My Todd is very fond of a curry, so every now and then I make one for him.  I have a few Indian cookery books that I like to use if I am making one from scratch. Yes, I confess, often I will just use a good jarred sauce (Lloyd Grossman makes lovely sauces) but the other day I decided to make him a Lamb Curry from scratch and Lamb Rogan Josh is one of his favourites. 

 

Curry's are not all that difficult to make.  They are like stews really, but with completely different spices and aromatics than what you normally use in a stew.   

 

This one uses cubed lamb. Neck fillet if you can get it, or leg of lamb.  I find it most annoying that in the shops you can normally only get New Zealand lamb when we raise beautiful lamb right on our own doorsteps.  I adore British/Welsh lamb.  It is beautiful.  For this curry I used New Zealand leg of lamb, cubed. 

 

To begin you will need to make a curry paste.  This is as simple as bunging a few ingredients into a blender/food processor and blitzing them until smooth . . . coriander stems (cilantro), red chili, cumin and coriander seeds, paprika, turmeric and tomato puree.  Its very simple.

 

To start the curry off  whole spices (cinnamon sticks, cardamom, bay leaf and cloves) are  fried in a bit of oil until quite fragrant, which only takes a few minutes.  Then you add the onion and the lamb, quickly browning it off, and then adding some garlic and grated fresh ginger root.

 

Next, you stir in the curry paste that you have made, making sure that the lamb is well coated in it and then a quantity of water is added.  The lamb is then simmered until the juices reduce and thicken and the lamb becomes very  tender . . . this takes about 45 minutes or so.

 

Finally you stir in some thick yogurt which makes the sauce somewhat creamy.  Oh, but it is quite delicious.  Its not as mild as most of the curries I make, but its not blast your head off hot either.  Todd really likes it. 

 

I like to serve it with Pilau Rice and poppadoms.  Have you discovered poppadoms?  They are like Indian potato chips,  or thin crisp tortillas, except they are made from ground lentils and fried until very crisp.  I buy them ready made and heat them in the oven.  You can buy them plain or with flavours added, the most common being garlic and coriander.  That is that crisp bread you see on the side there. Oh but they are some good!

 

 

 

A curry is a funny thing  . . .  you crave them, you make one and then you are happy not to have another one for a month or so until you start craving one again.   Over here they are quite traditional fare on Saturday nights or for eating after a pub crawl. My pub crawling days are long since over, but every now and then I do enjoy a good curry for our tea. This one makes a change from Chicken curry, and is moderately spiced.  Its very good.  Adapted from a recipe found on BBC Good Food.  Bon Appetit!

 

Ham, Gruyere & Spring Onion Crepes. If you have ever had the opportunity to go to a French market over on the Continent, you will most likely have seen Crepe Vendors.  

Baking crepes in the open air and filling them with whatever your heart desires.  Folded into quarters, and wrapped in paper, they are very easy to eat while you walk around browsing through the market.

 

You can get them filled with fruit fillings, nutella, cream and even with savoury fillings. My favourites are always the ones filled with ham and cheese.  

Kind of like a Croque Monsieur, but in a crepe, not bread.

 

They also make for a quick, easy and light supper during the summer months when you are looking for something to make that isn't going to keep you standing over a hot stove for ages and ages. 

I'm all for that.  I can be lazy from time to time when it comes to cooking.  No, I'm not kidding. Its true.

 

These are delicious.  I like to use Gruyere cheese, which is a lovely melty Swiss type of cheese, but you could use cheddar, or Colby, or even Jack cheese if you wanted to.  

You could even use a combination of cheeses. I like cheeses with a lot of flavour and so I choose Gruyere because it has a sweet and nutty taste, and goes really well with ham.

 

I like to pair it with a good ham . . .  thinly sliced honey ham is good, or a thinly sliced dry cured oak smoked.  

You are going to tear it into pieces, so just pick a nice ham, and one that you enjoy. The nicer the flavour of the ham you use, the less you will need of it. Fact.

 

People can find making crepes a little bit intimidating, but they really aren't hard to make at all.  

I put the batter through a sieve to make for a smooth batter.  Just use a good non-stick frying pan, lightly oiled and well heated.

 

You don't want them frying so much as you want the to bake in the skillet.  Just pour a very thin layer and tilt the hot pan a bit to spread the batter out into evenly.  

Let it cook until golden brown and then using a flexible spatula, flip them over to brown the other side. Easy peasy.

  

Once you have browned one side and flipped them over you can start filling them.  They cook in literally about a minute if you pan is heated properly. 

