It's been a while...
We're going to have soup and I'm trying to keep my ingredients as natural as possible, so I've I decided to kill two birds with one stone by finishing up some bread that was a few days off it's best while creating a healthy addition to my winter soup. Here it is:
Buttered Croutons
what you'll need:
Past its best bread (although fresh will do)
olive oil
Garlic - finely chopped (optional)
lurpak butter
herbes de provence
freshly ground black pepper
wok
baking tray
Silver foil
kitchen roll
container to store croutons in
- Start by cutting up the bread into cubes - as big or small as you want them for your soup
- preheat the oven to 220 degrees C and put all the cubes on the foil on a baking tray and put in the oven for 10 mins to dry out
- check on them after 5minutes - the croutons should be dry and the softness should have gone. This may happen before 10 mins so keep checking them. You're looking for them to be soft and chewy in the middle when you finish the whole dish (wok etc) so make sure they're dray but not baked to a crisp for this part
- put a generous lug or two of olive oil in a wok and add two generous lumps of butter - two big knife scrapings should do it (the olive oil prevents the butter from catching as butter on it's own burns easily)
- heat the wok until it's sizzling (medium to high heat)
- add the dry croutons from the baking tray and toss them quickly so as much of the oil/butter covers every part of the croutons
- Turn the croutons over quickly and constantly. Once the croutons start to brown nicely add the finely chopped garlic, herebes de provence and some ground black pepper
- make sure all the croutons get nicely browned before removing (you may find you burn a couple - but this just means you lose a few to get a nicely browned majority.
- transfer the croutons back to the baking tray to cool off (this is essential before you put in the container as if they're still warm the steam in the container will make them go soft and you want them nice n crispy!)
Add to any soup - I like Veggie or a nice Butternut Squash soup in the winter - if you're feeling really unhealthy add some emmental cheese gratings.
Enjoy!
Sunday, 6 November 2011
Friday, 16 September 2011
Wine, Food and Great Boozers
Man it's been a long time since I posted.
Enjoying a great drop of red wine tonight courtesy of M&S - Marques de Alarcon - £5.99 but worth every drop. Awesomely smooth and going down too nicely. Don't share - keep this one to yourself!
Went to Soho hotel this week for lunch and thought the calamari fritti was average but the cobb salad was really good - didn't need the starter really, main was huge.
Also disappointed the calamari in Pizza Express has been discontinued although it was always a bit limp. If they could do it crispier I'd be all up for petitioning its return!
Cheapest pint in central London is still The Chandos pub on the southern most corner of St Martin's Lane.
Nirvana Exhibition was fun and a pint in the Big Chill (opposite) on Dray Walk E.London (nest to Rough Trade East) was great - looks like a good place to stop in on a Thursday or Friday night.
Music to cook by this week - Def the new Fink album especially 'Yesterday Was Hard On All Of Us' and 'Perfect Darkness' - needs to be a mellow dish though - it's got that Sunday feeling. Fink's tour starts Friday 23rd Sept in Brighton - catch him in London on Oct 5th at Union Chapel. http://soundcloud.com/dawbellpr/fink-yesterday-was-hard-on can't wait!
Enjoying a great drop of red wine tonight courtesy of M&S - Marques de Alarcon - £5.99 but worth every drop. Awesomely smooth and going down too nicely. Don't share - keep this one to yourself!
Went to Soho hotel this week for lunch and thought the calamari fritti was average but the cobb salad was really good - didn't need the starter really, main was huge.
Also disappointed the calamari in Pizza Express has been discontinued although it was always a bit limp. If they could do it crispier I'd be all up for petitioning its return!
Cheapest pint in central London is still The Chandos pub on the southern most corner of St Martin's Lane.
Nirvana Exhibition was fun and a pint in the Big Chill (opposite) on Dray Walk E.London (nest to Rough Trade East) was great - looks like a good place to stop in on a Thursday or Friday night.
