Karohemd's World

Ingredients (for one, multiply accoringly):
block halloumi
portobello mushrooms (the big ones)
1 beetroot
2 tomatoes
2 gloves of garlic, 1cm ginger, mixed herbs, olive oil
salt, pepper, pimenton

I first boiled the beetroot, then quartered and peeled it, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of sea salt and kept warm wrapped in foil.

The halloumi was sliced in three and marinaded in olive oil, pimenton and pepper (you don't need any salt as the cheese is salty enough) while the beetroot was boiling, then fried in the marinade with the portobello mushrooms (sliced in half).

For the couscous, I deseeded and finely chopped two tomatoes and cooked them down in olive oil with garlic, a bit of ginger, dried mediterranean herbs, freshly sliced chilli and seasoned with salt and pepper. Into that I stirred the couscous, added as much boiling water as needed and put on a lid until the couscous was nice and plump.

I started with a pile of couscous on the plate then stacked mushroom and halloumi slices in the centre and arranged the beetroot on the side.

Friday was Sacrilege which turned out to be a very trad goth affair (with nevla as one of the guest DJs) until just before I had to leave because of knackeredness and the EBM came on. :/ Click the thumbnail and then on the link for the set on the right hand side for the rest of the photos:



Saturday I went shopping, relaxed, watched DVDs, processed Sacrilege photos and braised an awesome lamb shank for dinner:



More telly and DVDs later and then, just before I finally wanted to go to sleep, I read that Clarence Clemons had died. That news really got to me, although I had been fearing it after his suffering a stroke the previous weekend. As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of Springsteen's music and the Big Man's saxophone and stage presence are an integral part of the experience. Here's a video of Jungleland, forward to 4:15 for the sax bit if you like, and you'll see/hear what I mean:



On Sunday I was mostly depressed and didn't do anything constructive except two loads of laundry and a simple dinner (ratatouille with couscous). I also watched the dire remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still (mostly because Jennifer Connelly was in it) on telly and then the superb Lemmy documentary on DVD.

Now I'm at work and moping but I'm going out for dinner tonight so that should pick me up.

Pan-fried, simply seasoned (salt, pepper), with spicy couscous (hot smoked paprika, salt, pepper, blanched cabbage for crunch).

After a visit to a fine dining establishment it's always a bit daunting to go back to your own kitchen and cook but I was rather happy with the "lamb lollipops" (quickly pan fried cutlets from the rack bought marinaded from the Art of Meat, with colcannon and red wine reduction) on Saturday (no photo because I was in a hurry but they looked a bit like these).

On Saturday, it was time for pork. Whenever my butcher (the above mentioned Art of Meat in Arbury Court) has tenderloins in, I cannot resist:



Seared and slow roasted pork tenderloin (marinaded in rapeseed oil, thyme and pepper, seasoned with sea salt after searing), cider reduction, potato mash (milk, butter, a bit of goat's cheese), pickled radishes (balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper). The Aspall Dry Premier Cru cider I used for cooking was also a perfect accompaniment.

This evening, more pork, this time in the shape of sausages, the Art of Meat's Leek and Cheese variety (this week's special). I first browned the sausages quickly in some leftover marinade from yesterday, removed them, added a finely sliced onion and fried those in the pan juices for a while, then deglazed the pan with a generous glug of cider, adjusted the seasoning, added the sausages again, put on a lid and let it cook on low heat until the sausges were done. They were still crispy on the outside and wonderfully soft and moist inside. Inspired by a pic MiMi posted on Saturday, I served them on couscous, which worked really well, as did the leftover radishes which were even better than last night. No photo because it looked a bit rubbish (but tasted so much nicer).

Soft-boiled Egg with Asparagus Soldiers

This evening's dinner was mostly provided by friends. One had given me a slice off a leg of venison and two others had given me a cooking condiment collection from Hotel Chocolat which contained a savoury chocolate glaze.

Based on the structure of the meat, I cut the slice of leg into smaller portions, coated them in olive oil and seared the rather thin slices in a very hot pan, basted them with foaming butter towards the end, seasoned and set them on the side to rest. Then I deglazed the pan with red wine, seasoned with salt, pepper and thyme and added two spoons of the glaze mix to melt that in.

