Absent Giraffes

I've been a bit AWOL from my Giraffing of late - apologies to anyone checking for updates.  Have been busy with visitors, friends, holidays and life!  Have remade a couple of Giraffes with various degrees of success.  Did the cous cous cakes for a veggie friend and she seemed to be impressed with them leaving it until the end of the meal to ask what the secret ingreedient was that kept them stuck together (its Halloumni cheese btw).  Also tried them with quinoa insead of cous cous for a Coeliac friend but it was a bit of a disaster!  I think I need some guidance on how to cook quinoa as it looked more like sloppy rice pudding than cous cous ;-S

I did finally hear back from the Giraffes mouth re the second of the "dodgy" recipies.  Apparently their Head of Operations was on holiday and hence the delay in getting back to me.  Where does a Giraffe go on holiday I wonder?  Answers on a postcard...

Also wanted to share a brilliant "saw this and though of you" card that I recieved from a friend inspired by this blog - its so true!

Will be back later on this week with a proper cooking the book posting but meanwhile here is the correct recipie that they sent through for the Goats Cheese, Caramelised Onion and Mushroom Pizza Tostada with Rocket and Pine Nuts.


MARINARA SAUCE
2 cloves of garlic
4 table spoons olive oil
I medium onion
400gm tin chopped tomatoes
½ teaspoon dried oregano
8-10 fresh basil leaves
Salt and pepper

To make the sauce heat olive oil on medium heat,  add the onions and garlic and cook for 4-5 minutes until onions become soft and succulent, mash the tomatoes with a fork and add to the pan, then season with salt and pepper and the dried oregano, bring to boil reduce heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes. When cooked remove from heat rip basil leaves and add to the sauce

THE PIZZA
4 Lebanese flat breads
8 tablespoons marinara sauce
200gm of goat’s cheese
100gm grated mozzarella
16 cherry tomatoes
100gm spinach leaves
100gm sliced field mushrooms
200gm red or white onions shredded
4tables spoons olive oil   
40gm parmesan shavings
50gm rocket
4 tablespoons of pesto dressing

Heat a pan with the olive oil, add the onions and cook slowly until onions are soft and golden this takes 10-15 minutes. Spread 2 tablespoons of marinara sauce on each flat bread and then top with spinach leaves.
Cut the cherry toms in half and sprinkle with the caramelised onions, sliced mushrooms and cherry tomatoes on the base. Then crumble over the goat’s cheese in 20p size pieces and sprinkle over the mozzarella, add to a hot oven 2100C for 8-10 minutes. When the pizza is cooked top with the rocket and parmesan shavings and drizzle over the pesto dressing

'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio

Up until now I only knew Jambalaya in the context of a-crawfish pie and-a fillet gumbo but Giraffe assures me its a Louisianan Creole dish.  Not sure if I'm any the wiser but bring on the Jambalaya Meatballs with pasta or rice - Page 90.

First issue was minced chicken - I couldn't find any so used minced turkey.  Not much difference between a cluck and a gobble.  Apart from that I pretty much followed the ingredients exactly although I had reservations about the sheer quantity it was making.  400g each of minced lamb and minced turkey seemed way too much to serve 4 and when I started to form it into balls it was clear there was enough to feed the 5,000 with loaves and fishes to spare.  I made 30 giant sized meatballs and still had mixture left over. 

My cooking method diverged from the recipie at this point.  There were way too many meatballs to fit in a frying pan to sear so I just popped them on a rectangle stone and bunged them in the oven.  I've pretty much abandoned traditional metal baking trays in favour of Pampered Chef Stonewear.  Its not cheap but it lasts forever and has amazing heat distribution and retention properties.  Sales pitch over - I'm not on commission I promise!

