Prawn Gumbo

Another Cajun / Creole inspired meal in a week (by accident rather than design) after the dirty risotto. I think I saw a version of this on Pinterest originally which spurred me to do a little research and then some more when that in turn spurred me on to find out the difference between an etouffee & a gumbo.

For those that are interested, a gumbo is made with a traditional roux, that is then browned and then the ‘holy trinity’ of celery, peppers and onions is added as well as broth and meat/seafood of choice (and okra if you’re into it, which I’m not). Basically a kind of soupy stew served over or alongside rice.

Etouffee means smothered and is usually crayfish or prawns, covered with a light roux (i.e. not browned) in which the holy trinity are then sauteed. The flavor of a blond roux is different, and because it's not cooked much, it has great thickening power, hence why it's called "smothered." The sauce is thicker.

The gumbo recipe I chose to adapt didn’t have pepper so in the interest of keeping to the ‘holy trinity’ I took liberty of adding it plus some tinned jalapenos - partly as I had some to use up but also as I like chillies.

Although I have made a roux before, I’ve never had to prepare one where it is browned and then is used to cook the vegetables - the fragrance as the chopped veg hit that nutty brown roux and sizzle is utterly delicious and really stimulates the appetite.

Ideally we would have had this spooned over brown rice but I didn’t leave myself enough time so basmati it was.


Prawn Gumbo
serves 2

170g raw prawns
1 tbsp groundnut oil
1 tbsp flour
1 onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
½ green pepper, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
250ml fish stock
small tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp canned diced green chillies
¼ tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp smoked paprika
⅛ tsp cayenne
juice of ½ lemon
½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp chopped parsley
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Tabasco sauce (to taste)

In a large heavy bottomed saucepan, heat the oil over a medium-low heat.

Sprinkle flour over the oil and stir well until it's completely blended. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the flour-oil mixture browns and is dark caramel-coloured. Be very careful not to let it burn (be warned, this process isn't particularly quick so don't lose concentration through boredom and let it catch!).

Turn the heat down to low and stir in the onions, celery, green pepper, green chillies and garlic and sprinkle over ⅛ tsp salt and a few turns of freshly-ground pepper. Stir well then cover the pan and let the vegetables cook in the roux for 10-15 minutes until softened.

To the pan add the tomatoes, thyme, oregano, paprika, cayenne, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce.

Stir well then add the stock and let simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes.

Stir in the prawns and let simmer in the soup until they are just firm and cooked through, about 3-5 minutes, depending on size. Taste and adjust seasoning to taste.

Stir in the chopped parsley, a couple of drops of Tabasco and serve in wide bowls over rice.

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Slow Cooker Chicken & Black Bean Soup

Back when we got the slow cooker we’d decided to have a slow cooker meal at least once a week if we could and so I had been pinning quite a few slow cooker (or crockpot) recipes onto my Pinterest boards.

This is adapted from one of those, originally seen on skinnytaste.com - I hadn’t used the slow cooker enough myself yet to have the confidence to devise recipes myself. I needed to get used to it a bit more first. This though seemed like an excellent recipe to try out cooking chicken with. I love a hearty soup anyway and with a bit of zing and spice it is right up my alley.

This makes quite a lot of soup so we froze some of it. It is also healthy and good for you plus you can add more veg, such as sweetcorn, to bulk it out a little if you like. We served this with some sliced avocado and a little low fat soured cream but you could also add some broken up tortilla chips if you like for a bit of crunch.


Crock Pot Chicken and Black Bean Soup
serves about 6

2 tins black beans, rinsed and drained
900ml chicken stock
2 tins / cartons chopped tomatoes
1 red pepper, finely chopped
85g tinned diced jalapenos
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried ancho chili
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp onion powder, finely chopped
¼ tsp Mexican oregano
1 tsp chipotle en adobo paste
2 skinless chicken breasts
½ cup chopped coriander, divided
2 spring onions, finely chopped
cut limes, for serving
½ medium Haas avocado, sliced
sour cream, for serving (optional)

Take one can of beans and place in a blender along with 500ml of the chicken stock; blend then add to the slow cooker.

