Leftover Roast Pork in a Sweet & Sour Barbecue Sauce

This dish started off with me following the chilli sauce recipe from Ching-He Huang’s Chilli Chicken with Jasmine Rice, but as I added additional ingredients from a Thai Sweet & Sour dish I learnt in Thailand as I prefer the saltier flavours, it began to take on more of a barbecue sauce flavour. The kids have devoured it, including mine and Dad’s portions, so I had better write it down to be able to reproduce it again.

2 big handfuls of roast pork. If you don’t have this much you could always leave the pepper chunky and add a small tin of pineapple chunks to bulk the dish up.
1 tbsp sunflower oil

Sauce
1 tin of tomatoes
3 garlic cloves
2.5cm ginger
1 red pepper
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice
1 tsp sugar
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes

Skin the garlic, de-seed and roughtly chop the pepper, roughtly chop the ginger and blend everything in a blender cup.

Fry the chopped pork in the sunflower oil, leaving it to brown as much as you dare. Add the sauce and bring to the boil. Serve with rice.

Quick Moroccan Inspired Fish Stew

There is an advertisement on television right now with a dad and young daughter making a Mediterranean Fish Stew. Here’s my take on it. More Moroccan, and less (read as no) child participation.

Serves 4
Cooking Time: around 15 minutes

1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 red pepper, chopped small or pureed to hide it
1-2 tsp harissa paste
4 fillets frozen white fish (I use pollock)
Handful of black olives (optional)
Handful chopped parsley or coriander (optional)

Fry onion, garlic and red pepper if using chopped in the olive oil over a medium heat in a saucepan until it starts to brown. Add red pepper puree if not added chopped earlier. Add tomatoes, half a tin of recently boiled water, harissa and bring to a simmer. Add the other ingredients and simmer until the fish can be broken up easily into small pieces. Stir in parsley or coriander if using, and season to taste.

I serve it over couscous (Add a good pinch of salt, pepper and a glug of olive oil to half a mug of couscous. Cover with a full mug of boiling water in a dish with a tight fitting lid and leave to cook in the heat of the hot water whilst you make the fish dish) or bulghur wheat (boil a mug of bulghur wheat for 10 minutes in lots of salted water whilst waiting for the fish to cook). If in need of brownie points off the children I will serve it over pasta.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Leftover Roast Chicken with Chorizo & Butter Beans

A really quick tea I put together last week with leftover roast chicken.

Serves 4

1 large handful of leftover roast chicken, or more if you have it
100g spicy chorizo, cubed or finely sliced
1 can butter beans
1 can chopped tomatoes
1/2 can recently boiled water
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
Pepper & salt to taste

Fry the chorizo in the olive oil until it starts to brown. Add the onion and garlic and cook for another 5 or so minutes. Add the rest of the ingredient, topping up with water to make into a suitable stewlike consistency, and simmer for 10-20 minutes to ensure the onion is cooked. Season to taste.

Serve over rice, pasta or just with crusty bread.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Hungarian Goulash with Leftover Roast Pork

Leftover roast pork in our house usually gets used in a stir fry but last week I thought I’d try something different, and so goulash came to mind.

Serves 4
2 large handfuls roast pork
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp caraway seeds
A large red pepper, chopped (I blended mine with the tomatoes because my kids say they don’t like it if they spot it)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
4 tbsp red wine vinegar
Leaves from a small bunch of fresh marjoram or oregano (optional, but i have so much growing wild in my garden I was pleased to have a recipe to use it in!)
1-2 fresh red chillies, de-seeded and finely chopped

Fry the onions in a casserole dish over a medium heat until they start to brown. Add the garlic, red pepper, and chilli peppers and fry for another few minutes. Add caraway seeds, marjoram or oregano stir, then add tomatoes, paprika, vinegar and pepper & salt. Top up with hot water (about a can) to cover the meat. Bring to the boil, put the lid on and simmer for 10-20 minutes or until the onion is cooked.

Serve with basmati rice and a dollop of sour cream if you have any.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Sweet Runner Bean Pickle

My partner returned from rugby training last week with a carrier bag full of runner beans, 1.5kg/3lb to be exact. One of the players works on a country estate where they are cooked lunches by a chef (very nice too) and was given these ‘leftover’ beans by the chef. OH seemed not to know that the only thing I have managed to grow in the veg patch this year is runner beans.

A straw poll of the old dears at the WI inspired Country Market simply resulted in Runner Bean Chutney.  I googled it and turned up several recipes but they all seem to boil down (pardon the pun) to the same thing, so I largely followed Delia’s recipe for Spiced Pickled Runner Beans in the hope that hers has been tried and tested.

The time of writing it is approximately 5 hours since bottling this pickle and it is not supposed to be eaten for another 4 to 6 weeks.  So I do not know how well it will work out, but I am hopeful.  My  only criticism so far is that it does not taste very mustardy and I had quite a lot of sauce left over after bottling but I found a home for that as a ketchup substitute in today’s stir fry.  And as the stir fry seemed very successful I will be freezing the remainder for another stir fry another day.

