Warming healthy salad

Well i was roped into cooking once more last after i finished work. Was given strict orders.

"Please can you pick up my dry cleaning whilst in town"

"I really fancy something healthy how about a salad."

So there was my mission. a healthy salad. But knowin me i couldnt just do a plain salad so decided to come up with somethin that would be just right for the time of year.

In the end i decided to go for a lemon, thyme and garlic chicken salad. And i must say its a definate one for the masses. So easy. Yet so tasty.

Ingredients (for four people):

4 chicken breasts
1 lemon
Few sprigs of thyme
1 clove of garlic
Black olives
1 red onion
Cracked black pepper
3 baby gem lettuce

1. Get your chicken and slice into 2cm chunks
2. Zest and juice the lemon
3. Add few sprigs of thyme to a bowl along with the lemon zest. Add the chicken and pepper and coat the chicken in the thyme and lemon
4. Fry the chicken in a little oil for about 8 minutes
5. Whilst the chicken is frying chop your garlic and cut your olives in half
6. Slice your onion and seperate the washed leaves of the baby gem.
7. In a nice salad bowl lay out the leaves and sprinkle the onion over the top
8. After 8 minutes of the chicken cooking add the onion and garlic and cook for a further minute.
9. Remove pan from heat and the ingredients from the pan and then add oil and lemon to make a warm dressing
10. Evenly spread the chicken mix over the salad
11. Pour the dressing over the salad and serve with fresh bread

Nice relaxing night off ??!!!?

So last night i had a well earned night off work. Yes, no cooking I thought, Maybe go out for a meal or get a takeaway with a nice glass of wine and enjoy the Indian summer evening we were having.

But no. The girlfriend had other ideas and really wanted me to cook us a nice dinner. So eventually I was persuaded and made the trip to town to get the ingredients. I had decided to go fish as it was such a nice evening.

Unfortunately I had arrived a little to late and the Fish monger in the market had just cleared up. So had to make the walk to the supermarket. I was undecided at this point what I was going to cook. But when I got to the fish counter there was all your normal supermarket mass produced fish. You know the type. The unsustainable types. Your Cods, Seabass and Salmon. But i noticed out of the corner of my eye some reduced fish, now being a chef im always on the lookout for a bargain.

They were selling Red Tilapia for just £2 a fillet, Bargain!! This fish is quite often on offer as a lot of people do not know what to do with it when it comes to cooking however it is a very simple fish to cook as ill explain later. I honestly feel more people should use these uncommon types of fish a lot more rather than always plumping for the Seabass and Cod type of fish

I rang the girlfriend and asked her if that was ok, Unfortunately she had never heard of Red Tilapia. So i ran the risk and got them anyway, Now for anyone that doesn't know Tilapia is a white meaty fish somewhere between the taste of Cod and Seabass and goes well with a variety of flavours. So I went down to the salad section i had Decided to serve it with Wilted spinach and a fresh, vibrant, rustic tomato and white wine sauce and a lemon and paprika dressing.

I got all the ingredients home along with a lovely bottle of Sauvignon and put everything in the fridge until she returned home from work

Below is the recipe i used and it is guaranteed to be a success, I give you my word.

Ingredients (serves 2)

1 Fillet of Tilapia per portion

200g tin chopped tomatoes

12 Cherry tomatoes

1 Clove of Garlic

1/2 red onion

glass white wine

500g  spinach

Juice of 1 lemon

Pinch of Paprika

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1. Make sure your fish is at room temperature
2. To make the dressing. Get your juice of one lemon and put into a bowl add the paprika and oil and oil and mix to form the dressing
3. To make the Sauce Thinly dice your red onion and garlic and add to a hot pan with a little oil. Slice your tomatoes in half and add to the mix. 
4. After a 5 minutes add your Tin of Chopped tomatoes and bring to a boil stirring every so often
5. Now add the glass of white wine and reduce down for ten minutes.
6. Get a roasting tray and add your spinach (It will look like a lot but will wilt down) Add a little butter and Salt and Pepper and Roast on a low heat of about 180 for upto ten minutes or until the spinach has wilted.
7. Get a frying pan on the stove and add another butter to coat the base of the pan add a little oil to stop the butter burning Season the fish and prepare to add to the pan
8. Once the pan is upto temperature add the fillets press gently down to stop curling at the edges and cook for 5 minutes  until the fish is 3/4 cooked. 
9. Now turn the fish and do the same on the other side for a couple of minutes after it has been turned over drizzle a little of the dressing over the fish so it can soak through whilst cooking
10. Once the fish is cooked Get your Spinach and tomato sauce and put on a plate and place the fish on top with a drizzle of the lemon and paprika dressing over the top.

