Eggs en Cocotte with Spinach & Garlic Toast

The classic French name for this is oeufs en cocotte, basically describing eggs cooked and served in a small singular dish, in other words a ramekin. Simply put, a baked egg.

One of the great things about it (apart from being simple to make, and delicious of course) is it’s versatility. Not only can it be served as an easy breakfast or brunch, but also as a light, but quite decadent supper. And the possibilities are endless. The recipe below is quite simple, but you can easily use other ingredients such as chopped and butter sauteéd leeks, smoked haddock or salmon, wild mushrooms or truffles. I’ve even seen a version with foie gras.

A bain--marie is basically a water bath: all you need to do is place the ramekin, once you’ve filled it, in a roasting or baking tin, then pour enough boiling water into the tin to come halfway up the sides of the dishes before popping it, carefully, into the oven.

I made this as a snack while I was simmering the preceeding soup. I’m nothing if not greedy.


Eggs en cocotte with spinach and garlic toast
Serves 1

small handful of baby spinach leaves
small knob of butter
drop of garlic olive oil
fresh nutmeg
salt & pepper
large egg
4 tsp double cream
1 tbsp parmesan, freshly grated
thick slice of sourdough bread
small clove of garlic, sliced in half

Preheat the oven to 180C and butter an ovenproof ramekin.

Sauté the spinach in a small pan with a little butter, a drop of garlic oil, seasoning and a grind of fresh nutmeg.

Arrange the cooked spinach in the bottom of the ramekin, top with the egg, season, and then spoon over the cream. Top with a little freshly grated parmesan.

Bake in the oven, in a bain marie, for about 10-15 minutes until the white is just set but the yolk is still runny.

Toast a slice of sourdough and then rub it with the pieces of garlic, cut-side down. You can then butter the toast lightly if you like (I do).

Serve the egg with the toast immediately.

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Spicy Butternut Squash Soup with Cream & Roasted Seeds

I had a squash in the fridge leftover from roasting another earlier in the week and I decided I fancied a nice warming soup for the weekend.

I like making soup, it's generally pretty easy and something that once you’ve done the chopping you can just leave to simmer until blitzing with a stick blender (or not of course if you prefer a bit of chunk). This is one in my repertoire that I’ve not done for a while either so it deserved a bit of an outing.

The other good thing with soup is that you can make a huge batch of it to take to work for lunch during the week, so it’s economical too. Which in January, that seemingly endless month, is definitely a good thing.


Spicy Butternut Squash Soup
Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil
2 sprigs of rosemary
3 bay leaves
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 medium red chilli, chopped
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cubed (reserve the seeds)
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
2 celery sticks, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp chilli powder
¼ tsp smoked paprika
1 litre of veg or chicken stock (I actually used half and half)
2 tbsp double cream plus a little extra for drizzling

Heat the oil over a medium heat in a large saucepan and add the garlic, chilli, paprika, bay, rosemary and cumin seeds. Gently fry for a minute.

Add all the vegetables and sauté for a few minutes, constantly turning until everything is mixed well and the veg is coated in the spices.

Add the stock and turn down the heat to low. Cover and simmer for about 45 mins.

Allow the soup to cool a little. While waiting, clean the seeds of any squash pulp & fibre.

Put the seeds on a baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil and a little salt. Shake around so all covered and then put in a hot oven for 10-15 minutes until a light toasted colour.

Discard the bay leaves and rosemary then blend the soup with a stick blender until smooth. Pour in the cream and blend again.

Reheat if necessary then serve, drizzled with a little extra cream and scattered with roasted squash seeds.

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Slow Braised Beef Shin with Ginger & Soy

Another recipe taken from River Cottage Every Day. I've actually made a heavily tampered with version of this before, for friends, but decided this time I would stay true to the original recipe.

Shin is a fantastic cut in my opinion. It is cheap, due to the fact that it is also the driest, toughest cut of beef but it is perfectly suited to long and slow braising in liquid where it becomes deliciously flavoursome and meltingly tender. It is the sinewy bits in the cut that melt into the sauce adding extra flavour and richness while also accounting for the full-bodied almost gelatinous texture of the meat so don't be tempted to trim them off.


Shin of Beef with Ginger & Soy
Serves 2

1 tbsp groundnut oil
600 - 750g beef shin, cut into 2cm thick slices
3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
thumb sized lump of ginger, thinly sliced
1.5 tbsp tart fruit jam or jelly - I used Swedish cloudberry jam but redcurrant would work well
75ml soy sauce
200ml apple juice
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 long red chilli
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 140C.

Season the chunks of meat with salt and pepper and heat the oil in a heavy bottomed casserole. Brown the pieces of meat, in batches, on all sides, setting each batch to one side as you go.

