I made custard.
And it worked this time.
Hurrah!
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipe from River Cottage Everday worked beautifully - it thickened up to a lovely yellow gloop without going lumpy or curdled.
Excellent - that's one more cookery-standard off the 'find a decent recipe' list.
I cheated though - we had it with shop-bought bread pudding. It was home-baked from the organic deli, but nonetheless a bit of a cop-out!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Recreating that holiday feeling...
When we were in Italy last autumnn Dan and I treated ourselves to a wonderful meal on the last night of our holiday.
The restaurant was down on the shores of Lake Garda, tucked away under Malcesine Castle. It was still just warm enough to sit outside in the evening, but no longer high season, so it wasn't crowded.
We gorged ourselves on lovely wine and several beautiful courses of Italian food. The courgette-stuffed tortelloni with ham and pinenut sauce sticks in the memory, as does Dan's dessert of semifreddo with peach compote.
This week I decided to take the flavours of the pasta dish and make something a little bit similar (although not as delicate, silky or delicious!). My version was a much more rustic and hearty. A quick and easy pasta bake, though not a refined culinary masterpiece!
Here's the method.
Courgette and Goats Chees pasta bake with bacon and pinenuts
Enough pasta for 2 people
2 small courgettes
1 or 2 garlic cloves
A handful basil leaves
50g goats cheese
salt and pepper
4 rashers smoked bacon
15-20g pinenuts
Put the oven on to heat up to 180C
Put the pasta on to cook in salted water.
Meanwhile whizz up the courgettes with the basil leaves, garlic and soft goats cheese. Season it.
Check if the pasta is cooked, drain in if it is and rinse in cold water.
Mix with the courgette mix. Turn into an oven proof dish and place in oven to bake for 20 minutes. Check regularly so that it doesn't scorch. Cover it if its browning at at the edges.
After about 10 minutes dry fry the pinenuts in a hot pan.
Then fry or grill the bacon. Cut the rind off and chop it into bite-size pieces.
Take the pasta out of the oven. Scoop it onto plates or into bowls.
Scatter bacon and pinenuts over the top.
Serve.
The restaurant was down on the shores of Lake Garda, tucked away under Malcesine Castle. It was still just warm enough to sit outside in the evening, but no longer high season, so it wasn't crowded.
We gorged ourselves on lovely wine and several beautiful courses of Italian food. The courgette-stuffed tortelloni with ham and pinenut sauce sticks in the memory, as does Dan's dessert of semifreddo with peach compote.
This week I decided to take the flavours of the pasta dish and make something a little bit similar (although not as delicate, silky or delicious!). My version was a much more rustic and hearty. A quick and easy pasta bake, though not a refined culinary masterpiece!
Here's the method.
Courgette and Goats Chees pasta bake with bacon and pinenuts
Enough pasta for 2 people
2 small courgettes
1 or 2 garlic cloves
A handful basil leaves
50g goats cheese
salt and pepper
4 rashers smoked bacon
15-20g pinenuts
Put the oven on to heat up to 180C
Put the pasta on to cook in salted water.
Meanwhile whizz up the courgettes with the basil leaves, garlic and soft goats cheese. Season it.
Check if the pasta is cooked, drain in if it is and rinse in cold water.
Mix with the courgette mix. Turn into an oven proof dish and place in oven to bake for 20 minutes. Check regularly so that it doesn't scorch. Cover it if its browning at at the edges.
After about 10 minutes dry fry the pinenuts in a hot pan.
Then fry or grill the bacon. Cut the rind off and chop it into bite-size pieces.
Take the pasta out of the oven. Scoop it onto plates or into bowls.
Scatter bacon and pinenuts over the top.
Serve.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Torta (sorta!)
I had (whisper it) a vegetarian over for lunch.
Dan doesn't understand the concept of vegetarianism. So I had to try and create a lunch where he wouldn't notice the lack of meat or fish.
He does have a weakness for courgettes, so when I came across a Torta Verde recipe I thought that might do the trick. This Torta Verde recipe was basically a rice, courgette and parsley pie, so I adapted it to make a courgette-y quiche.
