Hot Pork and Shrimp Glass Noodles

This dish is based on one I had at a work BBQ a few weeks ago. Made by a lovely Thai woman and served cold as a salad, it was my favourite food of the day! I have tried to recreate it here - but I think I am still missing something... if I see her again, I'll be sure to get a full recipe!

Don't get me wrong, it was still really tasty... it just wasn't exactly the same. And I can't figure out quite what I need to change... But I'm sure I'll have fun trying to work it out!

Advance notice - I'll be getting Scottish Scran 3 out to you any day now... I'll give you a clue... it's a trooty affair!

Hot Pork and Shrimp Glass Noodles

Prepare the Dressing...

• Juice of 2 lemons
• 4 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp maggi sauce (or dark soy if you can't get maggi!)
• 1 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1" ginger, finely grated
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp rice wine
• Soy sauce to taste
• 1 tsp of toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp sugar

Mix all the ingredients together and whisk well to combine. Set aside in the fridge until the other ingredients are ready... but make sure you whisk again before using!

And the Rest...!

• 300g bean vermicelli
• 150g raw shrimp, peeled, cleaned and butterflied
• 300g ground pork
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1" ginger, finely grated
• 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1 small handful peanuts, roasted and roughly chopped
• 1 tsp of toasted sesame oil
• 3 spring onions (scallions!), finely shredded
• Handful cilantro, roughly chopped
  

Prepare the Noodles...
Boil some water on the stove. Cook the noodles in the water for 4 minutes, or according to the packet - do not overcook or they will fall to pieces later!

Once cooked, run them under cold water to stop them cooking any more and set aside.

Prepare the Base...
Heat a little oil in the bottom of your wok until it is very hot. Crumble in the pork, then stir fry for three to four minutes. Keep it moving!

Add in the ginger, garlic, sesame oil, fish sauce and dried chilli.

Once the pork is cooked add in the shrimp and continue to stir fry until the shrimp are cooked.

Serve!
Take the dressing out of the fridge and give it a wee taste. Does it need anything (a touch more chilli, sugar or salt perhaps? Or maybe it's perfect as it is!)

Place the noodles in a big bowl and pour over half of the dressing (you did remember to give it another stir right?) Use chopsticks (or a pasta server!) to give it a good mix.

Chuck the peanuts, cilantro, scallions, pork mix and the rest of the dressing on top and combine well.

Mmmmm... gotta love that porky noodle goodness!!!

Sending this over to Kitchenetta of Got No Milk who is hosting this week's Presto Pasta Night!

Hot Lemon Asparagus Bucatini with a Scottish Twist!

Have you ever tried bucatini? (At least I think it's bucatini - it could well be maccheroncelli or perciatelli. If anyone knows the difference - check out below and let me know what you think!) It's a long hollow pasta, kind of a cross between spaghetti and macaroni, and it's perfect for eating with smooth sauces.

I picked up a packet of bucatini a few weeks ago, and set about making up a smooth sauce. This is from my backlog - when I constantly had a fridge full of asparagus and had just made my Scottish sausage.

Because I invented this all by myself, I'm sending it over to Lore at Culinarty for her Original Recipes event...

And because it's pastalicious I'm sending it to Michelle at the Greedy Gourmet, who is hosting Presto Pasta Night this week...

And (yes, another one!) because this is cheap as chips (or as close as!) it is going to be my first submission for Frugal Fridays - the whole thing will feed a family of four for less than $10! And it's super healthy!

Hot Lemon Asparagus Bucatini with Crunchy Sausage Topping!

Serves 4 messy people...

• 4 large tomatoes
• 12 thick spears of asparagus
• 1 onion
• 2 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp hot sauce
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
  
• The zest of one lemon
• 150g Scottish sausage meat (or substitute with another sausage meat. If you have to.)
• A couple of tbsps of fresh oregano leaves
• A little olive oil to fry
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• salt to taste
• bucatini to serve
  

Prepare the veg...
Trim the woody ends from the asparagus, and cut most of the spear into chunks - reserving the tips.
Chop up the onions and garlic - make 'em as chunky as you like - we're going to blitz it in the end anyway!
Chop up the tomatoes, skin, seeds and all.

Make the sauce...
Heat the olive oil over a medium heat, add the onions and garlic, then fry for a few minutes until softening. Throw in the tomatoes (along with any juice), the lemon zest, hot sauce and the tomato puree. Add the sugar and some salt - you can always add more salt later to taste, but it is better to add it as early as possible.

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes - the tomatoes should release enough liquid to make the sauce, but if not, top up with water or stock.