The secret of these meatballs - apart from the cajun spice which is what I asume makes them Jambalayan - is grated potatoes.  Never come across this before in meatballs but its certainly something that I'd try again.  I reckon you could also do it with other root veg in an attemp (probably in vain!) to trick kids into eating their greens.  As you can see I served with pasta but I cut back drastically on the quantity of peppers that were supposed to be mixed through it.  I find them rather indigestable so only used 1/2 a red and 1/2 a green rather than the required traffic light combination of 1 red, 1 green and 1 yellow.

Not sure I'd make the exact recipe again although it was eaten with gusto by Mr and Boy and even Girl had a couple of the meatballs with plain pasta and sauce.  The quantity it made was obscene, a lot of wasted meatballs and I made 4 burgers with the raw leftovers.  Will definately chuck some grated tatties in the next batch of meatballs I make and I might even indulge in a little Jambalayan sing song... Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-oh, Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou!

Another 3 legged Giraffe

I've found another error in the book.  If you were making Goats Cheese, Caramelised Onion and Mushroom Pizza Tostada with Rocket and Pine Nuts - Page 97, it would be reasonable to expect it to actually contain caramelised onions, mushrooms and pine nuts?!  They are in the title but nowhere to be found in the list of ingreedients or method.  In reverse the ingreedients include 16 cherry tomatoes yet no mention in the method of what to do with them.  Yet again no photo to offer guidance or clues.  I'm begining to wonder who, if anyone, tried these recipies out prior to publication...

I again emailed the peeps at Giraffe who seem to be a wee bit embarrassed by it now.  But not embarrassed enough to offer me any more gift vouchers or to come back to me (as yet) with the correct recipe.  So what I eventually made was an inspired by version rather than the lopsided real deal.

To give them credit usung flat bread as the base for a pizza is a pretty good idea and I'd definately use it in this way again.  No idea what the required Lebanese flat bread is but the garlic and parsley version I used was delicious.  From then on in I did pretty much my own thing.  Pasata on the flatbread followed by a topping of Mozarella, Goats Cheese, Spinach Leaves, Olives and Shiitake Mushrooms, then topped it off with the rocket just before eating (but after photographing!)  Mr added peppers and chicken to his whilst Boy and Girl went further astray with ham, pineapple and wait for it - baked beans!

Tuna without mayonnaise?!

When I picked Grilled Tuna Skewers with Yakitori style dip and Pea shoot salad - Page 35 as one of my recipes for this week I didn't quite realise just how expensive fresh tuna was - just shy of £10 for enough to make this dish.  I swithered in the supermarket but crossed my fingers as it was scanned through the till that this Giraffe would be worth it. 

Had an interesting conversation with boy whilst preparing it as when I explained what it was he assumed that if this was fresh tuna what comes in a can must be dried tuna - close but no cigar.  The dish itself was very straightforward to make however I saw straight away that there was going to be way too much yakitori.  I halved the quantities but could have easily quartered them as there was a lot wasted.

Instructions said to grill for 1 minute on each side, I should have followed this but thought they looked a bit underdone so gave them longer but in retrospect they would have been better pinker.  I served with the prescribed pea shoots, but also brown rice and stir fried veg and the skewers themselves sprinkled with sesame and black onion seeds.  Another one without a photo for guidance but I reckon mine looked pretty good.

Boy took one bite of the tuna and declared that I must make them again!  Me and Mr pretty much aggreed with him as it was indeed delicious and very filling with the brown rice and veggies.  Had never tried pea shoots before despite seeing them feature a lot on Masterchef.  A definate pea flavour to them but not many in a bag for £1.  Will definatly be keeping an eye out in the reduced section for any yellow stickied fresh tuna.  Girl suggested that if I was indeed ever making them again could she just have proper tuna, with some mayonnaise please.

Not your traditional Sunday Dinner

Why have Roast Beef and Yorkies when you could be having Hot Thai Duck Noodle stir-fry with Chilli Jam? (Page 79)  First hurdle was actually getting the duck.  Recipe calls for 400g of cooked duck meat so after scouring tesco.com for the best solution I eventually went for an Aromatic Duck with 12 Pancakes.  Boy and Girl were very excited to spot it in the fridge as its one of their favourites so were rather crestfallen when I told them I was puting it in a stir fry!

