Posts Tagged ‘spices’

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How To Make Spicy King Prawns And Then A King Prawn Salad

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
Steenbergs Salt And Pickling Spice For Cooking Shrimp

Steenbergs Salt And Pickling Spice For Cooking Shrimp

I have been struggling recently to get motivated.  I reckon that the long nights and cold weather have finally got deep into my bones, and as Christmas was literally a wash-out, I really should be going for some winter sun to get some solar heat into the marrow of my bones and throw away this lethargy.  Dream on… so in a break from my principles of only cooking for the season, I have created a gorgeous king prawn recipe that really should be enjoyed on a beach somewhere on the Caribbean with an ice cold beer.  On a more on message bit of cooking, I also made a chicken casserole laced with loads of haricot and pinto beans to give that winter vitamin kick.

King Prawn With Rocket, Spinach And Watercress Salad

King Prawn With Rocket, Spinach And Watercress Salad

This recipe was inspired by a chat with one of the chefs at the Big Easy restaurant on the Kings Road in London.  The Big Easy is based on the idea of barbecue and crab-shacks diners in Southern USA.  It is basically deveined prawns cooked in boiling salt water that has been infused with my own Pickling Spice blend, cooled then eaten with coleslaw, a rocket salad and a chilli style dip.  Also, the photo that came out of the sea salt and pickling spice as above looks pretty cool, so I like the aesthetics of this blog more than sometimes.

For the prawns:

2 dessertspoon pickling spice
3 stamens saffron
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 litre / 1¾ pints / 4¼ cups water
450g / 1lb raw king prawns

1.  Put the pickling spice in some muslin.  Put the water into a pan; add the sea salt, pickling spice and saffron to the water and bring to the boil with the lid on the pan.

Put The Pickling Spices And Saffron Into The Water

Put The Pickling Spices And Saffron Into The Water

2.  When the water starts to boil, reduce the heat to low and the water to a gentle simmer.  Simmer for 5 minutes.

3.  Add the raw king prawns to the water and return to the boil.  Cook for 2 minutes, then drain.

Raw Prawns Ready For Cooking

Raw Prawns Ready For Cooking

Prawns After Broiling In Water Infused With Pickling Spice

Prawns After Broiling In Water Infused With Pickling Spice

4.  Cool overnight in a fridge.

Salad With King Prawns

100g / 3½ oz rocket, watercress and spinach leaves (roughly equal proportions)
1 red pepper, sliced and cut into small pieces
10 mangetout, cut into 1cm / ½ inch lengths
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
Pinch truffle salt
Pinch Herbes de Provence
Pinch sumach

1.  Add 1 tbsp sunflower oil to a wok and stir fry the red pepper and mange tout until cooked but still crisp.  Drain off oil.  Leave to cool.

Stir Fry The Red Pepper And Mangetout

Stir Fry The Red Pepper And Mangetout

2.  Wash salad leaves.  Drain and let dry, then place into a salad bowl.

3.  Add the cooked (cooled) red pepper  and mangetout to the salad and mix. 

Mix Together The Salad Leaves, Red Pepper And Mangetout

Mix Together The Salad Leaves, Red Pepper And Mangetout

4.  Add the king prawns cooked as above.  Sprinkle all over with a pinch of sumach, then toss into the salad.

5.  Make the dressing by mixing together the white wine vinegar, olive oil, truffle salt and Herbes de Provence.  Pour over the salad and toss thoroughly.

King Prawn With Rocket, Spinach And Watercress Salad

King Prawn With Rocket, Spinach And Watercress Salad

6.  Eat, enjoy and think of summery weather.

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Recipes For Swede And Parsnip Puree

Sunday, January 23rd, 2011
Parsnip Puree With Partridge And Mashed Potato

Parsnip Puree With Partridge And Mashed Potato

Yesterday, we ate a brace of partridges with mashed potato and parsnip purée.  I noticed a theme had crept recently in my cooking.  It was not to do with the meat or general cooking style, but that I had been enjoying my winter root vegetables.  We like to eat what is in season, or more particularly to veer away from flown in produce, where we can all have the luxury of beans or sprouting broccoli in the dark days of winter.

The problem is that we forget about classic ways of eating in the winter, dropping root vegetables, dried beans and pulses from our diet.  These foods, especially beans like haricot beans, are great for the stomach and circulation, so they make hearty casseroles full of goodness and taste, yet we focus on quickly cooked meats and greens that lack substance, however good they may be for your theoretical dietary needs.

