A wok in the park!

A wok must be one of the most useful utensils in the kitchen and is well worth the investment. No home should be without one. If you are without one and thinking of buying just make sure it is suitable for your type of hob as many are not designed for western stoves. It is worth doing a little research before you purchase. In Europe we tend to associate woks with one particular type of cooking style probably as a result of our exposure to Chinese take aways but with a little lateral thinking it can be used for many different types of cooking such as frying, stir frying, braising, deep frying, boiling and steaming, searing and stewing. Indeed over much of Asia where one ring cookers are the norm it is probably the only cooking vessel in many homes. As far as we are concerned we both discovered this style of cooking at very different times, no prizes for guessing which one grew up watching his mum and sisters cook with a wok over a fierce heat whilst the other had to wait to go to California in his early 20's to be introduced to the wonders of stir fry in 1980's. But whatever the introduction once tried it has remained a favourite cooking method ever since. It is quick, healthy and easy to master and more importantly the texture and crunchiness of vegetables along with their nutritional content is maintained better than any other cooking method we know. Besides it is one pot cooking so cuts down on mess and the washing up. A piece of cake, a walk in the park!


If you haven't cooked with a wok before and are trying one out the recipe below is simple, straight forward and fun. It is a great way to get into the mind set required and once you master this one you will be able to cook almost anything. In this recipe we have listed some of our favourite vegetables but many others can be used like carrot, celery courgettes, broccoli, French beans, cauliflower etc etc etc. The rule of thumb is of course to give the hardest vegetables the longest cooking time. Also its easiest indeed essential to have prepared all your ingredients beforehand as stir fry cooking is so fast it requires your full attention and once you start and there is very little time to do anything. The list of ingredients looks long but most are items necessary for wok cooking and once you have bought them once the will stay in your store cupboard indefinitely.Two wooden spatulas are probably best for tossing.

Ingredients (serves two)

1 large breast of chicken sliced
1 red onion chopped
1 red pepper chopped
Handful mange touts
Handful baby sweetcorn (halved lengthwise)
Handful roasted cashew nuts
Handful button mushrooms
3 tbsp vegetable oil (Rape seed or peanut)
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 cms ginger chopped
2 tbsp Soy sauce
2 tbsp Oyster sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1 tsp sesame oil

Method
Heat the wok over high heat until it starts to smoke lightly. Put in the vegetable oil and fry the onions until softened. Add the ginger, garlic and chicken and toss continuously until the chicken turns opaque. Meanwhile in a small bowl combine the soy sauce, oyster sauce and mirin and add into the wok. Mix until liquid is slightly thickened then add the red pepper and toss again for a few minutes until the pepper softens slightly. If  the wok become too dry or the ingredients catch pour a little water in. Finally add the mange touts button mushrooms, cashew nuts and sesame. Toss for about 20 seconds and then turn out into serving bowls

Poussin Galore

If in doubt about the likes and dislikes of your dinner party or Sunday lunch guests roast chicken is always a very safe option to serve. It's high up there among the top ranking comfort foods but you do run the definite risk of being considered a little unimaginative and dare we say it boring! In a restaurant I always steer away from it for example as to us it screams default option!

Poussins on the other hand are fun to dish up. A single bird arriving on each plate has a certain medieval feast wow factor plus your dinner guests will enjoy having their very own bird all to themselves. Everybody gets everything so there will be no argument as to who gets breast, leg or wing. Starchy barriers are rapidly broken down as initial attempts to grapple with cutlery give way to fingers under your encouragement. Just make sure the table is liberally scattered with serviettes and wipes and if you want to push the boat out finger bowls might also be a novel idea.

 Poussins are young chickens and generally weigh between 400 - 500 grammes so one bird per diner is the perfect portion. Being smaller they are also quicker to cook and easier to flavour. You can fit six or eight on a single roasting tray and they will take just about an hour at a temperature of 180 C. (Always cook the meat from room temperature). The shorter roasting time also allows you to be more daring with marinades and flavours without the risk of burning the skin and the breast meat drying out. They are simplicity itself to prepare. We recommend spicing them up with a slightly unusual marinade smeared over the entire bird. You can be infinitely imaginative about this but for example dilute a little curry paste - we find bought massaman paste works well - in cooking oil and melted butter and smear over the entire bird. Alternatively try a little sweet chilli sauce. You will find the sugar content will tend to burn turning the skin much darker. If you are concerned this is happening too fast cover the birds with foil until the last 20 minutes of cooking or alternative cook the birds "up-side-down". For further flavour place a garlic clove, a baton of ginger, a quarter small onion and slice of lime or lemon inside the cavity of each bird. Finally sprinkle the skin liberally with salt and place in the oven.

Swedish Bullar

I sometimes do freelance work in a small chain of Danish boutiques where I have had the good fortune to meet many lovely people from Scandinavia. They are all foodies and we have long discussions about food swapping Malaysian and Scandinavian tips and recipes. One particularly good friend, Maria from Sweden brought Bullar, a pastry in one day for me to try. I was instantly hooked.  If you like Danish pastries you must try the neighbouring Swedish version. In actual fact Sweden is the thought to be where this type of pastry originated and in Swedish are known as Bullar from kannelbulle or cinnamon roll. They are so popular that they even have their own day of celebration, the 4th October is Kanelbulles Dag! They are a far less brash, more subtle variety of pastry which doesn't have the high sugar content and sticky glaze always found on their southern or North American cousins. Instead they use pearl sugar which leaves a much cleaner taste. The dough might be described as a cross between a scone and a Danish pastry. It consists of a sheet of yeast dough onto which a mixture of cinnemon and sugar is sprinkled over a thin layer of butter. The dough is then cut and rolled into individual portions and baked.  Finally being dusting with icing sugar and/or pearl sugar sprinkled on top.


Throughout Scandinavia various interpretations are always on offer which may vary in size and content but certainly not in popularity. They are eaten at any time in the day and chances are if you are invited into a Swedish home you will be offered a cinnamon bun.