Music to cook by this week - Def the new Fink album especially 'Yesterday Was Hard On All Of Us' and 'Perfect Darkness' - needs to be a mellow dish though - it's got that Sunday feeling. Fink's tour starts Friday 23rd Sept in Brighton - catch him in London on Oct 5th at Union Chapel. http://soundcloud.com/dawbellpr/fink-yesterday-was-hard-on can't wait!
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Bruschetta: Pizza Express style
For years I searched for the perfect bruschetta recipe. This is properly delicious and not a million miles off the Pizza Express one.
Vine ripe tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
Red onion
Salt n pepper
Pesto
Garlic cloves
Wide French loaf
Olive oil
chop and deseed the toms and cut into small pieces and put into a bowl
add the extra virgin olive oil so they literally soak into the toms – add salt n pepper
finely chop half a red onion and add to the mixture
leave for 30 mins to soak up the flavour
cut up as many slices of bread as you want from the french loaf
place them all on a baking tray
brush olive oil lightly onto one side and place into a hot oven
when bread is starting to brown nicely take out and rub a garlic clove lightly on the toasted side
then spread some pesto lightly on the same side
dollup the tomato mixture on top with a fork so as not to get too much extra virgin olive oil on the bread
then you're ready to serve!
Vine ripe tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
Red onion
Salt n pepper
Pesto
Garlic cloves
Wide French loaf
Olive oil
chop and deseed the toms and cut into small pieces and put into a bowl
add the extra virgin olive oil so they literally soak into the toms – add salt n pepper
finely chop half a red onion and add to the mixture
leave for 30 mins to soak up the flavour
cut up as many slices of bread as you want from the french loaf
place them all on a baking tray
brush olive oil lightly onto one side and place into a hot oven
when bread is starting to brown nicely take out and rub a garlic clove lightly on the toasted side
then spread some pesto lightly on the same side
dollup the tomato mixture on top with a fork so as not to get too much extra virgin olive oil on the bread
then you're ready to serve!
Sunday, 23 January 2011
Seared Salmon Salad...Mmm
I haven't posted up any recipes recently. Been too consumed with my day job which seems to be a 24 hours these days!
So here's an easy and healthy one that I tweaked a bit, taken from my fave chef Rick Stein:
Delicious seared salmon salad...
(serves two)
YOU NEED:
2x skinless salmon fillets
light olive oil
salt and ground black pepper
salad leaves - I prefer watercress and spinach leaves
short thin french bread stick
1x medium red pepper
1x large salad/spring onion branch
frying pan - pref a skillet
dressing:
(choice of)
lemon juice - a whole lemon cut in two halves
or 1/2 a small tub of no fat creme fraiche, half a teaspoonful of wholegrain mustard and two pinches of dill mixed together.
start by making the croutons:
cut small slices (1cm width approx - less if you can) of the french bread up and lay maybe 14 down on a baking tray. preheat the oven to 210C while you start brushing olive oil onto each side of every slice of bread. Then ground a little pepper over the whole try before sticking in the oven for about 11 minutes or until crispy brown.
for the salad:
take a couple of salmon fillets without the skin and place them face up on a chopping board.
next run a knife along the middle of the fillet making two thinner slices of the fillet - so you're pointing the knife away from your body and cutting either from left to right or right to left depending what hand you use.
do this again with the other fillet.
this gives you four fairly thin slices of salmon that should shallow fry very quickly
pour some olive oil into an egg cup and use a brush to coat both side of each fillet with a thin layer before seasoning both sides with salt and pepper.
heat up the skillet pan to quite a high heat with no oil in it (the fillets have enough on them already to sear the salmon)
put the fillets into the pan and fry them for about 2 minutes each side or until they've seared to your liking
remove them and let them cool down
lay out the salad leaves in a shallow bowl and finely chop the salad onion right up the green part until you have no more fresh onion left to chop and then distribute evenly over each of the bowls of salad leaves.
then tear small chunks of the cooled salmon (up to you if you want it hot or cold though) over the salad.
chop your red pepper up into thin edible slices or chunks and distribute over each of the salad bowls before tossing the whole lot to make them look more presentable.
finally add your croutons for a little crunch.
wait to add the dressing at the last minute as it will make it soggy otherwise:
with the lemon halves: put one half on the edge of each bowl and serve so the person eating it can squeeze as mucj or as little as they want to. makes for a healthy fresh zest to the salad
with the creme fraiche dressing: I like to just put a healthy dollop on the edge of the bowl but you may just want to serve it in a separate dish for people to dress over the top of their salad.
