Ossobuco Milanese

My first ever encounter with ossobuco was on my first visit with the parents of my first 'serious' boyfriend. Lots of 'firsts' in that sentence. That was 36 years ago (where has time gone ?). My then boyfriend's mum, Nadine cooked this delectable, succulent, fall apart meat dish. 

When finished all four of the family where looking at my plate. "Don't you eat the marrow ?" Ready to pounce. "Oh, you eat that ? Okay, I'll eat it too then. " That's when I was completely sold.

It's been on the menu regularly since then in my own home, whenever I can get my hands on veal shin, that is. And that was a while ago now, until Sophie gave me some, from their own rosé veal the other day.

Ingredients for 2

• 2 to 4 disks of veal shin (2 to 3 cm thick)
• flour to coat the meat (seasoned with salt and pepper)
• olive oil (a glug)
• 50 gr butter
• 1 or 2 carrots, peeled and chopped finely
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped finely
• 2 celery sticks, washed and chopped finely
• 1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and grated or finely chopped
• 5 sage leaves
• a few sprigs of thyme
• a few shavings of unwaxed lemon peel
• 200 ml dry white wine
• 200 ml veal or chicken stock
• seasoning and chopped parsley for finishing

Preparation

• Give the meat a dust bath in the flour. I usually do this by putting flour and seasoning in a freezer bag, drop in some meat and shake it around while closing off the bag with your hand. You don't want to give yourself a dust bath, do you ?
• On the hob heat the olive oil in a deep and wide enough frying pan to place the meat in one layer. Brown the meat crusty on both sides. Put them on a plate and set aside.
• Turn down the heat and melt the butter. Add the vegetables (carrot, onion, celery) together with the lemon zest, garlic, thyme and sage. Sautee until soft.
• Turn the heat back on high, place the meat on top of vegetables and pour in the white wine. Let it bubble until the wine has reduced by half.
• Add the stock and return the heat to the lowest setting, cover with lid and simmer until the meat is tender.
• Adjust the seasoning with salt and black pepper.
• Sprinkle over the chopped parsely.

Serve this with creamy polenta, risotto or plain rice. We went for cappellini.

A year or so after the first visit with the boyfriend's parents, his mother made this again. It seems like we came full circle. He broke it off with me after that.

Oh well, I added a great dish to my repertoire and I've since met my wonderful husband, Bert. 

Patricia xxx...x

Vegetable Tagine

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped into large-ish pieces
• 1 parsnip, peeled and chopped into large-ish pieces
• 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and you know what to do
• 2 cm piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped or grated
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• 3 shavings of lemon zest
• 1/2 chilli, strength to taste, sliced, seeds removed or not
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp Ras el hanout spice mix
• 3 cardamom pods, squashed
• 1 tin of peeled tomatoes, roughly chopped up
• 1/2 red pepper, chopped
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• seasoning (salt and pepper to taste)
• a squirt of harissa if you have it and like it hot, baby
• a sprinkle of the omnipresent coriander leaves

Method

• Heat olive oil in a pan, add the first 12 ingredients. I am so sorry that I cook from scratch, scratch, scratch.
• Sautee on a low heat for 5 minutes. 
• Add a splash of water and cover with lid. Don't burn it. Add more water if needed.
• Let it simmer for another 5 minutes. Then add the tomatoes and half a tin of water.
• 15 minutes, covered with lid.
• Add the red pepper and the cinnamon and cook for a further 5 minutes.
• Season and add a squirt of harissa if you like.
• Serve with plain couscous and sprinkle with green angel confetti aka coriander leaves.

Thanks for looking in.

Patricia xxx...x

Salmon and Prawn Laksa - It is Just a friggin' Soup.

I've been wanting to make laksa for some time now, but 'exotic' ingredients, like rice noodles, are often hard to come by in this neck of the woods. Let alone, laksa paste or lemongrass. So most of the time improvising is on the agenda. But that is okay, because I'm an improvisatrice extraordinaire, even if I do say so myself.
I can't think of a time that I have ever had the honour of eating laksa, but looking at recipes on the web, I could 'imagine' the flavours. A choice had to be made though, last Monday, whether  it was going to be a fish based, chicken or vegetarian laksa. I opted for this recipe from BBC GoodFood .
While I had foraged the not-too-far shops over the last month or so, I had most ingredients in the house, except for laksa paste or Thai red curry paste, but in the freezer was a small (very small) plastic container with homemade Malaysian curry paste

