Trout Kiev and Pilaf Rice

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

I saw Simon Rimmer make a Salmon Kiev on Something for the Weekend last Saturday and I thought it looked quite good. We had a huge trout fillet in the freezer, so I thought that would be a good substitute. It did work quite well, however the trout was quite soft and flaky, so it was a bit difficult to cut pockets to stuff with the garlic butter. But it tasted really good, even though I didn’t follow Simon’s recipe at all and just did my own thing! Steve ate his with Salad Cream (which he puts on everything!) and I tried it and it was actually really nice. It gave the fried fish that acidity to cut through the grease, a bit like tartare sauce.

I served it with Pilaf Rice, using Alton Brown’s fool-proof method (I have tried Paul Merrett’s recipe for Emergency Biryani which uses a similar method and it was a disaster!) but I added some mushrooms, red pepper and roasted squash before adding the rice to the pan. The vegetables did release some moisture, so next time I would add a bit less stock, probably 25ml less.

I made the rice first, then whilst it was in the oven I prepared the trout. Then when the rice came out of the oven to rest, I cranked up the oven to Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C and put the trout in for about 5 minutes.

• Serves: 2

Rice Pilaf Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1/2 medium onion, finely diced
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 red pepper, chopped into 1cm pieces
• handful of mushrooms, sliced
• handful of roasted butternut squash chunks
• 1 cup rice (I used long grain jasmine rice)
• 1 1/2 cups (350-375ml) stock (use the lower amount if using watery vegetables like mushrooms)

Rice Pilaf Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. Heat the oil and sweat the onion and garlic until softened over a low heat, don't allow to brown.
3. Add the mushrooms, peppers and squash and fry until softened.
4. Add the rice and gently fry until it smells 'nutty', about 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the stock, stir once and bring to a boil.
6. Cover the saucepan with the damp tea-towel (it must be damp otherwise you might set it on fire!) and clamp on the lid. Fold up the corners of the tea-towel over the lid so that it's not hanging loose. You can also use greaseproof paper.
7. Put the saucepan in the preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and leave for 10-15 minutes with the lid still on, as during this time the rice is still cooking and absorbing the liquid.

Trout Kiev Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 Tbsp fresh thyme, leaves picked (I used lemon thyme)
• 2 large thick trout fillets
• 2 Tbsps plain flour
• 1 free-range egg, beaten
• 4 big handfuls of panko breadcrumbs
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3-4 Tbsp vegetable oil

Trout Kiev Directions:

1. Put the butter, garlic, thyme leaves and some black pepper in a small bowl and mash together with a fork until well combined.
2. Turn out the mixture onto a sheet of cling film and roll it into a cylinder. Chill in the freezer for five minutes.
3. Using a sharp knife, make a deep slit into the side of each trout fillet to form a pocket (or lots of little pockets if one large pocket is not possible).
4. When the butter mixture has chilled, slice it into 3mm discs and insert them into each of the pockets in the trout.
5. Sprinkle the flour onto a plate and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Beat the egg in a shallow dish. Mix together the breadcrumbs on a separate plate. Dredge each stuffed fish fillet first in the flour, then dip it in the beaten egg, then roll it in the breadcrumbs mixture until completely coated.
6. Heat the oil in an ovenproof frying pan over a medium to high heat. Add the coated trout fillets and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until the breadcrumb coating is crisp and golden-brown.
7. Transfer the trout to the oven now turned up to Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until cooked through. (NB: The fish is cooked through when the flesh is opaque.)

Simon Rimmer’s Jam Roly Poly

MUNCH RATING: 3/5

This might sound strange, but I don’t think I’ve ever had jam roly poly. I’ve definitely never used suet before, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I cooked it in my Tefal 4-in-1 and it was the first time I’ve used the steamer function. It worked brilliantly and I didn’t have to worry about it boiling dry as you can fill the bowl with loads of water.

