Food

A couple of chefs I know who are concerned about food miles have stopped using olive oil and just use tape seed these days as it is produced locally in the Cotswolds and they can get cold pressed oil which is better than olive oil for frying and can be used to vinaigrette too.

This is what we’ve been on for the past 6 months or so, since EVOO went through the roof. I quite like it for general purpose cooking oil, still got a nice bit of flavour to it. Just make sure it’s cold pressed and UK - the cheaper stuff is extracted with some manky chemicals. I like the Lidl deluxe cold pressed stuff, at £2.75 / 500ml can’t really go wrong.

Going to give rapeseed a go then, there were 2 or 3 uk cold pressed in Sainsbury’s to choose from.
I’ll use that and the Farringdon electrical shop EV olive oil from the family farm it’s a bargain at £16/ltr

£16/ltr

Also the price for this organic EVOO direct from the farmer
https://www.crowdfarming.com/en/farmer/campillo-de-julia/up/adopt-an-olive-tree-campillo-de-julia/overharvest

sorry only just seen your post, this will be the corrupted Colombian recipe rather than the Jamaican version

Ingredients

1kg of Oxtail chopped into 2-3in cubes
1tsp of salt
1tbsp of vinegar
2 limes fresh juice for washing oxtail
1 can butterbeans

1.5tbsp of brown sugar
cooking oil
1tbsp of browning
1 tbsp oxtail seasoning
1/2 tbsp whole pimento
5 sprig of fresh thyme
1 large spring onion
Freshly grated ginger
4 clove of garlic crushed
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 scotch bonnet deseeded
1 beef tomato diced
4 tbsp of ketchup
7 pimento berries

Prep, thoroughly clean oxtail with juice from two fresh limes and white vinegar

dutch pot on gas hob..
Dissolve brown sugar with cooking oil
add Browning
add Meat
add Herbs, seasoning stir throughly
add other ingredients keep stirring
drain butter beans, add into pot
add water and cover

Cooking time 3 - 4 hrs in oven

serve with fried plantain, corn on cob, roasted cassava, fresh avocado (pear)

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Chicken noodle soup, with kale, carrots, celery, shallots and potatoes.
The soup itself tastes lovely, hints of garlic, cinnamon ans star anise.
I’d class it as more of a broth than a soup, was hoping the potato would thicken it up a bit.
But it’s fed four with another couple of portions left over, so all good, going to use the bones to make chicken stock and do it all over again later in the week.

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Slow cookers are great for stock and you can freeze the in ice cube bags for later.

Sounds lush, what is in oxtail seasoning?

Do you add a few bones for the marrow to add to the texture/flavour of the soup.

From Dunn River.. forgot whole pimento seeds now included to ingredients above

I’ve not added extra bones for more flavour.. that said roasted bone marrow on toast as a starter.. swoon

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Thank you.

A lot of those seasonings are pretty similar - oxtail, goat, seafood, BBQ, all purpose etc. I’ve wasted hours of my life in shops scratching my head trying to work out the best seasoning to buy.

Your recipe looks great.

I’m making chachouka with jalapeños and the last of the peppers from the polytunnel, slumming it with tinned tomatoes as ours have run out. On the plus side I’ve made the bread rolls to go with it.
Shop bought, on today’s ride, cannoli for pud though.

In other news with the Rape oil talk, this lot are just down the road; https://www.yarevalley.com/yare-valley-farm-shop/ I’ll take a ride down to see how much they charge for fill your own bottle.

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slumming it with tinned tomatoes

Those Mutti are the Rapha of tinned toms!

I’ve selfishly stunk the house out with confit garlic, again.

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Those Mutti are the Rapha of tinned toms!

The cans don't stack though which always annoys me

We’ve never had enough cans to find out ;)

I’m on my way!

Are Mutti that? Or are they more like Peroni?

Also is it a stink when you find the smell is pleasing, like the smell of smoked garlic.

Thanks @marcomarcos :) those Dunn River seasoning tubs do have similar parts. I suppose it’s all down to convenience. I should take a closer look. Not that I would make my own version from scratch. I suspect many West Indian households do though. Maybe Indian households might blend spices for different curries.

I was proudly telling a Nepalese colleague once how I made my own masala from scratch, etc. She laughed her socks off, after that, every now and then she'd look across at me smirking "I still can't believe you make your own masala, white people are nuts!". She'd buy it pre-ground in small amounts every week, everybody does apparently. 🤷‍♂️ I do the same thing now. 😳

Thanks for the tip. Made this today and it was fantastic. Made even more satisfying because that’s exactly the type of recipe I’d just scroll past normally. Cheers!

Roasted butternut squash soup..
cos summer is officially over

I went OTT with garlic along side squash, red pepper, cherry tomatoes, red onion..

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Yeah.. white people 🙄.. lol

I ain’t ethnic enough despite my Turkish and Sri Lankan heritage so I’m in the white people category..

I made the fatal mistake asking Mrs M’s mum for her beef curry and roti recipe.. I got a silent stare basically fcukoff..

if I need to know I’d be invited, family recipes are a closely kept secret

The clocks go back and it’s roast O’clock.

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Superb!!

Can’t stop making honey soy chicken at the moment. Wings and drumsticks - actually we sometimes do thighs and breast for the missus as well - dusted with flower, bit of neutral oil and roast in a medium oven till done. About an hour in 180 usually does it. Personally I like chicken really falling off the bone so I usually take it out a leave it to “rest” for a while at some point before sticking back in for the final phase. I know it’s not really resting it’s just letting the residual heat really cook the chicken though before going back for the final crunch-adding phase. Then back in to crisp up and halfway though that phase, add a mix of Soy, honey and sriracha (about 70/25/5 ratio). Keep turning and basting still it’s all sticky and crunchy. You have to watch it though as it will burn quickly once the marinade dries out. I sometimes add a bit of water to delay the caramelisation while the chicken achieves perfect done-ness.

Add sesame seeds and a squeeze of press lime, serve with sweet potato “fries” (oven-baked) and steamed purple-sprouting broccoli, it’s mine a the kid’s favourite at the moment. We’re obsessed.