Some recipies from history - Pastry Coffins

I have often wondered why Britain is always synonymous with bad food to most other countries. I become very indignant, especially as we have a climate that allows all kinds of foods to grow, and some amazing seafood as well. Not to mention some of the best chefs the world has to offer.
Then I started looking at some old recipies. I'm sure everyone thought they were delicious at the time, but seriously, how many different ways are there to serve "Some sort of meat with some sort of sauce with ginger in"? - lot's apparently.

Firstly, a useful recipe I think we could all do with in our lives from 1591 - (borrowed from my other history blog):

To Bake a Pig like a Fawne

Sley him when he is in the haire, season it with pepper and salt, cloves and mace, take Claret wine, Clergious, Rosewater, Cinamon, Ginger and Sugar, boyle them togither, laye your Pig flat like a Fawne or a kidde, and pour your soup onto it and swaet butter, and so bake it leisurely.

And from 1587:

To bake Sparrows or other small birds

Make paste of fine floure, eggs, butter and faire water, thereof make coffins, thens eason your birds with sugar and ginger, then take good cheese clene scraped and small minced with a little butter, and put them into your coffins and put thereto your birds, and close it till it be enough.

Poor little birds in their pastry coffins!

However, this is a method still used today (Think Beef Wellington) and is something I am thinking of trying. I'm guessing it will be similar to using foil to keep moisture in, only it might even make it tastier. I'll let you know how it goes when I do try it. :)

Thai spiced sweet Potato and coconut soup.

I promised more uses for Tom Yum paste and here one is! This soup is delicious, both fresh, exotic and creamy - warming, yet perfect for summer evenings too. It would also make a delicious sauce to serve with White Fish, or you could even put chunks of white fish in after blending the soup and let it simmer again until the fish is cooked. J

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

4 medium sized sweet potatoes

5 Peppers – I used 4 yellow one green, but red and orange would almost certainly work just as well flavour wise.

1 large onion

Garlic cloves

Tom yum paste

Fresh ginger and/or dried Galangal

Chilli/chilli paste

1 can Coconut milk

Dried Kaffir Lime leaves

Thai 7 spice seasoning

Water

Soy sauce (2 tablespoons)

Fish sauce (1 teapsoon)

Method

1.First prepare your Sweet potatoes – peel the skin and chop into approx. 2-4 cm squares. Put to one side.

2.Chop Chillis/Add Chilli paste, and crushed/chopped garlic clove into a deep saucepan/ casserole pan.

3.Chop the onions into large squares. The easiest way to do it is like this.

Start to fry gently on the hob on a medium-low heat, in butter and a little oil, sesame oil is good if you have it to hand.

4.Chop the peppers into a similar size and add these to the pan.

5.Boil a full kettle of water.

6.Meanwhile add a 1 inch piece of grated fresh ginger, and/or several pieces of dried galangal chopped into small pices.

7.Put the potato in the pan, Add the Coconut milk, then pour in water until the veg is JUST covered.

8.Stir in Tom Yum paste, soy sauce, a few drops of Fish Sauce, drop in a few lime leaves and add some Thai 7 Spice seasoning if so desired.

9.Allow it to simmer until the potatoes are falling apart. Here I skimmed off the oil from the top to keep calories down a little. It was quite easy to do with just a spoon, and helps the soup to keep from separating once you’ve served it . 10.Once the potato is cooked, taste the broth, add any extra of the ingredients you feel it needs, like a tad more soy sauce, and then blend it. You can allow it to cool first if you want, but I’ve never had a problem mixing hot soup with a hand blender as long as the blades are fully submerged in soup before you press the blend button!

You could also leave it chunky if you don’t have a blender, but it doesn’t look as pretty J

Serve with a lime leaf for decoration, or even some Wasabi peas as croutons!

The BEST way to Chop Onions

Ok, this may seem patronising, but this is a subject which can get me really worked up! Well, not really, but it’s still a bit annoying.

I found a video for chopping onions - on a reasonably professional Cooking Tips website - that told you to ‘top and tail’ it. WRONG. It loses the anchor keeping all the layers together. Underneath it was a comment that said “Why are they wearing goggles?” (Yes they were wearing goggles) “All you need to do is run it under the cold tap to stop it from stinging your eyes!” WRONG! You’re washing away all the flavoursome juices!

