Thai Whole Chicken Soup

Here's one that I'd been gathering ingredients for for a while but didn't know what I was making.

1) boiled a small whole chicken in about 2 litres of chicken stock with shallots and garlic for 1.25hrs.
Sieved the resulting broth and scooped some oil off the top. separated the meat from the bones and garbage and put back with sieved liquid. discarded everything else.

2) added 2 lrge lemongrass stalks, 4 kaffir leaves, 2 chilis, and a large piece of grated galangal, brought to boil then turned down and added 4 tbsp fish sauce, 1 can coconut milk, and a bunch of sugar snap peas.
turned down some more and added the juice of half a lime, and some sugar and cayenne pepper to taste.
garnished with coriander and basil leaves.
served with wholegrain noodles.

-----------------------------
take 2.
didn't put the chicken meat straight back in as it got too shredded from being boiled about. left it to last step when adding lime juice.
didn't use store bought coconut milk, used my own homemade coconut milk, much more delicate and not overwhelming at all, also a bit more coconuty taste.
consequently needed less fish sauce and no cayenne pepper, but added 3 dried chillis and a whole lime.

water into wine (making my cooking wine palatable)

was drinkin yellow tail shiraz today -lovely. i drank it all. had t resort t drinking the venison wine after all booze was gone and i went home (i live in ireland and it was well after 10pm). the €4 cooking wine was shiiiiitee!!! this made it quite palatable and was done bit by bit experimentally.. ground up well; ground coriander -goes well with vinegar sugar (well ground) -a good antidote to sourness sparing amount of MSG -just good! this got it tasting just OK, then added cinnamon -small bit for that xmas taste, relative perfection! nutmeg did not add anything so i stopped there at quite palatable! i think this is a good generic mixture for any wino trying t drink his cooking wine. i will surely refine this recipe again!

crusty coriander pork chops

crusty coriander pork chops: Made paste to spread on 3 pork chops; 2 tsp ground coriander 1 tsp cumin 2 tbsp dijon mustard 2 tbsp honey Salt +pepper Oven n pan hot. Spread mixture on pork chops. Seared for 2 mins on each side in pan. Into oven for 10mins ...most of it was really lovely. Was a little bit too much towards the end though, too much coriander and cumin maybe.

smoked mackerel and konnyaku salad

Salad: half cucumber bunch scallions balsamic olive oil coriander garlic pepper finely chopped large red chilli Peppered smoked mackarel flaked into chunks and put on top. Ripped a block of konnyaku into chunks n boiled for 1 minute. Drained washed in cold water and added to salad.

Sesame Chicken & Spicey Salad

Chopped up 4 chicken breasts (400g) into thin 3cm long slices.
made a marinade for chicken with:
at least 6 tbsp soy sauce
about the same of balsamic vinegar
roughly 4 tbsp sesame oil
and a 2inch by 1 inch piece of ginger finely chopped

stirred up well and left to marinate for about 50mins.

Meanwhile made the salad with:
1 head iceberg lettuce shredded (kept 4 whole outer leaves to use as bowls for the chicken)
3 bell peppers chopped
1 cucumber chopped in slices then divided further
5 tomatoes cut into 6 slices each (threw away any juice and seed bits that came loose)
a handful of bluberries
last but not least 2 very large red chilli peppers deseeded and finely chopped.
tossed well in a large bowl

made a salad dressing with:
soy sauce
sesame oil
balsamic vinegar
2 or 3tsp ground coriander
juice of 1 lime

Cooked the chicken in a hot pan for a few minutes with all the marinade until the chicken had coloured and just cooked but no longer. chicken was very tender and succulent.

Served on a plate by putting out the salad and dressing it, then propped up a lettuce bowl in the salad and put 1/4 of the chicken in the leaf bowl with some of the cooked marinade. This kept the marinade sauce and the dressing separate.

Yum!

Baked Ham, Roast Beetroot, & Mash

So I haven't been cooking in a whiles, I'm still waiting to buy a freezer for my new flat, so it kinda makes everything difficult for me.

Making 3 things; mash, boiled n baked ham, & roasted beetroots.

Mash:
1kg regular potatoes + .75kg sweet potatoes, skin on and boiled well.
Sauteed 4 shallots + 4 cloves in a knob of butter and extra virgin olive oil in small pan.
Drained potatoes well, and added contents of small pan to the potatoes. Added plenty of pepper, milk (1/3 pint), and a nice sploosh of soy sauce for saltiness.
Mashed the shit out of all that tilll creamy.

Roasted beetroots:
chopped some whole cooked beetroots into 4/6 pieces each.
Tossed well in -
4 tsp thyme
4 tsp balsamic
4 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp honey
put into roasting dish for 25mins


Ham:
boiled a .75kg ham fillet for 40mins, changing the water after 25mins. drained and cut off plastic.
Scored and generally rolled around in some baste in a casserole bowl.
baste -
2tsp thyme
2tsp balsamic
2tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp honey
+ground up some cloves & cinnamon
baked for 25mins with lid on.

made em. all feckin delicious. hopefully they keep in my fridge.

