All amounts are to taste.
- Fresh Passion Fruit Juice
- Carrot Juice
- Puree Ginger
- Lime Juice
- Sugar / Molasses
- Gin
JumaMosi Cocktail
This happened for the first time just now, and I thought it was worth sharing.
All amounts are to taste.
All amounts are to taste.
Mash
A recipe for incredible mashed potatoes, courtesy largely of Francesco Mazzei, my former head head chef and by some distance the man on whom I have had the largest crush (to date).
250 mls full fat milk
2 cloves garlic, peeled and halved lengthways
2 bay leaves
pinch ground nutmeg, preferably fresh
6 largish floury potatoes, of similar sizes, scrubbed but with their skins on
Splash of double cream (optional)
50-100g cold butter, in small cubes, to taste
First infuse the milk: put it and the garlic, bay and nutmeg in a heavy bottomed pan and bring to a gentle bubble over a lowish heat. Without wishing to get too technical, you want to heat it to 68 degrees; any hotter and the sugars will start to become denatured. Remove from the heat and set aside; the longer this sits the more the flavours will pass into the milk.
In the meantime, put the potatoes in a large pan with enough cold water to cover, but not more, put a lid on the pot and bring to a simmer. A rolling boil will cook the outsides of the potatoes too fast and the skins will split, allowing water into the potatoes. This is emphatically not what you want.
Once the potatoes are cooked, pull them out of the water and leave to steam dry and cool slightly for 2 or 3 minutes. If they get too cold though, the gluten will begin to bind and you will produce an unpalatable grey mash with a consistency like wallpaper paste.
Set your pain threshold to high, and peel the skins off the potatoes, using your hands or a turning knife. Put into a sieve, mouli or potato ricer and pass quickly - again, do not let the potatoes get cold. Once all the potatoes are pureed, you can add the milk, strained off from the bay and garlic, cream and then the butter, beating them in with a spatula or wooden spoon. The result should be light but not stiff and have a little lustre from the butter, if not you may need to add a little more milk. Taste for salt, and serve.
If the mash has cooled, you can reheat over a gentle flame but you should make sure the mash to begin to stick to the pan.
You might also consider adding a few herbs; chives, basil or parsley; also depending on the accompaniment you might wish to add other aromatics into the milk at the start of the process, depending on what you want to serve the mash with; thyme will accentuate sweetness; saffron will give a lovely yellow colour, as will mustard. If you are adding soft herbs, you should also add the stalks to the milk at the start of the process to add depth of flavour. And of course, roast garlic goes with pretty much everything.
You might also replace the dairy with a good lot of olive oil to provide a more vegan friendly, summery mash.
250 mls full fat milk
2 cloves garlic, peeled and halved lengthways
2 bay leaves
pinch ground nutmeg, preferably fresh
6 largish floury potatoes, of similar sizes, scrubbed but with their skins on
Splash of double cream (optional)
50-100g cold butter, in small cubes, to taste
First infuse the milk: put it and the garlic, bay and nutmeg in a heavy bottomed pan and bring to a gentle bubble over a lowish heat. Without wishing to get too technical, you want to heat it to 68 degrees; any hotter and the sugars will start to become denatured. Remove from the heat and set aside; the longer this sits the more the flavours will pass into the milk.
In the meantime, put the potatoes in a large pan with enough cold water to cover, but not more, put a lid on the pot and bring to a simmer. A rolling boil will cook the outsides of the potatoes too fast and the skins will split, allowing water into the potatoes. This is emphatically not what you want.
Once the potatoes are cooked, pull them out of the water and leave to steam dry and cool slightly for 2 or 3 minutes. If they get too cold though, the gluten will begin to bind and you will produce an unpalatable grey mash with a consistency like wallpaper paste.
Set your pain threshold to high, and peel the skins off the potatoes, using your hands or a turning knife. Put into a sieve, mouli or potato ricer and pass quickly - again, do not let the potatoes get cold. Once all the potatoes are pureed, you can add the milk, strained off from the bay and garlic, cream and then the butter, beating them in with a spatula or wooden spoon. The result should be light but not stiff and have a little lustre from the butter, if not you may need to add a little more milk. Taste for salt, and serve.
If the mash has cooled, you can reheat over a gentle flame but you should make sure the mash to begin to stick to the pan.
You might also consider adding a few herbs; chives, basil or parsley; also depending on the accompaniment you might wish to add other aromatics into the milk at the start of the process, depending on what you want to serve the mash with; thyme will accentuate sweetness; saffron will give a lovely yellow colour, as will mustard. If you are adding soft herbs, you should also add the stalks to the milk at the start of the process to add depth of flavour. And of course, roast garlic goes with pretty much everything.
