4cms chunk of fresh ginger, skinned & sliced
  • 4cms chunk of fresh galangal, skinned & sliced
  • 4 fat cloves garlic, skinned & sliced
  • 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
  • 6 red chillis (dried seem tradtional), soaked & seeded to taste & chopped
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • 2 tbs sunflower oil
  • 900g beef, topside or shin, trimmed and in large cubes.
  • 6 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
  • 4 whole cloves
  • 4 star anise
  • 4 kaffir lime leaves (fresh, if possible), finely shredded
  • zest of 1 lime
  • 2tsp tamarind paste
  • 1 tbs soft brown sugar
  • 400ml can coconut milk
  • Salt

Method

OK, first the story of kerisik. What is kerisik? Kerisik is traditionally freshly grated coconut which is then dry roasted for 30 minutes or so, followed by pounding smooth in a pestle and mortar. Be my guest. Some people here substitute that most useless of cooking ingredients, dessicated coconut; dry toast it in a wok/frying pan until golden brown and blitz it in a spice grinder. I tried this approach first and was singularly unimpressed. I found a “cheat” on the Internet which melts then “toasts” creamed coconut in a microwave so I gave that a go. Much better! Chunk half a block of coconut cream and zap it in a microwave. Use full power but do it in 10-15 second bursts, stirring in between. At first the coconut cream will just melt but it will eventually begin to turn brown, though it does so on the bottom of the pot so you wont see the colour change until you stir – stick to 10-15 second bursts, stirring well in between. Stop when it is quite a rich brown, certainly darker than golden but not black. Take care, being oily it’s above boiling point and extremely hot! Use oven gloves to remove it from the microwave attempting not to throw it all over yourself and the kitchen floor, as I did. Set your kerisik aside to cool.

The fresh spice paste. Starting with three of the fresh lemongrass stalks finely sliced, put everything down to the teaspoon of turmeric into a blender. Add a little water to help the liquidizing and blitz to a paste.

At last you can start cooking the rendang which will now take about 2 hours. In a suitably sized casserole, fry the wet spice paste in a little sunflower oil for about 5 minutes; it is said that it should darken a little though I’m not convinced mine did. Add the cubed beef to the spice paste and brown it all over. Toss in everything from the cardamom pods to the tamarind paste. Crush the fleshy end of the fourth lemongrass stalk and add that, too. Stir in the tin of coconut milk and bring gently to simmering point. Over low heat, continue simmering gently, uncovered and stirring frequently to avoid scorching, for 1½ hours or so when the beef should be tender and most of the liquid evaporated. (Rendang is referred to as a dry curry.) Finally, stir in the sugar and about 2 tablespoons of your reserved and painstakingly made kerisik. Put the lid on to allow the sugar to melt while you prepare some rice to accompany your feast.

Add salt to taste before serving with plain boiled/steamed rice (I prefer to use Thai fragrant rice) and, maybe, some steamed green beans.

Sit back with a bottle of wine and a smug, self-satisfied smirk on your face.


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Posted in Meat Tagged with:

Suquet de Peix

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This is like a Spanish Bouillabaise, a fish stew, from the Catalan region. (Fish stew doesn’t sound nearly as appealing, does it?) Driven by my having an octopus in the freezer that needed using, I got this idea from Culinaria Spain . Then I started comparing recipes and videos on the Internet and it quickly became apparent that there are as many variations as there are cooks. What I’ve documented here seems to me to distill the essence of the dish, though. Interestingly, every recipe added potatoes except my original in Culinaria Spain . Go figure, as they say in America.

The fish used here is a suggestion but monkfish seems very popular. Use what you can bearing in mind that firmer fish are better for this type of cooking.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 2¼ hrs
cooking time: ~30 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 octopus, prepared (~250g, squid would work if you can’t get one)
  • olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled & thickly sliced
  • 16 whole blanched almonds
  • 2 slices baguette, ~2cms thick
  • 20g flat leaf parsley, chopped
  • 2 medium onions, finely chopped
  • 4 large vine tomatoes, skinned and chopped
  • 250ml dry white wine
  • 500ml fish stock
  • 500g small waxy potatoes, cut in 1cm slices
  • ~400g monkfish, in 8 chunks
  • 2 sea bream, prepared & halved front & back
  • 24 large prawns, peeled & deveined
  • 500g net fresh rope-grown mussels, cleaned
  • Salt & pepper

