Lentil loaf

I don't understand people who don't like lentils - what on earth is offensive about a lentil? They don't really taste of anything, are really good for you, fill you up and are cheap. In other words, an ideal ingredient for an inexpensive lunch at work. Add a bit of cheese, onion and chili and it tastes of cheese, onion and chili. (It does not, as O once said, taste of socks.)

The original recipe for this lentil loaf was obviously written in the 70s as all the ingredients are in imperial and the first line reads 'Pick over the lentils for sticks and stones'. Luckily lentils have come on a long way since then and you don't need to worry about stray sticks and stones.

Lentil loaf ingredients

• 175g red lentils
• 100g mature cheddar
• 1 onion (today I used a red onion, but any colour will do)
• Pinch chili flakes
• 1 large egg
• Salt & black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley (optional)

  How to make lentil loaf

1. Rinse the lentils thoroughly under cold running water.
2. Put them in a small pan that has a tight-fitting lid.
3. Cover with about 250ml cold water, put the lid on and bring to the boil.
4. Turn down the heat to a simmer.
5. Cook for about 15 minutes, checking regularly that there is still sufficient water - I have lost count of the times I have burnt the lentils to the pan (including today).
6. Chop the onion finely.
7. Grate the cheese.
8. Beat the egg in a small bowl or jug.
9. Heat the oven to 190 degrees C.
10. When the lentils are ready they will have collapsed and formed a stiff puree: 

• Add the cheese, onion, chili, salt, pepper and parsley (if using) to the lentils and mix thoroughly.
• Add the egg and lemon juice. 
• You now needs to turn the mixture into a prepared loaf tin. You can prepare the tin by greasing it with butter, adding a disposable loaf tin liner or, like I do, adding a strip of greaseproof paper across the base and sides of the tin: 

• Bake for about 50 minutes, till the loaf feels firm and is golden.

While you can serve this hot (in which case leave it to stand for 10 minutes before eating) I prefer it cold, in which case its best made the day before you want to eat it. The recipe states that this serves 4, but I find this gives portions that are a little too large. Slice into 5 pieces, wrap in tinfoil and eat each slice with a salad for lunch. Just vary the salad or the dressing to stop it becoming boring.

Lime pickle

Limes, marinading

Lime pickle ingredients

 

I'm getting a little bored with chutney and so am branching out into pickles. To be honest, I'm not sure what constitutes a chutney versus a pickle and would probably call this lime pickle a relish, since it doesn't contain any sugar. It is a very tangy version of the stuff you get in jars to have with poppadoms, but equally as oily. It was delicious served as a dip for cocktail sausages. 

• 12 limes
• 2 medium-hot green chillies
• 1 heaped tablespoon grated ginger
• 2 teaspoons brown mustard seeds
• salt
• 500 ml white wine vinegar
• 250 ml sunflower oil
• 3 lemongrass stalks
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes + seeds

 How to make lime pickle

1. Slice the limes thickly into a large bowl.
2. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons coarse salt.
3. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave overnight.
4. The next day rinse the limes under cold water and drain. 
5. Chop the chili, garlic, ginger and lemongrass finely.
6. Heat the oil in a in a large heavy-based saucepan.
7. Add the chopped vegetables and the chili powder and mustard seeds.
8. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring. 
9. Add the limes and the vinegar and bring to the boil.
10. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, uncovered.
11. Spoon the hot pickle into hot sterilized jars and seal.
12. Leave for at least 1 week before using.
13. Store in the fridge once opened. 

 

Gingered rump steak salad

A variation on chilli beef salad. In this version I marinaded the steaks for about half an hour then served them whole with the salad on the side. 

 

The salad bit

  Asian marinade/dressing ingredients

• 1/2 JOT* grated ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon sambal oelek or 1 red chilli
• Sambal oelek is a hot Malaysian/Thai chilli sauce - I used a small amount of this as I didn't have a fresh red chilli. If you're using fresh chilli, chop it finely and remove the seeds.
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• pinch sugar

*Jamie Oliver's Thumb: the official measurement used for root ginger.

