Lamb is good

Well, I'm feeling a lot better than I did last night, and the food we ate today improved accordingly.

I made Nigella's caesar salad, roast lamb racks with mint, orange and redcurrant jelly, roasted garlic and shallots, and grilled asparagus.

381. Caesar salad (Dinner)
382. Roasted garlic and shallots (Dinner)
383. Mint, orange and redcurrant jelly (Weekend Lunch)

Nigella's Caesar salad is different from what I'm used to - there is no bacon or anchovies, the eggs are muushed up into the dressing instead of poached and separate, and she uses potato croutons.

The croutons are made in exactly the same was as the cubed potatoes I made on Thursday. You chop them up, and roast them for an hour in a dish with garlic and oil.

While they were cooking, I made the shallots and garlic. You peel the shallots and bake them for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, you boil some garlic cloves, then peel them, and add them to the oven with the shallots for the last 20 minutes of cooking. (This was done, again, in the microwave convection oven living in my pantry).

Next I made the mint, orange and redcurrant jelly, by stirring some freshly chopped mint and orange zest into some store-bought redcurrant jam.

By this stage the potato croutons were ready, so I pulled them out of the oven and let them cool while I put the lamb racks in (30 minutes at 220C). I put in a tray of asparagus towards the end of cooking time.

To finish off the salad, I had to tear up some cos lettuce leaves, and toss through olive oil, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, parmesan cheese and 2 eggs which have been boiled for exactly 1 minute. (This means they're just cooked, but still very liquid). This mixture of ingredients forms a thick, sharp and tasty dressing. All that remained was to add the potato croutons, and lunch was ready...


lamb racks, asparagus and mustard


roasted garlic and shallots


table


closeup of caesar salad


mint and redcurrant jelly

It was a fantastic lunch. The unmarinated lamb (bought from Rendinas, as usual), was tender and tasty, and the redcurrant jelly was a great accompaniment. We all loved the Caesar salad, especially my Dad who thought the croutons were deelicious. The only thing we didn't love were the shallots and garlic - even though they'd had their garlicky-oniony acridness cooked out of them, they were still a bit too hardcore for our palates.

Hot Jewish Potato Pancakes

Here is what Mum and I had for lunch today.

374. Char Siu 1
375. Char Siu 2
376. Latkes (Basics etc.)

Nigella has 2 recipes for char siu (AKA glazed roast pork loin, Chinese style) in the Low Fat chapter. She suggests making up char siu in advance, slicing it, and stashing it in the freezer to use when you want to add some meat to your low-fat supper. (e.g. soup noodles etc). I made both char siu marinades last night, and let the pork loins marinate overnight.

The first marinade contains:
- soy sauce
- tomato ketchup
- hoisin sauce
- sweet sherry
- honey
- dark muscovado sugar

I had all these ingredients in my pantry.


Marinade ingredients (1)

The 2nd marinade seems to just be made up of random shit that Nigella had lying around her fridge. It contains:
- soy sauce
- prune juice
- mushroom ketchup (huh??)
- miso
- mirin
- sesame oil
- garlic
- light muscovado sugar

I used regular ketchup instead of mushroom ketchup, and coca cola for prune juice (it was a long shot, but I just wanted something sweet. And hey, it worked for the ham).


char siu marinade (1 on the left, 2 on the right)

Today, I put the loins in the oven (200C for 15 minutes, then 160C for 30 minutes), and got on with the latkes. I do realize the total inappropriateness of having latkes (i.e. a hot Jewish potato pancake) with roast pork… but I just really, really need to get through these recipes right now. Besides, a latke is a “hot Jewish potato pancake” – there is nothing I don’t like about that description. How could I resist?

So to make latkes, you need to grate up a few potatoes (using a processor, natch)…


grated potato

...then drain the potato pieces, and mix them with some chopped onion, flour (or matzah meal), egg and salt.



Then you just gotta fry the pancakes in hot oil for about 5 minutes a side. I love frying food, it is just so much fun.


I believe I can fry


Latkes!!

Here’s the char siu. Both marinades were pretty decent, even the weird one with the coke in it. I wouldn’t ever use them as a substitute for the real, red-glazed, deliciously greasy char siu that you find in Hong Kong BBQ shops, but for the purpose they were intended (addition of protein to low-fat meals), they are fine.


char siu

Ooh, but those latkes! They’re fantastic! So crispy and oily and totally compulsive.