Ingredients:

Dough
1 packet instant yeast
240ml milk
400g flour
1 tsp salt
1 pinch of sugar
57g melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling
57g butter, softened
100g sugar
2 tbsp ground cinnamon

Topping
1 egg, beaten and mix with 1 tbsp water (eggwash)
Swedish pärlsocker (pearl sugar)

Method:
Warm milk at the temperature recommended by the yeast packet. Mix dry yeast with the milk and a pinch of sugar and let it activate, about 10 minutes.
In a KitchenAid mixer, mix yeast mixture, vanilla extract, and melted butter in the bowl. Attach the dough hook and start mixing on low speed. Slowly add flour and salt, little by little, until all is incorporated to the wet ingredients. Knead for 5 to 10 minutes until dough comes clean off the bowl.
Lightly oil another mixing bowl and transfer dough over. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a slightly warm place until it doubles the weight, about a couple of hours.
Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.
Roll out the dough in a form of a rectangle, about 18 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick.
Brush dough with softened butter. Sprinkle it evenly with ground cinnamon and sugar. Cut dough lengthwise into strips 3/4 inch wide. Take two strips hold at one end and twist finish by tucking the two ends underneath. Set them on a parchment lined tray, with each roll two inches apart. Let it rise again for one hour.
Brush with eggwash and sprinkle with pearl sugar. Bake the rolls in the oven for about 10 minutes or until brown.

My Goodness my Beef in Guinness!

Never has a single product been more associated with a nation. Just mention that you are from Dublin and people automatically say Guinness although its quite possible they have never even tried it. Guinness, a porter style beer which originated in the 17th century and now known as stout has been brewed in the city since 1759 and its highly distinctive burnt flavour which is derived from the use of roasted unmalted barley has become popular all over the world. By 1914 St James Gate, Guinness's 64 acre brewery in the heart of Dublin was the biggest brewery in the world. Today it is still the world's biggest stout brewery.

In the past claims that Guinness was beneficial to your health led to the famous slogans "Guinness is good for you", "Guinness for strength" and "My goodness my Guinness". Today of course such claims are banned by law in Ireland but as a kid I was often told that my aunt who had a kidney removed in the 1940's was prescribed a pint of Guinness every day to speed convalescence by her specialist. A teetotaler, so this was quite an ordeal for her, she used to tell me how she would hold her nose and down the pint in one. It is still widely believed that Guinness is indeed good for you and many of Ireland's senior citizens are said to thrive on a daily dose! In the 1930's faced with stagnant sales the company embarked on probably one of the earliest co-ordinated advertising campaigns and combined the slogans with the iconic toucan across all forms of media available at the time. The posters from the time are clever, whitty and memorable and have become highly collectable.Inevitably the black gold as it is sometimes called has worked its way into Irish cuisine. When I used to make Christmas pudding with my mother every year we always put a bottle of stout into the mix. There are recipes for cheesecake, ice cream, chocolate cake chicken casserole, lamb shanks and many more all calling for Guinness but by far the best match in our opinion is undoubtedly beef steak and Guinness stew. It's a real winter warmer and should be served with lashings of creamy mashed potatoes.

Ingredients

1 kg lean stewing steak cubed
Butter/ oil
2 red onions sliced
2 cloves garlic sliced
3 carrots sliced
4 celery sticks sliced
3 tbsp plain flour
tsp cayenne pepper
sprig thyme
2 tbsps Worcestershire sauce
tsp tobasco sauce
375 ml Guinness
400 ml beef or chicken stock
Seasoning

Method

Heat the oil and butter in an oven dish. Mix the cayenne pepper salt and pepper into the flour and cover each piece of meat. Brown in the oil butter mix and set aside. Fry the onions and garlic for a few minutes then add the celery and carrots and continue for another few. Add the meat, Guinness, stock, Worcestershire and tobasco sauces, thyme and season. Cover and cook in the oven at 180 C for an hour. Remove the lid stir and cook for a  further hour. Check the seasoning and garnish with roughly chopped parsley. Note : The Guinness will lend a rich unctuous quality to the jus to lighten this use chicken stock to augment it use beef.

Pad Thai

Low tide at the Phang Nga Caves Christmas Day 2004 

Luckily for us the Evason Spa Retreat on Phuket is situated on a steep hillside. It was around 10.00 am on boxing day and yet another beautiful day in paradise. We had spent the previous day, Christmas day exploring the Phang Nga Bay National Park in small canoes wandering in and out of flooded lagoons and caves so low we could only go in at low tide and even then we had to lie flat in the boat as the boatman steered us along with his feet on the roof. Its where the James Bond movie "The Man with the Golden Gun" was filmed and is unforgettable scenery! This morning we had just packed our bags and booked a taxi, ready for our immanent departure to the airport for the short flight across the Southern Thailand peninsula to Kho Samui so just time for a late hotel breakfast served in the idillic poolside restaurant down the hill right beside the sea.

The destroyed jetty and capsized boats, Boxing Day 

Breakfast was an elaborate affair with a dazzling choice of Western and Asian dishes on offer at the buffet but bacon, eggs and sausages somehow seemed slightly incongruous with the setting, the warm breeze and the bright sunshine so we usually plumbed for the Asian choice of Pad Thai. Ominously the Thai chefs who we used to chat to every morning were not their usual cheery selves and even remarking on the odd grey colour of the sea and warning against swimming today. As we sat there tucking into the noodles our experience of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami suddenly and without warning began to unfold. A dramatic drop in sea level was closely followed by a destructive wave bubbling unnaturally and sweeping perpendicularly in front of us destroying a wooden jetty, capsizing and smashing mored boats and throwing several people into the sea. The wave continued on to flood the infinity swimming pool depositing a shoal of large bewildered and dazed fish in it. Pandamonium broke out as attempts were made to rescue the people in the water whilst the Tannoy crackled out hysterical warnings for us to leave the restaurant area immediately and head back up the hill to the relative safety of the main hotel buildings. So began several dramatic days as the full tragedy and horror of what had happened slowly began to dawn....

The Pad Thai we were eating for breakfast on that memorable morning is now one of Thailand's national dishes available on every street corner but this was not always the case. Originally introduced from Vietnam rice noodles have been eaten in Thailand for centuries but it was not until a government initiative in the 30's and 40's to ween the population off its high rice dependency and encourage the production of rice noodles so there would be more rice available for international export that they became really popular. It is a stir fried dish with rice noodles, garlic, chilli and tamarind and any combination of bean sprouts, prawns, chicken and tofu, garnished with crushed peanuts, spring onion, coriander and lime.


