My grandmother's cooking is better than your grandmother's cooking

Every time my grandmother cooks its an event. Not only because the whole family descends upon her place but also because of the kind of stuff she puts together - always meat. Even though she is a vegetarian! Most of her recipes were honed keeping up with the ever adventurous demands of my grandfather. If ever he ate something that took his fancy he would describe it to my grandmother or have her get the recipe - even in restaurants or when they were out travelling - and a recreation would follow. My grandfather wasn't one to mince his words. If it was crap, he would let it be known. Over a few attempts the dish was perfected.

The other thing that my grandfather was notorious for was playing a sort of recipe book roulette. He'd come home, sit around for a bit and then start going through recipe books. Once he'd find something that seemed worth a try, it would be all hands on deck - my grandmother's hands that is. Now the kind of stuff that he enjoyed wasn't exactly the kind of stuff that you can pull out of a packet. And he was a stickler for not cutting corners - if something had to be cooked over a wood fire, that was the way it was going to be. Most evenings were dedicated to the discipline of dinner.

This particular recipe is from our family food bible - a cook book from the House of Sailana. A fairly simple recipe this. Goat meat with lots of coriander, green chilies, ginger, garlic, all put together in an earthen pot and cooked slowly in its own juices over a wood-burning open fire.

Despite the fact that this particular recipe, as well as others, are printed in a book, there exist handwritten notes for each and every one of them. And I'm not just talking about odd scribbles here and there. Besides my grandmother's experience, I am convinced that the pot, which I remember from my childhood, and the wooden spoon, that has more than half a century on its side, definitely have something to do with how good this dish turns out every single time.

This dish goes great with bread.

Ras el Hanout Spit Game

I've been wanting to build myself a spit for some time now. I wanted something simple to begin with - something that could be put into the boot, taken along and set up without much of a fuss. Of course, fairly sophisticated ones with motors, gears, et. al. are available but it's overkill if you ask me. The iron crucible isn't part of the set up - it had to be used to keep the lawn from burning out. It's not particularly large either - a couple of large chickens or a quarter portion of a small goat.

Alfresco cooking is a therapeutic. There's something about an open flame that makes cooking a whole lot better. Not to mention that great charred, smokey flavour that it imparts.

Ras el Hanout is a Moroccan rub that is used on meats or stirred into couscous. Pretty versatile. I don't think there is any one recipe for the rub. It's one of those things that everybody has their own variants to. Mine came out of a bottle. Some interesting ingredients though - lavender and rose petals!

I made a wet marinade using ras el hanout, sumac, orange juice, lemon juice, pepper and vinegar. The vinegar was to tenderise the meat whilst it marinaded. Leave the cut of game to marinade for 24 hours.

Once the meat was put on the spit, I stirred in a bit of honey into the remaining marinade to make a glaze.

With the meat, a simple tomato salad, some green, home-made bread, Hummus and Baba Ganoush.

 

Pork tagine with bulgur

There isn't a culinary demographic that doesn't have it's own version of a stew. The Tagine is probably one of the most popular stews. With a fancy name of course. Come to think of it, naming food after the utensils used in their cooking or presentation is quite a common phenomenon. You have the Kadhai Chicken/Mutton in India, the Handi too, the Paella in Spain, you have a New York Pot Roast, very different from Roast Beef mind you. And, how could I forget, the very British Balti.

Stew was quite a favourite with I was a student - I don't like the sound of that for some reason. Stewing cuts were cheap - sounds like I lived through a war. And a large pot would last a couple of days. Haven't been stewing much lately. I have had an undercut of pork lying in the fridge for a couple of days and I was struggling a little with what to do with it. Pickling it did cross my mind. But in a moment of better judgement, a Tagine I decided. I do not own a tagine, so it's technically a pork saucepan. But we'll stick with Tagine.

Pork Tagine and Pepper and Tomato Bulgur 

So here goes. This recipe is adapted from about 3 different ones. I dusted 500 grams of pork undercut with a tablespoon of flour with a pinch of saffron and pepper. I think a fattier cut would have been better. Maybe shoulder.

