One pot cooking and making peas ap - pea - ling (groan!!) - Chicken and Peas

 

 

Here I am once again with a one pot wonder. I know that I should maybe blog about something that uses more pans, but chez Lola and Finn the emphasis at the moment is just having something good to eat without too much fuss. Finn starting school this week seems to have made life even more fraught between the hours of 4 and 7pm. I am not sure where the time goes at this point in the day. What I do know is that I blink and it is gone.

 

Finn, first day of school,  and with big sis Lola, who already seems to be monitoring his every move. Today he was sat next to Olivia, apparently. Not sure Lola rates Olivia very much...

 

So, it is for the reason of simplicity that I am blogging Tessa Kiros' recipe, chicken and peas, from her beautiful book 'Piri Piri Starfish'. If you own a Tessa Kiros book, you will know that they are works of art, with idiosyncratic messages, vibrant images of life and food and an all round sense of happiness. I would love to look at them even if I didn't like to cook. The fact that I do like to cook makes them all the better. 

 

Anyway, the matching of chicken and chorizo happens here again most pleasingly and the addition of peas gives a freshness and vibrancy in terms of taste and in colour. Lola and Finn ate most of this, though Finn being Finn skirted his way around most of the peas. He ate some peas though and this can only be seen as a rip roaring success, seeing as he seems averse to eating anything 'green'.

 

Chicken and Peas, adapted from 'Piri Piri Starfish' by Tessa Kiros

 

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum and Dad very well!

 

Ingredients:

 

5 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped (which I left out)

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

2 bay leaves

100g chorizo, chopped (I upped this from the 30g in the original recipe)

60g smoked bacon lardons

2 tbsp chopped parsley

4 chicken breasts (You could joint a chicken as suggested in the original recipe)

250ml white wine

3 tbsp chopped tomatoes

600g frozen peas

 

Method:

 

 

 

Heat the olive oil and add the onion, celery (if using), carrot and bay leaves, and saute until the onion is golden.

 

 

 

Add the chorizo and bacon and saute until the chorizo releases its oil and the bacon renders its fat.

 

 

 

Add the chicken and parsley and saute until the chicken is golden. Keep everything moving so that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan.

 

Season with salt and pepper at this point.

 

 

 

Add the wine and let it bubble up a little before adding the tomato.

 

Cover and simmer for about thirty minutes.

 

 

 

Take the lid off and add the peas, increase the heat and cook for another ten minutes or so until the peas are tender but still green.

 

There will be some residual liquid in the dish which is fine, as the peas will soak some of that up as you take it off the heat and leave it a little until you are ready to serve.

 

 

 

I served this with some orzo pasta, at the request of Lola and Finn who quite like the fact that it looks like 'big rice'. Personally, I'd be having this with potatoes, but that's because potatoes are possibly the greatest carb ever to grace the earth...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's not all about Scouse. Introducing Wet Nelly, the pudding that sticks to your ribs.

 

 

The dish that is synonymous with Liverpool is Scouse, a version of which has graced this very blog right here and is one of those heartwarming (Northern) dishes that makes grim months like November and January seem bearable. It is poor man's food but you'd never know it because it's too damn good to be ever thought of as poor.

 

Which brings me to a poor man's pudding, for dinner shall not be complete without something for dessert. There are lots of cakes associated with the North, with numerous towns having some sort of confectionery that they call their own. 'Wet Nelly' is probably the one you have never heard of. A native of Liverpool, (and its environs, it will be argued) she is closely related to Nelson cake (google it) but here she is smartened up a bit with a dash of alcohol and a pastry crust. More 'Mildly Moist Elizabeth' than 'Wet Nelly', maybe.

 

I googled the recipe after visiting Speke Hall recently with the family. By virtue of their dad, they have some sort of connection to Speke Hall and Lola and Finn spent a lot of the time telling anyone who would listen that they were here to visit Grandma's house. We wound up at the cafe and after having a bowl of Scouse each (no longer poor man's food here, £6.75 for a smallish bowl and it was virtually blind - buck your ideas up please National Trust!) I spied the Wet Nelly. I had to make one. So a few minutes on Google and here you are.

 

Here we are! Speke Hall! Back to claim what is rightfully ours!!!

 

My adaptations were that I soaked my raisins in Marsala because it was out on the work top and I couldn't be bothered finding the rum, which the recipe suggests. My quantities for sweet pastry will leave with you with half left which you can freeze and then be moments away from whipping up something a bit tarty, which I like to do, often. If that isn't your thing, then just half the quantities for the sweet pastry listed below.

