International Inspiration!

Currently Listening to: "Shosholoza" - Black Umfolozi

Whilst looking at my visitor stats earlier I noticed an huge increase in international readers for my blog. As I looked at all the different nations I thought "What is the national dish of New Zealand?!" This gave me the idea to once a week attempt a different national dish, but I need your help!

Please can everyone leave a comment (or send me an e-mail) saying:

1) What country you come from

2) What you consider to be your national dish.

I will then work my way through this list week by week.

Hope to hear from you all soon!

Mike

Not quite what I promised...

Currently watching: "Master Chef!"

As promised I am writing my 2nd blog of the day. However after deciding what to make for the starter circumstances changed and I was told to fend for myself on the condition I only used food in the fridge, rather then opting for the easy way out and heading straight for the freezer.

After looking at a nearly empty fridge for about 10mins I made one of my healthy favourites:

Cajun Salmon Caesar Salad (without anchovies because there weren't any in the fridge...!)




Caesar Sauce

Double Cream
Pinch of salt
a squirt of lemon juice
half a teaspoon of parmesan cheese
some crack pepper
2 teaspoon cottage cheese (this is my own personal twist, some people don't like this!)


This is a simple way to whip up a quick Caesar sauce:

Whip the Cream, salt and lemon juice together. One the mixture thickens a little mix in the rest of the ingredients.

Job Done!

The Rest of the Dish

Pre-oven to 200C, take a Salmon Fillet and dust with Cajun seasoning and place in pre-heated oven for 15-20mins (depending on size). Whilst the Salmon is in the oven make your salad...

I used half a baby gem lettuce, peppers, cucumber and baby tomatoes. With the baby gem Lettuce I tossed in a drip of Farrington's "Blackberry and Vinegar Dressing". I was introduced to this dressing by my sister sometime ago but haven't been able to buy it as it was only sold local to her. However much to my delight, last week my local Waitrose started selling it along side there other new British produce. Yet another success story for real British cottage industry food mixing it with the big boys!



Anyway back to the dish in question... make salad on a baby gem base and add sauce. Sit down and enjoy!

I'll blog again very soon - promise.

...and the worst food and drink gadget award goes to...

Currently Listening to: "Bernstien: Westside Story Suite" - Joshua Bell

I was browsing the newly redesigned Tastespotting.com and I spotted a post about the following invention:

Ladies and Gentleman I am proud to present the "Gourmet on a Grant Worst Food and Drink Gadget 2008 Award" to -

Wine Glass Holder Necklace

from wineenthusiast.com

Now I can sort of see the point if you're speed-wine tasting (like speed-dating but with wine. I'm sure they must do it in a America, if not I'm claiming the idea) and walking from table to table with the same glass whilst trying to write in your note pad. However the website is trying to sell it as a dinner party accessorise?!

"Keep your hands free at parties by keeping your wine close at heart! This clever little clip with adjustable strap holds a regular-size stemmed glass to your chest, giving you the freedom to snack and socialize as you sip!" wineenthusiast.com

No prizes for guessing in what country the website is based that is trying to sell this gadget to make stuffing your face with free canapés easier!

Also, isn't this invention particularly a bad idea for all you white wine drinkers out there? The glass will have more contact with your body, therefore warming your previously perfectly chilled measure of wine...

Anyway, must dash as I have the night off work tonight so I told Mum that I'd make a starter (which I will blog, honest) to go with the salmon that she's cooking for dinner tonight. Haven't even thought of what to make... Good job our Tesco is 24hrs!

Mike

New Job!

Currently Listening to: "Il Postino (main theme)" - Luis Enríquez Bacalov

Firstly I better start off with a HUGE apology as I haven't blogged for over a month... It's been a stupidly busy time for me recently, and because I'm living at home I don't cook as much as I do when I'm at uni.

Anyway, today I started a new part time job in a little restaurant called "Michael's". I initially applied for a job as waiting staff but they noticed on my CV that I had some kitchen experience so they offered me a job as Sous Chef. I obviously bit their hand off as the Chef -Patron (Michael Wichmann - it gets a bit confusing as myself the other assistant chef and the the chef-patron are called Mike) has worked at some of the worlds leading restaurants and has a couple of Michelin stars under his belt.

