Eggs Royale

Apparently Noreen has taken these lovely pictures of on of the times we made eggs royale. The Pimenton and parsley added a nice colour to the Hollandaise.

After a two year hiatus - we present to you...

So, after a very looooooooooong break from blogging, we've recently gotten a break for ourselves from life, work and exams! Thought we would share this dish as it was delicious. We first had Octopus in Carlisle as the Morrison's there seasonally sold it. Luckily, I found it in Newcastle!

Anyways, the above was inspired by James Martin's braised octopus sans red wine. Ingredients and how we cooked it as below.

Octopus:
1/2 kg of Octopus cut into 3-5cm pieces
4 shallots finely sliced
4 cloves garlic crushed and finely chopped
2 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
a handful of cherry tomatoes (halved)
400g of tinned tomatoes
rind and juice of one whole lemon
!tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Tabbouleh salad:
100g Tabbouleh
1 red onion diced
1/2 pomegranate
a sprig of parsley and mint
salt and pepper

So, I toasted some black pepper in a hot pan with the garlic and cherry tomatoes (gave out some really good aroma!) then I added in the olive oil. Just have to be careful not to burn these and make sure the tomatoes are nicely charred and dehydrated to release its sugars. Then add in the lemon rind, thyme and bay leaves. Finally add in the shallots. When the shallots have softened, add in the octopus and cook for a few seconds before adding in the tinned tomatoes and use the same can to measure out water and add that in. Add in the juiced lemon and brown sugar. Bring the mix to a boil and then turn the heat right down and leave it for 1 hour or so.

To make the tabbouleh, we used enough boiled water added into the tabbouleh and let it rise for half an hour. This is then drained and mines with the diced red onions, pomegranate, chopped parsley and mint with salt and pepper to taste.

We dished out the layers as above. The Tabbouleh, topped with the octopus and finished with some parsley. It was a very nice harmony of flavours!

Roseberry Topping

"Roseberry Topping is a cone at which someone has taken a swipe, a topping without a top" 

England's 100 Best Views, Simon Jenkins 

And no...this is not a blogpost about a dessert :)

So we finally feel a little more at home on our new terrain.

We really do miss being so close to the Lake District. Now 2 hours just seems too far a trek for the weekend.

We decided to plant ourselves further south close to the North York Moors, starting with a little hill called Roseberry Topping.

 

The autumn hues were stunning. There was a gentle breeze now and again but the air was otherwise gratifyingly calm. The perfect weather for our first walk in a long while.

It was a steep climb up for an elevation of up to 230m which certainly kept us quiet as we concentrated on catching our breath. The whole walk as a circular route was only about 2 miles. It was more than comfortable. Our thoughts brought us back to gruelling climbs up Blencathra, Helvellyn and Tryfan (to name a few)...yes, we were glad for this cute and modest summit.

And my, for that little bit of effort, we were rewarded with breath-taking views of Teeside. The rays of the sun as it was setting cast a beautiful emerald green across the moors - even the industrial belt of Middlesbrough in the distance looked strangely alluring.

The winds caused the landscape to change with the sunlight being thrown in different directions as the clouds marched past. A wonderful display that definitely lifted our spirits that day.

And so we've fallen in love with another place :) I guess it's not hard to when you catch a beautiful day like this at the tail end of autumn...

Noob Oxtail Soup

Saw an oxtail at the butcher's and was curious to try slow cooking it as I've never made it before and I have a new love for bone! (as in, marrow flavour...). So here goes;

about 500-750g oxtail
a sprig of thyme
one bay leaf
50g butter
salt and pepper
400g canned tomatoes
cayenne or paprika
1 small red chilli
1 big onion, diced
4 cloves garlic
Parsley to garnish

Ideally you could marinade the meat overnight with salt, pepper, garlic and cayenne. Melt the butter to start with on medium heat, and add the meat. Brown the meat on all sides. Be careful not to burn the butter.

Add the diced onions and leave it to soften. Then add the sliced garlic and whole thyme sprig (be generous, it's the major note in this dish I think).

Lastly, add in the canned tomatoes and one can of water. Bring it to the boil and then cook on the lowest heat.

I cooked this for 3 1/2 hours occasionally stirring the dish at half hour intervals. You might need to add in water so that it does not get dry. I find cooking on the gas stove a bit unpredictable, so need to be careful not to burn it. If I had the slow cooker (all in the new house at this moment), I probably would have cooked it for at least 6-8 hours.

Anyways, the meat and tendons fell off the bone, and the taste was fabulous :) I wonder if some sour cream was called for but that would have turned it into some form of goulash so I just left it. Added some parsley for garnish.

