Steak on a Board with Ratatouille

Have you ever craved a meal for so long that you finally caved and just made it?  Well, this is what kind of happened with me.  I had dreaming about a good ratatouille for ages and kept meaning to make one.  Ideally the same one that features in the film (I later found a recipe for that version and, quite honestly, for a simple quick rat, that seemed far too complicated!)

In our house as well, one cannot simply subsist on vegetables alone.  I am fairly sure that was incorporated into our marriage vows, so I needed to provide a suitable red meat accompaniment to the pile of courgette and tomato I was preparing to serve.

That's where the steak comes in. I must confess, steak and ratatouille is not an original concept- Jamie got there long before I did and I have no doubt that thousands more got there before him, but my rat is not the same one as his, although the steak part most definitely is. 

It is however quite quick (relatively speaking - you can't get the complex flavours of a good rat with only 30 minutes of cooking, no matter how many tricks and cheats you use) and easy. I cooked it as a mid-week supper for after work and it feels positively virtuous before the onslaught of Christmas decadence.  You can also cook the ratatouille a few days in advance and just warm it up when you want dinner - this actually makes it even better as the flavours have time to develop and it will save you even more time when you are stressed after a long day at work.

Now, the purists out there are going to argue with me and tell me that this is not a traditional rat as it does not involve cooking all the individual elements separately before bringing them together and I am not pan-frying the main veg element first.  I'm sure that creates an outstanding version that any French grandmother would be proud of, but frankly, when it is 5.30pm and I need dinner served by 7.30pm, who has the time?!

I took a tip from Felicity Cloake and made mine with a piperade on the bottom and balsamic vinegar to add a richness and depth of flavour which it could otherwise lack, especially if you are using vegetables out of season and this more than compensates for the cheats method of layering your veg without pre-cooking. 

So lets start with the ratatouille

3 courgettes, thinly sliced
8 plum tomato's, 4 peeled and diced, 4 thinly sliced
2 red peppers
1 aubergine , thinly sliced
1 medium onion, diced
3 tbsp garlic infused olive oil
3-4 fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp good balsamic vinegar
Pinch of sugar
Salt
Pepper

Heat the oven to 140C,

Place the peppers over the open hob flame, or scorch them with a cook's torch, or halve them and place them cut side down on a lightly oiled baking tray and bake for 20 minutes.  You are looking to blister the skin so that you can remove it, so do this anyway that works for you.  Heck you could even put them on a slab of marble in your wood fire if you want!

Whilst your peppers are blistering, heat 2 tablespoons of the garlic infused olive oil over a low heat in a pan then cook the onions gently and slowly until translucent and soft (8 minutes or so should do it depending on how finely you chopped your onions).  Stir in the diced tomatoes and tablespoon of thyme and simmer gently for about 5 minutes.

Remove the skin from the blistered peppers and cut them into small dice, then add them to the tomato's and cook for another few minutes.  Add the balsamic vinegar and some salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.

Spread this tomato and pepper sauce (the piperade) over the bottom of a baking dish then arrange your sliced vegetables (tomato, courgette and aubergine) in alternating layers on top. Mix the remaining garlic olive oil with a teaspoon more thyme and drizzle over the top, then sprinkle the basil leaves.

Cover with foil or a lid and bake for 1.5 hours. Uncover for the last 30 minutes of cooking to crisp up the top layer of vegetables a bit.  Garnish with a few more fresh basil leaves and serve with the steak.

While the ratatouille is cooking uncovered for the last 30 minutes, you can get on with the steak.

2 x 250 g quality sirloin steaks, fat removed

1 teaspoon paprika 

1 tablespoon good (but not extra virgin) olive oil

½ bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 heaped teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Juice of ½ lemon

Start by dressing your board.  Mix the mustard with the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and some salt and pepper and drizzle over the board.  Scatter the parsley over the top.

Get a griddle pan nice and hot and rub the steaks with the olive oil and paprika and some salt and pepper.  Always oil your steak, not the pan!

Sear the steak on one side and then turn until cooked to your liking.

Allow to rest for the same amount of time as you cooked it for (at least), then carve it into strips and place it on the board.

Serve the board with the ratatouille and allow people to dig in, wiping up the mustard dressing as they do.

There are no carbs in this meal, and to be honest it is filling enough that you don't need them.  If you feel an overwhelming desire for starch though, try with some fresh baked crusty bread - perfect for mopping up the the ratatouille and steak juices.

