Sandy Beans! Getting Our Grit On with Crispy Parmesan Breadcrumb Coated Beans

We all know our food has to look and taste good, but one of the more overlooked aspects in cooking is texture. This sandy beans recipe is a great example. Sure, a nice bowl of white beans warmed in garlic oil and topped with parsley is a fine thing, but texturally…kind of a snoozer.

Here we're coating the beans with a crispy, cheesy, pleasantly gritty breadcrumb mixture. That's right; less yawn, more fawn. This was inspired by a similar trick I like to use for finishing pastas, and if there's one thing I know about people (maybe the only thing), it's they like crispy and crunchy toppings.

At the beginning of the recipe you'll hear me mention a garlic-infused oil. I will demo this in a future video, but in case you're wondering, here's what I did. Take a 1/4 cup of olive oil and place it on low heat. Add a sliced garlic clove. As soon as the garlic starts to bubble slightly, turn off the heat and let the oil cool to room temp. Do not brown the garlic. Strain this oil and voilà, you have garlic oil.

One quest that never ends for a cook is the search for ways to make common side dishes seem a little more special, and this is one trick I hope you try soon. Enjoy! 

Food Safety Note: One of our concerned viewers reminded me to point out that there is a botulism concern when dealing with garlic stored in oil. So you don't worry needlessly, out of 300,000 Americans, there are only about 25 cases of botulism per year with very few cases resulting from stored garlic. But better safe than sorry, so it's recommended that you store any leftover garlic oil in the fridge and use within 10 days.

Ingredients:

For the crumbs:

1/4 cup garlic olive oil

3/4 to 1 cup breadcrumbs (depends how "dry" you want your "sand")

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

For the beans:

1 can white beans, drained, rinsed

1 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

salt to taste

cayenne to taste

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Chicken Curry with Rice

This recipe here today is in honor of a good friend of mine named Jo. She just loves a good curry, and like me, she is always trying to watch her weight! (She's a bit better at it than I am though!)



Jo used to be the housekeeper at the Manor when I first started working there. Over the years we became good friends, and I really missed her when she and her husband left the area to pursue their dreams. She's now a Chiropodist, and her husband, well . . . he is still a plumber, but quite happy in his work!



Jo and her husband took me out to my very first Indian Restaurant actually! We had a really good time. They also took us to our very first Gherka Restaurant, and introduced us both to Thai Food as well! I guess you could say that they are very worldly in their tastes when they eat out!



They also enjoy a good curry at home. Colin likes the blow your head off kind . . . a hearty hot Madras, whilst Jo opts for something a bit milder.



This is probably a bit too mild for her, but she (and you) can certainly adjust the heat by adding more tikka paste, or even some chili powder. I found it just right for me. One thing she won't mind though is the fact that it's relatively low in fat and filled with lovely spinach, both for colour and texture.



So anyways, I never eat a curry now without thinking about Jo, and giving her a nod of thanks for having broadened my tastes!



*Chicken Curry with Rice*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This is quick and easy and relatively low in fat. There is no cream or coconut milk added. The spinach makes it quite healthy as well. You could cut the fat even more by using chicken breast meat instead of thighs. I think you could safely cut the oil in half as well.

2 TBS vegetable oil
1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (trim off any fat and discard, then cut into strips)
2 TBS tikka masala curry paste
200g tin of chopped tomatoes (2 cups of chopped tomatoes in tomato juice)
450ml of hot vegetable stock (1 1/2 cups) (Use low salt stock)
7 ounces basamati rice (3/4 cup)
1 tsp salt
1/2 pound of baby leaf spinach (225g)
naan bread and mango chutney to serve

Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onion and fry, stirring, over medium heat, for about 5 minutes until golden. Add the garlic and chicken. Stir fry for another 5 minutes, until golden.

Add the curry paste, tomatoes and stock. Stir and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes, giving it a stir every so often to make sure it doesn't catch on the bottom.

While the chicken is cooking, cook the rice. Bring 1 pint of water to the boil. (2 cups) Add the rice and salt and stir. Cover and reduce the heat to it's lowest setting. Cook for the time stated on the package of rice. Once cooked, cover with a teatowel and the lid. Leave for 5 minutes to absorb the steam.

