Houmous or is it Hummus... Chickpea and Tahini dip!

First things first, how the devil am I supposed to spell it? It had not previously occurred to me that the spelling of one of Britain's (if not the most) loved dips would be so contentious!

I have the spelling of "Houmous" so deeply ingrained I don't know if I can convert to writing Hummus, and it all seems to stem from translation from Arabic not being straight forward due to differing alphabets.

Personally I would be on board with Hummus as it seems to tie in more closely to the dishes origin...but as previously alluded too, I think I have Houmous in the veins!

Now you may be wandering why you'd want to make something that is so readily available in store...and the answer is the same as every other dish you make; it. will. taste. better!

The best part about making Houmous at home is that you can play with the flavour profile, want a little extra garlic kick? Go ahead an put another half clove in! Want some spice running though? Add 1/2 tsp of Cumin!

You get the idea!

The recipe I used is below (and a quick video if you're not sure on how to make this simple and delicious dish).

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Recipe

1 x Tin of chickpeas*
1 x Lemon Juice
1 x tsp Tahini
1 x tsp Salt
3 x tbls Olive Oil
1 x Garlic Clove

*If you are confident I would highly recommend using your own cooked chickpeas - but be warned that you need to prepare in advance!


Method

This is the easy part, put all together (only use half the lemon juice to start) in a blender and blitz up into a smooth paste - add water a little at a time to loosen the mix to the right consistency and remember to check your seasoning (add more lemon juice if needed - the juice should lift the flavours not over power them, so stop adding juice before the lemon becomes too strong!)

Anyway please watch the below short video of this recipe - with some home made Flatbread if you want to create a nice antipasti (like, subscribe - we all know the youtube drill!).

Thanks/bye
Rob
x

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I have made a lot of Gnocchi, but I had never made a sweet potato Gnocchi. I wasn't certain it would even work, the first thing you learn about making Gnocchi, the drier your mash the better! And if there is one thing that I know about a sweet potato and that is it makes a wet mash - surely it can't work?!

It did...sort of!

First things first - I need a recipe, as everything I have isn't going to work - wrong potatoes! I had a look at a few different recipes online, and quickly realised that they followed the same rules as normal Gnocchi...just more flour.

So I decided against using a recipe - and decided to add flour in small quantities until I got what I thought was a good Gnocchi dough consistency.

That is where I came a little unstuck - I knew sweet potato mash was going to be wet (I had even strained my mash through a muslin, removing 100ml of excess fluid) - what I hadn't realised is that the dough would have to be worked with wet - otherwise you end with too much flour in your mix, which leads to a (heavens forbid) tough Gnocchi!

As the mix is wet I avoided the use of eggs (which are contentious enough in Gnocchi), and stuck to a mix of sweet potato, flour, salt, and a little parmesan.

As mentioned earlier I was adding flour little by little, and with the dough being so wet I had put in 400g of flour before I made a sample Gnocchi to see how the mix held up, the good new was, despite the wetness of the dough, the Gnocchi firmed up and floated to the surface. The bad news? To my fussy palate I had overstepped the flour mark, it was bordering on the brink of having to chew!

If I was to do this recipe again - I would test at 200g and see where the mix was at - as the extra 200 I had added - really did very little to dry the dough. And less flour in Gnocchi is what we should all be aiming to achieve!

When it comes to serving Gnocchi it's really versatile and can be partnered with so many things. However, as this was my first time making sweet potato Gnocchi I wanted the dumplings to be the main flavour of this dish and kept it simple; butter, sage, sunflower seeds, rocket, and a little Parmesan to finish!

Overall I am pretty happy with the results - I need to try again with lower flower quantity and see how that works for me - if you give it a try i'd love to here how you did!

Anyway please watch the video below (like, subscribe - we all know the youtube drill!)

Thanks/bye
Rob x

Falling behind

Hey,

So we've moved house. It's been chaotic, and half my kitchen equipment is still in boxes. On top of that I may (I did) have factory reset my phone and lost all my logins etc...

So it's been quite some time since I have put any content - anywhere!

I am still not sure how best to do a video in the new kitchen (I have only produced one since the move - only using photos) as the layout makes it tricky.

I will find a way around this and put something up over the holiday season!

In the meantime my Dad's birthday is coming up and I am making dinner for him. I am in the planning stage at the moment - it's proving difficult as I won't e cooking at home, so I don't know what equipment will be available...eurgh!

This is where I am up to now:

Amuse

Espresso cup with a 'cappuccino' soup (soup with some froth on the top) either:

• Pea and Mint
• Asparagus
• Leek and Potato.

Starter

Going to do a Scallop starter, currently torn between:

• Scallops with pea puree, spiced foam, and pea shoots (unless pea soup used in which case this gets ditched)
• Scallops with Watercress puree, butternut squash puree, watercress, and pancetta
• Scallops with Celeriac puree crumbled black pudding, truffle oil, and watercress

...a bit of a puree theme.

Main

• Pork belly with sweet potato dauphinoise, purple kale, and red wine sauce
• Pork belly with sweet potato dauphinoise, pork scratching, roast garlic sauce, and Rocket
• Pork belly with sweet potato dauphinoise, pak choi, and 5 spice sauce

(The pork would be seasoned based on what it is served with)

Dessert

• Sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce and clotted cream
• Creme brulee
• Tarte fine with ice cream
• Tart tatin with ice cream

Oh...I'm doing this in two days.

Oh...I'll have 6 hours to do it.

Oh...I'm relying on someone to get the ingredients I want.

Oh...shit!

I'll let you know how I get on - hopefully get some pictures for you all!

Take care,

Rob

Blackberry Crumble

Hey,


Welcome/Welcome back.


Without a recording space to do a new video I have put together a recipe and photo montage for Blackberry and Rhubarb Crumble (still got the summer feeling despite the rain here in Cheshire!).


Crumble is a classic pud, and a personal favourite of mine - as the sweetness is tempered by the sourness of the fruit. And its good with basically all of the dairy sides; Custard, clotted cream, double cream, and ice cream!


And you can use so many different fruits and fruit combinations - its ridiculously flexible!


Hope you enjoy (recipe below the video).

Take Care
Rob






Recipe


Crumble

100g Flour

50g Butter

50g Sugar



Fruit Mix

450g Blackberries

3 Sticks Rhubarb

50g Sugar

1/2 tsp Ground Ginger

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

How to Peel an Avocado

Hey 😊,

I put together a short video on how to peel an avocado.

This only came about because I was having lunch at my sisters and I saw her peeling an avocado using a paring knife small piece by piece.

Obviously I waited until she finished before I offered to show her an easier (and cleaner!!) method - we are siblings after all 😇.

Please see below for what I think is the easiest way to peel an avocado.

Take Care
Rob

Moving and Mess

Hey,

So I (we) have moved house - and have mostly unpacked - unfortunately some of my Chef toys have had to stay in a box as there is no space for them in the new kitchen :(

We have a real project on our hands with the new house - and we are really looking forward to getting stuck into it. In the short term we are just stripping out the old dusty carpets (and have been really lucky to find Oak floors underneath!) and slapping some white paint on the walls.

Long-term...we have to many ideas to have a plan as of yet - but we are excited about the possibilities...even if we are short on funds!

As for the videos there has been a little delay on shooting anything new as I have nowhere to set up the cameras in the new Kitchen (bloody pain!).

So I have put together a Montage (montaaage) which will be released tomorrow. And I had thrown together a quick video on how to peel an Avocado just before the move - which I will add on the next blog.

Take care,
Rob

Getting Rosti with it