VENISON CHILLI WITH REINDEER

Time flies when you're busy and I sure have been. Of course that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking; I just haven't been taking much photos (maybe it hasn't been very pretty) or writing about it. This chilli is one of the recipes I tried recently, after discovering it, I can't remember how. Check out the video recipe by the amazing BBQ Pit Boys. Hats off to the attitude these guys have.

I spent Christmas in my native Finland, and as you may know we have reindeer in the north. As venison is just deer meat, why not reindeer? Some may think it's quite macabre to eat Rudolph, especially around Christmas, but we don't see a problem with it.

Bloggers always write about something being 'the best' while actually meaning just 'really nice'. I don't do that. This chilli really is the best I've had. I also had beef chilli recently but now that just pales in comparison. I was blind but now I see.

There's a couple substitutes I made to the original recipe, due to dietary restriction or unavailability of ingredients, or just because I happened to have something I wanted to use. You should really watch the video but below is an illustration of what I used.

Here we have the salami. Finns will recognise this instantly. You can use whatever salami that has a strong meat flavour.

And just to write it out to you. Measurements aren't that important here.

Venison
American-style bacon
Russian-style salami (to substitute Italian hot sausage)
Pickled jalapenos
Onions
Garlic
Tinned tomatoes
Tomato purée
Fresh tomatoes
Green pepper
Mushrooms
Kidney beans
Dry apple cider (to substitute beer)
Cajun seasoning
Oregano
Cumin
Chipotle powder (dried, smoked chilli, to substitute the smoking)
Paprika powder
Cayenne pepper
Salt
Black treacle
Also pepper, I think


Easy: Fry meat, add other stuff, stir. Let simmer for a couple of hours.


To serve:
Tortilla chips
Blue cheese
Mild cheese
Pickled jalapenos

SCONES

Easy and quick comfort food. These are very soft and delicate with a crispy top even when made with gluten-free flour mix.

I have a theory that shop-bought gluten-free scones are actually just surplus astronaut food that NASA are selling out to minimise losses.




3 parts self-raising flour (gluten-free is fine)
2 parts lemonade of sparkling water
1 part cream
a pinch of salt
more flour until workable


Mix until smooth, and gosh almighty it'll be very smooth.

Bake in 200°C until golden.

YOGHURT VANILLA CUSTARD

This is one of those brainchilds of a lazy mind. I had no eggs and no cream but there was some leftover custard powder from making vanilla pumpkin pie. Normally I'd never make custard from powder but this turned out quite nice because of all the additional ingredients.

My guests said the custard was a perfect match with the pie.


Yoghurt vanilla custard

90ml milk
2 inches vanilla pod
30ml (or more) sugar
30ml custard powder
3 drops orange oil
enough Greek yoghurt to thinnen, about 100ml.


Heat up the milk, sugar and vanilla.




Add custard powder. Stir continuously.




Add the Greek yoghurt one spoonful at a time when the custard starts to thicken. Mix in the orange oil. Serve hot or cold.

VANILLA PUMPKIN PIE

Halloween got cancelled.

On Wednesday we went down to London, to visit The Dungeons among other things. The sight of the 4-and-a-half hour queue stretching half-way around the block – a mighty big block it was, too – was plenty of horror for us so we decided to ditch that plan. Luckily we had other plans in London as well.

At the weekend I did 29 hours of work between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon. I was about to keel over out of exhaustion. I think I looked quite a bit like a zombie – I definitely felt like one. Actually quite fitting for Halloween, don't you think?

My sister-in-law had carved us a pumpkin lantern but I was too tired to put a candle in it and take it out. I was having a nap when we got trick-or-treaters but managed to get myself up, forgetting my glasses so I have no idea what they looked like.

Oh well, at least I made a pumpkin pie earlier last week.



Crust:

100g unsalted butter
75ml sugar
150ml plain gluten-free flour mix


Filling:

5oog cooked pumpkin
40g custard powder
100g condensed milk
2 eggs
0.5ml ground cardamom
1ml nutmeg
4ml cinnamon
1.5 inch vanilla pod, seeds separated

Prepare the crust and roll out on a 10"/26cm pie dish. Chill before baking in 200°C until only just done. A disaster will happen if you use self-raising flour so keep away from it.

Puré the pumpkin and add remaining ingredients. Pour onto the crust and bake until set.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or some quality custard.

Before

After

Served with yoghurt vanilla custard.

