Tempest63

I got one of the Tagines out last weekend and made this lovely baby https://www.africanbites.com/chicken-tagine/ I served it with Israeli couscous with a recipe from the same site, though I used normal couscous instead of the larger variety as I couldn’t find any in the local supermarkets. https://www.africanbites.com/israeli-couscous/ Overall I was quite happy with the result though there was far more liquid left in the tagine than I had expected. When I do it again I will need to take that into consideration. I had no dried apricots at the time so plonked for dried prunes.

The final product. Still a little more sauce than I would usually aim for but this will be divided into two portions and will give us two meals. I will reheat in a saucepan and reduce to the desired consistency at that point

I veered away from the vindaloo as I have some goat that is going into a curry over this weekend and decided not to have two Indian dishes. I considered a pork goulash but opted instead for this recipe. https://whereismyspoon.co/pork-cheeks/ It has some sweet paprika in it so there are some elements of a goulash. As I write I have just covered the pan for a 2 hour simmer. Whilst it is bubbling away I’ll walk the dogs.

My order of 2 kilograms of pork cheeks arrived yesterday from our caterers. Only it turned out to be five kilos. Five one kilo bags. I opened one bag ready to start marinating them and it contained 12 cheeks. The other 4 are now in the freezer. Looks like dinner tomorrow will be vindaloo. Problem is, with such a glut, do I go with a tried and tested recipe (Meera Sodha https://meerasodha.com/recipes/pig-cheek-vindaloo/ ), or experiment with some of the other recipes I found on the net that look so good (Gymkhana https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jul/10/gymkhana-suckling-pig-vindaloo-recipe )? The caterers looked at the bill from their butcher and found the cheeks hadn’t been charged, so they gave them to me free. Probably saved me about £35 to 40.

My caterers at work have ordered me 2kg of pork cheeks that will arrive tomorrow. Vindaloo this weekend.

You may want to try the wholesalers at billingsgate fish market to see if anyone has a delivery round near to your address.

I despair of the fish trade. Boxes of sea bream that we used to buy from the wet fish stall at Chelmsford for about £20 were over £60 last Saturday, needless to say we passed. I wanted to buy some thick cod cutlets to recreate a very basic dish my mother used to make for us as kids (fish in grass gravy). I’m told that I will need to buy a whole cod that is big enough to take off cutlets as opposed to mere fillets. I have to order well in advance and they won’t give me a price, either for the whole fish or per kg. We bought a whole salmon in our local Morrisons last week. Cost was £29, whereas it was £10 to 15 a relatively short time ago. Then the boy on the fish counter said he couldn’t joint/fillet it for me as he had never done it before. Never mind , I can do that myself. On the plus side, a local butcher is selling whole wild rabbit for £6. The last frozen one I bought was £12 and upon defrosting found it was only half a rabbit.

Sitting here scrolling through some of the really old threads I noted a theme, in as much as back in the 2010’s people in the U.K. struggled to get access to certain meat products. I know access to some offal became difficult following the BSE crisis, but that was back in the 1990’s. In another thread I mentioned that the former plentiful supply of pork cheeks has dried up. I asked our caterers at work if they could source me some through their butcher at Smithfield meat market. No problems at all. I’m picking them up on Tuesday.

Apologies for my late arrival to this topic. A few years ago, 3 maybe 4 there seemed to be a glut of pork cheeks available in my little corner of Essex. One of our local butcher’s stocked them, the butcher in Chelmsford market had them in abundance…then they were gone. The butcher in Chelmsford only had them frozen, our local fellow had to order them in with the consequential rise in price. When readily available they became a mainstay of our “Curryfest” a bimonthly event where I would indulge myself cooking Indian for a group of friends or family. Meera Sodahs Pig Cheek Vindaloo became a firm favourite as did Vivek Singhs Coorg Pandhi pork stir fry, where I replaced the pork belly with cheeks. https://meerasodha.com/recipes/pig-cheek-vindaloo/ https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/coorg-pandhi-pork-stir-fry/ Whatever happened to the pig cheeks?

