Photos

When I started this blog I had great intentions as far as the photography went: Every picture woud be effortlessly beautiful, making you want to climb into the computer to eat the meal portrayed.

Clearly, it has not turned out this way.

Every once in a while I manage to take a photo in which the food does at least look edible, but that's about as good as it ever gets! What can I say? There's a whole litany of excuses I could make - I'm usually cooking in the evening so there's no natural light left, I'm too greedy/hungry to wait to eat (and who wants cold dinner?), a lot of the pictures are taken on my phone, etc etc....

But really, I have to confess that the photography of the food isn't the bit that motivates and interests me. I love taking photos, I'm just not bothered about taking photos of food. At least, not enough to delay the eating part!

So, sorry about that. I hope the poor photography doesn't make you think the recipes all turn out inedible. Most are good, and when they're not there will be a warning!

Comfort food for a cold weekend

Its been a cold weekend again. Frost in the mornings, icy roads. There's been a beautifully clear and crisp feel to the air.

To my mind freezing weather requires home comforts, and I don't think it can get any more comforting than bangers for tea. Dan's dad and uncle had made a load of sausages and given us a few, so it seemed the perfect time to try out a dish that has been on the 'to do' list for a while: Toad in the Hole. Very traditional, very stodgy, and oh so perfect for a cold night.

I went back to my good old Kitchen Bible for this recipe, so it was Tamasin Day-Lewis' method. It turned out really well, despite the fact that I'd run out of plain white flour so had to use nearly all wholemeal. That didn't seem to spoil it in the least.


It even looked like the picture in the book! I was so proud.

Neither Dan nor I had ever had Toad in the Hole before, but we'll definitely be having it again. Dan had so much that he had to lie down to recover. The combination of crispy yorkshire pudding batter, good sausages, and wholegrain mustard, all dished up with green veg and gravy (me), plus mash (himself) - oh yes, its definitely a keeper.

Also this week, I finally baked the cookie dough I made before Christmas. It has sat in the freezer for over a month feeling unloved, but it is designed to be frozen, and it came out and baked up unspoilt.
So, White chocolate and Pecan Cookies (from the Hummingbird Bakery cook book) were also eaten in quantity over the last couple of days. Yummy. (A few did make it to the intended recipients - my running club - but not as many as I had planned. Dan kept swiping them every time he walked through the kitchen.)

Spiced sake soba

Today I had a day off work, for no reason other than that I felt like chilling out a bit. There was even a glint of sunshine here and there to brighten the day. And just for the hell of it I decided to throw in an extra recipe for this week - I was feeling in the need for something super-nutritious. Wagamama's Spiced Sake Soba seemed the perfect answer.

So what is Spiced sake soba? Well, I'm sorry to tell you that it has no saké in it!
This was it (phone photo!):


It was a stirfry of soba noodles (these are buckwheat noodles - hence the murky brown colour. They're tastier than they look!), mixed vegetables and egg, with a piece of seared wild salmon placed on top. The stirfry vegetables included mushrooms, beansprouts, courgette, peppers, onion, and a little chilli sauce. Garnished with a quarter of lime and a sprinkle of sesame seeds it was a filling, healthy dinner.



I thought it was the kind of meal that I would love but Dan would be less enthused by. How wrong I was - he loved it! A definite thumbs up for this one, with the added advantage that it banished all memories of the tofu stirfry which I served up from this recipe book a month or so ago.

Sourdough

One of my favourite breads is sourdough, and I've been dying to have a try at making my own for quite some time. Well now that we finally have some heating in the house I figured we had the kind of ambient temperature that might be condusive to sourdough production. Sourdough is naturally leavened bread - it has no yeast in it, just flour and water. Given long enough in a warm place it will naturally ferment.

Be warned though: If you are planning to make sourdough for the first time you need to start it nearly a week before you want to eat it. This is taking slow food (and anticipation) to extremes!
I started to make my sourdough on Monday morning, and we ate the bread for lunch on Sunday. Don't be put off by that though - its very low effort every step of the way, and the results are lovely.



