Category Archives: Meat

Chicken, Bacon and Leek Pie

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CHICKEN, BACON AND LEEK PIE

Since getting the new electric oven, I’ve been experimenting with some classic recipes. Here is the recipe I made for some sausage rolls.

Chicken, Bacon and Leek Pie

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 chicken thighs, skinned and boned, chopped
  • 1 large leek, thinly sliced
  • 4 rashers streaky bacon, roughly chopped
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 100ml (or more) chicken stock
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • zest of a lemon
  • thyme
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • olive oil extra virgin
  • Pack of ready-made puff pastry
  • egg yolk

METHOD

  1. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan.
  2. Fry the chicken, bacon and leek until cooked.
  3. Stir in the butter and add the flour. Mix well.
  4. Pour in the stock and stir well to make a fairly thick sauce, adding the thyme and the lemon zest.
  5. Cook for 5 or so minutes.
  6. Season with salt and pepper (if necessary).
  7. Roll out the pastry onto a flat surface.
  8. Put the chicken mixture in the middle and fold the pastry over to make parcels, sealing the edges and brushing the top with egg yolk.
  9. Cook in an over at 190ºC for 15-20 minutes.

Sausage Roll

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SAUSAGE ROLL

Since getting the new electric oven, I’ve been experimenting with some classic recipes. Here is the recipe I made for some sausage rolls.

Sausage Roll

INGREDIENTS

  • 500g pork mince
  • 400g pork sausages (a pack of sausages from Mercadona without casings) spicy chorizo, sliced
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 100g streaky bacon, coarsely chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon Chilli powder
  • handful of sage leaves, finely chopped
  • 2 teaspoons English mustard
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil extra virgin
  • Pack of ready-made puff pastry
  • egg yolk
  • 100g breadcrumbs

METHOD

  1. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until soft and just starting to colour.
  2. Combine the pork mince and sausagemeat in a large bowl.
  3. Add the fried onion, bacon, garlic powder, English mustard, sage and season with salt and pepper.
  4. Use your hands to mix everything together.
  5. Shape the meat mixture into a roll and wrap in cling film.
  6. Put in the freezer for 1 hour to chill.
  7. Cut the meat roll in half.
  8. Put the meat roll on the pastry and make into a sausage roll.
  9. Use the egg yolk to brush the edges to secure the roll and also the top.
  10. Put on a baking tray lined with baking parchment.
  11. Bake in a 200ºC oven for 30 minutes (with top and bottom heating elements on).

NOTES

The cooking time will depend on the bean so if you are using older beans, you should adjust the cooking times accordingly.

Chicken and Chorizo Paella

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Chicken and Chorizo Paella

I’m not getting into an argument about whether chorizo belongs in a paella or not – I like to add some cubes of chorizo and think that this improves the flavour. END OF.

The paella is cooked over the flames shortly after the fire is lit. The idea is to use the heat from the flames to fry the onions, meat and other ingredients, before adding the rice and the stock and then cooking over a more constant heat once the fire has died down a bit.

We lit the fire at 13:00 and the paella was ready at 14:00.

One of the secrets to making a good paella is to get a beautiful layer of the caramelised socarrat on the bottom of the pan. You can see how much liquid is left and by cooking the paella for a final 10 minutes on a gentle flame when there is not much liquid left, you should get the socarrat of your dreams.

 

CHICKEN PAELLA

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 green pepper, finely chopped and 1 red pepper, sliced
  • 3 or 4 tomatoes, coarsely grated
  • pinch of saffron
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 cup of green beans
  • 1 cup of garrofones (large, flat butter beans)
  • 1 cup of frozen baby artichokes
  • 20cm stick chorizo, cubed
  • chicken stock
  • 60g paella rice per person
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil extra virgin
  • water

METHOD

  1. In a pestle and mortar, grind the saffron, garlic and a pinch of salt. Add a tablespoon or so of water and leave to infuse.
  2. Heat some olive oil in the paella pan.
  3. Add the onion and quickly fry over the flame for a minute or so.
  4. Add the green pepper and the red pepper and fry quickly.
  5. Add the chopped chorizo and fry.
  6. Add the grated tomatoes and fry for a further minute.
  7. Add the green beans, garrofones and artichokes.
  8. Sprinkle in the rice and stir well.
  9. Stir in the saffron/garlic mixture.
  10. Add the stock and the white and green beans and mix well.
  11. The rice will take about 40 minutes to cook. It is important to make sure that it has enough liquid for the first 30 minutes or so, so sprinkle over more water as required. You can always cover with a lid to ensure that the rice cooks properly.
  12. The socarrat will caramelise during the last 10-15 minutes of the cooking time so you want to ensure that the paella is moist enough by now and not add any more water than necessary.
  13. When the rice is cooked, you can leave covered for 10 minutes so that all the liquid is absorbed.
  14. Serve.

Beef Bourguignon

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BEEF BOURGUIGON

Beef Bourguigon

I served this stew with mashed potato and stir-fried kale.

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 600g beef, cut into chunks
  • 100g bacon, sliced
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 250g mushrooms, cut into quarters
  • 2 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 1 tbsp tomato purée
  • 750ml red wine
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon oregano

METHOD

  1. Heat the oil in a stainless steel frying pan.
  2. Brown the seasoned beef (in batches if necessary), transferring to a plate as you go.
  3. Then fry the bacon, onion and garlic in the same frying pan, adding the thyme and oregano.
  4. Stir in the tomato purée and fry for another minute or so.
  5. Add the beef and any juices back to the pan.
  6. Add some of the red wine and deglaze the pan.
  7. Transfer to a pressure cooker and add the rest of the wine and 100ml of water.
  8. Cover and bring to pressure.
  9. Turn down the heat and cook for one hour.
  10. Leave to cool for 15 minutes or so and then release the pressure.
  11. Serve with mashed potato and some green vegetables.

 

 

Sausage Pasta

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This is a recipe for sausage pasta.

SAUSAGE PASTA

INGREDIENTS

    • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
    • 2 stalks of celery, finely diced
    • 1 carrot, diced
    • 1 bay leaf
    • 500g pork sausage meat, split into small pieces
    • 1/2 cup of white wine
    • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
    • 1 teaspoon ground fennel
    • a pinch chilli
    • 1 can tomatoes
    • 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
    • pasta
    • parsley
    • Parmesan cheese

METHOD

  1. Heat the olive oil in a stainless steel frying pan.
  2. Gently fry the onion, garlic, carrot and celery until soft, seasoning with salt and pepper.
  3. Transfer the vegetables to a dish.
  4. Fry the sausage pieces until golden brown.
  5. Add the fennel, bay leaf and wine.
  6. Add the vegetables, can of tomatoes and tomato sauce and cook for 15-20 minutes.
  7. Meanwhile, cook the pasta.
  8. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with Parmesan cheese.