Greek gyros

Today's post is not a recipe but instead a celebration of a lovely local Greek café, Orion, which we like to drop into for a quick bite occasionally in Hyde Park, Leeds.  If ever you are ever passing through Leeds, this is a must-visit! Here they serve a variety of authentic Greek dishes and the owner is very friendly and welcoming. We have often recreated these at home - they are simple to make and you can add your own twist - but we wanted to spread the word about this rustic and charming café. We simply had to pay a last visit before we left Leeds and so two of our favourites for a light bite, eaten for lunch today, are shown below.

Firstly, the falafel gyros - delicious falafel served in a pitta bread with homemade houmous and fresh salad. Simple and delightful.

Another favourite is the chicken souvlaki gyros which comes laden with chicken, onions, tomatoes, tzatziki and oregano-seasoned hand cut chips. One of life's little pleasures.

We hope that one day you might drop in and experience the food for yourselves!

Confit duck legs with dauphinoise potatoes

With the stresses of getting ready to move and packing we've had a bit of a break from the blog and to come back we felt it would be quite fitting to come back with a post of a meal that we prepared to celebrate Jacob's birthday yesterday - and what a delight it was! This meal was derived from a French background and although we're sure there are many other documented ways to cook this, below is the way we have done it.

Confit (French, pronounced [kɔ̃fi] or in English "con-fee") is a generic term used to describe a way to cook and preserve various foods. To confit meat, it is salted and seasoned with herbs overnight and submerged, usually, in its own rendered fat. Fruit and other type of foods can also be cooked using this process, using sugar syrups and other cooking liquors. The preparation is time consuming, but the end product is so worth the mouth-wateringly tender and flaky duck; it is to die for.

We advise reading through the whole preparation before beginning so you can plan your time logically. 

Confit Duck Legs with Dauphinoise Potatoes

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

For the confit:

3-4 large duck legs

500 g duck fat 

2-3 tbsp salt
a few sprigs of thyme, optional

For the Dauphinoise Potatoes:

500 g Maris Piper potatoes

200 ml single cream

2 garlic cloves

30 g butter

salt and pepper

50 g Gruyère or cheddar

Method

For the confit duck

1.  To prepare the duck legs, dab them dry with kitchen paper and rub the salt all over them. Place in a dish, cover and leave in the fridge overnight (You can also add fresh herbs such as thyme for extra flavour).

2. The next day, wipe all the salt off the duck legs and place in a high sided oven proof dish. Melt the fat and pour over the duck legs and ensure they are covered completely, add more fat if necessary. Place the dish uncovered in a preheated oven (Gas Mark 2) for 3 hours, turning the legs halfway.

3. This is where you have a choice - you can leave the meat to cool in the fat and store in a sealed sterile container in a cool place for 3-6 months to intensify the flavour... OR you can remove them from the fat and quickly pan fry them to make the skin lovely and crispy.

For the dauphinoise potatoes

1. Peel the potatoes and slice them thinly with a mandolin or if you have one, a food processor, with the thinnest slicing attachment. Wash the slices with water to remove the excess starch and dry with a clean towel or alternatively use a salad spinner to remove excess water.

2. Finely grate the garlic into a medium non stick saucepan with the cream and butter, season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the potato slices and bring the cream to the boil, simmer for 5-8 minutes.

3. Arrange your potato slices in a buttered oven proof dish and sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake in a preheated oven (Gas Mark 2) for 1.5 hours until golden. 

Serve together with green beans dressed with a little butter and a sprinkling of pepper, or a light salad. A great garnish with the duck is cranberry sauce. We also made a simple creamy wholegrain mustard sauce, although for simplicity we have omitted this from the recipe. If you like the sound of this sauce, feel free to contact us for further details.

Harissa roast chicken

Sasha's family have come to visit for a few days for her birthday on the 5th and I've decided to prepare an evening meal for the night before. After a lovely day out in Ilkley, a simple supper was required. There is little more pleasurable than the smell of a chicken roasting; with that and our love for North African inspired food, it seemed fitting to combine flavours from this continent with the traditional British roast dinner. Of course, the end result is naturally very far from that which we would expect to find on our plates on a Sunday!

