Asian flavors · Curry · Gluten Free · Vegan · Vegetable-related · Whole30 compliant

Butternut squash and spinach curry

January 12, 2013September 13, 2018 Belinda

Serves about 4

2 tbsp vegetable oil or canola oil
1/4 tsp black mustard seeds (actually they look brown!)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
6 curry leaves,optional
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
5 tbsp good curry powder
4 cups peeled and cubed (1 1/2 inch cubes) butternut squash
2 cups of water, vegetable broth or chicken broth
1 cup coconut milk
3 cups tightly packed baby spinach

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the mustard seeds if using. When they start to pop, add the cumin seeds and curry leaves and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds

Add the onions and cook till they are light brown, then throw in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or till fragrant

Sprinkle 4 tbsp curry powder, stir then add the peeled and cubed squash and salt.

Pour in 2 cups of water or stock and bring to the boil. Then reduce the heat to a lively simmer, cover the pot and let the squash cook till it is fork tender, about 20 minutes.
If the water/stock is drying up before the pumpkin is cooked, add more. If there is too much liquid, boil it until it reduces down.

When the squash is cooked, add the coconut milk and remaining 1 tbsp curry powder. Stir and bring back to the boil.

When the curry boils, add the spinach and cook just till the spinach wilts, about 1 minutes.
Serve hot with rice, bread, roti or quinoa.

Optional – For added sweetness, garnish the curry with some dried cranberries.

Do-ahead · Gluten Free · Meat · Whole30 compliant

Sausages with oregano, mushrooms and olives

January 12, 2013September 9, 2022 Belinda

I am a self-confessed sausage freak and although this is really simple, it is packed with flavor

Serves 4

1lb your favorite sausages
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp dried oregano
3 garlic cloves, slices
400g can chopped tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
7 fl oz beef stock
4 oz pitted Kalamata olives
1lb mushrooms, thickly sliced

Using kitchen scissors, snip the sausages into meatball sized pieces.
Heat a large pan and fry the sausage pieces on medium low heat in the oil for about 5 – 10 mins until golden all over.

Add the oregano and garlic, fry for 1 minute more, then tip in the tomatoes, stock, olives and mushrooms.

Simmer for 15 minutes until the sausages are cooked through and the sauce has reduced a little.
Serve with mashed potatoes or pasta

Gluten Free · Poultry · Whole30 compliant

Foolproof slow roast chicken

January 12, 2013January 7, 2017 Belinda

“So what’s so special about this recipe?” you may be saying. Well, the chicken is very slowly roasted with wine, stock, potatoes and garlic heads in the bottom of the pan for the long duration of cooking. Stunningly flavorful and moist. Just try it

Serves 4

3 – 4lb chicken
butter, for greasing
2lbs roasting potatoes, peeled and halved or quartered, if large (Yukon Golds are great for this)
2 whole heads of garlic, halved through the middle
4 fl oz white wine
4 fl oz chicken stock
2 large stems fresh rosemary, broken into sprigs
6 bay leaves
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Heat the oven to 275 F . Brush a large roasting pan all over with butter and smear some over the skin of the chicken.

Place the chicken in the tin and arrange the potatoes around it. Put the halved garlic heads in the tin, pour over the white wine and stock, then cover with foil and place in the oven.
Cook for 1 hour then remove the foil and give the potatoes a shake.
Add the herbs and lemon wedges, then cook uncovered for 50 minutes.

Turn the heat up to 425 F. Cook for 30 minutes more, then remove the chicken and potatoes from the pan.
Cover the chicken loosely with foil and leave to rest on a plate for at least 10 minutes before carving.
Keep the potatoes warm.
Serve with any pan juices.

Asian flavors · Gluten Free · Salad · Whole30 compliant

Asian avocado salad

September 23, 2012January 7, 2017 Belinda

This is lovely and a bit different with the Asian dressing complementing the avocado beautifully.
A simple but very effective starter

Serves 4

2 ripe Haas avocados
mixed greens

Dressing

1 tbsp white sesame seeds
2 tbsp safflower oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp Chinese pepper mix (Equal amounts of whole black, white and Szechuan peppers, toasted then ground in a spice mill. You will be able to keep this for quite a while)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp finely minced fresh ginger

Dressing
Toast the sesame seeds in a small ungreased skillet set over a high heat until they are light golden.
Combine the sesame seeds with the remaining ingredients in a jar and shake well.

Cut the avocados in half, seed and thinly slice.
Place some mixed leaves on 4 salad plates. Fan an avocado half across each bed of greens.
Shake the dressing in the jar and then drizzle it over the avocado.
Serve at once

Gluten Free · Vegan · Whole30 compliant

Broiled asparagus, orange slices with olive oil and shallots

September 6, 2012January 7, 2017 Belinda

Another lovely, fragrant accompaniment with chicken, fish or just rice.

