Author Archives: Shawn

creamy cheesy spinach artichoke chicken stew

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I think this originated with me seeing an NYT recipe posted on Twitter sometime last year, but it has gone through so many permutations over the months that it bears little resemblance to the original recipe, and anyhow, I’ve lost the link. So here we have… a slow-cooked cream-cheesy chicken stew that, depending on how long you slow-cook it, can also end up as a spread or sauce. Up to you!

I just love the ingredients as most of them are “fridge forage” items, and it’s such a tasty and satisfying and versatile dish. So here we go. It’s not terribly photogenic but it works in many scenarios… I’ve had it over fat pasta noodles, over mash or with roasted potatoes, or even on toast.

Ingredients and instructions below…
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cola de toro

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I cannot believe I’ve never made colo de toro (oxtail) before but, as I couldn’t find any carrillada (pork cheeks) on New Year’s Eve, I decided to give it a go. It’s traditionally made with red wine but this time I opted to use oloroso sherry. It’s also traditionally made with carrots and other root veg, but I didn’t have any so I threw in some portobellos about half-way through cooking and I thought that worked out great. As with all braised meat dishes the idea is to take your time and go low and slow.

I think including prep time this took just over 5 hours, so clearly not a dish to make if you’re in a hurry. The good thing is once it’s simmering away on the top of the cooker you are free to do other things. And like many slow cooked meats, it is even better the next day. This recipe would easily serve four. For side dishes I made roasted potatoes, mini yorkshire puddings and an arugula salad.

Ingredients and instructions below…
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caesar revisited

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I started back making caesar salads again last summer and now I can’t seem to stop. And not to take away from my original Caesar dressing recipe (from 2009) I think this one is maybe a bit zingier. I’ve done a few variations including with crispy bacon or grilled chicken, but I think my favourite is just with these very crunchy light croutons made from pan cristal. For a vegetarian version just leave out the anchovies and worchestershire (which contains anchovies), and maybe add a splash of soy sauce for some salty umami instead? The dressing also makes a nice dipping sauce and is equally nice over roasted potatoes.

As it is made with raw egg yolks (which do get a bit “chemically cooked” by the lemon juice) best to use it up within a couple of days.

Ingredients and instructions below…

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pistachio pesto

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I don’t know how these things happen but I can start off a day feeling fairly normal and with a “to do” list of things of thing I want to take care of, and then remember that a few weeks ago someone mentioned pistachio pesto on Twitter and then I’m suddenly lost down a google pesto rabbit-hole. This is followed by an immediate desire – nay, OBSESSION – to make this dish NOW (last time this happened I think it was lamb faggots). Anyhow, after a quick trip to the supermarket to get some pistachios and basil I was in business.

It was also a chance to use my lovely marble mortar and get a bit of a work out at the same time. Previous times making normal pine nut pesto I’ve used a small blender and the result was fine, but I wanted to see if using this traditional method made a difference. And you know what? I think it’s a close call but in future I am going to use the mortar & pestle because the individual flavours were more apparent. I used my friend Anna’s pesto recipe as a base, and looked at a few other recipes online that used pistachios instead of pine nuts, and the result was pretty damn tasty.

Update! Was out of pistachios today and fancied some pesto, used toasted almonds instead and the result was fabulous. Toasted cashews also work! FYI.

Ingredients and instructions below…
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tomato sauce by marcella hazan

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Marcella Hazan’s classic 4-ingredient tomato sauce is apparently world renowned but I only came across it by chance on Twitter when a pal there mentioned he was going to try making it for the first time. So I did too! And yes, it is simplicity itself, and yes, it’s lovely and rich and so flavourful. The original recipe I found online called for whole tinned tomatoes, but for sauces I prefer using the chopped ones (so I did). And I started off with a teaspoon of salt, which was enough for me, but you can always add more later. It also says to cook the sauce for 45 minutes, but I think an hour gives you a bit more texture. In fact, I fell asleep while it was cooking (low and slow) and the onions ended up falling apart, making them difficult to fish out. I think I got maybe 3/4 of it out, but other friends told me they sometimes just blitz the onion in at the end. Really this is so easy it almost makes itself. Just don’t fall asleep!

