JK's kitchen

'It’s basically fancy cheese on toast.' Some Sunday mornings breakfast seems an impossibility and any cooking no matter how simple goes out of the window in flavor of black coffee, watching reality TV with a slack jaw and almost total lack of activity. On days like this brunch is the order of the day and one lazy and indulgent brunch that me and mine enjoy is welsh rarebit with apple and walnut slaw I’m going to insist that you make in its entirety as all of the elements add something to the dish (or just make the rarebit and buy some tomato chutney). The rarebit Cheddar cheese (150-200g per person, grated) Beer (a dark stout, not carling) Mustard (English or wholegrain) Hendersons relish (or lea and perrins if you’re unlucky) Flour Butter Salt and pepper (black pepper) Toast. First make a roux by melting about a wooden spoonful of butter in a heavy bottomed oven safe pan then stirring in a roughly equal amount of flour then cooking on a low heat for approxima...

‘A sophisticated alternative to mushy peas.’ If I were inclined towards guilt one of my major guilty pleasures would be come dine with me. a trashy reality TV show where five people have dinner parties and slowly come to loathe each other over a week. In most cases the food is the least interesting part of the show being usually either disgustingly pretentious or just disgusting. However, on two occasions there were dishes that appeared on the show and have, after some experimentation, been added to my repertoire. This is an indulgent main to serve with goats cheese and any kind of beetroot salad or a truly decadent side dish for fish. The mint makes it if you don't have mint make something else, it’s foul without it. Pea and mint risotto part one (pea pesto) Frozen peas or broad beans (about 250g, peas if you’re making the risotto) Parmesan (one wedge from the supermarket) Mint (as much as you can me arsed to pick) Lemon (half zest, some of the juice, to taste) Salt (t...

‘A (post colonial) classic’ Should be a no brainier but most of the time you get a carrot and coriander soup it is unforgivably bland and sweet. I’m here to tell you that this isn't how it always has to be it should be spicy balanced and beautiful fresh and simple. This is as simple as it is satisfying a one pot wonder. The soup Carrots (obviously, a pan full. Chopped quite small all the same size) Coriander (a bunch of fresh, a teaspoon and a half of ground) Cumin seeds (a teaspoon) Onion (finely chopped) Garlic (4 cloves crushed and minced) Ginger (a thumb of fresh, grated) A green chili (red is too sweet chopped into chunks) Vegetable stock Butter Salt and pepper Melt the butter then soften your onion in your soup pan let them become translucent before you add your garlic and dry spices you should be able to smell each spice Add the carrots and chili then sautee for a good five or ten minutes on a medium heat Add your vegetable stock (the amount is up to ...

This isn't a dish. It is the mother of soup (and the mentor of stews, thesis adviser of sauce). Ingredients: use the old the unworthy and the strangely shaped this is very flexible chuck in bits of peel, basically any veg bar potatoes. Most of the time just use commercial stock but you can only trust yourself when it really matters. Carrots (essential) Onions (essential) Garlic (essential) Celery (essential) Various odds and ends of (raw) veg Herbs and spices (experiment here but parsley is almost always welcome) Parmesan rind (nice to have) Bay leaf (nice to have) Neutral oil Water Chop roughly your carrots and about half your onions and garlic and any other root veg you’re using and roast on 18 for about an hour Cut up your celery and onion fairly small and saute in a big old pan(hereafter stockpot) allowing the vegetables to catch, don't stir too much. After the onion and celery have started to soften add any of the veg you haven’t started roasting Pour...

'as exotic as you get in Europe I guess' This adapted from an age old Hungarian recipe that I was taught by an artist in a small mountain town an hour out from Budapest. It was a chaotic lesson taught through a friend whose English couldn’t quite capture his father’s speech. One piece of advice that did translate (although I admit it is quite cryptic) was to cook it like it was a stew but eat it like a soup which i have interpreted into this vegetarian version although I’m sure the carrots don't care. Cooking this for the first time was a frantic affair but I will always remember it as the first time I made a joke (not a great one) in a foreign language. I discovered something else that night the only thing as satisfying as getting that first laugh is a big old bowl of goulash. The goulash 2 onions (finely chopped) At least 8 Hungarian white peppers (it’s light green. if you can't find any use a couple of red ones then balance the soup out with lemon juice and ex...