Stir the spinach into the curry and cook until just wilted. Spoon the rice into heated bowls. Ladle on the curry and serve immediately, along with the naan bread and some mango chutney.


You can get a good Peshwari Naan Bread recipe here. It's delicious!

Moo Ping

After I munched on moo ping (grilled pork skewers) at Kaosarn, a Thai restaurant in Brixton, I knew I had to make them. Charcoal-scented pork, juicy with fat and the perfect balance of sweet and spicy? Yes please. A friend was having a barbecue so it seemed the perfect opportunity to try my hand at making them. If I'm not careful I'll get myself a reputation for being a 'things on sticks' kind of girl. Though I suppose that wouldn't be too bad.

I think the traditional cut of meat for this is pork neck, but I couldn't find any so I went for shoulder steaks. With ample amounts of fat, this makes sure the pork doesn't dry out on the ferocious heat of the barbecue. Sliced thinly and cooked quickly makes sure that they don't go tough. Don't be alarmed by the amount of sugar; you need it for essential caramelisation. Dipping sauce is mandatory.

Moo Ping

600gr pork shoulder steaks
5 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp coconut milk

Slice the shoulder into think strips, about 1cm wide. Mince the garlic and mix with the other ingredients, then marinade overnight, or at least for a couple of hours. Thread onto bamboo skewers soaked in water for half an hour. Barbecue, turning often as the sugar in the marinade tends to catch. They don't take long - 5 - 10 minutes.

Dipping Sauce:

1 tbsp chilli flakes
1 green chilli
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp water
1 tsp sugar
Juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp oil

Place the chilli flakes in a heatproof bowl with the green chilli, sliced. Heat the oil till almost smoking, then carefully pour over the chilli mix. Wait to cool for a few minutes, then add the fish sauce, water, sugar and lime. Mix thoroughly. Serve with the skewers.

Pork, Bacon and Sage Escalopes

I have had this recipe kicking around my recipe files for several years now. It comes from a little booklet that I picked up at our local Waitrose when we were living down South in Kent.



It's entitled Essential Summer, Waitrose Seasons Cookbook 2009. I always love the Waitrose recipes. They are usually very, very good.



Actually I really miss Waitrose up here in Chester. The food they sold was always of exceptional quality. It may have cost a bit more, but I never ended up having to throw any of it away. Today alone I had to throw away a packet of spring onions and half a cucumber. I only bought them on Friday. I won't say where . . . unfortunately they had already turned, in just 3 days. That shouldn't happen, but it happens all too often. It's a disgrace!



Anyways, back to the recipe. Delicious pork loin steaks, cut in half and pounded until thin . . . wrapped in bacon strips, with some sage leaves tucked in . . . brushed with a grainy mustard oil and then grilled on the barbeque until scrummy delicious.

Served up with a moreish honey and grainy mustard dressing, they were fabulous!




*Pork, Bacon and Sage Escalopes*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

Delicious pork cutlets, flavoured with sage, wrapped in bacon, brushed with a mustard flavoured oil and grilled until scrum yum delicious!

3 thin pork loin steaks (about 1 pound in total) (Preferably free range, organic)
6 rashers of thin cut smoked streaky bacon (dry cure)
14 large sage leaves
4 tsp grainy mustard
1 TBS clear honey
4 TBS mild olive oil
2 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Prepare and light the grill. Cut the pork loin steaks in half, then pound them lightly between two sheets of clingfilm until they are about 1/4 inch thick with a rolling pin, taking care not to tear the meat.

Wrap a rasher of bacon around each piece of meat, tucking in two sage leaves and securing the bacon and sage leaves in place with wooden picks. Place in the refrigerator to chill while you make the oil and dressing.

Whisk together 2 tsp of the mustard, along with the honey, 2 TBS of the oil, the white wine vinegar and the Worcestershire Sauce. Set aside for the dressing.

Whisk together the remaining oil and mustard. Finely chop the remaining sage leaves and stir in. This will be used for basting the pork while you are cooking it.

Cook the meat on the barbeque for approximately 3 to 5 minutes per side, basting with the mustard oil mixture, until the juices run clear. Serve hot with some of the mustard honey dressing spooned over top.

