because sick boys need ice cream...

As you might already know Freddy has been unwell this week after having surgery on his thumb. This was just the thing to help him get better.

Ingredients: 1 banana, 4 scoops of vanilla ice cream, pink sprinkles, hot fudge, whipped cream.

Directions: cut banana length wise, fill with ice cream, top with whipped cream, sprinkles, and hot fudge.

Blueberry Pancakes

We have been making these pancakes for the last couple of weekends. Jenny has had Saturdays off and its a great way to start the day!

Ingredients:

3 large eggs

1 cup plain flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

140ml milk

a pinch of salt and sugar

a splash of vanilla essence

some blueberries

Directions:

Separate the egg yolks and egg whites. Add the yolks to the rest of the ingredients above and beat into a batter (except the salt, sugar, and blueberries). Whisk the egg whites with the salt and sugar until they form stiff peaks. Then fold the whites back into the batter. Add a dollop of the batter to a warm frying pan. Once it starts frying add the blueberries to the uncooked side. Then flip over. Fry for a bit and then your done. MmmmMmmmMmmm.

enjoy!

Tomato soup for stephanie

I know, I know. Im on a bit of a food blogging binge at the moment. But we are making some pretty tasty treats and have a few new regular recipes that we make all the time, so am trying to get them up on the blog.

Made some tomato soup the other day... it was good.

Ingredients: (serves four)

Soup

1kg ripe cherry tomatoes (but I reckon any kind of toms are good)

4 large tomatoes

1 fresh red chili

4 cloves of garlic

1 ciabatta loaf

2 small red onions

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

a small bunch of fresh basil

a few dollops of creme fraiche

olive oil

salt and pepper

Directions:

Turn on oven to 220 celsius. Get our tomatoes and quarter the big ones. Stick on a roasting tray with the peeled and crushed cloves of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Chop up chili and add. Toss everything around and put on top shelf of oven for 12-15 mins.

Peel and roughly chop the onions and put into a hot saucepan and some olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Leave to soften, stirring occasionally. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and leave to reduce down. Once the tomatoes are roasted and are slightly blackened on top add them to the saucepan. Give them a good mix around and leave for a few minutes to bubble away. Get your blender ready. Pour the mix into the blender (in batches if blender is not big enough to take it all at once) and add the basil. Give it a good old blend around and once finished pour back in the pan (to keep warm). Add some creme fraiche or sour cream when serving.

We also made some homemade croutons using ciabatta, which we tore up and sprinkled with salt and olive oil and popped in the oven for 10-15 mins.

Guacamole platter

We had a guacamole platter with this meal. Made us feel pretty super healthy.

Ingredients:

Tomato

1-2 fresh chilies

a handful of coriander

2 ripe avocados

2 limes

bulb of fennel

1 carrot

cucumber

breadsticks

Directions:

Destone and peel avocado. Either chuck in food processor with chilies, tomatoes, and coriander or chop finely. Then squeeze the limes over the mixture. Chop up the rest of the ingredients to use as things you can dip into the guac. MmmMmmMmm (the fennel was surprisingly good)

Taste 7/10

Price 5/10

Difficulty 3/10

I made some dinner, it was good

So Jamie has a new book. I know Jenny and I are such suckers for his recipes. I'm not saying that we like all his stuff, but he does some pretty tasty stuff going on. And his palate is pretty similar to ours. So here is: Chicken Skewers with satay sauce and fiery noodle salad.

Ingredients: feeds 4

Satay

bunch of coriander

1 fresh red chilli

1/2 a clove of garlic

3 heaped tablespoons good-quality crunchy peanut butter

soy sauce

thumb sized piece of ginger

2 limes

Chicken

4 breasts

runny honey

Noodles

250g dried medium egg noodles (1 nest per person)

100g unsalted cashews

1/2 a medium-sized red onion

1 fresh red chilli

a small bunch of fresh coriander

1-2 tbsp soy sauce

1 lime

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp runny honey

Garnishes

2 gem lettuces

coriander

soy sauce

limes

Directions:

So technically this should take 30 mins, but realistically more like 45. Stick some skewers in water. For the satay chop up a small bunch of coriander, garlic, 3 tbsp peanut butter and a glug of soy sauce. Peel and chop the ginger and add. Grate the zest of both limes and add the juice of one. Throw into a food processor or chop finely. Your call. Chopping by hand is obviously more work and takes longer. Also add a splash of water. Use half of this to marinade the chicken and the other half as tasty dip with the meal.