Method

The octopus. I’ve heard that octopus should be cooked either very rapidly or very slowly if it is to be tender. The original recipe fried it briefly then cooked it in the stew for 15 minutes or so. That sounded neither rapid nor slow to me so I followed Rick Stein’s guidelines and precooked it long and slow. Put the octopus in an ovenproof pan with a tight-fitting lid together with a few glugs of olive oil. Cook it in a 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2 oven for 2 hours. Let it cool and cut it into bite-sized pieces. Reserve the cooking juices – another benefit of precooking. (This is definitely not necessary for squid – just cut them into rings & tentacles.)

The picada. This is something the Spanish use to flavour and thicken the stew. In a large skillet (one that has a lid), add enough olive oil to thinly cover the base, then gently fry the almonds, garlic and slices of bread (on both sides) until all look lightly browned. As they brown, remove them, either to a pestle and mortar or to the jar of a food processor. Either way, smash them together to a paste with a little more olive oil. Stir in the chopped parsley.

Making the suquet . To the pan and oil that cooked the picada ingredients, add the onions and fry until soft. Stir in the tomatoes and cook until broken down and a lot of the juices have evaporated. Stir in the white wine and reduce it by about a half. Add the fish stock, the reserved octopus cooking juices and potatoes. Simmer the potatoes for 7 or 8 minutes until almost cooked. Add the fish and simmer for another 3 minutes. Borrow a spoonful of the cooking liquid to slacken off the picada. Now stir in the octopus (or squid pieces) and prawns together with the picada. Place the mussels on top, cover teh pan with its lid and cook for another 3 minutes or so, just until the mussels open. (Remove any mussels which do not open.)

Let the dish rest, covered and off the heat, for 5 minutes before serving. A fresh green salad is all this needs, if anything.


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Posted in Fish

Roast Duck

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I prefer to roast duck slowly at first to make the fat run out, then crisp it under a higher temperature towards the end. Well, actually I prefer to cook it via indirect heat in a Weber grill but this’ll do indoors.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 2½ hrs

Ingredients

  • 1 duck
  • 1 set duck giblets (neck, heart, gizzard)
  • olive oil (just a splash)
  • 1 stick/rib celery, roughly chopped
  • 1 small-medium onion, roughly chooped
  • 1 carrot, roughly chopped
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ~10 black peppercorns
  • 2 tsp flour
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas 3.

Begin by getting the brown stock going for the gravy (or jus, if you prefer). Chop up the duck neck, halve the heart and pieces of gizzard. (Do NOT, repeat NOT, use the liver – it will make the stock bitter. Save this delicacy to serve on toast.) If the duck came with wing tips, remove them, halve them and add them to the giblets. Heat a heavy based pan on the hob over medium heat and, with very little olive oil, brown the duck pieces for ~10 minutes. (You should be getting some caramelized meat bits sticking to the bottom of the pan. This is good.) Toss in the chopped veggies, stir and continuing browning everything for about another 5-10 minutes. Cover with water. Stir with a wooden spatula scraping all the caramelized juices from the bottom of the pan. Add the bay leaf and black peppercorns, and bring to simmering point. Leave it to simmer, topping up as necessary with boiling water water, while you cook the duck itself. (It can cook as long as you like but needs at least 2 hours.)

The Duck. Slash the duck skin in a criss-cross, diamond pattern. Take care to cut only the skin and fat, not the flesh underneath. The point here is to let the fat run out as it melts while cooking. Dry the duck skin with kitchen towel (moisture tends to stop it crisping) and season with salt & pepper. Put the duck, preferably on a low wire support, into a roasting pan and set in the middle of the oven. Leave it for 90 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 220°C/425°F/gas 7. Continue roasting for another 30 minutes byt which time, hopefully, the dick skin will have crisped up.

The gravy/jus. Strain the brown duck stock. Remove the duck from the roasting pan and cover loosely with foil to keep warm. Strain most of the fat from the roasting pan, set it back on a moderate heat and stir the flour into the remaining fat. Cook the flour out for a minute or two then stir in your duck stock (just about 8-10 fl oz of it if you have more). Continuing to stir, scraping any brown gooey bits from the pan, bring this to the simmer and cook for a couple of minutes. While it’s simmering, carve the duck.


