Posts Tagged ‘food’

Ma’s Steak’n'Chips (it’s ohmygood)

Thursday, December 17th, 2009
Bing bang bosh, done.

Bing bang bosh, done.

There isn’t much in this world that makes me close my eyes in pure unadulterated pleasure, savoring every mouth-full, but this is one of those things. Should I have a “Death row meal”, it won’t be foie gras and lobster from Claridges that I would be asking for, it would be this. In my mind, I’ve always related this meal (or even just egg’n'chips) with something special, only having it 3 or 4 times a year. They’re so much better than ‘chippy’ chips, and don’t get me wrong, they have their place in the world, but then again, so does McDonalds.

Now, before I start with the nitty-gritty, I want you to be extra careful, you’re dealing with hot oil that can lead to a really really nasty accident, this is definitely lock-your-kids-out-of-the-kitchen stuff. Never, ever, leave boiling oil alone. Should a fire break out, damp a cloth under the sink, squeeze it dry, and place it over the pan/wok, covering the flame and cutting off the flame’s oxygen supply.

Ingredients and Equipment

  • A deep Wok or saucepan for frying.
  • About 1kg of ‘chipping’ potatoes, like King Edwards (Enough for 2 or 3 good portions)
  • A nice Rib-eye steak.
  • About one-and-a-half red onions
  • Loads of sunflower Oil, about half a bottle.
  • Japanese Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar (take a peek at the photos for my favorite brand).
  • Some salt and pepper
  • A pan for frying the onions and steak (Naturally, the all mighty Griddle Pan would make the whole thing 17.5% nicer)
  • A colander and deep dish.
  • A little bit of Butter

How to go about making “The Best Meal Evah ™”

  • Peal the potatoes (if you want, not important) and cut them into 1cm thick chips.
  • Chop up the onions into strips
  • Lots of salt’n'pepper on the steak
  • If you’re cutting the potatoes in advance, leave them in a bowl and covered with water, to stop them blackening. About 20 minutes before you’re ready to cook, empty the chips into the colander and let them drip dry(ish)
  • Fill up the wok or pan about half way with oil and put on a medium-high heat. After about 5 minutes, drop one of the chips in, it should give a satisfying sizzling sound, if it does, put in about half the chips… be careful with this though, don’t over-fill the wok. You can always do two batches. If you are doing it in two batches, you can semi-pre-fry this beforehand… if you do that, don’t put them into the water as above, and you should fry them until they turn from white to yellow.
  • Pour some butter into the frying pan (not the wok) and sweat down the onions for about 10-15 minuites, then take out and leave on the side.
  • At around the 30 minute mark, the chips should be almost done, but not quite done. I like my chips well-done, so you get nice crispy bits.
  • Put some butter and oil in the pan you just did the onions in and turn up the heat, when the pan is hot when you hover your hand about 3 inches above it, put on the steak for 3 minutes… don’t turn it around when cooking, just let it cook. Then turn it over for another three minutes…. now leave it to rest on the side
  • It’s now been about 45 minutes since the chips started frying, and they should be perfect now, use your own judgement as to weather they’re done or not.
  • Put some kitchen paper into a bowl and take out the chips to put on top. Use something like a metal slotted spoon thinggy to get them out.
  • Put it on the plate, and enjoy. Personally, the only condiments I have with this is a drop of mustard for the steak, but it seriously doesn’t need anything. That vinegar I mention in the photos is amazing on this.
  • When the oil has cooled down from the chips, you can put it back into the bottle it came from, but please make sure it’s cooled down first. Never empty it down the sink, I can’t remember why, but I hear the results can be quite grim. You can use the oil again as nothing has really flavoured it
    Bing bang bosh, done.

    Bing bang bosh, done.

The uncooked chips

The uncooked chips

Ribeye Steaks - Season well

Ribeye Steaks - Season well

Let the water drain from the potatoes.

Let the water drain from the potatoes.