Chop up the chicken and stick them on the skewers. Toss with satay sauce. Drizzle with olive oil and stick in oven. Put on the top shelf and use the grill function (so only heat from above). 8-10 minutes on each side (or until cooked through). When you flip them over drizzle over with honey.

Put the noodles in a large bowl, cover with boiling water and a plate, then leave to soak for 6 minutes. Put a medium frying pan on a low heat. Bash the cashew nuts with a rolling pin or a pestle. Add to the warm pan and leave to toast. Peel the red onion half and add small bunch of coriander either to a food processor or chop finely. Put in a serving bowl with some soy sauce and olive oil and the juice of 1 lime and the fish sauce and sesame oil. Taste the sauce and season to taste. Drain and add the noodles. Toss everything together. And serve with chicken and lettuce. Sprinkle over with the toasted cashews (add some honey at the end of the toasting process for extra goodness).

Price: 4/10

Taste: 9/10

Difficulty: 4/10

simple pleasures...

peanut butter and sliced bananas on warm baguette.

Snickerdoodle cake...

Today is the 1st birthday of my other blog The Style Crusader. In honour of the momentous occasion Freddy suggested that we bake a cake. Since he isn't a mahoosive fan of my chocolate cake I thought we should try a different sort. I opted for this Snickerdoodle version, in my opinion the king of all cakes. If you love cinnamon, like I do, then this cake may become your very best friend.

The cake: get yourself a standard cake mix (either white or yellow will do fine), 1 cup of milk, 1 stick melted butter (113 grams), 1 tsp vanilla, and 2 tsp cinnamon. Make the cake mix as the directions on the box say and then add the milk, butter, vanilla and cinnamon to it. I was a little concerned because it basically just looks like a sloppy watery mess. But don't worry, it will cook beauitfully and be so moist. Bake the cake as indicated on the box.

The frosting: 1 stick (or 113g) of butter at room temperature, 3 3/4 cup of icing sugar, 3 tbsp milk, 1 tsp vanilla, 1tsp cinnamon (I added a bit more cinnamon... just put in as much as you fancy). Blend up the butter with an electric mixer until it's fluffy and then add the sugar and milk. Blend on low until the sugar mixes in. Add the cinnamon and vanilla and blend on medium until it is light and fluffy. If it feels too stiff you can add a bit more milk. The recipe I saw advised to put the frosting in the fridge until you are ready to use it, but this made my frosting quite difficult to spread (hence my manky cake). So, pop it in the fridge if you want... but I wouldn't recommend it, or if you do maybe blend in a bit of additional milk to help soften it.

Once your cakes have cooled just frost those bad boys right up and serve them to some hungry people as quick as you can. This is my favourite cake... hope you enjoy.

A day of good food

Hi everyone! Yesterday Patrick came over to visit and we had fun while Jenny had to work on her essays. The weather is PHENOMENAL! You would think we were living in mexico (or somewhere equally as sunny and warm). In fact it might be too warm... but Im sure I will rue this moment in the rainy weeks to come. So apart from playing loads of squash and swimming we also did some cooking. Here is what we made:

1. I have been craving asparagus... in a big way. In fact on friday night, lying bed all I could think about is how hungry I was and I needed to eat asparagus... weird, I know. Maybe I have a sulphur deficiency or something (and I know I dont think thats possible either). So here is what I made for lunch.

