Chilli con carne

This is yet another instalment of 'things I cooked ages ago and have yet to upload because I'm a fail at life.' During the summer, we met up with Klaus and Erika. Mum spent a summer with them in Germany 'many moons ago' (her words, not mine!) and since we were in the area, we popped in to see them.  Erika made us the most delicious chilli con carne which was so tasty, even to my spice-phobic taste buds!!!

When it came to attempting to replicate the pure loveliness, I was surprised at just how close my version came to the real deal! Unfortunately, rather than finding a normal strength chilli sauce, I could only find an extra hot version which personally, I think I put in too much of, but dad said that he really liked it (obviously he has a higher spice threshold!) Still, I will keep an eye out for a slightly milder version for next time but apart from that... I wouldn't change a thing!

Klaus und Erika's chilli

(serves 6 people)

Ingredients:
500g minced beef or pork or a mixture of both
2 tbsps. of oil
3 medium onions chopped
1 large or two small tins of red kidney beans (thoroughly drained)
1 large green pepper de-seeded and chopped
½ red pepper de-seeded and chopped
1 small tin of tomato
250ml chilli sauce

about 300ml of hot water
salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and cook the onions gently for a few minutes. Turn the heat up, add the minced meat and brown it well, stirring just a tad. Add the kidney beans, chilli sauce, water, peppers and tinned tomatoes to the pot before letting everything simmer for about 20 minutes.
Add the water to the pot (and you may also want to add some stock - I didn't.)
Serve with some French bread and enjoy!

Fresh pasta

Yes, that's right... I made pasta! With my own fair hands!

With mum out of the country and a few days off post-exams (highers ma lyf!)  what else was I to do! Admittedly, it may not have been the best idea as by the time I was finished, flour was covering every single surface and I was heading out the door straight after dinner, leaving dad to clean up. (Mwahahahaha - simple pleasures, people, simple pleasures!)

One slight problem that I didn't take into account. That expanding pasta thing. The recipe said that a pasta roller was necessary. Naturally, I decided that a simple rolling pin would do a good enough job, but alas, that was not the case! When they cooked, the majority turned into chewy, starchy doughballs, while there were a few which although initially appearing too thin, were actually pretty nice!

Taken straight from bbc food, apart from the lack of pasta roller (oops)

Ingredients:
300g plain flour
3 eggs
1 tbsp olive oil

Place the flour, eggs and oil in a food processor and pulse until combined.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly until smooth. Cut the dough aside in half and set one piece aside.
Roll out one piece until 1cm thick and then feed it through a pasta machine. Start on the thickest setting, passing the sheet through several times and lowering the setting until it reaches the thinnest setting. Slice the pasta sheet into ribbons 1cm wide. Repeat the process with the rest of the dough.
Rather than cutting into strips, I used a flower cookie cutter instead, to try and make some kind of a shell shape, which didn't quite work, but it wasn't completely awful! 
Cook until, well, cooked.

UPDATE - I got a pasta roller for Christmas. Attempt 2 to follow!! 

Haggis with a camembert sauce

I know, I know. It sounds completely bizarre and potentially disgusting but this is the best way to have haggis. With a bit of distance between now and Burns' Night (25.01), there's even the possibility that the haggis will be on offer in the supermarket!

This is the one and only way that I actually like haggis - the sauce is creamy and cheesy and mild enough to take the spicy bite out of the meat.

I was trying to think of what else to add to this but, actually, my cold-riddled brain is struggling to string two words together. I didn't even manage to follow the soppy romance that I attempted to watch earlier, so with that show of complete and utter incompetence: over and out!

Ingredients:

• enough couscous for however many people you're feeding
• 1 round camembert
• 500ml single cream
• 1 haggis (should probably be enough for 4ish)

First, pop the haggis in the microwave (sophisticated, I know) - it took about three and a half minutes in ours - cooking it until it's warmed right through. Cook the couscous (plain, with none of that vegetable nonsense) and leave to sit. Scrape the rind stuff off the camembert, chop up into chunks and melt in a pan along with the cream. When the sauce is ready, it should be hot and mainly melted down, but there may be some little lumps of cheese left - really, it's up to you how long you can bear to wait! 

Simple but effective, that's what this is! 

Ruth's Jumanji chicken (or delicious chicken and broccoli bake)

There is a time when you just think enough is enough. Amazingly, it is only possible to work for so long before your tear ducts dry up from the sobbing that accompanies quotation learning, and formulae memorising, and your fingers begin to go into spasm from the death grip you had on your pen. 

