A Simple quick Curry

Da Vinci once said simplicity is the ultimate sophistication and I’m inclined to agree. So many people can’t make a good curry, and even more resort to jars and tins and pre made pastes.  This is a really simple quick curry recipe my nana Perveen taught me how to make when I was younger, half my family are from the middle east and my nana lived there for about 15 years when she met my granda so she knows her stuff.

This is a standard curry sauce; you can add any meat or some butternut squash, veggies or lentils for a veggie curry.  I’ll only say one thing about the meat, if your using chicken don’t just put raw chicken in unless it’s really good quality.  It won’t taste of anything; it’ll just be a texture in your mouth.  I always roast a whole chicken and pick the meat off, shredding it and adding it to the curry half way through.  It has so much flavour and is cheaper than breasts as you can pick a good quality chicken up for £6 to feed 4 people and the last I checked two breasts were pushing a fiver.

Ingredients
will feed 4

1 tsp mustard seeds

1tsp fenugreek
2 chilies, sliced
1tsp turmeric
1tsp coriander seeds
1tsp garam masala
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic chopped fine or grated
1x 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, chopped fine or grated
2 chilies, chopped fine seeds in or out whatever you prefer
1 tin of 400g tin tomatoes
1 tin of 400ml tin coconut milk (it doesn’t make the curry taste of coconut don’t worry it just adds richness, if you really don’t want to add it just use 2x tomatoes)
 salt and pepper
Oil
1 bag of spinach

MEAT: 1 cooked chicken, 6 raw tiger prawns per person, leftovers from your Sunday roast beef/lamb/pork or some veggies and lentils for a veggie curry

Method

Get a frying pan hot and add the mustard seeds. Once they start to pop which is about 10 seconds put them in a bowl and add the coriander to the pan. Toast the coriander seeds for a minute or so to release their flavors. Shake the pan to make sure they don’t burn and again set aside to allow to cool.

Finely dice the onion and add it to a large saucepan with the garlic and ginger and oil.

Sweat on a low heat for around 10 minutes.

While this is happening crush your spices which will be cool by now.

Once they are crushed and the 10 minutes have passed turn the heat up, add the crushed spices, the fenugreek, turmeric, garam masla, and chili to the pan and stir constantly over a high heat.  This is an essential stage as all spices need to be hard fried to release their potential.  Literally 20 seconds will do it, stirring all the time to coat the onions.

Season with salt and pepper.

Add the tomatoes and coconut milk to the pan immediately with about 100mls of water.

Give everything a good stir.

Simmer for 10 minutes then add your meat whatever you are using. (Unless you are using prawns as they only take minutes to cook so don’t add them until 5 minutes before the end)

Simmer for another 10 minutes.

While this is happening add your spinach to a food processor or stick blend to a puree (you might need a little water to help you along)

You should be left with a green liquid sludge.

Add this to the pan (add your raw prawns now if making a prawn curry)

Simmer for more minutes then serve with rice, naan, whatever you like.

All in all this is just over 30 minutes for an authentic and totally delicious curry.

Sticky BBQ pork ribs with bean salad from This Morning

A good BBQ sauce recipe is golddust! Ive been using this one for years and it never fails!  It works just as well with any meat and is a perfect dipping sauce for nachos, corn on the cob and lots more BBQ favourites!

Ingredients

Serves 6

For the ribs:

3 racks (approx. 550g each) of pork spareribs (You want to serve around 3 ribs per person)

1 onion, finely diced

80g soft brown sugar

80ml dry sherry

1 inch piece of grated fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves crushed

200ml tomato ketchup

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

100ml soy sauce

1 pinch of chilli flakes

1tsp ground cumin

For the salad:

1 can of your favorite beans, i like butterbeans, drain and rinse them.

A handful of vine tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 large courgette, diced  

1 small red onion , chopped very finely

Coriander and parsley , chopped or torn

The juice of 1 lemon

1 red chilli, seeds in if you can stand it, finely chopped

Olive oil

Sea salt and pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

Method:

For the sauce heat a little oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion gently until its soft.  Add the garlic, cumin, chilli flakes and ginger and cook for 1 minute, still on low.

Turn the heat upto medium, add the rest of the ingredients and simmer uncovered on low heat for 15 minutes, until thick.  The marinade can be made in advance and keeps perfectly well in the fridge, covered or in Tupperware.

