Turkish Salad

Even in mid-Winter I get to the point where I’ve had enough carbs and need something fresh and light.

12 cherry tomatoes, halved

½ cucumber, peeled

1 small  red onion, peeled

½ red pepper, halved and deseeded

½ green pepper, also halved and deseeded

2 heaped tbsp. each of roughly chopped coriander and parsley

Dressing

½ garlic clove crushed to a paste with salt

2 tbsp lemon juice

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salt & pepper

To Serve

200g Turkish yoghurt, thinned with 1 tbsp milk

Caramelised butter (I will explain)

1 tsp Turkish chilli flakes

Flatbreads

Check out his mood when he gets home. If he’s cheery this is nice to make together as it’s mostly chopping.  You could use a gadget but this is really not hard work and it’s a great way to unwind with the boy at the end of a long day. Even he seems to appreciate the odd break for something fresh to eat.

Start with the dressing – just whisk everything together and taste. I like my dressings quite tart but check with him and come to an agreement. The olive oil should be peppery and grassy – a real flavour in its own right and not just something to let the dressing down with. Serving it in a pretty jug will help, I think.

Chop all the vegetables up fairly finely and put in a bowl. One of the Mandolin settings would do this in minutes but it’s a labour of love and a time for you to be together. Add the herbs and the dressing and toss.

To make the caramelised butter, simply heat 75g unsalted butter in a small pan until the whey separates and turns golden brown, with a nutty flavour. Remove from the heat before it burns. Voila – caramelised butter!

Spread the salad out onto a serving plate and spoon the yoghurt over the centre. Drizzle the caramelised butter on the yoghurt and sprinkle with the Turkish chilli flakes. These are dark red and fairly mild (they’re dried and then rubbed with olive oil).

Warm the flat breads. It's a simple supper but the fact that he’s helped with it will go a long way towards his acceptance of it. We can go back to warming and filling foods tomorrow.

Malawi Mandazis

We’re holding a Street Food Market as a fundraiser for UNICEF. I’m doing Mandazis, which are a semi sweet doughnut flavoured with cardamom

300g pain flour

½ tsp yeast dissolved in 175ml warm water

½ tsp salt

50g sugar

2tsp oil

½ tsp crushed cardamom seeds

I’m weighing out the flour while Lowell is crushing the cardamom seeds with a pestle & mortar. If you only have cardamom pods you’ll need to break the seeds out first. We’re making this on the kitchen table and are listening to Nicholas Nickleby on the radio.

Mix the flour, sugar, salt and cardamom well, and then rub in the oil. It doesn’t seem to make much difference with this much flour but I suppose it’s there for a reason. Lowell thinks the cardamom is too over powering but we will see if it calms down in the cooking.

Pour in the yeast & water and knead until you get a smooth, bit not sticky dough. We had to add a bit more flour to ours – well Lowell did as my hands were stuck to the dough.  Divide into 4 balls and then roll each out into a 15cm circle. Divide each into 4 and then leave in a warm place for half an hour to rise.

When risen deep fry until golden all over.

When I was in Malawi last year I had these for breakfast every day, along with other things I don’t often get for breakfast like cucumber and avocado slices. I had several cups of local coffee and have never had a better start to the day.

I’m selling my Mandazis with Masala tea which is tea flavoured with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and ginger. In Africa they would boil the tea leaves up with the water, milk, sugar and spices altogether. I'm not keen so I'm making it the usual way and adding a pinch of masala just before serving.

Manjula's Tamarind Chutney

I promised Lowell my favourite recipe for Tamarind Chutney. This is from Manjula’s Kitchen. Manjula is a YouTube star and I love her. Especially her way of referring to tablespoons as tabley-spoons. This chutney is amazing and by far the best of all the recipes I’ve road tested. I assume she lives in the US as the measurements are American.

½ pound seedless tamarind, in a compacted block

2 cups sugar

2 cups hot water

2 tsp cumin powder

2 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp black salt

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground ginger (powder)

½ tsp black pepper

I’ve reduced the sugar by ½ a cup and increased the chilli powder by 1 tsp to reflect my own preferences but feel free to adjust it back. If you can’t find seedless tamarind, don’t worry- it all has to be sieved anyway. As I said in the last recipe, it’s called Imli in Indian grocers.  And the magic ingredient is black salt – it’s available from Asian stores so pick it up with the tamarind.  It’s actually a greyish pink and has a distinctive sulphur odour. It’s great to have in the cupboard if you cook a lot of Indian food and it really lifts this recipe to the sublime. I love this so much -especially with a very dry vegetable curry.

