This turkey white bean chilli is a lighter, fresher take on the rich, red chilli con carne I grew up eating – though the chipotle paste ensures it still packs a punch.
As a lover of all things kimchi, I can think of nothing finer on a cool autumn night than a steaming bowl of kimchi jjigae. Chilli hot, vinegar sour, and packing a hefty garlicky punch, kimchi jjigae is not for the timid of palate (though the chilli heat can easily be tamed down by using less gochujang, or even omitting the gochugaru).
Kimchi jjigae also has serious sinus-clearing properties, and when a cold threatens, I’d take it over chicken soup any day of the week.
I have yet to convince the girls to join us in a bowl of kimchi jjigae – as we say around here, they are still “learning to like kimchi”…;-) Continue reading →
Poor, unfashionable mung beans… While a number of ingredients have crossed the aisle from “health food” to mainstream (hummus, tofu), or even become trendy (quinoa, chia seeds), mung beans are not among them.
There is still something 1970s, socks-and-sandals, “knit your own yogurt” about mung beans (at least in their un-sprouted form). Or maybe it’s a name thing… if you were brainstorming names to market a new legume, I doubt “mung” would make the long list.
Having been a friend of the mung bean for years, I’d like to introduce them to a wider social circle. This mung bean coconut curry is a good place to start. Quick to make (mung beans don’t need pre-soaking), delicious, healthy and cheap, this curry is a winner.
Beef stroganoff is one of my life-long favourite meals – I can remember choosing it for my special birthday dinner. I recently unearthed a class cookbook from first grade, and there in all its faded mimeographed glory was “Beef Stroganoff, by Andrea”.
Stroganoff was where my love affair with rosemary began. So I was genuinely stunned that in a survey of numerous beef stroganoff recipes online, not one of them included rosemary.
To my mind, rosemary is an integral part of the dish – it simply wouldn’t be stroganoff without it. (The poppy seeds on the noodles are non-negotiable as well.) Continue reading →
We ate this chorizo-leek phyllo tart a few times over the summer. I’d cook it early in the day – tarts and quiches benefit from having enough time to cool and rest – and we’d eat for dinner with a green salad.
I’ve experimented with adding goat’s cheese, sundried tomatoes, and sliced olives, but didn’t feel the tart was improved by it.
The chorizo provides ample flavour, and without cheese, the cream and eggs bake to a silky, custard-like consistency.
Chicken and pea risotto is a nice, simple supper for a summer’s evening and uses ingredients I nearly always have to hand.
I started by simmering the chicken breasts in stock I then used to make the risotto, but it’s also a good way to use up leftover roast chicken. Continue reading →
I fired up the barbeque for first time this season to grill these sardines for our dinner. You can fry sardines in a grill pan or in a hot oven, but they are so much nicer cooked over an open flame.
Chicken tikka masala is one of Britain’s favourite dishes. Believed to be a local adaptation of India’s butter chicken, chicken tikka masala is such a part of the British culinary fabric, it goes by the acronym CTM.
Usually eaten in restaurants, or as a takeaway, I had never actually made chicken tikka masala myself. Continue reading →
Börek, burek, byrek, byorek… The vowels may change from country to country, but the delicious, savoury pastries found across Turkey and the Balkans are largely the same.
In Albania, spinach seems to be the most common filling for byrek. But they sounded so similar to the spanakopita I occasionally make, that I opted for a cheese version instead. Continue reading →
The English asparagus season is coming to an end, alas… While the last of the crop is available from our greengrocers, asparagus risotto seems a fine way to represent Italy in the Euro 2016 championships.
This risotto gets its beautiful green colour by creating a purée from the stalks, which is stirred through towards the end of the cooking time. Continue reading →
When I was a kid, we had a skipping song that included the lines, “Goulash, paprikash, one, two, three! Noodle, strudel, touch your knees! Rigatoni, macaroni…”
I can’t recall the rest, but I know that I hadn’t the foggiest idea what paprikash was back then – and until today had never made it. Continue reading →
Pide are Turkey’s answer to pizza, and surprisingly easy to make. The dough came together in minutes, and by the time I’d made the toppings, it was risen and ready to roll.
I went with two traditional toppings – spicy ground meat and spinach and cheese – but there’s definitely scope to experiment here.
I divided the dough into four pieces, and made four largeish pide, but you could just as easily make six individual ones.
Note that the recipe below is for the amount of filling you need if you plan to make both types of pide. If you want to make only one, either freeze half the dough to use another time or double the quantity of filling. Continue reading →
Schnitzel was on the menu pretty regularly when the girls were small. Kids generally love breaded food, and it was a safe dinner option for playdates. (I once made a little girl cry by serving her a bowl of chickpea pasta soup…)
While veal is the traditional schnitzel cut in Austria, I’ve never used it myself. Chicken, turkey, or pork – they’ve all been pounded flat, dipped in egg, and rolled in crumbs and shallow-fried round here. Continue reading →
This Euro 2016 challenge has made me aware of how many eastern European teams are competing – the menu plan for the next month is a bit cabbage-tastic. Potatoes are well represented too – and Slovakian potato pancakes feature both.
Seasoned with majoram and garlic, these differ from the potato latkes I usually make. Unlike latkes, they also include a significant quantity of flour, resulting in a breadier pancake.
With a mushroom hater in the family, chicken marsala had fallen out of my repetoire. I’m glad I gave it another try, because it’s a simple and delicious mid-week meal, and proved to be a big hit all round. (According to Lyra, “the mushrooms are easy to see and avoid.”) Continue reading →
Turkey burgers can be pretty dry and tasteless, and it taken some experimenting to produce one I’m happy to eat. I opt for ground turkey thigh mince instead of breast, and add cheddar and anchovy for extra fat and flavour.
