Jamies Griddled Tuna Kinda Niçoise Salad

So Ben bought me the 'Jamies 15 minute meals' book as a Christmas present but really it was a present for him as for 2 weeks afters he picked a different menu each day hence the over load of Jamies Meals on the blog for now...This one is nutritious and delicious though!

Ingredients:

For the salad350 g mixed green and yellow beans½ baguette12 black olives, (stone in)3 ripe mixed-colour tomatoes1 romaine lettuce20 g feta cheese1 lemon

For the tuna & dressings1 big bunch fresh basil6 anchovy fillets1 lemon4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil2 x 200 g tuna steaks, (2.5cm thick)1 tablespoon red wine vinegar1 heaped teaspoon wholegrain mustard1 teaspoon runny honey

Method:

1. Line the beans up and cut off the stalks, put them into the pan with a pinch of salt, then cover with boiling water and the lid 

2. Slice the baguette into 2cm chunks and put on the griddle pan, turning when golden 

3. Pick and reserve 10 baby sprigs of basil 

4. Rip off the rest of the leaves and blitz them in the liquidizer with the anchovies, juice of 1 lemon, the extra virgin olive oil and a splash of water

Pour about 40% of the dressing on to a nice serving platter and put aside 

5. Rub 10% into the tuna and season with salt and pepper 

6. Pour the rest of the dressing into a big bowl with the vinegar, mustard and honey, then mix together 

7. Drain the cooked beans, remove the stones from the olives, roughly chop the tomatoes, then add it all to the bowl of dressing and toss together

Put the tuna on the griddle pan and cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until blushing in the middle 

8. Chop the lettuce into 2cm chunks, tear the toasts into croutons and arrange over a large board with the lettuce 

9. Scatter the dressed beans, olives and tomatoes over the top 

10. Tear each tuna steak in half and add to the dressing platter 

11. Scatter over the reserved basil leaves, crumble over the feta and serve with lemon wedges

Jamies Sticky Kicking Chicken

OK so it didnt take 15 minutes and its not that simple but its so yummy and once you've made it once its much quicker second time around...

Ingredients:

Salad
200g thin rice noodles 
sesame oil
800g watermelon
2 little gem lettuces
1 handful of radishes
Half a bunch of fresh mint
Half a bunch of fresh coriander

Chicken
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1 tbsp Chinese five-spice
olive oil
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 tbsp sesame seeds

Dressing
2 tbsp low-salt soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
Half a fresh red chilli
Half a thumb-sized piece of ginger
2 spring onions
2 limes
1 small clove of garlic

Method:

1. In a bowl, fully submerge the noodles in boiling water.

2. On a large sheet of greaseproof paper, toss the chicken with salt, pepper and the five-spice. Fold over the paper, then bash and flatten the chicken to 1.5cm thick with a rolling pin. Put into the large frying pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, turning after 3 or 4 minutes, until nicely charred and cooked through.

3. Drain the noodles and toss with 1 tablespoon of sesame oil on a big serving platter. Put half of the noodles into the medium frying pan, tossing regularly until nice and crunchy.

4. Remove the watermelon skin, cut the flesh into erratic chunks and add to the platter. Trim the lettuces and cut into small wedges, halve the radishes, finely slice the top leafy half of the mint and most of the top leafy half of the coriander, and scatter over the platter.

5. Put the coriander stalks into the liquidizer with the soy and fish sauces, chilli, peeled ginger, trimmed spring onions, a splash of water, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and the lime juice. Squash in the unpeeled garlic through a garlic crusher, then whiz until smooth.

6. Drain away any excess fat from the chicken pan, put back on the heat, drizzle with the sweet chilli sauce and toss with the sesame seeds.

7. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently with clean fingers until well coated, then break over the crispy noodles.

8. Transfer the chicken to a board and serve with an extra sprinkling of coriander leaves.

Rekorderlig Mussels

Definitely a new favourite of mine... so easy yet SO yummy!!!

Ingredients:

40g/1½oz butter
2 medium banana shallots, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 tbsp plain flour
150ml/5fl oz milk
1kg/2lb 4oz mussels, de-bearded and cleaned
300ml/10fl oz Rekorderlig Apple cider
200ml/7fl oz double cream
crusty bread, to serve

Method:

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat and gently cook the shallots, garlic and celery until soft but not brown.

2. Stir in the flour and gently cook for a minute or so then slowly add the milk a little at a time, stirring continuously, to make a smooth, thick sauce.

3. Meanwhile, tip the mussels and Rekorderlig into a separate pan, cover with a lid and bring to the boil and steam the mussels for 4-5 minutes until the shells have just opened.

4. Place a colander over the pan containing the white sauce and drain the mussel liquor into the sauce. Return the mussels to their pan and cover with a lid to keep warm.

5. Working quickly, whisk the mussel liquor into the sauce, bring it to the boil and continue boiling until it is the consistency of double cream. Stir in the cream, pour the sauce into the pot of mussels and serve immediately with crusty bread.

Ligurian Focaccia

So I haven't updated for a while but Easter weekend has provided some time to get uploading!!

Ben sent me on a cooking course for my Birthday which was possibly the best day ever and this is the first thing we made..!

Ligurian Focaccia, possibly the tastiest bread ever!

Ingredients:

A cake or package of active yeast of the kind sold in the supermarket.
About 1 1/2 cups (350 ml) warm water
1/3 cup extravirgin olive oil
Salt, both finely and coarsely ground (kosher will work well for the latter)
6 1/4 cups (750 g) unbleached all purpose flour


Method:

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. 

