Oh so seasonal!

I've heard a lot lately about kale.  For those of you who don't know it's a type of cabbage which is in season at this time of year and has become a very popular ingredient, especially in winter salads, as it is meant to be very good for you.  Having never tried it myself I decided to give it a go.  I have a calendar which came with one of my BBC GoodFood magazines and it has a different recipe for every month of the year, the one for January is a chorizo and kale hash with a fried egg.  I have been staring at it on my wall for a couple of weeks now and decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to try it out.  So here goes.

Chorizo and kale hash with a fried egg

For 2 portions you will need:
olive oil for frying
80g spicy chorizo sausages (cut into small pieces)
1 onion (red or white)
100g kale
400g potatoes
1/2 tsp paprika
2 eggs

This is enough for a hearty lunch for two.

The ingredients

The recipe suggests that you use left over cold potatoes but as I didn't have any I just bought two tins of new potatoes in water.  The kale needs to be prepared otherwise it can be a little tough.  So bring a pan of water to the boil, then add the new potatoes from the cans and the kale, simmer for 3 minutes and strain the water off.

Boil the kale and potatoes for 3 mins

Heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the chorizo and onion for about 8 mins until the chorizo is golden and the onion is soft.  It can be tricky to tell if everything has cooked because of the oils released from the chorizo but if you make sure the onion is soft then it'll be fine.

Fry the onions and chorizo

Turn up the heat, add the kale and stir-fry for a minute until the kale begins to wilt.  Stir in the potatoes, paprika and some seasoning and fry everything together for another 5 mins until the kale is tender.  Scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the tasty crispy bits off.  If you have a second hob then fry the eggs during these 5 mins.  If not, when the hash is ready put it onto your plates and then quickly fry the eggs and place them on top of the hash.

The hash

And there you have it a really simple, tasty lunch.

One pot pasta

I decided to try another recipe from SortedFood and it really is as easy as it sounds.  You can find the recipe here http://sortedfood.com/#!/onepotpasta/ but it really is as simple as throwing everything into a saucepan.

I used exactly what they said in the recipe but halved it as I was only cooking for 2 people.  So I chopped up half an onion, finely chopped a couple of garlic cloves, halved a small handful of olives (I think you need more than they suggest), chopped a handful of roasted peppers (I bought a jar of these and once again, I think you need more than they suggest), chopped up a couple of sun-dried tomatoes, and gathered 100ml passata (a type of tomato sauce that isn't expensive and that you can buy in cartons from Sainsbury's), some olive oil, a tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp chilli flakes (don't add too many), 1/2 small bunch fresh basil, 200g farfalle (bowtie) pasta.

Then you literally put the pasta in the pan, put everything on top, season and add 600ml water, bring to the boil, cover and turn the heat down so it simmers for 15 minutes (or until the pasta is cooked to your liking).

Everything in one pot

My comment on this recipe is be careful when adding the chilli flakes, I added slightly too many and it came out quite spicy!  If in doubt add a very small amount to begin with, leave to cook and if when you come to eat it you don't think there's enough add a few more at the end.  If it is too spicy then you can do what we did and eat it with a dollop or two of crème fraîche to help combat the spice.

The finished result - one pot pasta

The thing I love about this recipe was that it took about 10 mins to prepare and 15 mins to cook, but I just left the pot on the heat and did some reading while it was cooking and made sure I checked on it every 5 mins to give it a bit of a stir.  It really was that simple.  This is one dish that I will definitely be repeating.

Meat, Bread, Beer - Pint Shop review

I have decided to use my blog as a place to review restaurants I visit.  So here goes, my first review.  On Tuesday I was tired and didn't want to cook.  Plus I had just finished an essay so I felt like I deserved a night off.  So my boyfriend and I went out for dinner.  Just before Christmas a new restaurant opened up in Cambridge called 'Pint Shop' and it's slogan is 'Meat, Bread, Beer' - you pretty much can't go wrong!  I will note here that if you are a vegetarian this definitely isn't the place for you.

There are two sections to Pint Shop, the front bar area where you can order from their huge range of beers and ever wider range of gin and accompanying bar snacks.  However, we went through to the restaurant area at the back.  The atmosphere was nice and intimate, although I can imagine this would change slightly if we had been there on a busy night.  While we were looking at the menu we were given some bread and butter.  This is definitely worth mentioning as the bread was really good, lovely and soft with a crunchy crust.  I'm not sure if they bake their own bread but it was very good.

