* Rumour has it it's a chippy large enough to cast a fishing rod in. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
I'm a personal chef to the owners of a 17th century castle but always appreciate new ideas and recipes.
If they did it was on a Caribbean island with fire bread cooked on the beach served by locals with white rum...yup they are that kind of people lol..but brilliant to work for.
I’m at my daughter’s wedding FOTB duties today, we stayed at a hotel yesterday so popped out to a chippy for tea. I got a large haddock, large chips and mushy peas from a place called “ The catch “ in north cave. I tell you what it was bloody marvellous, ordered a pint from the pub next door and sat at a table outside the chippy drinking me pint waiting for my tea. It’s very busy there but was well worth the wait…..The ceremony today I read out my speech which included a poem I wrote for my daughter called “ my little girl is not so small anymore “ there were a few tears in the house. Someone told them I’d written a Cpl of books and came up to ask for one. Missed a right trick there lol. The venue was “ the little wold vineyard “ although not that big it was really well done by them. I hate red wine with an absolute passion but their red is literally the first I’ve ever drank I didn’t want to throw up after. Bought a pack of 6 bottles for Christmas…I was hoping to meet the owner who is apparently very into poetry but alas his wasn’t there. I’d recommend that place if all you wanted to do was have a drink and bite to eat..on a personal note my little girl looked amazing and a few tears were wept by norm…..
This was a big experiment. Sweet satay chicken, could serve this as a dessert haha. Chopped up thighs, marinated in coconut milk with honey, juiced and zested lime, galangal, crushed garlic and soy sauce. Air fried the chicken and cooked the leftover marinade down into a thick paste like sauce to drizzle over. Thai sticky rice would have been the perfect accompaniment but I don’t have one of those silly hats to cook it in.
Did this chicken 'staff' curry the other night. It was very nice indeed. I've also finally nailed how to cook rice, after some advice from a Bangladeshi work mate. Just cook it like pasta. Plenty of water. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't over cook and drain once done. Non of that one part rice to two parts water ****e and no more burnt rice stuck to the bottom of the pan.
Pressure cooking rice is probably the easiest and fastest way. I have a rice cooker that just makes it perfect. The trick is to stir it all up once it’s cooked, being careful to be as quick as you can and lose the lowest amount of steam, then let it rest for 10-15 minutes and it will be nice and fluffy. If you’re making oily ‘plain’ Turkish/greek style rice add an absolute **** load of butter or oil before stirring. Most grains need a good generous rinse before cooking too.
Yeah you can't argue with a rice cooker. I just try not to have too many pieces of specialist equipment in the kitchen. The aforementioned technique has worked a treat for me. But would be easy to over cook it if you get distracted.
Got one of those Ninja air fryers you can also use as a pressure cooker and that does rice spot on. If doing risottos you can use the sear function for the onions then put in the rice, stir it and add chicken and whatever else you want, add water, lemon juice and the pressure function and it is delicious. Wouldn’t do risottos the traditional way, far too much faffing about and time consuming. Instantpots do rice very well also.
You know what, those pre done basmati rices that you microwave are great. I don't mean the ones in sachets like Tilda or Uncle Ben. The ones in the teardrop shape plastic tubs, and the cheaper the better, like 70 pence from Aldi. The trick is don't microwave them. Fry it in a nonstick pan - no oil - on a lowish heat for 5 or so minutes.
I’ve got one, it’s a proper bit of kit. I probably use it more for rice than the rice cooker because it’s just faster and easier and the ninja is always to hand. But the rice cooker is better, which is a shame because I was hoping to get rid of it, but just can’t bring myself to
As always cooking should be about personal preference and time honoured traditions. I like cooking risotto the traditional way, on the hob, slowly adding liquid one glug at a time, starving it of too much fluid in order to allow it to slowly absorb the flavours, stirring constantly, adding ingredients relative to their cooking time, lovingly checking its consistency, over a twenty minute period. Not because I think it improves the taste but because it gives me the time to consume the 7/8th of the bottle of Pinot Grigio that I didn't sling in the pot in the first place.