 

'Wet Nelly', adapted from the recipe from Tom Bridge: Cookery Detective

 

Serves 6, very well indeed

 

For the pastry:

 

8oz/225g plain flour

 

4oz/110g unsalted butter, straight from the fridge

 

3oz/80g caster sugar

 

1 large egg, to bind

 

For the filling:

225g / 8 oz trifle sponge or sponge cake or broken biscuits crumbled (I used trifle sponges blitzed in the food processor)

110g / 4 oz raisins, soaked in a little dark rum (I used Marsala, a couple of tablespoons)

Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

4 tbsp full fat milk

4 tbsp golden syrup

Beaten egg to glaze

 

 

Method:

 

 

 

Start by soaking your raisins. By the time you are ready to make the filling the raisins should have plumped up.

 

 

 

To make the pastry, blitz the flour, sugar and cold butter together in a food processor, or rub together by hand until you get a mixture that resembles breadcrumbs.

 

 

 

Add the egg to bind the pastry together.

 

 

 

Wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for about an hour or so. It is quite a squidgy pastry and will need to be chilled sufficiently.

 

When the pastry is ready, butter a suitable pan. I used an 8 inch (20cm approx) fluted loose bottomed flan tin.

 

 

 

Flour a board and roll out enough pastry to line the bottom and sides of your pan. You can do a bit of a patch job if the pastry is proving difficult to handle. Trim the edges.

 

Set the oven to Gas Mark 5, 190c /375f

 

 

 

Mix together the sponge crumbs, raisins, lemon rind and juice, milk and syrup.

 

 

Place the mixture into the pastry case.

 

 

 

Roll out some more pastry to cover the filling and before placing the lid on top, brush the edges of the pastry in the flan tin with some beaten egg so that the sides and pastry top will stick together when they're crimped. Seal and crimp the edges and then brush the top with beaten egg.

 

Not too fussed about the odd crack. I am about to drown it in custard.

 

Bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven for 30 minutes. or until browning on top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little.

 

 

 

Serve warm with custard.

April 2014 - I have just discovered my fellow blogger, Phil from the excellent blog 'As Strong as Soup' has produced a razzle dazzle, upmarket version of this fine Liverpool delicacy. You can read about and learn how to make it here.

Like baked beans, only better! Simmered beans with sausage and tomato

 

 

Well, maybe. Baked beans are pretty damn amazing. Maybe I should have said 'different'.

Last week we had Summer again, several days of fabulous temperatures, coinciding with Lola's return to school (and, indeed, my return) which is irritating but not wholly unexpected as these things seem to happen when it comes to 'Britain' and 'weather'. Now we're back to something more Autumnal and I don't know whether it's just contrast but it's a bit chilly! So something a little more hearty was in order, and this Italian style dish was very satisfying as well as registering very low on the 'faff' scale, which is very important on weeknights where frankly, in this house, it is total chaos. In fact it's a wonder we get fed at all.

Sausages. I do love them. For this to be authentically Italian, (well as authentically Italian as it can be in a little kitchen somewhere near Liverpool) you should be using Italian type sausages, or at least the meaty type. Mine were bought at Sainsburys and they were quite fennel-ly. I think that the sausages you need to buy have to be the tasty robust type and not the cheaper sort.

Lola and Finn like sausages and beans. Not surprisingly, they liked this. Fantastico!

Simmered White Beans with Sausage and Tomato, taken from 'Italian Comfort Food' by Julia Della Croce.

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum and Dad

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves

1lb 'meaty' (Italian) sausages

1 tbsp tomato puree

1/2 tsp dried sage

125ml meat stock (I used beef)

1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

1 tin of cannellini beans, drained

1 tbsp flat leaf parsley

Method:

 

 

 

In a frying pan over a medium low heat, warm the olive oil. add the onion and garlic and saute gently until totally softened but not browned.

Remove the onions and garlic from the pan and transfer to a bowl, in preparation for adding later.

 

 

 

Add the sausages to the pan (I cut mine up; the original recipe suggested removing the skins and allowing the sausage meat to break down into chunks, but I like texture and I wanted the kids to see that it was actually sausages) and brown a little.

 

 

 

Return the onion and garlic to the pan and add the tomato puree, sage and stock and some seasoning to taste. Bring to the boil.

 

 

 

Add the cannellini beans and bring to the boil again then reduce to a simmer. Partially cover and cook gently for about 10 to 15 minutes.

 

 

 

Sprinkle with parsley and serve with crusty bread.

 

 

 

From the garden: Gooseberry and Elderflower Filo Pie

 

I have neglected my garden now for about six years, funnily enough about the same time I have had children, but there are still some things that thrive in there apart from bindweed. Hidden here and there amongst the overgrowth are little glimmers of the past where I had fruit plants from which I had this romantic notion that I would have bumper harvests all the time and would whisk them away to the kitchen and so something marvellous with them. Being a) not talented in the garden department, and b) living in a country where Summer happens in March and a few days in September, means that my attempts have been met various levels of failure, but if there is one thing that can be guaranteed to bring forth something I can do something with, it is my very thorny gooseberry bushes and my unwieldy blackberry bushes, both of which seem to thrive in grey cloud and sodden soil it would seem.

