***MEALS I MADE HAS TEMPORARILY BECOME NIGHTS I WORKED ***

BUT I’LL BE FIGHTING BACK SOON…

Bourbon Chicken

If leaving chicken legs in a marinade made by simmering up (a lot) of soy sauce, apple puree, worcestershire sauce, garlic and lemon, and of course a good few lugs of bourbon, overnight doesn’t sound like a good idea, you probably don’t like food.

After an hour in the oven the next day, the chicken has completely given itself up to both the flavours, and to falling apart on your fork.

Served over rice with the reduced sauce from the bottom of the pot, and supplemented in no small way by the incredible invention that is Corn Maque Choux (google it, and then make it).

It’s sticky, sweet, rich and gorgeous.

2 hob meals begins with biefstuk

Or beefsteak.

Our temporary apartment in Amsterdam throws up a few culinary challenges.

Namely that there are only two small hobs with which to cook anything, unless you’re really into toast.

It was “Biefstuk” and spicy fried onions, with an insanely mustardy, lemony dressing on rocket for which I can take no credit.

A start.  A good start.

Expect the next few posts to be varyingly successful attempts to meet the challenge of 2 hob meals.

The category is dedicated to Stephanie, because although I may well fail at making good food in this shoebox, she succeeds at making living in it so much more than bearable.

And yes, everything in the flat is white/black and shiny.

Porcini Arancini

We had some leftover Porcini risotto lying about, so we rolled it up into little balls, egged ’em, crumbed ’em, and fried ’em.

Served on a bit of spinach, courgette, leek and rocket with a squeeze of lemon.

Really crispy and hot, but so dense and rich in the middle.

Pasta, cheap and delicious

Well, I’m back after a lengthy hiatus, but nothing’s changed: Still on the cheap side, but hopefully tasty nonetheless

And a good use of any fish/shellfish stock we had lying around.  I boiled it down with dill and then stirred in mascarpone to make a sauce

Just lardons fired with courgettes, tossed into some pasta which has been slathered with the slightly fishy, pink sauce

Then a dash of dried chilli flakes and a sprinkle of parmesan

Nicer with a lemon on top

Rabbit Fricassée… and an Erica cake

With rabbit and girolles both perfectly in season (not now, I know – this is slightly late) this one sort of suggested itself

Sweet, milky rabbit with garlic and pungent mushrooms, wine, parsely and a touch of cream

It’s fun to do rabbit, because you get a chance to butcher and use the whole animal.  The legs and body were poached for 40 minutes, and picked for the lean meat

The saddle fillets, which are really easy to remove with a sharp knife, take a minute or two in a hot pan

When this is all combined with some sweated onions, wine and girolles and finished with cream and parsley, you’ve got a pretty magic little autumn team

And now, for the real star of this post:

This is the first appearance for not just Erica Black, but also one of her notorious cakes

Nobody ever knows in what form they will arrive (not least because they are normally partly devoured by the chef on the bike ride to dinner). Less do they know what they are likely to contain. Past hero ingredients have been peanut m&ms and yoghurt

They normally arrive oddly shaped and gaffer taped into tin foil, like a Mexican cocaine smugglers cargo

They are however always strangely good, and this lemon drizzle cake was no exception

I defy even the most proficient of bakers to produce a cake this soft and lemony after a 10 mile bike ride and a bottle of wine (let’s face it, two bottles)

Shrimp ‘n’ Grits

… Or prawns and polenta, as they say in England

Another piece of American cooking, though Southern, not Cajun, this time

And what a lovely dinner in 10minutes flat

Some shallot, chilli and lardons sweated down til brown and sticky

Wet polenta with heaps of grated cheddar takes 4 minutes tops

Then some big, plump Fin and Flounder prawns tossed in to the hot pan of bacon with garlic, parsley, chives and lemon zest

Lemon squeezed over the top gives it a bit of a wake-up

What a beautiful little dish

I know grits are a wholesome and humble thing, so probably shouldn’t actually sit down with expensive, fancy prawns – but it does make it feel like a little indulgence

Lisbon Bream

The Ribeira Fish Market reappears, this time with some beautiful Bream

See, beautiful – like silky chain mail

Roasted beetroot, oven dried tomatoes (again), fennel and Salsa Verde

Classic

Risotto of the Holy Limes

As the amazing Lisbon begins to feel like an increasingly distant memory, I thought I’d better start putting up the food…

The pinnacle of our food experience in Lisbon was this, the Risotto of the Holy Limes

The story is almost disgustingly sweet (I still like it), but the risotto was perfect

It began with limes picked from the trees in the church in Alfama, and the sweet lime leaves and prawns from the stall in the INCREDIBLE Fish Market in Ribeiro

Then a fish stock made with bream heads and prawn shells, fennel, pimentos and pink peppercorns

The lesson learned from CourtBouillon – a tiny slice of holy lime hidden at the bottom of each plate.  A risotto finished with local cheese, parsley, sweet lime and chilli

The end result?  A delicately fishy and spicy risotto that was both rich and fresh.  Beautifully pink and flavoured by the shells, creamy from the cheese and zesty and clean because of the herbs.

Maybe the best thing I’ve ever cooked.  Definitely the best way to spend a 24th birthday night, in the best apartment/present I’ve ever stayed in/been given

Thanks Steph

French Lentil and Sausage

A recipe from a genuine French person.  Don’t go near this if you don’t like salt.  Let’s just get that out in the open now.  If you do, check out this salty bacon and proceed…

Carrots, lentils, stock, garlic, thyme, sage, garlic, onion and sausages.

Brown the onion, bacon and sausage and then add the rest, with stock to cover.

Chuck it in, cook for 20 minutes.

Hello easy weeknight dinner that leaves enough for a great lunch.