The Porky Gourmand » Random Recipe

Fried Brown Rice My Way

Kiplagat — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:18:37 +0000

Fried rice is one of my favourite quick meals, that take no time to put together but hits the right spot when hunger calls. I made this fried rice for breakfast using brown basmati rice left over from dinner the previous night.

My recipe makes about two small portions.

150 grams cooked brown rice.
1 small onion, sliced.
2 garlic cloves, minced.
1 tsp ginger, minced.
1 tbsp ketchup.
1 tbsp soy sauce.
1 tbsp chopped coriander/cilantro.
1 tomato chopped into 8 large pieces.
Cayenne pepper & white pepper.
2 tbsp vegetable oil.

Get your wok/frying pan really hot, add vegetable oil.
When oil is almost smoking, add ginger, garlic & onions. Stir fry for about 30 seconds.
Add the rice to pan and stir fry for about a minute.
Add ketchup & soy sauce, then season with few pinches of white pepper & cayenne pepper.
Add tomato & chopped coriander, and you are done!

Toasted Focaccia with Avocado & Tomato

Kiplagat — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:16:14 +0000

Do you sometimes stare into your fridge when hungry, look at all the food inside whilst dreaming up all the great meals possible. Then the grim prospect of spending a long time prepping the food, stops you right there. You might then activate plan b, which is foraging around for quick junk loaded with sugar, salt & fat or look up the number for your local junk delivery place…… This happens to me way more than I would like it to.

So when lunchtime laziness struck me recently, the focaccia I made recently saved the day. The sandwich above took less than 5 minutes to prep.

Started by slicing the focaccia into two sandwich halves, toasted the focaccia in a hot grill.
While the focaccia was toasting, I mashed half an avocado with a fork in a bowl, seasoned the avocado with salt & cayenne pepper.
After the avocado was done, sliced a tomato, set the tomato slices into a bowl, in the bowl was some balsamic vinegar, salt & black pepper
The assembly started by spreading the mashed avocado on the toasted focaccia, added the tomato slices, then drizzled some extra virgin olive oil.

Done! Tasty lunch in 5 minutes……

Sweet Corn & Thyme Risotto

Kiplagat — Wed, 13 May 2009 02:29:23 +0000

The picture above looks like some extreme risotto porn, I got carried away & zoomed in a bit too close… Anyway it looks great, doesn’t it? The risotto you are looking at is sweet, creamy & also quite sinful. I enriched with mascarpone & butter. It is pseudo vegetarian since I used dairy products, I say this because the dichotomies of vegetarianism is a vast subject. What is 100% vegetarian? Think about it…….

This risotto is made with some of my favourite ingredients, I use fresh thyme in almost all my cooking. Sweet corn is just beautiful so much so, I actually love eating raw sweet corn kernels(my mum thinks that’s weird). As an aside, I like tasting food ingredients in their raw state that way you get to appreciate the transformation that happens during the cooking process. I would not recommend this though, tasting stuff like raw chicken would be foolhardy(i’ve done it hehe). Do it at your own risk & have your health insurance in order just in case.

To make this sweet corn & thyme risotto

Blanch sweet corn kernels in salted boiling water until cooked(taste it you will know when it is done), refresh the corn kernels in an ice bath(this stops the cooking process), then set aside.
Bring 1 litre of vegetable stock to the boil in a saucepan, then reduce heat to leave the stock at a gentle simmer.
In another saucepan sweat a minced onion/shallot & 2 cloves of garlic, in some butter & olive oil. Stir for a few minutes until onion & garlic has softened up. Season with some salt & pepper.
Add half cup of risotto rice into the pan with the onion & garlic. Cook rice for a few minutes, stirring frequently until rice is slightly toasted(you will smell the toastiness) & translucent.
Add 100 mls of white wine to rice, stir rice until wine is absorbed/evaporated.
Ladle enough vegetable stock just to cover the rice and then stir until stock is absorbed, then add more stock. Repeat this until rice is al dente, this means it will be cooked but the grains will have a slight resistance when chewed.
Stir in the sweet corn kernels & 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves.
Take the rice off the heat, add 1 tablespoon of mascarpone into the rice while stirring vigorously, do the same with 1 tablespoon of cold butter.
Cover the risotto for about 5 minutes to rest before serving.