Topped with lettuce and tomato, and served in a homemade hamburger bun with a side of sweet potato fries, you have a fresh take on the classic burger and fries. Continue reading →
I much prefer cooking bone-in, skin-on chicken and seldom buy chicken breasts. Too often they turn out dry and tasteless – and cost more as well.
But when I find myself with a packet of chicken breasts, this harissa chicken is a good way to go. The meat turns out tender and juicy, and is delicious served with the nutty, chewy bulghur wheat pilaf.
Tajine, cous cous, tajine, cous cous, tajine… When visiting Morocco, you have to go out of your way to avoid eating one or the other – or both – pretty much every day.
In Morocco, a tajine is both a slow-cooked savoury stew and the conical pottery cooking vessel in which they are prepared. So strictly speaking, while drawing on the flavours of Morocco, this fruit and vegetable tajine is not a tajine at all.
It is delicious though, and less oily than most I’ve eaten, especially those featuring chicken or lamb. Continue reading →
Fish pie is a comforting dish, and one many British people associate with childhood. I can’t recall ever eating one before moving to the UK, but unlike Marmite or Jaffa cakes, you don’t have to grow up eating fish pie to enjoy it.
Making a good fish pie does require care and attention. There are several steps – and several pans – involved. I’ve streamlined my version over the years, arriving at a fish pie recipe where the final result justifies the effort.
One big positive of having a ready supply of kimchi on hand, is the possibility of turning last night’s leftover rice into a bowl of delicious kimchi bokkeumbap for lunch.
Mole de olla (or kettle stew) is a traditional Mexican dish made from beef and vegetables – typically corn, potatoes, green beans and courgette.
This vegetarian version comes from the Sundays at Moosewood cookbook – I’ve been making it for years, and always serve it with fresh cornbread to soak up the delicious sauce.
We’d eat this tasty stew more regularly if the girls weren’t so stubbornly resistant to its charms – they remain deeply unconvinced by cooked courgette. Continue reading →
In many years as a vegetarian, I’d never encountered a nut roast before moving to the UK. The veggie food I cooked was Asian in influence, and – bean burgers aside – dishes that deliberately replicated meat were unknown to me.
British vegetarian food in the mid 90s seemed all about producing veggie versions of sausages, meat pies and roast dinners. And in this pre-Quorn era, the nut roast reigned supreme. Continue reading →
Chicken, cannellini beans and kale is not the catchiest of names – more of a list of ingredients really. Which makes sense for a dish whose elements remain proudly distinct while combining in a deeply satisfying way.
Seco is a traditional Peruvian stew. Chunks of meat – lamb, chicken or beef – are simmered for hours until the meat is tender to the point of falling apart.
Like dhania chicken, seco is definitely for coriander lovers only. It’s also pretty spicy, so I tone things down a notch when preparing it for the girls.
My heart sank when the Great British Bake-off contestants were set the task of making a raised game pie.
According to BBC Good Food (where I found this Paul Hollywood recipe), “a game pie always makes a spectacular centre piece and… is amazingly straightforward to make – especially if you buy mixed game meat ready-prepared from a good butcher.” Continue reading →
Kedgeree is one of my all-time favourite meals. While the British consider kedgeree a breakfast dish, we usually eat this delicious concoction of smoked fish, rice, eggs and curry as a weekday supper with a good dollop of mango chutney. Continue reading →
Saltimbocca means ‘jumps into the mouth’ in Italian, presumably because it’s so delicious. It is good! Traditionally made with veal, I came across this recipe for pork saltimbocca in an issue of Waitrose magazine.
Actually it was the asparagus and cannellini bean salad that first caught my eye. The meat and salad combine beautifully to make a quick, tasty summer meal.
Mattar paneer is one of my favourite curries to make at home. It’s just never as fresh when you order it in a restaurant. The peas will have gone a bit grey and sad looking, and the paneer will be rubbery.
More often than not, they will have added cream as well, which seems unnecessary in a curry that contains cheese.
Muamba de galina is a flavoursome chicken and vegetable stew from Angola, and another foray into the world of African cuisine.
This rich and spicy dish is traditionally served with corn funge – a stiff porridge similar to polenta. Deliberately unseasoned, funge provides a starchy foil for the rich, spicy stew. Continue reading →
As delicious as this recipe for grilled salmon with quinoa tastes, it’s the combination of textures that make it such a winner. The silky richness of the salmon, pop of quinoa, and juicy crunch of red pepper play beautifully off one another.
A dish of lemon risotto with a heap of steamed asparagus is one of my favourite spring/summer meals. It also makes a great starter – in which case this recipe will feed four. Continue reading →
I’ve been making this classic Chinese dish for years – sometimes using prawns instead of chicken, or a veggie version with just tofu and mushrooms – and it’s always delicious. Continue reading →
At some point in my childhood, the responsibility for cooking the family meals shifted from my mum to my dad. I don’t remember what brought on this change – I’m not sure that I ever knew.
Before that point, I can recall him making only two things – the occasional roast dinner and his delicious sourdough bread. Once he became the main cook, Dad brought a typically structured approach to feeding the family. Continue reading →
We were introduced to pasta alle zucchini by our lovely Roman friend Mariella. She was a bit dismissive when she served it for dinner one evening, describing it as simple family fare, but we found zucchini and egg to be a winning combination. Continue reading →
Lentils and smoked salmon make this a most satisfying main course salad. Easy to pull together on a weeknight, especially if you happen to have cooked lentils hanging about, as we often do. Continue reading →
Ten More Bites 