Low Carb Archives | National Dish

Cook the perfect Beef Brisket and pull it with a fork | National Dish Recipe

Wayne @NationalDish — Sun, 18 Mar 2018 18:22:52 +0000

You know very well, all that colour and those soft looking vegetables – the perfect Beef Brisket is bathing in there.

Some people find roasting and cooking beef a real challenge, ending up with a disappointingly tough result, especially a beef brisket.

All that is usually missing though, is a little patience and foresight.

Brisket is a cheap (although annoyingly, that is changing) cut of meat from the lower front chest of the cow, just above the front legs – so it gets worked hard and is therefore naturally tough.

Cook it right though and something miraculous happens.

Cook the perfect Beef Brisket and pull it with a fork | National Dish Recipe

Once you have cooked this, you can do any number of things with the finished result. You'll be able to pull it apart with a fork, leaving you with strands of the softest beef you can imagine. Run a hot sauce through it and shove it in a roll or just use the cooking liquor as a sauce, put in a bowl and cover (mashed potato would be amaze with it). You'll need a casserole dish - get that on to a hob, high heat with a little oil and put the oven on 140c (no more).

CourseMain Dish
CuisineBritish

Servings6 People

Prep Time15 Minutes

Cook Time5 Hours

Ingredients

3whole white onionpeeled them all and slice two, cut the third in to quarters and leave seperate
2fresh carrotpeel them if you like, don't have to - but chop them in to chunks
2sticks celerychop into chunks
350ml aleuse your fav, even Guinness will do (not lager though)
500ml beef stockdepending on the size of the joint and pot - you'll only add enough to just cover the meat
1kgbrisket of beef
2tablespoons tomato puree
2whole bay leaves
1decent handful fresh thyme

Instructions

Casserole dish should be on the hob - if you don't have a hob proof dish, use a pan for this and add to an oven proof version. Run oil on the beef and season very well with Maldon Sea Salt and cracked black pepper.
When the oil is hot, brown off the beef brisket on all sides and ends, remove and put to the side.
You may have been able to chop all your bits whilst browning it off, turn chop, turn chop. In which case, you can throw your sliced onions straight in with the thyme and bay leaves- you shouldn't need more salt. Give em a stir, fry for 5 and get all the beef treats off the bottom of the pan.
Put the beef back in and add the ale, tomato puree and enough stock to cover the beef brisket. Put the lid on and cook for three hours - leave it completely alone.
After three hours, carefully remove the pot and turn the beef brisket over. At the same time add all the carrots, celery and quartered onion.
I also added a spoonful of Fortnum and Mason Beef Extract - this is totally optional.
Cover and put back in for another two hours - don't touch it.
When done, remove the beef brisket from the liquor - see what I mean, you've got a ready made sauce here, almost like a stew.
Put it on a chopping board, remove any chef's string, cover with folk and let it sit for 10 mins. Then grab two forks and pull it apart. Don't forget to try some - uhhhhh.
Serve it however you planned.

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Have an indoor fruit BBQ for the kids | National Dish Fun Recipe

Wayne @NationalDish — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 23:06:18 +0000

It’s a fruit frenzy when you make a fruit BBQ for the kids – they love it. All pictures copyright of nationaldish.co.uk

It’s getting cold, although you could be reading this when it’s warm, doesn’t matter, this recipe is well fun. The kids and their buddies will love you for this, plus it will get them eating more fruit. It’s really easy. By the way, you need to slice a watermelon so make sure you have a sharp knife – believe it or not, that’s dangerous – so don’t let the kids have it!

Have an indoor BBQ for the kids and get them to eat fruit at the same time | National Dish Fun Recipe

I have listed the fruit that I used, but you have probably worked it out by now, it can be anything that you can skewer...and the kids like. But, it's also an opportunity to try something new on them - they'll be distracted by having fun fun fun.

CourseDessert, Snack
CuisineBritish, English, Global

Servings6 Kids

Prep Time30 Minutes

Cook Time0 Minutes

Ingredients

1whole watermelonthe top will be sliced off and then ball out the flesh
1 orangecut it in half
1punnet blackberries
1punnet raspberries
1punnet strawberries
1punnet pineapple
1 mangoslice off the flash and cut in cubes
1 bananacut this up into small chunks
100grams chocolatethis will be melted for some dipping action (dark is best 70%)
30wooden skewersdo these count as an ingredient? Not sure, you'll need em though.
3 kiwipeel it or ball out with a spoon and...cut into chunks

