Tempest63

We had quite a busy day to day. Our little black & white springer is quite unwell and we had to take him to a specialist vet about an hour away in Cambridgeshire. I already had dinner lined up for our return and scaled down this recipe and adapted it for 2 people. https://thecozyapron.com/chicken-with-mushroom-sauce/ I added bacon and upped the garlic. Had no double (heavy) cream which isn’t in the recipe online, but it would have been added it if had been available. Turned out nice though and one worth a little trial and error. Funnily enough, cooking chicken with bacon, shallot, garlic and Porcini (Cep), it felt like I woken up in a seventies dinner party. I had no pappardelle to hand so it was served with Penne and black kale. As a special treat Mrs T63 prepared her rich rice pudding. Cooked with double cream, (hence none for the chicken sauce), clotted cream, a couple of vanilla pods, full fat goats milk and some golden sugar. Nice way to finish a day that hasn’t been overly great.

Another of my very recent acquisitions is Andaza by Summaya Usmani. This is a memoir of her life and the dishes that that go with that “soundtrack”. Not many recipes but those included all look like they are worth a try. It was this memoir that prompted me to go looking for the Madhur Jaffrey book, Climbing the Mango Trees, which is her culinary memoir. These memoir style books would have never really appealed to me until quite recently. Maybe it’s part and parcel of getting on in life?

We have a glut of blackberries on the brambles this year and the wife has picked kilos of them. Some go in a breakfast with yoghurt, a lot go into the freezer and end up in the dogs bowls, some will go into a crumble which the grandchildren adore and some are destined for a Cranachan with an Indian twist for our forthcoming Curryfest, courtesy of an Anjum Anand recipe.

Many years ago I was working on the construction of one of Londons iconic buildings, namely the cheese grater. The cheese grater was built very close to Leadenhall Market https://leadenhallmarket.co.uk The market dates back to the 1300’s and whilst a lot of people won’t know the market they may have seen it in some of the Harry Potter films, it’s where he went to buy his wand. In those days the market was populated with independent shops and eateries, one of which was a tiny Italian sandwich shop. It was here that I first had a Mozzarella and anchovy panini. Admittedly not to everyone’s taste but I was hooked, eating it 3 or 4 times a week. I rarely eat white bread, or any bread with yeast, due to a digestive disorder. But I can eat sourdough and so this morning I cut a couple of medium thick slices of sourdough bloomer, filled them with mozzarella and lay a few anchovies over the top. Into the sandwich/panini press and lo and behold a salty savoury breakfast sandwich. Sadly, that little independent Italian has gone, driven out by the big name brands and the ridiculously high rents that only they can afford. Happily, we can now get good quality mozzarella in most of our supermarkets so making that breakfast sandwich at home is now much easier.

There are also similar dishes from Africa. South Africa has some great Indian inspired curries, and I am very keen to try some of the Ethiopian dishes I have seen. I would struggle to get Ethiopian ingredients locally but I could do a search for somewhere near to central London where I work. Definitely another project to consider.

I enjoy any curry but I prefer the norther Indian ones, Punjabi, Kashmiri or a hop over the border into Pakistan or Afghanistan. I do like Thai, Malaysian etc. I think maybe it was the availability of Indian spices that were more readily available when I was younger and made Indian more accessible that led me to get so heavily into it. I may ask Mrs T63 if she fancies a home cooked Thai meal whilst I am on leave. I will have to stay away from the Massaman though…too Indian.

A wazwan is a ceremonial Kashmiri feast that traditionally has 36 courses. Of those 36 courses seven are permanent and should always be included. The seven permanent dishes are 1. Marchwangan Korma. A spicy chilli hot lamb dish 2. Rista. Meatballs in a fiery red hot sauce 3. Tabak Maaz. Lamb ribs simmered in yoghurt before being fried 4. Daniwal Korma. A mutton curry heavy on coriander (Cilantro) leaf 5. Aab Gosht. Lamb or mutton cooked in a milky gravy with black pepper 6. Roghan Josh. A very tender lamb dish cooked with Kashmiri spices including Maval, or cockscomb flowers 7. Gushtaba. Meatballs in a yoghurt gravy My next project, following on from next week’s Curryfest, is to have another, focusing on a traditional wazwan. We have to consider that we have family and friends who are vegetarian, pescatarian or who generally avoid red meat, so I will have to explore the traditional wazwan menu to find other dishes to serve to replace a few of the Super Seven. The other consideration is to go with the traditional Hindu or Muslim dishes. Whilst the Kashmiri Pandits are Hindu, they eat plenty of meat but avoid onions and garlic (wow that terrifies me). They do use asafoetida and fennel though. The Muslim variant openly welcomes onions and garlic and seems to be up my street. I may have to cook each of the religious variants or two of every dish during the trial period to see what best suits. This is going to be a labour of love and whilst I am on annual leave over the next week I will try at least two. I have a recipe for a Pandit Marchwangan Korma which is definitely on the cards, though it will be made with goat as opposed to lamb. A milder dish like Gushtaba or Aab Gosht would be more enjoyable for Mrs T63. I reckon I may be all curried out by the end of the week.