Fill wok half way or less with oil

Fill wok half way or less with oil

Chop up some onions

Chop up some onions

Sweat them down.

Sweat them down.

Let the oil simmer before adding chips

Let the oil simmer before adding chips

Such a satisfying sound - use one chips as a tester first.

Such a satisfying sound - use one chips as a tester first.

Don't over-fill the wok.

Don't over-fill the wok.

Lovely onions

Lovely onions

The best vinegar in the world - Love this stuff !

The best vinegar in the world - Love this stuff !

Onions. Done.

Onions. Done.

Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy - THE CHIPS ARE DONE !!!

Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy - THE CHIPS ARE DONE !!!

Absolutely Perfect-e-mo

Absolutely Perfect-e-mo

Oh man, soooooooooO0o0o0o0o0o0o Good.

Oh man, soooooooooO0o0o0o0o0o0o Good.

Chicken and Pasta (with sauce)

Sunday, December 13th, 2009
Quick'n'Easy pasta

Quick'n'Easy pasta

This is simple one, using the sauce from ‘Steak Sandwich with Mustardy/Creamy/Oniony sauce‘, I boiled up some pasta, griddle-pan’d some chicken and mixed it all up.

The sauce, before I heated it up, was quite thick (almost solid), but upon adding it to the heated pan after cooking the chicken, it became the right consistency again, but reduced to the point where there wasn’t enough pasta… so I added a few dollops of mayo, and that fixed things.

Griddle Pan up some chicken and boil some pasta

Griddle Pan up some chicken and boil some pasta


The sauce reduced quite a bit.

The sauce reduced quite a bit.


A dolop of mayo fixed that.

A dolop of mayo fixed that.


Add the sauce once the chicken is done.

Add the sauce once the chicken is done.


Quick'n'Easy pasta - Tuddah

Quick'n'Easy pasta - Tuddah

Steak Sandwich with Mustardy/Creamy/Oniony sauce

Sunday, December 13th, 2009
The finished artical

The finished artical

Steak, allegedly one of the finest things known to culinary kind. And a fillet steak is king of steaks. And “28 day matured beef” steak is the king of fillet steaks. And the fact that I got it from ASDA knocks it down a peg, but it’s still a top notch steak. I decided to do a fillet steak with a sauce made from cream, onions, Dijon mustard and grainy mustard. I’ll be honest, I’m not the manliest of men, and steak doesn’t normally float my boat, but I wanted to recreate the memories of my favorite restaurant in Cyprus, The Moon Over The Water.

The sauce is amazing, I’m more than pleased with that, the steak though, left a bit to be desired. I think it could be that I didn’t cook it properly, or may have chosen the wrong kind of steak (fillet, rump…etc). I did the sauce first and then the meat, rather than the other way ’round (getting steaky-flavour into the sauce) because I wanted to have the sauce the next day and I wasn’t entirely sure it would be safe with the meat there.

Ingredients and Equipment

  • Griddle Pan ! (yes, love them, get one, right now, if you don’t have one)
  • Dijon Mustard
  • Grainy Mustard
  • Double Cream
  • An onion
  • Fillet Steak (or some kind of meat, it would work well with chicken)
  • Butter
  • Salt and Pepper

Instructions

  • Put a ‘Bake at home’ half-baked Ciabatta in the oven. I wasn’t sure if you should keep it in the bag, so I took it out.
  • Chop up the onion so you get slivers of onion (I mean, not diced)
  • Melt some butter into the pan and sweat down the onions for about 5 minutes
  • Pour over the cream
  • Put two big dollops of Dijon and one big dollop of grainy mustard into the sauce
  • Keep on stirring until the cream is thick enough to have a consistency that you want.
  • Pour the whole lot into a bowl and run the pan under the tap and whip it dry.
  • Pack a load of Salt, Pepper and any sort of Herby things (I used dried Basel) over the steak.
  • Now, I’ve been told the following rule for a fillet steak …
  1. Two minutes on each side, 8 minutes resting = rare
  2. Three minutes on each side, 4 minutes resting = Medium
  3. Four minutes on each side, 2 minutes resting = Well done.
  • Well, let me tell you, that didn’t work. I went for medium rare and the middle was still cold when I went to cut it, so I put it back on, gave it about 5 minutes on each side, the middle was still raw (not rare, raw). I tried one last time and I *think* it was cooked. I didn’t enjoy the steak part, which was double-gutted because I thought that would be the best bit.
  • Anyway, take the ciabatta out the oven, slice it in half, spread some butter and mustard on top.
  • Slice the steak into strips and place on the bottom slice
  • Pour over some of that AMAZING sauce
  • Put top on
  • Plate up

