My absolute favourite and best (God I’ve been watching too much Charlie and Lola with the kids) food has to be sharing plates of finger food.
Whether it be tapas, Asian snacks or slabs of pizza oozing with molten mozzarella, food tastes better when its shared – plus it doesn’t count on the diet if you share does it?
This week I was asked to go on a shopping expedition of our local town centre, which would culminate in me writing a DPS (double page spread) about a rewards scheme on offer.
Never one to turn down a freebie I, of course, snapped up the opportunity and spent the morning trying cheese, snacking on cake, having my hair and nails perfected and visiting one of the most fabulous grocer’s I’ve ever seen (Global Fruits at Buttermarket, Ipswich).
The day ended at The Galley in Woodbridge, where I, along with the photographer, restaurant owner Ugur and BID marketing man enjoyed fabulous authentic mezze inspired by Ugur’s Turkish heritage.
I couldn’t believe the price - £10.95 for two! What fantastic value.
Apparently the menu changes regularly, but on the day we visited all dishes were vegetarian.
We had:
Sundried tomatoes mixed with fresh tomatoes, walnuts and pomegranate molasses
Fresh chillies and tomatoes chopped with herbs
Potatoes, aubergines and courgettes cooked slowly with olive oil and seasonings until unctuous and silky
Giant beans cooked with fresh tomatoes and smoked paprika
Homemade hummus
Local beetroot crushed with yoghurt and a little garlic
Served with locally made pitta bread (nothing like the supermarket version) and a glass of rose, this was the perfect light lunch and we felt quite virtuous at having eaten most of our five a day at one sitting.
A glance at the rest of the menu (two courses for £5 for children!) homemade pasta and homemade Turkish delight ice cream has cemented a family visit in the near future.
If you’re in the area pop in for a visit – it’s fab!
Thursday 19 August 2010
Wednesday 7 July 2010
Breakfast bars for lazy people
I hate breakfast. In fact I am so utterly bored with it that I seldom bother any more – favouring a quick fix at my desk rather than facing the saga of preparing fruit, porridge or cereal in the morning at home.
The problem is I’m lazy through and through. I’d much rather lay-in for an extra five minutes than spend that time chopping, pouring, stirring…eating.
I like brunch. I have no problem with sliding out of bed at 10am, reading a paper, listening to Massive Attack and wolfing down a pancake or two over hot chocolate.
But breakfast is a no no.
We all have to eat though. So I’ve come-up with some easy peasy, low-fat, low-sugar fruit bars that can be prepared in no time at all in the evening while your making dinner, and taken in to work (or eaten in the car, bus or train) so that five minutes extra is never a problem.
If you’re a busy person who hasn’t got time to make a full English and wolf it down by 8am – this recipe is for you.
Power-packed breakfast bars
Ingredients
400g dates soaked in hot tea
600g rolled oats
1 tin condensed milk
Do it:
1 Set the oven to 150C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
2 Drain the dates then blitz in a food processor (or chop finely by hand) into a pulp.
3 Place the dates and condensed milk in a medium saucepan and simmer gently for 10 minutes until it thickens.
4 Pour the oats into the sticky date mixture and stir.
5 Pour the mixture onto the baking tray and pat down evenly. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
6 Cut into slices and allow to cool before storing in an airtight tin. They will last for up to three days.
7 Play about with the recipe – try blending in dried apricots or cranberries and sprinkling sesame seeds or crushed nuts over the top.
The problem is I’m lazy through and through. I’d much rather lay-in for an extra five minutes than spend that time chopping, pouring, stirring…eating.
I like brunch. I have no problem with sliding out of bed at 10am, reading a paper, listening to Massive Attack and wolfing down a pancake or two over hot chocolate.
But breakfast is a no no.
We all have to eat though. So I’ve come-up with some easy peasy, low-fat, low-sugar fruit bars that can be prepared in no time at all in the evening while your making dinner, and taken in to work (or eaten in the car, bus or train) so that five minutes extra is never a problem.
If you’re a busy person who hasn’t got time to make a full English and wolf it down by 8am – this recipe is for you.
Power-packed breakfast bars
Ingredients
400g dates soaked in hot tea
600g rolled oats
1 tin condensed milk
Do it:
1 Set the oven to 150C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
2 Drain the dates then blitz in a food processor (or chop finely by hand) into a pulp.
3 Place the dates and condensed milk in a medium saucepan and simmer gently for 10 minutes until it thickens.
4 Pour the oats into the sticky date mixture and stir.
5 Pour the mixture onto the baking tray and pat down evenly. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
6 Cut into slices and allow to cool before storing in an airtight tin. They will last for up to three days.
7 Play about with the recipe – try blending in dried apricots or cranberries and sprinkling sesame seeds or crushed nuts over the top.
Tuesday 29 June 2010
Sweet, sticky honey cake
There is something so loving and nostalgic about the scent of a Jewish honey cake baking in the oven. That lightly spiced, sweet and floral aroma is enough to make you want to sit eagerly at the oven door like a drooling puppy.
While I adore honey cake (or lekach) it is often quite dry and lifeless. But this recipe guarantees a soft, light, fluffy, moist and sticky cake –almost like a giant honey muffin.
And, as a bonus, it is lower in fat than an ordinary sponge, carrying only two tablespoons of oil along with the fat contained in the eggs.
Honey cake
Ingredients:
7oz plain flour
3oz dark sugar
1tsp baking powder
1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp allspice
2 eggs, beaten
10flozhoney melted with 4floz strong coffee
2tsps oil or melted butter
Do it:
1. Prepare a brownie tin with greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to 180c.
2. Mix together all of the ingredients, using a hand mixer if possible.
3. Pout the mixture into the tin and bake for 40 minutes.
4. Serve warm.
While I adore honey cake (or lekach) it is often quite dry and lifeless. But this recipe guarantees a soft, light, fluffy, moist and sticky cake –almost like a giant honey muffin.
And, as a bonus, it is lower in fat than an ordinary sponge, carrying only two tablespoons of oil along with the fat contained in the eggs.
Honey cake
Ingredients:
7oz plain flour
3oz dark sugar
1tsp baking powder
1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp allspice
2 eggs, beaten
10flozhoney melted with 4floz strong coffee
2tsps oil or melted butter
Do it:
1. Prepare a brownie tin with greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to 180c.
2. Mix together all of the ingredients, using a hand mixer if possible.
3. Pout the mixture into the tin and bake for 40 minutes.
4. Serve warm.
Strawberry jam with a special ingredient
ON Sunday the little GGs and I took a trip out to Willow Tree Farm in Polstead for one of our favourite pastimes – strawberry picking.
Being a country bumpkin through and through, I grew-up spending summers in fields and farms with my parents picking anything and everything – from strawberries and raspberries, through to blackberries and gooseberries (for pleasure I must add – they didn’t make me work!).
Now I love nothing more than taking my tots out to do the very same.
There’s nothing more pleasurable on a hot summer’s day than picking berries under blue skies with the sweet scent of strawberry blossom lingering in the air.
Plus, there’s the added bonus that because you’ve picked the fruit yourself, you know there won’t be three or four mouldy berries at the bottom of the punnet (there inevitably always are when you buy ready-packed varieties) ready to spoil the rest of the batch.
The variety grown at Willow Tree Farm is Elsanta. Shiny, plump, heart-shaped berries stained an impossibly scarlet red and gifted with the most fragrant and sweet flavour I’ve ever come across.
We came away with two massive punnets piled higher than high, ringing in at the till for only £3 .
Last night, after coming home with a serious scone craving I decided I really needed to turn one of those punnets into jam, so I threw together a strange concoction that’s turned out to be a complete winner – strawberry and rhubarb jam with balsamic vinegar!
Try it. Very delicious and ideal warmed and drizzled over vanilla ice cream.
Strawberry and rhubarb balsamic jam
Ingredients:
450g ripe strawberries hulled and halved
1 large stick of rhubarb sliced into 2cm wide chunks
270g dark muscovado sugar
2 lemons, pared (peel taken off in slices) and juiced
2tbsps Balsamic vinegar
Do it:
1. Sterilise a jam jar by either placing it in the oven on it’s lowest setting (without the lid) for 10 minutes or filling with boiled water, draining and turning over until you’re ready to use it. Also, place a small china plate in the fridge.
2. Place the sugar, vinegar, lemon peel and lemon juice in a large pan with a splash of water and bring to the boil.
3. Add the strawberries.
4. Continue to boil the mixture until thick and syrup-like, stirring constantly. If you have a sugar thermometer test the jam to see that it’s reached the ‘jam’ marker. If you don’t have a sugar thermometer take the chilled plate out of the fridge and pour a teaspoon of the mixture on. It should instantly solidify to a soft set. If it doesn’t, boil the mixture for a further five minutes and try the test again, carrying on until you reach the desired consistency.
5. Ladle the jam into the jam jar, place the lid on securely and turn the jar over, creating a seal.
6. Enjoy with scones and fresh clotted cream.
Being a country bumpkin through and through, I grew-up spending summers in fields and farms with my parents picking anything and everything – from strawberries and raspberries, through to blackberries and gooseberries (for pleasure I must add – they didn’t make me work!).
Now I love nothing more than taking my tots out to do the very same.
There’s nothing more pleasurable on a hot summer’s day than picking berries under blue skies with the sweet scent of strawberry blossom lingering in the air.
Plus, there’s the added bonus that because you’ve picked the fruit yourself, you know there won’t be three or four mouldy berries at the bottom of the punnet (there inevitably always are when you buy ready-packed varieties) ready to spoil the rest of the batch.
The variety grown at Willow Tree Farm is Elsanta. Shiny, plump, heart-shaped berries stained an impossibly scarlet red and gifted with the most fragrant and sweet flavour I’ve ever come across.
We came away with two massive punnets piled higher than high, ringing in at the till for only £3 .
Last night, after coming home with a serious scone craving I decided I really needed to turn one of those punnets into jam, so I threw together a strange concoction that’s turned out to be a complete winner – strawberry and rhubarb jam with balsamic vinegar!
Try it. Very delicious and ideal warmed and drizzled over vanilla ice cream.
Strawberry and rhubarb balsamic jam
Ingredients:
450g ripe strawberries hulled and halved
1 large stick of rhubarb sliced into 2cm wide chunks
270g dark muscovado sugar
2 lemons, pared (peel taken off in slices) and juiced
2tbsps Balsamic vinegar
Do it:
1. Sterilise a jam jar by either placing it in the oven on it’s lowest setting (without the lid) for 10 minutes or filling with boiled water, draining and turning over until you’re ready to use it. Also, place a small china plate in the fridge.
2. Place the sugar, vinegar, lemon peel and lemon juice in a large pan with a splash of water and bring to the boil.
3. Add the strawberries.
4. Continue to boil the mixture until thick and syrup-like, stirring constantly. If you have a sugar thermometer test the jam to see that it’s reached the ‘jam’ marker. If you don’t have a sugar thermometer take the chilled plate out of the fridge and pour a teaspoon of the mixture on. It should instantly solidify to a soft set. If it doesn’t, boil the mixture for a further five minutes and try the test again, carrying on until you reach the desired consistency.
5. Ladle the jam into the jam jar, place the lid on securely and turn the jar over, creating a seal.
6. Enjoy with scones and fresh clotted cream.
Tuesday 22 June 2010
Am I just too fussy?
A FEW friends have said it. Mr GG has definitely said it. And I impart the description on my daughter all the time. Am I too fussy?
After a weekend of fun and frolics in Middle England, I’ve come away feeling a little bit ashamed of my foodie behaviour – perhaps I just expect too much?
It all began on a blustery Saturday morning, when we packed our clan into the car and hitched-off on a jolly to the NEC for the BBC Good Food Show – truly amazing.
I ate my way from A to not quite Z. Artisan cheeses, cardamom and black pepper scented single estate oil, chocolate pizza, crepes, chutneys, pickles – the list goes on. Mr GG was especially pleased with his purchase of a posh-looking bottle of toffee-flavoured vodka, which even I (a non-drinker) enjoyed.
Then we arrived at a fudge stall. There were several, and being a connoisseur of this confection I made it my mission to try them all – well, someone’s got to do it.
At this particular stall I tried a smidgen of chocolate fudge and happened to mutter under my breath and out of earshot to Mr GG that it ‘wasn’t very chocolatey’.
Unfortunately my bad review was overheard by the fudge maker who spent the best part of five minutes trying to convince me that hers was the best fudge in the UK. Let’s just say, she didn’t win.