Ingredients

900g runner beans (after trimming & slicing)
700g onions, chopped
850ml malt vinegar
4 tbsp cornflour
1.5 tbsp mustard powder
1 tbsp turmeric
700g brown sugar

Makes about six 0.5 litre jars (To sterilise the jars, wash them thoroughly in warm soapy water, rinse and heat in a moderate oven for 5 minutes).

In your largest saucepan, simmer the onions with 275ml of the vinegar for 20 minutes until the onions are soft.  Meanwhile boil the sliced beans in salted water for 5 minutes, then strain and add the beans to the onions.

In a small bowl mix the cornflour, mustard and turmeric with a little of the remaining vinegar – enough to make a smooth paste – then add this paste to the onion mixture.

Pour in the rest of the vinegar and simmer everything for 10 minutes. After that stir in the sugar until  dissolved and continue to simmer for a further 15 minutes.

Pot the pickle in warmed, sterilised jars, and seal and label when cold.

Keep for 4-6 weeks before eating.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Simple Slow Cooker Venison Casserole…with Chocolate

I picked up a pack of casserole venison in our local butcher during the week as the ideal thing to put in the slow cooker on Saturday, to cook whilst we spent the afternoon in the rugby club celebrating the opening of the new pitches.

Not the cheapest meat, I opted only to buy a 500g pack between five of us and bulk it out with something.  I settled on this recipe with button mushrooms, as I am not a fan (as I might have mentioned) of overly stewed carrot and celery.   Only one child baulked at them.

Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
500g casserole venison
1 medium onion, finely sliced
1 large clove of garlic, finely sliced
50g smoked bacon offcuts or 2 rashers smoked bacon, diced
200g button mushrooms
200ml red wine
1 beef stock cube, crumbled
1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
Boiling water

At the end of the cooking time:-
4 heaped tsp cornflour
4 cubes dark chocolate
Salt and pepper, to taste

Fry the cubed venison in the olive oil in batches to brown it.  When brown, place in the warming slow cooker.  Fry the onion, garlic, bacon and mushrooms in the pan after the venison.  When it begins to brown or catch add the wine, stock cube and redcurrant jelly.  Bring to the boil and pour into the slow cooker.  Top up with about 200ml boiling water so the meat is just peeking out.  Stir, cover, and leave on Auto for about 6-8 hours.

When ready to eat, pour back into the pan you used to fry everything in if still available.  Mix a little water into the cornflour until it is the consistency of double cream and stir into to the simmering stew to thicken.  Melt the chocolate into the sauce (mainly done to win the kids over admittedly), check the seasoning and serve with mashed potato, or pasta if you think you’ll still need additional help winning the kids over!

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Slow Cooker Pheasant in Cider

Adapted from Delia Smith’s Pot Roast of Pheasant with Shallots & Caramelised Onions.

Pheasants are currently selling at £9.99 for four in our local butchers.  Which means last nights meal was roughly £1 each for the five of us, plus veg.   Apparently, according to Delia, the pheasant season comes to an end in mid-February so try it out quick.

Serves 5

2 pheasants
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp sunflower oil
12 shallots or 3 onions, quartered
1 large clove of garlic, thinly sliced
2 fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
3 tbsp Calvados or brandy
500ml cider
300ml recently boiled water
1 chicken stock cube
1 tbsp flour
Salt & pepper

Plug in the slow cooker to warm up.  Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan and brown the pheasants.  Once browned, place in the slow cooker.  Brown the peel shallots (or onions) in the remaining fat then add to the slow cooker together with the thyme and bayleaf.

Return the pan to the heat.  Add the Calvados/brandy if using to scrape any meaty goodness off the bottom of the pan.  Add the cider and bring to the boil.  Pour over the pheasants.  Crumble the stock cube into a measuring jug and add the recently boiled water. Top the slow cooker up with this so the liquid comes about halfway up the pheasants.

Cook on high for 4-5 hours or Auto for 6-8 hours.  Serve with mash to absorb all the lovely cidery sauce.

Any leftover liquid can be used as a stock for a soup.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Tarka Dhal or Lentil Curry

The best tarka dal (or dhal) I ever had was in a tiny Tibetan cafe in the backstreets of Kathmandu in Nepal. I have googled various recipes but nothing seems to conjure up the flavours I have in my mouth of this gorgeously fresh soupy lentil dish.

Today, however, as Dad is cooking tandoori chicken on the bbq, I have been challenged to turn out a tarka dal to go with. So, based on the recipe from the BBC series Indian Food Made Easy with Anjum Anand, this is what I have just prepared to eat later tonight.

Serves 2

125g red lentils
1/2 pint water
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 small onion, chopped finely
3 garlic cloves
1/2 thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped or grated
1/2 can tinned tomatoes or 2 large fresh tomatoes
1/2 tsp hot chilli flakes
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground coriander
Small bunch chopped coriander (optional)

Rinse the lentils throughly, drain and bring to the boil with the water. Skim off the scum and simmer with a lid for 20 minutes until soft and mushy. Turn off the heat and leave covered to cool and thicken.

