Jamie Oliver Great Britain

This is the time of year when TV executives seem to think we should all watch back-to-back cookery programmes; Professional Master Chef, Jamie's Great Britain, River Cottage Veg have all been on the box recently.

Well, what can I say? After a spring and summer of watching virtually no TV I've been a complete sucker and have been hunkering down every night to watch other people cook. I suppose its hibernation instinct - its December: give me a darkened room and too much food please!

And after all that watching, it seemed only fair to try and cook something from one of the series. I was taken by the idea of potato scones from Jamie Oliver's Great Britain. He made the scones in Scotland and served them with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs as a brunch dish. Dan and I both liked the look of them - they made our mouths water! - so I decided to make them for dinner on thursday night. I served the potato scones with cabbage, a poached egg and a piece of lightly smoked salmon fillet.

This was a very useful recipe. On Thursday nights I meet a friend for a run, so I get home late and hungry. I was able to make the scones the night before so that all that needed doing when I got in was lightly frying them for 10 minutes while the fish and cabbage cooked. Poach an egg, and hey presto! - a quick and tasty dinner with enough stodge to replenish my tired leg muscles. I went a bit wrong somehow as the scones didn't hold together very well, but the flavours were lovely. Definitely a 'do again' recipe.

Sadly, mine didn't look like this, but they give you the right idea!

Find recipes for this as well as ones from the rest of the Jamie O series here.

Three ways with Potato Salad - Daring Cooks

The June Daring Cooks Challenge was to make a delicious, healthy potato salad.

This is a challenge which really suits me as I like to make myself varied lunches to take to the office rather than always having a soggy sandwich. Potato salad falls into this system rather well, and expanding my lunchtime menu is always a good thing.

I decided to take this challenge seriously and do some decent experimentation rather than just making one version of the dish.

First up; Lemony potato salad with asparagus

A lunchtime outing took me to a farm which was selling fresh asparagus. It seemed a crime to walk away without some while its in-season and fresh from the field. This was the starting point for my potato salad. What goes with asparagus and potatoes? Lemon seemed like a good, tangy choice.

Also in the fridge that morning; spring onions, half a red chilli, some yellow pepper, parsley, and a packet of ham, so I chopped them all up and added them to my tupperware tub. Some mint from the garden too.


The dressing was a dessertspoon of olive oil, a couple of dessertspoons of lemon juice, a squeeze of lime and 1/2 teaspoon of sumac whisked together.



The resulting salad was colourful, flavourful and tangy. I suppose it might be pushing it to describe it as potato salad since it had lots of other things in it too!

At the weekend I was back home for my sister's wedding. I needed a decent lunch on saturday before the ceremony - filling but not bloating. Potatoes were perfect for this.
On this occasion I decided to go with a more Oriental flavour combination, so I ended up with:
Potato, plum sauce and sesame seed Salad
This is how I made it:
Steam the potatoes, add a sprinkle of sesame seeds and a splash of light soy sauce. Make a dressing from a dash of plum sauce, about a dessertspoon of rice wine vinegar, a squeeze of lime, some chopped coriander leaves and a sprinkle of chilli flakes.
I served the potato salad with a sliced smoked chicken breast, some lettuce leaves, and a handful of fresh mint leaves. The weather was appropriately warm and sunny to eat in the garden, close the eyes, and pretend I was really in Asia.

And finally....a bit of a wild card. I came across a recipe on the BBC website which intrigued me, Potato, green bean and rhubarb salad with almond pesto. Find the recipe here.

Raw rhubarb? I'd never thought to have rhubarb any way but stewed. I like it when my preconceptions are challenged so I resolved to make this one. I kept it for a day at home though, just in case it was nasty and I had to make a different lunch!
I should have had more faith. The salad was beautiful. Colourful and a fantastic balance of flavours. The raw rhubarb was tart and crunchy but not sour, the warmth from the chilli flakes enlivened the potatoes, and the almond and parsley pesto tied the whole dish together. I highly recommend this!



