Spicy Meat Gumbo

It was time for a Jamie Oliver dinner last night and there is nothing I like better than his Gumbo. My other half would have it everyday if he could! There is just something about it that just makes you smile when you eat it. This is another dinner where I make double the amount and freeze half of it for use later on. It is full of great spices which means it tastes even better reheated... yummm, I'm salivating thinking about it!! :)

I just want to say a couple more things about this recipe that I do which I think might help anyone else making it. I always take the chicken out at the end, take it off the bone and shred it before mixing it back in. It only takes five minutes and makes it much easier to serve and eat. You can change the amount of chicken, chorizo and sweet potato you put in depending on how much you have. I sometimes only use half the amount of chorizo or chicken and it really doesn't make much difference to the amount of food you get at the end. I would try and get one of the dried chorizo to use rather than the raw chorizo sausages. They tend to have more flavour and I think work much better. If you need to, you can use normal rather than streaky bacon, it doesn't make too much of a difference. Lastly, I serve this in bowls with crusty, buttery bread rather than with rice and it is amazing!! I want more now!!!

I promise you that this recipe isn't as time consuming as it sounds and it is so worth giving it a go. I think anyone could make it as it is very forgiving to mistakes. As you can probably see from my not particularly good picture, we served up and ate before I took the picture - we where too hungry to wait!

This recipe is in the book Jamie's America by Jamie Oliver.

Bye all!!
Natz

Lamb Shanks Braised in Red Wine with Potato, Apple and Celeriac Mash

Last night I felt like doing some real cooking rather than just a reheat so I went all out! I got the Lamb Shanks Braised in Red Wine recipe from the October 2010 issue of Olive magazine which was from the Greedy Gourmet blog while the Potato, Apple and Celeriac Mash I cobbled together from a few recipes so I'll type that one in below.
In the meantime, lets talk about the lamb. It was a really easy recipe to follow, you only need a few spare minutes in mid-afternoon to brown the lamb and prepare the onions and garlic then everything goes in the oven for 4 hours. I started at about 3:30pm and dished up by 8pm - we're used to eating quite late so that was fine for us! By the time we ate, we were ready to eat our fingers as the smells coming from the kitchen were amazing! The lamb was beautifully cooked, it just fell off the bone when you showed it a knife and there was lots if nice sauce to go with it. I would/did change a couple of things; I cut the onion into wedges rather than halves as I didn't want to blend the sauce at the end - I like onion and garlic bits!! I used the sugar but I really don't think it needs so much - I found the sauce very sweet. I didn't find I needed the cornflour to thicken the sauce as it had reduced sufficiently to be perfect. It went very well with the mash and was a great Autumn/Winter dinner.

I am still perfecting the mash recipe (still slightly lumpy - grrrrr!!) but here is the recipe I have...
250g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
250g celeriac, peeled and cut into chunks (smaller than the potato as it takes slightly longer)
2 cox's apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
2tbsp creme fraiche
Salt and pepper

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil.
Add the potato, apple and celeriac and boil for 20 minutes or until tender.
Drain and add the creme fraiche and some pepper.
Mash until smooth. A potato ricer migtht give a better finish!

So that's it! I know my photos aren't great (I'm definitely no food stylist!!) but have a go and let me know what you think!

Bye for now,
Natz

Broad Bean, Pea and Mint Risotto

So, last night ended up as a 'can't be bothered, lets get something out the freezer' kinda night. Fortunately, I often cook double the amount I need so I can freeze the leftovers for just such an occasion!

This time it was a Broad Bean, Pean and Mint Risotto I had made a couple of months ago with fresh broad beans and peas from my veg box.Obviously frozen risotto needs a bit of work before its edible again but a couple of extra ladles of water soon loosened it up into a more risotto like consistency. Obviously, the rice is never going to be quite the same as freshly cooked risotto but those little bursting pods of sweetness you get from the peas and broad beans are just gorgeous! The only thing I need to remember next time is a little more salt (always taste before hand - I need to tattoo that on my forehead!!).

I used to think I hated broad beans. A hang up from a childhood stomach bug after a meal including broad beans that put me off for years. Honestly, the things we decide when we're young can really colour later life unless we keep trying new things. I'm sure that is true for more than just food but lets keep with the important stuff! Anyway, I had never before tried young broad beans still in their pods before I cooked this risotto the first time. They are just amazing with no bitterness - just all sweetness. So good I forgot to take pictures before eating it all as quickly as possible! Sorry!!

Anyway, after that rambling piece of writing, here's the recipe I have adapted from a few different cookbooks...

1oz butter
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
300g risotto rice (I use arborio)
100g baby broad beans, fresh or frozen
100g peas, fresh or frozen
1l hot vegetable stock
120g soft cheese
2tbsp fresh mint, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Paremsan to serve

Heat the butter in a large frying pan with a dash of olive oil to keep it from burning.
Add the onion and garlic and fry on a low heat for 2 minutes or until it is beginning to soften.
Add the rice and stir until the rice is well coated in the butter.
Add the peas and beans and stir well.
Add the stock a ladle at a time, over a moderate heat, stirring well after each addition and allowing the rice to absorb the liquid before adding more.
Continue until the rice is cooked through. This should take 15 to 20 minutes and you may need slightly more or less liquid.
Stir in the soft cheese and mint and remove from the heat.
Season with black pepper and, if necessary, salt, and stir again.
Serve with grated parmesan.

Tip: If you are using older broad beans, simmer them in water for a couple of minutes and pop them from their skins before adding them to the risotto.

Bye for now,
Natz

Introduction

Hello all!!! :)

I am a lover of food in all ways whether it be buying it, cooking it or eating it. I shall try to post most days about what I'm cooking and/or baking for the day and shall try to include pics of the successes and disasters!

I'll also be posting about my current project to do something about the jungle that is my current garden which I really want to turn into somewhere nice and relaxing with a big vegetable patch. I would love to be able to grow most of my own veg and at the minute I do the next best thing by getting a lovely organic box delivered every week from www.kentvegbox.co.uk. They deliver me beautiful fresh veg and that mens I get to try more new recipes with interesting veg. I'm getting loads of squash from them at the minute which always looks so exciting and so easy to use. More of that in later posts!

I will also be posting on any food related events and restaurants I go to. So for example, I'm off to the MasterChef popup restaurant at Meza on Saturday (very exciting!!) so I'll let you know how that goes. Also got MasterChef live coming up in November and the Love Cooking Festival. Wow, I didn't realise how addicted to food I was before I started writing this - with MasterChef Australia on television in the background!

That's it for now, not sure what is on the menu for dinner tonight but I shall post tomorrow to let you know how it goes.

Bye for now!!

Natz
xxx