That time came last Saturday evening, and this meal was the result. The recipe had been sitting on my desk for at least two weeks, and the ingredients in the fridge for a couple of days before I finally pulled my finger out and got in the kitchen. As a result of the extremely slow speed at which I work, this took an hour to get from chopping board to table. 

Just as an aside, I think that my photography skills are somewhat lacking but hopefully with practice ... 

Enjoy!

Ingredients

chicken breasts (roughly one per person) - diced or cut up into strips

broccoli (chopped up roughly) - enough to lay the bottom of casserole dish

cream of chicken soup (depends on size of dish - took two cans for mine - needs to be enough to cover broccoli and chicken once it's layered in the dish)

1 tbsp mayonnaise - never changes

1 - 2 tbsp curry powder 

1 tsp lemon juice (optional)

ready salted crisps - enough for crispy topping

grated cheddar cheese - also for topping

1 crushed garlic clove and butter for greasing

Doesn't even take ten steps! Success!

1. Stir fry chicken.

2. Steam/cook broccoli - 3 and 1/2 minutes in the microwave did the job for me

3. Rub garlic and butter round your dish

4. Layer broccoli and chicken in dish

5. Mix soup, curry powder, mayonnaise (and lemon juice) together

6. Pour mixture over chicken and broccoli 

7. Crush crisps to form a top crust over mixture and top with grated cheese

8. Cook in the oven at about 180.C - 200.C until the cheese is melted and brown and topping      is crunchy

9. Leave to sit for a couple of minutes and then serve. 

Honestly, it's delish! 

Meaty cheesy pasta bake

Due to the time-constraining effects of prelim revision, this quick and easy dish was feasted on by us last week but is only now finding its rightful place on the blog. According to the official Delia recipe it is technically supposed to have bacon and leeks but as it was a last minute decision, there was a serious lack of wintery vegetation in the fridge. As a result, this two meat pasta was created. Yes, that’s right – two types of meat!

On another note, napkin folding may soon become a new hobby...

Originally from one of the many Delia books in the house.

Serves 8 (or 4 for 2 nights – handy!)

500g pasta (personally I like using penne, but other pastas like macaroni or fusili would would just as well)

6 or 8 slices of bacon

1 smoked sausage (cabanossi from Lidl works really well)

50g butter (either unsalted or salted will do, but I used unsalted due to the saltiness added by the sausage)

50g plain flour

200g cheddar cheese with extra for topping

850ml milk

3 tbsp double cream

some nutmeg (which I didn’t bother with)

roughly 50g ready salted crisps

Melt the butter in a pan, and mix in the flour. Add the milk to this mixture gradually until the sauce thickens. Then add the cheese, grated, to the sauce until it’s melted through.

While the sauce is thickening, cut up the bacon and chop the sausage and fry them together.

Boil the pasta for 10 minutes and then put it straight in the dish.

Mix the meat through and pour the sauce over.

Lastly, add the smashed-up crisps and sprinkle cheese over the top and pop it in the oven at approximately 180.C – it should take about half an hour to forty-five minutes until the cheese is crispy on top (should really be a bit darker than in the photo, but we were running to a deadline...) 

South Carolina style pulled pork

So much for starting out as I mean to go on - this recipe had a lot of promise, I thought, but on this, the 1st January 2012, it failed epically. Or rather I failed epically, and it didn't go quite as smoothly as I had perhaps hoped.

Despite calling on my dad at 9:30 this morning to as just how much ketchup constitutes "a large quantity" and whether the string around the pork shoulder should be left on and which way up the pork should actually be put in. In fairness, it was the first time that I had actually dealt with any real cut of meat other than mince or bacon - pathetic I know, but 'tis the way of it - although that does not allow for how poorly it actually turned out.

It went in the oven this morning, at 10:15 and didn't resurface until 7:30 but when it came out of the oven, some of the meat was still really pink - not raw but far too pink for my liking - and it didn't really seem to want to pull.  Before bringing it out of the oven, I turned up the temperature for about an hour, when I didn't think that it was cooking right through. However, served with soft, warm finger rolls, which on their own were nice, it was half-way decent. At least I hope it was!

All in all, I think that pulled pork is set for another attempt in the future - but not quite yet!

*Note: another two and a half hours in the oven at about 80.C and it is actually pulling! Perhaps a slightly higher temperature for the duration ...?

Here's what I was working from courtesy of Uncle D - it'd surely work for anyone who is less inept than me:
Get some pork shoulder and either put it in a smoker or a casserole dish.
Put in a large quantity of tomato ketchup, some American mustard and a spoonful of brown sugar.
Pour in beer or cider until covered.
Then, either smoke it low or put it in the over at its very lowest setting (around 70.C) and leave for as long as possible.

Would be nice served with a split roll or on some ciabatta.