recipe: steak & mushroom on wild garlic chapo (Kenyan Chapati / roti)

steak & mushroom on wild garlic chapo (Kenyan Chapati / roti)

wild garlic chapo brushed w/ mango chutney & topped w/ mushrroms, seared ribeye steak, fruit couscous & kimchi

IngredientsMakes: 385g (1)

100g		wild garlic chapos	(recipe below)
10g		asd mango chutney
80g		sweated mushrooms	(recipe below)
110g		seared ribeye steak	(recipe below)
20g		mayo
10g		lime juice
3g		coriander
2g		red chilli
10g		mango chutney
30g		light apricot couscous fruity	(recipe below)
20g		kimchi no3	(recipe below)

Method

Make the mushrooms, prep the tomatoes, couscous & kimchi.

Brush the chapo w/ mango chutney & put on low on a skillet to warm.

Make the steak and place on a wooden board to rest.

Deglaze the steak pan with the touch of water butter & the mushrooms then assemble the whole thing on the skillet so it stays warm.

Chapo, mango chutney, mayo, coriander, chillies, steak, couscous, kimchi & finally a ouch more mango.

Serve on a warm plate! Too good . . . .

This took less than 15mins to make when I got in from work . . . chapos were in the freezer, kimchi on the counter, sauces in the fridge & cupboard.

Couscous was left over from yesterday. Very pleased with the outcome!

sweated mushrooms

soft cooked mushrooms - think, breakfast, side, wraps, bugers, pasta, pizza . . .

IngredientsMakes: 113g

150g		mushrooms
10g		butter
1g		salt

Method

Thick slice the mushrooms.

Heat a pan to medium high heat, & rub it with a stick of butter to coat the surface.

Add the mushroooms, sprinkle w/ salt & toss to coat. Turn the heat to medium.

Toss them a few times as they become soft & cooked though. Use as necessary.

seared ribeye steak

IngredientsMakes: 213g (1)

227g		ribeye steak
2g		veg oil
1g		salt

Method

Brush the steak with oil and season it, cook it to taste in the same pan.

Once cooked put the steak onto a warm serving plate to rest and deglaze the pan with water or wine.

Once the liquor is reduced to a third add the juice from the steak on the plate.

Mix and pour over the steak - serve immediately.

light apricot couscous fruity

dried fruit & nut couscous, leaning more towards fruit & nut

IngredientsMakes: 350g (2)

80g		couscous
145g		chicken stock	(recipe below)
20g		mange tout
20g		spring onions
15g		dried apricots
20g		dried cranberries
10g		red pepper
15g		butter
30g		spinach
10g		red onion
15g		flaked almonds

kimchi no3

classic korean fermented vegetables w/ ginger garlic & chilli

IngredientsMakes: 1450g

530g		cone cabbage
140g		chinese cabbage
260g		carrots
280g		red peppers
60g		radishes
60g		spring onions
30g		red onion
32g		garlic
250g		7.5pc brine
18g		chilli flakes
60g		ginger
3g		sweet smoked paprika
20g		sriracha chilli sauce
30g		sugar
80g		7.5pc brine
40g		olive oil

Method

Make the brine the night before so any chlorine in the water evaporates - better for fermenting process.

Make 3L of 7.5% brine - 225g salt 2775g water.

The 240g in the recipe is approximately what finally ends up in the jar.

Shred the veg & garlic - all ingredients up to the brine - & cover w/ brine.

Put plate on top to keep veg submerged.

Leave for 12hours / over night. Remove from brine - keeping the brine.

If the veg is not salty enough return to brine for longer. If too salty rinse w/ fresh water & drain.

To make the flavouring sauce simply mix the peeled & chopped ginger w/ the chilli flakes, smoked paprika, sriracha chilli sauce, sugar & brine.

Mix this w/ the drained veg until its mixed completely.

Pack the mix into a kilner jar and top w/ brine. Insert a gauze to keep the veg submerged.

If you are in Hereford check out Growing Local on facebook/meta they currently have all sorts of seasonal veg available grown right here in Hereford using organic practices!
Sign up for veg box here / or for wholesale here.

Recipe: Vietnamese Pho Tai (Beef Noodle Soup / pot-au-feu / A Pot Of Fire)

This is recognised as one of the Vietnamese national dishes, it’s often made with chicken instead of beef. This version is made with slow braised short rib and oxtail and is topped with rare sirloin steak. It’s seasoned with fish sauce then topped with chopped herbs, thinly sliced onions and lime juice, which add wonderful fragrant notes to the meaty noodle broth.

I like to make mine with shredded cucumber instead of noodles, which gives the broth a fabulous light summery flavour, traditionally it's made with rice noodles.

ingredients for the beef pho (serves 6)

for the stock

3L water

2 chicken stock cubes

75g  ginger (cut into 4 slices & charred)

2 large onion (cut into 8 & charred)

6 star anise

2 cinnamon stick

4g cardamom

25g rock sugar (or brown sugar)

12 small oxtail segments (2pp)

3 short ribs (1/2pp)

100ml fish sauce (to taste)

40g lime juice (1 or 2 limes)

for the pho 

600g fresh noodles (100g pp)

or 3 cukes (shredded)

500g sirloin / ribeye (80g pp medium rare)

i.e. 2 large steaks!

for the garnish

10g Thai basil (4 leaves pp)

20g coriander (10 sprigs pp)

4 spring onions (cut into rings)

1 red onion (cut in half, then semi circles)

2 chillies (cut into rings)

fish sauce (tsp pp)

1 lime (1/6 each)

equipment

knife

large stock pot

method

stock

OK, the first step seems counter intuitive, but it results in a clearer broth!! Boil the oxtail and short ribs separately for 5-10 minutes, until they stops releasing scum. Once they stop, discard the water they were boiled in, and rinse the meat under a cold tap.  

Char the ginger and onion on a griddle pan, this adds a nice flavour, giving a more complex broth.

Put all the ingredients into a stock pot, bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to simmer. (Volume knob to 3 or 4!)

Simmer for 3 hours, skimming scum off the top of the broth constantly as it’s cooking. This helps produce a clearer broth.

Take the steak (for the tai component) out of the fridge so it’s at room temp when you cook it. Leave it in a takeaway box. (or similar)

pho 

Just before the stock is ready, remove the short ribs and place on a chopping board. 

Cook noodles for 2 minutes in boiling water, then strain and place in hot serving bowls.

Season the steaks and add a glug of oil to them, turning them to cover both sides.

Place them into a hot pan, and brown on both sides, turning frequently until brown but still rare - how to cook a steak.

Remove and place on a chopping board. Leave them there (to rest) while prepping the garnish & assembling the pho.

to serve

Remove the meat from the short ribs by cutting along the flat part of the bone. Slice the steak and short ribs thinly.

Prep the garnishes as shown. Share out the oxtail and broth into bowls, add the sliced beef, and garnish!!

Good to go!!

thinking ahead (for lazy days)

Put the stock, including oxtail and sliced short rib, in a resealable plastic bags. 600g / bag.

Bust it out of the freezer when you want a pho!

Nuke it for 10mins (800W microwave - set to defrost). Make the noodles and steak while it defrosts!

Great hangover cure with minimal effort!

Out take from upcoming book . . . . I mean . . when I say upcoming . . .  I'm working on it . . .  it's been a background task for over 10+ years . . . 

Post re-written image of pho at Fernandez and Leluu