Make the Crunchy Sausage Topping...
Meanwhile, break up the sausage meat into lumps and place into a medium, hot pan. You shouldn't need any oil as the sausage will release plenty. Fry for 5-6 minutes, keeping the sausage moving, breaking it up as it cooks. Once cooked, turn up the heat to high and fry for a minute or two without moving it to give a crunchy edge to the meat.

Finish the sauce...
After the 15 minutes is up, put in most of the oregano and the bits of asparagus stem - reserving the tips. Cook for another couple of minutes, then remove from the heat.

Put the sauce into a liquidiser or use a hand blender to blitz it to a smooth sauce.

Return to the heat, add the asparagus tips and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Put it all together!
Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet, then add to the pot of sauce. Mix well, so that the sauce sooks* into the pasta. Place into a bowl, top with the crunchy sausage pieces and the remaining oregano.

Eat!
This was the hardest bit - this is seriously messy pasta to eat! It was on the floor, face, sofa and cat by the time I was done. Worth it though!!



* Although not really a Scottish Scran post - the addition of the square sausage definitely warranted disclosure of another Scottish word!

Sook (v) - to suck

The best way tae eat this is tae sook it a' up an no worry aboot the mess yer makin'

Alternate use:
Sook (n) - a suck up/ brown-nose/ teacher's pet!
See her? She's a wee sook so'n she is!

T&T: What's For Lunch, Honey? Zucchine and Lemon Spaghetti, that's what!

As you may have guessed from the title, this is my contribution to the monthly Tried and Tested event from Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen. The event showcases a different blog every month, and invites participants to create and blog one or more dishes from that blog.

The first time I took part was for Tastes Like Home - a blog that was new to me (though very familiar now!). This time, the nominated blog is What's for Lunch, Honey? - one of the very first blogs I ever subscribed to!

It was so hard to choose what to make - in the end I narrowed it down to gnocchi with garlic sage butter (I have tried to make gnocchi several times... but consistently failed. They either come out as bullets... or weird clouds of soggy mashed potato... nice!!) or veal vilanese - a kind of veal schnitzel with parmesan, yum!

But I had only tonight left to make and blog my dish - and after spending all last night madly preparing for the Royal Foodie Joust, I really need a more relaxed dinner tonight! Which - after my problematic previous endeavours - puts gnocchi out of the picture! And then I couldn't get a hold of veal!

In the end, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise... I went back to the archives and found this gorgeous summer pasta dish...

Spaghetti with Courgettes (Zucchini!) and Lemon!

Courgettes are plentiful right now, and I had lemons in the fridge! I followed the recipe almost exactly as written - though I used half green and half yellow courgette. and my sage in my herb garden has gone!!! I have no idea where. Come to think of it, I haven't seen it for a while - I think it might have been swamped by the rosemary and oregano! So instead, I substituted greek oregano - which I think worked very nicely. I will be making this again - and I'll replant my sage first!

Find Meeta's orginal recipe here! Thanks for a great recipe Meeta!

Saffron-Infused Lemon Sole with Lemony Samphire Rice

My third fish dish in a row - I love summer!

This was yet another home coming dish - I was away at a festival all weekend... and definitely in need of a healthy home-cooked dish on my return. After a bath that is - after 4 days in a field that was my top priority!

The festie was amazing - so much better than last year, when we got totally flooded out!! Want to see a pic of my tent last year??

Hmmm... see that puddle on the tent?? Well that's where my head was supposed to be...

At that point we decided to cut our losses and head home. But after hiking 3/4 of a mile through the mud and driving rain to the exit, we were told we couldn't leave... the roads for 10 miles around were flooded to waist-height. It wasn't one of the happier moments in my life!

We got back to the campsite... which by then looked like this...

(That's flowing water by the way!!)

But - spirit of the blitz and all - we stuck it out and had a good time anyway - the sun eventually came out - though the mud was there to stay!!!

What a mission!!!

Anyway, after my little detour, I'll get back to the food blogging! (My pics from this year are still stuck on my phone!)

I think that the festival was my last big occasion of the summer so I hope to get back onto more regular blogging from now on in (barely a post a week in July - shocking!! ;)

As this dish is all my own (as most of them are!!) I'm submitting this dish to Lore over at Culinarty - for the Original Recipe event. This is a great way for people to find brand new recipe - as well as showcase what they have created.

Generally when I create a new recipe, I start with one key ingredient, or idea, then build it up from here. This time I had picked up some gorgeous lemon sole from my fishmonger, and whilst I was there got some samphire for the first time this year. I only tried samphire for the first time last year - it is a great ingredient. Sometime known as the asparagus of the sea, it has a lovely crunch, and a fresh 'sea' taste which really supplements fish dishes. If it is new season, try it raw in salads (give it a good wash first!), or quickly stir fry it with a bit of chilli and garlic. I had been planning to cook potatoes to go with the fish - but I felt that lemons and tomatoes would work really well with the samphire - so brown rice just seemed to match.