Ingredients 
(Serves 4):


250 g Rice noodles
500 g King Prawns peeled and cooked
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp tamarind paste
2 tbsp palm or brown sugar
2 tbsp Fish sauce
2 eggs beaten
200 g Bean sprouts
2 Carrots
Juice of 1 Lime
2 Garlic cloves peeled and crushed
1 tbsp Chilli paste

Garnish:
2 Spring Onions
50 g Crushed roast Peanuts
Roughly torn Coriander
Lime wedges
3 tbsp Peanut or Rapeseed Oil


Method:
Heat 3 tbsps oil in a wok until quite hot. Meanwhile prepare the rice noodles as per the pack instructions. (Normally soak for 10 - 15 minutes in warm water - save a little of the water in case noodles become too dry). Mix lime juice, tamarind paste, palm sugar and fish sauce in a bowl. Fry the garlic and chilli in the wok and cook for 2 minutes but do not allow to burn. Add carrots and fry till slightly soft then add the liquid mixture and stir for about a minute, reduce slightly. Add beaten egg and scramble until almost cooked. Throw in prawns, bean sprouts, spring onion and drained noodles and toss well. Check for seasoning if more salt required sprinkle fish sauce over. Turn out onto serving dish and garnish with coriander, lime wedges and peanuts.

Sweet Potato Parcels

Like the bhajis mentioned in this blog some time ago these little parcels make a deliciously sweet/savoury and surprisingly light snack. Slightly more substantial than a canape, they can be stuffed with a variety of fillings such as mushroom, feta cheese and spinach. In this case however, we strongly recommend using sweet potatoes that much underrated root. They are great value, easy to prepare but more importantly they are full of enzymes and extremely healthy. Originating in Central and South America sweet potatoes have been domestically cultivated for at least 5,000 years and have spread throughout the world. They are an amazing source of Vitamin A, C, B6 and iron and calcium and their cultivation is heavily promoted in Africa and other developing areas where a nutritional diet is crucial. All this sounds rather worthy but don't let this put you off. Although not widely grown in Europe they are becoming more and more popular in our cuisine and work particularly well in this dish. Their sweetness being deliciously counterpointed by the salt and chilli.

Ingredients (40 parcels)
2 or 3 sweet potatoes
1 red onion finely chopped
2 cms of chopped ginger
Tsp chilli flakes
Celery salt
Crushed pepper
Handfull of chopped cashew nuts.
1 Packet Filo pastry
200 g melted butter
Cinnamon powder

Method
Soften the un-peeled sweet potatoes. (An easy way to do this is to pierce the potatoes skins and put them in a supermarket shopping bag in the microwave for about 5 minutes or until soft). In the meantime fry the onion in a little olive oil with the chilli flakes. When the potatoes are soft enough scrape out the potato flesh and discard the skins and allow to cool before adding to the onions. Prepare the pastry by dividing the filo sheets into 4 equal strips lengthwise. Brush each strip with butter. Place a table spoon of the mixture at one end and then fold up in a triangle from side to side using all the pastry strip so the filling is completely sealed in. Brush the parcels with butter and place on a baking tray in the oven at 200 C for about 20 minutes or until they have turned golden. Sprinkle with cinnamon powder and serve hot or cold.

Spanish Tortilla....Ole!!

Spanish Tortilla is a wonderful standby. It's ingredients are inexpensive, tasty, easily available and apart from a base of eggs and potatoes almost infinitely variable. But come to think of it even the potatoes are negotiable. A large tortilla can be kept in the fridge for several days to be sliced up in small or large portions as and when the need arises. Last year when we made a king size one on a skiing trip in Baquera in the Pyrenees it proved incredibly popular at 4 pm when every one came home more than a little peckish and fancied a little apres ski nibble while they waited for their turn in the shower. It should be pointed out that it also seemed to disappear at breakfast and for that matter at lunch time as well. In fact so popular was it that a second had to be russled up but this time we substituted spaghetti for the potatoes.

Made in Baquera

I suppose you could describe Spanish tortilla (not to be confused with Mexican tortilla - a type of flat bread) as a thick omelette which is cooked in a skillet but not turned over. The ingredients which usually include potatoes (waxy varieties are best) are arranged and then covered with whisked eggs. Spaghetti also makes a lovely tortilla, just cook the pasta, drain, allow to cool and press into the pan with any other ingredients and continue as normal. Tortillas can be plain but extra flavour and interest can be added by ingredients such as onion, garlic, pancetta, chorizo, chilli or tabasco, cheeses, vegetables such as peppers, asparagus or peas or even fish such as flaked mackerel or prawns. Below are the basic ingredients but feel free to choose your own or use up whatever is in the fridge.

Method:
Use a non-stick pan. Slice the onion and fry in the oil with garlic, chilli flakes, chorizo and or bacon until translucent. Add the potatoes and allow them to soak up some of the flavoured oil. Season the dry ingredients. Meanwhile whisk the eggs with milk and butter, season and pour over. Make sure the egg penetrates through all the ingredients. Cook on a low heat to avoid burning the base of the tortilla which will become the top. After a few minutes switch the heat source to the top by placing the pan under a grill. When almost cooked (that is the egg is solid) remove from the heat. The residue heat will continue the cooking process. Allow to cool slightly. Run a knife around the edge of the pan. Take a large plate and place upside down over the pan. Quickly flick the tortilla onto the plate. This is always a heart stopping moment but hopefully you will have a lovely round and slightly browned tortilla cake. One final suggestion. Cut the tortilla into small cubes skewer with cocktail sticks to make a dainty canape.

"Pa Amb Tomaquet" Tomato Bread

In the early 90's I bought a house off the King's Road. It turned out to be the very one that Simon Cowell shared with Sinitta and sold reluctantly when things went pear shaped for him in the days before the heady successes of the TV talent shows for which he is now (in)famous. Shortly after moving in I answered the phone one day and instantly recognised the voice at the other end, it was none other than David Hasselhoff ringing from the U.S. looking for Simon. It turned out he needed a place to stay for a few nights as he was doing a gig at the nearby Hammersmith Palais! If you recall he had a single out at the time! We chatted for a while but the conversation came to an abrupt end when he asked me did I ever catch his TV show Baywatch, then a global phenomenon. Just to irritate him I said I'd never heard of it! He hung up. The Hoff in a huff so to speak! 