Ingredients (serves 2):

6 Asparagus spears

6 Bacon rashers

2 Eggs

salt, pepper, olive oil

Directions:

Heat your oven to 220 celsius. Wrap asparagus spears with the bacon. Pop them in a roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil. In the pre-heated oven for ten minutes. Soft boil some eggs when the asparagi are almost done. Then enjoy with some crusty bread.

2. Smashed broad beans and peas on toast (a nice summery starter)

Ingredients (serves 4):

150 g shelled peas or 500g if still in their pods

250 g shelled broad beans or 700g if still in their pods

Small bunch of mint leaves

sea salt and black pepper

olive oil

50g pecorino cheese or parmesan (freshly grated)

juice of one lemon

4 pieces of nice bread

1 clove garlic

2 large balls of buffalo mozzarella

Mash up your peas with your mint leaves (either in a pestle and mortar... or food processor if you own one... we tragically dont). Then add the beans and mash some more. Add a pinch of salt and a few table spoons of olive oil. Give it a further bashing. Stir in the cheese and 3/4 of the lemon juice. Have a taste and season with some pepper or more salt or more cheese. Toast the bread and then rub with the piece of garlic (cut it in half first and peel). Then add the pea and bean mix, finishing with half of the mozzarella, and a drizzle of olive oil and perhaps a dash of cheese.

3. OK burgers should really get a post of their own... but at the same time everyone knows how to make burgers! Its the easiest thing ever and its one of those dishes that you should spend a life time perfecting and the one time you do it perfectly you have to forget what you put in the recipe. But Im going to write down what I do (mainly for myself so I dont forget), with the caveat that my burgers haven't reached perfection yet.

Ingredients (serves 2):

250 g beef mince

1 clove of garlic

2 tsp dijon mustard

1 tuc cracker (finely crumbled)

1/2 of a whisked egg

1/2 a chili (finely chopped)

1/4 of an onion (finely chopped)

salt (or soy sauce) and pepper

olive oil

ciabatta (or hamburger breads, but jenny and I currently have a love affair with ciabatta)

accoutrements (up to you, we added some of the left over pea and bean smash... tasty)

Directions: Mix everything together (using your hands). Then make some patties. Throw these on the bbq (in which case brush with some olive oil).

Im not going to do the traditional taste, price, difficulty. They are all super easy, all super tasty, and reasonably priced.

xy

Rhubarb and crispy pork stir fry

MmmMmmMmm. Made this dish and took these pictures a while ago but decided to have it again last night, and it was as just tasty as I remembered it to be. Chicken tends to be our stir fry meat of choice so its fun to have something else. However, it does take a while to prepare the pork so unless you get home early its definitely a weekend dish. Also great to eat in the summer (very fresh tasting).

Ingredients (serves 4):

1kg pork belly (de-boned, and rind cut off, and cut into 3-4cm cubes)

sea salt and black pepper

vegetable oil

375g medium egg noodles

4 spring onions (chopped)

1 red chili (deseeded and finely diced)

Bunch of fresh coriander

Bunch of fresh baby watercress

2 limes

for the marinade:

400g rhubarb

4 tbsp honey

4 tbsp soy sauce

4 cloves of garlic

2 red chilies (halved and deseeded)

1 heaped tsp five-spice

a thumb sized piece of ginger (peeled and chopped)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 180 celsius. Place pork pieces in a roasting tray. Put all the marinade ingredients in a food processor or blender and make a nice smooth paste. Pour this all over the pork and cover the roasting tray tightly with tinfoil. Pop this in the oven for about 90-120 mins till pork is tender but not coloured.

Once that is done pick the pieces of pork out of the pan and put to one side. The sauce in the pan will be pretty much perfect but if you want it thicker feel free to put it on a gentle heat for a bit to reduce it and add salt (soy sauce) and pepper to taste.

Put a pan of salted water on to boil. Then add the pieces of pork to a frying pan or wok with a splash of vegetable oil and fry for a few minutes till crisp and golden. Around the same time add your noodles into the boiling water and cook for a few minutes (or whatever it suggests on the packet). Once done add the noodles to the bowls and place pieces of pork on top. Add the sauce and then drape with the coriander, water cress, spring onions and chopped fresh chili. Finally give a good squeeze of lime (half a lime per person).