Instructions

Grab your melon with a tea towel and with a sharp knife slice off the top - enough that there is plenty of red flesh exposed, but not too far down.
Hollow out the entire Watermelon, try not to mulch the flesh, turn as much of it as possible into chunks for them to eat. Once you're happy, just scrape out with a spoon, doesn't have to spotless, see the pics. This is your BBQ.
Take half of the orange and skewer on as a handle. Throw the blackberries into the hollowed watermelon - this is the charcoal.
Get your skewers to make the grill - get some scissors and cut them to size. There will be little hands flying all over the place so make sure none of the skewers protrudes from the melon.
Using a Bain Marie (saucepan on the heat with some water in the bottom and a glass heatproof bowl balancing atop it) slowly melt the chocolate. This will need to remain runny, I was fortunate to have a tealight heated fondant thingy.
Make a couple of fruit kebabs with a selection and place on the grill - so the kids get the gist. Make the other fruit available and some skewers, give them a quick safety briefing and then release them. Vultures!
Ruddy bloody fun and really healthy - two birds one stone!

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How do you cook Poussin? | Corn fed spatchcock Poussin with fennel | National Dish Recipe

Wayne @NationalDish — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 15:34:42 +0000

You don’t have to get Poussin from Fortnum and Mason, but if you can, why not. All pictures copyright of nationaldish.co.uk

Poussin is a french word used exactly the same in English, which does not necessarily make this a french dish, so I have credited both countries. But – how do you cook Poussin?

Also known as Spring Chicken, Poussin basically means ‘young chicken’, which is less than 28 days old and half a kilo.

My two beauties are corn fed and were acquired from Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly, London – raaahhhh.

How do you cook Poussin? | Corn fed spatchcock Spring Chicken | National Dish Recipe

This recipe covers the preparation and roasting of the birds and a serving suggestion, but you can do anything with them, maybe post below how you served it. I roasted it with fennel and Lemon, roasted pumpkin with paprika and some roasted fartichokes. In terms of complexity, this is rather simple. If you have some chef's or butchers scissors use those, but make sure you have a decent pair, not nail scissors...that would be stupid!

CourseMain Dish
CuisineBritish, French

Servings4 People

Prep Time15 minutes

Cook Time40 minutes

Ingredients

2 Poussinget them prepared and then we'll spatchcock them
1large bulb of fennelslice this about quarter to half inch thick, not too thin though
2sprigs rosemary
A fewgood glugs rape seed oilI used infused Cotswold Gold
Plenty sea salt flakes
1small pumpkinhalved, de-seeded and sliced/wedged, see pic
10 Jerusalem artichokespeeled and cut in half
1bulb garlicseparate the cloves and peel

Instructions

Spatchcocking the Poussin

I'll start with the most important element, which is prepping the Poussin for roasting and deal with the sides later. Pre-heat the oven to 175C.
Get a plastic chopping board, slip a damp tea towel beneath if it might slide. Grab a good pair of kitchen scissors and get your Poussin out. DON'T WASH IT - DANGER!
Whip it on to it's front, now that means it's tits...sorry breasts. You'll be cutting lengthwise through it's back (the flat part) and effectively butterflying it. Best to start at the head end.
Now turn it over open side down, flatten your hand across the crown and press hard until you hear and feel the reassuring crack of the legs dis-locating.
You now have a perfectly spatchcocked bird. That's it, told you it was easy, there shouldn't be any mess.
In an appropriate size roasting tray, I'm doing two in the same pan, slice the fennel and scatter, place the Poussin on top. Put a handful of the garlic cloves under each Poussin (oil these), sprinkle some unpeeled ones amongst the fennel too if you like. I've used a mixture of lemon infused and Rosemary infused Cotswold Gold Virgin Rapeseed Oil - cover everything in this.
My Poussin are corn fed and that will add even more golden colour to the finish. Lob the rosemary on top, oil that too. If you can be bothered, soaking sprigs of rosemary in water the night before can help prevent it from catching - I didn't bother.

The Rest

The Poussin will take only 40 minutes to roast, about the same as the Jerusalem Artichokes - get them in together and then prep the pumpkin which will only take 30 mins. This way, it should all finished at the same time.
Peel the Jerusalem Artichokes and cut them in half longways, pop them in an appropriate sized roasting dish, smother with oil and sea salt flakes. TRIVIA - these things make you fart more than any other tuber or vegetable, enjoy.
Now shove the Poussin and the Fartichokes in to the oven at the same time.
Cut your pumpkin in half, de-seed and slice in to segments - see pic. Put them in a roasting dish, some slight bunching is nice, not to much though. Smother them in oil and sea salt flakes then dust with cayenne and paprika.
Put them in the oven. When ready, the Poussin should be a lovely golden colour, the artichokes will take a knife through them and the pumpkin should be nice and gnarly. Serve with a dollop of English mustard. Couple of hours later you can look forward to the fireworks as your ass explodes from the artichokes - enjoy.
Thank you Britain (and France, for the word at least)

The post How do you cook Poussin? | Corn fed spatchcock Poussin with fennel | National Dish Recipe appeared first on National Dish.

