Arford Books Cooks

Easy recipes from Apple Tree

Category: Main courses (Page 12 of 13)

Tex Mex

DIY Taco Seasoning Mix and Taco Mince

02/11/2016 / / 0 Comments

This makes enough for 1Kg mince. If you have a smaller quantity of mince just divide the taco mix in proportion and save in a jar for next time. It keeps fine.

  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1.5 tsp cumin powder
  • 1.5 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 0.5 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 0.5tsp salt

To make taco mince, dry fry the mince until it is no longer pink;  add the taco mix, fry a few minutes more; add 4 tbs tomato puree per kilo of mince and 250ml water, bubble away for 20 minutes. You may need to add a bit more water if you like it gloopy.

Great on tacos, filled wraps, on potato skins and in jacket potato with a combo of Jalapeno peppers, grated cheese, chopped tomato, chopped avacado, sour cream, salsa, fresh coriander leaves, shredded iceberg lettuce, chopped red onion. What’s not to like.

Beef

BBQ Boys Roast Beef

02/11/2016 / / 0 Comments

I found this recipe on YouTube, and now use it all the time. It keeps the meat succulent and makes amazing gravy at the same time.

Take your beef joint and stab it with a sharp knife. Into the slits put slivers of sliced garlic. Oil the joint all over and rub salt and pepper into the oil. Put the joint on a roasting rack over a roasting tin. In the tin, put a peeled and quartered onion, a couple of sticks of celery and a couple of carrots, quartered.  Put about half a litre of vegetable stock in the tin. Turn the oven up full whack and sear the beef for 15 minutes. Turn the heat down to 170C and cook for 40 minutes per 500g. Keep an eye on the stock and as it bubbles away keep topping up with hot water. When done, wrap in foil and rest for 20 minutes. Make amazing gravy with the stock and juices. Here is a timing chart:

  • 1kg joint sear 15 mins cook 1hr 20 mins rest 20 mins
  • 1.2kg joint sear 15 mins cook 1hr 40 mins rest 20 mins
  • 1.75kg joint sear 15 mins cook 2hrs 20 mins rest 20 mins
  • 2kg joint sear 15 mins cook 2hrs 40 mins rest 20 mins

How to boil a ham joint

31/10/2016 / / 1 Comment

Ignore the roasting instructions, this is the best way. First soak your ham if it is salty or smoked. Just place it in cold water, leave overnight then chuck the water away. This isn’t necessary for standard supermarket ham joints. In a large saucepan or stockpot, cover your joint with water. Add

  • 1 onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 celery stick
  • 1 fresh bay leaf
  • 6 peppercorns
  • 4 cloves.

Bring to the boil and simmer 20 minutes per 500gm + 20 minutes. Here are the sums for the common joint sizes:

1.2kg = 1hour 10 minutes
1.5Kg = 1 hour 20 minutes
1.8kg = 1 hour 32 minutes
2kg = 1 hour 40 minutes
2.8kg = 2 hours

This does not need to be exact, a few more minutes will do no harm.

(Instant Pot pressure cooker – 12mins per 500g, for Pulled Ham 15-20 mins per 500g)

Now for the important part: when cooked remove from the stock and let the joint rest for at least 20 minutes covered in foil and a cloth. After resting cut off the skin and outer fat before carving. Best served simply with potatoes and a green vegetable, plus bread sauce or parsley sauce.

