Tarragon Gondi

This is yet another good Ottolenghi recipe that he has himself adapted from one in Gideon Kalimian's The Persian Kitchen (a book that I have not been able to find any reference to on t’internet). I think what drew me to this - apart from the fact that despite the criticisms he gets (usually related to long lists of weird ingredients, which I quite like) I like to cook his recipes - is the fact that two of the ingredients, dried limes and lime powder, I already had in the cupboard and was keen to find an interesting and unusual recipe for.

Gondi is Jewish Persian dish of matzo-less meatballs served in a soup, traditionally on Shabbat. The recipe may seem to call for a huge amount of fresh herbs but they are fairly essential to Iranian cuisine and the intensely bittersweet and aromatic dried limes also lend the soup a distinctly Persian flavour. Both dried limes and lime powder can be sourced quite easily on the internet - try Persopolis or Spice Mountain and the same shops can also be visited in person in Peckham or Borough Market respectively.


Tarragon Gondi
serves 3

50g basmati rice
250g minced beef
1 medium onion, finely grated or whizzed up in a spice grinder
15g fresh tarragon, leaves picked & chopped
½ tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried Iranian lime powder
3-4 dates, pitted & roughly chopped
sea salt &freshly ground black pepper
1250ml chicken stock
1 whole dried Iranian lime, pierced with a sharp knife or skewer
2 large carrots or 4-5 large chantenay carrots, peeled & cut into 5cm x 0.5cm batons
200g tinned chickpeas, drained
½ tsp turmeric
5 cardamon pods, lightly crushed
10g basil leaves, roughly shredded
10g mint leaves, roughly shredded

Cook the rice in a small pan of boiling water for four minutes then drain, refresh with cold water and drain again. Shake the sieve to get rid of any excess water. Tip the rice into a large bowl and add the beef, onion, tarragon, cumin, lime powder and dates, as well as a large pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper.

Mix everything together well then shape into small balls weighing about 40g each (you should have 12 or so in all). Cover and put in the fridge for half an hour, to firm up.

In a large pan put the stock, limes, carrots, chickpeas, turmeric, cardamom and ½ a teaspoon of salt. Put on a high heat, bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low.

Carefully lower the meatballs into the broth and simmer gently for 30 minutes, until the meat and rice are cooked and the stock has reduced by about half (cover the pan if it reduces too much).

Towards the end of the cooking time press the lime with the back of a spoon, to help release its juices.

Divide the gondi and veg between bowls, spooning the soup on top and sprinkling with the herbs to serve.

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Hot Wings with Herby Couscous & Blue Cheese Dip

I have had some amazing Buffalo wings in my time. MeatLiqour’s in particular are, in my opinion, fantastic and what I wanted was to recreate them as far as possible.

Buffalo Wings are so-named as they actually originated in a bar called the Anchor Bar, in Buffalo New York. Owned by Frank and Teressa Bellissimo, Teresa apparently invented the dish back in 1964. The original wings are fried, then tossed in a combination of melted margarine and Frank’s hot sauce.

I know that I didn’t want to deep fry. Or use margarine. But butter would work instead of marg and Frank’s is easy to get hold of so I was set to go. Frank’s is good to use as it isn’t too hot but if really want your wings extra spicy you could use tabasco and still get that vinegar tang or just add some cayenne to the Frank’s as you make the sauce.

So I chose to bake rather than fry (frankly there needed to be some concession to healthiness after all that butter) and similarly when I made my blue cheese sauce I used 0% yoghurt rather than sour cream. As I’ve baked, not fried, I’m calling these hot wings lest I offend any purists...

Traditionally these wings would be served with celery sticks to dip in the blue cheese to temper the spiciness of the wings but here I’ve made it more of a meal by having alongside the couscous and the blue cheese sauce on the side for dunking (extra sacrilege!).


Buffalo-style Hot Wings
serves 4

10-12 whole chicken wings (about 1kg)
2 tablespoons rapeseed or groundnut oil
sea salt and black pepper
For the sauce
120ml Frank’s Hot Sauce
100 g unsalted butter
pinch of salt
cayenne pepper or tabasco to taste (optional - if you want the wings spicier)

Prepare the wings which are traditionally cut into three pieces - do this by cutting through the joints with a very sharp heavy knife or cleaver. If you turn the wings over with the underside of the wings facing up you should be able to see the joints and then cut through them rather than any bone. You can discard the wing tips or, and a much better idea, store them in the freezer to make chicken stock at a later date.

Rinse the wings and pat them dry with kitchen roll and then toss them together in a large bowl with the oil and a good grind of salt and pepper.