Not too hot, not too cold.  Sprinkle the cheese on half of the crepe . . .

 

Let it cook for about 30 seconds to melt the cheese, then scatter over some torn ham and some chopped spring onion.  

Fold in half again so that you have a triangle and put into a warm oven to keep warm while you cook the rest.  Again, such a simple thing. 

Like an omelet, but with a flour batter instead of an omelet batter.

  

These go together really quickly and are so delicious!  You don't need to limit yourself to what I have used. Use your imagination and whatever is in the refrigerator to fill them with whatever appeals.  

You could go completely vegetarian and fill them with sauteed vegetables and cheese, or maybe you have some leftover curried chicken or lamb.  That would also be nice. A salad on the side makes for a complete meal!

 

 

 

I am very fond of Chinese food of any kind, although to be sure I have never actually had any "real" Chinese food. I have only ever had the Westernised stuff, which  is good enough for me.  You would think that Westernised Chinese food would be the same all over the place, but that isn't the case.  Chinese food here in the UK, is somewhat different to the kind I was used to back home.  Its still pretty tasty however.  

 

As a young bride I can remember going to a place in Granville Ferry back home, called The Continental Kitchen. It was an old farm house that had been converted to a restaurant. People came from miles and miles away to eat there.  You had to book ahead it was so popular.  They did all you can eat Buffets.  All homemade from scratch food. They had both a seafood and a Chinese buffet.

 

Later on when I moved out to Western Canada, my ex and I used to go out for a Chinese meal every now and then.  We would dress up in our finest duds and go to this place in downtown Calgary. It would be a really special evening for us. My ex BIL was also very good at cooking Chinese food.  He would make lovely Chinese meals for us that I always really enjoyed.  I know they were a lot of work, preparing all of the vegetables and meats, sauces etc.  I always really appreciated all that  he did. It was so delicious!

 

One of my favourite dishes at the buffets, aside from the sweet and sour chicken and the broccoli beef has always been the chicken wings.  There is something incredibly yummy about those little bits of skin and fat and chicken meat, seasoned perfectly the way they do it, and then fried until crisp. I think they were very popular with everyone, because they always seemed to be almost empty whenever I would go to get some. You had to be quick!

 

This recipe I am sharing today is a play on those, albeit quite a bit healthier.  Yes, healthier . . .  but but every bit as tasty . . . .  believe it or not . . . .  maybe even tastier!  A bold statment I know!

 

I cut boneless skinless chicken breasts into strips (do it diagonally, for some reason the shape is nicer) and soak them in dark soy sauce and then I coat them in a special seasoning I create which uses things you probably have in your kitchen right now.

 

Montreal steak seasoning, lemon pepper seasoning and coarsely ground black pepper, that is all.  I make my own lemon pepper seasoning because it is a very difficult ingredient to find over here in the UK, but you really do need to have it.  It adds a unique layer to the flavours. If you would like to know how I make mine, just ask. It does involve a bit of time and oven cooking to dry out the lemon zest.

 

Once coated the chicken strips are baked in a hot oven . . .  8 minutes on one side, and then 5 to 6 minutes on the other side.  (I flip them after the first 8 minutes)  I think any longer than that they would dry out.  These timings keep them just moist and delicious.

 

They have a bit of a spark, yes, but it is a spark that I heartily enjoy! I like to serve them with a homemade sweet and sour sauce for dipping.

 

It goes really well with the flavours of the chicken and is also really easy to make.  I am betting you already have everything in the kitchen now to make the sauce right now as well . . .

 

Apricot jam, tomato ketchup, rice wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce . .  . that's it.  I blitz it together in my mini food chopper because I like it to be smooth. 

 

This is the one I use, the Cookhouse Premium 400W Mini Food Processor.  I won this recently in a giveaway and have stopped using my old one altogether.  This one is so easy to use and to clean (always important).  It makes short work of throwing this sauce together.  Just pile it all into the glass base, pop the lid on and blitz. It works by pressing down on the lid, and has two speeds.  I really love it and have been using it just about every day.  Mine came from here.  Its really a beautiful piece of kit.   

You will love this sweet and sour sauce.  Its thick and flavourful with just the right amount of sweet and sour.  Its a sauce we use often in our house, on everything from salmon to chicken to pork and even lamb.  I haven't tried it with beef yet, but it would probably be great with meatballs!

 

 

 

Oh boy but these are some tasty.  I served mine with some steamed rice and vegetables.  Juicy, tender chicken with a bit of a spicy bite . . . and that tangy sweet and sticky sauce . . .  what a beautiful combination this is.  If you can resist this, you are a much better than me.  I love how quick and easy it is as well. BONUS!  I love taking something I love and then making it a bit healthier, don't you?  Baked, not fried. No skin.  Even tastier in my opinion!   Bon Appetit!

