Still more Jaime (3) - Flour and water crust chicken

This is a popular idea in Singapore now but I won't attribute it to Jaime. We have the 'curry in a bread' idea here which is basically the same idea - bake a curry in a bread and presto, u get both! Jaime thought up this recipe as a easy-no fuss and no mess way to transport your chicken and bread to a picnic!

Taken from Jaime Oliver's forum but the recipe comes from "Happy Days with the Naked Chef"

Ingredients (Serves 4)
(Jaime's comments) This is a great dish to serve up to friends - they'll wonder if you've gone a bit mad when you produce what looks like a huge lump of pastry and put it in the middle of the table! It's a great way to cook chicken - the meat steams inside the pastry crust and becomes incredibly tender. I've used nice small spring chickens, or poussins, in this recipe but it's just as easy to use one 2kg/4.5lb bird and roast it for 2 hours instead. ps. you don't eat the pastry! (altho u can eat the crusty bits with the juices from the chicken)
905gr/2lb plain flour
2 fat lemons
2 handfuls of fresh sage leaves, picked
1 handful of fresh thyme leaves, picked
picked 8 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 spring chickens

Method
1) Put your flour into a large bowl, and mix in around 500ml/18fl oz of water, bit by bit, until you have a dough that is pliable and elastic and not too sticky. Cover and put to one side while you prepare the chickens.
2) Using a peeler, remove the peel from 1 of the lemons and bash up with the sage, thyme and garlic, in a pestle and mortar, or use a metal bowl and a rolling pin. Add your olive oil and plenty of seasoning. This flavourful marinade is great with just about all kinds of meat.
3) Roll up your sleeves and rub the marinade all over the chickens as well as inside the cavity.
4) Slice the remaining lemon and stick a slice or two inside the cavity of each chicken.

In the show, Jaime puts the lemon in a pot of boiling water for about 10 mins while he seasons the bird. He then scores it with a knife and sticks it into the cavity of the chicken (this is 1 big chicken instead of 4 spring chickens). According to him, the lemon will 'explode' and ooze flavour everywhere.

5) Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas7.
6) Get your dough mix, divide it into 4 pieces, and roll each one out to about 0.5cm/1/4inch thick.
7) Now mould a piece of dough around each of the chickens so that you have 4 airtight parcels. Leave for 5 minutes, then bake in the preheated oven for an hour. The crust will harden during cooking, steaming and protecting the chicken while keeping all the lovely juices inside which will give you a fantastic homemade gravy.
8) Let the chickens rest for 15 minutes after baking, then bring them to the table and for a bit of drama, crack open each crust in front of your guests. You'll unleash a wicked aroma, steam, the lot, so waft it around a bit. Very impressive stuff. Serve simply with some potatoes and greens.

More Jaime (2) - Chilli con Carne

From Food Network
Ingredients (serves 10)2 medium onions
1 clove garlic
Olive oil
2 level tsp chilli powder
1 heaped tsp ground cumin
Sea salt and black pepper
1 pound (455g) chuck, mince or pound beef
7 ounces (220g) sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2 (14 ounce) cans chopped tomatoes (400g)
1/2 stick cinnamon
5 ounces water
2 (14 ounce) canned red kidney beans, drained (400g)

Method
1) Use a food processor and chop up the onions. Fry in olive oil until softened.
2) Add chilli powder, cumin and seasoning.
3) Chop up meat in the processor and add to the pan, cooking until brown.
4) Place sun-dried tomatoes and chilli in the processor with the oil (from the tomatoes) and blend until it forms a paste.
5) Add these to the beef with the tomatoes, cinnamon stick and water. Season if needed.
6) Bring to the boil and cover.
7) Either simmer on the stove or bake in the oven for 1.5 hours.
8) Add kidney beans 30 mins before the end of the cooking time.

More of Ollie's recipes(1) - Steak Sandie

It's a nice lazy Fri night with no plans, so what better way to spend it at home than watching food programmes? It's a treat - a doublebill of Jamie Oliver! First it's the original (1st ever episode) Naked Chef (where he moves into his apt with Jules). Fast forward a few yrs to Oliver's Twist. My oh my how he has put on weight! :O The hazards of being a chef and fatherhood!

