I've failed dismally in the cooking stakes over the last few weeks. Marathon training has completely taken over my life, and has not left much time for browsing cook books to come up with interesting dishes.
However, this weekend being a 4-day weekend I actually found time to both run and cook something good! I had a little bit of a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall moment, and had a go at making (a very small quantity of) homemade yoghurt, and also a Jamaican Ginger cake from the River Cottage Everyday cookbook.
Hugh's programme was on the TV last night, which is what finally prompted me to have a go at the yoghurt. Dan had mentioned the process a few months back but we hadn't tried it out up until today. After my breakfast this morning I had a scoop of yoghurt left in the tub, so it seemed an opportune time to have a go. My jar of yoghurt-to-be is currently sitting on the hearth swaddled in tea towels to keep it warm, where it will stay until 9pm tonight: Taste test in the morning! If it works I'll buy a thermos flask to keep it warm next time - its not very practical to light the fire every time you want a bit of yoghurt!
And so to the baking. I felt I was overdue a baking session, and my old neighbour does like a slice or two of cake when I'm making it, so today I flicked through my books until I found a recipe where I already had all the ingredients. Jamaican ginger cake was the choice, although I did swap the rum for brandy because that's what we had (and surely once cooked in a ginger cake it would be pretty tricky to tell the difference anyway). Despite the industrial quantities of golden syrup, sugar and black treacle the cake didn't turn out ridiculously rich and sweet. The ginger and allspice gave it a little kick. Dan wants to try in with creme fraiche, I think a roast banana would be a yummy addition, either way its a good cake.
Showing posts with label River Cottage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label River Cottage. Show all posts
Monday, April 9, 2012
Friday, November 18, 2011
Baking
Today we had a bake sale at work. Its Children in Need, and although I do tend to feel a bit 'bah humbug' about charity events which feel compulsory, I like my work colleagues so I wanted to be helpful and muck in.
I made a batch of Caraway Shortbread biscuits from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's River Cottage Every Day book. I really liked them - they were fragrant from the seeds, crips and buttery. Sweet enough to be a treat, but not so much they're sickly. Yummy.
Sadly (for charitable fundraising) it would appear that most people don't want to risk something new, so I had to take some home again at the end of the day.
This wasn't so sad for me and Dan though - biscuits for the weekend. Marvellous!
PS Kris - I haven't forgotten your baked goods, but these wouldn't survive a trip to New York.
I made a batch of Caraway Shortbread biscuits from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's River Cottage Every Day book. I really liked them - they were fragrant from the seeds, crips and buttery. Sweet enough to be a treat, but not so much they're sickly. Yummy.
Sadly (for charitable fundraising) it would appear that most people don't want to risk something new, so I had to take some home again at the end of the day.
This wasn't so sad for me and Dan though - biscuits for the weekend. Marvellous!
PS Kris - I haven't forgotten your baked goods, but these wouldn't survive a trip to New York.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Blackberry and apple season
Its harvest time of year, and around our village there is plenty of evidence of an abundant year for apples. Lots of houses have big boxes of bramleys and assorted eating apples outside with 'please help yourself' signs. And if they're offering...well, it would be rude to turn them down!
I've noticed blackberries have been less successful this year. I've managed a couple of tubs full, but not the quantities that are normally easily found at this time of year. Still, for this week's recipe apples were the key ingredient, blackberries just the finishing flourish. A classic combination, and one I never get tired of, but this time I used them in a different way (normally the pudding at this time of year is Blackberry and apple crumble). There was finally space in the freezer, so I decided to try making Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's recipe for Bramley yoghurt Ice with Blackberry sauce swirl.
I stewed the apples with sugar, purreed them, added a little honey (things seem less sweet when frozen so a little extra sweetness seemed appropriate - Hugh suggests icing sugar but I prefered the idea of honey) and left them to cool while I went out blackberry picking.
Fresh blackberries acquired I set about making a blackberry sauce by stewing them with a little sugar and cinnamon, then sieving them to leave just a thick blackberry juice.
While this cooled I mixed the apple puree with a little yoghurt and churned it in the icecream maker:
When it had finished I drizzled the blackberry sauce over the top and transfered it to the freezer for a few hours.
(sorry - not focused, but this was the only snap I took!)
