No Horsing Around Lasagne- Passing it on (again).

In the wake of the "horse meat scandal" gripping Britain and the EU at the moment, I thought I'd re-post (or re-pass it on) a blog from last year. I was kind of hoping that I had posted another recipe rather than Jamie's Lasagne from the Ministry of Food book, but Sod's Law, I had. This time, though... pictures of this real favourite of mine. Slow and steady it takes to cook, but it goes far and is truly delish; especially when using fresh herbs and smoked bacon :) Our mate Rich was in the garden when I was frying off the herbs- he said that the smell was amazing coming out from the extractor fan into the garden! And the best thing about it? most (I was going to put all... but know better) of the ingredients are traceable. The tinned tomatoes are a bit dodge from the local super cheap-o supermarket, but they look, smell, and taste like tomatoes. I know that my local butcher knows where his meat is from and what he's actually mincing, so there's certainly no horsing around with this recipe.

In any case- don't set your timer, but ingredients out:

You make the bolognese yourself: 2 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, 2 medium onions, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 carrot , 2 sticks of celery, olive oil, 2 heaped tsp dried oregano, 500g minced beef, 2x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes, sea salt, black pepper, bunch of fresh basil. I know I can't fool you with the shrooms, green pepper, and spinach- these are little extras that give the bolognese a bit extra rather than carrot, carrot, and celery.

 Oh, and I forgot to mention a magic ingredient in the bolognese... wine! Only 1/2 a can, though... leaves more to drink afterwards.

Make your sauce- this takes time (it says 1 hour and 30 minutes... and actually takes that long, unlike the promises in the 15 Minute Meals), but is entirely worth every minute!

Finely slice the bacon- Peel and finely chop the onions, garlic, carrots and celery- place a large pot/ frying pan/ casserole dish on med to high heat- Add 2 lugs of olive oil, sliced bacon, oregano and cook and stir until the bacon is lightly golden (this is the smell I have been going on and on and on about).

Add the veg to the pan and stir every 30 seconds until softened and coloured (about 7 minutes)

Stir in minced meat and chopped tomatoes- Fill one tin with water and stir in with the mixture- Stir in a good pinch of salt and pepper- Pick the basil leaves off of the stalks, and put them in the fridge for later. Chop the stalks and stir into the pan.

Bring to a boil- Turn the heat down and simmer with a lid slightly askew for 1 hour stirring every now and again- Take off the lid and cook for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally- Keep an eye on the sauce as it cooks, and if you think it's starting to dry out, ad a splash of water (or wine).... now I shortened this to 45 minutes with the lid and 15 minutes without and it worked fine.

Remove the bolognese from the heat- Tear and stir in the larger basil leaves- Taste the sauce and season with a little more salt and pepper if it needs it. This makes a considerable amount of sauce, so it is good to freeze and use again or just make a monster lasagne!

Preheat your oven to 375F/190C

Next, for the lasagne:

250g dried egg lasagne sheets (I bought the pre-cooked ones that don't need re-cooking), 100g Parmesan cheese, 1x 600mL tub of creme fraiche (or sour cream), 1 large ripe tomato, (3/4 cup wilted spinach- my addition)

Grate your Parmesan and mix it to your creme fraiche.

Spoon a third of your bolognese sauce into the bottom of an earthenware ovenproof dish (approx 25cm x 35 cm)- Follow with a layer of lasagne sheets and another third of sauce. Layer with spinach leaves (sneaky way to get in some more veg!).

Dollop a third of your creme fraiche mix- Sprinkle with a good pinch of salt and pepper and top with another layer of lasagne sheets.

 Only Sgt Pepper will do.

Spoon over the rest of the bolognese sauce and another third of the creme fraiche- Finish with a final layer of lasagne sheets and top with the rest of the creme fraiche- Scatter over some extra Parmesan- Top with some slices of tomato and fresh basil leaves- Cover with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes- Remove the foil and cook for another 20 minutes until the lasagne is bubbling and golden- Serve with fresh green salad.

