your recipe update on Risotto alla Milanese with Osso Buco ... better late than never!

I have finally got around to finishing the post over on A Greedy Piglet with the full recipe for the Risotto alla Milanese and Osso Buco. Sorry it has taken a while... but it will be worth it! go! cook! eat!

Osso buco alla Milanese - Saturday August 17th 2013

As I am sure you will have heard, since I have been hammering on about it, I have been asked to help judge the Essential Stock risotto competition held through Facebook and Twitter. I am rather flattered indeed,  since I am a strong fan of Essential Stock dehydrated stocks and use them in preference to any other stocks now (not including home made, but that doesn't happen very often in this house). The judging will mean cooking some of the finalist recipes to see how they come out in practice, in a real home. Because these are Real Cookery competitions, I am pleased to say, rather than giveaways.

So, in preparation, I thought that my risotto making skills should be honed.  I have blogged about my risotto views before on A Greedy Piglet, about the importance of the rice, and the end texture. This will be VERY important in my view. If I can't make the recipe to the right texture, I won't be able to judge the flavours properly. So a bit of extra practice is needed I think.

I will pop the full recipe over on A Greedy Piglet, but for now just admire the silken slump of this bit of ricey deliciousness.

mmmmmmm

Wild Rabbit with carrots and turnips - Tuesday August 13th 2013

Fabulous Wild Rabbit, now coming back into its prime. I bought three leg joints for about £3 at Walthamstow Farmers Market on Sunday, and braised them with white wine, Essential Cuisine chicken stock, carrots, celery and turnips, and served it with plainly boiled new potatoes.  Simple and delicious.

Grilled Gilt Headed Bream with home made pitta bread: Sunday August 11th 2013

I always mean to make something fancy schmancy and elaborate with a whole fish. But in the end can you beat just grilling it with a bit of oil and seasoning?

No, I don't think so either.

Oh, it has salad on it too... shhhhhhhhhhh we are not mentioning salad....

yawn... so much salad... yawn.....

Sorry, I've been very quiet.. most days have just been salad. And more salad. And I think you may be bored of seeing that. So I shan't be mentioning any salad+bits from the fridge any more unless you specifically want me to.....

I shan't hold my breath waiting for you to rush and say "OH yes! more salad photos! We don't know how to make a salad! "

Last salad....

Back to salad...Thursday August 8th 2013

Back to salad... egg, salami, new potato salad. Fat tomatoes and ridge cucumbers.

(I am trusting you to say nothing about my overcooked HB eggs... I put them in cold water to cool, but it got hot again! They needed less time and then they wouldn't have that dark line round the yolk. Oops! )

Pork Chop with sauce charcutiere - Wednesday August 8th 2013

I love a nice pork chop.

I usually either grill or oven bake them, but I was watching Raymond Blanc on catchup the other day, frying his pork chop in butter. Oh it looked good.

So copying him, I fried my chops in plenty of unsalted butter, around 5 minutes each side, then rested for 5 minutes whilst I fried the sausage meatballs and made the charcutiere sauce.  Which is the best sauce for pork chops.

I dredged the butter in the pan with plain flour, and whisked to make a light roux, then splashed in some of the cooking water from the potatoes (which also had the carrots and peas cooking all in together to save on energy), whisking to incorporate all the sticky juices from the bottom of the pan. This rich sauce was further enriched with some veal glaze from Essential Cuisine (a little sample I had sent with my pie competition winnings) and a slug of home made blackberry vinegar, so act as a fillip to the flavour. Added to this a handful of chopped cornichons and some capers. And the little sausage meatballs.

Truly scrumptious.

Round Up The Week... chicken and frittata and salad and aubergines and sausages.. August 1-7th 2013

Gosh its been a busy week!! no time!! no time!!

So another round up I am afraid...

Thursday: Chicken spezzatino with new potatoes and salad

I described how to make this back in February:

Friday:  Gammon, potato and onion frittata with watercress

Simple frittata with sliced new potatoes and chopped end of the gammon from earlier in the week.

