Fame at last!

A nice little article in The Teesdale Mercury, Barnard Castle's local paper, about the cookery classes held during October.

First winter warmer

With the wind blowing from the north, it was freezing over here on the coast today, so it was the first soup and roll of the winter.
The rolls were from a Paul Hollywood recipe, but the leek and potato soup was my own version and the recipe will follow once I've written it up.

Chow mein

Preparation & Cooking: up to 1 hour

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 x 375g packet egg noodles

500g of mixed meat cut into thin strips

250g large packet king prawns shelled and de veined

8 garlic cloves crushed

1 medium cabbage thinly sliced

2 red/yellow bell peppers cut into strips

1 large carrot thinly sliced and halved

6 tbsp water

4 tbsp oil

4 spring onions halved and sliced thin lengthways

Seasoning

4 tbsp soya sauce

3 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tsp brown sugar

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 ½ tsp Chinese 5 spice

1 tsp chilli flakes

Method:

• Cook the noodles as per packet instructions, drain and wash in cold water. Set aside.
• Put all the seasoning ingredients in a bowl, mix well.
• Heat the wok (or large frying pan) with oil till very hot then add crushed ginger and cook till aromatic for a couple of minutes.
• Add meat and prawns until half cooked, then add the vegetables and stir for a few minutes. Add noodles, seasoning and water.
• Stir fry till well combined and fully cooked. Add the spring onions, stir a few times and serve hot!

Note:

• Soya sauce and Oyster sauce have a lot of salt in them so always taste before adding extra seasoning.
• Add small dried chillies at the first stage to give an extra kick to the chow mein.

Vegetable spring rolls

Preparation and cooking: up to one hour

Serves: 6

Ingredients

6-8 sheets filo pastry

2 carrots grated (thick)

1 courgette grated (thick)

1 x 220g tin bean sprouts drained & washed in cold water

1 x 140g tin bamboo shoots drained and thinly sliced

1 x 140g tin water chestnuts drained and thinly sliced

2 tbsp oil

2 tbsp soya sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Method

• Heat oil in a wok or frying pan till smoking.
• Add the vegetables and stir fry for 3-4 minutes.
• Add seasoning and soya sauce stir a few times and put aside to cool.
• Cut the filo pastry into wide rectangular strips (16x24) to get minimum 18 - 21 strips depending on size of sheets.
• Take one sheet at a time and place the wide side facing you. Place 1 heaped tablespoon of filling at end nearest to you leaving a gap at bottom end and sides of the sheet.
• Fold in the sides and start rolling the pastry covering sealing the end with a little oil. Make rest of the spring rolls the same way and put seam side down on a baking sheet. Brush lightly with a little oil.
• Heat the oven to 190*C/Gas 5/Fan 170* and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes till golden brown.

Note:

• The filling can be made of meat or even seafood as long as some crunch is provided by adding vegetables.
• Chinese springroll paper is available from speciality shops if you want to be authentic and it should be fried to get best results.
• Sesame oil or peanut oil are used quite a lot to give a distinct flavour to Chinese cuisine.

Chinese night

Chinese was on the menu for the final session at the @lovedalesfood kitchen in Barnard Castle.
Recipes to follow and thanks to everyone who took part, but here's a few pictures.