The good news though, is that I have plenty of sauce left over, that I’ll do with some chicken and pasta tonight.

My lovely Griddle Pan

My lovely Griddle Pan

Nice and organised

Nice and organised

Sweat 'em onions down

Sweat 'em onions down

The sauce (still need to stir it in)

The sauce (still need to stir it in)

Finished Sauce

Finished Sauce

Ok, a little bit messy.

Ok, a little bit messy.

Steak on the Griddle Pan

Steak on the Griddle Pan

Great, GRIDDLE MARKS !

Great, GRIDDLE MARKS !

I still think this is raw, did I eat raw steak?

I still think this is raw, did I eat raw steak?

Steak and Bread - I AM MAN !

Steak and Bread - I AM MAN !

The finished aritcal (opened)

The finished aritcal (opened)

The finished artical

The finished artical

Asian Salmon with Asparagus

Sunday, December 13th, 2009
Asian Salmon, Ohhh Boy.

Asian Salmon, Ohhh Boy.

My Asian Salmon with Asparagus is a home made recipe that I came up with. It’s taken me a couple of tries and mess-arounds to perfect it, but my goodness, is it good, and healthy. I admit, I’ve spent most of the past 5 years eating take aways, but I’ve recently discovered how to cook for myself, and I regret all those take-aways now. It’s not always cheaper if you’re cooking for one, but it is way way nicer.

Equipment and Ingredients

  • Sandwich Bag
  • Griddle Pan
  • Spatula
  • Half a chili*
  • About 4-5 spring onions
  • Sesame Seeds
  • Honey
  • Salmon Fillet
  • Dark Soy Sauce
  • Sesame Oil
  • Asparagus tips

* as someone with stomach-problems, I choose a mild red one and only used half. The intensity of the chili is reduced during the cooking process, but if you like things a bit hotter, add in a whole one or a hotter one.

Instructions

  • Run the Spring Onion, Chili and Salmon fillet under the tap to give it a little clean.
  • Finely slice and de-seed the chilli, put it in the sandwich bag.
  • Chop up the spring onion up , put it in the sandwich bag. Don’t bother with the green-with-no-white bits, they’re taste’n'texturely unpleasant.
  • Put in about half a handful of sesame seeds in the bag.
  • Put in two glugs of honey, half a glug of sesame oil, a glug of soy sauce into the bag
  • Put the salmon into the bag.
  • Squidge it all around and leave in the fridge for an hour or two (you can do this before you go to work if you want). Put it on a plate in case the bag leeks.
  • Heat up the griddle pan with a splash of sesame oil.
  • Take the salmon fillet out with about half the sauce and put it skin-side-up for about a minute or two, don’t move it about or you won’t get those lovely scorch marks.
  • Turn the fillet around (skin-side-down), and put the asparagus in the pan, for about 3 or 4 minutes
  • Pour on the rest of the sauce for another minute or two.
  • ……. Make it pretty on the plate and serve up !

This would go well with boiled potatoes with a bit of butter. You can buy these microwaveable baby potato that steam in the bag.

Asian Salmon, Ohhh Boy.

Asian Salmon, Ohhh Boy.

IMG_0229

Stuff in the sandwich bag

SCORCH MARKS ! WIN !

SCORCH MARKS ! WIN !

Skin side up first.

Skin side up first.