Cooking White Long-Grain Rice
I’ve always struggled with this until yesterday, when I tried this method from the BBC.
The method detailed on the page, which also links to some interesting recipes.
Many cooks favour the absorption method for cooking white long-grain rice. For this, measure the rice by volume in a measuring jug – not by weight – allowing about 65ml/2½fl oz per person if you’re cooking the rice as a side dish. Stir in about double the amount of liquid (such as water or stock) and simmer in a covered saucepan for about 15 minutes. Do not try to stir the rice while it is boiling. Remove the pan from the heat and place a clean tea towel under the lid – this will help absorb the steam and keep the grains separate. Set aside for five minutes. Fluff up the rice with a fork before serving.
My only problem was that I didn’t cook enough rice for four.
Harira
This is another recipe from One-pot Cooking (“Australian Women’s Weekly”)
The ingredients are as follows and are enough for four.
- 100 g. of green lentils
- 500g diced lamb, cut into 1 cm. pieces. I got it from the butchery counter in Waitrose already cut up.
- 1 medium onion, chopped finely.
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed. I used garlic granules.
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- pinch of saffron threads
- 1.5 litres water
- 400g can chikpeas, rinsed and drained
- 100g of long grain rice.
- 3 small tomatoes, finely chopped
- ¼ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
The method was as follows.
- Cook lentils, lasmb, onion, garlic and spices in a large flameproof casserole dish, sirring until lamb is browned.
- Add the water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for one hour.
- Add chickpeas, rice and tomato to dish.
- Simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes or until rice is just tender.
- Stir in the parsley.
It was simple, pretty quick and everybody liked it.
Giving Up On Real Garlic
Is this lazy, as I’ve just bought some garlic granules in Waitrose? But I do find getting the pesky cloves out and crushing them.
On the package of garlic granules is a recipe for Garlic Mushrooms.
- Preheat the oven to 220°C or Gas Mark 7.
- Remove the stalks from 500g medium cup mushrooms and arrange the mushrooms, rounded side down, in a baking dish.
- Mix together 75g. softened butter, 2 tsp garlic granules, the juice and grated zest of half a lemon, 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, salt and pepper.
- Divide the garlic butter between the mushroom cups.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the mushrooms are soft and the garlic butter is sizzling.
- Serve with bread to mop-up the juice.
Beef and Bean Casserole
I don’t have many cookery books as with the Internet and the ability to search for a recipe for what you have available, but I do have one;One-pot Cooking (“Australian Women’s Weekly”)
The great advantage is that all the recipes are cooked in one pot and hence there is less washing up.
Many of the recipes are gluten-free too. This one might not be to everyone’s taste, as it contains a lot of red meat. But then I generally only eat beef about one a month and it’s usually good lean steak.
Yesterday, I was looking for something to cook for supper with my son and his friend and when I got the book it fell open at this recipe for beef and bean casserole.
The ingredients are as follows and are enough for more.
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 Kg of braising steak, cut into 2 cm. pieces. I was lazy and got Armed, the butcher, in the Waitrose at Upper Street to do this for me.
- 2 medium brown onions (300 g.) chopped finely. Again I was lazy and used the ready chopped ones from Waitrose.
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
- ¼ cup (70 g.) tomato paste
- a large tin (400 g) of chopped tomatoes
- 500 ml beef stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 medium potatoes (400 g), chopped coarsely
- a large tin (400 g) of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- ¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh coriander
- ¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
The method was as follows.
- Heat oil in aarge saucepan and then cook the beef in batches until browned. My big saucepan allowed it to be done in one and after browning I put the meat aside on a plate.
- Add onion and garlic to pan, cook, stirring, until onion softens.
- Add spices, cook, stirring until fragrant. Add paste; cook, stirring for one minute.
- Return beef to pan with undrained tomatoes, stock and bay leaves. Bring to the boil and then simmer covered for one hour.
- Add potato to the pan and simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes or until the potato is tender.
- Remove the bay leaves.
- Add beans to pan and stir until heated through.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped coriander and parsley.