Mine actually ended up sitting in the freezer for a few days before we got round to eating some of it, so it needed to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften a little before eating. I loved this. Its one of my favourite flavour combinations anyway, and a healthy, creamy, frozen pudding is a beautiful thing.
I've noticed blackberries have been less successful this year. I've managed a couple of tubs full, but not the quantities that are normally easily found at this time of year. Still, for this week's recipe apples were the key ingredient, blackberries just the finishing flourish. A classic combination, and one I never get tired of, but this time I used them in a different way (normally the pudding at this time of year is Blackberry and apple crumble). There was finally space in the freezer, so I decided to try making Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's recipe for Bramley yoghurt Ice with Blackberry sauce swirl.
I stewed the apples with sugar, purreed them, added a little honey (things seem less sweet when frozen so a little extra sweetness seemed appropriate - Hugh suggests icing sugar but I prefered the idea of honey) and left them to cool while I went out blackberry picking.
Fresh blackberries acquired I set about making a blackberry sauce by stewing them with a little sugar and cinnamon, then sieving them to leave just a thick blackberry juice.
While this cooled I mixed the apple puree with a little yoghurt and churned it in the icecream maker:
When it had finished I drizzled the blackberry sauce over the top and transfered it to the freezer for a few hours.
(sorry - not focused, but this was the only snap I took!)
Mine actually ended up sitting in the freezer for a few days before we got round to eating some of it, so it needed to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften a little before eating. I loved this. Its one of my favourite flavour combinations anyway, and a healthy, creamy, frozen pudding is a beautiful thing.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Festival excitement
I'm excited.
Super-excited actually.
I've just read that there's a festival literally a few miles from me this summer which two of my food heros will be at. Yotam Ottolenghi AND Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
Throw in a few bands, a couple of gardeners, an opera of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mister Fox, and a generally lovely location, and its a festival I can actually get enthusiastic about.
Hurrah for Alex James's Harvest Festival. Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase - no pots of jam and corn doilies at this one!
Here's the link:
Harvest
Super-excited actually.
I've just read that there's a festival literally a few miles from me this summer which two of my food heros will be at. Yotam Ottolenghi AND Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
Throw in a few bands, a couple of gardeners, an opera of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mister Fox, and a generally lovely location, and its a festival I can actually get enthusiastic about.
Hurrah for Alex James's Harvest Festival. Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase - no pots of jam and corn doilies at this one!
Here's the link:
Harvest
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Coming over all Cornish
Dartmouth Harbour
Last week we extended our weekend by a couple of days on either side and took a little road trip.
We meandered down through Dorset and Devon to St Ives in Cornwall, then back via the north Devon coast and a flying visit onto Exmoor. It was lovely to have some time to explore our own country, and made us remember that the UK is a lovely place and that its great to spend time just chilling out together.
To get into the spirit of the trip, the recipe I attempted this week was Hugh's curried trout pasty, from the River Cottage Fish Cook book. The pasties would make great picnic food, although they perhaps were not the perfect dinner - I couldn't come up with a very satisfactory accompaniment. Given that Dan sampled a real, home-cooked, Cornish Steak pasty while we were away I was glad to have attempted a lighter interpretation. I think I'd still be living off one of those 3 days later!
St Ives
One or two mini pieces of cookery inspiration from the trip:
Seville Orange Tart - an amazing dessert served up with creme fraiche at Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant in Padstow. A little bit bitter and fresh. We had a really lovely, rather over-indulgent Sunday lunch there - this is Dan with his Lobster and Prawn Tourte, which was delicious too:
Leek and Walnut quiche - a surprisingly brilliant combination.
Also, fantastic cake from a bakery in Dorchester in Dorset - we sampled half a slice each of Rhubarb and Ginger loaf cake and Chocolate, Pear and Almond loaf cake in our beachside picnic that day. Yummy scrummy. Glad I don't live close to that bakery - I'd definitely end up over-eating every day!
Padstow
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Sushi
Using an amalgamation of techniques from my new Fish cookbook by Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and the Japanese cookery book I've had for a while, I finally had a try at making one of my favourite dinners - sushi.
I don't think my efforts matched up to the sushi from my favourite place, Yoshino Sushi on Shaftesbury Avenue in London, but I was still pretty proud of my efforts.
