I have long been of the mindset that food is love. The reason I love entertaining so, is because it is the perfect way for me to show my friends how much I love them.

These past few months, I have been cooking for my Unwell Friend. First, for her, a multitude of vegan dishes to try and help her on the road back to health, and of late, for her family. They laugh that they are the lucky recipients of my cooking therapy, and it is true, but it is also my way of giving, of showing my love.

And it is because I do not know what else to do.

I have had a couple of huge hits with the recent food. I used two recipes: Sheila Lukins’s Asian Orange Chicken, with Delia Smith’s Chicken Basque, as inspiration, and combined them both to make a wondrous one-pot Asian orange chicken with onions, peppers and rice.

Fish Escabeche was the result of over-ordering fish and chips. I made a sweet and sour sauce, Filipino-style, with carrots, peppers and cucumbers and poured it over the fried fish to create an entirely new dish. The sauce would work equally well with chicken, or thick eggplant slices, dredged in flour and lightly fried, for a vegetarian option.

I made tandoori salmon kebabs, and a tofu version for us, using extra firm tofu, diced into large cubes. I served them with pureed cauliflower, a head of cauliflower steamed, then pureed with a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of tofutti sour cream - they were better than the best mashed potatoes I have ever eaten. I sliced fennel, thinly, and caramelised it with sliced leeks, a tablespoon of brown sugar, of white wine vinegar, and of olive oil, over a low heat for over an hour, until it was sticky, sweet and brown, and served it on top of the pureed cauliflower.

Asian Orange Chicken (serves 6 -

For the marinade:

Zest of 4 oranges
2/3 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 teaspoons finely minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
seasoning

2 chickens, jointed into 8 pieces, seasoned

2 large red bell peppers

2 medium onions

2 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup brown short grain rice

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

teaspoon of tomato paste

3/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 large orange, cut into 1/2″ wedges — peel on

4 scallions (white bulbs and 3″ green) thinly sliced on diagonal for garnish.

The day before serving rinse and dry chicken pieces, and combine orange zest and juice, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes and seasoning into bowl for marinade. Stir well, coat chicken pieces and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to cook, tart off by seasoning the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Next, slice the red peppers in half and remove the seeds and pith, then slice each half into six strips. Likewise, peel the onion and slice into strips of approximately the same size.

Now heat 2 T. olive oil in the casserole, and when it is fairly hot, add the chicken pieces - 2 or 3 at a time - and brown them to a nutty golden color on both sides. As they brown, remove them to a plate lines with paper towels, using a slotted spoon. Next add a little more oil to the casserole, with the heat slightly higher than medium. As soon as the oil is hot, add the onion and peppers and allow them to brown a little at the edges, moving them around from timt to time, for about 5 minutes.

After that add the garlic and toss around for a minute or two until the garlic is pale golden then stir in the rice, and when the grains have a good coating of oil, add the stock, wine, tomato paste. As soon as everything has reached a simmer, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer. Add a little more seasoning, then place the chicken gently on top of everything (it’s important to keep the rice down in the liquid). Finally, scatter the wedges of orange in among them.

Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook over the gentlest possible heat for about 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until the rice is cooked but still retains a little bite. Alternatively, cook in a preheated oven at 350 for 1 hour.

Garnish with scallions.

Fish Escabeche (serves 4 - 6)

You could buy a couple of fish fillets, cod or snapper, dredge them in seasoned flour, and fry them until cooked. Or you could cheat and buy fried fish from your local fish and chip store which is far easier and less messy. If you’re still tempted to buy, you will need about 1lb fish.

Sweet and sour sauce:
1/2 cup superfine sugar (although I used raw organic natural cane sugar and it was perfectly fine)
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1 small carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
1 medium green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water (this is the thickener. I had no cornstarch so used 1 1/2 tablespoons of wholewheat flour instead)
Fresh cilantro leaves to garnish.

To make sauce, combine sugar, vinegar, water and ketchup in a pan. Add carrots when hot, cook for 4-5 minutes, then add bell peppers and cucumber. Simmer, without stirring for another 3 minutes. Stir in cornstarch mixture and simmer until sauce thickens. Remove from heat.

Place fish on serving platter, pour sweet and sour sauce all over fish. Arrange vegetables around fish and garnish with fresh cilantro leaves.

Salmon or Tofu tikka skewers.

1 1/2 lb thick salmon filets, skinned, cubed, or 2 packets of extra firm tofu, diced into 1″ cubes
2 heaped tablespoons of tandoori curry paste
1 cup natural or soy yoghurt
1 bunch mint
1 bunch cilantro
1 tablespoon olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cucumber, chopped.
1 red onion, finely sliced

Mix the curry paste and 2 tablespoons of the yoghurt, and marinade the salmon or tofu for at least one hour.
For the dressing combine the rest of the yoghurt with the finely chopped herbs, cucumber, onion, lemon and olive oil.
Thread cubes onto soaked wooden skewers, and turn on a grill until cooked.
Serve with yoghurt salad.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 1:21 pm and is filed under Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.