Category: Main courses (Page 5 of 13)

Crispy Chicken Wings

24/10/2019 / Neville

These are cooked to crispy first, then smothered (or not). See our other recipe for Buffalo Wings for an alternative. For 1Kg of wings:

2 tbs of baking powder
Salt
Pepper
1/2 tsp onion or garlic powder

Take a large plastic bag and put the baking powder in it. Pimp it up with the seasonings – you can play around and experiment with what you add at this point.

1 kg chicken wings (£2.49 from Tesco)

Cut away wing tips and feed to the dog (they can eat raw chicken bones). Cut through the joint to make two sections per wing. Dry on kitchen paper. Toss in the bag to coat with the seasoned baking powder.

Turn the oven up to 200C (fan). Place the coated winglets on an oiled grill rack placed over a drip tray. You could probably use a cake cooling rack for this. Bake for 50 minutes turning once at mid-point. You might think this is a long time – it is, they will be cooked long before this but it makes them extra crispy. Just watch they don’t burn.

You could use them at this point to dip into sauces but if you want to make fiery finger food, carry on:

1 tbs hot sauce (or more)
1 tbs honey
1 tbs melted butter

Mix, then paint all over the wings, or pour over and toss the wings about to coat.

Now get dipping with spicy wings!

Very veggie dhal

09/09/2019 / Neville

This makes a great main-meal dhal, which can be vegan, vegetarian or meaty depending what you put on top of it. It can also be a curry side. This serves 6 or more but you can scale it down.

1 Tbs oil
1/2 an onion
2 cloves garlic
1.5 Tbs ginger, freshly grated
1 red chilli, finely chopped

Heat the oil in a pan and gently fry unil soft. Add

1 heaped tsp turmeric
1 heaped tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin

Fry for one minute. Add

3 cups split red lentils
2 courgettes grated

Fry one minute. Add

1.2 litres water

Simmer for 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it and add water if it looks like it is drying out. Then add

3 cups roughly chopped spinach
1 x 400g can chick peas
1x 400 ml can Coconut milk
1 tsp tamari or soy sauce or salt

Simmer for another 10 minutes until thick. Adjust the seasoning, you may need more salt. Meanwhile, in another pan heat

1 Tbs oil
1 tsp chilli flakes
1.5 tsp cumin seeds

Fry gently until the aromas are released.

Serve into bowls, topped with the chilli/cumin oil. You can serve as it, with rice or breads (vegan), or

Top with hard-boiled egg and youghurt (vegetarian), or

Serve with a dry meat curry or tandoori grilled chicken or lamb

Tomato Tabbouleh Salad

02/09/2019 / Neville

This is an easy lunch salad as long as you plan ahead with the bulgur wheat! You can us a variety of proteins for this to make it a more substantial dish, or you can use it as a side. For 2 portions (main) or 4 portions (side):

100 gm Bulgur wheat
400ml water

Simmer 15 minutes covered, turn off the heat and leave for 10 minutes. Meanwhile

1tbs olive oil
1 tbs tomato puree
1 tbs lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground allspice

Mix to make a dressing. When the bulgur is cooked, fluff it up. It should have absorbed all the water. Mix in the dressing and leave to cool.

2 dried figs or dates, chopped
2 spring onions chopped, or chives
250g cherry tomatoes, halved
handful of mint leaves, shredded
handful of parsley, chopped
Optional – 1/4 cucumber cubed

Mix up with the cooked bulgur to make a salad. If you are serving this as a main course salad, you can top with:

fried halloumi (vegetarian) or…
Smoked mackerel fillets, or…
Falafel (vegan), or…
Grilled chicken breast, or…
beef mince kofta, or…
Lamb meatballs

and a few fancy lettuce leaves alongside. Pittas, yoghurt, hummus, Lebanese pickles all start to make this look like a feast.

Awesome Moussaka

17/02/2019 / Neville / 0 Comments

Recipe from a Greek guy. I saw almost the exact recipe on Hairy Bikers too, from a Greek Orthodox priest so it must be authentic. It was his mum’s recipe. Serves four very generously.

olive oil
1 large courgette, sliced
2 aubergines or 1 giant one, sliced

Pan fry gently until coloured on both sides. Set aside.