Serves 4 as a side dish

1lb asparagus, woody stem ends snapped off and discarded
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 shallots, thinly sliced and separated into rings
6 very thin orange slices, cut into quarters (unpeeled)
1/2 tsp grated orange zest

Adjust an oven rack to as close to the broiler as possible. Heat the broiler on high.
In a bowl, toss the asparagus with the oil to coat and season with salt and pepper.
Arrange the shallot slices in a thin layer on one side of a rimmed baking sheet.
Put the asparagus in a single layer on top of them.
Toss the orange slices with the leftover oil in the bowl you used for the asparagus.
Arrange them in a single layer alongside the asparagus.
Broil until the asparagus and the oranges start to char, 5 to 8 minutes.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle the asparagus with the orange zest.
Arrange the asparagus, shallots and oranges on a serving dish.
Serve hot, warm or at room temperature

Do-ahead · Gluten Free · Poultry · Soup · Whole30 compliant

Eternal slow-cooker chicken broth

August 20, 2012September 9, 2022 Belinda

I was reading about this today and went straight to the freezer where I had a bag of two organic roast chicken carcasses waiting for recycling.
What a great idea and to have the slow cooker on all day every day for a week (making the house smell divine) and just top up the slow cooker with water when necessary.
When removing any broth for use, strain it through some cheesecloth or a (spare) reusable coffee filter, so that all the herbs, chicken bits and vegetables stay behind, also producing a clearer broth, then replace the used broth with more filtered water.
Do this for up to a week, extracting every bit of goodness from that chicken carcass then throw it all away and start all over again with a new roasted chicken carcass or whole chicken.

This recipe is for you to improvise. It gives a guide to what you can put in the broth, but you can make an Asian broth by adding fresh ginger, lemon grass, star anise etc

1 whole chicken (or the carcass of a roasted chicken)
4 bay leaves
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp white peppercorns
1 large onion, chopped into chunks
2 carrot, chopped into chunks
3 stalks of celery, chopped into chunks
1 or 2 leeks, chopped into chunks
bunch of fresh thyme, sage and Italian parsley, stalks and all
Filtered water

Put the chicken or chicken carcase into the slow cooker then pile in everything else, stirring and mixing together.
Cover with the filtered water and cook on your lowest setting for ONE WEEK.
After 24 hours or so, you may begin using the broth.
As you need it, simply dip a ladle into the broth to remove the stock. Pour it through some cheese cloth or a fine mesh strainer.
Replace the broth with an equivalent amount of filtered water.
If you are using a whole chicken, you can remove the chicken meat as you need it and use it in other dishes, like stir fries, soups or sandwiches.

At the end of the week, strain off any remaining broth, save or freeze, then discard or compost the bones. The bones by this time will pretty much crumble when pressed between your fingers.
The softness of the bones shows that most of the nourishment (minerals, amino acids etc) have leached from the bones into the broth you’ve been enjoying all week.

Wash the insert of your slow cooker and start al over again!

Fish · Gluten Free · Whole30 compliant

Jamie’s traybaked salmon with olives, green beans, anchovies and tomatoes

August 2, 2012January 7, 2017 Belinda

This is so light and tangy as the anchovy melts over the vegetables, the cherry tomatoes provide sweetness and juice and the olives a little hit of pure joy

Serves 4

7 oz green beans
20 small cherry tomatoes
1 handful pitted black olives
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt
freshly grund black pepper
4 x 8oz thick fillets of wild salmon, with or without skin but definitely pin-boned
2 lemons
1 good handful fresh basil
12 anchovy fillets (the ones in oil)

Top and tail the green beans, blanch them until tender in salted boiling water and drain. Shock in a bowl of iced water to stop the cooking process then drain.
Put the beans in a bowl with the cherry tomatoes and the stones olives
Toss in the olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper
Give the salmon fillets a quick wash under the tap and pat dry using kitchen paper towels.
Squeeze the juice of 1/2 lemon over the fillets, on both sides, then season both sides with salt and pepper and drizzle a little olive oil over the top.
Preheat the oven and a roasting tray at the highest temperature your oven goes to.
Put your 4 fillets at one end of the roasting tray.
Toss the basil into the green beans, olives and tomatoes and place this mixture at the other end of the tray.
Lay the anchovy fillets over the green beans
Roast in the preheated oven for 10 minutes then remove from the oven and serve with lemon quarters.
This is very tasty especially with some homemade mayonnaise or aioli.
A good cheat’s aioli is done by adding crushed garlic to a good brand of store bought mayonnaise, say the Helmanns or Kraft brand.

Accompaniments · Do-ahead · Gluten Free · Whole30 compliant

Provencal oil cured olive tapenade

July 15, 2012September 9, 2022 Belinda

This is my very favorite tapenade as it’s made from oil cured Provence olives (if you can get them). It’s dark, rich and powerful tapenade and you need very little on a cracker or fish or chicken fillet. We always have some in our fridge as it has a great shelf life.
You can “play” with this recipe as far as how much lemon, garlic, anchovies you use. Some people add breadcrumbs, mustard or ground almonds for a different taste and consistency
If you can’t find the jars of black olives cured with Herbes de Provence (Vicente Foods supplies them, for my LA Westside friends) then you can use the brand “Cento” and add a little more fresh thyme. The Cento olives are even darker and oilier than the Provence ones.

1/2 lb oil -packed black olives, drained
6 well rinsed anchovy fillets
3 tbsp drained capers
1/2 heaped tsp minced fresh thyme
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 to 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 good sized cloves garlic, crushed

Break open the olives by pressing on them with the back of a wooden spoon, then remove the pits.
Put the olives, anchovies, capers, thyme and lemon juice in a food processor and blend until a paste is formed.
With the motor running, add the olive oil a little at a time until the paste is smooth but not oily.
Use the tapenade immediately or put it in a covered jar and store it in the refrigerator where it will keep for up to 3 months

Note; This is lovely wiped on top of a piece of fish, then grilled or baked, on crackers, on a fillet of chicken, in any sort of dish you’re cooking, in soups, with cheese……..