Roast duck with potatoes

From Nigella Kitchen
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 duck legs
2 baking potatoes or 1 pound other large white-skinned potatoes
Few sprigs of fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

On the stove, heat a small roasting pan (I use one like a slightly oversized tarte tatin pan) and sear the duck legs, skin-side down over medium heat until the skin turns golden and gives out some oil.

Turn the legs over, and take the pan off the heat while you cut the potatoes into 1-inch slices across, then cut each slice into 4. Arrange these potato pieces around the duck legs, then let a few sprigs of thyme fall over the duck and potatoes, and season with salt and pepper, before putting into the preheated oven.

Cook for two hours, occasionally turning the potatoes, for optimal outcome, which is tender duck legs and crispy potatoes, though both will be ready to eat after 1 1/2 hours.

This is so ridiculously easy! I wouldn’t go for 2 hours as I think the duck will be too dry. I bought two duck legs from Waitrose and simply followed the instructions which is to cook it for 2 hours at 180 degrees. I added the tomatoes for the final five minutes just to make it a balanced meal

Festive fish pie

From 101 Fish & Seafood Dishes – Tried and Tested Recipes
Serves 6
Ingredients

200g smoked salmon
4 plum tomatoes, skinned, seeded
400g raw king prawns
500g cod fillet cut into 2.5cm chunks
2.5cm piece of fresh root ginger
50g butter
50g plain flour
425ml milk
150ml dry vermouth
142ml carton single cream
3 tbsp chopped fresh dill
juice of 1/2 lime

For the topping
700g potatoes peeled,
good pinch of saffron strands
25g butter

Cut the salmon into strips and chop the tomatoes. Mix these with the prawns and cod in a buttered overproof dish

Chop the ginger. Bring the butter, ginger, flour milk and vermouth to the boil in a non stick pan, whisking all the time until until thickened and smooth. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes, then season and leave to cool, stirring occasionally. When cooled to room temperature, stir in the cream, dill and lime juice. Taste and season. pour over the fish.

Slice the potatoes and boil in a pan of water with the saffron and some salt until just tender, thend rain. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Arrange the potatoes, overlapping, over the pie mixture. Melt the butter and brush over. Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden.

Aloo gobi

From Jamie’s Ministry of Food
Serves 4
Ingredients

1 medium fresh onion
2-3 green chillies (to your taste)
a thumb sized piece of fresh root ginger
a small bunch of fresh coriander
1/2 a cauliflower
500g potatoes
oil
knob of butter
1 tbsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 level tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp desiccated coconut
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 220 c, 425 f, gas 7

1. Peel, halve and finely chop the onion. Finely slice your chillies. Peel and finely chop the ginger. Pick the coriander leaves and finely chop the stalks.

2. Discard the outer leaves of the cauliflower, break into florets and cut the thick middle stem into cubes. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 2cm cubes.

3. Put a large ovenproof pan on a medium to high heat and add a couple of lugs of oil and the butter.

4. Add the onion, chillies, ginger, coriander stalks, mustard seeds, turmeric and cumin and cook for 7 to 10 minutes until softened and golden.

5. Stir in the cauliflower, potatoes and coconut. Season with salt and pepper and add 400ml of water.

6. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer with the lid on until the veg are cooked and soft.

7. Check the curry regularly to make sure it’s not drying out, and extra water if necessary.

8. Give it another stir, then put the pan into the preheated oven for another 20 minutes.

SERVE with fluffy rice, sprinkled with coriander leaves and with some lemon wedges to serve.

Had a lunch party with colleague and gf, and M. M cooked a huge pot of pork vindaloo and indian roasted vinegar chicken. My contribution was a aloo gobi as a vegetable dish to complement the meats. Turned out quite successful I must say, I can’t really remember what aloo gobi tasted like because I haven’t had indian for ages, but I think it was pretty close enough.

With M around, I eat a lot more spicy food as that’s the kind of stuff she cooks, and so I have quite a lot of indian spices around. Guess this means I will be cooking more of such stuff over the weeks!

Lamb chops with black olives and chilli

From Nigella Express
Serves 4
Ingredients

Ingredients

12 lamb rib chops
4 tablespoon(s) olive oil (plus 2 tablespoons for frying)
3 clove(s) garlic (peeled and sliced)
1 teaspoon(s) dried chilli
1 teaspoon(s) oregano
1 small lemon juice (zest and juice)
1 teaspoon(s) maldon salt (or ½ teaspoon table salt)
15 black olives (pitted and sliced)
1 long red chilli pepper (deseeded and finely sliced (optional))

Method

Layer the rib chops between clingfilm and flatten gently with a rolling pin or mallet. Unwrap and place the chops in a large dish, so that they all fit in a single layer.
Pour the 4 tablespoons of oil over the chops and add the sliced garlic, chilli flakes, oregano, lemon zest and juice. Sprinkle with the salt and the olives, then turn the rib chops in the marinade so that both sides are coated.
Cover and leave the lamb to marinate for 20 minutes at room temperature.
Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil in a large heavy-based frying pan, and add the chops, scraping off the marinade before you put them in the pan. (Reserve the marinade.) Fry them for a couple of minutes a side on quite a high heat so that they take on some colour.
Turn the heat down to medium and pour the reserved marinade into the pan over the now coloured chops. Add 2 tablespoons or so of water and cook for about 5 minutes for rare cutlets or a little longer if you like your lamb well done (this will also depend on the thickness of the chops).
Transfer the chops to a serving plate, pour over the juices from the pan and sprinkle with the chopped red chilli, should you feel like enhancing the dried chilli with the pep of fresh.