1 onion diced
1 garlic clove crushed and chopped

fry gently in the oil, add a bit more if you need to. When softened:

500g lamb mince

Fry until coloured

1 tbs tomato puree
0.5 tbs fresh thyme

Cook briefly. Add

400g can chopped tomatoes
pinch cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
10 basil leaves chopped
10 sprigs parsley, leaves only chopped
salt and pepper

Add to the pan with a dash of water. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile make a Bechamel sauce:

100g butter
100g plain flour

Melt the butter, add the flour and stir around. Add

750ml milk

Heat and stir until thick. Add

100g grated parmesan
pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper

Stir until the cheese is melted. Add

3 egg yolks

Stir madly with a whisk to blend thoroughly. Now assembly time (plus 1 more ingredient)

3 potatoes very thinly sliced.

Layer the potatoes over the base of an oven-proof dish. Now layer over the sliced cooked aubergine, then the sliced cooked courgette. Tip in the meat and tomato mixture and press down over. Top with the bechamel sauce mix. Finally

25-50g grated parmesan

Sprinkle over the top. Now bake for 35-40 minutes at 180C but keep an eye on it and turn the heat down a bit if it is looking scorched. It is a meal in a dish with plenty of vegetables inside. When cooked, leave 15-20 minutes to rest, it will taste even better.

An alternative and very good recipe is Lamb and Artichoke Moussaka from BBC Good Food. This is very similar, but using artichoke hearts and not courgette. Layer with potato first then half the mince then aubergine, then half the mince, then fried artichoke heart. Top with bechamel sauce and bake.

Smoked Salmon Pasta

29/12/2018 / Neville / 0 Comments

Great for Christmas leftovers. Serves 2. You can play with the quantities, this is just a guide.

170g pasta (spaghetti is good)

Boil according to the pack instructions. Meanwhile…

2 eggs
100ml cream
25g-50g parmesan cheese grated

Beat to a creamy sauce. When the pasta is cooked, drain, add the creamy sauce are return to a gently heat. Stir until the sauce thickens

150g smoked salmon bits
1 tbs parsley, chopped

Stir into your sauce. Adjust seasoning and serve.

Kinda Cassoulet

03/12/2018 / Neville / 0 Comments

Apologies for the photo, that is Wikimedia’s not mine.

If Jamie Oliver can do Kinda so can I. Although to be fair, he has earned the right and I haven’t. This recipe evolved from having some stray meat items, an Instant Pot and a desire to make something quick and wholesome. This is a convergence of several recipes, and I am sure the French who take three days to make a cassoulet would be horrified. It would be disingenuous to say I cared. Here’s what we had: leftovers from a roast duck, leftovers from a gammon and a couple of sausages. The rest are store cupboard items. Serves 2 but easily scaled.

200g canellini beans

Soak 8 hours or Instant Pot equivalent (20 mins pressure)

Half an onion, chopped
One carrot, cubed small
2 cloves garlic
Dash of oil

Soften in the Instant Pot on Saute. Meanwhile take a frying pan and brown

2 sausages

Add to the Instant Pot with:

2 cooked duck legs
Cubed gammon, we had the equivalent of a pork steak sized bit
1 tbs tomato puree
500ml chicken stock
drained soaked beans
1 tsp fresh thyme chopped, or a pinch of dried
1 bay leaf

Add to the Instant Pot. Cook 20 mins. You could serve at this point but it may look a bit watery. To make it amazing, turn the whole lot into a stove-top pan and bubble away to reduce the liquid and intensify flavours. Adjust the seasoning – it probably won’t need much adjusting, a bit of pepper maybe.

To make it slightly more authentic top with breadcrumbs and brown under a grill but that is a bit of a faff, skip that and serve with fresh crusty bread.

If your meat supply doesn’t match the above list, try

Cooked chicken legs instead of duck
Bacon lardons instead of gammon chunks but make them meaty. You could even go for small chunks of pork belly, browned
Any variation of sausage – traditional British or smoked or Continental but not too preserved – steer away from salami

This recipe is awesome. Try it.

Arroz al Horno (baked rice)

04/11/2018 / Neville / 0 Comments

A meany, beany paella really, and pretty good. Quick, easy and cheap. Ticks all the boxes there!

Quantities serve 4, easily scaled up or down. You will need a large stove-top-to-oven pan, I used my largest le Creuset casserole dish.

4 lean pork belly strips, halved
olive oil

Sear in your pan until they are brown and crispy each side. Remove.

2 slices black pudding, cubed
4 thick slices bacon, cut into lardons

Fry in the same oil until coloured. Remove.

1 small onion, chopped
1 red pepper, sliced

Fry in the same oil (add more if you need to) until soft.