Taste: 9/10

Price: 5/10 (not super cheap, but definitely not expensive)

Difficulty: : 4/10 (not very hard, but takes a bit of time to prepare)

xy

a little dollop of heaven...

cupcakes are good... especially when they are malteser flavoured, from ellas, and are topped with glitter. happy friday.

mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches...

the only way to eat your sandwich. nom nom nom.

Could it be more perfect?!?

There are a few food related things that Jenny and I love:

1. Avocados (seriously delish... a nice exotic mixture of something between a fruit and a vegetable.

2. Pita bread (all the advantages of bread but super tasty and convenient for stuffing with food)

3. BBQ chicken (definitely one of the best things to do with chickens in general)

So you can imagine how excited we were when we opened Jamie's new cookbook and discovered a recipe with all three of our favourite things. To be honest I felt a bit annoyed bc its a super simple recipe and felt like I should have been able to come up with it myself if I had just thought about it. But then again, Im not a professional chef.

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 chicken breasts cut into bite sized chunks

4 pita breads

1 lemon cut into wedges, to serve

for the marinade:

a thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated

a tablespoon paprika

a teaspoon chili powder

a teaspoon turmeric

a teaspoon ground coriander

3 tablespoons olive oil

sea salt and black pepper

for the avocado dip:

2 ripe avocados

a teaspoon ground cumin

1 clove of garlic (finely chopped)

1 fresh chili (finely chopped)

a small bunch of fresh coriander (finely chopped)

1 tablespoon olive oil

juice of a lemon

a splash of soya sauce (optional... but tasty)

Directions:

Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl and toss the chicken chunks in the marinade until everything is covered. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30mins (the longer the better).

Once the bbq is going (we use coal so it takes a while to get started) make the dip. De-stone and peel the avocados. Mash up the flesh with a fork or potato masher and then mix in the rest of the ingredients for the dip in a bowl.

Put the chicken bits on skewers and pop on the bbq for a few mins till cooked all the way through. Once done, add the chicken and dip to the pita breads (I recommend toasting them lightly just before you add the stuff).

Taste: 9/10

Price: 2/10

Difficulty: 2/10

Enjoy! xx

Caesar Salad

So as you have probably noticed from our recent posts the weather is wonderful here at the moment. Unfortunately this is typical of England, where in April and May there are a few glorious weeks and then the weather turns dreary and cold and summer never really arrives except for a few days throughout the summer months. But shouldn't really complain as it is still lovely. However, it is always tricky to figure out what to eat for dinner when its warm. Hopefully there will be lots of bbqs and salads. So to usher the summer in I tested out this dish from jamie.

Ingredients: (serves 4-6)

4 whole chicken legs

1 loaf of ciabatta

3 sprigs of rosemary

olive oil

salt and pepper

12 slices of bacon or pancetta

1/4 of a clove of garlic

2 anchovy fillets

75g grated parmesan

1 tbsp creme fraiche

juice of 1 lemon

2 or 3 cos or romaine lutteuses

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200 celsius. Place chicken legs in a snug fitting roasting tray with pieces of torn-up bread (thumb sized pieces). Sprinkle with chopped rosemary and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Give it a good mix with your hands and the lift chicken on to the top so its resting on the bread pieces. Put into oven for 45 mins. Take it out and add the bacon strips on top and put back in oven for another 15-20 mins.

For the dressing pound the garlic and anchovy fillets in a pestle and mortar. Scrape into a bowl and whisk in parmesan, creme fraiche, lemon juice and three times as much olive oil as lemon juice. Season dressing to taste. I like it a bit sweeter so honey or mayonnaise are good options to add. Perhaps a bit of mustard. Basically anything you like.

Once the whole chicken thing is done. Tear chicken off bone (after you allow it to cool slightly) and bacon into small pieces. Mix together with lettuce and add dressing. Delish!