Try it out and pass it on!

15 Minute Meals- Part 3: Mexican Chicken- Well Wicked?!

 

Episode number three: Mexican Chicken with Wicked Mole Sauce... Sceptic alert!!

Wicked Mole Sauce?! Surely no author should be describing their own sauce as wicked? Would Michel Roux self glorify his recipes in writing? Do the critics think it's wicked? Wickedly sinister and an abomination to fine cuisine, perhaps.  I suppose the majority of official food critics use more traditional and romantic words to describe food and also would not dare to comment on Jamie's recipes. But Jamie doesn't cater to these official critics rather to the masses of normal people who use wicked in their vocabulary and although I wish I was in the class where I would be cooking a Michel Roux dish on a mid-week night, I am in fact working my way through 15 Minute Meals. So: Ingredients out- kettle boiled ad 8 minutes and 34 seconds later I can reset the timer and get cooking.

I can say that this is a very curious set of ingredients, and passing by the kitchen before the cooking started caused Craig some alarm when he saw me setting out the peanut butter, banana, and chocolate (for the wicked mole sauce). Staying true to recipes 1 and 2 thus far, Jamie has pulled together ingredients that I would not think go in one dish.

5 minutes in and I have finely sliced some carrots, trimmed spring onions, and they are boiling in some stock with a chopped pepper, smoked bacon, and fresh thyme. Two joys to my nose while I am standing over the hob and to my taste buds when eating the dish are including fresh herbs and smoked bacon. The aroma of sautéing fresh herbs really makes me happy in my heart, and I believe that some of that happiness is from actually reaping the reward of growing the plants yourself. I will never do justice to describing the smell and my advice to you is to grow your own and get cooking! As to the bacon, well, it adds the droo-mami (drool + umami) factor when you add it in. These 15 Minute Meal recipes call for bacon/ pancetta quite often and I suspect it's a way of boosting flavour so to not purposely add the abundance of salt that Jamie traditionally requires. Remember, these meals are healthier (typed with sarcasm).

 

It's time to get Kenny out and blitz the spring onions, peeled garlic and chillies with the cumin seeds, PB, some boiling water, salt and pepper (interestingly not in the outlined ingredient list). This mix then goes into the frying pan to simmer. 

 

I am going to moan here because I ate up a huge chunk of my 15 minutes (like, just over 2 minutes! and was angry and forgot to take a picture) by peeling the stupid garlic! Remembering my Fresh is Best mantra and that pre-chopped jarred garlic is never the same, I immediately thought back to living with my Dad and his two brilliant ways of having fresh garlic:

1) this Italian supermarket in Edmonton sells fresh peeled whole garlic cloves (short shelf life, non-preserved). I really wish I had some of that now.

2) I used to hate it but for the purposes of 15 Minute Meals, wish I had this silicone tube that you put the clove(s) in and roll it in between the palms of your hands until- voila! the cloves are peeled.

 

While the paste is simmering, it's time to get a lid on it- the okra (never to be found in B31), peas (never give peas a chance), thus green beans and chicken are into the first frying pan to cook down. But, I have got to this point at 10 minutes, and if I know anything, it's that chunky strips of fresh chicken will take longer than 5 minutes to cook through.

In the meantime... I'm asked to:

Add the breakfast/dessert ingredients to the paste that has been simmering and cue a classic Jamie cooking tip- one that is possibly even better then describing how to make gnocchi (...you just know when it's right...) season until it's INCREDIBLE.

 

Really?! I'm not sure which is worse? Self-describing your dish as wicked or telling someone to season until it's incredible. As the person following the instructions, I was hardly going to season until it's alright or sub-par. Of course I am going to season until it meets the desires of my palate. Also, I would think (and can attest based on actual perception in my own home) that no amount of seasoning was ever going to make that sauce incredible for some people. But all this natter aside, my scepticism was met and I can honestly say that this sauce was well-sick! Interpret as you will: I loved it... others didn't.

