Lamb and Basil Meat Balls

As usual my decisions for what to have for dinner were ruled by necessity. I had lots of basil slowly loosing their turgidity (not just a food blog, a lesson too :-)). So having lots of ragu too, I thought having meat balls would be fun.

I finely diced a small onion (and probably only used half) and added it to the organic lamb mince (400g). From this I could tell how much onion to add, I wanted the meat by itself to "hold" the onion i.e. after a brief mix with a hand there was no onion left in the bowl when I lifted the meat. To this I added a couple of cloves of finely diced/crushed garlic, salt & pepper, and as much basil as you can realistically fit in. I could have added a little cumin here, but my Lazy gene kicked in and I could be bothered to... blah blah blah... I then added an eggs and got stuck in with my hand until the egg was completely incorporated. Keeping my hands moist with a bit of water roll bits of the mix on the palm of your hand. The water should stop them sticking to you.


This is the little fellows who went into the fridge for tomorrow's consumption, they're about the size of large button mushrooms. They've also been lightly dusted with flour; That is, dunked in flour and gently thrown from hand to hand to get rid of the excess. this is supposed to protect them from getting too dry. It also helps brown them.

Pan fried quickly to brown, then pour off the fat [or transfer the balls to another pan with the ragu] add the ragu (this way you get the little flavoured caramelised bits) and leave for about 10 minutes or so? Basically the balls are nearly cooked through through the browning process (depending on the size of your balls). You could leave them slightly longer to help marry the flavours... I kept some back for lunch the next day instead :-)

I served these with bread. Me = Lazy

French Onion Soup

I stole this idea from a colleague at work. He was putting on a dinner party and asked me if I had a particular recipe I used. I didn't. So I looked around and found a few to see what the general deal was... I (we) ended up buying some beef bones from a butcher in Manchester one lunchtime, the plan was to put them to good use by making beef stock. I don't make by own stocks generally, not beef anyway.

I dumped the bones into a large saucepan and emptied in some water and salt. Boiled them for about 3-4 hours, skimming the top every 15-20 mins. I left it in the fridge over night so I could get the rest in the morning (it solidifies on top...).

For the soup I used 2 large white onions, half moon type cut and fried in a little butter and oil for around 20 mins. Til they got all nice and brown. Towards the end I put a little golden caster sugar in, just to add that little more caramel flavour. Plus a finely sliced clove of garlic.

A glass of white wine was used to deglaze the pan, and left to boil off until half the amount was left. Then in when a little smoked paprika, beef and chicken (bottled bouillon) stock. 30 mins simmer later it was ready.

To top it off I used some grilled ciabatta gran padano cheese on toast :-)

Toad in the Hole á la Nazca

No, that's not toad in the hole (TITH), that is where the story begins. Tempura. I usually make my own batters, but wanted to see what the packet stuff could do. I wasn't going to buy rice flour, I still have loads of other flours I need to get rid of (space is a concern...).

The tempura turned out really well, I got some raw tiger prawns, broccoli, button mushrooms and courgettes to fry. Mmm crunchy goodness.

Much crispy goodness later, I still had some mushrooms, courgette and batter left. Believe me, there was no room left in the inn!


I'm not the biggest fan of courgettes, I very rarely buy them. Watery and just a little dash of flavour. They were nice battered, but not as good as the competition.

I also had gone mad when buying sausages in the butchers, they had Toulouse, and black pudding sausages. I couldn't choose between them, so I bought both x-D

What better way to get rid of a few sausages that to TITH them. None! I hear you cry. (PS I've been reading lots of Cream Puff recently, her style is catching... you may have noticed).


So, there's a normal Yorkshire pudding mix (125ml/4oz flour, egg, salt and milk), with a little tempura mixed in (I kept it in the fridge), with the Nazca bit: paprika, S&P, garlic and fresh parsley. Lots of parsley. Waste not, want not.

I stir fried the courgette and mushroom to give them a little colour, and to cook off some of liquid in them.

I put a big ceramic dish in the oven on 230C, with a little sunflower oil and a dash of olive oil. Heat is key hear, I need the oil to get smoking hot rather than just burn. Then added the sausages. Put it back in the oven. A few mins later I whipped it out again to put in the courgette and mushroom mix. Maybe the constant opening didn't help, put I think it helps the dish recover from the cold sausages... anyway, once it was hot again I whipped the dish out and poured over the batter mix. Rolled it around, making sure there was a good even coating and put it back in the oven quick like!

20-30 mins later it was ready. I think the Tempura helped it crispen up, it wasn't as soggy as usual. The courgettes were nice and sweet, and the batter nice and herby. And the sausages...?
Mmmm sausagggggge *drools*

That Iberian Feel

I've been very lazy lately, just simply not being creative. Eating easy stuff: crackers and cheese., pate on toast you get the idea.

