I was going to say "Working Girl" recipes but that might have given the wrong idea.
Here's a couple of easy to cook recipes for hard working bachelorette's. Like teachers or nurses. Good for guys too.
SICILIAN STYLE FISH STEW
Ingredients
Olive oil 2 or 3 cloves of garlic
1 finely chopped onion 2 Stalks of celery
2 diced plum tomatoes
5 or 6 drained Anchovies from a can
Pinch(es) of Red Chilli flakes to taste
400 ml, nearly a pint, Vegetable or chicken stock
125ml or glass white wine
50 grms Plain Couscous
250 grms of white fish fillets
1 lemon zested for the peel Handful of chopped parsley
Method
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a largish deep frying pan OR your WOK. Add the onion, celery, garlic and chilli flakes. Be careful not to use to much just a pinch or 2. Dish not meant to be that spicey. Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes. Stirring occasionally, be careful not to burn the onions. Add the tomatoes and anchovies, cook for a few more minutes. Pour in the wine and the stock bring to the boil. Cook for a few more minutes then add the couscous. Turn down to simmer and add the fish. Cover and cook until the fish is ready about 5 minutes. No need to over cook the fish.
Mix together with a little lemon juice the zest and parsley. Sprinkle over the dish.
This is a very tasty dish and surprisingly quick and easy. You could have the onions and celery already chopped. Keep in the fridge in sealable freezer bag.
You could pop in the shower before you put in the fish.
SAUSAGES IN CIDER
Ingredients
Olive oil
Big pork sausages as many as you need.
I use Colisimo sausages, the best I've had here in the USA
www.colisimosausages.com
This dish freezes okay
A big onion or 2 small, sliced. 2 celery stalks
4 to 6 rashers streaky bacon chopped into 1" pieces
2 teaspoons of flour 350ml Dry cider
1 teaspoon mustard. I use Colmans powdered mustard you can use made up just as well
Method
Heat the oil in a your Wok or a large frying pan with a lid. Brown the sausages on as many side s as you can. Remove from the pan. Add the onions, celery and bacon until the onion cooked but not burnt about 15 minutes at most. Sieve the flour into the onions, stirring in until absorbed. Gradually add the cider, then the mustard, stir until dissolved. Bring to the boil and add the sausages, bring to low simmer and cook for 30 to 45 minutes.
Time to have a shower and a glass of wine or finish off the cider.
Serve with mash potato, brown rice or wholewheat curly pasta.
The Breville Electric Wok
Breville Electric Wok
a Few More Cyprus Dishes
As I promised here a few more Cyprus dishes, all quite easy to prepare. They can be cooked in a slow cooker or as casserole in your Rotisserie oven. They could even be cooked in your electric wok on a low temperature setting.
AFELIA-PORK IN RED WINE.
Ingredients
1 lb or 1/2 kilo of pork chops or small pieces of pork. It is better to have some pork bone.
The bones gives extra flavour in any slow cooked meat dish.
1 tablespoon of crushed coriander seeds.
1/2 glass of Canola oil. Reduce if you think a bit too much
A glass of red wine.
Method
Chop up the chops into pieces or leave whole if not too big. Fry the pork for a few minutes to bring out the juices, season with salt and pepper. Add the red wine cover the pan cook until the meat is ready and the liquid is almost absorbed.
Add the crushed coriander seeds just before the food is ready.
Best served the Cypriot way with Pourgouri and salad or seasonal vegetables of your choice.
TAVA or SLOW COOKED LAMB
Ingredients
2 lb or 1 Kg of lamb with some bone, shoulder, leg or chops. Cut into pieces.
3 to 5 onions sliced. 1 Kg of ripe tomatoes cut into small pieces.
A little water or stock. Or. Some white wine if you are having a glass while cooking.
Method
Put all the ingredients into your "Tava" or casserole dish. Season to taste with salt and ground pepper.
Cover and cook in a low oven for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Meat has to be thoroughly cooked in a thick tomatoey sauce.
In Cyprus they would add a Herb called Artisha but this is probably only available in Cyprus. You can add any of your favourite herbs near the end of cooking. Oregano, Sage, Thyme or Rosemary, what ever takes your fancy..
Serve the Cypriot way with "Pourgouri".
SHEFTALIA SAUSAGES
Sheftalia sausages seem to be native to Cyprus and not seen anywhere else in the region.
Quantities depending how many you want to make.
Minced pork and lamb mixed or seperate. Veal is okay as well.
Finely chopped onion and parsely (always the flat leave Mediterranean kind).
Use your hands to mix the meat, onions and parsley together.
You'll need "Panna" peritoneum skin. Sheeps stomach. Cut into 5" or 10 cms square. Sausage tube skins don't really work for sheftalia. As I found out.
Put about 1 tablespoon of meat filling onto each piece of Panna and roll up into an oblongish sausage like shape about 5cms or just more than 2". Fold over the ends to keep it all together.
These taste best BBQ'd with proper charcoal. Cook easier if you have a double pronged BBQ skewer.
