Cream of asparagus soup

From The Great British Farmhouse Cookbook
Serves 4
Ingredients

6 bunches fine asparagus (total weight of approx. 1.2kg)
2 litres vegetable or light homemade chicken stock
300g trimmed and cleaned leeks
100g unsalted butter, plus 25g extra for drizzling
3 sticks celery, thinly sliced
65g plain flour
3 tbsp double cream
1 tsp white wine vinegar, for poaching
8 large, really fresh free-range eggs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

METHOD:
Rinse the asparagus is cold water to rid it of any sand, then snap off the woody ends and roughly chop them. Put them into a pan with the stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then strain and set aside.

Meanwhile, cut the 4cm-long tips from half the asparagus spears. Roughly chop the remaining stalks.

Bring 2 small pans of water to the boil. Add some salt to one pan, drop in the asparagus tips and cook for 2 minutes until just tender. Drain, refresh under cold water and set aside. Add the vinegar and pinch of salt to the second pan and reduce the heat to low. Break one of the eggs into a teacup. Swirl the water with a spoon to create a whirlpool, drop in the egg and leave it to poach for 3 minutes, then carefully remove with a slotted spoon to a plate. Repeat with the remaining eggs, bringing the water back to the boil and then lowering again each time. Leave the poaching water over a low heat.

Cut off the really dark green leaves from the leeks (and discard or save for stock) and thinly slice the remainder. Melt 100g of the butter in a large pan, add the asparagus stalks, sliced leeks and celery, cover and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes until soft but not browned.

Uncover, stir in the flour and cook for 1 more minute. Stir in the asparagus-flavoured stock, cover again and simmer for 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Remove from the heat, cool slightly and then liquidise the soup in batches until very smooth. Pass through a sieve back into a clean pan, bring back to a simmer and stir in the cream and some seasoning to taste.

Melt the remaining butter. Lower the poached eggs back into the simmering water and leave for 30 seconds, then remove and drain briefly on kitchen paper. Ladle the soup into warmed bowls and scatter over the asparagus tips. Place a poached egg into the centre of each bowl, season the top of each one with a little salt and pepper then drizzle over the melted butter and serve.

Italian roast chicken with peppers and olives

From Nigella Lawson’s Nigellissima
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
1 x 1.5kg/3lb 5oz chicken (preferably organic)
1 unwaxed lemon, cut in half
4 sprigs rosemary
3 leeks, washed and trimmed
2 red peppers
1 orange pepper
1 yellow pepper
100g/3½oz pitted dry-packed black olives
4 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to serve

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Untruss the chicken, sit it in a roasting tin and put the lemon halves and two of the rosemary sprigs into the chicken’s cavity.
Wash and trim the leeks, cut each into three logs, then slice lengthways and add to the tin. Now remove the core and seeds of the peppers and slice them into strips, following their natural curves and ridges, and add these to the tin.

Tumble in the olives, and now pour the olive oil, mostly over the vegetables but a little over the chicken, too. Add the remaining rosemary sprigs to the vegetables, along with some sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Using a couple of spoons or spatulas, gently toss the vegetables about to help coat them with the oil and make sure everything’s well mixed up.

Sprinkle some sea salt flakes over the chicken and put it in the oven for about 1-1¼ hours, by which time the chicken should be cooked through, and its juices running clear when you cut into the flesh with a small sharp knife at the thickest part of the thigh joint. The vegetables should be tender by now, too, and some of the leeks will be a scorched light-brown in parts.

Remove the chicken to a carving board and, while it rests (for about 10 minutes) pop the pan of veg back in the oven, switching the oven off as you do so.

Cut the chicken up chunkily, transferring the pieces to a large warmed platter. Now take the pan back out of the oven and, with a slotted spoon or spatula, remove the vegetables to the large platter and when all is arranged to your aesthetic delight, pour over it all the bronze, highly-flavoured juices that have collected in the pan.

