Sticky Pan-Fried Scallops, Sweet Chilli Rice, Dressed Greens, Quick Brownies

Sticky Pan-Fried Scallops, Sweet Chili Rice, Dressed Greens, Quick Brownies p. 152
This was another first for me. I have eaten scallops many times but I had never made them myself before. I thought for my first time a JO recipe would be best, and I was right. These were fantastic and the kids couldn't get enough of the sticky scallops.

Any meal that can produce this kind of happiness, must be good :)

I didn't end up with a good picture of the veggies for this meal, and to be honest they weren't that good. They were my least favorite part of the whole meal.  It was 4 choi, broccoli (should have been purple sprouting broccoli but I couldn't find any), and asparagus. If these had been cooked properly they might have been good but as it were I didn't have a way to steam them and then ended up rather boiled and yucky.  Will have to try again now that I have a proper sieve to use for his steaming method.  The seasoning for the veggies was soy sauce, lime, and olive oil which is good but not anything really special. 

For the sticky pan-fried scallops you use 1 lemon, Chinese five-spice, sesame oil, 1/2 a red chili, 1 clove garlic, runny honey 2 small knobs of butter, and a small bunch of fresh coriander.  These were truly yummy. You are supposed to use scallops that have been trimmed and I recommend that, but the ones I had were not trimmed and so I just left them that way. If you haven't ever eaten or seen an untrimmed scallop you should check them out. They have a large orange part that I am not really a fan of. It has a strange texture.  http://www.fotosearch.com/CSP139/k1396613/

You score the scallops on a piece of greaseproof paper, drizzle over some olive oil, sprinkle with S&P, finely grate over some lemon zest and dust with Chinese five spice. Then drizzle over some sesame oil (I love this stuff) and toss together until coated. Fry them in a hot pan scored side down in a little olive oil. Don't turn them until the last 30 seconds of cooking and crush over one clove of garlic, sprinkle over the chili, squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lemon and add a tiny drizzle of honey and 2 small knobs of butter. JO does all of that in the last 30 seconds of cooking time :) He is seriously fast! When the butter is all melted and the scallops sticky and nice you can sprinkle over your chopped coriander--nice, sticky and beautiful!

This is the rice and it was equally as good as the scallops. I used 1 mug of basmati rice, a small bunch of spring onions, 3 eggs, 1 TBS of soy sauce, 1TBS of sesame oil, 1/2 a lemon, a small bunch of coriander and sweet chili sauce. The rice was really easy to make. When it is cooking you mix up the chopped spring onions, the eggs, the soy sauce and sesame oil. Then when the rice is almost cooked take off the lid and fluff with a fork before pouring over the egg mixture, squeeze over the juice of 1/2 a lemon and add a pinch of pepper. Put the lid back on and cook on the lowest heat for another 4-5 min.  

Happy children = happy parents. This meal was healthy, delicious and appealed to the adults as well as the children.  I am not one who believes in one menu for the kids and another for the adults. How are the kids supposed to grow up to appreciate different kinds of flavors and foods if they aren't exposed to them?? My children are picky about textures and they know what they like, but they will try anything and they will eat and enjoy most food if it is cooked properly.

These are the decadent brownies made with 2 x 100g bars of good-quality dark chocolate, 250g unsalted butter, 200g golden caster sugar, 6 level tablespoons cocoa powder, 4 heaped tablespoons self-raising flour, a handful of crystallized ginger, 4 eggs, a handful of pecans, a handful of sour dried cherries, 1 clementine and creme fraiche to serve.  My food scale was broken so I just did the best I could with the grams but it turned out perfect anyway.  They weren't too dry, they weren't too hard and they weren't too gingery-They were perfect.  I am one who likes my chocolate and nuts-I don't usually care for ginger or fruit in my chocolate brownies (or so I thought) but it was actually really good and seemed to add some redeeming qualities to the fat and sugar we were consuming.

The room went quiet until the plates were empty and they all I heard were pleas for "more please mommy".

This was a pretty fast meal but I didn't get an exact time because I forgot to check the time in the end. My best guess is that it took me around 45min. I know it was between 1/2 and hour and an hour.  It was a definite keeper on the rice and the scallops. I will try the vegetables one more time properly and see how they go. This is a great meal for serving a lot of people as well. The brownies can serve twelve and it is really easy to make a huge pot of rice, and to double the scallops and veggies.  

