Saturday, 16 July 2011

Chive and Garlic Dip

Friends Iskandar, Nicole and Shein came for dinner and I thought I'd treat them to English roast chicken,  stuffing and roast potaotes followed by lemon drizzle cake. For pre-dinner drinks I made some dips.

Here is the recipe for the chive and garlic dip.
Fast to make a much better than you will ever buy.

100gr cream cheese
50gr yogurt
1 to 2 cloves garlic
salt - about 1/2 teaspoon
white pepper - few twists
chives - about 1 handful finely chopped



METHOD
Peel and crush the garlic, mix with salt and leave for few mitues. The salt will macerate the garlic and instensify the flavour.

beat the cream chees and yogurt together
stir it into the garlic
stir in the chives
check seasoning

Tip - you can use full fat cheese and yogurt or low-fat if you are counting calories
Tip - this is a basic dip mixture to which you can almost anything

Thursday, 7 July 2011

Smith of Smithfields Topfloor

Back with John Torode









 for a few weeks at Smiths Topfloor











before my next food pilgrimage to Malaysia!

Saturday, 2 July 2011

Coriander Salad Dressing

I am republishing this recipe. It was a big success when I first posted it on 54's website. It is the easiest dressing to make and gives a great Asian flavour. It's a good dressing to use for rice salad too.





5 minute Coriander dressing
Takes less than 5 minutes to make
Make in a screw-top jar – an old jam jar is perfect
Ingredients
  • 60mls (1/4 cup – about 2 large limes) fresh lime juice
  • 4 to 8 tablespoons oil - you can use light olive oil if preferred
  • chopped fresh coriander – to taste – probably about 2 tablespoons
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1/2 tsp sambal oelek * see below
  • About ½ inch of fresh ginger peeled and grated (don’t use dry powder - you can get packs of frozen ginger cubes which are very handy otherwise leave it out)
  • Pinch of sugar and pinch of salt to taste
Combine the lime juice, oil, coriander, sesame oil, *sambal oelek, ginger, sugar and salt in a screw-top jar. Shake until well combined.
*you can get sambal olek is some Asian supermarkets. If you really can’t find it then pound some chili sauce and a couple of anchovies together.
Tip – in Asia acidity is obtained from limes, not lemons or vinegar, so always use lime juice in your dressing. Fresh is best but bottled is fine too.
Tip – lime juice is like salt - it can be added but not removed so use less rather than more – taste – then add more if needed.