Spanish Fish Stew

Sorry to everyone who reads this blog, as there were no new posts for a few weeks? The reason behind this is due to the fact that I was unwell. I managed to catch Swine Flu from someone in my work and it basically floored me for over a week. But I am back at work now and feeling much better.


I have been trying to think of some good recipes to add to the blog, but can never think of any, then it comes to me usually when I have to make dinner and open the fridge to see what we have, and that’s how this dish came about. It was a Thu night and we do not do our shopping until a Friday, so the cupboard was a little Mother Hubbard. We had some frozen fish and that got me thinking about a dish my wife and I had in Spain.

Spanish Fish Stew

Ingredients
500g of mixed fish. (Best to use a mix of smoked fish, white fish prawns and some shell fish; to be honest any fish will work with this)
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
2 cloves of Garlic crushed or finely chopped
2 heaped teaspoons of Smoked Paprika
A good handful of chopped basil and parsley
A little corn flour mixed with water to thicken the sauce.
2 table spoons of lemon juice
½ a teaspoon of Tabasco sauce

Method: -
1 – Take the garlic, tins of tomatoes and add to large saucepan or cast iron casserole dish, and heat over a medium heat until the tomatoes are simmering.

2 – Add the chopped basil and parsley, and reduce to half

3 – Add the paprika lemon juice and Tabasco sauce.

4 – Turn down the heat to low and add the fish, and the corn flour if required.

5 – Let the fish cook for about 10 mins on low or until the fish is cooked, and try not to stir the dish as this will break up all the fish.

6 – Now serve in a bowl with some crusty bread.

This is a great winter meal as it is warming and the taste is really great with the smoked paprika. Simple but yet so delicious.

Roast Haunch of Venison

Sorry I’ve been away for a while, but I have just moved jobs from Glasgow office to the site office at the Grangemouth refinery and have not had time to do much this week.


Well at the weekend my wife and I went to Mitchells in Carmunock for our annual birthday meal and it was great. She had fillet steak and I had Venison, so in honour of the venison I had here is my own recipe for Haunch of venison.

Ingredients: -
1 off Haunch of venison
1 table spoon of Chinese five spice
2 glasses of red wine

Method

1 - Take the haunch of venison and rub the five spice into the meat. Leave overnight to marinade

2 - Preheat oven to 190deg C / Gas Mark 5

3 - Take a roasting dish and place a large piece of tinfoil in the base. Place the venison in the foil and pour over the red wine. Close the foil around the venison ensuring it is sealed.

4 - Cook the venison for about 1.5 to 2 hours dependent on the size of the meat. The foil will allow the venison to steam in the red wine and the meat should be tender when cooked. Baste half way through cooking as this will allow you to check how the meat is cooking.

Serve this with either creamy mash potatoes or crispy roast potatoes. It is so amazing you will never go back to roast beef.

I like to get my venison at a place near my mother-in-law's in Kinross. They are called Fletcher's and they do mail order. Here is the link:

Fletchers of Auchtermuchty

http://seriouslygoodvenison.co.uk/index.php

Pavlova

Well the weekend was another rainy time, and I had to try and find something to take away the rain blues with my son. My wife said why don’t you make a Pavlova with him. What a great idea.


So I checked the fridge to make sure we had everything and we set to work. There is nothing as frustrating as trying to separate eggs with a two and a half year old.

We managed to make it and he had some with his dinner, then lunch the next day and then dinner and then wanted some before bed.

A complete success I think.

Anyway here is the recipe: -

Ingredients: -
4-5 egg whites - dependent on how big the eggs are.
250g caster sugar
1 teaspoon of corn flour
2 teaspoons of vinegar
2-3 drops of good quality vanilla extract
300 ml of Whipped cream and sliced fruit for the topping

Method: -
1 – Preheat the oven to 180 deg C / 350 ºF / Gas Mark 4.

2 – Beat the eggs until stiff peaks. (Until you can hold the bowl upside down without the beaten eggs falling out.) Remember not to show off doing this as many times I have ended up with the eggs on the floor and the dog eating them.

3 – Add the sugar and beat in. now add the corn flour, vanilla and vinegar, and mix together for about 20-30 secs. Not too much or you will release the air from the eggs and the Pavlova will be flat...

4 – Place greaseproof paper on a baking tray or flat oven proof dish, and pour the mix onto the tray / dish till about 1 high and the diameter of a diner plate.