While this is doing put your ribs in a pan of boiling water and simmer for the same time it takes you to make the marinade (around 20 minutes)

Pat your ribs dry and brush generously with the marinade.

To cook the ribs, BBQ for 20 minutes over hot coals; or roast on an oven set to 220 (gas mark 7) for 40 minutes.

Whichever way you cook them brush them with more marinade and turn them as they cook, at least twice!

Making the salad couldn’t be simpler, gently fry the courgette until golden in a little oil and then add all the ingredients to a large bowl.

Toss everything to combine then taste the salad, does it need perking up with more lemon, salt or pepper? If so go for it.  You can make the salad in advance, its best served room temperature for the flavors to mingle so take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving.

Serve the charred sticky ribs with the bean salad and an extra bowl of the marinade on the side for dipping.

Messy fingers ahoy – don’t forget the napkins!

The softest confit of belly pork with skin roasted potatoes

This is one of those dishes where the quality of the ingredient speaks louder than anything! Which i LOVE as it yields absolute maximum flavour and minimum effort. I usually serve this with one of the following or sometimes a few of the following: mushroom fricasse, apple and onion veloute, cabbage and bacon, kentish apple tart, maderia roasting jus etc etc. Most of the recipes can be found under the acompaniments section however feel free to ask if theres something you cant find.   Below ive taken a pic of the potatoes i simply roasted to serve with the pork.  They were tossed in salt and pepper and olive oil with a little garlic and rosemary. Beautiful.

Ingredients
Serves 4

1kg belly pork

1 star anise

1teaspoon of corriander seeds

1 teaspoon if sea salt

Sprig of rosemary

½ teaspoon of whole black pepper corns

2 pints of duck or goosefat, if you dont have 2 pints use what you have and top the rest of the liquid up with vegetable oil.

Method

Pre heat oven to gas mark 2

In a pestle and mortar grind the star anise, corriander seeds, salt and pepper into a fine dust.

Lay the pork skin side down and rub half of the mixture into the flesh.

Turn the pork over and rub the other half on the skin.

Place the pork in a roasting tin.

Warm the duck fat/oil mixture in a pan until its just simmering.

Pour over the pork (dont score the skin)

Submerge the rosemary sprig in the oil.

Cover the baking tin with foil and add to the oven for 3 hours undisturbed.

When the 3 hours are up remove the pork from the liquid and pat dry on both sides.

Score the skin in diamond patterns with a sharp knife.

Heat a frying pan and add a little of the oil leftover from the roasting tin.

When its smoking hot add the pork skin side down for 3-5 minutes to let the skin crackle. Dont move the pork just leave it.

If the skin isnt crackled enougth for your liking simple add the pork to a roasting tin, skin side up and roast for 15 minutes on gas mark 8.

Allow the meat to rest before carving. The skin will crispen a little more as its cooling down.

And thats it! SO simple but my god so delicious!

You can prepare this dish upto a day in advance. Simply re heat in a hot oven for 20 minutes, skin side up.

This Morning herby stuffed pork belly

I love pork belly, its flavoursome and economical.  Try it here stuffed with fresh herbs, if you cant get fresh use dried herbs de province, you can get these in boxes from any supermarket.

If you want to watch a video of me making this dish click here.

Ingredients

SERVES 4

For the pork belly:

1.5k of pork belly boned with the skin scored

A small bunch each of sage and parsley chopped or torn

Rosemary and thyme finely chopped

1 clove of garlic minced

1 large onion, diced finely and fried gently to soften

1 handful of breadcrumbs

1 egg yolk to bind the stuffing

Sea salt and pepper

A few splashes of malt vinegar for the crackling

Boiling water for the crackling

For the potato salad:

500g aprox of new or salad potatoes
a small bunch of chives
a few tablespoons of crème fraiche
1tbsp mustard (wholegrain, English or Dijon whatever you prefer)
salt and pepper

Method
For the pork, lay the pork skin side down and season the meat with salt and pepper

In a bowl mix together the garlic, chopped herbs, breadcrumbs, onion and a little salt and pepper. If the mix is a little dry use the egg yolk to bind the mix together.

Press the stuffing mixture into the pork flesh and top with more whole herb leaves if you want to rev up the flavour!

Roll up the pork and secure with string, put the rolled pork in a roasting tin.