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Posted in Poultry Tagged with:

Mango Salsa

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I don’t know whether this constitutes fusion food or not – Mexico-America-Far East? Does Mexico grow mangoes? Whaever it is, this salsa goes very well with salmon which, in my view, tends to need a lift and something to cut through the oiliness.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: n/a

Ingredients

  • 1 ripe mango, flesh of, diced
  • ½ red onion, finely chopped
  • ½ cucumber, skinned & diced
  • 1 medium hot chilli, finely chopped (green or red, with or without seeds to taste)
  • ~10g fresh coriander leaves, coarsely chopped
  • juice of 1 lime
  • olive oil (just a splash)
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Mix all the ingredients down to and including the oilve oil in a glass bowl. Give it all a good stir and let it stand for an hour or so to let the flavours mingle.

Season with a little salt & pepper to taste.


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Posted in Accompaniments Tagged with:

Cod with Leek & Potato Sauce

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I have never understood the popularity of cod, other than as fish and chips. To me, it is a rather bland, uninspiring fish. So, when a cod recipe has me searching for superlatives, I know it must be something special. This is one such recipe from the manically brilliant Mr. Blumenthal. (Fear not, this one is actually pretty conventional.)

Planning

serves: 2
preparation time:
cooking time:

Ingredients

  • 1 small potato, peeled & finely sliced (~50g/2ozs)
  • 10g butter
  • ½ onion, peeled & finely sliced
  • 160g/6ozs leeks, very finely sliced
  • 200ml fish stock, warmed
  • fresh bouquet garni (small bay leaf, 1 sprig thyme, 2-3 sprigs parsley)
  • 1 tbs whipping cream
  • 1 tbs milk (semi-skimmed is fine))
  • 1 tbs groundnut oil
  • 2 cod fillets (~200g each)
  • chives, finely cut/chopped
  • 20g pea tops to garnish
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Rinse the sliced potato under running water for ~30 seconds then drain well.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over gentle medium heat and cook the onion and potato for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Toss in the leeks and cook for 5 minutes more. Pour in the fish stock together with the bouquet garni, bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes (or until the potatoes are tender). Add the cream and milk and cook very gently for another 10 minutes.

To finish the sauce, remove the bouquet garni, blitz and strain into a clean pan. Season with salt & pepper and keep warm while you cook the fish.

Heat the oil in a fying pan on high heat. Season the fish with a little salt and sear it for about 2 minutes on both sides. The precise time will depend on thickness – you want it just cooked, only just “setting” in the centre.

Get all chefy and serve the cod on or surrounded by the sauce, sprinkled with chives and garnished with the pea tops. It goes well with some waxy potatoes (which could sit under the fish) and green beans.


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Posted in Fish

Chicken Liver Paté

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Every time I make chicken liver paté, I go through the same head-scratching search. So, finally, here is the answer written down.

For parties I make three times this amount which is enough to fill precisely my large Le Creuset terrine which, I think, holds about 2lbs. (That makes sense if you add up the weigths of the ingredients.) This, however, is the single amount.

Planning

serves: 6
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients

  • 250g unsalted butter
  • 400g fresh chicken livers, trimmed
  • 50g tin salted anchovy fillets, coarsely chopped
  • 2 medium banana/long shallots, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp fresh oregano leaves, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 tbs brandy
  • Salt & pepper

Method

Put aside one third of your pack of butter. (This is to seal the paté once potted.) Make the paté with the remaining two thirds butter.

Trim and halve the chicken livers. Melt about 30g butter in a frying pan and add the chicken livers. Add a few grindings of black pepper and cook them gently, turning occasionally, for about 7 minutes until cooked through. Tip them, along with all the pan juices, into a food processor.

In the same pan, melt a further 30g butter and sweat the chopped shallots, along with the anchovies and oregano, until the shallots are soft but not browned (about 5 minutes) and the anchovies have melted. Stir in the smashed garlic towards the end and cook it for about 2 minutes. Toss in the brandy and simmer it for a minute to drive off the alcohol. (Sniff it, don’t waste it.) Tip this lot into the blender with the livers.

