Ian Callaghan
I Am Enough
Homemade Burgers
Homemade Burgers
Everyone loves a burger and in my opinion, you can’t beat homemade burgers. When you make your own burgers you know exactly what’s going into it no lips. dicks and hoof. When making your own burgers go to your local butcher and ask for 80/20 minced steak, my preference on cuts are chuck, brisket, short rib and shin. If you are going to cook your burger over medium I would up the fat content to 30% this will ensure the burger does not dry out. As for size, I would go around the 3rd of a pound if you are looking to cook it rare to medium-rare, I see no point making the burgers bigger than that. You can mix up your blend by adding other stuff to the mix, from bacon which adds a smokiness to it to cheese.
Shaping
When shaping the burgers do not overwork or slap it about too much as this makes the meat and muscle fibre stick together this is not a good thing. I use a burger press for shaping, simply weigh out your mix place in press and shape, you know all your burgers are then the same weight, size and thickness so will all cook at the same time. As with any meat remove from the fridge half hour before cooking to bring up to room temperature.
Seasoning
There is no need to get complicated with seasoning if you have used good quality grass-fed, dry-aged steak all you need is sea salt and cracked black pepper. As for buns, my personal favourite is potato bread rolls, the best I have ever had are from Alex Gooch, I do also make my own and will share my recipe in another post. Condiments, what you have is down to preference I like to make my own relish with a mix of my homemade fermented dill pickles, ketchup and mayo sometimes adding candied jalapenos from my very good friend (aka my dealer) Rag Underwood at The Preservation Society
So there you have my homemade burgers, you can of course go naked burger and ditch the bun as pictured below. I would say that the majority of times I now have a homemade burger it is bunless.
Nan’s Rice Pudding
Nan’s Rice Pudding
Growing up I spent a lot of time cooking with my Nan and one of my favourites was Nan’s rice pudding. I do not think there is a better comfort food pudding, creamy, unctuous moreish, the smell of the nutmeg as it cooks and then the skin off the top. This is my Nan’s recipe as best I can remember it after all its been a long time since I cooked with my Nan. It has to be full-fat milk and double cream. I used Jersey gold top in this version of my Nan’s rice pudding.
Ingredients
- 40g butter
- 100g pudding rice
- 75g caster sugar
- 1-litre full-fat milk
- 150ml double cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or ½ vanilla pod, split lengthways
- pinch salt
- plenty freshly grated nutmeg
Method
- Preheat the oven to 140C/285F/Gas 1.
- Melt the butter in a heavy-based casserole dish over medium heat. Add the rice and stir to coat. Add the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Continue stirring until the rice swells and becomes sticky with sugar.
- Pour in the milk and keep stirring until no lumps remain. Add the cream and vanilla and bring the mixture to a simmer. Once this is reached, give the mixture a final stir and grate at least a third of a nutmeg over the surface. Bake for 1-1½ hours and cover with foil if the surfaces browns too quickly.
- Once there is a thin, tarpaulin-like skin on the surface, and the pudding only just wobbles in the centre, it is ready. Serve at room temperature.
I see no need to mess with a classic dish by adding fruit etc, just have it as it is and let it bring back those childhood memories, As I was writing this sat at the kitchen table that nutmeg aroma filled the air and took me back to my Nan’s house as a child.
Moules Frites
Moules Frites
Moules Frites or Moules et Frites is a main dish of mussels and fries originating in Belgium. The title of the dish is French, moules meaning mussels and Frites fries, with the Dutch name for the dish meaning the same. Considered the national dish of Belgium. I love mussels in all manner of ways from just plain simple steamed to turned into a sauce to go with a steak. Moules Frites and cold beer have to be one of my favourite meals. It has to be skinny chips, not chunky chips and alongside a good garlic mayonnaise or aioli. This is my take on a classic.
Ingredients
500g mussels, cleaned and de-bearded
Finely diced shallot
1 tbsp olive oil
2 rashers streaky bacon
small bunch of wild garlic
handful flat leaf parsley
150ml beer, in this I used an IPA
Good dash of cream
Salt & Pepper to season
Instructions
In a pan with a lid heat the olive oil add the diced shallot and chopped up bacon.