Like most stir frys this was pretty easy to throw together - they key is getting all your ingredients prepped in advance so you don't waste any time when it comes to putting it together.  As usual there were a couple that I deviated from.  For ginger & chilli paste I used my trusty frozen cubes of each, instead of Thai holy basil I used bog standard and I used Pak Choi instead of Bok Choi - no idea what the difference there is!

Unfortunately the end result was dissapointing.  Recipe called for 400g of egg noodles which you had to cook, refresh and add to the stir fried veg/duck at the last minute and heat through for 30 seconds.  The sheer quantity and they fact they were now cold from refreshing meant they needed much longer to heat through which in turn meant the veg turned from crispy to soggy.  The photo in the book certainly shows a significantly less proportion of noodles than what I ended up with. 

The only redeeming feature was the accompanying Chilli Jam.  But I used my own version which I make from Rachel Allen's recipe rather than Giraffe, so the credit there goes to me and Ms Allen.  Boy and girl rolled theirs up in the pancakes and hoisin sauce and declared it a hit.  Personally I wouldn't bother with it again and will stick to the more traditional Sunday Roast - you can't beat Delia's Yorkies.

Life is too short to Stuff

So I'm feeling a lot better due to a hefty dose of anti-biotics - thanks for asking!  Back to cooking for me and them and tonight's offering was Easy Open-faced Chicken Cordon Bleu - Page 105.  Yet another one with no photo to guide me - boo hiss.  According to Giraffe life is too short to stuff and there isn't much difference between folding and stuffing.  So with that in mind off we go!

I'm not a huge fan of chicken breasts - find them a bit dry - I'm more of a thigh girl, so that probably isn't the best of starts.  You have to bash them out with a rolling pin which is quite theraputic so thats a bonus.  Stress relieved, you then "layer and fold" and shallow fry for 5 mins on each side.  You'd have food poisioning if you only gave them that long - I'd reccomend longer.  Perhaps even searing them in a pan and transferring to the oven to ensure thay are fully cooked through.  Raw chicken = not a good idea.

You are supposed to serve up with a lemon wedge the juices from the pan - but there weren't any (only gooey/crusty cheesey bits) so I opted for stir fried greens & bacon and carrott & butternut squash mash.

It looked odd, tasted good, but I still prefer my juicy thighs so if I were to make it again I'd use the same ingredients and adapt.  Stuff the thighs with the Gruyere cheese and spinach and then wrap in the parma ham to secure before roasting in the oven.  Not Cordon Bleu by any definition, but I think it would work better for me.

Here's one I didn't make earlier

I've not been very well the last couple of days - sore throat, swolen glands and earache - bring out the violins!  But there was a Giraffe on the menu plan for tonight and Mr offered to make it so how could I refuse?  He's actually fairly proficient in the kitchen but does have a tendancy to use every dish, utensil and gadget!  Hawaiian Chilli Bowl - Page 95 - looked fairly straightforward and well within his capabilities.

I had already noticed that the quantity of beef seemed a bit strange in relation to everything else. I would normally use around ½ kg of beef to one can of tomatoes and kidney beans but this called for 1kg.  I'd only taken a 440g pack of mince out of the freezer so thats what was used with the herb/spice quantity cut back accordingly.  The book says that all recipies serve 4 and I think a kilo would be far too much unless you were all ravenous or served it without any rice or similar accompaniment.

Mr said that it was pretty straight forward to make - just bung it all in a pan and leave it for an hour.  The only variation form the recipie was regular tomato paste as opposed to sun dried and regular chilli powder instead of ancho (smoky) chilli powder.  The final instruction advised that you may need to add a little water.  I think he may have added a little too much as it was a touch runny.  There were certainly some appetising smells wafting up the stairs to my sick bed as it was cooking.