Here is how I set to work.
Ingredients - serves 3 as a main course

• sunflower oil, 2 to 3 tbsp
• butternut squash, the neck only, peeled and cut into 1.5 to 2 cm cubes
• courgette, one that has been laying around the kitchen for a while (but you can use a fresh and firm one too), de-seeded and cut into similar size cubes as squash
• laksa, Thai red or homemade Malaysian curry paste, 2 to 3 tbsp.
• lemongrass stir-in paste, a squirt
• 1 tin of coconut milk, 400 ml
• chicken stock, 600 ml, more or less ( can be made from a stock cube)
• rice noodles, 150 gr, soaked in boiling water and drained (according to the BBC Good Food website). Don't use this cr*p, because they become too mushy :

• fresh beansprouts, 300 gr
• salmon, 300 gr, sliced or cut into chunks
• king prawns, the frozen kind, but defrosted. 1 handful (a shovel sized hand)
• fish sauce, a splash
• juice of half a lime
• chilli, red or green or yellow, as many as you like and as hot as you can stand, sliced into rings
• a small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped.
• 3 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal.

Preparation

• Heat  the oil in a pan and sautee the butternut squash for 5 minutes
• Add courgettes and cook for another 5 minutes while regularly stirring. 
• Spoon in the paste of your choice, together with the lemongrass squirt and coat the vegetables, cook for a few minutes.
• Pour in the coconut milk and stock, simmer for 10 minutes
• Add noodles, beansprouts and fish, simmer for another 2 minutes or till the salmon has lost its translucency.
• A splash of fish sauce.
• Turn off the heat and add the prawns. If you use the kind I used they are already cooked and just need heating through.
• Stir in the lime juice, some of the coriander, chilli and spring onions, keeping some behind to sprinkle over the served dish.

And there you have it.  It tasted just as heavenly as I imagined.

If by any chance my recipe scares you, I won't be offended if you use the one from the Good Food website. Well, maybe just a little bit.

Patricia xxx...x

Hete Bliksem or Himmel und Erde

Hete Bliksem, literally translated from Dutch, meaning Hot Lightning. The German version of this particular dish is called Himmel und Erde or Heaven and Earth, in English.  You can also call it Mashed Potatoes and Apple Stew Mixed Together.
There are many variations around and different methods of 'bringing' this dish together. Served often with any kind of pork but the most authentic accompaniment would be black pudding.

It is yet again a perfect autumnal meal, even if the present weather thinks it is high summer.

Here is my take on Hete Bliksem.

Ingredients - serves 4 hungry people

• butter or lard, 1 tbsp
• 100 gr smoked lardons/bacon pieces
• 2 onions, peeled, halved and sliced

• thyme, a few sprigs
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 sage leaves, shredded
• 750 gr cooking apples, weighed when cored and peeled- cut into moderate chunks

• sugar
• cinnamon

• 1 kg floury potatoes, again weighed when peeled, cut into moderate pieces
• 1 or 2 tbsp butter
• splash of milk or cream
• grated nutmeg, salt and pepper

• bread crumbs

Preparation

• Fry off the lardons in the lard or butter.

• When golden, scoop out of the pan and set aside
• You might need to add some more fat before adding the onions and herbs

• Sautee the onions till translucent
• Add the apples and a splash of water. Turn down the heat and cover with lid.
• Simmer till soft, but not completely mushy. You want some chunks. Stir regularly and add water if it becomes too dry or wants to burn.

• Taste it and add sugar to your liking. A little sharpness is good.
• Sprinkle in cinnamon.
• Stir in the bacon pieces.
• Take off the hob and let it cool slightly.
• You may also want to take out the bay leaf and thyme stalks. I don't. I like to serve it to Bert, or so he believes.

• Cook the potatoes in salted water.
• Drain and mash with butter and a splash of milk
• Season with freshly grated nutmeg and black pepper

• Pour the apple compote in an ovenproof dish
• Top with mashed potatoes, sprinkle with bread crumbs and heat through in a hot oven (190°C- fan) till the crumbs are golden.

Serve with black pudding, pork chop or sausage.

Often the apples are mixed in with the mashed potatoes and served that way.

Enjoy the weekend.