Now lets work on the crackling, the aim of the game is to open the pores of the skin to allow the salt to penetrate and crackle in the oven.

To do this we follow a few steps,

First pour boiling water over the skin and pat it dry.

Drain off the water. You only pour the water over to open the pores of the skin.

Pour over the vinegar and sprinkle with sea salt, and that’s it, guaranteed crackling every time.

Place in a hot oven (hottest it will go) immediately!

Roast the pork on full heat for 30 minutes to develop the crackling then turn the oven down to gas mark 2 and continue cooking for 2 hours.  After 2 hours turn the heat back upto full and roast the joint for the final 30 minutes to make sure the crackling is extra crunchy.

So in total the pork will take 3 hours to cook.  Its pork belly remember so long slow cooking will make the meat very tender. 

The potato salad couldn’t be simpler.
Boil the potatoes for 10-15 minutes until tender.
Drain well and put the back in the pan, crush lightly with a fork.
Add the creme fraiche, which will melt in the heat of the potatoes, stir in the mustard and snipped chives, season and serve immediately or eat cold.

Allow the pork to rest for 30 minutes before carving with the juices from the pan poured over.  Enjoy this delicious alternative to a Sunday lunch with fabulous cold cuts leftover for Monday’s sandwiches.

Pork in cider gravy

I did this dish at the Northumberland County Show and ive had a few requests so here it is.  I served it with the leek suet pudding and glazed toffee carrots you can find the recipe for those under the accompaniments section.

Ingredients Serves 2
1 tenderloin of pork aprox 250g
150mls of dry cider
100mls chicken stock
Sprig of thyme, or rosemary (optional)
Salt and pepperOil (vegetable or olive)Method

Pre heat the oven to gas mark 6Trim the fillet of any sinew, theres a sheet of white
muscle along the top of the fillet, this needs to come off with a sharp knife or it will shrink and make the meat curl when you cook it, it wont taste any different so don’t worry.
Get a frying pan smoking hot.
Rub the fillet with a little oil and season it with salt and pepper
Add the pork to the pan and brown on all sides for 2 minutes per side.
This gives the meat colour and flavour.
For the last 30 seconds of the cooking time add a knob of butter to the pan and baste the fillet in the butter.
Add the fillet to a pre heated baking tray and cook for 20-25 minutes.  It should feel firm with a little give when its touched.  This means its cooked.  If its too springy and jelly like to the touch whack it back in the oven for 5 minutes.
Now make the gravy.
Put the frying pan back on the full heat (you don’t need to clean it).
Add the cider, it should bubble and splutter, this is good! Add the herbs if using, whole it doesn’t matter they are only in for flavour.Once its reduced by about half the volume (keep the
heat high or it will simmer not reduce).
Add the chicken stock and again reduce by half.
Remove the herbs which will have done their job and add a knob of butter to enrichen the sauce.
Keep warm on a very low heat.
When you take the pork out of the oven let it rest for at least 5 minutes this is really really important to make the meat juicy and tender.

Serve the pork sliced with the cider gravy poured over and accompanied with whatever you like!

Pigs cheeks braised in cider

Pigs cheeks are one of the most underated cuts of pork.  They are mouthwateringly tender when slow cooked and whatsmore they are one of the most, if not the most, ecenomical cut of pork you can get.  Ask your butcher for the cheeks, if your feeling adventerous, get the whole head and butcher it yourself.  The head can then be made into a fantastic gelatenous stock for filling pork pies, making a terrine or simply as the base for a soup. 

When you get the cheeks, theres quite a bit to butcher off, look at the pic below and you can see theres only a small pocket of meat you can eat. 

Here the pigs cheeks are served with creamy mashed potatoes.  The crisp bacon really adds a fantastic smoky tecture to the dish and the earthy carrots compliment everything on the plate.  Enjoy.