Add the remainder of the beans and chicken stock into the slow cooker along with tomatoes, red pepper, diced jalapenos, cumin, ancho chilli, garlic, onion powder, oregano, chipotle, chicken breast, and half of the coriander.

Cook in the slow cooker on high for 4 hours or low for 6-8.

At the end of the time remove the chicken breasts and shred with 2 forks. Place the shredded chicken back into the slow cooker.

Add most of the chopped spring onion, most of the remaining coriander and adjust the salt and cumin (and maybe add a pinch of cayenne if you want it a little spicier), to taste.

Serve hot sprinkled with the remaining coriander and spring onion plus lime wedges, avocados, and sour cream if you like.

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Spicy Prawn & Vegetable Noodle Soup

This is an adaptation of a recipe that I have posted before here but there are enough subtle changes, and the original was posted long enough ago, that I thought it worth posting.

Again I have used a fish stock cube but if you are able to get raw prawns in their shells then make the shells from the prawns to make your own stock (it is a very light stock anyway) or even just use chicken or vegetable stock.

The beauty of this - and other similar soups or broths - is that the world is your oyster really when it comes to what vegetables you add. You can use as many or few as you like and really ring the changes to make it a different proposition each time.

Whatever you go for it will be delicious I am sure.


Spicy Prawn & Vegetable Noodle Soup
serves 2

2 tsp of sesame oil
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 inch knob of ginger, peeled & finely chopped
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 lemongrass stalk, cut in half and crushed (whack with a rolling pin)
2 birds eye chillies, deseeded, deveined and cut into slivers
700ml weak fish stock (ie use half the amount of stock to water that the instructions suggest)
1 tsp of chilli sauce, Linghams or Sriracha if you have it
1 tbsp of soy sauce
2 tbsp of fish sauce
175g raw prawns
65g babycorn, quartered lengthways
50g mangetout, cut into thin lengths on the diagonal
6 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1-2 nests of dried noodles (about 75g)
juice of 1 lime and rind of ½
1 spring onion, finely sliced into 3cm lengths
small handful coriander, chopped

Gently heat the sesame oil in a large saucepan then add the garlic, ginger, onions, lemongrass and most of the chillies. Sauté gently for about 5 minutes without letting the contents colour.

Add the stock and bring to the boil, then add the chilli, soy & fish sauces. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add the babycorn, mangetout and mushrooms and simmer for a few minutes more, then gently add the noodles and prawns and simmer until the prawns and noodles are cooked (about four minutes).

Finally, stir in the the lime juice and the grated rind. Spoon into large bowls and sprinkle over with the chopped coriander, shredded spring onion and the rest of the chilli slivers.

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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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Smoky Bacon & Wild Garlic Udon

This is adapted from a recipe I saw on Guardian’s recipe swap feature online - as chance would have it, at the time, I actually worked with MiMi who has a secret life (well not) as a food blogger: a rather more professional one than me of course with a good-looking site and a published book.

Anyway I’ve adapted the original on the Guardian site a bit - I’ve used wild garlic instead of watercress, added some bamboo shoot strips and lightly fried oyster mushrooms and cut down the sugar a bit as well as mixing some red pepper flakes in with the paprika. Actually now that I think about it I did quite a lot different

Unfortunately my wild garlic was looking a bit sad - I’d bought it the week before at the market (convincing myself that they wouldn’t have it the next time I went) and I’d kind of messed up my weeks recipe plannage a bit somehow. But heyho - stirred into the soup it still tasted fine anyway even if it does look a bit limp.

Oh and by the way - red wine vinegar in pic - I actually used rice wine vinegar: only realised had put the wrong one out afterwards


Smoky Bacon & Wild Garlic Udon
serves 2

6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
800ml chicken or vegetable stock
½ tbsp caster sugar
200g fresh udon noodles
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
½ tbsp black vinegar
2 spring onion, finely sliced
large handful wild garlic, trimmed & roughly chopped, stems kept separate
75g bamboo shoot strips
75-100g oyster & shiitake mushrooms, sliced
pinch of sweet smoked paprika mixed with pinch red pepper flakes, to serve

In a large saucepan bring the stock, bacon and sugar to the boil then down to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes.

