Hi everyone and welcome to the blog. This week’s blog is entitled The Comedy King and The Fresh Prince and is dedicated to two iconic members of comedy royalty who’s birthdays are celebrated and remembered this week Ronnie Barker and Will Smith. The featured recipes this week are Sweet Potato and Chorizo Soup, Classic North Indian Chicken Curry and Apple and Plum Crumble.
I’ve decided to have a little change in direction with a feature of this blog. Instead of a featured herb or spice, I’m going to feature a much maligned and/or forgotten about ingredient. And this week’s much maligned ingredient is Chickpeas.
Ronnie Barker Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE (25 September 1929 – 3 October 2005) was a British actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman. He was known for his roles in various British comedy television series, such as The Frost Report, Porridge, The Two Ronnies and Open All Hours.
He began his acting career in repertory theatre and decided he was best suited to performing comic roles. Barker gained his first acting successes at the Oxford Playhouse and later in various roles in the West End including Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound. During this period, he became a cast member on BBC radio and television comedy programmes such as The Navy Lark. Barker got his television break with the satirical sketch series The Frost Report in 1966 where he met future collaborator Ronnie Corbett. He joined David Frost's production company and was to star in a number ITV shows including a short film during this period.
After rejoining the BBC Barker found fame with the sketch show The Two Ronnies (1971—1986) with Ronnie Corbett. After the series of pilots called Seven of One, he gained starring roles in the sitcoms Porridge, its sequel Going Straight and Open All Hours. Apart from being a performer, he was noted as a comedy writer both under his own name and the pseudonym Gerald Wiley, which Barker adopted to avoid pre-judgements of his talent. Barker won the BAFTA for Best Light Entertainment Performance four times, amongst other awards, and received an OBE in 1978.
Later television sitcoms such as The Magnificent Evans and Clarence were less successful and he decided to retire in 1987. After his retirement, he opened an antiques shop with his wife, Joy. After 1997, he appeared in a number of smaller, non-comic roles in films. Barker died of heart failure on 3 October 2005, aged 76.
Will Smith Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in music, television and film. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood. Smith has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, two Academy Awards, and has won multiple Grammy Awards.
In the late 1980s, Smith achieved modest fame as a rapper under the name The Fresh Prince. In 1990, his popularity increased dramatically when he starred in the popular television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show ran for nearly six years (1990–1996) on NBC and has been syndicated consistently on various networks since then. In the mid-1990s, Smith moved from television to film, and ultimately starred in numerous blockbuster films. He is the only actor to have eight consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office and the only one to have eight consecutive films in which he starred open at #1 spot in the domestic box office tally.
Fourteen of the 19 fiction films he has acted in have accumulated worldwide gross earnings of over $100 million, and four took in over $500 million in global box office receipts. As of 2011, his films have grossed $5.7 billion in global box office. His most financially successful films have been Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, Independence Day, Men in Black, Men in Black II, I, Robot, The Pursuit of Happiness, I Am Legend, Hancock, Wild Wild West, Enemy of the State, Shark Tale, Hitch and Seven Pounds. He also earned critical praise for his performances in Six Degrees of Separation, Ali and The Pursuit of Happiness, receiving Best Actor Oscar nominations for the latter two.
The full version of this article can be found at www.chefgarfyinfo.blog.co.uk
My first recipe is Sweet Potato & Chorizo Soup. Recipe by Jamie Oliver, courtesy of Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food.
Makes 6-8, takes 20mins to prep, and takes 25mins to cook.
2 x Carrots, roughly sliced
2 x Celery Sticks, sliced
2 x Medium Onions, roughly chopped
2 x Garlic Cloves, sliced
800g x Sweet Potato, chopped into small even cubes
200g x Chorizo Sausage, sliced
A Small bunch of Parsley, finely chopped
Olive Oil
1 tbsp x Curry Powder (heaped)
2 x Organic Chicken or Vegetable Stock Cubes
Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 x Fresh Red Chilli, finely chopped
1.8 ltrs x Boiling Water
2 x Celery Sticks, sliced
2 x Medium Onions, roughly chopped
2 x Garlic Cloves, sliced
800g x Sweet Potato, chopped into small even cubes
200g x Chorizo Sausage, sliced
A Small bunch of Parsley, finely chopped
Olive Oil
1 tbsp x Curry Powder (heaped)
2 x Organic Chicken or Vegetable Stock Cubes
Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 x Fresh Red Chilli, finely chopped
1.8 ltrs x Boiling Water
Add 2 tbsp of Olive Oil to a large saucepan add all the chopped and sliced ingredients with the curry powder and mix together with a wooden spoon. Cook for around 10 to 15 mins with the lid askew, until the carrots have softened but are still holding their shape, and the onion is lightly golden. Put the stock cubes into a jug or pan and pour in the boiling water from the kettle. Stir until the stock cubes are dissolved, then add to the vegetables. Give the soup a good stir and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10mins, until the sweet potato is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper. Using a hand blender or liquidizer, pulse the soup until smooth and scatter over a little finely chopped chilli. Divide between your serving bowls and tuck in.