Last week, for example, we complemented Steak And Kidney Pudding with Swede Purée, while this week I chose to make Parsnip Purée with the Roasted Partridge.  They are wonderfully simple recipes and taste so delicious, and can be varied with whatever ingredients you have or can easily lay your hands on.

Recipe for Swede Purée

1 dessertspoon sunflower oil
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
250g onion, chopped finely (medium sized onion)
500ml vegetable bouillon (made as 1 dessert spoon of vegetable bouillon powder plus 500ml boiling water)
700g turnip / swede, chopped into 3cm/ 1 inch cubes
Salt & pepper to taste, or 1tsp of Steenbergs Perfect Salt seasoning

Chop The Swede Into 1cm Chunks

Chop The Swede Into 1cm Chunks

1.  Heat the sunflower oil in a heavy bottomed pan, then add the garlic and onions and fry gently for 5 minutes until translucent.

2.  Add the swede and stir into the garlic-onion mix, then pour over the vegetable bouillon.  Bring the stock to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes until the swede is soft.  If needed, top up the stock with a little more water, but we are trying to get as little liquid in as possible.

Add Stock To The Swede

Add Stock To The Swede

Puree The Cooked Swede To A Thick Consistency

Puree The Cooked Swede To A Thick Consistency

3.  When cooked, transfer the cooked swede, together with the garlic, onions and stock, to a food processor.  Add 2 tablespoons of double cream and process to a thick purée.  Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve warm.

Recipe for Parsnip Purée

1 dessertspoon sunflower oil
1 dessertspoon olive oil
125g onion-leek mix, chopped finely (it could be just onion here)
300ml vegetable bouillon (made as 1 dessert spoon of vegetable bouillon powder plus 300ml boiling water)
450g parsnip, chopped into 3cm/ 1 inch cubes
2 tbsp crème fraiche 
1 tbsp chopped parsley
Salt & pepper to taste, or 1tsp of Steenbergs Perfect Salt seasoning

1.  Heat the sunflower and olive oils in a heavy bottomed pan, then add the leek and onions and fry gently for 5 minutes until translucent.

Fry The Leeks And Onions In Olive Oil And Sunflower Oil

Fry The Leeks And Onions In Olive Oil And Sunflower Oil

2.  Add the parsnip and stir into the leek-onion mix, then pour over the vegetable bouillon.  Bring the stock to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes until the swede is soft.  If needed, top up the stock with a little more water, but we are trying to get as little liquid in as possible.

Simmer The Parsnip In Vegetable Stock

Simmer The Parsnip In Vegetable Stock

3.  When cooked, transfer the cooked parsnip, together with the leek-onion mix and stock, to a food processor.  Add 2 tablespoons of crème fraiche and process to a thick purée.  Add the chopped parsley, then check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve warm.

Process The Cooked Parsnip To A Smooth Puree

Process The Cooked Parsnip To A Smooth Puree

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Recipe For A Warming Winter’s Rabbit Casserole

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

Rabbit used to be the chicken of England with everyone eating rabbits that live in copious amounts around the countryside.  I am not sure why chicken took over from rabbit in our nation’s hearts, but it might be as simple as the fact that it is easier to get the meat off an enlarged chicken breast than cutting the fiddly meat off the rabbit skeleton.  And there are still so many rabbits around that I do not know why we have never taken up this as the poor man’s food – free food from the countryside that also keeps their numbers down instead of factory farmed fowl.

Anyway, I like the light, gamey meat taste of rabbit, so on Saturday I prepared this wintry rabbit casserole for eating on Sunday; Sophie and I were out in our village for a party, so we did not want any particular hassle with the cooking on Sunday.  Thanks to Sally and Paul for the fantastic party and delicious curries.  This is the classic stewing sauce that I make for all game, meat and chicken, varying the amounts of each ingredient depending what is lurking in the vegetables area or in the fridge.  The key is the basic ingredients of onions, carrots, bay, salt and pepper, together with the stock plus a long slow cook to let all the flavours infuse together; everything else can be tweaked and changed.

Ingredients

2tbsp sunflower oil
1 desertspoon butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 celery sticks, halved and chopped finely (approx 1mm)
3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped finely
8 mushrooms, cleaned and halved
200ml / 7 fl oz red wine (roughly a wine glass)
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
300ml / ½ pint chicken stock
1tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp chopped parsley
2 bay leaves
600g  / 1¼ lb rabbit, cut into 3cm / 1 inch dices
Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F.

