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[thecowandthecook]

Duck legs with spiced nectarine with spinach and parmisan rosti

For the spiced nectarines

5 nectarines peeled and chopped

Pinch fennel seed

tbsp cinnamon

4 cloves

2 tbsp marsala

3 tbsp caster sugar

2 tbsp cider vinegar

handful of cranberries

  Add all the ingredients to a Pyrex dish and bake on a high heat for 10 mins. Remove from the oven and mash before setting aside.

In the meantime wash and pat dry the duck legs and season well with salt and pepper. On a medium heat brown the duck legs on both sides.

whilst the duck is cooking start the rosti.

Parmesan and spinach rosti

2 medium sized white potatoes

pinch of salt 

pinch of thyme

a big handful of baby spinach

a handful of grated Parmesan

Peel and part boil a few spuds, about 7 mins should do it. Grate the potato squeezing any moisture into a towel. Chrop and wilt fome spinach and strain in the same way.  Season the potato with salt, a sprinkle of thyme and add the chopped/wilted spinach along with a handful of Parmesan.

Now take your duck legs and add it too your nectarines giving them a good coating. Bake on about 190C for about 25 mins turning once.

Squeeze the rosti into little patty shapes and in a small frying pan fry in hot oil until crispy and golden.

[thecowandthecook]

It's fish Wednesday people and my sea bream is in the oven!

[thecowandthecook]

Tom yum soup

Tom yum soup

Thai food is awesome! Its been really cold here today so I really fancied some spice today. I seem to have been cooking a lot of stew like dishes recently so this made a welcome change. I only needed a few bits from the market. I've taken and adapted this recipe from the BBC site. Its definitely a winter warmer for me and definitely hit the spot!

2 pints fresh chicken stock

Juice of 2 limes

4 lemongrass stalks

6 tomato quartered and de seeded

1/2 handful galangal ( I freeze mine and just grate it frozen)

Bunch of coriander

1 or 2 chilli to taste

300ml tamarind water

3 tbsp fish sauce

2 chicken breasts

200g raw prawns

6 kafir lime leaves

Bring stock to boil and then reduce to simmer. Add galangal, smashed lemongrass, lime juice chilli, toms, tamarind water, 1/3 finely choppedcoriander, lime leaves.

Cover and simmer for 20 mins. Strain and discard all apart from the liquid and tomato.

In a separate pan add 200ml of the juice and cook the thinly sliced chicken cooking for a few mins. Add the prawns and cook for a few more mins.

Combine the chicken and prawns to the soup and add the fish sauce. Continue to cook for a few more mins before adding the rest of the chopped coriander.

Give it a quick stir and serve. Garnish with some chilli.

Eat and then sweat your tits off!

[thecowandthecook]

Chicken, chorizo and tomato stew

If it involves sausages then its my type of food. I needed to use up the roast chicken that was in the fridge and i knew i would be swingin' by the sausage shop today so i bought some chorizo and thought id go for some Spanish style stew.

This Deli in Leeds market is great! Its called 'the continental food store' and It sells a whole host of ingredients that you wouldn't normally find in supermarkets including a wide selection of cured and cooked meats/sausages(unfortunately not merguez though).

This recipe also calls for some stock. Ive gone a bit mad recently and have a whole freezer shelf pretty much dedicated to different stocks so it was a good excuse to use some of the chicken one.

Chicken, chorizo and tomato stew

Leftover cooked chicken leg/thigh meat

2 or 3 white potatoes

onion

3 cloves garlic

250ml fresh chicken stock

150ml white wine

couple of bay leaves

sml chorizo link

can of chopped toms

2 tbsp cider vinegar

pinch of sugar

1/2 pinch chilli powder

sml handful of thyme

In a large pan fry off the onion and garlic a bit. Add the chopped chorizo and bay and continue to fry for a few mins longer. Add the torn chicken, wine, stock, vinegar, sugar,chilli and potato. Bring to the boil and then add the can of toms and thyme. Reduce and simmer for about 25 mins or until the potato is cooked.

[thecowandthecook]

The continental food store, Leeds market. Sausage heaven!

[thecowandthecook]

Roast chicken with sweet potato, honey and thyme mash

Its cold and its Monday. Roast dinner it is then! I'm starving. My roast Chicken is cooking upstairs and i cant wait.

1 chicken

handful fresh sage

3 cloves garlic 

1 onion

tbsp fennel seed

salt and pepper

oil

200ml vermouth (or wine)

1 lemon

Chop onion and grate a clove of garlic. Add to the bottom of a casserole dish. Place the chicken on top and smother with some oil. Add half the lemon and some onion to the cavity. Season with salt and pepper and massage in the chopped sage, garlic and fennel seed.

Slice the rest of the lemon and insert in-between the breast and the skin. Add the vermouth and cover with tin foil. cook at 200C for half an hour. Remove the foil and cook for another 40 mins or until cooked.