Patricia xxx...x

PS Commenting is free. ;-)

Mushroom and Chorizo Ragout with Creamy Polenta

It's been a few years  (8, at least)  since I last made polenta. But the idea must have been on my mind because a couple of months ago I bought some in the wholefood shop in Kenmare. I stored it safely away in the pantry in case of an apocalyptic event.
That apocalyptic event happened on Monday when I ran out of steam after I sliced about 6 kg of cucumber, plus onions, salted the bejaysus out of them, ready for pickling the next day.
Starving I was.  Right, I have mushrooms.  I'll make an autumnal  mushroom ragout and thus I set to trawling the internet.  I used this recipe as a guide, adapting as I went along.
I used only fresh mushrooms and not my dried porcini as they are for another apocalyptic event. I also added 4 of our homegrown chorizo sausages.

My recipe went as follows.
For the ragout.
Ingredients - serves 2 to 3

• sunflower oil, 1 tbsp (or thereabouts)
• 4 chorizo sausages (or other, of good quality)
• 2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• thyme, a few sprigs - hard stalks removed.
• butter, 1 tbsp
• 3 portobello mushrooms, sliced
• 200 gr closed cup mushrooms, quartered
• 250 gr chestnut mushrooms, halved
• tomato concentrate, 1 heaped tsp
• white wine, 100 ml
• chicken stock, 200 ml (from a cube is fine)
• 1 tbsp cornflour in 1 tbsp of cold water
• freshly chopped parsley,  a few sprigs
• seasoning, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation Use a pan large enough to receive all the ingredients at one stage or another.

• Heat the oil in a pan and brown the sausages all around. Please don't turn them into lumps of coal, so brown them on a low to moderate setting. 
• Remove from the pan when cooked through. Set aside.
• In the remaining oil, sautee the shalots with the whole, but crushed garlic cloves and add the thyme
• When the onions are translucent, add in the butter.
• Turn the heat up a notch and sautee off the mushrooms.
• Then stir in the tomato concentrate and let it cook for a minute.
• Next in is the white wine. 
• Let it reduce before adding the stock.
• Cut the sausages in disks and add to the pan.
• Let this all simmer for about 5 minutes or until the liquid has reduced somewhat.
• This is where I then add the cornflour if the sauce is too thin. Let it cook through for a minute.
• Season to your liking and stir in the chopped parsley.

Oh the polenta !

I didn't even know instant polenta existed, therefore I used the guidelines on the packaging. I suggest you do the same.

• 750 ml water to 120 gr polenta
• chicken stock cube, bay leaf and sprigs of thyme
• 1 tbsp butter
• a splash (100 ml) of cream - I used double
• a couple of handfulls (depending on the size of your hands, I've got shovels) of grated parmesan cheese.  
• black pepper

Preparation

• Bring the water with stock cube and herbs to the boil
• Reduce to a simmer and pour in the polenta in a steady stream while you whisk with a whisk to prevent lumps.
• Revert to a wooden spoon and stir, this time to prevent sticking to the bottom and consequently burning your polenta !  Low setting.
• Now, my packet said 30 flippin' minutes. Luckily, it was ready in 10 to 15.
• Take off the heat and mix in the parmesan, butter and cream.
• Season with black pepper and serve.

Don't let my long-winded post put you off, or the seemingly long list of ingredients, because it was a doddle and ready in half an hour.
The flavour was as rich and intense as the colour of the ragout. And boy did it shout autumnal!

Patricia xxx...x

I Love Lentils - Green Lentils with Confit Duck Legs

I do. I do love lentils. And I have them in the pantry, always. 

I love their slight peppery flavour and the fact that they are so versatile. They get a few bonus points because they are also very nutritious. 

My mother, Irma, who used to be an adventurous and progressive cook when my brother and I were growing up, never made lentils for us. We didn't miss it, because we probably never knew of their existence.

I got acquainted with these little legumes when we moved here to Ireland the first time round (1995/96 or thereabouts).  Since then they have been a regular part of our diet. 

The following recipe is of French origin, but with some poetic licence.

I bought these duck legs in Lidl. They were not bad, but between you and me, they are nothing like the confit the canard I used to have in France. 

If you don't fancy or can't get hold of duck legs, don't panic. The lentils work equally well with pork,lamb or sausages.

If you don't fancy lentils, well ....try them !

Ingredients serves 2

• duck fat, lard, butter or sunflower oil
• smoked lardons (bacon pieces), 100 gr
• 1 medium sized onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 or 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated
• provençale herb mix, 1 tbsp or a few sprigs of fresh thyme, rosemary and oregano
• 1 bay leaf 
• lentils (small green, brown or Puy), 300 gr
• red wine vinegar, 50 ml
• water, 500 ml
• seasoning, sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• parsley, chopped

Preparation

• On the hob, fry off the lardons in the oil or fat till they are golden brown. Do this over a gentle heat.

