Alex's Tips - Recipe tips
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Q: I have cooked roast chicken left over and would like to serve it with the red rice. Do you have any recipes or ideas rather than to just serve them both plain or as salad. Something warming? Many thanks Chloe
Dear Chloe,
I hope you are well, I cooked the perfect dish a week or so ago, a sort of empty the fridge and add bacon red rice “paella” with soft carrots and smoked paprika. The trick to making a wonderfully warming number with leftover red rice is to make it into a meal with a risotto type texture. My family and I eat this often, as every time I cook Camargue red rice, I cook the whole packet and freeze some of the cooked rice for mealtimes when I have no time, red rice is perfect for re-heating because it is not at all fragile or gluey as long and short grain are respectively.
To start, boil your kettle. Mix your cooked rice with either light stock (you can use powder) or even better, leftover roast chicken gravy. Add enough of the stock so that you have the sort of texture you like best; there is no perfect texture, some people simply like rice/risotto/paella more soupy than others.
Warm the rice through, either in the microwave (I love my microwave for re-heating) or on your hob. Once the rice is hot, chop the chicken into pieces of the size that you will find pleasant to eat with the rice. Add the chicken to the rice and then warm it through gently. Once the rice is hot and the chicken is warm you can then turn your red rice into whatever you fancy.
For a rich and soporific treat, stir in lots of cheese and butter, if you fancy something light and fragrant, add freshly grated ginger, chilli, lemon or orange zest and mint, (try a trickle of our spiced black rice vinegar to light this up) for a more traditional taste, add smoked paprika.
Pesto would be very nice, or just lots of sliced basil and a few spoonfuls of olive or basil infused olive oil. Or garlic, butter and parsley, or fried bacon bits and their cooking fat, yum. If, as you are about to serve your rice, you feel that you want it more soupy, simply add boiling water from your kettle, little by little until you get the texture you like, season it to taste then serve.
Keep track of our video recipes too as we’ll have posted a chicken, red rice and pepper “paella” on our website.
I wish you a warm and wonderful winter’s evening
Alex
Q. Can you give me any recipe ideas for pinto beans and aduki beans (not together!). i am trying to broaden my tastebuds, but don't have a clue what to do with them!
The adzuki beans will need soaking overnight and then take 40 minutes to one hour to simmer, as with all dried pulses, the cooking time will vary according to their age and how dry they are. Boil the beans for 2 minutes before turning lowering the heat to a gentle simmer. Don't add salt to the beans until they are cooked as over the long cooking time, it will harden their skins. Let the beans sit to rest, covered, for 10 minutes once they are cooked so that the heat gets to the centre of the beans. Pinto beans take 1-1 & 1/2 hours to cook in the same way.
To get you started, once the adzuki beans are cooked and rested, drain some then try them in separate bowls then add your favourite seasonings. For example, ginger, soy and garlic, if you like this, you could turn it into a main course salad by adding peppers, cucumbers and chicken, mackerel or salmon. Try seasoning them with curry powder then adding apple and raisins, try them with pesto and SunBlush tomatoes and roasted peppers. The great thing about these beans is they are a base to build on. They will always be much better if you season them while they are hot because they will absorb the flavours. For a simple dressing, try our basil, garlic or chilli oils.
As for the pinto beans, they are the bean most used in Mexican cooking, so they're suggested for re-fried beans, tacos, that sort of thing. I'd suggest seasoning them with chilli or cayenne pepper, lime juice, garlic, really big flavours. You can also use them to make fantastic wraps, season them highly, mix them with cheese then wrap them up and bake them. Serve with sour cream and avocado.
Q. I am going to use a recipe that calls for mi-cuit plums and i thought Merchant Gourmet did them?
You can either use, ready to eat prunes or create your own by cutting fresh plums in half, removing the stones. Toss them with sugar and vanilla, put them onto a non stick tray then dry them in a very low (70c) oven overnight until they are sufficiently dry. Beware though as many of the plums we get hold a lot of water and will take a while to dry.
Q. I want to make some sun dried tomato and parmesan bread in the bread machine, do I have to soak the tomatoes first or can I put them in as they are with the dry ingredients.
You can actually do either depending on the result you want. If you put them in dried they will remain chewy which is very nice but might be a difficult texture when it comes to slicing the bread and some might find them too chewy.