I amended the BBC dish slightly, so here's my final version:

Potato, Rhubarb and Green Bean Salad with Almond and Parsley Pesto (for 1 person)
150g new potatoes (I used Cornish Royals as they're in season here and delicious)
pinch of chilli flakes
salt and pepper
50g green beans (trimmed)
2 spring onions - white part only, sliced
1/2 stick of rhubarb (approx 35-40g) finely sliced
Squeeze lemon juice

For the pesto
20g blanched almonds
1 clove fresh garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil
Handful of fresh parsley

Scrub the potatoes, sprinkle with a small amount of salt, then steam them over simmering water for 20 minutes, or until cooked.
Add the green beans for the last 5 minutes in the steamer so that they are lightly cooked but retain a slight crunch.
Meanwhile make the pesto by blending all the ingredients together. Add more olive oil if you aren't eating the salad that day.

Remove the potatoes and beans from the heat, sprinkle with a pinch of chilli flakes and some freshly ground black pepper. Put aside to cool.
Chop the spring onions and rhubarb and arrange potatoes, beans, rhubarb and spring onion on a plate. Dab the pesto round the plate and squeeze a little lemon juice over the top.
Serve and enjoy.

Thank you to the Daring Cooks for helping me to expand my lunchtime salad options!


Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

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.

Fried Green Tomatoes

but not at the Whistle-Stop Cafe.

As I mentioned in my last post I spotted the recipe for these in my new cookbook, the Riverford Farm recipe book. And how could I resist the recipe when I have a vegetable patch completely taken over by monster tomato plants covered in not-yet-ripe tomatoes?



Another lure of the recipe was the opportunity to finally crack open my bag of polenta; an ingredient I have never used.

So I picked tomatoes, dipped them in egg then polenta. Fried some streaky bacon, then fried the tomatoes in the bacon fat. DONE (as Mr Ramsay would say).



They would make an excellent side dish, or part of a tapas selection. The same method would probably be nice with ripe tomatoes too, and a hint of paprika or chilli in the polenta could be good.

We had the tomatoes with new potatoes baked in parchment paper - the recipe came from the same book. I'd never thought to bake new potatoes before, but you just toss a handful of new potatoes in olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper. Parcel them up with a couple of cloves of garlice inside some baking parchment and bake for about 40 minutes. Simples.



So the verdict on the new cook book is a resounding thumbs up so far. The verdict on the tomato growing probably should be deferred until we see if they survive until they're ripe, but at least we've had one meal from the plants, and they were pretty good.

Eggs eggs eggs

Guess what I've been cooking this week?.....

Yep. Eggs indeed.

Having acheived the roaring success that was Eggs Benedict (with a little help from Mr Oliver) it this week seemed like it was time to go beyond the omelette/fried/scrambled egg options once more.

So after a trawl through the recipe shelf two interesting options presented themselves. Although both billed themselves as breakfast dishes I thought they would do very well for week-night dinners.

And so, we have had Rick Stein's pithily titled Mildly spiced potato curry with cumin, black mustard seeds and coriander, topped with a poached egg, which was what it said really. A pretty good, quick, mild curry. I added a couple of handfuls of spinach (got to get in those 5-a-day somehow!) and I think it would be better with chopped boiled egg rather than poached.
And also Silvana Franco's Saucy Eggs and tomatoes.

Both were pretty good options for Veggie dinners, but I did prefer the Tomato Eggs.

And see - it even looked like the picture in the book!


Here's the method for the tomato eggs (for 1 as a dinner)

Take 1/2 can tomatoes and put in a heavy saucepan or deep frying pan
Add 1 clove of garlic (finely chopped)
Also add about 100ml boiling water, salt and papper, and a pinch of cayenne pepper.
Heat through stirring frequently until the tomatoes start to break down a bit.
Then add about 3/4 of a red bell pepper, cut into strips.
Allow to heat through on a gentle heat for about 15 mins, or until the peppers start to soften (the recipe directs you to grill the peppers then peel off the skin - I couldn't be bothered).
Make to hollows in the sauce mixture and break in the eggs. Leave on the medium heat until the eggs are cooked. I had the oven on anyway, so just finished off the eggs for 5 mins at 180C which sped things up a little.
Serve with bread or toast.

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!

Fulfilling a promise

A year ago I promised Dan a meal of calamari and chips with prosecco.

A YEAR AGO.

I finally made it for him just after Christmas.

The chips were rubbish. They were meant to be thin and crunchy rosemary roast potatoes but didn't crisp up properly.
Moral of the story? Never try to cook potatoes in a hurry, and certainly never try to cook potatoes in a hurry after a cold run in which the sadists at running club have made you run up lots of hills while it snows.

HOWEVER, the squid was perfect.