IngredientsServes 2/4
4 Pigs cheeks (I usually do 1 per person but the are quite small so you might want to do 2 per person)

Flour, for dusting
Olive oil for frying
1 onion peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 leek, chunkily cut
1 large carrot peeled and chunkily cut
1 stick of celrey chunkily cut
1 clove of garlic peeled
bay leaf
fresh thyme and rosemary (a sprig of each if you have any, if not dont worry)
250mls of dry cider
150mls chicken stock (or just enough to cover the cheeks)
salt and pepper
2 slices of streaky bacon per person
a bunch of baby carrots, as many of as few as you fancy
a good knob of butter

1 portion of mashed potatoes per person

Method
Preheat the oven to gas mark 2 .
Season the pigs' cheeks and dust with a little flour. Heat some olive oil in a large ovenproof pan and fry the cheeks until golden-brown on both sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Add the onions, leek, celery, carrots herbs and garlic and fry over a low heat until lightly browned.
Add the cider.
Reduce by half its volume on a high heat.
Return the cheeks to the pan and pour over just enough chicken stock to cover.
Add the bay leaf, season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer.
Cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 2-4 hours. (after 2 horus they will be perfectly done but the longer you leave them in the more tender they will become)
Stir every hour or so, adding a little more chicken stock if it starts looking dry.
Remove the cheeks and pass the sauce through a fine sieve into a clean pan. Bring to the boil and reduce on a high heat to your desired jus consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
In the meantime make up the mash as per the recipe.
For the carrots: Add the carrots to the pan with the butter and water. Steam the carrots until tender then take the lid off the pan turn the heat up high.  The carrots will begin to caramelise and become “glazed” in the buttery juices.  Make sure the pan doesn’t burn as there will be  very little liquid present.  When the carrots look glazed turn the heat off and keep warm until needed.
For the pancetta:  Heat a frying pan with a little oil.  Add the pancetta and fry until crisp on both sides.

To serve, put a spoonful of the mash on the plate. Cut a cheek at an angle and arrange on top. Pile on some carrot batons on the side of the plate and balance a crisp slice of pancetta on top of the pork.
Pour the cider jus around the dish.
Eat in abundance when its cold outside.

My one stop shop for how I cook meat

I thought I would stick a quick entry in about cooking different cuts of meat and the required temperatures and times.  I know I would have found it useful, when I was learning to have all this information in one place rather than having to keep referring to different cook books.

Here are a few tips to help you get your meat from being great to extra special.  Firstly I always find it makes the meat tastier if you baste it throughout the cooking.  If you are cooking meat in the oven do this by spooning the juices that have come out of the meat over the meat every 30 minutes for the cooking time.  If you are cooking meat in a pan add a knob of butter to the pan for the last 30 seconds of the cooking time, take the pan off the heat to stop the butter burning and baste the meat with the butter using a spoon over and over again until the 30 seconds is up.  Don’t worry if the butter goes brown, it won’t burn as you've taken it off the heat.

It is equally important, with all meat to let it rest before you cut or serve it, this will allow all the juices which rushed to the centre of the meat during cooking to return throughout the meat, making it more tender and juicy.

Beef
Joint (rib or roasting)
Temperatures: no need to seal the joint of meat, just season it pop it in a pre heated roasting tin drizzled with a little oil and cook as follows: for the first 15 minutes on gas mark 9 (240) then turn the oven down to gas mark 5 (190)15minutes per lb PLUS 15 minutes for rare meat
20 minutes per lb PLUS 20 minutes for medium meat
25 minutes per lb PLUS 25 minutes for well done meat

Steak (1-1.5 inches thick)
Temperatures: no need to seal the steaks, just season them on both sides, drizzle them with oil (never put oil directly into the pan) and add them to a red hot frying pan for the following times remembering to baste them with butter as described in the introduction:2 minutes a side for rare meat
2.5 minutes a side for medium meat
3 minutes a side for medium well meat
4 minutes a side for well done meat
Its very important when cooking steaks to make sure the pan/BBQ or grill is red hot before putting the steaks in or the meat wont seal. Once the steaks are in the pan LEAVE them alone, keep the heat constant, don’t touch them or move them round the pan or this will stop a crust forming.  After the desired time turn the steaks over and again, leave the meat until the time is up.