2. Make a mound of flour on your work surface, scoop a well into the middle of it, and pour in the yeast mixture together with 5 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 healthy pinches of fine salt. 

3. Knead the mixture, adding further warm water is necessary, until you obtain a fairly firm, homogeneous dough - around 10-15 minutes of kneading. It needs to still be fairly moist.

4. Put the dough in a bowl, cover it with a damp cloth, and let it rise for 2 hours.

5. Preheat your oven to 400 F (200 C).

6. Grease a baking sheet and dust it well with finely ground salt. 

7. Take the risen dough and spread it enough to completely cover the baking sheet, dimpling the surface by pressing down on it with a spoon or using your finger tips.

8. Let the dough rise about 10 minutes in the pan. While it is doing so, take the remaining oil and beat it lightly with a little water to make an emulsion; brush this emulsion over the focaccia and sprinkle it with coarse sea salt and anything else you fancy! (I used Rosemary)

9. Bake the focaccia in a low rack until it is a lively golden brown, turning it 180 dgrees when it is half-cooked, then remove it and let it cool. Don't let it overbrown. 

Top Tip...
Put a bowl of water in the oven with the focaccia, to keep it from drying out overmuch as it bakes.
To help the dough rise, you can add a teaspoon of honey, malt extract, or sugar to it.

Asian Laksa Coconut Soup with Noodles

Quick, easy, healthy and a firm favourite of mine (and Alis!!)

Ingredients:

Carrots
Beansprouts
Spring Onions
Red Pepper
Onion
Chicken
Noodles - egg, rice, whatever you like!

For the soup base:
Corriander
Cumin powder
Fish Sauce
Red chillie
Ginger
Garlic
Lime or Lime Juice
2 cans of coconut milk or 1 can of coconut milk and then re use can and fill with chicken stock cube and hot water 

Method:

1. Roughly chop large handful of corriander, 1 or 2 red chillies, 3cm of ginger, 2 cloves of garlic and place in blender.  Add table spoon of fish sauce, 1 teaspoon of cumin, a couple of tablespoons of lime juice, a dash of water and blend.

2. Finely slice the carrot and spring onion into strips, cut the onion and pepper roughly. Place your noodles in boiling water to soften.

3. In a deep frying pan or saucepan place the onion and half the carrots.  When softened add the paste from the blender and stir for a minute.

4. Then add the coconut milk and stock - even if you use 2 cans of coconut use a stock cube in a very small amount of water. Also drain and add your noodles.

5. Slice your chicken and cook quickly in a little oil in a fry pan and then add to the soup along with the juices and oil for extra flavour. Also add the peppers at this point

6. Finally bring to the boil and add more water if you require more soup then serve placing the remaining carrots and the springonions and beansprouts on the top so they remain crunchy and fresh.

Homemade Veggie Dumplings

Much easier than it looks but a great starter or canape to impress your guests...

Ingredients:

1 Carrot
1 Red Onion
Chinese Cabbage
Garlic
Red Chillie
Ginger
Soy sauce
Wonton Pastry Skins (available from you local chinese supermarket)

Method:

1. Cut up all your ingredients (carrot, red onion, cabbage, garlic, ginger and chillie) really small, as small as you can, at least smaller than 1/2 cm. This makes it easier for when you are making the parcels.

2. Place in a frying pan with a dash of soy sauce and a few tablespoons of water, the idea is to just soft all the veg. Leave for 5 to 10 minutes, adding more water when necessary and stiring occasionally.

3. Take off the heat and sieve to remove any excess liquid and leave to stand for 5 to 10 minutes to cool and dry off.

3. Take your wonton skins and place a teaspoon of the mixture in the middle (picture 1), dip your finger in a little water and wet the edges and corners then take the opposite corners and bring them together (picture 2), once they are all together in the middle (picture 3) then using your fingers to bring them all together and stick to give final look like in final picture above.

4. In a frying plan place a tablespoon of vegetable or groundnut oil and heat gently.  Once smoking slightly add the dumplings carefully - I use tongs.

5. Fry dumplings until the bottoms are browned, use tongs to lift and check one dumpling.

6. Once browned get a jug of water and very carefully poor a few tablespoons of water over the top of the dumplings (it will bubble and smoke lots when the water hits the oil but thats fine just do it quickly) and imedietely put a lid on and leave for 2 minutes to allow the dumplings to steam, giving the pan a little shake every now and then to make sure they arent sticking.

7. Remove and place on a plate and serve with sweet chillie sauce and soy sauce!

Bacon and Stilton Salad with Sweet Potato Pie

A yummy yummy lunch or dinner for any summer occasion...!

              

Ingredients:

2 sweet potatoes

Pitta bread

Cucumber

Stilton cheese

Bacon

1/2 Red Pepper

Salad leaves

Balsamic Dressing

Black olives

Sesame seeds

Olive oil

Creme fraiche

Pine nuts

Method:

1. Put the sweet potatoes in the microwave for around 7 minutes until soft and the skin is easy to peal off.

2. Place the sweet potatoes in the blender with a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons of creme fraiche.  Blend until completely smooth.

3. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, sprinkle with sesame seeds - optional.

4. Put the bacon until the grill and cook for 5 minutes or until crispy.

5. In a bowl place the lettuce leaves, sliced cucumber and red pepper, crumbled stilton and the olives.

6. In a frying place place a handful of pine nuts and warm gently, constantly tossing to stop them burning, remove from the heat as soon as they are browned.

7. Dress with salad dressing of your choice then slice bacon and spread over the top and sprinkle pine nuts on the top.

Serve with sweet potato pie and warm pitta bread.

Quick, healthy and sooo yummy!