Nigella's crab pasta

Tuesday night is running club night, so I always get in at about 8:30pm starving hungry and physically pretty much knackered. Dinner has to be quick, extremely easy, and warming (particularly when its snowy out like it was last night!).

This week I finally made a pasta recipe which I'd been recommended by my friend Alana AGES ago (sorry it took me so long to get round to it Alana!). It was a recipe for crab and linguine by Nigella Lawson.

As ever, I did adjust the recipe a bit as I went along, but you can find it here in its unmessed-around state.

These were my alterations:
I used a tin of white crab meat instead of fresh crab and added a handful of prawns to bump it up a bit. I used a lot less olive oil - about 1/2 or 1/3 of the quantity in the recipe. It just didn't seem necessary to make it that oily! Also we had a bit of red pepper and some cherry tomatoes in the fridge so I threw those in. No linguine in the cupboard, so penne instead. And finally, a mixture of rocket, baby spinach and watercress instead of just watercress.



Very easy, very quick, very tasty. Hurrah!

Thanks Alana!

In (late) celebration of Chinese New Year

It was Chinese New Year last weekend (14th February), but I had a busy weekend and got back late on sunday from playing the cello at a wedding, so my intended Chinese-style meal had to be postponed for a week. This turned out to be a good thing in the end, as leafing through this saturday's Guardian newspaper I came across a delicious sounding Thai/Chinese style salad which I decided to make for the main course.

I tried out Salt and Szechuan Pepper Prawns (I have made these before, so they can't count towards a Recipe of the Week!), which are always yummy. I love the flavour of szechuan pepper.

Also, steamed vegetable stuffed spring rolls. I used rice noodle wrappers for these, which were a disaster! Rubbish to work with; either too sticky or too easy to crack. The filling was delicious but the wrappers were completely inedible. Never again. I'll use wonton wrappers next time.

Then the piece-de-resistance, Pork and Mango Salad. I tweaked the recipe from the newspaper in the following ways:

I used Pork instead of Beef.
I didn't have any avocado so I left it out, but added a few cherry tomatos and a few slices of spring onion.
I had watercress in the fridge but no rocket, so it was a watercress salad for us.
Dan had the salad with oodles of noodles, I had it as it came. Both were good.

Delicious - thank you Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.



Find the salad recipe here

I also made crumpets this weekend; nice to have on a snowy day after a run across the hills.





They were quite time-consuming to cook though, and not so much better than shop-bought ones, so I think laziness will prevail in future and I'll buy them ready-made!

Sunshine = icecream

We had sunshine and blue sky in Oxford today, I also spotted snowdrops in my parents' garden...oh yeah! Spring is on its way.

So, the first icecream outing of the year. And my, what an outing it was!

Any of you who have never been should really get yourselves to Oxford quick-smart and try the icecream in G&D's. My venue of choice is the Little Clarendon Street branch:


But any of the 3 will do just fine.

Today I went completely over the top with a Dime Bar cookie and a MASSIVE scoop of creamy delicious dime bar crunch icecream. I savoured it a nibble at a time over the Culture section of the newspaper.

Who says comfort food doesn't work?! It did the trick for me.

Normal service (ie healthy eating) resumes again as of now, but it was sooooo worth overloading the calories on this particular occasion!

Must have a go at homemade icecream. Its so much better than anything I've ever found in the shops.

G&D's Website
and
wiki page

Smoked fish bake

My Dad has got involved!

He was very enthusiastic about this recipe when I went home for a visit last weekend. He picked up the recipe card in Waitrose & adapted it a little by changing double cream to creme fraiche and adding paprika.

I decided to have a go too (you can't ignore it when a parent pitches in), but in true Greenaway-fashion I couldn't resist tinkering with the recipe a little more. Consequently the creme fraiche has now become yoghurt, herbs have been added, and I have increased the proportion of fish and reduced the amount of potato.

Here's what I ended up with:

Smoked Haddock and Potato Bake

300g smoked haddock (I prefer undyed)
300g potato
150g plain yoghurt
100ml water (from poaching the fish)
1/2 onion
1 garlic clove
shake of paprika
a few mint leaves
handful of flat leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 200C.
Poach the fish for 5 minutes in simmering water, then take it out of the water and flake it. Reserve 100 ml of the cooking liquid.