I browned the meat in a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil and set aside. In the same pan sweat

• one onion
• 3 tbsps ginger
• 1 tbsp garlic

When the onions start to caramelize add

• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• some paprika
• some rasins

I returned the meat to the pan, added 2 cups of chicken stock and cooked on a low heat for about an hour and a half. Before adding the stock, I chucked in a quartered apple, which I removed and discarded after about 25-30 minutes. The apple lends it's sweetness to the dish and balances the paprika nicely. Works well in the absence of apricots. Goes without saying - season to taste.

I cooked the bulgur - dalia - with deseeded tomatoes, green peppers and saffron. a little pinch of turmeric to help on the yellow. Garnish the bulger with skinned, roasted almonds.

And voila, you might as well be in Morocco.

Chicken Liver and Pork Terrine, Pickled Red Cabbage

Chicken Liver and Pork Terrine

It doesn't get much meatier than this really. Chicken livers and pork. And bacon. The pork, lean. Undercut of pig. Mince 1:1 of pork and chicken livers. Mince as you like. You can make it extra fine if you want. But I like it a little chunky. For that rustic feel. Season well. The iron from the livers can do with a good dose of salt to bring out the flavour. Whack in some:

• chopped fresh parsley
• ground ginger
• cinnamon

And that's it. Mix well. No measures here. Be sensible. Put the meat putty in a bacon lined bread tin. Smoked bacon if you have. Oven, 170 degrees for about an hour and a half. Till the juices from the middle run clear. Or if you have a meat thermometer, 160 degrees in the centre. Turn the terrine out onto a plate and put in a fridge till cold. If you try to cut it while it's hot, its all going to break apart.

I pickled some red cabbage to go with this. Pickled in a mixture of white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, salt and sugar. Thought the sharpness would cut through the rich terrine quite well. And it did. Also some fig jam. Can't really go wrong with pork and a bit of sweet. Great for a brunch.

Filet Mignon with Red Wine and Vanilla Sauce

Buffalo at it's best

Went and bought myself a 2 foot tenderloin the other day. Not beef. Buffalo. I have been eating buffalo quite a bit recently. Does well in the absence of beef. Though I am sure I could find some with a bit of effort. The best thing you could do to a tenderloin is to make yourself some Filet Mignons. Ideally, they are about an inch in diameter, so best use the tapered end of the loin.

I rolled a segment from the tapered end in some pepper and a bit of salt and let sit for a bit. To cook, I simply seared it in oil, with a dollop of butter and set in the oven at 200 degrees till rare.

The sauce is a good one. Got a nice sweetness. And that goes well with beef. I wanted to use juniper berries but don't get them around these parts.

In a pan, reduce to half:

• a cup of red wine
• the same of stock, beef preferably
• with oregano
• a tsp of vanilla
• a tsp of tomato paste
• salt and pepper to taste
• some sugar, brown preferably
• half an onion
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed

Once reduced, thicken with a roux.

Served with creamed mash and some beans for roughage. 25 quid on a plate?

Junglee achaar

In the West you'd typically associate the off-cuts of meat with pickling. The Polish have their Pickled Pigs' Feet - actually the Polish like to pickle everything from herring to cabbage to beetroot -, the Brits, pickled Ox tongue. I have also seen recipes for pickled pig livers and lamb hearts. All this sounds damn good to me, but in India we pickle the best cuts. Why would you want to slow cook a shoulder, sear a loin or braise a shank when you could just as well chop it all up and pickle the whole lot in litres of fat and assure yourself an early grave!

Pickled game, mainly deer and wild boar, was the maharajas' staple. Not that I was around at that time, but go through the recipes from stately recipe books and you can tell. And they didn't count calories. They didn't need to.  Hunting wild game in India is illegal now, but as with most things here, where there is a will there is a way. And some times the way precedes the will. The other day, funny story, some meat found it's way to my place. It would be a waste to turn it away, so I took it in. I asked a friend what I should do with it, and as expected, he generously bestowed upon me Jesus-esque advice.

"Looks like a healthy portion! Make a pie - just chuck it in a pot with
some cheap pastry on top - then chuck it all away, after scalding yourself
in the eyes with it first."

If I were a tad bit sillier, I would. But pickling the meat seemed the right thing to do to make it last a while. A little while.