The salsa was more "rustic" than I would have done it but Girl helped Mr make it so I can't complain too much about its chunkyness.  Of course she didn't actually eat any of it...  They forgot to add the corriander and used walnuts instead of macadamia nuts (which I hadn't bought when I saw the price!)   It would definately be better chopped into to salsa sized pieces.  I didn't really eat much of it as it was too sore on my poorly tonsils.

The chilli itself was gorgeous.  Very flavoursome without being too hot.  Boy and Girl scoffed it up in record time and both had seconds.  I only managed a wee bit but what I had was lovely.  Not quite sure on the Hawaiian bit though.  Apart from a pineapple ring in the salsa there was little in the way of grass skirts, palm trees and garish shirts but it brought a little sunshine into my day of indisposition.

Rocking The Casbah

So I'm off to Marrakesh for a Yoga Retreat in May and to get me in the mood for rocking the casbah and suchlike I thought I'd give the Lamb Chop Tagine with Minted Fluffy Cous Cous a try - Page 88.  Unlike traditional tagines which need long slow cooking this was a quicker method although it seemed rather strange to have to cook a panfull of only onions, stock & spices for 30 minutes before even adding the lamb, but I did as I was told.

I pretty much followed the exact recipie and method which does call for quite a lot of different spices but all ones that I had in the storecupboard so nothing too unusual to buy and never use again.  I didn't have any green olives (and don't really like them!) so used black ones and I halved the quantity of prunes as there seemend to be loads of them and I feared the after effects!

Alas my cous cous was anything but fluffy - stodgy and porridge like would be a better description!  Its not usually something I have problems with cooking so don't quite know what went wrong but will stick to my own tried and tested method of preperation in the future.

Boy though it was amazing and especailly enjoyed the prunes, Girl turned up her nose and refused all black bits, and all the bits in the cous cous, and all the chick peas - I guess she perhaps ate a bit of the lamb.  Why do I bother?! 

Unfortunately one of my major bugbears of recipie books has been rearing its ugly head in Giraffe - no pictures for some recipies.  ARGH!  I can't tell you how much it puts me off not being able to see what I'm supposed to be cooking.  So as to whether it turned out looking like it should have I have absolutely no idea - and that really annoys me.  At a rough estimate I'd guess there are only photos for half of the book so black marks from me for that.

Would definately make it again, lovely robust flavours and nice and quick.  However I might be tempted to buy a Tagine Pot on holiday and try making the real deal.  Then again my measily Ryan Air luggage allowance probably won't even cover my yoga mat - let alone souvenirs.

Still searching for the elusive Chipotle

Tried Sainsburys this time but still no sign of the elusive Chipotle Chillies which have previously featured on the Giraffe ingreedients list and did so again today in Smoked Haddock & Salmon Fishcakes with Chipotle Veggie Slaw - Page 126.  Not liking the inclusion of difficult/impossible to find things - thats chipotle chilli and mouli that I'm on the hunt for now.  Please let me know if and where you spot them!

So on with the fishcakes...  I was in a bit of a rush to make these which wasn't a good start as it meant the mash and fish were still warm when I was trying to make the cakes.  Would have been much easier to work with if I'd planned ahead a bit and been able to let the mix cool and/or let the formed fishcakes cool before cooking.  Again I used my trusty Burger Maker from Lakeland to form the cakes - I got 9 from the mix. (and have 2 left to have with a poached egg for my breakfast tomorrow!)

Clearly my Chipotle Slaw wasn't ever going to live up to its name given the elusive vital ingreedient.  So I kinda gave up on their whole coleslaw recipie and did my own thang with mayo, cabbage, carrots, iceberg, corriander and bog standard red chilli.  I did add a splash of  the specified Worcestershire Sauce which gave it a nice kick.