Caesar Salad

Finally got around to making this classic from scratch. Well almost from scratch, I used mayonaisse, but then again I didn't make the Worcestershire sauce from scratch either.

Followed the dressing recipe from here:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/caesar-salad-supreme/

Ingredients

• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 5 anchovy fillets, minced
• 6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cups day-old bread, cubed
• 1 head romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces

Directions

1. Mince 3 cloves of garlic, and combine in a small bowl with mayonnaise, anchovies, 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.

worked out pretty good!

tried to make croutons in a pan like suggested in the article. didn't really work out for me. went back t my trusty oven for them. ground up salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil in my pestle n mortar put into large bowl with 2 slices o bread cubed. tossed around for a while to cover em, then fecked em all in oven for about 12 - 13 mins. worked a treat.
tossed the lot up with cos lettuce n more grated parmesan. Not sure that much extra parmesan is required really as the dressing is incredibly pungent.

Chicory Cheese Tomato Bake

I bought some chicory, didn't know what t do with it. tried a couple o recipes from the internet.
One was a flop. The other is this one:
http://www.cookitsimply.com/recipe-0010-01698l9.html

ingredients

to serve 2

2 Heads of chicory
Salt and pepper
1/2 tsp Sugar
1 oz (25 g) Butter
1/2 tsp Lemon juice
2 Slices of Gruyere cheese
2 Tomatoes
Lettuce leaves

method

1. Place chicory in saucepan of boiling water. Add pinch of salt, sugar, a knob of butter and lemon juice. Cook for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C) Gas 7.

3. Drain chicory. Wrap each head in slice of cheese. Place seam-side down in greased ovenproof dish and surround with halved tomatoes. Season well, dot with the rest of the butter and bake for 15 minutes. Garnish with lettuce leaves and serve hot. 

Here's my finished product:

Chicory Cheese Tomato Bake

Pretty good. All very subtle flavours. The pot smelt amazing from the boiling chicory, didn't really live up to my expectations tbh, but was good. Very watery. Chicory reminds me of brocolli stalk (which i like).

Chickpea Biriami

not sure why i'm putting this one up as it's from a jar really. doesn't really count as cooking but i finally got to use my big pyrex oven bowl and cooked chickpeas for first time.

parboiled a chopped head of brocolli and put aside in pyrex bowl.
brought a pot of patak's biriami, chickpeas, basmati and a little water to the boil.
put everything into pyrex bowl, covered, and put in oven for 35 mins.

should have added more water. the  chickpeas and basmati soaked up everything. the flavour was pretty lacking, managed to save by adding my lemony salmon stock to the finished product.

Salmon Darne Roast

boiled a pot of baby potatoes
sliced 3 tri-coloured peppers in large chunks
finely chopped 3 garlic cloves
chopped a red onion
ground plenty of salt and pepper
a small handful of mixed herbs
added all of these to a well olive oiled roasting dish and mixed around in the dish with my hands
popped in a pre-heated oven for 20 mins (i oven everything at 200 deg centigrade if your wondering)

grated some lemon zest, and juiced the lemon
got some vegatable stock ready
before the oven was ready i seared 2 salmon fillet in some olive oil on high heat for a couple o minutes on each side.

i then carefully added all these things to the roasting dish getting plenty of zest on the salmon and made sure everything was dipped in the stock. put back in the oven for another 15 minutes.

viola. this would probably be good with white wine instead of the stock.

really good, i am officially into roasting stuff, got some nice lemony salmon tinged stock leftover from this one.

Surf and Turf Soup

got a litre of chicken stock hot in pot.

5 shallots, 1 inch ginger, 4 garlics, 2 lemongrass all finely chopped and woked for a minute.
thin sliced beef into chunks and added to wok for a few minutes.

added wok contents to stock <-this was a mistake, meant to add next section to pot first before bringing back to boil.

added can of coconut milk, baby corn, sugar snap pods, and frozen sweetcorn to the stock. brought back to boil.

left simmer for a few minutes, then added 2 tbsp each of soy and fish sauce, tsp demerera sugar,
and finally some frozen shrimp and juice of 1 lime and left for a minute before turning into a bowl.

decided to serve with brown and white basmati on the side. probly better with noodles in the soup, but getting a bit sick of noodle soup. [edit: just been eating as soup, now have a freezer full of rice portions]


pretty good soup! a little on the chunky side maybe.

Rosemary Pork Fillet with Mashed Celeriac and Roasted Parsnips

Mashed the shit out of loads of peppercorns, coarse salt, albout half a bulb of garlic, and the leaves of about 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary in my new pestle and mortar.

Put the whole pork fillet in a large bowl and rubbed the mixture all over the pork and into all the cracks of the fillet. Wrapped tightly in tinfoil and placed in tray.

Prepared some parsnips peeling and cutting down the middle in half (quarters for any very large ones). Put all the parsnips in the same bowl with a little remaining mixture and added some olive oil. Tossed well to cover in the oil and placed onto oven tray cut side down. This all goes in the oven for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile I prepared a celeriac by cutting the odd-looking base off and peeling with a knife. Cut into large pieces and popped in a large pot with a little shallot and garlic and some chicken stock. Left to the side to cook later.

