After several months of non-compliance, we are back on the wagon. But the seasons have moved on and the last thing I feel like at the moment are autumnal and winter dishes. Coupled with a new kitchen (in a new home), my inspiration has returned and I decided to bring back my beloved stew but in a fresh form. It's already smelling good, but it's for tomorrow so no idea if the taste will match. Here's to hoping.
If you can trust me on smell alone, here is what I bunged into a oven-proof casserole 1,5 hours ago.
Diced stewing steak
1 whole leek
2 celery stalks
Coriander seeds
Fennel seeds
Peppercorns
Bay leaves
Fresh rosemary
Fresh thyme
White wine
Paired zest from one lemon
Let me know if it works for you. Bon appetit!
Friday, 27 May 2011
Sunday, 9 January 2011
Cottage Pie della Mamma!
This is really a misnomer for what is a bolognese ragu, topped with root vegetable mash, but I had to call it something. I actually prefer shepherd's pie (with left-over lamb), but Dr D. doesn't approve of lamb...
For the ragu:
Low fat mince beef
Chopped finely in mixer:
A few carrots
Some celeriac
Celery stalks
Onions
Garlic
Red wine (all the alcohol will evaporate!)
Tomato passata
Tinned tomatoes
Tomato puree
Bay leaves
Rosemary
Brown the meat in a large, deep saucepan. When all browned, add the chopped vegetables, then all the other ingredients. Bring to the boil, then leave to simmer covered for 1 hour, stirring now and then. Then take the lid off and let some of the liquid evaporate until you get a thick ragu (should take 1/2 hour).
I like to do this the day before, to let the flavours develop.
For the mash:
Whatever root vegetables you like. In our case it's mostly celeriac and swede, boiled in salted water and then blended.
Pour a thick layer of the meat sauce (reheated) in a deep dish (or individual ones), and top with the mash. Grill until the mash is brown and the ragu bubbling through.
To give credit where credit is due, Skat always prepares the ragu, but 'della Mamma' sounds so much better than 'del Pappa' :-)
And our pie will be enjoyed tomorrow night. Yum!
For the ragu:
Low fat mince beef
Chopped finely in mixer:
A few carrots
Some celeriac
Celery stalks
Onions
Garlic
Red wine (all the alcohol will evaporate!)
Tomato passata
Tinned tomatoes
Tomato puree
Bay leaves
Rosemary
Brown the meat in a large, deep saucepan. When all browned, add the chopped vegetables, then all the other ingredients. Bring to the boil, then leave to simmer covered for 1 hour, stirring now and then. Then take the lid off and let some of the liquid evaporate until you get a thick ragu (should take 1/2 hour).
I like to do this the day before, to let the flavours develop.
For the mash:
Whatever root vegetables you like. In our case it's mostly celeriac and swede, boiled in salted water and then blended.
Pour a thick layer of the meat sauce (reheated) in a deep dish (or individual ones), and top with the mash. Grill until the mash is brown and the ragu bubbling through.
To give credit where credit is due, Skat always prepares the ragu, but 'della Mamma' sounds so much better than 'del Pappa' :-)
And our pie will be enjoyed tomorrow night. Yum!
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Lunch Ideas
Pre-Dukan, I used to have a variation of last night's dinner for lunch, ie some cold stir-fry with a salad or a stew made into a soup. But eating like we are now, there aren't that many left-overs as protein is now the bulk and vegetables are a no-no every other day.
PP days are especially tough, I find, as I'm always more inspired by vegetables and just need to get this over and done with. So I've turned to my fatherland, Denmark, for some culinary inspiration, which must be a first. Danish cuisine (Noma notwithstanding, but pleeeease don't get me started on that one) is a lunch cuisine, in the way that British food used to be a breakfast cuisine.
So, what do I have for lunch? Well, lots of fish and lots of egg, sometimes together. One memorable and not-to-be-repeated under any circumstances variation was a tuna omelet (even 3-year old Miss Pink who loves egg AND tuna could not eat that).
I always have some smoked pepper mackrel in the fridge, some ends of hot-smoked salmon, some lumpfish caviar (no, not a luxury item).
A typical plate could be some flaked mackrel, some salmon mixed with fromage frais or yogurt, mustard and capers and a soft-boiled egg (just set enough that it can be peeled).
Or some lumpfish caviar with soft-boiled eggs and finely chopped shallots. I have also made Oeufs Mimosas, ie hard-boiled eggs, where the yolk has been scooped out, mixed with fromage frais / yogurt and some curry powder and placed ack into the halved eggs. Good starter on PP days when the thought of just a steak or a chicken breast just doesn't bear thinking about...
PP days are especially tough, I find, as I'm always more inspired by vegetables and just need to get this over and done with. So I've turned to my fatherland, Denmark, for some culinary inspiration, which must be a first. Danish cuisine (Noma notwithstanding, but pleeeease don't get me started on that one) is a lunch cuisine, in the way that British food used to be a breakfast cuisine.