Here are the recipes I'd like to try (to the best of my memory!)

Steak Sandie (Serves 4)
Ingredients
900g rump steak - cheap and tasty
Salt and pepper to taste
Rosemary
Olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Ciabatta
French Djion mustard
Rocket

Method
1) Cut the rump steak into 2. Put each into a ziploc bag.
2) Season with salt, pepper and tear off rosemary leaves. Add a bit of olive oil.
3) Give each piece of steak a good bashing with your fist to flatten it out.
4) Stick in on a super hot griddle, 2 mins each side.
5) Remove and let it rest for a min, drizzle on more olive oil and squeezing the juice of a lemon over it.
6) Slice the ciabatta into half and drizzle olive oil on both sides.
7) Spread with djion mustard.
8) Lay on the rocket.
9) Slap on the steak (tearing to fit) and slice up for serving.

Soda water

Recently, as B was moving out of his old office, he came into possession of a lot of soda water, specially imported from Thailand. Not wanting to know how long it's been there, I assumed it was still usable and went to work figuring out how to drink it. It's slightly more salty than normal soda water but otherwise it's more tasteless than I imagined. I think of it more along the lines of bottled *real* sparkling mineral water which actually tastes salty, rather than the 'fake' type which just adds gas to distilled water.


Experiment 1: Add to coffee
I didn't honestly think this tasted so bad - think carbonated and salty tangy coffee. Hrm, isn't 'salty' coffee the way the Ethiopians (or was it Turks) take their coffee? :D

Experiment 2: Add to Yakult
I heard that Yakult-inspired drinks are all the rage in Taiwan, just like salted boiled Coke, or boiled Coke with Lemon or boiled Coke with Ginger was in HK at one point. I can't exactly remember how the Taiwanese used Yakult, but I didn't think this would be very bad. And I was right! Altho it was a bit salty, I added the juice of 1 wedge of orange and magically, the salty taste disappeared! :O My most successful experiment so far!


Experiment 3: Kai Tung Kho
This is the popular Cantonese cake traditonally made as an offering to the gods. I remember that my aunt who used to live near us would 'bake' this for us ever so often. Up to this day, I still miss her cake.

I've since experimented until I've gotten a version that involves self-raising flour, but the correct way is to use soda water and steam the cake. I am guessing that if we want to use soda water, then we have to increase the egg and flour.

Ingredients
1 egg: 3 ounces flour: 1 ounce sugar (slightly less for less sweet)

To make 12 cupcakes3 eggs
9 ounces self-raising flour
2 ounces sugar
vanilla essence
salt

Method
1. Beat eggs with sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add vanilla essence halfway.
3. Fold in flour.
4. Distribute about 1.5 tablespoons mixture into each cupcake.
5. Steam for 20 mins.

If anyone knows the real traditional recipe using soda water, pls share! :)

Jaime's Chocolate Pot

I tried in vain to find this on Nigella's website as she made it seem so easy to prepare. Unfortunately, it wasn't there. Darn, I guess we're meant to buy her book. :(

However, I did find a recipe by Jaime Oliver instead. It seems just as easy to prepare.


Ingredients1/2 pint single cream
200 gms plain chocolate (minimum of 70% cocoa solids)
2 egg yolks
3 tbsp / 50 mls brandy (Cointreau or Grand Marnier as alternatives)
20 gms butter

Method
1) Heat cream but do not allow it to boil.
2) Add crumbled / broken chocolate to the cream and melt, stirring all the time to combine the two ingredients to a smooth consistency.
3) Add egg yolks and brandy and beat lightly to combine with chocolate mixture.
4) Ensuring that the mixture is not too hot (warm) stir in the butter until it completely melts and is blended.
5) Pour into ramekins and refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.

