Interview with Terry Ireland, Masterchef 2010 Semi Finalist

Hello, hello, hello! I know, a week without any blog posts. I must be honest, I’ve not been doing too much in the way of cooking in the past week, a bit busy with other stuff, and I’ve been saving money that I would usually spend on ingredients, as I went to a Doctor Who themed party on Saturday (yeah, I’m a nerd… sue me!). But I promise I’m going to make up for it, I’ll be posting a recipe tomorrow, but today, I have something different. An interview! Yes, check me out. Soon I’ll be on Masterchef, as one of the competitors who claim to be a freelance food blogger… “Kris is a freelance food blogger and musician from Preston… he’s a bit of an idiot”, or something along those lines!

Masterchef is one of the BBC’s most popular cookery shows, and this years competition has been one of the most exciting, a few tweaks, and some of the best competitors yet!! I found myself rooting for Terry in this years competition, and was fortunate enough to be able to quiz Terry on his time in the Masterchef kitchen!!

Punk Chef : How did you feel on your first day on the Masterchef set?, you looked quite nervous!

Terry : First day was exiting. I was confident enough I could come up with a half decent plate of food and finish in the top 3 no matter what the ingredients were. As for nerves, they have a camera on you the whole time and I mean the whole time. That’s some scary stuff. Plus I know I’m an idiot sometimes and was trying not to let it show.

PC : As the competition progressed, did you find it easier to keep control of your nerves, and did you have any techniques?

T : Never got over my nerves, that’s why I didn’t progress further

PC : How would you describe your cooking style?

T : Personal, loving, and on edge

PC : How much practise did you cram in between the quarter finals and semi finals? How many rabbits did you go through practising, and were your friends and family sick of rabbit eventually?

T : Not that much practise, I actually never cooked the whole thing as one before the show, just separate elements at different times. the bandage you see on my finger in the semis is a result of me slicing right through the top of my finger whilst skinning rabbits!

PC : Did you enjoy cooking whilst you were growing up?

T : Never cooked a single solitary thing in my life until the age of 20.

PC : What is your favourite comfort food?

T : Curry and plenty of naan and chapati. Made by me.

PC : Imagine you’re stranded on a desert island, you’re allowed to take 5 ingredients. The desert island in question is deserted, except for an inexplicably well stocked store cupboard, perhaps washed up from a boat which sunk nearby… what five foods would you want with you, and what would you plan on making?

T : I wouldn’t need any food. Give me a rod,a net, a spear, a rifle, and a machete and I’ll eat like a king all day every day on whatever bounty comes my way. Saying that, I would love a load of pork for a bbq every now and then!!!

PC : Do you have a cookery hero, and if so who, and why?

T : Heroes include Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Gordon Ramsay,and Anthony Bourdain. You can also include Tim, Alex and Dhruv because them 3 are simply amazing and I am always ringing/texting/mailing them hassling for little tips and tricks.

PC : What has been your favourite experience on Masterchef?

T : Favourite bit was getting the rabbit dish down, I still don’t know how I managed it.

PC : Congratulations on getting as far as you did in Masterchef 2010, you’ve gained a lot of supporters, and I’m sure we all want to know what you have planned for the future, are you going to carry on the dream of becoming a chef?

T : I’ve only just got started on this cooking thing and am buzzing to get fully into it. Am currently cheffing at a local Italian restaurant but who knows what’s round the corner

I’d like to thank Terry for taking some time out to answer the above questions, and I’m sure that I’m not the only one that wishes Terry the best of luck with his career as a full time chef!!

A Facebook fan page for Terry has been set up (by me) here

So much fudge, so little time to pack it

Yeah, so that’s the last time I consult Urban Dictionary for possible funny uses for the word “fudge”… so yeah, from my opening gambit, you may have fathomed that this post is about fudge. If that is what one fathomed, then one fathomed correctly. Here, have a piece of fudge. I’ve got loads of it.