So, what do I have for lunch? Well, lots of fish and lots of egg, sometimes together. One memorable and not-to-be-repeated under any circumstances variation was a tuna omelet (even 3-year old Miss Pink who loves egg AND tuna could not eat that).
I always have some smoked pepper mackrel in the fridge, some ends of hot-smoked salmon, some lumpfish caviar (no, not a luxury item).
A typical plate could be some flaked mackrel, some salmon mixed with fromage frais or yogurt, mustard and capers and a soft-boiled egg (just set enough that it can be peeled).
Or some lumpfish caviar with soft-boiled eggs and finely chopped shallots. I have also made Oeufs Mimosas, ie hard-boiled eggs, where the yolk has been scooped out, mixed with fromage frais / yogurt and some curry powder and placed ack into the halved eggs. Good starter on PP days when the thought of just a steak or a chicken breast just doesn't bear thinking about...
Hainanese Chicken Rice Without the Rice
This is what happens when one is properly disorganised and cannot find ones recipes...
Some time ago (in a pre-Dukan life), I tried a recipe by a recent Masterchef winner, Dhruv Baker, for Hainanese Chicken Rice and it was probably the best chicken stock I have ever made. But try as I might, offline, online, I cannot seem to find the recipe again. But I ploughed on undeterred, and apparently it was worth the effort and general improvisation, just ask my mum...
I hate waste. So when I cook a whole EXPENSIVE chicken, I want to make sure that all is put to good use. And this recipe really allows for that!
In a BIG stockpot, put:
2 onions studded with a few cloves
6 unpeeled garlic cloves
1 cinnamon stick (Chinese cinnanom or Cassia Bark is even better)
1 big tsp black peppercorns
3 whole dried chillies
2 star anise
some coriander stalks, preferably with roots
half tsp coriander seeds
thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thick rounds
1 chicken, breast down
Optional: a few carrots and leeks
Cover as much with water as possible. My pot is not big enough to cover the whole bird, which is why I cook it breast down, otherwise it takes even longer to cook. Also add some chicken stock cubes or powder, how much is up to you, but it really enhances the flavour (and no, it's not cheating).
I try to do the boiling the day before I want to eat the bird, so I can cool down the broth and just scrape off the fat the next day. Obviously, sieve the broth before cooling it (dont't discard the garlic cloves, just press the skins to release the mushy garlicky bits and mix with the broth).
For the picture above, I lifted the 2 chicken breasts off the bird and gently re-heated them in some of the broth, while steaming some pak choy (or other cabbage) on top.
Keep all the 'solids' warm, while you mix the dipping broth:
the broth you have just used to heat the meat
chili sauce (I like Sriracha Chili and Ginger)
oyster sauce
lime juice
soy sauce
finely chopped / grated ginger
finely chopped / grated garlic
mirin or other rice wine (just a dash, if you are ok with that on Dukan)
Serve the dipping broth in a small bowl along the meat and vegetables, with some chopped spring onion.
Now, for the other uses...
For lunch yesterday, I had one cup of the lovely broth to bulk up my otherwise meagre PP lunch (forgot to shop).
Last night I picked the rest of the meat off the chicken (except 1 drumstick) and I made a lovely Asian broth with some finely chopped vegetables and I added some of the same ingredients as for the dipping broth but in a less intense version. Serve with lots of lime to squeeze over. For our toddler, the chicken was just re-heated and served with some boiled potatoes (and ketchup, sshhh)
Today I had the remaining meat with steamed leeks and a hard boiled egg in a bechamel sauce (mix 250 ml of skimmed milk and 1 tbsp corn flour with 1/2 stock cube and 1 tsp mustard. Heat the whole thing until it thickens and pour over the other elements. Place under the hot grill for 10-15 minutes and enjoy!)
PS: I understand that in the original version, all the goodness of the broth is mixed with the rice and the chicken is served skin-on
PPS: I still felt guilty throwing the very neatly picked carcass and the scraps of skin away...
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Miso Cod My Way
As opposed to Nobu's, which is Miso Black Cod. I have no idea how it's cooked or how it tastes, but the name inspired my dinner tonight and what an inspiration!
I simply took some cod fillets and marinated them for under an hour in a mix of lime/lemon juice and one of those little sachets of ready-made miso soup paste with sea weed. I then put the dish under a hot grill for as long as it takes to cook the fish and YUM!
The sauce tasted of the sea with a sharp twang of citrus. Next time I might add some wasabi, just a hint.
It was so tasty, I ate the whole thing with a spoon!
I simply took some cod fillets and marinated them for under an hour in a mix of lime/lemon juice and one of those little sachets of ready-made miso soup paste with sea weed. I then put the dish under a hot grill for as long as it takes to cook the fish and YUM!