The perfect profiterole

Below is my recipe for the perfect Chocolate profiterole, The orange in the cream really helps finish it off. I have tried to write it out as simple as i can any comments positive or negative then please let me know

Chocolate and Orange Profiteroles

Ingredients:

·         85g unsalted butter

·         200ml cold water

·         4 teaspoons caster sugar

·         115g plain flour

·         pinch of salt

·         3 medium eggs beaten

For the Cream Filling

·         600ml double Cream

·         zest of 3 oranges

For the Sauce

·         50g caster sugar

·         175g plain chocolate

1.     Preheat the oven to 200 degrees

2.     Lightly oil a baking tray

3.     To make the pastry, place the butter and sugar into a large pan with 200ml cold water

4.     Place over a low heat to melt the butter. Now increase the heat

5.     Add the flour and the salt

6.     Remove from the heat

7.     Quickly beat the mixture vigorously till a smooth paste is formed

8.     Once smooth add back to the heat

9.     Stir for one minute then once again remove it

10.  Add the eggs bit by bit mixing well

11.  Continue beating the mix until the paste is smooth and glossy

12.  It should have a dropping consistency

13.  Dip a teaspoon into some warm water and lift out a spoonful of the mixture and place on baking trap rubbing the end to make a smooth round ball

14.  Place in the oven

15.  Bake for 10 – 20 mins until golden brown

16.  Remove from the oven and prick the base of each profiterole

17.  Place back on the baking tray with the hole facing up and cook for a further 5 minutes to dry the inside of the profiterole so they aren’t soggy

18.  Take out and put on a cooling rack and leave to cool

19.  To make the cream. Lightly whip the cream with the orange zest until soft peaks are formed

20.  Don’t overwhip

21.  Once the profiteroles are cold. Fill with the cream

22.  To make the sauce. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Put the sugar into a small pan with 100ml of water and bring to the boil.

23.  Stir the Melted chocolate and add the water and sugar mix into the chocolate and stir until smooth and shiny

24.  Dip the profiteroles top end first into the chocolate sauce then put in fridge to set

A great thai inspired soup

Sorry people i know i havent blogged a lot recently i have had a lot of personal things to sort out.

On twitter I was talking to a fellow tweeter and telling them about an amazing soup i have made on many occasions. Below is the recipe for;

Roasted Butternut, Coconut and Chilli Soup
A great thai inspired warming soup lovely for hot summer days or cold wintry days


Ingredients (serves 6)       
750 ml Veg stock              
2 Butternut Squash              
15g Coriander                      
1 Knob of Ginger Grated       
2 Red Chillis                         
2 Cloves Garlic                      
250 ml Coconut milk         
4 Shallots                             
2 Lemon Grass                    

1. Top and tail the Butternut Squash, cut down the middle, scoop out the seeds and dice the butternut
2. Roast the Butternut with a 1/4 of the Chilli, half the coriander and salt and pepper with olive oil for about 20-30 minutes until the butternut becomes soft
3. Fry the thinly diced shallots in a sauce pan, add the garlic and the rest of the chilli and ginger
4. Add the stock and lemon grass and then cook for about ten minutes 
5. Add the roasted buttenut and coconut milk and simmer for 10 minutes 
6. Season, Puree and serve

#12 Hitting our pockets

So for the last five years this recession has been hitting us hard. Ever since the ball started rolling with Northern Rock we have been constantly told our lives are going to get harder and our finances tighter. Well it seems as that may possibly be now happening with the the survey released today taken out by Which the consumer watchdog that 84% of people are worried about the cost of food in line with their income and that third of people asked had said they had reduced their spend on food. One thing that worries me a little though is that apparently 1 in 3 families are giving up there fruit and vegetables off their shopping lists to save money.

All this and on top we have the news that food is expected to rise above 5% inflation this year it doesnt seem to look like its going to improve anytime soon. An example of an average price hike is Sainsburys cornflakes rising 37% in one year and TESCO own vegetable oil rising by a huge 43%

Obviously every part of life has taken a battering in this recession the public and business. However surely prices going up are not going to help anyone are they?

For example the supermarkets put their prices up, what will the customer do to counteract that? They will reduce their shopping as i mentioned earlier or the other thing they will look at doing is to look to save money in other ways. Cheaper and own brand items. One thing this recession has taught us is to become cleverer shoppers. We no longer let the big shops bully us into buying what they want us to buy. We have all become a lot more savvy and just buy what we need to buy.

We now go where the best value is it seems after it was announced that budget supermarkets such as ALDI have increased their sales by 20.2% and LIDLs are up by 15.6% Which between them is a 6.1% share of the market. Compare that to the big ones and they only increase by small numbers such as 0.1%
However its not just those discount supermarkets which appear to be increasing sales. Waitrose also increased its share of the market from 4.1% to 4.3%


They say we are £9 a week less better off than we were a year ago. With increase in bills. So how can we save that money?????