 

I have to say we are really enjoying our new Space Grill. It could not have come at a better time, with all of this lovely dry and sunny warm weather we have been enjoying. Its been a real pleasure to actually have a reliable and easy to use grill so that I can do all of our cooking out of doors, without having to heat up the stove or the whole house in the process! 

 

The other day I was able to cook our whole dinner on this new Grill, with the exception of the initial boiling of the potatoes for my roadkill potatoes.  I think this Grill is absolutely amazing.  I have never been able to do that before.  Cook my whole meal on the grill.  Its like having an outdoor stove.  It really is very user friendly, and so simple to crack open and cook on.

 

I was able to cook the steaks which I had been marinating in my killer  marinade for a couple of hours on the grill grate side  . . . 

 

While on the cast iron grill plate I was grilling thickly sliced onions, my potatoes and fresh asparagus. 

 

 

It was all so very easy.  The higher heat seems to be concentrated in the centre of the grilling areas.  I started off heating the grill on high, and then when it came time to cook I reduced the temperature to medium beneath the steaks so that everything was roughly finished in the same time.   

  

As the potatoes were precooked, they really only needed crisping up on the outsides and preheating.  The asparagus and the onions were raw, but in the time it took to crisp up the potatoes, they were finished.  Once I had the steaks done, I moved them to the outer edges of the grill so they could kind of rest while I was finishing off the vegetables. 

 

These were Rib Eye steaks,  about 3/4 inch thick, and for medium rare it took an initial searing on one side for 4 - 5 minutes and then 3 - 5 minutes on the other side.  They were perfect for us.  If you like them more well done, cook them for a bit longer, or less done, cook them for a bit shorter times. 

 

The asparagus took about 14 minutes, with frequent turning, as did the onions and the potatoes.  To prep the onions and asparagus, I simply brushed them with a bit of light olive oil and seasoning them slightly with salt and black pepper.   The onions were lovely and tender and the asparagus was crispy tender.

  

Asparagus done this way is quite simply beautiful to eat.  I should do it this way all the time! (and I just might!)

 

The potatoes were a grill take on a potato recipe that I initially shared with my readers many moons ago on my Oak Cottage Blog for Dressed Road Kill Potatoes. (Back in 2011)  And as Road Kill Potatoes long before that on my AOL Journal, so as you can see it is a very, very old recipe.  My friend Pat had cooked them the other day and told me how much she and her family still enjoyed them, even after all these years.  I realised I had never presented them on this blog, and I looked at our new grill and thought to myself, why not give them a go on that!  They worked out beautifully. We were ever so pleased!

 

 

  

These potatoes are ever so tasty.  They are simply boiled potatoes, in the skins, cooled and then smashed down lightly with a flat potato masher . . .  brushed with oil, seasoned and grilled on both sides until crisp and golden.  A bit of cheese is melted on the top at the end and a sprinkle of minced spring onion finishes them off!

 

*Grilled Road Kill Potatoes*
To serve two, but easily adaptable for more

Printable Recipe  

The regular version of these (done in the oven) is a real favourite of everyone who has them.  I decided to adapt the recipe so that I could do it on our BBQ grill (with excellent results!) You will need a cast iron grill pan for use on the BBQ or a grill plate. 

2 medium potatoes per person
garlic granules, sweet paprika, mixed herbs, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper
olive oil for drizzling
225g of strong grated cheddar cheese (8 ounces)
4 spring onions, chopped fine 

  

 

  

So there you have it.  A complete meal cooked on the grill that is exciting and delicious!  We both loved this very much! 

 

The Grill/BBQ we are using is the Space Grill 1800 3-Burner Gas Grill.  This stainless steel Space Grill is a revolutionary idea for modern families with a unique fold-away design which is perfect for garden patio grilling or even the high rise balcony. It fits in perfectly every where, and is as truly versatile as it is beautiful!  You can either mount it on an existing load bearing wall, or you can buy a specifically designed stand to mount it on.  Either way it is easy to use. Once installed, it folds down and is ready to use in about 10 seconds. (I kid you not!)    After you are finished and it is cooled down and cleaned, you simply fold it back into place, cover it and that is that.  We are ever so pleased with it!  If you would like to know more about it, or perhaps even to purchase one for your own use, do check out the Space Grill Site. 

I wonder what I will cook up on it next???  Watch this space!