Lamb Kidney Curry

Thursday, 13th September 2012

India Cookbook p490. One of the great things about curry is that you can make it with anything. I once made a fantastic curry with a tin of tuna.
In this case a few lamb's kidneys, onions and a good quantity of fresh coriander.
Heat ground fennel seeds, chili powder, asafoetida, cloves and yoghurt over a low heat, until the moisture has gone, add the kidneys and fry until browned. The recipe calls for adding lambs testes at this point but, strangely, my local butcher was all out of them, so I added some chopped onions with the kidneys instead! :)
Add some water and simmer for a bit, then add ground coriander, garam masala, ginger paste, and chopped coriander. Simmer until the sauce is thick and serve with more coriander.
The bread is actually Turkish, but makes a very good substitute for paratha.

Pichones a la Toledana

Sunday, 28th August 2012

Aromatic Pigeons - Sainsbury's Cooking of Spain p72.
Luckily the butcher had exactly 2 pigeons left, because this would have been much less exciting with chicken!
The birds are halved, browned all over in oil and then braised with onions, herbs and whole garlic cloves, in dry sherry with a dash of sherry vinegar. The recipe says cook for an hour and to allow the liquid to evaporate at the end, but these were cooked for at least 90 minutes without any problem, and I kept a lot of the liquid because we like our posh gravy.
I served them with proper, double-fried chips, and sliced baked aubergine.
Absolutely delicious!

Pasta and salsiccia

Thusday, 23rd August 2012

Another variation on pasta and chopped up salsiccia. Fresh varieties of both makes all the difference.
The pasta was filled with chanterelle mushrooms and the sauce for the salsiccia is just wine, onions and a few cherry tomatoes.

Spareribs

Tuesday, 21st August 2012

I was not very happy with the quality of the spare-ribs. Neither meaty nor flavoursome.
I'll have to check out some other butchers.

Salsiccia and risotto

Friday, 10th August 2012

Got these salsiccia frozen at the Kaufhof food-hall. They are OK, but I'd rather have fresh. I had no white wine, so I made the risotto with some marsala. An interesting alternative!

Iberico Pork Cutlets

Thursday, 9th August 2012

Nice to find some iberico pork at the local supermarket.
Simply pan-fried these cutlets and served with potatoes cut into tiny cubes and sauteed with onions.

Pork filet in serrano ham

Saturday, 4th August 2012

Sometimes the right ingredients are hard to come by, so almost nothing in this recipe was the way it was supposed to be! The meat was supposed to be pork loin in pancetta, but I used to pork filets and serrano ham. The plum chutney should be made with red or black plums, but we only had green. It's supposed to be cooked on the barbecue, but I used a pan and the oven.
The meat was a bit dry, but on the whole it was quite a nice meal.