I made california rolls with smoked salmon, spring onion, cucumber and a hint of wasabi, wrapped in nori (seaweed):
Step one, assemble the roll on the sushi mat:
Step two, roll the roll and allow the nori to seal at the edges:
Step three, slice the column into pieces:
Finally, serve with soy sauce, pickled ginger, some wasabi, and a little extra cucumber and spring onion:
I also made nori with a streak of wasabi paste and smoked mackerel on the top, which you can see in the last couple of images. The mackerel could have done with being a little thinner, but it was a great flavour.
We had some chilli marinated seared tuna and jumbo prawns with the sushi. We dipped the prawns in lovely homemade garlicky mayonnaise. Fab dinner - probably our fish quota for the week!
I don't think my efforts matched up to the sushi from my favourite place, Yoshino Sushi on Shaftesbury Avenue in London, but I was still pretty proud of my efforts.
I made california rolls with smoked salmon, spring onion, cucumber and a hint of wasabi, wrapped in nori (seaweed):
Step one, assemble the roll on the sushi mat:
Step two, roll the roll and allow the nori to seal at the edges:
Step three, slice the column into pieces:
Finally, serve with soy sauce, pickled ginger, some wasabi, and a little extra cucumber and spring onion:
I also made nori with a streak of wasabi paste and smoked mackerel on the top, which you can see in the last couple of images. The mackerel could have done with being a little thinner, but it was a great flavour.
We had some chilli marinated seared tuna and jumbo prawns with the sushi. We dipped the prawns in lovely homemade garlicky mayonnaise. Fab dinner - probably our fish quota for the week!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Presents!
I do like presents. Particularly unexpected ones. I did well this week: Dan brought me home the River Cottage Fish cook book. Just my kind of thing. Good gift. Then through the post arrived a jams and preserves book - a 'just because' present from my sister. Aaaahhh.
My Christmas bread bowl is yet to materialise, so I also got a consolation gift of an icecream maker. Totally unnecessary kitchen equipment really, but I have been lusting after one for quite a while.
So, this weekend I just had to use at least 2 out of 3. Jam seemed like I needed a bit more planning so fish and icecream were on the menu.
Dan & I very democratically went through the Fish cook book and agreed on a recipe to make for Sunday dinner to Christen the book: Mussel, bacon and spinach gratin.
It is a time consuming dish, so only really appropriate for a day when you have plenty of time.
First up, clean and cook the mussels.
Remove them from the shells, cook bacon & garlic, make bechemal sauce, wilt & chop spinach. Mix together, sprinkle with breadcrumbs & parmesan, bake.
Totally worth the effort - very delicious indeed.
And for pudding.....Mexican Chocolate Icecream.
It was a bit of a gamble, but I couldn't find quite the recipe I wanted, so I took the basics from a couple of different recipes and adapted it to suit me. Maybe a bit silly for the first attempt, but it seems to have worked out OK.
So this is what I ended up with:
Mexican Chocolate Ice-Cream
150ml double cream
570ml goat's milk
125g caster sugar
100g dark chocolate
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon corn flour
50g almonds - chopped
Put the double cream and milk in a pan with the cinnamon stick (broken in half), 25g sugar, cloves. Warm over a gentle heat until it comes to a simmer. Take off the heat, cover, and leave to infuse for 30 mins. Strain.
Beat the egg yolks and 100g sugar together until a pale lemony colour. Put the egg yolks in another saucepan, add a ladleful of the strained milk and stir to mix. Put over a very gentle heat & gradually add the remaining milk, stirring to amalgamate. Cook gently, stirring frequently until the mixture starts to thicken. Add a teaspoon of cornflour if needed to help thickening.
Strain again through a fine sieve.
Grate the dark chocolate and stir it into the milky custard. Stir until completely melted. Sieve again.
Place in a jug, cover with clingfilm (let the film touch the surface of the liquid to prevent it forming a skin), cool, then chill in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.
Churn in an icecream maker according to the machine instructions, adding the chopped almonds 5 minutes before the end of the churning time.
Transfer to a freezer container and freeze for a couple of hours
Et voila...spiced chocolate icecream with almond chips.
Dan and I both thought that this was yummy, but the addition of a note of citrus would elevate it to stupendous - so next time I will also add some mixed peel when I add the almonds.