Next we saute the onion until it is softened and the bacon coloured.
Chop the wild garlic and add, if you do not have wild garlic 2 cloves of finely diced garlic is fine, stir through until the wild garlic leaves have wilted or the normal garlic is softened. Take the cleaned mussels and add to the pan, pour in the beer and place on the lid.
The cooking of the mussels will only take a few minutes, check and when the mussels are opened they are cooked.
Remove the mussels with a slotted spoon and discard any that remain shut.
Add the cream to the cooking liquid and stir through, spoon the sauce over the mussels and garnish with the chopped parsley.
Serve with skinny chips aka Frites, garlic mayonaise or aioli and a cold beer.
Wild Garlic and Nettle Risotto
Wild Garlic and Nettle Risotto
Spring has definitely sprung, wild garlic in abundance and the nettle tops we all hated as kids, so time to make wild garlic and nettle risotto. There is no mistaking wild garlic or Ramsons to give them their other name. Swathes of the spear-shaped leaf carpet the floor of damp woodlands giving way to the white star-shaped flowers. The unmistakable smell of it can be smelt many yards away as you approach. Allium ursinum, known as wild garlic, ramsons, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek or bear’s garlic. A bulbous perennial flowering plant in the amaryllis family Amaryllidaceae. It is a wild relative of the onion, native to Europe and Asia, where it grows in moist woodland.
Going with the wild garlic for the risotto was nettles. We all know what a nettle looks like and all have memories as a child of being stung by them. Urtica dioica, often known as common nettle, stinging nettle or nettle leaf, or just a nettle or stinger. It is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae. Full of vitamins A, C and some B vitamins. Fresh nettles contain (per 100g) 670 mg potassium, 590 mg calcium, 18 mcg chromium, 270 mcg copper, 86 mg magnesium, and 4.4 mg iron.
For the wild garlic and nettle risotto I used the following.
Ingredients
Large handful wild garlic.
Small handful of young nettle tops, picked and chopped wearing gloves.
1 Shallot
2 handfuls of risotto rice
Large knob of butter
Fresh ground black pepper
150 ml white wine
500 ml stock ( I used vegetable stock )
Half a cup of frozen peas
Parmesan cheese ( a good finely grated amount your choice I never weigh )
Method
Finely dice the shallot and chop the wild garlic and nettles (wear gloves unless you like the sting sensation). Melt the butter and add the shallot and saute until soft and translucent but not coloured. Add the wild garlic and nettles and saute until tender, add the rice and stir to cover with the butter and toast lightly. Pour in the wine and cook off until almost evaporated. A ladle at a time add the simmering stock and stir well, as each ladle of stock is absorbed add another until the rice is cooked through, around 12-15 minutes in general but as with all cooking taste as you go along and adjust seasonings. When the rice is cooked through remove from the heat and add the grated parmesan and another knob of butter and allow to stand. This will result in a rich, unctuous and creamy risotto. To go with my wild garlic and nettle risotto I had pan-fried sea bream with crispy skin, parsley, wild garlic and caper butter finished it off, dressed with a wild garlic flower.
Homemade Baked Beans
Homemade Baked Beans
Using leftovers and store cupboard basics, these homemade baked beans with a steak bavette hash made a great midweek meal. I used a tin of cannellini beans for this but you could use any beans though I don’t like broad beans done this way. If using dried beans I tend to soak overnight. To go with the beans I used up a leftover steak bavette and potatoes to make a steak hash of sorts. You could easily make the beans vegetarian by omitting the bacon I used in the recipe.
Ingredients
One 400g can of cannellini beans
Two rashers smoked streaky bacon
One tbsp olive oil
One onion finely diced
Clove of garilc crushed
One tsp smoked paprika your choice whether hot or sweet I like the piquant.
Salt and pepper to season ( easy on the salt because of the bacon)
Few sprigs of thyme
A good dash of Worcester sauce
200g of passata.