Lunch

They’re good plain, but I also served the latkes with cream cheese and smoked salmon, which was brilliant. Cream cheese + fried potato and onion = the same flavour combo as in sour cream and onion flavoured chips. In other words, I was in flavour country. It’s a big country.


smoked salmon on latkes

Check it out, I folded the smoked salmon pieces just like I used to at my old job at the buffet restaurant. Man, I remember having to fold hundreds of pieces of salmon a night, and arranging them on huge expensive glass platters to feed the greedy greedy crowds. It was such a crap job.

But onto dessert - the lemon balm and Sauternes jelly which I made last night. After lunch, I unmoulded the jelly, and ate it with my mum. We drowned it in cream, and it was lovely. Very refreshing and light. However, it was unexpectedly alcoholic, which is why I think it didn’t set very hard. Maybe next time I’ll use more sugar syrup and less alcohol. Either way, it tasted good.


sauternes and lemon balm jelly

Cooking on a Tuesday Night

As of 6:15pm tonight, I officially finished classes for the semester! Yay!

When I came home, I just ate what my mum had cooked - rice and stirfried veggies, and then got on with ploughing through more recipes.

372. Sauternes and Lemon Balm Jelly (Dinner)
373. Good, thick winter pea soup

The soup appears in both the Cooking in Advance chapter, and in the Weekend Lunch chapter. Basically what you have to do is save any stock you have from boiling a ham, and boil it with split peas, a potato and some leek to form a soup. I used a tub of frozen stock I had leftover from the ridiculously salty ham in cider, (watered down substantially) and let the whole thing bubble away as I got on with the jelly.

First step is to make a syrup with sugar and water, and steep some lemon balm (or lemongrass) in it.


syrup

Next, you strain the liquid into a jug, and add some Sauternes. Then you dissolve gelatine leaves in some extra, warmed, Sauternes, and pour that into the jug. Finally, you add lemon juice to make up the volume. I was almost worried that we wouldn't have any lemons (we renovated and expanded our kitchen 3 years ago at the expense of our lemon tree, and now I never remember to buy them), until I saw this...


do we have enough lemons?

My dad has a guitar student, "Reese", who has a grandmother, who has a very fertile lemon tree. She offloaded a whole bunch of them to my dad last week. How lovely and generous of her!

Nigella says to use a 2-pint ring mould, but I only made a half-quantity of the jelly, and decided to use the randomly sized mini-mould that my Aunty Anne gave me.


jelly in moulds

The jellies are now in the fridge; they need to set overnight. Check back tomorrow for the verdict!

And here's the thick pea soup. I basically let it keep cooking until it looked like the picture of the yellow split pea soup in the New Years chapter of Nigella's latest book, Feast. It smelled pretty good too. And I think some sliced frankfurters (proper German ones, from a deli) would be lovely in it.


a good thick winter soup

I tasted it, and it was nice, but still ridiculously salty. I probably should have poured some of the stock away at the beginning, rather than adding water and then letting it bubble back down to its original saltiness. Whoops. I watered the completed soup down, and put the whole thing in the fridge. So now the soup is not too salty, but it's watery, and not "good and thick". If I can be arsed tomorrow, I'll boil up some more split peas in water and then add that to the soup.

I think it defeats the purpose of this soup if it's not like one of those "wonderful grainy, tobacco-tinted purées eaten in Amsterdam - thick, puddingy... smelling of sausage". Although I don't remember ever seeing soup like this on my trip to Amsterdam. To be fair, however, I don't remember much of my trip to Amsterdam at all.

You'll be pleased to know that I also made both marinades for Nigella's low-fat char siu recipes. The pork loins are defrosting as we speak, and I shall cook them tomorrow.

Night night.

Lunch

Today at 11:00am, I was sitting at the computer, doing my own thing when Dad walks in…

Dad: Hey Sarah, what are the plans for lunch?
Me: Huh? I dunno…
Dad: You know that we’re all home for lunch today? Daniel’s only working at night.
Me: We’re ALL at home…?!
Dad: So are you going to cook something?
Me: I don’t have anything planned!!! … NOOOOOOO!
Dad: Yeah but if you’re tired it’s ok, we can go out and eat…
Me: No, no! I’ll cook! Let’s go to Box Hill to buy stuff!

