Still got the L-plates up... though trying to keep the instructor on her side of the car was the toughest job. Mixing metaphors, yellow and red cards were flying about like confetti.
An egg and an egg yoke, parmesan, cream - the sauce. 4xrashers, mushrooms, garlic - the meat! Pasta - the base. Olive oil, butter, salt, pepper - the essentials. Water - for the pasta... and and and to moisten things while cooking slowly, rather than using too much oil or butter (that was a new one on me).
'O, you do know how...' was the surprised reaction I got when I separated the egg yolk from its white - back and forth between the two halves of the broken shell, letting the yolk drip away. It wasn't off the stones I licked it.
The sauce is most important bit, but I'm not quite sure how to explain it. I beat the egg and egg yolk lightly in a bowl, and then grated in the parmesan cheese, mixing in small dollops of cream as I went, until I had a light yellow, slightly thinkened sauce. Not very exact, but that's the fun and mystique.
Cook the meat (rashers, mushrooms, garlic) for about 10 minutes on a lowish heat, and add the sauce at a very low heat... at one stage, I thought I had a disaster on my hands, the cheese was starting to curdle, because in fact I had started out with a high heat to cook the rashers cripy. But I took the pan off the heat entirely and added more cream. The control over heat is where cooking with gas wins over electricity.
Saturday 26 January 2008
Sunday 6 January 2008
Thai chicken curry
This was a joint effort between myself and the girlfriend, so I'm a lot hazier on the details, but here's the bones of the recipe - chicken, coconut milk, red curry paste, thai fish sauce, scallions, green beans, lemon grass, corriander, lime leaves, garlic. There's examples galore all over the net...
We went looking for kaffir lime leaves, but they had none in Tesco - not so much of a surprise - but neither in the asian market shop on middle Abbey street, there at the Jervis Luas stop. Maybe they were just out of stock. But what else they didn't have would be a short list.
The recipe we had seemed rather exact with its timings, 10 minutes the sauce, 10 minutes the chicken plus another 5 with the beans, 2 minutes final simmering with the corriander. I suppose you have to look and taste for yourself. We cooked at a simmmering heat most of the time, and I was surprised how well done the chicken was, my normal technique had been to blast and sear in a red hot pan. Nonetheless, we let the whole thing simmer for another couple of minutes at the end.
It turned out a light and subtle dish, the way we cooked it. I've had a Baan Thai green curry since, and they had chunks of greenpepper and peas in the mix, but also a heap of chilli, which just did for my tastebuds as far as tasting anything else was concerned. I preferred ours!
We went looking for kaffir lime leaves, but they had none in Tesco - not so much of a surprise - but neither in the asian market shop on middle Abbey street, there at the Jervis Luas stop. Maybe they were just out of stock. But what else they didn't have would be a short list.
The recipe we had seemed rather exact with its timings, 10 minutes the sauce, 10 minutes the chicken plus another 5 with the beans, 2 minutes final simmering with the corriander. I suppose you have to look and taste for yourself. We cooked at a simmmering heat most of the time, and I was surprised how well done the chicken was, my normal technique had been to blast and sear in a red hot pan. Nonetheless, we let the whole thing simmer for another couple of minutes at the end.
It turned out a light and subtle dish, the way we cooked it. I've had a Baan Thai green curry since, and they had chunks of greenpepper and peas in the mix, but also a heap of chilli, which just did for my tastebuds as far as tasting anything else was concerned. I preferred ours!
Friday 4 January 2008
Vegetarian lasagne
AMDG 04/01/08 (it still feels like homework)
Aim: to cook, under girlfirend's instructions, and eat and enjoy, a vegeterian lasagne.
Ingredients: Vegetables (1 x large red onion, 3 x peppers, doz x mushrooms, 1 x courgette, 1 x aubergine), 6 x garlic cloves, olive oil, butter, 9 x lasagne sheets, cheddar cheese, seasoning (salt, pepper, herbs of your choice).
Good for: 6 people
Apparatus: chopping board; knife; baking spoon; baking tray; baking dish, about 6"x6"x12"; patience and perseverence to keep girlfirend out of the kitchen and stay resting on the couch, cos she's sick damnit and should be resting.
Method: wash hands. Pre-heat the oven to 200. Chop the vegetables roughly into biggish (but not too big) chunks, and place them in the baking tray. Just skin the garlic cloves and throw them into the mix. Pour in a good slug or two of olive oil (but again, not too much) and mix around the vegetables with your hands. Season to taste, twice I forgot to sprinkle in some oregano. Chuck the tray all into the oven for about 20 mins.
Meanwhile, smear the inside of the dish with a bit of butter, using a cut-off from the butter packet.
When the vegetables are ready, take out the garlic cloves and mix in the red sauce directly. Build up the lasagne with layers of veg, lasagne sheets and white sauce directly into the dish - you should have enough for three layers. Top off with a good thick layer of grated cheese. Put in the oven again at 200 again for about 25-30 mins, the cheese should be nice and crispy.
Serve with a rocket salad with a simple vinegrette - oil:vinegar 2:1, mustard, salt, pepper.
Cheatsheet (someone keep sketch): Dolmio red and white sauces. Packet pasta. Pre-grated cheese, in a packet. Dried herbs.
Results: lasagne was cooked, et and enjoyed. Surprisingly simple to cook, even given that I was chef-under-instruction. Definitely room for improvement - next time, no Dolmio, I'll make my own sauces, and I'll use some fresh herbs. That'll be more satisfying
Marginalia: Robert Mugabe would understand AMDG, he being Jesuit educated and all.
Aim: to cook, under girlfirend's instructions, and eat and enjoy, a vegeterian lasagne.
Ingredients: Vegetables (1 x large red onion, 3 x peppers, doz x mushrooms, 1 x courgette, 1 x aubergine), 6 x garlic cloves, olive oil, butter, 9 x lasagne sheets, cheddar cheese, seasoning (salt, pepper, herbs of your choice).
Good for: 6 people
Apparatus: chopping board; knife; baking spoon; baking tray; baking dish, about 6"x6"x12"; patience and perseverence to keep girlfirend out of the kitchen and stay resting on the couch, cos she's sick damnit and should be resting.
Method: wash hands. Pre-heat the oven to 200. Chop the vegetables roughly into biggish (but not too big) chunks, and place them in the baking tray. Just skin the garlic cloves and throw them into the mix. Pour in a good slug or two of olive oil (but again, not too much) and mix around the vegetables with your hands. Season to taste, twice I forgot to sprinkle in some oregano. Chuck the tray all into the oven for about 20 mins.
Meanwhile, smear the inside of the dish with a bit of butter, using a cut-off from the butter packet.
When the vegetables are ready, take out the garlic cloves and mix in the red sauce directly. Build up the lasagne with layers of veg, lasagne sheets and white sauce directly into the dish - you should have enough for three layers. Top off with a good thick layer of grated cheese. Put in the oven again at 200 again for about 25-30 mins, the cheese should be nice and crispy.
Serve with a rocket salad with a simple vinegrette - oil:vinegar 2:1, mustard, salt, pepper.
Cheatsheet (someone keep sketch): Dolmio red and white sauces. Packet pasta. Pre-grated cheese, in a packet. Dried herbs.
Results: lasagne was cooked, et and enjoyed. Surprisingly simple to cook, even given that I was chef-under-instruction. Definitely room for improvement - next time, no Dolmio, I'll make my own sauces, and I'll use some fresh herbs. That'll be more satisfying
Marginalia: Robert Mugabe would understand AMDG, he being Jesuit educated and all.
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