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    Roast Monkfish with Sticky Coconut Rice and Satay

    26 July 2019 - By 

    Cast an eye to the image of this dish nestled cosily above these words and you’ll see that the most prominent feature is the rice, followed closely by the peanut satay sauce, with the lime possibly catching the eye next, followed only then by the extremely expensive, rare-treat monkfish. This was not intentional framing, it was in fact the accidental result of a hungry and hasty fumbling with my phone, taken before eagerly getting the plate to the table. However, it is oddly enough very representative of my thoughts on the recipe: Great, rich coconutty rice; a lovely, not too…

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    Spinach, squash and goat's cheese filo pie

    20 July 2019 - By 

    Really excellent, and oddly even better for being gold the next day when it started pure shape on the plate a little more yearly also. Was a while ago now, I forget many of the details… Holidays and other assorted busy-ness has resulted in a bit of a back log. However, I do remember enjoying this a whole bunch! Oh, also the suggestion to bake in a pan is kinda pointless and I suspect only their for the shiny pictures. The only recommendation I make is that it shouldn’t be a pie dish that scratches as you have to cut…

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    Salmon Burgers with Thai Dressing

    1 June 2019 - By 

    Really good, simple, quick and flavoursome. Oddly reminded me of a superior version of the chicken balls tried earlier in the year, due to the Thai influences.  The salad there would work beautifully here, though is clearly more time consuming. From Eat to Beat Illness, pg. 226

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    Katsu Chicken Noodles

    1 June 2019 - By 

    I confess this was mostly ready made.  Packet of Katsu curry and ready noodles cuts out a good bit of work.  The interesting thing here was the panko chicken breasts.  Prepared by coating in seasoned plain flour, dipping in egg wash, and generously coating with panko breadcrumbs, the large chicken breasts went in the oven for 25 minutes (note less Godzilla chicken breasts would likely require less).  The traditional method would be to fry them, which would colour them up a little more, however I was pleased with these results. The noodles were fried in a lightly oiled wok until…

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    Pad Thai

    1 June 2019 - By 

    Very nice, easy enough if the ingredients are all present. Only problem being the noodles, which very easily get soggy. Putting them in the wok only at the last minute or frying them off separately to crisp them slightly wouyld help, as would a bigger wok. From https://www.recipetineats.com/chicken-pad-thai/

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    Veggie Moussaka

    14 May 2019 - By 

    Bit stodgy, certainly my fault when making the roux. In fairness I just made a wheat flour based roux, which is not really intended. But damn it I just really like a traditional roux. It’s creamy and comforting. Would try again, but equally I would possibly just go for a traditional recipe… From Anna Jones, A modern way to cook

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    Split Pea and Barley Thing

    14 May 2019 - By 

    This was thrown together with store cupboard items, just happened to find a recipe that fit the bill almost perfectly. Takes a little while, but very low effort. Like a speedy, light, Mediterranean dal, albeit the chestnuts in the recipe were omitted and would change things up no doubt. There are lots of ways you could modify it, different spices, a bit of acidity, throw in other herbs. I used chives rather than parsley, you could also go for coriander happily. Handy dish. From new Doctor’s Kitchen book

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    Lamb Ragu with Courgetti

    14 May 2019 - By 

    I enjoyed this, the ragu is quite acidic as are many of Tom Kerridge’s, and I would turn that down a hint. I think the general idea here is a bolognese with spiralised veg. In which case there are probably other ragu recipes I’d head to before this one, albeit I’d like to try again with minor tweaks. The courgette and feta works well, the feta adding a heft to the dish that spiralised veg can miss, making it a more interesting pasta substitute. From Tom Kerridge, Dopamine Diet

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    Slow Cooked Jerk Chicken

    14 May 2019 - By 

    This was extremely nice and I would do it again in a flash, or in a carefully simmered 6 or so hours, as the case is here. The one important thing to note is that the recipe recommends removing the skin, an action I assumed was overly health conscious piffle. Not so! Turns it over such a time scale the skin renders down turns everything pretty fatty. It’s not impossible that cooking the rice separately would be preferred here, but that sort of goes against the ethos.. From Slow Cooking Cookbook, the little one.