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Archive for May, 2015

Turkish Kofte Kebab with Tomato Sauce & Yoghurt

Posted in Food, Lamb, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 19 May 2015| 1 Comment »

Kofte kebab

This Turkish kebab dish, from Claudia Roden’s wonderful book Arabesque, is very simple to make but you need to be organised and assemble the dish at the last minute so the layer of crunchy pitta bread at the bottom of the dish stays crisp. Claudia’s tips are to serve the tomato sauce and meat very hot but the yoghurt at room temperature.

Yogurtlu Köfte Kebabi or Turkish Kofte Kebab with Tomato Sauce & Yoghurt – serves 4

  • 2 pitta breads
  • 750g minced beef or lamb
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 50g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp sumac plus an extra pinch
  • 500g full-fat natural yogurt
  • 2 tbsp butter or extra virgin olive oil
  • 2-3 tbsp pine nuts

FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE:

  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 1 chilli pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 750g tomatoes, peeled and chopped (if it’s not tomato season use the equivalent of good quality tinned tomatoes instead)
  • 1-2 tsp sugar

Start with the tomato sauce. Fry the onion in the oil until soft. Add the garlic and chilli pepper, and stir for a couple of minutes. Add the tomatoes, season with salt, pepper and sugar, and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes until they soften.

Open out the pitta breads, toast until crisp, then break into small pieces with your hands.

Next make the kofte kebabs. Season the mince with salt and pepper, and use your hands to work into a soft dough. Add the onion and parsley and work into the meat. Shape into sausages, about 2cm thick and 7cm long. Arrange on an oiled sheet of foil on a baking sheet and cook for about 8 minutes under a pre-heated grill, turning once, until well browned but still pink and moist on the inside. Or if you prefer (as we do) you can grill on a barbecue.

Spread the toasted pitta pieces over the bottom of your serving dish and sprinkle over a pinch of sumac. Pour the hot tomato sauce all over and top with a layer of yoghurt beaten with a fork.

Heat the butter or oil with the pine nuts and stir in the teaspoon of sumac. When the butter or oil sizzles, sprinkle all over the yoghurt, arrange the meat on top and serve immediately.

(Original recipe from Claudia Roden’s Arabesque, Michael Joseph, 2005.)

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The essentials: River Café Tomato Sauce

Posted in Food, Italian, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , on 8 May 2015| Leave a Comment »

River Café tomato sauce

 

We have two tomato sauces in our repertoire that we rely on; both are delicious but have a slightly different character. This is the one we have adopted from the River Café in London which is quicker (though we wouldn’t describe it as quick exactly) and incorporates a rich onion base. We keep a stack of takeaway tubs full of tomato sauce in the freezer for whenever pizza, pasta, or any other tomato-flavoured dish calls. Top quality tinned tomatoes are essential and we find the Italian brands are best.

Sugo di Pomodoro a Fuoco Lento or Slow-Cooked Tomato Sauce

  • 2 x 800g tins plum tomatoes, drained of their juices
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 medium red onions, peeled and sliced very thinly
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and cut into slivers

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, then add the onions. Reduce the heat and cook until very soft, at least 40 minutes. Add the garlic about 5 minutes before the end.

Add the tomatoes and stir to break up. Season with salt and pepper and cook slowly for at least 90 minutes, giving it a stir every now and again. The oil will eventually come to the surface and the sauce will be dark red and very thick with no remaining juice.

(Original recipe from The River Cafe Cookbook by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers, Ebury Press, 1995.)

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Jerk Pork with Rice & Peas

Posted in Barbecue, Food, Pork, tagged , , , , , on 5 May 2015| Leave a Comment »

Jerk Pork with rice & peas

A great guy called Alistan is a regular in one of our favourite lunch spots, Ukiyo, and we were tipped off that he had his own Jerk marinade, Munroes. We put it on some pork chops and added a Jamaican classic, Rice & Peas (Rice and Beans), which worked brilliantly and we will be definitely giving this marinade a go again. We have subsequently tried it with a few other meats like chicken and lamb and it proved itself very versatile.

If you live in Dublin you can buy Munroes Jamaican Jerk Marinade in Fallon & Byrne. For a full list of stockists see munroes.net.

Jerk Pork with Rice & Peas – serves 6

  • 6 pork chops
  • Monroes Jamaican Jerk marinade

FOR THE RICE & PEAS: 

  • 200g basmati rice
  • 400g can of coconut milk
  • 1 bunch of scallions, sliced
  • 2 large thyme sprigs
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 x 410g cans kidney beans, drained

Pour a generous amount of the Jamaican Jerk marinade over the pork chops and turn a few times to make sure they are well coated. Cover and refrigerate overnight or for at least a couple of hours.

Light your barbecue a good half hour before you’re ready to cook and cook the pork when the coals are white hot. Meanwhile, prepare the rice and peas.

Rinse the rice in plenty of cold water and tip into a saucepan with all the remaining ingredients, except the kidney beans. Season with salt, add 300ml cold water and set over a high heat. When the rice begins to boil, turn the heat down to medium, cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the beans to the rice, then cover with a lid and leave off the heat for 5 minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed.

Serve the rice with the Jerk pork off the barbecue.

(Recipe for Rice & Peas by John Torode for BBC Good Food)

Munroes jerk marinade

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