Rough Oatcakes

"Oats: - a grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people." Samuel Johnson, author of the first English dictionary, 1755

"Yes, and where else will you see such horses and such men?" - reply from Lord Elibank, Scottish soldier and author.

Oats have been a staple grain of Scotland for centuries. It is said that they are one of the few grains that can withstand the harsh Scottish climate. These delicious oatcakes are simple to make and can be eaten sweet or savoury.

I remember reading a story years ago about Sir James Douglas, "the Black Douglas", or "Good Sir James" (depending on your point of view), the friend and trusted captain of Robert the Bruce, during the Scottish Wars of Independence. The Bruce gave Douglas the task of leading raiding parties into English territory, causing as much disruption as possible, and then returning under cover of darkness. The Scots had to travel light if they were to be effective, and so carried with them a bag of oats under their saddles, which they would mix with water and bake on their shields into a flat cake. These cakes were quick and easy to cook and could be eaten as they rode. The nutritious oats would sustain them on their journey. The Scots' success in raiding parties and ease in avoiding capture made Douglas the scourge of England. The English tried to copy the Scots' tactics, with their soldiers placing loaves of bread under their saddles as they rode. When they came to eat, however, the bread was soaked through with horse sweat and inedible!

We live in more civilised times now, although it appears the Scottish dream of independence has not diminished!


Ingredients

300g rough oats
50g plain flour
50g melted butter
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda/baking powder
hot water to mix (250-300ml)

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C.

Mix the oats with the flour and baking powder. Add the melted butter and salt and form into a ball of dough. Roll out onto an oats covered work surface to a thickness of about 3mm. Using a pastry cutter or the edge of a glass cut into rounds of about 8cm in diameter.

Place the oatcakes on a lightly greased baking tray in the middle of the oven and bake until golden brown and hard, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

Oatcakes are delicious with a range of accompaniments, such as cheese, jam, butter or my personal favourite, cheese spread! These oatcakes will keep in an airtight container for several weeks.

Enjoy!

DID YOU KNOW?

Oatcakes are reported to be the favourite breakfast of the Queen of England, and the favourite cake of David Cameron.

DID YOU KNOW?

Oats are one of the most nutritious and unrefined grains available. They are high in fibre and are thought to help in lowering cholesterol. They are often named in a group of so-called "superfoods".

Tattie Scones

Leftovers. As the holiday season arrives you can be sure that we are all going to cook a lot more than normal, eat a lot more than normal, and quite likely have a lot more left over food than normal. What would Christmas turkey be if it didn't last until almost the New Year?!?! Turkey curry, turkey fried rice, turkey soup, and the ubiquitous turkey sandwiches are all part and parcel (pun intended) of Christmas cuisine.

But what about the other leftovers? There's only so much you can do with day old brussel sprouts or cauliflower, and I would not recommend eating them too many days after you cook them, unless you want some pretty noxious happenings going on in your stomach!

Fortunately though, we have the humble boiled potato (or tattie in the Scottish vernacular), which, while not so inspiring on the day it is cooked, gets a delicious makeover thanks to this traditional Scottish recipe. The great thing about this recipe is that it is so easy to make, and utilises ingredients that everyone has to hand anyway.

Ingredients

500g leftover boiled potatoes

100g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

50g butter

a pinch of salt

oil for frying

Method

Mash the boiled potatoes using a masher or the back of a fork. Add the butter and blend this into the potatoes. Try to gets as many lumps out of the potatoes as you can. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mashed potatoes and then stir in gently, until you have a ball of dough. If it is too sticky add a little more flour.

Turn the dough onto a clean, lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough out thinly, to about 5mm thickness. Use a biscuit cutter or the top of a glass to cut small rounds of about 2.5cm in diameter. 

In a large heavy bottomed frying pan, heat a little oil over a medium heat. Alternatively if you have a griddle you can fry the scones without any oil. Fry the scones gently 4 or 5 at a time, until they are browned on both sides. This should take around 8-10  minutes.

Serve immediately with a little butter. For an even more savoury variation, add a little grated cheddar cheese to the mashed potato before adding the flour.

Enjoy!

DID YOU KNOW?

Tattie scones are an integral part of the traditional Scottish breakfast, together with fried eggs, square sausage, bacon, baked beans and/or grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, toast and black pudding. All washed down with a strong cup of tea. The perfect way to start the day!

DID YOU KNOW?

A griddle is a cooking utensil with a flat surface for cooking food with no additional oil. In Scotland a griddle is known as a girdle, and can used for making oatcakes, potato scones and traditional Scottish pancakes. Just don't mistake it for your Granny's corset!

Forfar Bridies

Mmm! The delicious combination of meat and pastry! I don't know why the 2 go together so well, but it is a tried and tested formula. Think cornish pasties, calzones, Scotch pies, empanadas, sausage rolls or steak and kidney pies.

Forfar bridies originate, unsurprisingly, in Forfar in Scotland. There are several claims to the origins of the bridie but the most well known and accepted version is that they were invented by Margaret Bridie, a baker, in the 19th century and sold at the buttermarket in Forfar.

