BBQ Burger Buns

Sometimes I like to shake things up so decided to flavour my bread for our slow roast pork bap.

To be fair it turned out far better than I expected so here's the recipe!! 

500g flour (any will do, doesn't have to be strong bread flour)

150g warm water

150g warm milk

7g dried yeast (14g fresh yeast)

Pinch of sugar

Pinch of salt

10g oil

Knorr BBQ paste

In a bowl chuck the flour salt and sugar.

I always weigh the liquids for accuracy but roughly 1g equals 1ml.

Mix all these together then add to the flour.

Knead for 5 mins until it forms a dough and leave to prove until double in size. 

Knock it back then shape into rolls, brush the tops with a little knorr BBQ paste mixed with a little water and cook on 170c for around 15 mins, the toll will sound hollow when tapped.

I served mine with slow roasted belly pork and salad.

Big School Bake Off 2016 Finalist!!!!!

A while back I entered in to the Big School Bake Off, not thinking anything of it I was quite surprised my paper entry made it through to the semi finals!! 

So yesterday ( 7th July ) off we trotted to the LACA Main Event at the Birmingham NEC. 

Now I haven't cooked in competition for years so was a bit apprehensive but everyone there was great to get along with and made me feel at ease.

We had an hour and a half to recreate our paper entries and plate the finished product!!!

After the stressful 90 mins the judging for my heat took place with bake off legend Jo Wheatly Great British Bake Off Winner 2011!!!!

Unfortunately we couldn't stay for the results and I'm notgoing to lie, the wait had me on tenterhooks all day.

But finally at around 4pm I got the call saying I'd made it through to the finals in September!!! 

So here it is... My Pina Colada Sandwich!!!

Huge thanks to everyone involved at LACA and knorr taste!! 

See you in September!!!

Recipe to follow!!

Piri Piri and Cheddar Swirls

So seeing as I still have some Knorr Piri Piri paste ( this stuff goes really far ) I thought I'd make some of these bad boys!!

You will need

500g flour 

7g fast action yeast

40g oil

Pinch salt

Pinch sugar

290g warm water

Knorr Piri Piri paste 

2 good handfuls of grated mature cheddar cheese

Combine flour salt and sugar in a bowl,

Mix the water oil and yeast then chuck this in the dry ingredients. Knead unil a dough forms.

You don't need to wait for this to prove, roll the dough out into a rectangle about half a centimetre thick.

Spread the Knorr Piri Piri over the entire dough, I like mine spicy so I used 3 tbsp but it's up to you how much you can handle! Sprinkle evenly with the mature cheddar and roll up like you would a Swiss roll, like this.....

With a serated knife carefully cut into slices around 2cm thick like this....

Arrange on a lined baking tray about an inch apart like this...

Then let them prove for around 30 minutes, chuck them in a preheated oven on 160c for 12 minutes or until golden brown like this....

These are wicked for a picnic!!! 

For even more hints and tips check out the Knorr Chefs Hacks website here and get your free sample, you wont regret it!!!

Piri Piri Rolls

I've been lucky enough to get my hands on some knorr cooking pastes, now you probably know by now that I'm not one to use things as they were intended.

Normal burger rolls are fine but sometimes you need a bit of difference and to be honest I'm getting a bit bored of a brioche roll now!!

So these Piri Piri Rolls are great to have as an alternative, fantastic with chicken or any other burger you fancy!!

For the rolls:

500g flour
290g warm water
7g fast action yeast
Pinch of salt
Pinch of sugar
100g Knorr Piri Piri paste

Chuck your flour salt and sugar in a bowl and give a little mix, then weigh out 290g warm water (weighing out water is better for consistency, 1g is 1ml.)
Add 7g yeast stir and add 100g Knorr Piri Piri Paste.

Stir this through the flour and slowly knead until a dough, prove in a warm place until double the size knock back and shape into 8 rolls.
Prove again to double size and cook on 170c for 17 mins or until golden brown and sounding hollow to the tap. Or freeze the uncooked dough and cook from frozen when needed!! 

Let cool and serve with the filling or your choice!!

For more top tips check out Knorr chef hacks here!!!

Easy Homemade Fudge

So with the bank holiday coming up its a great time to get in the kitchen and make yourself and kids a treat for when you watch a movie right? 

This fudge recipe is so easy but really tasty. 

