Andy's green "carbonara"

This is my uncle's recipe for what he calls carbonara. While it is obviously not an Italian carbonara, it's still delicious.

 

You'll need:

Pasta (tagliatelle works very well)

small chicken breast 

4 slices of bacon

mushrooms 

green olives (add black olives too if you have some, they will contrast nicely with the green colour of the dish)

1 1/2 spoons of basil pesto

250 ml of sour cream

hard cheese (parmesan or grana padano) 

tarragon

While the pasta is boiling, cut the chicken into cubes and fry it with tarragon adding also some salt & pepper for taste. Cut the bacon into small slices and add to the chicken. Peel and slice the mushrooms and also add to the pan and fry for two more minutes. Remove from the hob and add the olives, cream, basil pesto and stir. Add hot pasta and put back on the hob for another 30 seconds. It's best when left for 10 minutes before serving (and possibly reheating) as it ensures that the sauce sticks well to the pasta. Add freshly grated cheese on top, et voila!

Bon appétit!

Mustard coated coley fillet with sweet potatoes

 

 White wine adds an extra twist to this recipe. Sweet potatoes are especially good when baked with wine :)

You'll need:
One coley fillet
mustard (I recommend one of the more spicy types)
sweet potato
3 garlic cloves
half a glass of white wine
fresh coriander leaves
lemon
sour cream (optional)
chilli powder (optional)

1. Peel and cut into cubes the sweet potato. Boil it in salted water until it's nearly ready. It will go into the oven next, so no need for it to be completely soft.
2. In the meantime, finely chop the garlic and coriander leaves.
3. Put the fillet in an oven dish, sprinkle with lemon, cover with 1/3 of the garlic and mustard. Add some coriander on top.
4. Put the sweet potato cubes in the oven dish next to the fillet. Sprinkle with garlic.
5. Put the dish in the oven set to 200 degrees for about 20 minutes. Halfway through the roasting process add the wine.
6. Once ready sprinkle the potato cubes with some more coriander.
6. Serve with sour cream with chilli powder on the side.

Bon appétit!

Christmas specials: beetroot fish salad

This might sound like an unusual combination of flavours, but it is actually really good. The ingredients might be slightly difficult to buy outside Poland.

You'll need:
2 sour cucumbers (one of Polish regional specialties, it's different from gherkins. My grandma makes them herself so we use our own rather than bought ones- perhaps I will reveal the recipe one day ;))
2-3 salted herring fillets
1/2 can of white beans
3 cooked beetroots
2-3 spoons of mayonaisse
salt and pepper for taste

Salted herring fillets are widely available in Poland, but might be a little bit more dfficult to obtain elsewhere. It's basicly raw fish put in salted water for taste and preservation. When you buy them, they are a bit too salty to use straight away. So, you need to put them in cold! water  (it has to be cold, if you put them in hot or warm water they will become hard) for a few hours. You'll need to change water from time to time. The number of times and the time depend on how salty the fillets are to start with. The idea is for them to be only slightly salty at the end of the process.

Once they are ready, cut them into small cubes and put them in a bowl. Cut the cucumbers into small cubes as well. Add to the bowl. Add the beans. Grate the beetroots on a cheese grate and similarly add to the bowl. Add the mayonaisse, a pinch of salt and pepper for taste and mix it all together, et voila!

Bon appétit!

Christmas specials: breaded mushroom 'hats'

Finally it arrived. Christmas. The season to be jolly. Together with all the goodies I've been waiting for all year.

I decided to share some of my family Xmas recipies with you. In Poland the biggest celebration is Christmas eve. On that occassion we traditionally prepare a supper consisting of twelve dishes, none of which contains meat. The exact dishes vary from house to house and from region to region. For this reason in my house we now have fifteen dishes - we couln't agree on the dishes following the joinder of different family traditions.

I will start with one of the easiest elements of our Christmas eve supper: breaded wild mushroom caps.

