Recipes
BBQ MARINADES
If you are thinking of using any lesser or tough cut of meat a great tenderizer is fresh papaya, a lot of people may not have heard of this method, but the enzymes known as PAPAIN. Once blended you can add this and rub it into the meat and marinade for anything from 30 minutes to 1 hour. This will break down collagen in the meat. After this process its time for flavor one of my favorites is Kansas style BBQ rub season your meat with smoked paprika, garlic powder, sugar, salt, and onion powder with a dash of oil added to the meat before seasoning and you are ready to BBQ. Recipe quantities vary but using equal parts of each will work or if you like garlic add more if you like paprika then add more, recipes are just guides and not set in stone. Another method we used in BBQ Retail packs was a equal blend of salt, sugar and bicarbonate of soda. This added to any dry spices or seasonings will also tenderize the meat and bring any dull looking steak to a fresh vibrant color. This method should only be for thin steaks and can be left on to marinade over night for best results.
THE PERFECT SUNDAY ROAST
For me, the perfect Sunday roast is a good piece of roast beef, slowly roasted and seasoned with lots of salt and pepper and plenty of butter. For extra flavor add fresh rosemary, thyme, and a small handful of crushed garlic cloves for the last 20mins of cooking. For medium rare beef 20 minutes per kilo. Either a good roast at 190’c or if you have the time brown in a pan of hot butter then place into the oven at 54’c and cook slowly for 3-4 hours. Serve with crispy roast potatoes, boiled carrots in water, salt, sugar, and butter this is known as Vichy carrots, buttered savoy cabbage and a rich gravy from all the roasting juices and cooing water from the vegetables.
RAINY DAY COOKING
There’s nothing better for a rainy day than a nice casserole cooked in the slow cooker, Nice big chunks of beef or pieces of chicken on the bone lightly browned with root vegetables, dusted with some flour and a good glass of depending on the meat red or white wine and some reduced stock. Put on first thing in the morning it can slowly cook away while you get on with your day. Serve with creamy and buttery mashed potatoes there is nothing better
TREATS FOR THE CHILDREN
The best treats for kids would be pretty much anything wit sugar or chocolate. Something I have cooked with my eldest son is a rich chocolate brownie. The perfect brownie should be soft and gooey in the middle. A good thing about a brownie is even if it is slightly overcooked you can call it chocolate cake. I like mine with plenty of ice cream or for a cheeky adult treat some Cointreau cream – here is a good brownie recipe for you guys to try. Melt the butter and chocolate in a Bain Marie, whip the eggs and sugar until double in size, add this to the chocolate mix then gently fold in the dry ingredients Cook at 150’c for 20 minutes.
• 225g of unsalted butter
• 275g of 70% bitter chocolate
• 400g of caster sugar
• 5 eggs
• 200g of plain flour
• 100g of fudge, chopped
• 10g of Cornish sea salt
THE PERFECT WAY TO COOK FISH
The perfect way to cook fish begins with a good fish pan. If your pan isn’t the best nonstick quality, you may struggle alternatively look at using the oven or grill to cook. If you are using a pan get it nice and hot with vegetable oil, then lightly season the skin side of your fish with plain flour and add to the pan. You can see on the sides of the fish that it will change color rising up the sides, once this happens add a small knob of butter and baste over the top of the fish, turn the fish over baste once or twice over the skin then remove from the pan, The residual heat will finish the cooking. All good fish is best served medium where the flesh is slightly translucent and moist in the middle. If using a grill or baking brush the fish liberally with butter, season with salt and pepper and place under a very hot grill or very hot oven and crisp up and cook entirely skin side up.
HERBS AND SPICES
Herbs are at their best when fresh, with any spices although they are dried try not to have them hanging around too much and use them the fresher the best. If using whole seed spices toast them in a dry pan and grind in either a coffee grinder or pestle and mortar and grind them. All aromas and oil are released on toasting. Herbs like rosemary, sage and thyme are the hard herbs and are good added at beginning of cooking, The fine herbs such as chives, coriander, parsley, chervil etc are best cut and added last minute or sprinkled to finish a dish.
COOKING ON A BUDGET
If cooking on a budget look at using chicken thighs, drumsticks or cuts like beef shin and the tougher cuts that require long slow cooking. These are a lower cost per kilo but in all honesty, some are tastier than your expensive cuts as they have a lot of collagen and fat even cooked on the bone these all contribute to far more flavor with the marrow. Slow roasted, pot roasted, grilled or deep fried a lot of these are almost guilty pleasures and very tasty. When it come to vegetables on a budget look at what’s in season or even do pick your own or farmers markets. No pesticides or additives the flavor is far better than mass produced supermarket produce.