Attempt #54: Spanish fish & chorizo soup

From this attempt, I realized that Chorizo and fish work so well together.  However, make sure the ingredients esp the fish and chorizo is of best quality.

Sprinkle pangrattato on top to add a lovely crunchiness to the soup and is well worth the little bit of extra effort. 

The result: 

Couple of things I discovered from this attempt:

1. Chorizo comes in both spicy and sweet ones. I have always only tried the spicy ones and for this recipe, I used the spicy one as well.

2. It is quite tricky to get a deliciously good shot of a tomato-based dish as most comes out looking yucky although it tastes absolutely great! :)  

Method:

Heat a large pan on a medium heat, add a good lug of olive oil, the sliced garlic, chopped chillies and chopped basil stalks. Fry everything together for a minute then add the sliced chorizo. Cook for another few minutes until the sausage starts to brown, then pour in the white wine, tinned tomatoes, rice and chickpeas. Season well and simmer for 10 minutes, until the rice is just about cooked. 

Meanwhile, put a frying pan on a medium heat to make the pangrattato. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil and let it heat up for a minute or so, then add the breadcrumbs, flat-leaf parsley and lemon zest. Fry for a couple of minutes until it's all golden brown and crispy then put to one side. 
After the soup has simmered for 10 minutes, it should have thickened a little, so stir in about 200ml of hot water and bring everything to the boil. Cut each of the fish fillets into three pieces, then, carefully, so you don't get splashed by any of the hot liquid, place them and the prawns into the mixture. Cook for a further 5 minutes until the fish is cooked through and the prawns are pink. 
When the fish is perfectly cooked, stir through the basil leaves. Ladle the soup into warm bowls and top each with a nice big spoonful of pangrattato. Serve with a few wedges of lemon to squeeze over the finished dish and enjoy all those gorgeous flavours!

Ingredients: 

olive oil

·      2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

·      2 fresh red chillies, deseeded and finely sliced

·      1 bunch fresh basil, leaves picked and stalks finely chopped

·      1 iberico sausage, around 200g, sliced

·      ½ bottle white wine

·      2 x 400 g tinned plum tomatoes

·      1 handful basmati rice

·      400 g tinned chickpeas, drained

·      sea salt

·      freshly ground black pepper

·      2 bream fillets, fromsustainable sources, ask your fishmonger, skinned and pin-boned

·      2 pollock fillets, fromsustainable sources, ask your fishmonger, skinned and pin-boned

·      12 raw prawns, from sustainable sources, ask your fishmonger, peeled, tails left on

·      2 lemons, cut into wedges

·      For the pangrattato

·      2 handfuls breadcrumbs

·      1 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

·      zest of 1 lemon

Attempt #52: Quick crispy chicken with tomatoes & broccolini

Jamie declared that this is really a quick and simple meal to make. I can now attest to that statement as not only it is that simple and quick to make, it is yummy yummy yummy.

Jamie suggested using olives, anchovies or sun-dried tomatoes to add a bit of saltiness and extra flavour.

The Result:

It was indeed a very yummy combination of ingredients but the chicken did not turn out to be ‘crispy’ per se. I used skinless chicken as suggested in the recipe and it got me wondering if one can crisp chicken without skin as this attempt did not give me crispy chicken although it had been sold/mentioned that way in Jaime’s recipe. Hence, I did some research after I attempted this recipe and generally, one got to either dunked skinless chicken in egg mixture, flour it or bread it to get it all crispy. Good learning though! J

And oh yeah, I used anchovies for the saltiness and it works really well.

Method:

Place a large pan on a high heat. Lay your chicken breasts on a board and cut three incisions into each one like fingers, going all the way through the breast but leaving about 1cm joined at the top. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. Snap the woody ends off of the asparagus spears. Add a splash of olive oil to the pan, followed by the chicken, pancetta and asparagus. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the chicken and asparagus are cooked through, turning halfway. Lift the pancetta on top of the chicken once golden and crispy.