Turn often to avoid burning and thoroughly cooked through.
There is a restaurant in west London that serve them I'll add the address later.
MOUSAKA-THE KING OF GREEK STYLE COOKING
The way I cook it.
Ingredients
1 lb mixed minced meat (pork and lamb) a must.
Egg plants Garlic to taste
1 or 2 onions finely chopped Stick or 2 of celery (if you like)
Can of chopped tomatoes Cup of white wine
Parsley Bread crumbs
Canola or Olive oil Herbs of your choice
Salt and pepper to season.
Bechamel sauce, a real B... to make
Corn flour is easiest. Oil Milk
Grated mature chedder cheese.
My Method
Cook the mince to your liking. I wash it in cold water to wash out the blood. Then I fry in a little oil to get rid of some of the extra fat the butcher puts in. I then drain this through a sieve.
I use the same pan (or my wok) but clean out what's left behind.
I then fry the onions, garlic and celery if used, until onions start to soften. In goes the meat and chosen herbs. Fry this for 5 or 10 minutes stirring regularly. Then add the wine and tomatoes, season to taste.
I use a deep pyrex dish for my mousaka. Put some oil and the bread crumbs in the dish to warm while your getting the rest ready
While this is cooking, slice the egg plants, up to you if you want to peel them, not too thick or they'll take ages to cook. A trick I do is to lay the slices on a plate and microwave for a minute or 2 to give them a start.
You can add sliced potato or top with sliced tomatoes. I don't though.
When the meat and egg plants are ready layer them alternately finishing of with a layer of egg plant, leaving enough space at the top for the B... Bechamel sauce. You can put the meat and egg plants into the oven to start cooking.
Now for the sauce. You're a magician if you can do this with out lumps.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a saucepan (or your cleaned out wok) add corn flour until you have a flour and oil paste. Now the hard part if you don't have three hands. Slowly add the milk stirring all the time to mix it thoroughly without lumps. When you have a nice lump free thickish sauce add the cheese, keep cooking and stirring till the cheese is melted.
Now you'll see if you left enough space on the top of the mince for the sauce. Pour the sauce on top of the mince mix. Cook in a medium oven till the sauce has a golden brown top and the mince and egg plants are cooked.
BBQ'D PORK CHOP
This is how I BBQ a pork chop. A great favourite in Cyprus. Best done on an open charcoal barbeque.
Have a good size pork chop on the bone. Pour over fresh lemon juice, sprinkle or grind over with salt. Leave for awhile then do the same the other side.
While bbqing squeeze more lemon juice and sprinkle more salt to both sides after turning. This gives the pork chop a nice salty lemony crust.
CYPRUS CHEESE
Cyprus cheeses are made from goat or sheeps milk. Yes you milk sheep. The best Haloumi comes from sheeps milk. There aren't many lush green fields to farm cows for milk.
ANARI
Anari can be a soft cream cheese like a ricotta, where it is used to make small Cyprus pastries. You can also spread on biscuits or local bread.
It is also left to harden where you crumble it over salads or grated over pasta dishes.
Anari is quite often made in the village homes using milk from the family goats.
But for us we by it from the local grocers shop. Mostly in the pastries with honey.
HALOUMI
Haloumi, which a big favourite of mine, is also made in the villages but again for us we will buy in the local grocers.
There are a number of haloumi cheese impostors from other countries, Denmark and Saudi Arabia even Greece but you can't beat Cyprus Haloumi.
Haloumi can be eaten uncooked, grilled or fried. I feel it is best cooked. But it does go well cold served with tomatoes and cucumber.
Grilled or fried Haloumi can be a starter a main course or as part of a main course. It can be served for breakfast a lunch time snack or with the evening meal.
For breakfast it goes very well with fried egg and bacon, or in Cyprus with lounza, a Cypriot style bacon. Even with baked beans.
The taste of Haloumi is complimented by tahina. Serve with a salad and warm pitta bread for lunch.
Add Haloumi to your evening meal as a starter or part of the main course. Goes very well with a pork chop.
TAHINA (NOT HUMMUS)
Tahina is made from sesame seeds. Hummus is made from chick peas. I'm not a lover of Hummus but Tahina is to die for.
Tahina paste, you can by this from the shop already made. Garlic, 1 clove is enough.
Juice of 1 lemon. Water.
Olive oil and parsley to garnish.
First add the lemon juice to Tahina paste mix in well, it will look curdled, don't worry. When mixed well slowly add the water till you have a tahina sauce to the consistency you want. Thick or runny.
Drizzle over a little olive oil for show and sprinkle with a little chopped parsley.
Goes great with BBQ'd pork chops or just serve as a dip with warmed pitta bread.
The other exception is the orange liqueur “ Filfar”. It’s like a
Village Cointreau but with a lot more taste. Filfar has been
made in Cyprus since the Venetian Era.
Keo beer. A light coloured pilsner lager style beer that is
AFELIA-PORK IN RED WINE.
Ingredients
1 lb or 1/2 kilo of pork chops or small pieces of pork. It is better to have some pork bone.
