Spicy Shoyu Ramen / Sausage Rolls with Apricots & Whisky-Caramelised Onions / Moroccan Slow-Roasted Shoulder of Lamb + Bramley & Mincemeat Pasties

Blog Post & Recipe: Spicy Shoyu Ramen

If you prefer no spicy taste at all for yourself or young children, you can use regular chili bean paste (doubanjiang) and not spicy chili bean paste (la doubanjiang).

Blog Post & Recipe: Sausage rolls with apricots and whisky-caramelised onions

Anyway, [whisky-caramelised onions are] incredible in these sausage rolls too, together with re-plumped dried apricots and a good pinch of chipotle chilli flakes to play off that smoky thing going on with the whisky. At first I was worried the rolls might be a little on the sweet side with the onions and fruit but god damn if they weren’t just plain sexy.

Blog Post & Recipe: Nigel Slater's mincemeat pasties and lamb recipes

Chunks of meat are all well and good, but few things beat a whole joint, slowly roasted on the bone until the meat slides away at the slightest prod. Lamb shoulder is arguably the king of such joints. It's tough as old boots, but so perfectly fatty that when sympathetically cooked the fat melts through the meat

Moroccan slow-roasted shoulder of lamb ... Bramley and mincemeat pasties

5 Recipes from the Momofuku Cookbook / Corn, Buttermilk & Chive Popovers / How to Sprout Lentils + Gourmet Sprouted Lentil Salad

Blog Post & Recipes: David Chang’s Momofuku (Cooking the Books 5)

A few months ago, a few crazy food bloggers (myself and the Boy included) decided that the next Cooking the Books would be from the Momofuku cookbook.

Ramen Broth ... Momofuku Ramen (Cup Noodles) ... Roasted Rice Cakes ... Pork Belly Ssam (sam gyup sal ssam) with Mustard Seed Sauce

Blog Post & Recipe: corn, buttermilk and chive popovers

I turned to Google, which led me to a recipe for corn popovers from The New Basics by Julee Russo and Sheila Lukins. I adjusted them a bit; I swapped buttermilk for regular, as was my plan, and I found that the corn really had to be blended to become part of the batter (rather than kernels that fell out after tearing the popover open).

Blog Post & Recipe: How to Sprout Lentils & Gourmet Sprouted Lentil Salad

Go here to this post - and follow the directions for Sprouting Quinoa, simply replacing the Quinoa with Lentils! Be careful though - Lentils triple in size when you sprout them: If you're using a wide mouth (3 cup) Mason Jar I recommend starting with 1 cup of dried Lentils at the very most. You don't want to run out of room in your jar.

Plum & Vanilla Jam / Mapo Tofu Ramen / Gruyere Bacon Leek & Sun Dried Tomato Spätzle

Blog Post & Recipe: plum & vanilla jam

Ever since I made this luscious Cherry & Vanilla Jam, I realised vanilla is the most wonderful thing you can add to jam.

Blog Post & Recipe: Mapo Tofu Ramen (Mabo Ramen)

So here’s my version, which involved slightly tweaking my mapo tofu recipe to accommodate the addition of chicken broth and noodles. It’s not quite as thick as the version I had in Yokohama, but you can certainly change that by doubling or tripling the cornstarch-mixed-with-water amount.

Blog Post & Recipe: Gruyere Bacon Leek and Sun Dried Tomato Spätzle

Spätzle is made from flour, eggs, water, and salt. Comparing it to Italian pasta, the spätzle dough is moister and softer, like a thick runny cake batter. The dough therefore cannot be rolled out as is the case with Italian pasta dough. Instead a special spätzle-press or a spätzle sieve is needed to form the spätzle noodles, which are then dropped into boiling water. The classic way to form these noodles however is to spread the dough over a wet wooden cutting-board and cut thin strips of dough with a knife, scraping the strips into boiling salt water.

Bleu de Gex / Indian Omelette / Homemade Chashu Miso Ramen

Blog Post: Bleu de Gex

I said to her; “What is the one cheese you would tell someone from the United States that they absolutely should try while in France, which is not available in America?”

Not missing a beat, she said; “Bleu de Gex.”

Blog Post & Recipe: Indian Omelet

Anyone who has experienced a train trip in India, would easily remember the little stalls flipping innumerable omelets in one huge skillet, quickly and efficiently. These are then sold wrapped in foils at the train windows.