Meanwhile slowly melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat and then add the hot sauce, whisking well to combine. As soon as the butter is melted and the sauce combined take off the heat - you don’t want the butter to separate.

Taste and if necessary season with salt and add cayenne or tabasco if you want it spicier.

Toss the wings with about ¼ of the sauce, cover the bowl and refrigerate for an hour or longer.

When you are ready to cook the wings preheat the oven to 200C.

Lightly grease a baking sheet with a little oil using a piece of kitchen roll or pastry brush to make sure that the sheet is evenly coated.

Then arrange the wing pieces skin-side-up so that they are fairly closely packed but not overcrowded.

Cook for 30 minutes until golden brown and then using a pair of tongs turn the wings over and return to the oven to cook for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, until crisp.

Gently reheat the Buffalo sauce while you wait for the wings to finish.

When the wings are cooked, pour the Buffalo sauce into a bowl and add the wings (in batches if necessary) to coat them well in the sauce.

Blue Cheese Sauce

85g blue cheese, crumbled
6 tbsp mayonnaise
3 tbsp 0% yoghurt
½ lemon, juice of
½ tbsp white vinegar
sea salt & black pepper

Put the blue cheese in a bowl and mash with a fork until a paste forms. Whisk in the remaining ingredients until you have a smooth sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Herby Couscous
serves 2

75g couscous
handful of mint, roughly chopped
handful of parsley, roughly chopped
½ lemon, juice of
olive oil


Pour the lemon juice
 over the couscous in a bowl then add just enough boiling water just to cover.

Cover the bowl with clingfilm and set aside for 10 minutes.


Fluff the couscous and stir through the herbs and a splash or two of olive oil. Season to taste and serve with the wings and blue cheese sauce on the side.

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Gammon with Parsley & Sauté Potatoes

A fabulously easy, and fabulously tasty recipe from Nigella. I don’t know what it is about gammon steaks but I have always loved them - they’re one of those things that if I see them on a pub menu I always have to consider them. Along with ham, egg & chips (although gammon will always win if they’re both present) and steak & kidney pudding.

Sauté potatoes and a mound of peas are, to my mind, the perfect accompaniment to go with gammon steaks, no matter how cooked. I parboil some potatoes, skin-on, slice them up then sauté until bronzed in my big sauté pan with a sprinkle of salt (I’m convinced it helps them crisp up). No more than a small sprinkle though - the gammon will probably be salty enough.

This, I believe, is taken from Nigella Express but that is a book I don’t have so I must have got it from the website.


Gammon with Parsley & Sauté Potatoes
serves 2

2 tsp garlic infused olive oil
2 gammon steaks
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
4 tbsp water
freshly-ground black pepper
2 tsp honey
4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan and, when hot, add the gammon steaks.

Take the pan off the heat. Whisk the vinegar with the water, pepper and honey and quickly throw into the (still hot) pan along with most of the parsley, scraping up any bits and swirling around.

Pour over the gammon steaks and serve with the saute potatoes and peas and the rest of the parsley sprinkled over.

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Tarragon Chicken

I’ve made various versions of tarragon chicken over the years and in some sort of poulet a l’estragon mental block have always failed to blog it afterwards. That was nearly the case on this occasion too but on serving I managed to remember to snap a couple of shots and then hastily scribbled down the recipe when we were done.

Poaching the chicken in the stock after you have browned the skin makes it lovely and tender. Speaking of which, feel free to use chicken breasts if you prefer and you could bash them with a rolling pin to make them thinner and further reduce the cooking time if you wish.


Tarragon Chicken
serves 2

150g mushrooms, sliced
4 spring onions, finely sliced
½ tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tsp butter
4 chicken thighs
125ml chicken stock
vermouth
150ml double cream
½ tsp dried tarragon
2 tsp chopped tarragon
½ tsp sea salt flakes
ground white pepper

Over a medium heat put the olive oil, spring onions, garlic and dried tarragon into a frying or sauté pan with a teaspoon of butter.

Season the chicken thighs, add them to the pan and sauté until the skin is crisp and nicely coloured and then turn them over so they are skin-side up.

Add a good splash of vermouth to the pan and let it sizzle down before adding the stock.

Let it simmer for around 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the thighs and leave to rest on a warm plate.

Reserve any liquid from the pan and then add the the mushrooms to the pan and sauté in a teaspoon of butter.

Add the cream, simmer until it reduces by half, then add the chicken, most of the chopped fresh tarragon, a good pinch of white pepper and the cooking liquid you may have set aside before when you took the chicken out.