My guests both liked it, although some of the potatoes could have done with a bit more cooking. Next time, I’ll think I’ll par-boil them first.
Pork Chops with Cyder Apple Sauce
This yet another of Lindsey Bareham ‘s recipes that I’ve cooked in the past, but in the move the cutting seems to have disappeared. However, I did find it on the web.
The ingredients are as follows and the quantities serve four.
- 4 thick pork loin chops
- 1 tbsp groundnut or sunflower oil for the apple sauce:
- 2 Bramley cooking apples
- 1 medium wine glass of cider
- 25g butter
- 1 tbsp sugar
The method is as follows.
- Heat the oven to 400F/200C/gas mark 6.
- Begin with the apple sauce. Peel, core and quickly chop the apples. Place in a pan with the cider. Cover and boil hard for about 5 minutes until the apple is collapsed. Stir in the butter and sugar to make a fluffy sauce. Keep warm or allow to cool; I like hot chops and cold sauce.
- Prepare the chops by cutting down the rind in 3 or 4 places right to the meat, so that when the chops cook they don’t buckle. Season the chops with sea salt, rubbing salt into the rind. Heat the oil in an ovenproof frying pan and fry the chops for 2 minutes a side.
- Finish the cooking in the hot oven, leaving the chops for 5-10 minutes, depending on thickness, until cooked through and the rind crisp. Transfer to a warm plate and leave to rest for 10 minutes before serving with the apple sauce and mashed or new potatoes.
I’m afraid that I haven’t got an ovenproof frying pan, so I just fried the chops in a little olive oil in my non-stick one.
Pan-Fried Fish with Lemon Hollandaise Sauce
This recipe is double-nicked, in that I got it from Fish Fanatics and they got it from the Seafish Industry. I’ve just cooked it with the disaster-prone flour and it was definitely worth stealing. But as the real beneficiaries are the fishermen and their industry made up the recipe, does anybody really care?
The ingredients are as follows and the quantities serve two.
- 2 sole or plaice fillets, defrosted and skinned. I actually used haddock, line-caught of course
- 30g (1oz) plain flour
- salt and freshly milled black pepper
- 1 15ml spoon (1 tbsp) olive oil
- 30g (1oz) butter
- 125ml hollandaise sauce
- 1 15ml spoon (1 tesp) lemon juice
- fresh chopped parsley, to garnish
The method is as follows.
- Dip the fish in seasoned flour. Shake off any excess.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the butter. Cook each fillet for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
- Add the hollandaise sauce and lemon juice. Simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Garnish and serve with potatoes and green vegetables.
Lindsay Bareham Does It Again!
This is another of Lindsay Bareham’s Dinner Tonight recipes, from The Times on Thursday, and again it’s gluten-free.
The ingredients are as follows and the quantities serve two.
- 2 pollack fillets
- half a lemon
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 200g green beans
- 150g frozen petits pois
- Best olive oil
The method is as follows.
- Heat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6.
- Place the fish in a small roasting pan, splash with 2 tbsp olive oil and squeeze the lemon juice over. Season with salt and pepper.
- Roast for 6-10 minutes depending of the thickness of the fillets.
- Whilst the fish roasts halve the beans.
- Drop them into a pan of vigorously boiling water. Add a generous seasoning of salt and boil for 1 minute.
- Add the peas and boil for a further 2 minutes or until the peas are tender and the beans still al dente. Drain.
- Return the beans to the pan with 1 tbsp of your best olive oil. Toss thoroughly then pile in the middle of two warmed dinner plates.
- Drape a fillet of fish over the top, add the juices and a swirl of your best olive oil.
- Serve immediately offering sea salt flakes and the pepper mill.
I do wonder if Lindsay realises that most of her recipes are gluten-free.
But what the heck I’ll keep looking for them and trying them.
Ginger Chicken with Lemongrass
This recipe was published in The Times yesterday. It is one of Lindsay Bareham’s and I’ve used hers before, as they are simple, quick and delicious on the one hand and often gluten-free on the other.
The ingredients are as follows and the quantities serve two.
