Meal 91 - October 29th - Korean Fried Rice, Steak, Mushrooms and Pickles
Sirloin steak is one of those ingredients where you just don't want to faff about with it too much. There's a reason why most restaurants serve it - and most recipes tell you to cook it - as simply as possible: it is melt-in-the-mouth delicious. As long as you don't mess around too much, you can't really go too far wrong. Which boded (bade?) well because this dish looked mental.
Showing posts with label brown rice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brown rice. Show all posts
20 May 2013
Sweet and Sour Veggies, Szechuan Eggy Rice & Crunch Salad
Meal 45 - Sweet and Sour Veggies, Szechuan Eggy Rice & Crunch Salad
In a rather comedic moment on Friday night Lolz was rummaging through the freezer when something made her turn around rather quickly, bang her head on the door and collect a rather nasty gash on her forehead. Cue a trip to A&E, stitches and Lolz declaring that she was unfit to cook dinner for me as promised. But although it was me who had to step up and save the day, driving her to the hospital and cooking dinner while she rested her poor little head, apparently it was all my fault because she was only looking in the freezer in order to satisfy my request to add prawns to the stir fry she was going to cook.
In a rather comedic moment on Friday night Lolz was rummaging through the freezer when something made her turn around rather quickly, bang her head on the door and collect a rather nasty gash on her forehead. Cue a trip to A&E, stitches and Lolz declaring that she was unfit to cook dinner for me as promised. But although it was me who had to step up and save the day, driving her to the hospital and cooking dinner while she rested her poor little head, apparently it was all my fault because she was only looking in the freezer in order to satisfy my request to add prawns to the stir fry she was going to cook.
6 Mar 2013
Glazed Pork Fillets, Cajun-style Pepper Rice and BBQ Sauce
Meal 22 - March 5th - Glazed Pork Fillets, Cajun-style Pepper Rice and BBQ Sauce
Going through my worldly possessions at the weekend, Lolz decided a fairly large pile was expendable and hence we took a car load of stuff to one of our favourite weekend hangouts, Smugglers Way tip in Wandsworth (it really is quite an experience).
Going through my worldly possessions at the weekend, Lolz decided a fairly large pile was expendable and hence we took a car load of stuff to one of our favourite weekend hangouts, Smugglers Way tip in Wandsworth (it really is quite an experience).
3 Feb 2013
Veggie Chilli, Crunchy Tortilla & Avocado Salad
Meal 11 - 2nd Feb - Veggie Chilli, Crunchy Tortilla & Avocado Salad
As I write this on Sunday night I'm reflecting on what's been a fairly stressful weekend, in a culinary sense. Poor Cinderel-Lolz claims to have washed up 20 times, I'm debating whether to go to A&E after slicing off the top of my finger in the food processor (slight exaggeration maybe) and three 15 minute meals were cooked to varying degrees of success...
The first of the three was this rather funky looking chilli, my first veggie attempt. After getting through ten dishes in January including a knockout Swedish meatballs on Wednesday maybe we were due a bit of bad luck. The first problem was finding dried smoked chipotle or ancho chillis... Waitrose did not stock them, nor, after an internet search do any other major supermarkets. Even our trusty Lebanese corner shop could not fix us up. Not a major disaster though as we had some chipotle paste from a previous dish. The second problem was finding a ripe avocado, we bought the best we could find and decided to make do.
The centre piece of this dish - the chilli - is extremely simple - basically chuck it all in a pan and turn on the stove. The salad however, although simple on paper, relies on the dressing to pull it together. Unfortunately, our unripe avocado meant we couldn't blend it effectively, even after switching from the hand blender to the liquidizer. It did liquidize eventually, but the flavour wasn't right. What we ended up with was a fairly basic/ boring salad of lettuce, cucumber, tomato, chilli and rather odd "croutons" (which also didn't really work) with an overly limey dressing.
Thankfully, the chilli was a 15 minute miracle with all the flavour of any other chilli I've ever cooked. The chipotle adds a really good zing and the dried chillis were not missed.
Lolz gave the dish 8/10, think I probably added too much chipotle paste. Said it was too spicy for her delicate lady palate. Difficulty 2/10. Just make sure you get a good, ripe, soft avocado!
As I write this on Sunday night I'm reflecting on what's been a fairly stressful weekend, in a culinary sense. Poor Cinderel-Lolz claims to have washed up 20 times, I'm debating whether to go to A&E after slicing off the top of my finger in the food processor (slight exaggeration maybe) and three 15 minute meals were cooked to varying degrees of success...
