#experi mental

[magnieto92]

[adamstraker]

Bacon Pesto

Introduction:

After many years of trying, I can now, with reasonable confidence, claim to have invented something. It's not earth-shattering, but it does involve bacon.

During the course of the summer, I began to realise that bacon, with its inimitable salty meatiness (steady) and tendency to become deliciously crispy in the oven can be deployed as a seasoning.

I've since used it in soups and passatas but found that bacon-as-a-seasoning can be used as part of a pesto. Here's how.

Ingredients:

- A generous handful of baby spinach

- A  generous handful of flaked almonds

- 2 or 3 rashers of bacon

- 2 cloves of fresh garlic

- A tin of crushed tomatoes or bog-standard passata in a jar

Required Utensils:

- A sharp knife

- A cutting board

- An oven preheated to 205C/400F

- A baking tray

- Some foil

- A plate

- 2 or 3 sheets of paper towel

- A pair of tongs

- A flat frying pan

- An oven hob

- A small bowl

Method:

Line your baking tray with the foil and then lay out the bacon before popping it into the oven. Set your timer for 25 minutes.

Get your frying pan and plonk it on the hob on a medium heat before adding your almonds. Move them every 30 seconds or so until they begin to turn a nice toasty brown colour - this will happen suddenly so don't get caught by surprise and end up overdoing them. When ready they should look something like this:

Now, head over to your chopping board and set about preparing your pesto in the same way that I described in previous posts. Start by roughly chopping your garlic cloves before adding some of your spinach leaves and chopping some more. Do the same with your toasted almonds and repeat.

At some stage, before you've got too far into the chopping process, your bacon should have served its time in the oven and be nice and crispy - if it's not then leave it in the oven for a couple more minutes and be sure to keep an eye on it so as to avoid burning. When you take it out, line your plate with the paper towel and then transfer the bacon onto the plate with the tongs. Fold the towel over the top of the bacon to absorb as much of the fat as possible. The bacon needs to be nice and dry before it can be used.

Once your bacon is dry and has cooled a bit, you should be able to crumble it a little. Do so onto your cutting board and then begin to incorporate into your chopping routine until the bacon has been chopped as finely as everything else.

You will know that you have finished your chopping when you can push your ingredients together to make the pesto cake, which should look something like the below:

Now all you need to do is pop your ingredients into a bowl and stir in your crushed tomatoes. Do so a little bit at a time until you get something that looks like this:

And That's It!

If this is all I ever contribute to the world, I would be pretty disappointed but hey, it's a start.

Enjoy!

[adamstraker]

Indian Fusion Arancini

Introduction:

If Sicily and India were to somehow encounter one another and make sweet, sweet love, the bastard child of their coitus might taste something like this.

Traditionally, Arancini - a Sicilian fried risotto ball that is coated in breadcrumbs - is supposed to be stuffed with meat and tomato sauce and mozzarella and, perhaps, served on a bed of wild rocket with red pesto. I myself have served it like this on many occasions. However, with a couple of substitutions, Arancini is a blank slate with which one can get really creative.

Here, we're going to look at how to add a decidedly sub-continental lilt to this traditional Sicilian street-snack!

Ingredients:

For your risotto

- 500g risotto rice

- 1000ml coconut cream

- 2 x tsp ground cardamom

- 1 x tsp tumeric

- 1 x tsp paprika

- A great lug of vegetable oil

- 1 x large free-range egg

For your coating

- About 200g fresh breadcrumbs

- 2 x beaten free-range eggs

- 1 x tsp cinnamon

- 1 x tsp dried chilli flakes

- 1 x tsp cumin

- Lots of vegetable oil for deep frying

For your filling

- 1/2 a sweet potato- finely chopped

- 2 x medium carrots - finely chopped

- 100g frozen peas

- 1 x small onion - finely chopped

- 4 x cloves of fresh garlic - finely chopped

- 1 x tbsp ginger root - finely chopped

- 1 x red chilli - finely chopped

- 1 x tsp tumeric

- 1 x tsp black mustard seeds

- 1 x tsp garam masala

- 1 x tsp salt

- A squirt of lemon juice

- 20g fresh coriander - finely chopped

Required Utensils:

- 1 x large saucepan

- 1 x wooden spoon

- 1 x measuring jug

- 1 x ladle

- 2 x large bowls

- 1 x shallow tray

- 1 x cutting board

- 1 x sharp knife

- 1 x large, deep frying pan

- 1 x pair tongs

- 1 x large plate

- Someone with a lot of patience to clean up after you

Method:

Arancini is great to prepare as an accompaniment as there can be quite a bit of waiting around involved and this is time that can be used to prepare other things. The first thing that you must do, before anything else, is prepare the risotto rice.