Break the tamarind up into a bowl and pour on the hot water. Leave to soak for half an hour. Pour it all through a sieve, mashing with a wooden spoon, so a thick paste goes through and just the seeds and tough fibre get left behind. Washing the sieve up is always fun.

Add half the sugar and taste. You may well not need all of it. Make a judgement how much more you use. The sweetness is meant to temper the sour but not dominate. Add the spices and mix well.

Adjust the sugar, chilli and sea salt to taste. When it cools completely, taste and adjust again. Keep in the fridge. Nyom!

Gosht Chettinad

Friday night is curry night. This is a hot lamb dish, sour with tamarind, based on a house special  from Kensington’s Bombay Brasserie. It was restaurant to the stars in the 1980s. Guests included Bruce Springsteen, John McEnroe, Goldie Hawn, Ian Botham, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Helena Bonham-Carter and the Prince of Wales. It’s had its heyday but I found their cookbook in a 2^nd hand bookshop years ago. The eating is still good.

1tbsp vegetable oil

1 large onion, finely sliced

1 tsp turmeric

Salt to taste

900g boneless lamb, cubed

3 tbsp tamarind paste

Chopped coriander leaves to garnish.

For the Masala

50g desiccated coconut (or better ¼ of a fresh one grated but hey, it’s February)

8 black peppercorns

8 dried chillies

6 cloves garlic

1cm piece cinnamon stick

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp poppy seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

¼ tsp brown mustard seeds

This is a Southern Indian dish – fairly hot but it’s fine Moghul cooking. Lowell is up for the weekend. We have some Bhangra playing slightly louder than we should have. He’s making the Masala. Dry frying all the Masala ingredients except the garlic. Once we can smell them start to roast, he’s putting them into a coffee grinder to process to a fine powder. I keep a coffee grinder just for spices – they would all taste of coffee otherwise. Sometimes a pestle and mortar are good when a bit of rough is called for but that’s not what’s needed here.

Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole and fry off the onion. Crush the garlic and add that. When the onion starts to brown, stir in the turmeric, salt and the Masala mix. Add the lamb and fry, stirring often for about 20 minutes.

Once it’s browned and the juices are drying off, pour in just enough water to cover. Pop the lid on and simmer until the lamb is tender – half an hour or so. Add the salt and the tamarind and simmer for another 30 minutes – this time looking to reduce the sauce until it’s thick. If you like sour tastes, increase the tamarind. I like it but Lowell hasn’t heard of tamarind and isn’t sure.

Meanwhile get some plain Basmati rice going in the rice cooker.  It’s been cooking for an hour and we still haven’t stopped talking – we’ve only been apart for a week. It’s been a freezing week so this should warm us both up.

When ready to serve, sprinkle with the coriander and some sharp Indian pickle on the side. I love garlic pickle but you need a specialist Asian grocer for that. Lime pickle is also good and is available everywhere.

It turns out Lowell does like tamarind. I’m going to buy him a couple of blocks this weekend and show him how to make the best recipe for Tamarind chutney that I’ve come across so far. When hunting in Asian grocers, it’s Hindi name is Imli. It's an acquired taste but once hooked, there's no real substitute. I said it was curry night but actually it's Moghul Prince night. We're eating on the floor, on big cushions. We've changed the CD to a Ghazal recital. It's just about possible to forget it's February in North London.

London Bridge Hilton Salad

Not so much a recipe but a suggestion. My friend Toby and I work near the Hilton Hotel at London Bridge. They have a salad bar which offers either 6 toppings (plus leaves) or pasta with 5 toppings (plus leaves).

I think you have to have pasta to bulk it out and it is tricky to pick just 5 toppings as they have so many – roast duck, chorizo, chick peas, jalapenos, sausage, croutons, feta cheese, sundried tomatoes, capers, aubergines, grated carrot, courgettes, boiled eggs – it goes on.

A friend of ours once spent an afternoon calculating how many combinations of salad you could have, given your 6 choices. I can’t remember, but it would take us years to try every permutation. I have hit on my ideal combination – it still lies in the hands of the servers though as the exact ratio of ingredients you get varies every day:

Pasta – it’s always Penne, no choice there

Leaves – these are free – I go for spinach

Fresh tomatoes

Green olives

Beetroot (cooked and sliced)

Cucumber

Red onion

There’s a choice of dressing but Olive Oil & Balsamic it must be.

The beetroot is a substitute for roast duck as I’m trying not to mix protein & carbs during the day. It’s sweetness works well with the spinach and pasta. The tomatoes add freshness and the cucumber brings crunch. The olives and onion bring sharpness (I do have breath mints). And the balsamic dressing compliments the sweetness of the beetroot.