I’ve spent all weekend (well, Friday and Saturday) making fudge. Two types. One recipe isn’t mine, one recipe is mine. Firstly I shall discuss the recipe that isn’t mine. This is a complete copy/pasta job, and I shall take no credit for it. Except when my friends eat it, and they all go “wowww, this is sooo gooooooooooood”… then I shall take all the credit I possibly can for it!

Sophie Dahl’s Peanut Butter Fudge

Ingredients :

• 125g/4½oz butter
• 500g/1lb 2oz dark brown sugar
• 120ml/4fl oz milk
• 250g/9oz crunchy peanut butter
• 1 vanilla pod, seeds only
• 300g/10½oz icing sugar

Method :

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat.
2. Stir in the brown sugar and milk, and bring to the boil for 2-3 minutes, without stirring.
3. Remove from the heat, and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla seeds.
4. Place the icing sugar in a large bowl, and pour the hot butter and sugar mixture on top. Using a wooden spoon, beat the mixture until smooth.
5. Pour into a 20cm/8in square baking tray, and set aside to cool slightly, then place in the fridge to chill completely.
6. Cut the fudge into squares with a sharp knife, turn out of the tin and store in an airtight container.

Recipe taken from : http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/peanutbutterfudge_93630.shtml

So yeah, it is really nice, although as with all fudge, quite sickly. Just to finish off this bit, here is a picture of my peanut butter fudge I made…

Sophie Dahl's Peanut Butter Fudge

As I said, not my recipe, but I thought that I should share it with you lovely, lovely people, and suggest that you give it a try, it’s a nice simple fudge recipe that doesn’t require a sugar thermometer. Which is good for me, as I still don’t own one, but I think with this new found skill of fudge making, I’m going to have to purchase one for myself.

But no!! Today’s blog doesn’t end here. How could I leave you, just reading my ramblings on, and not provide you with an original recipe? That would be morally bankrupt of me. I would go to sleep, feeling dirty, that I fobbed you off with a half hearted copy/pasta. No. I would never do that. Never ever. I’m good to my readers.

I don’t know about everyone, but I’m sure a lot of people from my parents generation (in their late 40’s/early 50’s) have one of those collections of recipes. Well, I have one. It has some old family recipes, and in it, I found a recipe for Chocolate Fudge.

I like chocolate, and fudge is a great medium for chocolate, but I thought to myself… well chocolate fudge is good, but it’s not terribly exciting. So, I took a list of basic ingredients with me into town, and began to buy them, looking out for something I could do to make it more exciting. A few of my ideas were (and bear in mind that I will do some of these when I get the ingredients)

• Mocha Fudge (coffee and chocolate)
• White Chocolate and Strawberry Popping Candy Fudge
• After Dinner Mint Fudge (dark chocolate and peppermint extract)

Those were my three ideas, and yes, the Mocha and After Dinner Mint fudges were possible, but as walking through the shops I had some more grand ideas of how I could make the After Dinner Mint fudge, and decided that as nice as Mocha fudge would be, I’m not a big fan of coffee, and definitely have to be in the mood for it. And as for popping candy, it seems near impossible to find. Anywhere. Not even Hawkin’s Bazaar sold it, and they sell loads of sweets from when we were kids!!

So I did what any other 22 year old with a sweet tooth would do. I got the ingredients to make Double Chocolate Fudge! Hoorah!! Oh, and I’d advise using an electric whisk to do this. It takes a while to make even with one of those!

Double Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients :

• 120g unsalted butter
• 397g tin condensed milk
• 120g dark chocolate
• 800g icing sugar
• bag of white chocolate chips

Method :

1. In a large bowl, soften the butter, and then slowly beat in the condensed milk.
2. Melt the dark chocolate, either in a bain marie, or in the microwave.
3. Allow the chocolate to cool slightly, and then gradually beat into the butter and condensed milk.
4. Add 200g of the icing sugar, and mix it in.
5. Add as many white chocolate chips as you want. I went for the entire bag. Incorporate into the mixture.
6. Gradually, add the rest of the icing sugar until it forms a dough like consistency.
7. Pour into a suitable tin lined with a greaseproof paper, and allow to set in the fridge overnight.
8. Dice into bite sized pieces, sit in front of the tv and scoff them.