5 – Place in the oven and immediately turn it down to 150 deg C / 300 ºF / Gas Mark 2. and cook for 1hr 20 mins. (Do not check on the Pavlova until about 1 hr and 15 mins or it will collapse and be ruined)

6 – Turn off the oven and leave the Pavlova in the oven to cool for about an hour.

7 – Remove from the oven and turn over onto a plate, so the top is now the base. Peel off the greaseproof paper carefully so not to take the Pavlova with it, use a knife to scrap it off if necessary.

8 – Cover in fresh whipped cream and fresh fruit such as pineapple or strawberries or raspberries.

The Pavlova is all lovely and crispy meringue on the outside and like marshmallow on the inside. I grew up eating this when my Gran and my Mum made it for every occasion like Christmas. No one could ever make it as good as they could. Every time I tried it was flat and rubbish.

But when my mum died a few years ago I tried to make it again and I seem to have picked up the knack. Maybe my Mum and Gran were watching down on me giving me that helping hand.

Now when I make it for Christmas dinner, it brings a tear to my Dad’s eye.

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Great Real Gravy for Roast Beef or Chicken

This is a recipe that I got when talking to an old lady in a hotel when I was away with work. She described it in such detail then went away and wrote it down for me. She was really sweet. This can be used for any roast meat Beef, Chicken, Pork, Venison, you choose.


Step 1 – lay sticks of celery, quartered pealed onions and large peeled halved carrots on a roasting tray. Add a touch of water. Place the meat you want to roast on top of the veg. and roast your meat as normal using the juices to baste.

Step 2 – When the meat is cooked to your desired taste, remove the meat from the pan and remove the veg to a bowl. Now put the roasting pan over a low heat and deglaze with either a few glasses of red wine for beef or venison, and white wine for pork or chicken. Number of glasses of wine will be dependent on the size of the meat roasted. I say about 1 glass for every 1 kg. use a whisk to deglaze it’s much better.

Step 3 – As a great touch now add a few teaspoons of horseradish sauce if it’s beef gravy, or fresh sage for either chicken or Pork. Now add a few teaspoon of corn flour to thicken the mixture till it’s a sort of rue.

Step 4 – As the mix starts to bubble, ensure it is not burning, add about a litre of stock. Chicken stock if the meat is chicken, Ham stock if the meat is Pork, or beef stock if the meat is Beef or Venison. Mix well and add the veg again. Allow it to thicken.

Step 5 – Remove from the heat drain the gravy into a large jug. (you can use the vegetables as a base for a soup by liquidising them, have them with your meal as an accompaniment or just throw them away. Sometimes I actually liquidise the whole lot and have that as my gravy, but it’s not really smooth when you do that, more rustic and hearty than

Step 6 - Now into the jug of gravy add a few tea spoons of gravy granules and whisk until the gravy is thick. This may sound like sacrilege after all the work you have done, but it works really well and makes nice thick tasty gravy.

Step 7 – Enjoy this with your traditional roast dinner. It is really nice and well worth all the effort.

Chicken and Leek Pie

A few weeks ago I was given some leeks by a neighbour who had grown them in her garden, and she had too many to use. When I got them I tried to think what to do? Maybe make soup?


Then I remembered my Grandpa making Chicken and Leek pie. So I decided to have a bash on making my own version.

First you start off by making the short crust pastry, then the filling.

Make the short crust pastry as described in a previous post.

Filling

Ingredients:-
250g of chopped boned chicken. (you can use whatever part of the chicken you want, breast, thigh, or leg but the brown meat has more flavour.
2 roughly chopped leeks.
2 cloves finely chopped garlic.
1 glass of white wine.
½ pint of chicken stock.
A little corn flour to thicken / or alternatively use a little chicken gravy granules.
50ml of double cream
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Egg wash to glaze the pie.

Method: -
1 – Take the chicken and brown it with a little oil in a saucepan. Remove and put in a bowl once done.

2 – Add the chopped leeks and garlic to the pan and sweat them done till the leaks are just starting to soften.

3 – Add the glass of white wine, and chicken stock and allow to it reduce for 15-20 mins.

4 – Now add the chicken gravy granules or corn flour to thicken the sauce.

5 – Add the cream, and salt and pepper to taste.

6 – Allow the mix to cool while you make the pie shell.

7 – Take the short crust pastry out of the fridge, and take a 10” fluted deep pastry tin.