Sweet and Sour Chilli Mango Chicken | National Dish Recipe from South East Asia…maybe

Wayne @NationalDish — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 14:05:11 +0000

The colour alone of Sweet and Sour Chicken with Mango is enough. All pictures copyright of nationaldish.co.uk

– we’re not 100% sure where this dish might originate.

I accidentally made it up, but that’s not to say it doesn’t exist. So in actual fact this could be a South East Asian ‘influenced’ English dish – Changlo food! You saw it here first.

Anyway, I fancied sweet and sour chicken, but wanted to add lots of chilli and forgot to buy pineapple, so used some mango I had – hence…

It’s really good – I also knocked up a cheats Mushroom Chow Mein on the side.

Sweet and Sour Chilli Mango Chicken | National Dish Recipe from South East Asia

This recipe goes to show, that if you have some items in your fridge or pantry that don't quite fit the original recipe, you can make do and come up with something ace.

CourseMain Dish
CuisineBritish, Chango, Chinese, Thai

Servings2 People

Prep Time20 Minutes

Cook Time20 Minutes

Ingredients

Main bits

2small skinless chickenbreasts, diced into large, as square as possible, bite sized chunks (big ones ok?)
1/2 red peppercut the same size as the onion
1large white onioncut in to 1 inch square pieces, look at the pic

Sauce

1400g tin mangodrain and keep the juice and dice the mango
3tsp caster sugar
1tsp corn flour
1 or 2sliced fresh red chilli
1bunch fresh corianderfinely chop the stalks and separate from the leaves
3cloves garlicfinely sliced, chopped or crushed
3tbsp sesame seedsgently roast them in a non-stick pan
3tbsp rice wine vinegar
2tbsp ketchup
1pinch sea salt flakesMaldon please
1tsp paprika powder

Marinade

1tbls soy sauceuse the light stuff if you can
1/2tsp garlic powder
1/2tsp Chinese five spiceno more than this

Mushroom Chow Mein

1handful mushroomsthickly sliced
1packet instant noodlesenough for two people
2cloves garlicchopped

Instructions

First thing is to marinate the chicken. To do that, in a bowl add the diced chicken, soy, garlic powder and Chinese five spice - leave that whilst you do the rest - not long really.
Chop everything up and get it ready - you want decent chunks. If you're doing a side, I did a cheats Mushroom Chow Mein, chop that stuff up too.
In a hot wok, add a tiny dash of oil and seal the chicken on each side, don't cook it all the way through. When done, drain off any of the sauce you haven't cooked off and put the chicken aside and wipe clean the wok.
Whilst you were doing that, in a separate non-stick pan, roast off the sesame seeds. Don't burn them, just add a little golden colour and then remove from the pan and set aside in a cold bowl.
Back on the heat, add a little oil and add the onion, garlic, chopped coriander stalks, two thirds of the chilli and the salt. Gently fry until the onion starts to clarify (not completely though) - try to avoid any charring, you almost want things looking raw.
Next add the chicken back in along with the red pepper, paprika, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, sugar and half the sesame seeds - heat and stir for a minute. Then pour in all of the mango juice (oh yeah) - bring to the boil and sprinkle the corn flour avoiding lumpage - stir. If you feel that a little more sauce is required, carefully add some water - it will reduce and thicken moving forward.
After 10-15 minutes, you should be pretty much done, throw in the diced mango and gently stir in to the sauce, it's ready when the mango is hot.
You can do the chow mein real quick. Fry off the mushrooms with the garlic and a good glug of dark soy sauce. After a few minutes add the noodles and toss and mix everything until it's a lovely soy sauce colour and hot.
Serve it up in to something that you can keep it warm in.
The chicken will now be ready. Serve it in a bowl and sprinkle with the remaining raw chilli, sesame seeds and coriander leaves.
Thank you South East Asia stroke England...maybe...

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Would you bet on yourself to lose weight? | DietBet diary post 2

Wayne @NationalDish — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 11:31:17 +0000

This is the second of two posts for my DietBet Diary – click here for DietBet Diary 1

Would you bet on yourself to lose weight? I have and it’s going…

I am now 2 weeks in to my bet and things are going well, a little harder than I thought though. Trying to lose weight is so hard and those around just do not help.

