Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals Indian Feast - Steak Indian-Style and Spinach and Paneer Salad

I've been trying out some of Jamie Oliver's recipes from his 30-Minute Meals book, including the Chicken Pie dinner and the Frying Pan Pizza. The latest '30-Minute Meal' that we tried out was the Steak Indian-Style and the Spinach and Paneer Salad from page 216 of the book. The first thing to mention is that we didn't make the mango dessert because we had no mango. So we focused on the steak, salad and naan breads, which were made alongside a yoghurt dip and a creamy curry sauce to dip the naan breads into.

Firstly, the salad was so easy I got my five-year old to make it. You just tip spinach, coriander leaves, alfalfa sprouts and cress over a large serving bowl or platter, and then using a potato peeler, cut thin strips of  carrot over the top. The paneer was also easy enough - sliced paneer that is then fried in olive oil until golden and then sprinkled with sesame seeds (I did that bit as the hot sesame seeds have a tendency to pop and fly all over the kitchen!)

The only thing I didn't quite 'get' about this 30-minute meal was the yoghurt dip. We were all left wondering what to do with it. When he makes this meal in the TV series Jamie refers to this dip as the 'fire extinguisher' for when you eat a hot curry. It's yoghurt, mint and lemon juice combined in a bowl - and I bet that does have a really cooling effect with a spicy curry but the flavours in this meal were very mild and subtle. But the dip is nice alongside the salad, or used in pitta breads or sandwiches the next day to use up with any leftover steak and salad (packed lunch bonus points, there).

And the curry sauce was just jalfrezi curry paste and coconut milk, heated in a pan - and is perfect for dipping your naan bread into. We did have quite a lot of this curry sauce left over so I put it in the freezer. The naan breads (I normally make my own but I went with Jamie's shop-bought ones for this meal) taste really authentic heated in the scrunched-up greaseproof paper, and they look good too, ripped out of their steamy white wrapper at the table.

The one part of the meal that we did all completely love was the Indian-style Steak. You make a marinade using some jalfrezi curry paste and a few other storecupboard ingredients, rub it into the steak and then fry the steak over a high heat. The paste then charred in the hot pan, creating another flavour on top of the meaty steak and the aromatic curry - it gave a kind of sweetness to the outside of the meat. The one thing you need to do with this though is go for the best rump steak that you can get - we used two steaks to feed two adults and two children, so you don't need to buy loads. And we don't have a griddle pan so just used a non-stick frying pan, and it was fine.

Verdict

I didn't time this meal, because I was supervising a young child through the whole thing and taking my time to show her what we were doing. But this meal is worth trying if just for the steak alone. I remember promising to always cook our steaks like this as I greedily helped myself to more of it. The children were a bit confused about the salad - and no one really went for the paneer in a big way, but I think that's just because it was an unusual taste for them. But the next time we invite friends over I bet I'll be making all of this to go alongside a vegetable curry, to give them something different and offer more variety than just 'curry and rice'.   

Worldfoods Fusion of Flavours Challenge 4: Indonesian Nasi Goreng

We've cooked Pad Thai from Thailand, Ayam Percik from Malaysia and Tom Yum (also from Thailand). And now it's time for the fourth Worldfoods challenge... Nasi Goreng from Indonesia.

Nasi Goreng is a traditional Indonesian dish of fried rice, seasoned with spices and usually includes vegetables, prawns and chicken. An authentic Nasi Goreng also has eggy omelette ribbons strewn over the top. I made mine with chicken, because I just wasn't in the mood for prawns that day - and adapted the recipe to make a dish for one. The thing about the Worldfood sauces that I've tried so far (including this one) is that because each jar comes with a few meals' worth of sauce or paste, you can just scoop out enough for one without any fuss, leaving some for another day!

I've made a little step by step video below and you'll see how easy it all really is. And I made mine with a video camera in one hand.

Nasi Goreng with Chicken

(serves one, generously)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoons Worldfoods Nasi Goreng paste
• 1 boneless and skinless chicken thigh, shredded thinly
• couple of handfuls cooked rice
• 1 spring onion, chopped (including the green bits)
• 1 small mild chilli, de-seeded and sliced finely

Method

1. Bring a pan of slightly salted water to the boil and cook the rice. Drain, rinse under a cold tap and leave to one side. (You can cook the rice the day before if you wish but remember to keep it refrigerated).
2. Heat about 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok and make an omelette with the beaten egg. Flip over, cook the other side and tip out onto a chopping board set to one side.
3. Heat another tablespoon of the oil in the wok and spoon in two tablespoons of the Nasi Goreng paste. Stir on a medium heat until it becomes fragrant (about 1 minute).
4. Tip in the shredded raw chicken and stir fry in the paste until the chicken is cooked.
5. Add the cooked rice and stir fry until the rice is heated through and coated in the reddish paste.
6. Transfer to a bowl, before scattering with the omelette, spring onions and chopped chilli.

