An alphabetical index of the recipes included in ‘Just a few recipes …’
Singapore Noodles
Spicy Singapore-style noodles, but made with udon noodles rather than rice vermicelli.
Duck Ragù
This is an unusual alternative to the more familiar pasta sauce made with minced beef. Venetian cooking is influenced by the city’s historical links with the Silk Road and the international spice trade. The sauce is subtlely spiced with cinnamon, fragrant with orange and richly-flavoured. Don’t be put off by the long cooking time: the…
Boeuf Bourguignon
This is one of the most sophisticated of the ragôuts de boeuf family. Strictly, it’s a fricassée, as the meat is browned before being simmered, but let’s call it a posh stew. Like many dishes of its type, it can be cooked in advance and seems to improve with reheating. I never, ever, cook stews…
Panforte
Panforte is a very rich Tuscan treat typically made with a mixture of candied peel and nuts. It is always expensive to buy, but very easy to make, and the ingredients are often to hand around Christmas time. I’d far rather eat a small slice of this with an after-dinner espresso, than a big wedge…
Chilli con Carne
Chilli con Carne is often assumed to be a Mexican dish – but it isn’t really (at least, not in any recognisable form): it’s Tex-Mex food – but none the worse for that, particularly when it’s cooked slowly and with decent ingredients. Our household acquired a little paperback ‘Mexican’ cookbook about thirty years ago which…
Rye Bread
Rye bread has a wonderful and distinctive flavour, but the flour can be difficult to work with. The problem is that it contains much less gluten than flours milled from wheat or barley (the other ‘gluten’ grains) and it can produce loaves that are dense and heavy to the point of being leaden. I have…
Traditional Christmas Cake
Mid-November is the ideal time to be making a traditional rich fruit cake for Christmas, as it will mature and improve if kept for a few weeks. We have tried many recipes, over the years, but keep coming back to this one as it is well-flavoured, moist and reliable. The simplest decoration is to cover…
Beef Short Ribs
Rib of beef is a prime cut coming from the middle of the animal’s back. Short ribs come from the ‘plate’ (at the end of the ribs furthest from the backbone), just behind the brisket. They are the equivalent of pork spareribs, but because of the relative size of the carcass, are much meatier. They…
Thai Red Curry with Salmon & Prawns
I like the flavours of Thai food and while a ‘red curry’ is a bit of a cliche, it just hits the spot, now and again. The keys to success are not overcooking the fish and using a good quality paste (or making your own). Ingredients (for 2) 200 g salmon fillet, skinned and cut…