Fish & Chips My Way

Kiplagat — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:17:08 +0000

Last weekend I was at the Sarit Centre to check out the Egyptian & Middle east expo, the expo was heavily promoted on TV & curiosity on my part led me to check it out. What a waste of time it was, the stuff on sale was lots of kitschy junk in my opinion. I was in & out of the expo in less than 10 minutes. After the expo, I went to Uchumi to do some grocery shopping nothing spectacular, except that the deli had some fresh & great looking Tilapia fillets. I grabbed myself four fillets.

My brother & I decided we were going batter & fry the tilapia, and also have along with it some thyme scented oven chips & a little parsley salad. To make the batter we incorporated whipped egg whites to the usual flour,water & ice cubes. We didn’t use any beer. The egg whites idea came from recipes I had seen on the interwebs. The idea is to whip the egg whites to stiff peaks then fold them into your batter. Quite impressed with the results, especially the very crisp light crust. During frying the batter swells spectacularly when it comes into contact with the hot oil. The heat in the oil causes the air bubbles in the batter(from the whipped egg whites) to expand. Expansion is explained by Charles Law , cooking has some great science behind it. For the chips I prepped them using the method in my egg & chips post

I don’t have a specific recipe for the batter, I just used instinct & sight to obtain the right consistency, then added whipped egg whites from two eggs. Next time I’ll try this with a beer batter, until then…… have great day/night.

Chicken ballotine, potato puree & carrot jus

Kiplagat — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:31:00 +0000

Sometime last year I had lunch at Caveau a great little restaurant in Wollongong. Head chef at Caveau is Peter Sheppard, a protege of Liam Tomlin. Anyway, the lunch special on that day was a chicken ballontine with potato puree, mushrooms, buttered spinach & cepe(porcini) sauce. The chicken was cooked perfectly, I am still trying to work on my chicken doness radar, my chicken is always seems overdone. The chicken at caveau was the best I’ve had in a while, it actually took me back to the roast chickens from Kenchic outlets in the 80′s. Back in those days Kenchic roast chickens were done so well, plus the chickens here in Kenya still tasted like chicken.

Below is what the Caveau meal looked like done by a real pro. The spinach was buttery beautiful, chicken was amazing, those two little button mushroom pieces were amazing. Can’t remember what the cepe tasted like though…

Ok back to my cooking

Flipping through Jacques Pepin La Techique, I found the technique on how to debone half a chicken to make a small ballotine. Deboning was lots of fun, it took me a while(5 mins, pro’s would do it in seconds), just make sure you have a really sharp knife, with a sharp knife you won’t hurt yourself plus you will cut through the chicken like you are cutting soft butter.

The stuffing in the ballotine is just the thigh & leg meat diced up with a little cream, coriander, salt & white pepper. Mushrooms & spinach would also be great as stuffing along with the diced chicken.

In this dish also I incorporated a carrot jus, the recipe was from Justin North’s French Lessons. I have been looking at this jus recipe for a while, just could not figure what it would taste like. Maybe just like carrots, sometimes I expect some uber-new taste experience, but I have come to appreciate when something simple just tastes like what it is. This jus is so simple, its just carrots, bit of thyme, salt, pepper,butter & water. Treat this ingredients with care & you have something beautiful. In his book Justin recommends this jus to be served with roast poultry, meats or even as salad dressing.

The chicken ballotine

Debone half a chicken, take off thigh & leg meat.
Dice up thigh & leg meat, add some cream, coriander, salt & pepper
The deboned chicken will consist of the breast & lots of skin. Try & even out the flatness breast by slicing off the top. Place extra breast meat on areas of bare skin.
Place the diced up meat on the centre. Roll up into a long sausage & tie it off with string or whatever you can think off. I used thin rolled up strips of aluminium foil(lol!). Just tie it loosely, the chicken expands while cooking…. it does.
Season skin with salt & pepper.
Roast in 210 degree celsius oven until done…. I did mine for about 25 minutes.
Let it rest before you slice it up.

