Cheater's Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

I may have mentioned before, but I love cooking traditional foods from many cultures. And the reason why I like cooking these foods is because I know that every village, every family, every region had their own variations. Despite what we may think today what with standardised cookery books, there was no hard and fast "rules" about what had to go into that dish, or what proportions were needed.

I love foods I can cook without having to follow rules. I especially like dishes that I can cook up without a lot of fuss, while using up leftovers at the same time.

One dish that works very well here is a Jambalaya. This traditional Cajun food dish was made using core ingredients of onion, bell pepper, and celery plus rice and Cajun spices, and then whatever meat was available after a day's hunting and fishing - rabbit, chicken, fish, seafood, alligator - you get the idea.

Traditional recipes today tend to have chicken, andouille sausage, and prawns. But they can be made using any meat, or none at all. Likewise, you can add any vegetables you want - corn, peas, beans, or anything else.

I had some leftover sausages and chicken from our dinner the other night I wanted to use up, so I decided to turn them into a tasty jambalaya. This quick and easy recipe can be cooked and on the table in under 45 minutes.

Chicken and sausage jambalaya

Serves: 3

Cooking time: 30 minutes






Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 bell pepper (any colour), seeded and chopped
• 1 cup uncooked wholegrain basmati rice
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 tsp Cajun spice mix
• 2 cups water 
• 2 cooked chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 4 cooked Cumberland sausages, cut into bite-size pieces
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Sweat off the onions, pepper, and celery with a bit of the water in a large pan until softened. 
2. Add in the rice and Cajun spice mix and stir until coated.
3. Pour in the water, bring up to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer, covered, about 25 minutes. 
4. After 10 minutes, add the cooked chicken and sausage and continue simmering. 
5. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired.
6. If necessary, remove the lid and boil off any excess liquid before serving. 

Fish Chowder

 

We're at a funny time of year here in England. The days are getting longer and everywhere there are signs of summer, but temperatures have been quite cool in recent weeks. My body is telling me though that it's time for eating lighter foods - chicken, and fish, and loads of salads. But the cool evenings tell me it's still a time for soups and stews and other warming foods.

I decided to listen to both these internal messages and made a delicious seafood chowder for our dinner one night.

I like dishes that are versatile - ones that can be altered to fit what is in season, and what is in your fridge, and that can be put together without a lot of fuss and bother. This recipe ticks all my boxes.

You too can cook up this seafood chowder in under 30 minutes.

Seafood Chowder

Ingredients:

2 rashers smoked streaky bacon, chopped (or 100gm lardons)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 pints chicken or vegetable stock
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
1 pack fish pie mix (an assortment of cod, haddock, and salmon pieces)
1 bay leaf
1 pack seafood mix (prawns, mussels, and squid)
Seasonal vegetables, cooked and cut into bite-size pieces



1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 generous dash Tabasco sauce
1 pint milk
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Cut the bacon into pieces and cook until browned in a heavy-bottomed pot  (I recommend the SKK stew pot)
2. Add a tablespoon of olive oil if needed, then add the chopped onions and carrots and cook until softened. 
3. Now pour in the 2 pints stock and bring up to a boil.
4. Add the diced potatoes and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Reduce heat to a simmer, add in the fish and the bay leaf and let it cook for 5 minutes. 
6. Add the pre-cooked mixed seafood and let simmer a further 5 minutes. 
7. Reduce the heat and add in the remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
8. Bring up to heat without boiling before serving. (Boiling milk can cause it to curdle, especially if you are using fat-free)

Serve with crusty bread and butter or oyster crackers, if desired. 

Seasonal vegetables: The image I have used has corn as it's vegetable and that is a very traditional addition to many chowders. This time I happened to use green beans and asparagus because that is what was in my fridge, but the next time I may use something completely different.

Fish and seafood: Likewise, you can use any fish to make this dish. I happen to buy the fish pie packs because they are cheaper but also provide a bit more variety than buying a whole fillet of a single fish.

This recipe made 4 generous servings.


Above image by Rootology (Own work by uploader (cooking by uploader, too)) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Curried beef hash over pasta

Due to a change in circumstances I no longer have my large kitchen with loads of cupboard and fridge/freezer space. I am now living in a flat with a small postage stamp kitchen, minimal cupboards, and most disturbing a small fridge with a tiny icebox (big enough for a couple packs frozen veg). It is big enough to hold a few staples plus meat and veg for 2 or 3 days.

I also have to carry any groceries up 2 flights of stairs, so am restricted to what can fit in my shopping trolley to save my back. 

This has meant a change in my grocery shopping. Instead of doing a large shop once a week and stocking up on meat to go in the freezer I have to do a smaller shop every couple days.

This is a plan that works well under normal circumstances, but last week I became ill. Not the slight cold and sniffle kind of ill, but the shivering under 4 blankets with a temperature above 102f kind of ill. After sending my son down to the nearby kebab shop to get him and his brother chicken and chips two nights running I knew I needed to cook something healthy for all of us to eat.

But, after 3 days of not being up to shopping my options were very sparse. Looking in the fridge I had a pack of beef mince, 1 slice bacon, half a yellow bell pepper, and a pack of mixed carrots and peas.

A quick peak in the cupboard revealed no tins of chopped tomatoes, but I did have some tins of tomato soup.

This is the meal I came up with.