Father's Day Dinner-recipes courtesy of Jamie

Roasted Chicken, Parsnips, Butternut Squash, and potatoes, Boiled Carrots, and Savoy Cabbage

With our cold winter weather we have been craving warm winter vegetables. Father's Day dinner was focused on several of these.  These recipes are all Jamie's recipes but they aren't from the 30 minute meals cookbook. They are from one of his TV shows (can't remember which one).

Each vegetable was seasoned and prepared a little differently to provide a unique flavor and texture. The Butternut squash was cut, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with paprika, salt & pepper.

The parsnips were parboiled with 2 whole lemons, drained, drizzled with runny honey and olive oil, and sprinkled with thyme, salt and pepper. Then grilled in the oven with the squash.  The hot lemons set aside.

This is the fantastically fresh marinade for the chicken. This was worth making again-very good! In case you are dying to try it here are the very simple instructions: In a pestle and mortar put a whole bulb of garlic( peal on) take several large stalks of rosemary and dip them in of one of the pots of boiling veggies for a few seconds and add the leaves to the garlic. Pour in a few lugs of olive oil, add the peal of a lemon, and season with salt & pepper.
Pound together to get the garlic mashed up and the spices to blend well into the oil. After it is all pounded up Stuff your chicken with one or two of the boiled lemons(depending on how big your bird is) and a few sprigs of rosemary that have also been dipped in boiling water.  Cook the Bird for 30 min then add the potatoes (parboiled) and rub them around in the marinade in the bottom of your chicken pan and cook the two together for another hour.

The other roasted vegetables will probably not take more than 30 -35 min. so add them into the oven at the end.

Here are the finished parsnips. I used a Manuka honey because it has a strong flavor and I thought that would help the parsnips taste a little better. They are not one of my favorite vegetables.  The actually tasted really good with the strong honey and I would definitely recommend using a strong honey if you make these. My family isn't used to eating parsnips and I think it will take a lot of repetition to get us fully used to their taste but this was a fantastic recipe to help introduce them to my children.  They liked them but didn't want to eat too much of them.

The chicken was so juicy and tender and according to Jamie cooking the bird with a hot lemon inside helps not only flavor the meat but it also helps cook it from the inside as well as the outside giving you a shorter cooking time.

The potatoes were covered in the marinade as well and they were really crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. Because they were parboiled they didn't take long to cook and they cooked very evenly and crisped up beautifully.  They were definitely the star of the show to me although the boys all seemed to like the chicken best.

The greens you see on the plate were fantastic.  I was really surprised since they are also something that I don't usually care for. I made sure to keep them quite crisp since three of us really hate completely wilted greens of any kind. Jamie doesn't cook them long though so I think they are meant to be crisp.  To make these you heat a large pan and cut up a savoy cabbage really finely. When the pan is hot add a little olive oil and heat that. Add the cabbage and 10TBS of Worcestershire sauce and a bit of salt. Only cook for 4 min and take off the heat. 

The carrots were boiled with 2 TBS of sugar, cumin seeds, butter and salt.  Boiling in the sugar and spices gives them a really nice flavor you can't get if you just sprinkle them on top afterwards. The last but not least part of the meal is the gravy.  Take the juices from the bottom of the pan with the chicken and make a roux by adding some flour.  If needed (and it probably will be) add a little water and stir as it thickens into a very tasty and easy gravy. 

This meal was fantastic. It was like eating a big Thanksgiving dinner that was healthy.  My favorite thing about the meal was that it was built around making the vegetables exciting and not just the meat.  A great way to introduce new winter vegetables to your family if you don't normally eat butternut squash, parsnips or savoy cabbage.  My family gave the meal an 8.5 or 9. The potatoes, chicken, cabbage and carrots were loved by everyone. My kids were however a little skeptical of the squash and parsnips.  They liked them but not enough to eat seconds and they didn't want them as leftovers the next day.  

Moroccan Lamb Chops, Flatbreads, Herby Couscous, Stuffed Peppers, Pomegranate Drink

Moroccan Lamb Chops, Flatbreads, Herby Couscous, Stuffed Peppers, Pomegranate Drink p.266

I made everything for this meal except the Pomegranate Drink. I couldn't buy any pomegranates so I defaulted Jamie's Berry Slushy P. 166 This was quite an exciting meal for presentation and if I had more unique dishes it would have looked stunning.  So many colors and textures deserve the same in serving but alas I must use what I have here on the other side of the world from my serving dishes.

This is the Moroccan style lamb. The flavor was so good my guests were sucking the bones when the meat was all gone.  Yummy!  The rub was made with freshly grated nutmeg, ground cumin, sweet paprika, dried thyme. You score the meat to made sure that when you massage in the rub it gets into the crevices.  Then when the meat is seasoned you add it to a hot pan and brown all sides of it and finish it off in the oven--Superb and you really can't go wrong unless you over cook it.  14 min for blushing to medium and a few minutes more or less for well done or rare. 