Reduce the heat to low and add the garlic and ginger slices, cooking gently until they are softened but not coloured.

Add in the jam and soy sauce, mixing together then add the meat on top. Try as far as possible to keep the meat in a single layer then pour in enough apple juice to barely cover the meat.

Finally add the vinegar, whole chilli and some freshly ground black pepper before covering and putting  in the oven for at least 3 hours until the meat is completely tender.

Serve with some noodles and greens sautéed with a touch of garlic and sesame oil.

The ginger and garlic slices should be eaten with the meat - as for the chilli, discard or eat depending on your preference and how brave you are feeling!

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Roasted Butternut Squash with Rosemary, Garlic & Chilli and Spring Greens Rice

Squash is delicious roasted - I have used butternut squash here but other Autumn squashes would work just as well with onion squash being the next natural choice for me I think.

Roasting brings out the nuttiness of squash while fresh herbs, garlic and chilli set off the natural sweetness of it. Don't be tempted to peel the squash though, the skin is edible and will become deliciously caramelised and chewy.

The following is taken in the main from a side vegetable dish recipe in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Every Day. Here though I have made it as a main with some basmati rice with sautéed spring greens stirred through.

Roast Squash with Rosemary, Garlic, Chilli & Pinenuts

Serves 2

½ large butternut squash, deseeded

4 large garlic cloves, skin on but slightly squished using the heel of your hand

couple sprigs of roasermary

1 red chilli, finely chopped

2 tbsps olive oil

20g pinenuts

squeeze of lemon

150g basmati rice

2 good handfuls spring greens, roughly chopped

garlic oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Cut the squash half into quarters and then into wedges and throw into a roasting tin. Add the garlic, rosemary and chilli then season generously.

Trickle over the olive oil, toss it all together well then pop into the oven for between 45 mins and 1 hour, stirring halfway through.

Meanwhile, toast the pinenuts over a medium heat in a dry frying pan until golden brown (be careful not to burn them, it can happen very quickly!).

Also, cook the rice and sauté the chopped greens in a splash of garlic oil until wilted. Stir the greens through the cooked rice.

By now the squash should be soft and getting caramelised at the edges. Scatter the toasted pinenuts over with a good squeeze of lemon and toss it all together. Serve atop a mound of rice and greens.

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Pork Steaks braised with Creamy Leeks & Mustard

So as evidenced by my last two 2011 update posts, I’ve finally settle into the new (old) flat, or at least as well as I ever will so thought it time to get back in the blogging saddle. Of course it is now, albeit temporarily, my rather small, South East London kitchen but there we go.

Feeling relatively uninspired by some leeks in the fridge I opted in the end for a braised pork recipe - very similar in fact to the braised veal chops I’ve cooked previously but with cabbage instead of leeks.

My intention with this had been to use a mixture of dijon and wholegrain mustards. As I was fresh out of the latter I opted to use black and yellow mustard seeds mixed with the dijon instead. Feel free to use wholegrain mustard if that is what you have. I also had some celery seeds in the cupboard so decided to use them but they’re purely optional.

One thing that I have noticed is that the photos I take in this flat are truly awful: the lighting I guess. For the time being I'm not at all sure what I need to do about it so do bear with me!


Pork braised with creamy leek & mustard sauce
Serves 2

2 pork shoulder steaks
2 large leeks, washed, trimmed and thinly sliced
butter
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp crème fraîche
½ small glass vermouth
250ml chicken stock
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp black mustard seeds
½ tsp yellow mustard seeds
½ tsp celery seeds (optional)
2 tsp dijon mustard
sea salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Season the pork steaks on both side with sea salt & freshly ground black pepper then brown the steaks on both sides in a little olive oil in a casserole over a low heat on the hob. Set aside.

Add a small knob of butter to the casserole then add the leeks and garlic, mustard seeds & celery seeds. Cook over a low heat for 5 minutes until the leeks are beginning to soften.

Turn up the heat, add the vermouth and reduce by half before adding the chicken stock. Bring to boil then simmer for a few minutes.

Nestle the steaks into the sauce, half cover and place the casserole in the oven. Cook for 1 hour.

Remove from the oven and set the pork steaks aside somewhere warm. Put the casserole over a medium heat on the hob and stir in the crème fraîche and Dijon mustard. Simmer for a couple of minutes. Check the seasoning and adjust carefully if necessary.

Serve either whole or sliced, with a veg of your choice (I went with a bed of sautéd, shredded kale) and the sauce poured over.

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Belated 2011 Catch-up Part 2

So these will be the last couple of recipes for 2011 I think: pretty damn good ones they are too: the first is basically swiped from Nigella but the 2nd is pretty much of my own devising and is very, very good, I think.

