Gammon Berets and Tarragon Chicken

Going through Gran's recipe folder is...ummm.....interesting. Liver risotto? Pork crumble? Or how about some "American Mould"? There are some strong themes running through her collection. She has a dozen recipes for Rhubarb & Ginger jam and nearly as many for Chinese Chews (neither of which I have any problem with). She has an obsession for jellied salads (actually I do remember these from when I was small, particularly something made with lime jelly, carrots, coconut, mandarins and marshmallows - I shudder at the memory). And she seems to have had shares in a pork farm. 

Really, I've never seen so many pork recipes. I had no idea it was so versatile. I found a solitary fish recipe ("Party Halibut") and the first ingredient was "1/2lb of pork pieces". Really? Pork & fish? What kind of parties was she throwing?

I'm going to have to try a few out, even if they don't sound too prepossessing - after all, she must have kept them for a reason. I'm intrigued by "Gammon Berets" - they sound like the paramilitary wing of the Pork Marketing Board. 

I just couldn't face a pork crumble for my dinner tonight, so I went all continental and made Tarragon Chicken instead. This involves industrial quantities of Maille Dijon mustard but it all cooks down to a delicious mild sauce.

Tarragon Chicken

8 small chicken breasts
3 dsp Maille Dijon mustard
1 tsp vegetable stock granules
1 small bunch tarragon, minced
1 small bunch parsley, minced
4 small onions, chopped fine
2 red peppers, sliced fine
2 cloves garlic
1 large glass white wine
1/2pt whipping cream

Fry onion & pepper till soft, add garlic, fry another minute. Add mustard and stock, cook another minute, add white wine, cook 2-3 more minutes. Add cream & herbs, bring to the boil, add chicken breasts and poach for 30 mins.

Gran works her 1920s 'fro

Sad wee day today as we cleared out Gran's flat and moved her stuff to the nursing home. It's a lovely place and we just wanted to make sure it felt as homely as possible for her. We found this fabulous picture of her while we were packing up her things - here she is, working a ludicrously uncomfortable coat and a mad afro on Rutland Street, just off the Ormeau Road in Belfast around 1923-24.

Back with an Ad Hock Soup.....

Photo courtesy of TripAdvisor

I'm back! Right back where I began actually. Back from yet another trip to Side, my favourite Turkish town, with a suitcase full of cheap fags and an empty bank account. Teeth fixed up beautifully by Halile the sainted dentist (again), ate and drank too much (again), went white water rafting for the first time (never again!). I am happy, relaxed, tanned and skint. So very, very skint.

I ate so well in Side but the highlight was definitely Emir's Pansion where we ate the best meze and fabulously fresh fish and lamb followed by perfectly ripe, fresh fruit for about a tenner a head. On two of the occasions we ate Chez Emir he brought us gorgeous soups which I am determined to recreate at home. One was lamb and runner bean, the other lamb and okra, both were soooo rich and simple and good I could have eaten a pan full.

So off to the cut price vegetable section in the supermarket where I found a big bag of mixed carrot, turnip, leek and onion (20p), a bag of chillis (20p) and a bunch of coriander (12p) and fashioned a lovely soup out of them with a bit of cooked ham out of the freezer. Essentially carrot and coriander, but the ham definitely improves it! Nothing at all like Emir's, but that's for another day. A day when runner beans or okra can be found in the reduced section.

Ad Hock soup

1 bag soup mix veg (carrots, leeks, parsips & onions)
1 clove garlic
1 chilli, chopped
2 tsp Marigold stock (or Kuckarek stock, which I think I prefer these days and is very cheap!)
Small bunch of coriander
200g cooked, smoked ham hock

Sweat the veg and garlic in some olive oil at medium high heat for ten minutes, add everything but the coriander plus 4 cups or so of water, bring to boil and simmer for 45 mins, add coriander, liquidise.

Chicken Fajita spice mix

1 tablespoon cornflour
1 tsp Marigold powder OR 1 chicken Oxo cube, crumbled
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon La Chinata hot smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin

Put it all in a plastic bag, put 350-500g sliced chicken breast in, shake to coat. Do your usual Chicken Fajita recipe.* There you are, I just saved you a pound.

*If you don't have one, fry 2 onions, finely chopped, on the highest heat in a tablespoon of oil, stirring constantly till browned, then add 2 roasted skinned red peppers, finely sliced, cook for a few more mins. Decant to a bowl, reheat the pan, add a bit more oil, stir fry the chicken for 5 mins, add the onion mix back in, stir a few mins more while you heat up the wraps, serve with grated cheese, sliced tomato, salad leaves, tomato salsa, sour cream/yoghurt, sliced red onions, sliced avocado, whatever.

Storecupboard Rogan Josh

This is probably the easiest curry in the world. You can get all the ingredients in your supermarket or Asian grocers, there are no tricky techniques, just fry the lamb, stir in the yoghurt, add the spices and forget about it for 2 or 3 hours. It is really authentic tasting and you only need to get hold of two fresh ingredients - two pounds of shoulder lamb (or stewing beef if you prefer) and a pint of Greek yoghurt.