Tandoori Chicken

This is one of the most popular Indian dishes around the world, and originates in the Punjab region of northern India. The vibrant red colour of the chicken pieces is what makes this dish stand out, while the succulent chicken that has been marinated for hours in yoghurt has influenced many other Indian and "Indian-style" dishes, like Chicken Tikka and the ubiquitous curry house favourite Chicken Tikka Massala.

In authentic Tandoori chicken recipes, the red colour comes from cayenne pepper and red chili powder (Kashmiri chili powder) but due to milder Western tastes, these are often replaced with paprika powder, or even red food colouring. However you choose to flavour (and colour) your chicken, the trick is to let it marinade in the tandoori sauce for several hours or even overnight. You can use a ready mixed Tandoori masala spice mix, or add the different spices individually. I prefer the ready mixed spice mix as you don't have to worry that you are missing out on some of the flavours because you don't happen to have a particular spice to hand.

If you want to make really authentic Tandoori chicken then you will need to cook it in a Tandoor, which is a large cylindrical clay oven fired with charcoal or wood that can reach temperatures of nearly 500 °C!!! As most of us do not have one of these at home, you can replace the Tandoor with a barbecue or an oven on high heat (225 °C).

Ingredients

4 chicken legs, skin removed

2 Tb Tandoori masala spice mix*

150ml plain yoghurt

1 tsp paprika powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp black pepper

1 Tb lemon juice

1 red onion

2 cloves garlic

* includes the following spices: coriander, fenugreek, cumin, cinnamon, chilies, garlic powder, onion powder, ginger, nutmeg, bay leaves, allspice, cardamon

Method

Clean the chicken legs well and cut each leg into 2 or 3 pieces depending on the size. Using a sharp kitchen knife, cut slits into the chicken of 1-2 cm. This allows the marinade to penetrate into the chicken, giving a fuller taste all the way through. Place the chicken in a large plastic bowl.

Peel the garlic cloves and chop finely. Peel the onion and cut into thin strips. Add the spices to the chicken together with the lemon juice and yoghurt. Mix everything well and then cover with clingfilm. Place the bowl in the fridge and leave for several hours. Depending on how far ahead you want to prepare your food this can be anything from 4 hours to overnight. You want to make sure that the marinade gets the chance to envelop the chicken completely, so don't cut corners with the marinading time!

Preheat your oven or barbecue.

Transfer the chicken pieces to a lightly oiled baking tray if cooking in the oven. Roast the chicken in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, turning the pieces from time to time, and basting the chicken with the marinade every 10 or so minutes.

If you are going to barbecue the chicken, cook it over medium coals using the direct cooking method (so directly over the hot coals) for at least 30-40 minutes, basting the chicken with the marinade as you go.

Whichever method you use to cook your chicken, it is very important to make sure it is cooked all the way through, with no pink meat. Pierce the chicken at its thickest part with skewer or knife and check that the juices are clear. If they are not, keep cooking for additional time until they are.

If you have any left over marinade this can be heated on a gentle heat for about 20 minutes, so that it thickens slightly and removes any traces of uncooked chicken. This can then be used as a sauce to accompany the chicken.  

When the chicken is cooked, serve hot with a simple salad or white rice, papadums, and green beans.

Maujan karo! Enjoy!

DID YOU KNOW?

Many rural villages in the Punjab region would have a communal tandoor for the people to cook their food. These would be kept burning throughout the day.

DID YOU KNOW? 

The favourite curry house dish, Chicken Tikka Massala, is heavily influenced by Tandoori chicken. Popular belief is that tikka massala is actually a British dish rather than an authentic Indian dish, with several restaurant chefs claiming responsibility for inventing it!

Snesi/Chinees Tayersoep (Eddo/Taro Soup)

This is another wonderful one-pot soup so popular in Suriname. Although named for the Chinese tayer or Eddo, which is a root tuber similar to a potato in shape, this soup is more than just this one exotic ingredient. As with many Surinamese soups, the actual meat ingredients can vary each time you make it, as it is an opportunity to use whatever meat you have in the house at the time. Chicken thighs, pigs' tails, salted beef, pork rib pieces, chicken feet are favourites found in soups like Bruine Bonen Soep, Pindasoep and also Chinese Tayer soup.

Eddoes (or Taros as they are also called) are a popular plant throughout the Caribbean region and are thought to have been introduced there from China, hence the name Chinese Tayer. They resemble hairy potatoes, and when peeled have a similar look also. They take quite a bit longer to cook than potatoes however, so if you wish to mix your soup with both eddoes and potatoes you will need to add the eddoes to the pot at least 20 minutes before the potatoes.

The real star of this soup though is coconut milk! It gives such a rich yet delicate flavour to the soup and also helps to thicken the liquid. Coconut palm trees are common throughout Suriname, so there is no shortage of supply. I even planted a few coconut shoots in our yard in Suriname myself; hopefully I will be able to reap the benefits in a year of ten!!!