Blog Post & Recipe: Homemade Chashu Miso Ramen

Cooking ramen requires fast pace, especially after noodles are cooked. Overcooked noodle completely ruins the right ramen experience so make sure EVERYTHING, including your table setting, is ready before you start cooking noodles. It’s a serious matter.

Chrysanthamum Greens with Sesame Seed Dressing / Spinach Pkhali / Shoyu Ramen

Blog Post & Recipe: Seriously Asian: Chrysanthemum Greens

Lightly steamed or boiled, chrysanthemum greens have a mildly grassy, herbaceous taste with stalks that are sweet and slightly crunchy. The greens are common additions to sukiyaki and shabu-shabu, and are also very good in soups.

Chrysanthamum Greens with Sesame Seed Dressing

Blog Post & Recipe: Pkhali, Unearthed

Pkhali (the 'kh' is pronounced as a deep, guttural 'h') is a whole class of Georgian vegetable dishes that straddle the line between salad and dip. The constant is the walnut sauce, and the fact that the vegetable is cut very, very finely - almost (but not quite) to a puree.

Spinach Pkhali

Blog Post & Recipe: How to Make Shoyu Ramen at Home

A perfect bowl of ramen, unlike, say, a perfect steak, isn’t about coddling some cherished ingredient and letting it shine. No, it’s about a meticulous and flawless combination of about 28 different ingredients into a whole more powerful and important than any of the individual components could ever hope to be. That also means that it helps to have a crazed passion for the stuff, as it will undoubtedly take two days to recreate at home. It is a pain.

Queen Elizabeth's Drop Scones / Panch Phoran Pork Belly / Ramen

Blog Post & Recipe: Queen Elizabeth's Drop Scones

Drop scones are thicker than American pancakes, and a little smaller.

Blog Post & Recipe: let's get to the meat: panch phoran pork belly

In short, it's pork belly, confited and infused with a wonderful blend of subcontinental flavours - cumin, fenugreek, mustard, fennel, and kalonji seeds - that makes up panch phoran. And then roasted.

Blog Post & Recipe: Musings on the zen of ramen-making

The most time-consuming part of course is the broth. I cooked mine for six hours. In case you are wondering why you can’t just throw everything in the pot together and simmer, some ingredients like the konbu has a temperature where it releases maximum flavor and any extended steeping might introduce a bitter taste. The bacon, for example, is taken out after 45 minutes, maybe so it doesn’t become the dominant flavor or aroma. Spent shiitake mushrooms can be pickled afterwards.

Roasted Garlic / Savoury Brown Rice Balls with Olives & Herbs / 5 Mushroom Recipes

Blog Post & Recipe: Roasted Garlic (WFMW)

Instead of using raw garlic in the recipes, I just substitute roasted garlic. Seems simple, right? It is!

Blog Post & Recipe: SAVORY BROWN RICE BALLS WITH OLIVES + HERBS

Using brown rice and herbs seems a healthy and modern twist on classic, Italian "Arancini," a Sicilian dish meaning "little orange" which dates back to the 10th century.

Recipes: Feast Your Eyes

So, this week, we thought we'd have a close look at the eye-catching submissions for Your Best Mushrooms ...

Balthazar Cream of Mushroom Soup by pickyin ... Mushroom Ramen by thirschfeld ... Goat Cheese, Pancetta, and Chive Stuffed Mushrooms by Spoonwithme ... Sautéed hen of the woods and king trumpet mushrooms with garlic and fresh thyme by nettleandquince ... Homemade Porcini Fettucini with Creamy Wild Mushroom Sauce by yuko

Ramen Hacks / Bagna Cauda Dip with Assorted Vegetables / 3 Nori Recipes

Blog Post & Recipes & Slideshow: Ramen Hacks: 30+ Easy Ways to Upgrade Your Instant Noodles

Of course, there's no reason to stay in Asia here. Ramen takes well to Western flavors as well. How about some cheesy chili ramen or a poutine-like dish of toasted raw ramen with gravy and mozzarella?

Simple Add-ins ... Vegetation ... Eggs ... Simple Simmered Meat

Blog Post & Recipe: Bagna Cauda Dip with Assorted Vegetables

This Bagna Cauda, which hails from Italy's Piedmont region and translates as "hot bath," is the perfect accompaniment for spring vegetables -- and a marvelous alternative to heavy, creamy veggie dips.

The recipe is beautifully simple: 24 cloves of garlic, a couple of diced anchovies, and olive oil. Add a little salt and pepper, and that's it!