Double Chocolate Fudge

So now it’s got me thinking, what other types of fudge can I make? The one flavour which is buzzing around in my head at the moment is a two layered fudge of Rhubarb and Custard Fudge. Which would consist of a bottom layer of bright cerise fudge flavoured with rhubarb, and a bright yellow top layer, made with none other than Birds custard. I’ve just found a website (literally, just now) which does flavours, including rhubarb flavours, and they allow up to 5 samples. I don’t know if I will get approved for some samples, but be assured that if I do get samples sent for rhubarb flavourings, there will be a blog post very shortly after I get it in the post!!

I think that’s about it for this post, and MY!! What a post. Two recipes. Loads of wittering on about fudge. Blimey.

I guess one final thing to ask, what flavours of fudge would you like to try? Answers in the comments box. You see, I’m thinking about looking into selling fudge (obviously this would require me to take a Food Safety course/exam, and for my kitchen to go under inspection to make sure that it’s safe and clean enough to use for making food to sell) but it may just be worth it!

Seriously, does anyone want a piece of fudge? I’ve got a metric shitload of it!!

Kris

Greek Style Minted Lamb, with Saffron Potatoes

So here it is, a second recipe post in one day!  I know, I spoil you! This is the point where I usually witter on about stuff, and try to be funny… but I’ve already blogged once today, and I spent all my wit on that one. A foolish move, yes, I know. I’ve just had my tea, watching Masterchef, but there’s not much funny things I can say about that. The nettle soup was nice, as was the main.

I guess I should just start talking about this lamb. Firstly, I would like to talk about cheap cuts of meat. If you know me well at all, you will know how much I love cheap, traditional cuts of meat, and when I saw breast of lamb in the supermarket, I thought, “oof, there’s a nice cheap cut of meat, ideal for slow roasting”, well here’s some news… it’s not. I would suggest any other slow roasting cut, perhaps shoulder of lamb would be ideal. It’s definitely a recipe for slow roasting though. So just bear that in mind!!

I’m going to post the two recipes as separate, just to make it easier for me.

Greek Style Minted Lamb

Ingredients :

For the marinade

• Greek Style Yoghurt
• Handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped
• Juice of half a lemon
• Cumin
• Salt
• Pepper

Obviously, a joint of lamb of your choice will be required, too.

Method :

1. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade together. Score the lamb so that the marinade can seep into the meat.
2. Marinate the lamb overnight.
3. The following day, seal the lamb in a hot griddle pan, until it takes on some colour.
4. Transfer to a pre-heated oven, at 120 degrees centigrade, for at least 2 hours. Although you can cook it for longer if you like. Maybe 3 hours at 100 degrees centigrade.
5. Take out to rest for at least half an hour before serving, covering it with foil to retain some of the heat.

Saffron Potatoes

Ingredients :

• Potatoes, sliced thickly (I suggest a good all rounder, nothing too floury, nothing too waxy)
• Red onion, sliced thinly
• Rosemary, ground with a pestle and mortar
• A generous pinch of saffron
• Butter!
• Chicken stock cube
• Salt
• Pepper

Method :

1. Bring water with saffron and rosemary to a boil in a pan. Plunge the sliced potatoes in for ten minutes, and then remove the potato.
2. Add the chicken stock cube to the saffron and rosemary infused water.
3. Arrange the potato and onion in layers in a suitable dish. Season, and add a few knobs of butter to the top.
4. Pour over the stock, to just above the top layer over potato.
5. Cover with foil, and bake in a low oven for about 1 hour. With the foil removed for the last 20 minutes.

So there you go. Two recipes, aren’t I lovely at sharing stuff?

I’m just going to leave you with a picture of how my tea turned out tonight. Not sure when I will blog next, I may blog tomorrow, or sometime over the weekend. I just don’t know!

