Cheats Tom Yum Soup

Tom Yum Soup 

The key to a good authentic tasting Tom Yum soup is the stock used to create the "broth" supermarkets sell a huge variety of fresh and dried stocks now so its easy to get hold of a good one. For this particular recipee you can use a chicken or fish stock or a bit of both, i prefer a chicken stock as I often find fish stock quite pungent if you haven't made it yourself.

I have called this a "cheats" Tom Yum because if you look up on the internet for a Tom Yum recipe they are usually 2 miles long with a list on ingredients most of which you haven't ever even heard of. 

Method 

The stock is important choose a fresh one where possible but as I have said before Knors Stock Pots are a fantastic alternative.

You need about a litre of stock for 2 people (but top up with boiling water whenever just ensure its flavoured and seasoned enough) 

4 x spring onions, handful of sugar snaps, handful of button mushrooms,5 x baby corn, pakchoi, lime leaves, coriander,1x lime, 1 x red chilli, rice or glass noodles, soy sauce, fish sauce (optional) 2 x chicken breasts.

You can pretty much add anything you like, those are just a few of my choice oriental themed veg! 

Boil the stock, add the vegetables, lime leaves, coriander and chilli, cook the chicken in a separate pan seasoned with salt, pepper, small peice of chilli and a splash of soy sauce (dark if possible) 

when chicken is cooked add to the broth, cook for a further 5 minutes. 

Add noddles and juice of 2 limes 5 minutes before serving. 

Serve as it is in small bowls with chopsticks, with some fresh chilli and chopped coriander. 

use a small bowl so the rest is left still cooking in its juices and you will find your second serving has changed flavour again!

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Coconut salads in coconut houses!

This has to be tried, absolutely deliecious and looks really impressive.

Ingredients

Coconut

Homemade Chilli jam (sweet chilli dipping sauce will suffice)

Mixed salad

Strips of chicken (optional)

Method

Firstly crack the coconut on the floor!! In a perfect world! You want not to break anything! Or smash the coconut so hard it smashes into a million pieces! It should crack into 2 rather easily!!!!

From this remove the soft white flesh from the inside using a knife or spoon, it should come away from the shell relatively easily.

Then using a vegetable peeler shave off small slithers of coconut and place in bowl.

This does take a bit of patience and is quite hard work! But its worth it! Keep going......

Once you have as much of  the coconut shaved as you can get from it add the salad, chilli jam and chicken to the bowl, stir around until everything is lightly coated. Don’t overdo it with the chilli jam as it can take over and make it to sickly.

Then arrange back in the shells for a nice touch.

I stood mine in 2 small pots to keep them balanced but they can go in a large bowel or on each individual plate to serve.

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Summer Roast

Summer Roast

A delicious alternative to your traditional Sunday roast.

As a nation we are becoming increasingly more interested in cooking with foods originating from other countries.

 Food is something of a fashion statement. We are becoming far more creative with our dishes and our taste buds are becoming accustomed to this new way of eating.

I put together a simple summery roast for a few friends a couple of weeks ago and it went down a treat. Easy to cook, nice to share, packed with fresh seasonal vegetables with a Greek twist.

Ingredients

6 chicken thighs or breasts

Cherry Tomatoes

Chopped red onion

Pitted black olives

Asparagus spears

Red peppers

Garlic

Courgettes

Small new potatoes

Lemon juice

Thyme, salt, pepper

Feta cheese to crumble over at the end

Method

Cook chicken, thyme, salt, pepper and a little of the onion on top (for flavour) in a large greased tin at approx 150degrees 20 minutes

Then remove from oven and arrange all other vegetables around the chicken aside from the potatoes and place back in the oven for a further 15 minutes.

In this time, boil new potatoes for 10 minutes and then add them in as well to crisp up.

Remove from oven and crumble feta cheese over the entire dish.

Serve in tin with some fresh watercress on the side.

Accompany with a chilled bottle of dry white wine or Rose.

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Pea, Bacon & Spinach Risotto

Hungry?

Try a simple but delicious risotto, best made with anything you have left over from the night before, cooked meats, vegetables, even dried fruits like apricots give a lovely twist on the classic dish.

The key to making a good firm risotto is a little extra care and attention!!!!!, don’t just leave it to boil dry and worst of all overcook it, keep the rice slightly al dente, but not undercooked or the flavours wont be absorbed properly.

6 main ingredients +  15 minutes = Delicious fresh home cooked summery meal

1 level teacup of Arborio risotto rice per person

Smoked Pancetta/ Bacon

Handful of baby spinach

Handful of peas

The rind of a block of parmesan (for flavouring)

1 pint of beef/vegetable stock (fresh is best but Knorrs stock pots are fantastic)

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Splash of milk or crème fraiche stirred in at the last minute (optional)

Tablespoon of butter

Method

Melt butter in hot pan (but do not burn!!) add all the rice, stir well until rice looks translucent from absorbing the butter.

Add around ¼ pint of the stock, bring to boil stirring constantly

Fry off bacon in separate pan and blanch peas and spinach for only a couple of minutes so still slightly undercooked (blanch means to cook in boiling water for only a short time, so the goodness is still locked in!!)

Add the rind of the parmesan (this can be removed at the end if not completely dissolved the parmesan rind acts as a slow flavour release.

Add more stock and keep adding until the rice has absorbed it. At this point you can add a splash of white wine if you wish but make sure it cooks off, never add at the end as the alcohol will still be present causing the dish to taste bitter and boozy!

Taste rice, add salt and pepper

Stir in bacon, peas and spinach, cook for a further 5 minutes or until rice is at desired texture

Stir in a slug of milk or crème fraiche

Serve in large bowl with some fresh spinach leaves and parmesan on top

Bon appétit!

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This is what happens when you are unemployed!!!! ah well guess its not all that bad! x

I can think of far worse ways to spend a Tuesday afternoon!

Yesterday whilst mooching around the back streets of fabulous Soho i stumbled across a "little Gem" literally. 

The London Bead shop, absolutely full to the brim with every type of bead you can dream of, including all the bits to go with them to enable you to make some really super handmade jewelry and at a fraction of the high street cost. 

I had a little go and the small fruits of my labour are below. 

But i will be going back! 

Great for friends prezzies and every piece is 100% unique, and to your individual taste.

All in all fun, cheap and extremely satisfying. 

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Quick and easy stretchy Ciabatta

• 250g/9oz Italian type '00' bread flour (waitrose sells this flour, however if you cant find it a strong white bread flour will do)
• 190ml/7fl oz water
• 15g/½oz yeast
  
  
  Flour in bowl, make a small well add water gradually whilst mixing, add yeast and kneed well. 
  stretch into long sausage shape or small rolls, cover & place in a warm place for approx 20 mins.
  
  
  uncover 
  
  
  like most bread this is when you will kneed again to take out the bubbles of air formed from the yeast fermenting, however for ciabatta you want it full of light fluffy bubbles. 
  
  
  Bake for 20 mins (until golden brown) dust with flour, salt, pepper, drizzle with olive oil and add chopped chives to make it look all pretty!!!!! 
  
  
  
  
  serve with butter while warm! 
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Summer Delights

Carefully selected local Fillet of Beef, crunchy shallow fried olive oil and Rosemary Chips, topped off with home made Mayonnaise ...... Yum 

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