The Taste
The dish was spicy - not really 'hot' but it  had a definite chilli tingle to it. It also tasted more aromatic than the other sauces and pastes I've tried so far - almost similar to Chinese food. The shredded egg omelette gave the finished dish sweetness and cooled the heat of the spicy rice. The chicken - because it was thigh meat and cooked quickly - was still very juicy and succulent. And the spring onion and red chilli gave it crunch and colour. It's a good job I have some of this paste left, because I plan to make more of this. I think this is my favourite of the Worldfoods sauces I've tried so far. I also think it would be good with cooked noodles stir-fried into it instead of rice. When I've tried it I'll report back!

Guest Post from Heather Green: Good Mood Comfort Food - Italian Grilled Chicken with Parmesan Garlic Cream Sauce

This guest post was written by Heather Green, who shares with us her favourite pasta recipe. If you would like to write a comfort food-related guest post for Comfort Bites, please email me.

Nothing warms up a tummy like hearty Italian food! After eating at a few of my favorite restaurants like Macaroni Grill and Carraba's, I was inspired to create the ideal pasta dish.

Easy and delicious, this family favorite has made me the "chef" of the bunch and never disappoints!

Ingredients

• 4-5 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Zesty Italian dressing
• lemon juice of 1/2 of a lemon
• garlic salt
• olive oil
• salt
• 2 tsps salted butter
• 1 package sliced mushrooms
• 2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 box Farafelle or Penne pasta
• 1 package cherry tomatoes

Method

Marinate chicken in Zesty Italian Dressing, lemon juice and garlic salt for 30 minutes.

Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil on high until it's really hot. Add chicken and cook until you get a nice browning on all sides.

Saute sliced mushrooms in 1 tsp of salted butter and 1tsp of olive oil, add salt to taste.

Over medium heat, combine 2 cups of shredded Parmesan cheese, 1 cup heavy cream, 1 tsp butter and 1 tsp garlic salt. Stir well over heat until smooth.

Boil Farafelle or Penne pasta and add chopped cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, chicken and cream sauce.

Serve hot and prepare yourself for pure bliss!

 

Bio: Born and raised in North Carolina, Heather Green has worked as a fashion and beauty consultant as well as freelancing for various wedding, fashion, and health publications. She currently acts as the resident blogger for Online Nursing Degrees where she’s been researching bachelors nursing programs as well as family practice nursing programs.

Photo Credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/clairity/764644143/

Gumbowl - Gumbo in Bread Bowl

For May 2011 Daring Cooks challenge

Source Minimally adapted from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh



Ingredients

- 1 cup (240 ml) (230 gm) rendered chicken fat, duck fat, or canola oil

- 1 cup (240 ml) (140 gm) (5 oz) flour

- 2 large onions, diced

- 1 chicken (3 ½ to 4 lbs.), cut into 10 pieces

- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) (15 gm) (½ oz) Basic Creole Spices (recipe follows), or store-bought Creole spice blend

- 2 pounds (2 kilograms) spicy smoked sausage, sliced ½ inch (15mm) thick

- 2 stalks celery, diced

- 2 green bell peppers (capsicum), seeded and diced

- 1 tomato, seeded and chopped

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- Leaves from 2 sprigs of fresh thyme

- 3 quarts (3 liters) Basic Chicken Stock (recipe follows), or canned chicken stock

- 2 bay leaves

- 6 ounces (175 gm) andouille sausage, chopped

- 2 cups (480 ml) (320 gm) (11 oz) sliced fresh okra, ½ -inch (15mm) thick slices (or frozen, if fresh is not available)

- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) Worcestershire sauce

- Salt, to taste

- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

- Filé powder, to taste

- Tabasco, to taste

- 4-6 cups (1 – 1½ liters) (650 gm – 950 gm) cooked Basic Louisiana White Rice (recipe follows)

Total 10-12 servings



Inatructions

1. Prepare homemade chicken stock, if using (recipe below).

2. Prepare homemade Basic Creole Spices, if using (recipe below).

3. Season the chicken pieces with about 2 tablespoons of the Creole Spices while you prepare the vegetables.

4. Make sure all of your vegetables are cut, diced, chopped, minced and ready to go before beginning the roux. You must stand at the stove and stir the roux continuously to prevent it from burning.

5. In a large cast-iron or heavy-bottomed pan, heat the chicken fat, duck fat, or canola oil over high heat. Whisk the flour into the hot oil – it will start to sizzle. Reduce the heat to moderate, and continue whisking until the roux becomes deep brown in color, about 15 minutes.

6. Add the onions. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir the onions into the roux. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Continue stirring until the roux becomes a glossy dark brown, about 10 minutes.

7. Add the chicken to the pot; raise the heat to moderate, and cook, turning the pieces until slightly browned, about 10 minutes.

8. Add the sliced smoked sausage and stir for about a minute.

9. Add the celery, bell peppers, tomato, and garlic, and continue stirring for about 3 minutes.

10. Add the thyme, chicken stock, and bay leaves. Bring the gumbo to a boil, stirring occasionally.

11. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally, skimming off the fat from the surface of the gumbo every so often.

