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Posts Tagged ‘Shallots’

Salmon with Cajun Spices

Posted in Fish, Food, Gluten-free, tagged , , , , , , , on 30 June 2025| 2 Comments »

Salmon is one of the most popular dishes in our house so it’s nice to find a recipe with some different flavours.

Wine Suggestion: double down on the citrussy aspect when choosing a wine so for this we headed to a Loire Sauvignon Blanc, but not from one of the “big two”, rather an under-rated Menetou Salon made by Anthony Girard at La Clef du Recit. A touch more grapefruit and orange, but with hints of lemon, the freshness really worked well with the salmon.

Salmon with Cajun spices – serves 2

  • 2 salmon fillets, skin on
  • 2 tsp Cajun spice blend
  • 1-2 tbsp olive oil
  • 30g butter
  • lemon wedges, to serve

FOR THE SAUCE:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 banana shallots, finely diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
  • ½ tsp Cajun spice blend
  • 150ml fish stock
  • 150ml crème fraîche
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Score the skin of the salmon with a sharp knife, then sprinkle both sides with the Cajun spice mix and a little salt. Heat the olive oil over a medium heat in a frying pan.

Add the salmon to the hot oil, skin side down, pressing the fillets down with a fish slice. Cook for a few minutes on each side, then remove the pan from the heat.

Add the butter to the pan and baste the salmon with it as it melts. Transfer the salmon to a warm plate and leave to rest while you make the sauce.

Put the frying pan back over a medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Add the shallots and cook for a few minutes, then add the garlic and Cajun spice blend and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the stock to the pan and let it bubble until reduced by half. Stir in the crème fraîche and cook for a minute or two until the sauce thickens. Season and add the lemon juice to taste. Remove from the heat and stir through the parsley.

Spoon the sauce onto warmed serving plates and top with the salmon. Serve with lemon wedges and green beans.

(Original recipe from Tom Kerridge Cooks Britain, Bloomsbury, 2024.)

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New Potato & Green Bean Istoo with Tamarind Shallots

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 2 September 2024| Leave a Comment »

A gently spiced curry that reaches new heights when served with tamarind shallots. We’ll be making it again.

Wine Suggestion: We think this goes really well with a slightly honeyed, just off-dry Chenin Blanc like the Domaine Aubuisieres Vouvray Silex. With a touch of residual sugar this is rounded and smooth. And with the tart tamarind and sweet shallots it’s a joy.

New potato & green bean istoo with tamarind shallots – serves 4

  • 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
  • 10 fresh curry leaves (we buy them in the Asia market and freeze them)
  • 4cm cinnamon stick, broken in two
  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 2cm fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
  • 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 1 green finger chilli, slit
  • 650g baby new potatoes, quartered
  • 1 tsp each of salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 x 400ml tin of coconut milk
  • 250g green beans, trimmed
  • cooked basmati rice, to serve

FORT THE TAMARIND SHALLOTS:

  • 800g banana shallots
  • 400g vine tomatoes
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • ½ tsp black mustard seeds
  • 5 tbsp rapeseed oil
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • 2 tsp tamarind paste
  • 8 fresh curry leaves
  • 1 green finger chilli, slit

Heat the oil for the istoo over a medium heat in a large casserole dish. Once hot, add the curry leaves, cinnamon stick and onion. Cook for 8-10 mintues or until the onion is very soft but not coloured. Stir in the ginger, garlic and chilli and cook for another 2 minutes.

Add the potatoes, salt and pepper, then stir in the coconut milk. Fill the empty can with 100ml of water and add to the casserole. The potatoes need to be just covered so add a little more water if you need. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, then turn down and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the green beans, then cover and simmer until the beans and potatoes are tender – about 5-6 minutes.

FOR THE TAMARIND SHALLOTS:

Preheat the oven to 180C fan/200C/gas 6 and line two large baking trays with foil.