Here's my adaption of the recipe:
Anwen's Courgette and Parsley Quiche
100g white flour
100g wholemeal flour
3 tablespoons olive oil
warm water (about 60-80ml)
450g courgettes
2 garlic cloves
1/2 onion
2 eggs
30g gruyere
Large handful of parsley
salt and pepper
Pastry:
Mix the two different kinds of flours together, add a pinch of salt. Make a well in the centre add the olive oil. Stir to mix. Slowly add the warm water, mixing with your hands to make a soft, but not sticky dough.
Wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge to rest for 20 minutes.
Put the oven on to heat to 180C.
Make the filling: Chop up the courgette, garlic, onion. Put everything into a food processor, season, whizz. Add a handful of parsley. Whizz again.
Roll out the pastry , lightly oil quiche dish and line with pastry.
Blind bake for 15 minutes (10 with baking beans and then remove them for another 5 minutes).
Beat two eggs, add to the courgette mixture and mix. Grate the cheese and fold in.
Fill the pastry case with the courgette and egg mixture. Return to the oven for about 25-30 minutes, or until the courgette mixture is slightly puffed and set.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Interestingly, last time I made pastry using olive oil instead of butter I didn't think it was a good method, but it went well in this context.
We also had tomato soup, sourdough toast, olives, and a selection of yummy cheeses from the farmers market. Then a good old hearty country walk in the spring sunshine, with a picnic of scones and jam halfway.
What a lovely, chilled out sunday.
Dan didn't moan about the lack of animal protein.
Not once.
Which means that I won this one.
Dan doesn't understand the concept of vegetarianism. So I had to try and create a lunch where he wouldn't notice the lack of meat or fish.
He does have a weakness for courgettes, so when I came across a Torta Verde recipe I thought that might do the trick. This Torta Verde recipe was basically a rice, courgette and parsley pie, so I adapted it to make a courgette-y quiche.
Here's my adaption of the recipe:
Anwen's Courgette and Parsley Quiche
100g white flour
100g wholemeal flour
3 tablespoons olive oil
warm water (about 60-80ml)
450g courgettes
2 garlic cloves
1/2 onion
2 eggs
30g gruyere
Large handful of parsley
salt and pepper
Pastry:
Mix the two different kinds of flours together, add a pinch of salt. Make a well in the centre add the olive oil. Stir to mix. Slowly add the warm water, mixing with your hands to make a soft, but not sticky dough.
Wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge to rest for 20 minutes.
Put the oven on to heat to 180C.
Make the filling: Chop up the courgette, garlic, onion. Put everything into a food processor, season, whizz. Add a handful of parsley. Whizz again.
Roll out the pastry , lightly oil quiche dish and line with pastry.
Blind bake for 15 minutes (10 with baking beans and then remove them for another 5 minutes).
Beat two eggs, add to the courgette mixture and mix. Grate the cheese and fold in.
Fill the pastry case with the courgette and egg mixture. Return to the oven for about 25-30 minutes, or until the courgette mixture is slightly puffed and set.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Interestingly, last time I made pastry using olive oil instead of butter I didn't think it was a good method, but it went well in this context.
We also had tomato soup, sourdough toast, olives, and a selection of yummy cheeses from the farmers market. Then a good old hearty country walk in the spring sunshine, with a picnic of scones and jam halfway.
What a lovely, chilled out sunday.
Dan didn't moan about the lack of animal protein.
Not once.
Which means that I won this one.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Jamie O's Duck salad
I wasn't going to blog about this, but it was SO pretty with all the different colours on the plate that I just had to mention it.
This was it before I added the duck:
Even with the meat (which I don't think ever looks very pretty!) it was still a very attractive looking dish.
There's something very pleasing about having a dinner which looks lovely! I get the same satisfaction from mixed multi-coloured roast autumn vegetables. Such a colourful combination. Am I wierd or is this normal? Who knows?! Still, I suppose its nice that I'm easily pleased!
Here's the link to the recipe, which I got from the Jamie Oliver website. I recommend it. Very tasty.
This was it before I added the duck:
Even with the meat (which I don't think ever looks very pretty!) it was still a very attractive looking dish.
There's something very pleasing about having a dinner which looks lovely! I get the same satisfaction from mixed multi-coloured roast autumn vegetables. Such a colourful combination. Am I wierd or is this normal? Who knows?! Still, I suppose its nice that I'm easily pleased!
