Tantalising thai soup...

I absolutely adore Thai food and have spent a fair amount of time in Thailand. The more I go the more my spice tolerance tends to go up however I must admit that the last time I was there I was slightly disappointed and it almost seemed they were westernising the curries as they were particularly creamy with barely any spice, the fresh chilli chick that you get from a Thai curry is what makes it so delicious so it was such a shame to eat afew disappointingly mild meals! I was once told (in a thai cooking lesson) that the average Thai person eats 6 / 7 chilli’s to our (a westerner) half a chilli, I think I can cope with one chilli but certainly not 6!

I went to a Thai restaurant about a year ago and had the most delicious broth for a starter so I decided to try and re-create it one evening and have served it up as a diner ever since. I must say that I still seem to get the chilli balance slightly off, either abit too firey or just too mild….supermarket chilli’s are so temperamental, they might all look the same in the packet but they certainly don’t all taste the same!

Thai inspired spicy prawn and noodle soup / broth

·         Cook off prawns for afew mins if raw and put to the side

·         Boil water for noodles

·         Chop a couple of spring onions, clove of garlic, thumb sized piece of ginger, 2 shallots, 1 red chilli and cook for a minute or so in abit of oil

·         Add about 4-500ml of chicken stock (hot water with a stock cube in my case) to the mixture, a stem of lemongrass (slightly crushed to release the flavour) and a small bunch of chopped coriander stems

·         Bring to the boil and simmer for afew mins, meanwhile add the noodles to the separate pan of water and cook for afew mins

·         Add some salt and pepper to the soup, a tsp of red thai chilli paste, a couple of dash’s of fish sauce and soy sauce simmer for a further 5mins

·         Add in half a bag of bean sprouts (pak choi is nice too but not essential) the prawns and the cooked noodles (drain first) – still simmering over the heat

·         Mix together add afew more spring onions if you like and some coriander leaves, remove from heat, I normally just taste to season and its then ready to serve

A twist on tortilla...

Once again it was a stunning day in sunny London yesterday and after a ridiculously long day at work and a very hot tube journey home I was set on having a summery meal which normally involves salad and cold meat for me. Diner is my main meal of the day and I increasingly enjoy sitting down after a long day at work and enjoying a home cooked meal, I also tend to get bored of having the same food so I am always looking for quick and easy recipes that I can adapt or mix and match with different accompaniments.

I was pretty chuffed with my twist on a tortilla, using mushrooms and shallots instead of potato and onion. I am trying to cut down on carbs (they are one of my guilty pleasures and not doing much justice to the waistline) so I was trying to avoid using potatoes and using mushrooms instead worked really well. There also some left over’s in the fridge for tonight which is an added bonus as we rarely tend to end up with left over’s, however much food I make!

So here we go:

Mushroom and shallot tortilla

·         Chop a couple of cloves of garlic, 3 or 4 shallots, a small bunch of parsley and some mixed herbs (thyme is best but you can just use some mixed herbs in a jar) and a 250g tub of mix or just chestnut mushrooms.

·         Cook the garlic & shallots for afew minutes in some olive oil in (I used a 24cm frying pan), then chuck in the mushrooms, half the parsley, herbs and a sprinkle of salt and pepper and cook over a medium heat until the mushrooms are cooked but make sure you take them off the heat just before they start releasing juices.

·         Mix 6 or 8 eggs with a dash of milk (ideally whole milk) and whisk together with some seasoning, also add the rest of the parsley.

·         When the mushrooms are cooked add them into the egg mixture and then pour the mixture back into the pan (its best to wipe the pan out abit and add a fresh bit of olive oil, no need to clean the pan as its good to keep some of the flavours from the mushroom mixture).

·         Last of all cook the mixture for about 8 minutes until its almost cooked through and just place it under the grill for afew minutes to cook off the top.

·       Leave to cool for 30mins or so and serve with a nice fresh salad, or if you wish a more exotic salad like cous cous, lentils or I served mine with a Jamie Oliver chickpea salad that was utterly divine.

The sun is shining...

So this weekend the sun was shining and for some strange reason I had a hankering to be in the kitchen and cook some delicious treats rather than sit in the garden and enjoy the sun, that doesn’t mean to say that I didn’t enjoy any sun at all but what a pleasure it was to spend the evening in the garden with the other half, glass of wine in hand and divulge into some delicious pre diner treats or should I say canapés.

I have always absolutely adored eating picky foods, having spent a lot of time in Spain growing up I would probably say that Spanish food is certainly one of my fav’s, obviously that includes tapas. There is something just so satisfying about going exploring in the mountainous Spanish villages of Andalucía and coming across a rickety looking old bar that serves the most delicious tapas, the rougher looking ones honestly tend to be the best, it’s just having the courage to step inside and work out what on earth they are serving but the tapas are usually displayed on the bar so you can get a good glimpse of what you are about to eat. If anyone happens to be heading to Andalucía then Paco Pepe’s in the village of Gaucin (about 30mins from the Costa del Sol) is well worth a visit, as is the village infact, there are also several amazing tapas bars in Rhonda.

I personally find that picky foods such as tapas are just perfect in the heat when the last thing you feel like is a big stodgy meal, plus there is the added bonus of all the flavours that you get in meal.

With it being so hot and my desire to eat some picky foods I decided to have abit of an experiment and personalise some recipes that jumped out at me whilst flicking through afew of my recipe books.

Firstly I made some Crab and tarragon stuffed cherry tomatoes and I must say that if you are a seafood fan they were utterly delicious and perfect with a nice glass of white wine.

 

And secondly some olive, spring onion and ricotta roulade frittante.