Beef and Udon Stirfry

This recipe is based vaguely upon a recipe from the first fantastic Wagamams book.

Ingredients:

• 300g Amoy straight to wok udon noodles
• 300g beef sirloin cut into strips 5mm thick
• 1 tablespoon cornflour
• Salt and white pepper
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1.5 tablespoon ginger chopped finely
• 2 Pak Choi
• 4 spring onions, cut into 4cm lengths
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 red chilli, de-seeded and finely sliced
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds, briefly toasted in a hot, dry frying pan

Method:

Place the beef, cornflour and salt and pepper in a plastic bag and toss the meat to coat.

Heat the oil in a hot wok, add the ginger and cook for 30 seconds. Add the beef and stir fry for 2 minutes or until the beef is just cooked.

Add the pak choi, spring onions and 1 tablespoon of water and stir-fry until the pak choi is wilted. Add the soy sauce and chilli.

Add the noodles, toss to ensure that everything is combined and top with the toasted sesame oil and sesame seeds.

Kirstie and Ben's Wedding

I have put a collection of my favourite pictures taken at Mr & Mrs Oliver's wedding which was held on the 5th of July '08 in Belmullet, Mayo in Ireland. The pictures are available in preview on the Photo's page or available for full high resolution downloads here.

The wedding was fantastic...Meticulously planned (as one would expect from Kirstie!) and executed with warmth. The bride looked stunning and the weather managed to stay dry for the important parts of the day.

I can't take credit for all of the photo's...Some of the better examples were taken by my young assistant, Chloe!

And, having had my first trip to Ireland, I agree that Guinness tastes very different there!

Quick Paella

Ingredients:

• 1x onion, chopped
• 1x small tin tomatoes
• 1x small cup peas
• 1x red pepper, diced
• A small pinch of Saffron
• 1x qtr tea spoon of chilli flakes
• 4 inches of chorizo sausage, sliced and quartered
• 300g Monkfish, cut into bitesize chunks
• 1.5 pint veg stock
• 240g paella rice

Method:

First, prepare the monkfish by cooking in a wok until sealed. Set aside.

Fry the chorizo in a little oil until crisp and then set aside.

Soften onions in a little oil, fry until soft then mix in all other ingredients other than the mixed seafood, lemon juice and lemon slices.

Cook for 20 minutes until the wok is fairly dry.

Add the mixed seafood, stir and then cook for 5 more minutes.

Add lemon juice and a good grind of pepper.

Servce with lemon slices.

Thai Prawn Soup (Tom Yum something)

I love this soup - it's easy to produce and you can throw whatever ingredients you like in really, but the below is a 'normal' version of the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 8 uncooked prawns
• 1 good thumb of Ginger, chopped finely
• 1 red chilli, sliced thinly
• 1x 3 inch piece of lemon grass, bruised lightly then cut into 1 inch chunks
• 6 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 3 shitake mushrooms, sliced
• 2x spring onions, (green leaves remove) cut lengthways
• 3 tablespoons of fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon of roast chilli in oil
• Lime, quartered
• Handful of Coriander, roughly chopped

Method:

First, to make a fish stock: Remove shells from prawns and boil the shells in a point of water for 5 minutes. Pass through a sieve (keeping the liquid and throwing the rest). Set aside and let the liquid cool.

Add the stock, ginger, chilli, lemon grass, fish sauce, lime juice and chilli in oil to a large pan. Add a pint of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.

In the meantime, prepare the serving-bowls. In the bottom of each place the mushrooms, spring onions, a quarter slice of lime and some roughly chopped coriander.

Add the prawns and tomatoes to the soup and wait until the prawns cook (20 seconds or so!).

Ladle into the bowls and stir.

Hello New Car!

So, the choice is: what to get now?

I looked at a few other cars: the new BMW 3-series coupe (esp. the cabriolet) is lovely, but hardly rare. Audi S4's are nice, but the current model is being replaced next year and the thought of having another "rag top" cabriolet was scary.

So, I decided upon an Audi A5...Much more practical! The model I selected was the 3.0TDI Quattro.

I expected the performance of this car to be a little disappointing, but the oil burner manages to accelerate this (rather large) car to 62 in under 6 seconds...Not bad!

Spec on this car is fantastic, 14-speaker Bang and Olufsen stereo, SatNav, 6 disk multichanger, IPod connectivity, keyless entry and engine start, triple-zone climate control, front/rear parking sensor, electric seats, electric everything else actually; it's a dream to drive.

Goodbye Old Car

Well, I loved my little BMW M Roadster, with its two seats, RWD, 3.2 Litre M-spec engine producing 321 BHP, but it was getting a little impractical...As well as leaking like a sieve!

Time for a change!