Method
Heat the oil and add the chopped bacon rashers, onion and garlic, cook through until the onion is translucent and the bacon renders its fat. Add the paprika and stir through. Pour in the drained beans and stir well to cover with the paprika infused bacon fat. Add the Passat, Worcestershire sauce and thyme. Season with salt and pepper, simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes until the beans are cooked through. These are great on sourdough toast for breakfast or lunch. I had a steak bavette leftover along with some potatoes, I heated some butter sauteed off an onion, garlic and chilli, cut the steak up and added to the pan along with some chestnut mushrooms, heated the steak through and added the diced potatoes, added some fresh rosemary and thyme and crisped the potatoes. Some fresh chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice finished the dish.
Steak Bavette with Chimichurri Sauce
Steak Bavette with Chimichurri Sauce
Steak Bavette with Chimichurri Sauce, my favourite cut of steak is the steak bavette in this post I am doing a simple but classic way of cooking bavette or flank. The Bavette steak is a French name for the Flank steak of a cow. Flank is a steak cut that is sourced from the underbelly of the cow and is generally quite long and flat. It is known to be very rich in flavour and relatively loose – almost crumbling – in texture when cooked right.
To go with the steak bavette I made a chimichurri sauce. Chimichurri is an uncooked sauce used both in cooking and as a table condiment for grilled meat. It originated in the countryside of Argentina and Uruguay and comes in a green and a red version. It is made of finely chopped parsley, minced garlic, olive oil, oregano and red wine vinegar. To make the sauce the ingredients are.
Ingredients:
Handfull of chopped parsley
2 cloves of finely sliced garlic
1 green chilli finely sliced
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Good pinch of oregano
Pinch of salt and fresh ground black pepper.
You can make the sauce in advance to allow the flavours to enhance.
In the video, you can see how I cook the steak bavette. Follow the instructions and you will have one of the best steaks you can get for a fraction of the price of other cuts but with far more flavour. The secret when cooking this cut is a hot pan, cook it hard and fast the only way to have the bavette is rare, and to rest for as long as you cook, rest on a board or warm plate but not in the pan where the residual heat will continue cooking the steak.
Chicken Jalfrezi
Chicken Jalfrezi
Another curry that is not truly authentic, Chicken Jalfrezi is well up there on the UK curry house favourites list. It is not listed in any of the books I have by Indian chefs. The name in rough translation from Bengali means Jhal meaning hot and frezi meaning stir fry. Jalfrezi is found on every takeaway and restaurant menu. Green chillis, bell peppers and tomatoes, it can be as hot as you like it depends on how many and how you use the fresh green chillis. This is my take on the classic chicken jalfrezi.
Ingredients
- 6 long green chillies
- 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 2 tbsp ghee or olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- good pinch of flaked sea salt
- 1 tbsp garam masala
- 200ml cold water
- 2 tbsp low-fat natural yoghurt
- 3 onions, 2 finely chopped and one in chunks
- 1 green pepper, deseeded and cut into roughly 3cm chunks
- 2 tomatoes, quartered
Method
- Finely chop 4 of the chillies – deseed a couple or all of them first if you don’t like very spicy food. Split the other 2 chillies from stalk to tip on 1 side without opening or removing the seeds. Cut the chicken thighs into bite-size chunks.
- Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a large, fairly deep, non-stick frying pan (or wok) over high heat. Add the garlic, the finely chopped onion chopped chillies, chopped tomatoes, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, sugar and salt, then stir-fry for 3–4 minutes until the vegetables soften. Don’t let the garlic or spices burn or they will add a bitter flavour to the sauce.
- Next, add the chicken pieces and whole chillies and cook for 3 minutes, turning the chicken regularly. Pour over the 200ml of water, stir in the yoghurt and reduce the heat only slightly – you want the sauce to simmer. Cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally until the chicken is tender and cooked through and the sauce has reduced by about a third. The yoghurt may separate, to begin with, but will disappear into the sauce.
- While the chicken is cooking, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a clean pan and stir-fry the remaining onion and pepper over high heat for 3–4 minutes until lightly browned. Add the quartered tomatoes and fry for 2–3 minutes more, stirring until the vegetables are just tender. Mix the cornflour with the tablespoon of water to form a smooth paste.
