Lamb Kebabs on Pearl Barley Broth

This dish is inspired by a recipe found in May '08 Runners World (UK) magazine by Michel Roux Jr. A protein rich broth ideal for an after-race meal. Helps replenish depleted stores of carbohydrates and salts.

If you happen to be wondering why I'm so bothered about running all of a sudden its cos I'm down to run the Berlin Marathon. Follow my training at my Tumble log http://runberlin2008.tumblr.com.

Ingredients
For the kebabs
325g lamg leg steaks (diced)
Cumin powder
Salt
Chilli flakes (or chilli powder)

For the broth
Half a leek (sliced)
5 chestnut mushrooms (quartered)
60g pearl barley
chicken stock (300ml)
olive oil
garlic (clove, finely chopped)
white pepper

Step 1
Heat oil in a pan and cook the garlic, leek and mushrooms until softened. Then add the chicken stock and pearl barley. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes or until barley is tender. Season with white pepper.

Step 2
Heat the oven to 190°C. Thread the diced lamb onto skewers place on a baking tray and sprinkle with salt, chilli flakes and olive oil. Cover generously with cumin powder.

Step 3
Cook the kebabs in the oven for 10-15mins. Serve with broth.

How to make Chilli Oil

Homemade chilli oil is an essential ingredient for any cupboard. Everyone knows a chilli addictive. I live with one. Once you've made batch of oil split between containers and give them out to friends and family. A sure fire way to make get on that Xmas card list.

Ingredients
125g Crushed Extra Hot Red Chillies
250ml Sesame Oil
1 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Szechuan Pepper Corn Powder


Step 1
In a small pan heat all the oil on high for 5-10 minutes.

Step 2
Meanwhile, mix the crushed chilli flakes, salt and szechuan pepper corn powder in a large heatproof bowl. Mix well.


Step 3
When the oil is very hot (smoking gently) pour over the crushed chillies slowly mixing all the time. Make sure that you add the oil small amounts at time. It should take you about 1-2 minutes to pour the oil, as you do the chillies will start turning a darker colour as the hot sesame oil cooks the chillies in the heatproof bowl.

Step 4
Leave to cool, then store in a jar/bowl and keep in a cool cupboard/larder.

Fried Tomatoes with Egg

This is a very basic but delicious vegetarian recipe. Quick, sweet and often cooked as an accompanying dish with other servings.

Ingredients
4 tomatoes (each chopped into 8 segments)
4 large eggs (whisked together)
1 tsp of white granulated sugar
1/2 tsp of chicken powder
salt (to taste)
olive oil (splash of)

Step 1
Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan until hot and add the tomatoes. Heat the tomatoes for 2 minutes then sprinkle over the sugar and continue to fry for a further 3 minutes. Set aside.

Step 2
Heat another splash of olive in the frying pan and add the whisked eggs. Keep turning the eggs until they start to solidify.

Step 3
Add the tomatoes set aside earlier to the eggs. Mix well. Add salt to taste. Add chicken powder. Stir well and serve.

Belly Pork Hot Pot

Mmm just thinking about writing this up is making my mouth water. I only had this a couple of days ago and I want it again...now. Seriously, if I had to name my top ten all time favourite dishes this would definitely make it. Its the way the fat on the pork simply melts in your mouth.

Enough! Back to the recipe.

Ingredients
Pork Belly (cut into 1 inch chunks/cubes)
2 green chillies (chopped)
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp white or brown sugar
olive oil
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 star aniseed
1 bay leaf
2 carrots cut into chunks
2 leeks sliced
recently boiled water (about 1 pint and a half)

Step 1
On a hot hob, in a flameproof casserole dish, heat a splash of olive oil until hot. Add the ginger, stir, quickly followed by the chilli and fry for a further 20 seconds. Then add the belly pork. Fry until the pork starts to brown (2 minutes or so).

Step 2
When the pork has browned add the sugar, light and dark soy sauce and stir contents so that the pork is covered. Then add water from the recently boiled kettle. The water should cover the pork by roughly an inch (2.5cm). Add the star aniseed and the bay leaf. Bring back to the boil, turn the hob down, then place the lid leaving a gap on the casserole dish and simmer for 1 hour.

Step 3
Add the carrots to the pot and simmer for 20 minutes. Then add the leeks and simmer for a further 10 minutes.

Serve with rice. Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelishous!!!