Move the chicken, bacon or pancetta and asparagus to one side of the pan then throw in the tomatoes, olives, basil leaves and butter. Reduce to a low heat and add a splash of wine to help make a sauce. Leave to bubble away and thicken for a couple of minutes. Use tongs to divide the chicken, bacon or pancetta, asparagus and most of the tomatoes between your plates. Squash the remaining tomatoes, mixing them with the lovely juices in the pan, then drizzle over the chicken before serving.

Serves 2

Ingredients

·         2 x 120 g free-range, skinless chicken breasts

·         sea salt

·         freshly ground black pepper

·         1 bunch of asparagus

·         olive oil

·         4 rashers of higher-welfare pancetta

·         250 g cherry tomatoes, halved

·         5 black olives, destoned

·         a couple of sprigs of fresh basil, leaves picked

·         a small knob of butter

   a splash of white wine 

Attempt #35: Tender & crisp chicken legs with sweet tomatoes

As I was trying to assemble the ingredients for this recipe, it seemed like déjà-vu that I have attempted this before. Then I realized why it feels like déjà-vu.... most of Jamie’s recipe calls for either lemon, tomatoes or basil.

The result:

It was definitely tasty. However, it taste like the previous attempts or recipes as they are all baked in lemon, basil and/ or tomatoes as well. J

Ingredients

•      4 higher-welfare chicken legs, jointed
•      sea salt
•      freshly ground black pepper
•      1 big bunch fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks finely chopped
•      2 big handfuls red and yellow cherry tomatoes and ripe plum tomatoes, cherry tomatoes halved, plum tomatoes quartered
•      1 whole bulb garlic, broken into cloves
•      1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
•      olive oil
•      410 g tinned cannellini beans, drained, optional
•      2 handfuls new potatoes, scrubbed, optional

Method

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Season your chicken pieces all over and put them into a snug-fitting pan in one layer. Throw in all the basil leaves and stalks, then chuck in your tomatoes. Scatter the garlic cloves into the pan with the chopped chilli and drizzle over some olive oil. Mix around a bit, pushing the tomatoes underneath. Place in the oven for 1½ hours, turning the tomatoes halfway through, until the chicken skin is crisp and the meat falls off the bone.

If you fancy, you can add some drained cannellini beans or some sliced new potatoes to the pan and cook them with the chicken. Or you can serve the chicken with some simple mashed potato. Squeeze the garlic out of the skins before serving. You could even make it part of a pasta dish – remove the chicken meat from the bone and shred it, then toss into a bowl of linguini or spaghetti and serve at once.

Attempt #34: Tomato, basil & prosciutto omelette

This turned out really bad. Point in case – photo below shows the result of my attempt with this recipe vs Jamie’s.

 My attempt:

 

Jamie's rendition:

 

Biggest mistake I suspected was that I did not pre-heat my grill to the highest which was 240C. Instead, I was only using at 200C.

Should you want to attempt this, recipe as below:

Ingredients:

• 4 slices quality prosciutto
• 4 large free-range eggs
• 1 handful different coloured small tomatoes, halved and quartered
• 1 small handful fresh basil leaves
• 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped, optional
• olive oil, for drizzling, optional

Method:

Preheat your grill to high. Heat a small, non-stick frying pan until medium hot. Dry fry the prosciutto until crisp. Remove to a plate, keep warm, and put the pan back on the heat.

Meanwhile, whisk the eggs in a small bowl and season with sea salt and pepper. Pour into the hot pan and, using a fork, mix the eggs around to cook a little. Scatter the tomatoes on the top, remove the pan from the heat and place under the hot grill, about 6–7cm away. Continue to cook until the eggs are just cooked and the tomatoes are warmed through.

To serve, place the prosciutto on top, sprinkle over the basil and chilli, if using. Season with black pepper and finish with a drizzle of olive oil, if you like.

