Lauren - Thrift

Jamie Oliver - Save with Jamie

 

American Hot Pizza Pies

When discussing the next few weeks' blog ideas we started talking about the cost. As we all know food prices are on the up, but there are a few ways to keep costs down and still produce yummy food. This got us a thinking and we decided to do a blog on thrift. This was perfect for me as the new Jamie Oliver t.v. show and cookbook were out so I could kill two birds with one stone; do this week's blog post and cook from my new book. 

Now, I don't know about you guys but I love a good pizza. In fact, recently I have become quite the pizza connoisseur. Home made pizza parties with my house mates, pizza frites (another Jamie Oliver recipe) with some friends on a Saturday night and now pizza pies with my best friend and little brother.

What I love most about pizza is that it feeds a crowd, great for sharing, is filling and can be as adventurous as you dare. Plus, I always have all the basic ingredients and like the recipe below it's great for bringing back to life left overs.

I halved the recipe below to make two HUGE pizzas and I also made one pizza with sausage and one with chorizo and we shared. I particularly liked the crispy base from the addition of breadcrumbs and where some did not stick to the base I sprinkled them on top for some extra crunch. And just to add to our five a day I served with a simple side salad.

So without further ado, Mr Oliver's Recipe:

Ingredients

 

1kg white bread flour or Tipo '00' flour, plus extra for dusting

1 x 7g sachet of dried yeast

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, or left over pork dripping

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp dried oregano

1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

Red wine vinegar

50g ciabatta or stale bread

Olive oil

350g leftover cooked pork and crackling or 6-8 quality sausages 

1 red onion

25 slices of pickled jalapeno or 2 fresh green chillies

150g cheddar cheese or mozzarella

1 heaped tsp fennel seeds

1 good pinch of smoked paprika

 

Method

 

Put the flour and 1 heaped tsp of sea salt into a large bowl and make a well in the middle. Add 600ml of tepid water to the well and stir in the yeast. Add the extra virgin olive oil (or the equivalent amount of left over pork dripping for incredible flavor), and use a fork to gradually bring in the flour, then pat together into a dough. Knead on a flour-dusted surface until smooth and springy. Place in a bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave somewhere warm until doubled in size (roughly 1 hour).

Meanwhile, peel and finely slice the garlic and put it into a blender with the oregano, tomatoes and 1 tbs of vinegar or liquid from the jalapeno jar. Whizz until smooth, season and put aside. In a food processor, blitz teh bread into breadcrumbs. Oil 4 round tins, roughly 30cm wide (you can use ovenproof frying pans if your cooking all the pizzas straight away), and lightly dust with breadcrumbs.

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5. Knock the dough back, then divide into 4 and stretch or roll out each piece on a flour-dusted surface to about 30cm wide. Place in the tins, pushing the dough up the sides to create a crust, then let them prove for another 15-20 minutes. 

Divide the sauce between your pizza bases. Finally chop the pork and any left over crackling, or squeeze the meat out of the sausage skins, then sprinkle over the pizzas. Peel and finally slice the onion, toss it in a drizzle of olive oil and scatter over the top with the sliced jalapenos or chilli and bombs of cheese. Bash the fennel seeds in a pestle and mortar until fairly fine then sprinkle over the pizzas from a height. At this point, I like to cover 2 pizzas with clingfilm and pop them in the freezer for another day. 

Bake the remaining pizzas for around 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the base is golden, puffed up and crispy. Delicious. You can cook your other pizzas straight from the freezer, just increase the time to 30 minutes and make sure they're piping hot throughout before serving.

Sausage Pizza before oven

Chorizo pizza before oven

Hot out the oven

Ready to eat.