Here's the link to the recipe, which I got from the Jamie Oliver website. I recommend it. Very tasty.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
St Patrick's Day
Today is St Patrick's Day, and the most Irish thing I could think of (other than Guinness which I'm pretty sure I couldn't make!) was lamb stew. So that's what I have for lunch today.
My sisters will understand why it is a truely unbelievable occurence that I have made this....but let me explain.
My Dad, being retired, does the week-day cooking at my parents' house. He's a pretty decent cook. I like his spag bol, and shepherd's pie is always a favourite. Bacon and egg pie, also good. And he passed on a fantastic recipe for a smoked fish and potato dish.
But, as you may have deduced from the above list, cooking light meals is not something my Dad ever does.
Now, don't get me wrong; I do not mean to sound ungrateful here, but I have to confess that my heart literally sinks into my boots whenever the question 'what's on the menu?' is met with the reply 'good old bog standard'.
This means lamb stew.
And for some reason, I don't know why, it always seems a bit too greasy, a bit too fatty, a bit too heavy. I don't HATE it, but I would NEVER choose it.
Except that today I have lamb stew.
I cooked it long and slow with no added oil. I skimmed the fat off when it had cooled, and again when I took it out of the fridge to warm it up. I have little new potatoes in it instead of serving it with mash. I have nice fresh carrots and onions in it. And herbs.
I hope that all of this makes it more palatable to me. But I suspect that lamb stew just is, by its very nature, a heavy, fatty meal. That's the point of it.
Wish me luck....
UPDATE - Nope. Still don't like it much. Ah well, I tried!
My sisters will understand why it is a truely unbelievable occurence that I have made this....but let me explain.
My Dad, being retired, does the week-day cooking at my parents' house. He's a pretty decent cook. I like his spag bol, and shepherd's pie is always a favourite. Bacon and egg pie, also good. And he passed on a fantastic recipe for a smoked fish and potato dish.
But, as you may have deduced from the above list, cooking light meals is not something my Dad ever does.
Now, don't get me wrong; I do not mean to sound ungrateful here, but I have to confess that my heart literally sinks into my boots whenever the question 'what's on the menu?' is met with the reply 'good old bog standard'.
This means lamb stew.
And for some reason, I don't know why, it always seems a bit too greasy, a bit too fatty, a bit too heavy. I don't HATE it, but I would NEVER choose it.
Except that today I have lamb stew.
I cooked it long and slow with no added oil. I skimmed the fat off when it had cooled, and again when I took it out of the fridge to warm it up. I have little new potatoes in it instead of serving it with mash. I have nice fresh carrots and onions in it. And herbs.
I hope that all of this makes it more palatable to me. But I suspect that lamb stew just is, by its very nature, a heavy, fatty meal. That's the point of it.
Wish me luck....
UPDATE - Nope. Still don't like it much. Ah well, I tried!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Crab cakes
A bit more experimenting making up my own recipes this week.
I had some very nice crab cakes at The Crazy Bear pub last sunday. They were salmon and crab and I had them with fat chips and rocket salad. They were just what I needed having done a hilly, muddy cross-country race that morning!
I decided to try re-creating something similar at home this week, and I had a tin of white crab meat left over from making the crab and linguine recipe (in a previous post) so it fell into place quite nicely. Instead of salmon I used smoked trout, and I served the fishcakes with new potatoes, cabbage and a poached egg.
I feel a little fraudulent calling this a 'Recipe of the Week' as I have made fishcakes plenty of times before and these were only slightly different, so I will have to do another recipe this week to really count towards the weekly target!
Here's the what I did:
Crab cakes for 2
200g potatoes - peeled, boiled and mashed
1 small tin of white crab meat (drained weight 120g)
125g smoked trout fillets
Juice of 1/2 small lemon
A small bunch of finely chopped parsley
Salt and crushed Szechuan pepper
Mix everything together in a bowl. Using your hands form the mixture into 4 equal sized balls and then flatten them slightly to make fishcake shapes.
Grill for about 5 minutes on each side, or until slightly golden on top.
Serve.
Easy!
And here's the Crazy Bear website.
Very tasty food (and they didn't mind me being in bare feet having forgotten to bring clean shoes to change into post-cross country run!)