Well I thoroughly enjoyed my first shift and is by far the best kitchen I've worked in to date, all the food is prepared from fresh produce and there isn't a freezer in sight! I only took a picture of my first copy cat creation (Michael's signature desert) Chocolate Moose. Basically homemade white and milk chocolate mouse stacked and sandwiched between thin wafers of dark chocolate with a few raspberries thrown in for good measure. My decoration could do with a bit of work but I was generally pleased with this first attempt...

If anyone is up in Birkdale in the coming weeks for the British Golf Open it's well worth booking a seat in this great little place for some fantastic food (I know I'm a wee bit bias but hey!).

Speak soon

Mike

White fish?!

Currently Listening to: "Folk Song Suite" - by R. Vaughan Williams

Firstly I need to say a HUGE sorry for not posting of a while, but I've been über busy over the past month and haven't had the chance to cook anything new or exciting besides the odd BBQ!

Well, last night a mate invited me around to his house again and yet again he couldn't be bothered cooking so I had free range of his kitchen and ingredients. Unfortunately the only meat I could find was a Tesco bag of frozen fish quite ominously labelled "White Fish" and of which the ingredients were "White fish, water".

Now we're no sure what the fish was but it was quite nice considering...

Considering the lack of meat the cupboards were stocked quite well for veg so I ended up doing some roasted Med Veg with an orange and dill sauce. Now I know orange is never normally served with fish but it really did work well.

Cooking the fish

Especially when cooking from frozen I find the best way to fillets of fish is to blast them in the microwave for 1min 30s each side with a knob of butter and seasoning onto (obviously the timing is dependant on what power microwave you have and the sixe of the fillet) then I seal the pieces off by very quickly pan frying them.

The Med Veg

Med Veg is really very simple. Simple dice your veg (I usually use red & white onions, peppers, cherry tomatoes, courgettes, carrots and button mushrooms) in to big pieces and put into a deep roasting tray. Chop some tarragon and sprinkle over the veg, and then cover in olive oil. Put into a pre-heated oven at 200c and leave to roast for 20-25mins stirring at regular intervals.

Don't worry about making too much as it is always nice to eat the next day cold, and especially in a ciabatta roll with green pesto.

The Sauce

For the sauce I thought I'd experiment a bit by blending olive oil, with a bit of orange juice, Bols Orange Liqueur and some Dill and heating slowly in a pan. This was the most simple and impromptu sauce I've ever done but it really tasted great!

Yet again my mates were please with the ready steady cook style meal I cooked for them, I think it helped the meal was washed down with a nice bottle of Wolf Blass.

That's it for now; I promise to post again soon

Mike

More Charity...

Currently Listening to: "You can't always get what you want" - Rusted Root
As well as doing the Cardiff Half Marathon in October I'm also doing a Jailbreak next month...

This is how it works:
In a team of 3, we have to get as far away from RAF Woodvale (nr Liverpool) and back again in 60hrs without spending a single penny!

We get points for every mile travelled, task completed and pound donated. So, the further we get and more we rasie for "Cash for Kids" the better the chance we have of beating the 9 other competing teams!

So please visit our online donation page to help us on our way. Also if anyone has any contacts in the commercial aviation field as we are trying to blag a flight out of the country...

You can also follow our progress on our Jailbreak blog.


I promise to blog some food again soon :p


Mike

Sorry!

Currently Listening to: "Drive" - Incubus

Just a quick blog to say sorry! I've been stupidly busy with composing and a part time job and seriously haven't had the time to cook anything blog worthy...
Although evenone at work keeps commenting on how adventurous my lunchboxes are!

Hope everyone is ok

Mike

Pre-run food: The ugly duckling of the food world!

Currently listening to: "Against all the Odds" - Phil Collins

As mentioned in previous blogs I'm doing a half marathon in October. Well training is in full swing now and I can comfortably run longer distances, all I need to do is bring the pace up to race speed... I'm at my parents this week so I have nothing to do so I'm going to have a go at a 9 mile run. When I was younger I was a member in the GBR Youth Sailing Squads and this taught me all I need to know about pre-event nutrition so I'm applying the same rules to my running, so for my lunch today I made a high slow release carb meal with a bit of saturated fat to help.

The theory is if I have this meal about 90-mins before I go on the run the carbs will start releasing energy shortly after I start and will keep releasing them throughout the run. I'll also take some bananas with me as a source of quick release carb.

