First things first: a major announcement.
We have heating in our house!
After over a year of living in our cotswold idyll, including through the coldest winter in 30 years, snow, ice and seriously sub-zero temperatures, we finally have a heating system! Oh the bliss...
And to celebrate, particularly given all Dan's hard work on getting the radiators plumbed in, I gave Dan a free card to request any dinner he fancied this weekend just gone. He chose beef stew and dumplings.
Now, I don't eat beef. I'm allergic. So, I'm always a little anxious cooking it as I don't feel all that confident that I know how to do it. I found some instructions in the Jamie Oliver magazine though, so followed them to the letter to make a very rich-smelling beef and ale stew with dumplings.
Dan's parents also came over for Sunday lunch. Its strange how anxious cooking for Dan's parents makes me; they're lovely and uncritical but I still get a little stressed by it! But the beef stew went down a treat with all of them. Apparently it was the perfect dinner for a cold day. I can't vouch for the flavour myself as I had trout, but since they polished off the whole stew pot of stew between 3 of them I think its safe to say it was a winner!
I followed it up with rasberry and white chocolate souffles. I'd meant to make these a week or so ago but couldn't buy white chocolate in the local shop so just went with rasberries. The white chocolate did make them just a touch sweeter and slightly more decadent feeling.
Oh how lovely to have a chilled out weekend (no DIY!) in a warm-as-toast house. Ahhhhh....
Monday, November 22, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Daring Cooks November Challenge
So... here we go with another Daring Cooks Challenge.
Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.
However, I'm not really a chocolate puddings person, and the challenge did say that any sweet souffle was OK as long as it was a true souffle and you hadn't made it before. So instead I made rasberry souffles.
I followed this method (enough for 2 people):
Take 130g rasberries and heat over a gentle heat. Once they start to release their juices add a splash of water and 10g caster sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 10 or 15 minutes until the sugar is dissolved and the rasberries have disintegrated. Set the pan to one side to cool.
Once the rasberries have cooled slightly push them through a sieve, discarding the seeds and pips. Allow the rasberry puree to cool.
Grease 2 ramekins with a little butter and then place about a tablespoonful of rasberry puree in the bottom of each.
When you're nearly ready for pudding preheat the oven to 200C.
Whisk one egg white until it holds soft peaks:
Then add 40g of caster sugar and whisk again until the mixture is glossy.
Next gently fold in the remaining rasberry puree using a metal spoon:
Spoon the egg white mix into the ramekins. Some people like to smooth the tops flat, but personally I like them a bit imperfect and blobby on the top:
Put them on a hot baking tray in the centre of the oven to cook for 10 minutes. Serve straight away.
Mine got scorched a bit on the top, but that didn't seem to adversely affect the taste.
Yum.
Souffles are a marvellous Recipe-of-the-Week discovery. They are pretty easy to make, quick to cook, delicious, and (depending on the kind you make) surprisingly low-fat.
Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.
However, I'm not really a chocolate puddings person, and the challenge did say that any sweet souffle was OK as long as it was a true souffle and you hadn't made it before. So instead I made rasberry souffles.
I followed this method (enough for 2 people):
Take 130g rasberries and heat over a gentle heat. Once they start to release their juices add a splash of water and 10g caster sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 10 or 15 minutes until the sugar is dissolved and the rasberries have disintegrated. Set the pan to one side to cool.
Once the rasberries have cooled slightly push them through a sieve, discarding the seeds and pips. Allow the rasberry puree to cool.
Grease 2 ramekins with a little butter and then place about a tablespoonful of rasberry puree in the bottom of each.
When you're nearly ready for pudding preheat the oven to 200C.
Whisk one egg white until it holds soft peaks:
Then add 40g of caster sugar and whisk again until the mixture is glossy.
Next gently fold in the remaining rasberry puree using a metal spoon:
Spoon the egg white mix into the ramekins. Some people like to smooth the tops flat, but personally I like them a bit imperfect and blobby on the top:
Put them on a hot baking tray in the centre of the oven to cook for 10 minutes. Serve straight away.
Mine got scorched a bit on the top, but that didn't seem to adversely affect the taste.
Yum.