AFRO-MEXICAN PUMPKIN SOUP

I can't quite decide which cuisine this soup is trying to represent. There's plenty of cinnamon, cumin and chickpeas which make it a little bit African but there's also coriander, lime and brown sugar which make it Mexican. The Thai curry paste complicates it further. Oh well, the soup is lovely, and that's the main thing.

Another thing that's impossible to define is the amount of servings. This can make four servings for some not-so-hungry people, but also just two for a hungry, lonely man as I discovered last weekend.

I'm not a big fan of soups or peanut butter and I used to hate coriander (cilantro) so if I call this soup lovely, it's a huge praise. Actually, I think this recipe is what made me like coriander but we still call it Fairy herb because it tastes a bit like washing-up liquid. Maybe I just like Fairy.

I adapted the recipe from this one. I make it very often and don't measure anything but have a look at the original if you need more specific instructions.


Afro-Mexican pumpkin soup

A big chunk of lard for frying. Use ghee if the thought of lard is unpleasant. Oil will burn.
A heaped teaspoon of red curry paste.
2ml cinnamon
5ml cumin
Chilli powder to taste
Several garlic cloves, at least 4
Two peppers, or some leftover bits equivalent to two whole ones.
Boiling water
A big chunk of pumpkin or butternut squash, I'd say about 500g.
Two very heaped spoonfuls of peanut butter. As much as you can hold on a tablespoon.
A tin of chickpeas, drained.
A heaped tablespoon of brown sugar
Juice of one lime
Salt to taste.
A big handful of chopped coriander (cilantro).

Fry the spices and garlic. Add peppers and fry for a minute. Add water, pumpkin and peanut butter.




Boil until the pumpkin is tender. Mix until the froth created by the peanut butter has dissolved and add chickpeas. Mash the soup roughly and add remaining ingredients. Add more chilli if needed. Stir until the sugar and salt dissolve and serve.

Some coriander.

And a bit more.

Notice how there's ice crystals on the coriander. I buy it in big bunches, chop it up, and freeze it.

SALTED OX TONGUE

I picked up a salted ox tongue at the Norfolk Food Fair on Saturday simply because I had never had tongue.

The tongue was an Angus tongue from Foxley Wood. If you wish to buy some quality beef for your Christmas meal or some other occasion, this farm is a very good choice. They start maturing Christmas beef in October.




The stall-keepers were two lovely ladies who gave me detailed instructions on how to cook the tongue. I promised them to write something about my experience.




Fist you need to simmer the tongue on low heat.



Skim the foam when it forms.



The tongue is done when you're able to insert a skewer easily. This will take a few hours. When the tongue is cooked, put a weight on it and let it rest. I think I used a fairly unorthodox method for this, as you can see below, but it worked.




Peel the tongue. The skin will come off very easily.




And finally, you can slice it.



I have served the tongue two different ways so far. Below you can see it with Hollandaise sauce. I have to say I didn't enjoy the sauce very much even though it's a classic.




The second time I fried plenty of garlic, an onion and tree tomatoes and added some balsamic vinegar. I added the sliced tongue into the mixture to warm it up. I also sprinkled some parsley on top. This worked much better.




The flavour of the tongue is quite mild. I have to describe it, I'd say it tastes a little bit like ham or seafood. The texture is very soft and tender, as you can see in the photo below. There are several types of tissue in the tongue and they all have a different flavour and texture.




Fridge-cold tongue is delicious on it's own. I'd imagine it makes a lovely sandwich.

NORFOLK FOOD FAIR

The annual Norfolk Food Fair was held on Saturday. This time the venue was The Forum in Norwich, not Gentleman's Walk as I think it has earlier been. I went there to have a look and this is what I saw.

A very uninviting view. No stalls in sight and not very many people.

In a tent outside.

Inside The Forum. Still not very many people and not many stalls.

Bondas and onion bhajis.

A bonda seemed to be mildly spiced chopped potatoes in a gram flour crust.

The people behind Chillis Galore being interviewed by BBC East.

Jellies and sauces.

The sausage van.

Sausage competition.

A bit busier at the sausage-tasting area, as you can see.

Trying a sample.

Sausages being prepared for tasting.

Inside The Forum again.

Some Foxley Wood produce.

A salted ox tongue.

In addition to what you can see here, there were also producers selling cakes, bread, juice, beer, jams, ice cream, cheese and of course mustard. In the sausage-tasting area there was a pot of Colman's mustard at every stand and they also had a stand of their own.

The event seemed to be smaller than in previous years. One thing I noticed was that there were no sweets on offer.

Maybe Gentleman's walk would be a better venue than The Forum because it's right next to the market, where you can find more local food. The Forum is a bit isolated, though convenient for rainy days.