instafood, light lunches, RECIPES

Get a peas of this: Pea bruschetta

Leave a comment

IMG_0049

Another light bite from us which we have been making for a while for dinners but also as a good option for a summery lunch.  We’ve also served this dish as a starter for dinner parties – perfect fresh start to an evening of wining and dining. As a protein and vitamin rich vegetable, peas are also an ideal addition to your spring salads for those amongst you who are thinking seriously about potential picnicking options! Enjoy!

*Other variations include replacing the parsley with mint or tarragon and add a generous helping of crispy chorizo.

Ingredients:

1 Echelon Shallot, finely diced

300g Frozen peas

A small handful of parsley

Olive oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Salt and pepper to season

Wholemeal sourdough bread

150g lardons

Method:

Mixed with a decent slug of cold olive oil, place the shallot into a cold frying pan. Give the oil and shallot a stir before placing on the heat. Cook until thoroughly browned and remove from the heat.

In the mean time boil a kettle of water. Place the peas in a saucepan and pour over boiling water and place on a medium to high heat. Once cooked drain the peas, return them to the pan, crush and then add the onions.

Squeeze the juice of half a lemon, season and add the chopped parsley.

Serve warm on a slice of toasted wholemeal sourdough with a hearty G&T.

h&h

RECIPES

Jerk it out

Leave a comment

We came up with this jerk seasoning recipe the year we lived in Brixton.  Before that we had never really tried jerk seasoning unless it came out of a Dunn’s River jar (which we aren’t shirking: it is delicious and can definitely be a good substitute for the burger recipe below).

Away from the chic new restaurants of Brixton Village, you can walk into some of the most interesting and unassuming shops cooking the best jerk chicken imaginable.

As part of a christmas present and the reflect the area that we lived in we did some research into what made the best jerk seasoning recipe, taking inspiration from other blogs and websites.

The seasoning we have ended up with goes perfectly coating a succulent chicken breast or salmon fillet, as well as burgers (recipe below).  As in a pervious post about spices we suggest going to Aziz Cash and Carry on Electric Avenue for all the ingredients you might need.

Warning – Don’t sniff this seasoning when it is done: dried scotch bonnet powder up your nose is not something you will forgot easily!

Jerk Seasoning
(make one large jar)

2 Tbsp dried thyme

2 cinnamon sticks milled or 1 tbsp cinnamon powder

2 Tbsp died coriander leaves

1 Tsp crushed coriander seeds

2 Tbsp crushed black peppercorn

1 Tsp ground nutmeg

3 Tsp allspice

1 Tbsp dried garlic flakes (available in Aziz)

4 Dried scotch bonnets

half a thumb of dried ginger

dried zest of two limes (zest and leave on a plate for a couple of days to dry)

Instructions

First, to dry the scotch bonnets and ginger, preheat the oven to 175C. Slice the ginger thinly as possible and place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Chop scotch bonnets into 1cm square chunks and deseed, place cut side down on the greaseproof paper and cook both for 6-8 hours till dried.

Mix all ingredients together a large bowl or a blender. Mix or whiz them together making sure that the mix is evenly combined and of the same consistency.

Pour into a clean dry jar and you can keep this for up to 6 months.

IMG_0516

 

Jerk Burgers with caramelised red onions and simple green salad.

makes 4 – 6 burgers

Ingredients

500g beef mince

1/2 chopped onion

1 tbsp jerk seasoning

1 egg

2 red onions

2 tbsp brown sugar

1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Salad recipe here.

Burger buns

 

Instructions

Add the mince, chopped onion, jerk seasoning and egg to a bowl and combine. Leave to the side whilst you prep the onions.

Half and slice the onions and add to a saucepan on a low heat with 1tbsp olive oil; cook slowly for 15-20 minutes.

Returning to the burger, shape the mixture into 4-6 patties (depending on how chunky you want them). Lightly oil a frying pan with sunflower oil and place on a medium heat. Cook the burgers for 5 minutes on each side till brown and caramelised.

