Recipes of Joy

Katie K's good with fish sauce 

I made this for some french gourmands and they described it as a flavour sandwich - it's a bloody great tasty easy in your face accompaniment to fish and potatoes mmmmmm



INGREDIENTS

90 % of a jar of capers
4 shallots
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
loads of olive oil, probably 8 - 10 tbsps
white or red wine vinegar around about 2 tbsps

METHOD

mix it all together but be sure to crush the capers into the sauce


Another of Katie K's puttanesca (Whore's pasta)

1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 tin of anchovies
Sweat that all down with olive oil

add 2 - 3 cans of chopped tomatoes and a dod of balsamic vinegar and put on high to reduce a bit
Add capers and real life chopped tomatoes for around about 8 minutes
Serve with fresh basil and parmezan






Old Snelingford's joyous cider

Cider so good it makes you want to phone everyone

Basically you need to go out and find a load of apples - wash up, chop em up and mash up into a pulp, then squash them and collect the juice in big containers. (For a proper recipe click here)




Rigas the greek's amazing chilli con carne

This chilli is unbelievably good, I shall never use mince again!

INGREDIENTS

Chunks of beef
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
Chillies - use as many as you like but its good to use different types together
Spice mix: 2tbsp paprika, 2tbsp cumin, loads of oregano and thyme, bay leaves, 1tbsp coffee
1/2 bar of dark chocolate
1 can of tomatoes
2 cans of kidney beans
stock cube
stout (Le Brewery odo is the best)

METHOD

Brown meat very well and remove from pan
Fry onions and garlic until soft
Throw all of the spices in and cook quickly (1 minute)
Add meat, tomatoes, 1 can of beans, stock cube and stout and water to cover
Cook on low for 2.5 hours - the slower the better on a low heat
Add the other can of beans the chocolate and some peppers if you want and cook for a little longer
Check it - when the meat starts falling apart its ready!



The Malamootis lazy loaf

There seems to be some kind of greek magic to bread making...here is a recipe for a gorgeous fluffy loaf with a great crust









THE METHOD

1 cup of hot water and 1 cup of cold water
1 sachet of yeast
enough bread flour to make a sticky mixture
a dod of muscovado sugar
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mix it all up and leave it for a while, maybe 1/2 an hour to 3 hours
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add dods of butter and knead the butter in until you have a smooth but still a bit of a sticky dough

fold it up and leave it again to rise for a while in a covered and olive oiled bowl

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give it another bashing and fold it up again - place it back in it's olive oiled home
turn the oven on to 220 degrees
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roll the dough into the shape you want (like a swiss roll) and cover in flour

bake at 220 for 10 minutes and then at 180 for 25 minutes for a big loaf and 35 minutes for a wee one

Sloe Gin

Mmmmm Sloe Gin, when the nights are drawing in and the fire is on there is nowt better than a Sloe Gin (or a dip in the Sound of Arisaig)


500g ripe sloes
250g sugar
About 1 litre of gin 


You are supposed to prick all of the sloes before adding the sugar and gin but its so much easier to put them in the freezer and freeze then defrost. Add all of the ingredients together in old wine bottles or kilner jars and keep shaking and turning the bottle over the next week or so until all of the sugar has dissolved. The longer you can leave before you enjoy it the better!

Peter's perfect puffs

Here is a fail safe receipe for yorkshire puddings which I have never managed to master!

INGREDIENTS

Equal measures of flour, eggs and milk - so you could use a coffee cup of each, or an egg cup or indeed a dustbin!
Seasoning

METHOD

Put them all together and whisk to make a batter
Oil up your container and heat it in the oven at 200degrees
Add the batter to the hot oil and cook for around 25 minutes






Fred's magnifique lasagne bonjour!

French Fred's really juicy and very easy lasagne of joy. 

INGREDIENTS

Mince 

Tomato sauce / your choice of herbs and flavours

Cheese

Flour, butter and milk to make bechamel

Pasta sheets

METHOD

Make loads of bechamel (maybe use half a pack of butter)

Mix the uncooked mince and tomato sauce together

Oil a lasagne dish

Put one layer of pasta in the bottom of the dish

Put half of the mince on top of the pasta sheets

Put a third of the bechamel on top of the mince

Sprinkle cheese on top of the bechamel

Add pasta sheets on top of the cheese and repeat the mince/bechamel/cheese/pasta layering once more

Finally add the rest of the bechamel and more cheese

Cover the dish with tinfoil and bake at 180 for 35mins

Take of the tinfoil and bake or grill for another 10 minutes