Don’t chuck the stock away, use it to make ham and lentil soup. Use leftover ham chunks for Gammon Casserole

Mackerel Brunch

Mackerel Brunch

26/10/2016 / / 0 Comments

Smart eating places serve scrambled eggs with smoked salmon for breakfast or a light lunch, so I thought why not go along with that with a Solent version?  It works best with highly smoked and well seasoned mackerel, so it is woody flavoured and not too limp and fishy. This may be a bit much to take first thing in the morning but for a Sunday brunch it is very good. For each serving (and you can do this just for yourself) you will need:

  • A couple of fillets of the best hot-smoked mackerel
  • Two fresh eggs
  • Butter
  • Salt and pepper
  • Splash of milk
  • Slice of really good bread
  • Pinch of fresh chopped chives or parsley

This is too easy. Toast your bread, meanwhile make scrambled eggs. (if you are new to this – melt butter in a pan. Beat eggs, a splash of milk and a pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl. Pour the mix into the pan, and stir very gently with a flat spatula to move the set egg off the bottom of the pan to make room for the runny stuff. In a minute or two it will be looking scrambled. While it is still a bit runny, take it off the heat – it will carry on cooking by itself and you want it sloppy, not set rock hard). Butter your toasted toast, top with the eggs, and pile flaked, boned, de-skinned mackerel on top. Sprinkle with herbs and voila, your brunch.

Swedish Lunch

Swedish Mackerel Lunch

26/10/2016 / / 0 Comments

This is so simple, and you can use any hot smoked fish. The original recipe called for mackerel and as we are always looking for more uses of mackerel I have repeated the recipe here. For the photo above I used hot smoked salmon, simply because I had some! For each serving (and you can do this just for yourself) you will need:

  • A couple of fillets of the best hot-smoked mackerel
  • A slice of rye bread
  • Cream cheese
  • Capers
  • Red onion
  • Pinch of fresh chopped chives or parsley

This is easy. Spread your bread with a generous layer of cream cheese. Top with flaked fish, sprinkled with a few capers, chopped red onion and chives. With a salad on the side this makes a healthy lunch.

Salmon

Home Cured Salmon

26/10/2016 / / 0 Comments

Cured of what? Cured of being boring. OK this is not something you will catch in the Solent but you could buy some from Tescos on the way home. This is from James Martin and so easy it almost isn’t a recipe! All you do is take a skinned fillet of salmon – whole, half or quarter side, and cure it for 12 hours. Then you can slice it and use like smoked salmon in salads, as a starter, an hors d’oeuve or whatever. Here is what you do.

Take your slab of salmon. Mix sugar and sea salt in equal quantities (half a cup of each will do half a side of salmon). Tear off a large sheet of cling film. Make a bed of cure mix using half the cure. Lay the salmon down on top and sprinkle booze on it – James uses good whisky but you could experiment. Half a cup for half a salmon side again. Cover with the rest of the cure and wrap it up in the cling film to make a parcel. Refrigerate for 12 hours, preferably on a deep plate as it will probably leak juices. Then rinse thoroughly in water and you will find it now looks cured – very firm and not at all raw. It will have shrunk too. Simply slice and enjoy!

We tried this with a salad of rocket, beetroot, gherkins, hard boiled eggs, radishes and home-made blinis with sour cream, pretending to be Russians. It was good!

cook

Italian Meatballs

26/10/2016 / / 0 Comments

Ingredients (for one) – easily multiplied up for more people.

  • 125g beef mince (not too lean)
  • Sprinkle of salt and pepper
  • Tin of chopped tomatoes (1 tin for 1-2 people, 2 tins for 3-4 etc)
  • Half an onion
  • 125ml beef stock (half a cube in boiling water)
  • a  pinch of mixed herbs
  • Cooking oil
  • Pasta (or rice)
  • Grated cheese (optional)

Step 1: Put the beef mince in a bowl and mix in the seasoning and herbs with your hands. Make little balls about 3cms diameter as if you were playing with Plasticine.

Step 2: Heat a pan to medium heat and put in a little oil to make to base shiny. Put your meatballs in the pan and after they start sizzling, roll them around by jiggling the pan handle. They should roll around and brown evenly but if you were not capable of making ball shaped balls some may get stuck in position. If so help them out by turning with a spoon. Once they are well browned, take them out and put then on a plate nearby to rest. They don’t need to be cooked right through at this point but should look well browned on the outside.