The first of the three was this rather funky looking chilli, my first veggie attempt. After getting through ten dishes in January including a knockout Swedish meatballs on Wednesday maybe we were due a bit of bad luck. The first problem was finding dried smoked chipotle or ancho chillis... Waitrose did not stock them, nor, after an internet search do any other major supermarkets. Even our trusty Lebanese corner shop could not fix us up. Not a major disaster though as we had some chipotle paste from a previous dish. The second problem was finding a ripe avocado, we bought the best we could find and decided to make do.
The centre piece of this dish - the chilli - is extremely simple - basically chuck it all in a pan and turn on the stove. The salad however, although simple on paper, relies on the dressing to pull it together. Unfortunately, our unripe avocado meant we couldn't blend it effectively, even after switching from the hand blender to the liquidizer. It did liquidize eventually, but the flavour wasn't right. What we ended up with was a fairly basic/ boring salad of lettuce, cucumber, tomato, chilli and rather odd "croutons" (which also didn't really work) with an overly limey dressing.
Thankfully, the chilli was a 15 minute miracle with all the flavour of any other chilli I've ever cooked. The chipotle adds a really good zing and the dried chillis were not missed.
Lolz gave the dish 8/10, think I probably added too much chipotle paste. Said it was too spicy for her delicate lady palate. Difficulty 2/10. Just make sure you get a good, ripe, soft avocado!
31 Jan 2013
Swedish Meatballs, Celeriac & Spinach Rice
Meal 10 - Jan 30th - Swedish Meatballs, Celeriac & Spinach Rice
Big night tonight. Not just because a romantic weekend away meant this was my first opportunity to cook a 15 minute meal for a week, but also because Lolz' fave football team, Norwich, were playing Tottenham and if things went badly, Lolz would not be getting any dinner. I decided to go for a quick, calming pre-dinner run, but ended getting caught up amongst the Fulham fans making their way to Craven Cottage. Not the best start to the evening. And not only that, for once my food processor stood redundant as I picked possibly the only recipe in 15 minute meals which requires neither fine chopping, slicing, grating, whipping, liquidizing or indeed any of the other seven as yet unknown function which said processor can apparently perform. I was a little nervous.
Shortly after beginning my prep, Norwich scored the opening goal of the game. Despite Lolz' (admittedly rather sheepish) celebrations I put it out of my mind and, unlike the Tottenham defenders, focussed on the task at hand. First job was putting on the rice and I decided to test out the Jamie method of using 2 cups boiling water for one cup rice. Since the rice was the standard wholegrain stuff that takes 20-25 minutes to cook, I knew that the 15 minute cooking time was out the window... The peeling and chopping of the celeriac was also a more laborious task than expected. Anyway, before too long the celeriac was frying away, rice cooking and meatballs sizzling, and I psyced myself up for the next task: flambeing the meatballs! I was slightly dubious given the proximity of the cupboards to the stove, and having never flambed before I was unsure how big the flames would be, and exactly how big a danger there was of setting fire to the kitchen. Results can be seen below.
Thankfully Gareth Bale scored a spectacular equaliser for Tottenham so Lolz did get her dinner, although (secretly sulking at the late equaliser I imagine) did say that she would have appreciated some kind of cold yoghurt/ cranberry based sauce on the side. Personally, given that I did not set fire to the kitchen, and that the finished dish was one of the tastiest so far, I thought it was a bloody triumph.
Lolz gave the dish 9/10. Difficulty rating 5/10 - just need to make sure you regurlarly stir the celeriac to prevent burnage, and give the meatballs an occasional shake.
Big night tonight. Not just because a romantic weekend away meant this was my first opportunity to cook a 15 minute meal for a week, but also because Lolz' fave football team, Norwich, were playing Tottenham and if things went badly, Lolz would not be getting any dinner. I decided to go for a quick, calming pre-dinner run, but ended getting caught up amongst the Fulham fans making their way to Craven Cottage. Not the best start to the evening. And not only that, for once my food processor stood redundant as I picked possibly the only recipe in 15 minute meals which requires neither fine chopping, slicing, grating, whipping, liquidizing or indeed any of the other seven as yet unknown function which said processor can apparently perform. I was a little nervous.
Shortly after beginning my prep, Norwich scored the opening goal of the game. Despite Lolz' (admittedly rather sheepish) celebrations I put it out of my mind and, unlike the Tottenham defenders, focussed on the task at hand. First job was putting on the rice and I decided to test out the Jamie method of using 2 cups boiling water for one cup rice. Since the rice was the standard wholegrain stuff that takes 20-25 minutes to cook, I knew that the 15 minute cooking time was out the window... The peeling and chopping of the celeriac was also a more laborious task than expected. Anyway, before too long the celeriac was frying away, rice cooking and meatballs sizzling, and I psyced myself up for the next task: flambeing the meatballs! I was slightly dubious given the proximity of the cupboards to the stove, and having never flambed before I was unsure how big the flames would be, and exactly how big a danger there was of setting fire to the kitchen. Results can be seen below.