Serves 4

Nigella's Lamb Shank Stew

I love Nigella! She makes cooking look so posh and sexy. Here's an inspirational recipe from Nigella Bites, she makes cooking for a dinner party seem so easy! I know this is one of those recipes I will never try because 1) I don't know where to get lamb shanks here! and 2) I have no patience waiting for the stew too cook!
Nigella: "Don't let the word stew put you off. Yes, I know it's crippled with connotations of school-dinner gristle and gluey-gravied mess, but the lamb shanks here are anything but that. Of course, you could use shoulder, cut into greed-satisfying chunks, and it still wouldn't be compromise, but the bone in the shank gives such rounded richness of flavour and there's something so unpretentiously satisfying about the great meaty hunkiness of it on the plate. Since supermarkets now routinely stock (or will order in) lamb shanks, and since they're both meaty and cheap, it makes sense to seek them out for this.
As with all stews, this is even better made in advance and reheated; for me, this only makes things easier. The couscous, however, needs to be made last minute."
Ingredients:
6 tbspns ground nut or vegetable oil
8 Lamb shanks
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
sprinkling of salt
1 tbspn tumeric
1 tsp ground ginger
1 dried red chilli pepper, crumbled, or quarter teasp dried chilli flakes * 2 tsps cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
black pepper
3 tbspns honey
1 tbspn soy sauce
3 tbspns Marsala
6 tbspns red lentils

to serve:
3 tbspns chopped pistachios, chopped blanched almonds or a mixture of both

Instructions:
1) Put 3 tablespoons of the oil into a very large, wide, heavy-bottomed pan and warm over medium heat. Brown the lamb shanks, in batches, in the pan and then remove to a roasting tin or whatever else you've got to hand to sit them in.
2) Peel the onions and garlic and process in a food processor or chop them finely by hand.
3) Add the remaining oil to the pan, and fry the onion-garlic mush until soft, sprinkling salt over to stop it catching.
4) Stir in the turmeric, ground ginger, chilli, cinnamon and nutmeg, and season with some freshly ground pepper.
5) Stir again, adding the honey, soy sauce and Marsala. Put the shanks back in the pan, add cold water almost to cover, bring to the boil then put a lid on the pan, lower the heat and simmer gently for 1 to 1 and a half hours or until the meat is tender.
6) Add the red lentils and cook for about 20 minutes longer without a lid, until the lentils have softened into the sauce, and the juices have reduced and thickened slightly.
7) Check for seasoning.
8) Toast the nuts by heating them for a few minutes in a dry frying pan, and sprinkle onto the lamb as you serve it.

Serves 6

Tea-infused spare ribs

A friend gave me this recipe as an alternative to bak ku teh. Here it is, with my modifications.

Ingredients
1 to 2 bags of rich black chinese tea (use whatever you like, but I find oolong and even pu'er work well. Don't use green or white tea, as the flavour will not be strong enough. You can also use tea leaves instead of tea bags, the flavour will be richer)
200ml boiling water
250g pork ribs
1.5 tbsp dark soya sauce
1.5 tbsp light soya sauce
Corn flour
1 tbsp brown sugar (or normal white cane sugar)
2 tsp five spice powder
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 shallots, chopped
1 thumb-sized segment of ginger, smashed and roughly chopped
2 star anise and 3 cloves (optional)
2 tsp crushed black peppercorns

Method
1) Soak the tea bags or tea leaves in the boiling water to fully release the flavour. Set aside.
2) Marinate the ribs with the soya sauces and five spiced power for at least 20 mins, overnight works best.
3) Pat the ribs dry, and coat the ribs with corn flour. In a heated pan, add oil and lightly brown the ribs. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
4) Drain and throw away the tea bags or tea leaves, leaving the freshly brewed tea.
5) In a saucepan, using back the oil used to brown the ribs (pour away some if there is too much oil), lightly saute the shallots, garlic and ginger.
6) Just as they are turning translucent, return the ribs to the pot, and add the star anise, cloves and peppercorns.
7) Pour in the tea. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 mins or until the ribs are cooked.
8) Serve with steamed rice.