Attempt #5: Tender and Crisp chicken legs with Sweet Tomatoes

Since a tomato-based dish turned out pretty good in my last attempt, I thought why not test the theory that anything with tomatoes will taste good regardless if you can cook or not.

 

An Ah-HA! I can now confirm that theory - “ANYTHING WITH TOMATOES WILL TASTE GOOD”.

For this Tender and Crisp chicken legs with Sweet Tomatoes dish, I substituted chicken legs with chicken pieces and I omitted the red chilli so that it is suitable for the kids as well.

The result : Yummy and to quote Jamie Oliver’s famous expression…”Heavenly”. Although I am not sure how Jamie got his dish coming out looking saucier than what I had. But it still taste yummy.

Getting read to go into the oven...

 

Hot out from the oven...

 



Jamie's rendition...looks soo much better as usual :)

For the full recipe, click on this link to Jamie’s website.

Curious Corner:

Difference between red and yellow tomatoes. Extracted this from eHow.com

The most obvious difference between these two types of tomato is their color. Red tomatoes are far more common than yellow tomatoes, and are often the only color of tomato found in grocery stores and supermarkets. Red tomatoes are high in lycopene, a powerful antioxidant thought to prevent some cancers. Lycopene is what produces the tomatoes' red color. Yellow tomatoes do not contain lycopene. Red tomatoes are highly acidic, which produces their tangy flavor. Yellow tomatoes are lower in acidity, making them generally sweeter than red tomatoes. Red tomatoes are higher in vitamin C, while yellow tomatoes are higher in niacin and folate. Both colors are a tasty and nutritious addition to any meal.

Attempt #4: Baked white fish with olives and a simple tomato sauce

With almost 1 month down, I am only at my 4^th recipe attempt. Yikes!

Time to speed the cooking up. But I do have a valid excuse *grin*…I was on a road trip to Italy with my girlfriend. Here’s a sneak peak to one of the many yummy food that we had. More on my roadtrip later.

 

Moving on to my Baked White Fish attempt. This attempt proved to be quite successful. The recipe for Jamie’s Baked White Fish with olives and a simple tomato sauce is oh so easy and more importantly, very yummy.

 

I guess any tomato-based recipe will not go wrong much. I did substitute red wine vinegar with ginger wine vinegar and it still taste right! And I skipped the olives and capers. I may have short-changed Jamie’s recipe a tiny bit but hey credit to the chap, the fish still turns out yummy! J  

Enclosed the full recipe below by Jamie Oliver:

Method

To make your sauce:

1. Peel and finely slice the garlic cloves. Pick the basil leaves and put aside, finely slice the stalks.

2. Add a good couple of lugs of olive oil to a large pan on medium heat. Add the garlic and basil stalks. Pierce the chilli once with a knife so it doesn’t explode when frying, and add to the pan. Fry gently until the garlic is soft but not coloured, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the tins of tomato and season lightly with the salt and pepper. Gently simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Remove the chilli. Break and mush the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Season the sauce really carefully with more salt and pepper, if needed, and add a tiny swig of red wine vinegar to give it a little twang.

To prepare and cook your fish:

4. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas7.

5. Pour your tomato sauce into a roasting tray (about 20cm x 30cm). Season the fish fillets on both sides with a little salt and pepper, then place on top of the sauce. Squash the olives, using the base of a jar or something heavy, and remove the stones. Sprinkle the olives and capers over the fish. Scatter the reserved basil leaves over the fish.

6. Cook in the oven for around 15 minutes or until the fish is cooked through (check by cutting into the thickest part of one or two of the fillets; they should be pearly white and not transparent). Lovely served with new potatoes and a green salad.

ingredients

• 3 cloves of garlic
• a small bunch of fresh basil
• olive oil
• 1 fresh red chilli
• 2 x 400g tins plum tomatoes
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• red wine vinegar
• 4x 150g white fish fillets such as coley, whiting or pollock, skin off and bones removed
• a handful of black olives, stone in
• 1 tablespoon capers, drained