I deep fried it after coating it in a mixture of cornflour, salt, pepper, and szechuan pepper. I'd never deep fried anything in my life before, but after draining the squid on kitchen paper it wasn't greasy at all. It was great with french beans and garlic mayonnaise. We had Cava rather than Prosecco, but I figured the principle's the same.

A very similar recipe to the one I used can be found here, but mine was actually from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Every Day book.

It was almost good enough to makeup for the rubbish potatoes. I'll substitute warm crusty bread next time.

Cuban cooking

I've been going on and on about wanting to go to Cuba for ages now, so this year Diane bought me a fantastic Cuban recipe book for my birthday. It is packed with lovely photos of the country and the people who live there, as well as some exciting sounding recipes.

I've had the book sitting on my shelf since August, and although I'd looked longingly at the pictures I hadn't actually cooked a single one of the dishes until this week. The recipes seem pretty authentic, which I think is fantastic as it gives a wonderfully evocative sense of how people might actually cook in the country, but it does make some of them quite tricky to do in the UK as we obviously don't have all the same ingredients readily available.

This week I was determined to use the book for its intended purpose, and flicking past whole roast piglet (a little impractical I felt, although maybe I'm being unambitious?!) I decided upon pork meatballs stiffed with quail eggs in tomato sauce.

Have you ever had a quail egg? I hadn't, but I found them in the shops fairly easily, and I was charmed by their prettiness - a lovely blue tinge to their shells and speckled all over with brown freckles.


The recipe called for them to be hardboiled and peeled. They were fiddly little buggers to peel! I got there in the end though, and they were certainly a lovely added touch to the meatballs. I did adapt the recipe slightly from the one in my book. A year or so ago I made this recipe for lemony meatballs which suggested just cooking the meatballs in tomato sauce without pre-frying them. It tasted good and cut out an extra step in the cooking (I'm all for simplifying) so I always do that with meatballs now. If you want to fry them though, go ahead!
I served this with rice and some spinach. It might work with pasta, or just a chunk of nice fresh bread. Please don't be daunted by the fact that this recipe looks long - its actually easy!

Here's the recipe (including my changes); enough for 2 people:

9 quail eggs (hardboiled and peeled)

For the meatballs:
1 garlic clove (crushed)
1/2 onion (sliced)
200-225g pork mince
1/2 beaten free range egg
1 slice of white bread (crusts cut off)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
pinch ground cloves
about 1 teaspoon dried oregano (or a tablespoon of fresh if you have it)
salt and black pepper to taste

For the tomato sauce:
400g tin of plum tomatoes
100g passata
1/2 onion (sliced)
1 garlic clove (finely sliced)
salt + pepper to taste, plus a teaspoon dried oregano

Put all the ingredients for the tomato sauce in a pan together and cook over a low heat while you make the meatballs. The sauce can happily cook away for anything up to an hour (not that it will take that long to make the meatballs!)as long as you give it the occasional stir, and perhaps add a little water if its getting a bit too thick.

Turn oven on to heat up to 190C.

Put all the meatball ingredients for the meatballs into a food processor and blitz them to combine. Then take a small handful at a time (about the size of a golf ball), flatten it in the palm of your hand, place a quail egg in the middle and wrap the meat mixture around it. Repeat until you have 9 meatballs and have used all the mixture.
Place the meatballs in an oven proof dish and spoon over the tomato sauce which you have had cooking away. Its best to use a dish of the size where the meatballs fit reasonably snuggly in the base rather than having lots of room around them. Cover the dish and place into the preheated oven. Bake for 40 minutes.

The taste test:
I loved the flavour of the cloves in this - I would never have though to add that myself, but it enhanced the flavour of the pork.
The quail eggs were beautiful - a richer taste than hens eggs, but so small that it definitely didn't overwhelm the other flavours.
I realise that the pictures below do not make this look appetizing! What can I say? I was hungry so I just took a quick snap and ate! Don't be fooled by my poor photography - its delicious!




The meatballs could be roasted or fried and served cold as part of a picnic meal, a bit like scotch eggs, or served warm with or without the tomato sauce as part of a tapas-style dinner.

All I've got to do now is actually make it to the country! I've got my eye on this tour. I even have some vouchers. Fingers and toes are all crossed for the hope I might finally make it this spring.

Also this week: Dauphinoise potatoes with obscene amounts of double cream. Dan was a very happy boy!



They didn't last long.