Cooking recipes: lemon

Showing posts with label lemon. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Lemon Sweet Pepper Marinaded Chicken

I can highly recommend trying one of the Bart Smokehouse Barbeque Rubs, there are five marinade rubs which reflect the diverse flavours of barbecue traditions from around the world:

• Smokey Chipotle Marinade Rub: a classic Tex/Mex chipotle chilli gives a smokey flavour

• Mediterranean Marinade Rub: traditional Mediterranean herbs basil, oregano, parsley and rosemary – blended with tomato and a fresh lemon finish

• Lemon & Sweet Pepper Marinade Rub: inspired by Australia, red and green peppers give this rub a great colour and the lemon oil provides an intense taste

• New York Steak Marinade Rub: A classic deli blend of mustard, garlic and pepper

• Tandoori Marinade Rub: tamarind as a main ingredient adds depth of flavour which blends with chilli to create a traditional indian flavour

Plus, as marinades can be messy to apply, the rubs come with a special “marinade bag” to make the whole process cleaner, easier, quicker. No sticky fingers, no washing hands every five minutes. Just delicious authentic flavour.

Simply place the meat or fish in the bag with your chosen Bart® marinade, hold the bag closed and shake gently to spread the ingredients around. For depth of flavour, leave in the fridge for an hour or more before grilling. And, just in case it’s raining, the bag can also be used in the oven for slow cooking, retaining the moisture. As I dont do barbeques, I chose the alternative slow cooking.

I loved the fact that all you need to do is rub the spice mix on your meat, although I brushed my chicken with olive oil first, the pop it the roasting bag which is provided in the box and leave it to marinade. You can then either remove the meat from the bag and barbeque or cook as you would normally roast your meat or you can do what I did, and roast it in the bag.

It was so simple, the roasting tin didnt need soaking and scrubbing and I used my Oxo Good Grips Gravy Separator to separate the fat from the juices then turned them into delicious gravy. The chicken was cooked with the Lemon and Sweet Pepper Rub and had a lovely light lemony flavour. The roasting bag made sure the meat was kept moist and it was very tender. The left over meat was also really good with salad the next day.

See another review and recipe with Lemon and Sweet Pepper Marinade at Lavender and Lovage

I also tried the Smoky Chipotle Rub on some lamb steaks.

I cooked this in the roasting bag after marinading for about two hours, the meat was very tender and although the rub is quite spicy it didnt overwhelm the flavour of the lamb.

The full range is available at Ocado from the end of June and a selection of the rubs will be instore at all Waitrose branches from 2nd June. They will also be available through independents, and delicatessens around the country. Or buy online at www.bart-ingredients.co.uk

from July. The rubs are priced at £1.49, there are alos sauces at £2.99 and spice mills at £3.99.

I was provided with the Barbeque Rubs, I was not paid for this review and all opinions are my own.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Grilled Salmon with Lemon Dill Sauce and Herbed Smashed Potatoes

You know how you get an idea in your head about what you want to eat for dinner and, no matter what, you can not get it out. This was my situation yesterday. Ever since I first tried fresh dill in a rye bread bowl with dill dip that someones mother made on my prom night, it has been my favorite herb. It is such a classic pairing with salmon and this lemon dill sauce provided me with the hit of dill I was looking for.

I seasoned this salmon filet with salt and pepper and placed it on the grill over medium heat. The salmon was topped with a pat of butter and a few slices of lemon. I let the salmon cook for about 5 minutes with the skin side down being sure to watch for flame ups, particularly with the pat of butter I added and the natural oil from the fish. After five minutes or so, I removed the lemon slices and placed them right on the grill and flipped the salmon over. The salmon cooked for another 5 minutes with the skin side up and was then left to rest for a few minutes, topped with the grilled lemon slices until it was time to eat.

The sauce was a very simple combination of sour cream, dijon mustard, minced garlic, chopped fresh dill, lemon zest and lemon juice. If you are a fan of lemon dill sauce, I promise you, this does not disappoint!

I served the grilled salmon drizzled with the lemon dill sauce atop of fluffy pillow of herbed smashed potatoes. I started by boiling red potatoes, skins on, for about 15 minutes or until fork tender. After draining the potatoes, I returned them to the same pot I boiled them in and smashed together the potatoes, a good teaspoon or two of salt, fresh chopped parsley, chives and dill and about 1/4 cup of buttermilk. The buttermilk gives the potatoes a delicious tang and paired with the fresh herbs, a fabulous alternative to plain old mashed potatoes.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Pan seared Spring Asparagus with Lemon Balsamic and Parmesan – “Foiled” Again!

It’s spring, when a young mans thoughts turn to two things; the other one is cooking delicious fresh asparagus! This is an easy method for cooking this delicious spring veggie, and NO we are NOT going to blanch them first. Why the all caps? Well, Day 1 of vegetable cookery in most old school Culinary Academies begins with a lecture on how and why to blanch vegetables. It’s boiling salted water, cook until tender-crisp, “shock” in ice water…or die. Those old-time Chefs really do love to boil vegetables before using them in various recipes. Now, I’m not saying to never do this. For many things like green beans it’s a great idea. But, I’m saying don’t always do it for every fresh vegetable – especially beautiful spring asparagus.

What you’re about to see in this video recipe is closer to what you’d get if you grilled raw asparagus and then drizzled over a nice lemon, balsamic dressing. But, we’re not grilling. We are simply going to pan-sear the raw spears in a VERY hot pan until they just start to get tender. Then, we’ll wrap them up tight in foil with our dressing, and wait for 5 minutes as the residual heat finishes the cooking process, and the asparagus is completely “favorized” (I’m trying to invent new words so I can get one in the dictionary like that Stephen Colbert – “truthiness?” Are you kidding me?).

There is a magical moment of doneness for asparagus; if undercooked they are bitter, if overcooked they are soft and fibrous, but if cooked until just tender…they are sweet and absolutely sensuous. Did I just say asparagus was sensuous? It must be spring. Enjoy!

*Note: I say near the end of the clip, when the asparagus is wrapped in the foil, to “toss” them half way through. What I meant was just to turn over the foil package after a few minutes, so the dressing get re-distributed. Don’t open the foil and mix them or you’ll lose the heat. This note will make was more sense if you’ve seen the clip!

Ingredients:
1 bunch trimmed and washed asparagus
1 lemon, juiced
2 tbl olive oil
2 tbl balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
shaved Parmesan cheese to top