Sharpen a large knife and carve the breasts from the bird. Add back to the juices, baste and keep warm.

I found a sweet potato in the cupboard which i bought last week. The woman who i go to in the market advised these ones (deep red/purple ones) saying they were much sweeter than the paler sweet potato you tend to find in supermarkets. i compared the two and she was right. it was a massive difference so i'll always be on the lookout for this variety.

i love my mash and always tend to overcook and eat it all.

1 large sweet potato

handful fresh thyme

good knob of butter

tbsp of honey

Add the thyme and sweet potato to slightly salted water and boil until soft. Mash, adding butter and honey. Serve with the chicken ladling over a few onions and juice. I used up some leftover spinach and rocket. Monday roast...BAM!

[thecowandthecook]

My 'Bratford' Masala

I've seen my fair share of curries living in Bradford. I'm a big fan but there's no better flavour than cooking it from scratch. Always make sure you toast your spice as this will help give it a deep flavour. I also find roasting the  garlic and tomato also gives it a fuller flavour.

Tbsp mustard seeds

Tbsp fennel seed

Tbsp garam masala

Tbsp corriander seeds

Tbsp cumin seeds

Star anise

Stick cinnamon

500g diced lamb

3 garlic cloves

Carrot

Onion

Handful of thyme

Squeeze tomato paste

6 tomato

150ml red wine

Sml red chilli

Sml knob grated ginger

Tbsp tamarind paste

Smash the garlic and cut the tomatoes in half. Lay on a foiled baking tray and sprinkle some fresh thyme and a drizzle of olive oil. Oven bake these at 200c for about 25 mins.

Meanwhile add all your spice (apart from the cinnamon) and toast in a dry hot pan until toasted/smoking. Remove from the heat grind together to a fine powder.

Heat a splash of vegetable oil over a high heat and sear the lamb for a minute. Add the spice, ginger, tom paste, chilli, cinnamon bark. Give a good stir coating everything.

Add the roasted garlic and tomatoes mashing the toms a bit. Add enough water to just cover. Add the wine and tamarind and a few star anise.

Bring to the boil, stir and then lower the heat. Cover and simmer for about 45 mins or until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened to a consistency you feel is right.

I served mine with some baby spinach and some brown basmati rice. You can serve with whatever you like...apart from chips which is just weird.

[thecowandthecook]

Aunty Lizzie's Kleftico

I'd never had Kleftico until this summer when I went to stay at my sisters house and she cooked this amazing lamb. I'm glad she showed me as it is now my favourite lamb dishes. ITS AMAZING!

I must admit I go a bit nuts with this one. I'm a massive garlic fan. I love it.

Aunty Lizzie's Kleftico

Lamb shoulder

6 cloves of grated garlic

sprig of rosemary

sml handful of thyme

100g greek feta

3 ripe vine toms

salt and pepper to taste

juice of half a lemon

150 ml water

Add everything to a ceramic/ clay seal able cook-pot. Make sure the meat has the garlic and seasoning well massaged into it and cook covered at about 185C for 3 hours, basting a few times along the way. Once cooked, tear the meat from the bone and add back to the pot/sauce. Stir and keep warm for 10 mins so the meat rests a bit.

I served mine with a warm harricot bean and tomato salad. Definitely a winner! Thanks Lizzie!

[thecowandthecook]

Day 4 - Ham salad

Ooooh how time passes by quickly when you are busy with...life, work, kids n shit. After starting my 'eat cheap for a week' thing I soon got caught up with work Xmas parties, family gatherings, late nights at work etc so i haven't had time to blog.

I can't remember what exactly i used for this recipe other than it was some sort of salad with some leftover cold cuts from a few days before.

[thecowandthecook]

Day 3 - prawn fried rice

Im crap at fried rice! its one of those things im sure i will never get 100% right. Despite this i think this was my best attempt yet. i was using brown rice and decided to under cook it slightly hoping that the frying stage would finish it off and not leave me with a soggy mess. It worked...kind of. Maybe it could have done with a few more minutes but  It still tasted good.

I got a few handy tips from a mate at work. He should know as his parents own a takeaway. He told me to make sure the rice was cold before frying, mix in the oil and season cold, use an egg as this will stop it sticking and use a crazy hot wok. This definitely helped.

Prawns

200g prawns

2 cloves of garlic

rind of a lemon

100g butter

dried (or fresh) chilli to taste

1/2 red onion

First get your rice done. Wash rice free of excess starch and cook till nearly done (about 8 mins). Set aside to cool.

In a pan add the chopped onion and garlic and fry until soft. Add the rest of the ingredients, cover and reduce heat right down. you almost want the prawns to steam until cooked.