Anyway enough of the nutrition babble...

Bacon, Mushroom, Chilli & Tomato Pasta


Now it doesn't take a genius to workout how i made this one!

Fry all together whilst the pasta is cooking!

Anyway, my 90-mins is up. Better go on this run :(

Naked Bolognese

Currently Listening to: "Queen Symphony - Mvnt 3" - Tolga Kashif

I woke up really early this morning (not like me) so my body clock is all messed up and I ended up having lunch at 11.20! Today I made a classic that I haven't made for ages Penne Bolognese, my housemates always comment on how it's the best Bolognese ever. Considering half of one of my housemate’s family is Italian and she spends most of her holidays in Southern Italy I think it's quite a compliment. Anyway enough bigging myself up...!

Today I made my "Naked Bolognese" which is my simplest yet most loved version of my recipe.

Normally I'd make my own sauce with fresh tomatoes but I hadn't got enough in to make a sauce so I went for second best, Tomato Passata.

• Fry some very finely chopped (I used a blender to get them very fine) onions and one crushed clove of garlic.
• One the onions and garlic are just about cooked add the whole carton of passata and break up an oxo cube into the mix.
• Add a large pinch of oregano and chopped coriander, then leave to simmer for 5 mins.
• Whilst the Sauce is simmering fry your mince with a splash of Worchester Sauce at the being and once the mince is starting to brown add the smallest splash of ruby port.
• Mix the sauce and mince together then serve on any pasta.

The thing I've learnt recently with this recipe that less really is more, don't drown your mince in sauce, just use enough to cover the mince.

Enjoy

Rocky Roadkill

Currently listening to: A choral piece I started working on today! Don't normally listen to my stuff after I've stopped composing for the day but one little bit is nagging me so i need to listen to it over and over to try and solve it! Anyway I've uploaded an extract of some of the piece, sorry about the high pitch buzz, windows movie maker is playing up. Please click here

Anyway; I've been using a lot of creative juices today whilst composing so I needed a HUGE sugar boost. Also we're my house is watching the BAFTA awards tonight (looking out for ex-college people in Cranford and Gavin & Stacey) so I wanted to make a snack for us to dip into all night...

Rocky Roadkill

My rocky roadkill is a variation on a rocky road cake; just replace the cherries and raisins with Jelly Babies! This makes it full of sugar so I also omit the the syrup that I normally use to make it more sticky.

700g Milk Chocolate
4 small bags of Malteasers
1 large bag of chopped Marshmallows
2 bags of Jelly Babies

Melt all the chocolate (I use the microwave, stirring frequently)
Cover deep baking tray with foil and pour 1/3 of the melted chocolate to cover the base.
Scatter the Malteasers, Marshmallows and Jelly Babies over the coated base and cover with the remaining chocolate.
Pop in the fridge for about 90-mins
Enjoy!

Due to omitting the syrup the result is more like a Rock Road slab then a rocky road cake, still a great snack. In the past I've used chopped nuts instead of Malteasers and chopped fruit instead of Jelly Babies.

Hope you are all well.

Mike

Sweet Jazz

Currently listening to: "Clocks" Coldplay & Buena Vista Social Club

It was my turn to cook for friends again tonight as we were going to a Buena Vista Social Club gig tonight and as all my mates were in work/lectures 'till late I made food so we could eat and get to the gig in time. If you've not heard the Buena Vista Social Club, you haven't lived!

Anyway, I thought I'd mess with some flavours today and for once it did work!



Honey, Stilton and Chilli Chicken

Now I know you're thinking I've lost the plot but this meal was really nice.

Firstly, roll some diced chicken in a tiny bit of tandoori spice mix, don't use much as you'll be adding more spices later. Then fry it off. When the chicken is nearly cooked, add two finely chopped chillis, garlic and the juice from a whole lime.

Once all of this is cook turn the heat to low and add a table spoon of honey. Mix well.

Now cover in stilton cheese sauce using my 'easy cheese sauce' recipe.

For extra flavour add a few dried apricots.

Enjoy

Australian style Thick-shake

Currently Listening to: "Hide & Seek" - Imogen Heap

It has been beautiful weather the past few days, so I've been working out in my "garden" on the laptop, whilst trying to catch some rays! I've been writing library music for the Welsh version of Songs of Praise this week - quite ironic considering I'm an agnostic non-welsh speaker!