My Christmas bread bowl is yet to materialise, so I also got a consolation gift of an icecream maker. Totally unnecessary kitchen equipment really, but I have been lusting after one for quite a while.
So, this weekend I just had to use at least 2 out of 3. Jam seemed like I needed a bit more planning so fish and icecream were on the menu.
Dan & I very democratically went through the Fish cook book and agreed on a recipe to make for Sunday dinner to Christen the book: Mussel, bacon and spinach gratin.
It is a time consuming dish, so only really appropriate for a day when you have plenty of time.
First up, clean and cook the mussels.
Remove them from the shells, cook bacon & garlic, make bechemal sauce, wilt & chop spinach. Mix together, sprinkle with breadcrumbs & parmesan, bake.
Totally worth the effort - very delicious indeed.
And for pudding.....Mexican Chocolate Icecream.
It was a bit of a gamble, but I couldn't find quite the recipe I wanted, so I took the basics from a couple of different recipes and adapted it to suit me. Maybe a bit silly for the first attempt, but it seems to have worked out OK.
So this is what I ended up with:
Mexican Chocolate Ice-Cream
150ml double cream
570ml goat's milk
125g caster sugar
100g dark chocolate
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon corn flour
50g almonds - chopped
Put the double cream and milk in a pan with the cinnamon stick (broken in half), 25g sugar, cloves. Warm over a gentle heat until it comes to a simmer. Take off the heat, cover, and leave to infuse for 30 mins. Strain.
Beat the egg yolks and 100g sugar together until a pale lemony colour. Put the egg yolks in another saucepan, add a ladleful of the strained milk and stir to mix. Put over a very gentle heat & gradually add the remaining milk, stirring to amalgamate. Cook gently, stirring frequently until the mixture starts to thicken. Add a teaspoon of cornflour if needed to help thickening.
Strain again through a fine sieve.
Grate the dark chocolate and stir it into the milky custard. Stir until completely melted. Sieve again.
Place in a jug, cover with clingfilm (let the film touch the surface of the liquid to prevent it forming a skin), cool, then chill in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.
Churn in an icecream maker according to the machine instructions, adding the chopped almonds 5 minutes before the end of the churning time.
Transfer to a freezer container and freeze for a couple of hours
Et voila...spiced chocolate icecream with almond chips.
Dan and I both thought that this was yummy, but the addition of a note of citrus would elevate it to stupendous - so next time I will also add some mixed peel when I add the almonds.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Lobster - at last!
Week 52 of this project seemed to call for something extraordinary. Who'd have thought it would last a year?
And so, given that Lobster Thermidor was the first recipe onto the list it was time to finally cross it off.
Lobster is not a meal that you can just throw together easily - it required planning and skiving off work early to make it to the fishmonger before they closed. (I didn't think my colleagues would appreciate live lobsters crawling round the communal fridge all afternoon if I bought them at lunch time!)
So lobsters procured, I headed home to start the preparation.
Fortunately Dan had been away for a few days, so he wasn't there while I was preparing the lobsters. Which saved me from enduring him laughing himself silly when I jumped about 6 foot from shock when one of the lobsters wriggled as I picked it up. I'd put them in the freezer for an hour and expected them to be alot more lethargic than they were!
I decided to go with the Hugh F-W version of Lobster Thermidor, which uses bechemal sauce instead of double cream. I made a good thick sauce, then fried some shallots in a little butter until they were softened and added a glass of white wine. Once the wine had mostly reduced I added the bechemal and some tarragon, stirred everything together and allowed it to bubble for a minute or so. After that I seasoned it, added a pinch of cayenne pepper, and a small handful of grated gruyere. This can be set aside until needed.
So to the lobster.....I plunged it straight into a pot of rapidly boiling, heavily salted water, slammed the lid on and felt like a murderer.
It died fairly fast though, so I wasn't too badly traumatised. I don't imagine the lobster appreciated it much though. 12 -15 minutes later...voila...cooked lobster.
Then I had to dismember it - twist off the claws, crack them, and haul out the meat; cut the lobster in half, fish out the inedible bits; Mix the edible parts (including the claw meat) with the sauce made earlier, then pile it back into the lobster shells. Grate a little more gruyere over the top then whack it under a hot grill for 5 minutes.