Because I like to think I'm quite fancy I had by bread with smoked salmon. And then because I can eat fesh bread until it comes out of my ears, I had another chunk with honey.



Dan had just a smear of butter, which went all melted and lovely on the warm bread.

Want to know how its done?

STEP 1 (Monday morning)
50g wholemeal flour
pinch of ground cumin
15ml milk
15-30ml water

Sieve the flour and cumin into a bowl. Add the milk and enough water to make a firm dough. Kneed for 6-8 minutes. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with a damp teatowel.
Total time: 10 minutes
Leave in a warm place for 2 days.

STEP 2 (Wednesday morning)
60ml water
115g white bread flour

Pull off the hardened crust from the dough, scoop out the moist centre (about the size of a walnut), and place in a clean bowl. Mix in the water. Gradually add the flour and mix to a dough. Cover the bowl with clingfilm.
Total time: 10 minutes
Leave in a warm place for 2 days

STEP 3 (Friday morning)
60ml water
115g white bread flour

Pull off the crust and discard. Gradually mix in the water. Mix in the flour and re-cover.
Total time: 10 minutes
Leave for 8-10 hours.

STEP 4 (Friday evening)
75ml very warm water
75g white flour

Mix the sourdough starter with the water. Gradually add the flour to form a dough. Kneed for 6-8 minutes until firm.
Total time: 10-15 minutes
Cover with a damp teatowel and leave for 8-12 hours (or overnight) until doubled in bulk.

STEP 5 (Saturday morning)
175ml lukewarm water
200-225g white flour

Gradually mix the water into your sourdough starter. Mix in enough flour to form a a soft, smooth dough.
Total time: 10 minutes
Re-cover and leave in a warm place for 8-12 hours.

STEP 6 (Saturday evening)
280ml warm water
500g white bread flour
1 tbspn salt

Gradually stir the water into the dough, then work in the flour and salt. This will take 10-15 minutes. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and kneed until smooth and elastic. Place in a large bowl, cover with lightly oiled clingfilm.
Total time: 20 minutes
Leave to rise in a warm place for 8-12 hours (or overnight).

STEP 7 (Sunday morning)

Divide the dough in half. Shape into 2 round loaves, place in lighly oiled & flour dusted tins.
Total time: 5 minutes
Re-cover and leave to rise for a further 4 hours.

STEP 8 (Sunday lunchtime)

Preheat the oven to 220C.
Place a roasting tin in the bottom of the oven.
Slash the top of the loaves with a sharp knife.
Uncover the bread tins, place in the oven and immediately drop a couple of ice cubes into the roasting tin to make steam.
Bake the bread at 220C for 25 minutes then turn the oven down to 200C and leave for 15-20 minutes further. If its done the base will sound hollow when tapped.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

So by my reckoning that's 1 hour 20 minutes of actual effort, which isn't too bad spread over 6 days, 40 minutes cooking time, but an astounding 6 days and 4 hours waiting time!
Yummy results though.

Red Gurnard

Last week I watched just a little bit of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's latest campaigning programme, Fish Fight. I do try and make responsible choices of fish, but I guess we all succumb to the odd cod meal.
Well, some of Hugh's message must have sunk in, because when I saw this funny looking species on the fishmonger's stall I bought a couple of them on impulse for our dinner:



What can I say? I was intrigued. Its a Red Gurnard in case you were wondering.

Fortunately the fishmonger kindly de-headed and gutted it for me, which made it seem less alarming.



Neither the internet nor my vast array of recipe books came of with many options on how to cook Gurnard, so I decided to wing it and make something up.

This is what I came up with:



Red Gurnard with a courgette, garlic, and parsley stuffing, on herby potatoes.

