Sea bass with sizzled ginger, chilli and spring onions

Hello hobby chefs. 

Today I'm going to post a fish recipe - to be more precise it's a "Sea bass with sizzled ginger, chilli and spring onions" recipe. And I'm not joking when I say that this was probably the best best meal I have ever tasted, if not the best meal I have ever cooked. I don't get much chance to do fish recipes as my girlfriend doesn't like fish, but I thought I would treat myself as I found this recipe on the BBC Good Food website and it just looked so tasty.

I also have to say that good it looked and good it tasted. It turned out so nice that even my girlfriend begrudgingly tried it. She just looked at me and smiled as if to say "Yeah, that's delicious, but don't expect me to admit it". Not only did it taste amazing but with roughly 10 minutes prep time and 10 minutes cooking time, it was also the easiest and quickest recipe I have tried so far. This meal is definitely going to make regular appearance on our weekly shopping list. If you read this blog please try this recipe as I cannot advocate it enough. Thank very much to the BBC Good Food website for introducing me to this recipe. To anyone who tries this recipe I hope you enjoy this meal as much my girlfriend and I did. Let me know what you think!

What you need (serves 6):

6x sea bass fish fillets about 140g/5oz, skin and and scaled

3 tbsp spoons ground nut oil

large nob of ginger cut into matchsticks

3 cloves of garlic Finley sliced

3 fat, fresh red chillis de-seeded and finely sliced

a bunch of spring onoins shredded

1tbsp soy sauce

What to do:

Season the fish with slat and pepper. Then slash the skin three times. Heat a heavy based frying pan and add 1 tbsp of oil. When hot fry the fish skin side down for 5 minutes or until the skin is crisp and golden, then turn the fish over and cooked for about a 30 seconds to a minute, then remove and put to the side and keep warm. You will need to fry the fish in two batches.

Now heat the remaining oil, then fry the ginger, garlic and chilli for about 2 minutes. Take off the heat and add the spring onions. Splash the soy sauce over the fish and spoon over the contents of the pan and serve.

Happy cooking and enjoy!

German style New Years Eve.

In 2010, my girlfriend and I went to Germany to visit her family over Christmas and the New Year. It was the first time they were going to meet me, I was very nervous, but also really looking forward to seeing how German cooking differed from English. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised as to how much I enjoyed all the dishes I tried, from the locally caught fish in a pub that was on the docks, to the everyday meals that her family prepared, but - the one meal and evening that I enjoyed the most was New Years Eve. In the past my New Years Eve mainly contained a fair amount of alcohol and a dance floor, but this was going to be a bit more civilized. Not to say there wasn't alcohol, but we were going to all sit round the dining table for my first meeting with a raclette.

Considering that I was in a different country with people I barely knew, it was one of the most enjoyable evenings I have experienced. For those of you that don't know what a raclette is, it's basically an indoor BBQ, where you have a stone and grill cooking pad on top and 8 trays underneath for grilling cheese to melt over your food. We had turkey, chicken and pork, then vegetables like red and yellow peppers, baby corn, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, with tinned pineapple, pickled onions, gherkins and stuffed red peppers and a variety of cheeses. I have to say that the evening for me almost had it all - even down to the German tradition of the mustard filled doughnut, which I had the pleasure of eating, but according to their philosophy I was going to have a lucky year: Which was true as our first child was born with no complications.

Anyway enough babble about this and time to get to the point, which is that for Christmas one of the pressies we received from my girlfriend's grandparents was a raclette. Which I have to say was pretty cool. I instantly started thinking of when I was going to be able to use it for the first time? I had an idea straight away. My best friend and his girlfriend had been trying for a baby after a miscarriage and had just found out that they were expecting another baby. So I knew they were weren't going to have a mad night out on the town and thought they might appreciate of a nice relaxed evening with a bit of food, which they did. So me and my girlfriend went to work.