The bones gives extra flavour in any slow cooked meat dish.
1 tablespoon of crushed coriander seeds.
1/2 glass of Canola oil. Reduce if you think a bit too much
A glass of red wine.
Method
Chop up the chops into pieces or leave whole if not too big. Fry the pork for a few minutes to bring out the juices, season with salt and pepper. Add the red wine cover the pan cook until the meat is ready and the liquid is almost absorbed.
Add the crushed coriander seeds just before the food is ready.
Best served the Cypriot way with Pourgouri and salad or seasonal vegetables of your choice.
TAVA or SLOW COOKED LAMB
Ingredients
2 lb or 1 Kg of lamb with some bone, shoulder, leg or chops. Cut into pieces.
3 to 5 onions sliced. 1 Kg of ripe tomatoes cut into small pieces.
A little water or stock. Or. Some white wine if you are having a glass while cooking.
Method
Put all the ingredients into your "Tava" or casserole dish. Season to taste with salt and ground pepper.
Cover and cook in a low oven for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Meat has to be thoroughly cooked in a thick tomatoey sauce.
In Cyprus they would add a Herb called Artisha but this is probably only available in Cyprus. You can add any of your favourite herbs near the end of cooking. Oregano, Sage, Thyme or Rosemary, what ever takes your fancy..
Serve the Cypriot way with "Pourgouri".
SHEFTALIA SAUSAGES
Sheftalia sausages seem to be native to Cyprus and not seen anywhere else in the region.
Quantities depending how many you want to make.
Minced pork and lamb mixed or seperate. Veal is okay as well.
Finely chopped onion and parsely (always the flat leave Mediterranean kind).
Use your hands to mix the meat, onions and parsley together.
You'll need "Panna" peritoneum skin. Sheeps stomach. Cut into 5" or 10 cms square. Sausage tube skins don't really work for sheftalia. As I found out.
Put about 1 tablespoon of meat filling onto each piece of Panna and roll up into an oblongish sausage like shape about 5cms or just more than 2". Fold over the ends to keep it all together.
These taste best BBQ'd with proper charcoal. Cook easier if you have a double pronged BBQ skewer.
Turn often to avoid burning and thoroughly cooked through.
There is a restaurant in west London that serve them I'll add the address later.
MOUSAKA-THE KING OF GREEK STYLE COOKING
The way I cook it.
Ingredients
1 lb mixed minced meat (pork and lamb) a must.
Egg plants Garlic to taste
1 or 2 onions finely chopped Stick or 2 of celery (if you like)
Can of chopped tomatoes Cup of white wine
Parsley Bread crumbs
Canola or Olive oil Herbs of your choice
Salt and pepper to season.
Bechamel sauce, a real B... to make
Corn flour is easiest. Oil Milk
Grated mature chedder cheese.
My Method
Cook the mince to your liking. I wash it in cold water to wash out the blood. Then I fry in a little oil to get rid of some of the extra fat the butcher puts in. I then drain this through a sieve.
I use the same pan (or my wok) but clean out what's left behind.
I then fry the onions, garlic and celery if used, until onions start to soften. In goes the meat and chosen herbs. Fry this for 5 or 10 minutes stirring regularly. Then add the wine and tomatoes, season to taste.
I use a deep pyrex dish for my mousaka. Put some oil and the bread crumbs in the dish to warm while your getting the rest ready
While this is cooking, slice the egg plants, up to you if you want to peel them, not too thick or they'll take ages to cook. A trick I do is to lay the slices on a plate and microwave for a minute or 2 to give them a start.
You can add sliced potato or top with sliced tomatoes. I don't though.
When the meat and egg plants are ready layer them alternately finishing of with a layer of egg plant, leaving enough space at the top for the B... Bechamel sauce. You can put the meat and egg plants into the oven to start cooking.
Now for the sauce. You're a magician if you can do this with out lumps.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a saucepan (or your cleaned out wok) add corn flour until you have a flour and oil paste. Now the hard part if you don't have three hands. Slowly add the milk stirring all the time to mix it thoroughly without lumps. When you have a nice lump free thickish sauce add the cheese, keep cooking and stirring till the cheese is melted.
Now you'll see if you left enough space on the top of the mince for the sauce. Pour the sauce on top of the mince mix. Cook in a medium oven till the sauce has a golden brown top and the mince and egg plants are cooked.
BBQ'D PORK CHOP
This is how I BBQ a pork chop. A great favourite in Cyprus. Best done on an open charcoal barbeque.
Have a good size pork chop on the bone. Pour over fresh lemon juice, sprinkle or grind over with salt. Leave for awhile then do the same the other side.
While bbqing squeeze more lemon juice and sprinkle more salt to both sides after turning. This gives the pork chop a nice salty lemony crust.
CYPRUS CHEESE
Cyprus cheeses are made from goat or sheeps milk. Yes you milk sheep. The best Haloumi comes from sheeps milk. There aren't many lush green fields to farm cows for milk.
