Ain't Mushroom To Be British

This week’s info blog is dedicated to two contrasting examples for the expression “Being British” Queen Victoria andCaptain Edward John Smith.This week’s recipes are continuing on last week’s topic of healthy eating, and all to do with Mushrooms, they are Mushroom Stroganoff, Pork Steaks with mushrooms & Rosemary and Beef and Wild Mushroom Stew.

Queen Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India.

Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III. Both the Duke of Kent and the King died in 1820, and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German-born mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne at the age of 18 after her father's three elder brothers died without surviving legitimate issue. The United Kingdom was already an established constitutional monarchy, in which the Sovereign held relatively few direct political powers. Privately, she attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments. Publicly, she became a national icon, and was identified with strict standards of personal morality.

She married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children and 26 of their 34 grandchildren who survived childhood married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and earning her the nickname "the grandmother of Europe". After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration.

Her reign of 63 years and 7 months, which is longer than that of any other British monarch and the longest of any female monarch in history, is known as the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover; her son and successor Edward VII belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Captain Edward John Smith, RD, RNR (27 January 1850 – 15 April 1912) was an English naval reserve officer and ship's captain. He was the officer in command of the RMS Titanic and died when the ship sank in 1912. There is a statue to his legacy in Beacon Park, Lichfield and a real ale named after him brewed by the Titanic Brewery of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. www.titanicbrewery.co.uk

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My first recipe is Mushroom Stroganoff courtesy of BBC Goodfood Magazine February 2012.

Serves 2, Prep 10mins, Cook 20mins

2tsp x Olive Oil
1 x Onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp x Paprika
2 x Garlic Cloves, crushes
300g x Mixed Mushrooms, chopped
150ml x Low Sodium Beef or Vegetable Stock
1 tbsp x Worcestershire Sauce, or Vegetarian Alternative
3 tbsp x Half-Fat Soured Cream
Small bunch of Parsley, roughly chopped
250g x Cooked Wild Rice

Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan and soften the onion for about 5mins. Add the garlic and paprika, then cook for a minute more. Add the mushrooms and cook on a high heat, stirring often, for about 5mins. Pour in the stock and Worcestershire Sauce. Bring to the boil, bubble for 5mins until the sauce thickens, then turn off the heat and stir through the soured cream and most of the parsley. Make sure the pan is not on the heat or the sauce may split. Cook the rice accordingly and stir through the remaining parsley, then serve with the stroganoff.

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My next recipe is Pork Steaks with Mushrooms & Rosemary, recipe by Gino D’Campo, taken from “The I Diet”.

Serves 4

2 tbsp x Olive Oil
4 x Lean Pork Steaks (approx 120g each)
250g x Button Mushrooms, quartered
2 tbsp x Rosemary Leaves, chopped
½ tsp x Dried Chilli Flakes
Juice of a Large Orange
1 tbsp x Red Wine Vinegar

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the pork for 2mins on each side until browned. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the mushrooms and rosemary to the frying pan and fry for 3mins, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle over the chilli and pour in the orange juice and the vinegar. Bring to the boil. At this point return the pork steaks to the pan and cook over a medium heat for 5mins to allow the meat to finish cooking and the sauce to thicken. Turn the pork halfway through. Season with salt and serve immediately.

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My final recipe is Beef and Wild Mushroom Stew. Recipe by Gino D’Campo, from “The I diet”.

Serves 4

400g x Lean Rump Steak, cut into 2cm cubes
1 tbsp x Plain Flour
2 tbsp x Extra Virgin Olive Oil
200g x Baby Onions
50g x Pancetta, diced
150g x Mixed Wild mushrooms, cleaned and roughly sliced
1 x Large Carrot, cut into 1cm cubes
2 x Garlic Cloves, finely chopped
150ml x Red Wine
1 tbsp x Tomato Paste
400ml x Beef Stock
3 x Rosemary Sprigs
1 x Bay Leaf
Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Preheat your oven to 200C/180C Fan Gas Mark 6. Place the cubed beef in a large bowl and dust with the flour. Heat the oil in a large non-stick flameproof casserole and gently fry the beef for 2-3mins until browned all over. Work in batches if necessary. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the onions and pancetta to the pan and cook for 5mins, stirring occasionally. Add the mushrooms, carrot and garlic and continue to cook for a further 5mins. Pour in the wine and bring to the boil. Return the beef to the pan, stir in the tomato paste and gently mix well. Pour in the stock a little at a time, stirring as you do so, to create a sauce. Bring to the boil. Tuck in the rosemary and the bay leaf, cover the casserole and transfer to the middle of the oven for 25mins. Remove the lid for the last 5mins to allow the sauce to thicken. Before serving, season with salt and pepper and allow the casserole to rest, out of the oven for 10mins.

Tune into my show "Under The Covers with TheRealTonyc" every Sunday from 8-10am on 6townsradio atwww.6towns.co.uk/ It's what your Sunday's were made for.

