Experiment Recipe: Moussagna (Moussaka Lasagna Hybrid!) (meaty or veggie)

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

This little creation was born when I went shopping and had a bit of a split personality moment. I was in two minds whether to make moussaka or lasagna so I bought the ingredients for both!

Moussagna (Moussaka Lasagna Hybrid!)

This little creation was born when I went shopping and had a bit of a split personality moment. I was in two minds whether to make moussaka or lasagna so I bought the ingredients for both!

The diced gherkins make a great addition to the mince, adding a nice texture and a little sharpness which balances the fat from the mince!

This recipe does have a some meat, but considering the size of the dish it’s not much. A touch of veggie mince would make this a top veggie dish.

* cooking

prep time 45-60m

cooking time 25m @ 200C

* storage after it’s cooked

fridge (1-4C) ~7days

freezable cut it into portions and bag or wrap in cling film before freezing!

* reheat 

oven defrost, remove plastic wrapper then 20-30m @ 180C

microwavable defrost, remove plastic wrapper then 3mins / 400g @ 800W

* equipment

28x14cm baking tin (at least 6cm deep )

(GN 1/3 6cm)

ingredients (serves 6-8)

for the red sauce

2 red peppers (2cm square pieces)

2 red onion (1cm dice)

50ml olive oil

1/2 courgette (washed, peeled, 1cm dice)

25g butter

400g fried tomatoes (recipe here)

25g Sriracha hot sauce

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp sugar (optional)

for the white sauce

500ml milk

50g butter (room temp)

200g mature cheddar (grated)

1/2 tsp black pepper (freshly ground)

1/2 tsp maldon salt (1/4 normal salt)

1 tbsp corn flour (mixed into 100ml of water)

for the minced component (meat or veggie)

1 large onion (~200g, 1cm dice)

4 sweet pickled gherkins (~5mm dice)

250g minced beef / lamb / veggie mince

4 cloves garlic

for the aubergine

1 large aubergine

50ml olive oil

for the topping

65g bread crumbs

10g parsley (fine chop)

squeeze of lemon

slug of olive oil

for the assembly

250g fresh egg pasta sheets

method

red sauce

Prep the red pepper, onion and mix them with the oil in a medium pot.

Cook with the lid on, on a medium heat for 35 mins, string occasionally. (The red pepper should end up soft.)

Use the time to prep the aubergine & white sauce.

To finish the red sauce, sauté the courgette with the butter, then add it to the onion & pepper mix.

Add the fried tomato, hot sauce, sugar and vinegar. 

Mix well and leave on a medium low heat to simmer until you need it to assemble the dish.

white sauce

Warm the milk and butter in a medium saucepan until the butter has melted.

Mix the water and corn flour in a cup and pour it into the cheesy milk, stirring as you do.

Stir the bottom of the pan with the flat end of a flat ended spatula until the sauce has thickened.

Add the cheese and stir until smooth. 

TIPS:

The sauce won’t look that thick, but don’t forget that the lasagna sheets will absorb a lot of moisture.

The reason for using a flat ended spatula instead of a spoon, is that much more of the sauce is moved from the (hot) bottom of the pan stopping it burning and meaning that it thickens more quickly and evenly!!

for the minced component (meat or veggie)

Sweat off the onions and garlic in a frying pan on a medium heat, once translucent add the mince.

Break it apart and leave it alone until the meat has started to brown.

Mix it again and repeat until the all the mix is a lovely golden brown. 

Season it and add the gherkins, mixing well. Put to one side until needed.

aubergine

Slice aubergine into 1/2 cm slices. 

Coat a frying pan with oil, removing the excess by pouring it into a heatproof jug.

place the sobering in the pan and turn once.

topping

Season and mix well.

assembly

So at this point you should have all the layers ready!!

Arrange the ingredients in layers and cook at 200C for 25min.