TOP TIP: the star aniseed is very important in this recipe as its adds a very distinctive flavour. You can usually pick them up from a Chinese supermarket. Well worth buying and they'll last you for ages.

Simple Sausage Casserole

A straight forward recipe to make a delicious sausage casserole using ingredients most of us have in the cupboard/fridge.

Ingredients
2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
1 green chilli (chopped)
6 pork sausages (ensure that the percentage of meat is at least 70%)
1 red pepper (sliced)
7 cherry tomatoes
a handful of mushrooms (sliced)
a heaped spoonful of wholegrain mustard
a splash of worcestershire sauce
an oxo cube
recently boiled water (about 2-3 cups)
1-2 tbsp olive oil

Step 1
In a cast iron casserole dish heat the olive oil on the stove. When the oil is hot fry the garlic and chilli until the garlic starts to change colour. Then add the sausages and fry until lightly browned.

Step 2
Add the pepper, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms to the casserole dish and continue to fry until softened. Turn the oven on at 180°C to heat up.

Step 3
Boil the kettle. Whilst the kettle is heating up stir in the mustard and sprinkle the oxo cube over the sausages. When the water has boiled pour over the sausages until it is about 1 to 1.5 inches deep. Splash the worcestershire sauce over everything and stir.

Step 4
Put the lid on the casserole dish and place the dish in the oven and cokk for 1 hour.

Serve with vegetables of your choice.

Tom Yum Tiger Prawns

Tom Yum paste is traditionally used as a base for a spicy, thin Thai soup. We found we had some left (about a teaspoon's worth) and decided to experiment with using it in a stir fry.

Ingredients
20 Tiger Prawns (with the skins but without heads)
1 carrot (thinly sliced)
1 leek (1 to 2cm chunks)
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 green chilli (chopped)
75g green beans (halved)
1 tsp Tom Yum paste
1/4 cup water
2 tsps dark soy sauce
2-3 portions of vermicelli
olive oil (splash of)

Step 1
Cook the vermicelli and set aside.

Step 2
Heat the olive oil in a large wok/frying pan. Fry the garlic, chilli and ginger until the garlic just starts to turn brown (less than 30 seconds). Then add the rest of the vegetables (green beans, carrots & leeks) and continue to fry for another 3-4 minutes.

Step 3
Add the prawns and 1/4 cup of water (if the prawns are frozen there is no need to add the extra water). Fry the prawns until they are pink all over and then add the Tom Yum paste. If the pan seems a little dry at this point add some more water, if not don't worry. Stir the paste in thoroughly.

Step 4
Once all ingredients are cooked through take the vermicelli noodles set aside earlier and add to the wok. Mix noodles in thoroughly and add the dark soy sauce.

Serve.

Spicy Stuffed Aubergines with Yakitori Pork Chops

Ingredients
2 pork chops
4 tbsp Yakitori sauce (Japanese)
1 aubergine (eggplant) - see Step 2 for preparations
1 courgette (diced)
a handful of (100g) mushrooms (chopped)
1 yellow pepper (diced)
1 green chilli (chopped)
1 clove of garlic (chopped)
Half a tin of chopped tomoatoes (200g)
1 tbsp chilli bean paste (optional)
olive oil
salt & pepper


Step 1
Marinate the pork chops in the Yakitori sauce. If you can't find Yakitori sauce the simply mix some dark soy with brown sugar and use that instead. Leave in the fridge to marinate for a while.


Step 2
Heat the oven to 180°C. Slice the aubergine in half longways. Scoop out the flesh to leave the skin. Set the flesh aside for step 3. Rub olive oil, salt and pepper into the skin of the aubergine. Place them on a baking tray and pop them in the oven for 15-20 minutes until soft.

Step 3
Dice the aubergine, mushrooms, courgette and pepper. In a large frying pan fry the garlic and chilli until the garlic starts to turn brown. Then add the vegetables, chopped tomatoes and chilli bean paste (optional) and continue to cook for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Step 4
Remove the aubergine skins from the over and spoon the vegetables into the skins. Place the stuffed skins back in the oven.

Step 5
Fry the marinated pork chops for 3-4 minutes each side. When they are done serve with the stuffed aubergines.

In Japan Yakitori sauce is traditionally used with poultry, in particular chicken. We stumbled upon the fact that it tastes great with pork simply because we didn't know that you're supposed to use it with chicken. Try it, you might like it.