So, I washed the kilo and a half of whatever it was (guesses?) and cut 1 inch pieces. Keep at hand:

1. 7 tbs of red chili powder
2. 7 tbs of mustard seeds
3. 3 tbs of fenugreek seeds
4. 2 tsps turmeric
5. 7 tbs fennel seeds
6. 7 tbs cumin
7. 25 cloves of garlic, slit lengthwise
8. 4 inches of ginger, grated
9. 6 whole dried red chilies, 3 chopped green chilies and how much ever more you want for heat.
10. salt to taste

In about 400ml of vegetable oil, when it comes to temperature, put in all the about ingredients and give it a quick stir. Then put in the meat and simmer of about an hour. The cooking time will depend on how big you keep the meat pieces. It should look like you are cooking a curry in a deep fat fryer.

When the meat is tender - you don't want it too tender. Pickled meat is better with some bite - balance the seasoning. I added a bit of jaggery to make it darker and to round off the copious amounts of chili.

Let the pickle cool before you bottle it. Add about half a cup of vinegar to the jar and shake it like there's no tomorrow. I'd give it at least a day or two before eating. The stuff should keep for a couple of weeks, if not more.

Roast Venison on Creamed Wild Mushrooms with Rosemary & Garlic Tatties and Snowpeas

I normally let the meat dictate what I cook. The sauce, condiments, even the presentation follows. At the Borough Market, in the vegetable section we spotted a mushroom stall that looked as welcoming as anything that doesn't bleed can possibly look. A sniff of the mushrooms and I was sold. I was having some even if only for a sauce. I recognised the Oysters (my grandmother used to grown some) and the Chanterelles. The other two I did find out about but my bird brain now fails me. So this dish started with half a brown paper bag-full of an assortment of these four types of fungi and then the search for the meat was on.

Considered fish, duck, even pigeon but finally settled on some venison. Wild venison if I might add (to make it all sound overly posh). Got the butcher to cut us a portion out of a rolled haunch. Had settled on Creamed Wild Mushrooms as the side and though game would go down a treat. Could have done some beef. There was some great looking Highland beef on the counter, but hadn't had venison in a while. Part Christmas indulgence too.

Preparing the venison to roast:-
The venison was rubbed down with some olive oil and pepper and then rolled around in a generous slug of red wine. Put with it a bay leaf and let sit for a bit. I refrained from putting any salt in at this stage should it draw moisture out of the meat while it stood.

For the Garlic and Rosemary Potatoes:-
Half some new potatoes and part boil them, leaving them just a little crunchy. To finish these heat some olive oil, with some butter for added richness and gleam.  Put into the pan some rosemary, fresh or dry, and some cloves of garlic, smashed but skin intact. The skin will prevent the garlic from burning crisp and imparting a bitter flavour to the potatoes. Without much further ado add the potatoes. Skin side down if I may recommend. I find that nicely browning the skin first will preserve the structural integrity of your tatties.

Cooking Bambi:-
Heat some oil in a baking tray, on the hob. Once smoking, seal off the rolled venison joint. As the meat hits the hot oil you'll get a lovely sweet smell from those sugars in the wine. Once sealed off nicely, pour into the tin  the rest  of the wine from the marinade. I like my meat rear, blue even, and I put the 380 gram joint into a oven at 220'c for about 17 minutes. Lay the cooked meat on a chopping board and cover with foil to rest for about 5.

For the Creamed Wild Mushrooms:-
DO NOT wash the mushrooms. If you don't have a mushroom brush then use a clean basting brush. Wash nice mushrooms in water and you lose some of the goodness. In a pan heat butter, introduce the mushrooms and add a pince of salt and pepper. Just as the mushrooms begin to soften add a few tablespoon fulls of double cream. Till the cream coats the shrooms. Taste and adjust seasoning. Do not cook the crap out of the mushrooms. A little texture goes a long way. Do all of this while the meat rests, should not take more than 4-5 minutes.

Oh yes, blanched some snowpeas to add a touch of green to the dish.

I did not want to drench the mushrooms in cream and the venison in cream sauce. I arranged nice chunky slices of venison on the Creamed Mushrooms, with only a very little drizzle of cream on the meat. Seasoned the meat once plated with coarse sea salt. The tatties and greens on the side.

Now I could go on about how everything worked so well, but I am not going to. But I will say this - it was all damn bloody good!