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Lobster at Sunset

When Mum and Dad were first wondering whether or not to build in Kalkan, the first port of call was to come over and conduct a wreckie of all the potential sites.  This could not be completed in one hit, so they needed somewhere to hole up and stay whilst they completed their research.

They chose the Likya Residence Hotel and Spa as their base and were impressed with the quality of the food in the hotel restaurant, so on our final night with them at the end of the first week, they treated Steve and I to a slap-up meal there, high on the cliffs above Kalkan Town, overlooking the harbour.

We wandered down the hill (top tip, don't bother with heels in Kalkan, you will just fall over.  Wear flats) just before sunset to have a look at the view out over the bay before being escorted to our table.

When I say escorted, I don't mean by a human being.  There are packs of stray dogs in Kalkan, all of whom are very friendly, and they each have their own turf.  When you enter one of their patches, they will pick you up and walk with you down the hill until you arrive at the patch of another pack. The dogs will then hand you over to the next pack, making sure you are in safe paws before trotting off back to their business, and the next pack will then escort you further down the hill.  It is a very surreal experience.  Most of the dogs are collared and tagged, and they are all looked after by the local restaurants, bars and hotel owners.  This blonde boy was our restaurant escort.

The view from the hotel was stunning, a panoramic sweeping vista of Kalkan Bay framed by the Taurus mountains.  You could see right down in Kalkan Harbour and when the sun set and the lights came on, the entire hillside lit up like a Christmas tree.  It was a simply stunning location to sit in, enjoy the light breeze off the hillside and enjoy one of the best meals I think I have ever had.

I started with a cocktail, one that was easily one of the most delicious things I have ever drunk and I only wish I had the first blue clue as to how to recreate it.  It was a gin (obviously) fizz and was muddled through with a simple basil sugar syrup and slices of cool, fresh ginger that infused gently as your stirred.  It was sublime.

The Likyan clearly likes its table theatrics, and this was evident from the start when they delivered the traditional bread basket, served with its own table toaster for you to toast your own.  This came with a herb infused butter and was closely followed by an odd combination of a homemade ravioli and hummus.  We didn't order this - it just showed up and Mum and I then spent the next 10 minutes cooing over the crockery.  Those white plates are so impractical, take up a ridiculous amount of space on the table, look nigh on impossible to store and yet I must have them.  Just have a look at the other plates and bowls further down as well, they are things of pure beauty, like the sails of the ships in the harbour below us.

Dad and I then opted for the oysters with chilli for our starter.  Not as good as a Whitstable oyster I must say (they were rather small) but tasty nevertheless.  I am probably slightly spoiled when it comes to oysters though, living where I do.  By the way.  You can't eat the starfish so don't try.

For my main I opted for the lobster.  The waiter came and asked me what size I wanted, and I did originally ask for a small until Mum told me to go larger and she would have some of it.  So I did.  I also ordered a portion of chips, as I am of the firm belief that you can't have lobster without chips.

I realised my error the second my 4 plates arrived, all for me.  This was an obscene amount of food.

I tried, I really, really tried but I could not touch the edges of the chips, or the salad, or the cooked vegetables.  I did eat all the lobster, even after Mum decided that she didn't want any after all, and the lightly pickled crudites were crunchy and delicious, an amazing counterpoint to the lobster and one that I must remember for the future.  This meal was just divine and the others all had similarly wonderful meals, although none were quite as large as mine was.

After gorging myself on shellfish, I went for a walk around the bar and pool to try and alleviate the overstuffed feeling I was experiencing.  The pool and bar are wonderfully camp, and look like something straight out of Cocktail.  It was a really lovely place to sit and digest, before the waiters bought over the dessert menu.   

I couldn't face the thought of anymore food, but Steve had eaten decidedly less than I had and tucked into the mezze platter of sweet things, with a plethora of fresh fruit, ice cream, macarons and baklava as well as Turkish delight and sweet fudge..

As the night deepened the moon rose above the mountains and cast shimmering reflections over the bay.  I tried to capture it with my camera but the photo's really did not do the landscape justice, it was truly beautiful

Mum, Dad, thank you for a wonderful meal and a wonderful holiday.  You really spoilt us.

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Chilli Con Carne

Steve and I have quite a good system when it comes to the household chores.  We share basically everything, bins are him, laundry is me, back garden is his responsibility, front garden is mine to maim, butcher and destroy.  We take it in turns to do the cooking as well, and much as it irks me to admit, he is at least as good a cook as I am.  Sometimes I think he is better.  He, at least, doesn't completely bugger up oven chips every time he tries to cook them.  Seriously, the last time I cooked them, I followed the packet exactly and they still came out frozen and burnt at the same time.  It's a unique skill.