= = = = = TOP = = = = = 

breadcrumb mix

white sauce

aubergine

white sauce

——— pasta

red sauce

——— pasta

white sauce

aubergine

meaty mix

white sauce

——— pasta

red sauce

——— pasta

meaty mix

white sauce

——— pasta

red sauce

= = = = = BOTTOM = = = = = 

Baked lawn anyone?? : )

Experiment - Recipe: Sushi Rice (& various Maki Rolls)

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

I love sushi! 

I’m a grazer, I like variety in my food, I like to make lots of different types of roll, which inevitable means I end up with rather more than I could possibly eat myself!!  That's why I make it when I have friends around. It’s nice to get everyone involved in the rolling . .  
S U S H I   P A R T Y ! ! , or maybe a little rolling competition : )

What I’ve found is that if you give folk a set of ingredients and let everyone freestyle, you invariably get some pretty random stuff, and it’s quite often very good!! I always take notes!!! : )

In this post: crunchy tipped chicken and mango rolls, mushroom rolls, soused cucumber and cream cheese, red pepper and mayo, sweet lemon lettuce and egg pancake roll.

OK first the basics: the rice

One of the most important things to get right is the rice, you don't want it too wet or mushy or too hard!

So first you need the right kind of rice: Sushi rice has a grain in between pudding rice and risotto rice, very similar to paella rice.

The next thing to get right is the ratio of water to rice which is 1.3 by weight. So for example 500g rice to 650g water.

For other types of rice you can have a quick check on the Quick Ref tab on this blog : )

How do I cook sushi rice?  Wash the rice by rinsing it in a sieve under the cold tap, cook it with or without seasoning seaweed (EG kombu), one cooked turn it out onto a tray. Spread out gently to season it. Season with sweet vinegar, do not allow to go cold (makes the rice hard).

What ratio of water to rice? 1 : 1.35  rice : water  by weight will give you mid ground bite. 1.3 to go more al dente 1.4 for a softer touch

How much rice vinegar & sugar to rice? 

After it’s cooked: 60g seasoning per 600g uncooked rice - 10% by weight (add as soon as the rice is cooked & turned out)

or 

Before it’s cooked: 60g seasoning per 300g uncooked rice - 20% by weight (add as soon as the rice is cooked & turned out)

How much sugar in the sweetened vinegar?

Rice vinegar : Sugar : Salt = 6 : 6 : 1

Nori: Shiny side in or out? Shiny side out rook nice! (also rice sticks to the rough side better, so assemble rice onto rough side)

What now? Get rolling Daniel-san aye.

What to go inside? Man the variety and spectacular presentation and combination of flavours of sushi masters is truly beguiling!

Best learn how to roll before you go native since some of the ingredients are delicate and expensive!

I believe Japanese food to be both the most fun and the most f8cking serious you’ll ever encounter! (and very rewarding)

This post is very much about fun : )

ingredients (serves 4 as a starter)

makes

2 large rolls - chicken and mango rolls (6 pieces x 2 types)

3 small rolls - mushroom rolls (18 pieces)

2 small rolls - soused cucumber and cream cheese (12 pieces)

2 small rolls - red pepper and mayo (12 pieces)

2 large rolls - sweet lemon lettuce and egg (8-12 pieces)

For which you'll need 7 sheets of nori. (plus any practice spares)

for the sushi rice

When working out how much rice you'll need calculate with 50g cooked rice per small roll

and 100g cooked rice per large roll (more quantities here: Quick Ref Tab

250g uncooked rice rice makes 550g cooked rice

large x2 100g x2 200g

small x9 50g x10 500g

need at least 700g

for the rice (1kg)

450g sushi rice 

585g water

2 sheets kombu (optional)

for the sushi vinegar (100ml  10% of weight of the cooked rice!) 