Souffles are a marvellous Recipe-of-the-Week discovery. They are pretty easy to make, quick to cook, delicious, and (depending on the kind you make) surprisingly low-fat.
banana soda bread
Branching out and looking for interesting, easy breakfast recipes I came across a banana soda bread recipe. It looked pretty simple to make, even pre-coffee, and I loved the idea of a warm banan=y bread with runny honey and a good cup of coffee for breakfast.
Just to help my fuzzy head out, I weighed the flour the night before - 50g each of white and wholemeal flour - added 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 15g (about 2 1/2 teaspoons) of caster sugar and mixed it all together.
Th next morning I set the oven to heat up to 220C. Mashed 1 banana to a pulp, then mixed that and 125g yoghurt into the flour. (You could also add a splash of milk if the mixture is still a bit dry.) Kneed the mixture until it makes a smooth but sticky dough. Form into 3 round loaves and place on a greased baking tray.
Bake for approx 15 minutes.
Serve warm with honey.
I enjoyed these. Very banana-y.Definitely one to serve warm though - I don't imagine they would work cold. Soda bread has a quite cake-y, crumbley texture so I'm not sure how well they would toast. Tastey warm from the oven, and even my sunday morning sleepiness didn't make the recipe unintelligible so they must be easy!
Just to help my fuzzy head out, I weighed the flour the night before - 50g each of white and wholemeal flour - added 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 15g (about 2 1/2 teaspoons) of caster sugar and mixed it all together.
Th next morning I set the oven to heat up to 220C. Mashed 1 banana to a pulp, then mixed that and 125g yoghurt into the flour. (You could also add a splash of milk if the mixture is still a bit dry.) Kneed the mixture until it makes a smooth but sticky dough. Form into 3 round loaves and place on a greased baking tray.
Bake for approx 15 minutes.
Serve warm with honey.
I enjoyed these. Very banana-y.Definitely one to serve warm though - I don't imagine they would work cold. Soda bread has a quite cake-y, crumbley texture so I'm not sure how well they would toast. Tastey warm from the oven, and even my sunday morning sleepiness didn't make the recipe unintelligible so they must be easy!
Sunday, November 7, 2010
This week's colour is green
Green...It's the new black.
And it was the theme of this week's cooking. First up I made Lamb koftas's with green sauce. This is an indian dish of mildly spiced lamb meatballs in a yoghurty-herby sauce. It was something I found here on the BBC website and I've been meaning to make it for a little while. It makes a good winter night dinner with its comforting blend of warming spices and the creamy yoghurt sauce. You can make most of it ahead of time so it can be made quickly when you're ready to eat. Its definitely a tasty dinner, but not extraordinary in any way in my opinion.
Then at the weekend I made slow-cooked courgettes with lemons and dill to have on toast for lunch. This was from the Riverford Farm cook book, and can also be found here on their website. It was very good. I love the distinctive flavour of dill, so perhaps its unsurprising that I enjoyed the dish so much.
Not green, but a new twist on an old favourite, was a goats cheese souffle topping for fish pie. It worked well. Dan really enjoyed it. Because the souffle only needs a short time in the oven everything else does need to be cooked before you put the topping on - it doesn't spend long enough in the oven to cook the other ingredients.
Hope you enjoyed bonfire night!
And it was the theme of this week's cooking. First up I made Lamb koftas's with green sauce. This is an indian dish of mildly spiced lamb meatballs in a yoghurty-herby sauce. It was something I found here on the BBC website and I've been meaning to make it for a little while. It makes a good winter night dinner with its comforting blend of warming spices and the creamy yoghurt sauce. You can make most of it ahead of time so it can be made quickly when you're ready to eat. Its definitely a tasty dinner, but not extraordinary in any way in my opinion.
Then at the weekend I made slow-cooked courgettes with lemons and dill to have on toast for lunch. This was from the Riverford Farm cook book, and can also be found here on their website. It was very good. I love the distinctive flavour of dill, so perhaps its unsurprising that I enjoyed the dish so much.
Not green, but a new twist on an old favourite, was a goats cheese souffle topping for fish pie. It worked well. Dan really enjoyed it. Because the souffle only needs a short time in the oven everything else does need to be cooked before you put the topping on - it doesn't spend long enough in the oven to cook the other ingredients.
