Food Service Cateys 2014!!

Oh My Goodness!!!

Well I don't know if you are all aware but last year I was shortlisted for a Food Service Catey which astounded me!! Just to be on the list is an honour and if you read my earlier post about it you will know what an amazing night it was. To be on that list for the second time in a row is unbelievable. When I got the email I was beside myself!

So massive thanks to the people that nominated me again and to the judges that saw fit to put me on the list again!!

The best of luck to eveyone shortlisted this year and of course ill be posting my outcome via Twitter on October 10th!!

Cheers

How to make Curry Powder

OK so its been a while since my last post but things have been super busy lately!!

No excuse I know so I thought I'd give you this little gem!!!

Shop bought powders are fine but can sometimes be lacking in flavour or can be a little too spicy so...

Basic ingredients are

2 tablespoons ground cumin

2 tablespoons ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon mustard seed

1 tablespoon tumeric

and depending on how hot you want it 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Works great as a rub too

Enjoy

BBQ Pork Belly and Asian Noodle Salad

It's been a while since my last post and with all the heat we have been having lately I thought i'd give you this little number!!

It's a nice, light little lunch packed with plenty of flavour.

For the Pork

I would normally slow cook a whole belly, but I cook for around 90 so get your butcher to cut a few 6oz slices.

Lay your Pork slices in a roasting tin and smother with your favourite BBQ sauce or knock up your own. I do 2 parts ketchup to 1 part brown sauce, some mixed herbs and a Tbs honey.

Cover with foil and whack it in a pre heated oven on around 150c. We need it to slow cook so the fat melts into the meat making it really tender. A 1 1/2 inch slice should be done in about an hour.

While all that's going on, fill a bowl with just boiled water and chuck some rice noodles in. Leave them to soak for around 10 minutes then run the cold tap over them to stop the cooking process.

For the Salad you need

2 Sliced peppers
3 Cloves chopped garlic
2 Sliced onions
3 chopped Spring onions
2 Chopped chilli (more if you like spice)
2 Pak Choi
1 small bunch Coriander
1 bag Salad leaves
Soy sauce
Tbs sugar
2 Tbs Sesame oil (veg oil will do)

Heat 2 Tbs oil in a wok and chuck in your peppers garlic sliced onions and chilli.

When they start to soften add the spring onion and Pak Choi. Now's the time to lob in your sugar and a few dashes of soy sauce. Check.for seasoning and allow to cool.

Mix all the cooked ingredients with the chilled drained noodles and chuck in your salad leaves and coriander.

Dress your plate with the noodle salad and Pork, drizzling some of the Porks cooking sauce around the outside.

Sorted

Easy Piri Piri

This recipe is fantastic for spicing up any dish but works best with chicken as a marinade but works just as well as a condiment, not much more to say about it really so I wont bore you with origins or how I came across it (more trial and error).

So here's how I do it.

Firstly to save washing up I roast off 6 red chilli and 5 cloves of garlic in tin foil on 180c for around 10 minutes.

Then chuck them in a blender with the zest of a lemon.

While it's doing it's thing slowly pour in some oil until it gets to pouring consistency. Olive oil is best for this but vegetable oil works just as well.

Check for seasoning.

Sorted!!

When it is at this stage it's great for a marinade or for a base for stir frying, and if you want to turn it into a sauce just lob in some chopped tomatoes.

Will add pictures of the various uses in due course!!

Tomato and Mango Chicken

Well its the school holidays and for me that means one thing, the company I work for let me loose in other peoples kitchens!!

Today I was covering a work mate and he had Tomato and Mango Chicken on the menu.

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture but believe me when I say it looked pretty good.

This recipe is really quick and easy and tastes great....

So

Mix together

3 parts tomato ketchup
2 parts mango chutney
1 part cream

It should look like 80's classic prawn cocktail sauce, smack this over your chosen cut of chicken and bang it in a pre heated oven.

It comes out looking like a shiny tandoori because of the sugar in the ketchup.

Easy Spherification

Right then, its been a while since my last post so I thought i'd give you this! "Caviars" are usually found in high end restaurants and the like. It's not as hard or as expensive as it might sound and you can get all the gear you need from Amazon.

Basically you add 2g Sodium Alginate to your chosen liquid, you need to whisk it alot or shove it in a blender because the powder doesn't like to be rehydrated.
Let it rest a bit so the air bubbles go.

While its resting, dissolve 2.5g Calcium Chloride in 500g water.
This is the Calcium bath that will react with the Sodium Alginate to form a membrane round the outside of the sphere while the inside stays liquid. Your bath needs to be around 5cm deep so choose your bowl with this in mind.

You will need a dropper to squeeze your juice into the Calcium bath, but i knicked a syringe from a childs medicine bottle and it does the trick.

Now you are ready to start making your spheres.

Suck some juice into your dropper/syringe and gently squeeze drops into your Calcium bath. You will need to hold your dropper about 3cm from the bath to get the best results.

Once they are in the Calcium leave them for 2-3 mins to form them menbrane.

Fish them out and rinse off in fresh water.

They will remain a liquid centre for a few hours but because of the Alginate they will eventually form a solid ball.

Not the greatest pics but you get the idea.

I used mango juice but you can use any liquid you like.

How To Make Salt and Pepper Ice Cream

So what started out as a twitter joke with the amazing @DigitalBlonde I wanted to see what this would actually taste like, and I have to say its brilliant!!!

For the base of the ice cream

8 egg yolks
6 tbl spoons caster sugar
1 table spoon rock salt
1 table spoon cracked black pepper
500ml whole milk

In a pan heat your milk to just under boiling point.

While this is heating up, chuck your sugar and eggs together in a seperate bowl and whisk.

Pour your hot milk into the bowl with your egg mix and whisk continually.

Return the mix to the pan and gently heat while continuing to stir.

The mix will thicken and make a custard.

Let the custard cool before adding your salt and pepper. This is really important because if the mix is warm the salt will dissolve.

I tried a batch using normal salt but wanted to get salty crunchy bits.

Now lob it in your ice cream machine.

Done!

I served mine with some summer berries.