Finely slice the potato, then cut into matchstick shapes. Slice up the onion and garlic. In an oven proof dish mix together potato, onion, garlic and fish.

Pour the yogurt and water over the top, sprinkle on the paprika and season with salt and pepper. Mix the whole lot together so that everything is coated in yoghurt.

Bake in the oven for about an hour until the potato is tender. Check after 20 minutes and if the top is browning too quickly then cover with foil for the remainder of the cooking time.

5 or 10 minutes from the end of the cooking time mix in the fresh herbs.

Served with peas it was indeed a very tasty supper - Thanks Dad!

PANCAKE DAY!

It may be my favourite day of the year!

And no, I'd never made pancakes before last night. At least I don't think so. I knew the basic principle because I have made Gallettes a few times, which are just a different kind of pancake; made with water and buckwheat flour.

Anyway, I made my batter in the morning and left it in the fridge to rest while I went to work.

300ml milk
1 egg
4oz (115g) plain flour
Whisk it all together

Then, I whisked it all up again and got myself prepared:


BUT, the pan was useless! The non-stick coating clearly isn't very non-stick any more so the pancakes stuck.
Scrape, scrape, bin. And repeat.

After 2 failed attempts I switched pans:


And hoorah, they worked! That's steam, not smoke, I promise!

Dan was pleased, as he got to use the lemon that his mate brought back from his place in Cyprus for the lemon and sugar topping (nice to have friends with homes in useful places):



And I was pleased because I discovered that I am pancake-flipper extraordinaire: I didn't miss a single catch. How marvellous.

curry for comfort

Families....who'd have'em?!

Last night I felt in the need for tasty, spicy comfort food. We had chicken in the fridge, rice in the cupboard, so chicken biriani was the decision. The BBC website came up with the recipe for me (simplified to aid preparation when feeling slightly befuddled), and it did the trick far better than a large slab of chocolate would have done (that was my fall back solution).

Here's the recipe. It was quick and easy. Perfect for a quick week-night supper. The only downside is that my hands still smell of curry spices.

Chicken Biriani for 2 people (fairly generous portions)

1 dessertspoon vegetable oil
125g basmati rice
1 medium onion (chopped)
4 garlic cloves (chopped)
2 teaspoons grated root ginger
2 chicken breasts (cut into bite sized chunks)
1/4 teaspoon hot chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
generous pinch grated nutmeg
150g sheeps yogurt (or any greek-style yoghurt)
60g sultanas
Handful of fresh coriander leaves (chopped)
salt to taste

Heat oil over a low heat and gently stirfry the onion, garlic and ginger until the onion softens.
In a separate pan pour boiling water over the rice (add a shake of salt if you like), bring back to the boil and simmer until nearly cooked - about 10 minutes.
Add the chicken pieces to the onion and garlic and stir fry for 4-5 minutes until there is no uncooked meat showing on the chunks.
Drain the rice and then rinse with a kettle full of boiling water.
Add the spices to the chicken mixture and stir for about 1 minute, then add the yogurt, sultanas, rice and salt to taste.
Stir to mix everything together, then cover, turn the heat down as low as it will go and leave for 4 or 5 minutes.
Add the coriander leaves and stir.
Remove from heat and allow to sit for another 5 minutes before serving.
Serve with yoghurt and mango chutney on the side. You could have some chopped up tomatoes and cucumber on the side too if you fancied them.

Tonight is Pancake Day! Hooray! I have made my pancake batter in readyness, so its pancakes for tea. With sugar and lemon, of course.
I suspect my pancake flipping will not be up-to-scratch, but I will be having a try anyway!

Jerk chicken recipe...since you asked nicely

Right then....I'm not sure how authentic this is, but here's my slightly adapted recipe for Jerk Chicken kebabs. Served with sticky rice and some veg its enough for 2 people for a main meal (on a hungry day - I had run a decent distance in the cold and it filled me up).

You will need:

2 chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
6 cherry tomatoes
1 courgette (zucchini) sliced into chunks

6 skewers
oven proof dish

Marinade ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
pinch ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar (demerera)
1 garlic clove - crushed
1/4 onion - finely chopped
1 teaspoon vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)
Juice of 1/2 lime
pinch chilli flakes or chilli powder
approx tablespoon of water

Mix all the marinade ingredients together. Stir in the chicken until well coated with marinade. Leave to marinade for at least a couple of hours in the fridge (or overnight).
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Thread the meat, tomatoes, and courgette onto skewers, alternating meat and vegetables.
Arrange skewers in oven proof dish and bake in oven for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Cook the rice while they bake.