Harissa roast chicken

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1.8 kg whole chicken

2 1/2 tbsp harissa paste 

1 1/2 tsp Ras el Hanout

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander
Juice of half a lemon
3/4 tsp salt, or to taste

Notes - Harissa is known to be rather hot, if you want to use less don't hesitate, but don't use less than 1 1/2 tbsp for this sized chicken. We used Al'Féz harissa but you can easily make your own or other brands if you prefer. If you want, you can prepare it in advance either a few hours before or the night before leaving it to marinate in the fridge (take it out an hour before roasting to allow it to come to room temperature).

Method

1. Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 8. Prepare your chicken by dabbing the skin with kitchen paper, place in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

2. Prepare your paste - add all the other ingredients into a small bowl and mix together thoroughly. Apply to your chicken coating the whole thing evenly and shove the lemon halves into the cavity (Warning - If you have sensitive skin, wear gloves to do this or ask someone else who doesn't mind to do it for you as, the chilli in harissa could irritate your skin). Place your chicken on a trivet in a roasting tray - there's nothing worse than an overly greasy chicken and this is meant to be light and not at all heavy on the stomach.

3. Place the roasting tray holding your chicken into the centre of your preheated oven and instantly turn the temperature down to Gas Mark 4. Cook your chicken for 20 minutes per 1 lb/500 g, plus an extra 20 minutes, or until the juices run clear. Baste your chicken with the fat that naturally comes off the chicken once or twice throughout this time. The paste naturally goes dark/black so please don't worry. If you are worried then just place a bit of foil over the chicken for the remainder of the cooking time.

4. Allow your chicken to rest for at least 20 minutes before serving and meanwhile prepare sides. As this was a quick light meal, we had lemon cous cous, salad and a dollop of coleslaw.

Definitely a dish worth making! It's easy and full of flavour! 

Birthday cupcakes

Cupcakes are one of life's simple pleasures. My personal favourites and the ones I have made for my birthday tomorrow (and belatedly my Mom's birthday), are coffee cupcakes. You might think it a little strange that I have made my own birthday cupcakes, but baking is a real joy for me (and I won't let Jacob interfere - not because he is incapable - I am just highly possessive of my cupcakes!) So here they are, cute little cupcakes with an intense hit of coffee; just how I like them. 

Coffee cupcakes

For 12 regular cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

 

110 g margarine 

150 g vanilla sugar

80 g dark brown soft sugar

2 free-range eggs

250 g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp espresso powder

125 ml milk

For the icing

60 g margarine
200 g icing sugar
1 tbsp espresso powder
2 tsp milk

Notes - The use of dark brown sugar means that the cupcakes take on a rich, caramelised flavour. You should try your best to use this. Make sure you use a good quality, strong espresso powder. It is easiest to use a hand-held electric mixer to make these cupcakes, unless you are lucky enough to own a bench-top mixer (in which case I am very jealous! I am saving up for one). 


Method

For the cupcakes 

1. Line your muffin tray with cupcake cases and preheat your oven to gas mark 4.

2. Cream the margarine with both of the sugars until the mixture is well-combined and has become lighter in colour.  Next, thoroughly beat in the eggs until smooth. 

3. Mix together the flour, baking powder and espresso powder. Beat half of this into the margarine mixture, followed by half of the milk. Repeat this step and you should have a lovely brown batter ready to bake into delicious cupcakes. 

4. Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases (each one should be around 3/4 full) and then place into the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly golden and a cake skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. 

5. Leave to cool slightly and then remove from the muffin tray and place onto a cooling rack to cool completely before icing.

For the icing

1. Place your margarine into a bowl and beat with a fork until soft. Thoroughly beat in the espresso powder.

2. Next, gradually mix in the icing sugar until all combined. Beat in the milk to achieve a lovely smooth buttercream.

3. Once your cupcakes are cold, ice them generously with the buttercream and tuck in!

Sasha

 

Chicken and cardamom curry

We fancied a curry this evening as the weather has turned for the worse and is much cooler than it has been and also very wet... again. Indian/Asian style food is probably our weakest cuisine when cooking off the top of our heads and so we still use guidance, for instance with curries like this. 