Step 3: Chop the onion finely (5mm cubes) and cook in the pan you have just been using (assuming you have not carbonised it) until soft. The meat usually adds a bit of extra fat to cook in but if you have been using very lean mince you may have to add an extra glug of oil.

Step 4: Add the tomatoes and stock. Add more salt and pepper and another pinch of herbs. Heat until bubbling then turn down and cook away for 10 minutes.

Step 5: Add the meatballs and cook for a further 10 minutes. If it is drying out add a splash of water. If you have a lid for the pan put it on to keep it moist. At the same time put your pasta/rice of choice on to boil so everything is ready at the same time.

Plate up the pasta first, then the meatballs and sauce over, and top with grated cheese if you wish

Cheats Note: You can get away with using a good quality chilled/fresh tomato sauce instead of making your own, in which case omit step 3 and 4, and use the ready-made sauce instead for step 5. Follow the pack instructions for further heating but give it at least 10 minutes to finish the meatballs.

Japanese pancake

Japanese pancake (Okonomiyaki)

26/10/2016 / / 0 Comments

Japanese street food, and so many variations exist that whatever you do to this it is probably not wrong. Great for using up stray bits and pieces and is super quick to make. The cabbage and batter ingredients are essential, the others you can mix and match. For one person you need:

  • One egg beaten
  • 50g plain flour
  • 50ml stock (or hot water with a pinch of stock powder added)
  • 4 cabbage leaves preferably Sweetheart or Chinese Leaves, shredded
  • Quarter of an onion, chopped
  • Small potato, grated
  • Half tsp grated fresh ginger
  • Salt and pepper
  • Other things: chopped bacon, ham, prawns or thinly sliced cooked meat

Stir fry the onion, potato and cabbage. Add in that order so the onion is well cooked. You could add bacon at the same time if that is your thing. Add the ginger. Add whatever other things are going in. Meanwhile make a batter with the egg, flour, stock and season. Pour the batter over the veg and meat in the pan and leave for five minutes. Turn it over and cook another five. You should now have a rather solid-looking pancake. Tip it onto a plate and garnish with chilli sauce, mayo, tuna flakes, dried seaweed. As you can see from the photo above, I only had chilli sauce to hand but it was still good. Find out more here

cook

Chicken and Lemon Couscous Salad

26/10/2016 / / 0 Comments

Ingredients (For two) – easily halved

  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 mug couscous
  • 1 mug boiling chicken stock
  • 1 chopped preserved lemon (posh) or grated rind from half a lemon
  • Handful of pitted green olives
  • 1 tbs Harrisa sauce(posh) or other chilli sauce
  • Handful of rocket or watercress
  • Olive oil
  • Chopped fresh coriander (posh) or don’t bother

Cut the chicken and pepper into strips about the size and shape of a long USB stick. Mix with the harrisa or chilli sauce and a little olive oil.  Heat a glug of oil in a pan, and stir fry the chicken and peppers until charred. Pour the hot chicken stock over the couscous in a bowl and leave for five minutes to absorb. Now throw the couscous, chicken, lemon, olives, pepper, rocket together, mix up and scatter coriander over. Done. It should look like a colourful mixture!

Cook

Lamb and Couscous in the Pan

26/10/2016 / / 0 Comments

Ingredients (for two) – easily halved

  • 2 lamb things (steaks, pairs of chops or a small pack of lamb mince to be made into meatballs)
  • 2 tsp harrisa paste
  • 1 mug couscous
  • 1 mug boiling chicken stock
  • 1 can of chickpeas
  • Handful of dried fruit and nuts (chopped dried apricot, sultanas, flaked almonds, cashews, stuff like that)
  • Oil

Rub the meat with the harrisa paste, or if using mince make meatballs with the harrisa paste mixed in. Heat the oil and fry the meat until it looks cooked. Add the couscous, drained chick peas, fruit and nuts, and stir about. Add the stock, cover with a lid or plate and turn off the heat. Come back ten minutes later and eat it all up. Quite nice if you chop parsley or mint leaves and toss them in.

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