Caribbean Brown Chicken Stew

  It seems very rare that I cook at home these days. My boys have grown, and fend for themselves, and, after a long day of cooking for the general public each day at work, I really can never be bothered when I get home.

The past 10 days I have been on sick leave from work. For a workaholic this is not good news, especially as the first few days found me bed bound and unable to walk. I'm now at the stage where I feel well in mind but my body is still slightly lagging behind and I'm bored!

Hopefully my return to work is imminent so my days now turn towards thoughts of new meals for the menu when I return.  

 

 

This week on the internet I came across this rather lovely dish called Caribbean Brown Chicken Stew made from lovely fresh chicken, vegetables and herbs, exactly the type of meal that would fit the café menu.
Not quite sure what makes it 'Caribbean' to be honest but I made it for my family and what a lovely, tasty meal. My son thought the chicken would also work well in a tortilla wrap.   

Lots of photos today. Cooking at home allows me more time.

Ingredient list - to serve 2-3 people

5 or 6 chicken thighs, skinned
Zest & juice of 1 Lime
4 Spring Onions, finely chopped plus 1 extra to garnish
2 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
1 Red Chilli (or Scotch Bonnet if you like the heat) de-seeded & finely sliced
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 Red Pepper, finely chopped
4 Sprigs Thyme
2 Inch Piece Ginger, peeled & grated
3 Tbsp Light Brown Sugar
25g Butter
Tin chopped Tomatoes

 

 

This isn't a speedy dish. Allow time to marinate the chicken, at least an hour, overnight if possible to taste the full flavour.

To marinate, place the chicken pieces in a bowl and add all the ingredients except for the sugar and tomatoes. Cover with cling film and keep chilled in the fridge.

 

 

 

 

 

When the chicken is ready to cook, remove from the marinade and pat dry with kitchen towel. Keep the marinade to one side as this adds to the stew later.

Heat the butter in a deep frying pan ( I used my wok) and add the sugar. As it begins to caramelise add the chicken pieces and fry until you have nice caramelised bits on both sides.

Remove from the pan and set to one side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using the same pan, add the marinade and fry for a few minutes to soften. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add the chicken pieces and the tinned tomatoes and just enough water to cover the chicken. Season and simmer for about 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked and the sauce has thickened.

 

 

 When ready serve with rice and garnish with chopped spring onion.

 

  

 

Definitely on the menu next week!!  

 

 

 

Linking up this week with:
Tasty Tuesdays
Foodie Friday and Everything Else
Sweet and Simple Fridays

Kedgeree For Sunday Brunch

This week I experienced my first ever work appraisal. Having been in catering for 30 years it's not something any establishment I've worked in has done, but I found the experience to be a good one and, from it, I took new enthusiasm.
One of the questions was what I liked or disliked about my job. My main like was menu planning, and the fact that I have freedom to change our lunchtime menu weekly. It keeps me motivated, stops the boredom and increases my knowledge of new foods.
One of my dislikes was cooking breakfasts! Bit of a hard one that considering the amount of breakfasts I cook weekly. But the challenge of cooking, watching for burnt toast, overdone eggs, then putting several different elements on a plate at one time can be an extremely hard, tedious and boring daily job.
After discussing my dislike with Kate she suggested looking into breakfast specials to keep my motivation going, especially on a Sunday when we serve brunch all day long.
With this in mind I took to Pinterest, my trusted idea search website to look for inspiration.
So I typed in 'Breakfast' and amongst many ideas that appeared was the dish Kedgeree.
I loved the sound of it so looked further for some good recipes.  


Smoked Haddock Kedgeree
Brunch at The Nook On The Square

I don't have many memories of school, especially not good ones, but I have a distant memory of making Kedgeree once and remembered it contained rice, fish and eggs. Oh yes and the rice was yellow!!!
Looking now into the origin of Kedgeree I was interested to learn that it is of Indian origin, so contains spices, and, it seems, the addition of smoked haddock and boiled eggs appeared when the dish came to England. It is a dish enjoyed hot or cold.
I took a little of each recipe I looked at and here is my version of the mixed rice dish.
All components were cooked first then put together in a pan as and when a customer ordered it.
Below I have fragrant basmati rice, cooked with a couple of teaspoons of turmeric in the water to change the colour from white to yellow, cooked and flaked smoked haddock, boiled eggs, finely chopped red onion and fresh tomato and a pot of blended spices and herbs.

Ingredients for Kedgeree

 

With all ingredients prepared I melted a knob of butter in my pan with a handful of red onion, tomato and a teaspoon of my blended herbs and spices.

After cooking for a few minutes I added a portion of rice. The rice seemed to stick to the pan so  I added more butter and a little water although, after more research into the dish, next time I would add a little cream at this point.

 

 

Fry the onion and tomato on butter.