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:
I had to halve Simon’s recipe as it served 6-8 people and I was only cooking for me and Steve, so even with half the amount we still had a lot leftover! So my jam roly poly was slightly smaller and I didn’t reduce the cooking time, so I think that’s why it came out a bit dry. Next time I will check it after 40 minutes. Another reason why it might have been dry was I didn’t use a double piece of parchment and the roly poly burst out a little bit. So it’s definitely worth using a double layer.

TASTE TEST:
I would also use more jam and a better quality one than the Tesco own brand we had in the fridge, as it was a bit bland.

It was easy to make but it's nowhere near as good as this other Jam Roly Poly recipe that I've tried.

The recipe below is half the quantity of Simon’s original recipe, which can be found here.

• Serves: 3-4
• You will need: a steamer

  
Ingredients:

• 113g (4oz) self-raising flour
• 57g (2oz) shredded suet (I used vegetable suet)
• 35g (1.25oz) caster sugar
• ½ egg, beaten
• 25ml (1 fl.oz) water
• 100g (3.5 oz) strawberry jam
• Hot ready-made custard, to serve

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix together the flour, suet and sugar until well combined.
2. Add the beaten egg and stir until well combined.
3. Gradually add the water, a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture comes together as a dough. (NB: You may not need all of the water. If the dough becomes too sticky, add a little more flour.)
4. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to form a 20cm x 30cm rectangle. Transfer to a baking tray lined with baking parchment.
5. Spread the jam in an even layer all over the dough rectangle.
6. Starting from the narrower end of the rectangle, carefully roll the dough into a roulade, using your hands (use the baking parchment as a guide).
7. Cut the roll in half, then wrap each half tightly in a double piece of baking parchment. Twist the ends of each parcel to secure.
8. Place the roly-poly parcels into your steamer and steam for 40-50 minutes, or until completely cooked through (the jam roly-poly halves are cooked through
   when a skewer inserted into the centre of each comes out clean).
9. To serve, cut each jam roly-poly half into three or four slices. Place one slice onto each of six to eight serving plates. Drizzle over the hot custard.

Kung Po Chicken

MUNCH RATING: 3/5

I used Simon Rimmer’s recipe that he made on Something For The Weekend as a base for this dish.

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:
I made quite a few changes to his recipe by simplifying it. I also added more vegetables and substituted the whole dried chillies for a pinch of crushed dried chillies and I used balsamic vinegar instead of the Chinese black rice vinegar as I couldn’t get hold of any.

I also stirred in some cooked noodles, but this was a mistake as the sauce has such an intense sweet/sour/hot flavour, that I think it would have been better to serve the dish with just some plain rice.

• Serves 6
• Prep time: 1 hour to marinate
• Cook time: 15-20 minutes 

Ingredients:

• 600g chicken, cut into strips (I used thighs and it’s roughly 1 per person if they’re big thighs)
• 3.5 Tablespoons (50ml) shaoxing rice wine
• 3.5 Tablespoons (50g) cornflour
• 3.5 Tablespoons (50ml) vegetable oil
• Pinch of crushed dried chillies
• 5cm piece fresh ginger, grated
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into julienne pieces
• Some broccoli, cut into even pieces and lightly blanched
• 4-5 spears of asparagus, cut into pieces at an angle
• 3.5 Tablespoons (50g) soft brown sugar
• 75g cashew nuts
• 3.5 Tablespoons (50ml) light soy sauce
• 3.5 Tablespoons (50ml) balsamic vinegar 

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix together the rice wine and cornflour until well combined, then add the chicken strips and mix until the chicken is completely coated in the mixture. Cover and chill in the fridge for one hour.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok over a high heat. When the oil is smoking, fry the chicken in batches for 2-3 minutes, or until golden-brown. Remove from the wok using a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate.
3. Add the dried chillies and ginger to the pan and fry for 1 minute until fragrant.
4. Add the vegetables and chicken to the pan and stir-fry for a few minutes, then add the sugar, cashew nuts, light soy sauce and vinegar to the wok and stir-fry until the sugar has melted, the sauce is sticky and well combined and the chicken strips are cooked through.