Whilst the burgers are cooking add the sugar and vinegar to the onions and continue to cook for another 5 – 1o mins.

To build the burgers simply add the patties to the buns with slice of fresh tomatoes and a spoon full of caramelised onions and any other condiments you like.

Enjoy!

h&h

RECIPES

Get dressed

Leave a comment

Spring-time is well and truly here and as food magazines start to push their fanciest of salads for you to spend hours chopping and garnishing, we have a few low-maintenance ways of injecting big flavours into your food. As well as a recipe or two for you to bring to work or serve as an accompaniment to a main meal, we have our one piece of killer advice if you want to keep up with food trends of 2016…

IMG_8947

Unrefined Sunflower Oil

Sounds new-age? ‘Unrefined’ already making you pat your wallet in fear? While this could be a scary prospect even for the most regular customers at Whole Foods, unrefined sunflower oil is a deliciously nutty ingredient for dressing your salad. Not to be confused with its refined brother that frequents the fast-food chains of the world, it is painfully healthy containing a mixture of poly- and mono-unsaturated fats high in omega-6. We first tried this when tasting Olia Hercules‘ Chilli and Garlic Cucumber salad in her debut cook book, Mamushka (worth buying for a number of reasons but this recipe is certainly one of them). Since then this oil has become a staple for us in a very simple dressing salad combination which anyone can try.

Simple salad and dressing:

Ingredients:

3 parts unrefined sunflower oil

1 part balsamic vinegar

1 part soy sauce

A mixture of salad leaves (rocket, watercress and pea-shoots work well)

Pour the ingredients for the dressing into  a jam jar or other sealable container. Shake the dressing mixture vigorously for a few moments until it is fully combined. Taste and season with black pepper if desired.

Wash the mixed salad leaves and toss till dry. Place the leaves into a large bowl and pour over the dressing. Toss thoroughly again to ensure that the dressing is mixed together with the leaves throughout. Serve immediately.

Hearty couscous salad:

IMG_8931

Lumpy. Stodgy. Unsettlingly glutinous. Couscous can be done in all the wrong ways. If you’ve had a bad brush with it in the past though, it is time to forget it and embrace this recipe. Aromatic, herby and with a few pomegranate kernels sprinkled on top for pallet punching sharpness, our couscous will definitely get your lunchtime mojo going or compliment some lovely köfte (turkish meatballs) and Babaganoush (recipe below) for a Middle-East feast. It also contains celery leaves, a recognised ‘sirt’ food for those of you interested in losing a little weight. If this is the case you may want to replace the sunflower oil with olive oil, another recognised ‘sirt’ ingredient.

Dressing:

3 tbsp unrefined sunflower oil

3 tbsp pomegranate molasses

Ingredients:

190 g couscous

2 tsps cinnamon

a generous pinch of salt

1/2 medium sized red cabbage, chopped into strips 3cm x 0.5cm

6 sprigs of mint, roughly chopped

2 handfuls of celery leaves, roughly chopped

a handful of pomegranate kernels to serve (optional)

Place the couscous in a large heatproof bowl and sprinkle over the cinnamon and salt, making sure they are both evenly distributed throughout. Pour over boiling water, enough just to cover the couscous. Put this to one side and leave it to absorb. This should take about 20 – 25 minutes.

Chop and prepare all the ingredients for the salad and place in a large bowl in which you want to serve the couscous salad.

Once the couscous has absorbed the water, run your hands through it making sure that it is not too hot or that you will burn yourself. Using both hands, pick up small amounts of the couscous and rub between your fingers in a backwards and forwards motion letting them be ‘fluffed up’ and separated. Once they are thoroughly fluffed and cool enough, add them to the rest of the salad and mix together.

Combine the oil and molasses to make the dressing. Pour over the top of the combined couscous salad and stir to mix through. Scattering a handful of pomegranate kernels over the top serve straight away.

