tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-362304022024-03-07T06:47:55.766+00:00Sceptical CookA blog about everyday cooking, and how to make it work.Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.comBlogger556125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-10259183863433682452016-01-03T11:37:00.000+00:002016-01-03T11:37:09.955+00:00Ovens - fan on or off?<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have a new cooker (a Smeg), a huge improvement on my increasingly erratic former model. The electric oven is much more efficient and reliable.<br /><br />The fan made cooking our Christmas dinner, with its various components, a great deal easier. But I haven't worked out yet whether the fan is worthwhile for cooking individual dishes, and various online forums do not give a clear answer: while everyone knows that you should use a lower heat when cooking with the fan than you would otherwise, no one seems clear on whether the fan improves the baking process or whether it tends to dry out the food. And if I put a dish under the grill, will it brown more efficiently with the fan on or off?<br /><br />Yesterday, I used the fan when cooking a toad in the hole. It worked brilliantly: the batter rose, and was light; and the sausages were as juicy as we could have wished. But would the conventional, non-fan setting have produced just as good a result?</span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-52485026845442951052015-02-08T10:47:00.001+00:002015-02-08T10:47:35.543+00:00The disappointing first pancake<span style="font-family: inherit;">Why, you may reflect on Shrove Tuesday (17 February), is the first pancake out of the pan so often a flabby, ragged mess? My theory is that the pan may not yet be hot enough.<br /><br />After making your batter, put a knob of butter or a tbsp of oil into a frying pan over a medium heat, and leave it for five minutes. The oil or butter will have burned, so throw it away (if it’s butter, not down the sink), wipe the pan with a paper towel, and return it to the heat with a little more of your frying agent. Give the batter another quick whisk (some of the flour may have sunk), and proceed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/gluten-free-crespolini-with-spinach-and.html" target="_blank">Gluten-free crespolini, with spinach and cheese</a></span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-57975565493945539162015-01-17T16:20:00.001+00:002015-01-17T16:20:44.860+00:00Roast chicken at a high heat<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have always subscribed to the view that to cook a perfect roast chicken you need to cook it at as low a temperature as possible while also finding a way to brown it. Starting it off at a high heat and then lowering the dial is the standard method. I like the leg meat to be well done and tender, but of course I don’t want the breast meat to dry and toughen.<br /><br />I bought a small Cotswolds chicken (1.4kg). I put it in the top of the oven at gas mark 6, 200C. Forty-five minutes later, I transferred it to the bottom shelf, replacing it with a roasting pan of potatoes. I took the chicken out of the oven 40 minutes later.<br /><br />It was perfect. The legs were very tender, and the breast – I had massaged butter in between the skin and the meat – was still moist.<br /><br />Sometimes, or rather quite often now I think about it, food does not behave how science says it should. I do recommend <a href="http://www.cotswoldchickens.com/" target="_blank">Cotswold chickens</a>.</span><br />
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<a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/roast-chicken-with-its-stock.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Roast chicken, with its stock</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2006/12/hestons-roast-chicken.html" target="_blank">Heston's roast chicken</a></span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-6051740291785609242014-12-13T14:55:00.000+00:002014-12-13T14:55:38.942+00:00Easy vegetable moussaka<span style="font-family: inherit;">Moussaka-style dishes, with meat or otherwise, involve quite a deal of labour. You have to slice aubergines, paint them with olive oil, and fry or bake them. You have to prepare any other vegetables individually, because they have different cooking times and you don’t want to end up with a vegetable mush. If you’re eating meat, you have to prepare a ragout. But for a dinner for two, at the end of the week, I could not be bothered to go through this palaver. How bad could it be if I baked the vegetables together, topped them with a bechamel, and baked the dish further? Not bad at all.<br /><br />I put 2 chopped cloves of garlic, a sliced aubergine, 2 chopped red peppers, and a sliced courgette, with salt and pepper, into a heavy casserole dish. I tossed the vegetables with a generous quantity of olive oil, and put them into a gas mark 8/220C oven for half an hour, stirring regularly. By this time, the aubergines were tender. I stirred in a drained tin of chickpeas. I turned down the oven to gas mark 5/190C.<br /><br />Meanwhile, I had made a tomato sauce, simply tipping a tin of tomatoes into a saucepan, adding salt, a few pinches of cayenne, and a tsp of sugar. I mashed the tomatoes with a potato masher, and simmered them until they were thick. I stirred the tomatoes into the vegetable mixture.<br /><br />I made a bechamel (see <a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/inauthentic-moussaka.html" target="_blank">this moussaka recipe</a>) with about 30g butter, a tbsp of flour (I used gluten-free), and just under half a pint of milk – it made a thick, pasty sauce. I stirred in a couple of tbsps of Parmesan, and seasoned the sauce with salt and nutmeg. Now that it was cooler, I stirred in a beaten egg – it causes the sauce when baked to puff up, souffle-like.<br /><br />I spread the sauce over the vegetable mixture, sprinkled a couple of tbsps of Parmesan on top, and baked the dish for 25 minutes. Then, I browned the top under the grill.<br /><br />This was a meal by itself.<br /></span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-6129376936263729452014-12-07T11:21:00.000+00:002014-12-07T11:21:08.953+00:00Mashed potato with an electric whisk<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">In <i>Don’t Sweat the Aubergine</i>, I had the nerve to question
Delia Smith’s method of making mashed potato, with a hand-held whisk.