And the saffron infusion - well, just because I could!

Saffron-Infused Lemon Sole with Lemony Samphire Rice

Serves 2

• 2 fillets lemon sole
• Good pinch saffron
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 150ml milk
• 6 peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf (preferably fresh)
• 150g new season samphire
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 cup brown rice
• 600ml fish stock and/or water (I only had 400ml stock, so topped up with water)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 4 large tomatoes - reserve the vine if it has one!
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 chilli
• 1 banana shallot, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• handful parsley, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup plain flour for dredging
• Olive oil
• butter

Prepare the Veggies...
Wash the samphire in cold water and chop it into inch long pieces. Leave to soak for as long as possible - this will stop it being too salty. Bring a pot of water to the boil (don't add salt!) then blanch for a minute or two. Drain and refresh in iced water. Set aside.

Half, then quarter the tomatoes. Remove and discard the seeds, and dice the flesh into 1cm cubes - leaving the skin on. Cover and refridgerate until needed.

Heat a glug of olice oil in a frying pan and gently fry the shallot, garlic and 1/4 of the lemon zest for 3/4 minutes. Add a couple of tablespoons of fish stock and the juice of half a lemon, then fry until reduced to almost nothing. Set aside.

Make The Saffron Infusion...
Heat 150ml of milk in a pan just big enough to hold the fish. Once boiled remove from the heat and add the bay leaf, peppercorns, turmeric and saffron. Mix well and set aside to cool thoroughly.

Once cooled, add the sole fillet, skin-side up - top up with more milk if required. Cover and refrigerate for at least half an hour. (But no more than an hour)

Prepare the Rice...
Wash the rice in several changes of cold water - leave to soak for a while if you have time. Place the rice, tomato puree and water/stock into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Piece the chilli several times and add to the pot, along with half of the lemon zest. If you reserved the tomato vine, give it a wash and add too - it's amazing the amount of flavour that is held there. (A Heston Blumenthal tip!)

Simmer until the rice is cooked, probably about 30 mins depending on the rice.

Remove the vine and chilli, then add the diced tomatoes. Cook for another 2/3 minutes and turn off the heat. Add the samphire, parsley and onion mixture, mix well and season to taste.

Cook the fish...
Drain and discard the saffron milk from the fish. Season the flour with salt and pepper, then dredge the fish in it - being sure to pat off any excess.

Heat a good glug of olive oil to a medium heat in the pan you cooked the onions in, then gently lay the fish in, skin side down. Cook for 3 minutes, then turn. Add a couple of knobs of butter and cook for another minute or two, then turn off the heat - allowing the heat from the pan to finish the cooking for you.

Serve!
Place a couple of spoonfuls of the rice mixture in a bowl, and lay the fillet over it. If you like (I did!) pour the butter from the pan over the fish. Top with a wedge of lemon and a garnish of parsley.

Enjoy!

Lemony spiced chicken!

Now, I usually like to take my time about cooking.... and love dishes that take a while to cook. I don't think it's because I have so much free time on my hands (I don't!!) but because I generally end up in trouble if I have to think about my timings too much ;) So I prefer slow cook meals where an extra half hour or so really doesn't make any difference!

Last night - inspired by a recipe I saw in a magazine, I decided to have a go at this speedy dinner - 20 minutes from getting through the door to sitting down!

Lemony Spiced Chicken

• 400g chicken breast meat (I bought mine ready diced, thereby saving even more time!)
• 400g tin chickpeas
• 1 lemon
• 1 onion
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 250ml chicken stock
• 200g fine green beans, cut into quarters
  
• 250g spinach
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Bread to serve
  

Use a pot big enough for all ingredients!

I started by halving and finely slicing the onion, then frying over a moderate heat for 5 minutes.
Turn up the heat and add the chicken and fry for another 3/4 minutes until golden.
Add the cumin and coriander and the zest from the lemon, and fry for another minute.
Add the stock, chickpeas and tomato puree, cover and simmer on a low heat for 3 minutes.
Add the green beans and simmer for another 2 minutes.
Add the spinach, recover and allow to wilt for 2 minutes.
Remove from the heat, stir, then add the juice from the lemon.
Serve with crusty bread to mop up the broth!

So what did I think of my speedy effort?? Well, it was very tasty, filling and healthy. And it was a nice change to have something different for a quick meal (my quick meals are usually pasta or beans on toast!).

But I do think the chickpeas would have tasted better if they had had longer in the stock! ;)