Add 1 tbsp sunflower oil and the butter to a heavy bottomed casserole pot and heat to really hot.  Add the onions and cook until translucent and just starting to brown at the edges, which will take about 5 minutes over a medium heat.  Add the sliced celery, carrot and mushrooms, stir and lightly fry for about 3 minutes until translucent. 

Mushrooms, Carrots And Celery

Mushrooms, Carrots And Celery

Lightly Fry The Vegetables

Lightly Fry The Vegetables

Add the red wine, then the chopped tomatoes and chicken stock, and bring to the boil.  Cook the stock for about 10 minutes on a full boil and with the lid off to allow it to reduce.

Meanwhile, fry the streaky bacon in 1tbsp of sunflower oil.  When browned add the bacon to the tomato stock.  Add the chopped and prepared rabbit to the streaky bacon oil and cook until sealed and lightly browned.  Add to the tomato and simmer for about 5 minutes with the lid off.

Fry The Rabbit Pieces

Fry The Rabbit Pieces

Transfer to the preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes at 180C / 350F, then reduce the heat to 160C / 320F and cook for another 45 minutes.

Axel's Rabbit Casserole

Axel's Rabbit Casserole

If possible cook this on the day before eating and leave overnight for the flavours to fully infuse, meld and develop. 

Serve with mashed potato.

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Recipe For Stir Fried Pigeon Breast

Saturday, December 11th, 2010
Stir Fried Pigeon Breast

Stir Fried Pigeon Breast

I made this a few days ago when we got back in a rush and needed to rustle up something for the kids in short order.  Booths in Ripon had been having a week promoting game, so I had actually had the pigeon in the fridge waiting for the right occasion and this was it. 

It is nothing clever, just consisting of all the ingredients I could easily find close to hand fried together in a wok and seasoned in a light Chinese style.  The pigeon meat provides a light, succulent gaminess that is a great alternative to chicken.  Quick, simple and delicious. 

Ingredients for Stir Fried Pigeon

2tbsp sunflower oil
300g pigeon breast, thinly sliced
8 mangetout, roughly cut
1cm fresh ginger, chopped finely or grated
3 spring onions, finely sliced
½ carrot, sliced thinly on the diagonal then halved
½ red pepper, chopped
1tbsp dark soy sauce
1tsp sugar
1tsp Steenbergs China 5 spice
1tbsp sherry or sweet white wine (I used sweet white wine that was by the hob)

Chopped Vegetables With China 5 Spice

Chopped Vegetables With China 5 Spice

Heat 1tbsp of the sunflower oil in a wok.  When smoking hot, put in the pigeon breast and quickly stir fry until sealed all over.  Remove and place on plate in warmed oven.

Stir Fry The Pigeon Breasts

Stir Fry The Pigeon Breasts

Add other 1tbsp of sunflower oil and heat until hot.  Add onions and stir fry for 2 minutes.  Add ginger, red pepper and carrots and stir fry for 1 minute.  Then add the carrot and stir fry for 1 minute.

Stir Fry The Vegetables

Stir Fry The Vegetables

Add China 5 Spice and stir once.  Next add the soy sauce and sugar and stir once.  Add the sherry or sweet white wine and return the pigeon breast to the wok; simmer for 2 – 3 minutes until the vegetable are just cooked, but still crisp.

Put The Meat Back In And Fry A Little Longer

Put The Meat Back In And Fry A Little Longer

Serve immediately with rice or egg noodles.

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Elsewhere In Food Blogs (Part 1)

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

At A Slice Of Cherry Pie, Julia Parsons has been enjoying creating with candelight with a warming goulash for a warming early November night, spiced with the gentle heat of smoked paprika, plus some meringues for pudding.  Then for a warm late November pudding, Julia made a delicious Orange and Stem Crumble, which is full of warming ginger (both as a spice and sweet stem ginger).

At Cannelle et Vanille, Aran Goyoaga made a colourful Creamy Potato and Celery Soup with  Purple Potato Crisps, where the purple coloured crisps have a frightening purple colour.  However, just look at the photos of amazing baking of cookies and meringues for Thanskgiving in mid November and Aran Pear, Apple and Fennel Salad with more Thanksgiving bakery.  I like the delicate nuttiness of the Pistachio Sandies and like baklava imagine that pistachio biscuits would work really well.

At Chocolate & Zucchini, we have a healthy sounding recipe for a Multigrain Starter Bread, which really helpfully refers back to Clothilde Dusoulier’s earlier recipe for Sourdough Starter Baguettes that is one of those great recipes that are so simple that it seems obvious and natural immediately you have read it.  Also, there is a reference to Bread cetera, the bread making blog by Steve B.  In Mid November, Clothilde posted a really healthy sounding Walnut And Date Cookie Recipe that sound wholesome.  While around Thanksgiving, there is a recipe for colourful Chunky Pumpkin Soup which sounds good; I must confess to generally not liking the sweetness and texture of pumpkin, however the addition of cumin and harissa may overcome that aversion for me.

