south indian style chicken, spinach and tomato soup

I often have soup as my evening meal in the week, it can be quick and easy to prepare, filling and warming on these wintery nights. This recipe is no exception, it is full of flavour and can be put together in under 30 minutes. Feel free to adjust the number of chillies according to your taste.

Ingredients
350g chicken breast cut into large chunks
400g tinned tomatoes
500ml chicken stock
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cm chunk or ginger, peeled and grated
100g leaf spinach, rinsed and roughly chopped
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp cumin seeds
10-20 curry leaves
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground white pepper
2 bay leaves
3 green finger chillies
3 tbsp oil
salt to taste

1. Put 2 tbsps of the oil in to a large, hot saucepan. Chuck in 1 tsp cumin seeds, the bay leaves, curry leaves and chillies and allow to sizzle for a few seconds until the scent is released.
2. Reduce the heat a little and add the onions cooking them until they are translucent, next add the ginger and garlic and keep moving for about 300 seconds.
3. Next add the chicken and seer all sides. Once you have done that add the tinned tomatoes, reduce the heat, cover and leave to simmer for around 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. 
4. Once the chicken is cooked use a slotted spoon to remove the pieces, place on a chopping board and break up into smaller pieces that are easy to eat with a spoon. Return the chicken to the soup and keep warm while you complete the the next stage.
5. In a small frying pan heat up the remaining tbsp of oil. When its hot throw in the remaining spices, sizzle for a few of seconds then pour in enough of the stock so that all the spices are picked up then add the whole lot to the soup pan along with any remaining stock and the spinach.
6. Once the spinach has wilted serve the soup with flat breads and/or poppadoms.

I've entered this recipe into A Kick at the Pantry Door's 'Feel Good Food Challenge'. Why not take a look at all the other great recipes featured. 

chorizo, mascarpone and tomato pasta sauce

A tasty, kitchen cupboard meal. These ingredients are usually knocking around in my kitchen or there will be something that I can substitute. To make a vegetarian version of this dish at stage one, saute a finely diced onion in some olive oil, add a tablespoon of hot smoked paprika and a couple of cloves of crushed garlic then continue on with the rest of the recipe. You can either keep the sauce chunky or put it through a food processor before mixing with the pasta.

Serves 2-3
Ingredients
200g cooking chorizo
400g tinned tomatoes or passata
2 tbsp mascarpone cheese or creme fraiche or similar
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
sprinkle of dried chilli flakes (optional)
salt & pepper
200g dried pasta. I used pappardelle.

1. Heat a wide frying pan over a medium heat, squidge the sausage meat or of their casings directly into the pan so that you've got bite-sized pieces. Cook for around 3-4 minutes until crispy and golden and the spicy paprika oils have been released. Don't move around too much unless you want to it break down into much smaller pieces. You can drain the oil off if you wish but it seems a shame to loose so much of the flavour.
2. Add the fennel and chilli flakes and sizzle for a minute. 
3. Add the tomatoes to the pan and simmer the ingredients together for about 5 minutes before you put the pasta on, it should be starting to reduce by this stage. If the tomatoes are whole you will need to break them up a bit with the back of your spoon.
4. Cook your chosen pasta according to the packet instructions, mine took around 10 minutes.
5. The tomato sauce is ready once it is no longer watery and has thickened up and is glistening with little pools of oil. Season to taste.
6. When the pasta is nearly ready stir the mascarpone into the tomato sauce and mix thoroughly. 
7. Once cooked, add in the pasta. If the sauce is too thick for your taste, add a little of the cooking water to thin it out.  Serve and enjoy.

 

shredded beef brisket with crispy onions

This weekend I was in the mood for some slow cooking. When you've got the time it's great to do this, the flavour is amazing and it's a fantastic way to make the most of an inexpensive cut of meat. This method would probably work equally well with a pork shoulder or leg joint or even some lamb. I haven't tried it yet myself though.

Ingredients
800g beef brisket
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp smoked paprika
3 whole cloves garlic
2 whole star anise
2-3 bay leaves
5 Juniper berries
salt and pepper
2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
1 small bottle of beer (I used Gulden Draak)

1. Heat the oven to 160C.
2. Put the onions in the bottom of a casserole dish or roasting pan. Generously season the brisket on both sides with the salt and pepper then place on top of the onions. 
3. Sprinkle over the fennel seeds, juniper berries, smoked paprika and sugar. Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan. The liquid should come about half way up the meat.
4. Cover with a lid or foil then cook slowly in the oven for around 3-4 hours. You will know the meat is done when it falls apart easily. During the cooking process I usually turn the meat over in the cooking juices a few times.
5. Once the meat has cooked, remove it from the oven and place the meat on a board, cover and leave to rest. Remove the whole spices from the cooking juices.
6. Either finely slice the brisket or shred with a fork, add to the cooking juices and thoroughly combine.
7. You can eat this with many accompaniments but we went for a ciabatta bread roll with some crispy fried onions and sides of potato salad and honey mustard coleslaw.

Crispy Fried Onions
1 medium onion, peeled and finely sliced
2 tbps cornflour or plain flour
salt and pepper
vegetable oil for frying

1. In a saucepan or deep frying pan add enough oil to deep fry the onion, around 1/4 cup should do it, but this depends on the size of your pan. Heat over a medium heat.
2. Place the flour in a shallow dish and generously season with salt and pepper. Add in the sliced onion and ensure it is thoroughly coated in the seasoned flour.
3. Check that the oil has reached the required temperature by dropping in a piece of the onion, if it gently sizzles the oil is ready.
4. Add in the rest of the onion, being careful not to over crowd the pan - you may need to do this in batches. Cook the onion until it has turned golden brown and crispy. 
5. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. 
6. Repeat this process until all the onion has been cooked.

Belgian Beer Onion Gravy

This recipe started as another experimental creation that worked out well. We recently bought some fantastic Pembury Porkers sausages from this farm shop on the way back from a camping trip. Grilled up with some mashed potato and onion gravy, this was an excellent way to finish the bank holiday weekend.

Ingredients
1 tsp oil
1 large onion, sliced
couple of sprigs of rosemary
couple of bay leaves
330ml bottle of Gulden Draak or other dark, Belgian beer.
beef stock cube (optional)
1 tsp agave syrup, sugar or honey
Worcestershire Sauce to taste
Good quality vinegar to taste
salt and pepper to taste

1. Over a medium heat fry the onions with the bay leaves and rosemary until they have taken on a golden colour with some decent crispy bits. This will probably take around 10-20 minutes. The longer you take over this the sweeter the final flavour will be. Colour on the onions intensifies the flavour of the gravy. 
2. Open and carefully pour in the Gulden Draak beer. It will probably bubble up a little but this will quickly subside. Add the beef stock cube if you're using it then cook the beer down until the smell of alcohol is gone and the liquid has reduced a little. This will be around 5 minutes depending on the heat you're using.
3. Taste your gravy carefully, it will be very hot, and adjust the flavour according to your taste using the sugar, worcestershire sauce, vinegar and salt and pepper. I put in 1tsp of agave, roughly  1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce, 2 tsp white wine vinegar and a good sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper. I did not add any salt. 
4. Cook for another minute or two to help the flavours mix together, then serve.