We recently acquired Madhur Jaffrey's 'Curry Easy'. The book is amazing and this is post is based upon one of the recipes that belongs in this book - we wanted to share it with you as it is simple and extremely tasty! We obviously cannot take credit for this recipe but as we continue to cook this style of cuisine we hope to make future posts of our own creations involving the flavours from the vast combinations of available spices that can be married together. This recipe has been modified slightly and we believe it represents Madhur's recipe very well, although it does taste quite distinct from the original. This is a very good example of us adjusting and learning as we go. If you fancy, contact us and we will give you the original recipe and you can cook both and 'taste the difference' yourself.

When it comes to eating curries, we most certainly do not have a very high tolerance to heat. In the recipe below, the cayenne pepper contributes a lovely, subtle warmth to the curry. However, if you believe you may be even more sensitive to heat than us, then please do not hesitate to reduce the quantity of cayenne.

Chicken and Cardamom Curry

Serves 4

Ingredients

5 tbsp olive oil

700 g boneless chicken, cut into large chunks

2 cinnamon sticks

12 green cardamom pods

2 large onions, peeled and chopped into half rings

6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

2 tbsp coriander seeds, ground

1 tbsp cumin seeds, ground

1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp asafoetida (optional)
1 inch fresh ginger, finely grated

1 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste

3 vine ripened tomatoes, chopped
3/4 litre chicken stock

Notes - We used boneless chicken as this is what we had available - just make sure it is leg meat as breast meat is invariably less flavoursome. You could also butcher a whole chicken into pieces. The cardamom pods are for flavour and not for eating so don't worry about the large number of them. The asafoetida is optional but just adds an earthy note into the curry - it is available from any good quality Asian store and is usually very cheap. Don't buy a massive pot as only a little is ever needed and it goes a long way! The cumin and coriander seeds are ground in a pestle and mortar - alternatively you can just use the ground version if you don't have the seeds, however, we believe that grinding the seeds yourself adds further texture to the sauce. We suggest preparing everything in advance ready to go into the pan as the recipe timings are short. 

Method 

1. Place a large heavy based frying pan over a high heat and heat the oil until smoking. Add the cardamom pods and cinnamon sticks. Fry for 10 seconds. Add the chicken and brown off. Once brown transfer to a bowl (leave the spices in the pan) and set the chicken aside. (Cook the chicken in batches so the pan isn't overcrowded thus allowing them to brown nicely - if your pan is not large enough).

2. Add the onions and lower the heat slightly, fry until lightly browned. Add the garlic and ginger and mix throughout the onions, frying for 30 seconds. Add the coriander, cumin, turmeric, cayenne pepper and asafoetida and stir through the mixture. Add the tomatoes and cook until softened - approx. 3-4 minutes.

3. Replace the chicken into the pan, including all of the juices and add the chicken stock (season with salt if your stock is unsalted). Bring to the boil, cover and cook rapidly for 10-15 minutes (an extra 5 minutes for very large chunks if you butcher a whole chicken). Remove the lid and increase the heat, stirring now and then until the sauce has thickened.

Serve simply with boiled basmati rice and perhaps a naan bread or poppadoms.

Jacob

Poached egg and mushrooms with a twist

This is a recipe which was given to me by my sister, Lorna and is so good it has to be celebrated. We have adjusted only the tiniest details due to the availability of ingredients (we used spring onions but the original recipe used chives) and personal taste but we believe it still reflects the gorgeous light meal that she recommended. I am unsure whether she has made this up or has read about it somewhere but no matter which it is, we are going to share this with you and hope you enjoy it as much as we have. Thank you Lorna!

Below we will go through the process of cooking poached eggs without stress and also the correct way to cook mushrooms without boiling them! It doesn't take long, the recipe below is just thorough.

Poached egg and mushrooms with a twist

Serves 2 - can be made for more people if required.