Which neatly brings us on to Cooksister where Jeanne Horak-Druiff made a spicy Thai Spiced Roast Pumpkin Soup that might also satisfy my annual need for doing something useful and tasty with pumpkins, when you do not really like the texture or flavour of them in the first place.  I think I would chose to substitute the coconut milk for milk as I find that coconut milk can also be too sweet and would need to experiment with the type of Thai curry paste used, i.e. red, green or yellow Thai curry.  Then there is Jeanne simple (I like simple) Spicy Roasted Pumpkin Seed recipe that uses up the seeds that usually we just scoop out and throw onto the compost heap.

I tend to go for recipes and like bloggers that move with the seasons, obviously trying to take into account where they live, but normally quiche or salad recipes at -5C does little to appeal to me.  However, David Lebovitz’s recipe for Brown Bread Ice Cream is an exception to that rule (that is the key thing about rules, especially your own, they can be broken at will), as I have always been intrigued as how to make bread ice cream and David mentioned Grape Nuts Ice Cream, for which there is a link to the Yankee Magazine.  Now that is something that will be made next summer when the mercury rise to a sensible number.  During Autumn this year, I faffed about trying to get an apple cake that really worked, something that would bring back memories of lazy Kaffee und Kuchen in München aeons ago when I did a German language course there in the mid 1980s.  As usual, David bakes a much better cake than me and his recipe for French Apple Cake will be tried next autumn, or perhaps even earlier as I want to try and make the Bavarian classic Zwetschgen Dachi.  Then I like the idea of the herby floral flavour of Baked Rosemary Apricot Bars.

Shuna Fish at eggbeater has been going through the trials and tribulations of being a chef and writes a heart felt Eminem style poem “for cooks only; an unapology” that expresses the pain in the soul that being a cook can cause, and I love the piece “Put some gratitude in your attitude” as I hate being treated like the dirt on the bottom of a shoe as if I should be grateful for the business and doing business with XYZ with almost never a thank you but many a moan or grumble over zip.  Both blogs have put some light into what for me was a very low and hard November that tested my will to continue with Steenbergs.

Helen Best-Shaw at Fuss Free Flavours baked some gorgeous Soul Cakes for All Soul’s Day and mentions Sting playing at Durham cathedral accompanied by my favourite Northumbrian Pipes, a concert which I am sorry to have missed.  Helen reviews the famous Meat Wagon run by Yianni in London and blogs that his burgers truly are delicious.  I like the Chocolate & Ginger Cake With Brandy Cream, but would perhaps just serve with cream or ice cream being a non drinker.

While from Australia at Lemonpi, we have an intriguing Three Milk Cake and Peanut Butter Parfait With Brownie Salt, which also sounds weird and wonderful.

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Recipe For Traditional Steamed Ginger Treacle Sponge Pudding

Monday, December 6th, 2010

Ginger is a wonderful spice, warming and earthy in flavour with a comforting aroma.  For me, it is redolent with memories of warmth indoors with an open coal or wood fire while the outside is heavy with snow.  It is also so versatile with the spice being warming and earthy and perfect for everything from curry through to ginger biscuits, while sweet crystallised ginger is lovely and sweet and ideal for ice creams through to puddings.  I have bought in traditional crystrallised ginger sweets for this Christmas along with some chocolate gingers boxed up in retro wooden boxes.  So with the weather brisk over the last week and heavy snows for this time of the year, my mind has wondered to traditional sponge puddings full of suet, treacle and, you got it, ginger.

I made this on Saturday evening, enjoying listening to the pop pop pop sound of the lid on pot as the pud steamed away for 2 hours while I listened to Radio 5 Live.  There was a really frank and open phone in hosted by Alec McGivern on the failed English bid for the FIFA World Cup in 2018, but I must admit that I sympathise with Niall Quinn and his view that those who disclosed corruption at FIFA prior to the announcement of the winners of the FIFA World Cups should explain to those football fans in Newcastle and Sunderland why they did it and whether they really believe that they were right to push for disclosure in a way that could harm the “now failed” bid.  They need, also, to explain to those in the North East who could have benefitted from any investment in local infrastructure and sport in the build up to a World Cup where that hope for jobs and change will now come from.  There are times to talk and there are times to keep stum, and this surely was one of those times to wait for a better moment.  I accept that there might have been no change in the result, but it still sticks in the craw.