I could eat this every day (and sometimes do). They have a loyalty scheme in which every 9^th salad is free. I’m probably getting far too many free lunches. Toby’s version has a double portion of broccoli when he’s feeling virtuous or both sausage and chicken when he isn’t

Other pros – we pass a branch of a coffee/sandwich shop on the way that used to employ a guy called David that I took a liking to. We only knew his name because of his name badge. We knew nothing about him but spun an elaborate fiction about his life. He eventually became a Romanian whose name was pronounced Daveed. My one interaction with him was buying a can of Coke – he sounded as if he came from Southend.  He doesn’t work there anymore.

The only drawback is that it’s really close to the office so we have a very short time for those “off the premises” conversations.

Settlers Banana Bread

I actually don’t do that much baking, and not having much of a sweet tooth, Lowell  rarely gets dessert. He’s happy to help himself to a yoghurt from the fridge though. He doesn’t eat enough veg in my opinion though he does like fruit. He has a particularly disarming way of eating bananas that looks as if he’s going down on them. He’s oblivious to this and I don’t want to tell him in case he stops doing it.

3 large over-ripe bananas, mashed

125g butter

175g soft brown sugar

2 medium eggs, beaten

250g plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

¾ tsp salt

3 tbsp plain yoghurt

This version of the recipe is from the Imperial African Cookery Book and it’s from Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). I’ve chosen it above a dozen other versions of this recipe purely for its African heritage. I’m not clear whether it originated there or was taken there by settlers. No matter. It’s delicious and Lowell loves it. I do owe him the odd sweet treat after subjecting him to all the veggies.

The bananas need to be more than just ripe – if the skins are covered in black spots and the banana is slightly softer than you might like to eat it, then it’s perfect for this.

Pre-heat the oven to 180. Cream the butter and sugar and add the eggs. Cream means mix until the two are combined into a creamy mass, without obvious lumps. I’m pointing this out as Lowell wants to help rather than be left out. Sieve the flour with the soda and salt into a separate bowl and add to the creamed butter & eggs, then add a spoonful of banana and yoghurt. Mix well and add another spoonful of flour, then more banana and yoghurt, and so on until all combined.

Turn into a greased loaf tin and bake for 1 hour. This would give you plenty of time to listen to Radio 4’s Afternoon Play – one of my favourites of 2011 was (appropriately) Comrades, Do You Like Banana, about a teenage boy in the last throes of Ceausescu’s Romania. A comedy in which his twin brother, dropped on his head on the icy hospital steps as a baby, is forever trying to kill him.

Check it’s cooked by inserting a skewer, which should come out dry. My oven is a little slow. When cooked, cool and enjoy with a strong pot of Yorkshire tea. Expect refills and second helpings.

Pork Chops with Garlic & Chilli Dressing

The boy loves pork chops and he’s dropping hints that he’d quite like his cooked plain and not messed about with. Stand firm and promise he can have his chops plain from herein after if he doesn’t like this.

4 pork chops, as thick as you like

1 red chilli

2 garlic cloves

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp sherry vinegar

1 bag of herb salad (rocket, coriander etc)

As this is a Spanish dish, a recital disc from Victoria de Los Angeles goes on the CD player. This is a BBC archive recording that I got for 50p from a clear out sale at Holborn library. Very good it is too.

Grill the pork chops about 8 minutes each side, though this will depend upon thickness. Check that the juices run clear.

While this is going on, hum along to Victoria tunelessly. Don’t be surprised if he shuts the kitchen door on you – partly because of your singing and partly for messing with his beloved pork chops! Deseed the chilli and slice it finely. Chop the garlic. About 2 minutes before the chops are done, heat the oil in a frying pan and sauté the chilli and garlic until the garlic is just golden.

Add the vinegar and leap into the air as it spits vigorously at you. Give it a good stir.

Place a portion of the salad on each plate, with a pork chop on the side. Pour the hot dressing over the chop  and serve with chunks of rustic bread. I think thickly buttered but that’s up to you.

Watch him closely for signs of him scraping off the dressing. There’s a 95% chance he won’t be. Whether he tells you he likes it or not will depend on no end of things. If he’s quiet, it’s a sign that it’s good.

Sautéed Chicken Livers with Capers

A nice light meal for Winter. This is Spanish, and from the chef behind London’s Brindisa. It would make a great Tapa as part of a selection too.

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 shallot finely chopped

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

400g free range chicken livers

Sea salt & freshly ground pepper

2 tbsp sherry vinegar

2 tbsp salted capers

5 sprigs flat leaf parsley, leaves stripped off & chopped

4 slices good bread

1 small onion very thinly sliced

4 mint sprigs – just the leaves, chopped

Don’t tell the boy he’s having chicken livers – he will only protest. Just present him with the finished article and he’ll be fine. Things on toast appeal to him. It’s really cold still, so this would be perfect for picking up with your hands in front of the TV.