Wild mushrooms can be seen as a rare delicacy in Western Europe, but back home we collect the mushrooms ourselves (it can be considered a national hobby back in Poland) so we always have lots in strorage. For this recipe you need to select only the finest caps.

You'll need:
dried wild mushroom caps
one egg
breadcrumbs
black pepper

First you need to put the mushrroms in the hot water for around two hours so that they become soft. Then you break the egg into a plate, mix it with a fork and add some pepper to it. You put the mushroom caps first in the egg mix and then coat it in breadcrumbs, just like when making a schnitzel. Then you fry them on a hot pan, et voila! Your first Christmas dish is ready. Bon appétit!

bubbly banana coctail

Simplicity at its best.

You'll need:
one banana
a glass of milk
1/2 lemon
3 tea spoons of sugar
1 spoon of cream (optional)

Cut the banana and put in a container, squeze in the lemon (be careful not to let any pip in) add milk and sugar and blend! Bon Appetit!

Wherever my thoughts will lead me...

I got on the train back from work intending to buy ingredients for chili con carne, but then I started thinking...and came up with the above. This new invention of mine does not have its own name yet... it's mince lamb with chick peas, bromley apple sauce and cheddar with a hint of oregano. Bromley apples are very sour, so the end result is very unconventional, but it will surely appear on my menu again! I prepared it all on the pan, but I think it could benefit from a few minutes in the oven ;). Can be served with rice, but today I ate it with a recent discovery from a local Turkish shop - Iranian flat bread, yum!

 Bon appétit!

A variation on countryside style savoury tart

Remember my Countryside style savoury tart? Like I said tarts come in all shapes and sizes... This one is almost identical, but this time I added mushrooms and omitted olives and parsley.

Bon appétit!

Mint zucchini soup

Coming back in big style with something vegetarian for a change!! This is a slightly modified recipe from kwestiasmaku.com. A great combination of flavours. I liked it so much, that I made it four times in a row.

You'll need:
3 or 4 medium size potatoes
1 medium zucchini
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 glass of boulion (can be replaced by a cube)
a handfull of freshmint leaves
balkan/natural yoghurt
pepper
butter and oil
bread to toast

1. Chop the onions and garlic. Peel the potatoes and cut into small cubes. Cut the zucchini into similar size cubes. Everything will be blended in the end so no need to be too careful about sizes.
2. Take a pot with a thick den. Put some butter in and let it melt. Add some oil and fry the onion until its nice and golden. When it's nearly ready, add garlic. I didn't add the garlic at the beginning, because if it is fried for too long it turns bitter. Allow it to fry for 30 seconds or so, and then add the potatoes and zucchini.
3. After two minutes start adding boulion.
4. Let it simmer until the potatoes are ready.
5. Chop the mint leaves. Leave a few for decoration.
6. Add the mint to the soup around 2 minutes before it's ready.
7. Leave the soup to cool down and then blend it (a blender looses its sharpness if used for blending hot stuff).
8. Once the soup is mixed into a cream form, warm it up again and transfer into a bowl. Add some yoghurt and bread toasts, et voila!

Bon appétit!

Haddock pasta bake

Next episode in the fish saga. Using smoked yellow haddock again. Definitely not for those on a diet ;) wonderfully spicy.

You'll need:
smoked haddock
sour cream
mature cheddar
penne
pepper cayenne
ground coriander
fresh coriander leafs
black pepper

Boil the pasta. Grate some cheddar, cut the haddock into small bits. When the pasta is ready, transfer half of it into a casserole, sprinkle with pepper cayenne, ground coriander and black pepper. Be careful, pepper cayenne is very spicy, so don't add too much. Add the haddock bits on top. Add some grated cheddar and half of the coriander.

Pour a few spoonfulls of sour cream over it. Add the second half of the pasta. Add some more spices as required and a few more spoonfulls of sour cream. Add grated cheddar on top and sprinkle with the rest of the coriander. Put in the oven for 15 minutes, et voila!