- When the chicken is cooked, stir in the cornflour mixture and simmer for a few seconds until the sauce thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat, add the hot stir-fried vegetables and toss together lightly. Serve immediately. And just in case you were wondering – don’t eat the whole chillies!
Naan Bread
Naan Bread
Is a curry without a Naan Bread even a curry to us in the west, be it a plain naan, garlic and coriander, keema or Peshwari, though to me Peshwari is like eating cake with savoury and not my thing. Fluffy warm bread to dip in your sauce and mop up the gravy, yes I call the sauce with the curry gravy. Though traditionally made in the tandoor oven and even I don’t have one of those though the wood oven is an excellent substitute getting to very similar heats, the naan bread can be made at home and this is the recipe and method I use.
Ingredients
- (Makes 6-8)
- 1.5 tsp fast-action yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 150ml warm water
- 300g strong white bread flour, plus extra to dust
- 1 tsp salt
- 5 tbsp natural yoghurt
- 2 tbsp melted ghee or butter, plus extra to brush
- A little vegetable oil, to grease
- 1 tsp nigella (black onion), sesame or poppy seeds (optional)
Method
Put the yeast, sugar and two tablespoons of warm water in a bowl and stir well. Leave until it begins to froth.
Put the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Stir the yoghurt into the yeast mixture, then make a well in the middle of the flour and pour it in, plus the melted ghee. Mix, then gradually stir in the water to make a soft, sticky mixture that is just firm enough to call a dough, but not at all dry. Tip out on a lightly floured surface and knead for about five minutes until smooth and a little less sticky, then put in a large, lightly oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover and leave in a draught-free place (the airing cupboard, or an unlit oven) until doubled in size: roughly 90–120 minutes.
Tip the dough back out on to the lightly floured surface and knock the air out, then divide into eight balls (or six if you have a particularly large frying pan). Meanwhile, heat a non-stick frying pan over a very high heat for five minutes and put the oven on low. Prepare the melted ghee and any seeds to garnish.
Flatten one of the balls and prod or roll it into a flat circle, slightly thicker around the edge. Pick it up by the top to stretch it slightly into a teardrop shape, then put it in the hot pan. When it starts to bubble, turn it over and cook until the other side is browned in patches. Turn it back over and cook until there are no doughy bits remaining.
Brush with melted ghee and sprinkle with seeds, if using, and put in the oven to keep warm while you make the other bread.
Aloo Gobi
Aloo Gobi
Yes I occasionally cook vegetarian food and it is often Indian, this Aloo Gobi being one of my favourites. Cauliflower (gobi) is so versatile and takes on spice and flavour really well. My choice of potatoes (aloo) is a baby new potato diced up roughly or a good waxy potato such as charlotte or anyas that holds its shape and doesn’t go to mash. Every area will have there own spice mix or garam masala so will have differing background flavours and heat. This is my take on Aloo Gobi.
Ingredients
Serves 4
4 tbsp neutral oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp nigella seeds
350g waxy potatoes, cut into rough 2.5cm dice
1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets and chunks of stalk slightly larger than the potato
1 yellow onion, finely sliced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tin of plum tomatoes, roughly chopped, or 5 chopped fresh tomatoes and 1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp coriander seeds, toasted in a dry pan and ground
½-1 tsp medium chilli powder
½ tsp turmeric
2-4 small green chillies, slit along their length
Good pinch of salt
1 tbsp methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
1 tsp garam masala
Juice of ½ a lime
Small bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
Method
Heat the oil in a wide, lidded pan over a medium-high heat. When it’s hot, add the cumin and nigella seeds and cook for a few seconds util they pop, then add the potatoes and sauté until golden. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and repeat with the cauliflower, then scoop this out into a separate bowl.
Turn the heat down to medium-low, add a little more oil if necessary, and add the onion. Cook until soft and golden but not brown, then stir in the garlic and ginger and cook for a couple of minutes. Tip in the tomatoes, ground coriander, chilli and turmeric and cook, stirring regularly, until the oil begins to pool around the side of the pan.