Overworking mash turns it gluey. Surely the whisk would bash up the starch
granules and release their contents?</span>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I did add - conscious of my temerity - that I was sure that Delia had never served a
plate of gluey mash in her life; but I am embarrassed to admit that only now,
10 years after I wrote those libellous and sacrilegious words, have I tested
the technique.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I was prompted by my discovery that a hand-held whisk
produces more flavoursome hummus than does a food processor (<a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/hummus-with-hand-held-blender.html" target="_blank">this post</a>). And,
as you would expect, I learned that Delia was right.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The mash I made with the whisk was not impeccably light and
fluffy; but its slight glueyness – which you often get from enthusiastic
stirring with a wooden spoon – was a quality that I rather like. Delia’s recipe
is <a href="http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/fruit-and-vegetables/how-to-mash-potatoes.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Instead of crème fraiche, I used a little milk with about
50% more butter than the recipe recommends. (And I did not bother with the
business with the tea towel.) I warmed the butter and milk in a small saucepan
before pouring them over the potatoes.</span></div>
Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-75923275453416625392014-11-29T15:24:00.000+00:002014-11-29T15:24:03.812+00:00Salmon and spring onion fish pie<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is a simple fish pie for a family Friday supper. The spring onions are a nice contrast with the blandness of the fish. By “a bunch”, I mean of the slim ones you find in supermarkets. Serves 3 to 4.<br /><br /><b>Maincrop potatoes – 2 medium ones for each person<br />Large chunk of butter<br />Salmon fillets – about 350g<br />1/2pint milk<br />A dozen black peppercorns<br />A few scrapings of nutmeg<br />28g butter<br />1tbsp flour – I used gluten-free<br />1 bunch spring onions, chopped<br />Salt<br />1tbsp Parmesan</b><br /><br />Peel the potatoes, cut them into smallish pieces (about 8 for a medium-sized potato), put them into cold water with about a tsp of salt, bring to a simmer, and simmer until soft. Drain, and mash – I use a potato ricer. Beat in the amount of butter you like, with salt to taste. If the mash coheres, you don’t need milk.<br /><br />Put the salmon into a saucepan, pour over the milk, and throw in the peppercorns. Over a medium heat, bring to a simmer, and cook at a very gentle simmer for just a few minutes, or until the salmon has lost its raw pinkness. (You may want to cover the pan if the fish is not submerged – in this case, just leaving the fish to cook with the heat turned off will work.)<br /><br />Lift out the fish with a slotted spoon. Remove the skin, and break up the fish into fork-sized pieces.<br /><br />Strain the milk into a jug. Melt the butter in a non-stick, small saucepan over a gentle heat. Stir in the flour, and allow this roux to cook gently for a minute. Turn up the heat, and add the milk gradually, merging the roux and milk completely before adding the next batch. Keep adding milk (and more if necessary) until you have a thick sauce (which the onions and salmon will thin).<br /><br />Mix the sauce, salmon, and spring onions, and tip into an oven-proof dish. Cover with the mash, and sprinkle the Parmesan on top.<br /><br />Bake in a gas mark 6/200C oven for 10-15 minutes. You want to get the heat through the dish, but not to overcook the salmon. Brown the top under the grill.<br /></span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-9745172916204856552014-11-14T17:28:00.000+00:002014-11-14T17:28:19.092+00:00Hummus with a hand-held blender<span style="font-family: inherit;">I got this idea from <i>Morito</i> by Sam and Sam Clark, having introduced one of the Sams (him) at a lunch at the Cheltenham Literary Festival. It’s my impression that hummus tastes better made this way than it does from a food processor, perhaps because the processor blade gets very hot and affects the flavour. It’s a theory.<br /><br />A pitcher-type vessel is ideal, so the ingredients don’t spray everywhere.<br /><br /><b>1 tin chickpeas, drained<br />1 1/2tbsp tahini<br />Juice of 1/2 lemon<br />1 clove garlic, chopped (it needs this, but you’ll be able to taste it all afternoon if you eat the hummus at lunchtime)<br />Salt (go easy if the chickpeas have been tinned in brine)<br />Pepper, cayenne pepper to taste<br />2tbsp extra virgin olive oil</b><br /><br />Blend all the ingredients apart from the oil (which loses its fruitiness if overworked) with a hand-held blender. You may need to stop to scrape down the sides. Stir in the oil.