IMG_8936
Our Middle Eastern feast featuring our hearty couscous, babaghanoush and a fantastic beef salad from Sabrina Ghayour’s Persiana

Babaghanoush:

Smoky and sharp but mellow and light, some might not think of this as a salad and more of a dip, but it still makes a good accompaniment to a main meal or as an extra vegetable boost to bring into the office. Be warned – for this recipe you will require a gas cooker, or alternatively, you can use the flames of a barbecue if you feel in a more summery mood.

Ingredients:

2 medium sized aubergine

1 lemon

olive oil

Salt and pepper to season

a handful of chopped coriander

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Turn on one of the gas hobs and lie the aubergines in the flame, charring the skin. You will need to leave them to char gently but keep a watchful eye to make sure they do not become too burnt. Turn them periodically to make sure they are charred all over. 5 minutes of this should be sufficient but you can extend the charring time if you want an especially smokey dip.

Place the aubergines in a baking dish and put in the oven for 20 minutes. Check after 10 minutes as you may need to extend baking time depending on how big a baking dish you have used. When it is soft enough to pull apart with a pair of spoons, scoop out the insides leaving behind the charred skin and put into a food processor. Add the juice of half a lemon and a glug of olive oil, as well as salt and pepper to season the dip. Blend the aubergine thoroughly and taste to check seasoning. Add some chopped coriander and serve still warm or save for later in a sealable container, allowing it to cool before placing in the fridge.

reviews

Amsterdam: In praise of half-pints

Leave a comment

IMG_1090

On the easyjet London Gatwick – Amsterdam flight, with an assortment of stag-dos in costumes ranging between Dutch milk maids in drag and two opposing teams of table football players, one might get the impression this was a poorly timed trip. While the double bank-holiday may bring many of our countrymen – and women – to the Netherlands in search of booze and the ‘high’ life, we feel it’s a shame that this city retains its misleading reputation. In fairness, all the stereotypes were there: the gang of giggly blondes waving obscenely turgid dildos; young men smelling so strongly of weed you feel you might get stoned from the smell of them; the awkward German family who were genuinely looking for just a coffee. And all this before we reached our rented houseboat!

We have both been travelling to Amsterdam for years and it is arguably our favourite city in Europe. While there will be a number of winks and nudges as to why that may be, it is genuinely one of the most civilised cultures we have experienced and most beautiful in terms of buildings, art, and, above all, food. Our Easter Saturday visit to Noordmarkt on Prinsengracht and Westerstraat is enough to prove this to anyone. In the 3 minutes it took for us to walk around before rushing off to buy more serious provisions for the holiday, we must have walked past (and tasted samples from) half-a-dozen cheese stalls, a number of fine bakery stalls and an oyster seller whose key customer was one  busily slurping 3-year-old boy.

IMG_1087

The cheese samples, in particular a lemony-sweet goat’s cheese covered in cornflowers was a highlight, as well as the oysters which, served with a tiny quarter-slice of lemon, were a perfect perk to the morning. On the day we visited the market, lunch consisted of the same goat’s cheese, a springy sourdough cob and some goudsalami; in other words, all you could ask for from a good couple hours of hunter-gathering to eat sat in a secluded harbour. While this was a great moment for us, what makes Amsterdam great is that all the lunches that we had out while wondering around the city were delicious. Whether it wasa bagel shop by the Rijksmuseum, with it fantastic collections of art from the Dutch ‘Golden Age’, or our toasty and beer sat at Cafe Heuvel watching the world pass by we were stumped to find a duff meal.

Which brings us onto another important point – beer. While Dutch beers may have attracted world attention through sponsorship of any number of sporting events, few drink it the same way – in dinky half-pints. Lager is infinitely fresher drunk this way and sinks down nicely. Undoubtedly, this is helped along by the fact that the brewery is only a short walk away, as in the case of Heineken.