The best way would be to soak the dried tomatoes in the water that you then use to make the bread. This way, the water becomes a dried tomato stock so you get a double whammy of the flavour throughout your bread. Once they are soaked, I would suggest chopping the dried tomatoes to the size of raisins so each slice of bread has an even amount. Often when ingredients the size of our dried tomatoes are used whole you get the odd slice which has some and the next which does not.
I can already smell those wonderful aromas in my mind.
Q. I have some whole chestnuts. Can you recommend a tasty easy vegetarien recipe?
A. There are two good vegetarian recipes using chestnuts on this page of our website. http://www.merchant-gourmet.com/recipes/product/23/
For something lighter in summer, the whole chestnuts go well, sliced and lightly fried or grilled, on top of salads, in the same way as you might use a crouton. I find they combine well with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. Try a roasted pepper, goats cheese and crisp chestnut salad, with or without salad leaves. Or slice some beef steak tomatoes thinly then scatter cubes of mozzarella, cucumber and SunBlush tomatoes then scatter the crisp chestnuts over the top for a lovely mixture of textures. You can try similar salad combinations with roast aubergines, sweet potatoes, squash and courgettes. You can also use these combinations for pasta dishes, in this case some of the chestnuts can be added to the roast vegetables whole and others sliced and scattered over the top for a delicately sweet crunch.
I hope this gets you started!
Q. Do you have a good recipe for Paris Brest?
A. I hope you are well, I love Paris Brest too, but I don’t know that I have ever made a ‘true’ one. I’ve found a recipe for you from Eric Lanlard who is an outstanding Pastry Chef I worked with a few times for Great Food Live on UKTV - http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/513043. His is a real French, no holds barred number.
However, I do a cheats version of the cream, a 50/50 mixture of mascarpone and cream, whipped, mixed with toasted hazelnuts and sweetened with dulce de leche. You can also sweeten it with icing sugar and flavour it with vanilla seeds if you prefer.
Q. How can I cool a home made curry down if it's too hot?
A. The quickest way there and then if you’ve made a curry too spicy is to serve with plenty of yogurt, cucumber and mint, or for a nice change try adding fresh apple or mango to this mixture, that’ll all help cool your mouth down but obviously won’t take the heat out of the actual curry.
I have been making curry with the pre-cooked beluga lentils, you could stir a bag of these in, plenty of plain boiled rice on the side also helps.
Another way, which will help to dilute the flavour a bit is to add some coconut milk, stock or cream depending on the type of curry you are making.
The ideal solution if you have a bit more time, is to make another batch of the curry sauce without any hot spices at all and then add it to the original.
Q. What is the best vegetarian sandwich out there?
A. Foccacia with Ricotta and SunBlush Ratatouille. Cut a Foccacia in half through the centre, mix ricotta with basil and black pepper, spread across the bottom half of the foccacia, mix ratatouille with SunBlush tomatoes and pop on top of the ricotta, top with foccacia and devour standing up. You can make a no-cook version of this with the ricotta, SunBlush tomatoes and piquillo peppers. It is also very good in a baguette or in a wrap. If you’re eating it at home rather than taking it out, warm gently in the oven for 3-4 minutes.
Q. Any tips to make my lunchtime soup more satisfying?
A. Puy Lentils are an excellent addition that will add elegant body and taste to all soups from a light vegetable broth to creamy soups of butternut squash or pumpkin. They are also outstanding with tomato and rosemary and make a robust meal in a winter soup with chorizo and onion.
Q. I’m looking to do something different with my salads – any suggestions?
A. Lentils make a delicious and filling salad, to which you can add anything from roasted peppers to grilled chicken to tinned tuna. Camargue Red Rice is also a lively little beauty to treat the same way. In both cases, the key is to dress them while they are still hot, this way they’ll soak up the dressing and seasonings. For an original replacement for croutons, slice and grill cooked chestnuts then toss them through green salads.
Q. I want to cook a lower fat version of my favourite meal - a cooked breakfast. Any tips?
A. Very simply, grill the bacon, tomato and mushrooms and poach your egg. You can also do a fun version by baking whole field mushrooms stuffed with Mi-Cuit Tomatoes, top with grilled bacon and poached egg, then put a second mushroom on top to make a bread free breakfast burger.
