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Sunday 25 February 2018

Spinach with potatoes and chorizo

Spinach with potatoes and chorizo
  • 450g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 300g cooking chorizo, sliced to the thickness of a pound coin
  • 700g tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 1kg spinach, trimmed and shredded

Method:
Parboil the potatoes in lightly salted water for 5 minues then drain.

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a deep pan and cook the chorizo until crisp.  Remove with a slotted spoon then add the onion and cook in the chorizo fat until soft.  Add the remaining tbsp of oil and then add potatoes and cook over a medium heat until some burnished edges appear.

Add the tomatoes and a pinch of salt, then reduce the heat slightly and cook 10 minutes.  Add the spinach and cook for two minutes, stirring regularly, plate and serve.

This is a side dish that serves four,  however Scott and I had this as a main between us along with plenty of crusty bread to mop up the juices!  I have to say that to ensure I got a good crisp crunch to my potatoes I did roast them for a while in the oven, you can't beat a good roast potato, that crunch as you bite into it and the soft fluffy centre, heaven!

Another recipe taken from Lets Eat Meat by Tom Parker Bowles and another hit with us, hope you enjoy!

Sunday 18 February 2018

Harissa and Za'atar Marinated Chicken Kebab with Chilli Raita

Harissa and Za'atar Marinated Chicken Kebab with Chilli Raita
  • 6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into small bite sized chunks
  • Juice of 1 small lemon
  • 1 tbsp harissa paste
  • 1 tbsp Za'atar
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 flatbreads or large pitta breads
  • 1 head of round lettuce, chopped
  • Handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
  • Handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped

Tomato & Onion Salad

  • 2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 1 red onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 birds-eye chillies, chopped
  • 1/2 cucumber, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • Big pinch of sea salt

Chilli Raita
  • 200g natural yoghurt
  • 1/2 cucumber, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 1 green finger chilli, finely chopped

Method:
Mix the chicken with the lemon juice, harissa and Za'atar.  Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or longer if possible.

To make the salad, mix all the ingredients together and leave to sit for 10 minutes.

Mix together the ingredients for the raita, add a pinch of salt and leave to sit.

Drain the chicken well.  Heat the oil in a non-stick pan or griddle pan and cook the chicken for 3-5 minutes on each side until cooked through, with piping hot juices that are clear when the largest piece is cut in half.

Heat the breads, smear the chilli raita all over, top with the lettuce, salad, chicken and herbs, wrap and enjoy!

This recipe serves four - or two very hungry people!  We both really enjoyed this, fresh and tasty and would be ideal to cook on the BBQ in the summer as it was so quick and easy to prepare.  I had never heard of Za'atar before, turns out it is an eastern spice mix and I managed to get mine from Ocado, no doubt it is also available from most other supermarkets.

The recipe comes from Let's Eat Meat by Tom Parker Bowles, great cookbook with some tasty looking recipes, another one of which I will be making later so keep your eyes peeled as that will be featured soon on the blog.

Sunday 11 February 2018

Hasan Pasha Kofte - Cheesy Beef Kofte

Hasan Pasha Kofte - Cheesy Beef Kofte

Serves 4 (makes 8 kofte)

  • 300g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 egg separated (you will be using both the yolk and the white)
  • 1/2 tsp Turkish pepper flakes
  • 500g beef mince (15% minimum fat)
  • 1/2 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 slice of bread, crusts removed, soaked in 3 tbsp of cold water
  • 125ml tomato passata
  • 75g grated mozzarella cheese
  • A small handful of torn flat-leaf parsley
  • Sea salt

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.  Cook the potatoes in a pan of boiling salted water until tender, drain and return to the pan.  Add the butter, egg yolk, Tuekish pepper flakes and a good pinch of salt.  Mash together until smooth and set aside.

Put the beef mince in a mixing bowl and add the onion, garlic, black pepper, soaked bread, egg white and a good pinch of salt.  Using your hands, mix together thoroughly for a few minutes.  The mixture will feel wet at first, but the bread will begin to absorb the moisture.  Roll into 8 meatballs and place the, in a snug ovenproof dish.  Push your thumb into the centre of each meatball and create a well.  Top each kofte with a spoonful of the mash.

Mix the passata with 125ml cold water and pour around the kofte.  Cover the dish with foil and cook for around 15-20 minutes or until just cooked through.  Scatter over the cheese and return to the oven for 2-3 minutes nail melted.  Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Hasan Pasha Kofte - Cheesy Beef Kofte

This was a nice looking dish, the mash topping was lovely but the kofte I have to say was lacking in flavour for me, if I were to make this again I would up the seasoning somewhat as they just tasted like mince!  Cooking time was also about twice as long as stated in the recipe, perhaps my balls were somewhat large lol.  I will make again but with some tweaks.  The recipe is taken from the cookbook, Turkish Delights by John Gregory-Smith, there are some fab looking recipes in there and will be looking forward to trying out some more.

Saturday 3 February 2018

McMark's Bacon and Egg Flatbread

McMark's Bacon and Egg Flatbread
  • 1 flatbread
  • 5 eggs
  • 5 slices smoked back bacon (or whatever bacon you prefer)
  • Salt & pepper
  • Knob of butter
  • Sauce of choice
Method:
Cook your bacon under a medium heat grill for around ten minutes until nice and crispy, turning halfway.  Once done, remove from the oven and place onto some kitchen roll to absorb any fat.  Whilst the bacon is cooking, beat the eggs in a jug along with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper.  Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat, once sizzling, pour in the eggs and leave for a minute or so until they start to set, then using a silicone spatula move the eggs around the pan (you don't want the eggs to turn into an omelette or stick to the pan!), keep doing this, breaking them up as you go, it should only take a few minutes to cook the eggs (without drying them out).  Whilst you are doing the eggs, place the flatbread onto a shelf in the oven for a few minutes, the residue heat from the grill should be enough to warm it through.

Place the flatbread onto a plate, drizzle with your sauce of choice, I went for tomato ketchup, place the bacon on the front half of the flatbread, top with the eggs and then fold over the other half of the flatbread and cut in two and serve (just incase you thought I was being greedy, this serves two people!).

Who needs to go to the Golden Arches for breakfast when you can make this bad boy yourself at home in no time at all!  There are endless variations you could make using the flatbread with the fillings of your choice, this was sooo good and took no time at all to make, let me know what you would put in your flatbread?