Garnish with the remaining tarragon and serve with peas or broad beans and roasted new potatoes.

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Gorgonzola Gnocchi with Parsley Salad

A brace of Olive mag recipes, as often seems to be the case when I cook from it. Here we have a very simple gnocchi dish served with just as simple salad.

You could use any sort of cheese with the gnocchi but as we’re talking shop bought gnocchi here it is best to use something quite robustly flavoured, the gorgonzola works well but other blue cheeses would be equally good or maybe a herbed goat’s cheese.

The parsley salad really lifts this dish and adds a little zing. If raw red onion is a bit too pungent for you you can take the bite out of them a little by submerging the slices in a bowl of cold water. Let them sit for at least ten minutes, stirring now and then before draining and tossing with the rest of the salad.

Gorgonzola Gnocchi with Parsley Salad
serves 2

1 pack of gnocchi (400-500g depending on where you buy them)
100g gorgonzola
100g half fat crème fraîche
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp capers
½ small bunch parsley, leaves only
½ small red onion, thinly sliced

Cook the gnocchi (they are done when they rise to the top of the salted boiling water, a matter of minutes), then drain and toss with the crème fraîche and cheese and tip into an ovenproof dish.

Meanwhile whisk the olive oil and vinegar together, season and then toss with the parsley, capers and onion in a small bowl. Set aside.

Grill the gnocchi until golden and bubbling.

Divide the gnocchi between two plates and scatter the salad over each before serving.

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Green Herb Prawn Curry

I found this at Olive magazine when I was on the hunt for some low calorie recipes that seemed decadent: important I think when you are going for low-cal as the decadence helps your tummy think that it is being properly sated (in my opinion anyway).

I slightly buggered this up in that I should have added the ground seeds from 2 cardomom pods into the spice mix. I’m not sure how I missed them but probably will try this again and include them next time. I altered the recipe slightly adding some yoghurt and fish sauce for added tartness and zing and a few shakes of jalapeno tabasco to pep up the heat levels slightly.

This is very mild, light and fresh tasting, redolent with herbs. And on top of all that it is super healthy as well, particularly if you were to use half fat coconut milk.


Green Herb Prawn Curry
Serves 2

1.5cm ginger, roughly chopped
1 large garlic clove, roughly chopped
1 (or 2 small) banana shallot
1-2 green chillies, seeded and roughly chopped
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
50ml chicken stock
100ml coconut milk

1 tbsp 0% fat Greek yoghurt
couple shakes green jalapeno tabasco (optional)
splash of fish sauce
bunch coriander, finely chopped
½ bunch mint, leaves finely chopped
175g large raw peeled prawns

Put the ginger, garlic, onion, chillies and all of the spices in a spice grinder or food processor and whizz to a paste, adding a splash of water if necessary to combine.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the paste for 5 minutes until very fragrant.

Add the stock and coconut milk and simmer for 10 minutes then add the herbs and prawns and simmer for a further 3 minutes until the prawns are pink and cooked through.

Serve immediately with steamed basmati rice.

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Asparagus, Mint & Lemon Risotto

This is pretty much a Jamie Oliver recipe really - you can find the original here: I think my only real adaptation was to add the fried prosciutto as a garnish, the salty savouriness worked pretty well.

Jamie’s idea of finely slicing the risotto lengths into little discs and keeping the tips whole is a good one: it gives a really good asparagus flavour to the risotto itself and of course you will get a delicious whole tip in (nearly) every bite.

Anyway, this is one of my favourite risotto recipes so give it a try.


Asparagus, Mint & Lemon Risotto
Serves 2

For the risotto base

250ml vegetable stock
½ tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped
1 stick celery, trimmed and finely chopped
150 g risotto rice
65 ml vermouth
For the risotto

100g asparagus, finely chopped up until the tips
250 ml vegetable stock
12.5g butter
1 small handful Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus a block for grating
handful fresh mint, leaves picked and finely chopped
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
2 slices of prosciutto, lightly fried, to serve

Bring the stock to a low simmer in a small saucepan.

In a separate large pan cook the shallot and celery very gently until soft but not coloured in the olive oil. About 15 minutes.

Add the rice and turn up the heat. Stir constantly for a couple of minutes so that the rice or vegetables don’t catch and then quickly pour in the vermouth. Keep stirring until the vermouth has evaporated.

Turn the heat down to medium-low (as you cook you will need to adjust this as necessary: you don’t want the rice to cook too quickly so that it has a stodgy outside but uncooked middle, nor too slowly or it will become a stodgy but gloopy mess).