Ingredients

 

4 large free range eggs
100 g mushrooms 
1 spring onion
Wholegrain mustard
White wine vinegar
25 g butter
Salt
Pepper

Notes - You MUST use fresh eggs for poaching otherwise you will end up with a pan full of straggly egg whites and a poor, lonely naked yolk. You will be cooking multiple poached eggs, but do not be afraid! Set up a bowl of ice water ready to dunk your eggs in once they're cooked to your liking, cool them for one minute before removing and setting aside. Doing this relieves the stress of everything being overcooked or gone cold as the ice water will stop the eggs cooking any further and you can heat them back up for a minute in the same pan you cooked them in before serving - if you're unfamiliar or worried about cooking poached eggs we go through the process below. For the mushrooms we use salted butter which means you don't need to season them - but if you wish to use unsalted, just add a pinch of salt to taste. You can use any type of mushrooms you fancy.

Method

1. First prepare everything. Slice the mushrooms, spring onion and four slices of bread ready for toasting. Put the kettle on to boil and prepare a bowl of water with plenty of ice in it.  

2. Place a medium saucepan on the heat and fill it 3/4 full with boiling water, add 1 tsp of salt and a dash of vinegar and bring to the boil (this is not stressful). Now crack an egg into a ramekin or small measuring cup. Once boiling, stir the water in the pan to make a small whirlpool (be careful not to splash yourself) and then carefully lower your egg from a very low height into the pan in the direction the water is spinning. Don't worry if they aren't perfectly formed, you'll get the hang of it - also in this recipe they get chopped up anyway so you can relax even more! The egg will take approximately 2-3 minutes to cook with a lovely soft yolk. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and place straight into the ice water as described above. Repeat for the others and then you'll have 4 poached eggs, cooked but cool, sitting in a row on the side ready for serving later. 

3. Meanwhile place a large frying pan with the butter over a high heat, chuck the mushrooms in the pan and stir through until all the butter has been absorbed. Turn the heat down and cook gently until they have given up all their juices, at which point turn the heat back to high and fry until coloured and the juices have evaporated. As Julia Child would say - "Do NOT overcrowd your mushrooms!" Give them all space to brown up nicely. A minute before they have finished cooking add the spring onion, mix throughout and soften and add a small knob of butter to finish.

4. When the mushrooms look like they are about to be ready, prepare your buttered toast and place your cool eggs back into the pan of lightly boiling water for one minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on top of the toast (this is the fun bit!). Place 1/4 tsp of mustard on top of each of the eggs with a pinch of salt, then chop up and mix together nicely. Place the mushrooms on top and garnish with a few more slices of spring onion. 

Gobble up greedily!

 
 

Lemon and cardamom tart

I do love a good dessert and one of my absolute favourites is the French classic tarte au citron, or lemon tart. Creamy and zingy, its smooth filling and light pastry is hard to resist. Today I took it upon myself to make some mini lemon tarts but I wished to add an exciting twist. An unusual but delicious spice, cardamom, unlike vanilla and cinnamon, is not what most people would usually think of incorporating into a dessert. So I decided to have a go and add it to my lemon tart custard. These lemon tarts are a delight, with a silky custard and crisp, short pastry.

Lemon and cardamom tarts

Makes 6-8 small tarts or 1 large one 

Ingredients

For the pastry

200 g plain flour
100 g butter
1 egg yolk
water to mix, approx. 2 tbsp

For the filling

3 large eggs
284 ml double cream
100 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice (approx. 3 lemons will yield this volume)
150 g vanilla sugar 
2 cardamom pods, bashed briefly with a pestle and mortar to release seeds

Notes - If you don't have vanilla sugar then just use normal caster sugar. If cardamom doesn't sound entirely to your taste then omit it - you certainly won't regret making these lemon tarts! You don't have to make mini tarts, make a large one if you do not own small tart dishes. You can also add the zest of a lemon if you wish.

Method

1. Begin by making your pastry. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk to the crumbs with enough water to bind them to form a soft dough - I used 2 tbsp but just use as much as is necessary. Wrap the pastry in cling film and place in the fridge to chill for 20-30 minutes. Preheat your oven to gas mark 5.