Add the potatoes back in along with the fresh chillies and salt, bring to a simmer, turn down the heat, cover and cook for five minutes. Add the cauliflower and a good splash of water, cover and cook until both are tender, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn’t stick, and adding more water if necessary.
Take off the heat, stir in the methi and garam masala and leave for 10 minutes, then stir in the lime juice and fresh coriander before serving – Usmani recommends pairing it with “plain basmati, naan, paratha or brioche buns, and a pickle or chutney”.
Depression, Addiction, self-medicating
Depression, Addiction, Self-Medicating
Where to start with this post about depression, addiction, self-medicating. Along with wit depression or any mental health issue, the first step to recovery is admitting to yourself that you have a problem. So I have never admitted to myself or anyone else that I have been addicted to anything, I have drunk to excess since I was a teenager, that carried on in the army and now I sit and write this I guess all my life. I always have been an all or nothing, I have gone months without a drop. There have been points in my life where there have been other vices with the drink and again it was all or nothing. Having never bought into the addictive personality thing like I say I have dropped things for long periods of time. I have not touched any recreational drugs in over 20 years and know I never will again. I went from smoking 40+ a day to quitting overnight that was 15 years ago and again I know I will never smoke again.
So why is it that whenever the black dog comes barking in my head do I go back to self-medicating with booze and yes it’s all or nothing, I can’t do a glass of wine or a few cans, I dare not get tonic or the gin that’s sat here for god knows how long would go as well and most probably in one go. I stopped the prescription antidepressants months ago as they turned me into a zombie, self-imposed lockdown but worse than what we are all doing now, I lost days at a time not knowing where I was or what I was doing. I guess one saving grace on this lockdown is that I have not gone to the shops to get booze and have restricted myself in general and have managed my intake pretty well.
The past
In the past, I have made pledges to certain people to curb my drinking and have done it, but in reality, it has cost me so much in life, even going back to my time in the Army drink cost me dearly on more than one occasion. I was Ian the drinker, I would kick the arse out of it and end up in the shit, twice leading to times in the regimental jail. The second cost me promotion and progression in my career, did I Learn the simple answer is no, did I listen again no I knew better didn’t I, thought I was the lad, in reality, I was a fool.
New beginnings
So what has brought me to here today, to put words down and write this post about depression, addiction, self-medicating? I feel alone, it is strange not having Ffion and Frank here on a Sunday, I had Ffion for most of the week so she is at home this weekend. The lockdown and isolation compound the matter, even though I am not the most social animal there is social interaction I do miss, even a trip to the shop you would strike up a conversation, now we all keep the distance do our bit in and out, the only conversation being would you like cash back, no thanks got no need for cash at the moment.
Yesterday I put an audiobook on and listened to the whole book. Russell Brand Addiction, I went off the bloke a few years back with all his political bollox, but he actually talks sense and as he says in the book he has been there. I have brushed it under the carpet over and over, after listening to the audiobook I downloaded the exercises and I am starting them, writing it all down in one of the numerous notebooks I have laying around. This morning I did my mindfulness, my meditation, I filled in my gratitude journal. I have taken the first steps, I will get on the road to recovery from depression, addiction, self-medicating.
So what next
I know I need to change things, I know what I need to do and how to do it. Another chapter moving on letting the past go but learning from it, I have other addictions I need to work on as well and will probably write another post regarding those, the plan is to put all of this into a book to chronicle my fight and how I have and how I continue to fight it. I am not looking for pity or anything like that, writing helps me along with the cooking, even with the cooking I am writing down the recipes etc and putting them on my other site. I wanted to keep both sides of the journey separate but together if that makes sense.
In the coming weeks I plan on doing a lot more of my meditation and will be recording some guided meditations to add to this site, they do work and I can honestly say they have been one of my saving graces. Another is a very small group of people who I talk to who check-in I will not name them here but they know who they are, they have got me out of the deepest holes at times I saw no way out, without talking to them I don’t know where I would be now.
Anyway it’s Sunday and I have another cooking video to do, chicken jalfrezi today, see another addiction but in general a healthy one that brings joy not hurt.