Top and tail the shallots, then cut them in half lengthways and peel off the skin. Put the shallots onto one of the two lined trays, breaking them up a little as you go – they should be in a single layer. Halve the tomatoes and place these on the other tray.

Grind the cumin and mustard seeds together in a pestle and mortar to a coarse powder. Add the oil and salt, then pour over the shallots and tomatoes, mixing with your hands to coat the shallots.

Bake for 25 minutes, turning the trays halfway, then remove from the oven and tip the tomatoes onto the shallot tray and add the tamarind, curry leaves and chilli. Carefully mix with a wooden spoon, then bake for another 5-8 minutes, until they are starting to char here and there. Transfer to a bowl and serve with the istoo and cooked basmati rice.

(Original recipe from East by Meera Sodha, Penguin: Random House, 2019.)

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Crispy Chicken Thighs with Peas and Herbs

Posted in Chicken, Food, Gluten-free, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 27 August 2024| Leave a Comment »

With the erratic weather we’re not doing nearly as much outdoor cooking as we’d usually at this time of year. To keep up our spirits this indoor dish was light and summery. Serve with some new potatoes.

Wine Suggestion: A fun and inexpensive Verdicchio from Umani Ronchi, their Villa Bianchi, which despite it being light and easy going shows the class that the whole range they make has. Summery fun in a glass.

Crispy chicken thighs with peas and herbs – serves 4

  • 8 chicken thighs
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 shallots, halved and sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 400ml chicken stock
  • 300g frozen peas (or freshly podded if possible)
  • 3 sprigs of tarragon, leaves picked and roughly chopped
  • 2 springs of mint, leaves picked and roughly chopped
  • 30g cold butter, cut into cubes

Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6.

Trickle the olive oil over the chicken thighs and season both side with salt and pepper. Heat a large non-stick sauté pan over a medium heat, then place the thighs skin-side down in the pan and leave to cook for 15- 20 minutes or until the skin is crispy and golden brown.

Transfer the thighs, skin-side up, to an oven tray and bake in the oven for a further 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, put the sauté pan back over a medium heat. When it’s hot add the shallots and cook for 3-4 minutes to soften. Add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes.

Pour the stock into the pan and scrape all the sticky bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Bring the stock to a simmer and cook reduce by half. Add the peas and herbs and cook for a few minutes until the peas are tender. Add the cold butter and stir until amalgamated into the sauce.

Remove the chicken from the oven and add the thighs to the pan with the peas, pouring over any juices on the tray. Stir and season with salt and pepper, then serve.

(Original recipe from Tom Kerridge Cooks Britain, Bloomsbury, 2024.)

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Georgian Kidney Bean Salad

Posted in Food, Gluten-free, Side dish, Vegan, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 6 November 2022| 2 Comments »

We’ve made a salad like this before but this one is fresher and makes a great side dish for a crowd. We served it with some spicy baked salmon.

Georgian kidney bean salad – serves 6 to 8

  • 2 x 400g tins kidney beans (we used 300g dried kidney beans, rinse then soak in 3 times the volume of cold water for 5 hours. Drain and put into a saucepan covered by an inch with cold water, then boil hard for 30 minutes, stirring to prevent any sticking)
  • 50g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
  • 2 heaped tsp dried mint
  • 2 banana shallots, very thinly sliced into rings
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp pul biber chilli flakes
  • Maldon salt & fresh ground black pepper

If you are using tinned beans, drain them rinse well under a cold tap to get rid of the briny liquid. Shake the beans dry, then tip into a large bowl.

Add the rest of the ingredints to the bowl and fold together gently, you don’t want to crush the beans. Season well with salt and pepper, stir again and leave at room temperature for 20-30 minutes.

Stir well again before serving.

(Original recipe from Persiana Everyday by Sabrina Ghayour, Aster, 2022.)