My next recipe is Classic North Indian Chicken Curry. Recipe by Anjum Anand, courtesy of Good Food Channel website.
Serves 4, takes 25mins to prepare, 55mins to cook.
4tbsp x Oil
2 x Cloves
1 x Cinnamon Sticks
2 x Green Cardamom Pods
1 tsp x Cumin Seeds
1 x Medium Onion, chopped
1½ tbsp x Ginger, ginger
6 x Garlic Cloves, chopped
½ tsp x Ground Turmeric
1 tbsp x Ground Coriander
½ tsp x Chilli Powder
2 x Tomatoes, puréed
1 x 450g Small Chicken, or Poussin, bone-in, skinned and jointed
½ tsp x Garam Masala
A Handful of Coriander Leaves
2 x Cloves
1 x Cinnamon Sticks
2 x Green Cardamom Pods
1 tsp x Cumin Seeds
1 x Medium Onion, chopped
1½ tbsp x Ginger, ginger
6 x Garlic Cloves, chopped
½ tsp x Ground Turmeric
1 tbsp x Ground Coriander
½ tsp x Chilli Powder
2 x Tomatoes, puréed
1 x 450g Small Chicken, or Poussin, bone-in, skinned and jointed
½ tsp x Garam Masala
A Handful of Coriander Leaves
Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan. Add the cloves, cinnamon, cardamom pods and cumin seeds and fry for about 20 seconds until aromatic. Add the onion and cook for about 10 minutes until golden brown, stirring often. Stir in the ginger and garlic and cook stirring for 40 seconds before adding a pinch of salt and the ground spices, and stir for 15 seconds. Pour in the tomatoes and cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, until the liquid in the pan has dried off and the oil leaves the sides of the dry masala around 10 minutes.
Add the chicken and brown over a medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add enough water to almost cover the chicken (about 350ml), bring to the boil and then cook over a low heat until the chicken is cooked through. The slower it cooks the better it tastes. This takes about 15 minutes for small joints and up to 25-30 minutes for larger ones. Check with a fork; once it is tender it is done. Add the garam masala and coriander leaves and serve with rice or Indian flatbreads and raita or any vegetable dish.
Much Maligned ingredient of the week – Chickpeas
The Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) (also ceci bean, garbanzo bean, chana (north India), Indian pea, Bengal gram) is an edible legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Chickpeas are high in protein and one of the earliest cultivated vegetables; 7,500-year-old remains have been found in the Middle East.
The Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) (also ceci bean, garbanzo bean, chana (north India), Indian pea, Bengal gram) is an edible legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Chickpeas are high in protein and one of the earliest cultivated vegetables; 7,500-year-old remains have been found in the Middle East.
Domesticated chickpeas have been found in the aceramic levels of Jericho along with Cayonu in Turkey and in Neolithic pottery at Hacilar, Turkey. They are found in the late Neolithic (about 3500 BCE) at Thessaly, Kastanas, Lerna and Dimini. In southern France Mesolithic layers in a cave at L'Abeurador, Aude have yielded wild chickpeas carbon dated to 6790 BCE.
By the Bronze Age, chickpeas were known in Italy and Greece. In classical Greece, they were called erébinthos and eaten as a staple, a dessert, or consumed raw when young. The Romans knew several varieties such as venus, ram, and punic chickpeas. They were both cooked down into a broth and roasted as a snack. The Roman gourmet Apicius gives several recipes for chickpeas. Carbonized chickpeas have been found at the Roman legion fort at Neuss (Novaesium), Germany in layers from the first century CE, along with rice.
Chickpeas are mentioned in Charlemagne's Capitulare de villis (about 800 CE) as cicer italicum, as grown in each imperial demesne. Albertus Magnus mentions red, white and black varieties. Nicholas Culpeper noted "chick-pease or cicers" are less "windy" than peas and more nourishing. Ancient people also associated chickpeas with Venus because they were said to offer medical uses such as increasing sperm and milk, provoking menstruation and urine and helping to treat kidney stones. Wild cicers were thought to be especially strong and helpful. In 1793, ground-roast chickpeas were noted by a German writer as a coffee substitute in Europe and in the First World War, they were grown for this in some areas of Germany. Chickpeas are still sometimes brewed instead of coffee.