Hands-down the best on the day came from the Fudge Kitchen. I know it’s a chain (albeit a small one), but the fudge from the stand was creamy, gooey and divinely chocolatey. Mmm mmm.
Other purchases on the day included a special plate that grates/purees garlic, a teriyaki and chilli rub (ideal for the BBQ), a jar of Anila’s Spicy Korma Curry Sauce, a bottle of garlic-infused Balsamic glaze, and a gourmet chocolate pizza – to name but a few.
My next gripe came at our ‘four star’ hotel, where the restaurant menu (which was trying to be pretentious by mixing all sorts of weird and wonderful ingredients together) rang alarm bells.
We decided instead to try out the bar. But, having seen the micro-kitchen complete with several microwaves and hygiene that could at best be described as basic, I made Mr GG and the kids retreat and we made our way back to the equal uncertainty of the main restaurant.
“You’re too fussy,” Mr GG taunted. “But I wouldn’t bloody eat there either,” he added.
After an agonising '15 minute’ wait, which actually turned into 40 minutes, resulting in bedraggled and over-hungry toddlers, we were shown to our table in the not-too-bad restaurant.
The little ones started with a nice tomato soup, sploshing it with bread and covering their faces in red gloop.
I had a melon trio – cantaloupe puree, watermelon sorbet and a few slivers of honeydew. Apart from the underripe honeydew, it wasn’t too bad.
Mr GG started with gravadlax, which he enjoyed, despite its rather unsavoury white sauce coating – we still don’t know what it was.
For mains, the children tucked into dry-looking pizza, cardboard chips and beans, which, of course, they loved.
I had belly of pork, which was described as coming with a duo of bean jus. I asked the waitress what this meant, as a jus is a sauce. Was it going to be a bean puree?
After enquiring with the kitchen it transpired that the pork just came with peas and broad beans. I suppose the menu author didn’t really know what a jus was?
It wasn’t too bad. The top of the pork was lightly crackled and moist, while the bottom part was unfortunately frazzled beyond chewing. The beans weren’t cooked enough, and the sauce was unplaceable, with no real flavour.
Mr GG however, was quite happy with his chicken supreme, accompanied by a cream sauce and slightly undercooked black pudding tortellini.
It was after 9pm when dessert time came around so, not wanting to subject the other diners to the wailing of our kids any longer, I asked to take my pudding (a cheese board) up to my room.
“No problem,” they said. “We’ll bring it up to you.”
A whole 40 minutes later and it arrived – I wish I’d waited.
On my plate were oat cakes (not the Bath Olivers stated on the menu), an OK chutney, no bread (again, as promised) and three waxy loafs of cheese, all looking rather limp and sad. Two of them, a double washed rinded red, and a local cheese, I had chosen, but there was a quite smelly and ominously liquid brie-type cheese I hadn’t expected on the plate. Where was the Shropshire Blue I’d craved, and paid for?
I called reception who assured me that it would arrive soon. Ten minutes later (at past 10pm) I was called and told that the kitchen had run out of Shropshire Blue and had put a substitute on the plate.
“But there was another blue on the menu, why didn’t they give me that?” I asked, now getting slightly irate.
“I’m sorry, we’ll bring that right up to you,” was the answer.
I never did see my blue cheese, and fell asleep hot and bothered at 10.30pm.
I did feel slightly bad, even though I’d been polite to all involved. But when you pay for something, shouldn’t you get what you pay for?
My question was answered at breakfast when the meal (included in our bargainous £88 last minute room rate) involved us having to sit next to a partition wall coated in chocolate, strawberry jam and other undistinguishable stains.
It seems you really do get what you pay for!
After a weekend of fun and frolics in Middle England, I’ve come away feeling a little bit ashamed of my foodie behaviour – perhaps I just expect too much?
It all began on a blustery Saturday morning, when we packed our clan into the car and hitched-off on a jolly to the NEC for the BBC Good Food Show – truly amazing.
I ate my way from A to not quite Z. Artisan cheeses, cardamom and black pepper scented single estate oil, chocolate pizza, crepes, chutneys, pickles – the list goes on. Mr GG was especially pleased with his purchase of a posh-looking bottle of toffee-flavoured vodka, which even I (a non-drinker) enjoyed.
Then we arrived at a fudge stall. There were several, and being a connoisseur of this confection I made it my mission to try them all – well, someone’s got to do it.
At this particular stall I tried a smidgen of chocolate fudge and happened to mutter under my breath and out of earshot to Mr GG that it ‘wasn’t very chocolatey’.
Unfortunately my bad review was overheard by the fudge maker who spent the best part of five minutes trying to convince me that hers was the best fudge in the UK. Let’s just say, she didn’t win.
Hands-down the best on the day came from the Fudge Kitchen. I know it’s a chain (albeit a small one), but the fudge from the stand was creamy, gooey and divinely chocolatey. Mmm mmm.
Other purchases on the day included a special plate that grates/purees garlic, a teriyaki and chilli rub (ideal for the BBQ), a jar of Anila’s Spicy Korma Curry Sauce, a bottle of garlic-infused Balsamic glaze, and a gourmet chocolate pizza – to name but a few.
My next gripe came at our ‘four star’ hotel, where the restaurant menu (which was trying to be pretentious by mixing all sorts of weird and wonderful ingredients together) rang alarm bells.
We decided instead to try out the bar. But, having seen the micro-kitchen complete with several microwaves and hygiene that could at best be described as basic, I made Mr GG and the kids retreat and we made our way back to the equal uncertainty of the main restaurant.
“You’re too fussy,” Mr GG taunted. “But I wouldn’t bloody eat there either,” he added.
After an agonising '15 minute’ wait, which actually turned into 40 minutes, resulting in bedraggled and over-hungry toddlers, we were shown to our table in the not-too-bad restaurant.
The little ones started with a nice tomato soup, sploshing it with bread and covering their faces in red gloop.
I had a melon trio – cantaloupe puree, watermelon sorbet and a few slivers of honeydew. Apart from the underripe honeydew, it wasn’t too bad.
Mr GG started with gravadlax, which he enjoyed, despite its rather unsavoury white sauce coating – we still don’t know what it was.
For mains, the children tucked into dry-looking pizza, cardboard chips and beans, which, of course, they loved.
I had belly of pork, which was described as coming with a duo of bean jus. I asked the waitress what this meant, as a jus is a sauce. Was it going to be a bean puree?
After enquiring with the kitchen it transpired that the pork just came with peas and broad beans. I suppose the menu author didn’t really know what a jus was?
It wasn’t too bad. The top of the pork was lightly crackled and moist, while the bottom part was unfortunately frazzled beyond chewing. The beans weren’t cooked enough, and the sauce was unplaceable, with no real flavour.
Mr GG however, was quite happy with his chicken supreme, accompanied by a cream sauce and slightly undercooked black pudding tortellini.
It was after 9pm when dessert time came around so, not wanting to subject the other diners to the wailing of our kids any longer, I asked to take my pudding (a cheese board) up to my room.
“No problem,” they said. “We’ll bring it up to you.”
A whole 40 minutes later and it arrived – I wish I’d waited.
On my plate were oat cakes (not the Bath Olivers stated on the menu), an OK chutney, no bread (again, as promised) and three waxy loafs of cheese, all looking rather limp and sad. Two of them, a double washed rinded red, and a local cheese, I had chosen, but there was a quite smelly and ominously liquid brie-type cheese I hadn’t expected on the plate. Where was the Shropshire Blue I’d craved, and paid for?
I called reception who assured me that it would arrive soon. Ten minutes later (at past 10pm) I was called and told that the kitchen had run out of Shropshire Blue and had put a substitute on the plate.
“But there was another blue on the menu, why didn’t they give me that?” I asked, now getting slightly irate.
“I’m sorry, we’ll bring that right up to you,” was the answer.
I never did see my blue cheese, and fell asleep hot and bothered at 10.30pm.
I did feel slightly bad, even though I’d been polite to all involved. But when you pay for something, shouldn’t you get what you pay for?
My question was answered at breakfast when the meal (included in our bargainous £88 last minute room rate) involved us having to sit next to a partition wall coated in chocolate, strawberry jam and other undistinguishable stains.
It seems you really do get what you pay for!
Thursday 10 June 2010
Turkey chilli, sweet rhubarb crumble and toothsome fudge
After a sloth-like week throwing together odds and ends from the dark depths of the fridge and trying to identify frozen chunks of green in the freezer (which turned out to be spinach by the way) last night the cook in me came out again.
That’s not to say Mr GG and the little ones have been starving. They’ve had fish and chips, a couple of pub dinners and a few slapdash but delicious picnics thrown together after a mad dash around Waitrose.
Last night saw the return of a family favourite – chilli. It wasn’t my usual recipe, which I’ll share at another time, but a quick, chuck-everything-in affair.
I made the dish with free-range turkey mince, which is incredibly healthy, and served it with a sprinkling of organic farmhouse cheddar (not so healthy), a flutter of coriander and a side of brown basmati rice.
Afterwards there was a sharp, sweet rhubarb crumble made with fruit from my old man’s allotment, and served with vanilla bean ice cream.
I absolutely adore rhubarb. Especially when it’s been lightly stewed with a hint of cinnamon and sugar and strewn with buttery crumble that sinks in at the edges to create a jammy, stodgy, caramelly mouthful of yum.
Later on in the evening it was time to bring out the chocolate fudge. Now, anyone who knows me will know I have a real obsession with fudge (and ice cream) and can probably tell you the best places across the country to buy this confection.
Linden Lady in Essex does a fantastic fudge, with a real chocolately hit, the Fudge Kitchen brand that has a few outlets in the UK is OK – a bit too soft for me. But my absolute favourite of favourites has to come from Justin Chocolaterie in Whitby.
My mum, knowing how much of a chocolate fiend I am, brought me back some of their chocolate fudge last year after a jaunt in Yorkshire, and I am now so infatuated with it that it seems to appear at every birthday, Christmas, anniversary and any other occasion I can think of.
Made tablet-style (just like it should be) the fudge is crumbly but soft, with a rounded sweetness and a rich, melt-in-the-mouth chocolate flavour.
In fact……I’m off to eat some now!
Turkey Chilli
Ingredients:
450g turkey mince (preferably free-range)
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1small tin tomato paste
2 small onions finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2tbsps fresh oregano, chopped (or 1tsp dried)
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2tsps ground cumin
1tsp ground coriander
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
1/4tsp ground cinnamon
2 whole cloves
1/2tsp sea salt
A handful of fresh coriander, chopped
Do it:
1. Gently heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onions, garlic and chilli. Saute on a low heat until the mixture is softened.
2. Add the turkey mince and brown.
3. When the mince is brown, add all of the spices, the tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, cocoa and oregano. Add a mugful of cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for one hour.
4. Add the fresh coriander, lime zest and juice. Simmer for a further five minutes and then serve.
Summer rhubarb crumble
Ingredients
Filling:
5 large sticks of rhubarb
1tsp cinnamon
2tbsps caster sugar (or to taste)
Topping:
100g butter or margarine
200g plain flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
75g caster sugar
Do it:
1. Make the crumble mixture by placing all of the ingredients together in a bowl and mixing them into breadcrumbs.
2. To make the filling, chop the rhubarb into bite-sized chunks and simmer it in a pan with the sugar and cinnamon with ¼ mugful of water until it softens.
3. Place the rhubarb mixture into an ovenproof dish that it will fill about half way. Cover with the crumble mixture.
4. Cook in the oven at 200c for 25 to 30minutes until the topping is golden.
That’s not to say Mr GG and the little ones have been starving. They’ve had fish and chips, a couple of pub dinners and a few slapdash but delicious picnics thrown together after a mad dash around Waitrose.
Last night saw the return of a family favourite – chilli. It wasn’t my usual recipe, which I’ll share at another time, but a quick, chuck-everything-in affair.
I made the dish with free-range turkey mince, which is incredibly healthy, and served it with a sprinkling of organic farmhouse cheddar (not so healthy), a flutter of coriander and a side of brown basmati rice.
Afterwards there was a sharp, sweet rhubarb crumble made with fruit from my old man’s allotment, and served with vanilla bean ice cream.
I absolutely adore rhubarb. Especially when it’s been lightly stewed with a hint of cinnamon and sugar and strewn with buttery crumble that sinks in at the edges to create a jammy, stodgy, caramelly mouthful of yum.
