Recipe - Cuban-esque hot sandwich

This was my first try with my new sandwich press and it turned out quite nice.

The flavours reminded me a bit of the sandwiches I had in Havana. Although they used roasted pork quite a lot. Since I didn't have any leftover pork I used some Parma ham instead. You take what you have and so on.

Hot sandwiches are awesome, you can freestyle them to your hearts content. I'm sure some of my future, and perhaps this one, combinations will make some of you wonder about my sanity and taste. ;)

Ingredients
Good quality Italian or French bread, for example ciabatta
Strong mustard
Parma ham
Smoked ham
Cheese, I used Jarlsberg
Pickled gherkin, thinly sliced
Method
Start by heating the sandwich press/grill.

While the press/grill is heating slice the bread in half, lengthwise.

Spread the upper and lower half of bread with liberal amounts of the mustard. Put the Parma ham on the lower half, top with the smoked ham and the cheese. Finish off with the gherkin slices and the top half of the bread.

When the press/grill is hot enough put in the bread. Be patient and let it be in there until the bread is nicely browned and the cheese have melted.

Remove from the press/grill, slice in half crosswise and put the sandwich on a plate.

Enjoy!

The Omnivores 100

You might have seen this list on lots of other blogs, it's originally from the Very Good Taste blog.

If you want to put a copy on your blog, just copy this one from here and put the one's you've eaten in bold.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile-Alligator?
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam Chowder
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted Cream Tea
38. Vodka Jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole Insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth $120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang Souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom Yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. 3 Michelin Star Tasting Menu
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Oh dear, I have some strange eating habits... ;)

Recipe - Mustard and Herb crusted Lamb Chops

Here's a little something that I threw together with some lamb chops that I bought during my trip to the Covered Market in Oxford.

There's something special about it when the butcher cuts the chops freshly for you. It sure beats buying something from the supermarket that's been cut and stored for longer than you dare to think of.

I'd normally fry these for about 5 - 7 minutes (tops) on each side. However, if you and/or your guest are a bit sensitive about blood in your food you might want to have the oven on standby at about 200c.

Once you've fried them so they have a nice surface you can put them in the oven until cooked to your liking. That way you protect them from looking cremated while still cooked all the way through.

Ingredients
Lamb chops, about 2 - 3 per person
Dijon mustard
Olive oil
Dried Oregano
Fresh spinach
Garlic, very thinly sliced
Salt
Pepper
Potato mash

Method
Cover both sides of the chops in Dijon mustard and pat in liberal amounts of oregano.

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Once the oil is hot, put in the lamb chops. Let them fry for about 5 - 7 minutes on each side. (If you want them less pink read my comments about using the oven above)

In the meantime rinse the spinach thoroughly under the tap and shake it to discard most, but not all, of the water.

When the lamb chops are about done put them to the side to rest for about 5 - 10 minutes

Close to the resting time put the spinach, together with the garlic slices, into a hot pan and cook whilst stirring until wilted to your liking. Season to your liking.

Serve the lamb chops on top of a bed of wilted spinach on warm plates. Serve the mash in bowls on the side.

Enjoy!

Recipe - Even quicker dinner using the leftover rice

I had some of the rice and mince mixture left from lunch. Throwing it away was never an option.

You could actually make some kind of 'proper' main dish if you for example add some beans etc, it could become some kind of Mexican Rice.

Ingredients
Leftover 'mincerice'
Salsa

Method
Heat the 'mincerice' until warm enough. Pour it into a bowl, top off with salsa.

Enjoy!

Recipe - Mince and Rice Burritos

I needed to sort out a quick lunch the other day so I checked what I had in the cupboards/fridge etc and this is what I came up with.

I actually forgot, bad Mikey :(, to add the corn when I cooked this but I added it to the recipe so you can benefit from it. ;)

You can of course add the salsa to the burritos but in this case I choose to serve it on the side. Mainly because Solo got a different tolerance to spicy food than what I do.