For a while we lived with no furniture and sat on cushions on the floor. We had a series of lodgers to help pay the mortgage including an aspiring shoe designer from Japan. (That was the reason I couldn't offer the spare room to David Hasselhof) Eventually a young Catalan man moved in and we have been close friends ever since. He was from Barcelona a city I had never visited and brought some (to us) quaint and curious Spanish customs with him such as running the washing machine on a full cycle just to wash a pair of socks and underpants!! Another was his penchant for Tomato bread. We used to laugh when he started the preparation ritual. What a waste of a good tomato I used to think but that was before I tasted the result. Now we don't laugh any more and tomato bread has become a table staple which somehow always tastes even better when we are in Spain! Tomato rubbed bread is a minor classic and is eaten as a snack, tapas or accompaniment to many meals at any time in Barcelona.

Ingredients:
1 ciabatta or about 8 slices of sourdough
4 Garlic cloves halved
4 Ripe tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt





Method:
Slice the ciabatta crossways and then into sections, place on the grill rack and toast. While still warm rub with garlic halves then with the cut side of the tomatoes. Drizzle with oil and season to taste.

Bhaji Majic!

"Bhaji on the beach" is the memorably alliterative title of that wonderfully heartwarming 1993 movie about a group of Indian women who take a trip to Blackpool which becomes a great bonding experience for them. True bhaji make fantastic picnic food for the beach or anywhere else for that matter but during dark winter days why not try bhaji on the couch? They make a great snack for a movie evening at home say or when a group of friends just come round for a chat.

Although traditionally associated with onion many shredded vegetables can be used either alone or in a mix. Carrot, courgette, celeriac, sweet potato and fennel for example all make great bhajis or you can even go down the tempura route and use small florets of broccoli, cauliflower, french beans or baby sweet corn. We find a mix probably works best and should contain at least a little onion for flavour. No bhaji would be complete without a dip - sweet chilli is probably just about the best possible match! By the way the gram flour the recipe calls for is made from chick peas and is gluten free.

Ingredients

2 level cups of Gram (chick pea) flour
1 tsp cumin seeds or powder
1 tbsp of roughly chopped coriander
1 tsp salt
Half tsp chilli powder
Quater tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 medium white onions sliced
1 grated carrot (optional)
Pinch turmeric (for golden colour)
Seasoning


Method

Mix ingredients in a bowl with a 150 ml of water to a thick batter and season generously. Set aside for five mins. Heat oil in a deep saucepan or deep fat fryer to about 190 C. Take a heaped tbsp of mixture at a time and drop into the hot fat and fry each for about 3 mins or until crisp and golden. Allow to dry on kitchen paper and serve.

Mel I Mato amb Figues

Here is another easy Catalan classic. Honey and fresh soft cheese with figs. Mato is a type of Spanish ricotta (which can be substituted) If figs are not in season many other fruits will work just as well eg. fresh peaches apricots or for texture try chopped walnuts or pistachios. (Makes 4 servings)

Ingredients
450g mato or whole-milk ricotta cheese
4-6 ripe figs
175g light aromatic honey eg. orange blossom

Method
Cut the cheese into cubes and place in small dessert dishes. Cut the figs in quarters and arrange on top. Drizzle the honey evenly over and serve.

Piggy Chef!!

Cooking the bacon

Culinary obsessions start young! When I was a small kid, about four or five I was fascinated by all things to do with cooking and the kitchen and my parents duly humoured me and played along. One of the first toys I can remember which arrived in the arid Yemen desert via Santa's sleigh and which gave me hours of fun was a simple "Piggy Chef". This was a grinning mechanical pig which stood in front of a small white stove dressed in full chef's regalia complete with red bow tie, apron and tall white hat. In his right hand he held a large frying pan over the cooker and in his left an oil container which sprinkled imaginary oil on the pan.  He was cooking bacon and eggs! The skillet contained a light metal disk which the pig could flip up and catch. One side of the disk was painted with two large eggs supposedly being fried sunny side up and the other was covered in red and cream stripes representing the streaky bacon rashers! I loved it and still  remember it well but it has since occurred to that this was a curious toy on many levels. We were after all in a Muslim society and no doubt it had been bought by my dad from Aden's biggest toy emporium - a Jewish establishment called Yahooda's! Not to mention the cannibalistic connotations of a pig cooking bacon! I have to say that to this day bacon sandwiches are one of the main reasons I could never become vegetarian!

The obsession with the kitchen did not end there. The only time I can remember being severely disciplined by my father was when for some unknown reason I decided to lock myself in the kitchen and play with the cooker. I turned on all the electric hob burners to red hot and put the door key in the fridge which promptly fell to the bottom where I couldn't see it. When my parents realised what I had done they panicked, terrified I would hurt myself on the hot stove. Frantic my mother kept me occupied by talking to me through the kitchen door keyhole and well away from the cooker while my father raced down to the cook's quarters to get his back door key! Luckily I was liberated from the kitchen without any major mishap but boy I was in such trouble!!

Kieron

Paella

What could be more quintessentially Spanish than Paella? A dish we always have to have at least once when in Barcelona and up to quite recently one we could only enjoy in a restaurant. The purchase of a paella pan however changed all that and now we enjoy making it at home with the ingredients of our choice. They are always guaranteed to elicit a "wow" response and make a really fun sharing dish when everyone is sitting around the table helping themselves. People will always remember "pa eee a" a unique combination of Spanish sunshine and seafood on a plate! 

There is nothing sacrosanct about the ingredients listed below and almost every one of them can be dropped or substituted with something else. Indeed there are numerous varieties of paella, they can be meat or seafood and some feature more unusual ingredients such as squid ink to make black paella. 

