Spicy Noodle Soup

One of us had man flu tonight. So, I decided a spicy, warming noodle soup would be both restorative and cleansing. This is a recipe I turn to often, I got the idea when tsting recipes for a book.

Simply heat up some stock (about 600ml for 2) and by stock I mean bouillon powder dissolved in water until just boiling, then switch off. Meanwhile, chop lots of garlic, ginger and chilli finely and throw it into the stock, leaving it to infuse whilst you get on with the rest. If you have coriander, try chopping the stalks as finely as possible and adding to the broth now, I also add a drizzle of sesame oil. This create a delicious broth full of flavour, the perfect base for most things. Try it with or without noodles, I like to cook the noodles in the broth itself, although it's often a tight squeeze, as the take on the flavour and the starch thickens the soup slightly.

Next onto the vegetables. Use whatever you have, sliced mushrooms, carrots cut into matchsticks, shredded greens, diced courgettes, baby sweetcorn, green beans. Bring the stock back to the boil and add a couple of noodle nests, poke them around in the broth until softened and throw in the veggies. Stir as best you can, cover and leave to steam for 5 or so mins until the noodles are soft and the vegetables cooked. Finish with a drop of soy, stir well, scatter over coriander if you have it and eat. The noodles and vegetables take on the flavours of the spicy aromatic broth and you're left with a comforting, healthy dinner in next to no time. Read more...

Red Rice Stir Fry with Poached Eggs

We get our vegetable box on a Friday and if we get cabbage and potatoes, I've taken to making bubble and squeak for brunch at the weekends. A spoon (or more) of baked beans on the side and a poached egg, what could be better? Now, this isn't bubble and squeak in the strictest sense, I literally peel and boil and rice potatoes, then stir fry shredded cabbage in butter and garlic and mix together. A bit of a hassle, but so good.

As I'm still trying (somewhat in vain) to eat a bit lighter, I started looking for inspiration for alternatives. 101cookbooks is always a good place to start for healthy recipes and I soon decided to try some of the more intresting grains out there. Off I went to Waitrose after work and came home clutching a bag of red and wild rice.

This isn't a brunch dish as sorts, but I did eat it about 1, which is brunch time in my book. Red rice is similar to brown rice in nuttiness, it's ability to fil you up and the length of time it takes to cook. I stirfried some cabbage with garlic and chilli, added the cooked rice, a splash of soy sauce and sesame oil. Top with a poached egg, some finely diced red onion and toasted cashew nuts. Simple, tasty and healthy.

Below is the version I made for Pete, I made an egg omelette first, shredded it and added it the rice instead of a poached egg.


Ingredients.

4 eggs
200g Red rice (or brown rice), cooked
75g cashew nuts
3tbsp sunflower oil
2 red chillis, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 green cabbage, shredded
2tsp soy sauce
2tsp sesame oil
1 red onion, finely diced

• Poach the eggs using Delia's method.
  
• Meanwhile, heat the cashew nuts in a dry frying pan until golden. Remove and roughly chop.
• Now add the oil to the pan. Add the chilli and garlic and fry for a minute.
• Add the cabbage and fry for a few minutes until softened.
• Now add the rice, soy sauce and sesame oil. Stir in the onions and chopped cashews and serve.

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Vegetable Laksa

In my university days of cooking for 5 people in a 'kitchen' that consisted of a Baby Belling, a sink and fridge to do all my prep on; this was always a special treat. We got it from our culinary bible of the time - Cranks, a revelation of vegetarian cooking and not a bean chilli in sight.

I've since tweaked it a little and cut down the long of ingredients to make it something I might be able to rustle up from ingredients at home. Of course, the authenticity leaves a lot to be desired. But, what you do get is noodles cooked in an aromatic coconut milk broth, spicy with chilli and sour from lime, topped with chickpeas, stir fried vegetables and lots of coriander. A comforting and soothing bowl.

Ingredients

Serves 4

1 tin coconut milk
3 cloves, garlic
1 red chilli
3cm piece of ginger
1 small bunch coriander
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 litre vegetable stock
400g egg noodles
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 tbsp sunflower oil
spalsh soy sauce
200g carrots, peeled, halved and sliced
250g mushrooms (shitake work best)
2 heads pak choi, sliced
1-2 limes

• Either blitz in a blender or finely chop the garlic, chilli, ginger and stalks of the coriander. Add to a large saucepan with the coconut milk, stock and fish sauce. Bring to the boil and take off the heat.
• Add the noodles, stir to untangle and leave to soften in the heat with the chickpeas. Add some lime juice to taste, until you have a nice sour contrast.
• In the meantime, heat a large wok and the sunflower oil, stir fry the mushrooms, carrots and pak choi for 5 or so mins until cooked through, finish with a splash of soy sauce.
• To serve, heat the noodles and broth until piping hot. Spoon a nest of noodles into a shallow soup bowl and top with some of the vegetables, ladle over a generous amount of the aromatic, coconut broth and top with a lime wedge and lots of coriander.