This is the houmous and it was really just store bought houmous with some added flavors. I took garlic houmous and drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, pepper and sweet paprika, and a squeeze of lemon.  It was very tasty!

These were the stuffed peppers and they were so easy it was like cheating. He uses peppers that are roasted and jarred already since it is fast.  You take the peppers out of the jar, slip in a few slices of good melting cheese (I used a good Cheddar), and you slip them into a hot pan and cook for 1.5-2 minutes until the cheese is melted. Fast, easy and quite tasty as a side.

This was new for me. I have never used harissa before and I really liked it.  This was also a garnish for the meal. It was made with 250g of yogurt, a heaped teaspoon of harissa, a drizzle of olive oil and a little chopped parsley sprinkled on top.  It was wonderful on the flat bread. It was cool in your mouth because of the yogurt but the harrissa added a bit of heat and spice that was in contrast and it was lovely. For those of you who don't know what Harissa is it is a Tunisian Chili eaten in North Africa. It comes in a jarred paste where I live but is also sold in tins, tubes and other containers according to Wikipedia.  It can also differ in taste depending on what region you buy it in.  If you haven't tried it before I highly recommend it!

Oh Couscous how I love thee-couscous is so versatile. You can make it so many different ways and it's always good. Just like a potato :)  This couscous had finely chopped red chili, parsley, a few lugs of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and the juice of one lemon. Simple and supurb. The grainy texture of the couscous was in nice contrast to the smooth bread and spreads.

This flatbread was a great example of how Jamie takes something so simple and pre-made and turns it into something that tastes spruced up and homemade.  To make these you buy a package of good flatbreads lay them on a board and drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with S & P and dried thyme or oregano. scrunch up and wet a large piece of greaseproof paper and flatten out. Wrap up the flatbreads in it and put in the oven on the bottom shelf to warm up on 220'C/425'F/gas 7. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how it takes plain flatbreads up a notch on the food ladder.

Here is the finished product--Fantastic!

For the berry slushy see my post on "Smoky Haddock and Corn Chowder"

This meal was so well received that it will definitely be put on the list of repeats.  I would also like to add the Harissa to some other more simple last minute meal ideas. If you already have a jar of it on hand you can use it as a rub for any meat and it would be wonderful.  I also like the idea of using it with other couscous meals.
I apologize for going in and out of USA and European spellings. It is getting harder and harder for me to keep them straight and since I have readers from both ends I guess it doesn't really matter. It will look wrong to one or the other anyway :)
It took me more than 1/2 an hour as well. I am wondering if I will ever be able to consistently get these meals made in 1/2 and hour or if that will just be unattainable?  Hmmm--on a happier note my knife skills are improving greatly. Not getting too much faster yet but I am consistently being more uniform in my cuts and my spread has improved a little.  Farewell and Goodnight! Happy Cooking to you all-

J.O. Shrimp With Citrus Salt & Salad, Squid With Jasmine & Lime Salt Over Fennel Salad and Seared Tuna

This recipe comes from one of Jamie's cooking shows I watched on DVD. I believe it was one of the "Oliver's Twist". The meal consisted of Shrimp with citrus salt over orange salad, squid with jasmine and lime salt over fennel salad, and seared Tuna. I didn't make the seared tuna although I am sure it was good and will include the recipe. This is the shrimp with citrus salt on an "orange salad":

To make this salt you use a mortar and pestle and pound together salt, orange zest and ginger. Then since it is kind of wet you can leave it out in the kitchen overnight to dry out or you can dry it out yourself in the oven. I made a little dish out of foil and spread it out in there and dried it out in the oven. According to Jamie the citrus salt will last about a month.
This is the fennel salad with tea and lime salt: To make this salt he used green tea and lime zest. I used Jasmine tea and lime zest and pounded that up in the pestle and mortar. This was dry already and didn't need to be dried out.

To make the orange salad you slice up the oranges you used for zest and lay them out on a tray. Then de-seed and chop a red chili and sprinkle that over top with some chives. sprinkle over salt & pepper and drizzle over a little olive oil. This is the salad you sever under the shrimp.

Finished product is really quite impressive in looks and in taste. My family went crazy for it. For the shrimp I grilled them in a pan with some of the juice from the oranges and a little olive oil. Then I put the shrimp on top of the salad and sprinkled over the citrus salt.