Bon appétit!

Lemon mascarpone pasta with smoked haddock

This is my take three on fish that follows my visit to Billingsgate fish market. It's a rather unusual combination of flavours, but to my mind it worked pretty well.

The third fish I bought last Saturday was smoked yellow haddock. I always wanted to try it because it has this amazing intensive yellow colour:

It was this colour that inspired me to make this dish.

You'll need:
smoked yellow haddock (I used maybe 1/4 of the fillet from the picture above)
100g mascarpone
1 lemon (one half might be enough if it's juicy, but then it all depends on how sour you the sauce to be)
fresh coriander leafs (could be replaced by parsley)
spaghetti

While your spaghetti is boiling, prepare the sauce. It's quick, so best start doing it when your pasta is nearly ready. Squeeze the lemon and add the juice to the mascarpone - both to be warmed up on a pan so that they are joined together to form a smooth sauce. Cut the haddock into small bits and chop the coriander/parsley.

Mix the pasta with the lemon mascarpone sauce and add the haddock on top. Sprinkle everything with coriander, et voila!

 Bon appétit!

Fishy classic

Whenever, one thinks of fish in the UK, the first thing that comes to mind is the famous fish and chips. Breaded cod is an ultimate classic here. This time however, I prepared what could have been seen as a classic fish dish in Poland some twenty years ago: fried herring with onions.

To my mind, fresh herring is a largely underestimated fish. Herring features in all sorts of marinaded forms, but as a fresh fish it is overlooked, seen largely as a fish of the poor (as a kid I had to steal from my dog to eat it). Yet, it is has very fine delicate meat and has not that many fish bones.

Herring is one of those fish that simply has to be served simple, any spices might only destroy its taste.

So, I only coated my herring with flour and fried it, just like that. I also fried some onion to go with it. I served it all with potatoes similar to those I previously, served with turkey (T is for turkey), but this time I added chili instead of rosemary, et voila!

Bon appétit!

Spicy red fish

The outcome of my little Saturday morning adventure, extra spicy.

You'll need:
One red fish (d'uh)
2 garlic cloves
coriander leafs
spicy crushed chili
butter
one (yellow) pepper
lemon

Chop the garlic cloves and some fresh coriander. Put part of the garlic and chili into fish's stomach, then fill it with coriander and add some butter. Sprinkle some more chili and garlic on fish's sides and wrap it in silver foil. Before you close the foil sleeve add some more butter. Put in the oven set for 200 degrees for around 40 minutes (time depends on the size of the fish). Slice the pepper and grill fry. When ready transfer everything on a plate, squeeze out some lemon over the fish et voila!

 

 

Bon appétit!

Billingsgate fish market

I couln't help but notice a scarcity of fish shops in the area that I live in. I mentioned it to a friend who suggested that I could go to a fish market near Canary Wharf. At first, I dismissed the idea as completely insane - why should I travel across London just to buy fish? But then my curiosity won with me.

Billingsgate fish market is the largest fish market in the UK. It dates back to 16th century. By19th century it was the biggest fish market in the world. Originally located on Billingsgate Wharf, it has been moved to the Isle of Dogs in 1982. Traditionally, only licenced fish porters were allowed to move fish around the market. However, a 'bitter battle' was fought against the rule stemming from the times of Henry VIII and it was finally abandoned this year (2012).

I have resolved to visit Billinsgate only to realise that the market is open from 4am to 9.30am (Mon-Sat). Can you feel my pain of waking up so early on a Saturday morning? I thought just as much.

Anyhow, there I was walking in the rain (of course it had to rain) making my way across still empty Canary Wharf to buy some fish. As I was approaching my destination, I could hear the seagulls, everything as it should be.

I was cold, I was wet, and ended up smelling of fish, but it was SO worth it!! I've never seen so much and so many different fish in one place!

You can find there anything from plaice almost the size of my umbrella to Jamaican skipper.