They are relatively easy to prepare - think risotto without the slow addition of stock and endless stirring. In fact paella preparation is the exact opposite. Counterintuitively all the stock is put in the pan first and only then the rice is added, stirred once then left alone to cook. It is important to get the quantities of stock to dry rice correct otherwise  as noted above everything else is flexible. For a little extra kick we like to add chilli flakes, paprika and cayenne pepper. By the way you can substitute turmeric for the saffron to achieve that sunshine colour! 

Spanish sunshine on a plate 

Ingredients

125 g chorizo sliced

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 red onion finely chopped

1 red pepper deseeded and chopped

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

3 large tomatoes skinned and chopped

2 large pinched of saffron 

soaked in 2 tbsp boiling water

Sea salt

16 mussels

900 ml stock

200 g Bomba paella rice

8 whole large and 8 small uncooked prawns

100 g green beans tops removed 

and cut to 3 cm pieces

100 g peas

300 g king fish cut into 8 pieces 

Lemon wedges 

Method

Fry the chorizo in the paella pan for about 2 mins and set aside leaving any oil behind. Add the olive oil and fry the onion pepper and garlic until soft and translucent. Add the tomatoes and saffron plus water and mix well. Boil about 300ml salted water in a pan  and throw in the mussels, cover until they are all open. Strain reserving the water which should be added to the paella pan with the stock. 

Scatter the rice into the stock season and cook for 5 mins. Add the beans and prawns and cook for a further 4 mins then turn the prawns over. When cooked remove the prawns. Push the king fish into the rice and cook for 5 mins. Finally arrange the peas, prawns chorizo and mussels over the rice and heat through until the rice is cooked to your liking and allow to stand for a few minutes or if a little too wet place under a grill for a minute or two. Serve with lemon wedges. 

Lamb Tagine and couscous

Quite often when we prepare party menus we are asked to include something a little more substantial than canapes. A dish we did recently and which went down well was lamb tagine accompanied with couscous. This is a delicious North African dish actually named after the vessel it is cooked in, a tagine which is usually ceramic bowl with a tapering conical lid and features dried fruit usually but not necessarily apricots. Sultanas, dates and prunes can also be used. It is a rich slow cooked lamb stew which is quite easy to do and you definitely don't need a tagine to cook it in, a simple casserole or oven dish with lid will do just as well.
The lamb cut we generally use is the neck fillet which we trim. (This is a succulent cut of meat which although slightly pricey is well worth it. We also use it in kebabs and brochettes where the marbling of fat melts and adds extra flavour ensuring the meat retains its wonderful tenderness and juiciness). You could also use shoulder of lamb.
There are many spices you can use, for a degree of authenticity we use Ras al Hanout a Moroccan mix of herbs and spices. We are lucky that we have the wonderful resources including the many Arab food shops of North End Road in Fulham relatively close at hand but this ingredient should be available however in any specialist shop or you can order it on line. Other spices which are commonly called for are ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, saffron cayenne pepper, paprika, cumin, chilli flakes etc etc
Below is a basic recipe and method but I would strongly recommend that after reading this post you Google lamb tagine where you will find many recipe ideas and variations and pick and choose the suggested spices which you most like. Like all casserole / stew dishes there is room for more than is little alchemy so don't be afraid to put your own stamp on it. You can even substitute beef for the lamb and prunes for the apricots.

Lamb tagine and couscous served in party size portions

Ingredients
1.5 kg lamb
1 red onion
2 garlic cloves
2 tins chopped tomatoes
300 g dried apricots
125 ml red wine
Worcestershire Sauce (Optional)
Tabasco Sauce (Optional)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
Fresh parsley or coriander
100 g Toasted flaked almonds or pine nuts
Seasoning





Method
Cut the meat into bite sized portions. Heat the butter and oil in a pan and brown the meat in batches. Set aside. Add the chopped onion and garlic and fry in the oil. Deglaze using the red wine. Return the meat to the pan and sprinkle with Ras al Hanout. Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil. Cover and stew for about an hour. If more liquid is needed add a little lamb stock. Add the dried fruit and Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce (if using) and season to Taste. Cook for a further 20 minutes. Serve with a garnish of parsley or coriander and flaked almonds.

Coucous

The classic accompaniment is couscous which is again very easy to prepare, requires no cooking and can be done in advance. (Having said that you can "toast" the dry couscous on a dry pan prior to adding the liquid which gives an extra roasted flavour). Equal amounts of liquid to dry couscous are usual but brands may vary so follow the instructions on the pack. We generally use chicken or vegetable stock for extra flavour. After a few minutes fluff up with a fork. 

Strictly speaking it is now ready to eat but couscous in itself is pretty bland so we would recommend adding ingredients with strong flavours. Good options are spring onions. sun dried tomatoes, lemon juice, roasted peppers or root vegtables, olive oil, cashew nuts or peanuts, sultanas, paprika or cayenne pepper and of course plenty of seasoning. 

Seri Muka

Seri Muka (one of the most popular of Malaysian Kuih – bite-sized desserts or cakes) is a steamed dessert in two layers: a bottom layer of glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk; and a thick custard-like top layer flavoured with the juice of pandan leaves (which provides the vibrant green colouring).

There are many Seri Muka recipes available and while most have a similar approach to the bottom layer, the balance of ingredients in the top layer can vary wildly. Some people use more eggs and very little flour and others prefer fewer eggs, using more flour or tapioca flour to provide the necessary stiffness. We prefer the following recipe which uses a combination of eggs and flours to create a custard with a slight cake-like texture.

Ingredients:

Bottom Layer

400g Glutinous Rice (pre-soaked for 4 hours and drained)

300ml Coconut Milk

½ teaspoon Salt

Top Layer

2 Large Eggs

120g Castor Sugar

100 ml Pandan Water (blend 8 to 10 pandan leaves in 100ml water)

320ml Coconut Milk

100g Plain White Flour

3 tablespoons Tapioca Flour

¼ teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Pandan Paste (optional)

Method:

Bottom Layer

1. Pre-soak the glutinous rice in water for about 4 hours and drain it.
2. Mix in the coconut milk and salt and steam for about 30 minutes on a medium heat.
3. Set aside to rest for about 10 minutes then transfer into a 22cm square loose-bottomed cake tin.
4. Press quite firmly into an even layer, making sure it forms a good seal with the tin around the edges. 

