I was inspired to make a dish like this by a small Korean cafe named "Jiki", where I often go on days where I haven't been able to prepare a lunchbox. I have tried and loved many of their hot food dishes, but they have a spicy tofu and vegetable one that is just out of this world. I didn't have a recipe for this so it isn't exactly like Jiki's but it was very tasty nonetheless.
Korean food is, for me anyway, warm and comforting - perfect for an icy winter's day. I will definitely adventure further into Korean cooking - one of the wonderful things about living in England is how we have all these opportunities to pinch traditions from other cultures. People settle here from all over the world and, in becoming Britons themselves, broaden our own culture and variety of experience.
In my case it's always about the food! Ok, sometimes it's about the clothes too. Plus it's fun to celebrate new feast days. Actually, Koreans celebrate a lunar new year as well as the traditional Gregorian one and personally I am all up for dressing in Hanbok, learning to play Yut Nori and eating Tteokguk next Jan 31st if anyone else is...
Ok, so first thing first, cut a block of firm tofu into sizeable cubes and heat up a good glug of toasted sesame oil in a frying pan. When the oil is really hot place the peices of tofu in and, after a minute or so, turn onto another side - keep doing this until the tofu is crispy all over, it really doesn't take that long. Empty out onto kitchen roll and leave to cool.
To make up the sauce mix together 2 tbsp Korean Gochujang paste, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp mirin and 2 cloves of minced garlic.
Prepare your vegetables by chopping a whole bunch of spring onions into about 4 lengthwise and a lump of ginger (as much as you like, go by preference - I put loads in) into thin slices, put the white parts of the spring onions and the ginger to one side.
Alongside the green parts of the onions, slice some mushrooms, a bell pepper and add some beansprouts - this will work with any veg though, use what you have available and cut into a size that will cook quickly.
When you are ready, reheat the pan still containing the sesame oil from cooking the tofu and, when hot, add the white onion and ginger. Cook until visibly softened before adding the rest of the vegetables and cooking until everything is almost done. Finally, pour in the sauce and stir through thoroughly - you only need to cook the sauce until it's hot and the raw edge to it has gone, it doesn't take much time.
* Note - if you are greedy like us, and not veggie, you can add in some cooked, peeled king prawns at this point. They go really well with the tofu and the spicy sauce. I actually think this sauce would be great with meatier vegetables like aubergines, chicken or even chunky white fish - it's very versatile.
Serve hot, with plain rice and kimchi.
I had three egg whites left over from making ricotta gnocci last night, so this morning a frittata for breakfast seemed like a great way to use them up.
For two people, three egg whites plus two full eggs is about right.
Chop a small bell pepper and slice a purple onion, then throw them in a frying pan with a little oil and get them cooking until nicely softened and sweet.
Meanwhile beat your eggs with salt, pepper, grated parmesan * and torn, fresh basil
leaves. When the pepper and onion mix is ready, pour over the egg mix.
Cook until pretty firm and then sling under the grill to finish off - this is not for flipping like a pancake, or at least not first thing in the morning whilst still bleary eyed. Serve hot, in quarter slices with a tomato salad.
* - If you're vegetarian you can buy a cheese very similar to traditional parmesan but which is made without animal rennet. "Twineham Grange" is one brand but I'm sure there are others out there.
This is an easy, warming soup which uses up a bunch of lonely beetroot from the bottom drawer of the frdge. It was inspired by a recipe in the new HFW book "River Cottage Veg Everyday", but I pretty much completely changed the character of it based on what I had available.
Roast your beetroots with a few garlic cloves in the oven at 180 for about 45 mins to an hour, coated in oil and alongside some thyme leaves, a bay leaf, salt, pepper and a slosh of water. When ready, skin them and chop into smallish pieces.
Fry up an onion in a saucepan until soft, then add the beetroot and a pint (500ml) of stock. Bring up to a boil and then keep at a simmer on a low heat for ten minutes or so.
Season well with salt and pepper, then with a small dash of worcestershire sauce *, a squirt of lemon juice and a generous drizzle of balsamic vinegar. If the brew still tastes "unfinished", try a small blob of redcurrant jelly - it worked for me.
Shove the lot into a blender and process until smooth. Pour into bowls and finish with a swirl of cream and some fresh chopped parsley.
* btw, in case you didn't know, you can now get vegetarian worcestershire sauce if you are so inclined. I found this one on the internet, but am sure I also saw one in Waitrose the other day.
Christmas dinner isn't complete without a full array of delicious, seasonal vegetables. These are really easy, hardly a recipe at all, but I know I'm often interested in what other families cook for their dinner so I thought I would include them.
I also know there is interest from people new to the UK, who would like to create a British style christmas dinner for the first time but aren't entirely sure what it involves - so I thought I'd be comprehensive in my xmas posts!
Seasonally speaking, root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, beetroot and swede, plus brassicas like brussel sprouts, as well as broccoli are all at their lovely best right now. I'm particularly fond of parsnips myself, my Mum loves beetroot, my Dad loves carrots and my husband is a broccoli fiend, so each and every one has to make it onto the christmas table.