I had some very nice crab cakes at The Crazy Bear pub last sunday. They were salmon and crab and I had them with fat chips and rocket salad. They were just what I needed having done a hilly, muddy cross-country race that morning!
I decided to try re-creating something similar at home this week, and I had a tin of white crab meat left over from making the crab and linguine recipe (in a previous post) so it fell into place quite nicely. Instead of salmon I used smoked trout, and I served the fishcakes with new potatoes, cabbage and a poached egg.
I feel a little fraudulent calling this a 'Recipe of the Week' as I have made fishcakes plenty of times before and these were only slightly different, so I will have to do another recipe this week to really count towards the weekly target!
Here's the what I did:
Crab cakes for 2
200g potatoes - peeled, boiled and mashed
1 small tin of white crab meat (drained weight 120g)
125g smoked trout fillets
Juice of 1/2 small lemon
A small bunch of finely chopped parsley
Salt and crushed Szechuan pepper
Mix everything together in a bowl. Using your hands form the mixture into 4 equal sized balls and then flatten them slightly to make fishcake shapes.
Grill for about 5 minutes on each side, or until slightly golden on top.
Serve.
Easy!
And here's the Crazy Bear website.
Very tasty food (and they didn't mind me being in bare feet having forgotten to bring clean shoes to change into post-cross country run!)
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Rhubarb and custard
Well actually, that's not true. It was rhubarb and cheese, but somehow that doesn't have the same ring to it!
I spotted the 1st rhubarb of the season in the farm shop this weekend. It was a bright, deep pink and looked utterly gorgeous. I bought a handful on impulse without any idea what I was going to do with it.
When I got home I stewed it with a couple of tablespoons of sugar, and it came out an almost purple colour. I still wasn't sure what to do with it, until I realised I had a whole bottle of full-fat goats milk in the fridge and no plans for it (the slight tang of the goats curd rhubarb cheesecake that we had for pudding at The Plough in Kingham worked really nicely). I was then reminded that rhubarb and ginger is a sublime combination as I flicked past a rhubarb and ginger sponge recipe in one of my books.
So, a packet of ginger biscuits were procured from the village shop. 100g worth were bashed until they were crumbs (very theraputic - I recommend it!), mixed with melted butter (20g) and pressed into ramekins before being shoved into the fridge.
Then I made goats cheese (see here) and mixed it with 25g of icing sugar. That was piled on top of the biscuit base and smoothed out. I spooned a layer of stewed rhubarb over the top and shoved it all back in the fridge overnight. Et voila; an approximation of rhubarb cheesecake.
Well, mini rhubarb cheesecake pots at any rate.
And the taste test? Well, it wasn't lobster! But it was a pretty tasty pudd and very moreish. Yummy. A good alternative to crumble in rhubarb season.
To recap:
Mini Rhubarb and GoatsCheesecake pots
Serves 4
100g Ginger biscuits
20g butter
Approx 200g rhubarb
1 Dessertspoon caster sugar
175g Soft goats cheese or cream cheese
25g icing sugar
Slice rhubarb into chunks and put into a heavy pan with the caster sugar and a splash of water. Stew over a gentle heat until the rhubarb disintegrates (about 1/2 hour). Put aside to cool.
Put the biscuits inside a sandwich bag and bash with a rolling pin until they break up. You could process them in a food processor, but don't over whizz it as a bit of texture is good.
Melt the butter and mix with the biscuit crumbs. Divide between 4 smallish ramekins and press down. Refridgerate for at least an hour.
Mix the cheese and icing sugar. Spoon it on top of the biscuit base and spread it gently out.
Drain the rhubarb of any excess water then spoon the rhubarb mix on top of the cheese.
Refridgerate overnight.
Gobble.
I spotted the 1st rhubarb of the season in the farm shop this weekend. It was a bright, deep pink and looked utterly gorgeous. I bought a handful on impulse without any idea what I was going to do with it.
When I got home I stewed it with a couple of tablespoons of sugar, and it came out an almost purple colour. I still wasn't sure what to do with it, until I realised I had a whole bottle of full-fat goats milk in the fridge and no plans for it (the slight tang of the goats curd rhubarb cheesecake that we had for pudding at The Plough in Kingham worked really nicely). I was then reminded that rhubarb and ginger is a sublime combination as I flicked past a rhubarb and ginger sponge recipe in one of my books.
