Thai prawn curry

This is probably completely inauthentic, but it's how I make it, and I like it. It's all about the lime, chilli, coriander and the sweetness working together. Serves two.

1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, sliced
half a head of brocolli, chopped
1 chilli, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed and chopped
1 thumb-sized piece of root ginger

100g creamed coconut block, grated
1 heaped tsp unrefined cane sugar
1 stick lemon grass, bruised
3 kiffir lime leaves
dash of fish sauce
dash of sweet chilli sauce
juice of a lime
handful of fresh coriander, torn up
2 tbs groundnut oil
200g raw prawns, butterflied
150g rice

Stir the coconut into 200ml of boiling water. Add the lemon grass, lime leaves and sugar, and stir well.
Heat the oil in a wok. Add the onion and cook stirring until starting to colour. Add the pepper, then the chilli, garlic and ginger. Cook for a minute or so, stirring, then add the brocolli.
Cook for another thirty seconds or so, then pour in the coconut mixture. Turn down to a medium heat, and simmer for five minutes. Add the fish sauce, sweet chilli sauce and lime juice, and check for seasoning. You want to balance the sweetness, the lime and the chilli heat.
Add the prawns and coriander, turn up the heat and stir well, cooking until the prawns are just done. Don't overcook - don't let the prawns go hard and rubbery, you want them still sweet and juicy.
Meanwhile, cook some fragrant rice (I prefer to steam it), and serve the lot with a chilled Viognier (or Chardonnay/Viognier) or Gewurztraminer.

The most comforting food in the world...

Sauages, mash and onion gravy has to be the most comforting dish in the world. This is the food equivalent of being wrapped in a big fuzzy blanket made out of cups of tea. It's especially good if you've spent way too much of the weekend partying, are feeling a wee bit rough and need something to make you human again.
Use your favourite sausages (I cooked this with some decent veggie ones - some day I'll work out a recipe for Glamorgan sausages), good baking potatoes and a fairly sweet variety of onion, which will caramelise better.

Serves two

For the gravy:
2 large sweet onions, finely sliced
20g unsalted butter
568ml vegetable stock
1 clove garlic, bruised
100ml red wine

For the mash:
3 large baking potatoes, peeled and quartered
50ml single cream
2 tsp English mustard
1 clove garlic
sea salt and white pepper
Fresh parsley and chives, chopped

Your favourite sausages

First, make the gravy. Melt 20g of butter in a big heavy pan with a bruised clove of garlic and a sprig of rosemary. Add the onion, stir and cover for a few minutes on a medium heat.
Uncover and continue to cook. The onions will start to colour and caramelise, but you want this to happen gently. Keep scraping any caught bits off the bottom of the pan (don't use non-stick) and mixing them back in. Once the onions are nicely on the way, add the wine (hair of the dog), and discard the garlic and remains of the rosemary sprig. Cook for a couple more minutes, until it starts turning into a sticky sweet onion goo. Add the stock, cook covered for a couple of minutes, then uncover, turn the heat right down, and simmer.
Meanwhile, get a big pan of salted water to the boil and cook the spuds. Put the garlic in - it'll add flavour and end up getting mashed in with the spuds later on. When they're done (about 15 minutes), drain, add the cream, mustard, salt and pepper to taste, and mash.
Stir in the chopped herbs, and check for seasoning.
By this time, you should've also cooked your sausages however you like them. I'll leave that bit up to you.
To serve, put a mound of mash on each plate, stick the sausages in, and pour the onion gravy all round. Enjoy, and wave your hangover goodbye!

Smoked haddock and leek pie

Serves four polite people, or three hungry people

2 leeks, sliced quite finely
1 onion or 2 shallots, chopped finely
1 large or two medium sized undyed smoked haddock fillets, skinned and cut into big chunks
150ml single cream
Two handfuls of grated emmental cheese
1 tbs grated parmesan
275g ready rolled puff pastry
1 tsp English mustard
Handful of fresh basil leaves
10g butter
Olive oil
1 clove garlic, bruised
50ml white wine
Juice of half a lemon
Maldon sea salt and white pepper to taste

Heat the butter and a lug of olive oil in a big heavy-bottomed pan. Pop in the garlic clove then add the chopped onion. Cook for a few minutes until just starting to colour, then add the sliced leeks. Cover and sweat for a few minutes then add the wine. Cook covered for a couple of minutes to infuse the flavours, then uncover, discard the garlic clove and add the lemon juice.
Next, add the single cream and mustard. Stir well. Cover and bring to a simmer for a couple of minutes, then uncover, take off the heat and mix in the emmental and parmesan. Check for seasoning and add salt and white pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, pre-heat your oven to about 190C. Lay the chunks of haddock fillet in an oven dish with the basil leaves.
Pour in the creamy leek sauce, and mix together thoroughly. Lay the pastry over the top, trim the edges, and make a few knife slits in the top. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown.

