Author: Notnick

Italian Meatballs

Serves 10 to 12

  • 3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
  • 6 tablespoons whole milk
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 medium onions, finely chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, preferably chuck
  • 1 1/2 pounds ground pork
  • 3 large, whole eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano
  • 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
  • Dried breadcrumbs, for work surface
  • Olive oil, for frying

Directions

  1. Place breadcrumbs in a small bowl. Drizzle the milk over and let stand until absorbed.
  2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic; cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
  3. Place the ground meats in a large bowl. Add breadcrumb mixture to meats along with the reserved onion and garlic, whole eggs, yolks, parsley, oregano, and cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Using your hands, mix until just combined.
  4. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over work surface. Roll 3/4 cup meatball mixture into a thin strip, about 12 inches long; repeat 3 more times. Line strips next to one another; sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Cut strips into 1-inch lengths. Repeat process with remaining meat mixture.
  5. Working in batches, transfer 1-inch pieces to a large sieve; sprinkle lightly with breadcrumbs to prevent sticking. Toss until pieces become round and form meatballs.
  6. Lightly coat the bottom of a large frying pan with olive oil; set over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook meatballs until browned and cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain. Repeat with additional oil and remaining meatballs.

Use these in a pasta sauce, or lasagne.

recipe borrowed from Martha Stewart’s site.

Chicken Piri Piri

First, make the piri piri sauce. Don’t buy Nando’s.

Next, take chicken- drumsticks, thighs, quarters – whatever you fancy, but skin on. The darker meat is nicer. Slash the meat and skin, and rub in a little of the piri piri sauce into the skin, and into the cuts. About 3 tablespoons of piri piri will do a whole chicken, cut up into portions.

The easiest way to do this is to put it all into a plastic food bag, and massage it through the plastic.

Let it all marinade for at least a couple of hours, then cook it all on a BBQ. If you must, cook it in an oven, but it’s not as good!

Piri Piri Sauce (aka Massa pimentao)

In Portugal, in every bar and restaurant you can get piri piri chicken, cooked on an open BBQ. It’s fantastic! On holiday I looked round for a Portugese recipe book to find out how to make piri piri. I found one, and it’s the coolest ingredient list ever:

Take:

1kg of red chilis (pimento traditionally, but a a mix of heats is nice)
1 cup of salt
1 clove of garlic

Rough chop the chillis into discs (keep the seeds in) and put the chillis into a stoneware pot. I suggest you wear some rubber gloves for this bit, because after chopping 1kg, you’re going to have chilli on your hands for a long time.

Mix the cup of salt into the chopped chillis. Put the lid on the pot, and leave it for 10-14 days. Every day take the lid off, stir the chillis and put the lid back. The chillis will go soft and shrivvled, and semi-disolved salt and juice will collect in the jug. The smell is immense!

After the 10 to 14 days take the contents of the pot and blend it to a fine paste, along with the clove of garlic.

Put the paste into jars, and cover with a layer of olive oil to store.When you want to use some of the sauce, take out a couple of spoons full, and make sure it’s covered with oil.

Peanut Bars

  • 225 g butter or margarine, melted
  • 170 g digestive iscuits crumbs
  • 240 g icing sugar
  • 260 g peanut butter
  • 250 g milk chocolate
  • 65 g peanut butter

In a medium bowl, mix together the butter or margarine, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners’ sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9×13 inch pan.

In a metal bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave, melt the chocolate with the peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread over the prepared crust. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

Potato & Sausage Bake

30 minutes preparation time
1 hour 5 minutes cooking
time
819 Kcal per portion
59.7g fat per portion of which
26.8g is saturated
4 servings
Baking potatoes 900g (2lb), peeled and cut into 1cm (%in) dice
Onions 2 large, peeled and halved, each half cut into three lengthways and the wedges fanned
Smoked pork sausage rings 2 x 227g, each one cut into thick diagonal slices
Butter 50g (2oz), melted Olive oil 2 tbsp
Mixed dried herbs
1-2 tsp
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Single cream 4 tbsp
Cheddar cheese 75g
(3oz), grated
Torn flat-leaved parsley
to garnish

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/ Gas 6. Put the potatoes into a large saucepan, cover with cold water and add a little salt. Bring to the boil and cook for 2 minutes. Pour into a colander and drain well.

Transfer the potatoes to a large baking dish, or small roasting tin, add the onions, sausage slices, butter, oil and herbs. Season lightly with salt and mix well. Cover with a lid or foil and bake for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove the baking dish or roasting tin from the oven and uncover it. Drizzle the cream over the potato mixture, season with freshly ground black pepper and then sprinkle with the cheese.

Increase the oven temperature to 220°C/425°F/Gas 7. Return the potato and sausage bake to the oven and continue cooking for a further 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown and the potatoes are cooked. Serve hot, sprinkled with parsley.

Salsa Verde

This is a full flavour sauce that goes really nicely with oily fish fresh from the bbq. It’s pretty flexible, so if you haven’t got everything, you can chop and change a little. The basic bits are the capers, anchovies and gherkins, then a bunch of herbs. Salty herby sharpness.MMMMmmm.

This recipe is borrowed from Jamie Oliver, his mix has mint in, which really lifts the flavour. I’m using less garlic though. It’s raw and can overpower.

1 clove of garlic, peeled
1 small handful of capers
8 small dill pickled gherkins (cornishon size)
6 anchovy fillets
1 tblspn Dijon mustard
3 tblspn white wine vinegar
8 tblspn olive oil
2 handfuls of flat-leaf parsley
1 handful of fresh basil
1 handful of fresh mint

Finely chop the herbs, capers and gerkins by hand, and mix in the other ingredients in a small bowl. all done. Yum..

Hot Smoked Salmon

This is a tricky one to get right, and depending on the stove, and the pot you use, you may need to tinker with the recipe a little.

What you need.

Salmon steaks, 4 is a nice number
Oak, hickory or apple wood chips (sold in the BBQ section)
Brine (salty water)
Tin foil
A large stock pot, with a lid.

First thing. mix up a cold brine, with as much salt as you can dilute.

Leave the salmon in the brine for about an hour. No longer, or it’ll get too salty, and too dry.

Next, time for smoking. On the bottom of the stock pot, put some tin foil. on top of the tin foil, put a layer of wood chips. Put the pan on a high heat with the lid on. Eventually, it will start to smoke. This is good.

Make some long strips of foil, folding it over so that it’s a ribbon about the same width as the salmon (12 inches long, 3 inches wide). You’ll need one for each piece of salmon. Put the salmon on the middle of the foil and fold the rest up to make a handle.

Open the lid of the smoking pot, drop the salmon on top of the wood chips. You’ll probably be able to get four side by side.

Put the lid on quickly, other wise the house will smell of smoke for days.

Leave it in there for 8 minutes, then retrieve it. (This is where the foil handles come in useful.)

Serve immediately, with a hollandaise sauce, or salsa verde. It’s great as a starter or main.