Halfway through the afternoon today I really needed a sugar boost that was also nice and cold so I made a Thick-Shake. I picked up the "chilling thickening" idea whilst travelling Australia a couple of summers ago and decided to give it a go again.

Chocolate, Vanilla, Banana and Nutmeg Thick-Shake

Put 4 healthy scoops of vanilla ice-cream (I used Tesco Cornish ice-cream as it's gorgeous and cheap...), one large roughly chopped banana, enough chocolate milkshake powder (I use Milka powder, unfortunately you can only get it on the continent so i have to my Austrian friend to bring some over every time she flies home) and 1 pint of milk into a blender and blast repeatedly.

Pour into tall glasses and grate dark chocolate (Lidl do amazing 70% stuff) and nutmeg on top to taste.

Serve immediately

That really sorted me out for the afternoon.

Right, got to get back to my composing...

Mike

Ready steady cook stylie!

Currently listening to: "Somewhere - Westside Story" - Leonard Bernstien

I was invited for dinner round to a mates house last night on the condition I cooked from ingredients that they had in their cupboards. As ever I was in a pasta mood and made chicken, bacon and leek in four-cheese sauce.

I used this recipe that my Mum taught me, it's so easy and works better then more complicated recipes.

Easy Cheese Sauce

I table spoon of Corn Flour
½ pint Milk
Any cheese, and as much cheese as you want!
Crack pepper (to taste)


Add corn flour to milk, and bring to boil stirring continually
Add cheese, pepper and turn heat right down, keep stirring.
Stir ‘till all the lumps have gone and serve

I just butterflied the chicken and chopped it into strips to fry off. Then finely chopped the bacon, leek and garlic to add to the pan at the last minute.
Take off the heat and stir in the cheese sauce.

After the meal, one of my mates commented on how if he had that meal at a good Italian restaurant he would be sure to go back again!

Unfortunately I didn't have a camera with me so I couldn't take a pic :( so instead I've uploaded one of my random travel photos from Australia!

Mike

Getting better

Currently listening to: "Fratres- for Violin & Piano" (this clip is only the opening section of the piece)- Arvo Pärt



I'm finally getting better - YEAY! I've been to the doctor and I know it's nothing serious...



Also my appitite returned today - the last time I lost my appitite was when I was about 2 years old when on holiday in Gran Canaria, but thats another story. When I got home from the doctors I made myself a sort of carbonara. I used the cabonara bit of the resipie from a this BBC food page, however I used ham instead of pancetta and I also added garlic and sweetcorn.


Anyway, not really got much else to talk about after yesterday's rather lengthy blog!


Mike

too ill...

Currently listening to: "Cloudburst" - Eric Whitacre - I'm now addong hyperlinks of youtube videos of the more unusual pieces I listen to, as people keep asking me where they can hear some of the pieces I blog.

I've been ill for a few days now, since my housemate "cooked" a chicken curry... I used the word cooked in the loosest sense of the word! I normally have a strong stomach but for some reason this time something really isn't making me feel too well. My housemate seems to be fine, so it might just be a bug.

Fortunately his coffee making skills are a lot better then his curry! This week I got some more of that azorieblue coffee, Starbucks and Cafe Nero will never taste the same... I've been drinking it black Americana style (I usually have just a small dash of milk with any other brand of coffee bean) and it really is the most amazing thing since sliced bread, can't get enough of its natural smooth taste. Even my other housemate (the one who didn't try and poison me with bad chicken), who doesn't normally like coffee, drinks azorieblue. He's never liked the bitterness of coffee but he likes this stuff as there is still a slight bitter taste but also an unimaginable smoothness to it. It's beyond me how a company can make a coffee the appeals to both coffee addicts like myself, and coffee newbies like my other housemate. This is a sign of a truely great coffee.

When I’m better and feeling upto it, I’ll blog my Espresso Martini – it’s the sophisticated way to get a Vodka Redbull kick with out the horrid taste of red bull!

I haven't found azorieblue in any shops in Cardiff yet, but you order through their website which is gonna turn into a lifeline for me when work loads start to build.

Anyway, time to make my lunch of rice, sweetcorn, pineapple and tomato ketchup. Sound's horrid, but it normally makes me feel better when I'm ill and tastes just like rice with sweet and sour sauce.