Noreen's birthday meal! Braised Lamb Shanks with Rosemary New Potatoes

I knew I had to do something special to please the missus, and I couldn't think of anything else to do but some lamb shanks. I've always done a previous version that has never failed to impress (with Worcester sauce and honey), but again, we didn't really have much in the kitchen so I went for a simple recipe. Again, this was impromptu and it seemed to please the guests, so without further ado;

4 lamb shanks
Salt and pepper
Nutmeg
1 large white onion
3 shallots
7 Garlic cloves
2 x 10cm stalk of Rosemary
10 good sized Sage Leaves
A handful of Thyme
125g of unsalted butter
3 large carrots

For the new potatoes (you can use other baking potatoes - it just so happened we just harvested some of our own);

2 stalks of Rosemary
100g of Butter
salt and pepper
4 cloves of garlic

I started of with adding salt, pepper and grate half a nutmeg to the shanks in a big bowl and mixed it thoroughly. Nutmeg is essential - for some reason, it enhances the flavour of the lamb (and I shall have to find out how in due time). In a medium sized cooking pot, melt the butter in medium heat. Be careful not to burn the butter, and once you have enough at the base, add in the shanks. Brown on all sides. Then add in the sliced onions and shallots. Add in whole cloves of the peeled garlic. Bruise the rosemary leaves with the back of a knife handle (for maximum flavour) and roughly chop the sage leaves and thyme. The leaves were fresh from the garden and I think it is essential because it gave the dish texture and a pleasantly sweet taste. Add the herbs in whole. I left the dish to cook for about ten minutes while I peeled the carrots and cut them into chunky slices. Add the carrots and stir the dish to get an even mix. Reduce the heat to medium low-ish and cook for 2-3hours, stirring occasionally.

For the potatoes;

Pre heat the oven. Quarter the potatoes (I did not peel them) and mix with salt and pepper. De-stalk the rosemary and finely chop the leaves and add into the mix. Add the butter and and place it in the oven for 5 minutes to melt the butter, then mix again to get an even spread. Cook the potatoes at 180 degrees for 30 minutes. I certainly liked the potatoes whole rather than mashed.

Simple and full of flavour. A homely feel to it as well.

Always a First! Pulled Beef with Soy Sesame Noodles

We've been meaning to keep a blog of our cooking and baking for some time now but never really got down to it. At the time of writing, we are about to move house and there are minimal ingredients and utensils in our kitchen. I thought this is surely the time to start, or we would probably never will!

This first recipe is something spontaneous. I've always wanted to know what 'pulled meat' tasted like and I've never really understood the concept but here is my own version of what I thought it was.

Interestingly, when I went to a new butcher's, he did a cut of part of the cow's leg, with bone in the middle and surrounding it, meat. I thought it would be great to slow cook it. We also needed to finish some white noodles we bought, hence the idea for the soy sesame noodles. Without further ado, here are the ingredients;

A cut of beef leg (or any other cut with bone, and the beef needs to be chunky) about 500g
1 white onion
2 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
a swig of dark soy sauce

I sliced about 0.5cm thick slices of the onion to line the base of the slow cooker and placed the meat on top. The cloves of garlic were wholly crushed(no need to peel) and added in. As much salt and pepper as you like and as much dark soy sauce as you feel like. Cook on high heat for at least 4 hours.

For the noodles;

300g of any type of rice noodle
1 onion
2 shallots
4-5 cloves of garlic
half a thumb of ginger
1 red onion
1 green pepper
2 red chillies
dark soy sauce
salt and pepper
vegetable oil
sesame oil
sesame seeds
wedges of lime

As with any Asian type noodles, everything should be finely sliced. Heat about 3tbs of vegetable oil and 1tbs sesame oil. When really hot, add in the onion and shallots. Sweat it a little bit, then add in the ginger. Once soft, add in the garlic - I cook it until it turns brown and crispy, love the taste when it's cooked this way. Then add in the noodles, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Add the red onions and pepper at the end just to wilt it. I think it's nicer crunchy than cooked. Garnish with the red chillies and sesame seeds. Lime wedges on the side.

As with slow cooking meat, I never use oil. The fat from the meat and marrow gives a tremendous flavour. The beef just exuded it's own fat and in turn, the onion and garlic within were cooked and infused with flavours from the beef. After 4 hours, the bone just falls off, and the marrow seems to have melted away. I took out the beef, and with a fork, just rustled away pieces of the beef, and served on the side of the noodles.

Didn't have any at the time, but I thought some pickled ginger would be nice as a garnish as well. Was glad that Noreen loved it :)