The meat was served on crushed baby potatoes, drizzled with the red wine/chocolate glaze, with creamed savoy cabbage on the side. A bit of an odd combination, I admit, but it's what I had on hand, I wasn't to go out and buy a head of red cabbage for one portion.
You can see in the photo how gooey that glaze was. Given more time (I was very hungry and just wanted to eat), you can turn this into something awesome. Also, it's probably rather easy to make yourself by just mixing grated dark chocolate with spices.

My butcher had these wonderful pork tenderloins so I bought one as I hadn't cooked with one in quite a while. It was vacuum sealed so I thought I'd try a rough approximation of sous vide cooking. I basically poached the loin, suspended from a wooden spoon in a stockpot full of hot water (don't know how hot it was, I chose a temperature I could still touch so probably around 60 degrees) for a bit more than half an hour, prodding it now and then to get an idea for how done it was.
I took it out, removed it from the bag, patted it dry and cut it in half (so it would fit into my frying pan). It was done just a little under pink so after I seasoned it with salt and pepper and seared it in a really hot pan in some olive oil on all sides and rested it for ten minutes, it was on the spot.
While the meat was resting, I made a sauce by deglazing the pan with cider, seasoning with salt, pepper and thyme and finishing with some double cream and the resting juices.
I served it on some potato and parsnip mash and wilted spinach. It was fantastic and I could have charged good money for that at a restaurant. I wish this happened more often. I like my cooking but only sometimes it's as good as this.
The photo is a bit rubbish because it was rushed.

It's been a while since I produced food that was worth taking a photo of (or I hadn't taken a photo of before).
Here's the yummy veg soup I made this evening.
Broccoli, leeks, carrots, potatoes (for starch), seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin, sweet pimenton, mixed herbs, blitzed, scraped through a sieve.
Finished with creme fraiche, garnished with chilli oil and a few slithers of red pepper and mint leaves.
I even have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. :)

On Saturday I had a lovely, thick fillet steak with peppercorn cream, fluffy mash and wilted spinach and Sunday evening lamb steaks, red wine reduction, potatoes dauphinoise and braised savoy cabbage.
Red meat both times but fantastic quality and - if I may say so myself - cooked to perfection. I guess I had to make up for last weekend's and week's bout of vegetarianism. ;o)
I had potatoes and cabbage left over which I had last night. :D

I apologise for the lack of photos but you can probably guess what it looked like.

Inspired by a recent post by Kayotic Kitchen, I bought a nice, thick, free-range chicken breast from my glorious butcher, the Art of Meat (and the quality of his offerings is indeed fantastic at reasonable prices). I don't eat much meat so I usually pig out on Saturday and pay very happily at little extra over supermarket prices for meat that's three times as good.
Anyway, I also bought some streaky bacon to wrap it in but it turned out to be not enough (more of that later).

To start off, I made a marinade from olive oil, dijon mustard, lots of garlic, black pepper and thyme and smeared it all over the breast as well as inside a pocket I cut into the thickest part. I then let it sit in the fridge for three hours.

When it came to cooking, I laid out the streaky bacon on a big piece of clingfilm and noticed there wasn't enough. The strips wouldn't completely cover the rather thick breast but I tried anyway. In hinsight, I should have just shoved it in the oven as it was but I went through with the original plan of frying it off in the pan first to get the bacon a bit crispy all over. It obviously fell off so when I transferred it to the baking tray, I just draped the bacon strips over it and put it in a medium oven for about 20 minutes.

Despite the messy appearance, the taste was glorious. It was nice and moist (although it could have done with a little less cooking but with chicken I tend to err on the side of caution) and the marinade had penetrated well.
Note: I didn't add any salt as the bacon tends to be quite salty and it didn't need it. However, that's me who doesn't need much salt. Your mileage might vary so I suggest you put a little bowl of sea salt on the table.

With it I had a nice blob of creamy mash and some sauteed courgettes.

Omnomnom, definitely one of the tastiest plates of food I've ever made. Shame there's no photgraphic evidence because it looked just too hideous.