 

 

With the rice sizzling nicely I added the haddock and boiled eggs. 

 

 

Kedgeree cooking in the pan

 

As soon as all the ingredients were hot to touch, over 75° if you have a thermometer I served into a warm bowl with a small dish of natural yoghurt.   

 

 

 

 

Smoked Haddock Kedgeree
Brunch at The Nook On The Square

Decorated with chopped coriander, wedge of lemon and a sprinkling of cumin on the yoghurt this was a welcome addition to the Sunday Brunch menu last week at The Nook.
Looking now for more breakfast ideas, what's your favourite?

Brunch at The Nook On The Square
Smoked Haddock Kedgeree

Ingredients for this lovely dish for 2 people are:

1lb Cooked and flaked Smoked Haddock
8oz Fragrant Basmati Rice, cooked in couple teaspoons of turmeric to turn yellow
3 Hard Boiled Eggs
Knob butter
1/4 Pint Cream
Salt & Pepper to Taste.

Herbs and Spices Blended In Processor:
Small Red Chilli
Clove Garlic
1ins  Ginger
Handful Coriander
1 Tbsp Curry Powder
1/2 Squeezed Lemon Juice


LINKING UP THIS WEEK WITH:
Tasty Tuesdays
Foodie Friday and Everything Else

The Good Food Show NEC Birmingham June 2015

Last weekend saw the annual 'Good Food Summer Show' arrive at the NEC Birmingham.
For the past 3 years my interest in food has grown immensely and when I received tickets for the show as a birthday present I was really excited at the prospect of an interesting, educational and inspiring day out. 8



The Good Food Show at NEC Birmingham June 2015

 

 

Lots of people made the journey to Birmingham. There were many stalls ranging from oils, pastries, artisan breads, sweets, wines and spirits.

Crowds gather to the NEC Birmingham for The Good Food Show

This section was cakes and bakes.  

Cakes and Bakes section of The Good Food Show NEC Birmingham

 

 

 Meringues to die for!

 

Meringues

Flapjacks of all varieties.
My favourite had rocky road topping.

Flapjacks

                                     Enormous éclairs.

Pastries!

Sponge cakes. Sticky toffee sponge was delicious.

Individual sponge cakes

                            Various flavours of focaccia

Artisan focaccia at The Good Food Show

This man was demonstrating and selling whisks. He was quite the salesman and always had a crowd around him to entertain.

 

 

Spiralised vegetables and fruit, wow!! A very entertaining German was demonstrating how to transform vegetables.. I must confess to buying a spiraliser.

Spiralised fruit and veg at The Good Food Show

 

 

As we walked round I spotted tv chef  Phil Vickery doing a demonstration so we stopped to watch.

It was so interesting to listen to stories of his travels and listen to the food knowledge he shared.

Phil Vickery demonstrating at The Good Food Show

 

At 4pm we headed to the main theatre to be entertained and inspired by another tv chef, James Martin. In the space of half hour he treated us to a show producing 4 dishes, food knowledge and rather witty banter!

 

James Martin at the NEC Birmingham June 2015

I was rather intrigued at how much butter James used in all his dishes. Definitely not healthy eating but a great show.

James Martin at The NEC Birmingham

 

 

Our tickets also included entry into Gardeners World so we spent our last hour walking around the flower displays. Below are a selection of my favourites.

 

 

 

                              Al fresco dining display.

 

 

                             An English Garden display.

 

 

I don't know what these were but so so beautiful.

 

Brilliant day out and our tickets are valid for Novembers show as well. Looking forward to another lovely day out .

Linking up with:
Tasty Tuesdays
Foodie Friday and Everything Else  

Mushroom, Feta and Roasted Pepper Pate

I had a bit of a busman's holiday this week on my days off and went for tea and cake at a local café.
Looking at their specials board I noticed they had Mushroom and Stilton Pate on their lunch menu. Sounded lovely.
I often make mushroom pate at The Nook but never thought of adding cheese.
I had feta left over in the fridge this week so thought I would adapt my usual pate recipe and include it.

I chopped some mushrooms and pan fried them in lots of butter.

Sauté Mushrooms in Lots Of Butter 

 

 

 

Then I crumbled the feta in and cooked until melted. 

Mushrooms and Feta

I had some roasted peppers in the fridge and had a brainwave to throw them into the mixture. It seemed to be drying out in the pan so I added some cream and seasoned.
The mixture looked gorgeous and, if you didn't want to blitz into a pate, it would have been equally as gorgeous to stir through some pasta.
But for this recipe I put all the mixture into the food processor and blitzed until smooth, then refrigerated.

Mushrooms, Feta, Roasted Red Pepper and Cream

And here is the finished product!
 Feedback from our customers was very positive. Great to have another vegetarian option on the menu.