In terms of evening dining, one of our long term favourites is Red, a surf and turf restaurant located on Keizergracht. As a place to eat it has an almost womb-like comfort to it, if you can imagine a womb dominated by vibrant green upholstery and a red haired woman with an apple in her mouth gazing down on your dinner. Surreal? Maybe, but the steak (our recommendation) is excellent and would be a serious contender for any top restaurant in London. Importantly it is also reasonably priced for such a good dinner; we probably escaped for about £80 for two with a bottle of wine and a glass of prossecco each to start.

Amsterdam is a city of contradictions in many ways. While the night life has limited its reputation in some quarters, it is also worth a visit for so many other reasons than just what the red-light district has to offer and food is definitely one of them. So next time you go on a stag-do or even think of planning a civilised weekend away, give Amsterdam some serious thought and remember to take in as many of the pots you possibly can and not just the one you want to roll up.

RECIPES

Irish Stew

Leave a comment

IMG_8922

Ireland doesn’t always stand out as one of the great culinary contributors to world cuisine. Exotic? No. A satisfier-of-the-masses with delightful takeaway dishes? No. In fact, the country’s most well-known contribution can probably be summed up in three items: Guinness, Tayto crisps and Barry’s tea.

With this in mind we have decided to offer you another option for this year’s coming St. Patrick’s Day celebration other than swilling Guinness, devouring cheese and onion Tayto’s and nursing yourself with a nice cup of Barry’s the next day of course. Irish Stew can be deemed the national dish of Ireland but, despite coming from an Irish family, I don’t think I have ever eaten it let alone actually cooked this dish.

As we all know it rains a lot in Ireland… A LOT! But the simplicity of the flavours and great ingredients means this dish will warm you up on the most miserable of days. The best meat to use would be lamb neck, but we know from hard earnt experience the only place to find that would be a butcher and could possible break the bank.

We have used simple diced lamb chunks from our local supermarket, and created a fantastic stock from deglazing the pan. A tip when browning the meat – DO NOT STIR!! Leave it there till it caramelises and the meat will simple come off. This also gives it a beautiful mahogany-brown colour.

Enjoy with a cold Guinness or, as we did, a glass of Club Orange.

IMG_8916

Irish Stew

Serves 6
20min prep
60min cooking

500g   Floury potatoes (Maris Pipers or King Edwards)
500g   Waxy potatoes (New potatoes or charlotte potatoes)
3          onions (one quartered and other 2 chopped into thick rings)
1 bay leaf
Fresh Thyme
Black peppercorns
1kg      carrots (peeled and thickly chopped)
1kg      Lamb stewing steak
1ltr      cold water
200g   smoked streaky bacon (cut into strips)
Salt and pepper (to season)
Chopped chives

Start by peeling and cut into chunks the floury potatoes and leave them in a bowl of cold water to prevent them browning. Cut the waxy potatoes in half no need to peel, again leave them in a bowl of cold water.

Quarter one onion and roughly chop one carrot. Place this in a small saucepan with bay leaf, 2 sprigs of thyme and 6 black peppercorns.

Heat 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Once it has come up to the heat, batch cook the lamb placing the cooked lamb in a dish to stand. Deglaze* the pan in-between batches, pour this liquid into the saucepan with the onions, carrot, bay and peppercorns keep this on a low simmer; this will become the stock for the stew.

Once the lamb is cooked do the same with the bacon till crispy and set aside with the lamb, again deglaze the pan and add this to the liquid to the stock to simmer away.

Heat 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil add the onions and turn down the heat. Cook them down till soft and sweet.

Once the onions are cooked add the meat, the remainder carrots, floury potatoes and strain the stock into the pot, adding more water to cover the meat as necessary. Bring to the boil and lower the heat to cook for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes skim the water and add the waxy potatoes and few sprigs of fresh thyme and continue simmering for 20 minutes or till lamb is tender.

Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with chopped chives.

*remove the lamb and pour cold water into the pan to remove the cooking liquids

h&h

 

RECIPES

Celeriac, Potato and Kale Bake

Leave a comment

 

It’s been a little while since our last blog post – a few things have been in the pipe line but bigger things are on there way. We promise!!