Roast Venison on Creamed Wild Mushrooms with Rosemary & Garlic Tatties and Snowpeas

Warm Salad of Stornoway Black Pudding, Stilton, Figs & Rocket

I find it incredibly difficult doing salads without any meat. I'll whack some into a perfectly good salad at times, and lots of it, as protest against all things non non-vegetarian. That wasn't the case this time round though. The centre piece of this one was the best black pudding in the land. Or so Stornoway black pudding is believed to be. The only other thing I could think of doing, at the time, with the black pudding I bought from Borough Market was to have it with a full English, and that seemed a little inappropriate. And I don't think Braveheart would have approved. So a warm salad it was going to be. If an ingredient has a reputation of being tops then some finesse is warranted.

I have seen some very unpleasant faces being made at the mention of black pudding. Almost as unpleasant as the thought of eating cooked pigs blood might be to the owners of those faces. I for one am a huge fan. I got introduced to it by a friend whilst I was living in Edinburgh and having lived there for almost half a decade I love the bloody thing! The texture and the spicy aroma is to die for. And I am sure Mr. Porky would have agreed if he was around to have a wee bite. The other thing black pudding has going for itself is that it ticks the 'waste not want not' box.

To the salad then. Not much to do. Decided to base the salad on some rocket. Thought the pepperiness  would work well with the sweetness of the figs and the salty richness of the unpasteurised Stilton. And it did. Figs and blue cheese is a time tested combination and the availability of some superb figs at the market were the inspiration. Must add here, the figs were a friend's idea, who was with me at the market too. A good cook and the daughter of a great cook.

Piled some rocket on the plate. Drizzled it with some extra virgin olive oil. Laid on the figs and crumbled onto everything the Stilton and fried Stornoway black pudding. And Bob's your uncle.

Deep fried goats' brains with Green Sauce

The first time I ate brains I wasn't too impressed. I don't think they really taste of much on their own. A little like marrow. Fatty but not as concentrated with flavour. The texture is, well, exactly how you'd imagine it. But I'd try anything twice, and besides I've never cooked them myself. This recipe is from Fergus Henderson's Nose to Tail Eating.

The first thing about brains, I am surprised at how expensive they are. A 100 rupees for 3? Second, they have a smell. A smell even I am not too keen on. You need to rinse them in cold running water to get rid of small pieces of bone and other stuff that does not belong.

In a stock pot simmer for 15 minutes

• 1 onion, peeled and quartered.
• 1 carrot
• bay leaf
• celery stalk. I used the upper stalk and leaves as the celery cost me an absolute bomb and I didn't have the heart to let anything go to waste. The leaves impart an intense aroma. Very pleasant.
• a few pepper corns
• and about 6 cloves of garlic. Bruised
• You could add in any other fresh herbs. I recommend leaving the herbs whole otherwise they will stick to the brains and the brains will need picking.

Once the stock has simmered for 15 minutes put in the brains and cook gently for 6 minutes. I am not normally this anal about time, but as far as textures are concerned, mine was pretty perfect, so stick to Dr. Henderson's 6. The poaches takes away the pungent smell of the brains, and of course, pre-cooks them before the frying.

Fish out the poached brains and leave to cool. While the brains cool prepare these 3 bowls:

1. Plain flour. Seasoned with salt and pepper
2. 2 eggs whisked with 100mls of milk
3. breadcrumbs

Once cold separate the lobes of the brains. Introduce them to the 3 bowls in the same order as above, coating well, and then into a sauce pan of hot vegetable oil. The frying is very quick. Pull them out golden.

I had mine with Green sauce, another Henderson creation. It is finely chopped parsley, dill, mint, garlic, capers, crushed pepper and extra virgin olive oil. Wish I had some anchovies. Chopped anchovies was, I think, the ingredient that seals the deal on this sauce, and also the only ingredient I could not get my hands on. The anchovies were missed.

My opinion of brains hasn't changed much. I'd happily eat them, but I'd much rather cook them.

Steak with roasted sweet potatoes

I like steak. There was a time when I ate steak 3-4 times a week. Not anymore though. It's more of a weekend ritual now. Steak with potatoes and veg. When I want to be a proper fat bastard, I'll top the steak with a fried egg! It's the perfect meal to sort your life out after a couple of days of abusing your body. It's quick to cook, versatile and bloody deliciously - literally. And besides I am off to India for a bit next week and need to get my fix of cow while I can.