Top Layer

1. To make the pandan water, chop the pandan leaves into small pieces and mash them up in a blender with the water until you get a good smooth pulp. Strain the pulp through a sieve and squeeze it out to get a beautiful dark green fragrant water. Discard the pulp.
2. Mix the pandan water with all the other ingredients for the top lawyer in a largish bowl (it doesn’t matter in what order you add them – just throw them all in together!).
3. Beat with a hand whisk or electric mixer for a couple of minutes until the mixture is nice and smooth.
4. Strain through a sieve to get rid of any little lumps. Let it rest for a few minutes while you finish off the bottom layer.
5. Once you have pressed the bottom layer into the tin properly, pour the top layer mixture on top of the rice and steam again for 30 to 40 minutes over a medium heat.
6. Remove from heat once the top layer has stiffened throughout and leave to cool before removing from tin and cutting into squares or diamonds.

Steaming can be done in a bespoke steamer if you have one big enough to take the cake tin. Otherwise it works quite well by placing a square tin in a large wok with a lid on and water at the bottom below the tin. Make sure it doesn’t boil dry.

Chicken Liver Pate

We love chicken liver in all it's forms but especially when just simply fried and served with a little lambs lettuce and honey/mustard vinaigrette dressing. Delicious! We also love to make pate which is more or less just the buttery spreadable version of the simple fried dish. It has one major advantage though you can play endlessly with flavours, textures and nuances by varying the supporting ingredients according to your mood. True to say that no two pates we ever make are exactly the same.

When thinking about making a pate we generally look and see what's in the fridge. For example some diced chorizo is a wonderful addition which you can enhance by adding a few pinches of paprika, smoked paprika and/or cayenne pepper. More conventionally some diced smoked streaky bacon can be added for extra flavour. If using fry them off with the onion at the start. To add texture we might put in a few dried mushrooms which have been soaked in boiling water for a few minutes beforehand or even some diced dried fruits like apricot or fig. To add heat and a little kick garlic and chilli are good, or a little tobasco, sweet chilli sauce or Worcestershire works wonders but you do need to be careful not to add too much liquid as this may cause problems down the line when trying to set the pate. A splash of Port or sherry can be used to lend sweetness.

Once made the pate will last for several days in the fridge and can be served as a canape on crostini with a chutney, as a starter with Irish soda bread, as stuffing for example in beef wellington or chicken breasts or even as a flavour enhancer to mince meat when making something like Bolognaise sauce or cottage pie. The recipe below is for a basic pate which you can enhance with some of the suggestions above.

Ingredients

250g pot of chicken livers
2 red onions
2 garlic cloves
Handfull of Bacon lardons
50g butter
Tbl spoon olive oil
Salt and Black pepper

Method

Sweat down the onions and garlic in a skillet with a little butter and olive oil. if adding any further spice powder such as paprika do it now so it has a chance to cook out with the onions. Add the bacon. In the mean time make sure all the livers are free of sinew and are roughly the same size. Once the onions are translucent and the bacon cooked push to one side of the pan and throw in the livers and keep turning them for about a minute then remove from the heat, don't worry they will continue to cook in the residue heat. Allow to cool slightly and put in a food blender. Again the final pate texture can range from course or rustic to creamy smooth depending on your preference just by varying the length of whizzing. Put in an airtight container and re-fridgerate. Pate in preserving jars makes a nice present. Clarified butter can be used as a seal which stops the pate oxidising. Decorate with cornichons halved lengthwise.

Pimientos de Padron

Whenever we go to Spain there are a few things which we just can't wait to eat. Most are relatively simple everyday foods and whilst theoretically available in the UK too somehow just don't seem to taste the same. One of those is Pimientos de Padron. These are small green peppers which interestingly engage you in a game of Russian roulette whenever you have them. They are easy to prepare and make a great tapas dish but due to some genetic anomaly about one in ten is considerably hotter than it's companions. We once served them to a friend and as luck would have it the first one she tried was a hot one so suspecting my motives she could not be persuaded to try any more completely disbelieving my protestations that this was the exception rather than the rule.

To cook them we generally put a splash of olive oil in a skillet. Throw in the pimientos and cook until slightly charred. Season and sprinkle with a little garlic salt. Serve immediately.

Amaze Bouche!

This combination of a small virgin mary served in a shot glass together with a Parmesan snap can all be made in advance and is ideal to serve as a little amuse bouche to kick off a meal. The drinks can be served either with the cheese biscuits or without.

The Virgin Mary

Pour a few drops of Worcestershire sauce into the bottom of each shot glass. Make up a jug of tomato juice with a dash of Tobasco and a pinch of salt. Pour into the glasses and put a teaspoon of creme fraiche on top. Sprinkle with a little cayenne pepper and garnish with either a thinly cut slice of cucumber or some celery leaves. Of course the Marys do not necessarily need to be virgins. In this case add a dash of Vodka to the tomato juice mix before pouring from the jug.

The Parmesan Snaps

Ingredients
100g plain flour
100g butter
50g grated cheddar
50g parmesan
mustard powder
Cayenne pepper

Method
Blend all the above to a dough and leave in the fridge for one hour wrapped in cling film. Roll out to a thickness of a £1 coin. Brush with egg wash and cut into desired shape. You need to work quickly before the butter in the dough starts to soften. Place on a sheet of greaseproof paper on a baking tray. For further variety top with grated parmesan, mustard seeds or sesame seeds. Bake for about 10 minutes at 180 C. The biscuits will keep in an air tight container for several days.

Barcelona

We are very fortunate to have close friends living in Barcelona and get to go there very often. I am frequently asked where to go and what to do there so here they are just a few personal favourites.... 

Every visitor has to start with a wander along the Ramblas it's very touristy but has a buzz and lots of entertaining buskers and the bird market but beware pickpockets !! Pay homage at the high temple of all that is best in Catalan produce, the famous Boqueria Market. If you're peckish which you will be after surveying the dazzling array of foods on offer try the snacks at Pinochio. Further along the Ramblas is Palau Guell a Gaudi palace recently reopened after a major restoration and at the end of the Ramblas the Maritime Museum is housed in a beautiful range of medieval workshops has a lovely restaurant with daily specials. 

