Gooseberry Pastries

Sunday, 24th June 2012

Oh dear! More than a month since last posting - a bit of catching up to do. Hope I can remember enough details.

This one is simple. Fresh gooseberries on squares of puff pastry, with a little melted gooseberry jam and icing sugar.  Very nice with a cup of tea.

Gyuudon

Thursday, 21st June 2012

In celebration of the longest day, I decided to have another crack at Gyuudon (beef bowl) this time following the Cooking with Dog recipe as closely as I could.
Didn't manage to get the beef thin enough of course, but it was a nice quality piece of meat, to it came out flavoursome and tender.
The white in my egg was maybe a little softer than it should have been but the waterfall effect across the beef looks cool!
I'm not usually a fan of eggs, but the flavours here combined really well. And I did manage to get a good balance of sweet and spicy. Very tasty indeed!

BBQ Fish and Rice

Tuesday, 19th June 2012

Nothing fancy, I just coated a piece of fish in some Koeran BBQ sauce and fried it quick and hot with ginger and spring onions. Turns out the sauce was much spicier than I expected, but great with a beer.

Pesto Glazed Chicken Breast

Friday, 15th June 2102

A repeat of something from last year that we really liked. This time without the mushrooms.
I don't repeat very often, but I was feeling a bit under the weather, and this is simple and delicious.
Equally good as before, I thought, but my partner felt the chicken could have been more tender. Maybe just the quality of the meat.

Blackened Salmon

Tuesday, 12th June 2012

I hunted around the internet for recipes for blackened salmon and found a dozen different ones. In the end I made this up based on the herbs and spices I had to hand.
The salmon was dipped in butter and then coated with a mix of salt, paprika, black pepper, thyme, nutmeg and a little chilli powder. Then cooked on the teppanyaki for two minutes face down and then 7 or 8 minutes on the skin side.
To accompany I made a salsa of mango and pineapple with red onion, green chilli and coriander and sauteed new potatoes. The combination of flavours was excellent, but the fish was a little pink and cool in the middle. Maybe slightly longer, less hot cooking would have been better.

Veal Escalope

Thursday, 10th May 2012

I did manage to pound this escalope a bit flatter than it looks in this picture. Then I was stuck for a pan big enough to cook it, until I remembered the electric teppanyaki. Perfect for the job.
Got it nice and hot and did the lightly floured escalope for just 90 seconds on each side. It came off as stiff as a piece of board but, after resting for a few minutes, it was actually quite tender and juicy.
Simple pasta with a sauce of garlic, onion, tomato and a lot of oil.

Spaghetti with Salsiccia

Friday, 4th May 2012

A variation on something that was quite successful last year.
Roast cherry tomatoes in the over with a garlic clove and plenty of oil for 20 minutes or so. Meanwhile chop up fresh salsiccia into bite sized pieces and fry them quickly until browned, then add them to the tomatoes.
While the pasta cooks chop and fry a shallot and add spinach to the pan to wilt. Add the salsiccia and tomatoes to the spinach, mash up the roasted garlic, which will be soft by now, and mix that all together briefly and season. I ground in some red chilli for extra spice.
Drain the pasta and top with the sauce.
Really very good. A lovely combination of flavours with a good balance of spice, sweet tomatoes, spinach, garlic and oil, with the tasty salsiccia.
This should work very well as a veggie dish I imagine, with something else instead of sausage (button mushrooms maybe?).