quick

Donna Hay’s Beef with Cannellini Beans

- Alex 2 Comments

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Another insanely easy, quick mid week dinner for you. This recipe comes from Donna Hay’s Fast, Fresh, Simple, via the Good Food Channel.

You may have noticed that I am a huge fan of cannellini beans. Indeed, I’m a big fan of beans in general and I’d urge everyone to have a good collection of tinned beans in their cupboards. They’re cheap, nutritious and can solve a variety of food related problems.

Anyway, while Andy was dealing with the barbecue and two generous porterhouse steaks (that’s sirloin if you’re reading from the UK) I was opening the tin of cannellini beans.

ALWAYS rinse (and drain) the beans when they come out of the tin. Firstly, they always smell horrible and secondly, often tinned things are very salty and a good rinse helps to reduce that.

In a small saucepan I had some olive oil heating up into which I put a some crushed, minced garlic and some finely chopped fresh rosemary. In went the beans to heat through along with a good squeeze of lemon juice.

At this point I decided to mash the beans coarsely with the back of a fork. This, I think, was a mistake. It would have been much nicer to have the beans whole.

I thought the mixture tasted good and was really tempted not to add the horseradish. Andy tasted it and thought it needed the horseradish, otherwise it was just like “that dip you make“. I think the horseradish is really up to you – you may prefer to serve it on the side so you can slather your beef in it.

Of course, steak and a few beans does not a whole meal make.  We served with salad and some roasted potato wedges.

Another big win for meal planning and quick, easy, midweek dinners.

Xinjiang Lamb Recipe

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A super quick and easy recipe that I’ve had earmarked for ages. This lamb recipe is perfect for the BBQ – so definitely keep it in mind as the weather warms up.

The recipe comes from the New Zealand Herald, and I had no idea who/where/what Xinjiang is. It transpires that it’s a region in north west China that’s home to many ethnic groups, but the Uyghur make up roughly 45% of the mix. Given how much we enjoyed the food at Tangritah Uyghur back in 2010 (hmmm, really must go back there), it’s no surprise that we both thought this recipe was top notch.

You do need to start this a day ahead, to give the lamb time to marinate. But other than that, this is insanely easy and quick.

Begin with approximately 1kg of lamb shoulder, cut into bite sized cubes. In a bowl, mix 2 tbsp ground cumin, chilli flakes to taste (the recipe calls for 1 tbsp, but perhaps the chilli flakes in NZ aren’t quite as hot as they are here …), 1 tbsp of black pepper (freshly ground is always best), 2 tsp of ground ginger and, if you have it, 1 tsp of ground Sichuan pepper. We couldn’t track this down in a hurry (which means the supermarket didn’t stock it) so left it out and I don’t think we missed it at all. Perhaps with it dinner would have tasted even better!

Add 4 tbsp of peanut oil, 4 tbsp of soy sauce, 4 cloves of garlic, minced, and salt to taste. Toss the lamb through the marinade, ensuring every piece is well covered and then refrigerate overnight.

The recipe is a bit more exacting about what to do and the order in which to do it. I had already cut up the meat and dumped it in a bowl, and Andy just mixed all the marinade ingredients through the meat – so assemble it whatever way suits.

If you’re going for the kebab look, soak bamboo skewers in water for at least an hour and then thread on the lamb and grill. We couldn’t be bothered and were going to just BBQ it until we discovered we were out of gas! So we ended up pan frying the lamb – which worked a treat except you do need an industrial strength extractor fan, otherwise your house will end up smelling like a lamb frying factory.

We served the lamb with spicy fried potatoes and some steamed vegetables. It would work just as well in a wrap with a yoghurt sauce, or served with a couscous salad.

We had a ton of leftovers (although not as much as you might expect!) and it turns out that the meat is almost as delicious, the next day, straight from the fridge!

Perfect White Cabbage Recipe

- Alex 3 Comments

Pork Chops & Cabbage

I can’t grow brassicas to save my life but I love eating them. I don’t think I’ve met a brassica I don’t like. Happily they are also super good for you. I grew up in a household which didn’t eat much cabbage – which means that at least one of my parents doesn’t like it. That’s a shame, because, in addition to being much loved by those enjoying cabbage soup diets, cabbage is rich in all sorts of nutritional goodies, such as beta carotene, vitamin C and, of course, fibre. It will also provide you with a few B group vitamins and plenty of trace minerals.

My cabbage recipe shows you how to turn the humble white cabbage into a tasty side dish (that’s if you don’t like eating it raw, which I do). Having just eaten the leftovers as a snack, I can also vouch for it cold!

White cabbage is also insanely cheap at the moment – I picked up the quarter I used in this dish for just $1.

Begin by heating a small amount of olive oil in a large frying pan – preferably one for which you have a lid. Add two rashers of bacon, chopped into reasonable, yet still bite sized, pieces. Fry the bacon – there’s not much point in letting it get crispy because you are effectively going to steam the cabbage – so just fry it off until it just starts to catch in the pan.

Add a teaspoon of caraway seeds* and fry for 30 seconds or so before adding a quarter of a white cabbage, finely shredded. There will probably be a couple of very thick pieces of cabbage – I take those out (and eat them) because they take just a little too long to soften.

Now add a splash of water, scrape up the bacon (and any tasty brown bits on the pan), turn the cabbage over a couple of times and then cover to allow the cabbage to steam.

Don’t allow it to cook for too long – you don’t want it all mushy and lifeless.

Serve with, well, whatever you fancy really. I’d eat it by itself, most recently we had it pork chops.

* Technically they are fruits. If you haven’t used caraway before, it is quite strongly anise flavoured (and scented) so consider starting with half a teaspoon if that’s not normally your thing.