Wander around the Gothic Quarter El Borne - it's achingly trendy! Don't miss the Picasso Museum off Calle Montcada and Santa Maria del Mar church Barcelona's XIV Century Gothic gem. Nearby you can pop into a Basque tapas bar for "pinxos" tapas where they charge by the number of cocktail sticks you have gathered at the end. There's a good one, if a bit touristy on Calle Argenteria alternatively you can lunch at the Hotel Neri a beautiful old courtyard house. On the other side of the Ramblas Raval is full of ethnic shops and despite drastic regeneration projects is still a lot more edgy. Spot the ladies of the night at all times of the day. 

Out of the tangled knot of the medieval city wander through the elegent and airy Example, the nineteenth century grid iron urban extension divided by the Passeig de Gracia - don't miss the Gaudi buildings, Casa Batllo and La Pedrera. Both have apartments open to the public which are fascinating. There are great rooftop views and iconic Gaudi chimney pots on the Padrera. There are also always free exhibitions at the Caixa in the Pedrera. Go into the nearby Vincon shop which again has fantastic modernista interiors and see especially the fireplace on the first floor ! The other Gaudi  not to be missed sights are of course La Sagrada Familia still under construction, the nave is now finished and pretty impressive (you can buy timed tickets from Servi Caixa on line and skip the queues!) Park Guell, his brave but ultimately unsuccessful attempt at landscaping and town planning and the Ciutadella Parc built for the 1888 Exhibition where he worked on the fountains when very young and before he developed his distinctive style. This is my favourite park it's full of atmosphere! I particularly love the old hot houses beside the Geological Museum. At the top of Passeig de Gracia pop into the Casa Fuster Bar for a quick refreshment! It's another breathtaking Modernista building. Modernista is a sort of Spanish Art Noveau / Arts and Crafts style popular at turn of 20C. If you like it then see what's on at the Palau de la Musica and try for tickets or just have a look around, there are tours, it's a fantastic Modernista Concert Hall off Via Laietana and very Important in the story of Catalan cultural revival and nationalism.

For some fresh air spend the day on Montjuic. Take the cable car from the harbour or start at the Plaza Espanya dominated by the Montjuic Catalan National Museum a cultural Palace built for the 1929 Exhibition.  Don't miss the iconic Mies van der Rohe  pavilion so beautifully serene and moderne! A Bauhaus triumph packed up and lost for many years! In the evening the "Font Magica"  are wonderfully entertaining - they're kitsch but charming! Nearby The Caixa Forum Exhibitions are free in the Casamora a beautiful old and splendidly converted textile factory. 

Also on  Montjuic you can see Calatrava's sculptural telephone mast and the site of the 1992 Summer Olympic Stadium which did so much to put Barcelona on the map. There are fantastic views everywhere you look. Further along is the Fundacio Miro, lunch at the restaurant there (Book in advance). 

Tibidabo is the name given to the other range of hills which overlook the city and well worth another day! The views are absolutely spectacular!  Tibi dabo - Latin "to thee I give" is what the devil allegedly said to Jesus Christ in the desert in a failed attempt to tempt him! You can pop into the Hotel Florida for cocktails on the terrace or visit the Tibidabo fun fair, it boasts the second oldest Ferris wheel in Europe after the one in Vienna featured in "The Third Man"  Take the historic tram and funicular which runs at the weekend. Climb to the top of the church tower nearby for spectacular 360 degree views over the surrounding countryside. Speaking of Vienna there is a wonderful Viennese style Coffee House beside the fair. 

On a Sunday afternoon everyone heads to the harbour front at Barceloneta. There's a small market and many many restaurants. Continue to the end for Cocktails at the rooftop bar in Hotel W. You need to  dress smart No sandles! but they do Excellent Mojitos - ask for a Dirty Argentinian! This is the European flag ship hotel of this chain and is an iconic sail like building built out into the sea at the end of the harbour.

If all that hasn't exhausted you try your luck at haggling in Encants flea market where there are a few interesting antique / brocante shops around. Get the tram or Metro to Glories and follow the crowds but if it's too warm and the heat is getting to you head to the beaches at Marbella for a dip instead - no need to bring swimsuits! 

Getting around on foot is easy or you can sign up to the Bicing bicycle hire system. Taxis are cheap, friendly and numerous.  Say Catalan 'Bon dia' as a greeting and they'll be even more friendly. Alternatively you can buy a 10 journey "carnet" T-10 ticket at any metro station its the best value and works on buses as well. The metro service is very efficient and air conditioned but when you land take the aerobus from right outside  the airport terminals to Plaza Catalunya via the plaza Espanya it costs a fraction of the taxi fare!

Oh and before you go read Irish author Colm Toibin's account of history and life in the Catalan Capital  "Homage to Barcelona" It will help give you a real feel for the city and it's people.

Festive Fools

Some fools invaded a Chelsea party last night and added lots of festive colour!

Memories of "Dusun"....

Being the last to arrive in a big family of twelve had a profound effect on me. The life of my childhood home in Kuala Lumpur centred around food. My mum was an excellent cook. She was originally from Chang Mai but was brought up mainly in Malaysia and was combining ingredients to cook "fusion" for her family long before the term was ever coined anywhere else. For my part being the youngest I would taken by the hand to the wet market to buy fish and I would watch her as she carefully selected the best produce. Her skills still go through my head as I go through my check list for buying fish at our local fishmongers.

Breakfast fruits on a recent visit to my sister's, served by the pool!  

Our city garden was full of fruit trees and being the smallest I was made to climb up on my big brothers' shoulders to try to retrieve the best fruits.  There balanced precariously I would reach for the juiciest rambutans, papayas and mangos  which were always just inches out of reach. Best of all though were the school holiday trips to my grandparents farm about three hours from KL where my father's family lived . The 'dusun' or orchard was to me the garden of Eden with neat rows of laden mangosteen trees, rambutans and mango trees which I would climb to get the best fruit. Also of course the infamous durian the king of fruits which you either love or hate. They bear huge prehistoric looking fruits with lethal spikes and have a pungent smell. They are so large they can only be harvested after they've fallen to the ground which happens only at night. They are much beloved by tigers many of which meet an untimely end as they fall asleep under the trees and when the fruits fall they are killed!  There was so much produce from the garden that my aunt used to show me how to  tie it up into neat bunches like grapes which we could then sell by the roadside. I'd come home happy having earned a little much appreciated pocket money.