4 garlic cloves, chopped

Fry a bit more.

1 tomato, chopped

Fry until it breaks down. You could use tinned actually, if you have a use for the remainder of the tin.

Tin of butter beans or canellini beans
Sprig of fresh thyme or rosemary, chopped
2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes

Stir in. Add back your nicely browned meaty things.

200g paella rice

Stir in.

525 ml chicken stock

Add to the pan. Heat to bubbling then put in an oven at 200C/180C Fan. Leave 20 minutes and then have a peek. If the rice isn’t soft or there is too much liquid, leave another 5.

Serve with lemon to squeeze over if you like. Our home-made bacon is quite salty so it didn’t need more. You may need to adjust the seasoning.

Quick steak and mushroom stroganoff

14/10/2018 / Neville / 0 Comments

(Wikimedia image) Serves 2, easily scaled:

230g sirloin steak, trimmed of fat
1/4 tsp paprika
seasoning
oil

Season your steak, oil it and sear in a hot pan both sides. Turn the heat down and cook each side for two minutes. Set aside. In the same pan add

1 small onion sliced

Cook gently until softening Add

250g sliced chestnut mushrooms

Cook until soft. If it looks too dry add a pat of butter. When cooked, add

100ml beef stock
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

Simmer until reduced by about half. Add

2 tbs single cream

Slice your reserved steak, and add to the pan with the cream and any resting juices. Heat through but don’t boil the cream.

Serves with mash or pasta (tagliatelle or linguini is best). Scatter over some chopped fresh parseley for poshness.

Chana Masala (Chickpea curry)

13/10/2018 / Neville / 0 Comments

200g dried chickpeas (or 2 x 400g tins chickpeas, drained and rinsed) – dried chickpeas have a better taste and texture than tinned

If using dried chickpeas, soak them overnight, covered, in a pan of lukewarm water. The next morning, drain the water and cover with fresh water. Add ½ tsp salt and boil until soft (about 1½-2 hours). Drain and set aside.

2 garlic cloves, crushed
Thumb-size piece fresh ginger, grated
1 medium green chilli, finely chopped

Put the garlic, ginger and chilli in a small bowl and mix together into a coarse paste.

3-4 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
400g tin chopped tomato

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and fry the onion for 10-15 minutes until soft and starting to brown. Add the cumin seeds and the ginger, garlic and chilli paste, and cook for a few seconds. Add the tomatoes and stir for 2 minutes, adding salt to taste.

1 level tsp ground turmeric
¼ tsp chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cumin

Add the turmeric, chilli powder, garam masala, ground coriander and ground cumin and stir well, then add the chickpeas and cook for 15 minutes.

Handful fresh coriander, chopped
Natural yogurt and lemon wedges to serve (vegan yoghurt for vegans)

Stir in the chopped coriander and serve with a dollop of yogurt and lemon wedges to squeeze over.

Making bacon

21/09/2018 / Neville / 0 Comments

You might think that curing your own bacon is a) difficult and b) not worth it but a) it isn’t and b) it is. Compared to supermarket bacon, home-cured is tastier, meatier and doesn’t shrink to half the size – or exude white stuff while cooking! All you need is a lump of pork belly, your home-made cure, a fridge and a bit of personal organisation. First – buy your meat. You will need a piece of pork belly from the thick end, boned out and weighing about 2KG. You will need to find a traditional butcher for this. Now make your cure:

300g salt
200g soft brown sugar
2 tbs ground black pepper
2tbs crushed coriander seeds
3 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked and finely chopped
leaves from a small bunch of thyme

Mix the cure well and put it in an airtight pot.

Find a non-metallic plate or tray big enough to hold the meat. Put a handful of cure on the bottom of the plate, place the meat on top and spread another handful of cure on the top. Cover and place in the fridge for one day. Remove and pour off the liquid that will have been drawn out by the cure. Turn the meat over, and top up the cure top and bottom with another handful. Leave for another day in the fridge, then repeat. Do this for five days in total, and each day there will be less and less liquid drawn out as the cure does its job. The meat will get firmer too. After five days, wash the cure off the meat, dry with a paper towel and wipe all over with a cloth dipped in vinegar. Now leave in the fridge uncovered to dry for another week or so. It will then be ready to slice and use as bacon was intended. It will keep in the fridge for several weeks apparently, although you might find it gets eaten pretty quickly. For longer storage once it is air-dry, wrap in a dry tea towel and keep in the fridge for several months.