ANARI
Anari can be a soft cream cheese like a ricotta, where it is used to make small Cyprus pastries. You can also spread on biscuits or local bread.
It is also left to harden where you crumble it over salads or grated over pasta dishes.
Anari is quite often made in the village homes using milk from the family goats.
But for us we by it from the local grocers shop. Mostly in the pastries with honey.
HALOUMI
Haloumi, which a big favourite of mine, is also made in the villages but again for us we will buy in the local grocers.
There are a number of haloumi cheese impostors from other countries, Denmark and Saudi Arabia even Greece but you can't beat Cyprus Haloumi.
Haloumi can be eaten uncooked, grilled or fried. I feel it is best cooked. But it does go well cold served with tomatoes and cucumber.
Grilled or fried Haloumi can be a starter a main course or as part of a main course. It can be served for breakfast a lunch time snack or with the evening meal.
For breakfast it goes very well with fried egg and bacon, or in Cyprus with lounza, a Cypriot style bacon. Even with baked beans.
The taste of Haloumi is complimented by tahina. Serve with a salad and warm pitta bread for lunch.
Add Haloumi to your evening meal as a starter or part of the main course. Goes very well with a pork chop.
TAHINA (NOT HUMMUS)
Tahina is made from sesame seeds. Hummus is made from chick peas. I'm not a lover of Hummus but Tahina is to die for.
Tahina paste, you can by this from the shop already made. Garlic, 1 clove is enough.
Juice of 1 lemon. Water.
Olive oil and parsley to garnish.
First add the lemon juice to Tahina paste mix in well, it will look curdled, don't worry. When mixed well slowly add the water till you have a tahina sauce to the consistency you want. Thick or runny.
Drizzle over a little olive oil for show and sprinkle with a little chopped parsley.
Goes great with BBQ'd pork chops or just serve as a dip with warmed pitta bread.
CYPRUS BEER-KEO
No article on Cyprus food would be complete without mentioning Cyprus’s own beer “Keo” a King amongst beers, both bottled and draught.
When I first went to Cyprus, wine making was in it’s infancy. Not beer making though.
The Keo Company had been making beer to satisfy the men of Cyprus and the long-standing
British troop presence since 1927.
There are two exceptions to wine making though, “Commanderia St John” a sweet winter dessert wine and Filfar a village style Orange liqueur.
Commanderia is a dessert wine made from a particular grape grown in a particular area of Cyprus, which is strictly controlled by the Government. Commanderia was originally made by the Monks living in the Monasteries nestled in the cold mountain range of Troodos. More of a medicinal wine to keep the winter chills away.
I must admit it is a very pleasant drink to sip during the long winter evenings.
The other exception is the orange liqueur “ Filfar”. It’s like a Village Cointreau but with a lot more taste. Filfar has been
made in Cyprus since the Venetian Era.
A timeless liqueur of Cyprus.
Tangy but mellow, warmly golden, distinctively Cypriot.
Beware though when you’re drinking it, it is 34% alcohol.
Beware though when you’re drinking it, it is 34% alcohol.
Take a look at www.filfar.com
Back to Keo. Before the beer, I should mention Cyprus brandy. Most very drinkable some not so. The brandy I drank was kept in the fridge, unlike French brandies. They can be drunk neat or with a mixer, cola or something. A favourite is a brandy sour, brandy, angostura bitters, lemon squash topped up with club soda, ginger ale or lemonade.
Keo beer. A light coloured pilsner lager style beer that is poured with a good head. Don’t be fooled by it’s
innocent appearance, it has a kick like a Cyprus donkey
and there are plenty of them around.
I’ll tell you about the Lophos Donkey sanctuary later.
The Keo brewery and British forces in Cyprus have
a very good relationship. We were probably their
best customers before the influx of tourists.
Keo brewery trips are very popular with the
British forces and we were always very well looked after.
Keo brewery had very good footballers and they
regularly played on the service bases. We had the only grass pitches, which they loved to play on. They would bring along dustbins full of cold beer and ice.
Our host from Keo was George. If you’re still around George a big thanks for your hospitality.
COFFEE
Of course a Cypriot meal, or Greek come to that, is not complete without finishing off with a Cyprus (Turkish**) coffee with fresh seasonal fruit and Cyprus (Turkish**) delight.
** Since the troubles and the mini-war between Turkish and Greek Cypriots you’ll find Coffee and Delight sweet called Cyprus**.
You’ll have to buy the finely ground Cyprus/Turkish coffee. Also a small Turkish coffee saucepan “Imbrikia”, usually for 1 or 2 cups size and a set of small coffee cups.
There are three levels of sweetness, Skettos-No sugar,
Metrios-medium sweet, Glykis-Sweet. Vari glykis-Very sweet. You can use Honey.
I put in 2 teaspoons of coffee and 1 of sugar (that is mediumish for me). For each cup.
Measure in 1 or 2 cups of water depending on the size of your saucepan. For quickness you can use water boiled in the kettle but I don’t think it brings out the full coffee taste. So fresh cold water for me, don’t over fill the saucepan as you want the coffee to boil up.