In the shop the other day I came across lots of interesting ingredients to inspire me. Just normal stuff, but things I'd run out off. I decided to make my store cupboard full again.

Then use it all up :-)

My parents make paella quite often; living in the home of paella (Valencia, Spain) it'd be rude not too. I think traditionally you're supposed to use rabbit or goat, if you're near the sea you get served sea food.

I bought organic chicken (on the same day I read the UK had Bird Flu!) and since I bought smoked paprika and saffron also, I though this would be a good combination.

So, quickly put...

Fry onions. Fry chicken pieces. Stir in carrots, garlic, paella rice and smoked paprika. After a couple of mins add chicken stock (or water I guess). Here I added a little saffron. I then left it for 20 minutes. You could stir it, but I wouldn't too much. If you have a paella (the name of the actual dish/pan) then that's great. i just used a saucepan, a deep frying pan would be good too. The best bit of a paella is the crispy bottom, mine was more risotto like though...


This a kind of piri piri pork dish. With steamed veg, asparagus, baby corn and baby carrots.

The organic pork loin was marinaded in a mixture of smoked paprika, garlic, olive oil and dried chilli. After an hour is was shoved under the grill for about 15 minutes. I took the left over juices from the port and added a little white wine and cooked it off. Then added a little butter... now it's a jus :-)

Chicken Wrap

So as I was wandering through Manchester yesterday I came across the deli counters in the Arndale... purely accidental of course...

Then seconds later I was in the possession of Peccorino Romana and Prosciutto di Parma. Weird!

Luckily I had some organic chicken breasts at home. I was toying with the idea of stuffing the breasts into a foil bag with some herbs and white wine, but when I looked at the breasts they were practically crying out to be stuffed; they had arrived almost butterfly'd, all i had to do was lay the stuffing down and just fold over the rest of the breast. It was a sign.

So after a few slices of the Peccorino, some cracked black pepper (the cheese was salty enough) and some parsley-butter they were ready to wrap. I laid the breast on the end of a diagonally laid slice of ham, picked it all up and rolled away from me, tightly. I rubbed a little olive oil onto the top and banged it in the oven.

I prepared two breasts. I was ravenous/gluttonous. To go with it I boiled some purple sprouting broccoli. Once cooked I poured a little of the purple water into a saucepan with the juices from the chicken, freshly chopped parsley and some white wine. Simple sauce followed.

Chicken Milanese.... kinda

Things were a bit sparse in terms of food when I got back from holiday. I'd emptied out the fridge, and didn't have anything in the freezer but peas (I don't generally have much frozen food in anyway).

Therefore when I shopped online I was getting a little click happy. Did I really need all the fresh food I was buying? Specially since one of my Xmas pressies was a deep fat fryer :-D

I've been busy frying everything from chips to broccoli (in an ale batter) yesterday and at lunch before the game (come on Utd!). I would have taken pics of the onions etc... but all you'd see is blurring of hands, food and dip ;-)


Now I had lots of basil swiftly on it's way to wilting beyond control, along with crispy rolls that were not so crispy...

This was when the idea of a basil crumb crust for my organic chicken breasts surfaced. So i whizzed them together (this was when I decided chunky bread crumbs would be best), beat an egg, butterflyed the breast.

With the supporting cast of purple sprouting broccoli and new potatoes ready, it was just a matter of dunk, cover and pan fry.

It was very crunchy, with a lovely moist centre.


PS I wasn't deep frying the purple broccoli, I had the regular sort too. Told you: click happy!

And a good Xmas was had...

...by all but the bullock, turkey and pheasant!

Well that was fun, now all I have to do is run it all off :-) What follows is a small sampled of what I sampled. Needless to say there was some aged brandy and whisk(e)y mixed in, and a bit of chocolate...

First up was a fabulous rib-eye roast. With tahters :-)

It was tre delish, to be sure...

Here's the Christmas cake, that's fruit cake with marzipan and icing on top. It usually has some plastic santa/reindeers on the top. This year it was a plastic holly arrangement :-)


Then we're onto the turkey, a huge beast - cooked for hours! It's stuffed to the gills with sage and onion stuffing. Turkey rules! (This was butcher bought)



Now we're onto the pheasant. A friend of the family, or a cousin?, has his own farm and rears all this kinda stuff. I think we got duck eggs from him last year. It's good to have friends.

Now my Nan has plucked her fair share of these birdies, she was on hand to make sure I didn't make a right hash of it. As you can see, I did :-) Oops, I'm sure no-one wanted the skin anyway ;-)

Note to self, don't try and rip them all off at once!

I'd show you the finished article, after roasting, but my camera ran out of space and the battery died. It tasted great, with a bit of bacon (added to prevent the bird from drying out [some Muppet tore off the skin!])