You can't really see in this photo, but the potatoes went a lovely golden colour from the saffron!

Till next time!

Kris,

Stinging Nettle Soup – Picture Blog

Hello you. Yes, I’m talking to you, yeah, you with the eyebrows. No, not you Alistair Darling, but I’ll have a word with you later on… here’s a quick blog. Remember I said I was going to post three blogs this week, as a little promise to myself, well I’ve now accomplished this… and I’m going to post another blog later this evening.

I’ve just got back home from nettle picking. Hooray for spring. The reason I did this, is because I was bored. So bored. I’m ill so I can’t go see my friends, because they may catch something, but I figured a walk in the rural area in which I live should help. The idea of going nettle picking came after I asked my friend, Catherine, what I could do to pass time. She suggested I drew something. I tried to explain that I am so bad at art, that I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. I’d be expecting the artist mafia to sneak into my room whilst I was asleep, and that I would wake up next to a portrait of a horses head. No! I wasn’t having that. So nettle picking it was!

Nettles are one of the first plants you learn to recognise as a child, and as a child, I was terrified of the bastards. I once fell into a huge nettle patch. I figure that eating them is a way of revenge, and not an act of being a yoghurt-knitting hippy (even though, deep down inside… I am. I go foraging, I love using leftovers and I pounce at anything made from Elderflower!)

So here is the recipe…

Stinging Nettle Soup

(serves 4 as a starter)

Ingredients :

• 100g hand picked nettle tops (i.e. the top 4 leaves, maybe the top 6 if it’s a very young plant)
• 1 medium onion, sliced.
• 1 litre of stock (vegetable or chicken)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Vegetable Oil

Method :

Sweat the onions in a little oil

Whilst sweating the onions, rinse the nettle tops in cold water

Add the nettles to the onions, and allow to wilt. Then add the stock

Blend, and season with salt and pepper to taste

And there you have it. Stinging Nettle Soup!!

As this recipe involved a walk in the rural areas, it’s helped me realise that spring is definitely here. Here are three things that I saw…

• 1 frog. I almost stood on it! Eek!
• 2 bumble bees. I almost stood on one! Eek!
• 3 ladybirds. I almost stood on one! Eek!

I guess what I’m trying to say, is that if you plan on making this soup, and you go out into some rural areas to collect nettles. Make sure you look out for all the wildlife, and that you don’t stand on anything that doesn’t really come off too well from a squishing from your size tens!!

Also, remember, if you go out nettle picking, to wear a pair of stout rubber gloves, and if you’re not sure if it’s a nettle, then just shove it in your eyes. If you’re in absolute agony, it’s probably a nettle, and therefore good for the pot.

Anyway, I’m off to do some tofu weaving now!!

Cheese and Onion Pie, and the first blog to come with a safety warning

It’s been a long day for me today… I woke up early this morning, felt ill. Went for a job interview in Kirkham, continued to feel ill. Had to spend an hour waiting for the bus to come home, feeling ill. Begin to cook food for tea tonight, whilst feeling ill.

Safe to say, today was not a day I wanted to cook. That’s the last thing I want to be doing today. I want to curl up in a ball and just nibble on pizza, or turkey dippers… or anything that is just a case of warming up in the oven. But no. The bus driver had to mug me of my remaining money to get to this job interview. £4!!!! FOUR FUCKING POUNDS for a return journey that doesn’t even hit 4 miles each way! So, here I am, feeling rotten, and having to cook something with what store cupboard ingredients I had.

Anyway, I’m going to pre-empt the recipe with a safety warning…

DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS RECIPE IF YOU ARE READING IT NOW, AND THINKING “HEY I CAN MAKE THAT TONIGHT”… YOU CAN’T. IT WILL TAKE A FUCKING LIFETIME. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS RECIPE IF YOU HAVE A BACK CONDITION. YOU WILL SPEND A FUCKING LIFETIME HOVERING OVER THE HOB, AND THIS WILL ONLY MAKE IT WORSE. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS RECIPE IF YOU ARE PREGNANT, OR PLANNING TO GET PREGNANT WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS, AS YOU WILL PROBABLY GIVE BIRTH BEFORE THE FIRST STAGE IS COMPLETE.

