Fennel, Fennel, Fennel

If you don't like aniseed or fennel, this recipe isn't for you, it's packed full of it.
I originally planned to make this risotto with normal chicken stock, but this afternoon, whilst rooting through my tea draw, trying to decide on a flavour, I came across a lonely, un-loved box of Dr Stuart's wild fennel tea. Fennel stock in fennel risotto? Being a lover of all things aniseed, fennel overload is my idea of bliss.




Pan fried salmon fillet with fennel and courgette risotto (serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 2 salmon fillet
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• 1l water
• 1 chicken stock jelly (the ones with MPW's ugly mug all over it)
• 2 fennel tea bag
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp fenugreeks
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 knob of butter (I used margarine to keep the fat down)
• 250ml dry white wine (I used a Chardonnay. Lots of people say cheap wine is fine for cooking, but as you're only using a glass, why not buy a better one that's actually drinkable?)
• 2 large cloves garlic
• 1 medium sized courgette
• 1 fennel bulb
  
• 3 shallots
• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley
• Parmigiana (I used pecorino but it wasn't quite salty enough)
• Zest of 1 un-waxed lemon
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Bay Leaf
  

Method:

• Start by finely slicing your garlic and shallots and set aside in a bowl (best to get the fiddly bits out the way).
• Add 500ml water to a saucepan and bringing to the boil. Add the tea bags, fennel seeds, fenugreeek seeds, bay leaf and balsamic and leave to boil for around 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, remove the outer layer of the fennel bulb and slice thinly, similar to the way you'd chop on onion. Add a little oil to the bottom of a pan and add sliced fennel. Coat the fennel with the oil for around 2 minutes. Add a tbsp of lemon juice to stop the fennel catching on the bottom. Pop a lid on the pan and leave to cook for around 10 minutes on a medium-high heat.
• Take your fennel tea off the heat and strain, making sure to keep the water. Return water to the pan, add another 500ml of water, bring to the boil and add the chicken stock jelly. Stir until dissolved and your stock is ready to go!
• Remove the fennel from the heat and set aside in a bowl until later. Put the same pan back on a medium-high heat, add half the butter and a little olive oil to stop the butter burning.
  
• Add the sliced shallots and garlic and cook until they only start to turn brown. Add the rice, coat with the juices and leave for a minute or so. Now add half of the wine and stir until the rice has absorbed half the wine, now add a ladle of stock.
• When the rice has absorbed the stock, add the sliced fennel and then gradually add a ladle of stock a time, waiting for the rice to absorb it before adding the next ladle. Continue this for 30 minutes until the rice becomes soft but still has bite. At this point, add the courgettes (sliced), the lemon zest and the remaining wine. Continue adding stock, ladle at a time until the rice is completely cooked.
• Around 5 minutes before your risotto is due to be ready, take the salmon fillets and season on both sides with salt and pepper. Take a frying pan to a medium-high heat and add 1 tbsp of olive oil until sizzling. Add the fillets, skin side down, to the pan ensuring the shake them for the first 20 seconds to avoid sticking. Cook skin side down for around 2 minutes until the skin is crispy. Flip over the fillet and cook for around 3 more minutes until the salmon is firmer but not dry. Remove from pan and leave to rest for 2 minutes.
• For a finishing touch to the risotto, grate over about 1/4 cup of parmesan and 1/2 cup of flat-leaf parsley and stir though.
• Serve risotto in a deep bowl with the salmon fillet skin side up on the top. Sprinkle with a little parsley (to be showy) and you're done!
  

Sticky Chicken

Based on the American take away favourite, General Tso's chicken, this recipe is a healthier alternative to the sweet, heavily fried favourite. For veggies, chicken could easily be substatuted with firm tofu. I find that freezing the tofu and then defrosting it before use gives the tofu that firm texture that you find in restaurants and makes it a lot easier to fry.
Using a good wok is the key to success with this recipe, other cheaper woks tend to cause sticking leaving you with a hefty washing up load. Other than that, this recipe is simple, fast and delicious!

Sticky Chicken (serves 2)

Ingredients:

Sauce

• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 cup mange tout
• 1 1/2 peppers, sliced vertically
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp root ginger, peeled and minced
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp dry chilli flakes

Chicken and coating

• 2 eggs whites
• 3 tbsp cornflour, mixed enough water to form a liquid
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 chicken breasts, sliced into bite size pieces

Method:

For sauce:

• mix together the cornflour with water until smooth and pourable. Stir in the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, chilli flakes and brown sauce and mix until well combined.