Hope you enjoyed bonfire night!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Halloween cookery
Surely, it has to be Pumpkin for dinner on Halloween night? Once we had waved goodbye to the last trick-or-treater we sat down to a dinner of duck with a plum and chilli sauce (very tasty - find the recipe here) followed by pumpkin pie.
The pie was lightly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. It was a good mix, and a comforting wintery pudding. I served it still warm from the oven with some cream.
Halloween duty done.
I have to confess that fruity pies are still my favourite, but I did enjoy this. It would definitely be a better portable pie for a picnic, whereas fruit pies go soggy and don't travel at all well.
The pie was lightly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. It was a good mix, and a comforting wintery pudding. I served it still warm from the oven with some cream.
Halloween duty done.
I have to confess that fruity pies are still my favourite, but I did enjoy this. It would definitely be a better portable pie for a picnic, whereas fruit pies go soggy and don't travel at all well.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Portuguese
I have never cooked Portuguese food before, but I came across a recipe for clams with pork the other week which sounded intriguing.
One of its main appeals was how speedy it sounded. Simply marinate the pork in a tablespoon of chilli sauce, some crushed garlic and a little salt. Stirfry it, add a squeeze of lemon, then a couple of handfuls of clams and cook (with a lid on) over a high heat for a few minutes until the clams have opened.
This was a Two Fat Ladies recipe. Well it was until I figured they were Fat ladies for a reason and cut the butter, oil, and lard down to just a little bit of oil.
We had this with noodles and a bit of kale. Tasty, zingy, quick.
Shame Dan had gorged himself on sausages (6 of them at 4pm - how greedy?!And what's wrong with eating lunch at lunchtime?) only a couple of hours before and hardly ate anything. That kinda pisses me off!
One of its main appeals was how speedy it sounded. Simply marinate the pork in a tablespoon of chilli sauce, some crushed garlic and a little salt. Stirfry it, add a squeeze of lemon, then a couple of handfuls of clams and cook (with a lid on) over a high heat for a few minutes until the clams have opened.
This was a Two Fat Ladies recipe. Well it was until I figured they were Fat ladies for a reason and cut the butter, oil, and lard down to just a little bit of oil.
We had this with noodles and a bit of kale. Tasty, zingy, quick.
Shame Dan had gorged himself on sausages (6 of them at 4pm - how greedy?!And what's wrong with eating lunch at lunchtime?) only a couple of hours before and hardly ate anything. That kinda pisses me off!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Mr McGregor
I am possibly not quite as bad as Mr McGregor since I didn't actually try to catch and eat Peter Rabbit, however we did have Rabbit Stew this week.
I spotted rabbit at the butcher's and bought some on impulse. The butcher said stew was the way to go with this particular specimen.
I'd never eaten rabbit before, and Dan had never had wild rabbit. Although he did tell me a charming anecdote about killing his pet rabbit when he was a kid and getting his mum to cook it for dinner. What a lovely boy I've ended up with.
Anyway, rabbit stew; it was quite tasty done to Jamie Oliver's stew recipe, although the meat was very lean so might be better in a creamy or yoghurt-y sauce in future. That would just keep it a bit moister I think.
The butcher did offer me a pigs trotter to go in the stew to up the fat content, but I felt that rabbit was enough new-ness for one meal. Couldn't quite bring myself to use a pig's foot!
I spotted rabbit at the butcher's and bought some on impulse. The butcher said stew was the way to go with this particular specimen.
I'd never eaten rabbit before, and Dan had never had wild rabbit. Although he did tell me a charming anecdote about killing his pet rabbit when he was a kid and getting his mum to cook it for dinner. What a lovely boy I've ended up with.
Anyway, rabbit stew; it was quite tasty done to Jamie Oliver's stew recipe, although the meat was very lean so might be better in a creamy or yoghurt-y sauce in future. That would just keep it a bit moister I think.
The butcher did offer me a pigs trotter to go in the stew to up the fat content, but I felt that rabbit was enough new-ness for one meal. Couldn't quite bring myself to use a pig's foot!
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