Gordon Ramsay's Cookalong Christmas Paella

S and I both love watching Gordon Ramsay's F Word, Cookalong Live and Hell's Kitchen. He is entertaining, intense, doesn't mince words and best of all, his recipes are relatively straightforward. Between the two of us, we have tried quite a few of his recipes that have generally turned out well, but only managed to photograph a few. As luck would have it, one of the ones I photographed isn't one of his better recipes.

Maybe it was because we didn't use a 'paella/large enough frying pan'. Or maybe it was because we forgot to heat up the store bought vegetable stock before pouring it into the mix. Nevertheless, these oversights/omissions would have only addressed the moistness issue, not the taste. Gordon's Christmas Paella (as seen on Cookalong Live) wasn't inedible, but it was bland and rather wet and risotto-like. I didn't really mind that it wasn't as dry as a paella should be, but the lack of flavour was unacceptable and thoroughly disappointing.

In retrospect, the dubious use of vegetable stock, rather than fish or seafood stock, in the recipe should have set off warning bells. Dissatisfied, I looked up meat paella recipes on the same website and found exactly the two missing things that I thought should have been in the recipe - in the meat paella recipe, the meat is cooked in the pan first, then the oil from the meat is used to flavour the paella rice and chicken stock is used. Therefore, to maximise the flavours of the seafood, I think Gordon's recipe should have had us searing an oily fish like salmon or cod, skin side down, in the pan first (or whole prawns, etc) and using hot fish or seafood stock.

We will definitely be making (or at least trying to make) paella again, since we love it and are on the hunt for a perfect recipe, and maybe next time, if we're in the mood for seafood paella, we will try Gordon's recipe again with our modifications. Otherwise, we will be testing this Chicken and Chorizo Paella recipe.

Anyway, we sat down with our bowls of paella and watched this episode of the F Word. By the end of the show, S was ready to try another recipe of Gordon's (from the show) to make up for the disappointing paella. To be continued...

Banana Bread

[Edit 25 May 2011: Updated recipe for perfect results!]

This has been my absolute favourite Banana Bread (or cake) recipe since C first shared it with me (Thanks C!), about six years ago. Maybe I'm just biased but no other banana bread or cake that I've tried since has surpassed it. And if that isn't enough, it is also so ridiculously easy to make it's almost idiot-proof - a deciding factor for me when selecting recipes!

Fresh from the oven, this aromatic (most baked good smell wonderful and this is no exception), mildly banana flavoured Banana Bread is deliciously soft, chocolatey, warm and comforting. It freezes well too, so you can make a few loaves, freeze them and just pop a cold (defrosted) slice in the microwave for 20-30 seconds to recapture that ‘oven fresh’ goodness. The chocolate chips will melt into heavenly pockets of goo within the lovely, soft, warm, bread/cake. Say it with me - Mmmmmmm!

The original recipe may be found here. I haven't made changes but I have edited it for brevity. I have tweaked it very slightly to my liking - this tweaked version produces the perfect banana bread IMO.

Banana Bread

Wet Ingredients:

60 - 70g softened butter

2 eggs

2 very ripe bananas

2/3 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Combine the wet ingredients above in a bowl then squish the banana with a fork and mix the ingredients together until mushy. In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients below and mix well with a whisk.

Dry Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon all spice
1/2 cup chocolate chips (Nestle's dark chocolate bits is best!)

Then combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix until the ingredients are blended together. You may mix in a handful (1/2 cup) of chopped walnuts, pecans, dried cherries or apricots at this point if you prefer. Pour the mixture into greased loaf tins and bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Simon & Alison Holst's 100 Favourite 20 Minute Dishes Cookbook

Critic Issue 15 - Num Nums

When I happened upon Simon and Alison Holst’s ‘100 Favourite 20 Minute Dishes’ cookbook at D’s family home some months ago, I decided that it would be a good way to gain some insight on Kiwi home cooking as well as test the recipes of this Dunedin/Kiwi icon. Based solely on the appealingness of the pictures, we have tried six recipes, with varied results. The first, and the reason the cookbook came out of the cupboard in the first place, was the ‘Orange Syrup Cakes’. Fresh out of the oven, the cakes were nice, soft, warm and orangey but not so much after they’d been left to stand (for at least an hour, as instructed).

A few weeks later, we tackled two more recipes - both were relatively easy to make and I enjoyed the ‘Curried Cauliflower and Eggs’ so much that it has become a staple for me. The combination of cauliflower, eggs, potatoes and peas coated in mildly spicy, thick curry is great and it’s one of those tasty and hearty vegetable dishes in which you don’t miss the meat. Of course, each time I’ve made it since, I have modified the recipe to suit my laziness. As a result, the most recent attempt just wasn’t up to par, so I will have to go back to the original recipe.

The ‘Beef Stroganoff’ also turned out well, but we foolishly omitted an ingredient, which compromised the end result. There was a nice winey, beefy richness to the sauce but it was thin and lacked (for want of a better word) ‘punch’. That’s what we get for leaving out the sour cream, which would have given it a fuller flavour.

We did not have as much luck with the next three recipes. The ‘Stir-fried Chicken & Mushrooms’ recipe had, in my opinion, several superfluous ingredients, making it a little fussier than it needed to be. It turned out okay, but a week later, I managed to concoct a better version with far fewer ingredients and steps. The ‘Fish Battercakes’ were a complete and utter disaster. The batter was thick, hard and tasteless and those are the three things you don’t want in something battered and fried.

All the components of the ‘Black Forest Roll’ on the other hand, despite failing to turn into a roll, were delicious. The top layer of the cake stuck to the baking paper, even though we buttered and sugared the paper as instructed, and the cake cracked and all the filling oozed out the ends when we tried to roll it up. There was nothing to be done except scoop up the mess, dump it in a bowl, slap some extra filling on top and eat it all with a spoon. The undisputed star was the divine, luscious, sweet whipped rum cream filling (beat 1 cup of cream with ¼ cup icing sugar and 2 tablespoons of rum until thick). I’d recommend this as a cheat to enhance your desserts. There are about seven more recipes that I would like to try, and overall, it’s a pretty handy cookbook even though the instructions are a little more lengthy than I would prefer and the recipes aren’t as ‘quick and easy’ as I imagined 20-minute recipes would be.

Bruschetta Reprise with Garlic Prawns

About two months ago, I finally re-created the Garlic Prawns Bruschetta that I discovered at Oriole late last year. It was absolutely delicious, a hit with everyone, and therefore definitely worth all the slicing, seeding, dicing and sautéing. I've described them before, so I won't repeat myself. If you would like to try this, just incorporate the following steps into the Tomato Bruschetta recipe:

1. Finely slice garlic.
2. Season prawns with olive oil, salt and garlic.
3. Pan fry prawns and garlic slices in a hot, dry pan until golden brown.
4. Top each piece of tomato bruschetta with a prawn and a slice of sautéed garlic.
5. Immediately take a big bite, savour and commence synchronised gushing with friends and family.