Arford Books Cooks

Easy recipes from Apple Tree

Tag: Meat (Page 2 of 3)

sweden

Swedish Burgers

09/11/2016 / / 0 Comments

You could use any mince for these.

  • 450g mince (beef or pork preferably)
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1/2 small onion chopped
  • 2-6 tbs grated cooked (not pickled) beetroot
  • 2tbs chopped capers
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1tbs chopped chives

Mix. Form into four patties. Fry or grill both sides. You can either serve conventionally in a bap or do the Swedish thing of serving with mashed potato, a green vegetable and lingonberry or redcurrant sauce. Make a gravy by putting a couple of tablespoons of plain flour in your now oily pan, stir around to soak up all the tasty juices, add 250ml stock, heat until thickened and bubble a bit more. I like to use vegetable or chicken stock and stir in a bit of cream at the end. Very wicked. Don’t forget the lingonberry jelly, this makes the dish special. Oh and a lager too.

Lamb in Palava Sauce (African)

09/11/2016 / / 0 Comments

For some reason this really appeals – probably because African recipes are fairly rare. For four, you need:

  • 1 red chilli
  • 2cm root ginger, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
  • 300ml lamb, chicken or vegetable stock
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1tbs tomato puree
  • 400g can chopped tomatoes
  • 6tbs palm oil (boo hiss, I know, but it is authentic and makes it a great red colour)
  • 500g lean lamb cubed
  • 200g spinach
  • 2 eggs beaten

First make a sauce by blitzing the chilli, ginger, garlic, puree, tomatoes and half the onion.

Stir-fry the other half of the onion and the lamb in the red oil. Add the sauce and stock, bubble up and simmer, covered, for 40-50 minutes. Stir in the spinach and let it wilt. Drizzle in the egg  and simmer two more minutes. Serve with rice or flatbread.

Caldo verde

Caldo Verde (Chorizo and Kale)

03/11/2016 / / 0 Comments

Tastes even better than I hoped. This is a thick, rich tasty bowl of soup/stew from Portugal that is a meal in a bowl with bread on the side. Enough here for 6 small bowls or 4  full-on meals.

  • 1 onion
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 600g floury potatoes peeled and cut into small chunks
  • 220g chorizo cut into chunks
  • 1.5 litres vegetable stock
  • 300g kale finely shredded
  • olive oil
  • Dried chilli flakes

Heat the oil in a deep pan. Gently fry the onion and garlic until starting to soften. Add the chorizo to cook a bit and release their oil. Add the potato and stock, bring to the boil and simmer 20 minutes. Mush the potatoes down with a masher to make the soup thick. Add the kale, a teaspoon of salt and a mad twist of black pepper. Cook 8 minutes more. Serve in bowls and sprinkle chilli flakes on top.

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

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.

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.

Cook

Cajun Chicken or Pork

26/10/2016 / / 0 Comments

Ingredients (for two) – easily halved

  • 2 chicken breasts or 2 pork steaks
  • 225gm new potatoes
  • 100gm green beans or peas
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • half a lemon
  • Handful of pitted green olives
  • 2 tomatoes chopped
  • 1 tbs Cajun seasoning
  • Oil

Boil the potatoes. After 10 minutes add the beans and cook for another 5 minutes (if using peas wait 12 minutes and cook for another 3). Meanwhile rub the Cajun seasoning all over the meat and in another pan fry both sides in a spoon of oil until cooked through. Squeeze over the lemon juice and if you can be bothered, grate the zest in too (it is worth it). Time it so this is when the vegetables are cooked. Drain them and add to the meat pan, with the garlic. Fry for half a minute then add the tomatoes. Fry for another minute or two so the tomatoes are a bit cooked. Add a splash of water of it is getting way too dry. Done!

Gammon casserole

Gammon Casserole

21/10/2016 / / 0 Comments

This is very easy and cheap. You can either use the leftover half of your Sunday gammon joint or buy a small joint (750g about £3 in Tesco) and use that. To feed four greedy people you need:

  • Gammon/ham joint, cooked or uncooked, fat and rind removed.
  • 1 onion
  • 2 parsnips
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 potatoes
  • 200ml white wine or dry cider
  • 400ml water
  • Sprig of thyme
  • 400gm tin of flageolet beans or similar
  • 400gm tin of butter beans
  • Large handful of frozen peas
  • Chopped parsley

Heat a large saucepan or metal casserole on the stove with a tablespoon of oil.  If your ham is uncooked, brown the ham and remove. Chop the root vegetables roughly and add to the pan. Sweat gently for five minutes. Add the cider or wine, water, thyme and beans. Cook for one hour. Add the peas, cook three minutes more. Adjust the seasoning, add chopped parsley and serve!

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