Pea guacamole with prawns and chilli jam

My godmother has just sent me this - a recipe I devised and sent to her almost 15 years ago!

I remember that I had been inspired by a visit to Quo Vadis restaurant in Soho where I had eaten pea puree topped with russian salad and poached langoustines. 

A little worrying that I can remember what I had for supper nearly one and a half decades ago....?!

Anyway, the recipe is for a starter of pea 'guacamole' with prawns and home-made chilli jam.  My godmother still uses it.  


Pea and Mint guacamole with prawns and chilli jam


1/2 bag (1kg) frozen petit pois
1 large tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons finely (fresh) grated parmesan
1 packet mint (stripped from stalk)
salt and pepper
1 clove garlic
5 tablespoons prawns (prawn cocktail type)
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
3 chillies (deseeded) chopped
4 tablespoons sugar
water to cover
1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (optional)

Cook peas in butter with mint until soft (5 minutes approx).

Add crushed garlic and cook for further 2-3 minutes.  Season.

Whiz in processor until smooth.  Stir in parmesan.

Mix prawns with mayonnaise.

Put chilli, sugar and water (and vinegar if using) if using in saucepan and bubble away until mixture is syrupy.

Now assemble:  line ramekins with cling-film leaving bits hanging over edge.  Put a bit of prawn mixture in each ramekin and top with goodly portion of green pea mixture.

Chill.  When ready to serve turn onto large plate and drizzle jam around the plate.  (if chilli jam has set too much heat up in microwave with bit of water added).

Serve with melba toast and small bunches of watercress.

Serves six.

I reckon half the quantity would make a splendid main course for the solitary diner.  Left over pea guacamole will keep for a couple of days in the fridge and is great spread on toast as a snack.  The chilli jam will also keep.

I particularly like the direction to measure the prawns with a tablespoon..... 

Mawnan Mess

Lemon yoghurt ice-cream layered with lemon curd and crushed meringue.  A take on Eton Mess devised, by my Mother, in Cornwall in a little village called Mawnan.......



You will need:

1 meringue (slightly chewy in the middle) - see below for method - broken into pieces
2 scoops of lemon yoghurt ice-cream - see below for method
1/3 cup of lemon curd - again see below for method

Now, we need to have a little chat.  You can buy the meringue if you must but you need to make the curd and the ice-cream.  Both are simple to make.  I promise...!

Method:

Put a third of the curd in the bottom of a sundae dish.  Add one scoop of ice-cream and half the meringue pieces.  Add another third of lemon curd and then the second scoop of ice-cream and remaining meringue.  Drizzle with the rest of the curd.

Or just plonk it all in a bowl.  Up to you.









For the ice-cream (enough for left-overs)

You will need:

75 mls double cream
250 mls plain bio-yoghurt
50 g caster sugar
Grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
Juice of 1 lemon

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together and put into a freezer-proof container.

Freeze, stirring every half an hour until set.

For the lemon curd (to make a pot)

You will need:

50 g unsalted butter
110 g caster sugar
Grated zest of 2 unwaxed lemons
Juice of 2 lemons
2 eggs and 1 egg yolk (you can use the white for the meringue if you are making it) beaten and strained through a sieve


Method:

Melt the butter in a non-stick saucepan over a low heat.  Add the sugar, lemon and rind.

Remove from the heat add the strained eggs.

Return the pan to the stove and, over a very low heat, stir until the mixture thickens.  This could take up to ten minutes.  Watch the TV (if you have one in the kitchen) whilst you are stirring...... I did......

Remove from the heat and pour the curd into a clean jam jar.  Cool and then pop in the fridge.  It will keep happily for up to 2 weeks.  It won't last that long though.  You'll end up eating it with a spoon.  In your pyjamas.

For the meringue

You will need:

1 egg white
50 g caster sugar

Method

Beat the egg white in a VERY clean bowl until you and the egg reach the soft peak stage.

Add half the sugar and continue to beat.

Add the remaining sugar and beat until glossy (the meringue mixture and your brow).

Scoop tablespoons of the mixture onto a baking sheet which you have lined with baking parchment.

