What's it all about?

What's it all about?

I love cooking, and more importantly, eating good food and I set up this blog to share my favourite recipes, links and ideas with my friends and family.

I am a home cook. Not a particularly distinguished or accomplished one, but someone who simply enjoys honest, fresh and delicious food. I don’t enjoy pretentious restaurants and 'over done' dishes- the kind that you are afraid touch to with your fork for fear of ruining them! And for this reason, every recipe you find here will be simple and open to interpretation. I also believe it’s important to put your own stamp on the food you make so please feel free to change things and substitute ingredients as you wish. Enjoy!

31 January 2011

Perfect pancakes

I got all excited at the weekend, thinking that Pancake Day was imminent (surely it is the only highlight to damp, dreary February?) and it turns out that it isn’t until March 8th this year. How disappointing! However, there’s nothing to say that we can’t eat them at other times of the year too so I may indulge in some later this week.

I think French-style crepes, not American pancakes are most appropriate for Pancake Day because that’s what I was brought up with. You may have other views on the matter and, by all means, do whatever you feel best. But there’s something very evocative about the singed butter smell created by crepes, and eating one hot from the pan, caked in caster sugar never fails to remind me of when I was a child.

My dad (who was the only one who could toss pancakes successfully in those days) would come home from work and cook up a storm. We would all cluster in the kitchen to devour the pancakes and watch the show- each success bringing oohs and ahs from the crowd. The fire alarm never failed to go off thanks to the billows of smoke.

My aunty Caroll gave me a really simple recipe a few years back which works every time and also happens to make excellent Yorkshire puddings- did you know its essentially the same mix?

You need:

  • 2 tall glasses- the same shape and size (pint ones from the pub will do!)
  • 2 eggs per person
  • A bag of plain flour
  • A 4 pint carton of milk (any kind)
  • Big jug/bowl for mixing the batter
  • A big, non stick frying pan and butter to fry
  • A ladle and a fish slice

Method:

  1. Stand the glasses next to each other and crack the eggs into one.
  2. Pour flour into the other cup up to the same level as the eggs.
  3. Put the flour into a bowl or jug.
  4. Then measure the milk in the same way and put the milk into the jug with the flour.
  5. Whisk the milk and flour together until smooth, then add the eggs and whisk in until combined.
  6. You can now rest the mixture in the fridge for a while if you like, in which case give it a good whisk before you use it, or just use it right away.
  7. Melt ½ tsp butter in the frying pan and pour in a ladle and a half of batter.
  8. Fry for 1-2 mins until the batter has started to set on top and if you lift up the pancake the underneath should be golden.
  9. Use the fish slice to flip the pancake or, if you’re feeling brave, go freestyle!
  10. Cook for a further minute and serve immediately.

26 January 2011

Strawberry jam and vanilla sponge cake

This is a foolproof recipe for a perfect Victoria sponge cake and is based on the Perfect Cupcake recipe which I posted last year. It’s very easy to make and extremely quick. If you have a food processor I would encourage you to use it as the batter will be made and in the oven in ten minutes flat, and you will be left with a mostly-empty bowl smeared with delicious cake mix to lick round (this is a big plus in my books)!!

Ingredients
  • 8oz caster sugar
  • 8oz margarine (flora or supermarkets own brand)
  • 8oz self raising flour
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2tsp good quality vanilla extract
  • 4tbsp (or more if you like) strawberry jam for the filling
  • 1tbsp icing sugar for dusting

Method
  1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C or gas mark 6. Grease and lightly flour two 8inch sandwich cake tins
  2. In a large bowl or food processor, cream together the margarine and sugar until very pale.
  3. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Don’t worry if it starts to look sloppy or curdle slightly at this stage, the flour will sort everything out.
  4. Fold in the flour and vanilla essence with a big spoon, using a figure of eight motion to incorporate lots of air.
  5. When everything seems well combined and the mixture is smooth, pour the batter into the cake tins (an equal amount in each) and bake in the oven for 25-35 mins.
  6. Check to see if the cakes are ready by sticking them with a knife, if it comes out clean turn the cakes out of their tins on to a wire cooling rack and leave until completely cool. If not, return to the oven for a little bit longer.
  7. When cool, sandwich the two halves of the cake together using the jam and dust the top with the icing sugar. I find the best way to do this is by placing the icing sugar in a sieve and tapping it lightly as you move the sieve over the top of the cake. Et voila!