Later on in the evening it was time to bring out the chocolate fudge. Now, anyone who knows me will know I have a real obsession with fudge (and ice cream) and can probably tell you the best places across the country to buy this confection.
Linden Lady in Essex does a fantastic fudge, with a real chocolately hit, the Fudge Kitchen brand that has a few outlets in the UK is OK – a bit too soft for me. But my absolute favourite of favourites has to come from Justin Chocolaterie in Whitby.
My mum, knowing how much of a chocolate fiend I am, brought me back some of their chocolate fudge last year after a jaunt in Yorkshire, and I am now so infatuated with it that it seems to appear at every birthday, Christmas, anniversary and any other occasion I can think of.
Made tablet-style (just like it should be) the fudge is crumbly but soft, with a rounded sweetness and a rich, melt-in-the-mouth chocolate flavour.
In fact……I’m off to eat some now!
Turkey Chilli
Ingredients:
450g turkey mince (preferably free-range)
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1small tin tomato paste
2 small onions finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2tbsps fresh oregano, chopped (or 1tsp dried)
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2tsps ground cumin
1tsp ground coriander
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
1/4tsp ground cinnamon
2 whole cloves
1/2tsp sea salt
A handful of fresh coriander, chopped
Do it:
1. Gently heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onions, garlic and chilli. Saute on a low heat until the mixture is softened.
2. Add the turkey mince and brown.
3. When the mince is brown, add all of the spices, the tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, cocoa and oregano. Add a mugful of cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for one hour.
4. Add the fresh coriander, lime zest and juice. Simmer for a further five minutes and then serve.
Summer rhubarb crumble
Ingredients
Filling:
5 large sticks of rhubarb
1tsp cinnamon
2tbsps caster sugar (or to taste)
Topping:
100g butter or margarine
200g plain flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
75g caster sugar
Do it:
1. Make the crumble mixture by placing all of the ingredients together in a bowl and mixing them into breadcrumbs.
2. To make the filling, chop the rhubarb into bite-sized chunks and simmer it in a pan with the sugar and cinnamon with ¼ mugful of water until it softens.
3. Place the rhubarb mixture into an ovenproof dish that it will fill about half way. Cover with the crumble mixture.
4. Cook in the oven at 200c for 25 to 30minutes until the topping is golden.
Monday 24 May 2010
London grub and late spring barbecues
I have just spent a gloriously sunny weekend living la vida loca in London with friends - and eating my way around the city.
What I really love about London is the melting pot of cultures in each different district, and the melange of cuisines they bring with them.
Highlights included gigantic cakes from a Greek bakery on Camberwell High Street, deliciously crisp pizza from Pontis in Covent Garden (one of the cheapest and best in the area), and a decadent and thigh-wobblingly chocolatey miniature gateaux from Boulangerie Jade in Blackheath - I was litererally drooling (well, not quite drooling).
A must for foodies visiting the city is a trip to Blackheath. This was my first time in the area and I was taken there by a friend who lives nearby.
We picked-up lemony houmous, piquant olives, crusty bread, vegetable crisps and samosas from the local shops and walked for about 10 minutes past the kite-flyers and lobster-coloured topless men enjoying the sun, to Greenwich Park - surely one of the most breathtaking in the city.
This really is the ideal spot to sit, eat, chat and watch the world go by - oh, and you could make sure you're watch is bang on time at the Observatory too.
I didn't lift a finger to cook during the weekend, except for preparing breakfast for host Yelena and other friends Marina and Lu who were staying. You can take the cook out of the kitchen but you can't take the kitchen out of the cook....as they say.
I rustled-up cheese pancakes with confit tomatoes (1 punnet of tomatoes roasted until gooey with lots of chopped garlic, basil and black pepper) and roasted mushrooms - plus crispy parma ham on top for the meat eaters.
Feeling knackered and blistered after having lugged my considerably heavier suitcase back to Suffolk, I had to have a barbecue and take dinner outside.
We had delicious marinated chicken, wilted greens with fresh garlic and roasted Jersey Royals with fennel and red pepper. mmmmm.
You just HAVE to try this chicken recipe - the end result tastes something like kebab house chicken kebabs - but in a good way.
Ingredients
500g boneless chicken pieces
1tsp paprika
juice of 1/2 lemon
zest of 1 lemon
1tsp salt
1tsp black pepper
handful fresh oregano and thyme
1tbsp olive oil
Do it:
Just mix it all together and grill on the barbecue until cooked through - about 10 minutes.
Serve with salad and pitta or middle eastern flatbread.
Ingredients
What I really love about London is the melting pot of cultures in each different district, and the melange of cuisines they bring with them.
Highlights included gigantic cakes from a Greek bakery on Camberwell High Street, deliciously crisp pizza from Pontis in Covent Garden (one of the cheapest and best in the area), and a decadent and thigh-wobblingly chocolatey miniature gateaux from Boulangerie Jade in Blackheath - I was litererally drooling (well, not quite drooling).
A must for foodies visiting the city is a trip to Blackheath. This was my first time in the area and I was taken there by a friend who lives nearby.
We picked-up lemony houmous, piquant olives, crusty bread, vegetable crisps and samosas from the local shops and walked for about 10 minutes past the kite-flyers and lobster-coloured topless men enjoying the sun, to Greenwich Park - surely one of the most breathtaking in the city.
This really is the ideal spot to sit, eat, chat and watch the world go by - oh, and you could make sure you're watch is bang on time at the Observatory too.
I didn't lift a finger to cook during the weekend, except for preparing breakfast for host Yelena and other friends Marina and Lu who were staying. You can take the cook out of the kitchen but you can't take the kitchen out of the cook....as they say.
I rustled-up cheese pancakes with confit tomatoes (1 punnet of tomatoes roasted until gooey with lots of chopped garlic, basil and black pepper) and roasted mushrooms - plus crispy parma ham on top for the meat eaters.
Feeling knackered and blistered after having lugged my considerably heavier suitcase back to Suffolk, I had to have a barbecue and take dinner outside.
We had delicious marinated chicken, wilted greens with fresh garlic and roasted Jersey Royals with fennel and red pepper. mmmmm.
You just HAVE to try this chicken recipe - the end result tastes something like kebab house chicken kebabs - but in a good way.
Ingredients
500g boneless chicken pieces
1tsp paprika
juice of 1/2 lemon
zest of 1 lemon
1tsp salt
1tsp black pepper
handful fresh oregano and thyme
1tbsp olive oil
Do it:
Just mix it all together and grill on the barbecue until cooked through - about 10 minutes.
Serve with salad and pitta or middle eastern flatbread.
Ingredients
Wednesday 12 May 2010
Lower cholesterol bolognaise/ragu-type sauce
This is not bolognaise in the Italian sense, but more akin to what we Brits call spag-bol.
The little Greedy Gluts love this sauce and it’s a great way to stuff lots of protein, vegetables and even calcium into them in one sitting without them making a fuss.
Of course, it tastes good to adults too.
Plus, the addition of turkey mince instead of beef mince means the dish is lower in cholesterol and packed full of those minerals that turkey is known for.
Ingredients
450g or 1lb of turkey mince- the best you can afford
A miniature bottle of red wine
1 onion finely chopped
3 rashers of unsmoked bacon finely chopped
1 stick of celery finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tin of tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp fresh thyme or 1/2tsp dried
1 bay leaf
100ml milk
1/2tsp salt
A few grinds black pepper
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
Serves 4
Do it:
1. Heat about 1tbsp of oil in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic, onion, celery and herbs and cook on a medium heat until translucent.
2. Turn the heat up to full and add the bacon, then the turkey mince.
3. When the mince is browned add the rest of the ingredients.
4. Simmer for 20 minutes or longer to develop the flavour.
5. Serve
NB: This tastes fantastic the day after if reheated.
The little Greedy Gluts love this sauce and it’s a great way to stuff lots of protein, vegetables and even calcium into them in one sitting without them making a fuss.
Of course, it tastes good to adults too.
Plus, the addition of turkey mince instead of beef mince means the dish is lower in cholesterol and packed full of those minerals that turkey is known for.
Ingredients
450g or 1lb of turkey mince- the best you can afford
A miniature bottle of red wine
1 onion finely chopped
3 rashers of unsmoked bacon finely chopped
1 stick of celery finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tin of tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp fresh thyme or 1/2tsp dried
1 bay leaf
100ml milk
1/2tsp salt
A few grinds black pepper
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
Serves 4
Do it:
1. Heat about 1tbsp of oil in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic, onion, celery and herbs and cook on a medium heat until translucent.
2. Turn the heat up to full and add the bacon, then the turkey mince.
3. When the mince is browned add the rest of the ingredients.
4. Simmer for 20 minutes or longer to develop the flavour.
5. Serve
NB: This tastes fantastic the day after if reheated.
Monday 10 May 2010
Scones, naans and stew
Sunday was a strange day weather-wise we me and the hubby (and the majority of our neighbours) doing the washing dance – hanging it out, bringing it in, hanging it out, bringing it in…..you get the picture.
One minute it was baking hot and eye-streamingly sunny, and by the time we’d dug out the deckchairs and donned our shades it was pouring with rain. Typical British weather.
Stuck in a limbo of not knowing whether to stay in and grudgingly do housework or brave the great outdoors, I chose to stick the kids with Mr GG for a while (please don’t feel sorry for him – he was fishing on his own for most of the weekend!) while I had a baking day.
I dug out my weathered copy of Leith’s Baking Bible and set to work.
This cookery book really is a bible for all baked goods. From cakes, cookies and croissants to artisan breads and delectable tarts, there is no area that this tome doesn’t cover.
Rushed for time and still in sleepy Sunday mode I decided to make a batch of scones. Scones are so easy to make that even an amateur cook could put them together in five minutes. And they’re relatively low in fat too – until you get to the part when you top them with cream and jam!
I didn’t have any buttermilk as required in the recipe, so instead had to settle for organic semi-skimmed from the fridge – but to be honest this is what I would normally use anyway.
Buttermilk isn’t as widely available as we are lead to believe in cookery books, and the same effect can be achieved by simply adding the juice of a third of a lemon to the quantity of liquid required. This acidity activates the raising agents in the flour and bicarbonate of soda and makes for the lightest, softest scones in exactly the same way that buttermilk does.
The recipe says it makes 6 but feeling greedy and working on the unfounded ethos that a few smaller scones is healthier than a big on, I managed to get about 12 little scones out of the mixture – all of which were glossy, soft and light as air.
I don’t really go in much for cream, so while Mr GG and the little ones slathered theirs in butter, I topped mine modestly with a smear of Duerr’s organic strawberry preserve – which is one of the fruitiest and juiciest strawberry jams around. I also love and often have in the cupboard, Asda’s Extra Special strawberry conserve which has around 50% fruit and tastes like summer.
Scones out of the way and it was time to move onto dinner.
Now, I am a devout meat eater and I love a good piece of steak drowned with peppercorn sauce, or a hunk of lamb shank as much as the next carnivore, but recently I have felt the need to bring more vegetarian dishes to the table.
So instead of the usual roast belly of pork or pot-roasted chicken for dinner I decided to make a Moroccan-style vegetable stew, served with a generous portion of brown rice and Leith’s coriander and onion seed naan breads – followed by rhubarb, straight from my dad’s allotment- how healthy!
The stew was a resounding success and we all felt full for bursting – plus I discovered that my kids’ appetite for chickpeas knows no bounds. A real winner for a filling family supper.
Moroccan-style vegetable stew
Ingredients
2 tins of chickpeas, drained
2 tins of chopped tomatoes (preferably organic)
1 courgette, diced
2 carrots peeled and diced
2 large potatoes peeled and chopped into 2cm pieces
1/2tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsps sea salt
2tsps cumin
1 tsp coriander
2 tbsps runny honey
1 chilli, chopped
A large handful of chopped fresh coriander
A large handful of chopped parsley
1tsp dried mint
Do it:
It's easy. Put it all (apart from the fresh herbs) in a large saucepan and cook on a medium heat for 1 hour. Add the fresh herbs at the end.
Serve with couscous or rice.
One minute it was baking hot and eye-streamingly sunny, and by the time we’d dug out the deckchairs and donned our shades it was pouring with rain. Typical British weather.
Stuck in a limbo of not knowing whether to stay in and grudgingly do housework or brave the great outdoors, I chose to stick the kids with Mr GG for a while (please don’t feel sorry for him – he was fishing on his own for most of the weekend!) while I had a baking day.
