Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Preserves - the jury is out
So the blackberry & apple and raspberry & nectarine jams are now out to the Village People Jury....
Sunday, 13 July 2008
BBQ pt 2 - Mechouia
At S's bbq I also made a version of a Tunisian classic, mechouia. This is a salad of grilled/roasted vegetables and there seem to be as many versions of it as there are days of the year! The basic principle is that vegetables are roasted or grilled and then dressed with a dressing incorporating North African seasoning. You need to get a good smokey flavour into the vegetables so if you could cook them on a blisteringly hot bbq then so much the better. I couldn't so grilled them under a very hot grill until blackened and then ran the larger veg through the oven to cook out.
I suppose that one could use whatever was at hand but I used a couple of aubergines an onion and several large new spring onions, blackened and then roasted, a couple of red peppers, a few courgettes and some cherry tomatoes. The aubergine and onion take the longest so these were grilled first and then put in the oven. When done they were peeled and roughly chopped. The peppers similarly, although the blackening process under the grill was sufficient to cook them and these were also peeled and roughly chopped. The courgette was sliced and grilled until lightly browned together with the tomatoes.
For the dressing grind a teaspoon each of caraway and cumin to a powder with a teaspoon of salt and half of cayenne pepper (I suppose this depends on how you like it, you could use paprika for a milder effect). I did this all in a pestle and mortar and added a peeled garlic clove to the spices and ground that to a paste then ground in a nice spoonful of harrisa - I have a lovely home-made version that incorporates plenty of heat with the wonderful unique flavour of preserved lemon - and some olive oil to loosen it all off. I dressed the vegetables lightly as each was ready, building up the dish and then liberally dressing at the end. I think adding the dressing to the hot vegetables and then allowing them to cool in the liquid adds to the flavour and allows all the different flavours to really come together. If you wanted you could eat this warm, although we ate it at room temperature and it was absolutely delicious. Serve with some fresh coriander if you have it.
I suppose that one could use whatever was at hand but I used a couple of aubergines an onion and several large new spring onions, blackened and then roasted, a couple of red peppers, a few courgettes and some cherry tomatoes. The aubergine and onion take the longest so these were grilled first and then put in the oven. When done they were peeled and roughly chopped. The peppers similarly, although the blackening process under the grill was sufficient to cook them and these were also peeled and roughly chopped. The courgette was sliced and grilled until lightly browned together with the tomatoes.
For the dressing grind a teaspoon each of caraway and cumin to a powder with a teaspoon of salt and half of cayenne pepper (I suppose this depends on how you like it, you could use paprika for a milder effect). I did this all in a pestle and mortar and added a peeled garlic clove to the spices and ground that to a paste then ground in a nice spoonful of harrisa - I have a lovely home-made version that incorporates plenty of heat with the wonderful unique flavour of preserved lemon - and some olive oil to loosen it all off. I dressed the vegetables lightly as each was ready, building up the dish and then liberally dressing at the end. I think adding the dressing to the hot vegetables and then allowing them to cool in the liquid adds to the flavour and allows all the different flavours to really come together. If you wanted you could eat this warm, although we ate it at room temperature and it was absolutely delicious. Serve with some fresh coriander if you have it.
BBQ pt 1
So we had a bbq at the weekend to celebrate S's birthday. I helped out by making burgers (meat and veggie) and a veggie side dish. There were a couple of strict vegetarian guests so we had to make sure that there was enough non-meat food. Turns out there was more non-meat than meat!
I went to town on the burgers as I didn't fancy just plain slabs of meat again. First off were the veggies which was very simply a couple of cans of chickpeas drained and processed until fairly fine with a chopped red onion, some chopped coriander, mint and parsley (from my garden), a grated clove of garlic and a teaspoon of the North African spice mix, baharat. In lieu of baharat a little ground cinnamon, cumin, coriander would serve just as well. A good pinch of salt and pepper and we were done.
The meat ones were full of seasoning. We started with a red onion and about 100g chestnut mushrooms finely chopped, which were gently fried until soft and a clove of garlic grated in right at the end of the frying. That was cooled in a bowl and I added 4 cornichons finely chopped, about a tablespoon of thyme (from the garden again), a good grind of black pepper, a splash of Tabasco and 2 anchovy fillets very finely chopped, almost to a paste. For some reason a little anchovy makes meat dishes a little richer, perhaps it enhances the savouriness of it all. I don't know why it works but it does. Apparently so does star anise which Heston Blumenthal recommends adding to meat ragus (such as good old spag bol) to boost the flavour - although not enough to give a full anise hit. Anyway, the burgers - to the cooled seasonings mix in an egg and a couple of pounds of good steak mince then just shape and cook. I made 12 burgers out of that lot.