20 January 2011

Chinese beef one-pot with pak choi

I can also highly recommend this recipe... http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9646/chinesestyle-braised-beef-onepot a friend sent me the link on Facebook ages ago and Nick made it for dinner last night.

After 2 hours of cooking the beef is really tender and melt in your mouth, and the whole house takes on that wonderful aromatic five-spice fug that you get in Chinese restaurants- a winter warmer if ever i had one.

Raspberry, apple and hazelnut crumble

I found this crumble topping recipe in an old farm house baking cookbook. The addition of Demerara sugar as well as caster gives the topping that desirable crunchiness that is so often lacking in homemade crumbles.

Ingredients
  • 5 granny smith apples
  • 1 small punnet of fresh raspberries or 2 handfuls frozen raspberries
  • 2 ½ oz cold unsalted butter
  • 2 oz caster sugar
  • 2 oz Demerara sugar
  • 2oz rolled oats (porridge ones are fine)
  • 5 oz plain flour
  • 1 oz crushed/chopped hazelnuts (I got mine ready chopped in a packet from the supermarket)

Method
  1. Peel the apples, remove the cores and chop them into bite sized pieces. Put them in a small saucepan with 1cm cold water. Put the lid on and place the pan over a medium heat. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5-7mins or until the apple is tender but not mushy (keep an eye on it- mushiness can happen in the blink of an eye!)
  2. When the apples are cooked set them aside to cool while you make the topping.
  3. To make the crumble- put the flour into a big bowl and chop the butter into little pieces. Rub the butter into the flour using the tips of your fingers until the mixture starts to look like breadcrumbs.
  4. Add the oats, sugars and hazelnuts and mix well.
  5. At this point you can either: set aside the crumble elements and assemble the pudding later if you’re making it before a dinner party or something, or you can just assemble it now and bake it straight away. However, don’t assemble the crumble then leave it to sit- this will end up in the juices soaking into the crumble mix and it will be soggy by the time you come to bake it.
  6. When you are ready to bake. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/ gas mark 6.
  7. Put the apple and raspberries into an ovenproof dish- the size and shape doesn’t really matter, but you want roughly 3-4 cm of room above the filling to accommodate the crumble and any bubbling juices.
  8. Sprinkle the crumble on top and place in the oven for 35mins or until the topping is golden brown.
  9. Spoon into bowls and serve with a big spoonful of double cream.

13 January 2011

Moules...

I love mussels. I only wish it was easier to buy them fresh
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/10/mussels-with-wine-chorizo-recipe

Aromatic butternut squash soup

I have Tana Ramsey to thank for this recipe. I get a bit excited about Halloween and fireworks night, and every year I feel that I should be making sausages and soup and hot chocolate and standing around a blazing bonfire in the garden with friends while wrapped up in gloves, hat and scarf to keep out the frosty cold.
Subsequently, when I saw this recipe in a magazine a couple of years ago, it sounded perfect for invoking that ‘winters coming’ feeling and I had to have it. It doesn’t disappoint. The sweet nuttiness of the butternut squash is complimented perfectly by the rich, salty rosemary and parmesan tang.
Incidentally, it is also very good even when its not fireworks night! The colour alone is enought to bring cheer to the bleakest of winter days.