Anyway back to the Steamed Ginger Sponge Pudding, this is a dark and rich sweet steamed pudding.  It is moist and succulent with a satisfying heaviness, rather than a dry lightness that many modern puddings have.  I think that hearty body comes from the suet, whereas many recipes now seem to exclude the suet and use self raising flour, breadcrumbs and butter to make more of a cake than a traditional buxom sweet.

Recipe For Steamed Ginger Treacle Sponge

3 tbsp golden syrup
1tbsp black treacle
1tbsp ground almonds
225g / 8 oz plain flour
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
75g / 3 oz suet
50g / 2 oz light muscovado sugar or soft brown sugar
2 tsp organic Fairtrade ginger powder
½ tsp organic Fairtrade cinnamon powder
¼ tsp sea salt
1 medium egg, lightly beaten
25g / 1 oz golden syrup
25g / 1 oz black treacle
75 ml / 2 ½ fl oz / ⅓ cup full fat milk

Prepare a 1 litre (2 pint) pudding basin by placing greasing lightly the whole basin with butter or sunflower oil.

Add the golden syrup and treacle to the bottom of pudding bowl.  Sprinkle the ground almonds over the top of this.

Add Golden Syrup And Treacle To Pudding Basin

Add Golden Syrup And Treacle To Pudding Basin

Sieve the plain flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl.  Add the muscovado sugar, ginger, cinnamon and sea salt, and mix thoroughly.  Make a well and add the egg, golden syrup, treacle and milk and stir the mixture together to thick consistency.

Mix The Ingredients Together

Mix The Ingredients Together

Pour the mixture into the prepared, greased pudding basin over the ground almonds.

There should be about 4cm / 1 inch space at the top of the basin for the sponge to rise into.  Now cover the sponge mixture: cut a square of baking parchment and grease one side; place this over the top of the pudding basin; cut a larger piece of aluminium foil and place this over the top; tie the covering down with a piece of string wound around the basin twice and then knotted.

Prepare The Pudding For Steaming

Prepare The Pudding For Steaming

Steam in a pan with boiling water for 2 hours, topping up the pan as necessary to keep the level roughly consistent.  If cooking earlier then reheating, reheat by steaming for 1 hour or nuking in the microwave for a few minutes.

Turn out onto a warmed plate and serve with custard.

Steamed Ginger Sponge Pudding

Steamed Ginger Sponge Pudding

Serve With Custard

Serve With Custard

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Recipe For German Stollen

Sunday, November 21st, 2010

My mother is German, our family coming originally from Eastern Germany; in fact, my maternal great great grandfather’s family were from even further east in modern Poland, being a headmaster for a school in Gdansk. 

Slices Of Homemade Stollen

Slices Of Homemade Stollen

As a result, one of my favourite treats has always been stollen and lebkuchen which my grandmother used to send us from Lebkuchen Schmidt in Nurnburg.  Everything came in gorgeous decorated tins or beautifully covered in pretty wrapping. It really was one of those magical things about my Christmases when I was young, but the mystery has gone a bit now that you can buy versions from Marks & Spencer through to Lidl, even if the quality just is not there; in the same way, Niederegger marzipan was a special treat, yet is now ubiquitous, and we used to get a 10 inch bar covered in chocolate, from which we used to cut off small slices to eat like manna.  As I said earlier, ours used to come from Lebkuchen Schmidt and I have treated myself to a pack this year, so fingers crossed that will arrive by Christmas (the wonders of the world wide web and its power to connect).

But I really felt that I could/ should have a crack at making homemade stollen as, unlike the lebkuchen, this is something (a) I ought to be able to make; (b) the treat factor in stollen is less great.   For reference, I used three books: Delia Smith’s “Christmas”, Christine Ingram and Jennie Shapter’s “Bread” and my other favourite Elisabeth Luard’s “European Peasant Cookery”, with ”Bread” used as the key recipe.  Interestingly, modern stollen (or shop bought stollen) has morphed into a relatively dry, sweet fruit cake with some marzipan in it and smothered in icing sugar (nor is it a rich fruit cake like Christmas cake or Yorkshire brack, but quite plain), which is not the real thing which should be an enriched bread; the best locally made stollen cake comes from Bettys & Taylors, which is worth treating yourself to. 