Mushroom, Feta and Roasted Pepper Pate served with Rhubarb, Fig and Ginger Chutney, toasted breads and salad.

I served it with my Rhubarb, Fig and Ginger chutney, toasted red onion focaccia from The Revel Bakery, and my own Lemon and Poppy Seed bread.

Mushroom, Feta and Roasted Red Pepper Pate.

Linking up this week with:
Tasty Tuesday
Veggie Wednesday
Foodie Friday and Everything Else.

Chocolate & Strawberry Trifle

Known as a timeless, and traditional, English dessert Trifle is made from thick custard, fruit, sponge (often soaked in sherry), jelly and whipped cream. All ingredients are usually arranged in layers.

I can remember a previous employer screaming at me that I hadn't made trifle properly when I worked for him but I always like to put my own twist on English foods when I cook so, this week at The Nook On The Square, I've made my own version with chocolate and strawberries.
Gorgeous results and I love to serve desserts in our vintage china cups and saucers.
I've made these before at a previous establishment and they flew out so I'm hoping for the same reaction at The Nook this week.
Recipe can be found Here

Chocolate & Strawberry Trifle
 

Linking up with :
Tasty Tuesdays
Foodie Friday And Everything Else

National Sandwich Week 2015 - May 10th - 16th

This week is National Sandwich Week so I investigated a little into where the humble sandwich originated from.
The story is that John Montague, the Fourth Earl Of Sandwich, was such an enthusiastic gambler that he didn't like leaving the gambling table whilst playing. So, instead of breaking for dinner, he asked that someone bring him some meat between a couple of slices of bread. Later on, others would do the same saying something like "I'll have what Sandwich is having" and, eventually, people would just ask for a "Sandwich"

Nowadays the humble sandwich has become big business in the catering industry and fillings and bread types have become far more  adventurous than in the days of The Fourth Earl Of Sandwich!!

At The Nook On The Square , because our daily lunch menu changes each week, I am always changing our sandwich fillings to keep things interesting for the customer and, also, because it keeps me on my toes always looking for new ideas.
Below is just a small selection of what we have produced the past year.

Our take on the New York Reuben -  home cooked beef pastrami, sauerkraut, pickles and Russian dressing all served on toasted sourdough.    

The Nook Reuben
National Sandwich Week

The breakfast ciabatta with old English sausage, best back bacon, chestnut mushrooms and roasted tomatoes. 

The breakfast Ciabatta
National Sandwich Week

Grilled halloumi and roasted veg on red onion focaccia.



Grilled Halloumi & Roasted Vegetables on Red Onion Focaccia
National Sandwich Week
 

Always popular - mozzarella, tomato and basil.

Mozzarella, tomato and basil focaccia
National Sandwich Week

Our own home cooked ham with rocket and tomato on red onion focaccia.

Home cooked ham , rocket and tomato on focaccia
National Sandwich Week

Our Mexican BLT ciabatta - bacon, lettuce, tomato and guacamole.
  

Mexican BLT
National Sandwich Week
 

And this weeks special - goats cheese, basil and roasted balsamic strawberries.

Goats cheese, Basil and Roasted Balsamic Strawberries
National Sandwich Week

So what's your favourite filling?

Linking up this week with:
Tasty Tuesday
Foodie Friday and Everything Else

Rhubarb & Apple Chutney Served With Smoked Mackerel Pate

The sun is still shining at The Nook On The Square this week and our fine lady gardener informed me that there was Rhubarb at the end of the garden if I could use it for anything.
Cooking is certainly a passion, but to actually cut produce grown in your own garden and create a recipe for the public to eat and enjoy certainly takes passion to the next level.

Rhubarb In The Nook Garden

 

 

Always up for the challenge, I immediately got onto google for ideas and found a few recipes that put rhubarb and smoked mackerel together. Sounded lovely!
Straight away I got some smoked mackerel in and got Eli, my super assistant, to make pate whilst I attempted a chutney to accompany it.
I chopped about 4 sticks of rhubarb and put in a pan with some light brown sugar (about 75g), big handful sultanas, finely chopped red onion, 1 inch grated ginger, salt, pepper, zest and juice of an orange and 5 tbsp white wine vinegar and put on the stove.
I left all ingredients to come to the boil, then let simmer.
If I'm honest I didn't measure the vinegar and put a little too much in and the rhubarb seemed saturated which is where I had the idea to skin, core and chop a couple of apples and add to the pan.

Fresh Chopped Rhubarb

 

As the mixture reduced I removed from the stove and put in small dishes to accompany the pate.
Served on our rustic wooden boards with toasted sourdough this dish has proved to be another winner on the menu this week.

Smoked Mackerel Pate served with Rhubarb & Apple Chutney and Toasted Sourdough

Linking up with Foodie Friday And Everything Else Party  and have also just discovered Tasty Tuesday to join in with.