Fancy a duck anyone?

I never thought I would ever put up a post about a pre-prepared 'nearly' ready meal but I just MUST! This was an absolute treat over Christmas thanks to mamma and pappa spoons' little Sainsbury discovery!

If you're like me and crave a bit of crispy duck now and again but can't be arsed to go to the chinese and spend a lump, well just get yourself off to Sainsburys and make this purchase!

My only tip would be is to roast the duck for a little longer, I think it say's about 40 mins but I did it for 50 mins to make sure the skin was extra crisp!

It's on offer at the mo for £4.49 and you get a mini recipe book, perfect for pre-NYE partying without the heaviness of a full dinner!

Honestly try it you'll be licking your fingers x

Thai Green Chicken Curry

This dinner was delicious the other night! Jamie Oliver inspired thai green curry, but as usual I didn't have all the ingredients and Jamie doesn't use chicken in his curry sauce base so I concocted this dish from one of my own recipes and a bit of Jamie's. (Jamie's 30 minute meals - page 86) And I even got to use my new blender! Woop woop!

Top Tip Essential: Blend the spices and onion to make a thick paste


Crucials:
One onion (I used red)
Three cloves of garlic
Three spring onions
One whole red chilli
Spoonfull of crushed chilli flakes
One small spoonfull of garam masala (optional)
One big spoonfull of  ground coriander (fresh would be preferable but i only had ground)
One whole lime squeezed  (I grated a frozen lime and used two big spoonfulls of the zest)
Glug of olive oil
One green pepper
Six mushrooms
Three chicken breasts
Half a pint of chicken stock
One tin of coconut milk
Fresh basil
Basmati rice


Mmmm curry!

• Chop the onion in chunks, peel the garlic and add to the blender with the chilli, chilli flakes, garam masala, chopped up spring onion, coriander and lime and blend until fine and a thick consistency
• Add a glug of oil to the blender and blend 
• Chop the chicken into small pieces
• Chop the mushroom and pepper into small pieces and leave to one side
• Gently fry the paste in a small glug of olive oil in a large frying pan 
• At the same time make the chicken stock in the blender bowl so you use up all the bits of paste!
• Add the chicken to the paste and fry gently for approx 5 mins until chicken looks white

• Add the mushrooms and the peppers to the chicken and fry gently for another 5 mins
• Pour in the chicken stock and cook till it starts to boil and then simmer for approx 5 mins
• Add the tin of coconut milk and stir in and gently simmer for at least 30mins
• Season with a little salt and pepper
• Chop up the fresh basil and mix it into the curry
• Make the rice and serve with a sprig of basil.

Soooo yummy! x

Paella..paella

Nothing better than a bit of rice following the Christmas meat'n cheese carnage! Having said that I can't believe I didn't actually have any cheese this Christmas apart from cheese on toast we had on Boxing Day! Not even one chunk of stilton, the good thing I suppose is that for once I didn't feel stuffed like the turkey and hopefully I can still get into my dress on NYE!

Paella has got to be one of my favourite things to make, not only cos it's easy (easier than risotto) but you don't need to cut anything before you eat you and the only thing you need to slightly chew is the chorizo and prawns! Absolute comfort food after days of boozing and crunching on roasties and sprouts!

Top Tip Essential: Buy a sachet of paella spice mix! They sell it now in Tesco, luckily I have been blessed with my parents going to spain and bringing me endless boxes of the spanish stuff! Thank you Mum!


Crucials:
One sachet of paella spices. I use x two sachets of 'El unico Paellero (Carmencita)
Two lemons
Half a pack of Paella Rice (you can buy at any supermarket)
One large red pepper
One tin of chopped tomatoes
One large chorizo sausage
Packet of raw king prawns
One big spoonfull of peas (frozen are fine)
One large onion
Two cloves of garlic
Two pints of chicken stock
Six mushrooms
One large glass of white wine
Glug of olive oil
Parmesan

Paella Paella

• Chop the onion and crush the garlic and fry gently in the oil in a large frying pan
• Add the mushrooms and red pepper once the onions have softened
• At the same time, chop up the chorizo into quarter chunks, each slice in four and fry in a separate pan, no oil needed, gently fry till a little bit crispy
• Squeeze half a lemon into the onion mix and fry for two mins
• Add the rice to the frying pan and mix until each piece is coated in the oil
• Mix in the sachets of paella mix and coat the paella rice, should be bright paella yellow
• Fry for approx three minutes
• Add the wine to the rice mix and let it gently boil until most of the wine is absorbed
• Pour in half the chicken stock and let it boil and then turn down to gently simmer
• You need to keep stirring  it regularly but not as often as risotto so the rice doesn't stick to the pan
• Add the peas straight from frozen into the rice 
• Add the tin of chopped tomatoes and stir in
• Let it cook for five/ten mins stirring occasionally
• Add the remainder of the chicken stock and place the prawns on top evenly around the pan, let it cook for a few minutes before stirring in to ensure all prawns are cooked through evenly
• Add salt and pepper
• Squeeze in the rest of the lemon juice and stir
• Add the chorizo but do not pour all the chorizo oil in, you can add a teaspoon in for taste 
• Cook gently until all liquid is absorbed and rice is plump and paella consistency

Serve with parmesan cheese and fresh basil and a chunk of lemon squeezed over the top! 