46g rice wine vinegar

46g sugar

8g salt

for the egg roll w/ sweet lemon & shredded lettuce

2 eggs

15g flour

50g milk

1/2 tsp sugar 

pinch of salt

1/3 iceberg lettuce (shredded)

1/2 lemon 

1 tbsp sugar

for the mushroom sushi

250g mushrooms (duxelles)

1tsp soft cheese

1/2 tsp all purpose

for the crispy chicken and mango salsa sushi

2 chicken thighs chopped into strips

1/2 mango (fine diced)

1/2 red onion (fine diced)

1/2 chilli

coriander (torn)

50g bread crumbs

50g egg roll mix (see below)

for the soused cucumber sushi

1 tsp soft cheese

1 tsp mayo

1/3 cucumber (cut into strips)

250ml white wine vinegar

125ml sugar

125ml water

12g salt

for the red pepper sushi

red pepper (julienne)

1tbsp mayo

for the accompaniments

pickled ginger

wasabi

ponzu

apparatus / equipment

sushi rolling mat

nimble fingers 

square frying pan (for pancakos)

rolling method

When spreading the rice onto the nori (seaweed sheets) have a bowl of water with a little vinegar in it. Dip your fingers in it every time you grab some rice so they don't completely covered in rice and stop you right in your tracks!!

When cutting the rolls make sure your knife is clean (and keep it clean with a damp cloth during the whole process) and sharp!

sushi vinegar

Mix all the ingredients together until the salt and sugar are dissolved. (Warm if required)

sushi rice

Wash the sushi rice, then cook it in a rice cooker ratio of 1.3 water to 1 rice by weight.

Once cooked turn the rice out onto a tray and season it with sushi vinegar. Sprinkle the vinegar over a paddle, flicking the paddle back an forth to evenly distribute the vinegar. When mixing the seasoning in take care not to squash the rice.

mushroom sushi

This is a simple mushroom duxelles in a small roll, great umami flavour and not too much mushroom texture, which for some people is a real bonus!

crispy chicken and mango salsa sushi

This flavour profile had nothing to do with Japanese cuisine, it’s more equatorial Brazilian kinda vibe but it works well in a sushi roll, this is what experimenting is all about!

soused cucumber sushi

Fairly standard roll contents but pickled. Mix the sousing vinegar ingredients (salt, sugar, water, vinegar) until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Pickle the cucumber for 60 mins. Mix the mayo and the cheese, and combine the the drained cucumber and mayo in to a roll.

Quite nice a nice combo is plain cucumber with a little wasabi mayo wrapped in pickled ginger in the centre of a roll.

Ahem, before any of the purists have a pop, it’s worth nothing that pickled ginger is traditionally used as a between sushi rounds palette cleanser.

red pepper sushi

Again another bog standard ingredient in its raw form. Roasted red pepper and beef tartare or charred beef are a great combo

egg roll w/ sweet lemon & shredded lettuce

Swiss roll style with and extra inch at the end to hold the wrap, filled in the centre shredded iceberg lettuce dressed with lemon syrup.

Recipe: Caramelised Pork Belly w/ Boiled Eggs and Rice

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

This is classic Vietnamese fare.  Normally the pork is braised for and hour with the boiled eggs but I happened to have a rather large amount of cooked pork belly in the fridge so I though I’d do it a couple of different ways for my housemates.

This is a simple and tasty recipe; it’s a real corker, I’ve written the recipe how it would normally be made with uncooked pork belly.

The belly I had, had already been slow cooked so I put it in about 30minutes into the braising process so it wouldn’t fall apart in the broth, but still have enough time to take up the flavours and be soft and delicious!

Normally this is served with rice . . . 

 ingredients (serves 4-6)

for the caramelising slow braising broth

1/4 side pork belly (1.7kg uncooked weight) (cut into 3-4cm chunks)

500ml coconut water

1 red onion (fine dice)

6 cloves garlic (fine dice)

45g ginger 

30-60ml fish sauce (to taste)

80g palm sugar (or brown sugar)

6 eggs

caramelising slow braising broth

Boil the eggs for 8 minutes, then immediately run under cold water. Once they’re cold enough to handle, peel them, ready for the pot.

Fry the onions until they’re a little charred, then add the ginger and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Deglaze with a little coconut water and pour the mix into a bowl.

