Dinner Archives - Page 14 of 17 - All That I'm Eating

Greek Style Baked Spaghetti and Feta

October 5, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 25 Comments

When I was on holiday I endevoured to try as many new Greek foods as possible. I stopped at sampling some of the more unusual (lamb’s brains in intestine) but immensely enjoyed the baked goods and baklava. One of the things I tried and absolutely loved was tomato baked spaghetti with feta; Italian Greek fusion maybe. Either way after a day at the beach, and a carafe of very easy to drink red wine, this meal was exactly what I needed.

Foraging in Greece would be an amazingly acidulated affair; lemons, limes, olives, figs and pomegranates were dripping from the roadsides. I loved the fresh herbs that were used in all of the hot food I had and that no matter where you went bread and dessert were obligatory and free of charge. I had a great time and I can’t wait to try and recreate some of the great flavours I tried while I was over there. Here is my interpretation of one of my favourite dishes.

You will need (for two):
Olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 fat clove garlic, chopped
400g cherry tomatoes
Small handful of basil and parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper
170g spaghetti
200g feta read more

Pork Wellington

August 7, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 22 Comments

Comfort food is wonderful. It’s always the things which are full of bread, cheese, pasta, pastry and the like. Sometimes I want the comfort without the guilt, and particularly for this, without the expense. Beef wellington is as magnificent a dinner as they come; it’s one of my all time favourites. However, pork fillet is about a third of the price of beef fillet and therefore makes a brilliantly cheaper alternative.

I had to ask my butcher to save me a pork fillet as they sell out like there’s no tomorrow. Possibly because the pigs are fed mostly on apples for the latter part of their life meaning the meat has an unrivalled flavour. So with marvellous meat and flavourful fillings I set about making my pork wellington. If anyone knows why it’s called wellington I’d be pleased to find out; let’s hope it’s not an unflattering term for the shape of the finished meal.

You will need (for four):
500g pork fillet
1 pack puff pastry
250g mushrooms
Knob of butter
A small glass of white wine
1 egg, beaten
Salt and pepper read more

Broccoli Cheese – Tenderstem in 10 challenge

July 22, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 25 Comments

With all the miserable weather it seemed positively autumnal but it’s not the time for stews, long bakes and comfort food. You may have seen my broccoli pesto post last week; it was a good dinner, marvellous in fact, but I was left with another pack of broccoli. Another meal in under 10 minutes using less than 10 ingredients needed to be devised for the Tenderstem challenge.

I wanted to make something recognisable and filling, healthy and indulgent and of course quick and simple. After much head scratching I was almost at the point of deciding that I was ridiculous and almost opted for a broccoli sandwich when I changed my mind. Thank goodness I did; imagine how soggy a broccoli sandwich would be, no amount of condiments could cheer that up.

And so to dinner. Broccoli cheese doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as cauliflower cheese but it has all the flavour.
You will need: read more

Broccoli, Walnut and Blue Cheese Pesto – Tenderstem in 10 challenge

July 12, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 23 Comments

Broccoli is a brilliant vegetable but occasionally I find myself at a loss for what to do with it. It’s great with spices, superb with salty soy and oyster sauce and phenomenal with blankets of cheese. So when the kind people from Tenderstem asked if I was interested in taking part in their challenge I gladly accepted; a chance to really think outside the box.
The challenge was to make a meal using the Tenderstem broccoli using less than 10 ingredients in less than 10 minutes. I felt like a Ready Steady Cook contestant. I received a lovely parcel which contained the broccoli as well as a kitchen timer to keep me on track! read more

Wet Garlic Pizza Bread and Tiger Tomato Salad

July 8, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 23 Comments

It’s a good job I’ve no aspirations to become a vampire. Garlic seems to divide opinion; you either can’t get enough of it or can’t stand it. I love it. There are of course many meals where it serves the purpose of adding to the background flavour rather than dominating the meal but a life without garlic, for me, would be a very miserable one indeed.

