williamonthehill

Spicey Black Lentils with Smoked Haddock

I read a news report in the week about the health advantages to be had from following the rubrics of a Meditteranean diet. Six items were needed to gain a health advantage. Just including two items could see a 12% reduction in the ods of avoiding a heart attack. The six items were:

Red Wine

Olive Oil

Lentils and Pulses

Oily Fish

Wholemeal bread

Salads.

As I haven't had a recipe on the site for a while here is an iteresting and healthy dish "in the spirit" of the above

BLACK LENTILS WITH SMOKED HADDOCK

225 gms Black Beluga Lentils

500 gms Smoked Haddock

25 gms Butter

250 gms Leeks trimmed and chopped

2 teaspoons Madras Curry paste

100 gms Creme Fraiche

handful flat leaf parsley, shredded

METHOD

Rinse the lentils thoroughly under the tap, place in a saucepan, bring to boil, then simmer for 15/20 minutes until tender.

Meanwhile, cut the Haddock into three and fit into a shallow, lidded pan, add 150 ml water, cover and poach for 5 minutes until just cooked. Lift onto a plate and reserve the liquid.

Heat the butter in the pan, add the Leeks and cook over a medium heat for 3/4 minutes until soft. Stir in the curry paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the liquid from the fish and the drained lentils, stir together and gently cook for 5 minutes.

Break the fish into large flakes, removing the skin and add to the lentils with the Creme Fraiche. Warm through and finally stir in the parsley before serving. 

RECIPE

MTEDZA SAVOURY RICE

(serves four)

125g thick-cut streaky bacon, cubed

2 tbsp groundnut oil

1 large red onion, thinly sliced

Half green chilli

2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

250g chicken breast - marinated 24 hours in lemon and thyme, then chopped

400g basmati rice

700mls chicken stock

Handful of coriander, roughly chopped

4tbsp peanut butter

1 green pepper

1 sliced spring onion

Squeeze of lemon

Salt

METHOD

In large cooking pot, heat the oil and fry the bacon a golden colour. Stir in the onions and sweat down for five minutes. Add the garlic and the chilli. Stir in the chopped chicken and the rice and fry for a few minutes making sure that the rice doesn’t stick. Add the stock and put the lid on the pot. Bring to the boil and then simmer for ten minutes, then turn heat right down and cook for further ten minutes. Stir in the peanut butter, half the pepper and coriander and season to taste.

Serve hot or cold, finishing with the remaining three greeneries, a squeeze of lemon and a scattering of peanuts.

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This is a recipe from Malawi which I picked up during a FairTrade promotion. It is very tasty. I thought I would post it up today because last night was the Premier of what turned out to be Anthony Minghella's last film, The Number One Ladies Detective Agency (BBC One TV)

Potatoes, Barley and Tomatoes in a Pan, with Oregano

This is a good, simple, cheap Italian peasant dish, suitable for Lent

INGREDIENTS

4 tbsp Olive Oil

6 Tomatoes, chopped

2 sprigs fresh oregano/2 tsp dried

1 Onion, peeled and chopped roughly

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

20 small salad potatoes, skins left on (quartered or halved into bite sizes)

200 g pearl barley

water

salt/pepper

METHOD

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add the tomatoes and Oregano. Fry for 5 minutes, stirring, letting the tomatoes colour a little.

Add the onion, garlic and potatoes and cook on a lower heat for a further five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the barley, cook for another minute then cover with water - about 1 cm depth above the surface of the contents of the pan. Bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer, cover with a sheet of greaseproof paper of foil and cook for 15 minutes or until the barley and potatoes are tender. Add a little water if it dries out. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with Pecorino cheese shavings if prefered.

Chicken Casserole

Preperation Time: 30 minutes; cooking time: 30 minutes

Feeds Four

Ingredients For the casserole 4 chicken breasts 2 onions, 1 roughly chopped, 1 thinly sliced 1 carrot, roughly chopped 1 stick celery, roughly chopped 6 peppercorns 1 bay leaf water, to cover 55g/2oz butter 30g/1oz plain flour salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 x 220g/7¾oz can water chestnuts, drained 1 small head broccoli, cut into florets and blanched 1 free-range egg yolk, lightly beaten 2-3 tbsp double cream squeeze lemon juice 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, to serve Method 1. Place the chicken breasts, the roughly chopped onion, the carrot, celery, peppercorns and bay leaf into a large pan and add enough water to cover the ingredients. 2. Bring slowly to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is completely cooked through. 3. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside in a warm place. Reserve 450ml/16fl oz of the cooking liquid and set aside. 4. Heat half of the butter in a large pan and add the flour. Stir over a low heat until the mixture forms a smooth paste which leaves the sides and base of the pan cleanly. Gradually add the reserved cooking liquid to make a sauce. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. 5. Add the water chestnuts and broccoli to the sauce. 6. In a bowl, mix the egg yolk with the cream and slowly add this mixture to the sauce. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and stir. 7. Cut the cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces and stir into the sauce. 8. In a separate pan, heat the remaining butter and fry the remaining thinly sliced onion until soft and golden. 9. To serve, sprinkle the onion over the casserole and garnish with parsley.

Modern folk... what are they like!

I have just paid a quick visit to my local Summerfields as I discovered that my milk had gone off. I witnessed a very interesting piece of contemporary ignorance with regard to the "five-a-day" of fruit and veg we are requested to eat (btw; in most other countries it is more like 9 or even 12 a day).

An elderly man was in the fruit and veg section and he was clearly having some difficulty. He wanted turnips but he couldn't identify a turnip. So he asked the lady who came and stood by him if she could describe the turnip so he knew what to look for; or if she had seen any turnips. Now this lady was middle-aged and middle class so I assume her to be well educated. But she couldn't identify the turnip either. So together they both found the shop worker who had on his badge Fresh Produce department head. But no, he couldn't identify what a turnip looked like either. !!!! In fact, as I pointed out to all of them, no, they don't have any turnips today.

Now, I don't know about you but I am rather interested in what other people put in their baskets. I felt rather sorry for the young lady behind me in the checkout. She had bought three packets of chill readymeals - chicken casserole. They were, she told me for Sunday dinner for herself, boyfriend and boyfriends' parents!!!! A chicken casserole has got to be one of the easiest meals one can prepare, and very nutritious. It makes me think that the recent government announcement to teach cooking skills in secondary schools can't come before time. Cooking, together with basic money management and budgetting skills have got to be the most necessary of life skills for all young people to learn.