 

Salad ingredients

• 5cm piece carrot
• 5cm piece courgette
• 5cm piece cucumber
• 1/2 red pepper
• 2 spring onions 
• 1 small little gem lettuce
• Small handful mint leaves
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted 

 

How to make marinaded rump steak salad

1. Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a shallow dish.
2. Add the steaks to the dish and turn to coat both sides.
3. Cover with cling film and set aside for at least 30 minutes - don't, however, chill in the fridge as you want the steaks to be at room temperature when you cook them. 
4. While the steaks are marinading, cut the vegetables into julienne (ie thin strips).
5. Toast the sesame seeds for a minute or two until slightly coloured and there is a noticeable aroma coming from the.
6. When you are ready to cook the steaks, heat a griddle pan till it is very hot.
7. Remove the steaks from the marinade and place on the hot griddle.
8. Leave to cook for about 3 minutes, then turn over and cook the other side for the same time - this will give you medium-rare steaks. 
9. Remove the steaks from the pan and leave to rest for at least 5 minutes.
10. Let the remaining marinade bubble for a few minutes till it becomes syrupy. 
11. Tear the mint leaves and add to the vegetables.
12. Pour the thickened marinade over the salad and toss together.
13. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the salad then sever with the steak.

 

The steak bit

A word on toasted seeds

Toasted seeds add taste and crunch to a salad, but sometimes seem like a bit of an unnecessary hassle to bother with. I normally toast a couple of tablespoons each of:

• linseeds
• sunflower seeds
• poppy seeds
• pumpkin seeds

then keep these in a small jar for sprinkling on salads. I also keep a jar in my drawer at work, but normally forget to add them to my lunch salads. 

Asian-poached chicken salad

Chicken noodle salad

 

Feeling utterly uninspired last night I decided to poach a whole chicken with Asian flavours. 

I had no idea how it was going to taste as the recipe was loosely based on several I found online, what sounded right to me and what I had in the fridge.  

Asian-poached chicken ingredients

• 1 large free range chicken
• 2 sticks celery, cut into batons
• 1 large carrot, cut into thick slices
• 2 spring onions, cut into long sticks
• 1 onion, peeled and cut into quarters
• 2 star anise
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• I large piece root ginger, peeled and cut into rough chunks
• 5 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 fat (or 5 normal) garlic cloves, crushed but not peeled
• 1 lime, halved
• 5 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine

 

Method for making Asian-poached chicken

Poaching a chicken

1. Add all the ingredients to a stock pot
2. Cover with water 
3. Bring to the boil for 20 minutes
4. Reduce to a simmer and continue to cook for 40 minutes

A couple of recipes I found online gave instructions to switch off the heat after the 20 minutes boiling and leave the chicken in the poaching liquor for 3 hours. However this would have meant eating at about 10.30pm so I simmered it for 40 minutes instead.

After 40 minutes I switched off the heat and left the chicken to cool slightly in the poaching liquor for about half an hour.

Chicken and vegetable noodle salad

 

I pulled some of the meat from the poached chicken to add to a noodle salad. 

Chicken noodle salad ingredients

Meat pulled off the chicken

• 5cm carrot
• 5cm courgette
• 5cm cucumber
• 2 spring onions
• 1/2 red pepper
• A couple of slices of a small red cabbage
• 2 nests noodles (I used medium egg noodles, but feel free to use whatever type you have)
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds 
• A handful mint leaves
• A handful coriander leaves
• As much chicken as you want to eat, torn into strips
• Chopped red chilli, to serve

Chicken noodle salad dressing ingredients

 

• 3 tablespoons sesame oil
• Juice of a lime
• 2 tablespoons peanut relish
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce

How to make the chicken noodle salad 

1. Combine the dressing ingredients in a screw-top jar and shake vigorously.
2. Cut all the vegetables into long strips.
3. Chop the mint and coriander finely.
4. Cook the noodles per the instructions and rinse under a cold tap.
5. Tip the noodles into a large serving bowl and pour over the dressing.
6. Add the herbs, vegetable and chicken strips and toss to coat with the dressing.
7. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds.  
8. Serve with the chopped chilli on the side for people to add as much as they like. 

