Thai beef salad

This is based loosely on the Jamie Oliver Thai beef salad from his 15 minute meals series. By 'based loosely' I mean based on whatever notes I scribbled down whilst watching the programme, as well as being dependant upon what food we had in the fridge. I have purposely left quantities approximate as we tend not to use specific measurments in recipes like this.

 - marinade steak (we used two rib-eye steaks)  in a good pinch of salt, pepper, crushed szechuan peppercorns, chinese 5 spice/mixed spice and a slug of oil for at least 30 mins


- dry fry a mixture of nuts and seeds (we used sesame seeds, pine nuts, mixed nuts) and set aside

- make the dressing... lime juice and zest, fresh and/or pickled ginger, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, sesame oil, fresh chopped chilli, thai fish sauce - and set aside

- fry a sliced red pepper and a handful of sliced shallots until soft, add a splodge of oyster sauce if you have any

- cook/soak a portion of noodles and mix in with the fried peppers and shallots
- griddle the marinaded steaks on each side until medium rare, leave to rest for a few minutes and then slice thickly

- chop up a romaine lettuce, spring onions, coriander, parsley and scatter on a large platter. Add halved cherry tomatoes, rocket and sliced radishes if there are some to use up.

- pile the hot peppers, shallots, noodles and sliced steak on top of the leaves and finish off with the toasted nuts and seeds

- serve the bowl of dressing and a few extra lime wedges on the side

Pork belly, noodle and cabbage soup

This is a really tasty and spicy soup but you can make it less spicy if you like. Make sure you cook the pork belly for long enough on a low-ish heat so that it melts in the mouth.

For two people:

Roast a small piece of pork belly in advance. We did it the night before when we were cooking a roast anyway. Before you roast the pork, rub plenty of chinese 5 spice and a diced hot chilli into the flesh side. Once it's roasted (on a low/medium heat for about two hours), remove the crackling and eat it as a snack if you're greedy like us!

For the soup, fry a pack of shitake mushrooms in a little oil. After a few minutes add 3 diced spring onions and then 750ml of chicken stock. Then add a table spoon of mirin, a table spoon of light soy sauce and half a tea spoon of sugar. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes before adding some shredded savoy cabbage and the pork belly cut into slices. After another few minutes taste the soup... you may want to add a little more soy, some dried chilli flakes or a little more chinese 5 spice. Now add a packet of ready cooked noodles and continue to simmer until the noodles are warmed through.

Serve in warmed bowls with sesame oil and extra soy sauce on the side for people to add if they wish.

Chinese beef noodle soup

This was very easy and quick to make...

Ingredients (serves 2):

800ml beef stock

1 fillet steak, finely sliced

splash of sesame oil

splash of chinese cooking wine

splash of soy sauce

1 pinch of chinese 5 spice

1 chilli, de-seeded and diced

1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced

1 thumb nail sized piece of ginger, minced

1 star anise

3 spring onions, sliced

6 mushrooms, sliced

pack of ready cooked noodles

1 chinese leaf, finely diced

• Fry the mushrooms, garlic, spring onions, chilli and ginger in a little sesame oil
• Add the stock, star anise, chinese 5 spice, cooking wine and soy sauce. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes or so
• Add the sliced beef and noodles and cook for a couple of minutes until the steak has poached
• Add the chinese leaf and allow to simmer for another minute or two
• Remove the star anise and serve in warm bowls

Beef in black bean sauce

Not a great photo i'm afraid - it smelled so good that we couldn't wait to start eating. I'm not that keen on coriander usually but it was quite nice in this. It's also very easy... 5 minutes of chopping and then 5 minutes of cooking and it's ready.

Ingredients (serves 2):

1 large steak (we used sirloin), cut into strips

1 chilli, diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

1cm ginger, minced

1 green pepper, sliced

5 spring onions, sliced

1 handful of chinese cabbage, shredded (optional)

3 tbl sp black bean sauce

2 tbl sp chinese cooking wine

2 tbl sp soy sauce

1 tbl sp sesame oil or veg oil

1/2 tea sp sugar

juice of 1/2 a lime

coriander, finely chopped

noodles (we used garlic & coriander ready cooked noodles)

• Prepare all of the veg in advance and then fry the pepper, spring onions, garlic, chilli and ginger in the oil for a couple of minutes.
• Add the strips of beef and fry for a minute or two.
• Add the shredded cabbage, lime juice, sugar, soy, chinese cooking wine and black bean sauce. Stir well and allow to simmer for a couple of minutes.
• Meanwhile cook your noodles (or buy the straight to wok version for ease), and then add them to the pan.
• Stir everything well again before adding the coriander and then serving in warm bowls.