2. Once chilled, roll your pastry out to a thickness of approximately 2-3 mm. Cut to fit into small fluted flan tins and press in firmly. Remove most of the excess by rolling your rolling pin over the tops of the tins, or simply use a knife leaving a small rim of excess pastry and just trim after baking. Chill for 5-10 minutes before baking. Prick the base of the tarts gently using a fork, line with foil or greaseproof paper and pour in some baking beans to stop the bases from puffing up during baking. If you don't have baking beans, use rice, coins or dried pulses. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Once cooked, turn the oven down to gas mark 1.

3. Meanwhile, make your filling. Pour the cream into a small saucepan along with the cardamom pods. Bring to the boil over a gentle heat. Once boiling point is reached turn off the heat and leave the cream to infuse whilst you prepare the other ingredients.

4. Crack the eggs into a large bowl with the sugar and briefly whisk together. Next whisk in the infused cream and the lemon juice. Take care not to over whisk as this will result in a undesirably foamy consistency. Sieve this mixture and leave to stand. 

5. Fill your pastry shells (still in flan tins) and place carefully into the oven (at gas mark 1). Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set with only the slightest wobble. Leave to cool before enjoying as they are or with a dollop of crème fraîche, whipped or clotted cream or a simple fruit coulis - blueberries or strawberries would go very nicely. To make a coulis, simply place the desired fruit (make sure it is a soft fruit) and some caster sugar to taste and a good squeeze of lemon juice into a food processor and blitz until smooth. 

If making a full-sized tart, you will need to adjust the cooking times. As a rough guide, bake the pastry shell for approx. 15-20 minutes - just cook until golden. For the filling you will need to bake for around 40-50 minutes, but again keep checking until the custard is just set.

Bon appetit!


Sasha

 

Griddled aubergine and 'feta' salad

Due to the warm weather we've been thoroughly enjoying making salads, especially vegetarian ones and tonight was another fantastic triumph. We have seen multiple recipes for aubergine and feta cheese salads and we have just chucked a mixture of these and our own ideas together to create the following. 

We say 'feta' because the cheese we actually used wasn't strictly feta, as it was made from cow's milk as opposed to sheep or goat's. We chose to use this as Sasha was unfamiliar with the cheese and we wanted something similar in texture and taste but without the acidity of true feta. This cheese had a less acrid flavour, blending nicely with the aubergine and pine nuts. 

Griddled aubergine and 'feta' salad

Serves 2-3 

Ingredients

100 g mixed salad leaves

75 g ‘feta’ cheese

15 g pine nuts

2 small aubergines

1 tbsp garlic/olive oil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 ½ tbsp salt

pinch pepper

Notes - Don't freak out about the amount of salt! It's used to extract the excess water from the aubergines and is mainly lost in the water when you dry the aubergine slices with a piece of kitchen paper. The 'feta' cheese we used was called 'Patros Natur' but you can use any alternative or indeed feta itself. Again the use of a griddle pan is kind of essential although you can make it work without if needs be, or just chuck the aubergine on a barbecue or under a salamander flame grill.

Method

1. Firstly trim the tops off your aubergines and slice them length ways (see picture) so you have a full length cross-section, slice them about a 1/4 inch thick (or as close to as possible, it'll just take longer to cook them if they are thicker). If you are worried about knives slipping then just cut them into rings of the same thickness.

2. Lay your aubergine slices on a tray in a single layer (no overlapping) and sprinkle them with all of the salt, rubbing it in gently, put aside for 20-30 minutes or until a decent amount of water has been extracted. 

3. Meanwhile, prepare your salad leaves and then the dressing - by mixing the oil, oregano and pepper together. Crumble your cheese into small pieces and toast your pine nuts in a hot frying pan until lightly brown. Set all these aside until you are ready to assemble your salad.

4. Heat a griddle pan on a medium-hot heat. Dry your aubergine slices with kitchen paper, (you'll be amazed how much water will come out - most of the salt will be removed but some will remain to season the dish) place them on a chopping board and brush them with the dressing on one side. Griddle them oiled side down, then oil the other side, turn once when griddle lines appear, finish cooking them through on the other side and repeat with the rest of the slices.

5. To plate, place a base of salad leaves tossed with a little of the cheese and a few pine nuts. Then arrange the aubergine slices as you see fit and sprinkle with the last of the cheese and pine nuts. Drizzle with a little garlic oil and enjoy immediately.