So with all that build up, why is it such a bastard, I hear you say. Well, I’ll explain as the recipe goes along…

Cheese and Onion Pie

Serves 4 generous portions, can feed about 8 though if you want

Ingredients :

• 150g mature cheddar cheese, grated
• 50g parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 medium sized onions, sliced
• 2 medium sized potatoes, sliced as fine as possible
• Milk
• Plain flour
• Salt
• Pepper
• Shortcrust pastry mixture

Method :

1. Begin to caramelise the onions. This will take a good proportion of your life. You need to cook them on the lowest possible light on your hob. For me, it’s taken 1 and a half hours.
2. Whilst the onions are caramelising, make the shortcrust pastry as the packet suggests, but add the grated pamersan to the mix too…if you’re a clever sod, make your pastry from scratch. I’m ill, I’m taking liberties and cheating. Put the pastry in the fridge to cool down once made.
3. Boil the potatoes in some salted water for around 8 minutes, then drain and leave to cool
4. Once the onions have finally caramelised, add a tablespoon of flour to the onions, stir through them, and allow to cook through. Then add milk. This is one of those times when you need to guess how much to add. Just add milk, and stir until it is of a nice sauce consistency.
5. Add the cheese to the onion and milk, and stir until molten. Then add the sliced potatoes, and gently stir into the filling mixture. Leave to cool slightly.
6. Whilst the filling is cooling, roll out the pastry for the base of the pie, and line a pie case/tray/whatever. Prick with a fork, blind bake and blast in the oven for about 10 minutes.
7. When removed from the oven, allow to cool slightly, and add the filling.
8. Roll out the pastry for the lid, and place on top of the pie. Remember to make a few holes for steam to escape from the pie!! If you fancy it, and I do suggest it, give the pie an eggy wash (phrase (c)opyright “The Hairy Bikers”)
9. Bake the pie in the oven for around 30-45 minutes, at 200 degrees Celsius/Gas Mark 6. Or until the pastry is cooked and golden.
10. Serve it up with some Vichy carrots and savoy cabbage.

Unfortunately, I’m not that hungry today, I think I’m going to have a lot of leftover pie, so if anybody wants some pie, feel free to come round mine!!.

Right, off to finish off the cooking…

An update with some pictures, it was tasty!! Got three quarters of the pie left if anybody wants some…

Cheeky, Cheeky!!… mkII

Now, those of you who have been tolerating my irregular postings for a while will remember about 2 weeks ago, I posted a recipe for braised pork cheeks. Well. I’ve only gone and done it again, except this time, I’ve done a different variant on it… after writing up that recipe, I thought… “I bet that’d be good with a nice cider, too”. So I actually did it!

And you know what, it was nice! And this one, well… it’s a little more posh (interesting, the oxymoronic qualities of the word “posh”… nothing that claims to be “posh” is what you would consider “posh”… if you get where I’m coming from?. Like in Preston, there is a laundrette called “Posh Wosh” [sic]. I doubt there’s much “posh” about a laundrette… anyway, I digress…) So here is the recipe, for pork cheeks braised in cider…

Pork Cheeks Braised in Cider

Serves 2

Ingredients :

• 6 pork cheeks
• 1 large onion
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 10 Chanetnay carrots, peeled and trimmed
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 bottle of dry cider
• Plain Flour
• Salt
• Pepper
• Saffron

(yeah, saffron, the second most expensive product in the world, beaten only by racing horse semen,.. which I must stress, isn’t a cooking ingredient!)