When I am feeling rich, I'll go for the sirloin, but mostly it's rump. Good enough I think. I'll normally cook it quite simply, with some pepper and a few herbs. But if you want to take  some time on it you can leave it to marinade, in balsamic, garlic, juniper berries, red wine, rosemary, oregano, mixed pepper corns, in anything you fancy with beef.



Sunday supper

The rump steak was rubbed with olive oil, crushed black pepper, fresh rosemary and a little bit of oregano and set aside. No salt.

The sweet potatoes were cut into chunky wedges, rubbed with garlic infused Olive oil, chopped rosemary, loads of pepper, and salt. 1 large quartered onion for company and the tray was put in the oven for about 40 minutes. Do this first, it takes the longest. I was peeling the sweet potatoes when a certain Dr. Green told me off. Tell you what, leave the skins on. They are good cooked. The french beans and carrots were boiled.

To cook the steak,  heat some oil in a heavy bottomed frying pan. When it starts smoking put the steak in. I season it at this stage. Turn the steak just once. When you have cooked quite a few like I have, you get a sense of how well its done just by sight. You can also tell by touch. You don't want to cut it to see if it's done - this will let all the juices out. Letting the steak rest is very important. Get it out of the pan and leave on the plate for 3-4 minutes.

While my steaks rested, I deglased the the pan with some red wine and cooked the mushrooms in the juices.

Chefs differ a great deal on how they cook steaks. Some say that oiling the pan is an absolute no no - the steaks should be oiled. While others don't see a problem with oil in the pan. The are all wrong! In my experience is depends on the pan. You could get away with not oiling the pan at all if it is a non-stick or a griddle. If it's a stainless steel one, like the one I used, you'll probably have to add oil to the pan in addition to oiling the steaks. Steel pans don't come up to temperature very well. And obviously, if you are using a grill, then brushing oil onto the steaks is what you do. Now you know.

Frying pan paella

As I sat in front of my computer in the office yesterday afternoon a sudden rice craving set in. I haven't been eating as much rice as I used to. Potatoes, bread and pasta have become staple carbs. Then on the tube home I had an epiphany - Paella. The last paella I made was on the 30th of April 2006. Yes, I remember the date - because it was my birthday and I had some friend's over for dinner. But that paella was a half day affair. I had gone to town with the ingredients. Squid, king prawns, green-lipped mussels, octopus, the works. All cooked in a paella pan carried to the UK all the way from Spain. It was quite the event. I wasn't about to put in all that effort at 7 pm, after a long day's work, so a frying pan version had to be thought up. One that could be put together from stuff I could buy on the way home.

I used:

• 300 grams long-grain rice, about one mug full
• One finely sliced onion
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• about 100 grams of chorizo
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• paprika to taste
• 300 grams of chicken breast. Since everyone seems to be making austerity cuts I decided to make a non-seafood version.
• 1 litre of chicken stock. I used 2 jellied Knorr stock pots. Let's just say that mine was a pretty boldly seasoned. 1.5 stock pots would have been just fine.
• half a cup of peas and some flat leaf parsley I had lying in the fridge to garnish.

1. in some olive oil fry the onions without browning, after about 3-4 minutes, add the chorizo. Once the chorizo starts releasing juices add in the chicken
2. as the chicken seals, add the garlic and turmeric followed by the washed rice.
3. stir the rice to coat it in all the juices and then add hot chicken stock
4. bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes, stirring regularly
5. add the peas right in the end and give it one last stir. Bob's your uncle.

I recommend that you let the paella stand for a bit to allow the last bit of water to get soaked up in the rice. Watching the paella cook is like watching something come to life. As the rice starts to emerge from the stock and all those flavours get really concentrated it starts looking a lot more appetising. I have to make a proper one, will masses of seafood, soon.

  

The star of this one was the chorizo. The chorizo is a giving sausage. I have been using it quite often lately. It makes a great addition in any tomato based pasta sauce. The fat and spices it releases gives a real boost of flavour. I used some to make the base for meat balls last month and the sausage did extremely well. Not to mention, that it is so easily consumed sitting in the sun with some cheese, rocket and bread. Next year eh?