This recipe is a winter warmer – relatively healthy comfort food to keep you going in the series of cold snaps we have had throughout the last few weeks to make up for what has been a generally warm winter so far. All vegetarian, filling, and comforting with the satisfying blend of root veg and (occasionally much maligned) kale to add colour – you can almost feel the newly restored warmth coming of you already. Enjoy!

IMG_0513 2

Ingredients:

Sauce:

300 ml white wine

300 ml stock

10 g corn flour

160 g cheddar cheese + extra for topping

salt and pepper to season

 

Bake:

1 celeriac

3 potatoes

150g kale

 

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Chop the celeriac into chunks of about 1.5 cm. Once chopped, place in a large saucepan with cold water and bring to the boil. In the meantime chop the potatoes into similar size chunks. After the celeriac has cooked for 5 minutes, add the potatoes to the boiling water. Cook for 10 minutes before placing the kale on top of the saucepan in a colander and steam for 5 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked. Place in a oven proof dish and leave while you prepare the sauce.

For the sauce, reduce the wine to about a tenth of the quantity in a small pan. Add the stock to the reduction and heat through. Taking a few tablespoonfuls of the stock mixture and add it to the corn flour, mixing the two together to create a smooth paste. Once thoroughly combined, add to the rest of the stock mixture and stir. Add the cheese and stir until it is melted.

Once the sauce is fully combined, pour over the celeriac, potatoes and kale. Grate cheese over the top of the dish and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Serve with a few grinds of black pepper fresh from the oven.

h&h

RECIPES, Uncategorized

Sweetcorn Crepes with bacon, cream cheese and spinach

Leave a comment

Mardi Gras, Fastnacht, Vastenavond, Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day – call it what you will but there are few among us who don’t look forward to this day. Sadly, we can’t offer you some of the more exotic ways of celebrating this day; we can’t be there in the morning to cook a steaming pile of fresh pancakes either. We can offer you our recipes for a savoury pancake recipe to either set you up for the day (if you have that kind of time in the morning) or a light dinner for when you get home.

You should also check out and share our video of how we made the recipe on all forms of social media.

Enjoy!

h&h

IMG_0507

Sweetcorn crepes with bacon, spinach and cream cheese

Batter:

200g plain flour

600ml semi-skimmed milk

4 eggs

5g salt

filling:

240g sweetcorn

100g spinach

16 rashers of bacon

160g cream cheese

5g butter

To make the batter, measure the flour and place in a large mixing bowl. Add and mix in the salt, before adding the four eggs. Beat the mix together with a whisk. Once thoroughly blended and smooth begin to add the milk bit by bit. Continue until all the milk is combined and you have a smooth batter.

Cook the bacon in a griddle pan or under the grill. Taking a non stick pan, place on a medium to high heat and add just enough butter to coat the pan and to ensure the batter won’t stick. Scatter a small handful of sweetcorn across the pan, making sure it is evenly distributed. Pour over a ladle of batter and cook until the batter looks firm and any ‘air-holes’ are set. Use a plastic spatula to scrape along the edges of the pancake before working underneath to make sure it is loose. Once you are ready flip it and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Place the pancake on to a warm plate and dress with cream cheese. Place bacon on top and scatter spinach over the dish. You can finish with a grate of pepper or parmesan to taste.

Uncategorized

5 Essentials – Spices

1 Comment

Our aim is to get everyone eating delicious, well-cooked food cheaply; not exactly easy when you require an enormous range of spices to bring a zing to your dishes in the cold winter months (or a big fan of Yotam Ottolenghi). We’ve thought about the 5 essentials you need for your dishes but also where you should go to buy them. Our three top tips when it comes to spices are:

IMG_0500
Not as glamorous as the markets of Morocco but just as cheap

– Go to local markets and ‘ethnic’ grocers to buy spices instead of supermarkets. We would be bankrupt if it wasn’t for Aziz Cash and Carry on Electric Avenue in Brixton.
– Buy in bulk when you can so long as you can store it. Old jam jars are ideal and if you start to expand your range of spices this will be obligatory for the more obscure things you use.
– Buy a pestle and mortar: there is no point to buying two set of the same spice – just grind one up yourself and you have saved space and (most importantly) money.

