I hadn't intended entering 2 cabbage dishes in the Gourmet Garden Blog Off/Cook Off, but hot on the heels of Red Cabbage Winter Salad, I was looking for something to serve with a delicious oriental style steak dish we had this evening.A savoy cabbage in the fridge provided exactly what I needed.
Stir fried Savoy Cabbage with Chilli and Ginger
serves 2 as a side dish
1 tbsp vegetable oil1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 tsp Gourmet Garden Chilli
1tsp Gourmet Garden Ginger
6-8 leaves of savoy cabbage, stripped from the stalks and finely shredded
splash of soy sauce
sprinkling of sesame seeds
Heat the oils in a frying pan or wok, Add in the chilli and ginger, quickly followed by the cabbage, and stir, cooking for 2-3 minutes, splashing in the soy sauce as you cook. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top and serve.
Another speedy entry in the Gourmet Garden Blog Off/Cook Off competition. You don't want to know about my day anyway - it started off with me smashing a jar of (beautiful, homemade) marmalade all over the kitchen floor then cutting my thumb on the glass, and has got worse. Putting Optrex drops into the (very reluctant) dog's eyes to try and avoid another vet bill has been a high point, I tell you.
So, without further ado, I bring you, hot on the heels of the Coriander & Chilli Eggs:
Thai Noodle Soup with Pork Patties
serves 4
450g minced pork
2 tsp Gourmet Garden Chopped Coriander
1 tsp Gourmet Garden Crushed Garlic
1 medium egg, beaten (you may not need all of it)
good grind of salt and pepper
2 strips of noodles
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 or 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 red pepper, thinly sliced
6 spring onion, halved then finely sliced lengthways
4 chestnut mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced
3 tsp Gourmet Garden Crushed Thai Spices
500ml chicken stock
1 can coconut milk
salt & pepper
First make the patties.Put the pork, Coriander and Garlic into a bowl with a good grind of salt and pepper, and mix together with a fork, adding the egg to bind as necessary. Form into small meatballs/patties - you should get about 12. Put on a plate, cover and put in the fridge to firm up until you need them..
To make the soup, cook the noodles according to the packet instructions, refresh in cold water and set aside. To stop them clumping together, you can stir through a tsp of sesame oil.
When you're pretty much ready to eat, firstly, brown the pork patties in a non stick frying pan. I am lucky enough to own a pan that didn't need any oil for this - but if you need to use some oil, use as little as possible. Set aside the browned patties and keep warm.
In a large pan, heat the sunflower oil and 1 tsp sesame oil, and add the spring onions and peppers, stir for a minute or 2, then add in the mushrooms, stir, pour in the coconut milk, then the stock, using the stock to clean out the coconut milk tin, then stir through the Thai Spices, grind in some pepper, and bring to a simmer.
Add the patties, and cook, at a simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the pork is cooked. You can fish out one of the patties and slice it in half to check if necessary. They don't take long.
Divide the noodles between soup plates, and top with the spicy soup and the patties.
What a time to be thinking about entering a competition? It's madness here. However, seduced by the possibility of fame, fortune and trip to Australia, I thought "Why not?" and emailed off to enter the Gourmet Garden Blog Off/Cook Off competition.
Next thing I know, a lovely selection of their tubes of fresh herbs arrives in a cute little pouch. While you can't beat fresh herbs, there are loads of opportunities to use these beauties - in fact when they arrived, I'd run out of fresh garlic and chillies anyway, and as fresh coriander often spoils pretty quickly, I can definitely see the advantage of the tube when you need it for flavour rather than as a garnish in particular.
Now, because of one thing and another, I have decided to take the quick and easy approach to my entry (or entries - I have used the tubes quite a lot, but I need to carve out some time to blog them!), so here's the first:
Coriander and Chilli Eggs
Ingredients for 1 (easily doubled)
splash of olive oil
2 tomatoes, deseeded and roughly chopped
1/2 red pepper, deseeded and chopped to similar size
1 tsp Gourmet Garden Coriander
1/2 tsp Gourmet Garden Chilli (or to taste)
1 egg
2 spring onions, sliced
1 tortilla wrap
1 small frying pan
grill proof serving dish (optional if you can put the frying pan under the grill!)
Turn on your grill to medium - high. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the tomatoes and red pepper, cook for a minute or so to start the juices running, then stir in the Coriander and Chilli.
Once the tomatoes and peppers are semi-cooked and the herbs are nicely incorporated, grind in some salt and pepper, stir again, then take off the heat. If you are using the grill proof serving dish, scrape the sauce into the dish, and quickly make a well in the centre of the sauce (or just make the well in the sauce in the frying pan) and crack the egg into it.
Pop the dish/frying pan under the grill, and cook for 8-10 mins until the egg is cooked. This will depend on how hot the frill is and how close your dish/pan is to the element - keep an eye on it!
If you have room under the grill, fold your tortilla in half and pop it under too for a couple of minutes to crisp up.
Serve the eggs with the tortilla and extra salt and pepper as desired.
I ate this for lunch, and it was very tasty. The chilli was sufficiently spicy and the coriander gave a great flavour to the sauce. If you were feeling brave and a little like a taste of Mexico, it would work well as a kind of huevos rancheros style breakfast.
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