The Foodies Corner

[NickE.070812]

Serves 4

Preperation Time 30 Minutes

Ingredients
18-20 small-sized potatoes
Oil to deep fry
5-6 dried Kashmiri chillies
2 cups of yogurt
½ tspn of cardamom powder
1 tspn of dry ginger powder
2 tblspns of fennel powder
¼ cup of mustard oil
A generous pinch of clove powder
A pinch of asafoetida
Salt to taste
½ tspn of roasted cumin powder
½ tspn of garam masala powder

Recipe
Peel and prick the potatoes all over with the help of a fork. Keep in salted water for fifteen minutes. Heat oil in a kadai and fry the potatoes on medium flame till golden brown. Make a paste of dried kashmiri red chillies.

Whisk the yogurt with Kashmiri red chilli paste, cardamom powder, dry ginger powder and fennel powder.

Heat mustard oil in a pan. Add clove powder and asafoetida. Add half a cup of water and salt and bring to a boil.

Stir in the yogurt mixture and bring it to a boil. Add fried potatoes and cook till the potatoes absorb the gravy and oil floats on top.

Serve hot, garnished with freshly roasted cumin powder and garam masala powder.

Chef’s Tip: The process of pricking the potatoes makes them very light, if not, that means the pricking has not been proper or sufficient. Therefore it is a good idea to fry one potato and check. The size of the potato is also important, it should be a small size but should not be very small.
_________________
Nick
"We'll run the course from Stonehenge up to Uffington
On a white chalk horse we'll ride
No fear have I of Faerie, sprite or mortal man
If you are by my side"

[NickE.070812]

( from River Cottage Winters on the way)

Prep time:
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 4

A quick, traditional and tasty combination of scallops with squash mash.
Ingredients
• 1 tbsp sunflower or groundnut oil
• 8 thin-cut rashers of streaky bacon
• 12 hand-dived scallops, cleaned
• A little extra virgin olive or rapeseed oil, to serve

For the mushy squash:

• 1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
• 50g unsalted butter
• About 600g butternut or Crown Prince squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 2cm cubes
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 3-4 sage leaves, finely chopped
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
1. Begin with the squash. Heat the oil and half the butter in a small frying pan, add the squash and fry gently for a few minutes, until it begins to take on a hint of colour. Add the garlic and sage, season with salt and pepper and sizzle gently until the garlic just begins to colour. Then quickly add 2–3 tablespoons water to stop the garlic browning any more. Partly cover the pan with a lid and let the squash finish cooking in the steam from the water - it should be completely tender within about 10 minutes. Add a little more water if the pan becomes dry.

2. Tip the squash and any liquid into a blender or food processor, along with the rest of the butter, and blend until smooth. If it doesn’t quite come together, add a dash of hot water to give a thick creamy puree. Taste and adjust the seasoning and keep warm.

3. To cook the scallops, put a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat and add the oil. Add the bacon and cook for a few minutes, turning the pieces over as they start to crisp up. When the bacon is cooked, transfer to a warm plate. Keep the pan over a medium-high heat. Season the scallops and add them to the hot frying pan. Cook for about a minute, until golden brown underneath. Turn them over and cook for a minute on the other side.

4. Immediately transfer the scallops to warmed serving plates. Add 2 rashers of bacon to each one. Put a good dollop of mushy squash next to the scallops, trickle with a little extra virgin oil, plus the juices from the scallop pan, and grind over some pepper. Serve straight away.

The video from River cottage is here (worth watching!!) http://community.rivercottage.net/users/Winters%20on%20the%20way/recipes/scallops-with-mushy-squash
_________________
Nick
"We'll run the course from Stonehenge up to Uffington
On a white chalk horse we'll ride
No fear have I of Faerie, sprite or mortal man
If you are by my side"

[NickE.070812]

I've been asked for a recipe for good IPA , well, this is a Dave Lines recipe (from his Book "Brewing Beers like those you buy")i know works very well!!!

Stage 5 Gallons OG 1040
1 6lb Crushed Pale Malt
1 2 oz Crushed roast barley
1 3 galls Water for 'Bitter" brewing
3 1 tsp Irish Moss
3 1lb Invert sugar
3 1oz Molasses
3 1¼ oz Fuggles Hops
3,4,5 (2+¼+¼) oz Goldings Hops
5 2 oz Brewers Yeast
5 ½ oz Isinglass
6 2 oz Brown Sugar

Brewing Stages
1. Raise the temperature of the water to 60°C and stir in the crushed malt and grain.Stirring continuously, raise the mash temp up to 66°C. Leave for 1½ hrs, ocassionallyreturning the temp back to this value .

2.Contain the mashed grain ina large grain bag to retrive the sweet wort. Using slightly hotter waterthen the mash, rinse the grains to collect 4 gallons of extract.

3.Boil the extract with the fuggles hops and the first quota of the Goldings Hops for 1½ hrs.Dissolve the main batch of sugarand molasses in a little hot water and add during this boil. Also pitch inthe Irish Moss as directed on the instructions.

4. Switch off the heat, stir in the second batch of Goldings and allow them to soak for 15 mins.Strain off the clear wort into a fermenting bin and top up to the final quantity with cold water.

5.When cool to room temp add the yeast. Ferment 4-5 days until the Specific Gravity falls to 1010 and rack into gallon jars.Apportion Isinglass finings and the rest of the dry hops before fitting the airlocks.

6. Leave for 7 days before racking the beer from the sediment into a primed pressure barrel. Allow 7 days conditioning before sampling!

Ok the thing is you need good water for bitter so if your water is chalky you need to add one teaspoonful of flaked calcium chloride or Lactic acid or Boil the water for 15 mins and rack off the soft water for use when cool and add one teaspoonful of Gypsum (calcium sulphate) and half a teaspoonful of Epsom salts(magnesium sulphate)

If your water is not chalky then add one teaspoonful of Gypsum (calcium sulphate) and half a teaspoonful of Epsom salts(magnesium sulphate)

N.B. one level teaspoon = 5ml
_________________
Nick
"We'll run the course from Stonehenge up to Uffington
On a white chalk horse we'll ride
No fear have I of Faerie, sprite or mortal man
If you are by my side"