Sautee the onion and garlic in the oil until soft but not coloured. Add the liver, season and fry for 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Pour in the vinegar and reduce for 3 minutes, by which time the vinegar smell should have gone. Stir in the capers and parsley.

Toast the bread and cut each slice in half. Top with the livers and place a few paper thin onion rings and a pinch of chopped mint on top of each one. Serving with a glass of Fino would be a nice touch.

New York’s Trattoria Dell’Arte is famous for its version which essentially skips the capers and replaces the sherry vinegar with ¼ cup aged Balsamic. I think the sharpness of the capers better matches the rich creamy livers, however.

Steak Burritos

This has a lot of ingredients but it’s the weekend and there’s time to spend on making it. The boy loves this, partly because it’s steak and partly because he likes the self assembly aspect and being able to put together a burrito exactly to his liking.

600g steak

3-4 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Juice of half an orange

1 chilli, finely chopped

Salt & pepper

4 flour tortillas

4 spring onions

150g salsa

1 avocado, peeled and mashed with lime juice

4-6 tbp sour cream

Chopped coriander leaves

Ideally you’d also have 150g cooked, warm black bean and 200g warm rice. I imagine these would be the sort of leftover you would have to hand in a Mexican kitchen. I don’t, so I’m leaving them out. The steak should be a fairly thin cut and the salsa can be shop bought. If it is, I usually split it in half – the boy has it is as it is and I improve my half with some Cholula hot sauce or Chipotles en adobo. The tortillas should be flour, rather than corn, We look for the widest ones we can find because we're greedy!

Marinate the steak (whole) for half an hour in the oil, orange juice, garlic, chilli and salt & pepper.

Heat up a griddle or heavy pan, add a little more oil and get it hot. Top and tail the spring onions and cut into 3 cm lengths and cook. Add the steaks and sear for a couple of minutes each side. Let the steak  rest while the onions finish softening.

Slice the beef across the grain into thin strips and warm the tortillas in a dry frying pan. Add some beef and spring onion to each tortilla and pile on your own accompaniments. The boy likes mild salsa and sour cream. I like mine with avocado, coriander and improved salsa. You could add grated cheese. If he wants it he can grate it himself. You can also toast the folded burritos lightly, in a dry frying pan but we usually don’t. Once assembled, we can’t wait that long to eat them.

Tagliatelle with Lemon Cream & an Unusual Garlic Bread

It’s freezing. I hate February. It’s time for warming carbohydrates and spending little time in my chilly kitchen.

Tagliatelle – ideally fresh, rather than dried – enough for two of you to have plenty

300ml double cream

120g butter

Zest and juice of 4 large, juicy lemons

6 tbsp roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

150g grated parmesan

This is easy and quick and ideal for when the boy needs feeding fast. This seems to be often in the Winter months. Annoying as he is when he’s tetchy, there’s something very lovable about him when he’s sated and in the mood to be generous in return.

In a large heavy pan, warm the cream and add the butter, lemon juice and zest. If you don’t have a Zester, drop hints – they’re brilliant. Until he takes the hint, use a fine grater. Zest first then juice. Squeezing the lemon into your hand with fingers close together should mean you catch most of the pips. When the butter is melted, turn off the heat.

Cook the Tagliatelle and drain. It should be 3-4 mins max if using fresh. Stir it into the cream (rather than the other way round). Add half the parsley and toss lightly. Serve in warm bowls with the other half of the parsley and the parmesan added.

As it is freezing I’d be tempted to go carb mad and serve this with an extra special garlic bread. The crunch will go nicely with the soft, creamy pasta.

100g softened butter

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 supermarket packet coriander, chopped

1 red chilli finely chopped

1 Crosscut Batard or a Petit Parisienne (or any baguette styleFrench bread)

Heat the oven to 220/Gas 7 (Hot, basically). Beat the butter with the chilli, garlic and coriander. Cut slices into the bread without cutting through the bottom and put an even amount of the butter mixture between each slice. Smearing a little over the top of the loaf crust won’t hurt. Wrap in foil and bake for 20 mins. Open the foil to expose the top and give it a final 5 mins. The butter should be melted and the top should be golden and crisp.

The boy loves the filling double carbs – he’s not getting much in the way of veg in this meal but you will make it up in the week. He certainly won't be mentioning it! Bread and pasta doesn’t often work, but it is cold this week and the creamy/crunchy is about all the contrast you need. I’d go as far as a small bowl of large pickled Caper-Berries to nibble on as an acidic contrast but no further. I hate February.