You have to stand and watch the coffee come to boil, stirring most of the time. A small stick is best for this.
I believe there is special tree you should use for the stick but I don’t know which tree.
A small wooden spoon will do.
When the coffee boils up to the top o the pan quickly take from the heat. Let the mixture settle back down, then put back on the heat to boil up again.
Serve by putting a little of the froth “called kaimaki’ into each cup with a teaspoon pour gently into the small coffee cups. Don’t drink all the coffee, as there will be a layer of coffee sediment.
A new Life!
As I said at the end of my last post, we all became married.
Our new life’s begun.
I can't remember much about my cooking prowess after getting married. Though I'm sure I would have done some of the cooking. Especially after our son arrived, hence the new life. It is so surprising how such a small bundle of joy can be so time consuming.
Eight months after the arrival of our son I was posted to Cyprus. With my wife and daughter, who was waiting to make an appearance in the following July.
I suppose this was where I started to rekindle my interest in cooking. There were new tastes and new ways to cook in a foreign land.
Namely the art of BBQ cooking, it was nice and simple in those days. An aluminium BBQ and a bag of charcoal. None of these fancy gas or electric contraptions. Throw it all in the boot of the car and off to the beach or mountains. I won't go into the details of my BBQing. We all know how to burn sausages and steaks.
But I will mention the Slow cooker and pressure cooker. You can cook a meal in either of these. Wrap them up carefully and you have a ready cooked meal all ready for you. Will tell what I Cooked later.
It was in Cyprus I first started practicing the art of "Cooking Curries". Why Curries? Any of you remember the packet Vespa curries? I wonder if they still make them? The dried ingredients you just boiled up. We got fed up with them. And I bought my wife a "Woman's Own" cookery book (which I believe she still has, it out lasted our marriage). It had a very easy recipe for making a curry from ready cooked left over meat. I still base my Indian style curries on this recipe. Also that was the book with the treacle toffee recipe that I made for my children and me.
The Cypriot cuisine is very varied and tasty. I may be wrong here but they may have been the first with the pre-cooked chicken. You know those turning on a spit in your local supermarket. Not in Cyprus in 1970 though. A Cypriot entrepreneur would set up his spit oven at the end of the street and cook away his chickens. Off I'd go to buy my chicken to put in my "Woman's Own" curry.
This recipe does not have to be with pre-cooked meat, you can it's quicker and tastes just as good. Well not quite. Fresh meat is better.
John's Indian Curry Recipe: Cook in your Wok!!
INGREDIENTS:
Canola oil
Biggish Onion, cloves of garlic number depending on taste, 1 to 2 inches of peeled fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped
large potato, stick or 2 of celery, red pepper.
Green apple, sour if you can get one.
Red or green chillies 5 or 6 should be plenty, number depending on taste.
Dried chillies are okay. Soak them in hot water first for a few minutes.
Curry paste. Pataks works for me. There are others, depends on your taste and what's available.
You can get different curry regions of India. Madras, Vindaloo, hot and mild.
Remember not everyone likes a really hot curry. Maybe go for taste not excessive heat.
Plain yoghurt.
A tin of tomatoes gives a nice red colour and tomatoey taste.
Or use chicken or vegetable stock, 3 to 400mls.
A couple of glasses of wine, one to drink the other in the curry.
The tomatoes also provide a good source of Lycopene the powerful cancer fighting antioxidant.
Curries are a very healthy meal. More of that later.
Juice of a lemon. Bunch of Coriander (cilantro) leaves.
Chicken, cooked or uncooked. I'll go for uncooked. Get a nice big chicken.
Mango chutney, optional, for a sweeter taste.
METHOD:
Prepare all your ingredients first, some can be done earlier, like the chicken.
Separate the chicken from the carcass. Take the skin off of the breasts and keep. Leave the skin on the legs and wings. Cut the breasts into biggish bite size pieces. Cut the legs and thigh at the joint to separate them.
Cut up the carcass and boil with breast skin to make your own stock to use for other recipes.
Put the chicken aside, probably back in the fridge is best.
Peel and chop the onions and garlic. Scrape the skin from the ginger, either chop finely or grate the ginger.
Cut up the pepper, celery and the peeled apple.
Peel and cut the potato into largish cubes. Big enough so they won't go to mush. Warm them through a little in the microwave.
The Chilies, cut the stalk end off and slit down the center not cutting all the way through. Gently scrape out the seeds if you don't want too much heat from the chili.
TIP. Use a piece of lemon skin to clean your fingers after cutting the chilies.
Now we are ready to cook, I think.
Heat the oil in your Electric Wok or heavy pan.
Fry the onions, garlic and ginger till onions a little translucent. Put in the chillies and cook for a few minutes.
Now for the curry paste, a couple teaspoonfuls should be enough. Try more next time if not spicy enough. Stir this in with the onions garlic and chillies and cook for a few minutes. Turn down the heat.