'My brother’s favorite (he has good taste)' (Picture provided by azz and liz) This recipe was inspired by a visit to a sports bar with some friends while I was living in Naples. I’m not interested in football in any way, at all but I agreed to sit in a bar and watch grown men earn fabulous sums of money by kicking a sack of air around a lawn and consoled myself by promising myself that I would drink some Aperol spritz and people watch (the best use of time in Naples). What I wasn’t expecting was a robust and generous aperitivo (possibly the most elegant and enjoyable custom in the world which includes what usually amounts to a free snack with your drink). in addition to the usual dainty sandwiches, shot glasses of soup and miniaturised caprese salads there was a heaping cauldron of pene al zucchini made with cream and mint. What follows here is my take on that recipe. Courgette cream pasta Three courgettes (sliced into semicircles) Garlic (to taste but not ove...

‘Quick and worth it’ I make this broth up put it in a coke bottle and take it to work its warming light and about perfect for lunch. It’s spicy and complex whilst taking very little time to put together. This is a lunch for one of those days where you want to feel like you’re eating healthily but are (quite rightly) absolutely unwilling to compromise on big flavour. Say no to rice cakes. The broth A thumb of ginger (chopped) Half a garlic bulb (chopped) Lemongrass (two or three) Lime (zest and juice) A red chilli Lime leaf Coriander Tamarind (paste) Coconut milk (one can, light if you must) Vegetable stock Soy sauce honey(or palm sugar, or sugar, or something sweet) Saute ginger, garlic, lemongrass, lime leaf, half the chili and coriander stalks briefly until fragrant. Add the coconut milk and vegetable stock simmer this for about half an hour. Sieve the pan then return to the stove. Season with soy sauce, at least a teaspoon of tamarind (for tartness) then ...

‘A spicy treat’ This is a weekend jerk halloumi. Mid week you would just use any commercial jerk rub most of them are pretty good but the fresh is more vibrant. The side dishes elevate this to the level of a feast. Keep adding people until you have a party. Tastes best from a barbecue Jerk halloumi Ginger (a large thumb, don't bother peeling) Honey A bulb of Garlic (equal to shallots in volume) About two Shallots or scallions One Scotch bonnet (hot as hell but cannot be substituted I have to be strict about this, note from future Jake yes you do loose something if you don't use a scotch bonnet but don't let that stop you from making it without ) Thyme (fresh and stripped off the stems, as much as you can be arsed with about one and a half supermarket bunches, also dried thyme works fine) Lime (both zest and juice) Allspice (also known as pimento) nutmeg (a good grating) cinnamon (a sprinkle) smoked paprika (a teaspoon) Liquid smoke (just a dab if you'r...

‘I hate sweet and sour’ Growing up the standard of Chinese food available to us in our small northern town was not what you’d call high and the food available was not what anyone would call authentic. This has led me to gain to quirks. The first is that i have a fixation on takeaway style Chinese curry and egg fried rice as a comfort food and an almost visceral dread of of the phrase ‘sweet and sour’. This phrase conjures to mind not a contrast of sweet and sour flavor balanced and in concert but a gloopy red mess of a sauce. The recipe here is my attempt to redeem this basic idea. The sauce Sugar, Dried chili (flakes or chopped) Soy sauce Garlic (chopped) Tamarind paste (or you can make tamarind water but that is a pain) This is a balance one so basically just add everything together. Bring the mixture to a boil let cool and taste then add ingredients until you get a tangy slightly sour sauce with a hint of chili sauce. The aubergine Aubergines Flour (seasoned) Mi...

‘Friends, Fiction, and food.’ To my mind there is no greater act of culinary devotion than making any kind of filled food, tortellini, pirogi, empanada or (as in our case) dumplings. When I was a younger man I was very interested in keeping my food somehow authentic a pure example of the cuisine they were part of and never mixing them I have here though abandoned this concept and present a kind of vaguely Asian good stuff stuffed in dumplings served with a sweet and hot sauce and wok fried greens. This is a lot of stuff The dumpling skins   Save yourself a headache go to the closest (or your favorite) Asian supermarket and buy some. Green and blacks French fine beans (a bunch) Fermented black beans (about a handful, you have to go to the Chinese supermarket anyway) Garlic (5 cloves) Soy sauce (dark or light, the world’s alright) Butter (a knob) Process the french beans and garlic in a food processor. The add the black beans and process again. Heat up your wok. ...