All you need is

300ml milk

100g butter

350g sugar

Chuck all these in a heavy based saucepan and simmer to 115c or until it starts to thicken and no longer comes up when boiling.

No pictures for this one as yet but will add as soon as poss.

Southern Fried Chicken

It's been a while since the last post but have to share this awesome chicken recipe, always goes down a storm!!

So 

Take four boneless chicken thighs (you can use breast but I find the thigh has more flavour).

Cover with milk and refrigerate for about an hour.

While that's happening, in a bowl chuck a good cup full of self raising flour 1tbsp chilli powder 1tbsp smoked paprika and 1tbsp garlic powder.

Take your chicken and shake off the excess milk then coat in the flour mix.

Shallow fry on a medium heat until golden then finish in the oven at 180 for 10 mins or until the juices run clear.

Stuffed Plaice with Fragrant Rice

I don't often ask for recipes but the dish from Jack Settle is awesome!!

Make sure you check out more of what he's doing on Twitter @Chef1Jack. 

Stuffed Plaice with Fragrant Rice

Serves 6

1 onion medium diced
1 bulb of Fennel
2 lemons zest
1 lemon juiced
1 star anise
200g long grain rice
6 Plaice
Small Bunch of Parsley and Fennel or Dill


Sauce Vierge

Onion medium diced
5 tomatoes de seeded and diced
Small bunch of flat leaf parsley
Small bunch of Coriander
Small bunch of basil
2 lemons juiced and Zested
400ml of Olive Oil
200g Capers

Method,

1) Put the rice on to boil with a star anise and cook for 10 minutes season with salt. Once cooked cool down with cold water for 15 minutes and leave to the side for later.

2) In a pan sweat the fennel bulb and onion  until translucent and add your rice. Take the pan off the heat, chop the parsley and fennel and dill put the herbs into the pan along with the lemon zest and juice. Season with salt and white pepper.

3) The plaice will require patience but hang in there. Get your plaice and season the inside with not much salt and pepper. Insert the rice and fill half plaice and try to fold it like a book. For cooking insert a cocktail stick in the plaice make sure you have soaked your sticks in water otherwise it will burn during cooking.

4) Cooking the plaice, put the oven on 150C. Put the plaice on a tray lined with baking parchment. Put the plaice into the for 15-20 minutes.

5) While the fish is cooking make the sauce Vierge. Add your onions and tomatoes into the olive oil and cook to blood temperature (37.5C). Add your herbs, lemons and capers. Leave to rest in the pan.

6) Once the fish has cooked plate the fish and serve with a simple green salad. And dress the fish with sauce vierge.

Enjoy 

Thanks Jack and keep up the good work!!

Consider this recipe well and truly nicked lol

Easy Singapore Style Noodles

So I got told off today by someone who checks my blog daily for any updates, so here you go!!

For me there's nothing better on a winters day than a good plate of hot and spicy noodles. 

You will need...

4 red or green chilli

Half a bulb of garlic

A good thumb size chunk of ginger

6 tablespoons of curry powder 

500ml vegetable oil 

Chuck all the ingredients in a blender until smooth then gently heat for around 15 minutes or until the rawness of the curry powder has gone. Leave to cool.

You can use this paste to stir fry your meat and vegetables, then toss through your noodles. 

Here's mine 

Food Service Cateys 2015

Well as you all probably know I've been shortlisted for Chef Manager of the Year at The Caterers Food Service Cateys for the past three years and this year I finally got to take one home!!

On the menu

Starter

Duck Confit, baby leeks, smoked duck and grain mustard.

Main 

Pan-fried fillet of sea bass, prawns, broad beans, peas, purple English mash and lemon sauce.

Dessert

Praline cake with crunchy nuts, coffee ganache and vanilla mousse

With wines supplied by Mathew Clark

All followed by entertainment from Adam Buxton!!

Huge congratulations to all the winners and runners up at this years awards!! 

Massive thanks have to go to everyone at The Caterer and obviously Mark Lewis  Amanda Afiya and Janie Manzoori-Stamford, everyone at The Park Plaza Hotel, my team for putting up with all I chuck at them and of course Connect Catering for letting me do what I do!! 

Kerala style fried chicken

Everyone loves southern fried chicken right? 

I wanted to come back this school year with a new approach to our lunches, we've always been a bit different with our outlook on food and the flavours we use, so I came up with this. 