Yes, yes, I know it doesn't look pretty. I would definitely be marked down for presentation on Masterchef (where I would serve fishfingers, just for a laugh).

I stuffed the 2 fish with 1/2 a courgette, finely chopped and mixed with 3 crushed garlic cloves, finely chopped parsley, a squeeze of lime and a teaspoon of olive oil.
I peeled amd chopped about 350g potatoes, put them in a pan with 1/2 a red onion (sliced), a few basil leaves, a shake of dried oregano and a chopped carrot. I poured 500ml vegetable stock, a squeeze of lemon, and 50g passata over the potatoes, seasoned it and put it in the oven at 200C for 25 minutes.
After 25 minutes I placed the fish on top of the potatoes and put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes.
Then you're done.

A lot of what I read about the fish said that it needed 'pimping' with herbs and a well-flavoured sauce, but having eaten it I think it would be just fine baked or fried with a little butter and lemon, plus seasoning and parsley. It has a really good, almost meaty, texture. Unusual for a white fish.

Rise and Shine!

Breakfast - they say its the most important meal of the day.

I tend to agree - if I don't eat breakfast I'm STARVING for the rest of the day. Its my favourite meal too. Good bread, a lovely cup of hot coffee, time to savour it and gradually emerge from the dozy feeling. Lovely.

However, breakfast is a meal I rarely tinker with. Eggs on toast, porridge, muesli, yoghurt and fruit: these are my standard choices.

This week, purely by chance, I branched out a bit. No massive leaps - I won't be having miso soup or wheatgerm for breakfast any time soon - but I tried my oats soaked in juice instead of made into porridge, and we had American pancakes for breakfast at the weekend (Jamie Oliver's recipe - find it here).

Having declared himself not very hungry Dan wolfed down 3 blueberry pancakes with enthusaism. They were dead easy to make, you just need to ensure than you have enough oil in the frying pan to stop them from sticking. My first one stuck, but after that I got the hang of it.

I swear my pictures are getting worse as time goes on, but these give you the general idea:


Batter in the pan - I was surprised by the consistency of the batter - it was much thicker than a normal pancake batter; more like cake mixture really (makes sense when I think about it - the pancakes are cakier than normal thin pancakes afterall).




The finished thing - they may not be all that neat at the edges, but they tasted lovely with a drizzle of honey.

Daring Cooks January 2011 Challenge

Hurrah! The Daring Cooks January Challenge was to make Cassoulet. Last time I had Cassoulet was in Southern France near Carcassonne, and I've been meaning to try making it myself for quite some time. Walking round the walls of Carcassonne in the morning we could smell them starting to make the dish for the lunchtime customers. A wonderful garlic-y waft.



The gap between Christmas and New Year seemed the most logical time to make the recipe. It takes several days to put it all together, so I couldn't see myself feeling inspired once I'm back at the grindstone. Also, since we'd had roast duck for Christmas dinner, the leftovers from that seemed like the perfect starting point for Cassoulet.

So, Monday saw me starting to cook dinner for wednesday.

Here's the method:

I started with breast of lamb: I placed it in a casserole with half an onion, a couple of chopped celery stalks, 1 chopped carrot, some thyme and covered the lot with a glass of white wine and some water. I then put the lid on and cooked it at 140C for 3 hours. I turned and basted the meat 2 or 3 times during the cooking time.
Once it came out of the oven I put the meat between 2 chopping boards, weighed it down with a few tins of beans, and left it for 3 hours. I strained the cooking liquid and put it in a jug in the fridge overnight. Then I chopped the lamb up into long slices, arranged it on a wire rack over a roasting tin and cooked it for 20 minutes at 180C.

I already had a cooked duck leg from Christmas Dinner (otherwise I would have had to roast one at this point), so I chopped the meat off the bone and put that to one side too.