What we used:

650g of a good quality steak

3 good quality pork chops

To be honest, there are so many different types of salads, vegetables, dips and different types of cheeses and all types of pickled and Jared goods to go with the raclette that you are spoiled for choice, you just can't go wrong as there is something for everyone. And the one thing I found the best was the fact that it was very relaxed and sociable. Which made for a great new years eve for us.

I know this is not much of a recipe but it's my blog and my rules, lol and I just wanted to share this with you.

Haha I've got my oven back. = Recipe for a Turkey roast

I know I haven't posted for a while but I didn't realize that father hood would be so time consuming, well I do now lol. Right then, I really do not know where to start with this topic. All I know is that, if your mum asked you in front of your dad, your Nan, your sister's boyfriend,  your best mate, his girlfriend or your neighbour's great grand cousin, who cooks your favorite roast dinner, and you don't say your mum's is your favorite, then you will be in a lot of trouble. Even though secretly I love my nan's and mine is a close 2nd ;-), but now I feel that if I don't include everyone's roast in my top two, I will be ruffling a few feathers.

I'm not joking! People can get quite protective over their roast dinner - down to what meat to use, the hundred and one ways to cook that meat and if you are going to stuff the meat. What to stuff the meat with? What would be the best basting lard or oil to cook the meat and roast potatoes in if you're having roasted potatoes? What veg to use or whether to have boiled or roasted vegetables? I mean with all the different types of veg available now and ways to cook them it's literally enough to send you mad and you haven't even started cooking yet. And don't get me started on the gravy. Every chef will have his own version of gravy. And as every chef I love my mine. I have to say that depending on how many people you are cooking for, it can turn into a military mission. I always liked my dad's method of stepping in at the end to do the gravy, for which he takes great pride in. Anyway after that rant let's get back to the fact that I have my oven back and my turkey roast.

Up until two and a half years ago, I had never had any sort of roast turkey or turkey joint due to the fact I was lead to believe that it was quite a dry meat. But after my girlfriend brought a turkey joint home for me to cook, I was quickly converted. In fact, I favor a turkey joint Sunday roast over most meats now, because it's cheap and very tasty. So here is my take on our favorite roast at the moment. The roast potato's and honey roasted parsnips for this meal have been inspired by recipes from the internet. This will serve 3-4 people.

What you need:

turkey joint ( I buy ours from Tesco )

4 medium potatoes

3 large carrots

2 leeks

1 large broccoli

bag of runner beans

2 large parsnips

2 large red onions

And Brussels sprouts if they are in season

4 table spoons of goose fat

1 and a half table spoons of honey

2-3 sprigs of rosemary

5-6 gloves of garlic

plenty of olive oil

salt and pepper

What to do:

When I said that sometimes a roast dinner can be like a military mission, mine is no different - so bare with me. First thing you need to do is to preheat the oven on to 190C. When I cook this meal, I base it around taking 1 hour and 45 minutes cooking and preparation time.To save time I would get your carrots, broccoli, leeks, Brussels sprouts and runner beans peeled, prepared and put into sauce pans of salted water - ready to boil. Right, then get a large saucepan of water boiling, peel and quarter the potatoes and add to the boiling water, boil for 7-8 minutes. Whilst they are boiling, chop up the garlic and rosemary. When done drain the potatoes and then shake in the colander to roughen up the edges. Now you want to put the goose fat into a roasting tray and heat up in the oven for 5 minutes. As this is happening prepare the turkey joint, which is just a case of removing the cardboard and cling film cover. When the 5 minutes are up, take out the roasting tray and add the potatoes garlic and rosemary and really mix them well.