I served it with crunchy bread and salad.
The occasion seemed to demand a fire in the room and a glass of champagne...
And then a treat for pudding. I have to confess that I didn't make it, but it was all the better for that. Passionfruit mousse cake from Patisserie Blanc.
Yum.
And so, given that Lobster Thermidor was the first recipe onto the list it was time to finally cross it off.
Lobster is not a meal that you can just throw together easily - it required planning and skiving off work early to make it to the fishmonger before they closed. (I didn't think my colleagues would appreciate live lobsters crawling round the communal fridge all afternoon if I bought them at lunch time!)
So lobsters procured, I headed home to start the preparation.
Fortunately Dan had been away for a few days, so he wasn't there while I was preparing the lobsters. Which saved me from enduring him laughing himself silly when I jumped about 6 foot from shock when one of the lobsters wriggled as I picked it up. I'd put them in the freezer for an hour and expected them to be alot more lethargic than they were!
I decided to go with the Hugh F-W version of Lobster Thermidor, which uses bechemal sauce instead of double cream. I made a good thick sauce, then fried some shallots in a little butter until they were softened and added a glass of white wine. Once the wine had mostly reduced I added the bechemal and some tarragon, stirred everything together and allowed it to bubble for a minute or so. After that I seasoned it, added a pinch of cayenne pepper, and a small handful of grated gruyere. This can be set aside until needed.
So to the lobster.....I plunged it straight into a pot of rapidly boiling, heavily salted water, slammed the lid on and felt like a murderer.
It died fairly fast though, so I wasn't too badly traumatised. I don't imagine the lobster appreciated it much though. 12 -15 minutes later...voila...cooked lobster.
Then I had to dismember it - twist off the claws, crack them, and haul out the meat; cut the lobster in half, fish out the inedible bits; Mix the edible parts (including the claw meat) with the sauce made earlier, then pile it back into the lobster shells. Grate a little more gruyere over the top then whack it under a hot grill for 5 minutes.
I served it with crunchy bread and salad.
The occasion seemed to demand a fire in the room and a glass of champagne...
And then a treat for pudding. I have to confess that I didn't make it, but it was all the better for that. Passionfruit mousse cake from Patisserie Blanc.
Yum.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
PSB
Purple Sprouting Broccoli.
It appeared in our veg box this week. I am finding my veg box educational!
This year I have had jerusalem artichokes, celeriac, purple kale, and now PSB only because they appeared in the box. I don't think I would have picked any of them up otherwise. Also, red cabbage with apple and sultanas has become a favourite, and I only tried making it because of a glut of red cabbage when it started appearing every week.
Successes? I find purple kale and purple sprouting very useful and yummy.
I'm less keen on celeriac and jerusalem artichokes. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that I am heartily sick of them.
To celebrate the arrival of PSB, and my lovely egg selection from the farm shop, and the spring sunshine, we had a salad dinner on monday night; a tasty collection of semi-hard-boiled egg (just the yolk a little bit runny in the centre), chorizo, new potatoes, and purple sprouting.
The suggestion came from lovely Hugh's River Cottage Every Day cook book, and was a tasty, lively-flavoured little number, with just enough spice from the chorizo to keep it interesting.
The recipe is on the River Cottage website here. Enjoy!
Next season I am looking forward to? Asparagus!
It appeared in our veg box this week. I am finding my veg box educational!
This year I have had jerusalem artichokes, celeriac, purple kale, and now PSB only because they appeared in the box. I don't think I would have picked any of them up otherwise. Also, red cabbage with apple and sultanas has become a favourite, and I only tried making it because of a glut of red cabbage when it started appearing every week.
Successes? I find purple kale and purple sprouting very useful and yummy.
I'm less keen on celeriac and jerusalem artichokes. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that I am heartily sick of them.
To celebrate the arrival of PSB, and my lovely egg selection from the farm shop, and the spring sunshine, we had a salad dinner on monday night; a tasty collection of semi-hard-boiled egg (just the yolk a little bit runny in the centre), chorizo, new potatoes, and purple sprouting.
The suggestion came from lovely Hugh's River Cottage Every Day cook book, and was a tasty, lively-flavoured little number, with just enough spice from the chorizo to keep it interesting.