If you have enjoyed my blog, or have tried out the recipes I have included and wish to comment, please feel free to comment using the comment button or by visiting my guestbook, all comments and suggestions will be gratefully received.

Hope you enjoy!!..... ChefGarfy =D

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Papa Stop Preaching, You're Talking Italian

Hi everyone and welcome to the blog. This week’s blog has a strong Italian influence to it, with Madonna and Robert De Niro celebrating birthdays this week. Two of this week’s featured recipes are traditional Italian family recipes, they areStuffed Chicken Breast with a Red Pepper Sauce, Classic Amatriciana Bucatini and Chilli Soup. The herb of the week is Penny Royal.

Madonna (born Madonna Louise Ciccone; August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983. She followed it with a series of albums by which she found immense popularity by pushing the boundaries of lyrical content in mainstream popular music and imagery in her music videos, which became a fixture on MTV. Throughout her career, many of her songs have hit number one on the record charts, including "Like a Virgin", "Papa Don't Preach", "Like a Prayer", "Vogue", "Frozen", "Music", "Hung Up", and "4 Minutes". Critics have praised Madonna for her diverse musical productions while at the same time serving as a lightning rod for religious controversy.
Her career was further enhanced by film appearances that began in 1979, despite mixed commentary. She won critical acclaim and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her role in Evita (1996), but has received harsh feedback for other film roles. Madonna's other ventures include being a fashion designer, children's book author, film director and producer. She has been acclaimed as a businesswoman, and in 2007, she signed an unprecedented US $120 million contract with Live Nation.
Madonna has sold more than 300 million records worldwide and is recognized as the world's top-selling female recording artist of all time by the Guinness World Records. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century and the second top-selling female artist in the United States, behind Barbra Streisand, with 64 million certified albums. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked Madonna at number two, behind only The Beatles, on the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists, making her the most successful solo artist in the history of the Billboard chart. She was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the same year. Considered to be one of the "25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century" by Time for being an influential figure in contemporary music, Madonna is known for continuously reinventing both her music and image, and for retaining a standard of autonomy within the recording industry.

Robert De Niro, Jr. (born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film role was in 1973's Bang the Drum Slowly. In 1974, he played the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, a role that won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
His critically acclaimed, longtime collaboration with Martin Scorsese began with 1973's Mean Streets, and earned De Niro an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jake LaMotta in the 1980 film Raging Bull. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and Cape Fear (1991). In addition, he received nominations for his acting in Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978) and Penny Marshall's Awakenings (1990). Also in 1990, his portrayal as Jimmy Conway in Scorsese's Goodfellas earned him a BAFTA nomination.

He has earned four nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: New York, New York (1977), Midnight Run (1988), Analyze This (1999) and Meet the Parents (2000). De Niro also directed A Bronx Tale (1993) and The Good Shepherd (2006).
The full version of this article can be found at www.chefgarfyinfo.blog.co.uk

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My first recipe is Stuffed Chicken Breast with A Red Pepper Sauce, recipe courtesy of BBCGoodFood website. First appeared in Olive magazine July 2005.

Serves 4, Prep time approx 5mins, cooking time approx 45mins.

4 x Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 x Mozzarella Ball, sliced
8 x Cherry Tomatoes, halved
A Handful of Basil Leaves
8 x Slices of Parma Ham

For the Red Pepper Sauce
4 x Red Peppers
Olive Oil
200g x Cherry Tomatoes (about 1 x punnet)
1 x Organic Vegetable Stock Cube
2 tbsp x Light Muscovado Sugar

Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. To make the sauce, put the red peppers on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and cook for 20-25 minutes. Cool slightly, peel, chop and put in a pan with the tomatoes and a splash of water. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add the stock cube and sugar and season well. Blend to a smooth sauce in a food processor.
Make a slit down 1 side of each chicken breast to form a pocket. Season. Stuff each pocket with slices of mozzarella, 4 cherry tomato halves and a quarter of the basil. Wrap each chicken breast with 2 pieces of ham and season. Put on a baking sheet and cook for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.
Serve with the red pepper sauce and seasonal vegetables such as steamed carrots and broccoli or roasted courgette and red peppers. Or alternatively with fresh pasta or potatoes..

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My next recipe is Classic Amatriciana bucatini, recipe by John Tarode, courtesy of BBC GoodFood website. First appeared in GoodFood Magazine September 2010.

Serves 5-6 easily doubled, Prep time 20mins, Cooking time 20mins

2kg x Tomatoes - cherry, plum or ordinary - roughly chopped
250g x Smoked Bacon, cut into strips, or cubetti di pancetta
2 x Small Red Chillies
500g x Bucatini
200g pecorino , grated

Put the tomatoes into a food processor in batches and whizz to a fine pulp. Sieve into a large pan, in batches again, pressing through as much tomato as you can with a wooden spoon. Simmer for 20-30 mins until the sauce has reduced by a third to about 700ml. This homemade passata can now be frozen.
Put the bacon or pancetta into a cold, large, heavy-based frying pan. Place over a medium heat - the fat will slowly melt and the bacon will cook. Add the whole chillies (don't worry, they come out at the end) and cook for 8-10 mins with the bacon until the bacon is sizzling and golden all over. Stir in the tomato sauce, bring to the boil and simmer for 4-5 mins.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta, then drain well. While still hot, tip it into the sauce, sprinkle with most of the cheese and stir well. Remove the whole chillies, dish the pasta onto plates and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
No seasoning should be required for this dish, the salty pecorino cheese and smoked meat should mean there is no need to add extra salt. The chilli will add heat, so you may not need pepper.

