Stuffed Mushrooms.

or, more specifically, stuffed mushrooms on spicy rice with salad, taken on an iphone.

sorry for the pic quality...

for the mushrooms

3 big-ish, flat-ish mushrooms*

1 slice bacon

half a white onion

half a garlic clove

a splash of milk*

sprinkles of: basil, oregano, salt, pepper

*i made this a bit spur-of-the-moment, so i just picked the biggest, flattest ones i had, but i've since bought an actual flat mushroom, on of the really big ones. gonna try a different filling, more of a bolognese affair (mince. tomatoes. etc.)

for the rice

one portion brown rice

handful of peas

squirt of ketchup

dash of worcester sauce

sprinkles of: chilli powder, basil, pepper, salt

+ any mushroom filling that won't fit in the mushrooms

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interesting flavours all around here...

turn on the oven; warm it up like.

boil some water, set the rice off cooking.

cut (or pull...) the stalks from the mushrooms, and place the mushroom caps on a baking tray.

fry the rest of the mushroom filling ingredients - leaving the milk til' near the end, it's just to give a little moisture to the proceedings.

spoon into the mushroom caps. drizzle with olive oil, shove in the oven to roast.

when the rice is nearly ready, bung a few peas in there. when there's only a little water left in the pan (or, because i always put far too much water in - on purpose, kthnx - strain the rice&peas and leave a little water in there with 'em) add the other ingredients, including any leftovers from the filling pan that didn't fit into the mushrooms.

check the flavour/spice is to your liking; plonk on a plate next to some salad leaves.

the mushrooms should be slightly browned and a little shrivelled by now, but as long as they're warm through they're done. serve!

course, omit the bacon for a veggie alternative, substituting it for red pepper or parsnip chunks.


* water can be substituted for vegans!

Bean Burgers.

So I had half a small can of red kidney beans this one time.
And I didn't fancy making chilli.
So I googled recipes, and I got the idea for a bean burger.

ingreds

half a can of red kidney beans
one small mushroom (or half a large one); chopped into small chunks
a handful of oats
sprinkles of: salt, pepper, chilli powder, coriander

oil to fry

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mash the kidney beans in a bowl
add the other ingredients, and mix together
if it's too dry (falling apart), add a few drips of oil; if it's too wet (sticky, etc), add more oats

scoop up and form into a burger shape
whack it into frying pan with a little oil; fry until browned

I served between 2 small slices of toast, with cream cheese and ketchup, but only cos that's all I have - usually a burger goes in a toasted muffin with some lettuce and ketchup. nomnom.

Creamy Lemon Chicken.

d00dz, it's been a while.

yo sup?

so yeah; this is actually (modified) from a book - "The Classic 1000 Student Recipes" by Carolyn Humphries, which my mam bought me when I moved away for uni, and which really cemented my love of cooking. You could do much worse - there are some really simple recipes in here; it literally tells you how to poach an egg (pretty much the only way I eat them now), but also gives you much more complicated and expensive recipes, including dinner party menus.

And yes, students do do dinner parties, kthnx.

I used to make this all the time in first year, and decided, when wondering what to do with some chicken, that I would bring it back for 3rd year.

ingredients

chicken (preferably a chicken breast, and I will write the recipe for this, but I cut the meat off of a thigh)

one portion rice (i used brown rice)

a handful of peas

for the sauce

a few splashes of lemon juice

1 tsp honey

a splash of double cream (about 2 tsps, so sez the recipe, but really, depends on how creamy you want it)

half of a chicken oxo cube

cornflour, made up in 2 tablespoons of cold water (opt)

some splashes of water

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set your rice off cooking, then move onto the chicken-y goodness.

whack the chicken breast in a pan (any will do; no oil needed) and swiftly add the water, lemon, honey, and oxo cube, plus some salt&pepper. You only need a little splash of water (again, recipe sez 5 tablespoons) but you can keep topping it up a little every now and then.

simmer with a lid on until the chicken is cooked through; topping up the water as necessary.

once that's done, add the cream to your liking, and the cornflour if the sauce is too thin at this point.

add the peas to the rice pan.

carry on simmering for a few mins, then drain the rice&peas and serve, resting the chicken breast on top and pouring over the sauce.

quick; simple; delicious.

The Old Foil Bag Approach.

this is a genuine Mother Ana method of cooking y'all. I've seen a lot of people use it and i don't blame them, it's simple the easiest way of cooking fish and meat in the easiest way. Basically you bake your chosen food in a foil bag with olive oil and seasoning. it stays tender and juicy and the flavour stays in the bag as theres no evaporation. it's my favourite way to cook salmon.

i used a tattie peeler to get thin slices of courgette, and lay them on the bottom of the foil. topped with a salmon steak, brocolli, mange tout, black olives, olive oil, seasoning, garlic and a touch of water. seal the foil up with a little room for steaming and pop in a 180 degree oven for 20 minutes

i ate a little before i realised i should document what it looks like cooked

please do try this method of cooking, it works well with all fish and chicken. obviously cook it a little bit more :)

Holy Crepe!: A Video

so, I know it's been and gone, and it's a little late for a p-cake video, but it's less of a tutorial and more me pissing about whilst "expertly" flipping batter circles, singing and dancing, and doing Julia Childs/Meryl Streep impressions.

warning, there are copious amount of Sabrina references in here. you'll see what I mean.

and a big up to Dean, who filmed and edited this, when he really didn't have to. LOVEFORYOU.

pancakes are the easiest thing to make ever.

flour; eggs; milk. - a sprinkle of sugar for sweet, a sprinkle of salt for savoury. if you're making both from the same batch, then don't add either.

whisk 'til smooth.

more flour = thicker batter = thicker, probs smaller pancakes (american style)

less flour = thinner batter = flatter, bigger pancakes ("normal" ones)

course, a smaller frying pan will mean your small, thick pancakes are actually round and not questionably shaped, yknow?

I put maple syrup on, innit.

PS,

Holy Crepe! came from the pancake stand at uni on Tuesday...

PPS,

this is, of course, the same mixture as yorkshire puddings, which should be a thick batter (more flour!), mebs with a salt sprinkle, then in t'oven, in a greased cupcake tin, for about half an hour. THERE ARE NO EXCUSES.