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Pot-roast Beef

Posted in Beef, Food, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 14 November 2021| Leave a Comment »

We don’t cook roast beef too often, because we’re lucky enough to have good friends who do! However we liked the look of this one as it all cooks in one pot and so thought we’d give it a go. It’s a very forgiving dish to cook – easy to get right and with loads of veg cooked in the same dish. Some greens on the side is all you need.

Wine Suggestion: A good, honest Bordeaux blend is what works here. For us it was the Chateau Monconseil Gazin from Blaye which always over-delivers in panache and lovely fruit for the value pricing.

Pot-roast beef – serves 4

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 12 shallots, peeled
  • 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
  • 2 large carrots, cut into chunks
  • 400g baby potatoes, halved
  • 2 tsp mustard powder
  • 1kg silverside or beef topside, extra fat removed
  • 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 sprig of thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 150ml red wine
  • 600ml beef stock
  • 2 tsp butter
  • 2 tsp plain flour
  • 1-2 tsp redcurrant jelly

Preheat the oven to 160C/Fan 140C/Gas 3.

Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole dish with a lid. Add the shallots, celery, carrots and potatoes. Cook over a high heat until everything is starting to brown, then remove from the dish with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Mix the mustard powder with salt and pepper, then use this to dust the beef. Add the beef to the casserole and brown on all sides, you can add a little more oil if needed.

Arrange the browned vegetables around the beef, then add the garlic, thyme and bay leaves. Pour in the wine and bring to the boil and allow to bubble for a few minutes, then add the stock and bring to the boil again.

Cover the dish with the lid and place in the oven to 2 hours, turning the beef over halfway through. Remove the beef from the oven and check that it’s tender, then transfer the beef and vegetables to a warm platter and cover loosely with foil.

Knead the butter and flour together to make a paste, then whisk this into the cooking liquid, a little at a time, until thickened. Taste for seasoning, then stir in the redcurrant jelly, to taste. Serve the gravy with the meat and vegetables.

(Original recipe from The Hairy Bikers’ One Pot Wonders by Si King & Dave Myers, Seven Dials 2019.)

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Broad Beans with Pancetta

Posted in Food, Gluten-free, Side dish, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on 10 May 2018| 1 Comment »

Broadbeans with pancetta

A tasty side dish that works at any time of the year provided you’ve a stash of broad beans in the freezer.

Broad beans with pancetta – serves 4

  • 500g frozen broad beans
  • 70g cubetti di pancetta
  • 2 shallots, finely chopped
  • a small bunch of flatleaf parsley, chopped

Cook the beans in boiling water for 2 minutes then drain and remove from the skins.

Fry the pancetta in a dry pan until the fat runs, then turn the heat up and brown well. Add the shallots for a couple of minutes to soften, then add the broad beans to heat through. Stir through the parsley and season before serving.

 

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Pimp Your Peas with Roasted Shallots & Mint

Posted in Food, Gluten-free, Side dish, tagged , , , , , , , , on 2 January 2018| 1 Comment »

Peas with roasted shallots

This is a handy side dish for a roast dinner and adds a bit of interest to a bag of frozen peas, which our freezer is never without.

Peas with Roasted Shallots & Mint – serves 8

  • 550g shallots, peeled and halved
  • 85g golden caster sugar
  • 1 kg frozen peas
  • a bunch of fresh mint, chopped
  • 3 tbsp good quality olive oil
  • juice of ½ lemon

Heat your oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.

Toss the shallots in the sugar. Heat a large ovenproof frying pan until hot, then add the sugary shallots. Cook for a few minutes to caramelise the outside, then transfer to the oven for 5 mins to cook through.

Cook the peas in boiling salted water for 2 mins until tender, drain and mix with the shallots, mint, olive oil and lemon juice. Season and serve.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food.)

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Rare Roast Beef with Rosemary, Bay & Shallots

Posted in Beef, Food, Gluten-free, Roast, tagged , , , , , , , , on 2 October 2016| Leave a Comment »

Roast BeefHow to make friends and influence people – serve them roast beef! We love it rare.