I dug out my weathered copy of Leith’s Baking Bible and set to work.
This cookery book really is a bible for all baked goods. From cakes, cookies and croissants to artisan breads and delectable tarts, there is no area that this tome doesn’t cover.
Rushed for time and still in sleepy Sunday mode I decided to make a batch of scones. Scones are so easy to make that even an amateur cook could put them together in five minutes. And they’re relatively low in fat too – until you get to the part when you top them with cream and jam!
I didn’t have any buttermilk as required in the recipe, so instead had to settle for organic semi-skimmed from the fridge – but to be honest this is what I would normally use anyway.
Buttermilk isn’t as widely available as we are lead to believe in cookery books, and the same effect can be achieved by simply adding the juice of a third of a lemon to the quantity of liquid required. This acidity activates the raising agents in the flour and bicarbonate of soda and makes for the lightest, softest scones in exactly the same way that buttermilk does.
The recipe says it makes 6 but feeling greedy and working on the unfounded ethos that a few smaller scones is healthier than a big on, I managed to get about 12 little scones out of the mixture – all of which were glossy, soft and light as air.
I don’t really go in much for cream, so while Mr GG and the little ones slathered theirs in butter, I topped mine modestly with a smear of Duerr’s organic strawberry preserve – which is one of the fruitiest and juiciest strawberry jams around. I also love and often have in the cupboard, Asda’s Extra Special strawberry conserve which has around 50% fruit and tastes like summer.
Scones out of the way and it was time to move onto dinner.
Now, I am a devout meat eater and I love a good piece of steak drowned with peppercorn sauce, or a hunk of lamb shank as much as the next carnivore, but recently I have felt the need to bring more vegetarian dishes to the table.
So instead of the usual roast belly of pork or pot-roasted chicken for dinner I decided to make a Moroccan-style vegetable stew, served with a generous portion of brown rice and Leith’s coriander and onion seed naan breads – followed by rhubarb, straight from my dad’s allotment- how healthy!
The stew was a resounding success and we all felt full for bursting – plus I discovered that my kids’ appetite for chickpeas knows no bounds. A real winner for a filling family supper.
Moroccan-style vegetable stew
Ingredients
2 tins of chickpeas, drained
2 tins of chopped tomatoes (preferably organic)
1 courgette, diced
2 carrots peeled and diced
2 large potatoes peeled and chopped into 2cm pieces
1/2tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsps sea salt
2tsps cumin
1 tsp coriander
2 tbsps runny honey
1 chilli, chopped
A large handful of chopped fresh coriander
A large handful of chopped parsley
1tsp dried mint
Do it:
It's easy. Put it all (apart from the fresh herbs) in a large saucepan and cook on a medium heat for 1 hour. Add the fresh herbs at the end.
Serve with couscous or rice.
Brilliant burgers
I’m not really a great fan of supermarket burgers, having a severe gut-churning reaction to gristle – ick.
So if we’re having a BBQ or a lazy burger supper I like to take a trip to my local butchers (Andrews in Hadleigh) for their delicious versions, or I make them myself.
The secrets to a great burger are as follows:
1. Choose top quality meat for the best flavour and texture
2. Choose meat with some fat content otherwise you’ll end-up with a grey, rubbery shot-put to eat.
3. To use plenty of seasoning – nothing’s worse than a bland burger.
4. To not overwork the mixture. I used to make these in the food processor but they were way too heavy. Now I mix the mince very lightly and pack the burger patties loosely. This way when you bite into the burger it melts in your mouth.
Here is my recipe for what I think are some pretty damn tasty burgers that to slide into a bun with relish and salad. I love serving mine with Waitrose Spicy Onion Relish or Stokes Spicy Tomato Ketchup.
Ingredients
450g/1lb minced beef or minced steak
1tbsp unsalted butter melted (if using minced steak)
Fine breadcrumbs from 1 slice of white bread
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 onion, very finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp English mustard
Dash Worcester sauce
A few grinds of black pepper
1 beaten egg
½ beef stock cube or 1tbsp gravy granules (I use Kallos Organic) finely crumbled
Do it:
1. Heat about 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and sweat the onions and garlic for about five minutes until lightly golden.
2. Mix the egg, mustard, stock cube, pepper, salt, and Worcester sauce together to combine.
3. Place the mince in a bowl – add the butter now if you are using steak mince, it creates richness and helps to add moisture to the meat.
4. Add the egg and spices mixture and the breadcrumbs to this. And mix lightly until just combined – do not crush too much.
5. Lightly form the mixture into burger shapes, without pressing too much.
6. Cook the burgers for 3 minutes per side under a hot grill, in the oven at 220c for 10 minutes or in a frying pan. If cooking on the barbecue I would pack the burgers tighter and start them off in the oven to prevent them from falling apart. A quick and delicious way I’ve found to cook these is in my panini press, which takes about 3 minutes in total for burgers that are about 1.5cm thick.
So if we’re having a BBQ or a lazy burger supper I like to take a trip to my local butchers (Andrews in Hadleigh) for their delicious versions, or I make them myself.
The secrets to a great burger are as follows:
1. Choose top quality meat for the best flavour and texture
2. Choose meat with some fat content otherwise you’ll end-up with a grey, rubbery shot-put to eat.
3. To use plenty of seasoning – nothing’s worse than a bland burger.
4. To not overwork the mixture. I used to make these in the food processor but they were way too heavy. Now I mix the mince very lightly and pack the burger patties loosely. This way when you bite into the burger it melts in your mouth.
Here is my recipe for what I think are some pretty damn tasty burgers that to slide into a bun with relish and salad. I love serving mine with Waitrose Spicy Onion Relish or Stokes Spicy Tomato Ketchup.
Ingredients
450g/1lb minced beef or minced steak
1tbsp unsalted butter melted (if using minced steak)
Fine breadcrumbs from 1 slice of white bread
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 onion, very finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp English mustard
Dash Worcester sauce
A few grinds of black pepper
1 beaten egg
½ beef stock cube or 1tbsp gravy granules (I use Kallos Organic) finely crumbled
Do it:
1. Heat about 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan and sweat the onions and garlic for about five minutes until lightly golden.
2. Mix the egg, mustard, stock cube, pepper, salt, and Worcester sauce together to combine.
3. Place the mince in a bowl – add the butter now if you are using steak mince, it creates richness and helps to add moisture to the meat.
4. Add the egg and spices mixture and the breadcrumbs to this. And mix lightly until just combined – do not crush too much.
5. Lightly form the mixture into burger shapes, without pressing too much.
6. Cook the burgers for 3 minutes per side under a hot grill, in the oven at 220c for 10 minutes or in a frying pan. If cooking on the barbecue I would pack the burgers tighter and start them off in the oven to prevent them from falling apart. A quick and delicious way I’ve found to cook these is in my panini press, which takes about 3 minutes in total for burgers that are about 1.5cm thick.
Saturday 8 May 2010
Asian feast for four
After spending last night eating my own body weight in Thai food, I was left drooling for Indian food for dinner tonight.
We've had some bad experiences with takeaways recently (I won't go into the gruesome details) so my craving meant I had to get into the kitchen and cook up a storm.
Dinner ended-up being spiced butter chicken, chickpea, potato and coriander patties, fennel and onion seed naans and lentil daal, followed by homemade popcorn (which exploded across the kitchen like mini metorites) and marshmallows dipped in chocolate - all devoured in front of Britain's Got Talent with Mr GG and the little ones. Yum
Spiced Butter Chicken
Ingredients
600g chicken pieces
Marinade
1/2tbps lemon juice
1/2tsp garam masala
1tsp turmeric
1/2tsp cumin
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
1/2tsp salt
2tbsp double cream
Sauce
300ml passatta
100ml single cream (or milk)
30g unsalted butter
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1tsp finely chopped ginger
1tsp garam masala
1tsp ground coriander
1tsp cumin
1/2tsp turmeric
1tsp salt
1/2tsp sugar
Do it:
Marinate the chicken in the marinade ingredients for 30 minutes, then cook under a hot grill for 8 minutes per side until lightly charcoaled. Set aside.
Add some oil to a medium saucepan and heat, add the garlic and ginger and sweat for a couple of minutes.
Add the spices and cook out for a couple of minutes until the aromas are released.
Add the cream, salt, sugar, passata and butter to the saucepan and cook on a very low heat. Add the chicken and heat through.
Serve.
Chickpea and potato patties
Ingredients
1 large potato (400g) peeled and chopped into 1cm cubes
200g tinned cooked chickpeas
1 onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 chilli seeded and finely chopped
bunch coriandar finely chopped
1tsp garam masala
1/4tsp allspice
1tsp salt
pepper
1/2tsp turmeric
3tbsp gram flour
1 tsp ground cumin
Do it:
Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a medium sized pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook on a low heat until softened.
Add the spices, salt and chilli, then the potatoes and 1/2 mug water. Cover and allow to steam cook for 10 minutes.
While the potatoes are cooking blitz the chickpeas in a food processor until smooth.
When the potatoes are cooked and soft and no liquid remains add the chickpeas, gram flour and some freshly ground pepper as well as the chopped fresh coriander. Turn off the heat.
Form the mixture into small patties and place on a well oiled baking tray in a hot oven 220c, turning over after 10 minutes and cooking for a further 15.
Fennel and onion seed naan
Ingredients:
450g wholemeal flour
2tbsp vegetable oil
1tbsp dried yeast
1tbsp sugar
180ml warm water
1tsp nigella/onion seeds
1tsp fennel seeds
Do it:
Mix all of the ingredients together and knead to a soft dough.
Allow to rest for 30 minutes and then split the mixture into 6 and roll into naan shapes.
Place the naans on baking trays, top with a small knob of butter and a sprinkle of salt.
Bake the naans on 200c for 20 minutes.
We've had some bad experiences with takeaways recently (I won't go into the gruesome details) so my craving meant I had to get into the kitchen and cook up a storm.
Dinner ended-up being spiced butter chicken, chickpea, potato and coriander patties, fennel and onion seed naans and lentil daal, followed by homemade popcorn (which exploded across the kitchen like mini metorites) and marshmallows dipped in chocolate - all devoured in front of Britain's Got Talent with Mr GG and the little ones. Yum
Spiced Butter Chicken
Ingredients
600g chicken pieces
Marinade
1/2tbps lemon juice
1/2tsp garam masala
1tsp turmeric
1/2tsp cumin
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
1/2tsp salt
2tbsp double cream
Sauce
300ml passatta
100ml single cream (or milk)
30g unsalted butter
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1tsp finely chopped ginger
1tsp garam masala
1tsp ground coriander
1tsp cumin
1/2tsp turmeric
1tsp salt
1/2tsp sugar
Do it:
Marinate the chicken in the marinade ingredients for 30 minutes, then cook under a hot grill for 8 minutes per side until lightly charcoaled. Set aside.
Add some oil to a medium saucepan and heat, add the garlic and ginger and sweat for a couple of minutes.
Add the spices and cook out for a couple of minutes until the aromas are released.
Add the cream, salt, sugar, passata and butter to the saucepan and cook on a very low heat. Add the chicken and heat through.
Serve.
Chickpea and potato patties
Ingredients
1 large potato (400g) peeled and chopped into 1cm cubes
200g tinned cooked chickpeas
1 onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 chilli seeded and finely chopped
bunch coriandar finely chopped
1tsp garam masala
1/4tsp allspice
1tsp salt
pepper
1/2tsp turmeric
3tbsp gram flour
1 tsp ground cumin
Do it:
Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a medium sized pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook on a low heat until softened.
Add the spices, salt and chilli, then the potatoes and 1/2 mug water. Cover and allow to steam cook for 10 minutes.
While the potatoes are cooking blitz the chickpeas in a food processor until smooth.
When the potatoes are cooked and soft and no liquid remains add the chickpeas, gram flour and some freshly ground pepper as well as the chopped fresh coriander. Turn off the heat.
Form the mixture into small patties and place on a well oiled baking tray in a hot oven 220c, turning over after 10 minutes and cooking for a further 15.
Fennel and onion seed naan
Ingredients:
450g wholemeal flour
2tbsp vegetable oil
1tbsp dried yeast
1tbsp sugar
180ml warm water
1tsp nigella/onion seeds
1tsp fennel seeds
Do it:
Mix all of the ingredients together and knead to a soft dough.
Allow to rest for 30 minutes and then split the mixture into 6 and roll into naan shapes.
Place the naans on baking trays, top with a small knob of butter and a sprinkle of salt.