Ingredients
Cooked rice, I made 2 cups
Beef mince, I used 500g
Corn, one small can
Olive oil
2 onions, chopped
Chilies, chopped - to taste
Garlic, chopped - to taste
Salt
Pepper
Salsa
Tortillas or wraps

Method
Start by frying the mince in some olive oil, making sure to season it properly. Once the mince is starting to brown add in the onion, garlic and chilies.

Add in the rice and corn to heat through when the mince is fully cooked through and the onion still has some bite.

Put some of the mixture on each tortilla and roll it to a burrito. You can even make them a bit ahead and use tin foil to contain the heat, if needed they can also be heated in the tin foil.

Serve with some salsa. If you have the time/inclination you could also make a salad to serve with them.

Enjoy!

I got myself a new toy...

A man needs his toys and I felt that there was a hole in my kitchen appliance collection. That particular hole was filled with my new sandwich press.

So be aware, there might be a post or two of weird and wonderful things I've managed to press between two slices of bread. ;)

Shopping trip - Oxford Covered Market

Since I live so close to Oxford I thought it could be worth a trip to the Covered Market to see what stuff I could pick up.

One place I'm looking forward to visiting is Palm's delicatessen, they seem to have quite a bit of specialty products. That shop will probably be bad for my wallet.

Haymans Fisheries is also high on the list, it's been a long time since I cooked my fish tacos. It might be time for another batch soon.

I'm in the market for some rabbit/hare so I'll see what the butchers might have in stock.

As always when I'm in Oxford I know that I'll end up in Border's - stocking up on food magazines I can't get in the local shops here.

I'm bound to find some strange and wonderful stuff to cook up and blog. Keep your eyes on this space early next week! ;)

No proper post today

There won't be any proper post today. I'm having the day off work, eagerly awaiting the delivery of my new dining table. You can see the beauty below.

There will probably be some effing and blinding involved in the assembly but I should hopefully be able to maintain some kind of equilibrium. ;)

With any luck, my dining chairs should arrive later in the weekend too. I'm already looking forward to my first proper 'sit-down meal' at a proper table. It's been a long time coming in this new flat...

Recipe - Southern Fried Chicken

I thought it was time to get the old deep fat fryer back into action. What better dish for the comeback than some good old Southern Fried Chicken?

I'm sure that this is about as unhealthy as you can get with chicken breasts, but it does taste good so I don't care.

I normally halve the chicken breasts lengthwise to make sure that they are cooked through.

I served it with creamy mash, homemade gravy and crispy, battered, deep-fried matchsticks of courgette.

Ingredients
Skinless chicken breasts
Egg
Flour
Salt
Pepper
Smoked paprika
Chili powder

Method
Heat the oil in the deep fat fryer to 180c.

Mix the flour and the spices onto a plate.

Beat the egg in a bowl.

Dip the chicken in the egg, letting the excess drip off.

Dip the chicken in the flour, making sure to coat evenly.

Once the chicken pieces are coated, pop them into the oil and let them fry for 12 - 15 minutes, making sure that they're fully cooked before eating.

Enjoy!

Recipe - Chocolate Cupcakes

This is the recipe for the chocolate cupcakes that were served at the party last weekend. I'm not much of a chocolate/sweets type of person but I must say that these were ace!

Ingredients

Cakes (makes 18-24)
6oz self raising flour
6oz caster sugar
6oz margarine
1-2 oz cocoa
3 eggs

Icing (enough to cover 18-24 cakes
1 ½ oz margarine
2 table spoons cocoa
4oz icing sugar
1 ½ table spoons evaporated milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Cakes
Preheat the over to 180 degrees.

Put the caster sugar and margarine into a large bowl and mix together. Add in the eggs, mix again Add the flour and cocoa and mix again.

Put about an ounze of mixture in each cupcake case.

Place in the oven for 10 minutes until they are cooked. (if you gentle press the top it should rise again)

Icing
Melt the margarine and cocoa together. Stir in the evaporated milk and vanilla extract. Stir in the sugar. If the the mix is too thick, add a little more evaporated milk.

Put icing on cake with a pallet knife

Note: Wait for the cakes to cool before making the icing as it will set shortly after making it.


Enjoy!