Note: To cook indoors, grill in a hot skillet, gently frying on both sides for about 3 to 4 minutes per side and brushing with the mustard flavoured oil.

Beautiful Breast of Lamb with Honey Parsley Vinegar Sauce - Hey, My Eyes are Up Here!

You know I love lamb, as evidenced by the various chops, shanks, legs, and shoulders I've featured in the past. These are among the most popular meat recipes on the blog, so it seems many share my love. Here we have a brand new cut to celebrate, the lamb breast.

This is not common in your regular supermarkets. There's an inverse relationship between the size of the parking lot, and the chances you'll find breast of lamb in the meat case. However, a visit to a real butcher (look for lots of tats and facial hair) should be rewarded with some slabs of this bony, fatty, but richly flavored meat.

Since I hadn't cooked this in ages, I decided to play it safe, and use a time-tested Mediterranean-inspired spice rub, and it could not have worked more perfectly. The exotic spices made the rich meat seem even more decadent, all of which was nicely balanced by the vinegar sauce's astringency.

A bright green chimichurri sauce on a well-marbled piece of meat is one of the best things ever, and this dish definitely borrows from that playbook. It's not like you'd want to eat a spoon of the condiment right out of the bowl, but slathered over the glistening meat, it's a thing of beauty.

I hope that if you are a fan of lamb, and you haven't tried lamb breast yet, that you give it a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 pieces lamb breast, about 3 1/2 pounds

For the spice rub:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs seasoning (dried rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano blend)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon coriander

1 teaspoon paprika

For the sauce: (note - this is all "to taste")

1/2 cup packed chopped Italian parsley

2 cloves crushed garlic

1/3 cup white wine vinegar, more as needed

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 or 2 teaspoon honey

juice from 1 lemon

pinch of salt

English Pea, Spinach and Gruyere Tart

This is a real favourite of ours and something that I like to make whenever I have some spinach in the larder. Normally I just make it with spinach, but I have an abundance of fresh peas from our garden at the moment and so . . .



Having eaten a delicious salad that contained pesto, peas and spinach . . . I thought peas would make a beautiful addition to this scrummy tart . . . especially where I only had half the amount of spinach in my fridge that I normally use.



It turned out beautifully!



It's a very easy tart to make. There is no faffing about with prebaking the crust or fitting it into a pan. You quite simply roll it out into a round, plop it onto a baking sheet, spread with pesto and the filling, bring the sides up to partially cover, sprinkle with cheese and pinenuts and you are set to go!



Fifteen to Twenty minutes later you are rewarded with a deliciously scrummy free form tart guaranteed to reform even the most ardent of spinach haters in your crew!!



Trust me on this. It's also very pretty to look at, or at least I think it is! (I'm sure you all know how much I luuuuurve my pie!!)



*English Pea, Spinach and Gruyere Tart*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

A delicious supper dish that can get even the most ardent of spinach haters to eat spinach! It's a free form tart and very pretty.

1 TBS olive oil
1 medium red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 pound of baby spinach leaves, washed
about 1 1/2 cups of baby peas, fresh or frozen (thawed)
300g shortcrust pastry, thawed if frozen (enough pastry to make a 12 inch round)
2 TBS fresh pesto sauce
120g gruyere cheese, grated (1 cup)
1 large free range egg, beaten
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 TBS toasted pinenuts

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.

Heat the oil in a small pan and add the onion. Cook, stirring for about 4 minutes, until softened. Add the spinach and cook just to wilt. Drain all in a colander and press out as much water as you can. Set aside.

Roll your pastry out to a 12 inch circle. Place onto a flat baking sheet. Spread the centre, leaving about 2 inches all the way around free, with pesto sauce. Reserve 1 TBS of the cheese and place the remainder into a bowl. Add the drained spinach, onion, thawed peas, beaten egg, salt and pepper. Mix together well. Place this mixture in the centre of the pastry circle on top of the pesto. Fold up the edges of the pastry over the spinach, pleating it decoratively. You will only want to fold it up about 2 inches all the way around, leaving the centre open. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and pine nuts.

Bake in the heated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Cut into 4 wedges to serve.

PS - a nice tossed salad goes very well with this scrummy repast!

Coming Soon: Beautiful Breast of Lamb