8 – Line the dish by slicing 5mm discs from the short crust party, and make a sort of patch work effect on the pastry tin. Push them together to till all the tin is covered with pastry. This is much easier to cover the dish than rolling it out.

9 – Place a sheet of greaseproof paper in the pie case, fill with beans or coins and blind bake the pie case to 10-12 mins at 190°C: 375°F: Gas 5.

10 – Take the case out the oven remove the beans or coins and bake for a further 5 mins.

11 – Remove the case from the oven and allow to cool for 5-10 mins. Now add the pie filling but not too much that you are overfilling it (you should have some filling left) and roll out the remaining pastry to 5mm thick. Using the rolling pin roll up the pastry and place it on the top of the pie.

12 – Cut the pastry round the tin, and using a fork, crimp the edges of the top pastry onto the base, cut two breathing holes in the centre of the pie top and apply an egg wash to glaze the top of the pie, and put into a preheated oven at 190°C: 375°F: Gas 5, for 30-40 mins until the top is golden brown.

Remove from the oven and serve with crushed potatoes with plenty of butter and pepper.

Note - You should have some filling and pastry left over, what I do is make small chicken and leek parcels and precook then freeze them. Then I can have them as snacks or lunches another day

Short Crust Pastry: -


Ingredients –
225g (8oz) Plain Flour
50g (2oz) Lard
50g (2oz) Butter
½ tsp Salt
2 tbsp Cold Water

Note – the type of fat you use for short crust pastry is really up to you. Butter, Lard, Vegetable fat, Margarine, whatever. I remember my grandpa using half butter and half lard, so I stuck to that.

Method –
1 – Sieve the flour and salt together into a bowl. Tip – always sieve the flour, as you need to make it fluffy when making pastry.
2 - Cut the butter and lard into small cubes approx 1cm in size and add to the flour.
3 – Rub the fats lightly into flour, use the tips of you fingers and lift the mix up as you go. This puts air into the mix. Do this until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Once it gets to this stage stop. The flour contains gluten, and over mixing does something to the gluten so it becomes chewy and not short and crisp. It’s like making shortbread, to much mixing and the shortbread will become chewy when cooked.
4 - Make a small well in the middle of the mixture and add a little cold water, mix using a knife, do this until the mix is a nice dough similar in texture to play-dough or modelling clay. Do not have the party sticky. If it does add a little more flour.
5 – Wrap the pastry in Clingfilm and put in the fridge for al least half an hour. Or freeze it for another day.

To cook the pastry bake in a preheated oven at between 190°C: 375°F: Gas 5 or 220°C: 425°F: Gas 7 depending on thickness and use.

Venison Pie

This was a recipe of my grandmothers and I have made a few small tweaks to make it better. I made it for my Mother-in-law on Sunday night and she was well impressed, so a few points for me on the old ladies score pad.


Ingredients: -
0.5 kg of diced venison
150g button Mushrooms cut to the same size as the meat, (it is better to use wild mushrooms but these are not always available).
150g of chopped mixed peppers, (roughly chop them to about 1 to 1 1/2" pieces)
A little sunflower oil
1 large onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 bottle of red wine
2 tea spoons Chinese 5 spice
2 tea spoons of English Mustard
2 tea spoons of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of corn flour
Knob of butter
1 large pack of Puff Pastry (I never make my own, it's better to buy it)
1 beaten egg to glaze the pastry

Method: -
1 - Heat the oil in a pan, and brown the meat, remove and drain.

2 - Place the drained liquid from the venison back in the pan and add the onions and garlic to soften. As the onions go transparent add the meat again.

3 - Add the mushrooms, peppers, the red wine mustard and Chinese five spice, and simmer for 40-60 Min's. This will allow the meat to become tender.

4 - Add a little water if required and mix the corn flour with a little water and add to the stew, add the sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Allow the mix to cool.

5 - Place the filling into a pie dish and cover with the puff pastry. Apply an egg wash to the pastry. I find folding the pastry round the corners of the pie dish helps when the pastry starts to shrink while cooking, I also use a pie funnel as it stop the pastry falling into the filling and going soggy.

6 - Cook in a pre-heated oven at 200 deg C / 400 deg F /Gas Mark 6 for 30 - 40 Min's, until the pastry is golden brown.

Serve Immediately. I find that this goes really well with mashed sweet potato.