Sorry no original picture today... didn't think you'd want a picture of me lying in bed, so I nicked one off the azorieblue website.

Thanks for reading, and a big thank you to all of you who have so kindly donated to Sail4Cancer, they really are a great charity. Unfortunatly training for the half marathon has been off the adgenda for the past few days due to illness - such a shame!

Mike

Please help me raise money for a great cause...

Currently Listening to: "Chariots of Fire" - Vanglais

I lost a bet and as a forfiet I have to run the next Cardiff Half Marathon on 19th October 2008.As have to do it I may as well make it for a good cause so I'm running to raise money for the charity Sail4Cancer

To donate online please click here.

Sail4Cancer - As its name suggests, Sail 4 Cancer aims to raise significant funds for cancer treatment and research through the organisation of high profile sailing events. Sail 4 Cancer also provides sailing opportunities for cancer patients and their families, in the hope that their quality of life may be improved.

On another note, my eldest sister sent me a ration pack with a sample of Azurieblue coffee. Just want to say, I am a complete coffee freak but I think I've found my favourite blend, mmm...

Anyway, well done to everyone who spotted my April Fool post!

Mike

Disaster...

Currently Listening to: "This Fire" Franz Ferdinand

I think the picture speaks for itself:

My landlord is not amused.

Mike

Yachting...

Currently Listening too: "Hamish" - Screaming Citizens (check 'em out click on the name!)

Well I'm back from yachting and still alive, although I came close to running us aground over a pretty famous sandbank! On-board we had a mother watch system which means one crew member is "mother" for 24hrs, duties include making sure the crew are all well fed.

For my main meal I cooked a variation on a dish I used to do in a bar I used to work in:

Chorizo, Spinach and Tomato Pasta

Sorry the pic is a bit dark!

This dish is really simple, just fry off slices of Chorizo Sausage, chopped onion, crush garlic (to taste). Once these are cooked, cover with a tin of chopped tomatoes and add fresh chopped coriander and a bit of black pepper.

Heat through then add a huge helping of spinach, stir in for 30 seconds, take off heat and serve. As you can probably see from the photo I forgot to add the spinach before serving the sauce so I parched it in a pan with water and served as a garnish!

As I do with everything, add a little gratted cheese...

I'm back home again for Easter weekend, but I return to my student digs on Tuesday so expect some more blogging towards the end of the week! HAPPY EASTER...

This isn't tapas?!

Currently listening to: "So What" - Miles Davis

I was en-route to my weekly uni sailing club social when a mate calls to say its a tapas social - this is where someone hosts a house party and we all bring one tapas dish. Total disaster, at these types of socials I normally pull out all the stops and spend all day preping a couple of good dishes. However with so little warning I had to run home and rustle my dish up out of what I had in the cupboard.

Now I know it’s not tapas but it's all I had a lot of as it had to be for like 20+ people...

Like most students my cupboards were full of pasta and not much else, so I cooked off some pasta and made a quick Chilli, red pesto and tomato sauce to mix in. The result was pretty good to be fair and most people commented on how simple but nice it was.

I wish I'd taken my camera to the party as some of the food was rather special, I managed to get most of the recipes (the majority from various Jamie O books) so I hope to try some of them out soon.

This could be my last blog for a while as I'm going away yachting for a week and I won’t be near a computer, but I will return with lots of photos of what we cooked on-board. Cooking on board a yacht is usual quite fun (especially with the current wind and sea conditions), the hob and oven is on a gyro so it rocks with the waves and the cook has to be strapped on the kitchen (or "galley" if we're using nautical terms) to stop him/her falling over and burning ones self!

Anyway, speak soon...

Giant Jelly Tots!

Currently listening to: "School of Rock" - from School of Rock the film



Need a sugar rush?! Was a bit bored of work so ended up browsing the recently renamed "pimpthatsnack.com" to look at what crazy stuff people were making. I came across a "9-year old chimney sweep called Oliver...!" who had made Giant Jelly Tots. Realising I had all two of the ingredients in the cupboard I went about making these delights (unfortunately I only had strawberry jelly) :(

Tip: don't eat more then two straight after each other or you will be bouncing off the walls due to the amount of E numbers in the jelly!