Ingredients and instructions below…
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spinach hummus

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I was at a friend’s restaurant the other day and saw that they had spinach hummus on the menu and, although we didn’t try it that day, I decided to try it at home as soon as possible. So here it is. It’s actually just a riff on my basic hummus recipe with a bit more garlic and, of course, spinach. Also, after linking to that original recipe (posted in 2009), I am reminded that I really need to update those photos!

Ingredients and instructions below…

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mini chorizo toad in the hole

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The other day I saw a friend’s pic of toad in the hole on Instagram and I said, hang on that’s just yorkshire pudding with sausage in it. Duh. I don’t know what I thought it was before, I just knew it involved sausage and some sort of pastry. So then I wondered how this would work with the mini yorkshire puddings, with mini chorizos. Spoiler: omg they were good.

So obviously you can play around with different types of sausage. I liked how the mini chorizos ended up lightly flavouring both the onions and the dough with smoky pimentón. Bear in mind that these were raw chorizos, not cured, and are meant to be either pan-fried or cooked on a bbq. The puddings didn’t rise as much as when they are cooked without a filling, but they were still very light and crispy. Perfect snack food, or for a party. And the mini versions are easy to store in the fridge and reheat the next day.

Ingredients and instructions below…
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papas bravas casa del tigre

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I have been missing La Casa del Tigre so much, their wonderful staff (who are also my friends), and their amazing food, especially THESE layered papas bravas. Happily chef Luis was kind enough to give me their recipe the other day, and then also gave me permission to post it here. As you can see from the photo below, my homemade ones didn’t quite turn out as perfectly as theirs, but they were still damn good. At Tigre they serve them with bravas sauce and alioli. I used their bravas sauce recipe but had mine with salsa az, since I usually have some made up in the fridge.

The recipe calls for agar agar to help bind the potatoes together while cooking, but I didn’t have any. Will try it with next time. Also, Luis told me that for weight on top of the potatoes while they are cooking in the oven they have a special pan that fits over/into the baking pan they use. I used light bricks, which may have been a bit too heavy (?) as mine were decidedly “squishier” than the Tigre ones. But that also may have been due to me not having as many layers. Whatevs, these are delicious. And although this takes time to prepare it’s not a difficult dish to make.

Note: to make a smaller quantity I found that 1 kilo of potatoes works well with an 18cm x 18cm pan.

Ingredients and instructions below…

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crispy baked pork ribs

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Don’t ask. I wasn’t even planning to make ribs today, but one thing led to another and here we are. Then, since I suddenly had both ribs and a huge chunk of presa Ibérica, and the original plan had been to do a whole presa in hoisin marinade (more on that later) I didn’t want to make my tried and tested hoisin pork ribs. So I got to wondering if my friend Lizzie’s method for baking chicken wings would work on ribs (it works great on drumsticks!) but without the help of nice fatty chicken skin I wasn’t sure if the ribs would get crispy. Then I found a recipe that slathered whole racks of ribs with mayo before dredging them in flour and baking them so I thought I’d try doing this with spare ribs and my salsa az. And they turned out great, nicely crisp and still tender. I would just make sure to shake off more of the excess flour before baking next time.

Ingredients and instructions below…
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gambas al ajillo

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Possibly the simplest recipe on here (which is maybe why I haven’t posted it before now). Ideally these should be made in a clay cazuela (see below) which can be used on either an electric or gas cooker, but sadly not on an induction cooker (like mine!). But the good news is that you can just as easily make them in a small skillet. I’ve done them both ways and they turn out great either way. I like making them very simply (and traditionally) with just four ingredients. I’ve never added extra seasoning (the prawns are salty enough) and I just think anything else would take away from the simple goodness of this dish. Make sure you have some nice crusty bread on hand for mopping up all that gorgeous garlicky olive oil.

Ingredients and instructions below…
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