Then spoon in a big dollops of yoghurt, (mixing a little corn flour in with yoghurt will help it stop curdling) keep stirring till thoroughly mixed with the curry paste and onions. Turn the heat back up a little.
Now it's time for the chicken. Mix this in thoroughly with the mixture.
Keep frying in the mixture till the chicken is fully coated and taking on that white cooked look.
Add the wine if you didn't drink it all, stirring it into the mixture. If using tin tomatoes, (I do), roughly cut up the tomatoes (while still in the can) and add with the juice to the mixture. Add a bit more wine if you think there's not enough curry sauce. Or the stock, whatever you choose to use.
Bring to a low simmer and add the potato, celery and pepper. The reason I put in a potato is that generally when the potato is cooked so is the chicken, a good pointer the curry nearly is ready.
Put in the cut up apple and stir in the lemon juice. Cook for another 5 or 10 minutes till apple softens. If using the mango chutney stir in now. Or keep for a side dish.
Turn off the heat and sprinkle with coriander leaves.
While the curry had been cooking I would cooking the rice in the micro-wave. It takes about 12-14 minutes. 1 cup of basmati or Thai jasmin rice to just under 2 cups of boiling water. It's probably best to wash the rice 2 or 3 times in cold water before cooking.
This recipe can be used for lamb, pork or beef. If I use beef I wash out a lot of the blood and fry for a few minutes before putting into the curry sauce.
The recipe is fine for seafood as well. Fish and seafood don't take long to cook so put into the sauce at the end of the cooking. Fish can break up easily, be careful stirring once in the sauce. Salmon on the bone is quite robust. For real quality get a nice big salmon head cut into 4, makes great tasting.
If you were smart enough to buy some easy to cook poppadoms even better.
For a cooling side dish, yoghurt and chopped cucumber goes well.
Happy eating.
Health benefits of a good curry.
The lycopene in the tomato and red pepper: Turmeric may help combat Alzheimer's: Chilli and paprika help fight colds: Red meat can stop you being grumpy: Most of the ingredients are good for fighting heart problems; Ginger and garlic fight of most things. Buffy stinks of curry.
Later I'll tell you how I cook Thai curry and soups
Curry is an all round wholesome dish.
Next a few traditional Cypriot recipes.
Sunday Lunches to Die for.
They really were! I mean the Sunday lunches to die for. Who we offered an invite to, would make Hugh Hefner green with envy. It was like Clubbing on a Sunday afternoon. Girls could come free. Guys, tough for them they had to be invited. They needed to have something to offer that we needed.
Girls always had that!
The flat we had in Bath was on a small quiet street between the Royal Crescent (the really Posh part of Bath) over looking the Royal park and the Circle, Brock Street. The Circle was a dull sinister circle of Georgian houses. The Circle had a green in the middle with large trees growing. These kept out the daylight and made the Circle quite sinister. Especially on rainy days, which there seemed to be a lot of in Bath.
The flat we had in Bath was on a small quiet street between the Royal Crescent (the really Posh part of Bath) over looking the Royal park and the Circle, Brock Street. The Circle was a dull sinister circle of Georgian houses. The Circle had a green in the middle with large trees growing. These kept out the daylight and made the Circle quite sinister. Especially on rainy days, which there seemed to be a lot of in Bath. |
| Royal Crescent from Brock Street |
Back to the Sunday lunch. All it was, was just a traditional English Sunday lunch. If there is such a thing as a "Traditional English Sunday Lunch". Anybody (such as a French Cook, you know those who are even worse than us at the World Cup) who says that British food is the worst ever is talking through their derriere. The different tastes blended together only by nature of a Traditional British Sunday Dinner are unbeatable. Just like a British Breakfast (more of that later).
The Menu:
Any of the traditional meats for an English roast dinner, Beef, Lamb or Pork.
Plus a roast Chicken as a supplement, not everyone likes meat dripping Vampire style with blood. Also I would say Chicken is not a traditional meat for an English Sunday roast. Chicken is relatively new on the English dinner scene. Since the advent of battery raised chickens. Not tried a chicken raised running free around the farmyard. Try one and taste the difference, you'll not want a battery chicken again. I'm sure it's to do with all the farmyard crap they eat.
Vegetables. Go for colour. So obviously carrots, (I read in a Men's Health magazine "if there is one vegetable you should eat every day, it's a Carrot). For green, well Broccoli seems to be all the rage. Through out the year there are different and just as good options. Not so expensive either.
Other root vegetables varieties if you like them, roast parsnip seems to be popular.
Other root vegetables varieties if you like them, roast parsnip seems to be popular.
Small Yorkshire Puddings or A Large Yorkshire pudding.
How to make later
How to make later
Gravy home made a must.
Horseradish sauce.
Probably a dessert but that would be shop bought. We weren't pudding-cooking guys.
What You'll need.
You can cook a Sunday Lunch using a microwave, slow cooker, A WOK and a small grill oven.
I will go through that later.
Otherwise a traditional cooker with oven and top hob, large roasting tin, big enough for your roast meat. I roast the potatoes separately so I can use the meat juices for the gravy.