Henri - Street Food

Caribbean Curried Lamb with Rice and Beans

BBC Good Food

 

Ingredients:

1 kg goat, lamb or beef - I used lamb because I couldn't locate goat

3 tbsp olive oil

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp cumin or cumin seeds

½ tsp mustard seeds

1 cinnamon stick - I used 1 tsp of ground cinnamon

4 cardamom pods - I couldn't find any so missed these out

2 star anise

1 tsp light brown sugar

A few curry leaves

1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

400ml chicken stock

A bunch of coriander to garnish

For the curry paste:

1 onion, finely chopped

5 garlic cloves

4 small chillies, finely chopped

1 heaped tsp ginger paste

3 tbsp groundnut oil

Rice and Beans:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

½ onion, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, crushed

2 cups wild rice

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ginger paste

300ml of water

300ml of chicken stock

1 x 400ml can coconut milk

1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained  

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 Scotch bonnet chill, finely chopped

Juice of 1 lime

Method 
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3/150-160˚c.  

Dice the meat into small chunks.  Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok and cook the meat in two batches until golden brown.  Transfer to a plate and leave to the side.

For the curry paste, combine all the paste ingredients in a food processor and blitz until a paste is formed. 

Using the same pan as the lamb, heat the paste for 2-3 minutes (no more oil is required since there is sufficient oil in the paste).  Add the dried spices and cook for a further 3 minutes.  

Add the tomatoes, chicken stock and lamb, then transfer to an ovenproof dish and cook for 3-4 hours.  The curry can also be cooked at a low temperature on top of the hob if using the appropriate dish.    

With half an hour remaining prepare the rice.  Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion and garlic until softened.  Add the rice and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.  Then add the ginger paste, salt, water, chicken stock and coconut milk and stir well.  Add the kidney beans and black beans (you may only need half of each can, but this depends on your preference) and lastly the Scotch bonnet. Bring to a simmer, turn to a low heat and cover.  After approximately 15 minutes the rice should be tender, but rice varies so keep an eye on it.  

Serve the lamb and rice with a squeeze of lime juice, and garnish with chopped coriander.  

Lauren - Carnival

Jerk Chicken with Rice and Beans

Okay, so after 5 years living in London and my 8th trip to "Europe's Largest Street Carnival" I can say Notting Hill Carnival is my favourite weekend in London.

Lots of drinking, eating, dancing and letting your hair down. This year my sister and I broke with tradition and went on the Sunday instead of the Monday. I have to say it was my best year yet and I will definitely be going on the Sunday in 2014.

Pre-carnival drinks with my sister

 Me

 Making friends

 My gorgeous sister

 Meeting the paramedics (nobody was hurt making this blog)

 Re-stocking

 Sisters

With carnival on our mind (it was Henri's first year) we have decided to do "carnival" inspired food for this week's blog. So, after raiding my cook books for inspiration, I decided on the most famous Caribbean dish, Jerk chicken with rice and peas. What surprised me is how varied all the recipes are; some called for orange juice, some for lime, some for soy, some for tobasco, and one even for balsamic vinegar. But, having read through at least 5 recipes, I decided to wing it and make my own.

Like I said in last week's post I don't eat meat on a bone, but I agree the flavour is better. My compromise was to roast a whole chicken marinated in my jerk marinade and then strip the meat off the bone and serve with rice. But each to their own so feel free to use thighs, drumsticks or even the breast meat.

Ingredients for the Jerk Chicken

1 large chicken

2 tsp dried thyme

2 tsp all spice

2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp Cajun spices

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (I admit I was curious)

The juice of 1/2 orange

2 garlic cloves

1 scotch bonnet

Bay leaves

Red onion, quartered

Mix all the ingredients for the jerk in a pestle and mortar, or a food processor, and then rub over your chicken and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours. I made slits in the chicken to make sure the marinade really penetrated the chicken.

Stuff the chicken with some bay leaves and the orange then place in a roasting tin with your onion quarters. When you are ready to cook pre-heat your oven to gas mark 5 and roast your chicken for 2 hours (or following packet instructions). If your marinade looks like it is burning cover with foil.

While your chicken cooks start on your rice and beans.

Nigella Lawson - Kitchen

1 x 400g beans (I used black beans)

1 x 15 ml tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 red chili, de-seeded and finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

400g long grain rice

1 x 400ml can coconut milk

600ml chicken stock

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

Salt, to taste

Drain and rinse the beans, and heat the oil in a heavy-based pan that has a lid.