Taste: 8/10

Difficulty: 2/10

Price: 2/10

xy

it looks like REAL indian food...

over a year ago i bought a certain someone a curry cookbook... but it was only last week that we finally opened it up and made a recipe. both of us love indian food. there is an indian restaurant right around the corner from our place that we get to deliver us food when we are feeling incredibly lazy, but i thought that the time had come to try making it ourself. after all the cookbook was looking slightly sad up on top of the fridge with all it's neighboring books laughing that it had never been used to make anything delicious. look whose laughing now (that's right... the indian cookbook...).

anyway. basically this meal was incredible. i chose it because it had the least amount of strange and obscure ingredients. i had everything already in my cupboard which meant no trips to any far away indian shops. we cooked it again tonight for the second time, but this time made the full recipe so that we could have leftovers. you can make it as spicy or as mild as you like, just adjust the amount of chili powder you put in. ok, so here it is... chicken jalfrezi.

ingredients

4 chicken breasts

juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp salt

5tbsp sunflower or olive oil

1 large onion (finely chopped)

2 tsp garlic puree

2tsp ginger puree (make these purees yourself just finely grate them both)

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp coriander

chili powder (to taste: 1/2-1 tsp)

300g tinned chopped tomatos (recipe recommends only 150 but we put almost a whole tin)

150 ml warm water

1 large garlic clove finely chopped

1 small red pepper

1 small green pepper (both deseeded and chopped into 1 inch pieces)

1 tsp garam masala

indian bread or basmati rice to serve

directions

part 1: cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes and put in a bowl, add the lemon juice and half the salt and rub into the chicken - cover and leave to sit

part 2: heat 4 tablespoons of the oil in a medium saucepan over a medium heat. add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 8-9minutes, until lightly browned. add the garlic and ginger purees and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. add the turmeric, cumin, coriander, and chili powder and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. add the tinned tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.

part 3: add the marinated chicken, increase the heat slightly and cook, stirring, until it changes colour. add the warm water and bring to the boil. reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

part 4: heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a small saucepan over a low heat. add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until browned. add the red and green peppers, increase the heat to medium and stir-fry for 2 minutes, then stir in the garam masala. fold the pepper mixture into the curry. remove from the heat and serve immediately with bread or cooked basmati rice.

the rating

expense: 4/10 - once you've got the spices and chicken the rest is super cheap

difficulty: 4/10

taste: 9/10 - seriously so yummy.

p.s. and yes, incase you were wondering this is jenny and yes, i am cooking more these days. i hope you are all impressed with my wifely domestic skills.

xx

Tuna and Artichoke Panini

So we made this recipe AGES ago (actually we have a few we need to post! Jenny's been cooking up a storm recently with some amazing meals). We had fallen into a bit of a rut and decided we needed to try something new. Jenny found the recipe here and its really tasty! It says to use a food processor but I just chopped things up finely.

Ingredients (serves six so we just halved the recipe)

• 3/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 (6-ounce) cans tuna in olive oil, drained
• 1 (12-ounce) jar marinated artichokes, drained and coarsely chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (16-ounce) ciabatta bread, halved horizontally
• 1 tomato, diced

Directions

Puree the olives, oil, garlic, and zest in a food processor until smooth and spreadable. Blend in the mayonnaise. Toss the tuna, artichokes, lemon juice, and pepper in a medium bowl, keeping the tuna in small chunks.

Hollow out the bottom and top halves of the bread. Spread the olive puree over both cut sides of the bread. Spoon the tuna and artichoke mixture onto the bottom half of the bread. Sprinkle the tomatoes over. Cover with the bread top. Cut the sandwich crosswise into 6 pieces and serve.

taste: 8/10

price: 3/10

difficulty: 2/10

enjoy! xy

Wiener Schnitzel Freddy Art

Yesterday Jenny had the day off. A big treat for us as normally Jenny works on Sundays. We decided to have a spring clean and sort out our lives a bit as they have been pretty hectic as of late. I also thought we should try to expand our repetoire of recipes and decided we would try to make some schnitzel... one of my favourites. Jamie has a pretty good recipe in his book Cook so this basically follows his ideas but with a few of my own twists.