Bake the naans on 200c for 20 minutes.
Monday 3 May 2010
Spiced lentil stew
We seemed to have somewhat of a vegetarian week last week, culiminating in this delicious, savoury, spicy stew - very healthy, very tasty and packed full of fibre.
Lentils are a massive favourite in our household, and this dish (thrown together in a dash) will definitely be a feature at mealtimes in the future. It's suitable for vegans and filling and flavoursome enough to entice any meateater into vegetarianism.
Buy it:
250g puy or green lentils (dried)
2 small onions, finely chopped
2 tins chopped tomatoes
2tsps cumin
1tbsp paprika
2tbsp Marigold bouillon or 1 vegetable stock cube
1/2tsp cayenne pepper
1/2tsp cinnamon
1tsp thyme
1tsp oregano
1tsp salt
big handful coriander, roughly chopped
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1tbsp vegetable oil
Do it:
1. Saute the peppers and garlic together until soften and set aside.
2. Saute the onions in the same pan until soft and add the rest of the ingredients, plus 2 mugs of water.
3. Bring the mixture to the boil and then simmer for one hour.
4.Serve with brown rice or noodles, or even in tortilla wraps with cheese.
Lentils are a massive favourite in our household, and this dish (thrown together in a dash) will definitely be a feature at mealtimes in the future. It's suitable for vegans and filling and flavoursome enough to entice any meateater into vegetarianism.
Buy it:
250g puy or green lentils (dried)
2 small onions, finely chopped
2 tins chopped tomatoes
2tsps cumin
1tbsp paprika
2tbsp Marigold bouillon or 1 vegetable stock cube
1/2tsp cayenne pepper
1/2tsp cinnamon
1tsp thyme
1tsp oregano
1tsp salt
big handful coriander, roughly chopped
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1tbsp vegetable oil
Do it:
1. Saute the peppers and garlic together until soften and set aside.
2. Saute the onions in the same pan until soft and add the rest of the ingredients, plus 2 mugs of water.
3. Bring the mixture to the boil and then simmer for one hour.
4.Serve with brown rice or noodles, or even in tortilla wraps with cheese.
Wednesday 28 April 2010
A chocolate gateaux to die for
Tuesday was Mr GG’s birthday so I had to make him a cake didn’t I?
After disregarding the information from our four-year-old that: “Daddy wants a chocolate cake in the shape of a snowboard on a rollerblade with sprinkles on top,” I set to work on Monday night to assemble the chocolate cake to beat all chocolate cakes.
Yes it was rich, yes there were probably 20,000 calories per slice, but hey – that’s what birthdays are for.
The finished construction was a two-layered chocolate gateaux, consisting of layers of death by chocolate sponge and a rich chocolate mousse, decorated with chocolate shavings, chocolate vermicelli and chocolate drops.
How disappointed was I when he took the leftovers into work today!
Death-by-chocolate gateaux
Buy it:
250g plain flour
50g the best cocoa powder (I use Green and Blacks)
1 mug boiling water
½ lemon
150g margarine or butter
200g golden caster sugar
1tsp baking powder
2 room temperature eggs
150ml double cream
150g marshmallows
300g dark chocolate, chopped (80 per cent cocoa is good)
A knob of butter
Chocolate decorations
Do it:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 190c and grease two 22cm sandwich tins.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar and then add the flour, cocoa and baking powder and mix.
3. Pour on the boiled water and lemon juice and mix.
4. Add the eggs and mix.
5. Pour the mixture equally between the sandwich tins and place in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes until the sponge springs back when pressed. Leave to cool completely
6. Make the mousse by melting the marshmallows and double cream on a low heat with the butter. When the marshmallows have melted take the mixture off the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Stir until smooth and allow to cool. Then, whisk with an electric handmixer until thickened and let the mixture set in the fridge.
7. Sandwich the cooled cakes together with the mousse and cover the top and sides with the mixture too.
8. Decorate with your choice of chocolates and decorations.
After disregarding the information from our four-year-old that: “Daddy wants a chocolate cake in the shape of a snowboard on a rollerblade with sprinkles on top,” I set to work on Monday night to assemble the chocolate cake to beat all chocolate cakes.
Yes it was rich, yes there were probably 20,000 calories per slice, but hey – that’s what birthdays are for.
The finished construction was a two-layered chocolate gateaux, consisting of layers of death by chocolate sponge and a rich chocolate mousse, decorated with chocolate shavings, chocolate vermicelli and chocolate drops.
How disappointed was I when he took the leftovers into work today!
Death-by-chocolate gateaux
Buy it:
250g plain flour
50g the best cocoa powder (I use Green and Blacks)
1 mug boiling water
½ lemon
150g margarine or butter
200g golden caster sugar
1tsp baking powder
2 room temperature eggs
150ml double cream
150g marshmallows
300g dark chocolate, chopped (80 per cent cocoa is good)
A knob of butter
Chocolate decorations
Do it:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 190c and grease two 22cm sandwich tins.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar and then add the flour, cocoa and baking powder and mix.
3. Pour on the boiled water and lemon juice and mix.
4. Add the eggs and mix.
5. Pour the mixture equally between the sandwich tins and place in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes until the sponge springs back when pressed. Leave to cool completely
6. Make the mousse by melting the marshmallows and double cream on a low heat with the butter. When the marshmallows have melted take the mixture off the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Stir until smooth and allow to cool. Then, whisk with an electric handmixer until thickened and let the mixture set in the fridge.
7. Sandwich the cooled cakes together with the mousse and cover the top and sides with the mixture too.
8. Decorate with your choice of chocolates and decorations.
Oven-baked tomato soup and spicy bread
I had a little bit of a thing for cornbread last week – I think it’s because I wolfed down a shedload on our picnic last weekend.
So on Friday night I whipped some up and served with an oven-baked soup. Yes, that does sound strange, but with my hubby jumping up and down like an over-sugared toddler at the news that I’ve booked for him to go away fishing this weekend as a birthday treat, and making me help him lug various pieces of equipment from the back of the shed, I didn’t have time to stir anything.
Starting soup off in the oven also gives it a smokey and caramelised flavour.
Chilli cheesy cornbread
200g self-raising flour
200g polenta (I use Merchant Gourmet as it is nice and fine)
200ml milk with a squeeze of lemon juice
1 egg
A big handful of strong cheese
1tsp freshly chopped oregano
1 green chilli finely chopped
1/2tsp salt
Do it: Mix all of the ingredients together and place in a 23cm square tin that's been oiled. Bake at 200c for 30 minutes until spongy.
Oven-baked tomato soup
2 cloves garlic
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 small onion halved
1tbsp olive oil
1/4tsp dried thyme
1 vegi stock cube
Black pepper
1/2tsp sugar
1tsp balsamic vinegar
Do it: Simply place all of the ingredients in the oven and roast at 180c for an hour. Add a pint of boiling water and blitz the lot with a hand blender or in a blender. Serve.
So on Friday night I whipped some up and served with an oven-baked soup. Yes, that does sound strange, but with my hubby jumping up and down like an over-sugared toddler at the news that I’ve booked for him to go away fishing this weekend as a birthday treat, and making me help him lug various pieces of equipment from the back of the shed, I didn’t have time to stir anything.
Starting soup off in the oven also gives it a smokey and caramelised flavour.
Chilli cheesy cornbread
200g self-raising flour
200g polenta (I use Merchant Gourmet as it is nice and fine)
200ml milk with a squeeze of lemon juice
1 egg
A big handful of strong cheese
1tsp freshly chopped oregano
1 green chilli finely chopped
1/2tsp salt
Do it: Mix all of the ingredients together and place in a 23cm square tin that's been oiled. Bake at 200c for 30 minutes until spongy.
Oven-baked tomato soup
2 cloves garlic
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 small onion halved
1tbsp olive oil
1/4tsp dried thyme
1 vegi stock cube
Black pepper
1/2tsp sugar
1tsp balsamic vinegar
Do it: Simply place all of the ingredients in the oven and roast at 180c for an hour. Add a pint of boiling water and blitz the lot with a hand blender or in a blender. Serve.
Meataballas
Dinner on Saturday didn’t exactly go as planned. I felt quite smug in the morning, having planned a week’s worth of versatile and healthy suppers.
But I forgot to buy more of one vital ingredient – garlic!
This is the culinary equivalent of cutting of a cook’s left arm. Garlic is the savoury, sweet base to so many foods that to be without it is to have no soul in your cooking – there will always be something missing.
Saturday's delight was supposed to be light meatballs in a smoky tomato and chipotle sauce, but without my pal garlic I didn’t have the heart to prepare a tomato sauce.
However I did have to do something with the meat (prime steak mince) so I decided to take my meatballs down a Scandinavian/Italian route.
I started off by making some herby Italianate meatballs (minus the lemon zest and chilli I normally add to them) and whipped up a Scandi-style gravy, a bit like the sauce that would usually accompany Swedish meatballs.
Served with white rice and a bowl of peas, this ended-up be really quite nice. But I am still hampering for that garlicky, smoky chilli and tomato sauce. Perhaps it will appear later in the week.
Scandi/Italian meatballs
500g steak mince (or the best mince you can afford)
1tsp fresh thyme and oregano (or ½ tsp each dried)
A handful of grated cheese
1/2tsp allspice
1/2tsp salt
A few grinds of black pepper
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
2 slices of brown bread
50ml single cream
Do it: Place all of the ingredients in a blender and mix to a thick paste. Put 2tsbps of oil into a large frying pan and gently saute the meatballs until coloured all over. Place the browned meatballs in a roasting tin and place in the oven at 220c for 15 minutes until cooked through.
Gravy
A knob of unsalted butter
100ml single cream
1 beef stock cube
1tsbp cranberry jelly
2tsps cornflour mixed with water
Do it: Place the stock cube in the frying pan in which you cooked the meatballs and add a dash of water, mix.
Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to the desired consistancy. Add the meatballs and serve.
But I forgot to buy more of one vital ingredient – garlic!
This is the culinary equivalent of cutting of a cook’s left arm. Garlic is the savoury, sweet base to so many foods that to be without it is to have no soul in your cooking – there will always be something missing.
Saturday's delight was supposed to be light meatballs in a smoky tomato and chipotle sauce, but without my pal garlic I didn’t have the heart to prepare a tomato sauce.
However I did have to do something with the meat (prime steak mince) so I decided to take my meatballs down a Scandinavian/Italian route.
I started off by making some herby Italianate meatballs (minus the lemon zest and chilli I normally add to them) and whipped up a Scandi-style gravy, a bit like the sauce that would usually accompany Swedish meatballs.
Served with white rice and a bowl of peas, this ended-up be really quite nice. But I am still hampering for that garlicky, smoky chilli and tomato sauce. Perhaps it will appear later in the week.
Scandi/Italian meatballs
500g steak mince (or the best mince you can afford)
1tsp fresh thyme and oregano (or ½ tsp each dried)
A handful of grated cheese
1/2tsp allspice
1/2tsp salt
A few grinds of black pepper
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
2 slices of brown bread
50ml single cream
Do it: Place all of the ingredients in a blender and mix to a thick paste. Put 2tsbps of oil into a large frying pan and gently saute the meatballs until coloured all over. Place the browned meatballs in a roasting tin and place in the oven at 220c for 15 minutes until cooked through.
Gravy
A knob of unsalted butter
100ml single cream
1 beef stock cube
1tsbp cranberry jelly
2tsps cornflour mixed with water
Do it: Place the stock cube in the frying pan in which you cooked the meatballs and add a dash of water, mix.
Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to the desired consistancy. Add the meatballs and serve.
Monday 19 April 2010
Monday - veggi dinner - simples!
Feeling impossibly tired (as you do on a Monday morning) there was nothing I wanted more today than to sit on my butt and watch trash on telly when I got home.
But then I realised I have kids - this is an impossible dream!
Normally I plan our evening meals with military precision but there was no such joy this evening and I had about 15 minutes to start putting something together before cries of hunger started to come at me.
Eventually I knocked up a pretty darn good tagine using a mixture of fresh vegetables and leftovers. Savoury, sweet and sticky it was the ideal antidote to the Monday blues, also, because it was very low fat and high on the veg counter it made me feel less guilty about having homemade biscuits, ice cream and rhubarb compote for dessert.