Unlike a lot of other families, I haven't messed around with our veg too much. Partly this is because my Mum absolutely hates sweet flavours in savoury food, so the traditional honey or maple glazes are right out, and she's frankly not fond of nuts like almonds, pine nuts or chestnuts either, so souped up brussels wouldn't be popular.
I also don't want the veg to outshine the goose or the gravy, they are supporting actors and showering them in gifts of honey / cumin / sesame seeds / balsamic vinegar or any of the other common props won't help the stars of the show to shine!
I think the most important bit is the cutting - trying to make the parsnips and carrots fairly uniform in thickness before roasting them, to avoid burned tips or undercooked tops.
The beetroot needs to be pre-boiled in a large saucepan of water for a good hour until tender, before skinning and slicing into wedges.
Roast the beetroot in a separate tin if you can, to avoid the colour bleeding into the parsnips and carrots, which can go in together. Season with salt and pepper and coat in olive oil, mixing with your hands to ensure good coverage.
These root veg all take about 45 minutes to an hour until they're ready, but keep an eye on the beetroot; remove it and cover in foil if it looks like it's going to burn.
Swede needs to be peeled and chopped into inch square cubes, then boiled until soft and mashed with plenty of butter, salt and pepper.
Sprouts and broccoli only need the lightest of steaming or boiling with a small amount of water, keep the crunch - it's lovely.
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Even my Dad eats this and he usually hates bread sauce. For me, a roast dinner isn't complete without it and I certainly wouldn't be happy if christmas dinner didn't include it. The trick is to leave the milk to infuse for a very long time.
Pop a pint of milk (about 500ml) into a saucepan with a small, halved onion (or two quarters of a large one) with a clove pushed into each peice. Add a bay leaf, a peice of mace and a few white peppercorns. Put on the heat and bring almost to a boil, but not to boiling point. When you see bubbles starting take it off the heat and leave. Just leave it alone, for hours.
Strain the milk into a bowl full of torn bread, preferably a bit stale. The best part of half a loaf will do the trick, just remember to take off the crusts. Pop in the fridge and leave until you are almost ready to eat it.
When you're ready, decant the milky bready mixture back into a saucepan with several knobs of butter and a splosh of double cream. Heat up gently and season with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg. Delicious.
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Ok, so I'll admit that swiss roll doesn't immediately spring to mind when you think of Christmas, however it is an essential part of my trifle, so it has to be given a place.
It's a sort of sponge cake cooked in a very specific way, to ensure that it is light and flexible enough to roll without breaking. You will need an electric whisk for this.
Measure out 125g of caster sugar into a basin, pudding bowl or other heatproof vessel. Crack in 3 eggs and get out your whisk. Boil a saucepan of shallow water with a low trivet in and place the bowl over the top. Whisk and whisk and whisk until the mixture is pale and extremely light and fluffy looking, almost overflowing the bowl.
Remove from the heat and whisk for a bit longer, letting it cool down a bit. Measure out 125g of plain flour, seive it into the eggy mixture and gently fold it in, followed by a tablespoon of hot water.
Line a shallow baking tray with greaseproof paper, sprinkled with a little sugar, and pour the mixture in. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 200 degrees, depending on the thickness of your baking tray. Check on the poor thing: don't let it burn!
Lay a damp teatowel onto your worksurface with another sheet of greaseproof paper on top, again sprinkled with a little sugar. When the cake is done, quickly upend the cake onto the paper on the teatowel. Peel the used paper off the bottom of the cake (now the top).
Heat up some your favourite flavour jam in a saucepan, this will make it nice and easy to spread. Spoon or pour it onto the cake and use a knife to spread it all over. Since my Dad is diabetic, technically he shouldn't eat any swiss roll at all. However, that would be what happens in fantasy land, in the real world he will inhale it until the whole family shout at him, so I have used a bare scraping of jam to try to minimise the damage.
Roll the cake up towards you, using the teatowel to help grip it firmly and taking care not to break the sponge. The centre should be tightly rolled, the outer layers less so. Leave to cool, if you can, before eating slices off the two ends. The rest, at least in our house, belongs to the trifle.
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Making custard sounds like a pain... it really isn't. The stuff you can buy in pots in the refrigerator section isn't terrible tasting, at least from some suppliers.
However, it doesn't hold a candle to the real thing and, when you make it yourself, you have a lot more control over where those eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla pods came from. It also tastes fabulous in a trifle...
Separate six egg yolks into a bowl and add 60g caster sugar and a tablespoon of corn flour (to help it thicken). Whisk up until thoroughly mixed.
Put 400ml of milk into a
saucepan with 120ml double cream and the seeds from a vanilla pod and
the pod casing. Gently warm until almost at a boil, but not quite.
Take
off the heat and slowly pour onto the eggy mixture, while constantly whisking. It's even easier if you have a kitchen helper to hold the bowl!
When it's all combined, pour it back into the saucepan and put back onto a low heat. Keep gently whisking over the heat until the custard thickens. Perfect!
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