Meatballs Alla Norma

Yay!  I'm back again!

This time I'm sharing a recipe I've made a couple of times now and it's delicious.  This time I left out the fennel seeds from the recipe and we enjoyed it more, but I'll leave that up to you.  The recipe has been taken from my Save With Jamie recipe book by Jamie Oliver.  The book recipe includes polenta but I prefer to serve it with tagliatelle.

Meatballs Alla Norma

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 large aubergine

1/2 bunch fresh flat leaf parsley

400g minced beef

1 tbsp fennel seeds

olive oil

1 clove garlic

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Dice the aubergine into 1cm cubes then season well with salt and leave for 15 mins.  Meanwhile, finely chop the parsley and put into a bowl with the beef.  Mix together by hand then roll into 20 or so evenly sized balls.  Scatter the fennel seeds on a plate and roll the meatballs in them so they stick.  Put them in the fridge until needed.  

Take handfuls of aubergine and squeeze out the excess salty liquid.  Heat oil in a pan and cook the aubergine for about 10 mins until golden, stirring occasionally.  Crush the garlic and add to the pan along with the sweet chilli sauce and balsamic vinegar.  Tip in the tomatoes and a splash of water.  Simmer for around 10 mins or until thickened.  

Meanwhile, heat some more olive oil in a separate pan and brown the meatballs until they are cooked through.  Season the sauce to taste then toss through the meatballs.  Serve with tagliatelle or polenta with some grated parmesan. 

Kedgeree

Good morning!

It's been a while since I last posted anything on here but here I am today with a recipe I cooked last night and hopefully I will now be posting a bit more regularly again.

Today's recipe is one I've had for ages, in fact so long I've forgotten where I got it but it would more than likely have been from a magazine.  Over the years I've adapted it a little and added eggs and peas.  Please excuse the photo,  I got a bit carried away and almost forgot to take one so the presentation isn't great oops!

Kedgeree

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

350g/12 oz long grain rice
700g/1.5 lb smoked haddock fillets
1 tbsp oil
knob of butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1.5 tbsp mild curry powder
0.5 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp frozen peas, defrosted
150 ml/0.25 pint double cream
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
2 eggs, hardboiled and chopped

Method:

Add rice to a large pan of boiling, salted water and simmer for 10-12 mins or until rice is just cooked.  Drain and set aside.  Meanwhile, place fish in a large frying pan and cover with cold water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 4-5 mins or until fish flakes easily.  Remove fish from the pan, flake with a fork and set aside.  Both of these stages can be done in advance.

Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan, add onion, curry powder and cayenne pepper and cook for 7-8 minutes over a lowish heat until the onions are softened and caramelised.  Add the rice and peas to the pan and heat through over a low heat.  Add the fish, cream, parsley and eggs.  Stir through the rice and heat through thoroughly.  Season well and serve immediately.  Garnish with extra parsley.

Another way of serving this is to leave out the hardboiled eggs and serve a lightly poached egg on top of each of the portions.

We usually have this as a main meal but it would be just as good for brunch.


That's all from me at the moment.

Shona xx