The carrot jus

Take 1 large carrot, peel it. Take the peelings & put into a saucepan, also add into the saucepan about 250mls of water, a sprig of thyme. Bring this to a boil, then simmer for about 15 minutes. Drain, reserving the stock, discard the peelings. This results in a fragrant carrot stock.
Slice the carrot finely, sweat the sliced carrot,butter & sprig of thyme in a sauce pan for a few minutes, then add the carrot stock. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
Now grab your blender, pour stock into it & about half the sliced carrots. Whiz until smooth.
Pass jus through a sieve, done!!!

Potato Puree

Do it the way you like, mine was just a potato, cream,milk, salt & pepper…. Too easy

Assembly

Jam the potato puree at centre of bowl, pour some of the jus around it. Then place three slices of chicken on top….. doneskis!!!

Roast Pork Belly with Puy Lentils

Kiplagat — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:35:42 +0000

I think Anthony Bourdain once said pork belly is the poor man’s foie gras, he was right on the money. Pork belly is sandwich of lean meat & pork fat, it so sinful & tasty. I fell in love with roast pork belly in Thailand 4 years ago. When every other sunday, I would go to the food court/market on the ground/basement level of Seri Center in Bangkok and indulge in lots of piping hot roast pork. Going off-topic another great snack I loved was deep fried chicken cartilage, the white bits on the bone between thigh & drumstick, this cartilage is battered & deep fried. Oh yeah a sinful crunchy treat, I am a nose to tail eater, why waste any part of an animal that has given its life for you.

Now about this dish. The pork belly & puy lentils taste are so good together, the sauce was made from roasting juices & pineapple juice added some sweetness to the salty pork. The little carrot dice in the lentils which I added just for colour actually works well, carrot flavour pops in every other spoonful of the lentils. This was a real hearty trencherman’s lunch.

This is how I did it.

Pork Belly

Pork belly, I took off the skin on because it was too bristly & I had no blowtorch to singe it
Few sprigs of thyme
1 Garlic bulb
1 Onion
Pineapple juice
Salt
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Score the top of pork belly with knife, just cut through fat layer. Then rub on some olive oil & salt
Cut garlic bulb & onion into half, lay them on roasting pan allow with the thyme, this forms the bed for resting the pork.
Lay the pork on top of the garlic, onion & thyme.
Pour pineapple juice to cover bottom of roasting pan.
Cover the pork loosely with foil, cover pork not the whole tin.
Roast for 90 minutes.
Take pork out of oven and roasting pan, let it rest to about room temperature.
Deglaze roasting pan with some pineapple juice & little water. Set pan juices in the fridge. Put in the fridge will solidify the fat, which you can then scheme off before making the sauce.
Place pork in another roasting pan. Rest another roasting pan on top of the pork, weight the top roasting pan with canned goods or whatever. Place in fridge for about 6 hours. Pressing the pork makes it look presentable.
When ready to serve, place pork belly in hot oven for about 8-10 minutes.
To make the sauce, pour the reserved pan juices into a saucepan. Reduce it down, then strain through a fine sieve. Season & it’s done. The sauce is really flavourful, its a cornucopia of pork juices, pineapple juice sweetness, thyme, garlic & onion.

Puy Lentils

Puy lentils
1/2 Onion chopped
1 clove of garlic sliced
Butter & olive oil
Sprig of thyme
1/2 carrot finely diced

Melt some butter & olive oil in saucepan.
Sweat onion & garlic until soft.
Add lentils continue sweating for a minute or two.
Cover with water, add thyme.
Simmer for 35 minutes, add carrot then season with salt. Done!

Assembly

Spoon lentils to centre of plate.
Place pork on top of lentils, whole or sliced.
Pour some of the sauce on top of the pork.
Drizzle some sauce around place………

Simplicity: Steak & Chips

Kiplagat — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:07:52 +0000

Quick lunch, steak & chips….. the pan sauce with the steak was amazing. Real easy, when steak was almost done(cooked it medium rare). I added about 20 grams of butter to pan, basted steak for a few seconds. Set aside steak to rest, deglazed the great fond(caramelised meaty bits) on the pan with brown chicken stock, reduced it down a lot. Seasoned it with a few drops of lemon juice…. finished… done… mambo kwisha!!!!!