Now put the potatoes and turkey joint onto the middle shelf of the oven and set your timer for 35 minutes even though the turkey and potatoes take an hour to cook. For best results, I baste them every 15 minutes. For the honey roasted parsnips you need to get a saucepan of salted water boiling, then you need to cut the parsnips length ways into four and remove the core before you cut each piece in half and put it  into the boiling water where you boil it for 5 minutes. Remove, drain and add straight to a bowl of cold water, then drain again and set to the side. This part I quite like, just some plain old roasted red onion: You will need to peel and quarter them, put them into a roasting try and mix with a good amount of olive oil, salt and pepper. When the 35 minute timer has gone, reset it for 25 minutes. Put the onions into the oven and turn the gas or electric hob on full to boil the veg. Once the water is boiling turn down to simmer and cover. The veg should take close to 20 minutes depending on how you like it. Onions should take about 25 minutes.

This is the part where I wish I had a bigger cooking range with maybe a couple of added hobs. So how you juggle this is up to you, but here goes: I would say that the leeks are the first to cook, so once they are done I would drain them and put them back into the saucepan and cover, then use that hob to heat up an oven proof frying pan with olive oil. When hot add the parsnips and drizzle the honey over them. Season to taste and fry until golden. Now the hour should be up, take the turkey out the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then take out the roast potato's and put to the side. Turn the oven up to 220c and put the roast parsnips in the oven for 5 minutes. During this time plate up your veg and potato's and carve your turkey. By this time your parsnips should be done and ready to plate up. Ok that's it: job done! Well almost: just the gravy to go, but that's another story for which I have a few recipes, I will share  them over the next few weeks. There we go, my take on a turkey roast. Takes a bit of time but trust me it's well worth the cooking hassle and you might need to invest in a couple of saucepans or if like me do a bit of a juggling act, anyway

Happy cooking and enjoy!

Simple Rich Tiramisu

Today, I'm going to post a simple recipe for Tiramisu, from a recipe card that I picked up quite a long time ago, which my girlfriend absolutely loves. We usually buy them ready made from the supermarket as the easier option, but this time I thought that I would make it myself, as I remember this recipe being very tasty, and it is very simple to prepare with very little preparation, too - very much like the Cheap and Cheerful Cheese Cake recipe that I posted a while ago. I really hope you enjoy this recipe as much my girlfriend and I did.

What you need:

900g/ 2lb loaf tin

200ml/7fl oz black coffee

2 tbsp brandy, optional

18-20 sponge fingers

250g/9oz mascarpone cheese

300ml/half a pint, double cream

2 eggs

4tbsp caster sugar

50g/2oz plain chocolate, grated

3 tbsp cocoa powder

What to do:

First, lightly grease the loaf tin and line with cling film. Then mix the coffee with the brandy in a shallow dish. Now dip the sponge fingers into the coffee and brandy mix and arrange sugar side out, vertically along the side of the tin. Now you will need a bit of elbow grease or if like me an electric whisk: Beat the cheese and cream together, then whisk eggs and sugar until thick and fold into the cream mixture. Next, mix the grated chocolate and cocoa powder together and get the loaf tin ready, Scatter a third of the chocolate mix into the tin, top with half the cream mixture and trim the tops of the sponge fingers so they run level with the tin. Then  add them to the cream mix that is already in the tin. Now top the cream with half the remaining chocolate, then the rest of the cream mix, then the last of the chocolate. Now, with the hard part over, all that is left to do is to chill in the fridge for 3 hours. When set, invert the tin onto a plate, peel away the cling film and serve. A cool alternative for these hot summer days is to pop the Tiramisu into the freezer. Leave it for about an hour and you will be left with an almost ice cream like treat.

Happy cooking and enjoy!

