Tummyrumble

Cheesed up butternut squash with a kick

Sunday night fridge raid that turned out to be a stonking success.

Ingredients (for 2)

1 butternut squash
1 bulb of garlic
1 romano pepper, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
8 cherry tomatoes, quartered
150 gr goat's cheese, crumbled
100 gr pancetta/lardons for the non vegetarians
dried thyme
a few capers
olive oil
butter

Garnish

1/2 lemon
Tracklements Chilli Jam

Method

Set your oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Cut the top off the garlic bulb and place on an oven proof tray, drizzle with some olive oil.

Cut the squash in half length wise and spoon out the seeds and thready goo in the center. Place on an oven proof tray, sprinkle the chopped chilli on top and place a small knob of butter (about a tablespoon) in the center cavity of each squash. Drizzle with olive oil.

Put garlic and squash in the oven, set a timer to 30 minutes. Timing wise, the garlic needs 30 minutes to go all soft and sweet and mushy. When roasted, all the sharpness leaves the garlic so don't be nervous about using the whole garlic for this. Depending on the size of your squash it needs 45 minutes to an hour to reach the right softness.

Meanwhile, fry the pancetta and set to cool a bit.

Mix up the cheese, romano pepper, cherry tomatoes, capers and thyme (to taste, a teaspoon should do it) in a bowl.

When the timer beeps, take out the garlic while leaving the squash in the oven.

Remove all the now mushy garlic cloves from their peel, mash them up with a fork and add to the cheese mix with the pancetta and make sure it is well mixed together.

Take out the squash and before you spread the cheese mix on top, take a spoon and spread the melted butter all over the squash.

Cover the squash with the cheese mix and put back in oven for another 12 minutes or so.

When done, squeeze some lemon juice over the cheese cover, and add a dollop of the chilli jam.

Serve with crispy kale chips, which are perfect to make for those final minutes when the cheese melts all over the squash. Enjoy.

Sticky BBQ chicken wings, smokey style

Grilling chicken wings in a home without garden means not being able to use a proper barbecue.

In a way that makes it easier, with regards to temperature control and getting them real sticky. However, it is impossible to get that smokey flavour that a properly used Weber will apply.

There is a cheat though! Last night a friend presented me with a bottle of what's known as liquid smoke. Yes, there is such a thing as smoke without fire!

This particular one was Stubb's Hickory Liquid Smoke (see photo below), and the smell coming out of that bottle is like sitting down wind from the most heavenly 'cue you can imagine.

You can marinate the meat with it, but my fried had tried that and said it didn't add all that much, he usually injects the meat with the liquid to get the flavour coming through.

Not owning a meat syringe meant improvising so I decided to grill a few chicken wings as I normally do, and then mix a few teaspoons into a decent BBQ sauce (Reggae Reggae Sauce is great with chicken) before glazing the wings with it.

Half a bottle of Reggae Reggae Sauce with 2 teaspoons of liquid smoke was just enough for 20 wings.

So after an hour of low temperature roasting (130 degrees Celsius) of the wings basted with a mix of butter, honey and Northwoods Fire from Penzeys Spices (fantastic) I set the oven to grill, applied the sauce and smoke mix to one side of the wings and left them to sticky up for 10 minutes. Then turned them over, applied the rest of the sauce and put them back in the oven for a final 10 minutes.

They came out beautifully browned and really sticky, just as I hoped with a nice scent of barbecuey smokiness.

Served them with low carb courgette röstis and steamed purple sprouting broccoli. Yum.

Yes, it is smoke without fire! You can buy liquid smoke from Amazon.

Sticky chicken wings straight out of the oven. If you want to make sure they are done, put a fork in them and check that the meat is cooked through and easily coming off the bone.

Courgette croquettes, or low carb rösti

Staying away from potatoes is perhaps the hardest thing with low carbing, I think. So when I find a recipe that not just sufficiently replaces the glorious spud version but actually surpasses it I get filled with joy.

Found the original recipe in the great cookery book 1001 Low Carb Recipes where it is called Kolikythia Krokettes. As said in the book, they go remarkably well with grilled chicken.

