Changing Food… One Meal At A Time!
Jan Fullwood Food Consultant
(aka JamJarJan)
NOTES FROM A CHAOTIC KITCHEN
Welcome to day to day life in a chaotic well used kitchen…..
A constantly evolving kitchen: always busy, full of cooking and creating (dinner, treats, mess) for work and for play, for family and friends.
Let me introduce myself and my family:
- A Food and Recipe Consultant who is ‘never knowingly under-catered’, I’ll whip up a five-minute muffin mix at a moment’s notice. I’m constantly creating, evaluating and eating, always cooking and learning something new.
- Long-suffering Hub who just wants a clutter-free kitchen (and longs for a bit of peace and quiet). Happiest in the garden.
- Eldest cheffie son and his patisserie chef girlfriend who cook catering quantities of delicious food at every opportunity for us to sample (hard job, but someone’s got to do it)
- Protein & carb obsessed younger son set for uni (cooking not his forte - self survival skills urgently required)
We all eat to live. Let me help you live to eat.
What's in Jan's Pan?
January can feel a bit bleak once the Christmas decorations are down and the holidays are over. But with Janus at the helm, looking back at the old year and forwards to the future, it signals the opportunity to clear out the old and welcome the new. Christmas was a non-stop social whirl full of the usual excess and overindulgence (and its fair share of Winter lurgy), and whilst I enjoyed every minute, it’s a relief to finally get back to some sort of routine and reset.
I’m not one for resolutions but New Year is a blank page waiting to review and renew. I love a brand new diary with its empty pages full of promise, but January is never a dull month here. It’s birthday season for both friends and family, and my crisp clear calendar is rapidly filling with new adventures, projects and opportunities.
I’ve already booked myself in onto a workshop for the Guild of Fine Food Great Taste Awards in readiness for my role as coordinator at this year's tasting sessions. This year there are talks from chocolate and coffee specialists, so perhaps I’ll get to appreciate the finer details of the Christmas gifts we received that consisted mainly of tea, coffee and hot chocolate. Anyone would think we like a beverage or two in this house.... (our families know us only too well it would seem).
Now January is underway, I’ve eased back to some sensible eating and exercise with some lighter, brighter meals (too many chestnuts and chipolatas take their toll eventually) and plenty of bracing tennis in minus temperatures (the best way to bust any January blues – including blue fingers and toes). There’s an awful amount of chocolate in the house though, which won’t eat itself but I certainly won’t be denying myself during cold January - everyone needs chocolate in their life, especially in the darker, colder months. We won’t be short of an antioxidant or two to counterbalance the caffeine.
For those who read my December blog (see archives if not), you will know that I was looking forward to a fully catered Christmas dinner courtesy of the two Chefs in the family. I am pleased to confirm that it lived up to expectation, exceeded well beyond and frankly was nothing short of a miracle considering the size of their one bedroom flat and the extent of their cooking facilities. Nevertheless, they served a mountain of perfectly cooked food with every accompaniment possible, with these magnificent Yorkshires as the crowning glory. And it goes without saying - the dessert queen was on fire with her homemade Christmas pud!!!
To answer the query below, apparently the Yorkshire recipe was scaled down from the 6 litres of batter he would normally make which uses around 30 eggs. So we're none the wiser really - Chefs think in bulk and are on a totally different plane to us home cooks!!
Speedy Dhal with Crisped Paneer & Shredded Sprouts
This was just the quick fix we both needed after our circuits class after being put through our paces - just a couple of tins and some spices and we had ourselves a low carb, high protein dinner, full of immune-boosting spices.
I fried some sliced onion with 1/2tsp each of cumin, coriander and turmeric, and grated in lots of fresh ginger and a large clove of garlic until softened and aromatic.
Then I tipped in one 400g tin chopped tomatoes and a 400g tin of lentils with their water and added a tablespoon of red pepper (or tomato puree would do here), seasoned well and left to simmer until thickened.
Meanwhile I popped cubes of paneer into the air fryer at 240C for 5mins which crisped it on every side (no standing and turning). Note: I cooked this on the hob, but I'm sure it could be done in the air fryer if you wanted to, but really the crisp paneer is the star here, and that's what an air fryer does best.)
I should have added the shredded Brussels to soften for a couple of minutes towards the end of cooking the paneer, but I took the paneer out first.... and the picture in the next box shows what happened - a perfectly crisped liner too....
Finished with nigella seeds and crispy fried onions this hit the spot.
This sort of speedy shortcut meal may not be an authentic dahl, but it has its place. Everyone needs to know a good basic recipe, cooked from scratch which can either be simplified or dressed up. I've realised that Student Son needs a super simple recipe, and this would suit him well (probably topped with chicken or chorizo though, knowing him). He's found that spices are the key to student survival to liven up mince, chicken or sauces so I sent him packing with a good stash from my overflowing store. His repetoire is expanding though (with a few nudges and suggestions from me), so we'll make a chef of him yet.
To answer the question below in the comments, he's got a mix of spice blends (and adds whichever he grabs first apparently), but it's worth investing in a good all-round curry powder, plus some paprika or chilli powder (depending on heat preferences). Smoked paprika is particularly good for extra depth of flavour. It's the spice used in chorizo so adds a meaty flavour without the meat which is always a bonus for students. Good stock cubes or paste can also give a boost to basic dishes. I love ground cumin, coriander and ginger as they're good for both Indian and Moroccan flavours, and cinnamon is a must for banana cakes or sweet pancakes!
What's in Jan's Air Fryer - Student Scooby Snacks
Late to the party, I know, but I’ve finally joined the air fryer revolution. You can’t turn the telly on, or look at a bookshelf without seeing a new air fryer recipe book. Air-fryer owners seem to be an elite in-crowd. Even the Chefs survived with an air fryer as their only oven in their first broom cupboard of a flat so I succumbed and treated myself to check out the hype and find what all the fuss is about. For purely professional reasons of course - every Home Economist worth her salt should know how to use one, surely? So I felt I needed to demistify this ‘wonder gadget’.
I really didn’t want to fill the kitchen with yet another worktop appliance (sorry hub), but I’ve managed to sneak it into a corner and we’ve all been experimenting. After all, there is no mystery to it, it’s just a mini oven with the benefits of a more energy efficient and potentially healthier means of cooking quick and easy meals. Would it ever take over from my oven? I doubt it, but it certainly has its place in the kitchen, for those lighter dishes I crave, especially when we’re cooking for two, and also for student son’s Scooby snacks while he’s here.
He raided the cupboards and whipped up a ‘naanizza’ , which satisfied him for a short while (he’s a little and often kind of muncher). There’s one at uni that he can use which satisfies the need for instant meal gratification. If only they’d remember to clean it out between uses (ah, student hygiene hasn’t changed one iota). But I’ve realised that the key to student cooking is plenty of spice to pep up the very basic recipes required for survival, so I’ve sent him back with plenty as his secret weapon.
Meanwhile, we had a lot of sticky sausages cooked in the air fryer whilst entertaining over the festive period (a Good Housekeeping staple at every commercial event back in the day, and still as irresistible as ever), plus a deliciously quick panettone pudding to use up the last bits of my Pandoro . The reheat and dehydration functions are also good – I’ve been told that the dehydrate function gives great results for slow cooked meats too so that’s one to try. Any time saving equipment that helps people to eat from scratch is a winner in my eyes. I’ll certainly be experimenting with my new toy, and will pass on any great finds for those yet to use it to its full potential.
Air fryer lesson No1
Air fryer silicone liner complete with perfect ring burn marks
Note to self - ensure any silicone air fryer liner is suitably weighed down with food or it will fly into the element, doh!
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