</span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-19036052206378299372014-10-31T17:47:00.000+00:002014-11-03T16:13:37.368+00:00Chicken with paprika<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is a very simple dish, which can go wrong if the ingredients exude too much liquid. The key is putting on the lid of the pan and taking it off again as required. Serves 2.<br /><br /><b>Oil for frying<br />1 red pepper, seeded and cut into fork-sized chunks<br />100g chestnut mushrooms, washed and sliced<br />2 cloves garlic, chopped<br />1tbsp paprika<br />1tsp caraway seeds<br />1/3tsp salt<br />2 chicken supremes, cut into fork-sized chunks<br />1 bunch spring onions, sliced<br />150ml sour cream or crème fraiche</b><br /><br />Warm a couple of tbsps of oil in a heavy pan, throw in the pepper and mushrooms, cover, and cook over a gentle heat, stirring regularly. Both vegetables should exude some liquid. <br /><br />After 10 to 15 minutes, when the peppers are starting to soften, add all the rest of the ingredients, and cook over a moderate heat with the pan uncovered, again stirring regularly. The chicken and onions may disgorge a good deal of water, most of which you want to evaporate. The chicken should cook through in 15 minutes or so.<br /><br />Pour in the cream, and let it bubble and thicken. (I find that factory-produced crème fraiche tends to split. In France, I buy crème fraiche fermière, which never splits.)</span></span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-61031646195696143582014-10-13T07:58:00.000+01:002014-10-13T07:58:29.975+01:00Steeping coffee revisited<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A while ago on here, <a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/dont-steep-coffee.html" target="_blank">I wrote</a> that my preferred way to
prepare coffee was to use a lot of it, but to steep it only briefly. After the
four minutes of steeping that many people recommend, coffee can be bitter, I
find.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Since I started using my <a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/hario-coffee-grinder.html" target="_blank">Hario grinder</a>, I've realised that I
need to refine these rules. It all depends on how course is the ground. Most
pre-ground coffee you buy is fine, and imparts the best part of its flavour
very rapidly. Coarser grounds require lengthier steeping - but not four
minutes. About 90 seconds should do it.</span></div>
Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-68053388575465020292014-09-13T17:06:00.000+01:002014-09-13T17:06:29.722+01:00Pilaf with turmeric, mustard seeds, and cardamom<span style="font-family: inherit;">Cooking plain basmati rice, I tend to throw it into about three times its volume of boiling water, simmer for 10 minutes, and drain. That’s it. Works fine every time. The absorption method is hard to perfect, in my experience: cooking utensils, brands of rice, and other factors may vary, and have significant effects.<br /><br />However, if you want a pilaf, you need to use an absorption method – try mixing pre-cooked rice with fat and spices, and you’ll end up with a sticky clump. Here is what works pretty well for me.<br /><br />Measure the rice. You’re going to cook it in one and half times its volume of water. (I have little measuring pots.)<br /><br />Soak the rice for 30 minutes or longer – soaking results in softer (more digestible?) grains, which need to be cooked in less water, and which will soften by steaming more readily.<br /><br />Warm a knob of butter or about a tbsp of oil for each person in a heavy-bottomed pan. Add what spices you like – this week, for three people, I used a tsp of turmeric, half a tsp of mustard seeds, and the seeds from five cardamom pods. Let them sizzle briefly, then drain the rice and add it to the pan, turning it in the spicy fat. <br /><br />Add the water, with salt if you like, and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to its lowest setting. Cover the pan loosely with foil, crimping it round the edges to make a seal, and clamp the lid on top. (Probably you should use a tea towel, which absorbs the steam. But foil works ok for me.) Simmer for 10 minutes, and leave to rest for a further five.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">You do need basmati rice for this recipe. Long grain rice takes longer to cook, and tends to be stickier.</span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-71734460032349215382014-08-30T15:59:00.000+01:002015-02-08T10:53:19.285+00:00Hario coffee grinder<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjolxoP5IBnZCvPN_zRoM6LT2uwUF-VYd6UbUuiAOywRjxwqNW-GCm6j6vhTFXSI-gekkuTrn9n7dUsADfSELaOG76Vz10GfcgSYh7-knmK1zQgd2URGs-N8vBrGjjfW-GytOJQ/s1600/hario_grinder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjolxoP5IBnZCvPN_zRoM6LT2uwUF-VYd6UbUuiAOywRjxwqNW-GCm6j6vhTFXSI-gekkuTrn9n7dUsADfSELaOG76Vz10GfcgSYh7-knmK1zQgd2URGs-N8vBrGjjfW-GytOJQ/s1600/hario_grinder.