12. Add the chopped andouille, okra, and Worcestershire. Season with salt and pepper, several dashes of filé powder, and Tabasco, all to taste.

13. Simmer for another 45 minutes, continuing to skim the fat from the surface of the gumbo. Remove the bay leaves and serve in bowls over rice. Pass more filé powder at the table if desired.



Afterthoughts

- This was certainly the most challenging challenge I've participated in: stirring the stew non-stop for at least an hour - wheeeeew.... I don't think I can knowingly do that to myself again - will just have to do without a home made gumbo. But I will certainly treasure every bite next time I go to New Orleans and order it :-).

- I've made a lot of changes to the orignial recipes, and the final result is not worth reproducing, so I posted here the recipe just as it appeared on the Daring Cooks site, not my version. I could not rank the taste of this recipe, because the thing I have tasted was very different :-).



Blog-checking lines: Our May hostess, Denise, of There’s a Newf in My Soup!, challenged The Daring Cooks to make Gumbo! She provided us with all the recipes we’d need, from creole spices, homemade stock, and Louisiana white rice, to Drew’s Chicken & Smoked Sausage Gumbo and Seafood Gumbo from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh.

Book Review of Two Greedy Italians - Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo

I must admit that I am rediscovering Italian cuisine - as I grew up I saw it all as rich bolognese sauces, lasagnes and expensive ingredients such as truffles and posh wines. Now, and more so after reading this book, I see that it has its roots in 'cucina povera' - the food of the poor. For me, this is one of the aspects that runs through Two Greedy Italians as Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo share with us the food they ate while growing up.

They begin with a little lament about modern cooking in Italy and how when they went back to their home regions they found that people now lived more hectic lifestyles and cooked less from scratch, relying on fast food and ready-made items. They talk about the Italy they grew up in - their words evoke mental images of Italian mammas kneading pasta dough, vibrant, bustling markets and soft ribbons of tagliatelle tumbling over chipped, rustic bowls.

There are recipes in here to suit all cooking abilities and budgets. Many of the recipes (garlic soup, cabbage soup, pasta in a chicken liver sauce) contain extremely economical ingredients, although there are also extravagant touches. The chicken liver pasta dish has the option of adding finely sliced truffles, and there are also many dishes enriched with special wines, oils and vinegars.

I made the Zuppa di Aglio (garlic soup) for the family (page 38 of the book) and I bet many people who buy this book will initially flick past it to get to the richer, more well-known dishes. But I hope they don't. With its 20-30 cloves of garlic, it's probably not the best option for the night before a job interview or before a first date, but it was strangely mellow and much less pungent than I thought it would be. And then the soup is poured over a slice of toasted ciabatta, which soaks up the garlicky liquid like a sponge, before showering over a grating of good Parmesan.

The book provides insights into Italian culture too, which act as a backdrop for all these really authentic recipes. Antonio and Gennaro give their views on subjects such as religion (Gennaro is deeply religious, Antonio is a sceptic), street food and family.

Each recipe is on an easy-to-read page (no sticky-fingered page turning halfway through a recipe) and the crisp, atmospheric photography inspires you to get into the kitchen and start cooking. The way the book is written comes across as honest and unfussy, and you really do feel like you could be having a conversation with the two Italians as you read.

I suppose it's inevitable that the way Italians cook is changing, as it is all around the world, but I'm glad that these two great cooks have shared and preserved their favourite recipes here in this book. Have a read - you never know what you might discover!

'Two Greedy Italians' by Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo is published by Quadrille Publishing, ISBN 978-1-84400-942-8

Honey and Soy Sticky Marinade for Burgers

Now I love a cheeky burger as much as the next person and so one day I decided to tart mine up a bit by brushing over some soy sauce and honey, mixed together. This is more of an instruction  than a 'recipe' as such, it's so easy. The honey turns nice and sticky on the outside as it is charred in the oven, and the soy gives it a darker colour and a real, deeply savoury taste.

I brush over the marinade twice during cooking - once when the burgers first go into the oven and again about five minutes before they are ready. I normally cook my burgers in the oven because there are usually some potato wedges doing in there too, so it saves energy but you can cook them any way you like. Add a pinch of chilli flakes for a spicy heat if that suits, and if you're doing a barbecue this weekend, why not give them a try on there? I use Jamie Oliver's recipe for the basic burgers, but feel free to use your own.

Burger marinade:

(coats 4 meaty burgers)

Ingredients

• 2 tbsps runny honey
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce

Method

Shape the burgers into patties and place on a grill pan, oven proof dish or over your hot barbecue coals. Brush over half the marinade, mixing it well as you go (the honey and soy can separate if left to stand too long). Cook to your liking, then when there are just 5 minutes left to go, brush over the remaining marinade.

When the burgers are dark, sticky and cooked through serve them. We love ours in soft sesame buns with crisp little gem lettuce and ripe, sliced tomato.