This particular weekend he was let loose on my spice cupboard and recipe books and came out three hours later with bowls of the most delicious chilli con carne I had ever tasted.  Naturally it was a Thomasina Miers dish - everything in her books is just delicious, I once made my way through a jar of her chipotles en adobo sauce at a friends house who had just made approximately two gallons of the stuff - and I was more chuffed by the fact that I already had every single ingredient in stock in the house.

Every.  Single.  One.

I apparently keep a well stocked kitchen.  I am my mother's daughter.

This is one of those recipes that you can quite happily leave cooking merrily on its own whilst you go and attend to all those pesky chores that life demands you keep on top of.  Like accidentally pulling out that large plant in the front garden you thought was a weed and turns out to be quite an expensive shrub your husband had planted three years earlier and was finally getting to be a decent size.

Turns out the only green fingers I have are those caused by wearing cheap fashion rings.

So if you fancy a bloody good chilli this weekend, this is what you will need to check you have in your kitchen:

1kg minced beef
300g spicy chorizo
3 onions
4 cloves of garlic
olive oil
2 teaspoons allspice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon cloves
1 large cinnamon stick
3 bay leaves
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 deseeded ancho chillies
2 chilies de arbol
2 teaspoons sea salt
black pepper
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
800g tinned tomatoes
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons muscovado sugar
800g kidney beans

Preheat the oven to 120C and bring the meat to room temperature.

Finely chop the onions and garlic

Sear the meat in 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large casserole dish.

Set the meat to one side and add another small glug of oil to the casserole dish.  Brown the chopped chorizo in the oil until it is scented and golden brown with the sausage oils.  Remove the chorizo.

Add the onion, garlic, spices, herbs and chillies and cook in the chorizo oil until soft.  Season with salt and pepper, add the vinegar, tomatoes, ketchup and sugar.

Return the meat to the pan and top up with 400ml water, bring to a simmer and cook, covered in the oven for 2 hours.

After two hours, give it a stir and add the beans.  Cook for another hour.

Serve with a big pile of rice, some chopped coriander, salsa, cheese if you want and lime wedges. Add sour cream if you need to cool the heat down a little.

This chilli would also be amazing on top of jacket potatoes, on a hot dog or piled onto a mound of nachos with a group of friends, some beers and a good film.

Prawn Stir Fry

Sometimes there is nothing better than a simple, straightforward stir fry.  Crunchy fresh vegetables, prawns and noodles all coated in a zingy, lightly spicy sauce.  The leftovers make for a brilliant packed lunch as well!

I've tried a few packet sauces for stir fry from the supermarket, and have found every single one, without fail, to be utterly bland and flavourless.  I'm not sure what it is about pre-made stir fry sauces, but it seems as though companies are just afraid of tickling the taste buds. 

That is not what I want when I am eating my dinner.  I want flavour and zing with contrasting hot and sharp tang.  After being utterly fed up with the offerings, I stuck my head in my kitchen cupboards, pulled out every bottle of Asian inspired sauce I had and started pouring, tasting and tweaking in a bowl until I had created my own stir fry sauce that is, as far as I am concerned, a flavour sensation. 

Patent pending.

Prawn Stir Fry

200g packet raw king prawns (or chicken or lean strips of beef or pork)
1 packet stir fry vegetable mix (or make your own with chopped red and green peppers, shredded cabbage, baby corn, finely chopped red onion, diced courgette, mange tout, shredded carrot and broccoli)
1 x 350g packet bean sprouts
1 x 350g packet vermicelli noodles
Couple of handfuls sweet corn
1 teaspoon wok oil or vegetable oil
1 lime

Dressing

2 tablespoons siriachi sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons ground ginger (fresh would be better, peel and julienne 1 x inch strip of ginger, I didn't have any in the house though)
2 teaspoons chinese five spice
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablepoon sesame seeds
Juice of 1 lime

Get everything lined up and the dressing pre-mixed before you turn the hob on.  Once the heat goes on, everything happens very quickly!

In a large wok (or deep frying pan if you don't have a wok) heat the oil.  When the oil is very hot (hold your hand over it, you should feel the heat on the palm of your hand almost instantly), throw in all of the mixed vegetables and stir continuously for 1 minute. 

Add the bean sprouts and noodles and stir for 1 more minute

Add the prawns and sweet corn and stir until all prawns turn pink.

Throw in the dressing and stir for a further minute or until everything is lightly coated.

Sprinkle some more sesame seeds on the top and serve with the lime cut into wedges.