Ingredients

2 chicken legs, skin and fat removed

200g salted beef/zoutvlees

200g pork rib pieces, excess fat removed

1 large white onion

2 tomatoes

3 L water

4 chicken stock cubes

2 beef stock cubes

10 Allspice/Pimento berries

1 bay leaf

8 Eddoes/Chinese Tayer roots

6 potatoes

2 400ml cans Coconut milk

1 tsp Laos powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 Madame Jeanette/Adjuma pepper

2 celery leaf stalks

sunflower oil to fry

Method

If using salted beef, put this in a medium sized pot with enough water to cover and boil gently for about 15 to 20 minutes to release most of the salt in the beef and also to soften the meat. Remove from the salted water and discard this. Cut the salt beef into small cubes.

Chop the chicken legs into smaller pieces, about 5 pieces each depending on the size of the legs. Trim any excess fat from the chicken and also from the pork rib pieces. The pork ribs are not a rack of spare ribs that you might put on the barbecue, rather they are smaller bony pieces of pork, known as krabbetjes in Dutch.

In a large soup pot, fry the chicken, pork and salted beef in a little oil until browned all over. Drain any excess liquid from the pot.

Peel and finely chop the onion and chop the tomatoes and add these to the meat. Fry for a further 3 minutes. Add 3 litres of cold water to the pot, and the chicken and beef stock cubes, bay leaf and Pimento berries. Bring the water to the boil and cook for about 10-15 minutes.

Next, peel the eddoes/Chinese tayers, and rinse under cold water. Cut the eddoes into chunks of about 3cm. This will usually mean just cutting the eddoes in half, but larger eddoes can be cut into 3 pieces. Add these to the soup water. Season the soup with the Laos powder, salt and pepper.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into pieces the same size as the eddoes. About 20 minutes after the eddoes were added to the pot, it is time to add the potatoes. I prefer the quicker cooking varieties as, strangely enough, these, err, take less time to cook! Chop the celery leaves finely and add these as well to the soup pot. Place the whole Madame Jeanette pepper gently into the soup. This is left whole as the desired effect is to get the aroma of the pepper without the heat. Be careful that the pepper does not split, or your soup will be very hot!

Roughly 10 minutes after the potatoes have been added to the soup you can add the 2 cans of coconut milk. Make sure to shake the cans well before opening as the milk may have separated slightly in the can. Stir the coconut milk well through the soup and continue cooking on a medium high heat for another 5-10 minutes.

Serve the soup on its own, or as is more common in Suriname, with white rice.

Njang Switi! Enjoy!

DID YOU KNOW?
Coconut milk contains a high amount of coconut oil. This oil contains lauric acid, which is a saturated fat that raises blood cholesterol levels, and is found in similar levels in breast milk!

DID YOU KNOW?
Chinese tayer is a root popular vegetable among the Maroon communities in the interior of Suriname. The Maroons are descendants of runaway slaves who fled the plantations into the rainforest, where they lived off the produce of the jungle. Chinese tayer is able to grow in high water levels and can be found in swamp areas, which flood frequently during the long rain season.

Chinese Shrimp Fried Rice

The secret to this dish is it's simplicity; although most associated with Chinese cuisine, fried rice is now a favourite of many cuisines around the world, and is a great way of using leftover ingredients. The essential aspect of good fried rice is that the rice should be cold when it is added to the wok/frying pan. If you use freshly boiled rice, this will end up steaming instead of frying and you will be left with a soggy, lumpy fried rice. The rice should be cooked several hours in advance and then refrigerated, or ideally the night before. As I mentioned before, this is a perfect opportunity to use up any rice that you have over from the previous day.

As for the type of rice, I would recommend long grain rice. You want your rice to be easy to separate into individual grains. Starchy shorter grain rices have a tendency to clump together, and are more difficult to separate.

Pollo alla Cacciatore (Hunters' Chicken)

This is a hearty and filling chicken casserole classic from Italy. Cacciatore means "Hunters' Style", so this dish would likely have been what the hunter would eat after a long day out in the forest. It is more usual to cook it with some of the produce of the hunt, perhaps a small hare, pheasant or even wild boar, but perhaps the chicken variety rose in popularity with the hunters who weren't quite so good, and didn't catch anything!

As with most Italian peasant fare, there are probably as many recipes claiming authenticity as there are villages in Italy. Each one will have its individual characteristics and the ingredients may vary in different regions, but the basic recipe is for chicken thighs/drumsticks in a thick tomato sauce enriched with white wine. The rest of the ingredients you can add according to your own taste.

This is a one-pot casserole and is perfect for a cold and wet Autumn afternoon.

Moroccan Grilled Chicken & Couscous with Roasted Peppers Salad

For today's recipe we move outside of our comfort zone of Italian/Mexican/Chinese/Surinamese to something a bit different!!!

This delicious salad is great as a main course but can also be eaten as part of a picnic or as a starter. The North African flavours of cinnamon, coriander, paprika and cumin are prominent in this dish, and the addition of fresh mint gives it a really aromatic powerful flavour. An important spice mix in North Africa is Ras-el-hanout, which will typically comprise all the traditional spices such as cumin, paprika, coriander, chili powder, cinnamon and fenugreek. There are many local variations of ras-el-hanout, but the base ingredients as listed above should all be present. 