So, this year's crop of red tinged sourness was initially frozen by me in two plastic bags because I was about to go to France and couldn't really do them much justice. But, once returned I had plans for one of the bags and this is the result, a Nigel Slater inspired gooseberry filo pie. I currently have lots of filo pastry which I bought when I did my supermarket shop in Calais before returning to the UK, and pastry in all its forms is cheaper and in many cases better than I can make, plus it speeds up stuff. Sometimes I like to make quiche on a whim. How exciting.

The alteration I made to this recipe was that I added a little elderflower cordial to the gooseberries. If you have never had gooseberries and elderflower together, then you really, really should. It is so amazingly tasty. It does make for a filling that is a little liquidy, but that pleases me in all honesty as I can then pour a little cream on it and make it even better. Crispy filo, tart gooseberry liquor, unctuous cream. I can think of little better.

Gooseberry Filo Pie, adapted from Nigel Slater's recipe in the Guardian newspaper

Serves Mum and Dad twice, whilst Lola and Finn had an ice cream from the freezer (yes, I failed)

Ingredients

350g gooseberries

1 tbsp elderflower cordial

80g caster sugar

125g ground almonds

50g butter

6 leaves of filo pastry

 

A little Demerara sugar

 

Cream, to pour over

 Method:

 

Top and tail the gooseberries, removing any stalks and dried flowers. Put the berries in a bowl, add the caster sugar, elderflower cordial and the ground almonds and toss them gently together.

 

 

Melt the butter, then brush a little of it on the base of a 22cm metal baking dish or shallow cake tin. Lay a piece of filo pastry in the tin, leaving the edges overhanging the sides, then brush it with butter. Add a second sheet and continue, layering and brushing until all the sheets are used.

 

Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4 and place a baking sheet on the oven shelf.

 

 

Tip the gooseberries into the baking dish, then pull the over-hanging pastry sheets into the middle to lightly cover the berries. If you twist the pastry sheets as you do so you get interesting folds and ripples and the crust will crisp nicely. Brush lightly with butter and sprinkle with Demerara sugar. Note: My pastry sheets were thicker than the filo pastry I buy here, and as such wouldn't fold down in the way I wanted them initially. I folded them as I could, brushed the top with butter and then put a saucer with a tin of beans on the top of the filo to get it to 'lie down'.

 

 

Bake for 20-25 minutes, on the hot baking sheet (the extra heat will help the base to cook, although it will always be slightly soft) till the top of the pastry is crisp and golden.

 

Serve hot, or warm, with cream.

 

Back to school and how to feed the kids quickly! Speedy Chicken Korma

 

 

So, September arrives and there is that need to get yourself back into some semblance of routine, as the six weeks of lie ins, lingering lunches and all round joie de vivre are banished in favour of something requiring a little more effort. Unfortunately I am far better at 'holidays' than I am at' work' , so it's a bit of a culture shock on a random Monday evening in September when I realise that I haven't got all the time in the world. I crash in through the door at night and the last thing usually that I want to do is cook really, so if I can get away with cooking something that can be done between dealing with kiddie issues, then that's pretty much excellent, as there is no getting a way with it - kids need feeding. 

 

This is nicely mild but flavoursome and was appreciated by Lola and Finn alike. And I cooked it whilst dealing with lunchboxes and a bit of Lola 'angst'. Tremendous. Three jobs done without really realising.

 

Chicken Korma, adapted from 'Light Chicken Korma' from BBC GoodFood

 

Serves Mum, Dad, Lola and Finn with a little left over

 

Ingredients:

 

a small knob fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced (Mine was about 1 1/2cm long and I grated mine)

1 garlic clove

1 onion , sliced

1 tbsp vegetable oil

4 skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1 tsp garam masala

100ml chicken stock (Yes, I used a stock cube)

3 tbsp low-fat fromage frais (Didn't have any, so I used double cream)

2 tbsp ground almonds

handful toasted, sliced almonds , to serve

coriander leaves, plain rice , naan bread or chapatis, to serve (I served basmati rice)

 

Method:

 

 

 

Cook the ginger, garlic and onion in a large pan with the oil until softened.

 

 

Add the garam marsala

 

 

 

Tip in the chicken and cook until lightly browned, about 5 mins, the pour over the stock and simmer for 10 mins until the chicken is cooked through. If you want a thicker consistency you can simmer for longer.

 

 

Add the ground almonds and stir in

 

 

Add the cream (or creme fraiche) and stir to combine. Taste at this point for seasoning.

 

 

 

Sprinkle over sliced almonds, garnish with coriander and serve with boiled rice, chapatis or plain naan bread.