In open conversation people will discuss, at length, dieting, food choices, exercise and of course, other people behind their back. Not necessarily in a bad way, but because it’s too scary to talk to them directly.

No-one will ever have a frank conversation to your face though – you’re really overweight, you need to sort that out, look at yourself, have you no self respect? That’s bad, right – wouldn’t it help if they did?

What people say…or not?

The problem with life and obesity is that honesty seldom makes an appearance. What do I mean by that?

My dearest friends and family gave me mixed messages. Your family will tell you that you look fine, it’s OK, you carry it well, don’t give yourself a hard time.

Colleagues would never say anything, because you can’t actually say anything to anyone at work of a personal nature – although, after a few beers, peers seem to.

Finally friends, the most confusing group. I am in a group of great mates who take this piss out of each other, often brutally. Yet, they would never go near my weight. Whilst in normal conversation some of my friends would address me as ‘fat boy’, which didn’t upset me but seemed OK to say. A dear friend of mine told me recently, after I had lost 25kg (4 stone), how he felt my weight was terrible, couldn’t believe the size of my gut and the way it hung over my belt.

“Dude! I love you, but why the hell didn’t you tell me that before, rather than now?”

Let’s assume that most people would like to lose weight. Similarly let’s suggest that motivation and willpower are serious barriers. Surely, if everyone were more honest with each other, that would be a real motivator, right? A genuine reality check.

To my friends and family reading this, don’t feel bad, no-one wants to discuss this stuff – it’s a social nightmare.

Change

My lifestyle had changed, my confidence had changed, my body had changed, my appearance in clothing had changed and people’s attitude toward me, changed.

You get a lot of compliments, shock and general positivity. It’s then, and only then that people talk about how you were before, and how much better you are for it. During the process, this is a enormous motivator, probably the strongest – it’s amazing.

But, for goodness sake, why couldn’t I get that honest feedback when I needed it? I appreciate that the hypocrisy of society makes that difficult.

After a while, I found the compliments to be rather embarrassing. A reminder of how disgusting I was. Yup! DISGUSTING, VILE, GROSS – that’s how ‘I’ felt. You might very well disagree, but that doesn’t actually help people who want to lose weight or NEED to lose weight – it’s not always about how you look.

I recall a few years back having a few beers around the pool with a mate in Vegas. He was telling me how he’d let himself go and referred to himself as a ‘fat fucker’. More importantly he made the point that it went unnoticed, he didn’t notice it and no-one said anything.

He said that as soon as he realised he addressed it – ‘I was a fat fucker’ – brilliant. I bet, and this is a betting related article after all, if someone has mentioned it to him he would have addressed it sooner.

That does not mean you should tell your friends that they are a ‘fat fucker’ though – as funny as it is.

Honesty

To anyone that knows me, I would be grateful if you could call me out if:

I start to put on weight again
You don’t feel that I am exercising enough
I’m eating too much
You see me reaching for Haribo, Maynards or those giant snakes with the foam bellies (I am addicted to sugar – damn!)
You think I’m not looking after myself

The latest position from friends, family and colleagues is ‘don’t lose any more weight, you’ll look ill. Your face will be gaunt’.

Really? I am still in the yellow zone for BMI 26.3 and that means overweight. Guys, please – the NHS, Britain’s health service, widely regarded as the one of the best in the world, is telling me that I am overweight. That’s it!

I need your support and honesty, not some ill guided rhetoric to make me feel better, losing weight will make me feel better. Love ya though…

Progress with DietBet

I thought I would nail this and actually reach my goal weight of 88kg, I don’t think that’s going to happen. The target weight for the bet is 93kg and I am 80% likely to reach that, according to my recent update from DietBet.

I have recorded a weight of 92.6kg about a week ago, but since then I’ve ended up at Five Guys and sunk too much booze over the weekend, plus I think I weighed myself at a stupid time, naked too. DietBet requires you to have some light clothing on – so I am actually at 94.4kg and still well within reach.

I started at 96.9kg so I think losing 5 1/2 lbs isn’t bad at all – gotta keep going.

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Would you bet on yourself to lose weight? | DietBet diary post 1

Wayne @NationalDish — Tue, 14 Nov 2017 17:53:58 +0000

This is the first of two posts for my DietBet Diary – click here for DietBet Diary 2

How much would you gamble on yourself to lose 4% of your body weight in 4 weeks? That’s what I am about to find out. I’ve invested, if that’s the right word, hard cash in a bid to lose weight, no, win some money…huh? Would you bet on yourself to lose weight?

I’ll explain below, this is the first post in a series to diarize my attempt to lose weight through gambling – it already sounds wrong.

