Recipe: Mustard Dressing
Book: The Naked Chef - Jamie Oliver
We eat loads of green salad, usually dressed very unadventurously in oil and vinegar. Looking through my books for inspiration, I can see that there are dozens of combinations of ingredients that can be very easily used to dress a salad. So, I made a start today with a very simple Mustard Dressing by Jamie Oliver. Actually, the only addition to my usual dressing was a heaped tablespoon of Dijon Mustard, but I normally just glug the oil and vinegar until I feel it has enough and this time I applied a very specific ratio of ingredients as prescribed by Jamie. It was lovely. It adhered to the salad leaves beautifully and had just the right balance of sharp and smooth with an underlying hint of mustard which in no way overwhelmed.
Verdict? Great; added a new dimension to salad in our house.
How Easy Was It? Very easy and a very satisfying use of my mini whip which was bought for blending salad dressings but has not been used that way until today.
Will I Make It Again? Yes, but it will have to join the queue because there's lots more to try before a favourite is decided upon.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Chicken Tikka Masala
Recipe: Chicken Tikka Masala
Book: Jamie's Dinners
We are great fans of curry in our house yet I use that term quite loosely; we eat a lot of jars of simmer sauce. Mild for the children and slightly fiercer for us grown ups. The lack of spices, other than pepper and perhaps a bit of paprika or cinnamon, in my larder cupboard has always been a mild source of embarrassment to me. It's obvious that I've never had the pleasure of heating, grinding and pounding my own spice mix so I determined to rectify this.
The most obvious place to start was with an old, old favourite of ours and indeed most of the western world it seems:- Chicken Tikka Masala. I've been itching to cook one the recipes in Jamie's Dinners and so this is where I started. Alongside the regular things, into my shopping trolley today sat such exotic ingredients as ground cumin, mustard seeds and garam masala. Had I had to identify any of these ingredients by taste alone, I don't think that I could have done it.
So, the recipe is easy to follow and despite there being a number of steps, it's a slow process so the panic factor is minimal. The kitchen smelt wonderful as the onions and spice mix started to cook. The marinating chicken gave me an inordinate amount of visual satisfaction and I kept having a little stir as my sauce cooked, imagining the flavour infusing into the meat. The cooking of the meat would have been easier had I had a griddle pan; I had to grill it which was slightly messy and I suppose a bit less charred than would have been nice. The texture of the sauce after the cream was added was pleasing and it looked like far more work has gone into it all than was actually the case.
Verdict from the Children? They had a small taste and decided that it was too spicy although I will be trying them again with this because it's not spicy really, it just has the barest hint of underlying heat.
Verdict from the Grown Ups? Delicious! I am tasting a flavour an hour after eating that I can't yet identify and I'm not sure if I like it. However, it was very pleasurable to eat and it's nice not to have the synthetic aftertaste that I usually have from the jars of sauce.
How Easy Was It? It is somewhat labour intensive and there are very specific ingredient quantities which I think is important because the balance of spices must be maintained. It's not a difficult recipe though and only basic skills are required.
Will I Make It Again? My husband will probably encourage me to do so and I would be willing. I think that I'd like to make another version to compare because I'm not convinced that this is a definitive Chicken Tikka Masala.
Book: Jamie's Dinners
We are great fans of curry in our house yet I use that term quite loosely; we eat a lot of jars of simmer sauce. Mild for the children and slightly fiercer for us grown ups. The lack of spices, other than pepper and perhaps a bit of paprika or cinnamon, in my larder cupboard has always been a mild source of embarrassment to me. It's obvious that I've never had the pleasure of heating, grinding and pounding my own spice mix so I determined to rectify this.
The most obvious place to start was with an old, old favourite of ours and indeed most of the western world it seems:- Chicken Tikka Masala. I've been itching to cook one the recipes in Jamie's Dinners and so this is where I started. Alongside the regular things, into my shopping trolley today sat such exotic ingredients as ground cumin, mustard seeds and garam masala. Had I had to identify any of these ingredients by taste alone, I don't think that I could have done it.