You could serve this with flatbreads instead of rice, or on their own as a starter.
Also, I'm sure the kebabs could be grilled or barbequed just as effectively.

Enjoy!

I'm so over winter

Oh for goodness' sake: This winter seems to be going on FOREVER!

I'm dreaming of beach holidays, sunshine, and feeling warm. I could do with lying on a sun drenched beach, soaking up a winter's worth of heat.



Sadly, my finances won't run to that. Its all very well to make the choice of music for a career, but just once in a while I regret not selling my soul to make a killing in the city!

Anyway, I digress. I lieu of actually heading to warmer climes I have been cooking Caribbean food and pretending.

In the last couple of days we have had Jerk Chicken Kebabs and Salmon with Mango and Ginger.

Jerk Chicken definitely got the thumbs up.
I'm still considering the salmon dish.

The mango was a strong flavour; sweet and fruity. I liked it, but such a fruity flavour on the main course is not usual for our northern European taste buds. Would I make it again? Yes I think so. It was a good dish, just not the kind I'm accustomed to. However, that's part of the point of this project - to broaden my culinary horizons!

Here's the recipe for the Salmon dish - have a try & see what you think!

Salmon with Mango and Ginger (enough for 2)

2 portions of Salmon

Marinade:
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
Squeeze of lemon
1-2 crushed cloves of garlic
salt and pepper

Sauce:
1/2 ripe mango
75ml water
2 cherry tomatoes
1/4 onion
2 teaspoons of ginger syrup (the syrup from a jar of stem ginger)
salt and pepper

Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade, pour over the salmon. Leave it to marinade for 1 - 2 hours (no more).
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180C.
Chop up the mango, onion, and cherry tomatoes. Whizz them up in a food processor until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and add the water and ginger syrup.
Once the salmon has marinated for long enough put it into an oven proof dish and put into oven to bake for 10 minutes.
Warm the sauce through over a gentle heat. Once the salmon has cooked for 10 minutes pour the sauce over it and return the dish to the oven for another 10 - 15 minutes until the fish is cooked through.
Serve with rice.

Devil's food cake...oh yum

February is a month of birthdays in our family. In fact, its quite ridiculous - of the 9 members of my immediate family 4 have birthdays in February. My younger sister comes first on the 6th. So birthday cake was required.

Now then, as far as I'm concerned birthday cake means chocolate cake. Nothing else will do.

I decided to try out one of the recipes from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook.



The book has had terribly mixed reviews, but I love the cakes in the cafe so I decided it was definitely worth a go. It had to be Devil's Food Cake; surely the ultimate chocolate cupcake?

I was a little puzzled by some of the instructions in the recipe until I decided that it was written for people making cakes in a food processor. It wasn't too tricky to work out how to adapt it for those of us who don't think its worth paying £400 for a Kitchenaid.


(Even if they are pretty)

The method for this cake was quite different to how you'd normally make a sponge cake so I could see why practiced bakers might read it, decide it didn't make sense, adapt the method, and end up with a bad cake. I followed the instructions (well duh!) and it worked out just fine.

I iced the fairy cakes with vanilla frosting, but found I actually only needed half the recommended quantity. The cakes turned out moist and chocolatey but not heavy.

I do like chocolate cake.



Devil's Food Cake (makes about 12 cupcakes)
This is my adapted method for people making it by hand.

100g plain flour
20g cocoa powder (I used Green and Black's)
140g caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch salt
40g butter (at room temperature)
NB: I used goat's butter which I'd never used before but it worked really well
120ml milk
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 170C.
Put flour, cocoa, sugar and baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture is the consistency of breadcrumbs.
In a separate bowl whisk together egg, milk and vanilla.
Pour half of the liquid into the flour mixture and stir to combine.
When well mixed add the other half of the liquid and mix until smooth. Don't over mix!
Spoon into cake cases and bake for about 20 minutes.

Allow to cool completely before icing.

Icing

Beat together 125g sieved icing sugar and 40g butter. Combine a tablespoon of milk and a drop of vanilla extract. Add the milk mixure to the icing sugar mixture a little bit at a time. Keep beating away until the whole lot is light and fluffy and well combined. Spread over your cakes and decorate as you see fit.