The book above was quite pricey in comparison to what I usually buy, but I saw this second hand hardback version of Madhur Jaffrey’s climbing the mango trees (2005). It is signed by the author and cost an unbelievably cheap £3.49, including P&P. I ordered it at the same time as I ordered the book above and it arrived within 3 days from the book seller. The book was advertised as acceptable so I was unsure what I was to get as second hand booksellers often over estimate the quality. I would say this is in good condition, without any damage even to the dust cover. I had a digital version of the book in my Dropbox which I accidentally deleted before reading it. Edit: By the way, I have a double OCD over MJ’s book. I recently saw an expensive book that I didn’t own on Amazon.US. Luckily I found it is the same book as a British book carrying a different title before ordering it.

I have OCD over books, especially anything Indian, or similar. I have a passion for food from the Indian continent and prefer traditional food as opposed to the slop served up in the U.K. high street Indian restaurants. This arrived yesterday from Penguin India, although I ordered it several weeks ago from Amazon.uk. I was working from home today and have had only had a quick flick through but it is already inspiring me. On first inspection it seems a cut above my other Nepalese cookbooks.

Easy dinner tonight. A venison korma and a green lamb curry, both previously cooked and frozen. Pinged basmati rice and a dollop of mango chutney. Easy peasy Friday night dinner.

I’ve got a few portions of short rib in the freezer. Thank you for reminding me as I now have a week off work to find something nice to do with them.

We have a curryfest planned for Saturday 10th August. I am planning on trying some new dishes rather than stick to my usual tried and tested repertoire so have pored over the Dishoom cookbook. I thought I would trial some of the planned dishes so did the tikkas for their Chicken Ruby, and the murgh malai. Got them cooking on the BBQ whilst dinner was in the oven. We trialled a couple of pieces and they were worth doing; I reckon both will go down well at the Curryfest. The lighter colour is the murgh malai.

My digestive system is giving me some discomfort at present , so the wife got the lions share tonight, but what I had was very tasty. Nigella’s Duck Legs with potatoes served with green beans and black kale. Cooked in a Lodge cast iron skillet, some of the potatoes stuck but were very crispy.

I learned to cook Indian many years ago but never used any of the pastes or the pre-made masala’s that all the Indian grocers sell. I know that there is an online community in the UK whose sole purpose is to replicate the taste of the British High Street Indian Restaurant (BIR) and they often use Pataks. I tend to be more partial to their pickles and chutney.

Tonight’s dinner was pork chops cooked in sage butter from the Silver Spoon cookbook Served up with steamed broccoli and cauliflower and crushed, roasted garlic new potatoes.

The recipes for bone broth that I have followed have always called for some veg quite late in the process. The bones go into the slow cooker, covered in water with about a tablespoon of cider vinegar then ticks over on low heat for 48 hours. The carrot, onion and celery, go in for the last 12 hours. Any longer and they give a burnt bitter taste to the final product. I always see the difference between broth and stock being the time it is simmering. Stock for a few hours, broth for a couple of days. The addition of the vinegar helps break down the collagen in the gristle etc that clings to the bones. That is what makes it good for IBD patients as it helps to heal the gut. I follow a recipe (sort of) from the Katz fellow and various IBD sites and recipe books. I don’t drink it unless it is really fresh, but pot it up in 500ml pots, freeze and use in recipes that call for stock or water. The broth turns into jelly and is very very rich. Goes great in my curries. In this day and age a lot of people are averse to bones in their food, so using bone broth like this offers the best of both worlds, no bones on the plate but the broth delivers the flavour and goodness. Edit: This similar to the bone broth recipe that I use. Given that I have made it a lot of times over several years I don’t actually follow a recipe line by line anymore. It is now a bit instinctive. https://www.farmersalmanac.com/10-benefits-bone-broth-25512#