Basically a southern fried chicken but with the flavours of India. 

This is probably the easiest fried chicken recipe I could come up with. 

You need 

4 boned chicken thighs or fillets

200g flour

Milk

And a decent curry powder (see earlier post)

Chuck your chicken pieces on a bowl and cover with milk.

In a different bowl add the flour and mix in some curry powder. Don't be shy with this as when it fries the taste gets weaker.

Shallow fry on medium heat until golden brown then finish in the oven.

I served mine with a home made naan bun new potatoes and red onion rings.

Not the greatest picture but you get the idea!! 

Food Service Cateys 2015

So for the third time in a row I've been shortlisted for a prestigious Food Service Catey!!! Just being nominated is an achievement in itself but to be a finalist three years in a row is amazing!!

Massive thanks have to go to Connect Catering for letting me do what I do. The support from everyone in the company is outstanding and I am very happy to be a part of the company.

Also huge congrats to everyone else shortlisted it's an amazing achievement and definitely something to shout about! 

Here's the full shortlist, good luck everyone and I look forward to speaking to as many of you as possible in October!

Chilli Cheese Bites

Ok so quick post today.

I needed a quick starter and everyone here loves a bit of chilli and cheese.

So a bit like a beignet (fritter),

In a mixing bowl chuck in a good few handfuls of self raising flour, some chopped chilli (up to you on this one but I like mine hot) and a few good handfuls of mature cheddar cheese.

Bond it all together with some cold water until you get a really thick batter, thick enough to hold on a spoon but not so thick it won't drop off, then spoon them into the fryer. Fry until golden, drain and serve.

I servers mine with some mixed leaves and a tomato and balsamic chutney. 

Walk Eat Talk Eat

Well it's been a while since my last post but things have been manic lately!!

Just wanted to give a massive thanks to the wonderful Charli for our Walk Eat Talk Eat food tour as part of our area meeting, full of interesting knowledge and facts not to mention showing and treating us to some delicious samples of some fantastic (not so well known) places to eat, If you ever get chance to book one of these tours I can guarantee you won't be disappointed!

I won't give away exactly where we went, I'll let you book up a tour for yourself!

Here's some pics and one of a dodgy bloke brandishing what seems to be a courgette for no apparent reason!

See what all the fuss is about here

Easy Choc Chip Cookies

So sometimes in my job I need to make something sweet in a hurry and these bad boys are a clear winner for me!! 

For the dough.

100g soft brown sugar

125g butter

1 egg

225g self raising flour

200g Choc chips

Beat the butter sugar and egg together Until fluffy then fold in the flour and chocolate.

Stick it in the fridge for half an hour until it firms up, then roll into balls a bit smaller than a ping pong ball. 

Bang them on a baking tray about 3 fingers apart because they speak.

Chuck them in a pre heated oven at 200c for 10 mins. 

They will be very soft when you first bring them out but after a few minutes you will have amazing cookies. 

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

This is an easy one but looks good and tastes great! Makes 24.

So for the cake 

500g butter

500g sugar

500g self raising flour

8 eggs

1 lemon zest and juice

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy then chuck in your eggs.

Beat again then slowly fold in the flour, if you beat it at this stage the cake will become stodgy.

Spoon into muffin cases and bang them in a pre heated oven at 150c, Cook for approx 15 mins.

For the meringue

Whisk 4 egg whites until stiff peaks,

Whilst that's doing, in a pan chuck 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup water.

Being this up to 104c then slowly whisk into your meringue mix. 

Pipe on top of your cooled cupcake and either return to a hot oven or if you have a blowtorch use that to colour.

Best Companies 2015 Awards Night!!

Well every year for the past 4 years Connect Catering have entered in to the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For Award.

And this year I was invited to the Ceremony at Battersea Evolution.


Hosted by Ben Shephard, the atmosphere in the Evoloution was electric.

The Champagne was flowing and I was in good company with me fellow colleagues.

It all kicked off with a starter of Treacle and Sesame Roast Salmon Fillet with Spring Onions and Roasted Beets.

Followed by

Honey and Harissa Marinated Chicken with Roasted Leek and Carrot, White Onion Purée and Smoked Potatoes

And for Dessert

Trio of Desserts

Cranberry Bread and Butter Pudding, Bacchus Jelly with Pear and Cornish Cream ice cream Treacle Tart

After all that the awards finally started, announcing the top 5 first, unbelievably we weren't called up! Then it was the top 100 countdown!