Haricots Verts wrapped in Pancetta

This simple little dish is equally at home as an antipasto (appetiser) as it is as a contorno (vegetable side dish). It is essentially made of only 2 ingredients, but if these are of good quality, the end result is amazing!

Pancetta is an Italian bacon, made from pork belly. It is quite easy to get these days in supermarkets, but if you can't get pancetta, you can substitute it with thin slices of unsmoked streaky bacon.

Haricots Verts is French for green beans, but these are slightly longer and thinner than standard green beans. Again, these should be readily available in most supermarkets, but if you can't find them, substitute with normal green beans.

Ingredients

300g Haricots Verts

16 straight Pancetta slices 

black pepper to season

olive oil to drizzle

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Boil a medium pan of salted water. When the water is boiled, add the haricots verts and cook these for 2-3 minutes. The beans should still have a bite to them. Drain the water and put these into a colander to dry.

Lay one of the pancetta slices out flat on a plate. Place 4 or 5 beans in a bundle at one end of the pancetta. Roll the pancetta up around the beans. Place the rolled beans onto a shallow baking tray covered with a sheet of greaseproof paper, or drizzled with a little olive oil. The greaseproof paper/oil is purely to stop the pancetta from sticking to the bottom of the baking tray.

Repeat this process with the remaining pancetta slices and haricots verts.

Place the baking tray into the middle of the preheated oven and bake the pancetta/bean bundles for about 15-20 minutes.

Buon appetito! Enjoy!

Pollo alla Parmigiana (Chicken Parmesan)

This is not so much a classic Italian dish, more like an American take on a classic Italian dish. Chicken Parmesan is known more in the United States and outside of Italy, whereas the traditional dish, Melanzane alla Parmigiana, uses aubergine/eggplant. The rest of the ingredients remain the same and the methods of preparation are fairly similar, with the exception that the aubergine parmigiana is made up of layers of vegetable and sauce, similar to a lasagne, whereas the chicken version is only one layer.

The name of this dish itself is a little misleading. Parmigiana means in the "Parma style", but this dish is not native to Parma in Northern Italy. Instead, it is a Southern Italian dish, with both Campania and Sicily claiming versions of the dish. The most likely explanation is that the dish is named after Parmigiana-Reggiano (Parmesan) cheese, which is called for in the recipe as the cheese topping. Funnily enough though, there are plenty of chicken Parmigiana dishes out there that do not feature Parmesan cheese at all, using mozzarella in its place. So not only do they not come from Parma they also do not feature the most famous of Parma's delicacies, its' cheese!

Another theory on the Parmigiana name is that Parmigiana is an Italianisation of the Sicilian parmiciana, which refers to shutter slats, which closely resemble the layers of overlapping aubergine in the original dish. So for the versions using chicken instead of aubergine, and mozzarella instead of Parmesan, the name is a bit confusing to say the least. Maybe they should call this version "chicken"!

Anyway, names notwithstanding, both the chicken and aubergine versions are delicious, and not so difficult to make. You should give yourself at least a couple of hours though, as there are several steps involved, which are time consuming.

Ingredients

For the chicken:

4 skinless chicken breasts

300g plain flour

3 eggs

50ml milk

300g breadcrumbs

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp oregano

olive oil to fry

For the tomato sauce:

2 tins plum tomatoes

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp oregano

2 cloves garlic

For the assembly:

2 balls fresh mozzarella

75g grated Parmesan cheese

2 tsp oregano

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Slice the chicken breasts horizontally to give you 2-3 slices per breast, 8-12 slices in total. To give them all an even thickness, they can be placed between two large pieces of clingfilm and beat with a meat tenderiser or mallet.  Each "escalope" should be about 1/2 cm thick. Season these lightly with salt and black pepper.

In 3 separate shallow dishes or bowls, assemble the flour in the first bowl, the eggs and milk in the second bowl, and the breadcrumbs in the third bowl. Beat the eggs and milk together to give an even egg wash. Distribute the paprika, oregano and salt and pepper evenly between the first (flour) and third (breadcrumbs) bowls and mix these in well.

In an assembly line fashion, dip each chicken escalope first in the flour, then in the egg wash and finally in the breadcrumbs, each time ensuring that the escalope is covered thoroughly and allowing any excess to drip back into the bowl. Repeat the process for all the chicken escalopes.

Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. You should have enough oil to cover the entire bottom of the pan but not enough to submerge the escalopes. When hot enough, shallow fry the escalopes a few at a time on both sides until golden brown. When done, drain these on kitchen paper to remove any excess oil.

Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves. Fry these in a little olive oil in a high sided pan or pot on a gentle heat, making sure they do not burn. Add the plum tomatoes and chop/mash these in the pan until they are much smaller. Add the oregano, salt and black pepper and simmer this for about 20 minutes, until it is a smooth sauce.