This is good served with garden peas (nice steamed then tossed in some butter with more torn up basil leaves or mint); or you could char-grill some asparagus in a griddle pan. Whatever greenery you fancy. Try it with a Sauvignon Blanc, or a Fiano.

Penne with smoked mackerel and chargrilled peppers

A summer warmer, if that's possible. Serves two, suitably equipped with a bottle of rosé.

2 smoked mackerel fillets (the unpeppered ones work best), skinned and chopped into big chunks
1 brown onion, sliced
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp capers, chopped
handful of fresh basil leaves, torn up
1 garlic clove, bruised
Olive oil
1 tsp light muscovado sugar

160g penne pasta

For the chargrilled peppers
2 bell peppers, opened out, flattened and torn into strips
1 tbs groundnut oil
Maldon sea salt
pinch of cut, dried lemon grass
juice of half a lemon
olive oil
sprig of rosemary

First, put a cast iron griddle on a high heat. Rub the strips of bell pepper with groundnut oil, salt and cut lemon grass. When the pan's really hot, lay the strips inside-face down and grill for a couple of minutes, until nice charred stripes have appeared. Turn the peppers over and grill the outer skin side for just a minute. When they're done, chop roughly into inch squares, and transfer to a bowl with some olive oil, lemon juice and the rosemary. Mix well and leave to one side.

Heat a big lug of olive oil in a pan with the bruised garlic clove. When the garlic's turned golden, discard it. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes until just starting to colour (you can add a splash of white wine vinegar at this stage, and cook for another half minute, depending on the acidity of your lemons and any salad dressing you might be using). Add the tomatos and muscovado sugar, and cook covered for a few minutes. Uncover, add the capers, and reduce for a few more minutes. When it's thickened nicely, turn the heat down a bit, and add the peppers (with as much of the oil and lemon as you like - but discard the rosemary sprig), mackerel and basil. Mix together well and cover for about half a minute.

At the same time, get a big pan of salted water to the boil and cook the penne according to the pack instructions. Drain, add a splash of olive oil and salt, toss, then put on the plate with whatever salad you like. Any liquid left, add to the sauce.

Spoon the mackerel and pepper mixture on top of the drained pasta. Garnish with some spring onion chopped diagonally if you like.

Raw prawn origins?

Well, ain't Google handy? I found a discussion about the origins of the phrase...
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/20/messages/791.html

Seared tuna steak with red onion and tomato compote

For the compote:

1 tomato, sliced, marinaded in balsamic vinegar and cayenne pepper
1 large red onion, finely sliced
3 cornichons, chopped
1 tbs black olives, chopped
2 tsp capers, chopped
1 garlic clove, bruised

1 tuna steak
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
half tsp fennel seeds
half tsp mustard seeds
sea salt
1 tbs groundnut oil

10g unsalted butter
Olive oil
chives, chopped

rocket, watercress, baby spinach or similar

This is one of those whatever's-in-the-fridge ones.

Melt the butter and a splash of olive in a large pan with the garlic clove. Cook on a medium heat until the garlic starts to colour. Add the sliced onion and sweat down. Add a splash of water, stir well, scraping up any caramelisation off the pan and into the liquid. Cover and simmer for a few minutes on a low heat, until most of the liquid has evaporated. Discard the garlic and add the tomatoes. Stir and cover again for a few minutes. Uncover and simmer gently on a very low heat. Toward the end of the cooking, add the olives, capers and cornichons.

Get a cast iron griddle pan really hot. Use a pestle to crush the spices in a mortar, and add to the groundnut oil. Coat the tuna steak in the spiced oil, and lay it in the hot pan. Cook until just done (rare is the only way), turning once.

Serve with the salad and a couple of spoons of the compote. Sprinkle the chopped chives over the top to finish.

(Quantities as for one portion, exactly how I made it!)

Welcome to my kitchen!

Hi! I'm Stewart, this is my online kitchen. I'm going to share recipes for stuff, dishes I love, dishes made out of whatever's in the fridge that I'd forget about if I didn't write them down, and random experiments in cookery.
I'm a 'vegaquarian', so it's all veg and seafood. I don't know if 'vegaquarian' was a word before, but it is now.