• Take them out of the pan, leaving the fat in the pan. Set lardons aside.

• Sauté the onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Add the herbs.

• You might have to add a little more oil or fat and maybe even a splash of water. Again, do this gently with lid on to create a bit of steam in the pan.

• In the photo above you can see the level of doneness.
• Stir in the lentils and coat them with the fat (like you would be doing with the rice for a risotto) 

• Add the red wine vinegar and let it reduce.
• Next add the water, stir a final time and cover with lid.

• Simmer over a low heat for 30 to 45 minutes.
• Check regularly for doneness, add a splash of water if it has evaporated before its time.
• When ready add the bacon pieces/lardons.
• Season with salt and black pepper and sprinkle with parsley.

• I reheated and 'crisped'up the duck legs in a hot oven. The confit I've eaten many times in France is more moist and 'fall-of-the-bone' tender than this was. It probably has to do with the fact that in France they use the legs and magret (breast)of the very same ducks that produce the foie gras. As I said at the start as duck legs go, they were good, but don't expect confit, because to me it wasn't.
• Serve with bread.

I had made baguettes to serve with the lentils.

See recipe here. Unfortunately I misread my own recipe and added too much water. Had to rectify by adding more and more flour, which resulted in a denser crumb. Still bliddy tasty though. Even when I had to change their shape slightly too, to get them on my baking tray in the oven.

;o)

Come again soon.
Patricia xxx...x

Sausage and Bean Casserole

This is a recipe for a quick one pot wonder.  I say quick because you can have it on the table in half an hour.  And no, I'm not trying to be a Jamie Oliver, even though I like his cooking style very much. Sometimes I have to prove to myself that I can rustle up something delicious without spending ages on the prep and cooking. I am the slowest person I know.

The French charcutier who has turned one of our pigs into delightful morsels of cured meats also made lots of sausages and while they are all very tasty, I really like the chorizo sausages. Especially for a dish like this.
You can use any good quality sausage, of course, but if you can add some cubed chorizo salami to the pot for extra smoky flavour, it makes all the difference.

Ingredients - 2 people

• 4 fresh chorizo sausages
• sunflower oil
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped or grated
• half a red pepper, cut into 1.5 cm pieces
• half a green pepper, same as above
• chilli pepper, take one that suits your palate, super hot or just mild, sliced
• 1 star anise
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 1 tsp cumin, powdered
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp concentrated tomato paste
• 1 tin +/- 400 grs kidney beans, drained
• 1 tin +/- sweetcorn, drained
• 100 ml water or stock
• Seasoning (salt, pepper)

Preparation

• Heat some oil in the pan and brown off the sausages on all sides. Give this time and do it over a low-ish setting. Add the oregano and thyme to this.
• When they are cooked through, take the sausages out of the pan and set aside.
• Depending on how much oil is left in the pan, you can add some or not. 
• Sauté the onions with the garlic until they're almost translucent.  Then add the peppers and chilli.  
• Sauté for a few minutes longer.
• Stir in the tomato paste and spices. Let it cook for a minute or so, but don't burn the spices.
• Add the beans, sweetcorn, stock or water and sausages.
• Simmer, with lid on, until everything has heated through.
• Season to taste.  I always add a good portion of coriander leaves, because I like it.
• Serve with crusty baguette or oven roasted sweet potatoes or both.

Fast food cooked at home.

Patricia xxx...x

Spiced Chicken Meatballs with North African Aromas - (295 cal) - 5:2

Very odd quantities,agreed, but that's just how the cookie crumbled.
serves 6 on the IF diet - 295 calories per person - 4 meatballs per person

Chicken Meatballs
ingredients
24 meatballs

• 692 grs chicken mince (174 cal/100 grs)
• 350 grs grated courgettes (30 cal/100 grs)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander seeds
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1 tbsp paprika
• fresh coriander leaves, chopped

preparation

• Put the grated courgettes in a colander, in the sink, sprinkle with some salt and cover with a plate and a weight on it on top. This is to extract as much water from the courgette as possible.
• Leave for 10 minutes and squeeze the bejayses out of the courgettes.
• In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together well. 
• I would not add any salt to the mince mix as the salt used for the courgettes will still be there to some extent.
• Divide and shape into 24 balls.
• Set aside (fridge preferably)

