Category Archives: Basics

Why Do We Peel Portobello Mushrooms?

Well, it beats me. I don’t know why. Facts are facts though, and every chef on telly peels their Portobello mushrooms. Even Jamie peels his. The contestants on Master Chef do, too.

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So I decided to try it both ways. One peeled, and the other not. Same ingredients. Both on the same tray, baked at the same temperature for the same length of time.

Guess what? No difference whatsoever. If anything the unpeeled one held its shape a bit better. Now I don’t know why the professionals bother, and I wondering what’s up with it. Do you peel your large, flat mushrooms? Is there a benefit?

By the way, these were really yummy. A drizzle of olive oil, then topped with the chopped up stems, sautéed chopped garlic, fresh chives, and thin shavings of cheddar cheese and lots of pepper. We like pepper. Baked in a medium oven for about 12-minutes until the cheese blistered. I’ve also made these with pesto smeared into the dark gills, then sautéed garlic, chives and parmesan shavings. That’s good too.

I’d be very interested hearing if you peel your mushrooms!

How-To Season a Cast Iron Frying Pan

How-To Season a Cast Iron Frying Pan

clip_image002I have a cast iron frying pan. The sort with ridges; it makes those impressive restaurant-style lines on steak when you fry a slab of meat. It does the same for veg, too, in case you think this post is strictly aimed at meat-eaters. Now every good cast iron pan needs a proper seasoning to keep it truly stick-free and slick as Teflon – without the fear of possible toxic chemical fumes.

To season cast iron is dead easy; the oven does all the work for you. The only effort you’ll put into this exercise is lifting the pan. This is most easily done as an evening job. You’ll see why in a sec.

First: preheat your oven to medium-high. 400F or 200C should do it okay.

Next step: Using a pastry brush, ‘paint’ a light (but even) layer of vegetable oil over all the surfaces. I also brush the sides, bottom and handle just to be sure humidity in the air doesn’t rust the iron. Don’t use olive oil as it will start smoking and stink up your kitchen. I once set off smoke alarms by doing that. Put your pan in the oven UPSIDE DOWN with a sheet of foil on the bottom rack (to catch drips). This is why you don’t want to ‘paint’ too much oil on the pan; it’ll drip and make a mess. Just a thin,even layer is all that’s needed.

Last step: Let your pan ‘bake’ in the oven for an hour. Then shut off the heat, don’t open the door, and allow the pan to cool in the oven overnight. (See? That’s why it’s an evening job! You sleep while it seasons itself.) If the seasoned surface looks splotchy in the morning, brush on another layer of oil, very thinly, and repeat the process in the oven. Allow to cool overnight again.

It took two attempts to season my cast iron pan the first time. The second time was perfection. I also coat the pan with a tiny bit of oil after each use and/or before storing.

Do you have a seasoned cast iron frying pan? Do you prefer it over the Teflon surface?

How-To Revive Limp Lettuce

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When your lettuce goes all limp in the fridge’s crisper drawer, because let’s face it – there’s nothing about a clear plastic boxie drawer that’s going to crisp anything destined to go limp in a few days …. don’t toss the lettuce out.

Revive it.

Treat it just like cut flowers. Trim off the bottom a bit, and sink the leaves (standing upright) in a tall bowl of cool water. Let them cool off their toes overnight.

In the morning, drain off the water. Rinse the leaves, and you have fresh lettuce again.

Happy crunching!

Today’s Lunch: Cauliflower Soup

How-To-Make Cauliflower Soup

cauliflowerSoup_8Feb13This will either taste deliciously subtle … or it will remind you of milky dishwater.

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It’s a very delicate soup with minimal ingredients: one large cauliflower cut into florets, one large onion thinly sliced, 4 cups of hot water, a generous pinch of salt (1/2 teaspoon or more to taste) and some white or black pepper. If you wish, you can add a swirl of olive oil or melted butter with some black pepper just before serving.

Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large thinly sliced onion
1 large head cauliflower (approx 1 kg/2 lbs) cut into small florets
120ml/g or ½ cup boiling water
900ml/g or 3 ½ cups boiling water (to add when cauliflower is tender)
½ teaspoon salt (or a bit of chicken bouillon granules)

Method:

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Slice the onion, and cut the cauliflower.
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Sweat the sliced onion over low heat in 3 tablespoons olive oil for about 15-minutes until soft.

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Toss in the florets, add 1/2 cup hot water from the total 4 cups, clap the lid on the pan tightly and simmer 20-minutes until cauliflower is tender. Turn on the kettle and heat the remaining 3-1/2 cups of water, and then pour it into the pot, simmer *UNCOVERED* for 20-minutes.

Purée with a hand-blender until smooth. Allow to sit for 15-20 minutes, as it will thicken slightly as it sits. Rewarm and serve, adding a swirl of olive oil or melted butter with some black pepper.

Based on Paul Bertolli’s recipe

How-To Steam Eggs

Don’t Boil Them – Steam Your Eggs

In the early days of this blog, I thought I knew how to hard-boil an egg. Now I know better.
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Steaming them is the answer, and I discovered that the eggs just beg to pop out of their shells. The shells came off in one continual piece.

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My friend, Celi at The Kitchen’s Garden, mentioned one day that she ‘steamed’ eggs. Now Celi has chooks, otherwise known as chickens, or more specifically hens. She lives on a self-sustaining farm, and she’s up to her alligator logo, if she wore that sort of thing, with chook eggs. She ‘steams’ them a dozen and a half at a time, and she uses one of those “lotus-blossom-expandable-folding aluminium vegetable steamers. I don’t have one of those; I have a double-boiler steamer. I knew right off that my eggs would need more time than Celi’s because her steamer sits closer to the boiling water than my steamer.