Cheddar margherita pizza with pimento meatballs

Kiplagat — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:49:22 +0000

This is a really fast pizza I made for lunch, it is assembled rather than cooked from scratch. This is the lazy pizza that tastes better than anything Debonairs pizza or Pizza inn in Nairobi can do IMO. It is probably cheaper too.

Grill ready made meatballs. I used the KMC(kenya meat commision) one’s, sprinkled some pimento, tumeric & coriander on the meatballs before grilling.
Using a pizza base from the supermarket, spread some ketchup on the base.
Add tomato slices.
Place basil leaves on top of tomato slices.
Slice meatballs into halves. Place meatball halves on top of the basil leaves.
Grate some cheddar cheese & sprinkle on top of pizza. The more mature the cheddar the bigger the flavour hit
Season with black pepper.
Baking 240 degree centrigrade oven for 8 minutes.
Presto…. Voila….. Mambo kwisha!
Eat it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Simplicity: Egg & Chips

Kiplagat — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:47:07 +0000

How easy is this. Wash potatoes, leaving the skin on, cut into chips. Parboil for 10 mins, toss chips in olive oil, thyme, salt & some chili powder. Cook in hot oven for about 30 minutes. Fry an egg any way you like it, I like mine fried with sunny side up. The yolk is great for dipping the chips into. Egg & chips also goes great with ketchup.

Lots of flavour with almost no fuss. This is how I love my food, the less you do to it the better. Great ingredients will always speak for themselves with no need for cascading layers of flavour. But with a minimal approach to cooking, execution becomes very crucial. But as chef G. Garvin says with the requisite concentration and confidence, cooking great food is within reach of everybody.

Lime Panna Cotta & Cranberry Compote

Kiplagat — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:59:50 +0000

I was online a few days ago reading the “tastingmenu blog” by a professional chef & her partner, the post on perfecting panna cotta caught my attention. Panna cotta is an italian desert that consists of flavoured cream set in gelatin. Dana the chef on the blog scientifically explains the method to a perfect panna cotta. I was inspired to try the method mentioned on the blog.

I did a hack job for my panna cotta, purists might be offended by what I did. It was fun though. I started with double cream, packet of dessert jelly mix & milk. The jelly mix has the all important gelatin, ideally I should have used unflavoured gelatine sheets or granules, but I didn’t have any.

Stumbled on the outset, dessert jelly mixes contain lots of acid. I knew this might cause a problem but I foolishly went ahead. When I tried to mix the flavoured gelatin granules into hot milk. The milk seized spectacularly into curds. Luckily i had only used about a quarter of gelatin granules, I started again by heating about 200 mls of water. I dissolved the remaining gelatin granules into the hot water, then let it cool to about room temperature.

Next stage, whilst the hot water with my gelatin was cooling. I set aside about 125 mls of cream in and bowl, and placed it in the fridge to chill. When jelly mix was at room temperature, I whisked the chilled cream. Dana of the tastingmenu blog prescribes the whisking should be done until soft peaks of cream. Well, I over whisked to hard peaks…. too bad. Any way, i added about 250 mls of cool cream to the dissolved gelatin, then folded in the whisked cream. Poured into my moulds and let it set it overnight in the fridge.

For the cranberry compote, I simmered the dried cranberries in a little water for about 30 minutes, added about 1 tbsp of sugar. Reduced the liquid to a thin syrup.

How did it taste? so so….. The commercial gelatin mixes have rather harsh flavours, it was like a lime soda drink. But what I really liked in this panna cotta was the texture(using milk would have made this better). I think it had to do with adding the whisked cream. The cranberries were also great.

Next time, I will source some sheet gelatin, use milk instead of water to dissolve gelatin. Would also serve with a flavoured tuile to add some crunch texture to this dessert.