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thanks to commenters on this blog, I abandoned my blade coffee mill in favour of a burr grinder, and enjoyed a big improvement in flavour. Now I have upgraded the flavour of my coffee again, thanks to a cheaper device than my Krups electric mill: the Hario Glass Hand Coffee Grinder. Amazon is selling it at the moment for just £13.35.<br /><br />The manual mill, unlike some electric machines, will not overwork the coffee. It makes <i>you</i> work quite hard, though: on its finest setting, it may demand that you turn the handle for 4 to 5 minutes just to process a couple of tbsps of beans. But a slightly coarser setting will reduce this time by a half.<br /><br />The biggest improvement I’ve noticed is when I use a stovetop pot (a mocha pot, some call it). The coffee is rich and intense, without a hint of bitterness.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Update (8/2/15)</b> - From time to time, coffe<span style="font-family: inherit;">e<span style="font-family: inherit;"> grounds may get stuck in the mechanism. You <span style="font-family: inherit;">can feel that the grinds are not catching - the handle is turning to<span style="font-family: inherit;">o smoothly<span style="font-family: inherit;">, and <span style="font-family: inherit;">only light sprinkles of coffee are dropping into the bowl. The solution is to give the handle a backwards turn from time to time.</span></span></span></span></span></span> </span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-61278193440132388032014-08-17T17:22:00.000+01:002014-08-17T17:22:02.307+01:00Mayonnaise - the tipping point<span style="font-family: inherit;">My early attempts at mayonnaise never failed. Then a few batches went wrong: I had got complacent. I had to relearn the tyro’s caution. One must add the oil very carefully at first, just a few drops at a time, and whisk vigorously to amalgamate it, before adding the next. <br /><br />Pouring 150mls (1 egg) or 300mls (2 eggs) of oil at this rate would be very tedious. You do not have to. There comes a point at which you can be much more liberal. It is when the sauce stiffens: you can feel this process, and see it, because the sauce starts clinging to the whisk. Now, you can pour in generous glugs of oil before each whisking, and you are very unlikely to split the mixture.</span><br />
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<a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.fr/2007/05/mayonnaise.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mayonnaise recipe</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.fr/2011/04/split-mayonnaise.html" target="_blank">Split mayonnaise, and what to do with it</a></span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-76833402486599423282014-07-18T14:46:00.001+01:002014-07-18T14:46:53.576+01:00Pork stew with vinegar<span style="font-family: inherit;">This stew could not be simpler. The meat and onions caramelise in the pan (because they’re not submerged in liquid), and the vinegar loses some of its astringency through evaporation.<br /><br />The only issue is the oven temperature, which depends on how long you’ve got, how heavy your casserole is (they can take a good while to warm up), and how warm your oven is (your gas mark S may be very different from mine). <br /><br />You could stir in black olives at the end. You might also want to include herbs such as thyme or rosemary.<br /><br />Serves 2<br /><br /><b>2 or 3 slices of belly pork, cut into fork-sized pieces<br />2 red onions, roughly chopped<br />6 whole cloves of garlic<br />150ml vinegar<br />Salt, pepper</b><br /><br />Mix all the ingredients in a heavy casserole, with seasoning to taste.<br /><br />I cooked my stew for 30 minutes at gas mark 6/200C, stirred it, gave it a further 30 minutes at gas mark 4/180C, stirred it again, and gave it a further 60 minutes at gas mark S/130C.</span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-18536879239934000202014-07-04T17:16:00.002+01:002014-07-04T17:16:58.100+01:00Chickpea dip with olives<span style="font-family: inherit;">Returning home with a tin of chickpeas and a lemon, and with the intention of making hummus, I discovered that I didn’t have any tahini in the house. But I did have some black olives. So I tried this. It turned out to be delicious.