- 20g ginger
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 onions, 145g in total
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 chicken thigh fillets
- 300g potatoes
- 2 tsp lemongrass paste or 1 large lemongrass
- 300 ml water
- 100g frozen petits pois
The method is as follows.
- Peel and thinly slice the ginger into scraps the size of shirt buttons.
- Slice the garlic into thin rounds.
- Finely slice the onions.
- Heat the oil in a lidded pan, stir in the onion, ginger and garlic.
- Cook, stirring often, over a medium-low heat, encouraging it to soften without browning.
- Slice the chicken into bite-sized pieces and stir into the semi-cooked onions.
- Peel and slice the potatoes into 50p-size pieces. Quickly rince and add to the pan.
- Stir in the lemongrass paste or buised lemongrass, then add the water.
- Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, semi-cover the pan and cook gently for 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender, the chicken cooked through and the liquid slightly reduced.
- Season to taste.
- Add the peas, bring to the boil, immediately reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes until the peas are tender. Serve in bowls with crusty bread and butter.
I think I’ll give it a try this week.
Baked Haddock with Cheese
I usually cook haddock with tomatoes and onions, but I felt I needed something simple and quick. After searching the Internet I found this recipe.
The ingredients I used were.
- 1 cupful of goats milk
- 1 tablespoon of gluten-free flour
- 50 grms of butter
- 2 or 3 haddock fillets
- 1 cupful of grated cheese.
- salt and pepper to taste
These quantities make enough for perhaps a friend and myself, but as I was hungry, I made it for one.
The method was as follows.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan.
- Add the flour, mix with the butter and when smooth add the milk, salt and pepper.
- When thickened add the grated cheese and stir constantly over a low heat until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth.
- Meanwhile arrange the haddock fillets in an ovenproof dish and pour the cheese sauce over the top.
- I then baked it in the top of the bottom oven of the AGA for thirty minutes.
Colcannon Chicken and Apple Pie
I was looking for something a bit different to add to the potato topped pies that I like and keep for suppers by myself in the freezer and I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com. Note that this website marks all recipes as to gluten-free, vegetarian etc.
The ingredients I used for the pie were.
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 450 gram chicken breast fillets cut into chunks
- 2 carrots, thickly sliced
- 250 ml. pf chicken stock
- 250 ml. of dry cider – Aspalls of course!
- 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
- 1 tsp dried tarragon
- 2 Cox’s apples, thickly sliced
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- salt and pepper
And for the Colcannon topping I used.
- 700 grams of potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 200 grams of Savoy cabbage, shredded
- 4 tbsp of semi-skimmed goats milk
- 25 gramsbutter
- 4 spring onions, finely chopped.
These quantities make enough for four, so I froze some of it for later.
The method was as follows.
- Heat the oil in a large, deep, non-stick frying pan. Add the onion and cook over a low heat for 5 minutes or until softened.
- Add the chicken to the pan and cook over a moderate heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until it is no longer pink. Stir in the carrots.
- Combine the stock, cider, mustard and tarragon, and pour into the pan. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and cook gently for 10 minutes. Stir in the apples and cook, covered, for a further 10 minutes or until the chicken and carrots are tender, and the apples have softened but are still holding their shape.
- Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in a saucepan of boiling water for about 15 minutes or until tender. Cook the cabbage in a separate pan of boiling water for 4–5 minutes or until just tender but not soft; drain well.
- Drain the potatoes and return them to the pan. Add the milk and butter, and mash until smooth. Stir in the cabbage and spring onions, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover to keep warm.
- Using a draining spoon, transfer the chicken, apples and vegetables to a 1.7 litre (3 pint) ovenproof dish. Set aside.
- Mix the cornflour with 1 tbsp cold water, stir into the cooking liquid in the frying pan and bring to the boil, stirring until thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then pour over the chicken mixture.
- Pile the potato and cabbage topping over the chicken mixture, spreading it evenly to cover. Place in the top oven of the AGA and bake until golden brown.
I made a couple of mistakes in that I didn’t make enough topping and the sauce could have done with more thickening. But it was well worth the ewffort.
The Anonymous Widower 