What Mike Cooks @whatmikecooks - Tumblr Blog

Posts

Shepherd's pie is one of those things that I want to cook a couple of times a year using leftover lamb. Oddly, most of the recipes that I find require raw lamb. This is usually a fairly satisfying recipe.

#recipe #cooking #lamb #pie

Our secret to incredible Chicken Tikka Masala is a salty yogurt-based marinade followed by intense charring on a hot grill.

This was very tasty and I need to make this again!

Lamb shoulder ragù

I'm pretty patient with the ever growing number of ads, stories, popups, auto play videos and other crud on recipe pages. Bloggers have to eat, I guess.

Sometimes it just gets too much though. I'm copying this recipe from here: https://playswellwithbutter.com/braised-lamb-ragu/. There is just too much scrolling for me to deal with. I've made this recipe a handful of times. It is quite a good meal for guest because most of the work can be done ahead of time and it is also quite rich and flavoursome.

I'm still not sure what sort of meat to buy. When I go to the supermarket I can get a full lamb shoulder that is about 2 kg. Or I can buy lamb should chops, which are about 200 g each, often sold in a pack of three.

Whatever I buy it seems to work fairly well but I still get confused every time I try to buy the ingredients.

Ingredients

Lamb ingredients

olive oil

700 g lamb shoulder, excess fat trimmed and diced into 1-inch cubes (see Recipe Notes)

2 medium carrots, finely diced

1 stalk celery, finely diced

1 medium yellow onion, finely diced

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup dry red wine (such as Chianti)

1 cup low-sodium beef stock

2x 400g can crushed tomatoes

2 bay leaves

1 sprig fresh rosemary

8–10 sprigs fresh thyme

kosher salt and ground black pepper, to season

Lamb ragu ingredients

700 g pasta

¼–⅓ cup grated parmesan

¼–⅓ cup cream

Method

Brown the lamb shoulder: Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil to a heavy-bottomed pot with a lid over medium-high heat. Use paper towel to pat the lamb as dry as possible, then season generously with 1 teaspoon each kosher salt & ground black pepper. Add the seasoned lamb to the Dutch oven and cook until deeply browned on all sides, about 2-3 minutes per side. Work in batches as needed to avoid overcrowding the pot, which prevents browning. Transfer the lamb to a plate and set aside. At this point, preheat the oven to 160º C/325º F.

Cook the aromatics: Add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pot & reduce the heat to medium. Once the oil is hot & shimmers, add in the onion, carrots, and celery, seasoning with 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are softened & deeply browned, 15-20 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, stirring to coat the veggies, and cook for 1-2 minutes more, caramelizing the tomato paste.

Deglaze: Slowly pour the red wine into the Dutch oven, using a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits that have formed at the bottom of the pot – that’s where all the flavor is! Let the red wine reduce by about half (this goes by quickly!), then pour in the beef stock, crushed tomatoes, and the herbs. I like to use kitchen twine to tie them into a little bundle for easy removal. Return the lamb to the Dutch oven.

Braise: Cover the Dutch oven and place it in the oven to braise for 2–2 ½ hours. When it’s ready, the lamb should shred very easily – it’ll be tender enough that you should be able to shred it right in the ragu by using the back of a wooden spoon. Remove the Dutch oven from the oven. Remove & discard the spent bay leaves & herbs. Shred the lamb & stir to combine. At this point, you can cool & store for later use (see Recipe Notes for storage & freezing instructions), or proceed with prepping lamb ragu pappardelle or gnocchi (below).

Lamb ragu method

Boil the pasta: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the gnocchi or pasta to al dente according to package directions. Before draining, carefully dip a liquid measuring cup into the pot, reserving about 1 cup of the starchy pasta water & set aside. Carefully drain the pasta (or gnocchi) & set aside – do NOT rinse hot pasta/gnocchi!

Finish the Braised Lamb Ragu sauce: Meanwhile, as the pasta boils, bring the braised lamb ragu to a simmer. Stir in the heavy cream & grated parmesan. Reduce heat to low & continue to simmer, stirring occasionally as needed.