Roasted vegetable tagine
3 leftover roast potatoes
2 leftover parsnips (about 6 bits)
1 yellow pepper
1 red onion
1 bulb of fennel
1tsp each of garlic powder, cumin powder and coriander powder
2 tbsps raisins
200ml passata
1/2 tsp salt
1 tin chickpeas
Doing it:
1. Chop the potatoes, parsnips, pepper, onion and fennel into big chunks and place in a roasting tin.
2. Add 2tbsp olive oil to the roasting tin and throw in the cumin and coriander powders. Roast for 30 minutes at 220c.
3. Mix together the garlic powder, salt, passata, chickpeas and raisins in a medium saucepan. Simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Add the roasted vegetables to the chickpea sauce and serve with couscous or rice.
Serves 4-6
Yummy vanilla biscuits
100g butter or margarine
100g plain flour
75g icing sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
Doing it:
1. Grease a baking tray and set the oven to 200c.
2. Mix all of the ingredients together quickly (a food processor is good for this).
3. Roll the mixture out on a floured surface to about 1cm thick and use a small cookie cutter about 5cm in diameter to cut out circles.
4. Place the biscuits on the baking tray and bake until golden (about 10 minutes).
But then I realised I have kids - this is an impossible dream!
Normally I plan our evening meals with military precision but there was no such joy this evening and I had about 15 minutes to start putting something together before cries of hunger started to come at me.
Eventually I knocked up a pretty darn good tagine using a mixture of fresh vegetables and leftovers. Savoury, sweet and sticky it was the ideal antidote to the Monday blues, also, because it was very low fat and high on the veg counter it made me feel less guilty about having homemade biscuits, ice cream and rhubarb compote for dessert.
Roasted vegetable tagine
3 leftover roast potatoes
2 leftover parsnips (about 6 bits)
1 yellow pepper
1 red onion
1 bulb of fennel
1tsp each of garlic powder, cumin powder and coriander powder
2 tbsps raisins
200ml passata
1/2 tsp salt
1 tin chickpeas
Doing it:
1. Chop the potatoes, parsnips, pepper, onion and fennel into big chunks and place in a roasting tin.
2. Add 2tbsp olive oil to the roasting tin and throw in the cumin and coriander powders. Roast for 30 minutes at 220c.
3. Mix together the garlic powder, salt, passata, chickpeas and raisins in a medium saucepan. Simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Add the roasted vegetables to the chickpea sauce and serve with couscous or rice.
Serves 4-6
Yummy vanilla biscuits
100g butter or margarine
100g plain flour
75g icing sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
Doing it:
1. Grease a baking tray and set the oven to 200c.
2. Mix all of the ingredients together quickly (a food processor is good for this).
3. Roll the mixture out on a floured surface to about 1cm thick and use a small cookie cutter about 5cm in diameter to cut out circles.
4. Place the biscuits on the baking tray and bake until golden (about 10 minutes).
Damn the fridge!
Where do those frozen onions come from?
Ok, so you’ve just done your daily, weekly or maybe even monthly shop. You’ve bought perhaps more than you should have (damn those buy-one-get-one-free offers) and your arms are practically severed at the shoulder from carrying the groceries from the car/bus.
You slam down said bags, sigh and set about the process of trying to cram everything in without being hit on the head by a rogue, unbalanced tin of baked beans.
Then you get to the fridge, which may look innocent enough from the outside, but upon opening is actually a germ-harbouring vessel replete with crusty nodules of cheese, dribbles from where you didn’t quite put the lid back on something properly, and onion skins!
Inevitably there will be a sludgy courgette pasted to the salad drawer, having given up the ghost, and the odd carrot lingering about somewhere.
There will be the jar of pickle you forgot about, and that bottle of hoisin sauce you’ve been using in stir-fries without realising it had to be USED WITHIN 3 DAYS. And in my case, there will always be an onion, frozen to the back- a real bugger to clean.
Some days, when I haven’t hit the shops for a little while, I wouldn’t be surprised to find tumbleweed wisping across the fridge drawer, such is the sad and barren landscape that has been left behind.
I didn’t buy any vegetables last weekend, determined to use up whatever I could dredge from the fridge before my new organic vegi box delivery made its first ever visit.
This has proved somewhat of a challenge. Contents left yesterday consisted of a swede (half frozen and a tad slimy), a rather limp leek, a carrot, about a million onions, some Grandma Singleton’s Lancashire which has been starting to smell a bit like a used nappy, and a few small apples.
What to do?
Cheese on swede? Swede mash layered with onions and cheese? Some kind of casserole? It’s a shame I don’t have a weaning baby anymore – they really are such fantastic garbage bins. Almost any leftover vegetable can be blitzed beyond recognition and still be passable to them.
In the end I whipped some mince out of the freezer (very, very bad practice) and put together a chilli, including tiny chopped pieces of swede and carrot and a hell of a lot of spice.
It didn’t taste half bad actually. Hell, you couldn’t even taste the swede.
I think this will be my future way of thinking when it comes to those poor, stray vegetables – chop em up and chuck em in – it can’t go too far wrong. Can it………
Ok, so you’ve just done your daily, weekly or maybe even monthly shop. You’ve bought perhaps more than you should have (damn those buy-one-get-one-free offers) and your arms are practically severed at the shoulder from carrying the groceries from the car/bus.
You slam down said bags, sigh and set about the process of trying to cram everything in without being hit on the head by a rogue, unbalanced tin of baked beans.
Then you get to the fridge, which may look innocent enough from the outside, but upon opening is actually a germ-harbouring vessel replete with crusty nodules of cheese, dribbles from where you didn’t quite put the lid back on something properly, and onion skins!
Inevitably there will be a sludgy courgette pasted to the salad drawer, having given up the ghost, and the odd carrot lingering about somewhere.
There will be the jar of pickle you forgot about, and that bottle of hoisin sauce you’ve been using in stir-fries without realising it had to be USED WITHIN 3 DAYS. And in my case, there will always be an onion, frozen to the back- a real bugger to clean.
Some days, when I haven’t hit the shops for a little while, I wouldn’t be surprised to find tumbleweed wisping across the fridge drawer, such is the sad and barren landscape that has been left behind.
I didn’t buy any vegetables last weekend, determined to use up whatever I could dredge from the fridge before my new organic vegi box delivery made its first ever visit.
This has proved somewhat of a challenge. Contents left yesterday consisted of a swede (half frozen and a tad slimy), a rather limp leek, a carrot, about a million onions, some Grandma Singleton’s Lancashire which has been starting to smell a bit like a used nappy, and a few small apples.
What to do?
Cheese on swede? Swede mash layered with onions and cheese? Some kind of casserole? It’s a shame I don’t have a weaning baby anymore – they really are such fantastic garbage bins. Almost any leftover vegetable can be blitzed beyond recognition and still be passable to them.
In the end I whipped some mince out of the freezer (very, very bad practice) and put together a chilli, including tiny chopped pieces of swede and carrot and a hell of a lot of spice.
It didn’t taste half bad actually. Hell, you couldn’t even taste the swede.
I think this will be my future way of thinking when it comes to those poor, stray vegetables – chop em up and chuck em in – it can’t go too far wrong. Can it………
The town where food goes to die
On Friday night me and my mate Lisa took a roadtrip to see a friend play a gig in an East Anglian town (which shall remain nameless).
We had loads of time to kill and planned to grab a bite enroute. On the way, basking in the glorious spring sunshine we must have passed about 10 fab pubs or restaurants but it was way too early to eat so we soldiered on.
Thirty minutes away from the venue and we seemed hit a culinary black hole – an area where food comes to die (or be battered, fried and served with ketchup) . Travelling somewhere across the Suffolk/Norfolk border we found ourselves in a world of fast food, convenience shops and pubs that seemed more interested in touting their Sky Sports facilities than laying on a good meal.
What had we done!
Eventually we arrived at our destination town – what a dump!
A ramshackled old spot with grey, soulless architecture, run-down businesses and a lingering dark sky.
Our first port of call for supper was a quaint 50s style tearoom which looked innocent enough. Having sat down and seen the list of around 80 dishes though, it was quite obvious that ‘homemade’ food was not going to be the order of the day.
Five minutes later a waitress came over and took my order for a drink before vanishing into the back, perhaps to drown her sorrows in a bottle of vodka?
My poor friend was left dumbfounded at not being offered a bevvy. She even asked me to pinch her to see if she was really there.
One pinch and one ‘ouch!’ later it was confirmed and with my drink taking about a hundred years to be poured somewhere in the depths of the building we scarpered.
Our only hope of dinner was a local hotel, apparently situated on a fine and sandy beach with glorious views, but to our eyes situated on a muddy estuary overlooking plumes of smoke and pillars of concrete from a nearby industrial area.
The menu looked OK, most of it probably brought in to be honest, but we were so incredibly hungry that we didn’t care what we ate as long as it contained a modicum of calories.
We both plumped for a roast dinner. Service wasn’t great – it’s not many times I’ve been to a restaurant to have the waiter practically throw my dinner onto the table in a huff. But the food was OK – lots of turkey, lots of gravy, lots of potatoes. It was let down by a melange of vegetables that all tasted the same, but hey-ho.
I think next time we will make sure our pitstop is taken in our beloved Suffolk, where you’re never too far from a friendly country pub or restaurant.
Although if anyone can recommend a decent eatery up in Norfolk we’d be more than willing to give it a go so long as we both get offered drinks and there’s a guarantee that dinner’s served with a smile.
Saturday was a good day for food – perhaps because (and I say this rather smugly and annoyingly) I made a lot of it myself.
Recovering from the culinary atrocities of Friday evening and having stayed the night at a friend’s house, me and my travelling companion Lisa were more than happy to receive freshly bake croissants in bed, lovingly cooked by hostess Jess.
I felt like quite a piggy after munching through two pain au chocolate in, oh, about one minute, but I think I deserved it after having traipsed around scavenging for food the night before.
An hour and a half late and looking considerably bed-ragged, my hubby eventually found his way to Jess’s house with our two tots in tow and we headed off for nearby Dinosaur Adventure, with the picnic I’d made the day before all packed and ready to go in the boot.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a sucker for those pre-packed, pre-prepared salads and pasta dishes that you find in shops such as M&S and Waitrose, but when it comes to picnics there is something quite wonderful about knowing you’ve made everything yourself.
Usually I am the doyenne of the picnic, and friends often joke about and look for the kitchen sink in my hamper. But this time I kept it light and only made a few things, all of which were scrumdiddlyumptious I might add.
There was a spicy cheese and chilli cornbread and a sausage and onion plait carrot sticks, slices of cucumber, ripe Spanish strawberries (naughty but I couldn’t resist) and the sickly, rich but utterly divine quadruple chocolate loaf cake from Nigella Lawson’s Feast cookbook. Let me tell you that if you haven’t tried this sticky and dark creation and you are a self-confessed chocoholic – YOU MUST COOK IT!!
I ended my Greedy Glut day (and let me just say I walked for four hours so I think I earned it) with drinks and nibbles at Debs’ house on Saturday night, where several bottles of wine were drunk (not by me) along with a mountain of Hula Hoops, Wotsits, Mini Cheddars, Gordon Ramsey chocolates, gianduja…oh, and grapes and nuts too!
At around 1.30am Debs had the bright idea that we should measure each other against the wall to see who was the tallest and mark it with a pen!
This only goes to show that wine and junk food are a dangerous, dangerous combination. I only hope that her hubby doesn’t ban us from having any more girly nights. Or god forbid he only lets us consume water and rice crackers!
We had loads of time to kill and planned to grab a bite enroute. On the way, basking in the glorious spring sunshine we must have passed about 10 fab pubs or restaurants but it was way too early to eat so we soldiered on.
Thirty minutes away from the venue and we seemed hit a culinary black hole – an area where food comes to die (or be battered, fried and served with ketchup) . Travelling somewhere across the Suffolk/Norfolk border we found ourselves in a world of fast food, convenience shops and pubs that seemed more interested in touting their Sky Sports facilities than laying on a good meal.
What had we done!
Eventually we arrived at our destination town – what a dump!
A ramshackled old spot with grey, soulless architecture, run-down businesses and a lingering dark sky.
Our first port of call for supper was a quaint 50s style tearoom which looked innocent enough. Having sat down and seen the list of around 80 dishes though, it was quite obvious that ‘homemade’ food was not going to be the order of the day.
Five minutes later a waitress came over and took my order for a drink before vanishing into the back, perhaps to drown her sorrows in a bottle of vodka?
My poor friend was left dumbfounded at not being offered a bevvy. She even asked me to pinch her to see if she was really there.