So, the recipe is easy to follow and despite there being a number of steps, it's a slow process so the panic factor is minimal. The kitchen smelt wonderful as the onions and spice mix started to cook. The marinating chicken gave me an inordinate amount of visual satisfaction and I kept having a little stir as my sauce cooked, imagining the flavour infusing into the meat. The cooking of the meat would have been easier had I had a griddle pan; I had to grill it which was slightly messy and I suppose a bit less charred than would have been nice. The texture of the sauce after the cream was added was pleasing and it looked like far more work has gone into it all than was actually the case.
Verdict from the Children? They had a small taste and decided that it was too spicy although I will be trying them again with this because it's not spicy really, it just has the barest hint of underlying heat.
Verdict from the Grown Ups? Delicious! I am tasting a flavour an hour after eating that I can't yet identify and I'm not sure if I like it. However, it was very pleasurable to eat and it's nice not to have the synthetic aftertaste that I usually have from the jars of sauce.
How Easy Was It? It is somewhat labour intensive and there are very specific ingredient quantities which I think is important because the balance of spices must be maintained. It's not a difficult recipe though and only basic skills are required.
Will I Make It Again? My husband will probably encourage me to do so and I would be willing. I think that I'd like to make another version to compare because I'm not convinced that this is a definitive Chicken Tikka Masala.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Yorkshire Pudding Nigella Style
Recipe: Yorkshire Pudding
Book: Feast - Nigella Lawson
Despite this being my first cookbook experiment, I'm finding myself changing ingredients so it's not strictly speaking a la Ms Lawson. I've not come across any beef dripping in Dubai so I'm changing my fat to vegetable oil instead. If it's a flop (perhaps literally) I won't blame Nigella but I will of course, take all credit if it's spectacular.
OK, so here I am, mid bake. The batter has been whisked vigorously in the prescribed order of ingredients, the oven is hotter than ever before and I'm nervous. I have to admit that my yorkshire pudding usually comes from the freezer section having been overseen by Aunt Bessie and this is what my daughters are expecting today. At 5 and 3 they have very firm ideas about what is yum and what is yuk. Here's hoping for a thumbs up.
Wow! ! They were fantastic. The only modification that I'd make next time would be to use half the amount of oil which was the amount that was recommended anyway; my mistake to double the quantity.
Verdict from The Children? Yum - they both ate 2 and Rosie quite rightly pointed out that I never ever need to buy them from the supermarket again.
Verdict from the Grown Ups? Great! Andrew thought that Aunt Bessie had a new and improved recipe.
How Easy Was It? Incredibly Easy. The most difficult part was transferring the batter to the smoking hot oil but only because I used the wrong jug to do it.
Will I Make It Again? - Every time we have roast beef.
Book: Feast - Nigella Lawson
Despite this being my first cookbook experiment, I'm finding myself changing ingredients so it's not strictly speaking a la Ms Lawson. I've not come across any beef dripping in Dubai so I'm changing my fat to vegetable oil instead. If it's a flop (perhaps literally) I won't blame Nigella but I will of course, take all credit if it's spectacular.
OK, so here I am, mid bake. The batter has been whisked vigorously in the prescribed order of ingredients, the oven is hotter than ever before and I'm nervous. I have to admit that my yorkshire pudding usually comes from the freezer section having been overseen by Aunt Bessie and this is what my daughters are expecting today. At 5 and 3 they have very firm ideas about what is yum and what is yuk. Here's hoping for a thumbs up.
Wow! ! They were fantastic. The only modification that I'd make next time would be to use half the amount of oil which was the amount that was recommended anyway; my mistake to double the quantity.
Verdict from The Children? Yum - they both ate 2 and Rosie quite rightly pointed out that I never ever need to buy them from the supermarket again.
Verdict from the Grown Ups? Great! Andrew thought that Aunt Bessie had a new and improved recipe.
How Easy Was It? Incredibly Easy. The most difficult part was transferring the batter to the smoking hot oil but only because I used the wrong jug to do it.
Will I Make It Again? - Every time we have roast beef.
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