A few juicy stems of wet garlic arrived in my vegetable box. I knew they would be pretty powerful and pungent and it seemed only right to make garlic bread. However, garlic bread alone does not a meal make and fortunately I had some brilliant tiger tomatoes that I picked up from the farmers’ market. I’m not sure how clearly you can see the tomatoes but they are glorious; vibrant red flesh, green seeds and dark green striped skin.

You will need, a light lunch for two:

For the dough: 500g strong white flour, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 7g sachet yeast, 300ml warm water
3 wet garlic bulbs
Small handful fresh parsley
Tomatoes, spme very ripe and tasty ones
6-8 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
A few fresh basil leaves
Salt and pepper

Start by making the dough. I confess that since the acquisition of my food mixer, making bread dough is simple and carefree. Put all of the ingredients into the bowl, turn the dough hook on and come back 10 minutes later to perfectly kneaded dough. Lazy? Perhaps. Easy? Definitely. Leave the dough in the bowl, cover the top and leave until doubled in size; an hour or so. read more

Beetroot, Walnut, Goat’s Cheese and Orzo Pasta ‘Salad’ with Dill Dressing

June 23, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 30 Comments

We are coming to the end of last year’s stored beetroot and can look forward to some fresh summer beetroot soon. I haven’t planted beetroot this year as I decided I would grow peas, beans, more beans, tomatoes and courgettes only. Not to worry though as last year’s beetroot are still popping up in my vegetable box and down at the local market. I’ve called this a ‘salad’ because it sort of falls in the salad category with the beetroot, walnuts and dressing but at the same time it is a pasta dish; a very luminously coloured pasta dish at that. read more

Wet Garlic, Bacon and Broccoli Pappardelle

May 30, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 21 Comments

You know that saying about life giving you lemons? I was given some wet garlic (also called green garlic) in my vegetable box. Lemons can be made into lemonade but I certainly wasn’t about to start making garlic juice. I took some time to ponder its use. It looked like a skinny leek, but much longer, with the very pungent and distinct aroma of garlic. Firstly I thought it best to try it raw to see what I was up against. I think even now I have a faint whiff of garlic on my breath. Raw wet garlic would, I’m sure, be acceptable to the ultimate garlic aficionado but not for me. Cooking was to be the way forward but I wondered whether to treat it like a leek which needs longer cooking or treat it like garlic which burns in the blink of an eye. You will need: 6-8 rashers smoked bacon, diced 1 small onion, diced 1 wet garlic stalk/bulb, finely sliced 100ml chicken or vegetable stock 1 small head of broccoli, cut into florets Pappardelle (however much it takes for you to be full) Oil for frying Salt and Pepper

Start by frying the onion in a little oil for a few minutes to soften. Add the bacon and fry for about five minutes until the bacon is cooked and the onions turning translucent. Add the garlic and reduce the heat. Fry for a few more minutes before pouring in the stock. Simmer this on a medium heat stirring occasionally. I used some of the chicken stock I had made from the leftover chicken.

While this cooks, add the pappardelle to boiling water. Four or five minutes before the pasta is ready, add the broccoli to the same water. The sauce should be reducing but turn the heat up or add a little more stock if it’s happening too fast or too slow. When the pasta and broccoli are done, add the broccoli and a little of the pasta water to the bacon sauce. Serve the broccoli, bacon, garlic mixture on top of the pappardelle.

I was really surprised how the garlic mellowed with cooking. There was a definite garlic undertone to the dish but it was not as overpowering as I thought it might be. The salty bacon, sweet onion, pungent garlic and juicy broccoli were all married together beautifully with the chicken stock. If you’re lucky enough to get hold of wet garlic this is certainly worth a try (I also added it to frying Chorizo and it worked a treat), if you’re brave then you could try slicing it in to a salad. read more

Chicken and Chorizo Tartlets

May 21, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 28 Comments

I’m not very good at anything that requires precision; cutting, gluing, drawing, sewing and the like just aren’t made for me no matter how much I might like them to be. I thought it was time I challenged this, determined to be as perfect as possible I set about making some mini chicken and chorizo tartlets. This of course was not only an excuse to try and achieve the impossible; namely a pastry tart case that didn’t shrink, but also to use up some more of my leftover chicken. To make four mini tarts you will need: 4oz flour, 2oz butter and cold water for the pastry 125g cooked chicken 125g cooking chorizo 1 small onion Small handful parsley 25g butter 1 tbsp flour 1/2 pint milk

