GetInMyGob: December 2012

Friday, 28 December 2012

Secret Recipe for Get In My Pop-Ups Boozey Beef Stew

The secret bit's the marinating in red wine, fresh thyme, black pepper (NO salt) and bay leaves AND using a combination of topside beef and just a regular cheaper braising beef. I'd always used braising beef but was introduced to using topside and it was SO good!! That said follow this recipe and both will work out fit.

Cut the beef in 2" x 2" pieces or a bit larger, I think it's always nice to get a generous portion of meat.

Marinate in the following for as long as possible, over nights ideal but a few hours still works.

Allow at least 250g of meat per person eating.

Red Onion x 1

Big bundle of fresh thyme

Black Pepper, freshly ground

Red cooking wine or cheap red wine.

Pat dry once marinated then do the following-

Season in salt and pepper and coat in plain flour and more fresh thyme then lightly fry in sunflower oil until light brown on all sides.

TIPS-

Use a non stick pan

Don't overload the pan, all pieces of meat need to be flat on the bottom of the pan

Use kitchen tongs to turn the meat

It should only take a few mins to brown all the sides. Once golden take of the heat and put on kitchen town to soak up some of the oil.

The flour will also help thicken up the sauce as it slow cooks.

For the Stew-

1 x red onion

DON'T THROW THE RED WINE MARINADE- add this

2 x Beef Oxo cubes

1 x pint of water

1/2 tube of tomato puree

4 x rashes of smokey streaked bacon

5 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 x Big handfuls of mushrooms

Fry up your onions, bacon and thyme then add your browned beef, the red wine marinate and 2 beef oxo cubes, 1 pint of water, 1/2 tube of tomato puree and cook on 140 for 6hrs, keep having a check and see whether you need to add any more seasoning, and if it needs it cook it for a further hour...at this stage it should be spot on...nowt else needed!! :-)

Add in your mushrooms half an hour before serving...so they don't shrink to nothing.

So happy with this :-)

GET IN MY POP-UP CHRISTMAS VIDEO...SO CUTE!!

Wednesday, 26 December 2012

Cook That Veggie Curry...then add left over TURKEY

A veggie curry that could really be livened up with some left over turkey!!!!

Get the brown bits of meat in as they're richer and taste even better!

Curry Paste

Whole Bulb of Garlic

Tumeric x 2tsp

Ground cumin x 2 tsp

Corriander roots x 1/2 bunch

Garram Masala/ Tandori Masala x2 tsp

1 x red Onion

Red Chilli x 3 sml ones -take out seeds for less spice

Olive Oil x 2tbsp

White wine vinegar -big glug

Rock Salt

Black Pepper

Fresh Lime- Add just before serving.

Leave it over night if you can or give it 10-30 mins before cooking it off.

Add all to the hob on a medium heat and add the onion and fry up together for 5mins then rinse out your blender with boiling water -about 1 pint, add a couple of vegetable stock cubes or chicken if you doing a meaty version.

Then add a tin a tomatoes and mix in- take out the horrible end bits.

Roast the veg before adding it to your curry- I really think it's a worthwhile thing to do, it enhances the flavour of the veg, you can roast in medium sized chunks, 2"x 2". Add Sunflower oil, salt and peper and a sprinkling of paprika.

Roast for 30 mins on high 200/220

I used

Aubergine x 2 large ones

Courgette x1

Cauliflower -best thing ever when roasted x 1

Green beens & Spinach- DON'T roast just add these a few minutes before serving so they're still crunchy.

Raita-

Greek Yogurt- 3/4 of a large pit

Grated Cucumber- 1/4

Red Chilli -should be green

Honey- big squirt

Fresh Mint, finely chopped

Salt & pepper

Lime and Pomegranate Salad
Shred the lettuce
Grate half a lime
3 x tbsp white wine vinegar
1 x whole pomegranate
Salt & Pepper
Extra virgin olive oil -big glug/4 tbsp

To garnish-

Finely diced white onion

Coriander

Red Chilli

Frech chopped tomato

Monday, 24 December 2012

Last Years Christmas Roast...just in case you need any tips!!!

Chocolate Panatone- Amazing under the grill with butter!

Smoked Salmon & Scrambled eggs...No bread, coz you've already had or are going to have panatone

The Turkey....W.H Frost Butchers (My housemates family have ran this for the last 100yrs- The meat is all AMAZING- This Turkey was SO GOOD!!)

12-14, Chorlton Place, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, Lancashire M21 9AQ Tel: 0161 881 8172

Free Range- Hung & Dry Plucked Turkey....makes all the difference

Standard Christmas booze and pickles..

The turkey went in breast side down for the first hour, with 1 sprig of rosemary, 1 pint of water, 5 shallots and the giblets that came with it & salt & pepper- Temperature 180 for first hour then it went down to 150 for the second hour and a half when I turned it breast side up. Cooked it for 2.5hrs in total & let it stand for 1.5hrs. As instructed by Paul Kelly-The turkey man from Sunday Brunch Saturday Starter.

Sprinkle with fresh oregano

Carry on cooking your juices from the turkey- you don't really need to do anything to this, the longer you cook the richer the taste.

Dads meatloaf- Just a snack for while I was cooking (seriously)

I part boiled the roast potatoes and parsnips the night before then left them in cold water over night so they didn't go grey.

Boil for 8-10 mins in salted water until the potato won't stay on a knife - make sure you dry them off before cooking/adding them to hot oil/fat.

Make sure they're this fluffy- my brothers obsessed with the crispy bits so this way you get loads of them. I sprinkled with semolina but flour works just as well and it helped dry them out having left them in water over night. Once you've done this add them to hot oil fat or beef dripping and turn them in the fat so each side gets covered. Season with salt and pepper.

Turn the potatoes a maximum of 3 times throughout the 50/1hr cooking time so the sides get a chance to crispen up.

Bread Sauce-

3 slices of white bread-crusts removed

3 cloves

1 big nob of butter

2 bay leaves

salt and black pepper

3/4 pint of milk

Let this simmer until the bread dissolves, this can be reheated when you're ready to serve it.

Crispy roasties

Roasted carrots with fresh oregano and honey & black pepper :-)

Part boiling parsnips is the only way to make them amazing...you can also add honey to them so they're sweet and crispy (I kept it simple for Christmas)

Chipolatas from the butchers (amazing on their own then SO GOOD wrapped in crispy bacon) Cook for around 40/45mins on 200

Fry up bacon lardons or smoked bacon finely sliced so they go crispy then add oregano, salt and pepper and shallots sliced into quarters so they go soft. I steamed the sprouts for 7mins then added them to cold water until I was ready to fry them up with the bacon and serve. Add butter when frying- you can add chestnuts too but we had loads of these in the stuffing. Don't over cook, they're yummy with a bit of a crunch.