Although this salad was good, it did lack a little oomph. I'd used the last of my root ginger poaching the chicken, but think a teaspoon or so would have been a welcome addition to the dressing. Personally, I would have added the chilli to the dressing too, but put this on the side because I was cooking for someone with a very low heat threshold. 

Chicken stock for soup

 

Today I made chicken stock to use in chicken or noodle soups.

1. Heat the oven to 180⁰C.
2. Strip the remaining meat from the carcass.
3. Strain the poaching liquid through a sieve then return to the stock pot.
4. Put the bones and carcass in a roasting tin and roast for 25 minutes.
5. Add the bones to the strained liquid.
6. Bring everything to the boil.
7. Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue simmering for 1 hour.
8. Strain the liquid through a sieve again. 

Magic number tomato sauce

The magic cooking number is 190⁰C fan assisted. If in doubt about oven temperature, this is what you use. But sometimes, just like in life, 3 is the magic number. 

Here is my 3 is the Magic Number utility tomato sauce recipe.

I used to make tomato sauce using approximate quantities of 2, but this leaves an annoyingly small amount of leftover sauce which is not quite enough for another meal. So I thought I'd make one and a half quantity, which also happens to be an easy recipe to remember. 

Magic Number tomato sauce ingredients

• 3 onions
• 3 tins plum tomatoes (not chopped - this makes the sauce to watery)
• 3 very fat garlic cloves
• 3 celery sticks
• 1.5 carrots. The 3 ratio slips a little here as 3 carrots would make a very sweet sauce, unless they were very small. I hope you can remember to use 1.5 carrots instead.
• 3 herbs: parsley, thyme and oregano
• 3 small bay leaves
• Splash red wine (optional)

A very bad photo of tomato sauce

This is a basic tomato sauce that goes with a myriad of dishes. Today I am making a batch for vegetable lasagne so will add some grilled veg, but will have enough to stick in the freezer for another meal. This may be sausages and lentil, pasta and feta, gnocchi and cream, pizza base, white fish...

How to make 3 is the Magic Number tomato sauce

1. Heat a little olive oil in a large casserole dish.
2. Chop the onion as finely or roughly as you want.
3. Chop the celery into very fine slices - some people hate cooked celery so it's best to try and make it look like pieces of onion and deny its existence. 
4. Add these to the pan and fry till soft. 
5. Finely chop the garlic.
6. Grate the carrot. 
7. Add the garlic and the carrot to the pan and stir everything round. 
8. Cook for a further 5 minutes till softened.
9. If you want to add a little richness to the sauce, add a splash of red wine to the pan and turn  up the heat till most of the wine has evaporated (otherwise it will taste harsh and horrible).
10. Add the tins of tomatoes to the pan.
11. Add a little water to one of the empty tomato tins and swill it round to dislodge any remaining juice from the side of the tin.
12. Pour this into the next empty tin and repeat, till you have rinsed the remaining juice from all 3 tins. Pour this into the sauce.
13. Bring the sauce to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes.
14. Break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon.
15. Leave to simmer for a further 15 or so minutes till the sauce thickens slightly. 

Your tomato sauce s now ready to use.

Party nibbles

My friend Kerry is hosting a party at her house and wants some suggestions for nibbles. Here's a few ideas.