Ingredients (serves 2):

Pork escalopes... I just used some pork loin steaks I found in the shops and then beat them heavily with a rolling pin.
Bread crumbs
1 Beaten Egg
Flour
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Butter
Half an orange (juice and zest)
50g sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
3 apples peeled and diced (1 cooking, 2 eating)
Water cress
lemon wedges


Directions:

First make the apple sauce that goes with the schnitzel. Add the juice and zest of half an orange to a suacepan with a knob of butter. Melt the butter slowly and add the sugar and spices. Mix together. Once the butter starts to foam add the peeled and diced apples. Stick the lid on the pan and leave to simmer slowly until the apples become mushy (20 mins). To help it along you can smush the apples with a wodden spoon every once in a while.

Once that is going hammer the pork with a tenderising type hammer or rolling pin or heavy frying pan so they are about .5 cm thick (pretty thin). Then get four large plates (I realise this makes a lot of washing up but its the best way to do it... trust me. Salt and pepper on one plate. Flour on the next. Egg on the third. And bread crumbs on the last. Then take the flattened pork steaks and dip them in each plate and pat them a bit on both sides. So pretty simple really. Once they are breaded you can put them to the side until they are ready to be fried. That too is simple, just add a couple of glugs of olive oil to a hot frying pan. Add the schnitzels. Fry for a few mins on both sides. Serve on with apple sauce, some water cress to garnish, and lemon wedges. MmmMmmMmm.

I think a good addition might also be to have a cold cucumber salad on the side. Im not exactly sure what form this will take but I think it will involve cucumber strips (acheived by peeling the cucumber into strips), some salt and pepper, perhaps some dill and/or parsley, and finally some white wine vinegar. And then into the fridge (or freezer if you are running late).


Enjoy! xy

Ganymede tortillas....

we love mexican food and we love everything to be spicy. when i saw these delicious little monsters on the Ganymede Kids blog i knew straight away that i had to try to make them for dinner. there wasn't a recipe so we just had to improvise and make up our own. we used a salsa recipe from a jamie oliver cookbook and even made our own refried beans. first time we have done that - pretty wild, right? these were so good, but a warning must be made... i went from starving to barely being able to stand up straight within 8minutes (maybe this is a testament to the fact that i eat way too fast). but they are like little monsters that jump in your belly and expand to make you so full - fred puts it down to the beans, beans always make you full.

fred's massive bite out of his... see, this is why i never offer to share with him. one bite and half of the thing is gone!

so we put some cheese, refried beans (with chorizo) and salsa into our tortillas... yumm. very easy, pretty cheap (although limes/avocados are a bit exotic in england so they aren't as cheap as they should be), and so good. they are so fresh tasting (lime...) but have such a great hot flavour as well (chili...). really wonderful and would definitely recommend it. they recommend making your own tortillas - which we almost did, but then realized we were a bit too pooped for that. next time we will give it a try though. thanks ganymede kids for the great idea!

Ingredients:

For the salsa

4 tomatoes

3 spring onion

2 red chilis

1/2 cucumber

Handful of fresh coriander

2 avocados

1 lime

salt and pepper

For refried beans

1 can borlotti beans (pinto or black also work)

2 spring onions

2 cloves of garlic

chorizo

2tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Chop up all the ingredients for the salsa as much or as little as you would like. I recommend to keep the avocado chunky. Add the juice of the lime and salt and pepper. So pretty easy so far. Then chop of the chorizo into small chunks and add to frying pan with the chopped spring onions and chopped garlic and olive oil to a frying pan. Fry for a few mins and then add the beans (drain first). Mush them up with a potato masher or a wooden spoon. If you like them more liquidy add some water. Serve with cheese and torillas.

xx

the best chili ever?...