The instructions said to saute the cakes until just browned then finish off in the oven for 20 mins to heat through.  I just cooked them completely in the frying pan which worked just fine.  Some did fall apart/crack a wee bit as a result of the lack of cooling. Girl cleared her plate and asked me to make them again - clearly she didn't even contemplate trying the coleslaw but had hers with baked beans and her own special mixture of mayo/ketchup/BBQ sauce!  Boy and Mr made suitably appreciative noises.  I thought they were a bit middle of the road.  Quite heavy on the lemon and sweetcorn but I could be co-erced into making them again.

I feel a wee bit guilty about doing a recipie with both salmon and cod having watched and been shocked by Hugh's Fish Fight last week.  If you watched you'll already know that Half of all the fish caught in the North Sea are thrown back overboard DEAD.  This is an insane waste so please sign up to help try and stop it http://www.fishfight.net/  In my own personal defence I was inspired by HFW to cook Mackerel for the first time ever last night and will definately be doing so again.  Give this recipie a try Devilled Mackerel with Potatoes & Spinach its nicer and less faf than the fishcakes!

Marinate overnight if possible - doh!

I should really read recipies more carefully beforehand as this isn't the first (and will undoubtedly not be the last) time that I get caught out with this. Oh well the Grilled Chicken Tacos with Fresh Orange Salsa - Page 103 - had nearly 2 hours of marinating time.  I'm sure thats overnight in some time zone. 

The marinade called for chipotle chillies and Tesco didn't have them - apparently they have a more gentle smokey flavour.  Will keep an eye out for them for future but for now bog standard red chilli.  As for the salsa it called for an orange seperated into segments.  Now me and segmenting oranges clearly don't go and I now have a fetching Peppa Pig plaster on my middle finger - cut finger & citrus juice & chilli - OUCH!  Even Peppa & George aren't managing to kiss it better.  If only it were as simple as the tap and unwrap of Terry's.  There's none of that pith and membrane when Dawn French tucks in.

So here's the finished article. There was supposed to be gucamole in the bottom of the taco (but I didn't make any/forgot/couldn't be bothered) then iceberg, then chicken, then salsa.  Girl had taco and chicken (with the bits of chilli picked off).  Boy refused the salsa but ate the rest. Mr ate it all (he knows which side his bread is buttered on)

Not sure I'd bother making it again.  Chicken itself was nice - basically marinaded in OJ, honey, chilli, S&P then grilled.  But the salsa wasn't all that special although the oranges did cut nicely through the chilli - or perhaps that was the blood!  Gucamole might have helped - seemed a bit dry. I served it with Jamie Olivers Rice & Peas from the 30 minute meals book. Its quickly become one of my staple side dishes and the leftovers are fab cold - it I will be making again and again.

I should be a Cookery Book Editor

Look up the index and it says that you will find Griddled Turkey Breast Fillets with Sage, Lemon & Pine Nut Pesto on Page 91 but you won't - its actually on Page 89 - spooky!  But thats not the last spooky thing about this recipie.  No matter how many times I read it it just didn't make sense.  The Salsa and the Pesto intructions were all muddled up and you were supposed to leave something in the fridge overnight but it doesn't say what.  I have a feeling someone somewhere may be getting their wrists slapped!

So I emailed the peeps and Giraffe and they emailed me right back "Please don’t lose confidence.  I will make sure I get you the correct recipe and I will be taking these issues up with the publishers first thing tomorrow as this is obviously a huge miss print on their behalves. I will definately get back to you in the next few days, and please accept my apologies for any inconvenience that this mishap has caused you."

Next day they get back to me with the correct recipie and the offer of a Gift Voucher for the resturant - RESULT!

But here's the real result...

Not to sure about it tbh  Definately the least special of the dishes I've cooked so far.  The Pesto was way too strong and overpowered by the garlic.  Don't think I'll be cooking it again - but if you like the sound of it here are the proper instructions... meanwhile I have a £20 Giraffe voucher to spend!