Slice the 2 mozzarella balls into thin slices.

In a baking tray, place the breaded chicken escalopes along the bottom of the tray, overlapping slightly if they do not all fit. Pour the sauce evenly over the chicken pieces and spread it out until it covers everything. 

Add the sliced mozzarella over the sauce and then the grated Parmesan.

Put in the oven for about 20-25 minutes until the cheese has melted and turned golden brown.

This dish can be served with a  number of things, on spaghetti with Neapolitan sauce, or with chips, or even with a nice seasonal salad.

Buon appetito! Enjoy!

Risotto con Funghi e Castagne (Mushroom and Chestnut Risotto)

Risotto is very popular as a primo (first course) in Italy, as an alternative to pasta, especially in Northern Italy. A dish made from rice and broth, risotto is a hearty carbohydrate source, which lends itself perfectly for a range of other ingredients. This rich, creamy risotto features 2 staple Autumn ingredients, mushrooms and sweet chestnuts. Most mushroom varieties can be found all year round in good supermarkets, although risotto recipes often call for dried porcini (piglet) mushrooms, which are able to retain their flavour while dry. If you can't find porcini mushrooms, most other mushroom varieties will do. For a nice symmetry use chestnut mushrooms!

Italian Three Bean Pasta Salad

This is a ridiculously easy and delicious salad that can be eaten as a side dish, starter or even as a main course. It should be served cold and is therefore perfect for picnics. The combination of lovely fresh ingredients and bright colours is a feast for the eye as well as the stomach. This salad is suitable for vegetarians.

You can use any beans that you want to make this salad. Whichever beans are easy to come by. Beans are part of the legumes family, and are a great source of fibre. They also help to reduce cholestorol and blood sugar levels, so all in all they are a pretty great food!!!

Scottish Scones

A traditional favourite for "Afternoon Tea", the humble scone has its origins in the villages of Scotland, but these days is just as likely to be served at luxury hotels like the Ritz!

The scone is the forerunner of the American biscuit, which is often served as a savoury side to fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, whereas the sweeter scone is traditionally served with butter, strawberry jam and clotted cream.

A Traditional Italian Meal Structure

Picture the scene:

A beautiful Tuscan landscape, a long wooden table laden with huge jugs of red wine, smaller jugs of olive oil and dishes of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano is surrounded by several generations of one Italian family, all laughing and talking and eating together! It sounds a bit of a cliché I know, but the traditional Italian meal is not so far from this slightly idealistic picture. Traditional formal Italian meals, usually reserved for Sundays and special occasions these days, are long and elaborate affairs, with several courses and lots of wine and good conversation. Meals can often last for several hours! Contrast this to the UK style of "eat and run"; it is often difficult enough to try to get everybody to sit together at the same time to eat, let alone at a dinner table. The TV and sofa have replaced the dinner table and quality family time. OK, maybe that is also a bit of a cliché;  the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but it remains the case that a family meal lasting several hours in the UK would be a rare thing indeed!

The first experience I had with a traditional Italian meal structure with multiple courses was on a family holiday back when I was 16 or 17. We were in Verona and decided to eat at this road side restaurant that seemed to be full of only locals, with us being the only tourists! My Dad ordered the set meal for all of us, including my 2 sisters who were I think 5 and 8 at the time. We were first given a large plate of salad brimming with fresh vegetables. When we had finished that we had plenty of time before the next course, and there was quite a bit of strong red wine being drunk!

The next course was a large plate of pasta with a tomato sauce. By this time I had drunk maybe a bit too much wine, due to the long pauses between the first and second courses, so I was having trouble finishing this plate off! My sisters did not even get half way through their pasta before they were full and feeling tired! I was dozing off myself waiting for what I presumed would be the dessert. After what seemed like hours (probably due to the wine!) the waitress brought our next course... a huge portion of steak with vegetables on a side dish, and more salad!!! By this time we could hardly even move we were so full, and I don't think any of us ate much more than a mouthful of the steak. The locals must have been looking at us as if we were crazy! Why had these pesky tourists ordered the set meal if they were going to leave half way through!!!

Anyway, safe to say, the traditional Italian meal is a leisurely affair, with course after course being served over the space of several hours. The conversation and interaction are as important as the edible ingredients, and make the whole affair a bringing together of several generations of families for quality time spent together.

If you ever have the privilege of partaking in a traditional Italian family meal, make sure you bring your appetite, remember to pace yourself, and above all, enjoy yourself and the company!

 The formal Italian meal structure

Aperitivo

This is a drink served before the meal to act as an appetiser for the coming meal. Usually an alcoholic drink will be served such as Vermouth, Martini, Campari, dry sherry or a dry white wine. 

Antipasto

Literally meaning "before the courses", this is generally dishes of cold starters, cured meats, salads, and breads. Occasionally hot starters such as Fritto Misto (fried mixed seafood) may be served. Examples of antipasti are bruschetta, Tonno e Fagioli, prosciutto ham with melon and Insalata Caprese.