<br /><br /><b>1 tin chickpeas<br />Juice of half a lemon<br />Large handful of black olives, stoned<br />1 clove garlic, chopped<br />Black pepper, to taste<br />Cayenne pepper, to taste<br />A little salt<br />2tbsp extra virgin olive oil</b><br /><br />Put all the ingredients except the oil into the bowl of a food processor, and whizz. Scrape down the sides of the bowl between each burst of the machine.<br /><br />Stir through the olive oil. (It loses its fruitiness if subjected to the harsh treatment of the blades.)</span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-64960159427230829812014-06-09T13:47:00.001+01:002014-06-09T13:47:38.989+01:00Lamb boulangere 2<span style="font-family: inherit;">I see that my technique for cooking lamb boulangère has not changed very much <a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2007/01/lamb-boulangere.html" target="_blank">since I last wrote about it</a>, seven years ago. The chief difference is that yesterday I covered the roasting tin with foil, having learned that the lowest temperature of my oven – 130C-plus – is higher than the temperature inside a covered receptacle.<br /><br />I smeared a little oil over a whole shoulder of lamb, seasoned it, and laid it on a bed of two sliced onions, the unpeeled cloves from a head of garlic, and two sprigs of rosemary. I covered the roasting tin with foil, and put it into the centre of a gas mark 1/140C oven, at 8am. (It’s a good idea to check on progress after the first hour, and regularly thereafter, adjusting the heat if necessary. I can never be confident about how my oven will behave.)<br /><br />At 11am, I scraped and sliced new potatoes, dropping them into a pan of cold water. I brought the pan to the boil, and allowed it to boil vigorously for one minute before draining. (The idea is to get rid of some of the surface starch – potatoes cooked around meat are particularly liable to stick, because of the caramelised juices.)<br /><br />By this time, there was a good amount of sauce surrounding the lamb. I removed the meat to a board, discarded the onions, squeezed the garlic out of its skins into the sauce, tipped in the potatoes and stirred them, and put back the meat on top.<br /><br />I returned the tin, covered again, to the oven, turning up the dial to gas mark 4/180C. (I checked after half an hour, and discovered that this setting was high enough but not too fierce. The extra ingredients appeared to have moderated the temperature.)<br /><br />At 1.30pm, I removed the joint to a large plate, covering it with the foil. I returned the potatoes to the top of the oven, now at its highest setting, to brown – about 20 minutes. (Be careful that they do not stick and burn.)<br /><br />The meat fell away from the bone. I cut it up in the kitchen, and poured the small amount of sauce that the potatoes had not absorbed on top.</span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-14941536393456675942014-05-19T14:58:00.000+01:002014-05-19T14:58:41.305+01:00Fried chicken with paprika and cayenne<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsUrt_Q8wxioMF4_BKrMkf3LU9mM78RxdH5HHUtwdjsqAo6mpbFaWxhuiDgG0IsaxOpUANj5FKLp-TJNiaZLdxsLCIGQCOfPkH9NT-WvuZ2tGQxUigsDr7h1w4IqhoonqRUFoA/s1600/fried_chicken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsUrt_Q8wxioMF4_BKrMkf3LU9mM78RxdH5HHUtwdjsqAo6mpbFaWxhuiDgG0IsaxOpUANj5FKLp-TJNiaZLdxsLCIGQCOfPkH9NT-WvuZ2tGQxUigsDr7h1w4IqhoonqRUFoA/s1600/fried_chicken.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you use egg as the adhesive when frying chicken, the coating may become claggy. A good many recipes recommend buttermilk; but, having no further use for buttermilk, I would have to throw a good deal of it away. So I tried an egg and milk mixture, which worked well. Gluten-free flour works well, too – it’s less stodgy than wheat flour.<br /><br />I like chicken to be well cooked, so I poach the drumsticks first. You can keep the stock for another recipe.<br /><br />Season the flour liberally. The amount of flour that will end up as coating is quite small.<br /><br />Serves 2.<br /><br /><b>6 chicken drumsticks<br />1 egg, beaten<br />100ml milk<br />Gluten-free flour<br />1tbsp paprika<br />1/2tsp cayenne pepper<br />Salt, pepper<br />Sunflower oil</b><br /><br />Cover the drumsticks with water in a saucepan, bring to a simmer, and cook, covered, for 45-60 minutes. Take out the drumsticks and keep the stock for another recipe.<br /><br />In a wide bowl, beat the egg with the milk.<br /><br />Cover a plate with flour, and season it with the peppers and salt.<br /><br />Dip the drumsticks in the egg mixture, and roll them in the flour.<br /><br />Put sunflower oil into a heavy, 28cm frying pan to a depth of about half a cm. Place the pan over a medium heat, until a small piece of bread sizzles in the oil. Fry the drumsticks until crispy on each side – about 10 to 15 minutes.