Warm asparagus and halloumi salad

We cooked up a right treat tonight! It's the short-lived British asparagus season (generally from 24th April - 21st June) at the moment and we got our hands on a few tender stems and wondered what we could do to celebrate these delicious vegetables. This is what we came up with...

As the weather has been so beautiful and warm recently, we craved a light and delicately flavoured supper. Salads can be dull and uninteresting and often not at all satisfying. This is most definitely not the case here - not only is this dish quick and simple to rustle up, it is absolutely divine and, perhaps unexpectedly, filling. 

We think you will love this. The little nuggets of salty halloumi marry perfectly with the sweetness of the asparagus and the balance of flavours is complimented exquisitely by the garlic oil (see homemade condiments). 

This salad has very few components but we assure you it will not disappoint. Go on, get some British asparagus whilst it's still around (blink and it'll be gone!) and get in the kitchen!

Warm asparagus and halloumi salad

Serves 2

Preparation time - less than 5 minutes

Cooking time - 5 minutes

Ingredients

10 full length British asparagus stems

125 g halloumi cheese

100 g mixed salad leaves 

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp coriander seeds

2 tbsp garlic oil

salt and pepper

Notes: Snap the woody ends off the asparagus and if it is really woody, then shave off the outer skin from the lower stem. The halloumi cheese must be of a good quality as otherwise it will leak too much water when frying; we use Cypressa. You can use whichever salad leaves you enjoy most, however we used a mixture of spinach, rocket, baby lollo rosso and red chard.

Method

1. Cut your halloumi into 3/4" cubes and set aside in a bowl. Grind the cumin and coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar and sprinkle over the halloumi, coating evenly.

2. Put a griddle pan  (if you don't have a griddle pan then a large heavy based frying pan will suffice  but we do recommend a griddle pan to achieve the best flavour) and a large frying pan on to heat. Meanwhile, prepare your asparagus (as above) and add a chef's measure (see conversion table) of salt and pepper to your garlic oil and brush this mixture onto your asparagus stems lightly. 

3. Place the halloumi into your frying pan and the asparagus into your griddle pan (no extra oil required in either pan). Fry the halloumi until golden brown (don't worry, the joy of this cheese is that it does not melt) - this should take around 5 minutes or so, but keep an eye on it as halloumi will burn quickly. The asparagus will be ready when it has griddle lines on and it is just cooked through (you still want a slight crunch) - this should also take around 5 minutes.

4. Place your salad leaves onto plates and simply toss with the halloumi. Arrange the asparagus stems on top and finish with a drizzle of garlic oil. 

 How could you possibly resist this?!

Broad beans and bacon on toast

If you're seeking something different for lunch during these warmer months, a light dish such as this is perfect, especially if you fancy something a little naughtier than a salad. This is a conglomeration of various recipes and has become a standard meal in our house as we always have the ingredients available. It is simple and delicious and takes very little time to put together, great for when you are in a rush!

Sautéed Broad Beans and Bacon on Toast

Serves 2

Ingredients

250 g frozen broad beans, peeled

4 rashers bacon, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley

2 tbsp garlic oil

pinch pepper

thickly sliced crusty bread, toasted

Note - We used smoked bacon but of course you can use unsmoked if you prefer. We peel the broad beans because the outer skin is tough and has an unpleasant texture. It is worth the time taking the skins off, but if you like the texture, by all means keep them on. If your mix becomes too dry throughout cooking add more oil. If you don't have garlic oil, simply substitute olive oil and add a finely chopped garlic clove with the onions.

Method

1. Boil the broad beans for 4 minutes in salted water. Drain and rinse under cold water (this will help to cool them down for when you handle them to peel). Peel the skins off and set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and then sauté the onions until soft but not coloured (~ 2 minutes). Add the bacon pieces and sauté until browned (~ 5 minutes).

3. Meanwhile, toast four slices of bread. 

4. Add your beans and toss through the bacon and onions (~ 1 minute), season with pepper and add the parsley just before serving on buttered toast.

Hope you enjoy, we sure did!