Fry the onion for about 5 minutes, stirring now and again, letting it soften and brown a little. Then add the chopped chili and garlic, and give everything a good stir around.

Now stir in the rice, making sure it is all slicked with oil, then pour in the coconut milk and chicken stock, and stir in the drained beans.

Bring to a bubble, clamp on the lid, turn down the heat to very low and let it cook gently for 15 minutes.

Check the rice is cooked through and the liquid is absorbed - give the rice another 5 minutes if need be. Sprinkle with the freshly chopped thyme, and season with salt if desired, forking it through.

Pile up each dinner plate with coconutty rice and sit a piece of hot-crusted chicken proudly on top.

Henri - Chinese

Chinese infused Pork Loin with Egg Fried rice and Stir-fried Vegetables

Before I headed out to China Lauren and I were keen to do a Chinese-inspired meal together, and having a tutorial on how to do Peking duck in China we thought this would be amazing to try.  However, our rotas show no days off together for a good few weeks so we will attempt Peking duck later on.  For now, we decided to each cook Chinese and funnily enough chose pretty similar recipes; lack of communication this week meant we have both cooked pork.  I had in mind to cook belly of pork but had to settle with pork loin, a demon of mine to cook.  Lacking fat, loin can become quite dry and tough if not cooked under scrutiny, but this week proved well and my housemates said it was one of my best meals yet! 

Was I ready for more Chinese food post-China?  I cannot lie, not quite. My housemates loved this meal but I'm still relishing other cuisines for now, though I think Peking duck may entice me in a few weeks! I hope you all enjoy though...this dish was simple but full of flavour and allowed for adding your own personal touches with ingredients!

Ingredients

2 pork loin

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tbsp finely chopped ginger

1 onion, chopped finely

2 heads of Pak Choi

1 packet Mangetout

1 red and yellow pepper, sliced

2 cups long-grain rice

2 eggs

1 tsp soy sauce

1 clove garlic

2 tsp root ginger

6 spring onions

1 tbsp soy sauce

For the rub

Chinese five-spice

Light olive oil or sunflower oil (one with subtle flavours that will not detract from the five-spice)

Dip

Sweet chilli sauce

Soy sauce

Honey 

Method

In a bowl mix 2tbsp of five-spice with 2tbsp of oil, and then in a shallow dish massage into each pork loin.  Leave to marinade for 3-4 hours, or overnight if possible, in the fridge.  Remove 20 minutes before cooking to allow the meat to reach room temperature. 

Pre-heat the oven to 200°c.  Heat a non-stick frying pan, and seal the meat.  Wrap in foil and transfer to an ovenproof dish to cook in the oven for 45-50 minutes, depending on the weight of the pork loin. 

Meanwhile, pre-cook your rice.  Once cooked lay out and pat dry.  Beat the eggs together with the first measure of soy sauce.  Heat 1tbsp of oil in a pan/wok and fry half of the mixture until golden brown (repeating with the remaining egg).  Cut the egg into 1cm strips and set aside.  Cook the garlic, ginger and spring onions over a low heat, then add the rice and stir-fry for a few minutes.  Return the egg to the pan and heat through, adding the second measure of soy sauce according to taste. 

Within the last 15 minutes prepare your stir-fried vegetables.  Heat 1tbsp of oil in the pan/wok and fry the garlic, ginger and onion until softened.  Add the vegetables and toss to combine.  Add 100ml of water which will allow the vegetables to blanch. 

For the dip, I chose something quite simple.  I combined sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce and a little bit of honey - adjust this for personal taste!  I will say that had I been more experimental I would have made a dip with soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, lime juice and perhaps fish sauce for a little extra kick.  Next time I'll try this just to add that little bit extra, because although it was really yummy I prefer a bit more sauce with my meat whilst the dip I chose acted as more of a glaze than a sauce.  Nonetheless, huge fan! Chinese five-spice works as a quick and easy rub for spicing up meat, and can be added to with many more flavours to make each meal unique!