A bit of background first.

I am, or was, morbidly obese – the stats:

18 Stone – 114 kg – 252 lbs.
That was a UK size 40 waist or ‘equator’
I’m just under 6ft 3″ – 190cm
Making my BMI a whopping 31.5 – the healthy BMI range, according to the NHS, is 18.5 to 25.
I couldn’t wear anything yellow in NYC without getting hailed
Lost 25kg
Almost instantly I stopped guffing

11 January 2016 was that day. The day the scales screamed ‘get off me’. I have struggled with weight for most of my adult life, as a young adult, I was super fit – so bloody what? Who wasn’t?

Taking action

Lifestyle change! I’m ‘time poor’ which is a real blocker and didn’t exercise. When I sat around the house, I sat AROUND the house.

So it started – exercise, initially at home and a gym membership. Smaller portions, no sugar, no booze (apart from odd binge – can’t go to Twickenham and not get on it), cutting down on fat and eradicating as much carb as possible. This also resulted in saying goodbye to Gluten and farting – who knew?

I am not suggesting that I followed a particular diet (Paleo maybe), although I did create a funny little excessive regime (I might cover that later), but the early results were good, very good in fact:

This graph starts 19 Jan 2016. You can see that I’d already lost 2.5kg, nearly half a stone, since I started on the 11th. That’s motivating in itself. This is an image of my data from MyFitnessPal. Jan 2016 to October 2017.

MyFitnessPal, graph shows that I have put a little back on, don’t get me wrong, it’s not too bad, but a worry. Plus, I never actually reached my goal weight. Ultimately – I failed!

My goal was 88kg, that puts me a 1lb under 14st. I managed to get to 90kg at best I reckon and then it crept back on – I yo-yoed a little too. I am now 95kg and want, no actually, need, to reach 88kg, but how?

Gamble

It’s vice that got me in to this mess, so it can be vice that gets me out.

I’m gonna gamble, back myself to win. I’ve downloaded DietBet, a weight loss community betting app.

I did attempt a similar thing a while back with a good colleague of mine, we agreed to bet against each other – £100. It didn’t quite work out, we couldn’t quite nail how to weigh-in – which is a bummer, cause I won – he knows who he is….! It’s that incident that inspired me to download DietBet – I reckon it’ll work.

The principle behind DietBet

Once registered you find a game – in this case a Kickstarter (I’m playing three at the same time). A game sets a weight target over a time period – 4% in four weeks. Anyone can join and in turn they will bet real money on reaching that goal (it’s American so USD $).

Those that hit the target share the pot made up from those that didn’t, minus a rake from DietBet (they take between 15% and 25% dependent on the game). The worst case scenario for a winner is that lots of people reach their goal and they don’t win any money – they would get their money back and have lost 4% of their body weight – so that’s a massive net win, right?

I have bet a total of $235 (£179).

The ‘weigh ins’ are timed and controlled. A code is provided which you must write on a piece of paper. You stand on your scales and take a photograph of the reading and the code on the paper. You then take a full body shot of yourself, in minimal clothing stood on the scales. Sometimes videos are also required. This is then submitted and reviewed by a human referee.

Cheating, there could be I guess, but I am in this to lose weight, so I don’t need to cheat and don’t care for other that try. I’m gonna win!

Here is the close up – I’ve hidden the weigh-in code word just in case it prejudices me – but you can see the start weight.

All the pics and videos are confidential, but I am going to publish mine as part of this feature.

My goal

I am in three games – two @$100 each and one @$35. There are 779 people taking part with a prize pool of over $45,000 (£34,000).

First weigh in was 48 hours before the start.
My first game started 8 November 2017 and finishes 5 December 2018 – 4 weeks.
First weigh in came in at 97.2kg (15st 4lbs)
That means I have to lose 3.9kg or 9lbs (just over half a stone).
My first progress weigh in came in at 95.1kg – I am 54% of the way there.

I have become rather confident and motivated. I am fascinated at the prospect of this project, which is why I have gone for three games to run simultaneously. This is the maximum permitted.

Here are the three games if you want to take a look – you can even join them still – they have different names, are run by different people and often have spot prizes:

@ Follow me

I’ll be updating on this site – please share it with anyone you think might be interested.

But also:

Instagram – @nationaldish
Twitter – @nationsdish
FaceBook – facebook.com/nationsdish/

Disclaimer

I am not affiliated to any of the platforms mentioned in this feature, I am not being paid by any person or organisation. This is my project, for my benefit, with my money, using my time and effort. The reward, if I am successful, is the weight loss. I don’t even care about winning any money, I don’t want to lose it either. So if any of my fellow competitors are reading this – good luck to you and I hope you win.

