Braised fennel with taleggio and salami, rice with sundried tomato

I bought some taleggio cheese the other day, having seen in a newspaper a recipe using it. It was said to be a good melting cheese. For the meal tonight I quartered two small bulbs of fennel. I cooked them in a little butter and water for about 15 minutes in a covered pan. Meanwhile I cooked some basmati rice. In a separate pan I softened a chopped onion, adding strips of sundried tomato (from a bottle of sundried tomatoes in oil). I added the cooked rice to the onion and tomatoes and mixed in ground pepper and lemon juice. The cooked fennel was placed in a small dish, scattered with chopped salami, and slices of taleggio put on top. The dish was put under a preheated grill for 3-4 minutes.

I've only eaten taleggio once before. It tasted rather like camembert and rather overpowered the taste of the fennel. The rice was nice though, especially with the lemon flavour.

Chile

225g kidney beans, cooked weight

60mls sunflower/cooking oil

2 onions peeled and diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1kg beef mince

1 green pepper, cored, seeded and chopped

15mls chili powder, or to taste

5mls paprika

5mls cumin

45mls tomato puree

15mls flour

salt

2x 400g tins tomatoes

In a large casserole fry the onions and garlic until golden but not burned. Add mince and fry until browned.

Add the pepper and everything else except the tomatoes and beans. Mix and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add tomatoes and beans. Mix and bring to the boil. Cover and reduce heat to lowest possible. If dry add leftover liquid from beans or water. Keep the liquid at about the level of the dry ingredients.

Cook slowly for one and a half hours+

Chili con Carne on white rice, broccoli

Chilii cooked as a big batch by G

Leftovers tonight

Cooked rice, diced pork (from last night), ratatouille. Mix all together and reheat gently. Quite tasty.

A small piece of local Somerset shoulder of pork tonight. For the last few years we have been buying almost all our meat through a local organisation: http://www.sfmdirect.co.uk The rind was rubbed with a little oil and salt, then roasted at 180C for 30 minutes per lb +30 minutes. This gives a lovely crunchy crackling. With this we ate roast potatoes and the fennel salad.

Fennel and Orange Salad

• adapted from Abel & Cole

  1/2  navel orange, peeled and cut into small chunks

• 1/2 bulb fennel, finely sliced
• 2 slices onion finely chopped
• 2 pitted black olives, chopped
• 2  sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped
• 1 small clove garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Mix all ingredients together. Serve at  once.

This a very nice, fresh tasting salad. Unfortunately, the balsamic vinegar made it look rather murky. It would have looked more attractive if the orange was reserved and scattered on top. The garlic added a nice sharpness.

Polenta with chicken liver sauce, spring greens

Polenta, quick cook, only 5 minutes stirring; bland base for a chicken liver sauce: 

Soften a large chopped onion in a little olive oil. When soft, add 2 chopped garlic cloves and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan. In the same pan quickly cook thinly sliced mushrooms. When mushrooms are cooked put onions back into the pan. Add enough water to make a sauce, a couple of tablespoons of tomato puree, the juice of half a lemon,and a good shake of soy sauce. Let simmer. Meanwhile quickly brown chopped chicken livers. Mix livers into sauce and serve on top of the polenta.

Baked potato with ratatouille and grated cheddar

not much to say about this

good comfort food again

Marinaded steak strips 

We've been away for the weekend and brought back some steak from my mother's freezer. The provenance and age are uncertain, so I thought it could probably do with some help. A marinade of thin strips seemed the best way to do this.

Marinade:

2 tbsp prepared mustard

1 tbsp honey

4tbsp wine vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil

4 cloves garlic, crushed

5mls ground black pepper

450g steak, trimmed, then cut into 0.5 cm thin strips across the grain of the meat

Mix all the marinade ingredients in a non- metal bowl. Put in steak, mix and leave for about 1 hour.

To cook: heat olive oil in large frying pan. Tip in meat when oil starts to smoke. Cook on high heat about 5 minutes. Lower heat and tip in enough double cream to make a sauce. I served this with white rice and leek chunks softened in butter.