Honey and mustard cocktail sausages

You will need:

• William Rose cocktail sausages*
• Runny honey 
• English mustard

1. Heat the oven to 190 degrees C (the magic cooking number)
2. Mix together equal quantities of honey and mustard in a large dish
3. add the cocktail sausages and toss to coat
4. Add a few grinds of black pepper
5. Tip into a roasting dish
6. Roast for about 10 minutes, then shake the tin and roast for another 10 minutes
7. Serve warm or cold

Variation

If you don't fancy using mustard, or just want to have a couple of different flavours, try sprinkling the sausages with dried chilli flakes instead of coating with honey and mustard.

*William Rose is the excellent butchers in East Dulwich. I always buy meat from there when I have people round. Of course if you don't live near East Dulwich you will have to get your sausages elsewhere, but do try and get them from the butchers and not the supermarket.

Pesto pastry puffs

Pesto pastry puffs ingredients

• 1 quantitiy ready rolled puff pastry
• I quantity homemade pesto
• Parmesan or good cheddar cheese

How to make pesto pastry puffs

1. Spread the pesto over the pastry.
2. Sprinkle with a thin covering of finely grated cheese.
3. Either roll up the pastry into a tiht roll, then thninly slice the roll, and lie each piece flat on a baking dish.
4. Bake at 190 degrees C for about 20 mins, or till the pasty is golden and cooked through.

Variation:Feta and sundried tomato puffs

• 1 quantitiy ready rolled puff pastry
• I quantity homemade pesto
• 1/2 pack feta cheese
• About 5 sundried tomatoes

1. Spread the pesto over the pastry then cut the pastry sheet into small squares and place on a baking sheet.
2. Bake for 20 mins, remove from the oven and allow to cool.
3. Cut 1/2 pack feta cheese into small cubes.
4. Cut the sundried tomatoes into small pieces using scissors.
5. Mix the feta and tomatoes together in a bowl with some olive oil, salt and pepper.
6. Top each square with about a teaspoon full of the cheese and tomato mix.

Salmon and cream cheese rolls

Salmon and cream cheese rolls ingredients

• Smoked salmon or trout
• 1 tub Philadelphia cream cheese
• 1 bunch watercress
• lemon

How to make salmon and cream cheese rolls 

1. Cut the salmon into long strips.
2. Spread each strip with a thin layer of the cream cheese.
3. Place a sprig of watercress in each strip.
4. Roll each strip up lightly.
5. Place on a serving plate, grind over some black pepper and squeeze over some lemon juice.

Cannelini bean hummus

Make just like normal hummus but use cannelini beans instead of chickpeas. You probably won't need as much oil as for chickpea hummus as the beans are very creamy.
Serve with toasted pitta bread.

How to stop colleagues stealing your salad dressing at work

Let's face it, dressings are what make salads worth eating. Without dressings, your salad is essentially tortoise food. Having been told that I look like a tortoise when I eat, I am keen to remove myself from further comparisons, and so prefer my salads to be dressed with a healthy portion of oil and vinegar. For some reason, I find the addition of salt and pepper to a salad to be hedonistic, and never add either. Except to tomatoes.

I always make salad dressings myself rather than buying them. I normally make at least double, more often triple, quantity, so I always have some in the fridge when I need it. Basic dressings made with oil, vinegar, honey and mustard can be stored for months in screw-top jars. Since fresh herbs will go black once cut, you can always sprinkle herbs over the salad rather than adding to the dressing if you want to include them.

Do not store your salad dressing in the fridge at work: someone, or, more likely, several people will steal it. Unless your dressing contains dairy, it doesn't need to be kept in the fridge; just keep it in your drawer (which, for a reason I don't know, we call a pedestal).

Strangely, I always keep salad dressing in the fridge at home. It is unlikely someone will steal it from here. In fact, the opposite is true: I often hide things I don't want O to eat in the salad drawer of the fridge, as I know he will never look in there for snacks. 

Here's some salads to have with your dressing:

Ham salad, 70s style 
Apple and rocket salad
Roasted vegetable salad

Or some more substantial salads:

Sausage salad
Vegetarian salads
Chicken noodle salad