Lamb ragu pasta: Add the al dente pasta or gnocchi to the simmering ragu sauce, tossing to coat such that the pasta is evenly coated in sauce. If the ragu is thick & needs to loosen up some, drizzle in some of the reserved starchy pasta water. If the pasta is loose & needs to thicken up some, sprinkle in some extra grated parm. Cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, until the pasta or gnocchi absorbs some of the ragu & the ragu clings to the pasta or gnocchi beautifully.

Serve: Portion the lamb ragu pasta into individual pasta bowls. Finish with some grated parm or finely chopped herbs as desired. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

#recipe #lamb

These old-fashioned treats pack a lovely, lightly spiced punch.

I quite enjoy eating gingernut biscuits. I have struggled to find a good recipe but this is a pretty good one. Tasty and a good texture. I’m still on the hunt for the perfect biscuit but this is pretty close.

Who doesn't love mushroom risotto? Jamie Oliver's vegetarian risotto recipe grills the mushrooms for a gorgeous, nutty flavour, plus. fresh herbs & Parmesan

I like to make risotto. It’s such a simple dish but there are infinite possibilities. I was looking for a different mushroom risotto from my usual and I happened upon this recipe from Jamie Oliver. The mushrooms are dry-fried and then mixed with lemon juice and herbs – an interesting variation for me.

#recipe #mushroom #jamie oliver #risotto

Gordon Ramsay's butter chicken recipe is so easy to make at home and tastes delicious too. It includes a butter chicken sauce and spice rub

Not sure this is a great butter chicken recipe but I’m saving it here for later. I need to make more Indian food because it is often fairly easy and quite tasty. This recipe is definitely both of those things.

These pasteis de nata, or Portuguese custard tarts, are a specialty of Belem, near Lisbon. The pastries have crisp, puff pastry crusts that

I watched some videos the other day by Iz Harris, about a trip to Portugal. In the first of the series, she talks about Pastéis de Nata, a Portuguese custard tart. She was so excited by them in the video that I thought I should try making them.

They do require quite a lot of work but were so worthwhile. Will definitely make them again sometime.

Here is a picture of my finished product:

This is no simple salad: It’s a multicourse meal on a plate. Its dramatic presentation is part of the allure.

It has been a hot week here in New Zealand so salads were on the menu. This seemed like a tasty but slightly extravagant option. The marinade for the meat was tasty and everything went together quite well.

The recipe was a little hard to follow but should be a little easier the next time: just put everything together in a bowl. And with so many ingredients there were a few things that I didn’t have in the cupboard so they were just omitted.

#salad #recipe #steak #thai salad

When the inspiration tonight was “sausages”, I knew we were in trouble. Additional inspiration came, in the form of “risotto”. Hmmm. Still not good. Anyway, a big of and internet search yielded this wonderful recipe. Unlike any risotto that I have made before. Tasty, spicy, flavoursome. It did take quite a bit longer than the indicated 55 minutes. And seems to serve closer to 8 than 4. But, other than that, it is well worth trying this recipe. I’d probably reduce the amount of chilli flakes slightly, but otherwise it’s a great recipe to try.

#jamie oliver #risotto #recipe

Recently I was given some preserved lemons. A whole jar of them. I didn’t really know what to do with them so I searched the internet for the answer. I had chicken breast and preserved lemons as a starting point. This recipe for Moroccan chicken with preserved lemons and couscous came up. The recipe itself was pretty badly written and all the timing are a little out of order. Apparently, I’m supposed to cook the chicken in the oven and once it comes out, only them am I supposed to start the couscous cooking. The overall result was pretty good. Good lemon flavour and I’ve still got a nice warm feeling in my mouth. I saving this here to make it again, although I’ve still got a large jar or preserved lemons and I’m going to have to find a few more recipes.

#recipe #chicken #lemons #preserved lemons

Balsamic Roasted Pork Loin

Tonight I made possibly one of the best meals I have ever made.

It started out rather innocently.

In the fridge was a pre-packaged pork “sirloin roast”. I didn’t really know what to do with it (although I could’ve just followed the instructions on the package (“roast in the bag for 35 minutes. add the sauce”), so I searched the internet for some options.

I found about three different recipes but liked the look of this one (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/132815/balsamic-roasted-pork-loin/) because of the balsamic tang. However, it needed something called steak seasoning, so I was back to the search box in my browser and found this recipe (http://www.food.com/recipe/steak-rub-39184). I don’t have onion powder or garlic powder in the cupboard so had to make do with what I had.