You might also replace the dairy with a good lot of olive oil to provide a more vegan friendly, summery mash.
Braising
A few thoughts on the slow cooking, what with winter drawing in, and that, of the off cuts such shanks, beef short rib, ox tail and the like. Also lamb necks. They're completely delicious.
Take the meat out of the fridge and place on a rack to warm and to dry out the surface a little. Heat a nice, thick bottomed pan. Using a small sharp knife, score any large areas of surface fat. Add a little veg oil to the pan (you can always add more) and sear the outside of the meat, taking care to brown the meat all over and render as much of the fat as possible. (Browning the meat will create a set of flavour compounds you don't otherwise create).
Remove the meat, tip any remaining fat and lower the heat to medium. You can wipe the pan with a little kitchen paper to remove all the oil, particularly if it has burned a little, but don't rub the glaze from the pan. Add a carrot, halved and chopped lengthways, and an onion and a leek, cut into similar sized pieces. Stir these around the pan to deglaze and allow to soften a little. Add some roughly chopped garlic, cook for another minute and add two tomatoes (skinned and ideally deseeded, though you might not bother). Cook until they fall apart, add a glass of wine (white is fine with lamb) and 1/4 of a glass of vinegar. The jelly that surrounds the seeds in a tomato contains the highest concentrations of glutamate, so it's good to keep these for beef dishes. If you're feeling like refining things you can put the seeds in a sieve and strain the liquid through.
Reduce everything by at least half, ideally by 4 or 5. The alcohol will stick around for longer than you might think.
Add enough stock or water to the pan to cover the meat and return the meat to the pan, as well as a few bay leaves and any herb stalks you may have . Bring to a very gentle simmer, cover and cook until the meat comes away from the bone or can be mashed with a fork, probably upwards of an hour and a half.
Strain the liquid through a sieve (and muslin if you want a very clear sauce) into a smaller pan on a gentle heat slightly off centre. Skim as the impurities rise to the surface and drift to the side. Reserve the meat and discard the veg and herbs.
Once the liquid has reduced to a saucy consistency, adjust the seasoning and acidity (you can use vinegar or lemon, though more than a few drops of each will be quite noticeable). Warm the meat through in the sauce. Serve with a suitably absorbent carbohydrate.
Peach and halloumi salad
For the salad:
- ripe peaches (nectarines or apricots also work)
- halloumi
- garlic, finely chopped
- mixed salad leaves (pretty much any sort works)
- green beans (in 1-2 inch pieces; optional)
- pine nuts (optional)
For the dressing:
- balsamic or sherry vinegar (1 part)
- extra virgin olive oil (2-3 parts)
- pomegranate molasses (0.25-0.5 parts)
- soy sauce (small splash per part)
- garlic (small clove per part, crushed)
- sea salt
- black pepper
Combine all the dressing ingredients very thoroughly (the best way is to put them all in a jar with a well-sealed lid and shake hard for about 30 seconds). If using pine nuts, dry-fry over a medium heat for a few minutes until lightly toasted and set aside to cool. Cut the peaches (or other soft fruit) into chunks. Fry the halloumi in olive oil over a medium-high heat until lightly browned on both sides, adding the garlic towards the end to avoid burning it. While the halloumi is still warm, combine everything and eat
Tasty grilled mackerel
- Mackerel
- Oranges, halved and thinly sliced
- Rosemary sprigs
- Olive oil
- Sea salt
To cook, drizzle with olive oil and place on a barbecue or under a hot grill. Cook until bubbling and blackened, about 8 minutes on each side.
Papaya Salad
- 1 papaya - quite green
- some green beans
- 1 tomato
- 3 or 4 cloves or garlic
- juice of 6 limes
- roasted peanuts
- fish sauce
- shrimp paste
- sugar
- habanero chili
Method
- Put some peanuts in a dry pan and heat up for 5 mins, then let cool for 10 mins
- Peel and grate the green papaya with a cheese grater and place in large bowl
- Smash together the shrimp paste, sugar, fish sauce, chili, garlic, juice of 3 limes in a pestle and mortor
- Sieve out the mixture and pour over the grated papaya
- Top and tail the green beans and cut into inch long pieces. Smash them a little in the pestle and pour the juice of 3 limes over them.
- Tip these into the bowl of papaya.
- Smash a single tomato with some more fish sauce
- Smash the now cool peanuts
- Combine everything and serve with sticky rice and very hot chili sauce
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