Cyber Nuggets

Category: Food

  • Creamy garlic parmesan chicken and mash

    I haven’t cooked this yet so it could be a load of rubbish. Makes two lunches apparently.

    Ingredients

    • Bunch of bonless thighs
    • 3-4 finely chopped garlic cloves
    • 1 tbsp butter
    • 100ml chicken stock
    • 100ml double cream
    • 30g grated parmesan
    • S&P
    • Spinach and/or greens?
    • Item

    Mash

    • 400g potatoes
    • 30g butter
    • Drizzle of milk or cream
    • 20g parmesan
    • S&P

    Method

    • Boil potatoes, drain, steam dry
    • Mash them with butter, milk/cream, parmesan, S&P
    • If you’re gonna be reheating this, keep the mash slightly looser and softer than usual.
    • Season chicken, brown it in the cast iron, 4-5 mins, set aside
    • In the same pan, add butter, garlic. Cook gently. Don’t burn it.
    • Pour in stock. Add cream. Simmer lightly.
    • Return chicken to the pan, simmer for 5-8 mins until cooked.
    • Add parmesan, stir until melted
    • You can either wilt the spinach and greens in this pan, or do it separately.
    • Sauce should be creamy, not too thick now.
    • Add more S&P if needed

    Bonus touches

    • Could add a small splash of lemon juice if you’re feeling fancy
    • Sprinkle with chives

  • Burrata and tomato salad

    “Surprisingly tasty”

    Ingredients

    • Bag of interesting salad leaves
      (something like rocket/spinach/julienned beetroot whatevs, not just a bag of boring iceberg nonsense)
    • Fresh basil leaves
    • Olive oil
    • Balsamic vinegar
    • Massive vine tomatoes
    • Little yellow tomatoes
    • Salt and pepper
    • Parma ham
    • Burrata
    • Balsamic glaze

    Method

    • Get a large mixing bowl
    • Mix the interesting leaves with the basil leaves
    • If you can be bothered, emulsify the oil and vinegar and pour it over the leaves. Otherwise just dress them separately.
    • Evenly distribute leaves across the plate so it forms a nice mattress of leafy goodness
    • Slice the vine tomatoes into slices
    • Cut the yellow tomatoes in half
    • Arrange the tomatoes on the leaves so it looks nice, or something
    • Season the tomatoes. Drizzle some olive oil if you want?
    • Arrange the parma ham around the stuff
    • Cut the burrata in half, plonk it in the middle
    • Drizzle some balsamic glaze over the whole thing
    • Finely chop some basil leaves and sprinkle over

  • Beef ragu

    Yum! Serve with pappardelle and garlic bread. Yum!

    Ingredients

    • Two tablespoons olive oil
    • Large onion, finely diced
    • Two carrots, finely diced
    • Two celery sticks, finely diced
    • Three garlic cloves, crushed
    • Two tablespoons tomato puree
    • 500-750g beef mince (or stewing steak if you’re feeling fancy)
    • Glass of red wine
    • Tin chopped tomatoes
    • 250-400ml beef stock. Probably towards the higher end.
    • Teaspoon dried oregano or mixed herbs. Actually closer to a tablespoon. And a bit more on top.
    • One bay leaf
    • Salt and pepper
    • Splash of milk or cream (optional)

    Bonus ingredient

    • Parmesan rind

    Method

    • Veg
      Heat oil in a big pan. Medium heat. Add onion, carrot, celery. Cook for about 10 mins until soft, not browned.
    • More veg
      Stir in garlic and tomato puree. Cook for a few minutes.
    • Beef time
      Add the beef. Brown it. Turn the heat up if needed. Break up the mince, if using.
    • Wine
      Pour in the wine and let it bubble. It should smell nice.
    • Sauce
      Add tinned tomatoes, stock, herbs, bay leaf, S&P. If you’re using the bonus ingredient, add it now. Stir it all up.
    • Cook!
      Bring to a gentle simmer, partially or completely covered. Up to you. Cook slowly for at least an hour, preferably closer to two. But keep an eye on it though, add a splash of water or stock if it gets too thick or starts to dry out.
    • Finish
      Fish out the bay leaf and parmesan rind. Add the milk or cream and give it a good stir. Add more S&P if needed.

    Important!

    • Pasta
      Don’t be an animal when serving. When your pasta is cooked, make sure you drop it in the ragu and combine it so the pasta is completely covered. If you spoon pasta into your bowl and just pour the ragu on top, you deserve to be a vegan.
    • Parmesan
      Server with a bucket of parmesan. It’s the law.
    • Garlic bread
      And some of this.

  • Beefy sauce

    Original recipe was to go with Swedish meatballs, but would probably go with steak and pork.

    Ingredients

    • 500ml boiling water
    • Beef stock pot
    • 1tsp Dijon mustard
    • 1tsp soy sauce
    • 40g cream cheese
    • Parsley

    Method

    • You probably just used a pan to cook some meat. Use that one and scrape up all the meaty bits as you go along.
    • Add water to the stock pot, mix it up a bit
    • Pour it in the pan
    • Add mustard and soy sauce, mix it up a bit
    • Let it bubble and reduce a bit for a few minutes
    • Add the cream cheese and parsley
    • Let it bubble a bit more
    • Reduce it to whatever thickness you want
    • Pour it on your food

  • Courgetti

    Yes, the day I wrote this was a sad day.

    Ingredients

    • Courgettes

    Method

    • Spiralise
    • Don’t add salt
    • Spread it out over a plate
      Single layer if possible, so not in a bowl, and not covered
    • Microwave for 60 seconds. No more.
    • Squeeze
      Ideally wrung out in a tea towel. Hands will do otherwise.
      Objective is to get as much water out as possible.
    • Add it to your dish/sauce/whatever.

  • Rich beef jus

    This is tasty. Pour it over steak.

    Ingredients

    • Knorr beef cube pot thing in 150 waters
    • Lardons
    • Thyme leaves
    • Half an onion
    • Onion marmalade (20ml)
    • Balsamic vinegar (15ml)
    • Butter (chunk)

    Method

    • Drizzle olive oil. Brown off lardons. Add onion and thyme when crisp. Cook for four or five mins until onions are soft.
    • Add the above to the steak pan. Add balsamic vinegar, marmalade and stock.
    • Reduce heat, simmer for 10 mins until rich, smooth and coats the back of a spoon.
    • Season, stir in knob of butter.

  • Breakfast hash

    Ingredients

    • Chorizo
    • Onion
    • Two peppers (different colours)
    • Halloumi
    • Potatoes
    • Spinach
    • Fresh tomatoes
    • Wholegrain mustard
    • (Optional) poached egg

    Method

    1. Chop chorizo, render it slowly in a pan
    2. When it looks fatty, add the onions
    3. Add peppers after some amount of time has passed
    4. You should already have diced up the halloumi. Add it.
    5. Add the microwaved or boiled potatoes
    6. Add a load of spinach
    7. Stir it all up
    8. Add the chopped tomatoes
    9. Let the whole lot go slightly mushy, and so it goes a bit juicy
    10. Add some wholegrain mustard and mix it all up again
    11. Poach an egg if you want
    12. Eat