Even though I haven’t seen Tom Viehe for almost two years he got in touch through the magic of Twitter (yes, I know I’m a massive geek but Tom is even more geektastic then me) to ‘tweet’ me a recipe. It’s reassuring to know that despite being a hugely successful grownup with a fancy schmancy job in Washington DC his idea of haut cuisine still involves peanut butter.
I’ve had faith in Tom’s culinary abilities ever since he taught me to make risotto during my final year at St Andrews in September ’05. I was just starting to return from the food wilderness, and realising that student cooking didn’t have to mean 9p Asda Smart Price instant noodles. However, I was a vegetarian at that point so I clearly had a long way to go. It was a mushroom risotto, in case you’re interested, and it was good.
Enough of Tom's back catalogue, let's focus on some new material. His tweet said:
tomviehe @gambollingsylph glasgow=far. me=poor. recipe: 1GBellPepper+1onion+2chickenBrsts;cut'emIntoStrips.fry in oil. add 2tbspPB+1tspSoySauce.
And here’s the dinner party version for six:
3 green bell peppers
2 large onions
6 chicken breasts
sunflower oil
6 tablespoons of peanut butter
3 teaspoons of soy sauce
Serve with oodles of noodles.
Due to the brevity of the Twitter format (140 characters or less obvs) I’m not entirely sure of the cooking times here, but it’s a glorified stir fry really. In fact I don’t think Tom would mind if you added some stirfry staples like babycorn and mangetout to the mix – go crazy.
Next time I’ll hopefully have wrangled Dr Oliver Cram’s recipe for perfect rice, and maybe even a curry to go with it. If you cook Dinner, Bed and Breakfast for your friends/loved ones send your recipes to joanna_kerr@hotmail.com
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Friday, 13 February 2009
Bettina’s Swiss Savoy cabbage mince pie
It may sound like something The Twits would eat; but when Bettina made this cabbagey concoction on the 30 December last year it became one of the best meals of ’08. Dieter, Lucy, Nathan and I gathered round the Grant Street kitchen table in trepidation, but it turns out meaty mince cloaked in cabbage is a true delight. It’s also seasonal, and packed with lovely vitamins and iron. Bonus.
Still not convinced? I can only assure you that Bettina is an honest soul who would never poison you on purpose. You only have to look at her pure Swiss complexion, and unnecessarily large collection of printed scarves to know that this lady means no wrong. Plus she runs the rather wonderful Original Fires band nights (coming soon to an indie venue near you), which I promised I would plug, here: http://www.myspace.com/originalfiresuk, but which really have no relevance to dinner parties at all.
And so to the cooking… Bettina tells me the original recipe serves two, but it’s much more exciting to serve the version for six below.
Journey to Switzerland (or your local Spar) for:
1 Savoy cabbage
2 slices of dry bread
1 big onion
1 1/2 tablespoons of butter
600g mince meat
3 eggs
3 tablespoons of parsley (ideally fresh and chopped, but dried is fine, too)
1 1/2 teaspoons of dried majoram
a pinch of ground caraway
1 1/2 teaspoons of spicy mustard
salt
pepper
1. Blanch the Savoy cabbage leaves for 6 minutes
2. Soak the bread in water
3. Chop the onion small and sauté it in the butter until glazed. Mix the squeezed out bread with the mince, eggs, onion, parsley, majoram, caraway and mustard. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Grease a muffin tray (either make small individual muffins or put the whole mix into a bigger tray - baking time will have to be increased accordingly) and coat with cabbage leaves. Fill in the mince and cover with cabbage leaves. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes at 180°C.
5. Serve with potatoes and root vegetables. Hurrah for hearty grub!
Still not convinced? I can only assure you that Bettina is an honest soul who would never poison you on purpose. You only have to look at her pure Swiss complexion, and unnecessarily large collection of printed scarves to know that this lady means no wrong. Plus she runs the rather wonderful Original Fires band nights (coming soon to an indie venue near you), which I promised I would plug, here: http://www.myspace.com/originalfiresuk, but which really have no relevance to dinner parties at all.
And so to the cooking… Bettina tells me the original recipe serves two, but it’s much more exciting to serve the version for six below.
Journey to Switzerland (or your local Spar) for:
1 Savoy cabbage
2 slices of dry bread
1 big onion
1 1/2 tablespoons of butter
600g mince meat
3 eggs
3 tablespoons of parsley (ideally fresh and chopped, but dried is fine, too)
1 1/2 teaspoons of dried majoram
a pinch of ground caraway
1 1/2 teaspoons of spicy mustard
salt
pepper
1. Blanch the Savoy cabbage leaves for 6 minutes
2. Soak the bread in water
3. Chop the onion small and sauté it in the butter until glazed. Mix the squeezed out bread with the mince, eggs, onion, parsley, majoram, caraway and mustard. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Grease a muffin tray (either make small individual muffins or put the whole mix into a bigger tray - baking time will have to be increased accordingly) and coat with cabbage leaves. Fill in the mince and cover with cabbage leaves. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes at 180°C.
5. Serve with potatoes and root vegetables. Hurrah for hearty grub!
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Jo’s chicken with sweet potato
And so, we kick things off with a nifty dinner party recipe from yours truly. I was inspired by Gavin’s flatmate Ruaidhri’s assertion that sweet potatoes, rosemary, chilli and garlic are a winning combo. I think he’s a veggie though so the chicken is all me.
Who came: Heather, Heather’s fiancé Aaron (marrying at 23, oh so ghetto), Nathan, Bettina, Fi, and Andrew M. A stellar cast, and the red wine overfloweth.
