Soutzoukakia ( Greek Meatballs )

 There are a couple of sites that I like to visit for both Spanish and Greek recipes, I've found all of these sites really reliable and the recipes pretty much always stack up. 

Shout out to :

Akis Petretzikis

Nick Argirou ( Nikolopaa )

Spain on a Fork

This recipe was from Nikolopaa as I just love his tutorials - so much fun, I want to have a go at making everything from his blog...

This recipe was outstanding and really quite easy to make, it made a lot of food so I froze half of it down and it de-frosted really well too.

Ingredients

For the Meatballs

1kg Lean Minced Beef / Steak

200gm White Bread

150ml Red Wine ( can replace with stock or milk or even just water )

2 Eggs

2 Red Onions Finely Chopped

6 Garlic Cloves Finely Chopped

12 ish gms Chopped Mint

12 ish gms Chopped Parsley

50mls Nice Olive Oil ( Greek if possible )

2 Teaspoons Ground Cumin

20gms Salt

4 gms Black Pepper

For The Sauce

1 Large Onion Finely chopped

4 Garlic Cloves Finely Chopped or minced

1 Tablespoon Tomato Paste

700mls Tomato Passata

1/2 Cup Water

1/2 Cup Red Wine ( or Beef Stock ) 

2 Bay Leaves

1 Cinnamon Stick

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Pepper

In a large mixing bowl break bread into red wine and soak for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes add all the other meatball ingredients and mix thoroughly - best done with clean hands as it mixes up nicely.

Preheat the oven to 170c / 340f / gas mark 3

Shape the meatballs into oval meatball shapes ( mine made approx 12 meatballs ).

Place meatballs into a lightly oiled baking dish and bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

While the meatballs are baking - make the sauce.

Heat the oil in a flameproof pan and gently cook the onion and garlic until soft but not brown.

Add tomato paste and cook for about a minute.

Add everything else and cook gently for about 15 minutes.

After meatballs have cooked for 30 minutes, pour over the hot tomato sauce and cover.

Bake for another 30 minutes.

I served mine with rice and little fried potatoes - absolutely delicious!

Jambalaya

I made this lovely dish and blogged it about 15 years ago and had quite forgotten all about it until Josh made it last week. Apart from telling me that the quantities were just wrong ( soo much food ) he loved it and it was time to make it again. I've noodled with the quantities a little and actually there's still enough here to feed 5/6.

Ingredients

90g Spicy Chorizo Chopped

3 Teaspoons Paprika

4 Fat Garlic Cloves crushed

2 Medium Onions Chopped

2 Large Green Peppers Chopped

2 Sticks Celery Chopped

3 Red Chillies finely chopped

3 Skinless Chicken Breasts chunked

Enough raw prawns for 4 hungry people ( about 300gms )

2 bay leaves

1 Sprig Thyme

2 Teaspoons Kashmiri Chilli Powder

450gm long grain rice

About one to one and a half litres chicken stock

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil and fry chorizo gently until crisp - drain and set aside.

Fry all the veg in the lovely chorizo oil for about 7-8 minutes until slightly softened but not crispy.

Add the paprika and chilli and stir for about one minute until all coated.

Add the chicken and chorizo and stir for about 3 minutes so that all the chicken and veg are coated.

Add the herbs and the rice stir through and add the stock, I added most of the one and a half litres at this point, give it all a good stir and bring up to the boil.

Turn down the heat to a gentle simmer, about 5 minutes before serving, add all the prawns. when all the liquid has disappeared check that the rice is cooked, add a little more water if needed, add salt and pepper and serve. 

This is so delicious and full of flavour. I think that the only thing I would change next time ( not another 15 years hopefully ) is that I would add a good squeeze of tomato paste as the finished dish looks a little colourless. The flavour is amazing but it looks a little pale. 

Allotment Tomatoes

That's it - that's the post - soo many tomatoes.

High probability that I'll make spicy tomato base for soup or pasta sauce tomorrow!

Chicken Jalfrezi

 We love a curry ( all inclusive term in this house for anything that may pass as ' Curry ' ), we are so blessed in the UK for having more curry houses than fish and chip shops but nothing really beats homemade .... unless it was the tragic Biryani that I made a few years ago.

I've made a fair few over the years but this one was a belter, I've looked at lots of recipes online and tweaked them to suit our tastes, honestly every time I make a curry it tastes slightly different anyway as I'm not terribly good at measuring the spices that I put in.

Bearing that in mind, I guess so long as the main ingredients are followed reasonably well it'll turn out lovely.

Ingredients

2 Teaspoons Cumin Seeds

2 Large Onions Finely ish chopped

4 Hot Green Chillies Finely chopped

6 Garlic Cloves Finely Chopped

2 Large Green Peppers Roughly Chopped

1 Large Red Pepper Roughly Chopped

4 Large Tomatoes Roughly Chopped

2 Inches Fresh Ginger Finely Chopped

4 Large Chicken Breasts Cut into Large Chunks

2 Teaspoons Coriander Powder

2 Teaspoons Kashmiri Chilli Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Cumin Powder

1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoons Tomato Ketchup

1 Tablespoon Lime Juice

3 Tablespoons Tomato Paste

1 Teaspoon Garam Masala

Light Olive oil to fry

Salt and Pepper to taste

Fresh Coriander to finish

Heat a couple of tablespoons oil in a large flame proof pot ( with a lid preferably ), whn nice and hot put in Cumin seeds until they pop, lower the heat and put in the onions, garlic, ginger and chillies and cook gently for about 10 minutes until cooked but not brown.

Add all the spices and cook gently for about a minute.

Add the chicken and peppers and cook while stirring to coat the meat with the spices.

Add all the other ingredients except for the fresh coriander and stir well, add a little water if needed, this is not a saucy curry but you do want a saucy consistency, stir well and cover to cook for about 30 minutes - maybe more if your chicken is in large pieces.

Check seasoning after 30 minutes, don't let this cook too long or the chicken will dry out.

Serve with fresh chopped coriander, rice and naan bread

Blackcurrant Jam

 It's been a great year so far for fruit and veg ( not the potatoes so much ) and Sam has a little blackcurrant bush in his garden that has consistently refused to fruit.... this was his year ... HURRAH, now, there weren't loads of them, but enough to get me thinking to make some jam.

In my hurry to make said jam I unfortunately forgot to take any photos of the before and after but suffice to say , this is the easiest jam recipe ever, naturally high in pectin they don't really need specialist sugar. 

I used jam sugar as I had loads but it meant that the jam was ready in half the time. 

Ingredients

380g Washed Blackcurrants

380ml Water

480g Sugar ( I used Jam Sugar )

These measurements made me one large and one smaller jar of jam.

In a large sturdy pan, slowly simmer the fruit and water until slightly syrupy - around five minutes should do it. 

Add the sugar and stir until all dissolved, once the sugar is dissolved turn the heat up to a rolling boil ( not too fierce ) stirring occasionally until jam is set.

Now, usually I put a couple of saucers in the freezer to test the setting point but I could see after ten minutes that the jam was setting on the back of my wooden spoon, at this point I ladled it into sterilized jars and popped on the lid.

I don't use waxed papers as I try to fill my pots right up to the very top and place the lids on straight away - watching not to burn my fingers. It's always worked for me and as the jam is so hot it creates the perfect vacuum seal. 

I store any jam in a dark cupboard and it will last for at the very least a couple of years......if Mr Deb didn't snaffle so much on his toast!