It's a bit like the chart show on a Sunday, the announcing is so fast it's hard to keep up! 

Before I knew it the run down was already at the top 10 and still Connect Catering weren't called! 

We finally ended up being number 6! 

The cheers from our tables was deafening and quite rightly so! 

An amazing company to work for with amazing people at the top and throughout. 

Well done everyone at Connect Catering and thanks for making it a special place to work!!

Easy White Sugar Cake

I know I know!!! Its been a while but in my defence it has been super busy lack of staff amongst other things!!

So Ive been mucking about in preperation for Chinese New Year, I hate the usual dessert idea of banana fritters so after extensive research (google) came up with this!

Take

1 cup rice flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups water

5 tsp dried yeast

Chuck the rice flour sugar and water in a pan and continuously stir on a medium heat for around 10 mins until it starts to thicken up.

Allow to cool for about 20 mins then lob in the yeast and give it another mix.

Set aside for an hour or so until it starts to bubble and double in size.

To cook

Pour mix into a steaming pan lined with parchment and cover.

Steam for around 20 mins.

Let it cool before cutting it up. If you are impatient like me it just sticks to your knife!!!

Food For Life

 Ok so the company I work for thought it would be great to get involved in all this Food For Life business, truth be told I didn't really understand it at first and if I really tell the truth thought it would just be more paperwork to follow.

But we pressed on, went on courses and attended work groups with other chef managers. We even had a training session with a lovely lady from The Soil Association.

After going through all the different aspects of the Catering Mark that you need to reach I quickly realised I might not be as far off as I first thought. Inspection day came and the auditor was due in at 9 30am, with all the evidence I needed to gather at hand we started going through old menus and invoices to show that I am actually doing what I say I do.

Its a bit nerve wracking at first but the auditor was a really nice guy and very supportive in the things that we were missing ( certain declarations to say that our meat is farm assured and our fish is not from the at risk list),

When the audit was complete we waited a couple of days to hear back from the certification officer to tell us what extra info we needed to submit. And after a couple more days of chasing suppliers were finally awarded the Bronze Award.

One of the criteria for the award is at least 75% of food must be freshly prepared and after talking to the auditor we came out at 100% freshly made, usually 75% to 80% according to the powers that be at The Soil Association, with 100% being quite a rare thing!!!

Although it seems like a lot of hard work its definitely worth applying for, it might be a good tool for your companies marketing team to use but it also shows that you actually care about where our food comes from, how we prepare it and  the health benefits for everyone!

Check out what its all about at The Soil Association and make sure you apply for your award too.
 

How to make creamy Spinach and Mushroom Pasta

I used to make this in a restaurant I used to work in and recently got asked for the recipe, and as it has been remembered from seven years ago it must be a good one!!

So you need:

2 cloves crushed garlic

1 large banana shallot/medium onion finely chopped

6 sliced button mushrooms

A couple of handfuls of baby spinach

200g penne pasta

400g fresh thick cream

Drizzle of olive oil

Salt and pepper

Bring a pan of water to the boil and chuck in your pasta with a good pinch of salt.

While that's cooking in a frying pan lightly fry your onion and garlic until soft, then chuck in your sliced mushrooms.
Cook for a few minutes stirring occasionly then lob in your cream.
Simmer for a few more minutes but keep stirring so the cream doesn't burn.
Turn the heat down and throw in your spinach, cook for 2 more minutes.
Season with saslt and pepper.
Drain your pasta and add it to the sauce.

This serves 2 so if you need someone to share it with give me a shout!!

How to make Chip Shop Curry Sauce

Everyone loves a bit of chip shop curry sauce right?? If im honest I've "borrowed" this recipe. I didnt think.it would work but how wrong was I?? Its wicked and super easy!!

So

Obviously depends on how much you want to make but all you need is....

2 cups boiling water
4 table spoons of curry powder
1 vegetable stock cube
A good splodge of mango chutney
Cornflour to thicken

Add the curry powder, stock cube and mango chutney to the water. Let it cook for a bit. (5 mins) at this point give it a taste and decide if you need more curry or mango.

Add a dash of water to your cornflour and lob it in the sauce. Thicken untill it's sauce like.

Sorted

Ps thanks Kay!!