Ghaz

My Ayah a snapshot memory...

Kieron and Nigosti circa 1962 

In the British Raj nannies were known as ayahs, after the Portuguese word aia for nurse or governess. I grew up in Aden (Yemen) a mini version of India, where ayahs were mainly either beautifully slender Somali women or Etheopians. 
I had two that I can remember Rhum was Somali with striking East African features and Nigosti who was a great cook. I have only memory flashes of this time but it is of course Nigosti I remember best. She would arrive in the evening to babysit me as my parents went out to dinner or to play bridge. My mum would put me to bed, tuck me in and kiss me goodnight but no sooner than the car would pull out of the drive than Nigosti would burst into my room pull me out of bed and put me sitting cross legged in the middle of the living room rug to share her evening meal. She always brought a tiffin box with her (a three tier aluminium food container with a single handle) which was opened up to reveal delicious food and spread around the floor. One container had rice or vegetables another usually an eye wateringly hot meat curry and the last a type of East African naan bread which was grey in colour and had the texture of a sponge. Perfect for mopping up. We ate with our fingers or more specifically the first three fingers and thumb of the right hand. 
These are some of the earliest tastes I can remember enhanced in no small measure by the delicious naughtiness of being up and doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing and that my mum and dad didn't know about. Something that all kids love! I suspect now my parents must've had an idea of what was going on but decided on balance it was probably prudent to turn a blind eye.


Kieron

Cooking lunch at a City Bank

There are always unforeseen and unexpected issues which arise when you are cooking in a strange kitchen. Yesterday we were asked to cook lunch for a dozen high powered City bankers in the beautifully panelled and listed Board room of a well known City bank. A dream gig you might think - well not really! The challenge was the kitchen which although boasting a reasonably good electric cooker, oven and grill had absolutely no utensils whatsoever, nada, nothing. As a result we had to take a taxi across London laden like medieval travelling iron mongers clanking with all the necessary cooking accoutrements pots, pans, tongs, fish slices, and of course knives - it's just as well were not made to pass through a metal detector when we arrived!!! The menu suggested had taken this problem into consideration and was as below. Timing was of the essence. Luckily it all seemed to go down pretty well!

Starter:  Smoked salmon and avocado, celeriac and dill remoulade, gravad lax dressing

Main: Marinated filet of lamb brochettes, French beans with citrus and

roast vegetable cous cous, tahini dip

Dessert: Pears poached in Port and red wine, star anise and cinnamon

with Kentish cherries and creme fraiche

Chocolate Peppercorns

Attention Chocaholics Anonymous we were recently given some of these scrumptious chocolate-coated peppercorns from Barcelona chocolatier Cacao Sampaka. Undoubtedly the best in the Catalan capital. We will be using them in desserts soon!!

Caponata

Filo baskets and melba toast are fantastic with a range of fillings. A particular vegetarian favourite is Caponata - a sweet/sour Sicilian chutney traditionally made from a mix of aubergine, celery and capers. In this case topped with feta cheese and toasted pine nuts.

Malaysian Chicken Satay

At the Wild Swans Christmas party last night the chicken satay with spicy peanut sauce was a real hit.

Dublin Coddle...

My father was the better cook in our family when I was growing up. Far better than my mother which was highly unusual when you consider I am talking about Dublin in the 1960's, a time when gender roles dictated that women should be queens of the hob and oven and males were expected to keep a respectful distance from the kitchen. The only problem was my mother could by no stretch of the imagination be considered a kitchen goddess. I don't think even now she would be offended if I told you she couldn't really cook at all! In her defence she always protested that "I have to cook every day, your father only cooks when he wants to" Maybe so but of course it's my father's recipes that have stuck in my mind and by making them he also unwittingly impressed on his only son's young mind that there was nothing unusual about a man in the kitchen wearing an apron in front of the gas stove, thereby inadvertently paving the way in me for an early interest in preparing and cooking food. 

Some of my hazy early memories of his food are pretty bizarre for instance I can still remember vividly the stomach churning smell of his cow's tripe boiled in milk which always resulted in the house being evacuated rapidly by my mother and me every time he cooked it, and another peculiar spaghetti dish which involved baking cooked spaghetti in a ceramic casserole dish topped with tomatoes and hard boiled eggs. Pasta was avant guarde for the time, but perhaps the best of all was a dish he liked a lot and often graced the table called Dublin Coddle. It is a well known dish in Ireland and like much of Irish cuisine coddle stems from a peasant origin and makes use of cheaper and left over cuts of meat and offal. As I remember it was basically a concoction of offal boiled in milk. I have googled this recipe recently but no version that I have found remotely resembles how I can recall he made it, for instance some drop the milk altogether and many call for fresh garlic (an ingredient which with the possible exception of a small jar of garlic salt for sprinkling on sirloin steak was totally absent from our larder) so I  have put together my own version based on what I can recall. I don't really expect anyone to try to cook this but it is interesting to see how much recipes, tastes, techniques and ingredients have changed over the intervening decades. 

Dublin Coddle 

8 pork sausages
4 lambs kidneys halved and white sinues removed. 
8 streaky rashers rolled up 
Several small onions 
Button mushrooms 
3 or 4 potatoes chopped into cubes 
1 litre of whole milk 
1 tsp of cornflour diluted in milk 
Salt and While pepper to season 

Place the first 6 ingredients in a large saucepan or casserole dish and cover with the milk. Bring to the boil slowly taking care the milk does not boil over. Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 mins or until you are satisfied each element is cooked and tender. Once you are happy this is the case skim off any skin from the milk and add the cornflour and stir to thicken. You may need to adjust the amount of sauce to meat. Season to taste. 

You will note that this recipe relies on the white pepper for "kick" as I have mentioned garlic was not really used and chillies were out of the question (even black pepper was unheard of so the hottest thing we had at our disposal was white pepper which is something I've started using again in my cooking). You can easily google an up-to-date version of this recipe which is probably more suitable to our present day palate.