I decided to try one of the beers they had, so being more of a lager drinker (I attribute this entirely to the fact that I spent last year in Germany) I opted for the Adnams dry hopped lager.  It was a nice beer to have with the meal, not too heavy.  My boyfriend on the other hand went for the Adnams Copperhouse sloe gin with ginger ale and lime.  I will add here that Pint Shop has a very wide range of beer and gin it just happens that my boyfriend and I are very fond of the Adnams brewery and distillery.

I was pleased with the service and our food arrived very quickly.  I had a steak and cheese pie (the puff pastry kind - as opposed to a cottage pie) with cabbage and my boyfriend had spit-roast pork with Brussels sprouts and bacon.  We also order sides of chips and onion rings.  I have to say that it was very difficult to find fault with the food.  The pie was beautifully cook and the steak just melted in your mouth.  There was a good amount of cheese but not so much that it overpowered the pie.  My only comment on the main would be that the cabbage, although cooked nicely (not overdone) was a little bland and could have done with a little more seasoning.  My comment for the onion rings is similar.  Although very tasty the batter could have done with a little more seasoning (maybe some lemon juice or pepper).  The chips on the other hand were perfect, crispy on the outside while still soft on the inside.

All in all the meal was excellent and although not cheap I wouldn't say it was overpriced either.  If you want somewhere a little more special, but still relaxed, then Pint Shop is the place.  I will definitely be going back before the end of the year.  I really want to spend an evening in the bar area in order to try some more of their beers and maybe some gin too.  I'm not normally a fan but maybe Pint Shop will convert me!

I know it's customary to include pictures in a review and I do have one that I will include below, but I must apologise for the quality.  The lighting in the restaurant was dim, which made for a lovely atmosphere, but meant that I wasn't able to take a particularly good photo.

If you want to find out more about Pint Shop then here's their website:

http://www.pintshop.co.uk/

Steak and cheese pie with cabbage

No Oven, No Grill Pizza

A pizza you can make without and oven or a grill?  Yes this really is a dream come true!  This post is for all of you who, like me, love pizza but don't want to always order a take-away which is often overpriced and greasy.

Edit: I have since tried making frying pan pizza again with a better dough recipe, have a look at the updated post here.

No oven, no grill pizza

All you need to make this pizza is a frying pan with a lid/a plate that will fully cover the top of the pan, a hob and the following ingredients.

Self-raising flour
Olive oil
Tomato base (passata and tomatoes)
cheese (mozarella)
toppings (anything you like!)

Prepare your toppings in advance.  I diced a couple of tomatoes, some red onion and finely chopped a couple of cloves of garlic.  Make as much or as little topping as you fancy.  I fried the onion and garlic before adding about 4 tbsp passata and the tomatoes.  You could alternatively use some chopped tomatoes from a can mixed with some tomato paste or replace my normal tomatoes with some halved cherry tomatoes.  I also added a few olives to the frying pan for the last minute.

Next make the dough.  My base didn't come out very well but I have some suggestions regarding how to make it better and will update this post next time I try making pizza again.  I used 225g plain flour, first mistake, along with 3 tbsp olive oil and 6-7 tbsp warm water.  Next time I do this I will be sure to use self-raising flour so that my dough isn't as dense and to mix the ingredients in a larger bowl so that I can combine them more easily.  Essentially you want to mix in the oil with about half of the water, then add the rest gradually until your flour comes together as you are mixing it to form a soft dough.  If you need to add a little more water to combine all the flour then do so, but don't add too much otherwise your dough will be too sticky.  Similarly, if your dough comes together before you have added all the water, then stop, don't add too much!

Roll out the dough on a flat surface.  I don't have a rolling pin, so I found an empty wine bottle, wrapped it in cling film (to make sure I didn't get wine/dirt in the dough) and used that to roll out my pizza base.  This was my next mistake.  You need to roll out your dough until it is the size of the base of your frying pan.  My dough was a little too thick.  If this is the case for you, either don't use all the dough or make two small rather than one large pizza.

Heat some oil in a frying pan and place your pizza base into the pan.  Cook it for a few minutes, then use a spatula to check the bottom.  If it is browning then carefully flip your base over.  If not leave it for a little longer until it does go brown.  Once flipped add your tomato base and toppings (you can use literally anything) and scatter on around 50g cheese (or enough to cover the top of your pizza).  Cover your pan with a lid (or plate or anything that covers the top of your pan) and leave for another few minutes.  Check after 2 or 3 minutes to see if the cheese is melting and try and use a spatula to check the bottom of the pizza.  Once the base has browned and the cheese has melted then your pizza is ready to eat.  Slide it carefully onto a plate and served.  I garnished mine with some fresh basil leaves as I happened to have some left over.