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Roasted flap of Lamb with rosemary and garlic | National Dish Recipe of a boned rolled shoulder of lamb

Wayne @NationalDish — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 19:20:02 +0000

It might have a gross sounding name, but just look at it – Roasted Flap of Lamb
Photograph: Wayne Morgan – nationaldish.co.uk © 2017

Roasted flap of lamb doesn’t sound particularly appetising, but it is stunning. A shoulder of lamb is a fine cut, but when you buy it de-boned and rolled, it looks gross and would fool anyone in to thinking it’s a shit cut….wrong.

Cooking it in it’s rolled state is fine, but unroll it, turning it in to a flap and when you slow cook it, good things happen.

My baby bro loves this and asked me for the recipe, here it is buddy…

Roasted flap of Lamb with rosemary and garlic | National Dish Recipe of a boned rolled shoulder of lamb

This is super simple, but you need to be patient and cook it low and slow. The upside, you can spend more time on your PlayStation whilst it cooks - or if your partner is around, play with them instead. Whack the oven on 140 degrees - yup, loooooowwwwwww.

CourseMain Dish
CuisineBritish

Servings4 people

Prep Time10 minutes

Cook Time3 1/2 hours

Passive Time3 hours

Ingredients

1rolled shoulder of British lambunwrap it, cut the strings and unroll the lamb in to a flap
1good glug rape seed oilget the good stuff, Cotswold Gold
1massive pinch sea salt flakesMaldon and you know it
8sprigs rosemarygot this from my garden, everyone needs a Rosemary bush
1bulb of garliccut in half around the equator
1pinch ground black pepper

Instructions

Grab a roasting tin and lob yer flap in.
Get the oil and sprinkle liberally over the lamb, rub it all over.
Grab a generous pinch of salt and throw it all over, rub it on both side.
Get four of the eight sprigs of Rosemary and cover them in oil too and throw on top of the lamb
Add garlic, sprinkle with a little oil - don't worry about the salt.
Put it in the oven (140 degrees for a fan), it'll be in there for 3 and half hours - set a timer to enable you to check it every hour or so, just to check it's OK and nothing is catching.
When done, remove the cooked rosemary and add the other 4 sprigs. Cover with tin foil and leave it for about 20 minutes to rest - it doesn't need to rest that much.
Grab a nice wooden board and slice it up in to steak sized chunks, serve straight away.
Thank you Great Britain

Recipe Notes

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Indian dry spiced crispy duck breast with char-grilled peach, crusted paneer and hot green salad of spinach, peas, asparagus and beans | National Dish India

Wayne @NationalDish — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 15:45:32 +0000

This is a real head turner, impress your guests with the colour and then the flavour before you remind them it’s super healthy and low carb

There aren’t lots of recipes around for Indian crispy duck.

Most of you will know that Indian cuisine isn’t all wet curries, quite the opposite. The country is huge and the cuisine incredibly regional. I am partial to a Dhansak, and when I was in Mumbai I mentioned this, which was greeted with ‘oh, they eat that up near Delhi’. How cool is that, made me love it even more.

Britain has a wonderful love affair with Indian cuisine, with many British favourites actually coming from this very island. This Indian influences dry spiced crispy duck breast and it’s friends, I guess you can say, follows that same tradition.

This is a very healthy Indian dish, Paleo friendly and extraordinarily pretty.

I had some ingredients lying around and went for it – and it went, well.

Indian dry spiced crispy duck breast with char-grilled peach, crusted paneer and hot green salad of spinach, peas and beans

There are a few things going on here, nothing that should bust your ass too much, but have a quick read through so you can get your timings right. The duck will sit in a pan for 10 mins, under a grill for 5 and rest for 5 - so really, apart from prepping and slicing it, there isn't much to do, so you can crack on with other things. The better prep, the quicker everything will be. Put the kettle on, grab a large frying pan (first for the duck quick wipe down and then to warm the salad as the end), a saucepan to do some blanching and a smaller frying pan for the paneer. Also grab a large mixing bowl and a smaller one - for coating the duck and paneer. If you want the griddle effect on the peaches, which also adds flavour, get a heavy griddle pan on a high heat now - needs to be smoking - we don't want to cook the peach, we want to char it very very fast and that means hot hot hot.

