Bijoux & Banter » cooking

Rubs & Marinades

Lunes — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 12:10:52 +0000

We BBQ all year round and as a consequence I love marinading meat & fish. A while ago I was sent an on-line copy of Jamie Oliver’s book – then one that was never really published. For easy of use I have printed off his marinade / rubs and have them to hand in the kitchen. So I just thought I would share the following with you….

Cajun Spicy Rub

2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon black peppercorns, ground
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
3 tablespoons onion flakes
2 tablespoons dried oregano
Salt

Fennel Seed, Thyme and Garlic Rub

4 tablespoons fennel seeds
2 good handfuls fresh thyme leaves
2 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf, ripped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Hot and Fragrant Rub

2 tablespoons fennel seeds, crushed
2 tablespoons cumin seeds, crushed
2 tablespoons coriander seeds, crushed
1/2 tablespoons fenugreek seeds, crushed
1/2 tablespoon black peppercorns, crushed
1 clove, crushed
1/2 a cinnamon stick, broken into small pieces2 cardamom pods, crushed
Salt

Rosemary, Garlic and Lemon Marinade

2 good handfuls fresh rosemary, pounded
6 cloves garlic, crushed
10 lugs (10 tablespoons) olive oil
3 lemons, halved, juiced and skin squashed
Freshly ground black pepper

Yoghurt, Mint and Lime Marinade

1 pint natural organic yoghurt
2 good handfuls of fresh mint, chopped
2 limes, zested and juiced
1 tablespoon coriander seeds, crushed

Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A couple of lugs (2 tablespoons) olive oil

Asian Marmalade

2 stalks lemon grass, crushed and bruised
1 small handful kaffir lime leaves, torn
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 thumb-sized piece ginger, peeled and chopped
1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
2 limes, zested, halved, and juiced
10 good lugs (tablespoons) olive oil

Chicken & Apricot Tagine

Lunes — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:56:24 +0000

I love trying out new recipes and often follow a hunch I have for something mixing flavours and textures to suit.

The following recipe is my own “concoction”. It serves 6 people

You will need

6 chicken portions

3 lemon confit

garlic

ginger

ras el hanout

1.5 litres of chicken stock

2 medium onions

4 large tomatoes

1 can of chick peas

handful of dried apricots

3 tablespoons of tomato puree

Method

Brown the chicken portions in a large pan / tagine
Add chopped garlic and ginger, season.
Add the lemons to the chicken (if you don’t have confit available I boil them and then squeeze insides through a sieve)
Add 3 desert spoons of Ras el Hanout spice stir and slowly add about 0.5 litre of stock, bring to boil.
Add chopped onions and chopped tomatoes along with chick peas and another 0.5 litres of chicken stock. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Check every now and again to make sure it is not sticking, add extra stock if necessary.
After about an hour taste, season if required, at this point I always add an extra desert spoon of spice and tomato puree along with the extra stock.
Simmer again – the longer the better. In total I cooked mine for about 2.5 hours.

To Serve

About 10 minutes before serving add the apricots
Serve with either rice, pitta or potatoes.
We had a crisp white wine to accompany the soup – Carte Noire from Bérail Laragrde, Luc Sur Orbieu

What’s cooking?

Lunes — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:15:55 +0000

We have friends coming for dinner tonight. Manon Lily’s “guardians” from Domaine de Meilhac and a wonderful ceramiste & her partner from Gruissan Plage. The culinary thinking cap has been on for a while. I only have to cook two courses as Céline has offered a dessert.

So I have decided to make a cream of cauliflower soup with crisp fried mushrooms & garlic croutons followed by my own version of Chicken Tagine. I tend to make things up as I go along and then sit down afterwards and think wow that tasted wonderful so why didn’t I write it down….so this afternoon as the pinny comes out I will make an attempt to:

1) write it down

2) take some photos (although I may feel a bit daft taking pictures when our guests are here)

Over the last few weeks I have been contemplating blogging my cooking as I do think it’s good and Andy always says I can stay another night! So perhaps this is the start of a savoury chapter to these ramblings.

We have sunshine here – it’s wonderful clear blue skies….my sister texted to say it was snowing so here is a photo of the snow from two years ago when they said it would never snow in Luc Sur Orbieu – how wrong they were!