Stuffed Chicory, Corn On The Cob 3 Ways, Minute Steak

If this were school, I would have detention by now, and probably a lot of late slips - as they were called in my school. If you got three late slips in a week, you got Wednesday detention - any more than that and you got both Wednesday AND Friday detention. Can you imagine the drama, detention on a Friday afternoon while stressing to get home and do Tapas Friday - although, maybe I could spend my detention time productively and actually start the text and thus stop delaying these blog posts!! This was to be posted on Sunday, maybe Monday if I could swing it. Thursday didn't even come into it. The good news is that you wont have to wait very long for the next post as the Salty Squid kitchen gets ready for tomorrows Tapas Friday, but first, here is what we had last week. Sorry it's late guys. Enjoy.



Stuffed Chicory

Ingredients:
chicory, onions, garlic, mustard, cream, s&p, shallot, chicken stock, walnuts



Roast the onion and garlic in a hot oven with some ‘erbs until soft and tender. Blitz to a paste adding Dijon mustard and cream to get a thick consistency. Season well.

Remove the outer layers of the chicory and slice finely. Dice your shallot and cook it slowly in oil until soft. Add the chopped chicory and cook for another minute. Add the rest of the chicory that you have separated but not chopped. Add some hot chicken stock and continue to braise for about 15mins. Remove the chicory leaves and fill the centre with the roast onion and garlic puree, top with some toasted walnuts and seal them with a chop stick. Stomach rumbling!!!






Minute Steaks

Ingredients:
Sirloin steak, garlic, butter, elbow grease, s&p

First of all, remove your meat from the fridge (stop laughing down the back!), to bring it to room temp about 30mins before cooking. Line a board with cling film, lay the steak on top and season well on both sides, cover with more cling film and proceed to beat the living be-jasus out of it with something heavy. I used an old oak tree that has been growing outside for thousands of years. Slice into mini steaks and fry in a hot pan for about a minute on each side, throwing a blob of garlic butter into the pan towards the end. Lie atop some sliced baguette and top with more of the butter and drizzle with truffle oil.

I made the garlic butter with truffle oil but the flavour was lost so learn from my mistake. Just get some butter at room temp, add some minced garlic (use the wide end of your knife to crush the clove – sea salt with help to grind it too), finish with a squeeze of lemon juice – a great simple little tip, distilled on me from my stern instructor.






Roast Corn On The Cob 3 Ways

Ingredients:
Fresh corn, husks removed, harissa, lime, butter, smoked paprika

Cook the corn in boiling salted water for about 20mins. Remove and lay on individual sheets of tinfoil. Rub one with butter, s&p, another with harissa, lime juice and olive oil and the third with smoked paprika, pepper and olive oil. Wrap them up and roast in the oven for about 10mins at 180c. You will just want more of these, really good and easy.

Shopping List:
Fresh Corn €1.50
Fillet Steak €6.20

Chicory €1.18
Walnuts €2.85
'erbs and other veg €2.65
Cream €1.50
.................................
Total €13.88

Drinks:
More Planter's Punch (white rum, orange juice, lemon juice, lime juice, Grenadine)
Rosé da Peceguina, 2009, 13.5%

On the stereo:
Arcade Fire, Sia

Roast Spiced Squash, Sausage Rolls, Sweet Potato & Goats Cheese Croquettas

Roasted Butternut Squash with Sweet Spices, Lime and Chili

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash; 2 tbsp cardamon pods; 1 tsp all ground spice; 2 limes; 4-5 tbsp olive oil; salt & pepper; handful of fresh, chopped coriander; juice of 1 lime; 100 g Greek yoghurt; 30 g Tahjini paste; 1 green chili

This recipe was stolen, altered and passed off as our own from the excellent 'Plenty' cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi.

Make the spicy marinade by grounding the cardamon and removing the shells. Mix it with the ground spice and some olive oil and chopped coriander. Slice your squash as desired and toss with the marinade. Season and roast for about 15-20mins depending on their size.

Mix the yoghurt and tahjini together. Remove and segment the limes and marinade in olive oil.

Once the squash is cooked remove from the oven onto a plate. drizzle with the yogurt and segmented limes. This was pretty heavy on the cardamon, Yotam, not sure if I would agree with you there - but my god the Saffron tagliatelle with spiced butter on pg 260 means I will go easy on you. Drool on keyboard.

Sausage Rolls

Ingredients:
4 good quality sausages; a handful fresh, chopped coriander; 1 red chili; salt & pepper; 1 onion; 200 g flour; 100 g (frozen) butter; little cold water; 1 egg yolk (for egg wash)

Make the pastry by mixing the flour and grated butter together with a knife adding a little water if 'kneaded' (bad-dom-dish!). (Long silence). (Longer silence). (Sound of man coughing in the distance). Bring it together with your hands and form it into a ball and chill the pastry for 30mins.