For chicken:

• Whisk together the egg whites, cornflour (with water), salt and pepper. Stir in the chicken slices.

• Heat the wok over a medium-high heat. Add 1 tbsp of sunflower oil (or any other flavourless oil). Piece by piece, remove the chicken from the chicken coating, ensuring at all excess coating has dripped off (this will stop you making a horrible mess of the bottom of your wok) and add to the hot wok.
• Cook stirring occasionally until the chicken has turned golden brown.
• Set chicken aside.
• Add the sauce to the wok and cook the mange tout and peppers until they are tender and the sauce has thickened. This should only take a few minutes, the vegetables should still have a bite to them
  
• Add the chicken (and juices) back to the wok to coat with the sauce.
• Serve with brown rice and garnish with sesame seeds.

Please excuse the bland photograph. Unfortunately I don't own a digital slr so I'm trying to make do with a crappy compact. I don't know how compacts manage to instantly make food look so rough so a little imagination may be needed.

Now That's a Salad

The Wonders of Liquid Smoke

I've recently invested in some liquid smoke. In the past I've read so much about it and been meaning to buy some ever since. It's currently only available in the states but there are a couple of on-line UK retailers selling state-side products that stock it.
You open the bottle and the overwhelming smell of camp-fires fly out of it. Tasting it on it's own is pretty unpleasant but a couple of drops in a meat marinade gives it a beautiful smoky flavour. A couple of drops certainly goes a long way.

I don't really cook large amounts of meat so whilst trying to find a veg friendly use for it, I came up with a great healthy oven baked chip coating.




Crunchy Potenta Chips (for one large portion)

Ingredients:

• 2 large baking potatoes (peeled and cut into chips shapes)
  
• 1/2 cup course grain polenta
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 4-5 drops liquid smoke
  
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil (rapeseed oil or any flavourless oil would do)

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 220c and line a large baking tray with parchment
  
• Part boil the potato chips for around 5-7 minutes until slightly bendy
• Meanwhile mix the polenta, salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, chilli powder, sugar, liquid smoke and onion powder in a bowl.
• When the chips are bendy, drain and fluff slightly in a sieve.
  
• Take each chip individually and coat in the polenta mix (this might burn your fingers slightly so it's better to do it quickly). Place on the baking tray and drizzle with oil. Gently toss to chips to try and coat them all with oil. Spread to chips around ensuring none are touching.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes, tossing half way through.

This could easily be adapted for roast potatos but obviously part boiling the spuds for a little longer.

They go great with another state-side purchase of mine, Bacconaise, but I won't go to far into that, it speaks for itself.

Wine Biscuits

It's January and the new years resolutions are already out the window, the guilt has kicked in and the excessive festive drinking is hard to shake off. So these healthy option biscuits seem like the right move. Not only do they satisfy your sweet tooth, you can also say that the anti-oxidants in red wine are good for you? yeah? Well that's what I'm telling myself.



Red Wine Biscuits (makes 16-25)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of plain flour
• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup of dry red wine (I used a Cabernet Sauvignon)
• 3 tsp of baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• Granulated sugar (for topping)
• 2 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of ground cloves
• 1 tsp of ground nutmeg
  

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 175c and line a baking tray with parchment.
• In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking power, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Add all the wet ingredients and combine until it forms a soft dough. If the dough is too dry, add a teaspoon of wine at a time until soft enough.
• Divide the dough into small pieces, about the size of a golf ball. On a flat surface, roll each ball into a 1/2" thick rope. Pinch the ends together to form a doughnut shape.
• Dip one side of each biscuit into granulated sugar, pressing gently.
• Bake for 15 minutes until the bottoms are golden (in an electric oven they may need a little longer).
• Cool completely on a wire rack. They'll be a little doughy when first out the oven but the cooling down will harden them up.
  
• Sit down and enjoy with a cup of tea or maybe one of those left over glasses of red ( just for some added anti-oxidants).

They look pretty grim on first glance but they do taste good. I promise. My next plan is to make a savoury version with parmesan and white wine.