Part1's photo you may have noticed was Polly on top of a packing box - she seemed to love the whole packing element of the move in that it meant she had a multitude of boxes and packing materials to make a beds out of and in.

The photo above is of Jack, newly injured (typical, because I needed a bit more stress at the time) and in his idiot-collar. I pretend that this was when he heard the news that we would soon be leaving N13. Makes me giggle anyway.


Korean Prawns & Scallops
Serves 1

As I mentioned above, this is taken from Nigella Lawson - “Feast” specifically. It is supposed to be made with squid but I didn’t have any, and in the interests of using up freezer contents opted to use the raw king prawns & scallops I had in there. Also, the original uses baby corn but again I was out and so used some mushrooms & green beans instead.

Gochujang (hot pepper paste) - which I have previously used here is a Korean chilli paste that you can get from any Oriental supermarket and has a lovely smooth, slightly sweet & smoky chilli taste. I’m running out actually, so must remember to get some more as it is incredibly versatile.

75g sushi rice
50g frozen raw king prawns
30g frozen queen scallops
35g mushrooms, quartered (or in eighths if large, halve if button)
35g green beans, cut into 1.5in lengths
1 tbsp rice wine
1 tbsp gochujang paste
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
splash sesame oil
1 tsp groundnut oil
3 thin spring onions, sliced
2 tsp chopped coriander

Put the sushi rice on to cook as per packet instructions. I use my trusty rice cooker which has a handy and failsafe sushi rice setting.

Mix the prawns & scallops with the rice wine and leave for 15 minutes.  Remove the prawns & scallops and set aside. Add the gochujang, soy, sugar and a splash of sesame oil to the rice wine in the bowl and stir it all in together.

Put a wok or heavy based frying pan on to heat and when it’s hot but not smoking add the oil. Throw in the vegetables and spring onion and stir around for a few minutes.

Add the prawns and scallops, stirfrting for another couple of minutes until the prawns turn pink and the scallops opaque.

Finally tip the sauce in and stir around for 30 seconds or so until it is all combined and heated through. Serve with the sushi rice with a scattering of coriander over.

Ancho & Chipotle en Adobe Slow Braised Pork Spare Ribs

Serves 2 greedy people with polenta wedges

Operation “clear the freezer” continued apace with one of the last freezer victims being some pork spare ribs that I had bought originally for a BBQ that didn't happen. I also had a jar of Chipotle en Adobo and some dried Ancho chillies from the Cool Chile Co. so decided to devise a slow braised in sauce recipe. This started off fairly Mexican in nature but the addition of maple syrup & bourbon added, strictly speaking, a bit more Tex to the Mex .

This could also I reckon be made with beef short ribs - and would possibly be even better given that beef ribs have a higher meat-to-bone ratio.

1.5 dried anchos, soaked
850g - 1kg ribs, chopped (with a hefty cleaver!) into shorter lengths if necessary
salt & pepper
groundnut oil
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 fat cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
3 tbsp chipotle chilli en adobo
2 tbsp maple syrup
400 ml tin of tomatoes
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp salt
60ml strong, freshly brewed, coffee
1 ¼ cups water
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp mexican oregano
3 tbsp bourbon
Tin of borlotti beans

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Soak anchos in warm water until softened.

Meanwhile, heat a tbsp of oil in a large oven-proof heavy bottomed pan with a lid (my cast iron Staub was perfect for this). Season the ribs then brown them off in batches, setting aside as you go.

Drain the ancho chillies (reserving the soaking water) and roughly chop.

Blend the onions, garlic, anchos, chipotle en adobo, lime juice, maple syrup & salt together until you have a loose paste.

Separately purée the tinned tomatoes.

Discard all but about one tsp of oil from the pot then add the cumin & oregano to it over a low heat. Fry for a minute before adding the onion & chilli paste, and continue to cook over a low heat for 5 mins.

Add the puréed tomatoes & bourbon, cooking for a couple of minutes more.

Add the coffee & around 350ml water (use the ancho soaking water and then extra to total 350ml). Bring to a boil before adding the ribs. The ribs need to just be covered by liquid so add more water if necessary.

Transfer to the oven and cook for at least 2 hours, turning the ribs halfway through, before adding the drained beans. 

Cook for a further 30 minutes then serve with a side of your choice - we had grilled polenta which went really well.

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Belated 2011 Catch-up Part 1

I really can barely believe it's been nearly two months since I last blogged anything. To, be honest, life got pretty hectic: I had to move out of my flat in North London, sort through everything and decide what to store and what to move with me into my, temporary, new home. And then actually do all the packing, furniture dismantling, storage, moving etc etc. Thank god for good friends helping out.

As it was, I still managed to do my back in, and despite regular trips to my chiropractor I'm still not really 100%.  Plus of course, my North London Kitchen has, for the time being at least turned into My (tiny and poky) South London Kitchen.