Curried beef hash

Cooking down curry beef hash

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 1 slice bacon, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 250gm pack beef mince
• 1 200gm pack mixed vegetables, fresh or frozen
• 1 T tomato purée concentrate (tomato paste)
• 1 T curry powder
• 2 tins tomato soup
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tin water
• 3 cups cooked pasta

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a pot and add the bacon. Once browned add the chopped onion and pepper

   

   Chopped Yellow Bell Pepper

   and cook until softened. 
2. Add in the mince and cook until browned. 
3. Add the tomato purée and curry powder, stir constantly while cooking for a further minute. 
4. Add the mixed vegetables, tomato soup, and water.
5. Bring up to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until thickened and vegetables are cooked. About 20 minutes. 
6. Combine with the 3 cups cooked pasta. Season to taste. 

After initially turning their noses up, my boys practically inhaled this dish. Both had 2 large servings that night, compared to my small serving, and the leftovers disappeared the next afternoon. While this was kind of a desperation dish created out of necessity, all 3 of us are agreed that we should have this again.

Kids in the Kitchen

Ham and Cheese sandwich ready to eat

This past week, my 12 year old son had to cook a croque monsieur at home, and take pictures to hand in to his food tech teacher at school. With perhaps a bit of reluctance, I let him loose in the kitchen and took charge of the camera to take photos.

What is a croque monsieur?
In very simple terms, it's a grilled ham cheese sandwich with a béchamel sauce. Thankfully, the kids were told they could leave the sauce off.

Melting butter in SKK saute pan

He was supposed to include details on safety issues when cooking under a grill within his written work, but aswe don't have a grill, he and I discussed safety issues when cooking on the hob instead.

1. Never leave a heating pan unsupervised.
2. Turn handles in towards the side or back of the cooker, but not so that they overhang another burner.
3. Don't touch a burner, or pan on the burner, with bare hands.
4. Adjust the heating so that it is appropriate for the food which is being cooked. In this case, I recommended he use a med-high heat so that the bread would brown without burning while the cheese melted.

Slicing cheddar cheese

Slicing ham

I suggested he use the serrated knife and not the ceramic chef's knife for preparing ingredients. The serrated knife is better suited for slicing cheese, and also a bit more forgiving of heavy-handed pre-teenage boys.


For his cheese, he selected a mature cheddar. The ham came from a small pre-cooked gammon joint, which tasted loads better than processed ham as well as being less expensive.

Assembled ingredients and tools

Time to put everything together

Ingredients assembled and prepared, he began putting his ham and cheese sandwich together.

I did make one suggestion here, that he not place the two halves of the bread together until after the cheese had a chance to melt on each side.

Slowly cooking

Pan heated, he carefuly placed both halves into the pan and let them cook.

He noticed the cheese was not melting very well, and realised that he could have sliced it thinner.

Because he doesn't like sauces or butter, both are noticably absent from this sandwich as well. The bit of butter in the pan was a token gesture, made only because I suggested the sandwich would brown better if he used it.

It's nearly ready

After the cheese was melted, my son checked the bottom of one half of the sandwich to see if it was browned enough. He decided it was nearly ready, and very carefully used a spatula to flip one half on top of the other.

While the sandwich continued to cook, he and his younger brother created a second croque monsieur in the background, this time using a gluten-free bread thin.



My older son had his ham and cheese toastie by itself,while his younger brother decided to have his as an accompaniment with a bowl of soup. I also ate mine by itself, but did have some fresh fruit after.

Final verdict: He liked the sandwich, but prefers plain ham without the cheese.

I believe that cooking is a skill that all children need to learn, and I am glad that cooking skills are being taught in secondary school. I may just suggest to my son that he make his croque monsieur at home more often now that he and I both know he can do it.

Grilled Bacon Chops and Chips

Some evenings, I don't want to spend an hour in the kitchen. I may have had a busy day, or we may have gotten home later. On those days, I like to plan for a quick and simple meal I can pull together in under an hour, and ideally in less than 30 minutes.

Bacon chops

A bacon chop is simply a thick cut slice of British bacon bacon. It is cut from the shoulder end of the loin and leaves the pork belly attached. The chop is then cured like bacon, and can come either smoked or unsmoked.

My personal preference is for a dry cure, smoked bacon.

There are dozens of recipes for bacon chops as this humble cut has become more popular again in English kitchens, utilising all sorts of extra ingredients and condiments. Since I want a very quick and fuss-proof meal, I tend to skip all that.

Chops can be cooked in the same was as you would any other type of bacon. Grill it, fry it, or pop it in the oven. Since I am already heating the oven to cook chips I just pop the bacon chops in as well, making dinner even less of a fuss for me.

Preheat the oven to 200c/400f

Chips (thick cut fries) go on a baking tray. These come out of the freezer, and generally take about 25 minutes to cook.I

f you don't have any chips in the freezer, slice a few potatoes into 1/2 inch rings, drizzle over a bit of olive oil and a some salt and pepper and bake those in the oven about 30 minutes, turning half way through cooking.

Use a rack like this to drain fat away

Cooking the chops

Lay the bacon chops on a baking tray. I like to use a rack so that fats can drain away while cooking.

Cook in the oven about 25 minutes, turning them over halfway through cooking.

Once taken out of the oven, I will drain the fat into a bowl to be used for roasting potatoes in a future meal.


Just to round things out, I will sometimes add in some sauteed mushrooms or a fried egg. 


Once you have the chips and chops in the oven, all you'll need to do is pick out a vegetable to eat as a side dish. I usually grab peas.

Bacon chop with chips and peas, and a fried egg