Back in the halcyon days of Brock Street we would have saucepans going with steam everywhere from the boiling vegetables. Now days I boil most things in the microwave. No steam saves energy, smaller pots to wash.
First just a few musts for your roast. It doesn't matter who likes what. Don't over cook the beef, a nice deep brown on the outside but still nice red and juicy in the middle. It's safer to keep the Vampires happy. "Some of them lived in the Circle". I feel the best beef to roast is rib of beef on the bone. Nearer the bone, sweeter the meat. The bone holds it all together and it has plenty of fat to keep it moist. You can put it on a rack in the roasting tin or not. Some people cook on the rack with water in the roasting tin to help keep it moist. If it doesn't dry out you can use it for the gravy.
Lamb is easier to roast than beef, as it's easy to let beef over cook. Remember the roast will go on cooking after taking from the oven. The leg of lamb can be cooked on the spit in your small oven. It will cook quite quickly so watch the time.
The roasting spit is ideal for roasting pork, especially a joint with a good layer of pork skin (crackling). If cooked in the oven it will need regular turning and basting to cook the crackling evenly and crisp.
As with all my cooking, a bit of trial error is the best way for you learn how you like your roast.
Vegetables are quite straightforward. Just don't over cook them. One minute in a microwave is a long time on high setting. Learn to use different level settings. It’s surprising what cooks on the de-frost setting.
Roast potatoes. After peeling the potatoes cut them into a regular size, half or quarter depending of the size of potato. I boil the potatoes till they are fully cooked. Drop them into a sieve to drain and shake them around to roughen them up. This will make the outer crispy. While they were boiling, heat some canola oil in your dish till quite hot. Not too much oil. Put the potatoes in the hot oil. Turn them over now and again and roast until a crispy brown.
Depending how many you're cooking for you may have to boil the potatoes separately for the mash. Mash is easy, just boil till fully cooked. Drain off the water in the sieve, back in the pan and mash with milk and butter. Not too much milk, it might go too runny.
The gravy. Most important part of a meal. It can cover up all your mistakes.
Ingredients. Amounts depend how much gravy you will make. Water, Onion, 2 Oxo cubes (beef stock cubes), bisto for thickening, juices from the roast. Extras: 1/2 glass red wine, squirt of tomato puree/paste.
Boil the onions (I do this in the microwave, stops the smell spreading) and simmer till going soft, crumble in the Oxo and simmer a bit longer, put in the red wine and tomato puree for a richer gravy, simmer a little longer. Put the gravy mixture aside until meat is cooked. All this is done in the microwave.
Take out the meat and keep warm to rest, before carving.
Pour the gravy mixture into the dish with the meat juices. Stir well to scrape all the bits from the bottom of the cooking dish. When you have all good bits from the roasting dish, stir in the thickening. Bisto is the easiest though can make it too rich. Corn flour well mixed in cold water with NO lumps is just as good. Back in the microwave to heat up, never worry about making too much gravy. If there’s any left, freeze for next time
The secret and the hardest part is to have it all ready at the same time.
Don't forget to warm your plates.
You can cook a Sunday Roast any day of the week and for as many as you can seat or have plates for.
Even a romantic meal for two. Don't forget the flowers, candles or the bubbly while your cooking. Get her or him to come early. You can impress them with your cooking prowess. Also it will make time for the bubbly to work!!
Our Sunday’s dinners at Brock Street did not start off romantic that may have come later. They were boozy noisy Sundays. Luckily there was no one around Brock Street on a Sunday in those far off days.
We would take it in turns to do the cooking and the washing up afterwards. No dishwasher for us. Probably not around in England in those far away days. The lucky ones would go off to a nearby pub while the cooking was in progress, The Porters, another cosy Bath pub. No one was ever back late for the dinner.
The rest is history. The three of us all become married. No, not to each other.
My thanks to my flat mates: Dick Bourget and Jim Butts, wherever you are. My Best wishes.
Ingredients
Traditional Yorkshire pudding
• 110ml/4fl oz water
salt and freshly milled black pepper
Preparation method
• Pre-heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
• Begin by placing a sieve over a large mixing bowl, then sift the flour in, holding the sieve up high to give the flour a good airing as it goes down into the bowl. Now, with the back of a tablespoon, make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Add the salt and pepper.
• Now measure the milk and water into a measuring jug. Then begin to whisk the eggs with an electric whisk and as you beat them the flour around the edges will be slowly incorporated. When the mixture be comes stiff simply add the milk and water mixture gradually, keeping the whisk going. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula so that any lumps can be pushed down into the batter, then whisk again till all is smooth. Now the batter is ready for use and although it's been rumoured that batter left to stand is better, I have found no foundation for this - so just make it whenever is convenient.
To cook the Yorkshire pudding, remove the meat from the oven (or if it's not ready place it on a lower shelf) and turn the oven up to the above temperature. Spoon two tablespoons of beef fat into the roasting tin and allow it to pre-heat in the oven. When the oven is up to temperature remove the tin, using an oven glove, and place it over direct heat (turned to medium).