So this is what I ended up with:

Steak seasoning rub: 2 teaspoons salt (I used some garlic salt, which was my substitute for garlic powder 1 tablespoon black coarse ground pepper 1 tablespoon smoked paprika (my source said sweet paprika but you’ve got to work with what you’ve got) 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 teaspoon cumin powder

These measurements aren’t 100% accurate but they’re close enough to give you a good start

Pork roast 500g pork roast (it was well trimmed with little visible fat) 4 teaspoons steak seasoning rub (from above) 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar 1/3 cup olive oil 3 garlic cloves some rosemary sprigs

Take the steak seasoning rub. Mix it in with the balsamic vinegar until well combined and then add the oil and mix. In some sort of marinating container (I used a zip-lock plastic bag), combine the meat and the marinade. Leave for at least a couple of hours. You should probably add the garlic at this point but I added just before cooking.

After marinating, put the meat in a glass baking dish along with the marinade. Add the crushed garlic and lay some rosemary sprigs on top. Cook for about 40 minutes at 190ºC (longer for a larger piece of meat obviously). Baste the meat occasionally to help infuse the flavour.

To serve, I cooked some potato chunks with smoked paprika. These were great potatoes too so I’ll try to add the recipe here.

Combine: 2 teaspoons smoked paprika 2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoon pepper (coarse) 3 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes

Combine all these and mix with 600g potatoes, cut into decent sized chunks. Coat well and bake for about and hour, shaking occasionally.

This was a great meal but the quantities are probably all out a bit. I’ll have to make this again soon an verify everything. I wasn’t expecting it to turn out so well so didn’t think to take not of my measures.

#cooking #pork #recipe #workinprogress

Hundreds of quick and easy recipes created by Annabel and her online community.

Today for Christmas I had to make a pavlova for family lunch. It has been a few years since I have made one and I think today was my most successful on ever.

It was a good crusty pavlova with a good solid foamy core. Amazing.

As with any pavlova, I’m not sure if the recipe was better then other ones or if I was just lucky. I might have to try it again in a few weeks just to be sure.

#pavlova #christmas #cooking #recipe

Lasagne

We’re making lasagne at home tonight. I’ve got a reliable recipe that we use often but I can’t find a copy online. While making the lasagne, I remembered about a different recipe that I had used a few months ago that might’ve been the best lasagne I’ve ever had.

A bit of a search online took me to the always reliable “How to make the perfect...” series from The Guardian. It’s different from other lasagnes that I have made in the past, because of its use of chuck steak rather than mince. A very tasty variation.

Another recipe to try later might also be this one from the New York Times. It also uses ground meat and the Italian sausage looks like a good variation too.

These two recipes are something to keep in mind for the future. The first one is a proven winner, while the second looks good too.

#food #recipe #lasagne

I've made tarte Tatin a few times. It never turns out great but it's always nice and tasty.

#food #tarte tatin #apple

Delicious oaty ginger slice with rich caramel and ginger flavours. Super quick and easy to make - one of the favourites from Chelsea Winter's cookbook!

A pretty good chunky ginger slice. It’s easy to make and tasty. I find myself going to Chelsea Winter recipes more and more often. They are usually tasty and reliable.

#ginger slice recipe #recipe

A beautiful salad that sings with colour and flavour - tender chicken in a Moroccan spiced marinade with Israeli couscous, pomegranate seeds and a scrumptiously good yoghurt coriander dressing.

Chelsea Winter was the winner of Masterchef New Zealand in 2012. She has been pretty profilic with creating cookbooks full of simple yet tasty recipes.

I made this chicken salad the other day while looking for something light to eat on a warm summery day. It was a little complicated to make with lots of ingredients to deal with (and I forgot to prepare the couscous until late in the process) but the final result was really good.

Would definitely make this again.

#recipe #chicken #Moroccan salad #salad #Chelsea Winter

I bought some green coffee beans a few weeks ago and though I would have a go at home-roasting. It was reasonably successful and I thought I would make a video about it.

#coffee #coffee roasting #howto

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

What Mike Cooks