As mentioned they need a run out. I don’t do Moroccan or Middle Eastern as much as I should do so finding a favourite is a bit of struggle. I picked up a couple of recipes from the press recently and the Kefteh/Kofta Tagine from Paula Wolferts The cooking ofMorocco was a recurring dish so I would give that a thumbs up. I am planning on trialling a few new recipes, I’ll let you know how I get on.

I have a penchant for Tagines as well as a love of all things Le Creuset. We also have a local Le Creuset outlet store that sells at way below High Street prices. When we moved to an induction hob our old ceramic Tagine was no longer viable, so over the years I have picked up four Le Creuset Tagines of varying colours, sizes and depths. They have been used on many evenings when we have friends around for a Moroccan themed evening and have consistently turned out great results. I have several Moroccan/Tagine/Couscous recipe books and will always keep any recipes that appear on line. I’ve found over the years that authors promoting their latest cookbooks give permission for one or two of the headline recipes to be printed in the press, Sunday Supplements being a great source of these. I collect these as and when they arise and have obtained a few good Tagine recipes that way. These are my babies resting on our Neff 5 ring induction hob. No doubt they will be added to as and when the outlet store has the right product at the right price.

This is definitely one to try at home. I have a freezer full of venison that needs using up so I will try it with that to start off with. T63

There only appears to be one Mrs K M Matthew book on Amazon UK. I have in excess of 150 Indian Cookbooks, most from the U.K. but some sourced from India but, from memory, none by this particular author. https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Mrs-K-M-Mattew/author/B0CBZHFRYK?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

I have a few meat based “signature” dishes that I rely upon, especially when entertaining, but I have never found a chicken dish that fills the same purpose. At present my go to chicken dish is Anjum Anands Black Pepper Chicken that is enjoyed by family and friends when we put together a “curry fest” There are a couple of different versions by Anjum on the web, but I much prefer the one that uses a stock cube in the marinade. It gives great depth to the finished dish but you need to be mindful of the salt content in your stock cube. Here in the U.K. I use Knorr stockpots. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/sep/27/anjum-anand-last-meal-black-pepper-chicken-recipe

I cooked a shoulder of venison Kleftiko style earlier in the week and we had a ton of leftover meat and potatoes (a certain son had to cancel at short notice). I was considering what I could do differently with the left overs and the thought of Panacalty came to mind. Panacalty is a dish from the North East of England, closely associated with the city of Sunderland. It is traditionally made with tins of Corned Beef, sliced potatoes, carrots and onions. I made it with half the leftover venison and cooked waxy potatoes, both thinly sliced. I threw in some of the cooked garlic cloves from the Kleftiko and some onions and a beef gravy I had previously frozen after a beef roast. I also had some stuffing from a roast pheasant that went in. A complete mix up of leftovers. The result was very good; so much so that I have used the rest of the leftover venison and potatoes to make another which is now sitting in the freezer. The original inspiration came from this online recipe for a traditional Panacalty. https://www.greatbritishfoodawards.com/recipes/traditional-panacalty-recipe

I have a freezer full of venison which we have been casseroling, currying, meatballing and cooking in a variety of other ways, so yesterday I told the wife “no red meat for a couple of days”. I went into the butcher shop to buy some chicken (chicken noodle soup) and some duck (duck legs roasted on sliced potatoes) when I saw these Jarret de boeuf looking at me and begging me to take them home. They are really just beef shin served on the bone, similar to osso buco but they looked very appealing. A quick google informs me that the dish called Jarret de Boeuf is African in origin, with Chad being the place it is most associated with. So do I find an African/Chad recipe or go traditional U.K. and cook them in ale or Guinness. I shall ponder today whilst doing the Christmas shopping in the County Town of Chelmsford. Whatever way I decide, they will be cooked today and left refrigerated in their sauce for an evening meal on Monday or Tuesday.