CourseMain Dish, Salad
CuisineIndian
KeywordIndian Food, Salad

Servings2 people

Prep Time25 minutes

Cook Time25 minutes

Ingredients

The quack quack

2breasts of duckskin on
1tsp cumin powder
1tsp chilli powder
1tsp coriander powder
1tsp turmeric powder
2tsp sea salt flakes
2tbls vegetable oilyou want this mixture slightly wet

The paneer

120grams paneerIndian cheese cut in to rectangular bite sized chunks - all the same size and shape
1tsp cumin powder
1tsp cayenne pepper
1tsp garam masala
1tsp sea salt flakes
1tsp vegetable oilyou want to coat the paneer in this and to cover it in the dry mix.

The warm green salad

1handful broad beansyou need to blanch them and peel (don't just take them out of the pods)
5stems asparagusslice them to about an inch and a half, do it on an angle too
1fistful green beansyou'll slice these too, same size as the asparagus
1large handful spinach leavesthis is the 'bed' and goes so well with paneer - like lovers
1handful peasfrozen ones are ace
2green spring onionssliced at an angle for garnish, the white and lots of the green
1red spring onionsslice thinly, at an angle looks nice
2whole peachesI used doughnut peaches, slice then about 1cm, not too thin

Instructions

Let's do the spice mixes first, at the same time. Two bowls, the large one is for the duck. Add the spice list to each bowl respectively and the oil only to the large one, give em both a mix.
Add the boiling water from the kettle to your saucepan on a high heat and blanch the broad beans, green beans, peas and asparagus - 2-3 minutes tops at a rolling boil.
Place your duck in to the large bowl and cover it in the mixture and let it sit there for a few minutes at room temp whilst you sort the paneer. Put your large frying pan on a medium heat. Drain your greens and let them steam.
Get your perfectly sized paneer chunks and coat them in a little vegetable oil and then add it to the spice mixture. Toss them around until they are perfectly coated all over and dry to look at. Set aside.
Place the duck breasts in to the pan skin side down and leave it for 10 minutes. Check it from time to time just in case you have the heat too high - don't let it burn, but it will pick up a very dark colour - that doesn't mean that it's burnt.
Cover the peach slices in oil and a tiny sprinkle of salt and put them neatly on to the griddle pan. Let em go, turn them once, let them go and then turn them back after rotating 90 degrees - then you get a lattice. If you're worried about that, just make them go a lovely colour without burning them all over. Put them aside, they're done. Check the duck and put the grill on.
Get two plates ready and cover them in spinach leaves. Peel your broad beans - if you decide not to, look at yourself in the mirror with disgust. Slice the beans and asparagus.
Duck is probably ready, turn it skin side up and whack it under the grill for 5 minutes - don't burn it - just go easy - medium high heat.
Give the duck pan a wipe, you don't want charred remains on your greens and add all of them to the pan, tiny drizzle of oil in first. All we are doing is warming them all through - that's the green beans, peas, PEELED broad beans and asparagus - sprinkle the pan, from a height with some sea salt flakes, little toss and all that.
In the smaller pan, add a bit of oil to medium high heat and fry the paneer on each side, you're looking for colour only, which will heat it through - keep turning it.
Plate up time - firstly, slice the duck. Then place the greens on to the spinach leaves, place the duck on top, put the paneer and peach around it and then sprinkle the spring onions over the top.
That's it - nothing should be over cooked, the greens will be super green and your duck should be perfectly pink.
Thank you India

The post Indian dry spiced crispy duck breast with char-grilled peach, crusted paneer and hot green salad of spinach, peas, asparagus and beans | National Dish India appeared first on National Dish.

How do you make a healthy burrito? | Chinese crispy duck cauliflower rice burritos | National Dish

Wayne @NationalDish — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 20:49:37 +0000

How do you make a healthy burrito when they contain both bread AND rice – it’s a challenge?

Compromise – in this case, the rice – which unfortunately messes up the gluten free option. Use our simple recipe for the cauliflower rice.

Add to that, this is also a fusion of East and West – China meets Mexico and it’s superb.

How do you make a healthy burrito? | Chinese crispy duck cauliflower rice burritos

Ok, so this is only a lower than normal carb burrito, it works though - so any port in a storm.