Next up were the beans: I weighed out 200g dried cannelinni beans and covered them in water and left them to soak overnight. The next day I drained the beans, rinsed them a couple of times, then placed them in a heavy based pan. I took the lamb stock out of the fridge, skimmed the fat off the top, and poured the liquid into the pan, topping it up with cold water to cover the beans. Then I added a few sprigs of parsley and a shake of dried thyme (as I had no fresh thyme to hand). I brought this little lot up to the boil, boiled it hard for a couple of minutes, skimmed the top, then turned it down to simmer for about 1hr 20 mins. Once the beans were done I drained them, reserving the liquid again, and fishing out the parsley.

Next were the pork sausages: I twisted each of the 2 sausages into 3 sections and cut them up.

Then, slice 1/2 an onion and 4 garlic cloves finely. Melt about a dessertspoon of duck fat and gently fry the onion. Add the garlic after about 5 mins and continue to fry until the whole lot is soft. Then add a handful of chopped pancetta or streaky bacon. Continue to fry gently for a few more minutes.

Then, layering up the casserole. I started with a layer of beans (1/3 of the quantity) in the bottom of your casserole dish, then added 1/2 of the onion mix, 1/2 of the lamb, 1 or the sausages, 1/2 of the duck slices, repeated the layering, then topped with the final 1/3 of the beans. I poured the stock over the lot, added a little more water until it comes about 2/3 of the way up the mixture. I sprinkled the mix with a small handful of breadcrumbs.
This is what it looked like (remarkably, a lot like it should really!):



I put the mix to one side for several hours for the flavours to develop (overnight is perfect).

The next day, I preheated the oven to 170C and put the casserole in for 1 hour (without the lid); once it had formed a gold crust I stirred it all through, put it back for another hour until another crust had formed, then repeated once more.



At this point I took the cassoulet out of the oven, spooned 2 portions into small casserole pots (there were 2 more portions left over after this), splashed a little more water in, and allowed it about 40 further minutes in the oven.

Once a final crust had formed, I served it with crunchy crusty bread and green salad. Very filling. A very appropriate dinner for a cold winter's day, and goodness I felt like I deserved it after all the effort of cooking it!



Another major hit with Dan (unsurprisingly - lots of fat and meat is always a hit with him!).

BlogChecking lines: Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.
My recipe was a cross between the Anthony Bourdain recipe and Elizabeth David's one from French Country Cooking, adapted slightly to my own tastes and fridge contents.

A New Year wish list

My belated New Year's resolution is to expand by bread-making repertoire in 2011.

I make bread a reasonable amount already - maybe once every 1 or 2 months - but I only have one really successful method for a loaf so far. I've managed foccacia, soda bread, and flatbreads, but the foccacia selection could definitely be expanded to include some different toppings.

On my recipe wish list are:

Sourdough bread
Bialys
Bagels
Pitta bread
Pizza dough (I struggle to get this thin enough as I love a thin and crispy pizza base)
Hot cross buns (when we get to Easter of course)
Chelsea buns (for a nostalgia kick - a childhood favourite!)

I'm sure this list will expand massively as I get more into experiments with bread-baking. I hope our appetite for bread can keep up! We don't eat masses of the stuff, but I am an awful bread snob, so when I do eat bread I demand that its decent! Is there anything better than the smell of fresh bread wafting through the house? Other than perhaps the taste of the fresh bread, with the butter melting into the crumb and a lovely crunchy crust. If I'm feeling extravagant then a thick smear of honey on the top too. Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum.

My Christmas present from Dan is going to be a bread mixing bowl. We've asked a potter who lives in the next village to make one for me, so it should be ready in a couple of weeks' time. Then I can get started on my list. I'm quite excited! Here are some of the other things the same potter has made...I wonder what he'll come up with for me?





Also on this year's recipe 'to do' list: rice pudding, onion bhajis, fondant potatoes, pain bagnat, lemon meringue pie, gravlax, sweet and sour (I don't like the takeaway version, but suspect I may like a homemade attempt), sorbet, cranachan, toad in the hole, treacle sponge, salted caramel icecream, macaroons.