The ACTUAL best way to do it is this:

Chop it in half, lengthways, so you halve the hairy end.

‘Top’ each half, but DON’T ‘tail’ them. Leave the scraggly hairy end on. I’m not sure why, but this reduces the chances of onion induced tears by around 90%. Using this method I only ever get a few tears if the onion is particularly strong, like one of those extra strong giant ones you sometimes get in the supermarket.

Peel the skin back and take it off from each side.

Cut each half down lengthways, never quite cutting through the whole way. You can make the strips thick or thin, depending on whether you want it diced, in strips, or in ‘squares’.

Then cut across the onion, once at the bottom for strips, or several times outside edge to furry end, for diced or squares. Keeping the furry end on keeps it all together and makes it much easier to hold, therefore reducing the chance of cutting your finger off into the bargain.
Voila!

This is the way that I have been shown by (most) chefs, as well as my own mum (after she saw me narrowly missing the top of a thumb) and it’s definitely the best. If you think you’ve a better way then let me know! ;p

Chilli Con carne, Jacket Potato and Chivey Sour cream

Here I am using my normal Chilli recipe (as opposed to my special one with Mole Poblano Paste – recipe to be added soon) and using A Nice OVEN BAKED - Not microwave-oven- baked, pleeease, unless you really have to! – Jacket Potato. Sour cream and chives on top add a pleasant coolness and enhances the yummy comfort food feeling of the dish, but is, of course, optional! J

Chilli:

Lean Minced Beef 500 grams, Or Minced Venison, I find Venison gives a richer flavour, but of course it means eating lovely Deer. I get mine from the fortnightly farmers market thanks to the boyf’s lovely Mother-ship.

1 Large Onion, pref White.

2 Large Garlic Cloves

1 Big Red Pepper

1 Big Green Pepper

Kidney Beans

1 – 2 tins of Chopped Plum Tomatoes, I find the ones with the black label are tastiest. The tomatoes and tomato paste you use can really make or ruin this dish, so I think it’s best, with things like Chilli, or Bolognese, to buy the nicer brands when the purse strings allow. J

½ - 1 tube of Tomato Puree – again ‘black label’ is my personal choice!

1-2 Fresh or dried Chillies, chopped.

Chilli Oil if possible, if not any oil you have is fine – 2tbsp.

Oregano, Cracked Black Pepper, Chilli Powder (ones with cumin in), a bit of Herbs De Provence if you have it/want it.

Jacket Potato – 1 each or 2 mahoosive ones, just make sure you have enough time to cook them, here is a guide to various ways of getting the perfect potato. I use my perfect way in the method below!

Sour Cream and Chives, you can buy this in most supermarkets but I like to get light Sour Cream and add my own fresh chives from the garden when I can.

Method:

Depending on the size of your potatoes, you may want to put these in half hour before you start cooking if they’re going to take 1 ½ hours or more. However the longer you leave the Chilli the yummier it gets, so if you want to make the Chilli the day before and then heat up in the last 20 mins of baking the potatoes the next day, that’s fine too!

1. Preheat the Oven to 180 degrees. Wash the potatoes with water, pat dry with kitchen towel and rub rock salt into the still damp skin, wrap in tin foil and put your taties in the oven.

2. Dice Onion – I usually chop mine into 2 cm squares to save time and keep the nice chunky texture but if you prefer yours smaller then it’s up to you. Crush the garlic, chop the chilli finely and add with the onion into a pan with a knob of butter and a teaspoon of oil.

3. Put your mince in a separate pan with the rest of the oil and brown off over a medium heat, chopping it into small pieces with your spatula/spoon in the pan when you first put it in and as you see any big lumps of meat when flipping.

4. Meanwhile chop the peppers into a similar size to the onions, and add to the veg pan, add extra oil if it’s sticking and put on the lid until the meat is done.

5. Add the cooked meat to the veg pan, and immediately squeeze in your tomato puree and herbs. I always put at least a tablespoon of each herb to maximise the yummy flavours. Stir vigorously so all the meat (and veg) is coated.