Primo

This is the "first" course (not counting the other 2!) and is usually a hot dish of pasta, risotto (especially Northern Italy) or soup. The majority of primos are served without meat, but a tomato-based meat sauce may also be served over pasta. Some examples of primos are Risotto con Funghi, Minestrone soup, Penne all'Arrabbiata and Lasagne al Forno.

Intermezzo

When a meal is comprised of several hot courses, sometimes an intermezzo or palate cleanser will be served between the Primo and Secondo (first and second hot courses) to cleanse the palate, ready for the next dish. This will often take the form of a sorbet or granita, and may or may not be alcoholic. Lemon and apple sorbet are popular examples, often spiked with Prosecco or Limocello (Italian liqueur).

Secondo

This is the main dish of the meal and will usually comprise meat, poultry or fish. This will sometimes be served in a large platter with everyone able to help themselves to the portion size they wish. Examples of a secondo are Pollo alla Cacciatore (Hunter's Chicken), Osso Buco (Braised Veal Shanks) or Cotoletta alla Milanese (similar to Wiener Schnitzel).

Contorno

This is a side dish served together with the Secondo or directly after. It is usually comprised of local seasonal vegetables, either raw or cooked, or a green salad. The contorno is always served as a side dish to the meat course, never on the same plate.

Formaggio e Fruta

This is the first of the dessert courses (!), and comprises cheese and fruit. Both the fresh fruit and the cheese will be traditionally local produce of the region.

Dolce

This is the sweet dessert course, and examples would be Tiramisu, Zuppa Inglese (literally translated as English Soup, but is really a type of trifle), Gelato (ice-cream) or Cannoli (Sicilian pastries).

Caffè

No Italian meal would be complete without coffee served after the meal. This will nearly always be in the form of espresso, served strong and hot, and drunken quickly. Cappuccinos and other milk based coffees are generally served at breakfast time with a brioche or croissant, and would be frowned upon at the end of a meal as being too filling (!)

Digestivo

This is the concluding act of the meal, and is in the form of an alcoholic drink such as Grappa, Limoncello or Amaro. While the role of the aperitivo is to stimulate the appetite, the digestivo is drunk to aid the digestion. Whereas the aperitivo will be dry, the digestivo will usually be sweet or bitter.

Italian meals may contain only a few of these courses, or all of them. Needless to say there will be wine served all the way through the meal!

Buon Appetito! Enjoy! 

Penne all'Arrabbiata (Pasta tubes with spicy tomato sauce)

This is a simple and delicious pasta dish, requiring very few ingredients and taking little time to make. It is perfect as a "Primo" in a traditional Italian meal; this is the first course before the main Meat course or "Secondo", and is usually pasta, risotto or soup. It is great for vegetarians, or if you want to add some spek blocks or bacon, can be made into a main course.

Arrabbiata means "angry" in Italian, and the dish gets its name from the chilli peppers used in the sauce, which will certainly leave you red-faced, although hopefully in a happy way! Penne are circular pasta tubes, usually with a ridged exterior ("regate"). They are perfect for this type of sauce as the penne hold the sauce due to its cylinder shape.

Chicken Chow Mein - Takeaway Style

A staple of Chinese restaurants and takeaways, chow mein is very simply fried noodles together with meat and vegetables. It doesn't have to be chicken either, you can easily replace it with beef, or pork, or shrimps, or do a combination of all of them - this is usually known the "house special" chow mein! The thing about take away chow mein though is that often you find that at the bottom of the metal tray is a large pool of oil and grease. Or maybe you don't notice as you have bought the takeaway after a night on the town, and are a little worse for wear! But it is possible to have chicken chow mein without the grease overload.

Cassave Chips

Potato chips? Boring!
Banana chips? Difficult to get them crunchy.

Cassave chips? Yeah baby! These are the real deal my friend (OK - we are not strictly friends as such, but, as the old Jameson advert goes, strangers are just friends we haven't met yet!)

Anyway -  back to the cassave chips.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

The Italian take on bacon and eggs! This simple pasta dish originates in the Rome region, and is, along with spaghetti bolognese, perhaps the most well known of pasta dishes. The key to this dish is putting the eggs in at the right moment and mixing quickly enough so that you are have a sauce and are not left with scrambled eggs!

Surinamese Loempias (Spring Rolls) with Pepper Sauce

These little beauties are a Surinamese take on spring rolls or egg rolls, a common starter or snack food across East Asia. The difference between the Surinamese loempias and traditional Chinese or Vietnamese spring rolls is that the Surinamese version are thicker and softer than the crispy Asian spring rolls. The softness comes from the fact that they are dipped in an eggwash before frying.

The loempias are served with a hot pepper sauce, which is also described below.

Lasagne al Forno

Along with pizza and spaghetti Bolognese, lasagne is probably one of the most famous of all Italian dishes, and has won admirers all over the world. It is a firm favourite in pub lunches up and down the UK. It is a surprisingly simple dish to make and is absolutely worth the time it takes to prepare, as the taste is amazing!