Saturday:    Aubergine gratin with fregola pasta and watercress

Fried aubergine slices, in a caponata sauce (tomato sauce made slight sweet and sour with sugar and vinegar, with added celery slices, capers and onion) topped with a moussaka topping (white sauce with lots of nutmeg and an egg added in at the end) and grated parmesan. Very yummy.

Sunday:   More aubergine gratin ( I made two small oval dishes full, one fed two easily) more fregola (because it is delicious! ) and with some sausage patties alongside.

Monday:   I got some amazingly good tomatoes and ridge cucumbers at Walthamstow Farmers Market on Sunday, so first course of a simple tomato and cucumber salad with a little red onion.

 

Followed with some more sausage patties, with hot new potatoes and runner beans tossed in butter. 

Tuesday : Hog board at The Bell before the Quiz. (we won! Hurray!) No pics of that though... too hungry!

Orzo pasta with runner beans and peas.. Wednesday July 31st 2013

Hmmmm wrong filter on the camera, but you get the gist of it...

Orzo pasta cooked with fresh peas and English runner beans (all in the one pan, they all take about the same time, 8 minutes) , with crispy onions and chopped mint added at the end with lots of salty butter.  With the last slices of the cold pork and a green salad.  15 minutes including the chopping and podding :)

Yum

Gnocchi with peas and ham - Monday July 29th 2013

No, honestly, it was nice. Really. I know it looks a bit sludgy, but it was NICE. Honestly....

It was a day for standing in front of the fridge and pulling things out at random until an idea took root.  And then hoping for the best. And thankfully getting a tasty result.

So first out of freezer, potato gnocchi (they can be cooked straight from frozen). Then in the fridge a pot of ready made Italian cheese sauce, some cooked gammon, fresh peas just needing podding, a fresh red pointy pepper.

Chop, pod and slice as required. Blanch peas and throw into re-heated cheese sauce with gammon and red peppers pieces, cook gnocchi and then throw them into the cheese sauce too.  Serve in a bowl with slices of cooked pork loin.

Saturday and Sunday - the twins... July 27-28th 2013

Easy does it salad again on Saturday, cold roast pork, cold gammon, watercress, coleslaw and homemade brown bread. 

And OH out on Sunday, so exactly the same thing again!

all this week....Monday-Friday July 22-26 2013

Gosh it's been a busy old week let me tell you. With LOTS of fab eating out hence very little on here for you. And it has been very very hot so all meals have been quite light.

So shall I summarise?


Monday - Peruvian Avocado Masterclass at Ceviche in Frith Street, in London's West End. We made stunning salads with quinoa and avocado, and lots of tasters of ceviche. And Pisco Sours. Oh yes, let's not forget the Pisco Sour ;) (lots more about the masterclass and about amazing Peruvian Avocados soon over on A Greedy Piglet)

Tuesday - Quiz night at the Bell. Salt and Pepper Squid. with garlic mayo. And chips.

Wednesday - I made the quinoa and avocado salad again to see if I could. Yes I can , although I only had red quinoa (Merchant Gourmet ready cooked) and no butter beans...and no physallis to make the coulis so I used a little Womersley Golden Raspberry vinegar instead for the bit of sweetness it needed.

And to follow that we had a very light salad with Polish sausage and Italian blue cheese.

Thursday - A joint of gammon in the fridge needed cooking, so I pressure cooked it and we had it cold with salads.

Friday - My wedding anniversary - 33 years - yes, it is amazing. Thank you, no I don't look old enough do I...  We went out for lunch at our favourite fine dining restaurant, L'Autre Pied , and I had delicious beetroot to start, then hake with parmesan and truffles, and a cherry and apricot dessert. With lots of wine. Oh, and I nearly forgot... a Whisky Sour to start (I see this sour cocktail lark could be a habit..)