Fry the cumin seeds in a saucepan in the oil for a couple of minutes until they start to sizzle and pop. Add the onion, ginger, & chilli and fry for about 5 minutes until starting to brown. Puree the tomatoes and garlic, or finely chop if you don’t have a processor and add to the frying onion. Add the other dried spices and simmer for about 20 minutes until the oil rises to a simmering film on the top. Stir in the cooled lentils and heat carefully, stirring so it doesn’t catch on the bottom. Stir through chopped coriander and serve with plain boiled rice or naan breads.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Vietnamese Beef Pho with Leftover Roast Beef

When a friend, who lived in Vietnam for a while, said she was making a Beef Pho I thought this was something I had to try for myself particulary as I had a little rare beef left from a roast. She texted me a couple of photos of recipes from two recipe books and I muddled through from there.

A lot of ‘proper’ Vietnamese recipes instruct you to roast beef bones and make your own stock. Don’t bother! I came across beef bones by chance (I buy chicken carcasses weekly to make stock for Watercress Soup that I sell to a local farm shop) but it was a long, steamy, and ultimately greasy task. And I think I’ll stick to organic beef stock cubes in future.

Serves 2

200ml wide rice noodles
500ml beef stock
1 star anise
3cm root ginger, shredded
3 bunches bok choy, shredded (I used equivalent amount of sugar snap peas, baby corn, spring onions)
Thinly sliced red onion
Handful thinly sliced raw or rare beef
Half a large bunch of coriander
2 tbsp chopped mint or 1 tbsp dried mint
1/2 tsp hot chilli flakes

Fish sauce and lime or lemon juice to serve

Prepare the vegetables, onion, beef, coriander and mint first. Bring the stock to the boil and add the start anise and ginger and simmer whilst cooking the noodles according to the packet’s instructions.

When the noodles are cooked, drain and divide between two large bowls. Quickly divide all the other ingredients and place vegetables, onion, beef, and herbs into the two bowls and pour over the simmering stock. Add fish sauce, a squeeze of lime or lemon juice, and chilli flakes before eating immediately.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Courgette, Lentil & Cottage Cheese Lasagna

I made Jamie Oliver’s Leek Lasagna before Christmas, and although the grown ups thought it was delicious, it was a bit too leeky for the kids. It also had a fair degree of prep, and wasn’t cheesy enough for me.

So today I have experimented with my own version, which seemed fairly well received by the kids. The courgette is still crunchy, which is what I wanted, as my inclusion of Big Boy’s favourite courgette salad was one of my selling points to him (that, and the argument to a raging carnivore that lentils are a kind of meat – well protein)

100g green lentils
1 large onion
1 large clove of garlic
2 tins chopped tomatoes
1 large pot of cottage cheese
3 medium courgettes
1 small clove of garlic
1/2 a lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
Pepper & salt
Lasagna sheets
Handful of cheddar cheese or parmesan

Cook the lentils according to the cooking instructions. Take off the heat when cooked and leave to one side, keeping the cooking liquid.

Grate or julienne the courgettes. I did mine with a cutting disk in the food processor. Add the small garlic clove crushed or grated, a pinch of salt and ground pepper, lemon juice, and 1 tbsp olive oil. Toss together and leave to one side.

Finely dice the large onion and garlic clove. Fry gently with 1 tbsp olive oil to soften. Add the chopped tomatoes, cooked lentils, and any remaining liquid. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Season to taste.

Finally, before assembling, stir the cottage cheese into the courgette. And preheat the oven to 200C or 180C Fan.

When assembling, I like to put as many pasta sheets in as I can manage as I find most recipes only use about 6 sheets of pasta which my other half complains is not enough. So, last time I made it I mentally divided both my tomato sauce into 4, and my cottage cheese mix into 3. Starting with a layer of tomato sauce I put a layer of lasagna sheets onto this, then a layer of cottage cheese mix with a layer of lasagna sheets on top. I repeated this twice more to end up with a few ladlefuls of tomato sauce to put on top and then sprinkled this with a handful of cheddar cheese.

Putting lasagna sheets on top of every different layer I reckon I ended up using 6 layers of lasagna so 18 sheets in total. I might possibly half the layers next time for the simple reason that the courgette and cottage cheese layer was a bit dry, and without being cooked in a sauce, the courgette remained too crunchy/recognisable for the kids. Putting the cottage cheese mix straight on top of the tomato sauce, then lasagna sheets, should result in a more creamy sauce? Divide your tomato sauce and cottage cheese into 4 if doing this.

Bake for 35-45 minutes until golden and bubbling. British tradition seems to be to serve it with garlic bread, but if you’ve managed to put in as many lasagna sheets as I did you probably don’t need any!

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry
Instagram: sunhillmakesbakes