Method :

1. Slice the onion into large pieces, and sweat in a large heavy bottomed pan with some vegetable oil.
2. Add the minced garlic, Chanetnay carrots, and red pepper, and continue to sweat for a further 5 minutes.
3. Transfer the veg to a bowl.
4. Mix the flour and salt and pepper, and use to give the pork cheeks a light dusting.
5. Using the same pan, fry the pork cheeks in some fresh oil, until browned and sealed.
6. Return the veg to the pan, and then add the cider. I used a huge bottle, so I had enough to drink afterwards, so I only had to use half of it. At this stage, I suggest you eye ball it (no, not the process of taking alcohol through the eye, I’m talking about guessing measurements, you piss head!)
7. Take a few strands of saffron, and a pinch of salt, and grind in a mortar and pestle, and add to the pan. Also add a few pure strands if you’re feeling extravagant (I was!).
8. Simmer for about 20 minutes, and then as before, put into an oven proof pot, and transfer to the oven at around 150 degrees Celsius/Gas Mark 4 for around 2 hours.
9. If the cider hasn’t reduced by much, you can use a buerre manié to thicken it to a more gravy like consistency. Just remember to cook the flour out, before beginning to whisk, otherwise the gravy will have a slightly cloying texture.

I served mine in a large Yorkshire pudding, and yes. I cheated, and used an Aunt Delia’s Bessie’s Yorkshire Pudding… why? Because I’m lazy. I’ll be honest. Plus, I’m on my own, if I was cooking for company, I’d probably pull my finger out of my arse and make Yorkies myself. But fuck it. Masterchef was on!

Anyway, now I finish this blog post, kick back with a cup of coffee and a Bendick’s “Bittermint”, it’s well good. 95% cocoa solids, so lovely rich, mouth filling bitter flavour, with a hugely strong peppermint flavour filling. Good for an indulgent treat… now then, where’s my free chocolates for singing your praises, Bendick’s?

Cheerio!!

P.S. Thanks to Nairn for accepting my offer of a number for his Random Eats blog, he ended up with Sicillian-style Pesto Pasta, not a bad choice really, if I do say so myself!

Pledges, Wedges and… err, something else that rhymes with that

Right then, a few things to cover in this blog post. I’ll cover them in no particular order whatsoever, too!

Firstly is the news that I am going to be on my own this week, my dad is going holiday with his missus and her family, and I opted to stay at home (much more relaxing for me, I’m a fairly quiet person), and this gives me the opportunity to cook some tasty things that I wouldn’t normally get the chance to cook. So I pledge to put up at least three blog posts between Monday and Friday (although, if I’m too busy, I may extend that to include the weekend, to catch up, you know?). I’ve already been shopping, and some ingredients I’ve bought include breast of lamb, pork cheeks, and my personal favourite (purely because I’m rather curious about how they will go down), pig trotters!! Ahh yes, me and my love of offal, eh? I’m also planning on cooking something fishy on Friday, because, even though I’m far from being a Christian, it’s a nice tradition to eat fish on a Friday!

Secondly, I’ve come across a new blog, and I think it’s a good blog, it’s called Random Eats, Nairn (the blogger) bought 11 BBC Good Food cookbooks on Amazon. Upon realising that they just act as dust magnets, he set himself the challenge, of every weekday, having a recipe chosen at random by a colleague or friend, and that night he will cook it, and provide photographic evidence. It’s a fair good read, too!

And, as always, there’s a recipe, for spicy potato wedges. Yeah, it’s a simple one, but it was damn tasty, so I’m going to share the recipe.

Spicy Potato Wedges

Serves 1 as a snack, 2 as part of a main meal

Ingredients :

• 3 medium sized potatoes, cut into wedges (8 wedges per spud)
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 2 tsp crushed garlic
• 2 tsp smoked sweet paprika
• 2 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ground sea salt

Method :

1. Plunge the potato wedges into a pan of boiling water, and par-boil for 10 minutes.
2. Drain the potato wedges, and put into the pan to cool.
3. Whilst cooling, mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl.
4. Coat the potato wedges in the spice and oil mixture, be generous!.
5. Transfer the potato wedges to a baking sheet, and bake in a pre-heated oven, at 200 degrees Celsius/Gas Mark 6, for roughly 20 minutes.