Hi everyone,

well Im off to Berlin on tuesday for an interview, giving a tutorial tomorrow, Vivi is visiting on Wednesday till sunday, so not sure how much time I will have to blog this week (not that I do it that often anyway). And Jenny is pretty busy with thestylecrusader, has an essay due in on wednesday, and an interview for a work experience thing on thursday, so its turning into quite a hectic week.

But before all that thought I would do a chili recipe. So Im not sure this is actually the best chili ever. I think a truly excellent recipe is one that can never be replicated again and just lives on in memory constantly changing every time you make it. At least that is how my dad's curry (which IS truly excellent) is made. I think it must be the same for chili. It was made during the frontier days by cowboys smoking marlborough reds and wearing checked shirts (at least in my mind). I reckon they never had the same ingredients and just had to make do with what they could find and that is the same attitude I take when making mine. I think I also have really strong associations with chili and disney, as it was a dish you would get while watching buffalo bills wild west show. Also one final note, Stephanie, makes a really good chili where the tomatoes always taste really juicy, not sure how she does it but it is tasty.

Ingredients:

1/2 a bolognese recipe (as previously described)

1 (extra) tin of tomatoes chopped tomatoes

1 400g tin of kidney beans

1 400g tin of butter beans

ok so those tins of beans can be whatever you want, I like mixing it up and buying whatever I can find, but kidney beans are usually a safe bet.

salt and pepper

so that is the basic stuff, as for the spices have fun. Here is what I have been known to use:

dark chocolate (30g or so)

1tsp tumeric

1 tbsp cumin

1 fresh red chili (chopped and I like to leave the seeds bc they are spicy)

t tsp chili flakes (I have been known to make my chilis way too hot, but feel free to add cayenne pepper, chili powder... whatever you can get your hands on and your taste buds can handle)

1 tbsp honey

the more esoteric ingredients:

soy sauce (i put this in most things)

some ground coffee (just like the frontier days)

coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, garamasala... literally if there are spices you are trying to get rid of in the cupboard I would recommend using them.

Directions:

Just follow the directions for the spag bol post I have hyperlinked above and at the stage where you add the tins of tomatoes just add another tin and the beans. Also all the spices that go into the spag bol go great in the chili as well. Or alternatively what I do, is to defrost the left over bolognese and add the ingredients for the chili. Then just stew the socks off it (minimum of 30 mins... there is no maximum time... perhaps a couple of days?). Tastes great with cornbread (which I love). And tastes even better if eaten out of a pewter bowl. Enjoy!

xy

Pancake Day!

Hi Everyone,

so this tuesday was Shrove Tuesday aka Pancake day. I suggested we should have pancakes for dinner, but Jenny reckoned that wasn't healthy enough so we decided to have them for dessert. Was surprised how easy they were to make and they were pretty delish.

Heres the recipe I used, it makes 6 pancakes.

Ingredients:

120g flour

pinch of salt

2 eggs

210ml milk

90ml water

1tbsp vegetable oil

1tbsp powder sugar

butter, for frying

Directions:

Sieve and mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and crack in the eggs. In a seperate bowl mix together the milk and water. Beat the eggs into the flour with a wooden spoon and gradually add the milk and water mix to get a smooth liquid consistency. Stir in the oil and allow to stand for the 30 mins. Then just heat up your pan add a knob of butter and fry. Ill even attach a vid of me flipping the pancakes.

Sugar and lemon juice are pretty tasty additions or if you are Jenny, lots of nutella.

taste: 8/10

price: 2/10

difficulty: 4/10 (pancakes can be hard to flip)

Alex's Portuguese Chorizo Chickpea Dish

Wow, what a day! Jen has had a bad case of the stomach flu/food poisoning since about 4am this morning. She has only just perked up and is currently eating some ramen noodles. And Alexander (Lee) McQueen has died. So normally Im not that affected by celebrity drama stuff, but out of all the designers I think he is really cool. The stuff he has in his Bicester Village shop is really cool (I want this cool pair of brogues and this luggage that looks like a rib cage). Am already planning my trip out there to buy up all the good stuff... If only I wasn't an impoverished student.