Rice

enough rice for 2

tbsp light soy sauce

tsp five spice

clove of garlic

1/2 red onion

vegetable oil

1 beaten egg

hand of fresh parsley

fry off the onion and garlic till soft. Increase the heat so wok gets toasty adding the cold rice, egg, soy and 5 spice. add oil if you feel its drying out at all and constantly turn until browned well.

Add your buttery, garlic prawns to the rice and toss for a further minute. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

In terms of how the weekly budget is going this meal cost £3 for the prawns and 20p for the lemon. So far I've spent close to £10. Not bad but then i have had a lot of things in to use/cook with.

This was my process anyway  Like I've said always struggled with a decent fried rice so any tips send me a message! 

[thecowandthecook]

Day 2 - Hammmmmmmmmmm!

OK, so i'm massively cheating here. i did say that i would stick to a £20 a week budget and so far my main ingredients are things i already have in/or left over. meh...! im not going to waste stuff!

About a month ago my dad gave me a ham. I LOVE ham (of all sorts and varieties) but this thing was fucking huge. 6.7kg. Ive had it in the freezer for ages but its been too big to do anything with. I finally had the time in my weekend to go to Wickes to buy a wood saw so i could carve the fucker! So this weekend in front of my wife and 2 year old son i sawed through quite a substantial amount of meat.

It was quite a disguising clean up operation because as the 'saw dust' pork thawed it became a sloppy thick goo that spread across...well.....the kitchen! However, despite all this (quite amusing) silly behaviour i managed to make one ham into four healthy family meals with a fiendishly amount of sandwich filling for the week. muhahah!

Sweet Honey and mustard ham

So I'm a bit of a noob when cooking ham. i got it out to defrost this morning when i didn't realise it needs at least 24 hours in cold water to extract the salt. I made do by boiling the full ham in water and then replacing.

ham joint

2 bay leaves

few whole peppercorns

couple of sticks of celery

a carrot

sprig of thyme

If your a bit shit like me and haven't submerged in water for 24 hours then boil the ham. it may take a while to reach boiling point because... well.... hams are big, but once complete pour the water out and start again. this will dispel some of the saltiness. Add the bay, pepper, celery, carrot and thyme and cook for 45 mins.

in the meantime make the glaze.

3 tbsp honey

1/2 cup sugar

good dollop of whole grain mustard

Melt all the ingredients in a pan until its bubbling at the sides. Once the ham is cooked rest and cut off any rind or fat. At this point the meat should be scored with a sharp knife. Smother the glaze into the ham and bake on a high heat until the kitchen has almost burnt down and the edges are crispy.

i served with a simple sweet potato mash with spring onion.

[thecowandthecook]

Day 1 - Vegetable noodle soup with pork dumplings.

My wife turned her nose up a bit when I told her we were having a noodle soup for dinner... I'm not sure why maybe she thought it lacked substance? who knows? Ok, I had a few things already in to flavour it but it turned out cheap none the less.

What made it though were the pork and chive dumplings I got from the Chinese supermarket (OK I cheated a bit). Other than these I bought a pack of stir fry veg from Tesco. I spent £3.80 in total. Which isn't bad but maybe could be a little cheaper. Without ingredients in the kitchen it would be more.

Vegetable noodle soup with pork dumplings.

Enough udon noodles for 2

clove of garlic

1 tbsp Doenjang paste (miso would work to)

Tbsp light soy sauce

Handful of stir fry veg

Pint of veg stock

Frozen Chinese dumplings

Squeeze of chilli paste

Sml handful Crushed peanuts

Handful chopped parsley

Bring the stock to the boil and add the garlic, pastes and soy sauce. Reduce the heat to a steady simmer and at the frozen dumpling. These will need about 8 mins in total. Half way through add the noodles and then at 2 mins to go add the veg.

Finally serve in deep bowls topped with crushed peanuts and parsley.

[thecowandthecook]

Lemon Chicken with Chickpea and Spinach

I cant believe how quickly this week has gone. In fact I cant quite believe how quickly the year has gone and that my son is nearing 3! Its gone cold now, bonfire night has passed and we are heading full pelt towards the Christmas season.

The family has been pretty busy recently. Work has been demanding for Michelle and I. We've also had the unexpected appliance breakdowns, catching up with people and also preparation for our new baby boy. Despite the hectic times at the moment we had a weekend free to chill out a bit… Its been needed.

So with the food budget a bit stretched this month with an expensive mot, visiting friends in London and buying Christmas presents I wanted to keep prices down. Not only was I keeping spending minimal. I actually couldnt be arsed to do much with my weekend so a few one pot dishes seemed a good plan

Lemon Chicken with Chickpea and Spinach

I had some chicken in the freezer and spices are well stocked in my house. I only needed to pick up some spinach, parsley and a lemon so it made up quite a cheap meal

2 Chicken breasts

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 cinnimon stick

tsp ground corriander

tsp ground cumin

can of drained chickpeas

Lemon

1/2 pint chicken stock

250g bag of spinach

handful of chopped parsley

Chop and fry off the onion and garlic in a little oil. Cut the chicken into cubes and add these. Brown the meat and then add the rind of the lemon, the juice and the spices. season. Add the chickpeas a minute later with the stock. Cover and simmer for 10 mins until the chicken is cooked and then add the bag of spinach. let this wilt right down before giving a good stir, add parsley and serve.