<br /></span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-88280913147219506462014-05-05T15:31:00.000+01:002014-05-05T15:31:59.864+01:00Falafels - der Haroutunian 2<span style="font-family: inherit;">I wrote an entry about this recipe, and then realised that I had covered it before, six years ago (<a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2008/05/falafels.html" target="_blank">here</a>).<br /><br />The main difference, when I made falafels this lunchtime, was that I used der Haroutunian’s quantities with 1 drained tin of chickpeas. I whizzed in the food processor all the ingredients except 1tbsp of gluten-free flour – which I used as a binding agent instead of breadcrumbs, because of the gluten-intolerant member of our household. I transferred the mixture to a bowl, and then stirred in the flour.<br /><br />I rolled small pieces of the mixture gently between my palms to create falafels the size of golf balls. (The drawback of turmeric among ingredients you have to manipulate is that it stains – be careful.)<br /><br />This time, I used a heavy, 28cm frying pan, large enough to fry all the falafels in one batch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The recipe comes from Arto der Haroutunian's <a href="http://www.grubstreet.co.uk/products/view/155/vegetarian-dishes-from-the-middle-east/" target="_blank"><i>Vegetarian Dishes of the Middle East</i></a> (Grub Street). </span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-81389611277841677822014-04-28T15:03:00.001+01:002014-04-28T15:03:54.142+01:00Stewed cannellini beans with lemon and garlic<span style="font-family: inherit;">I got the idea of using lemon zest from Nigel Slater, I think. The zest enlivens the bland, mealy quality of the beans, as do the garlic and the pepper.<br /><br />For more about cooking dried beans, see <a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2006/11/dried-beans.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br />Serves 2, as a generous side portion.<br /><br /><b>150g cannellini beans<br />3 garlic cloves, 1 of them peeled and chopped<br />2tbsp olive oil<br />1dstsp tomato puree or tomato ketchup<br />1/3tsp lemon zest<br />Salt, pepper</b><br /><br />Soak the beans in filtered water. They may take about eight hours to hydrate (see the entry to which I’ve linked above).<br /><br />Drain them, cover with fresh filtered water, throw in the whole and unpeeled garlic cloves, bring to the boil, and simmer. Cooking times vary wildly, in my experience: from 1 to 3 hours, in part depending on how thoroughly the beans have been soaked.<br /><br />Drain the beans, but retain the water in a jug. Extract the garlic, and remove the flesh from the skins.<br /><br />Warm the oil in a small saucepan, and add both the cooked and uncooked garlic, stirring the cooked flesh to encourage it to melt. After a minute or so, tip the beans into the pan.<br /><br />Pour the bean water into another jug until you have just the sludgy stuff at the bottom. Pour enough of this into the beans to create a moist but not runny texture. Add the tomato (ketchup is fine, and may even be nicer), lemon zest, salt to taste, and plenty of pepper. Simmer gently for 10 minutes.</span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-78155008018036860402014-04-26T13:49:00.000+01:002014-06-09T15:12:19.553+01:00Simple oxtail stew revisited<span style="font-family: inherit;">I questioned, <a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/oxtail-stew-made-simple.html" target="_blank">in my first version of this stew</a>, whether you needed to soften the onions first. I have since decided that a gentle frying/stewing in oil for 10 to 15 minutes gives them a sweetness (eliminating their acidity) that may enhance the dish.<br /><br />I made the stew again yesterday. Once the onions had softened, I added the herbs, star anise, half a tsp of salt, plenty of ground black pepper (ground pepper is reputed to turn bitter in stock, but does not seem to do so in stews, in my experience), and the oxtails. No stock or water.<br /><br />After about an hour in the even at a low heat, the stew was creating its own sauce. At this stage, I added the tbsp of ketchup and the soy (which might have caught and burned when the casserole dish was dry).<br /><br />I gave the stew three and a half hours in total. As before, I removed the oxtails to a board, sieved the sauce – of which there was just the right quantity - into a small saucepan (pressing down on the vegetables). Then I returned the oxtails and sauce to the casserole, covered it, and put it back in the oven for 10 minutes or so, to warm through.</span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-18450945878078443172014-03-30T11:37:00.001+01:002014-03-30T11:37:21.489+01:00Soaking lasagne sheets<span style="font-family: inherit;">Non pre-cook lasagne does not necessarily live up to its promise of saving you trouble. Cooked from raw, it can absorb a good deal of sauce, leaving you with a dry wodge in the oven dish; if bits of the pasta are uncovered by sauce, they remain brittle.