Blog Post & Recipes: Nori glory

“When we teach our sushi classes, we tell people, ‘Don’t buy the most expensive, and don’t buy the really el-cheapo one,’” she says. “Buy the middle-of-the-road. It will be slightly thicker, it will taste better, and it will be fresh, because everybody buys the middle one.”

Grilled Chicken Nori Wraps ... Thin-Roll Sushi ... Pan-Seared Rosemary Duck Breasts/Tofu

White Bean Hummus & Cooking Navy Beans / Cook Perfect Beans / Sweet Chilli Seafood Ramen

Blog Post & Recipe: white bean hummus

Last week I had a hummus craving, but was fresh out of chickpeas. I looked at the silky white beans in the fridge, with a thick slick of olive oil on top and thought "why not".

A Not So Simple Pot of Beans

Blog Post & Recipe: The Best Way: Perfect Beans, Every Time

My trusted method is actually a mash-up of two, the Baking Soda Soak and the Oven Method. Both have their proponents and their sceptics, but I think together they make the perfect bean; the baking soda scrapes time off the simmering process, and the oven mimics the slow, pressure-cooked texture of canned beans.

Blog Post & Recipe: On the slurping noises – Sweet chilli seafood ramen {8}

Add a handful of scallops and prawns. While they caramelise, chop a chilli pepper and a couple of spring onions. Throw them along with the seafood. Grate a fat piece of ginger, the zest of one lime and a few garlic cloves over the pan and give it a good shake. Deglaze with half a litre of water and bring to the boil.

4 Rice Recipes / 3 Ramen Recipes / 1 Scotch Egg

Recipes: Variations on Rice Recipes

Rice is a versatile grain, and takes flavors well.

Herbed Rice ... Lavender Rice ... Lemon grass Rice ... Cilantro Lime Rice

Article & Recipes: Ramen's rising stock: Leave the packet behind

"The broth, definitely," Nakano says. "Noodles are important, but if the broth sucks, it doesn't matter."

Roasted Duck Ramen ... Celery Root-Miso Ramen ... Tonkotsu Ramen

Article & Recipe: Scotch Eggs With Much Less Mess

Most Scotch egg recipes call for breakfast-sausage meat. I wanted a punchier flavor, so I picked up some spicy Italian sausages and added more bite with garlic and horseradish. Before patting the sausage meat onto the eggs, I coated them with a little flour. This helps the sausage adhere to the slippery egg white while cooking.

Crunchy Scotch Eggs With Horseradish and Pickles

Japanese Mushrooms. Ginger-Poached Noodles. Grilled Leeks.

Blog Post & Recipe: Perfectly Grilled Leeks

The thing is, there are a few pre-grill steps you have to take before you can throw the suckers over the fire.

Blog Post & Recipe: Ginger-Poached Noodles Recipe

I poached spinach noodles, tofu, and baby broccoli in ginger broth. Finished it with a splash of soy sauce, mint, basil, lime juice and red pepper flakes, and in the end it was a quick, simple, clean, invigorating lunch.

Blog Post & Recipes: Japanese Mushroom Lovefest

White Beech Mushrooms (Bunapi Shimeji), Brown Beech Mushrooms (Buna Shimeji), Maitake Mushrooms and King Trumpet Mushrooms (Eryngii)

Shimeji Mushroom Recipes

Halibut and Shimeji Mushroom in Parchment Recipe
Truffled Potatoes with Shimeji Recipe
Shimeji Mushrooms with Aburage Miso Soup Recipe
Mum’s Yaki Udon with Shimeji Recipe
Fried Tofu Stuffed with Shimeji Recipe
Seared Scallops in Spicy Cream Sauce with Buna Shimeji Mushrooms Recipe
Ramen with Salmon and Shimeji Mushrooms Recipe
Steak with Shimeji Mushrooms Recipe

Maitake Mushroom Recipes:

Maitake Mushroom Chawan Mushi Recipe
Beer Battered Maitake Mushroom With Japanese Tartar Sauce Recipe
Maitake Sea Bass Recipe
Maitake Mushroom & Asparagus Stir Fry Recipe
Maitake and Beech Mushrooms with Simmered Tofu on Sesame Rice Recipe

King Trumpet Mushroom Recipes

Arctic Char with King Trumpet Mushrooms and Lemon Butter Sauce Recipe
Roasted King Trumpet Mushrooms Recipe
Breaded Curried King Trumpet Mushroom Recipe
Braised Chicken with King Trumpets Recipe
King Oyster Mushroom Stirfry Recipe
Roasted King Trumpet Mushroom Recipe