Plodding on and I have met the critical time: 15 minutes and as I suspected, my chicken is still pink. I even pre-cut my chicken to strips to make it cook faster before getting it into the pan- something that the recipe did not ask to do. This is the only thing that I am waiting for, so I might as well tidy up for the next 4 minutes before my dinner is ready.

19 minutes and 32 seconds later, Mexican Chicken with Wicked Mole Sauce, Rice, and Veg is ready. I've opted not to serve it as the picture suggests because dinner needs to come on a plate in my house rather than in bits and bobs. It looks like you are supposed to have some weird soup thing, but the broth drizzled over the rice mixed with the veg tastes just as good. And I do mean good- not wicked; mind you, it's only the incredibly seasoned sauce that is truly wicked. The rest of the dish was a refreshing turn from a tired mid-week meal.

 

 

15 Minute Meals- Part 2: Mustard Lamb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15 Minute Meals attempt number two... Mustard Lamb.

I'm always looking for new lamb recipes, and even better if it's meant to be cooked in 15 minutes, rather than a nicely slow-simmered hot pot. But my scepticism runs high in reading the ingredients list: cider?! I would not suspect cider to be in a lamb recipe. With an open mind, let's get cooking...

 

Ingredients Out (six minutes later).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A really positive thing I can say about this book and it's speedy philosophy is that it is making me become well acquainted with my food processor. The only action Kenwood (from now on to be known as Kenny) has seen until now is the bowl blade chopping various forms of hummus and a few attempts at curry paste. This recipe calls for the thick slicer and coarse grater. Exciting! And the six minutes of pre-work did not include my time searching for the attachments and instructions and figuring out how to assemble them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Four minutes in, my lamb is split and seasoned and sizzling away in the frying pan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next: Tip on a platter with watercress. Roughly chop and add the top leafy half of the mint. By roughly chop, I don't think that Jamie meant the extra bit of protein  from the top of my finger. Oops. I solely blame this slip up on Kenny. Had I hand chopped the potatoes earlier as a warm up, my mind would have been in diligence mode rather than speed mode, and my fingertip might have been spared. I would like to clarify that it wasn't that bad... I did manage to slice through one layer of dermis but I promptly wrapped the wound in a cloth to carry on. Although, the next morning when I cleaned the wound, my knees did wobble. With the obligatory 5-a-day drizzled and plated, let's carry on:

 

Six minutes in and I have switched from the slicer to the coarse grater (just flipped it upside down) to chop (or grate) celery faster than I have ever chopped celery before.

 

 

Ten minutes in: Kenwood sliced potatoes and leeks boiled, ready for mashing and I am nearing the end and coming to the third paragraph. With the way most recipes are "organised" (you all know that Jamie is not really organised) into three paragraphs in this book, it looks like I am well on track to finish on time.

 

 

Back to the lamb, which needed a bit of extra cooking because I didn't slice it as finely as Jamie outlined, and it is now time to use the cider to make the sauce.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lamb juices, residual mustard powder, cider, and mint sauce (voilà, source of scepticism) into the pan to reduce. Four-ish minutes later, the sauce has boiled so it does not resemble cider. I can confirm that the extra 5 minutes was certainly worth the wait. 20 minutes later, my 15- Minute-Meal is finished and definitely scrumptious! I really do recommend this recipe. I've mustard-coated pork before, but never lamb. The mustard boosts the umami of the lamb and coupled with the sweet cider glaze, this was salivatingly satisfying.

 

 

One last thing to mention about this way of cooking is the disaster area that it does create in your kitchen, irregardless of how tidy you normally are. I do suppose that it could be a balance of competitive edge in trying to cook in time vs. tidying as you go. Over-boiled leeks water and overflowing washing up bowl below as an example.