Delicious, healthy and perfect for a saturday lunch at home or a warm summer evening meal out in the garden with some fresh chilled sauvignon blanc.
So here's an easy and healthy one that I tweaked a bit, taken from my fave chef Rick Stein:
Delicious seared salmon salad...
(serves two)
YOU NEED:
2x skinless salmon fillets
light olive oil
salt and ground black pepper
salad leaves - I prefer watercress and spinach leaves
short thin french bread stick
1x medium red pepper
1x large salad/spring onion branch
frying pan - pref a skillet
dressing:
(choice of)
lemon juice - a whole lemon cut in two halves
or 1/2 a small tub of no fat creme fraiche, half a teaspoonful of wholegrain mustard and two pinches of dill mixed together.
start by making the croutons:
cut small slices (1cm width approx - less if you can) of the french bread up and lay maybe 14 down on a baking tray. preheat the oven to 210C while you start brushing olive oil onto each side of every slice of bread. Then ground a little pepper over the whole try before sticking in the oven for about 11 minutes or until crispy brown.
for the salad:
take a couple of salmon fillets without the skin and place them face up on a chopping board.
next run a knife along the middle of the fillet making two thinner slices of the fillet - so you're pointing the knife away from your body and cutting either from left to right or right to left depending what hand you use.
do this again with the other fillet.
this gives you four fairly thin slices of salmon that should shallow fry very quickly
pour some olive oil into an egg cup and use a brush to coat both side of each fillet with a thin layer before seasoning both sides with salt and pepper.
heat up the skillet pan to quite a high heat with no oil in it (the fillets have enough on them already to sear the salmon)
put the fillets into the pan and fry them for about 2 minutes each side or until they've seared to your liking
remove them and let them cool down
lay out the salad leaves in a shallow bowl and finely chop the salad onion right up the green part until you have no more fresh onion left to chop and then distribute evenly over each of the bowls of salad leaves.
then tear small chunks of the cooled salmon (up to you if you want it hot or cold though) over the salad.
chop your red pepper up into thin edible slices or chunks and distribute over each of the salad bowls before tossing the whole lot to make them look more presentable.
finally add your croutons for a little crunch.
wait to add the dressing at the last minute as it will make it soggy otherwise:
with the lemon halves: put one half on the edge of each bowl and serve so the person eating it can squeeze as mucj or as little as they want to. makes for a healthy fresh zest to the salad
with the creme fraiche dressing: I like to just put a healthy dollop on the edge of the bowl but you may just want to serve it in a separate dish for people to dress over the top of their salad.
Delicious, healthy and perfect for a saturday lunch at home or a warm summer evening meal out in the garden with some fresh chilled sauvignon blanc.
Belogging
Been enjoying my regular Seth Godin daily newsletters again recently and found this great TED talk he did in Feb 2009: check it here
I like these guys too: Brand Gym
Just been reading a great book called 'Waking The Tiger: Hidden Trauma' by Peter Levine, which is about research into identifying and overcoming trauma - looking at the 'freeze response' which is something that occurs alongside the fight or flight mechanism we get when we are confronted with an extreme experience. It's a third type of response that regularly occurs amongst people in alarming situations but rarely talked about. Fascinating and insightful read: check it out here
I like these guys too: Brand Gym
Just been reading a great book called 'Waking The Tiger: Hidden Trauma' by Peter Levine, which is about research into identifying and overcoming trauma - looking at the 'freeze response' which is something that occurs alongside the fight or flight mechanism we get when we are confronted with an extreme experience. It's a third type of response that regularly occurs amongst people in alarming situations but rarely talked about. Fascinating and insightful read: check it out here
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