So there you have it, a no oven, no grill pizza.  It took me about half an hour to make and with a few adjustments to the base it will be the perfect, healthy alternative to a take-away.

Nachos!

My boyfriend has recently got me into watching more of the NFL (American Football) and last weekend we decided to watch some of the play-offs.  I wanted something reasonably simple that didn't take too long to prepare that we could munch on during the match and maybe its a cliché but I always associate nachos with watching American football.  So here's what I did.

I've done Nachos before where I buy a bag of tortilla chips along with a ready-made jar of salsa and guacamole, scatter on some cheese, microwave it and dollop on the sour cream.  However, I wanted to try and make a few more of the elements this time.  As I didn't have an oven and I wanted this not to take too long I decided to buy the tortilla chips.  However, I did make the guacamole, salsa and beans to go on top.

I made this for two people and it was a large portion.  The good thing about nachos is it's really easy to scale the quantity up or down depending on how many people there are and how hungry you are.

For the salsa:

2 tomatoes - seeds removed, finely chopped

1/4 red onion - finely chopped

1/2 garlic clove (or one small clove) - finely chopped/crushed

a squeeze of lime juice

a dash of olive oil

The main work to do when preparing salsa is the chopping!  Once you've chopped everything simply combine the ingredients in a bowl, season with salt and pepper to taste and set to one side.  I've been a little vague about the amount of lime juice because it really is up to you, I like using quite a bit of lime juice but if you're not a big fan then don't put as much in.  You do need a little bit of acidity in there to freshen the dish up a bit though so I wouldn't leave the lime out all together.

Ok, on to the guacamole.  I've done a post before where I used guacamole in a wrap as a quick lunch (see http://www.littlecambridgekitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/keeping-it-simple.html).  I really do love it as it's so simple to make, really tasty and very versatile, you can add so many different ingredients to it depending on what you fancy.  I kept the guacamole for the nachos really simple.

1 avocado

a squeeze of lime juice

2 spring onions, finely chopped

1 tbsp chopped coriander

a couple of drops of tabasco

All you have to do is mash up the avocado roughly in a bowl (make it as smooth as you like but I tend to leave a few lumps in mine for a bit of texture), stir in the spring onions and lime juice (once again as much as you fancy), add the coriander (you don't have to measure it out exactly the measurement is just to give you a rough idea) and season with the Tabasco.  Be careful!  I wasn't and added too much, you really do need only 2 or 3 drops.  If you do accidentally add too much then you'll have to do what I did which is mash up an extra avocado and combine it with the existing guacamole, then add a little extra lime juice and coriander.  You'll have a lot of guacamole but it will taste a lot better!

As I said above you can add other things if you fancy - red onion, diced tomatoes, chilli flakes for a bit of heat.  I didn't use these in mine as I've used the ingredients elsewhere in this recipe but if you just want to make a guacamole dip to go with your nachos then you can bulk up the guacamole with other things.

Finally on to the beans.  This is a really good way of turning nachos from a snack into more of a meal.

200g red kidney beans - drained and rinsed

1/2 garlic clove - finely chopped/crushed

(mild/medium chilli powder)

ground cumin

Tip the beans into a bowl and add a little chilli powder (I mean a little - if you're doing this recipe for two then you need less than 1/4 tsp), garlic and cumin powder (once again less than 1/4 tsp), then mash with a fork.  Add a tbsp of water, season and set aside.  If you want to make your beans a little hotter then add some more chilli powder, just add extra gradually and taste a little each time so that you don't overdo it.

Next, scatter your nachos onto a microwaveable plate and spoon on your salsa and beans (I also scattered on half a jalapeño - roughly chopped).  Then scatter on 50g of your favourite cheese (or more if you don't think 50g is enough).  I experimented this time with mozzarella, it tasted good but made getting the nachos apart difficult as it is so elastic when melted!  Next time I will probably go back to using cheddar.  Pop into the microwave for 1-2 mins on full power (or until the cheese has melted).  You should be ready to eat!  Dollop on some sour cream or some half-fat crème fraîche if you want to make it slightly healthier.  You can spoon the guacamole over the top but as I ended up with so much I decided to keep it in a bowl on the side and use it as a dip.

Spoon on the salsa and beans

The finished product

I hope your nachos are as satisfying as mine were, this is just one of those comfort food dishes that I don't make often but really enjoy as a treat.  Besides, it's great to make with friends as it is a perfect dish for sharing.  The team I decided to support (the Cincinnati Bengals) may have lost but the nachos more than made up for it!