Normally, I am not a huge fan of Nigella’s recipes. They tend to be simple and not inspiring unlike Jamie Oliver who always has a few tricks up his sleeves.That said, this lamb chops recipe works wonderfully well, good combination of hot and savoury.

As the sides, I added some cherry tomatoes to the frying pan, to cook it a bit. And I chopped up some potatoes, added thyme, salt and olive oil, and roasted it in my toaster oven for around 40 minutes. Good combination.

Fennel sausages braised with lemony potatoes and bay leaves

From Rick Stein’s Mediterranean Escape
Serves 4
Ingredients

450g/1lb luganega sausages (available from specialist Italian or Continental grocers), or other nice meaty pork chipolatas
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
750g/1½lb small waxy potatoes, peeled and each cut into quarters
½ lemon, pared zest and juice only
4 fresh bay leaves
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
120ml/4fl oz water

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Twist the sausages into 7.5cm/3in lengths and separate them into individual sausages.

Heat one tablespoon of the oil in a 26cm/10in shallow flameproof casserole dish. Add the sausages and fry until nicely browned all over. Lift them onto a plate and set aside.

Add the onion, garlic and another tablespoon of oil to the casserole dish and fry until soft and lightly golden. Stir in the potatoes, browned sausages, lemon zest and juice, bay leaves, half the chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon salt and ten turns of the black pepper mill.

Pour over the rest of the oil along with the water, cover tightly with the lid and bake for 30-40 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

Remove the lemon zest and sprinkle with the rest of the parsley before serving.

Note to self. Do not put stoneware on stove. They crack. Good thing my sausages were not blown onto the ground.

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.

One pot roast pork chops with fennel and potatoes

From BBC GoodFood
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 potatoes , cut into 8 wedges
1 fennel bulb , cut into 8 wedges
1 red pepper , halved, deseeded and cut into 8 wedges
4 thyme sprigs
4 garlic cloves , unpeeled
1 tbsp sundried tomato paste
300.0ml hot chicken stock
4 bone-in pork loin chops

Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Put the potatoes, fennel, pepper, thyme and garlic in a large roasting tin. Mix together the tomato paste and stock, then pour into the pan. Tightly cover with foil and cook for 30 mins. Take out of the oven and increase the temperature to 220C/200C fan/gas 7.

Remove the foil and place the pork in the roasting tin, nestling in between the veg. Season well and return to the oven for 15-20 mins more or until golden brown and cooked through. Serve with the pan juices drizzled over.

Something really simple for a Saturday lunch. The key to the taste of this dish is the sun dried tomatoes paste. I couldn’t find any such paste so I did well the next best thing which is to get some sun dried tomatoes in olive oil and to pound it into a paste before adding it to the chicken stock.

Slow-roasted beef brisket with potatoes and onions

From The Guardian
Serves six to eight.

2kg piece boned, rolled beef brisket (fresh, not salted)
4-5 garlic cloves, bruised
Good handful of thyme sprigs
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1-1.25kg potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
About 400g baby onions or shallots, outer skins removed

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Put the brisket in a large roasting dish. Tuck the garlic and thyme inside and under it. Pour over two to three tablespoons of olive oil and massage into the meat, then season well. Put the meat in the oven for 20-30 minutes, then remove it. Turn down the oven to 130C/250F/gas mark 1/2 , cover the meat with foil and return to the oven for four hours.

After this time, the beef should be very tender. Baste it with its juices, add the potatoes and onions, and toss them in the fat, then turn up the heat to 170C/325F/gas mark 3 and cook, uncovered, for a further hour. Serve the beef in thick slices, with the potatoes, onions and a little of the rich cooking juices.

Vichyssoise (Leek and potato soup)

Ingredients

600g leeks, white parts only, thinly sliced
250g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1.5 litres of chicken stock
butter

Melt the butter in a heavy pan and cook the leeks, covered, for 15-20 minutes, until they are soft but not browned.

Add the potato chunks and cook over a low heat, uncovered for a few minutes.

Stir in the stock with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and partly cover the pan. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.

Cool, then process the soup until smooth in a blender. Sieve the soup into a bowl. Taste and adjust the seasoning and add a little water if the consistency of the soup seems too thick.

One of my favourite French soups and one that I make on a regular basis. I think this is supposed to be a cold soup; I am just a bit apprehensive about having it that way…