Guinea Fowl With Sherry and Tarragon Cream

Its been a while right? I have had so much to do its been unreal. I do apologize for not posting anything. So many people have been sending me text messages asking about new recipes. Thank you all for encouraging me.

I think I am quite organized but there is a always room for improvement, right? Take yesterday for instance, I had the chance to buy all the ingredients for my class the day before but I thought I would have enough time to go shopping on the day of the class, go back home and pick my other utensils. I must have underestimated the time it took to do all this because at the end I didn't have time to go back home. I had to buy everything I needed for the class. I now have two sets of everything. I guess there is no harm in that...

This recipe is French and the french name is "Fricassee De Pintade Au Vinaigre De Xeres Et A L'Estragon". Those with blackberries, send me a voice note of your pronunciation of this. hehehehe. You can bet I didn't even try!

Ingredients

1 tbsp flour

1 plump guinea fowl or free-range chicken

1/2 tbsp groundnut or sunflower oil

30g chilled unsalted butter, diced

2 tsp finely grated zest and 4 tbsp juice from an orange

2 tsp brandy

Bunch tarragon sprigs

200ml chicken stock

1 tbsp sherry vinegar

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Joint the guinea fowl into 6-8 pieces and remove skin. Season the flour with salt and pepper. Using a small sieve, dust the guinea fowl or chicken pieces with this seasoned flour.

2. Heat the oil in saute pan large enough to take the pieces in a single layer. Add one third of the butter, then stir in the grated orange zest. Tip in the guinea fowl pieces and sate over a moderate heat until lightly and evenly coloured, turning them over a few times.

3. Sprinkle with the brandy and stir in well. Snip in leaves from 5-6 tarragon sprigs, then shake the pan and stir the contents.

4. Add the stock, turn over the pieces and stir well. Bring back to a modest simmer, then lower the heat a little. Cover tightly, and cook for 30-40 minutes, shaking the pan several times an turning the pieces halfway through cooking.

5. Lift the meat from the pan and keep warm on warmed serving dish.

6. Turn up the heat, bring the liquid to a low boil and leave to bubble for a few minutes until a little reduced and thickened, stirring from time to time.

7. Reduce the heat stir in the vinegar and the orange juice. The dish can be cooked ahead to this stage if more convenient.

8. Using a slotted spoon, put the guinea fowl or chicken pieces back of the warmed serving dish. Whisk the remaining butter into the pan and dribble the sauce over the chicken. Snip over a few fresh tarragon leave and serve immediately.

Serve with plain rice or potatoes or sauteed courgettes.

Enjoy!

Trottole with Pink Salmon

I had to go to Sainsbury's to buy ingredients for my cookery class tomorrow after such a long hard day at work. As I was walking past the fridge I noticed a group of people around the seafood section, I walked over there to find out what was happening. The reason for this congregation was due to the fact that they had reduced the Pink salmon from £4.00 to 72p!!!! What a bargain!

As I approached the shelve I realised there was none left and why? Some greedy lady had grabbed 6! And she just stood there looking at me. Argh! Fortunately for me a kind lady took pity on me and gave me one out of the two she had picked up earlier. I would have been gutted if I had missed that bargain.

As the salmon was going to expire today I had to make a meal out of it tonight. Looking through my cupboards and fridge I threw something together. Here you go....

Ingredients

• 2 Salmon fillets
• Trottole (Pasta)
• 1/2 Onions, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 sweet yellow pepper, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of tomato purée
• 2 teaspoons of red pesto
• a tablespoon of olive oil
• 4 tablespoons of double cream

Seasoning

• Salt
• Chilli powder
• Thyme

Pasta:

Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the packet, strain and put aside. In a sauce pan fry the garlic, onions and peppers for about 3 minutes. Add the tomato purée and stir for about 1 minute. Add a bit of water to turn it into a sauce. Add thyme, some chilli powder and salt to taste. Pour in the cooked pasta and simmer for 5 minutes and stir in the double cream.

Salmon:

De-scale the salmon fillets and wash with cold water. Place them on separate pieces of foil paper. Sprinkle some salt and chilli powder on each fillet. Spread a thick layer of red pesto on each fillet. Wrap them in the foil paper and put in the oven for 12 minutes. Serve with the pasta.

Fried Rice

Segun is around from Saudi Arabia. Yay! I haven't seen him in ages. Well since Simeon's wedding in January 2008. We have a lot to catch up on. Since the wedding, he got promoted, got married and now expecting a baby. Wow!

We have planned to meet up on Wednesday after work. As he has been in Saudi for a while I thought he would love to eat traditional Nigerian dish like egusi (melon seed) soup, but to my surprise he wanted fried rice.

Fried rice is very popular in West Africa but traditionally not an African dish. It originated from China and is a popular component of other forms of Asian cuisine. It is made from rice fried in a wok, typically with additional ingredients left over from other dishes. Every country that has adopted the fried rice recipe has added their flavour to it. So I here by present Fried rice, Nigerian style.

Ingredients
• Long grain rice (2.5 cups)
• 1/2 of green and red peppers

• 2 Carrots

• Half of an Onion

• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed

• half a cup of Sweet Corn

• half a cup of Green Peas

• 1 cup of Shrimps (peeled and washed)

• 1 Bonnet pepper (de-seed if you don't want it too spicy)

• 4 cups Chicken stock

• Sunflower Oil - 4 table spoons

Seasoning

• Soy sauce

• Thyme

• Curry powder

• Salt

• Knorr Chicken Cubes

Wash the rice and soak in very hot water for about 10 minutes. Drain the water from the rice and add the chicken stock just to cover the rice in a sauce pan. Cook the rice with the chicken stock until its soft and dry, not soggy.

To make the sauce chop the carrots, sweet peppers, bonnet peppers and onions. In a sauce pan heat up the oil and add the onions and garlic. Fry for about 30 seconds. Add the shrimps and fry for another 30 seconds. Then add the sweet corn, sweet peppers, green peas and bonnet peppers (optional). Add thyme, curry powder, Knorr cubes and salt to taste. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add the carrots when you are done cooking it. This is to retain the crunchiness of the carrots. (My dear friend Koye has a passion for crunchy carrots, I discovered this new trick while cooking for him one day).

In a wok add a some sauce and rice and a tea spoon of Soy sauce. Fry for about 4 minutes using a wooden spoon. Just add enough sauce to fry the rice in. We don't want it to be soggy. I like to fry mine until I feel its about to burn, when its very dry. Continue this until you have cooked all the rice.

If you have left over sauce, you can serve this with the rice for those who would like more. Serve the fried rice with some garden salad and grilled chicken.