Thankfully Gareth Bale scored a spectacular equaliser for Tottenham so Lolz did get her dinner, although (secretly sulking at the late equaliser I imagine) did say that she would have appreciated some kind of cold yoghurt/ cranberry based sauce on the side. Personally, given that I did not set fire to the kitchen, and that the finished dish was one of the tastiest so far, I thought it was a bloody triumph.
Lolz gave the dish 9/10. Difficulty rating 5/10 - just need to make sure you regurlarly stir the celeriac to prevent burnage, and give the meatballs an occasional shake.
10 Jan 2013
Crispy Parma Pork, Minted Courgettes and Brown Rice
Meal 2 - Jan 9th - Crispy Parma Pork, Minted Courgettes and Brown Rice
Ooh brown rice healthy. After making a "safe" chicken dish first time round, I decided to venture into slightly less well known territory for meal 2: pork fillet. It's a cut of meat that to me always looks a little scary in the butchers. My first difficulty was sourcing different coloured courgettes. I knew yellow ones did exist but could not find anywhere that stocked them. Waitrose do a variety of round/baby courgettes in addition to the more traditional variety but none that are not green. I decided to go half and half with aubergine (that's egg plant for all my American fans out there).
In another minor diversion from the book, I used standard brown rice as opposed to the pre cooked option (with brown rice taking some 25 mins to cook this does admittedly defeat the 15 minute object of the recipe). Lolz was out running (seriously!) so I cooked the rice in advance and left it to cool. When Lolz returned from her run I began the recipe proper. The pork got prepped, veg sliced. You need a very big pan for all that veg! It all went rather smoothly. Warming the rice through in the pork pan with a bit of lemon juice and sundried tomato paste was a fantastic touch.
Once on the plate Lolz was immediately requesting extra yoghurt (Jamie seems to have adopted natural yoghurt as his condiment-du-jour) saying the dish was a little dry (although she was at pains to point out that this was not due to my cooking skills/ interpretation of the recipe, but down to the lack of any kind of sauce item in the recipe). She also thought that the chilli/ garlicky-ness of the courgettes overpowered the flavour of the meat, and on this point I would have to agree.
Lolz gave it 6/10. Difficulty factor 4/10. Leftover courgette and rice warmed through made a good next day lunch (although come to think of it I should probably not be reheating the rice so many times...)
Liquid Refreshment: I accompanied this meal with a bottle of St Peters Golden Ale. I can't really claim to be any kind of ale connoisseur but I did like the shape of the bottle and it was on offer in Waitrose.
Ooh brown rice healthy. After making a "safe" chicken dish first time round, I decided to venture into slightly less well known territory for meal 2: pork fillet. It's a cut of meat that to me always looks a little scary in the butchers. My first difficulty was sourcing different coloured courgettes. I knew yellow ones did exist but could not find anywhere that stocked them. Waitrose do a variety of round/baby courgettes in addition to the more traditional variety but none that are not green. I decided to go half and half with aubergine (that's egg plant for all my American fans out there).
In another minor diversion from the book, I used standard brown rice as opposed to the pre cooked option (with brown rice taking some 25 mins to cook this does admittedly defeat the 15 minute object of the recipe). Lolz was out running (seriously!) so I cooked the rice in advance and left it to cool. When Lolz returned from her run I began the recipe proper. The pork got prepped, veg sliced. You need a very big pan for all that veg! It all went rather smoothly. Warming the rice through in the pork pan with a bit of lemon juice and sundried tomato paste was a fantastic touch.
Once on the plate Lolz was immediately requesting extra yoghurt (Jamie seems to have adopted natural yoghurt as his condiment-du-jour) saying the dish was a little dry (although she was at pains to point out that this was not due to my cooking skills/ interpretation of the recipe, but down to the lack of any kind of sauce item in the recipe). She also thought that the chilli/ garlicky-ness of the courgettes overpowered the flavour of the meat, and on this point I would have to agree.
Lolz gave it 6/10. Difficulty factor 4/10. Leftover courgette and rice warmed through made a good next day lunch (although come to think of it I should probably not be reheating the rice so many times...)
Liquid Refreshment: I accompanied this meal with a bottle of St Peters Golden Ale. I can't really claim to be any kind of ale connoisseur but I did like the shape of the bottle and it was on offer in Waitrose.
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