Recipe For German Stollen
 
75g / 3oz / ½ cup organic sultanas
50g / 2oz / ¼ cup organic currants
3tbsp strong black tea or Steenbergs Christmas chai
375g / 13oz / 3¼ cup strong bread flour
Pinch sea salt
50g / 2oz / ¼ cup Fairtrade caster sugar
1tsp Steenbergs stollen spice (or ¼ tsp ground cardamom, ¼ tsp allspice powder and ½ tsp cinnamon powder)
40g / 1½ oz fresh yeast (or half the amount of dried yeast)
120ml / 4fl oz / ½ cup lukewarm full milk
50g / 2oz / ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
1 medium egg, lightly beaten
55g / 2oz / ⅔ cup organic mixed peel
50g / 2oz / ⅓ cup blanched whole almonds, chopped roughly
Melted butter, for dusting
Icing sugar for dusting

For the marzipan: 

115g / 4oz / 1 cup organic ground almonds
50g / 2 oz / ¼ cup organic Fairtrade caster sugar
50g / 2oz / ¼ cup organic icing sugar
½ tsp natural almond extract
½ tsp lemon juice
½ medium egg, lightly beaten

Weigh out the organic sultanas and currants, then sprinkle the tea over these and leave to soak up the liquid until you need them later.  Sift the bread flour and salt together into a large bowl, then add the sugar and stollen spices and mix thoroughly together.

Tip In The Stollen Spice Mix

Tip In The Stollen Spice Mix

Put the yeast into a small bowl and pour over the lukewarm milk, breaking up the yeast with a fork and mixing to a creamy emulsion.  Make a well in the flour and pour the yeast mix into this and cover the liquid over with a bit of flour.  Cover the bowl with some cling film and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes.  This stage gets the yeast active and growing.

Leave The Yeast To Start Dividing

Leave The Yeast To Get Active

Next, we make the rich bread batter.  Add the melted butter and whisked egg and mix together to a soft dough.  Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until the dough has a smooth, elastic texture.  Put the dough into a lightly oiled mixing bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place to rise.  This will take 2 – 3 hours and you are after it doubling in size; I left mine close to a warm fire and it doubled in about 1 hour, but be careful about the warmth as the ideal temperature is about 37C, i.e. human body temperature – too low and it will expand slowly, but if it gets too hot, you will kill off the yeast (that is also why the milk should be tepid or touch tepid).

Add The Melted Butter And Whisked Egg To The Bread Batter

Add The Melted Butter And Whisked Egg To The Bread Batter

Knead The Enriched Dough

Knead The Enriched Dough

While the dough is rising, you should make the marzipan.  This is one of those mega-simple recipes where you simply mix all the ingredients together and knead to a soft, smooth paste.  When made, put in the fridge until you need it. 

When the dough has risen sufficiently, take the marzipan out of the fridge, then tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and punch (knock back) the risen flour.  Flatten and roll the dough to 1 inch thick;. pour over the sultanas, currants, mixed peel and chopped almonds.  Fold over the dough and press and gently knead the dough until all the fruits have become incorporated.  Now roll out the dough to an oval shape about a foot long (30 x 23cm / 12 x 9 inches), then slightly depress the centre with the rolling pin to make it thinner like a crease on a card.  Roll the marzipan to a long thin sausage shape and place it into the slight depression on the dough, leaving a short space at either end.  Fold over the dough, so that it covers the marzipan and gently seal the edges. 
 
Place The Marzipan Roll On The Dough

Place The Marzipan Roll On The Dough

Place the loaf on a prepared baking tin that has been lightly oiled and cover with some oiled clingfilm.  Leave in a warm place to rise to double the volume again, which should take about 60 minutes.
Prepared Loaf Ready For Second Rising

Prepared Loaf Ready For Second Rising

Preheat the oven to 200C/ 400F.  Bake the stollen loaf for about 30 minutes until it is brown and it sounds hollow when tapped.  While warm, brush the surface with some melted butter and leave to cool.  When cool, dust it with icing sugar. 

Sprinkle Icing Sugar Over The Baked Stollen

Sprinkle Icing Sugar Over The Baked Stollen

 

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Traditional Mincemeat Recipe

Sunday, November 14th, 2010

I am winning with Christmas food preparations this year, which seems unbelievable considering how little time I seem to have to do anything at the moment;. I am running about one week behind last year.  However, as a man who cooks, I do actually find baking strangely therapeutic and calming at the weekend.  I think it gives me some peace and quiet, allowing my thoughts to settle themselves down after a hectic week at Steenbergs, and this week has been one of those business nightmare weeks.