<br /><br />You can ensure more even cooking by blanching the sheets for a minute. But you have to do so in small batches, because otherwise the sheets stick together, as if superglued. Pouring boiling water on to a batch of sheets, as Yotam Ottolenghi once advised (see <a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/dont-blanch-lasagne.html" target="_blank">this entry</a>), is asking for trouble.<br /><br />However, you can soak all the sheets you need in cold water. After 5 to 10 minutes, they should be floppy. If they look as if they’re sticking, they can be peeled apart (because you don’t have to put your hands in scalding water); but I have found that they do not stick hard. You’ve saved yourself the trouble of boiling the pasta and laying out the sheets separately; and you have ensured that it will cook evenly.<br /><br />Having said this, I should add that this kind of lasagne is not as nice as fresh, or as the dried variety that <i>does</i> require pre-cooking. But in many shops and delis nowadays, it is all that is available.</span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-1609444970546173872014-03-15T17:40:00.001+00:002014-03-16T11:29:38.391+00:00Aubergine with tomato, onion, and Neufchatel cheese<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have cooked many versions of this, the root of which is melanzane parmigiana. It works very well with a soft cheese, which complements the melting texture of the aubergine. I used Neufchatel (my local butcher, <a href="http://islingtonfacesblog.com/tag/highbury-butchers/" target="_blank">Highbury Butchers</a>, sells an excellent version); Camembert, its Normandy neighbour, would obviously work just as well. You want the cheese just to soften without going completely runny, so don’t give it longer than five minutes in the oven.<br /><br />Serves 2, generously (with rice, perhaps)<br /><br /><b>2 aubergines <br />Olive oil<br />Salt, pepper<br />1 clove garlic, chopped<br />2 red onions, chopped<br />1 tin tomatoes<br />1tsp sugar<br />Neufchatel or Camembert cheese – as much as you like</b><br /><br />Cut the aubergines in half crossways, and then cut them vertically, into four or five slices about 40mm thick. Pour some olive oil into a saucer, and brush the aubergines with oil on both sides using the concave side of the tines of a fork – or use a pastry brush. Lay the slices in a baking tray, season them, and bake them for 20 to 30 minutes at gas mark 8/230C, until soft.<br /><br />Put about 2tbsp of oil into a heavy saucepan over a gentle heat, throw in the garlic, and let it sizzle for a minute or so. Add the onions, and cook until softened. Tip in the tomatoes, add the sugar (tinned tomatoes, and indeed a good many fresh ones, benefit from sweetening), season to taste, and simmer until thickened, breaking up the tomatoes in the pan.<br /><br />Tip the aubergines into the tomato sauce, mix them up, and pour the mixture into an oven dish. Bake for 20 minutes, uncovered, at gas mark 4/180C, to allow the flavours to mingle and the sauce to thicken further.<br /><br />Slice the cheese, and lay the slices on top of the tomato and aubergine mixture. Return the dish to the oven, and cook for a further three to five minutes, just until the cheese has started to melt.</span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-42750403959782771312014-02-16T13:57:00.001+00:002014-02-16T13:57:27.562+00:00Spare rib chops in barbecue sauce<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you find that pork chops are too often dry, you may be pleased to find spare rib pork chops, which come from the shoulder (whereas, confusingly, spare ribs come from the belly). You can grill or fry them, and you can also braise them slowly, without causing them to turn tough. The ones I cooked yesterday – from the excellent Highbury Butchers – were tender, with just enough fat to keep them moist.<br /><br />In a recipe for <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/feb/14/meat-fruit-recipes-yotam-ottolenghi" target="_blank">Hawaiian pork chops</a> in yesterday's <i>Guardian</i>, Yotam Ottolenghi advised that you marinate the chops, then scrape off the marinade before grilling them, and then recombine them with the marinade for a brief roasting. If cooked for longer, the chops will become tough. But you can poach spare rib chops, for about an hour and a quarter, before slicing them and combining them with your marinade. Finish them by blasting them in a hot oven (gas mark 8, 230C ) for 15 minutes.