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Beef, Mushroom and Guinness Stew

Another gem utilising my slow cooker. Inspired by this article by Nigel Slater we used cheap chunks of braising steak slow cooked with mushrooms, plenty of sweet onions and carrots and Guinness, to counteract the slight bitterness of the Guinness, I added a couple of tablespoons of prune jam that I had in the fridge, any other fruit jelly or sauce would work well, such as apple sauce, to give a rich and round flavoured stew.

Of course something this warming, with copious amounts of gravy cries out for a mash of some kind. As it is so rich, I'm thinking some kind of root mash would work well or colcannon. We had swede chips with ours, sweet and crispy they worked perfectly with the stew.

Ingredients

Serves 4

750kg stewing beef, cut into chunks
5tbsp flour
2 onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlics, finely sliced
250g mushrooms, sliced in half
1 sprig thyme
1 can Guinness
150ml water
2tbsp redcurrant jelly or apple sauce
1 small bunch chopped parsley to serve

• Heat a large casserole on the hob.
• Meanwhile sprinkle the flour over the beef with plenty of seasoning, turn the beef and make sure its well covered.
• Add a little oil to the pan and fry the beef in batches until brown all over. Remove and set aside.
• Add a little more oil and fry the onions and carrots over a low heat for about 10mins. Add a splash of water to the pan and scrape the bottom to lift of any sediment.
• Add the thyme, bay leaves, mushrooms and beef to the casserole with the Guinness and water.
• Cover and cook in the oven at 170C for 2 hours until the beef in meltingly soft.
• Stir in the apple sauce and season to taste.
• Serve sprinkled with parsley.

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Steak with Colcannon Mash and Creamy mushroom Sauce

Yes, this was as outrageous as it sounds, not exactly in keeping with January healthy eating. but sometimes when its cold outside, you need something fortifying and creamy. All is not lost, there must be a good 2 portions of veg in the colcannon and mushroom sauce!

I've already written about steak, so has Jamie Oliver, it goes without saying that you need to start with good quality meat (preferably organic). Really, with something this simple and good, its all about starting with the right ingredients, proper butter, decent potatoes... I really think you can taste the difference with organic potatoes. I've given lots of variations on mash here, and the colcannon recipe is here, if you don't fancy a creamy mushroom sauce, you could try this port and mushroom sauce instead.


Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients

Serves 4

250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
squeeze lemon juice
1tsp grain mustard
1 small tub creme fraiche

• Heat a frying pan and tip in the mushrooms. I always dry fry mushrooms for a while first as they tend to eat up oil. Fry until beginning to brown.
• Add a knob of butter along with garlic and continue to fry until the mushrooms are cooked through.
• Add the mustard, lemon juice and creme fraiche. Warm through and season generously with lots of black pepper and a little salt.

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Simple Egg Fried Rice

A simple recipe, perfect for using up leftovers and shoehorning in extra vegetables.This recipe works best with cold rice, so next time you cook rice, cook a bit more for the next day! (Although we use freshly cooked rice as often as not). Top with whatever interesting bits and bobs you have, toasted cashew nuts, coriander, sliced spring onions, extra chilli...

Oh, and a little tip. I normally buy a massive chunk of ginger, grate it all up and freeze in ice cubes to use for stirfrys and curries.


Serves 4

Ingredients

3tbsp sunflower oil
1 red chilli, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, grated

Optional: approx 300g cooked and shredded chicken or ham

Approx 500g vegetables, cut into similar sized pieces, e.g.
*carrots, sliced or cut into batons
*peppers or courgettes, sliced into strips
*mushrooms, sliced
*peas
*sweetcorn
*beansprouts

350g cooked rice
4-6 eggs, whisked and seasoned
2tbsp soy sauce

To serve:
100g cashew nuts or peanuts, toasted and chopped
1 small bunch coriander or spring onions, chopped
sweet chilli sauce

• You need a really large wok to cook this all at once, if you don't have one, try making it in 2 batches.
• Make sure all your vegetables are prepared before you start cooking.
• Heat a wok until its as smoking and as hot as possible. If you're using nuts, you can toast them in the pan whilst it warms up, but make sure they don't burn!
• Add the sunflower oil, allow to heat up for a few minutes then throw in the garlic, chilli and ginger, stirring furiously, you don't want them to burn.
• Now add the vegetables and cook for 3-5mins until beginning to brown.
• Throw in the meat in using a stir for a few more minutes.
• Now tip in your rice and continue to fry for another minute or so.
• Make a well in the centre and tip in the eggs, keep stirring and frying until the eggs are completely cooked.
• Finish with a splash of soy sauce.
  

