Book Launch - Cook Like a Man - for Movember

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

Mo is slang for moustache, and in the month of November Mo brothers and sistas spend the month raising awareness about issues of mens health for the month of Movember. 

COOK LIKE A MAN cookbook!! featuring Simon Fernandez (err . . me) of ferdiesfoodlab! (amongst others)

Much more eloquently put by Ray Winston with some beautiful snooker shots by Jimmy White here!

And on the Movember web site here!

Sunday lunch followed
shortly after! : ) 

For the past 3 years Movember have got together with all manner of very creative chefs (one of whom I'm privileged to be) to make an annual Movember bulletin with a tonne of helpful advice and recipes and written with a great deal of humour.

This year Movember have teamed up with Macmillan, who sponsored the endeavour to create a cook book from all the past contributions. Resulting in a fabulously broad - dare I say spectacular cook book filled with all sorts of recipes and a written with a great deal of whit!

For the launch party chefs made their creations from the book and we all had a fabulous chow down, along with some music and a couple of drinks.  It's a real corker so I suggest you get a copy and have a Movember feast of your own!!

The book is available in all good book stores including Waterstones and Amazon and you can get the hardback delivered to your door for as little as £6 of for you Kindle for less than £4.50, and don't forget proceeds go to the Movember charity! 

You can get a copy for less than a pint of Hoegaarden! It's a no brainer

A bit about the book:

The book is split into sections on: soups and salads, starters, BBQ's, meat, gastronomic TRAILBLAZERS, poultry and game, fish, desserts, and my favourite; sauces, chutneys and jams! So there's all sorts to try out!

Seriously if you had to choose between a pint / glass of wine less one evening or a rocking cookbook? Simple choice!

Just to give you an idea (an excerpt):

"The 'perfect' dinner party brings to mind magical evening of social grandeur. The the impeccably dressed host meeting guests at the door, champagne and canapes on arrival, seamless courses of Michelin star worthy haute cuisine, and conversation so significant that it actually means something. Rubbish. This book is for Mo Bros and Mo Sistas and they, more than anyone, understand that any home-cooked meal shared with friends makes for a great night." which a statement I whole heartedly agree with!

Mo Chefs - posing!!

Chefs in the book (order of apearance):

Dave Bone, Richard Robinson, Sam Wilson, Deon Jansen, Brad Stoward, Fred Smith, Andy Waugh & Rauride Elmslie, Giles Clark, David Johnson, Luca & Guglielmo D'Alfonso, Duncan Maguire, Risto Mikkola, Ant Power, Wolf Conyngham, Mark and Connor Bereen, Oisin Davis, Simon Fernandez, Mark Bereen & Ciaran McGonagle, David Cuspinera, Eduard Prades, Joan Ramon Galindo, Evan Doyle, John Tremayne, Ivan Varian, Troy McGuire, Nick Butler, James Lyon-Shaw, Martin Dorey

Mo bro's at the launch party!! Great work!!

Recipe: Pumpkin w/ Preserved Lemon & Plum Stuffing for Halloween (Vegetarian)

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

Well after all the care, attention and surprises the time has come to harvest the unidentified gourd / pumpkin / squash thing maybe a  Baby Bear? or a Sugar Pie? pumpkin. Not sure! If you can identify it please comment!!! It made a very nice vegetarian dinner served with cherry tomatoes and lightly poached fine green beans. The lemon oil, honey and cherry tomatoes produce a gorgeous sauce during the roasting process, very nice! 

: ) Enjoy!

ingredients (serves 4 as a side or starter)

for the pumkin

1 small pumpkin 

1/3  large red onion (sliced into quarters lengthways)

4 tbsp stuffing & plum jam mix

1 salted lemon (cut into 8 slices)

4 tbsp olive oil (from salted lemons)

2 tbsp honey (loosened w/ 2tbsp water)

12 cherry tomatoes

method (170C / 45mins)

Quarter the squash and scoop out the seeds.

Place the squash skin side down in a roasting tin.  Put one tsp plum jam and a tbsp of stuffing in the first quarter,

then place an onion segment and 2 slices of salted lemon on top of that. Repeat for each of the remaining quarters.

Dress each quarter with the loosened honey and then the lemon infused extra virgin olive oil from the salted lemons.

Add the cherry tomatoes and and season with salt an pepper.

Pop it into the oven for 15mins then remove it, cover the base of the roasting tin with about 1cm of water an return it to the oven for another 30 minutes or until nicely roasted.

Add the green beens to a pot of salted boiling for about 5mins. Then drain them and dress them with a little vinegar and olive oil. Serve immediately with the pumpkin.

variations

I reckon this would work pretty well with squash or even sweet potato instead of pumpkin!

Recipe: Sweet Potato Tortilla (Spanish Omelette)

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

The first time I remember making this was for some friends, and my new flatmates, my flat mates didn't know what to expect, and I didn't really have any idea what they liked so I decided to makes tapas. Tapas are a great option when you're unsure what folk like because they can pick and choose what they like. I'll never forget my flatmate's boyfriend's face when he tried this recipe. First he munched then fairly quickly a huge grin of approval appeared on his face, followed by nodding and hmmmm-ing!! Then he went in for seconds with the best "happy days" expression I have ever seen!! That's always very rewarding! This recipe has been on the menu for the last 5 years, and none has ever come back! 

So here it is for you to try . . . .  in both video format, and written!

How To: Cooking Sweet Potatoes

In this picture we served it with Oyster Mushrooms Noissette and pea shoots!

ingredients (serves 6 - starter / tapa)

for the tortilla

400g sweet potato

400g onions (150-200g / med-large onion)

3-4 eggs

s&p

veg oil for frying

apparatus / equipment

deep fat fryer (optional)

frying pan

plate for turning

tortilla

Add enough oil to a frying pan to shallow fry the vegetables.

Peel the sweet potato and cut it into slices the thickness of a chip.

Peel onions and cut them into 1cm dice, than add both to the oil and fry gently until the sweet potatoes are soft.

Remove with a slotted spoon and put on kitchen towel to remove the excess fat.

Crack all the eggs into a mixing bowl and beat until the yolks are mixed in.

Add the fried veggies to the eggs. Season with salt and a touch of pepper and mix thoroughly.

Remove the oil from the pan leaving a thin coat. 

Add the potato mixture to the pan and fry it gently until it's almost cooked all the way through, then turn it out onto the plate. 

Add a touch of oil to the pan and return the tortilla to the pan uncooked side down to finish it off.

NB If using a deep fat fryer, deep fry onions and potatoes for 6-8m @ 140C, or until the sweet potatoes are soft, then drain.

thinking ahead

The tortilla can be made in the afternoon and reheated under the grill (or a microwave) or eaten at room temperature!!

what could go wrong? (notes)

My tortilla is stuck to the pan, and it's fallen to bits when I try and get it out!!

Well, best advice is use a good non stick pan! 

Failing that make sure that the oil is hot when you put the mix into the pan.

Draw the tortilla mix from the edge to the centre bringing the cooed mix to the centre and replacing it with raw mix.

Jiggle the pan each time you do this to stop it sticking to the bottom - took me years to work that out!!

to serve

Turn out onto a clean plate and cut into even slices to the delight of the kids, the vegetarians, basically anyone who likes food!!

We serve it with a spicy fried tomato sauce and some aioli!

variations

Some folk don't like onions! They can be left out to make a simple sweet potato tortilla (omelette)

Enjoy!! : )