The recipe is on the River Cottage website here. Enjoy!
Next season I am looking forward to? Asparagus!
Monday, March 29, 2010
2nd time lucky
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!
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!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
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!
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!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
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.
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.
A couple of classics and an unsuccessful experiment
In the spirit of tieing up loose ends before the end of the year, and also because my mum bought too many eggs over Christmas, I decided to try a couple of eggy classics over the Christmas break - homemade custard (without Birds custard powder) and homemade mayonnaise.
My custard recipe was great on flavour but didn't thicken as much as I would have liked. Not sure if that's how the recipe is, or whether I went wrong, but I thought I'd try it again in future with a different recipe. I bought a River Cottage cook book in the January sales so I'll try Hugh's recipe next time. It has a bit of cornflour in it so I imagine it would thicken more successfully. We'll see.
The mayonnaise was good. I'm not usually a fan of mayo. Its that old condiments thing - I just don't really see the point of drowning food in layers of cheap nasty processed sauce. But homemade mayonnaise was great.
I made a garlicy version, as we had it with squid so I thought that would go well. I put too much garlic in but otherwise it was a great success. At least it kept the vampires at bay for the evening! I would use a little more lemon juice or some white wine vinegar to give it a bit of bite if I was makig a 'straight' mayonnaise, but the garlic was more than enough flavour for this.
Mayonnaise
100ml extra virgin olive oil
1 egg yolk
a few squeezes lemon juice
1/2 clove garlic (crushed)
salt and pepper
Stir the egg yolk with a wooden spoon until it thickens. Add the garlic and stir.
Pour the olive oil in a drop at a time, keeping stirring all the time with the wooden spoon.
Take your time or the mixture will curdle. Add the olive oil VERY gradually, stirring all the time. Add the odd squeeze of lemon as you go.
Once the mixture starts to stiffen you can speed up the oil a little, but don't rush.
If it curdles (mine did, so I know this works!), take another egg yolk and put it in a clean bowl. Stir it until thickened then gradually add your curdled mayonnaise mixture, stirring all the time. This will fix it.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
The unsuccessful experiment was pastry made with wholemeal flour and olive oil, instead of plain flour and butter. It came out with a bready texture and was rather hard. It also didn't keep or freeze as well as normal pastry and was much more difficult to roll out. I think I'll stick to the traditional pastry recipe in future.
My custard recipe was great on flavour but didn't thicken as much as I would have liked. Not sure if that's how the recipe is, or whether I went wrong, but I thought I'd try it again in future with a different recipe. I bought a River Cottage cook book in the January sales so I'll try Hugh's recipe next time. It has a bit of cornflour in it so I imagine it would thicken more successfully. We'll see.
The mayonnaise was good. I'm not usually a fan of mayo. Its that old condiments thing - I just don't really see the point of drowning food in layers of cheap nasty processed sauce. But homemade mayonnaise was great.
I made a garlicy version, as we had it with squid so I thought that would go well. I put too much garlic in but otherwise it was a great success. At least it kept the vampires at bay for the evening! I would use a little more lemon juice or some white wine vinegar to give it a bit of bite if I was makig a 'straight' mayonnaise, but the garlic was more than enough flavour for this.
Mayonnaise
100ml extra virgin olive oil
1 egg yolk
a few squeezes lemon juice
1/2 clove garlic (crushed)
salt and pepper
Stir the egg yolk with a wooden spoon until it thickens. Add the garlic and stir.
Pour the olive oil in a drop at a time, keeping stirring all the time with the wooden spoon.
Take your time or the mixture will curdle. Add the olive oil VERY gradually, stirring all the time. Add the odd squeeze of lemon as you go.
Once the mixture starts to stiffen you can speed up the oil a little, but don't rush.
If it curdles (mine did, so I know this works!), take another egg yolk and put it in a clean bowl. Stir it until thickened then gradually add your curdled mayonnaise mixture, stirring all the time. This will fix it.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
The unsuccessful experiment was pastry made with wholemeal flour and olive oil, instead of plain flour and butter. It came out with a bready texture and was rather hard. It also didn't keep or freeze as well as normal pastry and was much more difficult to roll out. I think I'll stick to the traditional pastry recipe in future.
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