Fish out the bacon and slice into bite sized strips.

Add the soy sauces and wine vinegar to the stock and simmer for a few minutes more before adding the bamboo shoots and noodles.

Let the noodles cook in the stock for about 5 minutes - add the garlic stems a couple of minutes in.

Meanwhile heat a little sesame or garlic oil in a non stick pan and quickly fry the bacon pieces so they start to brown just a little at the edges.

Push the bacon to one side and add the mushrooms, again frying lightly until they start to colour slightly.

By now the noodles should be ready so divide them between 2 bowls and then pour the soup over.

Top with the bacon, wild garlic, mushrooms and spring onion and sprinkle over some of the paprika / pepper flakes mix.

Serve immediately with chilli oil on the side for those who want it (me).

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Spicy Korean Short Rib Ramyun

This is basically a Korean version of Japanese Ramen soup noodles and in fact “Shin Ramyun” are a popular Korean brand of dried instant noodles (and my preferred brand regardless of what sort of ramen I make).

I am a bit of a ramen obsessive truth be told: I have it frequently for lunch and dream of the day when I make my own tonkotsu ramen. For now I make do with this sort of thing instead. But anyway, the point being, as a massive ramen fan when I saw this recipe on Serious Eats while browsing through the “Food Lab” I knew that I absolutely had to try it.

The original recipe called for a jar of cabbage kimchi, with its juices but I had neither the time nor inclination (I don’t like kimchi) to make the trip to buy some, so noticing a packet of kimchi flavour instant noodles in the supermarket bought them to use the flavouring sachet. I decided a bit of acidic fermentation juices were probably also in order though and so also added a little of the pickling vinegar from my jar of preserved lemons.

Do feel free to leave either of these out - obviously it would be best to leave kimchi in altogether (so again, if you like it, feel free to actually use it) as this is after all supposed to be Korean, but there you go. Oh, and by the way, this is absolutely amazing.


Spicy Korean Short Rib Ramyun
serves 2-3 (actually - lets face it, 2)

1 (3-inch) piece kombu (dried kelp)
30g katsuobushi (shaved smoked dried bonito)
4 spring onions, roughly chopped
1 tbsp groundnut oil
500-600g beef short ribs
1 small onion, cut in half
1 (2-inch) knob ginger, cut into three slices
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp Korean gochujang, plus more to taste
½ tbsp Sichuan bean paste (doubanjiang)
850ml chicken stock
150g daikon, cut into rounds
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 clove garlic
½ tbsp Korean red pepper flakes (kochukaru), plus more to taste
1 kimchi seasoning sachet from a packet of instant noodles (see note)
1 tsp pickling vinegar (see note above)
½ tbsp soy sauce
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
100g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2-3 servings ramen-style noodles
2 soft boiled eggs

Cover the kombu with 600ml cold water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. As soon as it starts to boil, immediately reduce the heat to low and add the katsuobushi.

Let steep for 15 minutes (making sure it doesn’t boil), then drain the broth into a jug and discard the solids.

Heat ½ tbsp oil in a cast iron casserole over a medium-high heat until lightly smoking then add the short ribs and cook, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes total. 

You may have to do this in batches - just don’t crowd the pan else they’ll steam and not brown. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add the onion (cut side down) and ginger to the pot and cook until well browned, about 5 minutes. Set aside with the ribs.

Add 3 cloves garlic and the roughly chopped spring onions and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes.

Return the short ribs, onion and ginger to the pot along with the gochujang and doubanjiang.

Stir to coat the vegetables and beef in the spice mixture.

Add the strained kombu broth as well as the chicken stock, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.

Bring to a boil then reduce to the lightest of simmers, partially covered until the beef easily separates from the bones, about 4 hours.