[thecowandthecook]

The £20 a week food challange

I was watching a program last night, it was one of these programs where they show a family how much they consume in a week laying it all out in front of them. It wasn't a particularly great program but during the show this family were presented with a challenge on managing through the week days with a family budget of £20. Of course the family were shocked at this and soon realised that their (£40 a week) chocolate allowance and 3 takeaways would have to stop.

I turned the TV off at this point as my mind started thinking. I'm sure there are many people who live on this but how easy would it be to feed my family on £20 a week and more importantly to eat healthily? so i thought id take up this challenge myself as I'm convinced you can still eat very well on a budget.

I do 95% of the cooking in our house because i enjoy it, obviously. Like many other people that cook daily I have cupboards full of stuff, spice, dried beans, condiments etc which makes starting out a challenge like this relatively easy.  i can rustle up something using things I have in. Tonight was a prime example of that cooking up a classic tomato/chorizo based pasta sauce with veggies and herbs I have around the kitchen. It was nothing gastronomical but it went down well, it cost nothing from my budget, I've made stock from the veggie cuttings and its doubled up as tomorrows lunch for the family which is perfect! but how will the challenge fair as my cupboards start to run out?

So maybe this can be a bit of a trial run as its the end of the week? Id like to start this properly on Monday as I like to cook things a bit more special on weekends...steak night alone would take up half the weeks budget  and there's no waaaaay  that's getting scrapped! not without nervous twitching and possibly a fight anyway!

[thecowandthecook]

Fish curry

Fish curry

4 mackerel fillets

Tbsp mustard seeds

Knob of grated ginger

2 grated garlic cloves

Unsalted butter

100ml vermouth

Tbsp fennel seeds

Handful fresh chopped dill

Pint of fresh fish stock

2 ripe vine toms

Onion

Green beans

Squirt of tomato puree

150g white potatoes

1/2 tbsp chilli powder

Tbsp turmeric

Veg oil

In a dry pan add the mustard seeds to a dry pan and heat until they start to pop. Add a little bit of oil and cook the onion, garlic and ginger until soft. Chop the toms small and add along with fennel seed,butter, chilli and turmeric, vermouth, purree. slowly add the fish stock to create a thick soup. Lower pan to a simmer.

Meanwhile slice the fillets from the skin and break into chunks removing any excess bones setting aside in a ceramic cook pot. I used a tagine which was perfect.

Peel and chop the potato into small chunks and part boil for a few minutes. Add these to fish followed by the soup. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes until the fish is cooked. Stir and add a good lashing of dill when you are ready to serve.

[thecowandthecook]

Ginger pork with pickled cabbage

The thing I love about Japanese food is its simplicity and its art of balancing tastes and textures. As much as i love it though I often overlook it as it usually involves a trip a bit out my way to an Asian supermarket. This recipe I had everything in so I decided to give it a go.

Its from a cookbook by Harumi Kurihara called 'Everyday Harumi' which has some delicious recipes however many require you to make/have dashi stock and a few different home-made pastes to hand. Well worth it though and i really recommend the book.

serves 2

Pickled cabbage

Half a sml white cabbage

50ml rice wine vinegar

50ml Mirin

good pinch of caster sugar

In a pan heat the Mirin until just boiling. Turn off the heat adding the sugar until it has dissolved and then add the vinegar and set aside. Thinly slice the cabbage combining with mixture. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for half an hour turning once or twice. By the time its ready the cabbage will have pickled slightly in the mix.

Ginger pork

small rolled pork loin

100ml light soy sauce

150 ml Mirin

Decent knob of fresh ginger grated

veg oil to deep fry

Start by removing any rind. Ideally you want to cut the meat whilst still mostly frozen as you can get really fine slices. Cut again into thin strips. If most of it hasn't defrosted by now it soon will being so thin. Create a marinade with the soy, mirin and ginger and add the pork. I marinaded mine for about an hour in the fridge.

Ideally allow to reach room temp again (although mine was still quite cool). Add this to some very hot vegetable oil and fry. it shouldn't take long about a minute or so. remove and drain on some kitchen towel.

Serve immediately alongside the pickled cabbage and some boiled rice and soy.

[thecowandthecook]

I just wanted to point out (as this has just occured to me) that my blog name 'the cow and the cook' refers to me and a love of steak! NOT a reference to my wife!