Prepare the coconut cream and combine in the measuring jug with your spices. Heat your oil in the bottom of the saucepan. When the oil is hot, add your risotto rice and then gently cook for a few minutes.

Now add your coconut cream. I recommend doing this gradually, ladle by ladle, only adding more when the liquid has been fully absorbed.

This might take some time and it will need to be looked after constantly but don't get discouraged if it appears that your rice is not cooking; just keep on going until all your liquid has been added and absorbed and your grains are tender and creamy.

Remove from the pan and leave in a bowl until it cools down sufficiently to handle. While you are waiting for this, you might want to get started on the preparation for your filling i.e. chopping etc.

Once your rice has cooled somewhat, add your egg to the rice mix and mix together with your hands. This is really messy and, therefore, lots of fun - a sign of things to come! You should then have something that looks like this:

Next, you need to prepare your filling.

Boil your carrots and sweet potatoes until tender - this should take about 15 minutes for the potatoes and 2/3 of the time for the carrots but keep an eye on them, use your discretion and take them off the boil when they are as soft as you want them to be.

In your frying pan, heat up some oil and then add your onions, garlic, ginger and chilli. Sauté for 5 minutes before adding your spices. Leave for about a minute to allow the aromas to go wild and then add your potato, carrots and lemon juice. Sauté for 2 or 3 minutes to allow everything to heat through before stirring in your coriander and peas. The results should look something like the below:

Now turn off the heat, allowing the residual heat to cook your peas - there is nothing worse than an overdone pea! Remove and leave to one side in a bowl.

By now, your risotto should have chilled so you can start making your risotto balls. This might seem difficult but anyone who has played with plasticine can do this - it just requires a more gentle touch.

Set everything up next to the sink. You will need your bowl of risotto rice, your bowl of filling, your large plate and wet and very clean hands.

Now, take a bit of the risotto mixture in your hand and spread across your palm. It should look something like this:

You will now need to spoon some of the filling on top of the rice. An amount comparable with the below should do the trick:

Take a similar amount of rice in your hand, do your best to flatten it against your palm and then place on top of the filling. You should now have your filling sandwiched between 2 layers of rice. Close your hands around the sandwich and gently roll into a ball - exactly as you would do when making a plasticine ball. It is likely that you will be able to see the join between the 2 sides and that bits of the filling will try to escape. If thee are holes that cannot be eliminated by rolling between your hands then simply plug the gap with more risotto rice.

Eventually, you should have something that looks like this:

Once you have made all your balls, pop them back in the fridge for another hour or so and spend the time as you see fit. I usually spend this time panicking about the mess that I've made.

Once you have finished panicking and noted that, for all the fretting and waving of arms, the mess will not go away, you might just about be ready to coat your balls (snigger snigger).

My preferred method is to tip my bread crumbs into a shallow tray that has a wide surface area for optimal rolling. To the breadcrumbs, add your spices and make sure that they are evenly mixed in. Now, beat your egg in a bowl and you are ready to begin.

The act of coating is easy, fun and very, very messy. Simply take a ball, dip it in the beaten eggs and then roll around in the crumbs and spices until it has been fully coated, then set to one side. Repeat for all your balls until they all resemble the below:

In your deep frying pan, heat your oil on a high heat. I usually add about half an inch of oil - or perhaps slightly less. Once the oil is really hot, pop your balls into the oil (more sniggers and, perhaps, the odd grimace) and fry until the breadcrumbs have turned a nice golden brown. You will need to tend to them throughout the process so that all sides are evenly cooked and nothing burns. Serve immediately. Mine looked like this:

And That's It!

The above image is the usual way in which I serve Arancini - on a bed of wild rocket, topped with some of my home-made daal and garnished with finely chopped coriander leaves. This snack is delicious, easy and fun to make and is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser with family and friends alike.

Enjoy!

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Timeless-I enjoy this song very much, and I've had it so long, I have no idea how I forgot to upload this one! D: Anywho, here it is. The Age-Old song 'o mine! I just hope you like it as much as I do.