But enough of the moaning - it is definitely time to get back in the saddle! I have quite a lot to catch up on so the last couple of months of 2011 will probably be split over a couple of post before I turn my attention to 2012.


Old Bay Blackened Tilapia with Caper-Parsley Sauce, Tomato Green Beans & Roast Broccoli
Serves 1 very generously

I think I mentioned in the previous post that I'd been trying to get hold of some mackerel fillets. I can't even remember what I wanted to do now but in any case I failed. In Waitrose however they did have Tilapia fillets, so bearing in mind they're super sustainable I decided to chuck some of them in the basket instead.

Tilapia is quite mild in flavour though so either season well - in my case Old Bay blackened seasoning (last mentioned here) - or make a sauce. I also had some purple sprouting broccoli so decided to roast it as I love the way the leaves go crispy in the oven but next time I will strip off the leaves and add them back into the roasting tin slightly later as some of the leaves were a bit burnt. Green or french beans cooked through with garlic and tomatoes is just a great combination that goes well with all sorts of things.

For Tilapia & caper sauce
200g tilapia fillets
splash of olive oil
small knob of butter
Old Bay seasoning (or just salt & pepper)
1 tsp capers
small handful chopped parsley
50 ml wine
knob butter
lemon juice
For roasted broccoli
About 150g purple sprouting broccoli (tenderstem or ordinary would work well too)
olive oil
sea salt
black pepper
For garlic tomato green beans
1 spring onion finely chopped
50g beans
1 tomato, deseeded and diced
garlic oil
knob butter
cple tbsp water
salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 C / Gas mark 6. Place the PBS on a baking tray, sprinkle with olive oil then season well with salt & pepper. Toss everything together so that the broccoli is well coated and then roast in the oven until tender but with a little bite still and so that the edges are slightly crispy. This will take about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, season the fish fillets well with Old Bay if using or otherwise just salt & pepper.

Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large non-stick saucepan then add the fish, skin side down and cook until golden brown on the bottom, about 4 minutes. Flip over then cook for a further couple of minutes. Transfer to a plate and keep warm (tent with foil if necessary).

Wipe the pan out then add the wine to it, over a medium heat and cook until reduced by half . Turn the heat right down then add the butter, capers, parsley & lemon juice, swirling round so all mixed together well.

While the fish is cooking, add the green beans and spring onion to a little garlic oil & butter to a small frying pan and cook for a couple of minutes. Season with a little salt & pepper then add the tomatoes and cook until just softened, about 1 more minute. Stir in the water, then cover and cook until the beans are tender, about 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat and serve with the fish fillets and roasted broccoli with the caper-parsley sauce poured over the fish.

Broccoli, Kale, Mushroom & Walnut Lasagne
Serves 2

This was part of my continued effort to clear the freezer before I had to move (I failed incidentally), having a few sheets of fresh lasagne languishing in the back of one of the drawers.

This was, is has to be said, a lot tastier than the pic below may lead you to believe. The walnuts add excellent texture although pinenuts would be a fine substitute. Similarly, feel free to play around with the veg, using whatever you have to hand that you think would make a good combo.

By the way, I actually buggered up the cheese sauce by forgetting to add it to the bechamel meaning that I just sprinkled it on top. Hence, I believe the slight oddness of the picture... taste-wise though I really don't think it made a huge difference.

95g purple sprouting broccoli, cut into small pieces
70g kale, leaves only (discard the stalks) and shredded
125g mixed mushrooms (I used shitake & chestnut), quartered or in eighths if large
200g tinned tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 banana shallot (or small onion), finely diced
1 clove garlic, chopped
45g walnuts, chopped fairly finely but not so they're powdered
pinch dried mixed herbs
85-100g quick cook Lasagne
90g grated cheddar cheese
10g butter
2 tbsps wholemeal flour
½ tsp mustard powder
125 ml milk

Preheat the oven to 200C (Gas Mark 6).

Heat the oil in a saucepan on low heat and add the onions and garlic and cook until soft. Put the broccoli, mushrooms, tomatoes and chopped basil into the pan; cover and increase the heat a little. Simmer gently for 15 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender.

Take the pan off the heat and stir in the walnuts. Line the bottom of an ovenproof dish with lasagne sheets. Cover with about a third of the broccoli mixture and then a little cheese. Repeat, but on the last layer leave off the cheese.

Prepare the sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir in the flour & mustard powder until it forms a paste and then add the milk, a little at a time, whisking continuously. Continue to whisk on a simmer until it becomes a thick sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in about 2/3 of the remaining cheese.

Pour the sauce over the lasagna and scatter the rest of the cheese on top. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes, or until the lasagne sheets become soft.

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