A South African colleague recommended recipes from someone called Valdila or Valdima. Not overly sure of the spelling as he told me her name in a busy/noisy pub. I have trawled the internet without luck and wondered if anyone here has the faintest idea who he may have been speaking of. Apparently her bobotie recipe is the best. He left the business and I can no longer track him down, he may have gone back to SA.

So today I took a 750g boned out lamb breast. Made a stuffing with 50g of dried sourdough breadcrumbs, two rounded teaspoons of dried mixed herbs, a finely chopped onion and two large garlic cloves, zest from a lemon, salt, pepper, nutmeg and and egg to bind Rolled it and inexpertly tied it, not too tight as the meat expands as it cooks. Put it on a bed of vegetable, fresh thyme and about a quarter cup of bone broth. Covered it with 2 layers of foil then put it into a 180c oven for 90 minutes. Took the foil off basted it with the pan juices and returned it to the oven for another 30 minutes to brown off. Served with roasties and veg and a gravy made from the pan scrapings, red wine and bone broth. This used to be the food of the poor here in the U.K. now any cut of lamb costs a small fortune. But it was very nice. Youngest son was round for dinner as his mother is Xmas shopping in New York and he needed feeding, Took a portion of beef shortrib and two curries back home with him. He won’t starve whilst left home alone.

I need to do some research on sous vide. Here in the U.K. it seems to be a process employed by restaurant chains and pubs where their dishes are pre cooked in quantity for finishing off when ordered. I don’t know a single person who uses sous vide in a domestic setting. T63

I may have missed the boat on this one, me being new to the site but a Shawarma, or Doner Kebab has been widely copied on other food web sites, including the Glebe Kitchen video on you tube, Profoodhomemade with another YouTube link https://profoodhomemade.com/doner-kebab-meat/ And for those who like a garlic sauce with their kebab, I found this small batch Lebanese Garlic Sauce (Toum) at this site http://chichoskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/04/toum-garlic-lebanese-sauce-recipe.html I cannot claim any authenticity and have never tried these versions myself, but they have had a decent write up elsewhere.

I was disappointed with tonight’s dinner of goat kid leg steak. First time I have cooked this so looked on line for guidance and inspiration, two minutes a side was generally recommended in a hot pan, then rest. The meat tasted beautiful but was tougher than a robbers dog. Next time I will marinate them with something to break down the fibres, lemon juice, papaya or similar.

I was considering doing something similar with some pheasant breasts I have in the freezer, mixing some Dijon mustard and possibly sage in the beaten egg before adding the breadcrumbs.

I have never sous vide’d anything. Following some of the threads on here, and I’m very much a newbie, sous vide seems very popular in North America, but it barely gets a mention here in the U.K. I think if I bought another kitchen gadgets Mrs T63 would likely hit me over the head with it.

I've had quite a glut of meat just recently, the caterers at work have provided beef short ribs, lamb shanks and goat at cost price. I have a 60kg fallow deer coming during the week so I have had to start using up what is in the freezer to make a little more room. A kilo of chicken breast went into the dehydrator to make treats for the dogs. Another 1.5 kilo went into a Levi Roots curried goat. Some for us, some for a son and a couple of portions for work. I started this at 04.30 this morning (couldn’t sleep) and forgot to take a pic until it was divvied up. I also had a couple of portions of beef short ribs and thought I would try a Rick Stein recipe. https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/rick-steins-braised-beef-short-ribs/ I prepped everything then got out “Big Red”, he is my largest casserole and with a capacity of 7.25 quarts or 6.7 litres, he is the one I turn to when I need a big pan. After browning off the meat, I softened and caramelised the veg before adding the meat back to the pan with wine and stock. Rick Stein suggests serving with Dauphinois potatoes or aligot, but for time and convenience, garlic and mustard mash with some green veg served us well.

I don’t always use only the breasts, but the cock birds invariably are tougher and harder to pluck. At the moment the hens are good for roasting. Later in the season they will toughen up and need to go into a casserole. Then all the birds are skinned portioned and casseroled. At the moment I don’t have any much room in the freezer or I would have skinned and jointed the cocks.