Add a ladleful of stock to the rice. Stir often (but you don’t need to be a slave to it) until the liquid has been fully absorbed before adding the next ladleful.

Continue to add ladlefuls of stock until it has all be absorbed and the rice has begun to soften but is still al dente. This can be anywhere from 15-30 minutes so towards the end of the cooking time you’ll need to be a bit vigilant. You may also need some more stock.

Put a large saucepan on a medium to high heat and pour in half the stock, the risotto base and the finely sliced asparagus stalks and the tips.

Stir constantly and gently bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer until almost all the stock has been absorbed.

Add the rest of the stock a ladleful at a time until the rice and asparagus are cooked. Check the rice often - you don’t want to overcook it so it should hold its shape but be soft and creamy and the whole kind of oozy.

Turn off the heat and quickly stir in the butter, Parmesan, mint, lemon juice and most of the lemon zest. Check the seasoning carefully and adjust if necessary.

Put a lid on the pan and leave the risotto to rest for a few minutes. Meanwhile you can quickly fry off the prosciutto.

Serve the risotto in bowls with a slice of fried Prosciutto atop each, drizzle over a little olive oil and scatter with the remaining lemon zest.

Have some more Parmesan on the table so you can add more if you like.

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Thai Pork Stirfry with Basil & Chillies

This is a Thai recipe that is supposed to be made with pork mince - however I had already bought some pork loin to make tried and trusted Pork with Beans & Green Peppercorns when I decided to ring the changes and remembered that I’d made notes from various recipes for a spicy pork with basil.

It was only on closer inspection that I remembered that it needed mince, not pork bits! Oh well - to be honest I decided that I’d still give it a go, with a bit of a spin. But then, as it happens, I found David Thompson’s recipe - again, with mince, BUT, and this is quite important, he states: “I find a rather coarse mince yields the best result – ideally done by hand”. So essentially, that is what I did.

Really this should be made with fresh Thai basil if you can get it. Even in London, with Chinatown really not far away at all, I find this a bit of a mission. That said, on my most recent trip I did for once see loads of it: everywhere I turned it seemed. But typically I had nothing in mind - and we would soon be away for a while so it seemed a bit of a waste to get it on the off-chance and have it stagnate in the fridge.

I do have a little jar of Thai basil so what I’ve decided to do here is use a little of that with some fresh Italian basil as well but do alter the recipe to fit with what you have. Using just Italian basil isn't ideal but it will do. Similarly I didn’t have any bird’s eye chillies (I really wasn’t very well prepared was I?) so instead used a long yet fairly thin red one, about 4-5 in long.

I think that when made properly with mince and holy basil this dish is called Pad Krapow Moo, using Thai basil will make it Pad Horapa Moo. In any case we’re basically talking street food here.

I saw a pic online of someone serving this with a fried egg on top which is apparently authentic so did that too. And in case you are interested (and again, I think) - fried egg = kai dao.

Serve over jasmine rice and squeeze a lime wedge over the whole with perhaps a drizzle of sriacha if you’re so inclined.. I’ve not had other versions of this but this, I have to say, was absolutely amazing. Although next time I would probably add a little more chilli.


Thai Pork Stirfry with Basil & Chillies
serves 2

3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 long medium hot chilli (or 4 bird's eye chillies), finely sliced
3-4 tbsp groundnut or rapeseed oil
2 eggs
200-225g finely chopped pork loin
100 g green beans cut into ½ cm pieces
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1-2 tsp oyster sauce (to taste)
large pinch sugar
pinch of white pepper
4 tbsp water
1 tsp preserved Thai basil (in a jar)
a large handful of fresh basil leaves, torn
lime, to serve
sriracha, to serve (optional)

Heat a wok over a high heat until about to smoke, then turn down the heat and add 2 tablespoons of oil.

Crack in the eggs (separately) and fry gently, shuffling the egg to prevent it from sticking, until it has cooked to your preference. Carefully lift out and place on a warm plate while you cook the next egg. Keep the eggs, warm, to one side.

Add another tablespoon or two of oil to the wok and hot, fry the garlic and chillies for a moment, but don't let them colour.

Add the pork and continue to stir-fry for a minute until it is just cooked. Add the beans and stir fry for another minute or so.

Season to taste with the fish sauce, soy, oyster sauce, pepper and sugar but be careful not to make it too salty. Add the water and simmer for a moment.

Stir in both basils and as soon as the Italian basil has wilted remove the wok from the heat.

Divide between two plates, serving with mounds of steamed jasmine rice, perch a fried egg on top of each with the lime wedges and sriracha on the table to add to taste.

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