So we drove off to Box Hill, with me furiously flicking through How to Eat. Luckily, I already had a dessert ready. Having been totally enamoured with the Rhubarb Meringue Pie and the other rhubarb-pulp-based treats I've made recently, I was inspired yesterday to poach more rhubarb. I kept the pulp in little baggies for future use (on cereal, in yogurt, perhaps another pie?), and made another vagina jelly out of the juice.

As for the lunch part of lunch, I chose Nigella’s SPRING LUNCH FOR 8, in halved quantities. For this menu, Nigella suggests baked salmon, with either a taboulleh and fennel salad, or a pea, avocado and mint salad. I chose the pea, avocado and mint salad, but as for the taboulleh and fennel salad, I’m not sure whether Nigella meant for there to be two separate salads, or for the taboulleh and fennel to be all mixed up as the one salad.

The pudding in this menu is “Almond sponge with orange syrup”, which I believe is actually the Moorish Cake, not the Almond and Orange Blossom cake for which she gives a page reference. Either would be good, I suppose. But at any rate, I was having the vagina jelly for lunch, so had no need to worry about which almond cake was the correct one.

236. Salmon baked in foil
237. Pea, avocado and mint salad

You have to start off by doing the peas, as they need an hour of steeping in a dressing of olive oil, vinegar and chopped mint. For the fish, you rub it with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and then wrap in a tightly-sealed-yet-baggy foil parcel, and bake it at 150C for 12 minutes per 500g. Once the peas have had their steeping time, you toss through some mixed salad leaves, some chicory (I couldn't find any, so substituted baby cos lettuce leaves - these look appropriate, but taste different) and some sliced avocado.


Lunch. As you can see, I took Nigella's garnish suggestions into consideration. There are the necessary lemon wedges, and some flat leaf parsley on the rim of the plate; "there is something about an unadorned fish on its platter that makes it look beached".


Pea, avocado and mint salad

The salad was fantastic; all the flavours complemented each other wonderfully and it was a great dish for a summer's day. The salmon just tasted as you would expect it to, no surprises there. But it's a good, simple method for cooking a whole fish with not too much fuss or mess.

And here's a shot of the rhubarb and muscat jelly. Like I said, I've made it before, but I thought you might like to see a photo of it anyway.


Jelly


jelly with icecream - I filled it with some sauternes ice cream, just for fun. But I think fruit would probably have been a better aesthetic choice. (Golden raspberries would look lovely, don't you think?)


Serving - I had mine with some double cream instead of the ice-cream.

Oxtail Stew and Vagina Jelly

Yup, you read my title. We had an Oxtail Stew with Red Wine and Marjoram for dinner tonight, followed by the Rhubarb and Muscat jelly.

67. Oxtail with Mackeson and Marjoram
68. Rhubarb and Muscat Jelly

It was a bit of a mission getting oxtail – we have two excellent butchers close by, and it took three phone calls, and three separate trips to the butchers to get my oxtail. Neither one had oxtail when I first called, and I had to order it in. I ended up getting one tail from Belmore Butchers, and another from Rendinas Butchery.

Nigella says you should get oxtail pieces that are nice and chunky, and as near to the same size as is possible. Because I got two whole tails (which the butchers cut up for me), my pieces ranged from teensy to large. But given that it was so difficult to get my hands on, I wasn’t about to start complaining about its girth. I did chuck the superduper small pieces in the freezer though, to make stock with later. Bring on the brodo!

I started cooking the stew on Monday morning, so that we could eat it on Tuesday night. You need to cook it a day ahead so that the stew can get cold enough to be degreased effectively. But Nigella says, “I’m happy with the fat left in: I love the artery-thickening deep and unctuous sauce is provides.” Thank goodness, because I forgot to degrease it.

She also says to use Mackeson (which is a type of stout, I think), but says you can substitute with red wine. I couldn’t find any Mackeson, but did have a half-finished bottle of red wine sitting in the kitchen, which is what I ended up using.