It is important to get most of the water out of the grated courgette, and then use lots of butter while frying on a medium heat for a long time to get a nice crispy surface.

Ingredients for two people

2 medium courgette (zucchini), grated
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
100 gram finely crumbled feta cheese
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 tbsp flour
black pepper, to taste
butter

Original recipe calls for 3 tbsp protein powder. Assuming it was to provide some binding for the frying we simply used a bit of flour instead. Worked fine.

Method

Put the grated courgette in a bowl and mix with the salt. Leave it for half an hour to an hour, then drain and squeeze as much of the liquid out as you can.

Add onion, feta, oregano, pepper, eggs, flour and mix it together.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in a non stick frying pan. Use a spoon to get just over a tablespoon's worth of courgette mix for each croquette and place in the pan.

The patties will absorb some butter, add more as needed.

Leave the patties to really brown on the bottom before turning them once and finish frying on the other side. Properly browned you get a nice, toasty flavour and a crisp outside texture that goes so well with the silky inside.

Delicious. I think these are even tastier than potato rösti, and the texture is so smooth. Serve with bacon, or sausages, maybe lamb, or why not sticky BBQ chicken wings...

If you are in a hurry and don't want to fiddle with frying a number of qroquettes, just make one big patty in the frying pan. Fry until browned, place a plate over the frying pan and turn upside down to get the patty out, then slide back in the pan and fry the other side.

Courgette patties frying away. Don't worry if they are a bit loose, just remember to leave them to fry for a long time so the bottom goes crispy. Spooning some of the melted butter over the top while frying helps keeping them together when flipping.

Finished result. Crispy, toasty outside with a silky smooth inside tasting very much like potato röstis only better...

Pitt Cue Co opens in Soho, the finger licking saga continues

Here's a new year's resolution I know I'll keep: I will go back to Pitt Cue Co on Newburgh Street in Soho to get my 'cue fix as often as digestively possible.

Today Pitt Cue Co opens up in Soho, London. What started as a (mind blowingly well executed) food truck on the bank of the Thames is now a proper sit down restaurant serving amazing barbecue with almost all the usual, and some not so usual, trimmings.

Apologies for the lack of photos, but when our food arrived I was simply so excited that I forgot to take photos. Once I started diving in, my fingers too sticky to be allowed near my iPhone.

There are of course other bloggers with greater presence of mind than I. The as always brilliant Hollow Legs transcends mere restaurant reviewing by bringing a doggy bag home to make dumplings (genius), while Noshable features photos by the remarkable Paul Winch-Furness. For a Pitt Cue Co photo blow out bonanza, check out Paul's own gallery.

Go, go, go. Prepare for some wait time as there are only about 30 seats. Don't worry, it's so worth it and once in the bar there will be plenty of beverages to keep you entertained, from pickle back shots to cocktails. Ask for the Cider Sour.

The only thing I felt missing from the perfect barbecue joint was grilled corn. And generous piles of wet wipes.

Baked ham and eggs with avocado

This is one of my two favourite breakfasts. While the other one, puff apple pancake with maple syrup, is a low carb nightmare this is spot on.

All you need is cooked ham, can of chopped tomatoes, garlic, basil, eggs, salt and pepper, and an avocado to go with it.

And this can easily be done for one person! 

Method

Set oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Chop up the ham (or tear it for a rustic look) an put in the bottom of a portion sized oven proof dish or bowl.

Fry the garlic for a minute in some olive oil to release the flavours, then add the chopped tomatoes and simmer until most of the liquid is gone.

Feel free to add some chilli, or chopped chorizo, or simply a splash of Tabasco (the Chipotle one is deliciously spicy and smokey) for some added kick.

Fold in a handful of basil leaves, spoon in top of the ham, crack two eggs on top and pop in the oven until egg has set (tip: it's better the eggs are a bit runny and under done than the opposite).

Devour.

Just realized that I already blogged this dish. I really do love my baked eggs and ham with a spicy tomato sauce.