While waiting for the lazy pastry, remove the casing from the sausages and mix the meat with the coriander, chilli and diced onion and season well.

Remove the pastry from the fridge and give it a little knead. Roll it out into a thin roundy, neat, eggy-type shape. Or if you are like me, try to roll it this way, but you will probably end up with pastry that looks more like Africa or Thailand.

Form a sausage shape with the eh, sausages, this is confusing, at one edge of the pastry and roll it into the shape of an, eh, other sausage. Slice along the tops with your laser eyes and bake at 180c for about 25mins maybe. Oh don't forget the egg wash!

Sweet Potato & Goats Cheese Croquettas

Ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes; goats cheese ; 4 garlic cloves - roasted; salt & pepper; flour mixed with paprika, breadcrumbs

Roast the sweet potatoes (and garlic) until tender. Remove the garlic from it's skin and mash with the sweet potatoes - season and allow to cool. Once cooled mix the goats cheese with the sweet potatoes and a beaten egg. Shape into whatever size you prefer and toss in flour, shaking off the excess before dipping into a beaten egg and finally into breadcrumbs before frying them off until golden and crispy.

I served them with a smoked paprika mayo. Mix and egg yolk with some Dijon mustard, white wine vinegar, smoked paprika and salt. Slowly add the rapeseed oil whisking all the time until it reaches your preferred consistency.

I cannot believe that something so easy and tasty has not passed my lips before.






Shopping List:
Butternut squash €2.00
Coriander €2.00

Goats Cheese €3.00

Limes €1.20

Tahjini Paste €3.49
Chillis €2.50
Sweet Potatoes €2.25

.........................................................

Total €16.44

Drinks:
Planter's Punch (white rum, orange juice, lemon juice, lime juice, Grenadine)
Pojega Valploicella Ripasso, 2007, 13%

On the stereo:
Chet Baker, Harry Belafonte

Artichokes With Tarragon Mayo, Aubergine Ravioli, Fish Goujons With Home Made Ketchup

I just made Banoffee Pie and to be pretty honest, I have no real desire to be hammering away here, talking rubbish. I would rather be face down in the tray of Banoffee - a bit like Al Pacino in Scarface, you know the scene towards the end?? Anyway, after two helpings, then seconds....I can safely say that I still want more. And what has all this toffee-Banoffee talk got to do with Artichokes or this weeks Tapas Friday blog entry which again happened on a Saturday? Nothing at all, as per usual.

Artichokes with Tarragon Mayo

Ingredients:
3x artichokes; 2x egg yolks; 1tsp of Dijon mustard; some white wine vinegar, tarragon, rapeseed oil

Have a pot with water and squeezed lemon juice ready. Break off the stems of the artichokes and discard. With a sharp knife, slice the ends of the outer leaves moving the artichoke at an angle. reading back over this it makes no sense. What you want to do is just slice the leaves at the base so they fall off and you don't lose all of the flesh. I guess you can tear them off and trim with a smaller knife. Once done, cut the top of the artichoke off and put into the lemony water. Next, boil some salted water and give it a good squeeze of lemon. Add the 'chokes and cook till a knife meets no resistance - but don't over cook. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool, leaving the 'chokes in the water. When hot enough to handle, remove, and slice in half. Remove the choke and discard. Slice the Artichokes into half again.

Next make your mayo by beating the egg, mustard, vinegar and salt together. Slowly add the oil, whisking all the time until you get to a thick consistency. Add a lot of chopped fresh tarragon and season. Perhaps some lemon juice if it's a weekend.

Now, re-heat your Artichokes in a pan, by melting a bit of butter - add the chokes and s dash of water, and some pepper, get a nice glaze on the them and serve at once!! THAT IS AN ORDER!

Aubergine Ravioli with Ricotta, Cumin, Almonds & Herbs

Ingredients:
1 aubergine; 200g ricotta; 1tsp cumin, basil & parsley, 25g ground almonds, dried chili flakes.

Thinly slice the aubergine length-ways into an even number of strips. Sprinkle with salt and set aside for 20 mins. Pat dry with kitchen towels and grill on both sides, season well and set aside. Next up, mix the ricotta, herbs and spices and almonds together. Give it a squeeze of lemon juice and season. Taste it and adjust to your liking. I think this dish can take a good bit of salt and pepper but what do I know.

Next, take the smaller strips and fill them with the ricotta mixture. Layer the larger slice on top and press down gently around the filling forming a seal. Repeat with the rest and bake in the oven for 20 mins. Serving drizzled with drool.

Fish Fingery-Goujons with Home Made Ketchup

Ingredients:
4x whitling fillets, skins removed. Flour, beaten egg, Japanese breadcrumbs. 1 tin plum tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, Worcestershire sauce; sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, s&p

Make the ketchup by adding the tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, Worcestershire sauce and spices to a pain. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and allow to simmer for ages. Once reduced and at a good consistency, taste and adjust the seasoning and or sugar.