Mussel, haddock and salmon stew

From BBC Saturday Kitchen
Serves 4
Ingredients

1litre/2 pints fish stock
1kg/2lb 3¾oz mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded
pinch saffron
¼ tsp curry powder
500ml/1pint double cream
For the stew
250g/9oz smoked haddock, cut into 1.5cm cubes
200g/7oz salmon, cut into 1.5cm cubes
4 carrots, cut into 1cm cubes and blanched
2 potatoes, cut into 1cm cubes and blanched
1 leek, cut into 1cm cubes
2 tbsp flatleaf parsley, roughly chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
4 slices country bread, griddled

Bring the stock to the boil, then add the mussels and cook for 3-4 minutes until the mussels are open. Discard any mussels that do not open.
Strain the stock into a saucepan, reserving the mussels.
Pull the mussel shells in half, discarding the halves without the mussel meat, and keep to one side.
Place the pan with the stock back on the heat and reduce the temperature to a simmer.
Add the saffron, curry powder and cream, then bring it back to a simmer.
Add the fish, carrots, potatoes and leek and simmer for 2-3 minutes until tender.
Add the parsley and cooked mussels and stir through.
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Serve with the griddled bread.

This is now my current favourite cream based fish stew. The addition of saffron and curry powder brings this stew to a completely new level!

Stoved chicken

Ingredients

3 potatoes thinly sliced
1 large onion thinly sliced
1 tbs chopped thyme
3 slice bacon chopped
4 chicken thighs
1 bay leaf
2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 140 degrees

Place half of potato in the bottom of a heavy casserole, then cover with half of the onion, half of the thyme. Sprinkle with salt and pepper

Heat oil in pan to brown the bacon and chicken.

Transfer the bacon and chicken to the casserole on top of the potatoes. Sprinkle the remaining thyme and add the bay leaf. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the remaining onions. Layer the potatoes on top.

Pour the stock into the casserole and brush the potatoes with the pan juices remaining after the browning of the chicken and the bacon.

Cover the casserole and cook in the oven for 2 hours, remove the cover and cook under the grill for another 15 minutes.

Serve.

“Stoved” is derived from the French etouffer – to cook in a covered pot.

Pasta primavera with parma ham

Ingredients

150g French beans
2 spring onions, chopped
40g butter
1 tsp olive oil
225g baby carrots
175g leeks, chopped
300ml single cream
1 tsp lemon juice
25g parmesan cheese, grated
3 tbsp freshly chopped basil
6 slices of parma ham, chopped

Trim and halve the French beans. Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil for 4-5 minutes. Drain the beans and briefly rinse under cold running water.

Heat the butter and oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add the parma ham and cook for 2 minutes. Add the baby carrots and cook for 2 minutes, then stir in the leeks and spring onions and cook for 10 minutes stirring, until the vegetables are almost tender.

Stir the cream and lemon juice into the vegetables and bubble over a gentle heat until the sauce is slightly reduced and the vegetables are cooked.

Add the beans, parmesan cheese and basil to the sauce. Stir for 30 seconds or until the cheese has melted and the vegetables are hot. Add the sauce to cooked pasta, then toss gently to mix and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve.

Wanted something relatively light to eat after a dim sum at Royal China (although it’s odd that I started getting hungry at around 17:00 despite eating a fair bit of dim sum. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have breakfast). So I decided to make this pasta dish, full of vegetables, nutrients and fibre to balance the unhealthiness of dim sum. Didn’t have any parma ham, and used bacon instead.

I love the taste of this dish; the creaminess of the bacon sauce, the sweetness of the vegetables, and the crunchiness of the carrots and long beans.

Lainey: are you fine with farfelle?:P

Pork with leeks and celery

From kalofagas.ca

You can read the recipe by clicking on the link above. Not posting his recipe here as there’s a specific request not to.

Had a lunch party yesterday where i made baked eggs with creamy leeks, mediterranean fish stew, chicken with chorizo and cabbage and potato gratin. As a result, I had loads of leftover leeks and celery, and so I went googling to see what I could do with these ingredients. First recipe that cropped up was this Greek dish. Really love this recipe for the colours and flavours. Reminds me of a milder version of a chinese dish – preserved vegetables pork.

What I didn’t do, which I suspect may have had a huge impact on the taste is to use peperoncini. I think the taste will be much stronger with this. Instead, I used some mixed peppers in extra virgin oil which I got from Waitrose. Will try it next time, if i do get hold of it.

