Blackened Tofu

Hi all,
1000 apologies for being rubbish and not posting for what seems like ages. For those of you that don't know me that well my job can get a bit busy at certain times of the year and this has been one of them. I put together the Argos catalogue, well about 150 pages and together with my colleagues we put together about 800 pages of it! at this time of year the book is starting to go to print so it has meant long days and weekends so I simply haven't been cooking that much of interest. Anyway, here I am again with a new recipe. I think Yotam Ottolenghi is my favourite cook at the moment and he should pay me for putting all his receipes on this blog or give me a signed book at the very least...! (Deano if you are reading this a meal at his restaurant for my birthday please?)
Tofu, that pesky stuff you get with your Chinese and tastes a bit bland...I like tofu, always have and love it in the Tom Yum or in a curry but I was pleased to find this new recipe where I could try something new. Its easy and would be great for the vegetarian option if you are cooking a meal for mates. I didn't have any spring onions...
You need a glass of water with this and my lips were burning for ages...

serves 4
800g firm tofu - cut into cubes
Veg oil for frying- fill the pan up to about 5mm height
Cornflour- for dusting the tofu
150g butter
12 shallots- finely sliced
8 mild red chillis - thinly sliced
12 garlic cloves - crushed
3 tbsp chopped ginger
3 tbsp sweet soya sauce
3 tbsp light soys sauce
4 tbls dark soya sauce
2 tbsp caster sugar
5 tablespoons crushed black pepper
16 sm spring onions cut into 3cm segments

Pour oil into pan, toss tofu in cornflour and deep fry until golden brown, if you have a small pan then do in batches to avoid stewing and mulching together. Once cooked transfer to kitchen paper to drain.
Melt the butter in a pan and add the shallotts, chilli, garlic, ginger and saute on a medium low heat for about 15 mins.
Add all the soya sauce and sugar and finally the black pepper.
Add tofu back to the pan along with the spring onions and cook for about a minute then serve with steamed rice. The rice is lovely with this as it's so bland. Yummy!

We are going camping this weekend so I'm hoping to post some cowboy food recipes

Pirate food

Mamas Pasta

Give me the badge, give me the badge!! I finally got the pasta maker out and it was easy! Blix and I made pasta, or rather I made pasta Blix made some weird mixture and then threw Spider Man in there for good measure!
Deano and I sat there quite cheesily saying 'mmm, tastes so good and so much nicer than the bought stuff' but for a first atempt my tagliatelle was lovely. I served with home made pesto and some courgette muffins. Deano did take a picture of the pasta making but it was sooo unflattering that I'm not going to show it...

The muffins were delcious and I used a receipe by Dan Leppert- check out the link below
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/10/courgette-mozzarella-muffin-recipe

Leek & Gruyerre Tart

Blimey, it's like the good life in these parts at the moment! Our good friend Sarah is a landscape architect (available if anyone has any positions at the moment!) but she's also a very good gardener and between her and another friend Iona I'm soaking up their green fingered knowledge. Sarah was coming to tea on Sunday and in exchange has brought me loads of lovely plants for the garden including a 50 year old peony from her granny's garden (better treat that one well). So in exchange I've made her some dinner. The tart is easy to make and I'm not going to apologise I used ready made short crust pastry and served with roasties and some pan fried courgettes which I marinaded in a little lemon juice, olive oil and sea salt then just fried on the griddle.

1 packet of short crust pastry
300ml single cream
3 x beaten eggs
Gruyere cheese (about 2/3 of a good wedge)
Sea salt and pepper
4 leeks

Head and tail the leaks, cut in half and then slice. Fry the leeks in olive oil with S&P and the juice from half a lemon until soft.
Line a flan dish with butter and place the pastry in, cover with grease proof paper and fill with baking beans then bake blind for 20 mins.
Mix the cream with 3 beaten eggs, season.
Place the fried leeks at the bottom of the tart. Cube the Gruyere and scatter over the top then cover in the creamy mixture. Bake for about 45 minutes. Check the tart with a skewer, if it's dry then the mixture is cooked. It was yummy, especially straight out of the oven and still warm and gooey.

Elsewhere this weekend, I went to a vintage fair in Headingley and bought Deano a great tiki bowling shirt, a car boot sale at Yeadon and got a great 'shabby chic' gilt mirror for 2 whole pounds and went for a good curry at Akbars with Mat and Emma. So all in all a great weekend.

Summer Pasta

Sometimes I feel like the pasta queen, we eat it all the time, it's our fast food in this house. Probabbly my expanding tummy has something to do with this... Deano bought me a pasta maker which I have as yet not tried...please don't let it become one of those gadgets in the cupboard. I now solemnly declare to try it out this bank holiday..I promise to post the results or take my girl guides homecooking badge away from me.
Anyway, tonights tea is a fresh summery kind of meal that's quick, easy and you can do other stuff whilst it's doing it's thing.