Lasagne al forno (simply lasagne in the oven) comes from the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, where the world renowned Bolognese sauce was also created in... (shock horror) Bologna!!! Lasagne al forno borrows this ragù alla bolognese as one of it's three alternating layers, with the others being bechamel sauce, a white sauce made from milk and flour, and sheets of dried pasta or lasagne!

Cottage Pie

Like its cousin, shepherd's pie, this is a simple, hearty dish combining meat and mashed potatoes. The 2 names are interchangeable, but for traditionalists, shepherd's pie uses lamb meat while cottage pie uses beef. This dish was originally a peasant dish from the UK, and would use left over meat and potatoes from the Sunday roast. These days minced beef is more commonly used.

The beauty of this dish is its simplicity. There are just a few ingredients and the cooking method is very simple.

Jerk Chicken

What springs to mind when you think of Jamaica ? Sun? Beaches? Reggae? Bob Marley?!?!?

Maybe its just my foody mind at work, but I think of Jerk chicken, possibly the ultimate summer barbecue recipe! Jerk marinade can be used for any type of meat or fish but is particularly tasty with chicken legs and pork ribs.

The key ingredients to jerk chicken are allspice or pimento berries, thyme and scotch bonnet peppers. Everything else is supplementary but these 3 ingredients are unmissable. If you don't use them you may still have some delicious barbecued chicken but it won't be jerk chicken!

Caribbean Barbecue Sauce

This spicy and tangy sauce is perfect with barbecued spare ribs and chicken thighs, but can also be eaten as an alternative to ketchup on burgers, or even with french fries. The rum gives it that Caribbean zing. It reminds me of Notting Hill Carnival in London and Zomercarnaval in Rotterdam, where the stands cooking ribs and chicken in oil drum barbecues line the streets.

Pisang Goreng/Bakabana (Fried Plantain)

This is an Indonesian street food, also very popular in Suriname. It doesn't actually use bananas as you or I might know them, but plantains, a cousin of the banana used mainly for cooking. Plantains come in many varying degrees of ripeness. For bakabana the plaintain should be ripe, with the skin yellow getting towards black and you should be able to press down on the flesh. Don't get too ripe plantains, however, or these will fall apart when you try to fry them.

Saoto Soup (Indonesian Chicken Soup)

This delicious and filling soup originates in Indonesia, and was popularised in Suriname through the contracted workers from Java who came to work the sugar plantations after the abolition of slavery in Suriname in 1863. It is a firm favourite with my kids, who ask for it almost every week!

The secret of this soup is as much in the garnishes that accompany it as in the soup itself. Rice noodles, shredded cabbage, potato sticks, fried onions, boiled egg, chopped celery leaves, bean sprouts, boiled rice - the list of possible additions to the relatively simple soup are what give it such a flavour explosion and "moreishness".

Bruine Bonen met Rijst (beans with rice)

One of the most popular Surinamese dishes; a favourite at parties and feasts, but also great as a Sunday lunch or a midweek dinner. The possibilities are endless!

Beans with rice is a Caribbean staple, and although Suriname is not strictly in the Caribbean, the ethnic diversity and laid back attitude of Suriname is much more in tune with the Island life than with it's South American neighbours.

Scotch Eggs

The ultimate picnic food! These beauties are perfect for outdoor eating, they are just as good hot or cold, and require no knife and fork!

The secret to a good scotch egg is getting the right ingredients.
The eggs should be fairly small in size but of good quality.

Tonno e Fagioli (Tuna and Bean Salad)

A very simple salad originating in Tuscany, ideal for informal outdoor eating. This is so easy to make and tastes great. It can be eaten as a starter as part of a larger meal, or on its own as a simple lunch.

Insalata Caprese (Tomato and Mozzarella Salad)

Some things just go perfectly together - bacon and eggs, ham and cheese, peanut butter and jam (!). Tomato and mozzarella is another match made in heaven; whether it be on pizza, as the topping for lasagna al forno, in a panino, or here, in a simple yet delicious salad.

Salsa Roja

There are many different varieties of salsas (salsi?) in Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine. Some are cooked, like the "salsa roja" (red sauce) here, while others are made with only raw ingredients, like "pico de gallo" (rooster's beak), with the lime juice in this salsa acting as a preservative.

This cooked salsa roja will stay good for several weeks if kept in the fridge. It is a perfect condiment for dishes like chili con carne, burritos, tacos, and also as a dipping sauce for nachos. It is a little bit spicy, a little bit sour but also a little bit sweet, and is great either hot or cold.

Spicy Potato Wedges

This easy side dish is perfect with chili, or with barbecue, but you can also serve it by itself as a starter with some sour cream dip or homemade salsa. Delicioso!

Ingredients

8 medium red skin potatoes

1 tb olive oil

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cumin

Chili con Carne

Is it Mexican? Or Tex-Mex? Should it include beans? What about tomatoes? Minced beef, or pieces of chuck steak? Fresh chilies, dried chilies or chili powder? And that's before we even discuss what to serve it with! Rice? Tacos? Tortillas? Jacket Potato?