And, the reason I did this recipe, was because of one of the blog posts on Nairn’s blog, in which his random meal ended up being potato wedges and baked beans. So, I served mine up with some tinned baked beans, although mine were Branston baked beans (the baked beans of kings!!), straight from the tin. Not proper baked beans, lovingly crafted from scratch like his. It was good though. Filled a hole!

Anyway, I’m shooting off, this perry and these doughnuts aren’t going to eat and drink themselves!

Cheerio

Made a complete (corned beef) hash of it

Last night I was looking around the fridge thinking, there’s nowt in. Sure, me and my dad went to the shops earlier that day, but all he bought was cake and bread and fruit juice. My dad is a terrible shopper, he never buys the food required for meals, he just zones in for the cake aisle straight away. This is a house that is never without cake. I don’t even care for cake that much. Anyway, so there I was looking in the fridge thinking, “what the hell am I going to have for tea?”, then suddenly, I saw, a silvery glow. Half a tin’s worth of corned beef, wrapped in foil to keep it fresh. I thought to myself “fuck it, corned beef hash it is”, and last night, I made my best corned beef hash, ever! So it seems only right that I share the recipe.

I’m going to type up this recipe as I did it last night, which served just me. If you want to serve two people, double it up.

Corned Beef Hash

Serves 1 Greedy Pigloid

Ingredients :

• Half a tin of Corned Beef
• 2 rashers of smoked bacon
• 1 medium size potato
• Tomato Puree
• Dried Mixed Herbs
• Cayenne Chilli Powder
• Cumin
• Sweet Smoked Paprika
• 1 egg (for poaching, although if you really like eggs, go for 2, we’re not rationing them any more!)

Method :

1. Dice the potato into small, bite sized cubes. About 2cm cubed. If you want to take out a ruler, go for it.
2. Par boil the potato in salted water. Then drain and leave to cool slightly.
3. Cut the bacon into lardons, and begin to fry in a little vegetable oil.
4. Dice the corned beef to similar size as the potato.
5. To the bacon, add a dash of cumin, as much cayenne pepper as you like, and a teaspoon or two of paprika (I go for two, I like paprika)
6. Add the potato to the frying pan and turn hob down to medium, toss occasionally. I don’t like to stir this, as it tends to turn the hash to a more mushy consistency.
7. Once the potatoes have taken on a little crispness and colour, add the corned beef, and turn the heat up a little.
8. Add a dessert spoon of tomato puree and continue to toss. Allow the hash to take on a little crispness from the bottom of the frying pan before tossing each time. The crispy bits are the best.
9. Whilst cooking the hash, poach an egg. If you don’t know how to do this, I suggest looking at Auntie Delia’s website, here.
10. Turn the hash out onto the plate, in a mound, make a well in the top of the mound of hash, and put the poached egg into that.

I think corned beef hash goes great with white, buttered bread and tomato sauce. But you can use whatever sauce you like and if you’re feeling particularly healthy, opt for wholemeal, your body is a temple, yeah?

I suggest this is best enjoyed with a glass of Shiraz, or a crisp lager.

Cheeky, Cheeky!!

Yes, this blog is going to be entirely about everyones favourite malnourished Transylvanian poptart twins (what, their wikipedia still says they are signed onto a record label?!?, what?!?… mind you, the record label doesn’t have a wikipedia entry, and if you don’t have a wikipedia entry, you may aswell not exist, eh?… shit… someone quickly go make me a page!!).

Ok, I lied when I said it would be about The Cheeky Girls (they do need a sandwich, though!). The following blog post contains a recipe for pork cheeks, cooked in ale. Hooray!

I love cheaper cuts of meat, they tend to have much more flavour, I don’t really understand why we live in a world, where people pay more money for the less flavourful cuts of meat, just because it’s easier to cut and eat. I don’t want things to change, though. I like being able to get tasty meat for dirt cheap! It just puzzles me. People won’t eat offal, and I want to know why. It’s perfectly good. Anyway, before I go on a rant about why people don’t eat offal, I’ll just get on a post the recipe.