Social Eatworking

The Facebook for Food...Really??? 

I loved this article in the Evening Standard this week! Apparently 'Social Eatworking' is the way forward for 2012 with the launch of Foodie.fm - the facebook equivalent for food, where users can post recipes, photos and recommendations to others... sound familiar?

Well at least Foodie.fm is a community of similarly obsessed food fanatics so they'll  be no harm of me continuously and annoyingly posting up links and recipes of my dinners, thinking everyone and anyone is interested in my daily consumption...BRING IT ON I say!

The Perfect Hangover Cure - Chilli Con Carne

Lovely day & night at Rudi and Amy's wedding yesterday, she looked amazing! Great food, great company, great entertainment but a great big hangover this morning. I knew I'd feel like this, so I got the mince out the freezer at 2am this morning!

Top Tip: Keep a lemon and lime in the freezer then when you need to use for cooking you can grate it frozen 


Crucials
One red onion
500 grams of lean steak mince
Three hot red chillis
One teaspoon of dried chillis
Three cloves of garlic
One beef stock cube
One red or yellow pepper
Tomato purée
Spoonfull of plain flour
Half carton of Passata
Two tins of chopped tomatoes
Spoonful of ground coriander
Two tins of kidney beans (drained and rinsed)

Optional - (o)

Cherry tomatoes
Grated Lime zest
Glug of Lea Perrins
Grated mature cheddar
Sour cream

• Chop the onion and add to a mixing bowl with the garlic and the mince.
• Season with salt and pepper
• Chop and add the chillis to the bowl and a spoonful of coriander
• Mix it together with your hands so that everything combines 

• Fry the mixture in olive oil on a medium heat in a large saucepan (don't use too much oil)
• Grate in a small amount of lime zest and stir together (o)
• Add two heaped spoonfulls of tomato puree
• Stir in the spoonfull of flour
• Chop the pepper and cherry tomatoes (o) and add them to the mince and fry for approx two mins

• Add one tin of chopped tomatoes and break in the beef stock cube
• Add in half a carton of passata
• Add a glug of Lea Perrins (o)
• Add two tins of kidney beans
• Cook on a low heat for at least an hour, stirring regularly and season to taste

Serve with basmati rice and a sprinkle of grated cheddar and dollop of sour cream on the side.

How to make perfect fluffy rice

• Add the rice to a saucepan and add cold water to cover the rice by about a centimetre 
• Turn on a high heat and bring it to the boil (uncovered) , when you start to see it bubbling you need to let it boil for about a minute (no longer)
• Turn it right down to minimum heat and cover with a lid (do not uncover)
• Simmer for exactly 10 mins
• Take it off the heat and it should be perfect!

Creamy Salmon and Pea Fusilli for you Miss Fisher

This one's for my Aussie friend Gina, she recently reminded me of this delicious recipe I shared with her while she was here in London. Sadly she's now back in Oz but hopefully every time she makes this dish she'll be reminded of me and I'll be reminded of our last night out to see a 'Man Like Me!' Amazing!

Crucials

One Lemon
Roasted honey salmon flakes (fresh) or you can use a seasoned cooked salmon fillet flaked
One small tub of creme fraiche
Chilli flakes
Fusilli pasta (or ideally fresh tagliatelle)
Knob of butter
Fresh peas (or frozen)
Parmesan

Creamy and flaky

• Fry the butter in a small frying pan and add the salmon flakes, break up so they are in small pieces and not too chunky
• At the same time boil the water for the pasta
• Squeeze in half a lemon (for two people and one lemon for four)
• Stir the salmon and lemon until it starts to golden (not too much)
• Add the tub of creme fraiche and mix together
• Season with salt and pepper
• Add a few chilli flakes
• Turn it off and wait for the water to boil
• Add the pasta and peas and boil until ready
• Once it's done, drain and stir in the creamy salmon (you may need to heat before you mix it in)
• Serve and sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan

Soooo delicious so easy, and great for a quick meal that everyone will love, just yummy! x

And I'm sure Anna even secretly liked it when I made it this summer, and she's not one for fishy dishes!

Double Scotch and....

It's been a while since my last blog and to be honest I haven't liked it at all partly because it's taken me away from the blog-flow I had, but mainly it all boils down to a few but 'BIG' reasons all of which I have listed in priority order below:

- One of the best loved 'booze' brands in the world
- The emptiest fridge in the 'Close'
- Some 'see you next tuesday' robbing our lovely home!
- Late nights
- Frost bite (slight exaggeration but it was bloody cold)
And one extremely tired Spoon! Who now comes with bags bigger than Primark!

It suddenly hit home the night that Mirek said, 'I can't remember the last time I took dinner  leftovers to work for lunch, what have we actually been eating??'
Oh gawd I thought I really can't remember? which was odd!

The closest I got to any blog post was this article which I found on my commute one late night home and one which I also just realised was rather apt considering...!

 But I didn't post it, nor did I rush out to Tesco to find it! I have since forgotten but today it's been added to the enormous shopping list that exists in my mind.