After 30mins took out the oven tray and unwrapped the pork fillet and put back in oven for another 20mins.

I washed out the tinfoil into the pot with celeriac in, topped up with boiling water, and boiled for 20mins. Mashed the celeriac with a little butter and milk, it didn't get creamy but kind of smashed is the best way to describe it. Delicious! I was afraid it gonna taste of celery as that how it smelt raw but it didn't taste too strong and was nice. What sweetened the deal is that it contains only 25% of the carbs compared to potatoes -important for me as I have become quite fat from being obsessed with food of late.

Took out the oven tray. Sliced the fillet into thick medallions, fucking gorgeous! Totally over-seasoned and delicious. The parsnips were nicely softened and sweetened from the roasting -an old trick I picked up. I also tried roasting a few pieces of celeriac which really sweetened! I highly recommend it and must investigate further..

This made about 3 dinners.

Oh yeah, made a gravy as well. Scrubbed the shit outta the oven dish with a little boiling water to lift the fillet brown stuffs and poured into small pot, added a finely chopped shallot and a couple of garlic cloves and boiled for a while. Added some cornflour and watered down with a little balsamic vinegar and soy sauce. A little strong tasting but I'll use sparingly rather than water it down.

Crap in a Pot MMXII

not much thought went into this

onion chopped softened for a minute in olive oil
half bag fresh coriander chopped
2 sticks lemongrass
a few cloves of garlic

for some reason cooked on high a load of pork loins chunked up with plenty salt pepper in a separate olive oiled pot then added to main pot including juices

put on high heat, added some water to stop burning
added can of tomatoes, can of coconut
3 dried chillies
200grams of shrimp
brought back to boil
added a chinese cabbage, bag of beansprouts, bag of sugar snap peas
left to wilt for a while on high

realised it tasted shit so added some chicken stock
served with basmati
made about 8 large portions

not sure if it's any good yet, will leave to sit for a whiles, may be lacking in seasoning. i meant to put cumin in as well i just remembered.

[edit]
lovely with cumin. needed t sit for chilli to soak around

Wine Soaked Steak

Thin cut chips and sweetcorn with butter for the sides. Not too interesting.

Steak well massaged with salt n way too much pepper, left t sit for a bit.
Meanwhile chopped finely nearly a whole small bulb of garlic, it was half sprouting so removed the sprouts, so it wasn't a whole bulb really. Finely chopped 2 shallots and put aside in a bowl with the garlic.

Waited for chips t oven themselves till nearly ready. Got a pan hot and bothered with olive oil. Fucked in the steaks t sizzle till done. -scorch the sides t seal the juice and left for a little extra t cook a bit. - the steaks were browning and going out of date, but it actually made them very flavourful! I got 2 good sized sirloin steaks for 39c in Tesco discount section!!

Took out the steaks and added a tiny bit of water to lift the steak brown bits off the pan scrubbing vigourously with a spatula to make sure all the steak goodness was lifted off the pan. Threw in garlic/shallots for a couple o minutes t soften with a small bit of stock cube (NOT GRAVY GRANULES!) then lashed in a nice bit o red wine i picked up for a fiver (Donatello Pinot Noir 2009 €5) -it was actually better than the drinking wine i'd bought! Good shit. Brought back t the boil then fucked in the steaks for a sec t reheat them as they'd cooled slightly.

BANG! Fuck the chips n sweetcorn into serving bowls, pop the steaks into middle of plate and lash out the chunky wine/pepper sauce. Fucking mint!

If I sound like Jamie Oliver at all it's because I was watching him today. I tried t stay away from using garlic but saoirse (me bird) insisted. Also I used none of the new additions t my reportoire, asides from shallots and a new sense of taste (giving up smoking has been such a gift t my new found sense!).

Lemony Lemongrass Chicken

This is very much a chunky soup / stew really.

4 very large chicken breasts diced and marinated in the juice of 2 lemons.
About 4 large lemongrass sticks, removed bulbs and outer leaves, finely chopped the light coloured bit, bruised and made cuts in the stalks but left whole.
The lemon was probably a mistake, but I also kinda knew I was doing the wrong thing and wanted to see what happened.
Added the lemongrass to a pot of 1 litre chicken stock (half a Knorr homestyle chicken stock pot), and added sliced chicken also. Brought to the boil then simmered while I got the veg ready (12 mins maybe)

Chopped 1 small tray of those wee young corn on the cobs, 3 large peppers (green, red, yellow), and 4 hadfuls of spinach. Brought back to the boil threw in a can of coconut milk and left simmer for a few minutes while I cooked a big pot of medium noodles.

I then added 4 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp thai fish sauce, and 1/2 tbsp hot sauce. At this point it smelt fucking amazing and I thought I'd gotten away with the lemons, a quick taste revealed the ridiculously overpowering acidity, 1 tbsp of honey fixed this right up though. After a quick tasting session with the noodles I added 1 more tbsp of soy sauce. Viola, perfection! A very fresh tasting soupy noodle broth =)

This made me about 8 small meals.

This is probaby the first meal I've made in a long time that didn't have a ridiculous amount and chilli and garlic i just realised.