Linguini
1 courgette - cut it into slithers with a potato peeler or mandolin
Slices of mushrooms, I used about 8
a handfull of quartered cherry tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
A few sprigs of thyme
About 4 tablespoons of olive oil

Place the courgettes, mushrooms, tomatoes, oil, garlic and lemon juice along with oil into a large bowl. Add S+P along with the leaves of the thyme and leave to marinade for about 1/2 hour.
Boil the linguini aldente then toss in a bit more oil and salt. Then add the mixture and mix well. Serve with parmesan.

Pan Fried Mackerel, Spanish Squid, Babaganoush and lemony Potatoes

Good evening, a lovely weekend with lovely food. Friday after work was a gorgeous evening and just right for a pint in a beer garden, the first of the summer. we decided to go to The Royalty near Otley Chevin but to our horror it was a pub without beer, A PUB WITHOUT BEER!! not sure what was going on but they didn't have a license so we swiftly left and went to The White Hart at Poole which was very nice and a good place to go if you are ever in these parts.
Saturday, my friend Rosie came to visit so after a nice walk in The Hollies (Dean over did it and his leg has been killing him since!) and a trip to the donkey sanctuary we headed home for supper. Squid and babaganoush was a bit over exciting for blix so we gave him his toddler tea, Rose bathed him and I started on the supper. I love teas like this, loads of seafood and yummy Mediterranean stuff to pick at. I served with sourdough bread and olive and balsamic dipping oil. YUMMY.
For pudding I tried something I've wanted to do for ages good vanilla ice cream topped with a cup of espresso...it's that easy and very, very delicious.

Babaganoush
Take 2 Aubergines, slice in half and bake in the oven for about an hour but keep checking, what you are after is really soft flesh which you can scoop out. Place the flesh into a mixer and add 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (the wonder stuff), juice of 1 lemon, tablespoon of olive oil, 3 garlic cloves and sea salt and wizz. Season further to taste.

Mackerel
Fillet the mackerel and sprinkle with S&P and a few dried chili flakes and drizzle olive oil over, leave to marinate for about half an hour then fry on a grill pan, only a few minutes each side is necessary.

Lemony Potatoes
Boil new potatoes in their skin, once soft drain and put back into the pan, put the lid on and shake vigorously to bruise and crush the spuds. Add juice of 1 lemon, s&P and chopped parsley and mix well.

Hot Spanish Squid - a recipe by Rosie Lovell
1 red pepper
4 garlic cloves
2 chillies
lots of olive oil
tsp smoked paprika
tsp ground cumin
tsp caraway seeds
3 tubes of squid
tsp golden caster sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 bunch fresh parsley

De seed the pepper and cut into hunks, whizz with the peeled garlic and chillies to make a paste.
Warm olive oil in a pan and fry the paprika, caraway seeds and cumin for a few minutes then add the puree. Cook the mixture for about 1/2 hour until reduced, add a tablespoon of water if required.
Prepare squid and cut into rings - add this to the pan last minute along with the sugar, lemon juice and parsley then cook for a few minutes.

Herby, Gurdy Man

Hi all,
We have been eating but lazy meals or variations on a theme but I wanted to check in and let you know about Deano's pie. It was delicious and a real treat for a weekend. It was time consuming (or at least it was for Deano) but worth the effort. This pie would be really good on a spread and a nice change for that pesky vegetarian who comes to dinner. We are all fine but have been going out and about a bit lately. Last week was Easter and we had dinner at a friends and then took Blix jousting at the Leeds Armouries. This weekend was Homebase nightmare on Saturday then off to York Airfield today....what fun.... lots of planes...I know I should have stopped off at that retail park on the way!
Do you know what, this is very lazy I know but follow the link below to yummy herby happiness. I like this blokes receipes, sometimes he uses strange, unheard of ingredients as I think he is from Iran, which I don't know much about but his receipes are always interesting and delicious.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/20/herb-pie-recipe-vegetarian-ottolenghi

Easy Musrooom Stroganoff

Hi there, yes I know I'm like a bus, nothing then 2 posts in one evening! I've been busy... Our band was great the other night, The Jim Jones Revue... rock and roll tastic... 40 year old men all with died black hair, as my friend said, made us look like natural black heads! Brilliant band, check them out on the tinternet.
Well the bank holiday is upon us and I have grand plans to paint our garden wall blue, I've been meaning to do this for about a year so this weekend definitely has to be P - day! We are also going jousting at the Leeds Armouries, well just watching but blix will love it, I can't wait.
I have loads of veg left this week as my cooking has been a bit lazy and a veg box due on Thursday so I'd expect a few recipe's this weekend.
Deano shock horror may be cooking tomorrow night so I'll post it if he does ....

For now here is another easy tea that tastes good and can be knocked up in a few minutes.

Chopped fresh parsley
Lots of mushrooms - I used shitake and portobello
Chopped red onions - chop in thin half moons
2 crushed cloves of garlic
1 chopped tin of tomatoes
Smoked paprika
S&P
Chili flakes
Creme Fraise

Fry onions in olive oil until soft but not browned then add the mushrooms and garlic, continue to fry until mushrooms are soft.
Add tomatoes, 2 tsp paprika, pinch of chilli's to taste and S&P
Add 2 tablespoons of creme fraise and a handful of chopped parsley then simmer for about 10 mins until reduced.
Serve with rice