Well it looks like we should try these low budget supermarkets either that or the own brand labels that the supermarkets offer. However as I mentioned earlier even going down that route may not save money

Aldi gets a bad name as a cheap supermarket however i have heard some reviews saying some of their products are actually as good, if not better, than the better known supermarkets


With the economic future unknown. Take your future in your own hands. That extra money you save from your food shopping by being savvy. Save it and treat yourself. We all deserve a treat.

#11 Fast Food Britain

So for the past few years there seems to be of been a large attempted crack down on fast food. By fast food i mean the type thats not good for you. Ever since the film Super size me was released there has really been an effort to get people eating healthier. Yet you look at the high street fast food outlets. And what are there best sellers, the same as what they were before the crackdown, your big macs, your whoppers, your buckets of greasy chicken.


All of these fast food outlets have tried cracking down on healthy eating yet they still promote there unhealthy food primarily as at the end of the day they know thats what sells. These established brands though really should start coming under increasing pressure. From places such as your high street sandwich shop, you know the ones, the ones where you have a large salad counter and a wide varied choice of sandwich fillings. Yet even these places which pride themselves on healthier eating always try to push you for those extra pennies by always offering you the foot long. Now is it me or is a foot long surely going to be the equivalent to a burger and chips in these other outlets? I am not a nutritionist but surely doubling the size of a sandwich makes it doubly unhealthy? 


So this brings me on to what i saw this week on the apprentice. They had to make a fast food outlet in two days and one decided to do fresh pies. 

This is a brilliant piece of thinking for fast food, pies are so easy to make and can be kept on a heat thus giving you that fast service. So why are all food out lets offering the same type of foods why do we not have more individual food outlets offering a wide varied choice of foods. We all have moments where our lifes are running crazily fast and all need to eat, so not for one second am i slating fast food, what i am doing is asking why there are not individual fast food outlets offering food we would normally make at home.  Like MyPy on the apprentice. Its a good filling dinner which is not going to break the bank on calories or on the finances, and in these hectic lifes we live if we had the choice of a greasy burger or a fresh home made meal i know what i would choose, how about you?

#10 Britain Vs the world

So i see once again a Brit had the talk but did not have the walk at the weekend. I'm talking of course about Mr David Haye losing his heavyweight fight to Wladimir Klitschko. It was such a non contest from the first bell. And once again we see a Brit crumbling on the big stage due to the fact they just turn up and expect everything to fall for them just like the England football team, especially last summer in South Africa. What gives our small country this feeling of invincibility and right to success. No one has the right to expect success. It takes work.



As a contrast to this the night of the fight we were at the cinema watching a fantastic documentary, Senna. A guy that came into the sport and gave his everything and was always prepared to push himself to the limit, unfortunately for him he did just that that fateful day back in 1994. One thing that came across in the film though and could never be argued was what a nice man he was with it. Senna is proof that to succeed you need to give your all and be a nice guy at the same time. Haye, take note!!!


Anyway i know what your thinking. Why blog about this on a food blog. Well it does link in trust me.


After seeing the Senna movie we needed to get something to eat. Only ten minutes past ten and what a nightmare we had trying to find somewhere to eat as most places stop at 10. Eventually we did find a large chain italian restaurant that served us, but still, what gives the Brits the right to stop serving food so early on a Saturday night?

Seriously, Think about it. When your abroad, be it on the Costas in Spain or on some derelict Greek island. What time do they stop serving food? how many times do you get turned away from these little restaurants if you arrive after ten pm?

The answer is simple. none. Thats what makes it such an experience as you know you can sit in the sun till late evening, get ready, get a drink and then find a restaurant and order your food eventually after a couple of carafes of wine. A couple of years ago we visited Greece. 


We arrived at Lefkas town late one night walked through the town and stopped for a drink in the market square, By time we remembered we needed to eat the time had passed a normal British eating time. After 11pm we walked down a little back street and found a family run restaurant which was packed. But still they didn't turn us away, No, What they did was find us a table from out the back and put it down the narrow pedestrian lane along with the other tables, that were already sitting, Not once were we rushed that night, Just felt so nice.And the food was the best Greek meal i have ever had. To prove they really didn't mind us there at about midnight some of the neighbours came down and start playing some local music. It was such an experience.


So why oh why cant we have those experiences when in England? Why does everything have to be so formal and rigid on rules. With all these chain restaurants basing themselves on foreign countries meals, Such as Italian,French and Mexican ect. Why don't they give the full experience you would get if there in the country. Relaxed atmosphere and great food. I would say the weather but that's pushing it a little.