The sauce tasted of the sea with a sharp twang of citrus. Next time I might add some wasabi, just a hint.
It was so tasty, I ate the whole thing with a spoon!
Monday, 11 October 2010
Hot and Sour Salmon with Green Veg
I always struggle with PP days. I just love vegetables too much. So every other day, I make sure that we get LOTS of the green stuff. That was my inspiration for this.
For 2 people.
2 salmon steaks
1 courgette, cut into thick slices
2 baby pak choi, quartered (or other cabbage which cooks quickly)
2-3 handfuls of fresh baby spinach leaves
Marinade:
1 tbsp teriyaki sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (or grated, in my case)
2 cm of fresh ginger, grated
juice from 1 lemon
1 tbsp Thai tom yam paste, if you have some
2-3 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
Preheat the oven to 200 C
Mix all the marinade ingredients, then pour half into an oven-proof dish which will fit snugly around the ingredients.
On the marinade, rest the pak choi, then the courgettes. Put the salmon steaks on top, and pour the remaining marinade on them. Then cover the whole thing with spinach leaves. Finally wrap the whole dish tightly in aluminium foil, so no steam can escape while cooking (I thought about making a papillotte, but it seems too fiddly with so many layers).
Cook in the oven for approx 20-30 minutes. Since it's steaming, the fish won't overcook as easily, so don't panic.
When I made this last night, I had just been using the oven for a slow-cook stew, cooked on 150C, and I forgot to increase the temperature until 20 mins into the cooking, so I'm not quite sure how long it would have taken if done correctly...
Tip: make extra marinade, pour over some chicken breasts and cook alongside the fish (in a different dish, obviously) since the oven is already on. I now have a PP lunch for today, quite effortlessly ;-)
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Moussaka a la Duka(n)
Ok, bad pun for a title, but I'm in a hurry ;-)
A fellow Dukanian suggested that I make moussaka one day, even though to most people that is quite a heavy dish what with the lamb mince, the olive-oil sponges (aka aubergines) and the bechamel. But I remembered having made a lighter version already some time ago, and decided to see whether I could lighten the load even more.
For 2 people, I used:
2 medium sized aubergines (the big ones are too bitter)
500 g mince (I used veal)
1 tin of tomatoes
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
Pinch of chilli flakes
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 stock cube
6 tbsp Quark (if in France, use Faisselle 0%)
1 egg
Slice the aubergines VERY thinly, spread on an oven shelf and grill on highest setting until slices begin to brown. There is a very thin line between still raw (and YUCK) and already burnt, so don't go anywhere while this is going on. Turn them over halfway through, and then keep to one side once they are done.
With that step out of the way, finely blend all the other ingredients (except tomatoes, Quark and egg).
Fry the blended and seasoned mince in a lightly oiled pan until light brown (and any remaining moisture has come out), then add the tinned tomatoes. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a simmer and let it bubble away until it has all come together and is not too wet.
You can do these 2 steps ahead of time, then just assemble the dish 45 min before eating.
Preheat the oven to 200C and layer mince - aubergines - mince - aubergines. Whisk the Quark / Faisselle and the egg and spread out on top of the aubergines. Put in the oven until it looks like this:
Yes, that is a heart-shaped dish and according to my dear husband, the litmus test of a moussaka is whether a portion can stand on a plate on its own or flops out (a recognised gastronomical term). This one stood proudly until we devoured it!
A fellow Dukanian suggested that I make moussaka one day, even though to most people that is quite a heavy dish what with the lamb mince, the olive-oil sponges (aka aubergines) and the bechamel. But I remembered having made a lighter version already some time ago, and decided to see whether I could lighten the load even more.
For 2 people, I used:
2 medium sized aubergines (the big ones are too bitter)
500 g mince (I used veal)
1 tin of tomatoes
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
Pinch of chilli flakes
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 stock cube
6 tbsp Quark (if in France, use Faisselle 0%)
1 egg
Slice the aubergines VERY thinly, spread on an oven shelf and grill on highest setting until slices begin to brown. There is a very thin line between still raw (and YUCK) and already burnt, so don't go anywhere while this is going on. Turn them over halfway through, and then keep to one side once they are done.
With that step out of the way, finely blend all the other ingredients (except tomatoes, Quark and egg).
Fry the blended and seasoned mince in a lightly oiled pan until light brown (and any remaining moisture has come out), then add the tinned tomatoes. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a simmer and let it bubble away until it has all come together and is not too wet.
You can do these 2 steps ahead of time, then just assemble the dish 45 min before eating.
Preheat the oven to 200C and layer mince - aubergines - mince - aubergines. Whisk the Quark / Faisselle and the egg and spread out on top of the aubergines. Put in the oven until it looks like this:
Yes, that is a heart-shaped dish and according to my dear husband, the litmus test of a moussaka is whether a portion can stand on a plate on its own or flops out (a recognised gastronomical term). This one stood proudly until we devoured it!
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