Braised Pork Cheeks

(Serves 3)

Ingredients :

• 9 Pork Cheeks
• 1 Large Onion
• 2 Large Carrots
• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 1 Bottle of Dark Ale (I used J.W. Lees, “Brewer’s Dark”, a CAMRA gold award winner)
• Plain Flour
• Salt and Pepper

Method :

1. Slice the onion into large pieces (this is a rustic, hearty dish, you don’t need it chopped to fine), and leave to sweat in a large, heavy bottomed pan with some vegetable oil.
2. Once onion is sweated, finely mince the garlic and add, stir in, and turn the heat up a little so the onion begins to take on some colour.
3. Season a plate of flour with salt and pepper, and roll the pork cheeks in this, making sure they are covered with a light dusting.
4. Take the onions and garlic out of the pan and put to the side in a bowl.
5. Sear the pork cheeks in the pan on a moderate to high heat.
6. Add the onions back into the pan.
7. Slice the carrots (not to thinly) and add them to the pan.
8. Add the bottle of beer, and bring to the boil. Once brought to the boil, turn it off and put a lid on the pan.
9. If the pan is ovenproof, put it into the oven, if not, put the cheeks, onions, carrot and beer stewy goodness into an ovenproof pot with a lid, at around 150degrees C.
10. Leave to gently cook for about 2 hours.
11. Best served with mashed potato (with a tablespoon of wholegrain mustard mixed through it) and curly kale.

It’s easily one of the best things I’ve eaten this week, and the pork cheek is so full of flavour, and just melts in your mouth!!

Bon Appetit…

lol. As if I would really finish a blog off on something as cliched as “Bon Appetit”… how about this.

Enjoy eating, omnomnomnomnom. Yeah, that’ll do

White Chocolate and Peppermint Mousse

Yes, I am actually useless at updating blogs, deal with it. Or, somebody pay me to update it every other day. Or send me free food to cook every day, and I shall document it. Hooray! In other news, I made a birthday cake recently. My god, I never want to see a cake again, well, not until Easter, when I shall be baking a TARDIS shaped cake for the new series launch night of Doctor Who (having a little get together with my friends to watch it, dress up and be geeks, drunk geeks, that is!)

So, to the recipe I’m going to share, yes? It’s a lovely (trust me, I’m writing this up just after polishing off one of them, I’ve got three left!).

White Chocolate & Peppermint Mousse

Ingredients :

• 200g good Quality White Chocolate
• 200ml Double Cream
• 1 Egg White
• 1/4-1/2tsp Peppermint Extract (basically, do it to taste)
• Mint Aero or Mint Leaves for decoration

Method :

1. Break the white chocolate into small pieces, and put in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water (bain marie), and allow to gently melt.
2. Whilst chocolate is melting, whisk the double cream, egg white and peppermint extract to form soft peaks.
3. Take the molten chocolate off the heat, and allow to cool for a few minutes, but keep stirring it, so that it doesn’t cool solid on the side of the bowl.
4. Once cooled slightly, add a tablespoon of the double cream and egg white mixture to the chocolate, and stir thouroughly through the white chocolate to slacken it.
5. Add the white chocolate to the rest of the double cream mixture, and fold into it. (At this point I had a catastrophe and the chocolate was slightly too warm, and made the mixture go too runny… most chefs and TV cooks would look at me with horror when I suggest this, but they’re just being purists, if it looks too runny, just whisk it again until it goes to slightly stiff peaks)
6. Pour the mousse into serving dishes/glasses/bowls and leave in the fridge to set for at least an hour.
7. Before serving either grate a piece of Mint Aero or a couple of mint leaves (I opted for the Mint Aero, because I’m greedy you see)
8. Try and wait till you sit down to devour it. Yummy

So there you go… oh, and what’s this… PICTURES!!! Yaay! (I’m hoping this works, because it’s changed since last time I put a photo on here)