Cumin seed

69p/100g
Mexican or Indian – there could not be a clearer front runner for the first essential spice on our list. Buying cumin in seed form allows you the most flexibility when cooking. You can bash it up in your pestle and mortar or fry it off with onions to add some tang to a daal. Equally important for middle eastern recipes as well, you dare not be without this somewhere in your kitchen.

Ground Ginger
69p/100g
Great as a good alternative to fall back on when you have none fresh in the house, ground ginger is also good for adding to dishes that would otherwise be a little bland and you want to spread a little warmth throughout. We’ve added them to canned tuna fish cakes with salad and a little sweet chilli sauce to brighten up dinner.

Coriander seed
69p/100g
We add so much coriander to our cooking as a herb but sometimes neglect the seeds as well which also serve to perk up your cooking with a fresh flavour. Ground in a pestle and mortar it brightens a chilli no end along with lime and chopped coriander. You can also lightly crush the seeds to rub into chicken and pork to be grilled for a quick dinner with a little extra flavour.

Chilli powder
69p/100g
Possibly the biggest essential of all, yet there are so many varieties it’s hard to choose what one to go for. From your concentrated extract of scotch bonnet to the sweetest, most inoffensive variety, all chilli powders have their own qualities and flavours. As an essential though, the old motto applies: ‘If you can’t stand the heat, get out the kitchen.’

Paprika
69p/100g
Paprika is made from the dried fruits of the chilli family so can often have the same qualities as chilli but often has a lot more depth and a certain smokiness, because of this it is used more to season dished rather giving them a kick.  One of the highest naturally occurring sources of vitamin C, we often use paprika in salads dressings. Try with a little virgin olive oil or unrefined sunflower oil over the top of some halloumi and rocket leaves – ideal for a summer lunch with crusty bread and gazpacho.

All prices taken from Aziz Cash and Carry on Electric Avenue, Brixton, SW9

IMG_0499 2

 

RECIPES

Our first ‘brunch’ of recipes 

Leave a comment

Sweet potato, egg and Morcilla bake

IMG_0475

Who knew that black pudding, one of the most divisive elements of the traditional fry up, has become the ‘healthy’ option reaching new heights as a ‘superfood’? Inspired to go in search of the black pudding, we settled on a variety we had for brunch at The Abbeville Kitchen (now called May the Fifteenth), a fantastic local restaurant on Abbeville road.

Morcilla, the Spanish version of black pudding, is spiced with cumin and often has a smoother texture compared to its English counterpart, leaving out the grain. Morcilla can be found in Moen and Sons on The Pavement in Clapham, a short stroll from Abbeville road and Clapham Common tube station, and you can buy it online quite cheaply.  If you can’t get your hands on Morcilla use regular black pudding but add another tsp of cumin to the recipe to compensate. Also equally good as a one-dish dinner.

Sweet potato, egg and Morcilla bake

Serves 4

Time 40 mins

Ingredients

3 sweet potatoes

2 green pepper sliced

6 eggs

400g Morcilla (Spanish black pudding)

2 tsp cumin seeds

olive oil

salt

black pepper

Serve with rocket

 

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Peel and cut the sweet potato into 1 cm chunks and toss in a baking tray with a splash of olive oil, salt & pepper and 2 tsp of lightly crushed cumin seeds then bake for 15 mins.

Meanwhile, slice the green peppers and cut the Morcilla in to 1cm rounds (don’t worry if it breaks apart – it will do this in the oven)

Remove the potato from the oven and add the peppers and Morcilla and return to the oven for a further 10 mins.