I went to town on the burgers as I didn't fancy just plain slabs of meat again. First off were the veggies which was very simply a couple of cans of chickpeas drained and processed until fairly fine with a chopped red onion, some chopped coriander, mint and parsley (from my garden), a grated clove of garlic and a teaspoon of the North African spice mix, baharat. In lieu of baharat a little ground cinnamon, cumin, coriander would serve just as well. A good pinch of salt and pepper and we were done.
The meat ones were full of seasoning. We started with a red onion and about 100g chestnut mushrooms finely chopped, which were gently fried until soft and a clove of garlic grated in right at the end of the frying. That was cooled in a bowl and I added 4 cornichons finely chopped, about a tablespoon of thyme (from the garden again), a good grind of black pepper, a splash of Tabasco and 2 anchovy fillets very finely chopped, almost to a paste. For some reason a little anchovy makes meat dishes a little richer, perhaps it enhances the savouriness of it all. I don't know why it works but it does. Apparently so does star anise which Heston Blumenthal recommends adding to meat ragus (such as good old spag bol) to boost the flavour - although not enough to give a full anise hit. Anyway, the burgers - to the cooled seasonings mix in an egg and a couple of pounds of good steak mince then just shape and cook. I made 12 burgers out of that lot.
Monday, 7 July 2008
Preserving
I've been up to a bit of preserving over the last few days. I do like chutney and pickles so thought I'd make a few. I've previously made some that have gone down very well (piccalilli and pear chutney in particular) and so thought I'd have a crack at a few more. So I've now got a cupboard stuffed with blackberry and apple jam, raspberry and nectarine jam, tomato chutney, Bengal chutney, and some balsamic and thyme shallots.
I have yet to put my efforts out the to the Village People Jury but I'm not sure that they are all going to be successful. Certainly I am not sure about two of them. First the raspberry and nectarine jam and second the tomato chutney.
Jam should be easy as you just boil up equal parts fruit and sugar. However, I ended up with one really good set (the blackberry and apple) and one (raspberry and nectarine) that despite passing the test for a set during cooking, seemed to stay totally liquid in the jars. After a day with no set I decided to boil it up again and see if I could get a proper set rather than ditch it (or pass off as a compote rather than jam!). I did get a set but was amazed at how much I had to reduce the liquid by - I lost a whole 8 ounce jar in the process of boiling the syrup down to get a set. That is a fair amount of liquid to lose for a 10 minute boil. Anyway we have a set now. They both seem good and will soon be passed out to my testers. I'm not going to give away what the extras are in each of the jams and preserves over and above the basic fruit and sugar - I wonder if they'll be able to taste my little additions? Although, if they know me well enough by know they may be able to guess the genre of product that may have been added :)
With the tomato chutney, I seem to have ended up with a total loss of the identity of the tomato and it seems to be just raisins and onions. I think that the recipe might be over kill on the dried fruit on this one, but as always I usually stick to the recipe first time before playing with it (although I did add change this one just a teeny bit to boost the flavour). Perhaps I'll re-name this one onion and raisin chutney. I may also have to keep my tomatoes much more chunky, I wasn't cutting very fine but from the looks of this, quarters or halves would probably have sufficed. Well, the proof will be in the tasting. A hot taste seemed ok, but we'll have to see what it is like in action soon.
My favourite potential is the Bengal chutney but that will take at least a couple of months to mature. The balsamic onions will also probably need a month but a hot taste of the preserving liquid is promising.
Next is to re-create my pear chutney that was so nice last time. As mentioned in my main blog, the cook book fairy has probably got that one so I'm going to have fun deconstructing the little bit I have left and then trying to re-build the recipe.
So, if anyone wants some jam or chutney give me a shout. I also need empty jars!
With the tomato chutney, I seem to have ended up with a total loss of the identity of the tomato and it seems to be just raisins and onions. I think that the recipe might be over kill on the dried fruit on this one, but as always I usually stick to the recipe first time before playing with it (although I did add change this one just a teeny bit to boost the flavour). Perhaps I'll re-name this one onion and raisin chutney. I may also have to keep my tomatoes much more chunky, I wasn't cutting very fine but from the looks of this, quarters or halves would probably have sufficed. Well, the proof will be in the tasting. A hot taste seemed ok, but we'll have to see what it is like in action soon.
My favourite potential is the Bengal chutney but that will take at least a couple of months to mature. The balsamic onions will also probably need a month but a hot taste of the preserving liquid is promising.
Next is to re-create my pear chutney that was so nice last time. As mentioned in my main blog, the cook book fairy has probably got that one so I'm going to have fun deconstructing the little bit I have left and then trying to re-build the recipe.
So, if anyone wants some jam or chutney give me a shout. I also need empty jars!
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