What would you add?

Hi-Lo

This week I have mainly been cooking from Silvana Franco's Hi-Lo Cook book. Well, you know, it is that 'got to lose the Christmas weight' time of year!



This recipe book is actually one of my favourites - it has a carefully chosen range of low fat and healthy recipes. I think that's something that is lacking in most recipe books - they seem to assume people only use their recipe books once in a while when they are happy to splurge on the oil and butter consumption. What about the every day stuff? - we don't all want uninspiring diet recipe books when we feel like going on a health drive for a bit! I want a book that gives me a range of dishes - some super healthy, some super indulgent, some that hit the middle ground.

Anyway, rant over, because Silvana Franco's Hi Lo Cook Book does fill the niche beautifully, and its one I come back to over and over again. I first came across it through making one of her recipes that I found on the BBC website. Then I came across a couple of others from the same book online, and they were great too. The book doesn't seem to be in print as far as I can tell, but I found it on ebay easily.

So back to the cooking...I made the Spanish Orange Creme Caramels for a girls lunch (with orange and passionfruit juice rather than plain orange), which were delicate and refreshing but with enough sweetness to feel a bit indulgent. Find the recipe on the BBC here.
Saturday's lunch was the lemon, rice and courgette soup. The soup was nice and light but still warming. A good recipe for winter or spring.
I also had a sunday breakfast of banana soda bread, warm from the oven, with honey.

So January lightening-up is on track, without much sense of deprivation thanks to these lovely treats.

Italleeee

I have just realised that 2010, sadly, was a year in which I did not visit Italy. Being a spoilt brat, in 2008 I went to Venice and Lake Como, in 2009 I went to Matera in the spring and Lake Como and Garda in the autumn. But this year...nada. In fact, since we have scrimping and saving our pennies foreign travel has been neglected in 2010. Again, I am aware how spoilt that makes me sound, but with relatively few other extravagances, travel is something I do like to spend my pennies on.
I feel a New Year's resolution coming on...I want to finally make that trip to Cuba this year. The autumn or winter seems achievable. Lets hope!

Anyway, back to Italy. Perhaps my withdrawal symptoms was what made me finally purchase this little beauty over the Christmas period:



Yes, a pasta roller/cutter.

I am aware that this is a gadget along the lines of 'definitely not strictly necessary' for a kitchen. Which is probably why it had sat on my Amazon wish list for about 18 months as I procrastinated about whether it was worth spending money on a nonessential item.
And then over Christmas I threw caution to the wind and bought it.

So on Monday, to celebrate the bank holiday, we had homemade pasta for dinner. I can honestly say that the machine made all the difference. I've never been able to roll pasta out thin enough by hand, but this machine worked like a dream, producing a beautiful silky textured pasta that made gorgeous cannelloni. Yum yum.

I then followed this up on thursday with Tuna 'meat'balls from the Jamie Oliver Jamie's Italy cook book.



Whilst they are intended to be served with pasta we currently have a potato glut so I served them on mash instead.


(sorry for the bad photo!)

Find the recipe on Jamie Oliver's website here.
The cinnamon, herbs, and lemon in the meatballs were great, and it worked very well with potatoes. I amended the quantities very slightly as I didn't have much bread or parmesan, so I reduced these (about 1/2 the quantity of bread, about 1/4 the quantity of parmesan). I think it does need the extra bread as our meatballs did have a tendency to fall apart a bit. If you are like me, and not mad keen on cheese, then I suggest you also reduce the cheese. I also reduced the pinenuts to about 1/4 of the quantity as we were nearly out of pinenuts too. I think that was fine, but more wouldn't hurt.
I'm not as keen on frying stuff as Jamie is, so I lightly braised my tuna and baked my meatballs instead of frying it all.



This worked fine, and at this post-Christmas time of year, it seemed kinder on my waist-line!