You cook some onions in oil, and add marjoram, garlic and parsley, then set it aside. Look at how beautiful it looks, all mushy and green-flecked.


Onions

Then dredge your oxtail pieces in flour, mustard, and cloves, and brown them in the same pan. I love my Le Crueset! On top of this you pile the onions, some tinned tomatoes, some carrots, bay leaves, celery, stock or water and the alcohol. Then cook it in the oven for 3-4 hours. I did this in half quantities, and thus it only needed 3 hours. Actually, I put it in the oven as I left for uni, and gave my brother strict instructions on how and when to turn off the oven. When I came home in the evening, the oven, the house, and the stew were all fine. He’s a clever boy.

Once it’s cooked, you’re supposed to chuck out the celery sticks. I fished them out and was going to chuck them out… but then I remembered that I adore really mushily cooked celery, and ate them. Damn, they’re tasty! All the oxtail flavour soaked into those mushy, mushy sticks. Cook's treat. Don’t throw them out!

I let it sit overnight, and today I got my mum to heat it up and cook some basmati rice while I went to yoga in the afternoon. (Yes, that’s right, I went to the gym today! Let’s have a parade!) Nigella suggests mashed potatoes or basmati rice. As lovely as mash is, I just wasn’t up for eating something drowned in butter and cream, which is the only way to have mash. Unbuttered mash is just lumpy cardboard. Feral. Don’t bother.


Oxtail with Red Wine and Marjoram

Here it is, sprinkled with parsley, which Nigella says “seems to give it the gloss of a seventeenth-century Dutch painting”. It’s not quite Girl with the Pearl Earring, but it tasted fantastic.

Dad: This smells good… takes one bite… Oh wow..! The flavour…yum… this is definitely in the top five of Nigella recipes.

It was so awesome! It tastes just like a proper stew should. And given the freezing cold weather, it was perfect. And the oxtail itself is so wonderful, soft, and it comes away from the bone so easily. I actually regret not making it in full quantities. We’ve got some leftover, but it’d be great to have a decent amount to stash in the freezer for upcoming dinners. Oh well…

Ok, onto the Rhubarb and Muscat Jelly. Or as I’ve come to call it, the Vagina Jelly. Nigella says not to make it in a ring mould, because once it’s set and shining and gently wobbling, the jelly’s pink colour “makes it looks slightly gynaecological”. Well, as soon as I read that, I knew I just had to make it in a ring mould! A pink copper one, with flower patterns around the top, no less. I made it last night with the rhubarb I bought yesterday and carried around in my bag all day.


Poached Rhubarb

This jelly is made from the drained juices of rhubarb poached in the oven with water, sugar and orange juice. I decided to use half the rhubarb pulp in a rhubarb trifle (coming soon), and freeze the remainder. The juices are mixed with some muscat (we had an old bottle lying around, from the seventies I’m sure, which happened to have just the right amount of liquid in it!)


Jelly elements - heating the liquid in the small pan, remaining liquid in the big jug, and pulp in the sieve.

I’d never used leaf gelatine before, and was excited to find it at King and Godfree (gourmet foodstore near uni) yesterday. Here’s a picture of it soaking in water if you’ve never seen it before. It looks like plastic. Once it had softened, I squeezed it out and whisked it into the heated red liquid in the small pan, then combined it with the remaining liquid in the big jug.



Then I poured the liquid into the well-lubed pan (I used heaps of oil cos I was afraid it wouldn't come out cleanly), and let it sit in the fridge overnight.

And here it is! Gorgeous! I never thought that we were a jelly type of family, but we loved it. It's got a very deep toned flavour, but isn't overly sweet. Fabulicious.


Rhubarb and Muscat Jelly

Tthe next rhubarb dessert we're having is the Rhubarb, Muscat and Mascarpone Trifle. You need to make another Vagina Jelly to go in this one, in the same quantity. The trifle recipe serves 12-14 (GASP!), so I'm halving it. There's no way we're gonna be able to eat that much trifle! Thus, rather than getting another whole kilo of rhubarb and starting all over again, I decided that we'd only eat half the jelly tonight (actually, we could have easily finished it, if I'd let that happen...). The remainder will be melted down, and used in the trifle, thus enabling me to have it both ways.