One pinch and one ‘ouch!’ later it was confirmed and with my drink taking about a hundred years to be poured somewhere in the depths of the building we scarpered.
Our only hope of dinner was a local hotel, apparently situated on a fine and sandy beach with glorious views, but to our eyes situated on a muddy estuary overlooking plumes of smoke and pillars of concrete from a nearby industrial area.
The menu looked OK, most of it probably brought in to be honest, but we were so incredibly hungry that we didn’t care what we ate as long as it contained a modicum of calories.
We both plumped for a roast dinner. Service wasn’t great – it’s not many times I’ve been to a restaurant to have the waiter practically throw my dinner onto the table in a huff. But the food was OK – lots of turkey, lots of gravy, lots of potatoes. It was let down by a melange of vegetables that all tasted the same, but hey-ho.
I think next time we will make sure our pitstop is taken in our beloved Suffolk, where you’re never too far from a friendly country pub or restaurant.
Although if anyone can recommend a decent eatery up in Norfolk we’d be more than willing to give it a go so long as we both get offered drinks and there’s a guarantee that dinner’s served with a smile.
Saturday was a good day for food – perhaps because (and I say this rather smugly and annoyingly) I made a lot of it myself.
Recovering from the culinary atrocities of Friday evening and having stayed the night at a friend’s house, me and my travelling companion Lisa were more than happy to receive freshly bake croissants in bed, lovingly cooked by hostess Jess.
I felt like quite a piggy after munching through two pain au chocolate in, oh, about one minute, but I think I deserved it after having traipsed around scavenging for food the night before.
An hour and a half late and looking considerably bed-ragged, my hubby eventually found his way to Jess’s house with our two tots in tow and we headed off for nearby Dinosaur Adventure, with the picnic I’d made the day before all packed and ready to go in the boot.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a sucker for those pre-packed, pre-prepared salads and pasta dishes that you find in shops such as M&S and Waitrose, but when it comes to picnics there is something quite wonderful about knowing you’ve made everything yourself.
Usually I am the doyenne of the picnic, and friends often joke about and look for the kitchen sink in my hamper. But this time I kept it light and only made a few things, all of which were scrumdiddlyumptious I might add.
There was a spicy cheese and chilli cornbread and a sausage and onion plait carrot sticks, slices of cucumber, ripe Spanish strawberries (naughty but I couldn’t resist) and the sickly, rich but utterly divine quadruple chocolate loaf cake from Nigella Lawson’s Feast cookbook. Let me tell you that if you haven’t tried this sticky and dark creation and you are a self-confessed chocoholic – YOU MUST COOK IT!!
I ended my Greedy Glut day (and let me just say I walked for four hours so I think I earned it) with drinks and nibbles at Debs’ house on Saturday night, where several bottles of wine were drunk (not by me) along with a mountain of Hula Hoops, Wotsits, Mini Cheddars, Gordon Ramsey chocolates, gianduja…oh, and grapes and nuts too!
At around 1.30am Debs had the bright idea that we should measure each other against the wall to see who was the tallest and mark it with a pen!
This only goes to show that wine and junk food are a dangerous, dangerous combination. I only hope that her hubby doesn’t ban us from having any more girly nights. Or god forbid he only lets us consume water and rice crackers!
Tuesday 6 April 2010
Yippee - homemade chocolates
I love my friend Lu!
While I gave her a 1kg bag of locally stoneground organic flour and some homemade, not quite hot crossed buns (the paste was too runny) at Easter, she only went and got me a chocolate tempering machine!
I loved Willy Wonka when I was growing-up and have often tried to make my own choccies, but they always bloom because the chocolate hasn't been tempered properly.
Over Christmas I purchased an artisan chocolate-making book and have been waiting for thoughtful Mr GG to bring home a piece of marble so I could temper chocolate like a pro.
But now I don't need a slab of rock anymore because I have my miracle machine.
At the weekend, with my Hitachi tempering machine glistening at my left and my chocolate book at my right, it was time to jump into the realms of the confectioner.
First I made my very own gianduja (that hazlenutty, chocolaty paste) by roasting 200g of hazelnuts with 200g golden caster sugar until the sugar was molten.
I let this set and then blitzed it in the food processor with 200g melted dark chocolate, until the whole thing became a divine chocolate paste.
Then I set to work using the tempering machine by melting 200g dark chocolate on the highest setting and then setting it to low, which would maintain it at just the right temperature to work with.
I rolled the gianduja into balls and with a fork dipped them into the chocolate before allowing to set on greaseproof paper.
Quite simply it was a triumph. Instead of blooming or melting from being out of the fridge, the chocolates retained a crisp, shiny and professional-looking shell. They tasted great too.
Any friends wondering what they'll be getting for their birthdays this year should send in their requests now!
Oh and, by the way Lu, I really need an ice cream machine! Wink wink......
While I gave her a 1kg bag of locally stoneground organic flour and some homemade, not quite hot crossed buns (the paste was too runny) at Easter, she only went and got me a chocolate tempering machine!
I loved Willy Wonka when I was growing-up and have often tried to make my own choccies, but they always bloom because the chocolate hasn't been tempered properly.
Over Christmas I purchased an artisan chocolate-making book and have been waiting for thoughtful Mr GG to bring home a piece of marble so I could temper chocolate like a pro.
But now I don't need a slab of rock anymore because I have my miracle machine.
At the weekend, with my Hitachi tempering machine glistening at my left and my chocolate book at my right, it was time to jump into the realms of the confectioner.
First I made my very own gianduja (that hazlenutty, chocolaty paste) by roasting 200g of hazelnuts with 200g golden caster sugar until the sugar was molten.
I let this set and then blitzed it in the food processor with 200g melted dark chocolate, until the whole thing became a divine chocolate paste.
Then I set to work using the tempering machine by melting 200g dark chocolate on the highest setting and then setting it to low, which would maintain it at just the right temperature to work with.
I rolled the gianduja into balls and with a fork dipped them into the chocolate before allowing to set on greaseproof paper.
Quite simply it was a triumph. Instead of blooming or melting from being out of the fridge, the chocolates retained a crisp, shiny and professional-looking shell. They tasted great too.
Any friends wondering what they'll be getting for their birthdays this year should send in their requests now!
Oh and, by the way Lu, I really need an ice cream machine! Wink wink......
Velvet chicken with mustard, bay and perry
Cider and chicken might not seem like an obvious pairing - its usually porcine cuts that pair best with this fruity tipple.
But on Easter Sunday upon arriving at the folks' house to "help" (which inevitably means to cook everything myself) instead of having a great wodge of gammon to contend with, my mum approached me in great trepidation with a bag of chiken thighs that "have to be used by today!"
My parents' kitchen, although packed to the hilt with food, tends to be a mecca of convenience, being laden with tinned sauces, and soups, biscuits and preserves - none of which are very helpful when you need to actually COOK something.
I had come armed with a small, slow-cooked lamb shoulder, English mustard, a bowl of hot cross bun mixture and a bottle of Thatchers pear cider (which incensed my dad - "There is no such thing as pear cider- it's perry! Perry!")
Thinking quickly on my feet I rustled-up what turned out to be a delicious chicken dish, with a creamy, non-cream sauce to boot.
I began by slicing one onion down the middle and slicing each half thinly, putting the onion into a slow frying pan to gently sizzle away.
When the onion was starting to turn golden I added the boned, skinless chicken thighs (about 600g) and seasoning, letting the chicken colour all over.
I added 2tsps cornflour to coat and then 2 bay leaves, one chicken stock cube,1 tbsp of English mustard and 400ml of pear cider (sorry - perry!).
I simmered the mixture slowly until the chicken was cooked through and the sauce coated the back of a wooden spoon.
A savoury, succulent dish with a hint of sweetness and spice.
But on Easter Sunday upon arriving at the folks' house to "help" (which inevitably means to cook everything myself) instead of having a great wodge of gammon to contend with, my mum approached me in great trepidation with a bag of chiken thighs that "have to be used by today!"
My parents' kitchen, although packed to the hilt with food, tends to be a mecca of convenience, being laden with tinned sauces, and soups, biscuits and preserves - none of which are very helpful when you need to actually COOK something.
I had come armed with a small, slow-cooked lamb shoulder, English mustard, a bowl of hot cross bun mixture and a bottle of Thatchers pear cider (which incensed my dad - "There is no such thing as pear cider- it's perry! Perry!")
Thinking quickly on my feet I rustled-up what turned out to be a delicious chicken dish, with a creamy, non-cream sauce to boot.
I began by slicing one onion down the middle and slicing each half thinly, putting the onion into a slow frying pan to gently sizzle away.
When the onion was starting to turn golden I added the boned, skinless chicken thighs (about 600g) and seasoning, letting the chicken colour all over.
I added 2tsps cornflour to coat and then 2 bay leaves, one chicken stock cube,1 tbsp of English mustard and 400ml of pear cider (sorry - perry!).
I simmered the mixture slowly until the chicken was cooked through and the sauce coated the back of a wooden spoon.
A savoury, succulent dish with a hint of sweetness and spice.
Return of the vegetarians
"Bloody hell, not the vegetarians again!"
Look, I have nothing against vegetarians, it's simply that I would never want to be one, and I NEVER EVER know what to cook when they come over for dinner - despite having perhaps 6 vegetarian cookbooks on my bookshelf.
To be fair, I DID invite them over (you know who you are) but I forgot I would have to cook. Worse still, I promised them tapas.
Now, when I think tapas, I think salty chorizo, Moorish-scented kebabs and salt cod fritters.
After quite a lot of fannying around at the local health food store, and having weighted myself down with a plethora of veg and a dizzying amount of wine (hey, better to get them drunk then it doesn't matter if the food's crap) I headed home, searching my brain for vegi tapas recipes.
So, this is what we had. And you know what? They loved it! Phew!
Completely non-authentic baba ganoush
1 aubergine sliced in half and scored across the skin
1/2 tin of chickpeas
juice of 1/2 lemon
3tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
Do it: Place the aubergine halfs on the highest setting in your oven and dry roast until they are squishy (about 25 minutes).
Allow the aubergine to cool slightly and then scoop out the flesh.
Put the aubergine flesh in a food processor with all of the other ingredients and blitz until smooth.
Serve topped with chopped coriander and a drizzle of oil.
Crunchy roasted pepper salad
5 mixed peppers, roughly chopped
1/2 tin chickpeas drained
1tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1tsp sesame seeds
2 tbsps olive oil
squeeze lemon juice
Do it: Place the peppers and 1tbsp olive oil in a roasting dish and cook in the oven on its highest setting until charred (about 30 minutes).
Allow the peppers to cool slightly and then peel away the skin.
Mix the pepper with 1tbsp olive and a squeeze of lemon juice - set aside.
Blitz the drained chickpeas in a food processor for a couple of seconds and then dry fry in a pan with the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, salt and sesame seeds until crunchy.
Mix the crunchy chickpeas with the peppers and serve.
Spanish-style pasties
150g plain flour
75g unsalted butter
cold water
1 pack of smoked tofu, chopped into 1cm cubes (or 6 chilli sausages)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1tsp smoked paprika
2 leeks
100ml red wine
seasoning
1tsp dried parsley
Do it: First make the pastry by blending the butter and flour together in a cold bowl to make breadcrumbs.
Add enough cold water to bind, then wrap the pastry in clingfilm and place in the fridge to rest.
To make the filling add a splash of oil to a hot pan and sear the tofu or sausages until slightly crusty. Add the garlic, parsley, leeks and paprika and allow to soften.
Deglaze the pan by throwing in the red wine and heat until all of the liquid has gone. Let it cool on the side.
To assemble the pasties roll out circles of pastry and fill lightly with the tofu filling (think along the lines of a large tablespoon of mixture for a 10cm diameter circle).
Fold over and seal with a fork, then cook on 200oC until golden (about 20-25 minutes).
Look, I have nothing against vegetarians, it's simply that I would never want to be one, and I NEVER EVER know what to cook when they come over for dinner - despite having perhaps 6 vegetarian cookbooks on my bookshelf.
To be fair, I DID invite them over (you know who you are) but I forgot I would have to cook. Worse still, I promised them tapas.
Now, when I think tapas, I think salty chorizo, Moorish-scented kebabs and salt cod fritters.
After quite a lot of fannying around at the local health food store, and having weighted myself down with a plethora of veg and a dizzying amount of wine (hey, better to get them drunk then it doesn't matter if the food's crap) I headed home, searching my brain for vegi tapas recipes.