If you can eat this with chopsticks, then I commend you.  I'm normally not too bad when I use them, but for some reason I really struggle with noodles, and this dish has oodles of noodles!

By the way, did you know that elephants are a symbol of good luck and good fortune in Asian cultures?  I have a few elephant statues and ornaments in my house, and my grandmother always taught me to make sure that the elephants' trunk points towards the entrance of the house. That way only good fortune will ever enter.

It's probably all supersititious nonsense, but I still make sure that all my elephants always have their trunks pointing at the front door, no matter where they are.

 

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Builders Breakfast Pasta

One day I came home from work to find the sorry looking remains of a fry up in the fridge.  Leftover, uncooked sausages, black pudding, bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms were scattered haphazardly across the shelves, whilst a sheepish looking Steve sat on the sofa.

"I got hungry".

The problem was, we didn't have enough leftover bits and pieces for two complete grill ups (always a grill up when I'm cooking it) and I didn't want to waste anything.

That's when it hit me.  Builders Breakfast Pasta - a pasta sauce made out of all the fry up ingredients.  We were both rather sceptical about it, but thought we should at least give it a go for dinner the following evening.

This is the surprisingly delicious result of that experiment.

So, for a pasta dish fit to grace the hallowed tables of any honest corner cafe frequented by builders, students, emergency service workers at the end of their shift and anyone in need of a strong hangover fix, you will need (for 2-3 people):

The leftovers from a fry up the previous day (or just get some sausages (about 3), 2-3 rashers of unsmoked streaky bacon, a handful of (about 6 medium) button mushrooms, some slices of black pudding and a couple of peeled tomatoes, all chopped into bite size pieces)
1 tin of tinned chopped tomatoes
125g dried pasta (I used penne as it is what I had to hand)
1 tablespoon dried or frozen basil, or a couple of shredded leaves of fresh basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon tomato puree (optional)
1 teaspoon garlic oil OR
1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 crushed clove of garlic
Tabasco (it is me, after all)

Heat the garlic oil or the vegetable oil in a pan and add the crushed garlic clove to the oil if you are using it.

Add choppped sausage, bacon and black pudding to the pan and fry until lightly browned
Add the mushrooms to the pan and fry for 3-5 minutes

Add the chopped tomato and the tin of chopped tomatoes to the pan and stir to form a sauce

Add the herbs, sugar and tomato puree to the pan, bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer.  Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper as required.  Cover and leave to simmer while you cook the pasta

Put the penne in a pan of lightly salted boiling water and cook according to the packet instructions

Drain, reserving a half ladle of the starchy cooking water.  Add the water to the pasta sauce and stir through until the sauce becomes a bit more glossy. 

Pour the drained pasta into the sauce and stir it all together then leave to simmer for 2 more minutes.

Serve - tabasco optional (and in my case, essential)!

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Oki-Nami

When we arrived in Brighton, we had heard rumour of a fab little Mexican place called La Choza.  I called to try and book us a table for dinner, only to find out that they didn't take bookings.  We then planned to drink our way through the Laines to La Choza to grab a table later on.  We made it out of The Mesmerist, accompanied by the sound of growling stomachs and decided we couldn't wait any longer.  Out came google maps, and we started to negotiated our way up to the North Laines.

We found La Choza, a lively, colourful little restaurant on a dark street corner and bundled ourselves inside to find a table.

Which they didn't have.  They also wouldn't have a table for another hour and a half.  Frankly, we couldn't wait that long.

Shay remembered that we had passed some promising looking places on the way up near the Theatre.  By this point my heels were killing me, but I stuck my brave face on and we marched purposefully down the hills until we came to Oki-Nami

Once again we bundled ourselves inside the bustling restaurant, only to find that there was only one table left, and it was right by the door.  The owner was wonderful though, told us to sit there and hold tight as another table further in was about to vacate.

Vacate they did, and just as we were about to move, another couple came barging in and took it.  Meh, stuff like this happens and honestly, being right by the door actually wasn't that much of a problem.  For one thing, it meant that we had a bit more privacy for the awkward taking of photos - a major disadvantage of being a blogger and something that I am still not entirely comfortable with, especially in restaurants.  Two of us doing it made it feel less awkward though!

As it turns out, La Choza being full was actually a brilliant twist of fate for us, as Oki-Nami turned out to be one of the best Japanese restaurants I have ever eaten in.  Check out The Demon Gin for her take on the evening.