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Venison Sausages with Mash and Mushroom Sauce

Mmm... this was a seriously decadent, rich and comforting dinner. We got some venison sausages with our veg box this week (they were on offer). Naturally we immediately thought of sausage and mash and I had a little braised red cabbage in the freezer. It was the wine and mushroom sauce (inspired by our Abel and Cole Cookbook) that really made this into something extra special even though it was cooked in the time it took to boil some spuds and grill the sausages.

Ingredients

Serves 4

20g dried mushrooms
250ml stock (chicken or beef)
50g butter
1 red onion, finely chopped
250g mushrooms (preferably a mix of wild and chestnut), sliced
250ml port or red wine
1tbsp cornflour

Make your sauce whilst the spuds are boiling anf you grill the sausages.

Cook the onions in the butter for 5 mins until soft
Turn up the heat and throw in the mushrooms, fry for 5 more mins until starting to turn golden.
Pour in the port and allow to bubble away for a few mins until most of the liquid has gone.
Mix the cornflour to a smooth paste with a little water and slowly stir into the pan. Add the stock, bring to the boil and cook a for another few minutes, stirring until the sauce thickens, add a little more stock or water if the sauce gets too thick.



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Throw it in Spicy Soup

This is one for using up any vegetables languishing in the bottom of the fridge. Save them from the compost and make soup! Now that the weather is turning, its the perfect time for a warm bowl of comforting soup. Soup is possibly the easiest thing to make with the least output for maximum pleasure. What's better that a steaming bowl of homemade soup?

Now, most soups require time, not that they're difficult, you just need to leave a pan to putter away on a stove top for a while, ideally eating it the next day once the flavours have developed. Don't get me wrong, this is fabulous for cooking in advance so that you can come home to dinner already made, or freeze portions ahead, for that, try these recipes.

This soup is all about knocking up a batch in 20mins flat and having endless variations, when you can't think what to make to make for dinner, but you want to feel like you're eating something 'homemade'.

This is barely a recipe, simply fry a tablespoon or two, depending on how hot you like it of thai curry paste in a large pan until the heady fragrance are released. now throw in your vegetables, whatever you've got, think stir fry, you want everything sliced or finely chopped. Give them a stir until they start to catch. Now add a can of coconut milk, fill the empty can with water and add this too, maybe a little bouillon powder too to boost flavours. Let this simmer happily for 5mins or so. To bulk it out, add a couple of nests of noodles, perhaps adding some extra water, make you stir well and untangle them as they soften.

Try chickpeas, noodles, tofu, shredded roast chicken, sweetcorn, carrot, mushrooms, greens, chunks of salmon, bean sprouts... the list goes on. then you get to garnish, a squeeze of lime, a flutter of coriander leaves, sliced spring onions.... Read more...

Kale and Mushroom Stir fry

I was pretty excited when I saw the dark green leaves bursting out of the top of my vegetable box this week, but then quickly I was lost. I felt like kale would be delicious but what to do with it? I've already made this, delicious by the way, but I wanted something else... Internet searching proved fruitless, so I changed tactic and figured that kale is really just a winter green so searched for 'greens' recipes. Many were a take on stir fry and I soon had my heat set on a big bowl of intensely flavoured stir fry on some steaming white rice.

I had planned on using oyster sauce, but checking the list of ingredients on a bottle in the supermarket, I decided to do my own thing. A simple stir fry, using mushrooms for a bit of oomph (I didn't want to just eat a plate of greens!) and some toasted cashews nuts for crunch.

Ingredients
Serves 2 generously

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 chilli, finely chopped
1tbsp ginger, grated
250g mushrooms, sliced
100g kale, tough stalks removed and finely sliced
1 carrots, sliced lengthways and sliced
100g cashews
½ cup vegetable stock
3tbsp soy sauce
2tbsp sesame oil
Rice to serve

• Stirfrys are all about preparation, so sharpen you knife and make sure everything is ready beforehand.
• Heat a wok or large saucepan, toss in the cashews and move them around until golden and toasty. Remove.
• Continue heating the wok as hot as you can bear, glug in a little sunflower oil (or vegetable) and heat until smoking.
• Throw in the garlic, chilli and ginger, stirring frantically for a minute.
• Next add the mushrooms and carrots and fry hard for a few mins until starting to brown around the edges.
• Next add the kale, stir around and pour in the stock watching the pan spit and splutter, allow to bubble away for a few mins until the kale is cooked through and the stock reduced.
• Next stir in the sesame oil and soy sauce. Taste and add more of each to if you prefer.
• Serve with the rice and sprinkle over the cashew nuts.

Read more...

Mushroom and Walnut Pasta

This dish evolved from hunger more than anything, adding things to the pan until it looked good,
I like to fry mushrooms in a very hot pan but with no oil as they just slurp it all up. Be patient. Mushrooms tend to leak all their juices readily, but given time soak them back up again, its important to season them as soon as they hit the pan so they can absorb that too, once they get going add a few sprigs of thyme and garlic too. Plump with seared edges in what you're going for, not soggy and limp. Finish with some lemon juice and your laughing.