For the squid I laid them out and scored them diagonally both directions so it formed little diamonds across the body. Then I pan fried these dry. After it was cooked I chopped it up and put it in a bowl with a few lugs of olive oil, the jasmine tea salt and the juice of 2 or 3 small limes and tossed. After putting the squid on the chopped fennel I dressed it all with the juices in the bottom of the bowl.

We served it up with liquid kiwi fruit to drink and skipped the seared tuna.

It was all wonderful except the squid. My squid turned out really rubbery and yucky. We have eaten squid here that is really good and not rubbery at all but I will have to look into what makes the difference and try again. The fennel with the dressing though was wonderful.

To make the seared tuna you just need to marinate it in a plastic bag with 1/2 a bottle of soy sauce for hours and then sear it on each side. Slice it and serve with little piles of chives on one side and grated/ground ginger on the other side and a drizzle of soy sauce. Enjoy!

Chicken Skewers, Amazing Satay Sauce, Fiery Noodle Salad and Fruit & Mint Sugar

Chicken Skewers, Amazing Satay Sauce, Fiery Noodle Salad and Fruit & Mint Sugar p. 110

This meal was very Jamie and by that I mean it wasn't really "Asian" but it was a good, fast, Jamie substitute that was well worth making and eating again.
This is the noodle salad. It was fresh and exciting. It is a combination of Asian style egg noodles (one nest per person), 100g unsalted cashews, 1/2 med. red onion, 1 fresh red chili, a small bunch coriander, 1-2 TBS. soy sauce, juice of one lime, 1 tsp. sesame oil, 1 tsp. fish sauce and 1tsp. runny honey.
My one beef about this recipe and Asian noodles in general is that you have to rinse them in cold water and then they have to be reheated unless you want to eat them cold. I didn't think it tasted as good lukewarm as it would have if it had been hot so next time I will rinse them and re-heat in a pan/wok until hot. It was such a fresh tasting noodle salad though and would be perfect in summer.
This is the satay sauce. Made with 1/2 a bunch of fresh coriander/cilantro, 1 fresh red chili, 1/2 a clove of garlic, 3 heaped TBS. crunchy peanut butter, lug of soy sauce, a 2 cm piece of fresh ginger and the zest of two limes and juice of one. It was all blended and chopped in the food processor and it was quite tasty. You dress it with a small lug of olive oil before serving. (It didn't really need the olive oil though in my opinion especially since peanut butter is so fattening already. Next time I will leave it off.

These are the chicken skewers. If you are making this in the summer you could grill these :)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xrj3Eh9Hyc

If you cut and paste this link into your browser you can watch a short video on how to skewer the chicken. Notice at the end she just about spears her finger with the skewer. ALWAYS keep fingers out of the way when doing this. I have stabbed myself too many times with these skewers and it HURTS. The chicken is coated in some of the satay sauce that was leftover ( I think I used about 1/3 of the sauce. Then you drizzle a little olive oil and sprinkle over some salt and pepper and pop under the grill. After about 8-10 minutes you turn them over and drizzle with a little runny honey and then pop under the grill for another 8-10 min.

Here is the finished product. It should have been plated with a little fresh coriander and chopped red chili sprinkled on top but I forgot in the rush to feed the family. You use little gem lettuces to put the chicken and satay in and eat like a lettuce wrap. Don't forget to squeeze over some fresh lime and enjoy. SO GOOD!! Like I said this is a perfect summer night meal-crispy lettuce, fresh lime, grilled chicken, and the refreshing taste of noodles with lime, sesame oil, coriander red onion and chili-perfect!

This meal took about an hour to prepare, but it shouldn't have. It was a fast meal but I got lazy and just worked slowly enjoying the cooking too much. If I had been fast it probably would have taken me 30-40 min. I am still not nearly as fast as Jamie. I have no idea how he is able to do all that he does in 30 min. hmmm....

I do know that one thing that slows me down is my lack of knife skills. I think I will have to start watching some knife videos and practicing. I could use some good knifes as well.

In case you are like me and could really use some knife skills here is a Jamie video to get you started.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG7GzPVI4bs

I didn't make the fruit and mint sugar that went with this meal because berries are scarce here this time of year. I did however make a fruit salad, inspired by the fruit and mint sugar, that was to die for. My kids just couldn't get enough and I finally had to say OK no more :) The fruit salad will be coming in a later blog post.

Banoffee Pie

Banoffee Pie p. 170
To be honest the only really appealing thing to me about making this desert was how pretty it looked in the cookbook. Imagine then my disappointment when mine looked pretty good but NOT like the picture. My chocolate would not curl and instead would only shave into little tiny shavings :(
The desert is a combination of pastry, banana, a sort of caramel and whipped cream. I really love to eat bananas and I love banana cake/bread BUT I really don't like banana deserts.