In the same pot add the sugar and a slug of coconut water. Cook on a medium heat until the sugar is a dark caramel colour, then add the rest of the coconut water (through a sieve). Careful it will spit!

Add the fish sauce, garlic ginger mix and the boiled eggs and set to simmer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes add the pork belly, bring back up to the boil and set to simmer for another 30mins.

If you don’t have any 3 hr slow roast pork belly kicking about, sear off some pork shoulder and add it in at the same time as the eggs, then simmer for 60 mins. 

At the end of the 60 minutes check the flavour. If it’s needs it, you can sharpen it up with a touch of lime juice just before service.

thinking ahead

You can make this the day before and pop it in the fridge, and reheat when needed.

what could go wrong? (notes)

It’s impossible to cluck this up! Oink.

to serve

Serve it in a large bowl with a ladle in it, and serve with boiled rice.

Recipe: Zero Fat Salmon & Pork Wonton Soup

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

A friend of mine came round to lend a hand with hanging a door, a bit of sawing cutting varnishing that kind of thing. As a thanks for lending a hand I knocked this recipe up for a late lunch. I’m not gonna lie, it would have gone down exceptionally well accompanied by an ice cold beer! Unfortunately no beer allowed today - booooo! - watching that there waistline : /

Not bad for a bit of lunch - to be fair we'd earned it!!

Salmon is optional!! : )

Cucumber noodles

This recipe is a great recipe because you can have it with carbs or as a carb-less cucumber version!! Aye! So really good if you’re cooking for others while watching your own intake. Oh the sneakiness!! : )

It’s also quick and simplicity to make!

ingredients (serves 2 hungry people)

for the noodle soup

500g fresh noodles

1 chicken stock cube

1 tsp yellow bean paste (soya bean paste)

1L boiling water

1 medium red onion (finely sliced)

2 small green chillies (cut into rings, keep seeds)

1tbsp fish sauce (season to taste)

for the pork wontons

10 pork wontons (recipe post coming soon)

for the cucumber noodles

Mint & Sweet Basil

1/3 cucumber (mandolin to noodles)

1 tsp soy

for the salmon

300g salmon (cut into 2 pieces)

olive oil

salt

Ready for action!!

for the topping ~ garnish

2 tbsp cucumber noodles

10g sweet basil (stalks removed, torn)

10g mint (stalks removed, torn)

10g coriander (stalks removed, torn)

2 spring onions (cut into strips and then thirds)

~

2 spring onions (fine sliced into rings)

sweet basil (picked)

crispy fried onion

1 lime (sliced into 1/4’s)

apparatus / equipment

mandolin

method

for the noodle soup

Put the yellow bean paste and chicken stock cube in a pot, dissolve in the boiling water.

Add the green chillies, 1/2 of the red onion and the wontons, bring to the boil then set to simmer.

Add the spring onions just before serving. (or to the noodles, either will do)

for the cucumber noodles

Run the cucumber through the mandolin. Add a touch of soy if you fancy it!

Simple and fast! WARNING: Be so sooo careful with your fingers on the mandolin!!

Cook it 90% skin side down!! (Don't forget to de-scale it!)

for the salmon

I like my salmon ‘mit cuit’ but that’s a lot of ****ing about for lunch, so a nice quick alternative is to literally half cook it!

Quickly sear the remaining sides

Pat the salmon dry and coat it in olive oil. Salt the skin side to give a really nice crispy skin, and put it into pan on a medium high heat, skin side down. Leave it for 5mins until crisp and golden. the sear the remaining sides to finish. The centre should warm and still pink! If you’re using the skirt of the salmon, which is a lot thinner and fattier (and really nice) use a hot pan on a high heat for a shorter time.

for the pork wontons

I grabbed these out of the freezer!! I’ll put up a post on how to make them soon!

to serve

Unpack the noodles then loosen them and put them in a bowl. Microwave them so the broth stays warm when you pour it in.

