Building up your larder is so important. It means you don't have to shop every bloody day, it means if you’re stuck for lunch or dinner ideas, there will always be something, and it will always be delicious. These recipes are good for a rainy day off, for a bit of kitchen therapy.
Preserved lemons:
These preserved lemons give so many dishes a real lift. There is just no substitute for their unique salty, citrus flavour. They are used in moroccan cooking, especially in Tagines, but I like them in dressings and marinades too. They pair particularly well with chicken or even feta. Make a big batch and you can put them in a ginormous long jar, which looks stunning, or distribute over a few smaller jars and give them out as gifts. They last forever, as long as they are sealed well and they are topped up with oil each time you use them- this stops the air getting to them.
Ingredients:
Around 8 lemons- ideally unwaxed but I know they are difficult to find these days! If you can’t find unwaxed lemons, plunge them in a bowl of boiling water and mix them around so the wax melts. Give them a scrub under clean water and voila!
200g Rock salt or himalayan rock salt
½ cup olive oil
Recipe:
Sterilise your appropriate size jars ready for filling.
Cut your lemon in quarters, leaving one end intact, so you have 4 petals.
Spoon a tbsp of salt into each lemon centre so it is jam packed with salt, then put it into your jar. Repeat this step for all the lemons until the jar is full. You will need to squish them in!
Secure the lid, then store the lemons in a cool dry place for 7 days.
After 7 days, your lemons will have released their juices. Squish them down with a spoon until they’re tightly packed in the jar. Then top up the jar with oil to seal them in. You only need about an inch of oil on top.
Store them in a cupboard or in a cool place out of the sun. Tear off pieces of lemon for your cooking. Make sure you squish down the lemons if they start to poke out of the oil, and top up the oil if necessary.
Cured egg yolks:
This may seem a bit daunting, but these beautiful translucent yolks are so simple and so tasty.
I’ve seen people grate them over ice cream, but I love them grated over pasta or some cooked asparagus. Treat them like parmesan and you’re bound to add beautiful, umami deliciousness to your dish.
Ingredients:
2 cups fine sea salt- not rock salt
2 cups sugar
1tsp black pepper, freshly cracked
A few sprigs of thyme
6 egg yolks
Recipe:
Get a large bowl and mix the salt, sugar and pepper together. Remove the thyme leaves from the stem and add into the sugar and salt mix.. Make sure all is combined thoroughly.
Use a sealed tub to cure the yolks. Pour half of the salt mixture in the bottom of the tub, then use an egg to make 6 indentations ready for each yolk to nestle in.
Separate each egg yolk carefully, and save the whites for another day. Lay the egg yolk down gently into one of the salt indentations. Repeat with all yolks.
Gently spoon the remaining salt and sugar over the yolks, making sure to cover them all over. This way the yolks will cure evenly.
Seal the tub, then pop them in the fridge for 7 days.
After 7 days, check the yolks to see if they have all hardened. If they’re still quite soft then pop them in for another day. If you are curing duck egg yolks, you may need to leave them for a day or two longer as they are generally larger than chicken eggs.
Once the yolks are hard and translucent, remove them from the cure and rinse them under cold water very carefully. Gently rub away the salt and sugar with your thumbs.
Once they have been rinsed, place them on a wire rack. You can dehydrate them in a dehydrator, but I personally don't have one. Simply pop them in your oven on a very low heat, 50 degrees if possible.
Let them dry out in the oven for around 1.5hrs. Then switch off the oven and leave them in the oven for the remainder of the day or even overnight.
Once cooked, they should have a texture a bit like cheddar cheese . You can pop them in a jar and keep them in the fridge for months.
Spicy chilli oil:
Deliciously savoury and full of spice. This oil is seriously addictive. It's great on noodles and rice, and even better on wontons. Again, you can make a large batch of this oil, give it out as gifts or just have it in an extra large jar.
Ingredients:
2 cups of vegetable or sunflower oil (any neutral oil)
3tbs of chilli flakes (ideally Gochugaru- Korean chilli flakes)
4 garlic cloves- lightly bruised
1 star anise
1 tbsp black vinegar
2tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
Recipe:
Heat a medium saucepan on medium heat, and gently toast the star anise.
Once the star anise is fragrant, add the oil.
The oil needs to be hot, but not simmering, as this will burn the spices.
Add in the garlic, you don't need to peel it, then let the oil infuse on a low heat until the garlic is golden brown.
Meanwhile, mix the chilli flakes, sugar, salt and vinegar in a sterilised jar.
Now the garlic is golden brown, remove the star anise with a slotted spoon, then take the pan from the heat and pour the hot oil into the prepared jar. The oil will sizzle and spit, so please be careful.
You can keep a couple of the garlic cloves in the jar to infuse the oil.
Leave the oil to cool, then pop a lid on and keep it in a cool dry place.
Garam Masala
I cannot express how much more authentic your Indian cooking will taste if you make the effort to grind your own spices. The ready ground spices or “curry powder” you find in the supermarket is quite mellow, it's been in your cupboard for months and the magic of the spices are lost. When you toast and grind your own, the spices are so much more aromatic, and the powder is fluffy and beautiful. You can also tailor your spice mix to your own taste. Give it a go and store it in a jar, then it’s at hand when you need some heady, warming spice in your life.
Yield ½ cup
Ingredients: (Please feel free to adjust the spices and quantities. If you love cumin, add more. If you hate cardamom, remove it. Have a play and be experimental.)
2tsp fenugreek seeds
4tsp cumin seeds
2tsp turmeric
5 cardamom pods
4 Kashmiri chillies- or any whole dried red chilli
2tsp coriander seed
2tsp mustard seed
2 whole mace
1x 2inch piece of cinnamon
Recipe:
Heat up a pan on medium heat, then add all the spices. You don't need to deseed the cardamom, whack the whole pod in.
Let the spices gently toast in the dry pan until they start to become fragrant.
Remove from the heat and let them cool slightly.
Add all the spices into your spice grinder or coffee grinder, and blitz to a fine powder.
Put the spices in a jar and give it a good sniff before you put the lid on. Heaven.
Fajita seasoning:
Please, stop paying for packaged fajita seasoning. You probably have half of the ingredients in your cupboards already! I will have a separate recipe for quick fajitas, but have this spice mix at the ready.
2tsp oregano
3tsp ground cumin
4tsp smoked paprika
1tsp cocoa powder
1tsp cinnamon
2tsp salt
1tsp ground black pepper
Mix the whole lot together and store in a jar.
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