Monthly Archives: April 2020

April 23, 2020

Beam Me Up Spuddy!

By lettercollumkitchenproject

Here’s a recipe to teleport you to Greece from your own kitchen using the humble spud.

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Just imagine the blue sea, the blue skies, sitting outside a taverna and all those tray bakes of vegetables, meats and fish. The Greeks are masters at traybakes and the tavernas often have rows of different dishes which have been slowly cooked in an oven displayed on the counter.

The slow cooking is key, generally the dishes aren’t complicated but cooking slowly creates intense flavour that hasn’t shooshed off into the stratosphere it’s just settled quietly in the pan

This dish is real simple spring food, potatoes roasted into sweet submission with olive  oil, oregano and lemon juice. Delicious with nearly everything and the bonus is it’s made with ingredients you might well have in the house.

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Greek Lemon Roasted Potatoes

 

1kg potatoes

2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 tsp dried oregano

1 lemon, juiced

75mls olive oil

Salt

100mls vegetable/chicken stock

 

Oven 190c

Peel the potatoes then cut into large chunks.

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Toss with a generous glug of olive oil, chopped garlic, oregano and salt then put them in a single layer on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes. Take the tray from the oven, give the potatoes a shake then pour the vegetable/chicken stock over the potatoes.

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Bake for another 20 minutes then take the tray out again, shake the potatoes and sprinkle over the lemon juice . Bake for 15 minutes more or until the potatoes are golden and beginning to crisp.

Scrape out all crusty bits when serving.

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1 Comment | posted in garlic, General foodie news, gluten-free, Greek, lemons, potato, vegan, vegetarian

April 10, 2020

Is it Bunday?

By lettercollumkitchenproject

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Every Easter we bake hot cross buns. In fact I have eaten hot cross buns on Good Friday more or less all my life. Not for religious reasons but because it’s a seasonal culinary treat. A brief interlude when I lived in Belgium, but otherwise I’ve always lived in one bun country or another.

Ever since the coronavirus lockdown I have been taking it very easy in the mornings, we’ve even become confused as to what day it is, but this morning i woke early and hopped up to put the buns on. It’s great to have a mission for the day even if it’s only to make buns. Hot cross buns are made with a brioche type dough but with added fruit and spices. Deliciously simple if you have time – which we do have right now. There’s no problem waiting for dough to rise, sure what else would we do?

Hot Cross Buns – makes 20 (plenty to share with the neighbours)

250mls milk

250mls water

1kg flour – maybe a little more

1dsp dried yeast or 20g fresh yeast

100g sugar

100g butter

2 eggs

2tsp cinnamon

2 tsp cake spice

100g currants

100g raisins or sultanas

100g candied peel

a small piece pastry dough to make the crosses

egg wash – egg  mixed with little milk

I use Dcl (freeze dried yeast) but fresh yeast is good too. The sachets of quick yeast are not suitable for this method. If you are using fresh yeast just mash it with little sugar before adding to the liquid.

Heat the milk and water to blood heat- the temperature you would comfortably bathe a baby in. Be careful, too hot and it will kill the yeast.

Put the liquid in a large bowl and sprinkle over the dried yeast and a teaspoonful of sugar. give the bowl a shake then leave until the yeast re-activates and pops to the surface. If you are using fresh yeast stir into the liquid.

Whisk some flour in until you have a thick batter. Add the sugar, 2 eggs, the spices and fruit then mix well.

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Melt the butter, stir into the batter then begin to add more flour. Stirring the flour in until the mx begins to leave the sides of the bowl.

Turn the mix out onto a clean, well floured surface. Scrape the bowl out then begin to bring the dough together . This is where a dough scraper or egg flip come in handy to prevent the dough getting stuck all over your hands. Flip the dough , adding more flour to the counter ( not on top of the dough) until it comes together. Continue kneading with your hands. Knead until the dough is bouncy and stops picking up flour.

Clean the bowl, dry and wipe around a little oil. Put the dough in the bowl then leave in a warm place to rise. Sunshine is ideal but otherwise any warm spot –  not direct heat .

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When the dough has doubled in size tip it to onto a lightly floured surface – this is where the oiled bowl comes into play – and knead once more. Put the dough back into the bowl and leave to rise once more.

Heat the oven 180c.

Line your baking sheets with parchment paper

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Roll the dough into a fat sausage, cut into two or three pieces lengthwise then cut into equal sized pieces – you should end up with 20-22 bits. Roll each piece into bun and place on the baking tray. Leave to rise until double in size.

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When the buns have doubled in size roll out the pastry quite thin then cut into strips.

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Glaze the buns with egg wash then lay the pastry over the buns to make a cross, then egg wash once more

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden,

Cook 2tbs sugar with 2tbs water. Boil for one minute then brush over the buns

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Time for a cup of tea!