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 lbs lamb shoulder cut into 2 inch cubes

1 pint greek yoghurt
1 tsp cinnamon powder
salt to taste
4 tsp bright red paprika mixed with 1 tsp cayenne pepper
11/2 teaspoon powdered ginger

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp ground fennel
1/4 teaspoon garam masala

Heat the oil in a large pan until it's smoking and fry the lamb for about 5 minutes. Slowly add the yoghurt a dollop at a time, waiting till it is absorbed before adding the rest of the yoghurt. Add all the other ingredients except the garam masala and stir. Then add 1 pint water and put the lot into a medium sized Le Creuset. Cover and cook for 2-3 hours at 170oC or until the meat is tender, stirring occasionally. Make sure there is always some liquid in the pan. Remove the lid and add garam masala. You should have a thick reddish -brown sauce. If the sauce is too thin boil some of the liquid away,

Adana kebab

The kebab to beat at Oz Adana, Side.

Ever since my trip to Side last September I've been trying to recreate the fantastically moreish and savoury quality of the Adana kebab. I extensively roadtested this dish in Side and Manavgat and it was by far my favourite of all the kebabs on the menu - spectacularly juicy and lamby without being heavy. It is not a pretty kebab, but by god it's delicious and filling. I tended to eat one of these bad boys for lunch (around £8 including plenty of wine, starters and sides) and then not really need any further sustenance for the day. This helped make Side the cheapest holiday destination EVER.

My sick days have been productively spent re-reading the works of Arto de Haroutunian, but it took me till today to pick up the book that first introduced me to him and Turkish cuisine when I was about fourteen. And there I found the secret ingredient that makes the Adana kebab work.

"A Turkish Cookbook" can still be picked up reasonably cheaply second hand and I'm sure it won't be long till it joins "Middle Eastern Cookery", "Vegetarian Dishes from the Middle East", "Classic Vegetarian Cookery", "The Yogurt Cookbook" and "North African Cookery" in getting a classy hardback reprint. Brilliantly, Arto supplied me with the missing ingredient for my Adana kebab - suet! This gives the requisite juiciness and bounciness without being heavy. I made some this evening and they have exactly the right bounce and bite. Thanks Arto, you're a star.

Adana kebab
500g minced lamb
50g Atora suet
1 onion, grated
1 egg
3 tsp kofte seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
Salt & pepper

Mix the whole lot together either by hand or in a food processor. Take a walnut sized amount and fry in a griddle pan, flattening the ball out to about a quarter of an inch thickness. Fry both sides for 5-6 mins total or until golden brown. Test for seasoning.

Adjust seasoning as needed then either mould the remainder on to kebab skewers or make lots of little flattened meatballs. Grill or fry and serve with pitta bread, herby green salad, finely sliced red onions and yogurt.

A very Sicilian stuffing

Slices of aubergine sizzling....

 Day 3 of the chest infection and I am at a very low ebb. I staggered out for a bottle of Benylin earlier and the effort half killed me, so nothing else for it but to cook very slowly and ponderously.

When I was getting the cough mixture I picked up some sardine fillets on offer and thought I might make Beccafico - these are sardine fillets stuffed with a rich mix of nuts, sultanas, herbs, spices and cheese. The same stuffing can be used for aubergine involtini, or stuffed rolls.

These are both great examples of Sicilian "cucina povera" - the cuisine of the poor. The Sicilians have the most amazing tradition of making exceptionally sophisticated and complex meals from very cheap ingredients. Breadcrumbs, chilli, garlic, fennel, tomatoes, raisins, spices and lemons feature strongly. The original Beccafico were little game birds who fed on figs and which, roasted and stuffed with a sweet and spicy breadcrumb mix, were a great delicacy amongst Sicilian noblemen. The working class used the same stuffing to fill sardines and in doing so created a dish even better than the original. They are like a very rich and exotic version of rollmops and indeed I'm sure you could treat herring the same way.

I spent one of the best holidays of my life in Sicily about ten years ago, touring the island with my new partner. We returned a few years later for our honeymoon in Taormina and the island holds a very special place in my heart. So no surprise that when I'm feeling a bit down and need cheering up with some cheap and sunny food that I turn to Sicily.

Involtini & Beccafico happily co-existing

The involtini are every bit as good as the sardines and both can be cooked together in the same dish if needed (though you may find they need separated if you have a vegetarian to feed). I'm scarfing the lot so I don't care. You can use the same stuffing for chicken or pork escalopes or very thin slices of swordfish or tuna too.


Involtini stuffing
6 slices of bread from a pan loaf made into breadcrumbs
1 onion, finely chopped or grated
25g sultanas
15g each fresh mint, parsley & dill, finely chopped
Either 2 tablespoons of Muhamarah or 1 tbsp toasted pine nuts, 2 cloves of garlic (mashed), 1tsp chilli powder and 1 tsp garam masala or similar mixed together with olive oil to bind.
75g Parmesan or Pecorino
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper


Fry the breadcrumbs,onion, sultanas and herbs in a very little olive oil on a medium heat until the mixture is golden - about 15 minutes. Cool, add other ingredients and use to stuff vegetables, fish or meat of your choice. Sardine fillets just need stuffed and baked for half an hour. Aubergines need cut lengthwise and griddled first, then drained on kitchen towel to remove as much oil as possible. The stuffing recipe above filled nine sardine fillets and two large aubergines cut lengthways into 13 slices. The whole lot packed neatly into a standard lasagne dish. Excess stuffing was sprinkled on the top and it was baked at 180oC for 30 mins. Sprinkle the Beccafico with lemon juice before devouring. These were all extremely delicious and rich and this amount would feed six people as part of a Sicilian menu with some salad, bread and a pasta dish. As it is the two of us will be wading through them for a few days.