Step 1 complete as specified in the book
Step 2  finely chop or crush the garlic using some salt and the flat blade of a knife, then combine lemon juice, olive oil, chopped parsley and coriander . mix the marinade well and then add the turkey fillets rolling in the marinade, cover with cling film  and leave for 20mins or overnight. 
Step 3 preheat the grill or a fry pan and cook each fillet for 4-5 minutes each side until cooked through
Step 4 place the turkey fillets on the plate leaning against some  mash or rice and spoon over a good dollop of the fresh pine nut pesto, serve with a wedge or lemon ( flavour hint, add the lemon wedge cut side down and cook till golden, then serve with cooked turkey )

Yet more Salmon & Wasabi

I love them both so the third recipie is a bit like the first - well not really - but they both have salmon & wasabi in them (oh and brown rice) but that could well be where the similarity ends. So tonight I made Miso-lime salmon with Wasabi Rice and Green Onions - Page 119 

The recipie makes LOADS of the marinade for the salmon - next time I'd half the quantity as it just went to waste - sorry to the lime and miso that were unnecessarily sacrificed in the making of this dish.  I just used Salmon fillets - have no idea what darnes are and there were none in Sainsburys.  In the photo in the book it definately looks like there is spinach through the rice but there's none in the recipie so either they sneakily put it in and forgot to mention it or they used mutant coriander that looks like spinach - you decide.

Now it looks rather grey and uninspiring in my photo - but thats my poor photography - nowt to do with the recipie! (anyone want to brighten it up with photoshop for me?) I added edamame soya beans to the mix but would also add the mystery spinach next time.  And there will be a next time as it was lush.  Even girl ate most of it.

Cous Cous Cakes by any other name

So what to make next?  I'm a bit cheesy in many ways so really liked the idea of these cous cous cakes made with Halloumi Cheese.  They are infact Spinach & Halloumi Cakes (with Spiced Tomato and Currant Chutney) - Page 43  I was way too lazy to make the accompanying chutney :-o  A slight error in composing my shopping list meant I only bought a pack of cheese weighing 225g so didn't have the 400g specified for the recipie - doh!  So I did half quantities and it turned out pretty darn good.

Now... the recipie says it will make 8 cakes.  I made half a quantity and got 10 cakes - go figure!  For any fish cakes/burgers etc I always use my trusty Burger Maker from Lakeland - wouldn't be without it. It really squashes the ingreedients up and keeps them in shape so they aren't falling to pieces in the pan.

Girl refused to eat it - but she refuses most things that aren't sweeties.  The rest of us loved them and I had two leftover ones for brekkie!  Now that is cheesy...

The first nibble...

So I like many others got The Giraffe Family Cookbook for Christmas - thanks Mum! It was on my Wish List so I would have been as angry as a Giraffe with a sore throat if it hadn't turned up in my stocking.

If you weren't as lucky as me you can get it on Amazon (other good booksellers are available...)

The first recipie I decided to cook from it is one that is a favourite of mine at the Resturant so I was so glad to see it in the book - Sushi Brown Rice Salad with Smoked Salmon - Page 60. Unfortunately I had to miss out one of the ingreedients - Mouli (white radish) as I couldn't get it from Tesco's or Sainsburys - any ideas where to track it down?  My cucumbers were crescents as opposed to the specified diamonds - couldn't work out how to make a diamond from a deseeded cucumber! I reckon the result was pretty much spot on to what I've been served in the resturant.  I give you my version...

A big thumbs up all round - although Mr & Boy reckoned it needed more salmon or the addition of some prawns to fill them up - greedy pigs!  I especially liked the black onion seeds - not an ingreedient that I'd ever used before.  Lovely flavour and fab colour contrast.  Can definately see me using them again alongside sesame seeds (famous last words - they'll probably end up going out of date alongside all the other strange things in my spice rack bought for one specific recipie!)