The crust is just a regular pastry crust that you bake in your pastry pan. Then you put your pan on high heat and melt 4 heaped TBS of golden caster sugar into the frying pan until it is melted. Then you blitz 2 bananas with 100mls of milk until it looks like a smoothie. You add that to the pan when the sugar is melted and stir it around just a little bit while it is bubbling. When it turns a dark golden color quickly take it off the heat. It should only take 1-2 min. Then pour it in the pastry case and put it in the fridge or freezer (depending on how long you have) to let it cool.

Peel and finely slice 2 more bananas and lay them on top. Top with 300ml of cream (whipped) and garnish with curls of dark chocolate. Hopefully yours will turn out a little more pretty than mine. Everyone really enjoyed the desert though and said it was wonderful. It was fast and easy and could be really beautiful and impressive. I even liked it, but I would rather eat any one of the other deserts we have made from Jamie's cookbook instead. Although it was good, I still prefer something without banana's.

Here is the link on how to make the pie. I wish I had seen this before I made mine. It is quite helpful- Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dypZS3Uj3r0

Fish Tray-Bake, Jersey Royals, Salsa Verde & Simple Spinach Salad

Fish Tray-Bake, Jersey Royals, Salsa Verde, Simple Spinach Salad, and Cheat's Banoffee Pie p. 168 (the Cheat's Banoffee Pie will be in it's own post later).

This is one stage of the Fish Tray-Bake. Here you have the salmon, tiger prawns, asparagus, lemon, red chili, basil, anchovies in oil, and garlic
I didn't have any doubts that this would all taste good but I was really unprepared for just how well all of the juices would mix together to make the sauce. There is just something about warm lemons that really make a difference.

Now with the tomatoes sliced and added to the top-

And lastly with the pancetta layered on top. It is now ready to be placed in a hot oven under the broiler/grill (middle self) for about 10 min until the fish is cooked threw and the pancetta on top is crispy. Do NOT over cook. The shrimp in here and the fish were perfect. The fish was soft and juicy the pancetta and the asparagus were crispy and the shrimp was juicy and perfect. It is rare I think to get shrimp that isn't over cooked.

Here is a close up so you can see that the lemons are quartered and spread throughout the pan and as they cook they get really juicy and explode with flavor. When you serve it up you can squeeze the lemons on top and it is fantastic. My oldest said that "next time we use lemons we should cook them first because they are so good".

These are the jersey Royals (or new potatoes). These are really yummy but very simple. You just wash them and boil them in salted water with the mint stalks (leaves removed for the Salsa Verde). When the potatoes are cooked through you drain them discarding the mint stalks and dress them with olive oil and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Season with salt and pepper.

Here is the finished product of the fish bake. It was lovely to look at and to taste.

One thing that makes this meal is the combination of using fish, shrimp AND pancetta. It gives it a very extravagant and exotic feeling to combine more than one kind of meat/seafood. This meal was so simple to make but looked and tasted really impressive. I was so surprised at how easy it was and how quick it was to throw together. The second time I made it went even faster.

It made EVERYONE happy. The kids LOVED it and asked for seconds of everything, but they were especially crazy about the shrimp which makes sense since it is their favorite food and these were cooked perfectly :)

It was beautiful plated. One word of advice though- it should all be eaten right away. The salad will wilt easily and potatoes and fish get cold fast but aren't as good on the reheat. In other words...if husband is late then eat without him.

The Salsa Verde on the potatoes here is made from the leaves of 1/2 a bunch of mint, a bunch of flat-leaf parsley, 1 clove garlic, 2 T. red wine vinegar, 1 heaped tsp. Dijon mustard 1 heaped tsp. capers and 2 cornichons. It was really good but I am not really sure what makes it a "Salsa Verde".

This is the spinach salad-simple but tasty- It was made from baby spinach with the leaves from 1/2 a bunch of mint sliced finely. The dressing is just olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Salt and pepper and the juice of 1/2 a lemon.

This meal took me about 40 min. to make I believe but I forgot to time it. It was amazingly good and we have already made a semi-repeat of the meal. I cooked it without the fish and then put it over fettuccine for Garrett's birthday dinner. It was really fantastic with a little fresh parmesan grated over the top. Yum! Both the original meal and the Birthday dinner received a 10 from everyone. This meal will go into the favorite's list because it was easy and delicious. It would be really great comfort food that is healthy as well.