food and drink
Archived Posts from this Category
Puddledub Pork
Posted by georgemc on 02 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: food and drink
another post celebrating local food producers. We had a family birthday party/clan gathering today so I went to the farmer’s market yesterday to take pot luck on what I could find. What I found was a very promising looking 3.5Kg joint of gammon from Puddledub Pork, which I prepared using a method found in a Clarissa Dickson-Wright book, which is the standard soak, simmer and roast deal, but does the simmering stage in cider. I used a maple syrup glaze for the roasting stage. The meat had a fantastic flavour and texture - so thanks to Puddledub and Clarissa. Highly recommended.
Chicken with Dried Limes and Curry Leaves
Posted by georgemc on 27 May 2007 | Tagged as: food and drink
I had a curry recipe book in the 80s which featured a dish involving chicken, curry leaves and dried limes. I made this dish several times and on each occasion it was a hit. I lost the recipe book in the early 90s and I have been trying to find it or a similar recipe ever since.
I am amazed in this Internet age that I still can’t find a matching recipe, so I decided to just make up my own version based on what I can remember from 18 years ago when I had the book, blended with my own experience of stuff that works. What follows was tried out as an experiment with some friends a few nights ago and I am happy to say that it worked very well. Here’s what to do:
Serves 4:
Ingredients:
- 8 garlic cloves
- 80g of peeled root ginger
- 1tsp hot chili powder
- 1tsp tumeric
- 1tsp ground cardamom
- juice 1 lemon
- 400g natural yogurt (most of a UK big tub)
- 1tsp salt
- 800g boneless skinless chicken
- 3 dried limes (or 4 small ones)
- mug of boiling water
- 3-4 tbsp oil (I use groundnut)
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 12 curry leaves
- 1 tsp ground cumin
Method:
put yogurt and ingredients up to and including salt into food mixer and make a puree. Cut chicken in to bite sized pieces and cover with marinade. Put in fridge for 4hrs or so.
Put the dried limes and boiling water into a mug. Put something on top of the limes to keep them submerged. Slowly cook the chopped onions in the oil until they are browning (20mins). Add the curry leaves and cumin and cook for 1 minute. Now begin to cook small batches of the chicken in the onion mixture so that they brown a little (reserving in a dish once browned). Then return all the chicken to the pan and add the dried limes and their soaking water and the rest of the marinade. Heat at a low peep until the chicken is cooked.
I like to leave this overnight and then simply reheat when required the next day - though obviously chef must check everything is OK with a bit of toasted pita bread on the night of cooking! I have not tried tasting the limes themselves (you may want to reserve them before serving), and some recipes seem to suggest breaking them up before using them. I don’t think the recipe I lost suggested that.
This recipe is completely improvised and is provided without any warranty. If you have improvements, suggestions or even a good experience of trying it, please let me know.
Raan
Posted by georgemc on 20 Apr 2007 | Tagged as: food and drink
I’m a fan of curries, and I’ve had some success over the years making a few. My party piece is Raan, which is basically a “marinade a leg of lamb in a bit of this and that for 48hrs” job which makes a miracle. This web recipe is very close to the one in my old (i.e. 80s) curry cook book.
Takes a bit of time to make the marinade, but then it’s just a case of waiting for it to do its stuff and then putting it in an oven.
Wild Boar
Posted by georgemc on 20 Apr 2007 | Tagged as: food and drink
Being in agreement with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (I’m not a telly person but I am a proud owner of his meat book, and he is a star of BBC radio4), I do try to eschew the taste lacking offerings on parade at my local supermarket meat isles, preferring to give a more sparse but enjoyed business to excellent local butchers such as Crombies and Saundersons (the latter being where I have bought the family Christmas ham for the last 13 years).
Yet the star of this posting is a local raiser of finest wild boar, Northwood Wild Boar, whose shoulder of wild boar I bought at the Castle Street Farmer’s market a couple of weeks ago. I’d already tasted their splendid wild boar bacon courtesy of pals who live in East Lothian, and my anticipation was rising!
Using our friend the Internet, I found an ace recipe, whose success I attribute to the marinading process (duh - top tip - use marinades!). On my own initiative I also food processed the marinade into a slurry - it didn’t look to me that it would work otherwise?
Not a cheap piece of meat, but then again, it was the star culinary event for that week, all the more enjoyed by sharing it with friends and employing the assistance of a damn fine Portuguese red recommended by another star in the firmament, James Wrobel of Cornelius.
East less meat, buy better meat!
Beer
Posted by georgemc on 20 Apr 2007 | Tagged as: food and drink
Anyone who knows me won’t be surprised to see a posting about beer. As an initial foray into the sensational world of beer, it is my mission to share the wonder and joy that is Weiss beer, one of my favourites being Erdinger. It’s worth following the link just to hear their corporate song. Their Franz Beckenbauer adverts are good fun (contrast and compare with a former UK footballer choosing to endorse zit inducing crisped potatoes rather than a nectar fit for gods).