Once the sweet potato is cooked crack six eggs on top of the bake and return for 5 – 7 mins till the egg whites are set.

Serve immediately.

 

Menemen

The_third_recipe_in_our_brunch_edition_-_Menemen__Check_out_the_blog_on_Saturday_for_all_three_recipes_howellandharte.com__foodies__foodpics__foodporn__handh__2gaychefs

Menemen is a baked egg dish incorporating tomatoes and peppers, ideal for recovering from any heavy Saturday night or having a few friends over for a lazy Sunday. Despite baking, the dish should be quite moist and still have the same consistency as scrambled eggs. If you want to ‘go native’, try it with small cups of black tea – anyone who has seen the sunrise over Istanbul or ventured from their resort to sample true Turkish cuisine will become instantly nostalgic.

Menemen

Serves 4

Time 20 mins

Ingredients: 

8 eggs, beaten

4 tomatoes

2 red peppers or, if you can find them, 3 long thin green peppers

a teaspoon of pul biber (or alternatively 1/2 a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes)

sugar and salt to season

Fresh bread to serve

 

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Dice the tomatoes place in an oven suitable sauté pan with a swig of olive oil on a medium heat and cover to keep them moist. Once they have started to soften, season with a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt.

While the tomatoes are softening in the pan, deseed the peppers and remove the pith. If you have managed to find the long thin sweet green peppers normally used in Turkey as supposed to the bright green bitter peppers we find in the supermarket, cut them lengthwise and then into half moon slices about a centimetre and half across. If you are using red peppers then dice into chunks of about 2 centimetres. Place in the sauté pan with the tomatoes, cover again and cook till soft.

Once the tomatoes and peppers are cooked, add the pul biber and mix in. Add the eggs and stir thoroughly so that the eggs, tomatoes and peppers are all combined. Season the eggs while they are still runny with salt and pepper and stir over a low heat.

As the eggs begin to start forming soft clumps, but are still very runny, place in the oven for 5 minutes making sure that it they are smooth on top. The eggs should not get too brown but only become lightly golden and should only be a lightly scrambled texture throughout.

Remove from the oven and place on a heatproof mat. Scatter any remaining pul biber on top of the menemen and serve with slices of fresh crusty white bread.

Omlette soufflé with smoked salmon

IMG_5262

Soufflé. Two syllables that still inspire fear in the heartiest of cooks. And before you run away, it is ludicrously easy. Adapted from a recipe by Rachel Khoo, Omlette soufflé is impressive (if that’s what you’re looking for) as well as simple, light and filling. Combined with smoked salmon, it is also a healthy option packed with protein to set you up for the day.

Omlette soufflé with smoked salmon

Serves 4

Time  20 mins

Ingredients: 

4 eggs

3 sprigs of dill

5g butter

salt and black pepper

smoked salmon to serve

 

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and put in a small oven dish to warm up. Chop the dill and put to one side.

Separate the eggs, putting the whites into a large mixing bowl and the yolks into a small mixing bowl. Put a pinch of salt into the bowl with the whites and whip to stiff peaks. Add the chopped dill and enough fresh ground black pepper to the yolk and beat for one minute till the yolks start to look thicker and slightly creamy. Add a third of the beaten whites to the yolks and fold in with a metal spoon. Fold in the combined yolk and whites into the remaining whites.

Remove the dish from the oven and melt the butter, rolling it around the sides of the dish and covering the base. Spoon the soufflé mix into the dish making sure the bottom is completely covered. Continue to spoon the mixture in until full.

Place in the oven for ten minutes. When set, remove from the oven and serve with smoked salmon, more freshly ground black pepper and a slice of lemon.

 

Enjoy

 

h&h

 

 

 

 

 

howellandharte.com is the joint brainchild of Will Howell and Conor Harte. Both have learnt to cook from a young age, but started to explore the best ways to create simple and cheap dishes at university. Along with a number of cooking courses along the way, the two continue to explore ways to eat well for less.