Leek, butter beans and chorizo gratin

From BBC GoodFood 101 More on-pot dishes
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
75g pack chorizo , roughly chopped
4 large leeks , thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves , sliced
100ml dry sherry
2 x 400g cans butter beans , drained
500ml vegetable stock
85g bread , torn into pieces

Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Heat the oil, fry the chorizo for a few mins until slightly crisp, then scoop out, leaving the oil behind. Add the leeks and half the garlic; cook for 5 mins until soft. Pour in the sherry, beans and stock. Season, then bubble for 5 mins.
Meanwhile, blitz the bread to coarse crumbs with the remaining garlic. Tip the leek mixture into an ovenproof dish, stir in the chorizo and scatter over the crumbs. Bake for 10 mins until golden, then serve with crusty bread.

Been away for the last two weekends. New York and Dublin and haven’t done any photo cooking for ages. I did cook but more simple stuff for the parents when they were around. Am glad to get back into the mix and get my hands dirty so to speak

I like this recipe for his simplicity and complexity. Simple because it’s easy to execute. Complex because there’s a lot going on in this dish. The strong tastes of the sherry and chorizo, balanced by the starchiness of the butter beans and the crispness of the leeks. The bread crumbs help to soak up the sherry and in the end a wonderful combination of flavours emerges.

Leeks and fennel roasted chicken

From uktv.co.uk (Rachel Allen from Market Kitchen)
Ingredients
Serves 4

8 chicken thighs, with skin
1 large bulb fennel, sliced
12 cloves garlic, unpeeled
2 small leeks, cut into 2cm slices
16 small new potatoes, scrubbed clean
4 sprigs tarragon
75 ml olive oil

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas6

2. Put the chicken, fennel, garlic, leeks, potatoes and tarragon in a large bowl.

3. Pour over the olive oil and toss everything together. If the ingredients are not thoroughly coated, add a splash more.

4. Transfer everything to a roasting tin and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes until the chicken is tender and the skin crisp.

Another one of those easy one-pot dishes. Although I made it 2 pots by boiling my potatoes first. In my experience, potatoes are never properly cooked within such times, and I have also increased the time in my oven to 40 minutes to be absolutely sure that the chicken is cooked.

The skin of the chicken thighs is to die for!

And when you add the chicken and vegetables, please season it with salt and black pepper to taste. The recipe omitted this step…

Leeky salmon in a parcel

From GoodFood 101 Fish and Seafood Dishes
Serves 2
Ingredients
2 salmon fillets, 140g/5oz each
1 medium or 2 small leeks , about 200g/8oz in total
50g frozen petits pois
4 heaped tbsp crème fraîche , plus 2 tbsp to serve
1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon

Season the salmon fillets all over. Slice the leeks really thinly. Cut two 40cm square sheets of greaseproof paper and put a fillet in the middle of each sheet.

Top each fillet with leeks and peas, and 2 tbsp of crème fraîche. Sprinkle with tarragon and salt and pepper.

Make up parcels with the paper and stand them on a microwave-proof plate or tray. Microwave on full power for 5 minutes. Put the contents of the parcels on two plates and top each serving with a spoonful of crème fraîche. Serve with new potatoes.

Cooking in the oven – If you prefer to cook the parcels in the oven, they will take 15 minutes at fan 170C/ conventional 190C/ gas 5.

Baked chicken, butter beans and garlic

From Chicken – the best ever recipe collection
Serves 6

Ingredients:
2 leeks
1 small fennel bulb, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 x 14oz cans of butter beans, drained
2 large handfuls fresh parsley, chopped
1¼ cups dry white wine
1¼ cups vegetable stock
3 lb chicken
parsley sprigs to garnish
cooked green vegetables to serve

Instructions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Slit the leeks, wash out any grit, then slice thickly.
Cut the fennel into quarters, remove the core and chop the flesh roughly.
Mix the leeks, fennel, whole garlic cloves, butter beans and parsley in a bowl.
Spread out the mixture on the bottom of a heavy-based flameproof casserole that is large enough to hold the chicken. Pour in the white wine and vegetable stock.
Place the chicken on top.
Bring to the boil, cover the casserole and transfer it to the oven.

Bake it for 1-1/2 hours, until the chicken is cooked and falls off the bone.
Garnish with parsley and serve with lightly cooked green vegetables.