<br /><br />The first advantage of this two-stage process is that you get tender meat. The second is that if you had roasted the chops from raw, you would have found that they exuded a good deal of water, making it difficult to achieve the ideally sticky result. The third is that if your marinade includes ingredients such as honey and soy, it will not spend long enough in the oven to burn.<br /><br />My marinade, for 2-3: two cloves of garlic, crushed with a little salt; 2tbsp tomato ketchup; 1tsp honey; 1tsp Dijon mustard; a few splashes of soy sauce; 1dsp sunflower oil; generous grindings of black pepper.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Don't throw away the liquid in which you poached the chops. Today, we enjoyed a lovely soup made with this liquid and onions, garlic, squash, and red lentils.<br /></span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-38797476437047808092014-02-09T11:45:00.001+00:002014-02-09T11:45:45.693+00:00How to pour coffee - spare the crema<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have always drained my cafetiere when pouring my coffee. From the last drops, you get the attractive golden foam that, on an espresso, is the <i>crema</i>.<br /><br />However, no cafetiere plunger is so efficient that it traps all the coffee grounds. The free grounds are in the last drops of coffee you pour, and, settling in the bottom of your cup/mug, steep for too long, and impart bitterness. The last quarter of your drink may be unpleasant.<br /><br />My recommendation is to allow the coffee to settle for a short while after plunging, pour it carefully, and leave the last 50ml or so in the cafetiere.<br /><br />Making coffee, I follow Victoria Moore’s technique of using a lot (I allow 2tbsps for 300ml water) but plunging almost immediately. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If allowed to steep for the standard recommended time of three to four minutes,</span> coffee is more likely to be bitter, in my experience.</span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-34308918330750256202014-02-01T14:03:00.000+00:002014-02-01T14:03:34.436+00:00'White' potatoes<span style="font-family: inherit;">Potatoes labelled simply “Whites”, I have always thought, are the poor relations of the maincrop world – the equivalent of robusta coffee, or the Aligoté grape. But the Whites on sale at my local greengrocer – White Bros, as it happens – are excellent. Roasted, they have a crunchy exterior and a creamy, earthily flavoured interior.<br /><br />I have banged on about the best way to roast potatoes quite a few times. Essentially: I peel them, cut them up, put them in cold water with a little salt, bring them to the boil, and boil them for three to five minutes. I bash up the surfaces. <br /><br />I do not think it essential to put them in hot oil or fat. (But of course if you have fat or dripping, you need to melt it.) I toss the potatoes in sunflower or olive oil, and roast them at gas mark 6/200C, turning them a few times, for about an hour.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The posts to which I've linked below may not be 100% consistent with what I've just written.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2006/12/hestons-roast-potatoes.html" target="_blank">Heston's roast potatoes</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2007/05/roast-potatoes-iv.html" target="_blank">Roast potatoes IV</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/roast-new-potatoes.html" target="_blank">Roast new potatoes</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36230402.post-47169740558643522592014-01-25T15:24:00.000+00:002014-02-04T11:38:22.121+00:00Heston's roast chicken - support for my scepticism<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Brining the bird before cooking, as Heston Blumenthal
suggests, just masks the flavour of the meat – definitely not worth the
hassle," Felicity Cloake writes, in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/jan/16/how-to-cook-perfect-chicken-pie" target="_blank">her recipe for "perfect chicken pie"</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is my view, too. Others disagree, as responses to one
of the most visited posts on this blog, <a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2006/12/hestons-roast-chicken.html" target="_blank">Heston's roast chicken</a>, indicate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have had greater success, however, with <a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/brining-pork-chops.html" target="_blank">brined pork chops</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://nicholasclee.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/brining-chicken-revisited.html" target="_blank">Brining chicken revisited</a> </span></div>
Nicholas Cleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04768734712635376841noreply@blogger.com0