There are many claims as to what makes authentic chili con carne (simply translated meaning "chili with meat"), and all the recipes differ in one way or another. People get very heated over chili (pun intended!), and you can find endless arguments across the internet on what ingredients should be included and what should be left out.

Refried Beans

This very simple side dish is a firm favourite in the Tex-Mex cuisine. The first time I ate it was in a Mexican restaurant in Cambridge, back when I was about 10-12 years old; even way back then I loved the contrasting smoothness and "blandness" (for want of a better word) of the beans, compared with the more spicy shredded chicken chili it came with.  From that moment on I was hooked!

The dish is traditionally made using pinto beans, brown beans or even kidney beans.

Crispy Chicken Strips

This is a simple Tex-Mex dish that is excellent as a snack, or as a filling for a tortilla or as part of a main course. I came across it by accident really, while looking for inspiration for dinner in the local supermarket. I saw this packet of seasoning mix for "Crispy Chicken Bites", which looked pretty tasty on the picture on the packet. Just as I was about to put into my shopping basket, I took a look at the ingredient list and thought

The Measure of Success

Cooking is a bit like art - there are many different styles and almost endless possibilities, a lot of effort goes into the end product - but at the end of the day what you serve up may not be to everyone's taste!

Now I can say to you, if you would only follow my recipes to the letter then you will be guaranteed a great dish, but maybe you don't want your food with as much pepper as I might, or you prefer it with more salt, less garlic etc
That's why the measurements in my recipes are guidelines only; so if you want to use 1 teaspoon of chili powder in your recipe instead of the 1/2 teaspoon that I put, then I say go for it!

If you are cooking regularly then you will cook on instinct anyway. I put measurements in my recipes for 1 tablespoon of this, or 1 teaspoon of that, but in reality, I very rarely actually use teaspoons and tablespoons for measuring ingredients. If you are tasting your dish as you go then you automatically know if it needs a bit

A word on chili peppers

As anyone who has ever been to the tropics and subtropics can testify, the hotter a place seems to get, the more the locals love to eat chili peppers! You would think it was counter-productive; eating hot, spicy food when the temperature is already blisteringly hot, but the theory behind eating food with chilies in it is to make you sweat and therefore cool your body temperature down.

Chili peppers are all members of the capsicum family and are therefore related to the bell pepper, that sweet

Telo met Bakkeljauw (Fried Cassava with Salted Cod)

One of the great things about tropical countries is that most of your time is spent outdoors, and that means there is a huge selection of street food on offer. Suriname is no different, and this following dish, Telo with Bakkeljauw, is one of the most popular street foods in Paramaribo. It reminds me in particular of the roadside snackbar at Paranam, by the aluminium smelter, right before you hit the Afobaka Highway and the entrance to the interior of Suriname. We used to make this trip regularly and would nearly always stop here for some Telo. Lovely!

I mentioned the other day about how versatile cassava is, and this is one of the many dishes that can be made from the humble root. It is of Javan origin, and is great as a midday snack!

Bami Kip

Despite the exotic name, this is a simple dish of chicken and fried noodles, of Javanese origin, and made popular in Suriname by migrant workers who came from Java island to Suriname in the 19th century as contract labourers.

It is extremely popular in Suriname and also in Holland, and is often eaten at birthday parties.

Ingredients
(serves 6-8 people)

For the chicken:
4 chicken legs (each cut into 3 pieces)
1/2 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tomato
2 Maggi bouillon blocks

An Ode to Cassava

Cassava or Manioc is one of the most versatile foods God graced us with. This humble root, native to South America, is a staple food in most of that continent, as well as much of the developing world and is actually the third largest source of carbohydrates in the world! 

The beauty of cassava is that it is so versatile. Just look at the way it is used in Surinamese cuisine (one of my   favourite cuisines and one I will be returning to regularly). Here is a selection of dishes made from cassava:

• Telo - boiled then deep fried cassava blocks served with salted cod. A Surinamese version of fish and chips!
• Cassava Chips - thinly fried slices of cassava - like potato chips infused with garlic and salt
• Cassava bread - a large disc of crispy sun-dried bread made from cassava flour - unmissable with Pepre Watra!
• Kwak - toasted cassava flour - delicious with soups, or even just with water!
• Kasiri - cassava beer brewed by the Amerindian tribes. The fermentation process begins by chewing and the spitting out the cassava roots!

Those are just a few of the dishes that can be created using cassava, and all of them are delicious (well I can't vouch for the cassava beer, but the rest are for sure!)

Basically, anything you can make with potatoes can probably be made with cassava root instead! Not bad for something that is highly poisonous in its natural state!!!

DID YOU KNOW?

Bitter cassava can contain up to 1 gram of cyanide per kilogram. A dose of only 2.5 milligrams is enough to kill a rat! 

Enjoy!

Welcome to my Blog!

This blog is about Food. And Cooking.

I love to Cook, and I also love to Eat. This blog will be about food, cooking styles, ingredients from around the world and also my general thoughts about the joys of cooking.

There will be recipes for some of my favourite dishes added along the way, as well as a look at some of the amazing ingredients found around the world.

Enjoy!

Rich