6. Pour in the tinned Tomatoes and stir again. Add any extra herb or pepper to taste. Leave to simmer very gently on a low heat.

7. Check your potatoes – I unwrap the foil now to maximise crispy-skin-ness. If they are taking a while, piercing a metal skewer through the potato and putting it in the oven will speed things up.

8. Add the Kidney Beans Leave everything to simmer/bake until the potatoes are ready. Prep your chives if you need to.

9. Once they’re done, cut open the Potatoes, mash with a fork and add a little butter and black pepper if you want to make it nice a moist and fluffy.

10. Pile your Chill on the plate next to it, and serve with the Sour Cream and chives on top of the potato, the Chilli, or in a bowl with a spoon for people to add themselves.

11. Eat! J

Chicken, Couscous, Courgette, Coriander... and Lemon.

This is a delicious dish of Chicken, Lemony Couscous and Courgette fritters! The fritters have Parmesan in but this can easily be taken out for a more calorie conscious and dairy free option!

This recipe does require a small degree of multi-tasking, if you want to play it safe you can pre-prepare the Couscous and keep it warm in the oven/heat it for 30 seconds in the microwave when you’re ready.

As with all my recipes you can substitute some ingredients or leave some out, but I would say that having either Cumin or Ajwain seeds is a must, and the Lemon is what makes this dish so fresh and summery. J

Serves 2

Fritters:

2 Courgettes, grated

1 medium egg

3tbsp Self Raising Flour

1 Large Garlic Clove

Half a small onion, thinly sliced

4 tbsp (ish) of parmesan cheese. (optional).

Sea Salt and Black Pepper for seasoning.

Couscous:

Couscous

Juice of squeezed Lemon

Black Pepper

Any other spices you with, I particularly recommend a sprinkling of Basil!

Chicken;

2 Chicken breasts

Other half of small thinly sliced onion.

1 Large Garlic Clove

Chilli oil - or fresh/dried chilli chopped and some oil

A sprinkling of Cumin seeds/powder, or even some Ras El Hanout if you have any.

Ajwain Seeds (Bishops Weed seeds)

Sliced Grilled Halloumi to serve – to make it extra yummy!

Rocket or Watercress leaves – to add extra greens and to make it look pretty!

Method:

1. Grate the Courgette, sprinkle over the salt and leave for 10 minutes in a large sieve or bowl. Then, squeeze out as much as water as you can. You can either use a clean tea towel or just kitchen roll, squeezing and pressing down and draining the water. If you can, leave it for 5 mins and then squeeze again, the less water the more your fritters will keep their shape.

2. Chop the onion into very thin slices (Grating can get a bit messy with onions), crush your garlic and add to the courgette with the Black Pepper, parmesan (if using) and the egg - yolk and white. ‘Beat’ for a minute with a fork.

3. Add the flour until reasonably doughy, but still a bit sticky. (you may need a tiny bit more than 3 tbsp, but add very slowly.) Then leave to rest.

4. Meanwhile beat chicken flat with greaseproof paper/cling-film and a rolling pin/wine bottle until 3 cm thick. Add oil to the pan (I also add a little butter too but it’s probably very bad for you to have both) and start frying the Garlic, other half of the onion and the seeds.

5. Pour boiling water over your Couscous, a ratio of 2:1 should do it, and cover.

6. Start grilling the Halloumi, if you’re having it, or you can add it to the pan with the courgette fritters at step 8 if the pan’s big enough.

7. Add the chicken to the pan, and squeeze half a lemon over it. It should need 3 mins each side over a medium heat, but you don’t want it to get dry.

8. Whilst the chicken is cooking, spoon out the courgette mixture into fritters of around 10cm wide and 1 cm thick in a lightly oiled, hot pan. Flipping them very gently as they brown on each side. They should need flipping just after the chicken each time.

9. Turn the heat off of the pans. Squeeze half a lemon over the couscous, and add black pepper and a handful of chopped coriander, fresh is possible. Serve up on warm plates, with the chicken on top, and the courgette fritters to the side. Don’t forget to scoop out the onion and seeds from the chicken pan and pour over the chicken to make it extra tasty. Garnish with Watercress or Rocket leaves to add some extra greenery if desired.

Enjoy!