It's been a long established part of Brighton life for over 20 years and run by the husband and wife team Mike and Azita Dodd.  It was Mike who sorted our table out for us, chatted with us freely, was clearly loved by the regulars we saw in the restaurant and who pointed us in the direction of the cocktail bar (but more on that later).   It is a family run business, with both of the Dodd's sons, Daniel and Joseph, helping out in-between University terms, and Azita's sister, Nazanin Kamali who designed all the furniture and the interior.  It is also co-owned by Fatboy Slim.  Huh.

Oki-Nami is all about producing good, satisfying and healthy Japanese food in a calm and beautiful setting whilst ensuring that all the ingredients are locally sourced where possible and ethically treated.  Some of the herbs and vegetables used are even grown in Mike's own garden, fed with compost made from the waste produced by the restaurant in one great green circle of life.  They also have a minimal-wastage approach, something that Shay and I would experience again the following day....

So, that's the history and ethos behind Oki-Nami.  What about the menu? 

Well, firstly, it's pretty to look at.  Inside though was a huge selection of choice.  We started off with cocktails.  Holy crap these were good.  Mine had prosecco and grated fresh ginger and was sharp, warm and full of flavour.  Shay's was cool and sharp, cut through with lime and gin and made the area at the back of your jaw tingle with delight.

We both went for the set menu, three courses for £22.95 is an absolute bargain. I chose the Gyoza, which was sticky and sweet and caramelized on one side whilst Sinead ordered the sushi selection with wasabi and fresh pickled ginger (which was just divine - I could have munched a bottle of the ginger).  All through dinner Shay told me stories of her time in Japan, a place I have never been and now seriously want to visit. 

For our mains we both had the Teriyaki, char-grilled chicken for me in the Oki-Nami teriyaki sauce with braised vegetables and sticky rice, topped with sesame seeds and Japanese pickle.  Shay's version came with a char-grilled salmon fillet.  Both were delicious; light and full of a delicate smokey salty flavour.

Finally we both ordered the chocolate orange cake.  I was tempted to go for the Matcha Green Tea Ice cream so that we didn't end up with the same dish, but frankly, the temptation of wheat free chocolate orange cake made with almonds, oranges, chocolate and eggs, with plum liquor infused sultana ice cream and chocolate sauce was simply too hard to resist.  We both caved and dove into one of the nicest, fluffiest, lighted chocolate cakes we have ever had.  It also looked like it came with a carrot.  It didn't - that was a strawberry and mint leaf.  Looks like a carrot though.

We both settled up our bill; a very reasonable £30 each for the three courses and a cocktail, and looked curiously at the large, spiral staircase in the middle of the restaurant.  We knew what was downstairs; the toilets and the burst beer line that had the staff frantically running around an hour or so earlier.  We didn't know what was upstairs, apart from that people kept disappearing up there and no one was coming back down. 

Another chat with Mike, and we found out that the stairs led up to Oki-Nami's cocktail bar, which he promised was somewhere we definitely wanted to be next.

Hunger sated, we concurred and traipsed dutifully up the stairs in search of more cocktails.  At the top we found a circular room with high tables and vibrant red painted walls and a small bar. 

We grabbed a table and perused the extensive cocktail menu.  Ramos Gin Fizz for myself (Tanqueray gin, lemon and lime juice, sugar syrup, double cream, egg white and orange blossom water) and Espresso Martini for Sinead (which tasted wonderful!). 

Sinead placed our orders at the bar and the cocktails were delivered to our table.  The bar operates table service so if you fancy another cocktail, catch a member of staff's eye and place your order.  You just settle up at the bar when you are ready to go.  Cocktails start at £7.50 so are pretty reasonable as well.

The crowd in Oki-Nami was eclectic.  There were an unusually high number of groups of guy friends for a cocktail bar and that may have been due to the lack of fruity, sweet cocktails on the list - something that I heartily approve of.  A lot of the mixes are made with strong rums, whiskey, gins and brandy's.  I took a mental note of the fact that the Maderia Drive was made with Monkey Shoulder, one of Steve's favourite whiskey blends, for when we will inevitably end up in Brighton next.

The Oki-Nami bar has an enviable position on New Road, right opposite the Brighton pavilion, something you can take full advantage of by taking your drink out onto the little balcony and people watching down the street.

We lingered in Oki-Nami for some time, conveniently forgetting a couple of the other bars that we had originally debated going into before heading back to the Black Lion for some late night ska.  The evening was finished off with yet more gin in the hotel bar, before (so rock and roll) cups of tea in our PJ's back in the room.

I didn't feel particularly drunk.  I still woke up with a hangover though.

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