 

1 Comment | posted in baking, coronavirus, easter, General foodie news, hot cross buns, Sweet Things

April 8, 2020

Eggstraordinary Times

By lettercollumkitchenproject

Our chickens have no idea that the covid virus has slowed most of the world down so we have a lot of eggs They are laying like machines, their systems in synch with the daylight hours. The eggs are piling up in baskets on the window sill awaiting a mission in life, Ordinarily we pass these valuable ovoids around our friends but as we have to stay at home we’re having to up our intake.

I’m digging out recipes that use eggs, this is a tasty one.

Indian Style Eggs is a fast and easy dish for brunch or lunch. A kind of a lightly spiced Indian style omelette with salad piled on top. I use garam masala, which is a mix of spices, which have been toasted and ground.

Indian Style Omelette with Salad on Top.

 

2 onions

2tbs ghee or vegetable oil

5 eggs

½ tsp salt

1 tsp garam masala

1 big ripe tomato or a handful of ripe cherry tomatoes

1 green chilli (optional)

a handful of chopped fresh coriander.

 

Peel the onions, cut them in half, then cut into 1cm slices.

Cut the slices into 1 cm pieces.

Heat a frying pan, add the oil or ghee then fry the onions on a medium high heat until they are translucent but still a bit crisp. This will take a few minutes. The onions shouldn’t brown.

Whisk the eggs in bowl together with the salt, then pour over the onions. Give the pan a little shake to mix the eggs and onions together then using a fork, draw the egg mixture that is setting to the middle, repeat this again with the set egg and give the pan a shake to even the ingredients out.

Sprinkle the teaspoon of garam masala over the top then turn the heat to low and cover the omelette with a lid for a couple of minutes, until the top is more or less set. Don’t overcook as the residual heat will make the eggs finish setting.

Dice the tomato/es and season with a little salt. Thinly slice the chilli. Maybe check out how hot it is by testing the end near the stalk. If you find it too hot remove some of the seeds as this is where the heat is. Of course if you don’t like chillies leave the chilli out and maybe substitute chopped spring onion.

Chop the fresh coriander.

Scatter the tomatoes, chilli and coriander over the top of the omelette and eat immediately.

Leave a comment | posted in coronavirus, eggs, Indian, One pot wonders, Salads, tomato, vegetarian, Vegetarian Recipes

April 3, 2020

Time for Chickpeas

By lettercollumkitchenproject

This is a recipe from the ‘live to be one hundred’ collection. Revithnos is a chickpea soup from Sifnos in Greece.  It’s cooked slowly using just a few key ingredients – chickpeas, onion, olive oil, lemon and bay leaves. The slow cooking makes the chickpeas velvety soft in an emulsion of olive oil and onion which is brightened up with a squeeze of lemon juice. I seldom cook this dish as it takes a long time to cook but time is something we have plenty of at the moment. Although don’t confuse taking time with having to do a lot as after the initial cooking of the onions and bringing everything to the boil this more or less looks after itself.

Today’s revithnos did take a long time, especially as our Irish bought chickpeas must have been sitting in a warehouse for months if not years. I soaked them for 48 hours then cooked then for five hours by which time we were hungry and the dish was not ready so we resorted to blasting them in the pressure cooker for 10 minutes. They were good, softer would have been better but our appetites got in the way of culinary excellence.  Next time I will seek out fatter and younger chickpeas but I still love the simplicity of this dish and even old chickpeas make a richly satisfying  one pot wonder

Here’s the recipe although the cooking times are variable and it’s also possible to cook this entirely stovetop – or blast it in the pressure cooker if your hunger gets the better of you.

 

 

Revithnos – Chickpea Soup

 

350g chickpeas

150mls olive oil

2 large onions

2-4 cloves garlic

1 -2 bay leaves

big strip of orange peel – skin only

lemon juice

salt and pepper

water

a handful of parsley

 

Soak the chickpeas over night then drain well.

Peel the onions and garlic and chop finely.

Put the olive oil into a heavy pot and heat gently. Add the chopped onion and cook until the onions melt down but don’t let them brown. Stir in the chopped garlic and cook for a further two minutes then add the chickpeas , orange peeland bay leaf. Stir everything together for a few minutes then add enough water to cover everything by 2-3cm. Bring to the boil, reduce to a low simmer and cover with a tight fitting lid. Cook for one to one and a half hours or until the chickpeas are soft.

Stir in the juice of a lemon , add a little more water if it looks like it’s getting dry and season with a little salt. Pop the pot into a low oven , 150c, oven for an hour.

Serve with a little chopped parsley. 

 

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in beans, chickpea, dairy free, General foodie news, Greek, One pot wonders, Sifnos, Greece, soup