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So, here what I did. I brought of few inches of water in the bottom pan to a rolling boil, and then set the steamer pan with 4 eggs above it. Clapped on a tight-fitting lid, and set the kitchen timer for 13-minutes. No, I really truly have no clue why I chose 13-minutes. It could’ve chosen 15-minutes, but had I done that, I think they would’ve been slightly over-done. I just guessed, and guessed right. When the time was up, the eggs were plunged into icy water and then peeled. They turned out perfectly “hard-boiled”. The whites were softly firm but not rubbery, and the yolk was slightly flaky and firm.

Total success. I might have to call them “hard-steamed” from now on.
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For all the details and complete method, pop over to Celi’s The Kitchen’s Garden, and read her post about steaming eggs.

How-To Stuff Pork Tenderloin with Prunes and Walnuts

Pork Tenderloin Stuffed with Walnuts and Prunes

PorkTend

This isn’t so much a recipe as inspiration. Sort of like if I can do this, trust me, so can you … if you want. This always looks impressive when sliced. Mr Misk always says, “Wow!” And it’s dead easy to do.

Method: Slice the tenderloin open, (it’s called Butterflying). Pretend that your sharp long-blade knife is a machine in a lumber mill that slices and rolls the bark off from an old cedar tree. Now, lay a sheet of cling film over the meat, and pound the tenderloin evenly thin. Next, chop up some walnuts and smoosh some prunes flat with your fingers. If the prunes aren’t smooshable, soak them in some dry sherry (or warm water, which is sort of boring) until softened. Drink the sherry, and then sprinkle the chopped nuts on the meat. Then put the tipsy smooshed prunes on the nuts. Roll the pork up tight into a long log, and tie it closed with cooking string.

Brown the tenderloin in an oven-proof pan, and then finish baking it in the oven at 190C/350-375F for 20-30 minutes. Test for doneness. Snip off the string, slice the pork at an angle, and serve with gravy, potatoes and two veg. Bon appetit.

How-to Make Cooked Red Cabbage

Cooked red cabbage is not something you fiddle about with in this house. Mr Misk just won’t have that. Danes hold it high esteem. He has his recipe for it, a slightly tweaked one from his mother, and now I have one that I can claim as my own. His and her red cabbage recipes. Game on, as they say. Mine is more subtle, less acidic, less jumping on your face and grabbing attention. Mine luxuriates in its own natural juices in a low temp oven. Mr Misk’s version is boiled fiercely in vinegar. I prefer subtle. Here’s my version of subtlety.

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Half-Baked Red Cabbage

½ red cabbage, shredded
15 g soft butter
½ red onion, thinly sliced
¼ teaspoon mixed spice
1 tablespoon Half Spoon sugar 100ml white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon red currant jelly (no seeds!)

Preheat the oven to 120C.

Cut the cabbage in half. Remove the centre core and the limp outer leaves. Shred it. Be sure to double check that you’re using the slicing disk rather than the grater disk if using the food processor. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made this mistake with my Magimix.clip_image002

Heat the butter in a heavy-bottom pan (one with a lid that fits tightly), and gently sauté the onion until soft. Don’t brown. Add the shredded cabbage, stir and toss so that the butter and onion is mixed through. On low heat, bring everything back up to temperature (approx. 2 minutes). Add the sugar, then add half the vinegar. Add more vinegar later if the pan begins to go dry. Stir well.

Press a square of parchment paper against the cabbage to help retain moisture, clamp on the pan’s lid, bring back up to temperature over low heat ( about 2 minutes), and then put in the oven at a low temperature, about 120C. Bake for 60-90 minutes, stirring at 30-minute intervals.

Just before serving, stir in the red currant jelly. Be sure that it melts completely, gently folding cabbage to distribute throughout. Add salt if needed. If you like it more acidic, add more vinegar before serving.

Original recipe from The Telegraph, January 2013. I reduced the sugar and butter significantly.

How To Make Tomato Soup Fast

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Soup just got easy.

My original tomato soup recipe calls for a 400g tin chopped tomatoes, onion, celery, garlic, 400ml chicken or veg stock, chilli flakes, parsley and basil, seasonings, and a dollop of crème fraîche. And then blitz with a handblender. You need a handblender. Buy one if you don’t own one.

This is my current approach to tomato soup. Easier. Fewer ingredients. And poke me in the nose if it doesn’t taste 99.9% just as good as my original. No faffing about chopping stuff into equal size bits either. Just whack-smack with a knife, toss in a pot, stir, toss in the tinned tomatoes, stir, add some spicy heat if you’re feeling chilly, open a jar of pesto, plop, maybe plop-plop if you’re keen on pesto … blitz.

So, here we go:

Into a large pot over medium-low heat, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and 1/2 a large onion, quartered. Stir. Don’t brown. When it’s nearing the translucent stage, add 1 large peeled garlic clove that your bashed flat with the side of your knife. Stir. Don’t brown. Open a medium size tin chopped or whole tomatoes. Toss the tomatoes in the pot/recycle the tin. Stir. Add 400ml (almost 2 cups) hot chicken stock from a cube (1 cube+400ml boiling water). Stir and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon chilli flakes (I’m hot on piri-piri seasoning mix at the moment, so I used 1 teaspoon of that). Stir. Plop 1 tablespoon  green pesto from a jar into the soup. Stir. Also plop 1 tablespoon pesto into a small bowl and add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Stir to a runny consistency, and then set aside for tarting-up the soup in the bowl. Blitz. Done. Slurp. Goodness. I sound like Gordon Ramsey.

It just occurred to me that if I added a shot of vodka I’d have a hot Bloody Mary! Hmmmm … I wonder -