About 30-60 minutes before the cooking time is up add the daikon and continue to simmer.

For best results, remove from the heat after 4 hours, allow to cool and then transfer the pot to the fridge overnight.

When ready to continue, strain the soup through a fine mesh strainer (if it had been in the fridge overnight you’ll probably have to reheat it slightly until it liquefies) and transfer the liquid to a medium pot and skim off any excess fat. Pick out the short ribs and daikon (probably you’ll be picking out meat and bones separately - discard the bones and transfer the meat to a chopping board). Discard the remaining solids (or eat all bar the ginger slices as we did).

Roughly chop the meat and set aside.

Add the kochukaru, kimchi seasoning and pickling juice to the soup and then finely grate a garlic clove into it. Add soy sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper but also extra kochukaru and gochujang if you like. Bring to a simmer and keep warm.

Heat the remaining ½ tablespoon of oil in a medium frying or sauté pan over medium heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the mushrooms and cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. 

Add the chopped short rib and cook, tossing occasionally, until crisped in spots and well browned, about 5 minutes longer. Remove from heat and set aside.

Cook the ramen noodles according to package instructions and divide these between individual pre-heated serving bowls. Top with the broth, followed by the crisped beef and mushrooms, sliced spring onions, daikon, and a soft boiled egg split in half. Serve immediately.

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Quick Chicken Tortilla Soup

Loving soups and loving Mexican food it is pretty much a no-brainer that this is something that I would want to cook and eat. I ate a lot of tortilla soups when I visited the Yucatan peninsula a few years ago with my friend Naomi (soup and lots of super tasty thin Mexican steaks) and I have fond memories of those bowls of nutritious yumminess.

I think one of the things that I love is the mix of textures: crispy tortilla strips, creamy avocado, silky tomato and the tang of the cheese. They all come together as one delicious whole.

I’ve used feta cheese here and although clearly not Mexican it does have similar qualities to a queso fresco and makes a fair substitute. The crunchy tortilla strips can be made under the grill or in a hot oven - brush a couple of flour tortillas with oil, slice into strips, and place on greaseproof paper on a baking sheet. Grill or bake until crisp, turning as they start to go golden.

You’ll notice that in the ingredients pic the chicken is shredded as I did that step of the recipe ahead of taking the photo. Another disclaimer is that unfortunately we ended up not having avocado with ours as when I cut it open it was all manky inside: instead I chopped up some spring onion,


Chicken Tortilla Soup
serves 2

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
½ tbsp olive oil
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp chili powder
¼ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
½ dried ancho chili, rehydrated, seeded and finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ tsp dried Mexican oregano
1-2 tsp chopped chipotle chili in adobo (to taste)
½ tin (or 1 small tin) chopped tomatoes
200ml passata
500ml chicken stock
85g tinned sweetcorn
2 whole corn tortillas, sliced into 2-3in long strips, baked
40g feta cheese, crumbled
½ avocado, diced
coriander leaves, chopped, for serving
½ lime, cut into 4 wedges, for serving

Preheat oven to 190C.

Mix cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, and salt. Drizzle the olive oil onto the chicken breast and then sprinkle a small amount of the spice mix on both sides. Set aside the rest of the spice mix.

Place the the chicken breast on a foil lined baking sheet (purely to save on washing up) and put in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is just done. When cooled, use two forks to shred chicken and set aside.

Heat a further 2 tsp of oil in a saucepan over a medium-high and when hot add the onion, garlic and ancho chili and cook for about 5 minutes until softened.

Add the rest of the spice mix, oregano, chipotle chili and mix until fragrant, about 30 seconds more.

Add the tomatoes, passata, shredded chicken, corn and broth and cook at a low simmer for 15-20 minutes. 

Carefully check the seasoning: particularly for salt as you don’t want it under seasoned. Add some more Chipotle chili if it needs more spice.

Ladle into two bowls and top with the tortilla strips, crumbled cheese, diced avocado, coriander and serve with lime wedges.

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