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Herb of the week – Penny Royal (Mentha pulegium)
Pennyroyal also called Squaw Mint, Mosquito Plant, and Pudding Grass, is a plant in the mint genus, within the family Lamiaceae. Crushed Pennyroyal leaves exhibit a very strong fragrance similar to spearmint. Pennyroyal is a traditional culinary herb, folk remedy, and abortifacient. The essential oil of pennyroyal is used in aromatherapy, and is also high in pulegone, a highly toxic volatile organic compound affecting liver and uterine function.
Pennyroyal was commonly used as a cooking herb by the Greeks and Romans. The ancient Greeks often flavoured their wine with pennyroyal. A large number of the recipes in the Roman cookbook of Apicius call for the use of pennyroyal, often along with such herbs as lovage, oregano and coriander. Although still commonly used for cooking in the Middle Ages, it gradually fell out of use as a culinary herb and is seldom used so today.

Even though pennyroyal oil is extremely poisonous, people have relied on the fresh and dried herb for centuries. Early settlers in colonial Virginia used dried pennyroyal to eradicate pests. Pennyroyal was such a popular herb that the Royal Society published an article on its use against rattlesnakes in the first volume of its Philosophical Transactions in 1665.

Pennyroyal tea is the use of an infusion made from the herb. The infusion is widely reputed as safe to ingest in restricted quantities. It has been traditionally employed and reportedly successful as an emmenagogue (menstrual flow stimulant) or as an abortifacient. Pennyroyal is also used to settle an upset stomach and to relieve flatulence. The fresh or dried leaves of pennyroyal have also been used when treating colds, influenza, abdominal cramps, and to induce sweating, as well as in the treatment of diseases such as smallpox and tuberculosis, and in promoting latent menstruation. Pennyroyal leaves, both fresh and dried, are especially noted for repelling insects. However, when treating infestations such as fleas, using the plant's essential oil should be avoided due to its toxicity to both humans and animals, even at extremely low levels.

Pennyroyal essential oil is extremely concentrated. It should never be taken internally because it is highly toxic; even in small doses, consumption of the oil can result in death. The metabolite menthofuran is thought to be the major toxic agent. Complications have been reported from attempts to use the oil for self-induced abortion. For example, in 1978 an eighteen year-old pregnant woman from Denver, Colorado died within one week after consuming one ounce of concentrated Pennyroyal oil in an attempt to self-induce abortion. There are numerous studies that show the toxicity of pennyroyal oil to both humans and animals.

Since the U.S. Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act in October 1994, all manufactured forms of pennyroyal in the United States have carried a warning label against its use by pregnant women. This substance is not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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My final recipe is Chilli soup, recipe courtesy of www.goodtoknow.co.uk. Recipe first appeared in Woman’s Weekly magazine.

Serves 4 Prep time 10mins, Cook time 40mins

1tbsp x Sunflower Oil
1 x Onion, peeled and chopped
1 x Red or Green Chilli, peeled and chopped
2 x Garlic Cloves, peeled and crushed
250g x Minced Beef
1 x 400g can of Chopped Tomatoes
1 x 300-400g can of Red Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
1 beef stock cube
1-2 cubes dark chocolate
1tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dash of Tabasco sauce
600ml x Hot Water

To garnish:
A few nacho chips
4dsp soured cream
30g (1oz) mature Cheddar cheese, grated

Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and cook it over a medium heat for 4-5 mins, stirring it occasionally. Add the chilli and garlic and cook for a further 2-3 mins. Add the minced beef to the pan and cook for 4-5 mins, stirring occasionally until the meat has browned.
Pour the water into the pan and add the chopped tomatoes and kidney beans. Crumble in the stock cube and stir until it’s dissolved. Bring the mixture to the boil, then cover the pan and reduce the heat. Simmer the soup gently for 20-30 mins.
Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate. Stir until it melts and then stir in the coriander and season to taste with salt, pepper and Tabasco sauce.
Spoon the soup into serving bowls, pushing the meat towards the centre of the bowl. Place a small pile of nacho chips in the centre, so they rest on the meat, and then spoon some soured cream on top and scatter over some grated Cheddar. Serve immediately.

cibo per tutta la famiglia

If you have enjoyed my blog, or have tried out the recipes I have included and wish to comment, please feel free to comment using the comment button or by visiting my guestbook, all comments and suggestions will be gratefully received.

Hope you enjoy!!..... ChefGarfy =D

www.intimately-yours.org
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