Roughly dice the remainder of your two thirds of butter and add it to the processor. Blitz it all until smooth. Adjust the seasoning with pepper. (You probably won’t need salt because you have a lot of anchovies in there.)

Fill your chosen paté container(s) with the blitzed paté and smooth the top. Melt the reserved one third butter over gentle heat before poring it over the paté to cover the top completely.

Allow the paté to cool and then refrigerate until needed. Remove it from the fridge about an hour before you want to serve it though – it tastes better at room temperature.


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Posted in Starters

Moules Marinières

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This is one of those absolute classics, and deservedly so. This is so classic that I really can’t see any reason to cook mussels any other way (except as an ingredient to another dish such as Paella , of course). If you’re having mussels as just, well, mussels, then this is the way to cook them.

Planning

serves: 2
preparation time: 30 mins
cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 net rope-grown mussels
  • 1 tbs butter
  • 1 banana shallot (or 2 regular shallots), very finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, very finely chopped
  • 8 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)
  • 100ml dry white wine (e.g. Muscadet)
  • 2 tbs cream (single or whipping)
  • 2 tbs finely chopped fresh parsley

Method

Wash the mussels under cold running water in a sink, removing the beards with a paring knife. Do not scrub the shells – apparently the colour will taint the juices in cooking. Discard any broken mussels or mussels that remain open when tapped sharply a few times.

Melt the butter in a casserole (one that has a tight-fitting lid) that is plenty big enough for the mussels with room to spare. Toss in the shallot, garlic and thyme (if using) and sweat for a minute. Add the wine and bring to simmering point to drive off the alcohol.

Add the mussels, cover with a lid and cook for 3 minutes or until the mussels open. Hold the lid and shake the pan a time or two to stir the mussels up a bit. Discard any mussels that do not open.

Add the cream and parsley and stir well. Do not season – the salty mussel juices mixed with the wine are all you will need.

Serve with crusty French bread and/or, for the total French experience, frîtes .


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Posted in Seafood Tagged with:

Grilled Squid Salad

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If I had a pound for every time I’d heard somebody say, “I don’t like squid ‘cos it’s rubbery”, I’d be a rich man. It isn’t!! Especially if it’s cooked correctly, i.e. hot and fast.

This marinated squid makes the best tasting squid I can remember. Red chilli is a classic with squid but I think it’s the small amount of sugar in this recipe that makes all the difference. Do try to get fresh squid complete with their guts and purple outer skin – they really do taste far superior to the bland white, frozen variety.

Planning

serves: 2
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 2 mins

Ingredients

  • 4 medium fresh squid
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 2 tsp golden caster sugar or brown sugar
  • 1 medium red chilli, deseeded
  • large pinch salt
  • 1 bag mixed slad leaves (rocket is good)
  • ½ garlic clove
  • 1 tbs balsamic vineger
  • 3 tbs olive oil
  • salt & pepper

Method

Prepare the squid. Grasp each squid body firmly but gently in one hand, its head and tentacles in the other hand and gently pull them apart. Most of the guts should come out of the body and still be attached to the head. Cut the tentacles away from the head by cutting as close to the eyes as possible without bursting them. (Yukko!) Discard the head and guts. Leave the tentacles whole. Slice open each squid body lengthways and pick off any gut remnants. (Yukko again!) Cutting about half-way through the flesh, score a criss-cross pattern on the inside of each squid body, then cut each into three pieces.

Mix together the the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, chilli and sugar. Put the squid pieces in a glass bowl and stir in the marinade. Leave it to marinate for 30-45 minutes.

Heat a ridged griddle pan until it is very hot. Grill the squid pieces for 30 seconds on each side, scored side down first. It is important that the pan is extremely hot so that the squid cooks very quickly. If it cooks for too long (2 minutes) it can become “rubbery”. (Phone the fire brigade and tell them that the smoke is NOT a fire.)

Make the vinaigrette dressing. Crush the ½ garlic clove to a paste with a little salt. Stir it into the balsamic vineger and leave it to infuse for about 15 minutes. Whisk in the olive oil and a few grindings of black pepper to make an emulsion.

Dress the salad leaves with the vinaigrette and serve with the grilled squid scattered over. Make sure the highly prized tentacles are fairly distributed. (Yummy!)


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Posted in Seafood Tagged with: