Arroz con Pollo

Arroz con pollo, meaning rice with chicken in Spanish, is enjoyed by many Latin cultures and is a traditional staple throughout Latin America. There are very many different versions, unique to various countries, so that the one you find in Peru for instance may be quite different to that found in Cuba.

Some variations I’ve seen include using beer with the stock to braise, using annatto or saffron to colour the rice yellow, using different types of rice - Cuban versions for instance I believe often use paella rice, adding olives or not, and so on, and so on.

I should point out that I am in no way saying that the version here is in any way authentic or true to *any* of the versions it is possible to make but is rather a chicken & rice dish influenced by many that has basically evolved from using up leftovers. It is therefore also super quick and easy, and very very tasty.


Arroz con Pollo
Serves 1

1 tsp olive oil
2 leftover cooked chicken drumsticks (or thighs or whatever), meat chopped roughly
2 inch piece chorizo, chopped
1 red pepper from jar, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
¼ tsp hot smoked paprika
¼ tsp chilli powder
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp oregano
115g cooked rice
1 medium, ripe tomato, chopped
100ml chicken stock
small handful frozen peas
small handful coriander, chopped

Heat the oil in a sauté pan and add the chorizo & garlic. When the garlic has softened and the chorizo is starting to colour, add the chicken.

Stir around, add herbs and spices and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the red pepper and cook for a minute or 2 more.

Add the chopped tomato and stock and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the rice and a small handful of frozen peas and cook for a further 10 minutes or so until the liquid is mainly absorbed.

Serve sprinkled with chopped coriander.

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Saag Aloo

Some time last year I did an online shop at The Asian Cookshop - I was on a hunt for Kashmiri chilli powder and dried Persian limes. As often happens when confronted by so many interesting ingredients, I ended up with a rather fuller basket than originally intended: candle nuts, ground jaggery, mustard oil, whole dried chillis and a whole host of other things managed to find their way in there. Including dried fenugreek leaves, or methi leaves as they are also known.

Fenugreek is incredibly versatile: it’s seeds are used as a spice and the leaves fresh or dried as a herb. The leaves can also be used as a vegetable and the sprouting seeds and microgreens in salads. Further, as well as being used extensively in the cuisines of the Indian sub-continent it is also often found in Persian, Eritrean and Ethiopian dishes.

So it looks like I will find a multitude of recipes to try it out in (which is good as I managed to buy quite a lot!) but the first of which is a humble saag aloo. One which I have made before but minus the methi leaves. If you can’t get hold of methi then, feel free to leave them out.

You can serve this as a side to a larger indian meal, in which case it will probably serve 4, or 2 as a main.


Saag Aloo
Serves 2-4

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cm piece fresh root ginger, finely chopped
½ tsp black mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
3 curry leaves
½ tsp ground turmeric
¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
2 green chillies
¼ tsp chilli powder
300g potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1" cubes
200g baby spinach leaves, chopped
125g tomatoes, chopped
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp jaggery (or sugar)
4 tbsp water
salt and freshly ground black pepper
squeeze of lemon juice
1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves, crumbled
2 tbsp cream

Heat the oil, in a large saucepan over a medium heat and fry the onion for 10 minutes until softened and starting to turn golden brown.

Turn up the heat a little and add the garlic, ginger, mustard, fenugreek & cumin seeds, curry leaves, turmeric, whole green chillies and chilli powder. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, until the mustard seeds pop and the whole thing becomes aromatic.

Add the potatoes and stir to coat in the spices. Turn the heat back down to quite low and cook, stirring frequently for 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, jaggery or sugar and water. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 25-30 minutes until the potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the spinach and cook for 5 minutes or so until wilted. Stir in the methi leaves & cream and cook for another minute or so.

Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Serve with plain basmati rice.

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Venison Casserole

Long slow cooking is normally an excellent method for tougher cuts of meat with fat and sinew that needs the time to break down to unctousness in the liquid of choice. Venison on the other hand is very lean and so, although it can still be cooked in the same way, a lot more care needs to be taken.

For a start, it is very important that it is allowed to cook at not too hot a temperature - because of its leanness it will just dry out and get chewy if cooked at too high a heat. In essence it needs to be just “ticking over”. Adding pancetta as I have here also adds a little extra fat to help keep the meat moist.

I’ve used beer in this casserole as I think it gives a more subtle flavour than the more in your face claret or port. And as it is always advised that you should cook with the best wine possible - in fact it is suggested that if you wouldn’t happily drink it with guests then don’t cook with it - using beer here also makes it a lot more friendly on the wallet.


Venison Casserole
serves 2, easily

500g venison shoulder, diced into approx 3cm chunks
plain flour
1 tbsp groundnut oil
1 tsp olive oil
5g butter
1  onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, crushed
75g pancetta
2 medium carrots, chopped
100g chestnut mushrooms, quartered
250ml brown ale (such as Newcastle Brown Ale)
150ml beef stock
½ star anise
1 tsp soft light brown sugar
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme, leaves picked
3 lightly crushed juniper berries
1 tsp tomato purée
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 150C/Gas Mark 2.

Toss the venison in seasoned flour to coat and heat the groundnut oil in a heavy casserole dish. Fry the venison in batches for 5–6 mins until browned on all sides. Transfer to a bowl or plate with a slotted spoon.

Heat the olive oil and butter in the casserole. Add the onions and cook until softened, but not browned.

Add the garlic and pancetta & cook for a further couple of minutes.

Add the venison & any accumulated juices back to the casserole and then gradually add the beer & stock, scraping up stuck bits from bottom. Bring to a hard simmer and add the carrots, star anise, sugar, bay leaf, thyme, juniper & tomato purée. Season well with freshly ground black pepper.

Bring to the boil and stir well. Put the lid on the casserole and place in the middle of the oven.

Cook for 90 minutes and then remove the lid, add the mushrooms and cook for a further 30 mins. Taste & adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Serve with mash flecked with parsley, as we had, or new potatoes.

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Avocado Toast.. And a Change of Name

Not so much a recipe than a guide to assemblage really, this is my version of avocado on toast. There is some debate online about avocado toast and whether it is or isn’t a pretty typical Australian breakfast or brunch. I had always assume it was and yet some quite vociferously state that not to be the case. I asked the bf this morning whether it is common in Oz or not and he said that it definitely was. Good enough for me.

Nanami (or nana-iro) togarashi, also known as shichimi togarashi or just simply shichimi, translates to "seven flavor chili pepper" and is a common Japanese spice mixture containing, funnily enough,seven ingredients. My blend contains ground red chilli, roasted orange peel, black and white sesame seeds, Sichuan pepper (sansho), ginger and nori (seaweed), but others may substitute hemp or poppy seeds, shiso and so on.

Avocados may be high in fat (about 75% of its calories in fact come from fat) but it is good fat, and they are rich in B vitamins, potassium and vitamins E & K too. An avocado a day keeps the doctor away. Maybe...

In other news, it has now been well over a year since I moved back down to London Bridge from N13. In fact, I've moved within SE1 already in that time and so I think it really is time to change the name of the blog. After all it is no longer my North London kitchen at all. Maybe it will in the future but in any case I've opted for the all encompassing London kitchen. That's better..


Avocado Toast
Serves 1

2 slices multigrain bread or sourdough, sliced medium thick
½ perfectly ripe avocado
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
½ lime
1 egg
nanami togarashi (optional)

Scoop the avocado out of the skin into a bowl. Season lightly with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lime and mash with a fork to the consistency of choice (I like mine with a little texture: not too smooth). Check the seasoning and add more salt, pepper and lime juice as necessary.

Meanwhile, poach an egg to your liking (the one in the picture is a little over for my tastes, a runnier yolk would have been preferred) and toast the bread.

Spread each piece of toast with the avocado, top with the egg and then sprinkle with the shichimi, or even plain old cayenne if that is what you have.

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Duck & Mango Curry

I’m not a massive fan of the fruit / savoury combination (in fact I’m not a massive fan of dried fruit in cooking generally: Christmas can be a bit of a nightmare with all that pudding & cake as well as mince pies being handed out left, right and centre) but there are a couple of exceptions. Tagines with chopped apricots &/or dates I can definitely handle and duck legs slow cooked with tart plums can also be a winning combination.

I felt a little apprehensive then the first time I tried this Ottolenghi recipe, pulled from the Observer or Saturday Guardian, I can’t remember which, some time ago. But it was good. Very good in fact. So good I’ve made it a few times now. I’m not sure if it will overtake Duck Jungle Curry as , my duck recipe of choice but it does have the advantage of having easier to source ingredients, most of which I will have anyway. No trips to Chinatown for fresh green peppercorns, krachai and holy basil.

The recipe below states 2 medium duck breasts, but you will see that on this occasion I had picked up a massive single Barbary duck breast from Lidl so that is what I used.


Duck and Mango Curry
serves 2

2 medium duck breasts, scored on both sides
3 tbsp sunflower oil
salt
20g palm sugar
150ml coconut milk
140g green beans, trimmed and blanched
1 ripe mango, peeled and cut into 1” dice
2 tsp lime juice
For the curry paste
⅓ tsp dried chilli flakes
4 tsp sambal oelek
2 medium-heat red chillis, roughly chopped
15g fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1-2 lemongrass stalks, top third and tough outer leaves discarded, roughly chopped
½ tsp ground turmeric
6 small shallots, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped
½ tsp shrimp paste

Put all the ingredients for the spice paste into a food processor, or as I do, into my trusty spice grinder, and work to a smooth paste. You could do this by hand if you like using a pestle and mortar - but it will take ages, and you will likely be exhausted.

Put 75g of the paste in a medium bowl (set the rest aside) and mix in ⅛ tsp of salt and a tbsp of oil. Add the duck breasts and rub the paste in well. Cover and pop in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Put a large, heavy sauté pan on a medium heat and scrape any excess paste from the duck, adding it to that you reserved.

Lay the duck, skin side down in the hot pan and sear for about 3 minutes each side until well browned. Remove the duck to a plate and wipe the pan clean with a kitchen towel.

Add the remaining oil to the pan and when it is heated up add the curry paste and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring continuously. It should turn a deep red in colour. If it starts to catch, add a splash of water.

Return the duck to the pan, skin side down and add 125ml of water and ½ a teaspoon of salt. Simmer for 6 minutes, turning once.

Remove the duck again and add the sugar, coconut milk, beans and chunks of mango and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Meanwhile cut the duck into ½cm slices.

Return the duck to the pan along with the lime juice and cook for 3 minutes more. Taste for seasoning and adjust the salt carefully, if needed.

Serve with basmati rice, cooked with some fresh curry leaves, and a nice glass of Riesling.

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Trout with Pea & Watercress Purée

My friend Naomi bought me a year’s sub to Olive magazine for Christmas - yay! It’s such a treat to have it delivered every month, have a good read and decide what to earmark for cooking later. March’s issue was very timely for me having a feature on eating out in Marrakech (me and the BF are going in a few weeks) but it also had a lot of recipes I can’t wait to try.

The first was trout (the recipe actually specified sea trout but I’m pretty sure mine was just river trout - they’re actually biologically identical anyway) with a pea-based purée: very simple, with only a handful of ingredients, to prepare and cook and very, very tasty. Pretty good for you too!

Trout resembles salmon in appearance but is smaller, with a silver, black-flecked skin and oil-rich flesh. It has a subtle and delicate flavour with a fine texture.

Trout with Pea & Watercress Purée
serves 2

200g frozen peas
2 knobs of butter
100ml chicken stock
75g watercress, reserve a small handful
6 slices Prosciutto Speck, chopped
2 trout fillets
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Put the peas in a pan with a knob of butter and the stock. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer until the peas are tender.

Stir in the watercress and cook for a minute more. Take off the heat and let cool a little before using a stick blender to blitz to a rough purée.

Meanwhile heat a non-stick frying pan and cook the prosciutto until golden and crisping. Remove from the pan, leaving any fat that may have come off the prosciutto, and set aside.

Season the fish fillets with the salt and pepper then add to the frying pan, rounded side down. Add the second knob of butter and cook on a medium-low heat for about 4 minutes until golden. Flip the fish over and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

Reheat the pea purée and spoon onto 2 plates. Lay a fillet of trout on each mound of purée, then sprinkle over the prosciutto and reserved watercress.

Serve with boiled or steamed new potatoes tossed with a little butter and chopped parsley.

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The Battle of The Burgers

Luckily this post isn't featuring the burger I made a few weeks ago (and then again last week for a wider audience) in the style of the famous LA restaurant Comme Ça's burgers (with secret ingredient of bacon fat), as frankly my burger would have won hands down!

We do have pretty much a head to head of MEATliqour, MEATmarket and Honest Burgers. Honestly, they were all delicious. There is little that can match, when you're in a burger mood, a really good juicy meaty burger, glistening with just the right amount of fat that threatens to leave rivulets of lusciousness dripping from your fingers.

I think where MEATliqour / market wins out is with the sides. The former with their incredibly amazing buffalo wings and "who would have thought that would work?!?" deep-fried pickles; the latter with jalapeno poppers. I'm a sucker for a good one, and these were killer. That said, Honest Burgers' rosemary salted fries are amazing too.

On the drinks side of things, I think it very much depends how you feel, and what the occasion is. MEATliqour has it's pretty infamous House Grog - where you wonder a) why you are paying that much for what seems a fairly innoucous drink and b) why on earth you're only allowed 2 per person per visit. And then it hits you, an hour later, that you're actually pretty drunk. In a giggly, happy, moving onto snoozy way.

MEATMarket on the other hand has "hard" shakes: mine maple syrup. With bourbon. And it was delicious. But if you're in a straight up "hand me a bottle of beer with my burger" mood, then you can't really go wrong with a bottle of Bethnal Pale Ale at Honest Burgers.

Something then for everyone really, depending on your eating, drinking and also your can I be arsed to queue for a table mood.

The Dead Hippie burger, "Poppaz" with ranch dressing and Hard Beige
shake at MEATmarket

Look at how good the Dead Hippie looks

Slight twist on the traditional jalapeno popper &
certainly no worse for it

Relative calm in Soho - Honest Burgers

Pretty straightforward menu, with a couple of daily specials on the chalk-
board

On this occasion the special was the "Welsh Burger" that had braised
& crispy leeks, 'rarebit' bacon & peashoots. It was delicious.

The house chips are seasoned with rosemary salt which is inspired -
they are gorgeous

All washed down with a couple of bottles of Pale Ale.

Bills come served in a tobacco tin which personally I found quite a nice
touch

MEATliquor's interior - it can get very loud, very dark & very brothel-
like, perhaps not the best choice for a romantic dinner à deux

The infamous 'House Grog'

I think this was the Dry Daiquiri. Or the Silver Angel. Very good,
regardless

'Bingo' wings with blue cheese dip plus deep-fried pickles with yet more
yummy blue cheese dip.

Our platter of food: Dead Hippies, Green Chilli Burgers, Fries & Southern
Style Slaw

Slaw & Fries - well you need some vegetables right?

Green chilli cheeseburger

If I'm honest, and I add chillis to a lot of food that I cook, there were
too many (take a look at the top bun - coated)

The Dead Hippy: MEATliquor's take on the Big Mac (& it's goooood)

Getting darker...

Somehow the 2 per person limit on the Grog's didn't apply. I think we
outfoxed them.

I will happily go to all of them again, and again. Firmly on the agenda is also MEATmission, the new place opened by Yannis Papoutsis that takes reservations. Hurrah!


MEATmarket: Jubilee Market Hall, Tavistock St, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8BE
Honest Bugers: 4a Meard St, London W1F 0EF (and also Brixton)
MEATliquor: 74 Welbeck Street, London W1G 0BA

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