Mature chickpeas can be cooked and eaten cold in salads, cooked in stews, ground into a flour called gram flour (also known as chickpea flour and besan and used primarily in Indian cuisine), ground and shaped in balls and fried as falafel, fermented to make an alcoholic drink similar to sake,[citation needed] stirred into a batter and baked to make farinata, cooked and ground into a paste called hummus or roasted, spiced and eaten as a snack (such as leblebi). Some varieties of chickpeas can even be popped and eaten like popcorn. Chick peas and Bengal grams are used to make curries and are one of the most popular vegetarian foods in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the UK. On the Indian subcontinent, green chickpeas are called Harbharaa in Marathi, while other varieties are known as kadale kaalu in Kannada, chana in Hindi and other Indic languages, Chhola in Bengali and konda kadalai in Tamil, where they are a major source of protein in a mostly vegetarian culture. Typically Chana in Hindi and Punjabi might refer to both varieties, as might chhole, but the former is more the green hard small variety while the latter is the large creamy softer one and also the more popular dish served around the region at home and at celebrations.
Many popular dishes in Indian cuisine are made with chickpea flour, such as mirchi bajji and mirapakaya bajji telugu. In India, as well as in the Levant, unripe chickpeas are often picked out of the pod and eaten as a raw snack and the leaves are eaten as a green vegetable in salads. Chickpea flour is also used to make "Burmese tofu" which was first known among the Shan people of Burma. The flour is used as a batter to coat various vegetables and meats before frying, such as with panelle, a chickpea fritter from Sicily.[10] Chickpea flour is also used to make the mediterranean flatbread socca.
Many popular dishes in Indian cuisine are made with chickpea flour, such as mirchi bajji and mirapakaya bajji telugu. In India, as well as in the Levant, unripe chickpeas are often picked out of the pod and eaten as a raw snack and the leaves are eaten as a green vegetable in salads. Chickpea flour is also used to make "Burmese tofu" which was first known among the Shan people of Burma. The flour is used as a batter to coat various vegetables and meats before frying, such as with panelle, a chickpea fritter from Sicily.[10] Chickpea flour is also used to make the mediterranean flatbread socca.
In the Philippines, garbanzo beans preserved in syrup are eaten as sweets and in desserts such as halo-halo. Ashkenazi Jews traditionally serve whole chickpeas at a Shalom Zachar celebration for baby boys. Dried chickpeas need a long cooking time (1–2 hours) but will easily fall apart when cooked longer. If soaked for 12–24 hours before use, cooking time can be shortened by around 30 minutes. Chickpeas (Cicer arietinum) do not cause lathyrism. Similarly named "chickling peas" (Lathyrus sativus) and other plants of the genus Lathyrus contain the toxins associated with lathyrism.
Chickpeas are a helpful source of zinc, folate and protein. They are also very high in dietary fibre and hence a healthy source of carbohydrates for persons with insulin sensitivity or diabetes.[citation needed] Chickpeas are low in fat and most of this is polyunsaturated. Nutrient profile of desi chana (the smaller variety) is different, especially the fibre content which is much higher than the light coloured variety. One hundred grams of mature boiled chickpeas contains 164 calories, 2.6 grams of fat (of which only 0.27 grams is saturated), 7.6 grams of dietary fibre and 8.9 grams of protein. Chickpeas also provide dietary phosphorus (49–53mg/100g), with some sources citing the garbanzo's content as about the same as yogurt and close to milk.
My final recipe is Apple and Plum Crumble. Recipe by Jane Wiseman and Kathy Finkin, courtesy of Good Food Channel website.
Serves 6-8, takes 25mins to prepare, cook 40mins to cook.
For the filling
675g x Bramley Apples, peeled, cored and thickly sliced
675g x Cox's Apples, peeled, cored and thickly sliced
12 x Plums, stones removed, quartered
25g x Light Muscovado sugar
1 tsp x Ground Cinnamon
2 tbsp x Water
675g x Bramley Apples, peeled, cored and thickly sliced
675g x Cox's Apples, peeled, cored and thickly sliced
12 x Plums, stones removed, quartered
25g x Light Muscovado sugar
1 tsp x Ground Cinnamon
2 tbsp x Water
For the crumble
280g x Self-Raising Flour
140g x Butter, plus extra for greasing
140g x Demerara Sugar
70g x Porridge Oats
280g x Self-Raising Flour
140g x Butter, plus extra for greasing
140g x Demerara Sugar
70g x Porridge Oats
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4 and grease a 28 x 20 x 5cm baking dish with butter. For the filling: put the apples and plums in the baking dish. Sprinkle over the sugar, cinnamon and water and toss together. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the fruits soften and their juices run. Remove the baking dish from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 200C/gas 6.
For the crumble: put the flour, butter and sugar in a food processor and blitz to combine. Remove the bowl from the processor and stir in the oats by hand as they need to remain coarse. Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the fruit and bake for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with cream, ice cream or custard.
”It’s Goodnight from me, and It’s Goodnight from him.”
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