Oysters and rhubarb

At the end of the summer Dan and I moved house, and we've been slowly getting to know our new area. Last night we decided to treat ourselves to dinner out instead of cooking. And to up the ante a little we chose The Plough at Kingham as our venue of choice.

I've been keen to go there for a few months. Its run by a lady who trained with Heston Blumenthal, and although she doesn't go in for some of the extremes of oddness that he likes to create I figured that the cooking would be good and the menu imaginative. I also really liked the fact that they don't publish a menu online as the menu depends on what ingredients look good on any given day.

So, a table was booked, we got out of our DIY outfits, dammit I even wore perfume! I was possibly looking forward to it a little TOO much!

Now, usually when you build somewhere up like that it disappoints. The Plough didn't.



It was oyster night. Have you ever eaten oysters? Neither of us had. They do seem to get rather bad press, and I’d consigned them to that category of “not worth paying the premium price to try something that will probably be nasty.”

However, last night curiosity got the better of us and so we asked if we could try an oyster each. (It seemed like the kind of place that wouldn’t be snooty about that sort of request.) They arrived on a bed of salt with a little shallot vinegar and the barman-proprietor suggested a little dab of the vinegar then just suck the oyster down, a couple of chews if you fancy it, and gulp to swallow (sounds a bit obscene doesn’t it?!). I went first….Dan looked a little apprehensive.

But actually, it was lovely.

When people say oysters taste of the sea I’d always thought that sounded disgusting. I mean, the taste of sea water is revolting – it burns your throat and makes you feel nauseous. But now I understand. Oysters are mildly salty, but with a light seafoody freshness. They taste like summer holidays at the seaside - Cornwall, not Blackpool!

I followed my oyster revelation with halibut. A very nice piece of fish served with a crab bisque and some kind of leafy green veg that I didn’t try very hard to identify. But the thing that made this dish memorable was the fennel bread that accompanied it. The slight aniseed flavour was a surprising but inspired compliment to the fish.

And then the pudding.

I find desserts are often a bit of a let-down in restaurants. All too often its just the same old choices of something chocolatey (which I always find too rich for the end of a meal), icecream (too cold for winter), crème brulee, maybe sticky toffee pudding. What I want at the end of a meal is something fruity.

The Plough came up trumps with Rhubarb cheesecake with rhubarb icecream. This turned out to be beautiful slices of rhubarb in a light syrup arranged on a crispy biscuit, with a cheesecake-textured goats curd mousse on the side (I know that doesn’t sound all that appetising, but trust me, it was), a scoop of homemade rhubarb icecream, and a little rhubarb jam to finish it off. Light, tangy, interesting but not alarming.

I was seriously tempted by some of the icecream flavours on offer – all homemade. Dark chocolate, elderflower and raspberry sounded intriguing, as did banana and stem ginger. Obviously, we’ll have to go back to sample some of the other delights on offer. I think we made need to save up a little first though. Its not overpriced, particularly given the quality of ingredients, the excellent service, and the well trained, imaginative chefs, but I can’t afford to pay £70 for dinner for 2 every week!

Here's the pub website.

Free-styling

This week I went off-piste a little.

I did follow a recipe for one of the weekend's experiments - houmous without the tahini. Personally I prefered this to the tahini'd version as you could taste the chickpeas and spices much more clearly without the sesame. I'll definitely do it that way in future. It was another recipe from the Claudia Roden book I borrowed from the library - its proving a great success!

Then after that I came over all over confident, with mixed results:

We had fish for dinner on saturday. Sole to be precise. Now, I thought it would be a good idea to pimp my sole a little.

So, I decided to make a sort of pesto with a handful of parsley, a couple of mint leaves, a squeeze of lemon, a few blanched almonds and a crushed garlic clove. Pounded it all together (good for the stress-levels!), spread it on the sole, the rolled the whole thing up and steamed it.

I felt like a culinary genius.

"I can do this" I thought.

"Lets have sauce too."

"Not just any sauce...I'll freestyle a hollandaise type of sauce."

"How hard can it be...?"

Oh yuck.

Too much lemon.

Too much white wine vinegar.

Not enough butter.

So sharp it made me wince.


(The fish with almond pesto was good though, so at least we didn't starve that night.)