Ingredients
  • 2 medium sized butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and chopped into small cubes
  • 2 pieces of parmesan rind (the bit at the end of the slice that you would normally throw away.)
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
  • 1tbsp olive oil
  • 1.5 litres of chicken or vegetable stock
  • 2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
  • Salt and pepper
  • Warm crunchy bread to serve

Method
  1. Warm the olive oil in a deep saucepan over a low heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring all the time for a minute or two until the garlic is softened but not brown.
  2. Add the parmesan pieces and rosemary and cook for a further minute until they start to smell aromatic (keep stirring).
  3. Add the butternut squash pieces followed by the stock and mix well.
  4. Put the lid on and bring the mixture to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer gently for around 20mins or until the squash is tender.
  5. When the squash is cooked remove the pan from the heat. Pluck out the parmesan pieces and rosemary then pour the soup into a blender and blend until smooth (or use a hand blender).
  6. Taste for seasoning and serve.

p.s. this would also be really good with some crispy pancetta cubes sprinkled on top or some garlic croutons.

12 January 2011

Roasted lamb with red thai rub

This lamb is heavenly. It works fantastically for a Sunday roast or week night supper and the leftovers make the tastiest sandwiches you could ever wish for.
The marinade also works really well with other meats- so far my trials have mostly involved chicken but it would also lend itself to pork, beef and fish and it would be perfect for summer BBQs!

Ingredients
  • Lamb shoulder boned and rolled- approximately 1.75kg but if you have a smaller or larger piece just adjust the cooking time as below.
  • 2 heaped tbsp red thai curry paste (I used Blue Dragon which came in a jar from Tesco)
  • 2 tbsp caster sugar
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • Lots of fresh ground black pepper.

Method
  1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C and line a baking tray with foil.
  2. Mix the curry paste, sugar and olive oil in a small bowl then place the meat into the baking tray, pour over the marinade and rub it into the meat.
  3. Calculate the cooking time for your lamb. This will be 25mins for every 450gms (or1lb) plus 25mins. If you like it a little more well done add an extra 35 mins at the end instead of 25. So, for example:  if your lamb weighs 900gms you would cook it for 1 hour 15mins for pink or 1 hour 25mins for well done.
  4. One you have worked out the cooking time put the lamb in the oven to bake.
  5. After this time, remove the joint from the oven cover it with some extra foil and leave the meat to rest for 20mins.
  6. Carve into thin slices and serve with whatever veg or accompaniments you like.

7 January 2011

Sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce

My favourite thing to eat in the whole world is cake. Sponge cake, chocolate cake, raw cake mix… you name it, I’ll eat it! My favourite type of cake is sticky toffee pudding yet curiously, I had never attempted to make it until just before Christmas last year.

The best sticky toffee I have ever had was at Margot’s restaurant in Padstow (see yummy links) and the chef posted his recipe on his online blog shortly after my first visit there. Sadly, the quantities given were so huge (restaurant sized portions) and my laziness such that I couldn’t be bothered to calculate scaling it down, and I feared what would happen to my thighs if I did make it, and so it became the cake that never was. However, I found the recipe a few weeks ago tucked into my notebook and it inspired me to attempt a slightly different version which Bill Granger documents in his book Everyday.

It’s called sticky date cake. Don’t be put off by the inclusion of dates. Knowing that Nick would never eat it if I mentioned their presence, I made it and told him it was toffee cake and he was none the wiser! In fact, its even stickier and more fudgily glorious for their inclusion so please don’t leave them out.

Ingredients
Cake
  • 300gms pitted and chopped dates (you can buy them in bags ready chopped to save any hassle)
  • 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 250ml water
  • 70gm unsalted butter
  • 170gm caster sugar
  • 1tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 185gm self raising flour

Butterscotch sauce
  • 200ml double cream
  • 150gm unsalted butter
  • 185gm soft brown sugar