Lamb
Leg
Temperatures:No need to seal the joint of meat, just season it pop it in a pre heated roasting tin drizzled with a little oil (and studded with garlic and thyme to make it extra special) and cook as follows: for the first 15 minutes on gas mark 9 (240) then turn the oven down to gas mark 5 (190)
20 minutes per lb for pink meat

Shoulder
The shoulder is full of muscle and therefore benefits from long slow roasting or braising in liquid such as wine / stock or even tinned tomatoes depending on what you are doing.  You can find several recipes for shoulder of lamb in my recipes section.
Temperatures:
Season the shoulder and drizzle with oil.  Seal in a hot pan on all sides then add to a large roasting tin, and depending on what your making throw in extra ingredients such as some, garlic, herbs, carrots, celery, onions and your chosen liquid, bring to a light boil on the hob then cover tightly with foil and/or lid and place in a pre heated oven
Gas mark 2 for anything between 2-7 hours. (or a slow cooker)

It really won’t do it any harm being in longer, it will just make the muscle and sinew break down even more therefore making the meat softer and more delicious!.  You'll know when it’s ready as the meat literally falls off the bone with the introduction of a fork.
Rack (3 ribs)
Temperatures:
The rack benefits from being sealed first as this creates a crust on the meat and seals in the juices as well as creating flavour, to do this rub with a little oil and seasoning and add to a red hot pan for 3 minutes a side until golden brown on all sides (remembering to baste with butter as described in the introduction), then add to a hot oven and cook as follows:
10 minutes for pink meat on gas mark 9 (240)
15 minutes for well done meat on gas mark 9 (240)Cannon (fillet from the eye of the rack)
Temperatures:Seal in a hot pan as above then add to the oven on a pre heated tray, as follows:8 minutes for pink meat on gas mark 5 (190)
12 minutes for well done meat on gas mark 5 (190)

Pork
A quick note about crackling:
To achieve the perfect crackling follow these steps:
Score the skin of the pork and pour over boiling water from the kettle.
Pat the pork dry.
Rub a few teaspoons of vinegar any kind) and sea salt into the skin, really rubbing in deep and getting in the score marks.
Place in a hot oven immediately and roast as described below.

Shoulder and Leg (roasting joint)
Temperatures:You don’t have to seal this cut of meat, carry out the steps mentioned above to create the crackling, season the flesh and pop it in a pre heated roasting tin drizzled with a little oil and cook as follows: for the first 15 minutes on gas mark 9 (240) then turn the oven down to gas mark 6 (190) and cook as follows:25 minutes per lb (450g) PLUS an extra 25 minutes  

Loin
Temperatures:This is my favourite cut of pork, I ask for it boned and rolled and usually unroll it and stuff it before rolling it back up and roasting it.  Ask your butcher for the bones, place them in the bottom of the roasting tin and put the pork on top once it’s ready for the oven.  This really creates fantastic roasting gravy.
You don’t have to seal this cut of meat, carry out the steps mentioned above to create the crackling, then season the flesh and cook as follows:
15 minutes at gas mark 9 (240) then 30 minutes per lb (there’s no extra 30 minutes on this one its just 15 minutes then 30 minutes to the lb)

Fillet also known as tenderloin
Temperatures: Rub the pork with oil and seal in a pan for 2 minutes a side remembering to baste with butter as described in the introduction. Transfer to a hot roasting tin and roast in a pre heated oven on gas mark 6 (200) for the following times:20 minutes for a medium fillet serving 1-2
25 minutes for a large fillet serving 2-3

Chop
Temperatures:Season the chops and rub with a little oil.  Heat a griddle pan until hot then place the chops into the pan and hold them skin-side down to create crackling. Cook them like this for 1 minute before turning onto the flesh, cooking each side for 1-2 minutes.
Transfer the chops to a hot baking sheet and place in the oven for the following times:
Gas mark 5 (190) for 8 minutes, or until completely cooked through.

Duck
Breast
Temperatures:With duck it is important to first render down the fat from the skin in order to crisp the skin and produce a piece of meat with minimal gristle.  To do this, season the breast on the flesh side.  Add the breast, skin side down to a COLD pan with no oil and turn the heat on.  As the temperature increases the fat will begin to come out, or render, from the meat.  Leave the breast untouched for 2 minutes until the skin is crisp and golden.  Turn the breast over and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes before adding to a pre heated oven on a hot baking tray on gas mark 6 (200) for the following times:
10 minutes for an average sized breast which would feed 1, larger breasts i would leave in for 12-14 minutes.

Whole
Temperatures:Season the bird inside and out, stuff with desired stuffing (if using) drizzle the whole bird with oil, prick the skin all over with a fork to allow the fat to render out of the bird and place in a hot baking tin and cook in a pre heated oven as follows:20 minutes per 450g/1lb plus 20 minutes