You can use small bun tins, this seems the popular way these days. Just drop a little oil into each bun cup.
Then, when the fat begins to shimmer and smoke a little, pour in the batter. Tip it evenly all round and then place the tin on a high shelf in the oven and cook the Yorkshire pudding for 40 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Serve it cut into squares presto pronto.
You can use small bun tins, this seems the popular way these days. Just drop a little oil into each bun cup.
Then, when the fat begins to shimmer and smoke a little, pour in the batter. Tip it evenly all round and then place the tin on a high shelf in the oven and cook the Yorkshire pudding for 40 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Serve it cut into squares presto pronto.
As Time goes By
After the treacle toffee episode, I can't remember much about my new found cooking prowess until about 1967.
I left home before I was 16 to join the Royal Air Force. So for quite a few years there was no call for me to cook for myself. That was done for us in one Mess or another. Mostly, RAF food was quite palatable. Except maybe a fried egg. There must have been a government instruction manual "1000 ways how NOT to fry an egg" the mess would manage all 1000. Would you believe that, if the egg fell off of your plate it would bounce back, no problem. The edges burnt to crisp and the Y(j)oke still raw that was another favourite. That's another life for another time.
After training near Wolverhampton my first posting was RAF Scampton near Lincoln, the home of the famous Dam Busters. There really is a well looked after grave for Guy Gibson's dog "Nigger". A lot of guys didn't like Scampton but I thought it was fine, a bit desolate at times. Life was a new adventure for me, a smooth faced 17 years old. Quite a novelty to all those lonely Lincolnshire village girls. It was time for me learn the ways of the world.
Then a serious set back. A year in Bahrain. In 1966/7 it was nothing like it is now. I got back into playing football and rugby, which probably kept me sane while being in Bahrain. Which helped when I got back to the UK. I was posted to RAF Colerne near Bath. In 1967 if you couldn't enjoy yourself in Bath there was something seriously wrong with you.
My cooking prowess once again came to the fore.
Guys! If there is one thing I've learnt during my varied life it is that girls love to be looked after. Cooking for them certainly is one certain way to pile up the smarty points.
Girls! I'm afraid guys just expect it from you.
My first meal for seduction was very simple. No need for a Wok. I'd never heard of them then.
Grilled pork chop (kidney attached) mushrooms and tomatoes with new potatoes (from a tin). Probably a pudding but I can't remember that. This was meant to be a meal before going to a movie (don't ask me which one, it'll be on TCM now). The meal had it's desired effect, we nearly missed the movie. Thinking about it, it may have been a "Man from Uncle" film.
A Proper meal now. While at RAF Colerne I shared a flat in Bath with a couple of RAF friends. Unheard of in the RAF those days. We were meant to live our life on the base. If you know where Colerne is, you'll know why we wanted to be off of the camp?
As well as being out living it up most nights, we worked in a bar called the "Parrot Bar". Anybody of the right age who'd been to Bath in the 1960’s will know it well. As well as playing football on Saturdays and Wednesdays and the occasional game of Rugby even some Sundays.
To keep ourselves fed for the week, over the weekend we would cook a monster stew, usually lamb. This would be left on the stove all week, heated up whenever we had the need to eat. Mostly around midnight. Every few days we would add a few more vegetables and some meat. "Wha' d'ya mean" sounds awful? It worked for us and improved during the week. I had read somewhere, a good slug of gin would act as a preservative. We always had a bottle of gin on hand.
A Lads Lamb stew Recipe.
Amounts depend on the size of your pan or Wok
INGREDIENTS
Neck of Lamb, or cheap lamb chops or both.
Best if fried a little in not too much oil to fry off some of the fat. Or boil in water for a few minutes and skim of the sludge you get on top of the water
Half cup of Pearl Barley, soaked in boiling water
Carrots, not too many. I think they make it too sweet,
Any other root vegetable, I do feel they can make it too sweet though,
Onion, or Onions. Stick or two of celery
Sage, Thyme and Rosemary dry or fresh, what ever your fancy, amount to your taste
White wine, what's left in an unfinished bottle.
You can put in a light beer or lager. But I'd rather drink'm
Stock of your choice, homemade, cubes or packet
Tin of tomatoes if you fancy a tomatoey taste
White Wine and the slug of gin.
METHOD
Soak the pearl barley in boiled water while you're preparing the ingredients.
Prepare all the ingredients, just like the TV cooks have done for them
Trim off the excess fat from the lamb. It can be too fatty.
Fry the onion till just going opaqueish, not burnt.
Fry the lamb in with the onion till browning slightly.
Season with fresh ground pepper, salt if you really must. I try to keep salt to a minimum.
There's plenty of salt in bought stock and cubes.
Then put everything else in your pan or WOK. Cook as low as you can for as long as you can.
Don't finish off the bottle of wine and forget it though.
This is where having a Slow Cooker come into it's own.
This can keep you going all week with fresh crusty bread or mash potato.
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