Method
  1. Preheat the oven to 180degrees C/gas mark 4 and grease and flour an 8inch round or square metal baking tin
  2. Put the dates into a saucepan with the water and cook slowly for 5-6 mins, stirring occasionally until all the water has been absorbed.
  3. Remove from the heat and stir in the bicarb and the butter. Set aside to cool for 5 mins.
  4. Transfer to a large mixing bowl or food processor. Add the eggs, vanilla and sugar and mix well. Fold in the flour until combined.
  5. Pour the batter into the baking tin and bake for 50mins or until a knife comes out clean when poked into the middle of the cake.
  6. Leave to cool on a baking rack but leave it in the tin.
  7. Put all the ingredients for the butterscotch sauce into a small saucepan and stir over a medium heat until the butter and sugar have melted.
  8. Turn up the heat, bring the mixture to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes. This will get very very hot so please be careful.
  9. Poke some holes in the top of the cake with a knife, pour over half the sauce. If serving immediately go right ahead. Put the sauce in a jug on the table for people to pour over. If not, leave the cake and extra sauce to cool fully (keep the sauce in the fridge). Before serving warm the cake for 10 minutes in the oven at 150 degrees C and warm up the sauce for 15 seconds in the microwave or in a saucepan on the hob.

5 January 2011

Creamy mushroom risotto for very cold days!

Apart from cake, this risotto is for me the ultimate comfort food. It is creamy, rich and supremely filling, with that kind of rib-sticking quality that is required for winter evenings when the wind is blowing a gale outside and you just want to curl up on the sofa.
Arborio risotto rice can be expensive so if you’re on a budget look for pudding rice instead. This is usually found in small bags in the cake baking/desert aisle at supermarkets. It works just as well and is a fraction of the price- I promise no one will be able to tell the difference.
This recipe makes enough for 4 moderately hungry people or two in the middle of winter.

Ingredients
  • 500-700gms mixed mushrooms wiped clean and roughly chopped- try and use a few different types such as chestnut, shitake, Portobello or button.
  • 250gm risotto rice such as Arborio or pudding rice
  • 2tbsp olive oil
  • 1 small onion peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 glass of wine (red or white- whichever you prefer)
  • 2-2.5 pints of chicken or vegetable stock (I use 2 stock cubes for this amount of water) but be prepared to add extra boiling water from the kettle
  • Zest of ½ a lemon
  • Small handful of fresh thyme leaves roughly chopped
  • 1 tbsp crème fraiche
  • 1 big handful of grated parmesan or cheddar cheese
  • Salt and pepper

Method
  1. In a big saucepan or wok warm the olive oil over a low heat. Add the onions and fry gently for 5 mins- you just want to soften not brown them.
  2. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, then tip in the rice and stir well for a minute or two until all the grains are coated in the fragrant oil.
  3. Add the wine and allow it to bubble away until the rice has almost completely absorbed it.
  4. Then begin adding the stock. Do this one ladleful at a time and only add another ladleful when the last one has been absorbed by the rice (this can take quite a while so be patient). You will need to keep stirring the risotto throughout the cooking process to prevent sticking and to enhance its creaminess. You may not need all the stock or, you may need some extra boiling water from the kettle- it all depends on the type of rice you use so have a kettle on standby just in case. You will need to keep adding stock until the rice is almost cooked (al dente) this will take approximately 25-30 mins but can take up to 40. Keep the heat low though and don’t rush the cooking process or the risotto will burn.
  5. About 15mins after you start adding stock add the lemon zest, thyme and mushrooms to the pan. This will look like a lot of mushrooms but don’t worry they will cook down.
  6. After about 25 mins taste to see if the rice is nearly cooked or al dente (don’t worry if not just keep adding the stock and cooking until it is.) If it is ready, stop adding the stock and keep cooking the risotto until it starts to look quite thick and isn’t oozing much liquid when moved around with a spoon (2-3 mins but don’t let it become dry).
  7. Stir in the cheese and crème fraiche, taste and add seasoning as necessary then continue to cook for one more minute. Stir or beat the risotto quite vigorously as this helps the rice to release its starch and enhances the creaminess.
  8. Spoon into bowls and serve immediately. Leftovers keep well in the fridge for up to 2 days or can be frozen.