Serves 8
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hr 30 minutes
[My Mum told me that the secret to perfectly cooked chicken was, “20 minutes per pound, and 20 minutes more.” I don’t have the heart to tell he we’re all about the metric now. All I can say is that my two chickens were perfect after an hour and a half. Always check though, I’ve heard salmonella’s pretty nasty.]
Mosey down to Sainsbo’s and fill the trolley with:
2 chickens (1kg each)
12 small/medium sweet potatoes
8 rashers of smoked back bacon
garlic
one red chilli
dried rosemary
olive oil
black pepper
I served it with broccoli, but if I had my way everything would be. Even trifle.
1. Peel the sweet potatoes and roughly cut them into wedges
2. Put the potatoes on the bottom of a deep baking tray and spread them about evenly. Mix a large teaspoon each of garlic, chilli and rosemary with a big glug of olive oil and drizzle over the potatoes.
3. Sit your chickens on top of the potatoes and make sure they don’t have any weirdy giblet type stuff in them. Cover the chickens in bacon, four rashers on each. Grind black pepper on top.
4. Stick the baking tray into the oven at 200oC and wait for the bacon to crisp up a bit (about 20 minutes). Then cover the tray in foil and cook for the rest of the time. For the last ten minutes you can take the bacon off the top and put the chickens back in uncovered to let the skin brown.
5. When it’s done carve the chicken, and serve with a big spoonful of the sweet potatoes and some juice from the pan. Give everyone a rasher of bacon too. Yum!
The result: only one broccoli floret left over. Outstanding!
Who came: Heather, Heather’s fiancé Aaron (marrying at 23, oh so ghetto), Nathan, Bettina, Fi, and Andrew M. A stellar cast, and the red wine overfloweth.
Serves 8
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hr 30 minutes
[My Mum told me that the secret to perfectly cooked chicken was, “20 minutes per pound, and 20 minutes more.” I don’t have the heart to tell he we’re all about the metric now. All I can say is that my two chickens were perfect after an hour and a half. Always check though, I’ve heard salmonella’s pretty nasty.]
Mosey down to Sainsbo’s and fill the trolley with:
2 chickens (1kg each)
12 small/medium sweet potatoes
8 rashers of smoked back bacon
garlic
one red chilli
dried rosemary
olive oil
black pepper
I served it with broccoli, but if I had my way everything would be. Even trifle.
1. Peel the sweet potatoes and roughly cut them into wedges
2. Put the potatoes on the bottom of a deep baking tray and spread them about evenly. Mix a large teaspoon each of garlic, chilli and rosemary with a big glug of olive oil and drizzle over the potatoes.
3. Sit your chickens on top of the potatoes and make sure they don’t have any weirdy giblet type stuff in them. Cover the chickens in bacon, four rashers on each. Grind black pepper on top.
4. Stick the baking tray into the oven at 200oC and wait for the bacon to crisp up a bit (about 20 minutes). Then cover the tray in foil and cook for the rest of the time. For the last ten minutes you can take the bacon off the top and put the chickens back in uncovered to let the skin brown.
5. When it’s done carve the chicken, and serve with a big spoonful of the sweet potatoes and some juice from the pan. Give everyone a rasher of bacon too. Yum!
The result: only one broccoli floret left over. Outstanding!
Dinner is served
The perfect dinner party: fine wine, four courses, petit fours, and not forgetting the gaggle of rich and successful friends to share your feast. It’s all Marks and Sparks food-porn lady, “this is not just a dinner party, this is an M&S dinner party” in your head. But the reality for most bright young things is less Nigella, and more stuffed crust Pizza Hut while watching Come Dine With Me. We don’t have the cash, or willpower to pull off the perfect dinner party. Hell, if you’re renting a flat you’re lucky to even have a dining table.
Cooking for friends is awesome though. You can’t go wrong with boozy dinners, or (in some cases still boozy) hangover brunches. Some of my most sparkly and smile-icious memories are from these events. My friends cook lush food, and if all goes according to plan (ha!) this blog will be a catalogue of their highs.
I’m Jo. I’m 23. I live in Glasgow. Despite eating huge quantities of food on a daily basis I’m not (yet) morbidly obese – yay!
The Rules
1. Recipes must either be for a dinner party or a hangover munch. Booze isn’t essential, but lets face it, it always helps.
2. All recipes must have been cooked by real people. Entertaining background information will be provided where appropriate.
3. They can’t be nicked out the latest WH Smith touted all colour cookbook, by a famous chef with a culinary ‘concept’ to flog. If you do ‘borrow’ some ideas make them your own.
4. Nicking stuff from your Mum is OK though.
5. Recipes must feed a minimum of four, but the bigger the party the better.
6. They shouldn’t break the bank… official recession now people, lets leave the caviar to the crumbly oligarchs.
Cooking for friends is awesome though. You can’t go wrong with boozy dinners, or (in some cases still boozy) hangover brunches. Some of my most sparkly and smile-icious memories are from these events. My friends cook lush food, and if all goes according to plan (ha!) this blog will be a catalogue of their highs.
I’m Jo. I’m 23. I live in Glasgow. Despite eating huge quantities of food on a daily basis I’m not (yet) morbidly obese – yay!
The Rules
1. Recipes must either be for a dinner party or a hangover munch. Booze isn’t essential, but lets face it, it always helps.
2. All recipes must have been cooked by real people. Entertaining background information will be provided where appropriate.
3. They can’t be nicked out the latest WH Smith touted all colour cookbook, by a famous chef with a culinary ‘concept’ to flog. If you do ‘borrow’ some ideas make them your own.
4. Nicking stuff from your Mum is OK though.
5. Recipes must feed a minimum of four, but the bigger the party the better.
6. They shouldn’t break the bank… official recession now people, lets leave the caviar to the crumbly oligarchs.
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