A few words of advice if you ever decide to go:
1. Wear old shoes, seriously.
2. Don't be surprised that if you simply say "2", you'll be given two boxes of fish.

PS. Can you recognise these beauties?

T is for Turkey!!

A very in-the-season idea for dinner.

You'll need:
1 turkey steak
1 pear
1  dark plum
2 slices of brie
3 potatoes
butter
2 garlic cloves
2 cardamom pods
rosemary
salt and pepper
olive oil

Let's start with the potatoes, as they take some time to make:

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes.
2. Put in a heatproof dish. It should have a lid. If you don't have one, no worries, simply cover it with silver foil.
3. Finely chop garlic and add to the potatoes. Add rosemary, salt and pepper. Stir. Add some olive oil and butter on top.
4. Put in the oven set for 200 degrees for about 45 minutes.
5. If you want your potatoes to have a nice golden crust, remove the lid/foil after 45 minutes and leave the potatoes for another 15 minutes in the oven set to a grill option. Mine does not have one, but the outcome was still plenty yummy:

6. Cut the plum into thin slices. You'll need some thin pear slices too. Cut the rest of the pear into 2cm slices.
7. 'Hammer' the turkey steak, so that it's nice and thin. You might want to use foil to avoid the mess.
8. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and grill fry on one side, so that it's no longer raw, but no more. It needs to stay flexible enough to bend it later on.
9. Remove the steak from the pan and add plum and pear slices on top of the fried side. Add the insides of the cardamom pods. Caradmom is very intensive, so 2 pods are enough. Put brie slices on top and bend the steak so that it forms a sack. You might need some string to keep it together. I realised that I don't have string when it was too late to go and buy some, but it turns out that need if the mother of invention so... I used parsley to tie it together.

10. Put your turkey sack and pear slices on hot grill pan. Make sure the meat is fried on all sides, et voila!

Grill fried pears are simly divine!! Brie will melt inside the turkey sack almost like butter in de volaille and cardomom will give the meat a very specific taste - delicious!

Bon appétit!

Countryside style savoury tart

Tarts come in all different forms. They can be both savoury and sweet. The only limit is one's imagination really. They can be eaten both hot and cold. You could prepare one to eat as a lunchtime snack or as a dinner course. It takes some time to make one (mostly because of the time it has to spend in the oven), but once done you can eat it over a few days. Of course, provided you can resist eating it all at once!

This one has a very classic taste. It has bacon, two types of onion, olives, cherry tomatoes and herbs in the filling.

You'll need:
5 eggs
4 spoonfulls of sour cream
250g of flour
150g of butter/margarine
1 medium white onion
1 medium red onion
250g (un)smoked bacon
12 cherry tomatoes
30/40 black olives
some freshly grated gouda
dried rosemary
dried thyme
fresh parsley

Pastry making:
You need to start by preparing your pastry dough. Mix flour with butter and one egg. It will need some kneading. When ready put it in the fridge for an hour. After that roll it out and fit into a flan dish. Don't forget to butter the dish first, otherwise the dough might stick to it. Cut the edges. Cover with foil  and put some dried beans or rice on top. This is to prevent the pastry from growing when put in the oven. Put in the oven set for 180 degrees for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes.

Filling:
When the pastry is in the oven you have time to prapere your filling.
1. Start by cutting the bacon into thin slices and chopping the onions.
2. Fry them all. I did it separetely, but you could mix them together if you wish.
3. Cut the tomatoes into halves, do the same with olives.
4. Break the remaining four eggs and stir them vigourously with a fork. Add cream and stir again. Then proceed to add the herbs into the mixture (parsley needs chopping beforehand).

Remove the pastry bottom from the oven. Spread grated cheese on it. Then put bacon, onions and olives on top.

Now pour the egg and cream mixture evenly over it. Put the tomatoes on top. It's ready to go into the oven again. The whole thing will be ready when the egg filling turns solid and golden brown. It might take around 30-40 minutes.

et voila!

Bon appétit!