So, this is what we had. And you know what? They loved it! Phew!
Completely non-authentic baba ganoush
1 aubergine sliced in half and scored across the skin
1/2 tin of chickpeas
juice of 1/2 lemon
3tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
Do it: Place the aubergine halfs on the highest setting in your oven and dry roast until they are squishy (about 25 minutes).
Allow the aubergine to cool slightly and then scoop out the flesh.
Put the aubergine flesh in a food processor with all of the other ingredients and blitz until smooth.
Serve topped with chopped coriander and a drizzle of oil.
Crunchy roasted pepper salad
5 mixed peppers, roughly chopped
1/2 tin chickpeas drained
1tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1tsp sesame seeds
2 tbsps olive oil
squeeze lemon juice
Do it: Place the peppers and 1tbsp olive oil in a roasting dish and cook in the oven on its highest setting until charred (about 30 minutes).
Allow the peppers to cool slightly and then peel away the skin.
Mix the pepper with 1tbsp olive and a squeeze of lemon juice - set aside.
Blitz the drained chickpeas in a food processor for a couple of seconds and then dry fry in a pan with the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, salt and sesame seeds until crunchy.
Mix the crunchy chickpeas with the peppers and serve.
Spanish-style pasties
150g plain flour
75g unsalted butter
cold water
1 pack of smoked tofu, chopped into 1cm cubes (or 6 chilli sausages)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1tsp smoked paprika
2 leeks
100ml red wine
seasoning
1tsp dried parsley
Do it: First make the pastry by blending the butter and flour together in a cold bowl to make breadcrumbs.
Add enough cold water to bind, then wrap the pastry in clingfilm and place in the fridge to rest.
To make the filling add a splash of oil to a hot pan and sear the tofu or sausages until slightly crusty. Add the garlic, parsley, leeks and paprika and allow to soften.
Deglaze the pan by throwing in the red wine and heat until all of the liquid has gone. Let it cool on the side.
To assemble the pasties roll out circles of pastry and fill lightly with the tofu filling (think along the lines of a large tablespoon of mixture for a 10cm diameter circle).
Fold over and seal with a fork, then cook on 200oC until golden (about 20-25 minutes).
Cookbooks - my obsession
My love affair with cookery books began, I suppose with my first self-purchased tome of How to Eat by the delectable Nigella - who, like a superhero requires no second name.
Voluptuous Nigella brought sex appeal to cooking at a time of a great culinary revolution, in which cooking became more of a pleasure for the masses.
On screen with her smoky siren-like appearance and smooth, sultry tones, Nigella could grab anyone's attention.
Although lacking in pictures (which some people hate in cookbooks) I adore How to Eat.
I can't tell you how many times I've found solice in this culinary bible - huddled under my duvet digesting its contents on a sleepless night, peppering my way through the pages while bubbling a stew on the stove, or trying to get the damn pages unstuck!
I now always cook duck, whole or portioned, by boiling first, a la Nigella, and have never since been disappointed.
Soon I will post-up my list of cookbooks (which is huge) for you to glance at -there are some fantastic little-known books that I own which all foodies should know about and buy.
Voluptuous Nigella brought sex appeal to cooking at a time of a great culinary revolution, in which cooking became more of a pleasure for the masses.
On screen with her smoky siren-like appearance and smooth, sultry tones, Nigella could grab anyone's attention.
Although lacking in pictures (which some people hate in cookbooks) I adore How to Eat.
I can't tell you how many times I've found solice in this culinary bible - huddled under my duvet digesting its contents on a sleepless night, peppering my way through the pages while bubbling a stew on the stove, or trying to get the damn pages unstuck!
I now always cook duck, whole or portioned, by boiling first, a la Nigella, and have never since been disappointed.
Soon I will post-up my list of cookbooks (which is huge) for you to glance at -there are some fantastic little-known books that I own which all foodies should know about and buy.
Dipping into dukkah
"Fancy some dukkah?" I said to Mr GG.
"No I didn't say duck, you idiot," I added as my non-foody hubby took cover by the mounting pile of washing-up.
"I'm going to make some dukkah!"
I adore tihs seedy (not in any explicit way) nutty, spiced dip and think of it as a healthy snack attack alternative to a packet of crisps of an evening.
Ok, so it can get a bit messy, what with the bits and bobs and the oil and the dipping but messy is as messy does (I still don't know what that means).
To make my dukkah I blitz 100g of cashew nuts, 1tsp of fennel seeds, 1tsp of cumin seeds, 1tsp of salt, 1/2tsp ground coriander, 3tbsps sesame seeds and a pinch of cayenne pepper in a food processor until chopped a bit.
Serve in a bowl with a mound of pitta or naan bread (well, any bread really - I've even tried crackers in desperation). On the side have a little bowl of your best olive oil ready to dip the bread into, followed by a dunking in the dukkah. Mmmm mmmmm mmmm
"No I didn't say duck, you idiot," I added as my non-foody hubby took cover by the mounting pile of washing-up.
"I'm going to make some dukkah!"
I adore tihs seedy (not in any explicit way) nutty, spiced dip and think of it as a healthy snack attack alternative to a packet of crisps of an evening.
Ok, so it can get a bit messy, what with the bits and bobs and the oil and the dipping but messy is as messy does (I still don't know what that means).
To make my dukkah I blitz 100g of cashew nuts, 1tsp of fennel seeds, 1tsp of cumin seeds, 1tsp of salt, 1/2tsp ground coriander, 3tbsps sesame seeds and a pinch of cayenne pepper in a food processor until chopped a bit.
Serve in a bowl with a mound of pitta or naan bread (well, any bread really - I've even tried crackers in desperation). On the side have a little bowl of your best olive oil ready to dip the bread into, followed by a dunking in the dukkah. Mmmm mmmmm mmmm
Oh no, not swede again!
Tuesday - 6pm - fridge contents:
1 leek
1 swede (partially frozen)
2 rather sad and limp bananas
a huge wodge of suspisciously-scented Grandma Singleton's
Prospects are not looking good.
Cheese on swede.....
Banana a la fromage......
Leek and swede stir fry?
I suppose I could have rustled-up some pasties but really, who can be arsed to make pasties after a day at the office?
After rustling through the freezer I managed to salvage a rather yummy chilli -yes with the swede included. I wander what else swede tastes good in?
1 leek
1 swede (partially frozen)
2 rather sad and limp bananas
a huge wodge of suspisciously-scented Grandma Singleton's
Prospects are not looking good.
Cheese on swede.....
Banana a la fromage......
Leek and swede stir fry?
I suppose I could have rustled-up some pasties but really, who can be arsed to make pasties after a day at the office?
After rustling through the freezer I managed to salvage a rather yummy chilli -yes with the swede included. I wander what else swede tastes good in?
This is me - the Greedy Glut
Hello and welcome to my first ever post!
I am the Greedy Glut. I'm not a chef, I haven't got a coveted Michelin star or respected Bib Gourmand.
But......I do have nearly a million (well, not literally) sticky, manhandled cookbooks, a trusty set of Circulon pans and a troup of willing guinea pigs (sorry, I mean dinner guests).
I am a home cook and a writer by trade. But mostly I am a hopelessly addicted foodie.
I LOVE food. I know it, my family knows it and boy do my friends know it.
I can’t go for more than a few moments without thinking or talking about what to nibble on next, and one of the highlights of my week (sadly I know) is planning what we are to eat for the next few days.
In fact, so food obsessed am I that I actually decide where to holiday and take day trips based on the culinary offerings available.
And no matter how generous I am on every other level, should anyone try to steal, borrow or beg food from my plate they would surely feel my wrath. Think of me as a female version of Joey from Friends - someone for whom food is as precious, delectable and satisfying as sex.
As with most people these days I really haven’t got loads of time to cook. By the time I’ve worn my fingers down at work, picked up the kids, flicked off my shoes, washed up, dealt with gathered housework and read bedtime stories, there is barely time to have a bath before bed or Brain Train on my Nintendo DS - let alone whip up a culinary extravaganza.
On the flip side, when I do have time to cook I really enjoy it and want to spend time reading recipes, choosing great ingredients and lavishing time and love on treating my family and guests to fantastic food.
This book is not about quick fixes and rushing about, Sure, there are ideas and recipes for snacks quick fixes, but at the core of this blog is good, honest, tasty food that is really worth cooking and savouring.
I am a great believer in the kitchen being the heart of the home.
It is a place where lunchboxes are strewn together in the morning, stews are conjured up on winter’s days and where kids learn to roll dough, cut out biscuits and stir the Christmas cake with a wooden spoon.
I am also a great believer in shopping locally and sourcing local produce - both of which are currently a la mode, particularly in my home county of Suffolk.
There is a great food revolution stirring in which a certain sector of the country is fighting back against the faceless supermarket chains, turning instead to the farmers’ market, the local butchers, weekly fishmongers stalls and delis. And their meals and pockets are all the better for it.
Wouldn’t you rather munch your way through a meal of juicy, succulent sausages from the butcher down the road, proudly spiked into mounds of oozingly fluffy mash made from potatoes picked at the farm in the next village? Surely this is a much more exciting proposition than pastel pink, squeaky sausages with tasteless ‘white potato’ mash?
I think it is.
If you love devouring and digesting cookbooks, cooking great food, talking about food - well, basically living and breathing anything edible, join me on my journey of culinary discovery.
I will be sharing my favourite homegrown recipes, divulging my favourite gadgets and cookbooks, and talking about anything and everything foodie happening in my life.
Getting jiggy with it
Cereal bars
Blueberry, almond and lemon muffins
Afternoon extravagances
Dinner fit for a king
I am the Greedy Glut. I'm not a chef, I haven't got a coveted Michelin star or respected Bib Gourmand.
But......I do have nearly a million (well, not literally) sticky, manhandled cookbooks, a trusty set of Circulon pans and a troup of willing guinea pigs (sorry, I mean dinner guests).
I am a home cook and a writer by trade. But mostly I am a hopelessly addicted foodie.
I LOVE food. I know it, my family knows it and boy do my friends know it.
I can’t go for more than a few moments without thinking or talking about what to nibble on next, and one of the highlights of my week (sadly I know) is planning what we are to eat for the next few days.
In fact, so food obsessed am I that I actually decide where to holiday and take day trips based on the culinary offerings available.
And no matter how generous I am on every other level, should anyone try to steal, borrow or beg food from my plate they would surely feel my wrath. Think of me as a female version of Joey from Friends - someone for whom food is as precious, delectable and satisfying as sex.
As with most people these days I really haven’t got loads of time to cook. By the time I’ve worn my fingers down at work, picked up the kids, flicked off my shoes, washed up, dealt with gathered housework and read bedtime stories, there is barely time to have a bath before bed or Brain Train on my Nintendo DS - let alone whip up a culinary extravaganza.
On the flip side, when I do have time to cook I really enjoy it and want to spend time reading recipes, choosing great ingredients and lavishing time and love on treating my family and guests to fantastic food.
This book is not about quick fixes and rushing about, Sure, there are ideas and recipes for snacks quick fixes, but at the core of this blog is good, honest, tasty food that is really worth cooking and savouring.
I am a great believer in the kitchen being the heart of the home.
It is a place where lunchboxes are strewn together in the morning, stews are conjured up on winter’s days and where kids learn to roll dough, cut out biscuits and stir the Christmas cake with a wooden spoon.
I am also a great believer in shopping locally and sourcing local produce - both of which are currently a la mode, particularly in my home county of Suffolk.
There is a great food revolution stirring in which a certain sector of the country is fighting back against the faceless supermarket chains, turning instead to the farmers’ market, the local butchers, weekly fishmongers stalls and delis. And their meals and pockets are all the better for it.
Wouldn’t you rather munch your way through a meal of juicy, succulent sausages from the butcher down the road, proudly spiked into mounds of oozingly fluffy mash made from potatoes picked at the farm in the next village? Surely this is a much more exciting proposition than pastel pink, squeaky sausages with tasteless ‘white potato’ mash?
I think it is.
If you love devouring and digesting cookbooks, cooking great food, talking about food - well, basically living and breathing anything edible, join me on my journey of culinary discovery.
I will be sharing my favourite homegrown recipes, divulging my favourite gadgets and cookbooks, and talking about anything and everything foodie happening in my life.
Getting jiggy with it
Cereal bars
Blueberry, almond and lemon muffins
Afternoon extravagances
Dinner fit for a king
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)