So Christmas cake was baked 2 weekends ago, Christmas pudding last weekend and this weekend I have made a new batch of mincemeat.  I always make a mammoth sized Christmas cake and extra Christmas puds, giving one to my parents and another to some great friends of ours, both of whom deserve just a little something for their help during the year.  As for the mincemeat, I have usually made one that does not include any sugar as I feel the dried fruit, apple and juices are usually sweet enough, however after some gentle prompting last year, I thought I would try a more traditional version and add some sugar, which is what I did this morning. 

Basically, it is my normal mincemeat recipe with the addition of 250g / 8oz dark molasses sugar from Billingtons crumbled into it and a reduced amount of apple as it seems to ferment a little over time.  Still simple and easy, so my old recipe is now called the “No Added Sugar Mincemeat Recipe” and this will become our “Traditional Mincemeat” recipe.  It really is worth the effort making this as it is really just a case of chucking some ingredients together and leaving to develop flavour over the short time to Christmas.

Ingredients 

175g/ 6oz raisins (Organic and/or Fairtrade if possible)
175g/ 6oz sultanas (Organic and/or Fairtrade if possible)
250g/ 8oz currants (Organic and/or Fairtrade if possible)
85g/ 3oz chopped mixed peel
85g/ 3oz flaked almonds, toasted
125g/ 4oz eating apples (Cox’s are good), cored and chopped but not peeled
125g/ 4oz shredded suet (I  use Community Wholefood’s vegetarian suet, but Atora also do one)
250g / 8oz dark muscovado sugar  (Organic and/or Fairtrade if possible)
1tsp organic Fairtrade nutmeg powder
½ tsp allspice powder
½ rounded tsp organic Fairtrade cinnamon powder
Grated rind and juice of 1 orange (or 50:50 orange and lemon)
75ml/ 1/8 pint “good” whisky or brandy (I use Bruichladdich from Islay)

1.  If possible, use organic ingredients and/or Fairtrade ingredients, as they are good for the environment and the communities that grow the crops.

2.  Simply mix all the ingredients together and seal in a large tub, or ideally a bucket with a lid.

Ingredients For Mincemeat Weighed Out

Ingredients For Mincemeat Weighed Out

Mix The Dark Muscovado Sugar Into The Fruit And Nuts

Mix The Dark Muscovado Sugar Into The Fruit And Nuts

Traditional Mincemeat All Mixed Up

Traditional Mincemeat All Mixed Up

3.  Stir it once or twice in the maturation period – at the end of November and maybe mid December.  Pot it up into a couple of good sized Kilner-style jars on or about the 20th December.

4.  It lasts for a good 2 – 3 years, so don’t worry if you haven’t used it all in one Christmas period.  It is good to use in baked apples or to make a quick mincemeat tart for pudding anytime in the year.

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Pepper Review – Kampot Pepper Notes

Friday, October 29th, 2010
Kampot Peppercorns - White, Black And Red

Kampot Peppercorns - White, Black And Red

I have been spending some time recently reviewing our pepper range at Steenbergs, including going through the recipes for Steenbergs’ pepper-based blends.  The result is a few tweaks in some of the non-core blends and a few new ones to be added over the next few weeks, as well as the addition over the last year of several interesting and different pepper varieties. 

Selim Pepper

Selim Pepper

So at Steenbergs, we now have pepper from Penja in the Cameroon, Tasmanian Mountain pepper, a wild mountain pepper from Madagascar, all of which add subtle twists to the idea of pepper.  To this, I have just added Selim Pepper or Moor Pepper earlier this week.  The Selim Pepper has a really woody texture so you have to grind it down, then its taste is initially a musty resinous taste that has a smoky tea-like flavour; after a few seconds a bitter chemical warmth (not heat) comes through reminiscent of burnt tyres which lingers in the throat.

This week I have also had some samples of some fine pepper from a NGO in the Kampot region of Cambodia.  The black and red pepper were really fruity and had a milder piperine taste than you normally get.  I reckon that they will be worth adding to range when I can get some stock.  Here are my tasting notes:

Black Pepper: 3 – 4mm, deep brown, wrinkled.  Characteristic musty, resinous warming aroma. Taste: mild, fruity but nice, soft warmth building after 20 seconds which is not overpowering but lingers at back of throat.  No sharpness.  Really good.

White Pepper: 2 – 4mm, off white/tan with shape reminiscent of coriander with base to corn and then striations from base to tip.  No smell of sweaty socks, really clean and well made with almost no aroma.  Taste: hard bite, no fruitiness, immediate intense heat with slight mustiness coming through.  Good but too direct and no particular character.