Heat some oil in a pan. Dip the fish into the flour, shake off the excess, then into the egg, then into the breadcrumbs before subjecting them to the pan. Fry until golden brown - then turn and fry until golden brown. remove, drain on kitchen paper and give them a good seasoning of salt before giving them to Miss Salty Squid to photograph. For every three you fry, eat one yourself, sneakily.

Shopping List:
Whiting €3.32
Aubergine €1.00

Ricotta €1.70

Artichokes €4.50

herbs and spices and bits n bobs €4.70

.........................................................

Total €15.22

Drinks:
Pojega Valploicella Ripasso, 2007, 13%

On the stereo:
Germany Vs Uruguay, Vuvuzelas

Spare Ribs With Huli Huli Sauce, Roast Stuffed Peppers, Potted Mackerel

This blog entry was supposed to be something so different. You see, we had a Hawaii tapas theme. Slow roast spare ribs in a rich Hawaiian bbq marinad, dry-cured salmon, slightly seared with a lime salsa and sweet potatoes roasted in a ridiculously spicy Huli Huli sauce (yeah I know, what the f...?). Sounds great right? And it was... the problem however, is we can’t share the photo’s with you because we, as in me, failed to charge the battery for the camera. So after enjoying some food at the temperature it was intended to be eaten, it was decided that we would simply have to prepare three more dishes for the following night. Tapas Saturday. Basically, we would be doing a double this weekend. Good thing we love this blog and the food we do on it so much.

We will feature Hawaiian tapas at some point down the line, but for now, here’s a picture of a chocolate mouse with some pineapple and coconut.


Stuffed Roast Peppers

Ingredients: 3 peppers of any colour, class or sex, halved and seeds removed; 4 cloves garlic

Sauce: 250g mince beef; 1 carrot, 1 celery, 1 onion, 4 cloves garlic – all finely chopped. 4 tomatoes chopped. Squirt of tomato paste; pinch of saffron threads; cup of chicken stock

Pre-heat your oven to 180c. Sprinkle some oil over your peppers and garlic and season well. Roast for about 20 mins.

While the peppers are roasting prep the sauce. Sweat off your veg except the tomatoes. Add the mince which should be at room temp so as not to loose all the juices. Once coloured add some smoked paprika and hot paprika and stir. Add the tomato paste and cook for another min or so. Add the tomatoes and cook until they are soft and mushy. Once you are happy with how things are going, dissolve the saffron in about a cup or so of chicken stock. Can’t help thinking of Marco P W here. Add to the pan and let it reduce down to a happy consistency. Take the roasted garlic and while still hot squirt them into your sauce and give it a good stir. This will do things to your sauce that you never dreamed possible. If those dreams were about how to make it sweet and garlicky that is. Pour your sauce over your roasted peppers and return to the oven for another lets say maybe 15 mins? Serve with an air of confidence.

Spare Ribs With Huli Huli Sauce

Ingredients: spare ribs for the marinade we used about 100ml soy sauce, 3 tbsp oyster sauce, 2 squirts of ketchup, One shake of YR sauce, 1 tsp harissa, chilli flakes, 3 tbps brown sugar, 50ml rice vinegar, black pepper, chopped pineapple and crushed garlic.
Huli Huli Sauce: Soy sauce, minced garlic and ginger, juice of one lime, crushed chilli and a tsp of brown sugar.

We managed to salvage something from our proposed Hawaiian tapas. We had spare ribs spare, as in left over and some Huli Huli sauce. We marinated the ribs overnight, turning them in the morning. To cook, simply heat your oven to about 200c. Put ribs covered in marinade on a tray or oven proof dish and stamp into the oven. Turn the heat down to about 170c and cook for 3-4 hours basting every time you could be bothered. This is pure indulgence. I just had a dinner and am actually getting hungry thinking of this right now.

Potted Mackerel With Capers

Ingredients: 4 fresh mackerel fillets. A cup-ish of sour cream; 6 shakes of Tabasco, chopped chives; some capers, flash fried; butter, melted.

Pan fry the fish skin-side down for 2 mins, turn and continue to cook for another minute. Remove, let cool slightly and peel away the skin. Flake the flesh into a bowl. Season well. Lots of pepper. Do the hippy-hippy-shake with the Tabasco and add the chives and sour cream. Mix and mix and mix some more. Tightly fill cups, bowls, ramekins or whatever you have with the mixture. Pour over some of the butter. Add the capers and slide into the fridge to set. Demolish with grilled sourdough. We used a marker to get the grill lines.

Shopping List:
Minced Beef €3
Mackerel €3.82
Spare Ribs €3.80
Veggies, herbs and spices €4.20
.........................................................
Total €14.82

Drinks:
Rosé da Peceguina, 2009, 13.5%

On the stereo:
Nouvelle Vague, Vuvuzelas, The Bronx