Bake in a very low oven (around 150 C) for an hour until crisp.  Cool the meringue and feel just a little bit smug.

Samphire and prawns with garlic butter

Boxing day supper.....

You will need:

A handful of raw shelled prawns (shrimp)
A handful of samphire
1-2 garlic butter discs (see below)
A thick slice of good white bread drizzled with olive oil

Method:

Toast the bread slice in a hot oven until golden brown.

Melt the garlic butter in a frying pan and when it starts to sizzle add the prawns.  Toss around for a couple of minutes then add the samphire.  Cook everything for another two minutes then decant onto the toasted bread.

Simples!

For the garlic butter

You will need:

Around 120g of soft salted butter
2 garlic cloves very finely chopped
A small handful of parsley very finely chopped
A pinch of cayenne pepper

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together and put onto a sheet of clingfilm (plastic wrap).  Roll up the parcel until you have something that looks like a Christmas Cracker.

Chill (you and the butter).

Now cut discs of garlic butter from the roll.  You will need 1-2 discs for this recipe.  The rest can be put in a plastic bag and frozen.

Ideas for garlic butter discs:

Melt onto a griddled rib-eye steak.  Have a tomato salad on the side.

Put into a large field mushroom.  Bake for 10 minutes in a hot oven and use ciabatta bread to mop up the juices.

Mix into linguine pasta along with a handful of shredded basil and a few peas.

Pork and shiitake meatballs

To have in front of the tele-box with some fizzy pop.

You will have leftovers.  This is deliberate.

You will need:

1 packet of pork mince (around 500g but less is fine - do not alter the other ingredients)
4-6 spring onions (depending on length and girth) finely sliced into little rings
2 garlic cloves crushed
8-10 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water, drained and finely chopped
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of thai sweet chilli sauce
1 large handful of coriander (stalks and all) chopped
1 beaten egg

To serve:

1 butter-head, or other soft lettuce
Thai sweet chilli sauce

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together, form into ping pong sized balls and put in the fridge to chill.

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

Bake the balls on the sheet for around 25 minutes, until golden and cooked through.

Wrap each meatball in a soft butter-head lettuce leaf and dunk into a pot of thai sweet chilli 'sawse'.

These are even better cold......

Linguine with roasted onion and anchovy (or black olives)

I took the dog for a walk this morning and I found myself thinking about pissaladiere..... as you do.


And no I am not talking about how one feels after two glasses of wine on an empty tummy but rather that lovely thin bread smothered in caramelised onions and anchovies that is sold at room temperature in French bakeries.


And I came up with this;  'Pissaladiere Pasta'.      


You will need


1 small roasted onion (see below) squeezed from its skin and finely chopped
2-3 anchovy fillets in oil finely chopped (or a few chopped black olives if you prefer)
1/4 red chilli very finely diced
A glug of good olive oil
A handful of dried linguine (as much you think you can, or should eat)
Freshly grated parmesan


Method


Heat up the onion, anchovy (or olives) and chilli with a glug of good olive oil in a non-stick pan.


Meanwhile cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.  However, instead of draining the linguine when it is cooked, simply fish it out of the water using kitchen tongs and add it to the onion and anchovy mixture.  Do not shake the pasta as you transfer it.  We want the water that is clinging.  Stir to mix and tip into a bowl. Top with parmesan.


Very simple.  And very good.


To roast the onion:


Lightly grease a baking dish and add a scant centimetre of water and the onions (brown, whole, skins left on).  


I suggest you cook more than one onion at a time.  They are a most obliging ingredient and will keep quite happily for up to three days in the fridge.  It goes without saying  (but I am going to anyway) that the best thing to do here is to cook the onions at the same time the oven is on for something else.


Bake for 2 - 2 1/2 hours at 160C.  Allow to cool before attempting to remove the flesh from the skins; the soft onion achieves the temperature of molten lava.


Other uses for roasted onion


In an omelette for breakfast, perhaps with a bit of crumbled feta
Spread on bread and roasted for a little nibble to have with a drink
To make onion gravy to have with sausages
To make onion soup (just add beef stock and top with toasted french bread and grated cheddar)
To make pissaladiere .....?