Red pepper: a real red pepper from Piper nigrum; 5mm, faint redness but browning.  Fruity aroma with a little piperine and a hint of chocolate.  Taste: very special → lots of fruit, followed by mild piperine coming through; warming but not intense.  Glorious, perhaps the best I have tasted.

Kampot Black Peppercorns

Kampot Black Peppercorns

Kampot White Peppercorns

Kampot White Peppercorns

Kampot Red Peppercorns

Kampot Red Peppercorns

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A Journey Through Back To True Korma Recipes (Part 1)

Monday, October 25th, 2010

When I made the Chicken Tikka the other day, I also made a Lamb Korma.  The end result was nothing like the British Kormas that I had been used to, so I decided to investigate the concept of the korma further.  The first thing to say is that I liked to alternative korma style that I had stumbled on, and secondly that the British korma has little linkage back to the true korma.

What seems to have happened is a story of early British curries.  When the curry house started appearing in a wave in the 1960s – 1970s, the style of cuisine was rural Bangladesh and these early “Indian chefs” realised soon that their new clientele wanted inter alia a range of curries that included a hot curry, a medium one and a mild one.  These morphed into the Anglo-Indian vindaloo, chicken tikka and korma classics of modern British-style Indian food.  For us Brits, korma now means a mild, creamy meat dish, whereas the true korma originated out of the Islamic courts of the Moghuls and other Muslim rulers of India over the 10th to 16th centuries.  This korma from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is a rich banquet dish that is showy and uses lots of yoghurt together with expensive flavourings like cardamom, nutmeg, rose water, saffron and nuts like almonds and dried fruits.

My first trial was a variation on a simple korma, called Korma Narendra Shahi, which is slightly sweet and mild, with a pretty rose water flavour which some might not like, but is something I enjoy and is a key flavour of Arabian and Indian banquet-style-food; if the rose flavour is an issue just reduce the levels of rose water you use.  It is based on a recipe from one of my favourite little gems of Indian cooking “Cooking Delights Of The Maharajas” by Digvijaya Singh; this is a collection of recipes collected from the Royal kitchens of India by Mr Singh who really would be the Maharaja of Sailana, hence he was able to collect these recipes and continue his father’s quest to find some of the best recipes from his contemporaries’ households. 

The next korma recipe will be a mash-up between two of the really fine recipes in the same book, mixing up the Persian style Korma Shiraz with a recipe for Korma Asafjahi from the kitchens of the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1905 and will follow in my next blog…

Recipe for Korma Narendra Shahi

500g / 1lb lamb chopped into 2cm / 1 inch sized peices
2tbsp + 2tbsp ghee, sunflower oil or vegetable oil
500g / 1lb onions, half chopped finely and the other half sliced thinly into rounds
115g / 4oz plain yoghurt
¼tsp – 1tsp chilli powder (vary this to taste, but it is meant to be mild)
1tsp cumin seeds (or powder)
3 green cardamom pods, broken open
Pinch of turmeric
1 pinch of salt
A pinch of saffron diluted in warm water
30ml / 2tbsp rose water
1tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1tsp garam masala

Start by dry frying the cumin seeds, if you are beginning with whole ones. When nicely toasted, crush them in a pestle and mortar.  Make the saffron infusion by placing the saffron filaments in a mug or glass and pour over newly drawn water that has just been boiled and leave to infuse for 30 minutes then strain out the saffron.

Heat the ghee in a frying pan and add the onions and fry gently until translucent.  Add the chilli powder, cumin powder and salt and fry together for 1 minute, then add the yoghurt, stir well and cook for about 10 minutes at a gentle simmer with the lid on.

Korma Sauce With Light Creamy Look

Korma Sauce With Light Creamy Look

While you are frying the onions, start frying the lamb pieces in ghee in a separate frying pan.  Cook these quickly to brown and seal the edges.  When ready, which should be as the korma sauce is finishing its 10 minutes’ initial cook, add the lamb to the sauce, cover and cook at a medium heat for 1½ hours.  Lift these pieces of lamb out of the ghee with a fork or slotted spoon, i.e. leave the fat behind.

When the meat is tender, which should be after about 1½ hours, simmer with the lid off to let the liquid dry up almost completely.  Now add the remaining ingredients (saffron, rose water, coriander leaves and garam masala) and stir until warmed through.

Homemade Korma Narendra Shahi

Homemade Korma Narendra Shahi

Serve straight away, or even better leave a day and eat the next day when the flavours are much more subtle and have infused completely through.

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