So, a packet of ginger biscuits were procured from the village shop. 100g worth were bashed until they were crumbs (very theraputic - I recommend it!), mixed with melted butter (20g) and pressed into ramekins before being shoved into the fridge.
Then I made goats cheese (see here) and mixed it with 25g of icing sugar. That was piled on top of the biscuit base and smoothed out. I spooned a layer of stewed rhubarb over the top and shoved it all back in the fridge overnight. Et voila; an approximation of rhubarb cheesecake.
Well, mini rhubarb cheesecake pots at any rate.
And the taste test? Well, it wasn't lobster! But it was a pretty tasty pudd and very moreish. Yummy. A good alternative to crumble in rhubarb season.
To recap:
Mini Rhubarb and GoatsCheesecake pots
Serves 4
100g Ginger biscuits
20g butter
Approx 200g rhubarb
1 Dessertspoon caster sugar
175g Soft goats cheese or cream cheese
25g icing sugar
Slice rhubarb into chunks and put into a heavy pan with the caster sugar and a splash of water. Stew over a gentle heat until the rhubarb disintegrates (about 1/2 hour). Put aside to cool.
Put the biscuits inside a sandwich bag and bash with a rolling pin until they break up. You could process them in a food processor, but don't over whizz it as a bit of texture is good.
Melt the butter and mix with the biscuit crumbs. Divide between 4 smallish ramekins and press down. Refridgerate for at least an hour.
Mix the cheese and icing sugar. Spoon it on top of the biscuit base and spread it gently out.
Drain the rhubarb of any excess water then spoon the rhubarb mix on top of the cheese.
Refridgerate overnight.
Gobble.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
eek
This is week 26.
That means the 6 month marker.
Which means I have to do lobster.
Which will be very yummy indeed.
BUT very expensive indeed.
And where on earth do I buy live lobsters?
Actually, I do know the answer to this - the fish stand in the covered market in Oxford. BUT, that means buying them at lunchtime, putting them somewhere at work for the afternoon (I wonder how my work colleagues will feel about 2 small live lobsters crawling around the communal kitchen?), then cycling back to my car with them. Hmmm. That may not work.
And will I really have the heart to plunge them live into boiling water? (Maybe I'll make Dan do that bit.)
And if I do so, will I then want to eat them?
So many questions....
Still, lobster's very tasty.
And I think we have a nice bottle of fizz tucked away somewhere. We will be having a very decadent friday fish supper this week.
As long as I can obtain lobster.
UPDATE:
Dan has a tummy bug, so lobster has been abandoned for this week. So there we have it: a stay of execution for the lobster and if I'm honest, a slight element of relief for me! Lucky old lobster.
Next opportunity will be Dan's birthday at the beginning of May. I feel that lobster should be cooked to mark a milestone or a celebration; its too expensive to do for no reason! Anyway, according to the BBC lobster is in season May and June, so that seems to work out well.
That means the 6 month marker.
Which means I have to do lobster.
Which will be very yummy indeed.
BUT very expensive indeed.
And where on earth do I buy live lobsters?
Actually, I do know the answer to this - the fish stand in the covered market in Oxford. BUT, that means buying them at lunchtime, putting them somewhere at work for the afternoon (I wonder how my work colleagues will feel about 2 small live lobsters crawling around the communal kitchen?), then cycling back to my car with them. Hmmm. That may not work.
And will I really have the heart to plunge them live into boiling water? (Maybe I'll make Dan do that bit.)
And if I do so, will I then want to eat them?
So many questions....
Still, lobster's very tasty.
And I think we have a nice bottle of fizz tucked away somewhere. We will be having a very decadent friday fish supper this week.
As long as I can obtain lobster.
UPDATE:
Dan has a tummy bug, so lobster has been abandoned for this week. So there we have it: a stay of execution for the lobster and if I'm honest, a slight element of relief for me! Lucky old lobster.
Next opportunity will be Dan's birthday at the beginning of May. I feel that lobster should be cooked to mark a milestone or a celebration; its too expensive to do for no reason! Anyway, according to the BBC lobster is in season May and June, so that seems to work out well.
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