Wine Suggestion: a classic dish requires a classic match; good red Bordeaux. Specifically we love left-bank Bordeaux from a good vintage which has all the power but is never heavy; we don’t want to overwhelm the beef as it should be the star. 2009 and 2010 are surprisingly drinking very well and show how good they are but we’ve found the 2005’s are only just opening up. Interestingly we prefer more youthful vintages with this dish and think that the joy of primary fruit with just a little development makes a better match. For this meal we dug into the cellar and pulled out a Chateau Chasse-Spleen 2005 which was still quite tight and structured but the load of tannin in the wine worked perfectly with the proteins in the beef.

Rare roast beef with rosemary, bay & shallots – serves 4

  • rolled sirloin joint, about 1.1kg
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 4 sprigs rosemary
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 16 shallots
  • 500g baby new potatoes
  • olive oil

Preheat the oven to 220ºC/Fan 200ºC/Gas 7.

Make a bed with the rosemary and bay leaves in the bottom of a large roasting tin.

Smear the beef with mustard, salt and pepper and set on top of the bed of herbs. Make sure the herbs are well tucked in to prevent them burning.

Put the shallots and potatoes around the beef. Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes and shallots and toss with your hands to coat.

Roast the beef in the oven for 20 minutes, then turn down to 190ºC/Fan 170ºC/Gas 5. Cook for a further 20-25 minutes, then remove from the oven and rest for 10 minutes while keeping the potatoes & shallots warm.

(Original recipe in BBC Olive Magazine, March 2011.)

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Mussels in Creamy Sauce

Posted in Food, Shellfish, tagged , , , , , , on 27 February 2016| Leave a Comment »

Mussels in a creamy sauce

We can’t get enough of mussels and love them in any kind of sauce. This is a nice easy one to serve 2 with some crusty bread (or hot chips!).

Wine Suggestion: try to find a good Alvarinho from Vinho Verde in Portugal. We’re big fans of Soalheiro whose wines have a delicious vibrancy and freshness that really work with mussels.

Mussels in a Creamy Sauce – serves 2

  • 1kg mussels
  • 250ml white wine
  • 25g butter
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 parsley stalks
  • few thyme sprigs
  • 3 tbsp finely chopped shallot
  • 100ml single cream
  • 2 tbsp chopped parsley leaves

Scrub the mussels under cold water, scraping off any beards or barnacles. Discard any that are damaged or those that don’t close completely when tapped against the sink.

Put the mussels in a large pan with the wine, butter, bay leaf, parsley stalks, thyme and shallot. Cover, bring to the boil and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the mussels have opened. Drain, keeping the cooking liquor, and discard any mussels that have not opened. Discard the parsley stalks and bay leaf.

Put the cooked mussels into two serving bowls and keep warm. Return the cooking liquor to the pot and boil rapidly until slightly thickened. Now pour in the cream and add the chopped parsley and cook gently until thickened further. Season, then pour over the mussels and serve immediately.

(Original recipe by Greg Wallace for BBC Good Food Magazine, February 2008.)

 

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Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Shallots

Posted in Food, Side dish, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , on 26 January 2015| 5 Comments »

Roasted brussel sprouts with shallots

 

This is one of the many Brussel Sprout recipes that celebrate this much maligned veg. We think that in the right dish and cooked properly they are fab and roasting them with shallots brings out great flavours. A good autumn/winter side dish for roasted or barbecued meats.

Roasted Brussels sprouts with shallots – serves 4

  • 400g Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
  • 350g shallots, peeled and halved
  • 3 tbsp rapeseed oil
  • several sprigs of thyme
  • a squeeze of lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas Mark 5.

Put the Brussels sprouts and shallots into a large roasting dish, drizzle with the oil, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat, then tuck in the thyme sprigs.

Roast for approximately 35 minutes, giving the tray a shake half way through, until everything is crispy and caramelised.

Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice.

(Original recipe from River Cottage Veg Everyday by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Bloomsbury, 2011.)

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