I had bought some “stock” bones from our local grocers recently and had intended using some of them with the sawn up bones from a leg of mutton that was in the freezer. I happened to find a whole leg of goat in an Asian grocers yesterday. The whole leg was a lot cheaper than where I usually purchase from so I got him to bone out the leg and saw up the bones. Mixed those with “stock” bones and put them in the oven at 180°C for 50 minutes, turning half way through, before dropping them in the slow cooker for the next 48 hours. Carrots, onions and celery will go in for the last 12 hours. Before the oven After the oven

I got home exhausted from work after a particularly busy day. Didn’t really want to spend hours cooking so threw a couple of Marks & Spencer rose veal sirloins on the Weber traveller. Some oven chips coated in beef dripping, frozen peas, all served up with English mustard and a hefty splodge of home made toum on the chips. Quite a hands off dinner, spin the steaks on the bbq once and turn the oven chips once.

Now that meal is right up my street. Looks fantastic. I am marinating some chicken breasts for the griddle and made toum so they can go in my wraps next week, but that spread would leave me spoilt for choice.

Over the course of the day I prepared pig cheeks braised in a cider sauce https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/247095/cider-braised-pork-cheeks/ Partnered with a Porcini risotto https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/dried-porcini-mushroom-risotto-goat-cheese A filling meal for two of us with enough left over for my youngest son to get a similar meal and an extra portion of risotto for one lunch this week.

I have a hankering for this dish brought about by a conversation with a work colleague, but my local Morrisons only sells Ham Hocks and not Pork Hocks/Shanks. I presume therefore that they have been cured? I could soak them to remove as much brine and cure as possible, and the curing may introduce an improved flavour. I don’t have a tried and tested recipe for Schweinshaxe but the one on recipe tin eats https://www.recipetineats.com/crispy-german-pork-knuckle-schweinshaxe-with-beer-gravy/#jump-watch and the accompanying video look really good.

I often make the Stanley Tucci version of Carbonnade which can be found on this blog, http://pattietierney.blogspot.com/2014/11/carbonnade-de-boeuf.html When I make it I cook it long and slow using cubed ox cheeks. There isn’t a great selection of Belgium beers readily available in my little Essex outpost, so I rely on Leffe Brune in place of a stout, which would be my usual choice for a dark beer.

A work colleague has recently returned from visiting his family in Budapest and brought me back some Hungarian paprika, both sweet and hot. During our discussions on his visit he mentioned that whilst there he ate the Hungarian version of Germany’s legendary Schweinshaxe, (which doesn’t use any paprika in its preparation). He also mentioned a dish called Rakott csülök, which is pork shank layered with vegetables and possibly rice. Having never heard of the dish it piqued my curiosity; I believe from his description that it is the shredded meat from a cooked shank which is layered before being cooked again. I have found only one reference to it online and that is behind a fairly hefty paywall. Is anyone else on the thread familiar with this dish and able to provide a more detailed description? Or, more importantly, does anyone have a tried and trusted recipe for this dish? Now I’ve heard of it I won’t rest until I know a little more about the ingredients of the recipe and, if it still appeals, have cooked it. His mention of Schweinshaxe reminds me I haven’t eaten this in over five years so I will have to cook it, either Bavarian or Hungarian style, and may as well cook extra in order to make the Rakott csülök.

I made the Lamb Vindaloo from this book over the weekend, substituting goat for the lamb. Took a little longer simmering but the result was very good.

After being given five kilos of pork cheeks I trimmed up a kilo but decided against doing the vindaloo with them as I had kilo of goat destined to be turned into a korma. I used the pork cheeks in a different dish but then changed my mind about the korma and plonked to use the goat in Camellia Punjabi’s lamb vindaloo, the recipe is in her 50 Curries of India book, I cannot seem to find a link for that recipe anywhere on the web. Swasthi has a version on her website at https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/lamb-vindaloo/ but there are differences in both the spicing and the method. The goat is currently simmering in its gravy for an initial hour then I will decide it if needs any further time. Edit. I found the Camellia Panjabi recipe online, the only difference being the poster used beef instead of the original lamb. https://www.corrchilled.co.uk/beef-vindaloo-curry