Japanese Mirin-Poached Beef

Sorry that I haven't posted for a while, been a bit busy, but I hope that this recipe will make up for it. Once again I found it on the BBC Good Food website. I had half a joint of beef to use, so I looked for beef recipes and found this Japanese mirin-poached beef recipe, that because I already had the beef, was extremely cheap. Despite looking like a complicated meal to prepare, it turned out to be quite simple. I have to say that I have never tasted anything like it and that is mainly due to the unique taste of the Japanese mirin flavouring that has to be added. I thought that I would have great difficulty in getting hold of it, but as it turned out ASDA Online had it in stock, which I was pleasantly surprised about. Anyway enough chit chat, let's get cooking:

What you need:

250g of rump steak or as a cheaper option 250g of beef joint, trimmed off all fat

150ml vegetable stock

3tbsp soy sauce

5tbsp mirin

1 tbsp of golden caster sugar

1 onion, halved and sliced

half a tbsp of chopped pickled ginger

3 spring onions finely chopped

1 red chilli finely sliced

steamed rice to serve

What to do:

Put the meat into the freezer while you prepare the other ingredients (this will help when slicing). Combine the stock, soy, mirin and sugar in a pan, bring the mix to the boil, then turn down and let it simmer. Then add the onions and cook for another five minutes.

Meanwhile, slice the meat as thinly as you can. Add the beef to the pan and cook to your liking. Now plate up and sprinkle the ginger, spring onions and chilli over the dish and serve with boiled rice and a bit of the left over cooking sauce. For this recipe the BBC suggests using rump steak: I used part of a beef joint, and to be honest I would recommend using the rump steak as I had to cook the beef a bit longer and it got slightly tough. Nevertheless it was a very tasty meal experience.

Happy cooking and enjoy.

Cheap and Cheerful: Double Chocolate Cheesecake

To be honest, I'm not really a dessert or pudding man. Give me a nice salad - any day of the week. But my girlfriend is like most women and has a real sweet tooth. She loves her chocolate and sweets. So I thought for a change, we would look for a desert recipe that would be appealing to both of us, as we never plan a desert in our weekly shop. We both agreed that we liked cheesecake, So decided on a double chocolate cheesecake recipe that I found on the on the BBC Good Food website. I have always wanted to to prepare a cheesecake but thought that it would be quite complicated. That couldn't be further from the truth. This cheesecake is probably the most simple recipe I have ever tried. It took me about 20 minutes to prepare and all that was left was to leave to set in the fridge for a few hours. I hope you enjoy. 

What you need:

175g digestive biscuits

50g butter melted

300g cream cheese

200g mascarpone

300g milk chocolate, melted

100g dark chocolate, melted

What to do:

Crush the biscuits and mix with the melted butter. Press the biscuit mixture into the base of 20cm springform tin. Mix the cream cheese with the mascarpone. Fold the milk chocolate into the cream cheese mix and then stir in the dark chocolate so that it looks streaky. Spoon into the tin, level the top and chill for two hours or overnight.

Happy cooking and enjoy!

French Onion Soup

Soup soup soup. All I can say is that I love them. All sorts of soup as well, tinned soup, cup a soups, homemade soups or veg and meat broths. You name it, I will have most likely tried it. When I was looking for a good soup recipe, I found a recipe for the classic "French onion soup", from a bunch of recipe cards, that I had bought a few years ago. The soup was not only delicious but it only cost about 25 pence per serving.  Pretty cheap, hey? Yeah that's what I thought, so here it is. 

What you need:

900g onions

40g butter

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp plain flour

2.4 liters pints of vegetable or beef stock

150ml red wine (optional)

salt and pepper

What to do:

I'm not going to lie but the first part of this recipe will take a while: First of all you will need to peel and finely slice all of the onions, but then that is about it for preparation. Now heat the butter and olive oil in a large pan and stir in the onions. Cook gently over a low heat, stirring frequently for 30-45 minutes or until the onions are softened and turn a pale straw colour. Right then, sprinkle over the flour and cook gently for 1 minute. Add the stock, and wine if using. Bring to the boil, season with salt and pepper, then reduce the heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes. Depending on the thickness you would like for your soup, add 1 to 2 tsp of dissolved  corn flour and simmer for another five minutes, or until desired thickness is reached. Now the soup is ready, serve with a bread of your choice. Even a homemade garlic bread if you would like, hope you enjoy.

Happy cooking and enjoy!