CourseMain Dish
CuisineChinese, Mexican

Servings2 people

Prep Time15 minutes

Cook Time15 minutes

Ingredients

2whole duckbreasts, skin on
6 soft flour tortillasI used the small ones
1/2small cucumberde-seeded and cut in to little fingers
1fresh mangochopped in to 1cm cubs
1 fresh red chillichopped
1/2 lime
1 white onionsliced
1tsp Chinese five spice
1tsp cayenne pepper
1/2tsp garlic powder
1tsp sea salt flakes
1/2head cauliflowermake in to cauliflower rice using our recipe

Instructions

Cooke the perfect duck breast

If you want your duck crispy on the outside and pink in the middle, whilst keeping it from tasting like boot leather, follow this and you'll get it right every time.
Get a decent frying pan on to a medium heat, whilst it heating up you can prep the duck.
Get your breasts and rub them all over with oil - grow up.
In a bowl mix the Chinese five spice, cayenne, garlic powder and salt - then toss your breasts, covering it in the mixture. Seriously, grow up.
Put them skin side down in the pan and leave for 10 minutes - the cooking should be easy going, if it's spitting and sizzling a bit, turn down the heat. The mixture will turn very dark on the skin, that's not burnt - but keep the heat under control. Turn on your grill (broiler) - medium high.
As soon as the breasts are in the pan prepare all the other bits (drop to The test section) you have 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, turn the breasts skin side up and place under the grill for 5 minutes - keep a little eye on it.
When done, let them rest for a few minutes before slicing it up to burrito bite sized slices. It will be crispy on the outside and pink in the middle.

The rest

So your duck should be skin side down and happy in your pan. Throw the white onions in with it, around the duck.
Halve the mango, skirting the stone. Then with a tea towel in hand, hold the mango half flesh side up and with a small knife, score it in to 1cm squares down to the skin - don't go through it (hence the tea towel, just in case you do). You can then turn it inside out and slice the cubes off in to a bowl.
Add the chopped chilli, pinch of salt and squeeze the lime juice over it all and mix with a spoon - set aside, it done.
The cauliflower rice should have been cooked already for three minutes, keep that on standby for the final three minutes just as you put the duck out to rest.
Cook your tortillas, I like a hot dry frying pan, lob em in there and let them start to puff up. Gotta do this 6 times remember, so if time is tight....use two pans at the same time.

Serving it up

All your bits and pieces should be ready to go - get them on to the table and you should be ready for the final and best bit (apart from the eating obvs) - slicing the duck.
Serve it up just like that and build the burrito anyway you like.
Thank you China and Mexico
If you liked this - give it a little share and we'd love to hear what you think, leave a comment below. Enjoy.

The post How do you make a healthy burrito? | Chinese crispy duck cauliflower rice burritos | National Dish appeared first on National Dish.

Italian pesto crusted Cod with Asparagus in Parma ham | Bacalao con pesto y espárragos en jamón de Parma | What is the national dish of Italy?

Wayne @NationalDish — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 11:41:09 +0000

Italian pesto cod with asparagus in Parma ham, poached egg and Rocket and Parmesan salad – uhhhhhh
Photograph: Wayne Morgan – nationaldish.co.uk © 2017

Pesto is as Italian as it comes, it’s lovely stirred through pasta, but we don’t eat that shit here. Spread it on a chunky cod fillet, you won’t miss the heavy carb.

Serve it with another couple of classic Italian treats, Parma ham, wrapped around asparagus spears and rocket and Parmesan salad.

Bacalao con pesto y espárragos en jamón de Parma | Italian pesto crusted Cod with Asparagus in Parma ham

I'm focusing on the main event here, the pesto cod. You can access the recipes for the sides on the site, links above. For the pesto you can use a mortar and pestle, I used an electric hand blender, because it's quicker, obvs.

CourseMain Dish
CuisineItalian

Servings2 people

Prep Time25 minutes

Cook Time20 minutes

Ingredients

2chunky fillets of codskinless and boneless
2 eggs
1large bunch fresh basil
1handful pine nutsgrab a frying pan too
100grams parmesan cheesefinely grated
2cloves garliccrushed
100ml olive oilextra virgin, preferably Sicilian
1pinch sea salt flakes
1pinch ground black pepper
1optional green chilliroughly chopped

Instructions

Put the pan on a medium high heat and roast off the pine nuts - bit of colour, don't let them catch. Also, put the kettle on and the oven on 220.
Add all the other ingredients, except the cod, eggs, chilli and seasoning to your hand blender pot and then add the pine nuts.
Blend it up and taste, now very carefully season with salt and add the chilli - another quick blitz.
Rub a little olive oil on to your cod and season with salt and place in a suitable sized roasting tray. Smother the top side in the pesto - don't be shy.
Whack in the oven for 15 mins. This is your time to sort the side dishes too.
Get a pan boiling salted water (from the kettle) on the hob to poach the eggs 1 minute from end.
Serve it up, slice the soft poached egg - people tend to lose their shit over this sort of thing...for good reason.
Thank you Italy.
Grazie

The post Italian pesto crusted Cod with Asparagus in Parma ham | Bacalao con pesto y espárragos en jamón de Parma | What is the national dish of Italy? appeared first on National Dish.