First and foremost make the pastry. Rub the butter into the flour until you have breadcrumbs and then add drops of water until it comes together. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or so. Roll the pastry out and divide into four pieces. Line each tart tin with the pastry and prick the base with a fork. I thought I’d make a right mess of lining the tins but it was really quick and simple; no holes and no patching up required.

I tried that trick of pushing the rolling pin over the pastry when it’s in the case to remove the excess pastry from the edges and it worked brilliantly. Line the tarts with some baking paper and fill the tart cases with baking beans. Bake in a preheated oven at 200C for 15 minutes then remove the baking beans. I don’t think I was quite firm enough pushing my beans down as I did get a few air bubbles so I’ll be sure to be more forceful next time.

The fiddliest part was the unfortunate but necessary step of removing the skins from the chorizo. They may be natural skins and fine to eat but I’d had them before and ended up having to pull the skins off after cooking and out of my teeth. I wasn’t prepared to spend the evening flossing so skin removal was essential. Once the skins are removed, chop the chorizo and fry on a medium heat so the oil runs out of the chorizo and it gets nice and crispy. Remove the chorizo from the pan leaving some of the oil and put the onion in. Fry the onion until soft and going brown at the edges; the smell was divine. read more

Lemon and Thyme Roast Chicken and the leftovers

May 15, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 19 Comments

chicken with lemon, thyme, onions and garlic

A beautifully roasted chicken is hard to beat; with crispy skin and succulent meat there’s nothing quite like it. Having a whole roast chicken is a rare thing for me, indeed this is the first chicken I have roasted in a very long time and I wasn’t about to waste a scrap of it. The chicken that was to fulfil my roast chicken dreams was a local, free range, corn fed bird. This post is about my perfect Sunday lunch and making the most of the leftovers.

Lemon and thyme roasted chicken is a classic, simple recipe. Shove it all together, chuck it in the oven and reap the rewards later.
You will need:
A chicken (I used a 1.4kg bird for two)
1 lemon
Fresh thyme
1 onion
Butter
Salt and pepper

Start by cutting the string off the legs and stuffing the cavity with a few sprigs of thyme and half a lemon. Cut the onion up into chunks and put them into a roasting tin with the other half of the lemon and a few more sprigs of thyme. Put the butter into a bowl and mix in some salt and pepper. Now comes the slightly tricky and disgustingly satisfying part; separate the breast meat from the skin. I use a spoon to do this to minimise ripping the skin. When skin and meat are sufficiently separated, stuff some of the butter under the skin. Rub the rest of the butter onto the outside, put in to the roasting tray and roast in the oven at 160C for an hour or so or until cooked through. read more

Purple Sprouting Broccoli and Mixed Mushroom Risotto

April 15, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 13 Comments

I do like purple sprouting broccoli. It seems less like broccoli than a standard green tree and so I feel I should pay it extra care and attention. As much as I enjoy a stem or two on the side of the plate sometimes I want it to be the star attraction. There was a lot of purple sprouting broccoli to get through; a whole bag full in fact from the veg box. One of the reasons I like purple sprouting so much is that it signals the start of Spring. Along with rhubarb, when you see the purple tipped stems standing proud you know it’s only a matter of time until ‘the other stuff’ starts appearing; asparagus, beans, fruits, tomatoes and all sorts of other treats.

An Italian deli has recently opened up nearby and I am lucky to have access to many interesting ingredients that I didn’t before. This also means I have another local shop to happily support and one of the many reasons for returning is their mushrooms. Similar to mushrooms you can buy in a jar but you don’t pay for oil you don’t use. You get all different sorts of mushrooms in a light oil with herbs and a slightly acidic taste. These earthy mushrooms would make a brilliant partner for my sweet broccoli to top a white risotto. read more