The Solitary Suppers Christmas Cake......

A little bit of fun was had this Sunday morning...... 

A couple of weeks ago I quartered Delia's Christmas cake recipe and added a few chopped glace cherries because I like them.  I baked the mixture in a small pork pie tin at 140C for 2 1/2 hours.  I then fed the cake with brandy for a few days.  When I had run out of brandy I covered the cake with marzipan and allowed it to dry for 3 days.

And this morning I had a play.

HOW old am I?  Don't answer that.....

A Sunday Roast for One

This one's for Debs.

The brief was 'a roast dinner for one without using every pan in the kitchen'.

How about roast chicken with sausage and bacon rolls, crispy roast potatoes, vichy carrrots, peas, brussel sprouts and gravy?!

Equipment-wise I used;

1 small roasting tin,

a medium sized non-stick saucepan,
2 small breakfast bowls,
a sieve and
a measuring jug.

I also used cling film and silver foil, wooden and metal spoons, a spatula, a vegetable peeler and a sharp knife.

By jove, I think I've done it!

You will need:

1 chicken leg quarter rubbed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 lemon sliced into 3 rounds
1 large potato peeled and cut into quarters
1 large carrot peeled and cut into 1 cm rounds
3/4 cup of frozen peas
A handful of brussel sprouts, stalk nub sliced off
2 rashers of streaky bacon, cut in half
1 sausage, skin removed and cut into 4 pieces
1 level dessertspoon of plain flour
1/2 a chicken stock cube (I am assuming you don't have any homemade stock sloshing around. If you do, you will need 1/2 a pint)
A pinch of sugar
A dash of worcestershire sauce
1 dessertspoon of redcurrant jelly
1 bay leaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A knob of butter

Method

Heat the oven to 180C.

Wrap each sausage piece in a bacon strip.

Parboil the potatoes in briskly boiling water for 10 minutes.  Drain into a measuring jug in which you have already placed your chicken stock cube.  You need about half a pint of potato water.  Throw the rest of the water away.  Rinse and dry the saucepan.

Place the lemon slices on a small roasting tin and lay the oiled and seasoned chicken on top.  Surround the chicken with the parboiled potatoes and drizzle them with a little olive oil.  Add the sausage stuffed bacon rolls.

Cook for about an hour, basting the chicken and turning the potatoes and bacon rolls half way.

Get on with the carrots by placing them in the saucepan and just covering with water.  Add a knob of butter, sugar and a pinch of salt.  Simmer for about 15 minutes until tender.  Put any remaining liquid (it will be substantially reduced) in the measuring jug with the potato water and stock cube.  Put the carrots in a microwavable bowl, allow to cool then add the peas and cover with cling film.  Rinse and dry the pan.

Now make the gravy.

Scoop a couple of tablespoons of the fat from the roasting tin into the saucepan.  Try and scrape up a few of the nice crispy pan bits as you do so.  They will add flavor to the gravy.  Baste the chicken whilst you are at it.  Turn the potatoes again if you want.

Heat the oil in the saucepan over a moderate heat  and stir in the flour. After a minute or so (when the fat begins to ooze out of the flour mixture - you will know it when you see it) add the liquid from the jug; slowly and stirring all the time to avoid getting any lumps.  Add the worcestershire sauce, redcurrant jelly and bay leaf.  Simmer; stirring from time to time and adding a splash more water if necessary.

After an hour has passed, check that the chicken is cooked by piercing the plumpest section with a knife.  You want the juices that flow out to be clear with no trace of blood.  If you are happy, transfer the chicken and bacon rolls to a bowl and cover with foil.  They will be quite happy for up to half a hour.

Turn the potatoes again and return to the oven to really crisp up. Turn the heat up to 200C to assist the crisping.

Decant the gravy into the jug and cover with cling film. Rinse and clean the pan.

Boil the sprouts for 4 minutes in salted water.  You can add a bit of the sprout water to the gravy if you like.  Microwave the peas and carrots on high for 4 minutes.

Serve up!