But apart from that, things are going well. PhD write up is going swimmingly, weather is nice but cold, so all in all pretty good.

Right, now to the point of this blog. I have this friend (Alex), who I work with, who gave me the recipe and inspiration for this dish. I guess one would think from the title that he is Portuguese... you couldn't be more wrong. He is actually from Newcastle and looks eerily like Harry Potter. But he used to share a house with a Portuguese guy, etc, etc... and hence the dish.

Ingredients:

1*400g tin of chopped tomatoes

1*400g tin of chickpeas

1 onion

3 cloves of garlic

chorizo

a couple of fresh tomatoes and/or a bell pepper

paprika

ground cumin (optional)

tumeric (optional)

some honey or brown sugar

some fresh parsley

salt and pepper

Directions:

Chop up the onion, slice the garlic finely, and chop the chorizo into bite size chunks (the exact size is up to you). Throw them all into a pan and start frying. You can add a glug of olive oil if desired to aid this process, but the chorizo should release a magic oil that makes everything taste sublime. Once the onions have turned golden and silky add the tin of tomatoes and some chopped fresh toms and/or the chopped bell pepper. Throw in the spices and sugar (I haven't put any fixed amounts as I have not yet perfected this dish, they are usually just a rough guide anyway as I rarely actually measure stuff out). Salt and pepper to taste. Bring the mixture to boil and leave to simmer for a few mins. Once you are ready to eat, add the chickpeas. They normally dont need more than 10 mins. Actually this part can be tricky bc you don't want them to be undercooked and if you cook them too long they can get mushy. When you serve add the fresh parsley on top. MmmmMmmm. Good with some bread on the side.

Taste: 7/10

Price: 4/10

Difficulty: 3/10

xy

Fu Man Fred's Politically Incorrect Fancy Pants Stir Fry

As promised no tomatoes (but dont worry fans they will return)! Although I have to agree with Jen, it must seem from this blog that all we do is eat. This is probably and unfortunately true, and meant that today I had to go for my first run of 2010 to stave off the inevitable weight gain.

So I make two kinds of stir fry, the first one with rice which can easily be converted into fried rice if desired. The second is with noodles (like chow mein). This recipe is for the second kind. Like any good chinese dish you can use any meat even tofu.

Ingredients:

200g Prawns (or chicken)

1 lemon

1 tbsp honey

2-3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp coriander (dry and milled) or a handful of fresh

2 cloves of garlic

1 inch of ginger

2 tsp chili flakes

1 tbsp sun flower oil

vegetables for stir frying (broccoli, mange tout, red cabbage, pak choi, spring onions, soy bean sprouts, bell peppers, carrots, those tiny corn thingies)... I generally cheat and buy them all in a ready made package, but basically any veg you like

Noodles (the asian yellow egg kind, you can get them in most shops or asian specialty foods places)

Directions:

Create a marinade for you prawns. Juice the lemon, add the soy sauce, honey and mix together in a bowl. Have a taste to make sure all the flavours balance each other out nicely. Add the coriander and chili flakes. Slice finely or grate the garlic cloves and ginger. Add the oil. Leave prawns in the mix for at least 15 mins or so. While these bad boys are marinading take a look at the instructions on the noodles. Its usually something about boiling them in water for a period of time (around 10 mins or so). Go ahead and do that. You want your noodles prepared before you start frying your prawns, otherwise it can end in tears. Put a wok on medium to high heat. Add the prawns and marinade. Fry for 5-10 mins till prawns are cooked through. It shouldnt take too long. Add the veg. These just need to be in the wok till they are nice and warm, you dont need to actually fry them for any long period of time. Once the veg is warm add the noodles and toss with prawns and veg. Serve once everything is mixed together.

Taste: 9/10

Price: 4/10

Difficulty: 3/10 easy peasy japaneasy

xy