North African spiced sauce

ingredients

• 130 grs onion, chopped (44 cal / 100 grs)
• 290 grs carrots, cut into rustic chunks ( 43 cal / 100 grs)
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated (15 cal / clove)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 5 crushed cardamom pods
• 1 cinnamon stick
• chillies, fresh and chopped or chilli powder (to taste)
• 2 tbsp tomato concentrate (77 cal /100 grs)
• 1 tin (400 grs) peeled tomatoes (19 cal /100 grs)
• 1 chicken stock cube) (15 cal /100 grs)
• 1 tbsp olive oil (100 cal / tbsp)

preparation

• Heat oil in the pan and add onion, garlic and carrots.
• Sweat down for a couple of minutes before adding the spices and tomato concentrate.
• Cook out the tomato a little before adding the tinned tomatoes and stock cube.
• You may want to add some water if the sauce gets too tick.
• In any case put the lid on and simmer for 20 minutes, till carrots are pre-al dente.
• Place the meatballs and place on top op the sauce and cover up again with lid.
• Simmer for a further 15 minutes. The meatballs should be cooked through by this time, but you might want to open one up to check.
• Serve with rice or cauliflower 'rice' (recipe to follow).

Thanks for visiting.
Patricia xxx...x

The Quickest Lamb Tagine

Great that it was a quicky, as I had already bitten off Bert's nose earlier in the day and his head was going to be next.  The dieting is starting to get to me, as in, bad mood. I want to eat BREAD and PASTA, if not then I want POTATOES.

Ingredients
serves 3 normal portions, or 4 sparrows  (530 calories or 400)

• 1 onion (56 grs), chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, grated
• 230 grs carrots, peeled, cut into 3 cm chunks and quartered
• 400 grs courgette, cut in a similar size to the carrots
• 6 merguez sausages (360 grs), cut into 3 cm pieces (I didn't bother skinning them)
• 1 tin of peeled tomatoes (400 grs), chopped up
• red pepper (95 grs), cut into strips
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp honey (that just wasn't enough... I added 2 tsp stevia)
• chilli, to taste
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• seasoning
• fresh coriander leaves and stalks, to taste

Preparation

• Heat the oil in a suitable pot, sautee the onion with the carrots
• Add the garlic, chilli, courgettes and sausages
• Sautee for 5 more minutes
• Add the tomatoes plus water (the water from rincing the tin)
• Simmer, with lid on, for 15 minutes, till veg are al dente
• Add the peppers for 5 more minutes and the cinnamon
• Season with seasalt, honey/sugar/stevia and maybe chilli powder, to taste
• Finish off with coriander.

You can obviously eat with couscous. That's what I served Bert. I, however, had it without.
It really warmed the cockles of my heart.  You can now come closer again, I won't bite off your head. Promise ;)


Patricia xxx...x

Flemish Beef Stew, but not exactly.

Not exactly, because I didn't use beer and I used beef shin instead of stewing steak.
Why ? Well it's what I still had in the freezer and I love to suck the bone marrow - do I need to blush?

Ingredients

• 1 kg beef suitable for stewing (I had 3 cuts of shin)
• 1/2 tbsp flour
• 3 onions, sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• vegetable oil and a knob of butter
• a couple of sprigs of thyme
• 1 bayleaf
• 500 ml beef stock (can be from a stock cube - I used Kallo organic)
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 2 slices of stale bread, smeared with Dijon mustard
• handful of raisins
• a splash of shoyu

Preparation

• Dust the meat with the flour.
• Heat the oil and butter and brown the meat.

• Take the meat out and set aside.
• Then sautee the onions and garlic.
• Bring the meat back to the pan and add the thyme and bay.
• Pour over the stock, the vinegar and sugar.
• Put the slices of bread on top and cover.

• Leave to simmer on the hob or (if you have a casserole type dish, put it in the oven - 170°C) until meat is coming off the bone and is tender.
• The bread should have disolved somewhat, stir it through properly. It helps to thicken the sauce
• Add the raisins near the end of the cooking time and the splash of soy sauce.
• Season to taste with black pepper and salt (if necessary)

I'll tell you this, if you have a good quality beer in the house, please do make use of it in this stew. It will taste devine.

Thank you again for visiting. Don't be a stranger and come again.
Patricia xxx...x