Layer Marney Lamb and Roast Med Veggies - Sunday July 21st 2013

Gosh this is a great cut of lamb, the chump end. Cheap as chips, a bit of bone in it but that just makes for highly pleasurable gnawing, and as tender as the rest of the chump.  I marinated both the lamb and the veggies in lemon juice, olive oil and oregano, grilled the lamb and oven roasted the vegetables.

The lamb was bought at Essex Food Festival on Saturday, and came from Essex lamb farmers Layer Marney Lamb, this was oh so delicious. The Mediterranean vegetables were roasted earlier and allowed to cool, and with a crunchy salad were just right for this most Mediterranean of summers we are having.

Salad again... End of Last Week July 18/19/20 2013

It is still Scorchio as The Sun always used to put it.. hottest summer for 7 years apparently.  Takes a person's appetite away, so we are just eating salad variations.  I am sure you can put a lot of raw veg in a bowl, toss them in dressing, and add something proteinous without me telling you how to. But here are a couple for you:

Polish sausage, feta and olives

Bray's Cottage Pork Pies.. the larger is a naked one, and the small a Wiverton - a summer limited edition with lemon and garlic, yummy!!

(In the background there are the last couple of squares of The Finalist Bread from Essex Food Festival... )

Odds and Sods Salad Wednesday July 17th 2013

Still rather on the warm side.... 30 degrees in the shade... salad again then. I had a lovely pack of mixed grains from Merchant Gourmet to test (still in test stage, so can't say what is in it, but it is VERY good. Very wholegrain and very healthy). I mixed this with some lemony vinaigrette, sumac, chopped parsley and coriander, chopped red onion and red pepper, and some chopped roasted hazelnuts. Very good and filling.

And the protein was just ... stuff. Odds and ends in the fridge that needed using up. A kofte or two, a bit of ham, some hummus, that kind of thing. Easy "I can't really face hot stove" type food.

Chargriddled Lamb Kofte, Bulgar wheat pilaf & Salad Monday July 15th 2013

The top bit of the lamb shoulder was left, the bit round the shank, not really suitable for plain grilling, so I popped it in the food processor with some onion, breadcrumbs, sumac, allspice, salt and lots of parsley. Sausage shaped, and chargrilled them.  Then rested in the oven whilst I deglazed the pan and added some fresh tomatoes to cook down into a little sauce.

Meanwhile bulgur pilaf with lamb stock, some Urban SpiceMan Yo Momma spice blend (lots of sumac in there plus other secret things..) and parsley and roasted chopped hazelnuts added at the end.

Salad. Total Greek yoghurt. Home made pita breads.Crispy fried onions over the top.

Nice, eh?

More sunshine... more griddled lamb.... more yum....Sunday July 14th 2013

Lamb. That is all there is to say. More. Lamb.

Or you can add in a yum or an mmmmm should you so choose...

Chargrilled Lamb & salad Saturday July 13th 2013

Oof it has turned rather warm this week!! I am not likely to be playing with fancy schmancy stuff whilst this heat is about, lots of salad, and simply grilled or cold meat. That's the ticket for me.

I found a reduced price lamb shoulder again, and snapped it up. Cut flat pieces from the blade end and chargrilled them using a Le Creuset ridged pan to get the fat lovely and crispy.

In fact this was so successful, Bob has voted for this tomorrow as well :)

What you can't see (I hadn't decided to add it on when I took the picture)  is the hummus I smothered the lamb with as I ate it... oh yum.

Take Your Pick Salad... Friday 11th July 2013

You make lots of salads, stick them on the table, and nibble as you feel like it...

Just a little snack really....

Papperdelle with last of the stew Thursday 11th July 2013

I made some more stew, using the last of yesterday's on top of some wonderful feather steak and some chopped chicken livers. Simply delicious. Fresh papperdelle - the wide noodles famously served with a hare stew, so working very well here with the beef. 

From start to finish, 25 mins. And that includes the chopping up of the beef and livers. Wow.