Dress the noodles with herbs, cucumber noodles, spring onion and the red onion and pour in the broth. Sprinkle with round spring onion slices, crispy fried onion and chillies. Pop the salmon on top and serve with a slice of lime.

variations

If you’re making the cucumber noodle version replace 250g noodles with 2/3 of a cucumber that’s been sliced into noodles!

Recipe (leftovers): Turkey Pie, Celeriac and Potato Rösti, and Avocado Salad

by Simon Fernandez of ferdiesfoodlab

I think my memories of Christmas are probably some of the oldest that I can recall. One of the core ingredients in every Christmas were my mums sausage rolls! Bloody hell pure bliss!!! Pork sausage sometimes with herbs in, some times not, but me mum always made the pastry. Pastry and meat is a winning combo!! Specially after you’ve spent all day unwrapping presents, and running around terrorising granny’s dog, making stupid noises running into walls tipsy on bailies or vermouth that we’d nicked from the drinks cabinet! (or that granny had given us) Anyway Christmas wouldn’t be up to scratch without those awesome home made sausage rolls!

Excuse the digression! Some years later . . . . 

I’m not one to waste food, so if I see a little pastry leftover at the end of a sausage roll making session I’ll snag it and either freeze it or pop it into the fridge, for the making of pies, yes sir. 

What follows is a testament to what you can do with left overs!!

ingredients (serves 4-6)

for the turkey pie - 200C / 20min

300-400g pastry off cuts are fine. (pastry how to)

450g left over turkey (coarse dice)

2/3 large aubergine (large dice) or 1 medium aubergine

100ml olive oil

2 spring onions (chopped into rings)

1 red onion (medium dice)

1 tomato (chopped)

1 egg (beaten)

for the cheese roux

250g cheddar cheese (grated)

60g plain flower

250ml chicken stock

250ml milk

for the accompaniments

some potato and celeriac rösti recipe here 

juniper and cranberry cabbage recipe here 

and a simple avocado tomato salad

apparatus / equipment

pie dish (18cm x 26cm)

pastry brush

method

cheese roux

For a nice sauce with substance a roux is essential, and really simple. 

On a medium heat melt the butter in a pan and add the flour. Use a wooden spoon to work it into a smooth paste then add the liquids and whisk into a homogenous liquid, keep stirring on a medium high heat until it’s thickened and the flour case cooked out. Add the cheese and stir until it all melted and made a smooth sauce.

turkey pie

Pre-heat your oven to 200C. Dice the aubergine and toss it in oil. 

Add the chopped onion and pop them into a pan on a medium heat, turning occasionally until the aubergine has started to brown an the onions are translucent.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except the pastry obviously) and mix together. Leave them to warm through.

Then put the in the pie

I like pastry! Did I mention that? 

It’s nice to have a generous amount and for it to be crunchy, flakey and shiny!!!! Oooh yes!

So once it’s rolled out, roll the rolling pin underneath to lift it onto the pie. 

Trim the pastry where it needs it, use the trimmings to add extra crunchiness to the pastry topping.

Brush with beaten egg to make it all shiny and lovely looking then into the oven it goes for 20minutes!!

thinking ahead

If you want to make the pie in the morning, you can: Just let the filling go cold before you put the pastry on, cover in cling film and put in the fridge until needed to feed the starving masses!

Don’t forget to take the cling film off, and put the egg wash on just before you bake it.

The cranberry and red cabbage concoction will keep for 3-5days in the fridge no problem.

what could go wrong? 

When working with pastry it’s important to keep it as cold as you can. Which is why pastry sections in professional kitchens have marble work surfaces. So work quickly and don’t let your pastry get warm. 

to serve

Make the rösti while the pie’s in the oven, grab a helper to make the salad. If you give them some random bits and tell them to improvise you can often learn a thing or two about different flavour combinations. (So I’ve found!!)  Risky business! ; )

variations

You can fill a pie with all manner of things: Oxtail Pie, Apple Tart Tatin, Banana Tatin & Passion Fruit Sorbet and, coming soon . . . Duck & Date Pie & Quiche. 

Only limited by your imagination!