I added a luxurious dollop of creme fraiche and some walnuts for texture, stirred into pasta, this is the way to eat mushrooms. I'm becoming a fan of using walnuts and almonds instead of the ubiquitous pine nuts with pasta, cheap and they add a much mellower flavour than the (admittedly delicious) pine nuts. I've also taken throwing chopped parsley onto everything, I love the freshness it adds, it would work particularly well here to cut through the richness of the sauce.


Ingredients

Serves 2

1 onion, finely chopped
200g short pasta (we used rigatoni)
200g mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
a few sprigs thyme
4tbsp creme fraiche (or double cream)
squeeze lemon juice
100g walnuts, chopped
parmesan and parsley to serve (optional)

Begin by cooking the pasta in plenty of boiling water. Once cooked, drain the pasta, but reserve a little of the water.
Meanwhile, cook the onion in a little oil on a low heat in a large frying pan until softened, then remove from the pan. Turn up the heat and add the mushrooms along with some seasoning and the thyme. Fry for about 5mins until the mushrooms are tinged brown.
Return the onions to the pan along with the garlic, give it a stir and add the creme fraiche, the creamy white turning a grey on contact with mushrooms. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and taste to see if it needs for seasoning.
Add the pasta to the sauce and stir well to coat in the sauce, add a little cooking water if the sauce seems too thick, sprinkle over the walnuts and tuck in immediately. Read more...

Mushroom Risotto

I got one of the little boxes of Japanese mushrooms from the farmers' market and seen as though I still had some dried ones from when I was testing mushroom recipes for a book (someone else's!), I decided to make mushroom risotto. Also, as you use some wine in a risotto, its always the perfect excuse to drink the rest...

Using dried mushrooms really bolsters up the stock and will disguise a poor mushroom selection, although we're coming into autumn now and wild mushroom season, which reminds me, I must find a course where I can learn about picking wild mushrooms...

I fried the mushrooms separately and only added them to the risotto at the end, so they didn't get all limp and soggy, I also didn't add parmesan as the risotto was richly flavoured enough with the mushroom stock and a knob of butter (naturally).

Ingredients

serves 4

50g dried mushrooms
1 litre vegetable stock (from bouillon is fine)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
300g risotto rice (arborio or carnaroli)
1 small glass white wine
500g mixed mushrooms, larger ones sliced
couple sprigs thyme
squeeze lemon juice
1 small bunch parsley chopped
large knob of butter

Add the mushrooms to the hot stock and set aside for about 15mins, drain the stock into a saucepan and keep warm on a low heat, retrieve the dried mushrooms and chop roughly. Fry the onions and garlic over a medium heat until softened, then add the dried mushrooms and rice, fry for a few mins until the rice grains become translucent. Next add the wine and turn up the heat, allow the wine to bubble away until nearly all of it has gone. Now add a ladleful of stock, stir gently until nealry all the stock has been absorbed (but not all!), continue to do this until most of the stock has been absorbed and the rice is cooked with a little bite. Meanwhile fry the mushrooms over a in a little butter and oil, add the thyme sprigs and seasoning. When the mushrooms are cooked add a splash of lemon juice. Add the mushrooms to the risotto once the rice is cooked, add the parsley, some seasoning and a knob of butte, stir, put a lid on and leave for 5mins. Stir again and its ready to serve. Read more...

Mushroom Stroganoff

When I'm not craving cheese and carbs, I usually want some sort of stew with a rich sauce you can pour over mashed potato or couscous to soak up all the juices, winter comfort food. This mushroom stroganoff dish is one such dish, flavoured with sherry and paprika.

This looks like a lot of mushroom but believe me they cook down a lot, to my disappointment when making this. A mixture of mushrooms is best, the more wild mushrooms you use, the more luxurious it is, in the absence of wild mushrooms, I made mine with chestnut and it tasted just fine.

I also had it with Bulgar wheat, partly in an effort to be more healthy, but also because I prefer the nutty grain to cous cous. You basically soak it like cous cous, but for a lot longer (30mins), make sure you don't add too much water as it can become a bit slimy if all the water isn't absorbed.

Ingredients
750g mushrooms, sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 chilli, finely chopped
1 glass white wine
½ tbsp paprika
½ small tub soured cream
½ bunch chopped parsley

Fy the onions in a little oil soft, add the mushrooms, leave to cook down, stirring occasionally. Add the paprika, fry for a few mins, then add the sherry. Let it bubble away until most of the alcohol has evaporated. Take the pan off the heat, when you're ready to serve, stir in the soured cream and season to taste. Sprinkle with parsley. Read more...