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 yoghurt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yoghurt. Show all posts
Monday, April 9, 2012
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.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Being foolish
This week I meandered out to the Pick Your Own farm again during my lunch break. This time I picked enough strawberries to have some to gobble straight away and a load to make jam. I made strawberry and mint jam using leaves from the chocolate mint in my garden. (I'd never heard of choclate mint, but came across it on a plant stall at a craft show: It has a richer flavour than normal garden mint - much more pudding-y.)
Gooseberries were also ready for picking at the farm.
When I was a child we had a gooseberry bush in the garden. They were my mum's favourite, but I never liked them. It could have been a reaction to getting prickled fingers when picking them I suppose but ever since I have assumed that I don't like gooseberries. Since they were ripe for picking I thought I would challenge myself to try one.
Revelatory moment: they're really nice!
I made Dan eat one when I got home: He was very dubious about the idea as he swore they were the kind of sharp fruit that could only be eaten stewed with lots of sugar. The look on his face when he realised how nice these ones were was priceless.
So, preconceptions squashed...what to do with 350g of gooseberries?
Last week I made a Rhubarb, Strawberry and Orange Flower Water Fool based on the recipe in Silvana Franco's Hi-Lo Cook Book. Dan and I both enjoyed it as a light, refreshing pudding, so I decided to try something similar with my gooseberries. I decided to go for a classic flavour combination of gooseberries and elderflowers, so I stewed 200g of gooseberries in 2 tablespoons of the elderflower cordial I made a couple of weeks ago, and used this to make a Gooseberry Fool.
The following recipe is mainly based on the Silvano Franco Rhubarb Fool recipe, but also takes elements from various other recipes that I found in the Riverford Cook Book, on BBC Good Food, and in Tamasin Day Lewis's Kitchen Bible.
Gooseberry and Elderflower Fool (for 2)
200g gooseberries
2 tablespoons elderflower cordial
60g double cream
60g thick yoghurt
Icing sugar to taste
Top and tail the gooseberries and place them in a pan with the elderflower cordial. Heat over a low-medium heat until the gooseberries soften (probably about 10-15 minutes in total). Set aside to cool.
Mix together the double cream and yoghurt with a whisk. Spoon alternate layers of yogurt-cream mixture and stewed gooseberries into a tall glass (sprinkle the gooseberry layers with a little icing sugar if you prefer your desserts on the sweet-side). Put in the fridge to chill over night.
Such an easy dessert, and not that bad for you really. It feels creamy and indulgent enough to be a treat whilst not being a heart-attack in a glass! It could handle a little more elderflower flavour if you like the taste of elderflowers, as the gooseberries are very dominant in the proportions above.
PS Its entirely irrelevant, but gooseberries really remind me of Chinese lanterns. I love that.
Gooseberries were also ready for picking at the farm.
When I was a child we had a gooseberry bush in the garden. They were my mum's favourite, but I never liked them. It could have been a reaction to getting prickled fingers when picking them I suppose but ever since I have assumed that I don't like gooseberries. Since they were ripe for picking I thought I would challenge myself to try one.
Revelatory moment: they're really nice!
I made Dan eat one when I got home: He was very dubious about the idea as he swore they were the kind of sharp fruit that could only be eaten stewed with lots of sugar. The look on his face when he realised how nice these ones were was priceless.
So, preconceptions squashed...what to do with 350g of gooseberries?
Last week I made a Rhubarb, Strawberry and Orange Flower Water Fool based on the recipe in Silvana Franco's Hi-Lo Cook Book. Dan and I both enjoyed it as a light, refreshing pudding, so I decided to try something similar with my gooseberries. I decided to go for a classic flavour combination of gooseberries and elderflowers, so I stewed 200g of gooseberries in 2 tablespoons of the elderflower cordial I made a couple of weeks ago, and used this to make a Gooseberry Fool.
The following recipe is mainly based on the Silvano Franco Rhubarb Fool recipe, but also takes elements from various other recipes that I found in the Riverford Cook Book, on BBC Good Food, and in Tamasin Day Lewis's Kitchen Bible.
Gooseberry and Elderflower Fool (for 2)
200g gooseberries
2 tablespoons elderflower cordial
60g double cream
60g thick yoghurt
Icing sugar to taste
Top and tail the gooseberries and place them in a pan with the elderflower cordial. Heat over a low-medium heat until the gooseberries soften (probably about 10-15 minutes in total). Set aside to cool.
Mix together the double cream and yoghurt with a whisk. Spoon alternate layers of yogurt-cream mixture and stewed gooseberries into a tall glass (sprinkle the gooseberry layers with a little icing sugar if you prefer your desserts on the sweet-side). Put in the fridge to chill over night.
Such an easy dessert, and not that bad for you really. It feels creamy and indulgent enough to be a treat whilst not being a heart-attack in a glass! It could handle a little more elderflower flavour if you like the taste of elderflowers, as the gooseberries are very dominant in the proportions above.
PS Its entirely irrelevant, but gooseberries really remind me of Chinese lanterns. I love that.
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!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Cooking with yoghurt
Dairy products and me do not get along well.
Particularly cheese, cream, and yoghurt. Not a fan, and they always seem to make my stomach hurt. (Although occasionally its worth the risk for a nice bowl of icecream or a slice of cheesecake!)
However, I have been gradually trying to introduce small quantities of milk based products into my diet. With the amount of running I do each week I think my bones probably need a little extra help from the increased calcium.
I've found that goat and sheep products don't give me the same problems as cows' milk, so have been using small amounts of sheeps yoghurt, goats milk, and sheep and goat cheeses.
Although I still wouldn't eat a bowl of yoghurt, not being keen on the taste, I do find it a very good cooking ingredient, particularly with fish. I've been using this fairly regularly of late:
This week I came over all ambitious with a smoked fish lasagne from my 'Nearly Vegetarian' cook book (really old-fashioned but fantastic recipes) - using yoghurt, milk AND cheese in the sauce. Goodness me. Tempting fate.
But hurrah - no tummy ache!
I aquired the cheese at the Chipping Norton Farmers Market a couple of weeks ago - a lovely smooth and creamy cheese. Not too strong flavoured for a cheese novice like me, but nonetheless not mass-produced and flavourless.
I followed this minor miracle with an improvised fish pie along the same lines a few days later (we still had the pot of yoghurt & it needed using!). Again, no problem...
The yoghurt gave the pie a nice tang, and it was lighter than using a traditional white sauce or cream. The cauliflower is in there because we had a load in our vegetable box, but it was a good addition.
Prawn and Cauliflower Pie
enough for 2 fairly generous portions
250g raw king prawns
50g smoked salmon (Dan filched some fom his parents' fridge when he went home for a visit so I threw it in)
100g chopped leek
175g cauliflower
2 cloves garlic - crushed
150g yogurt
25g hard sheeps cheese - grated or finely sliced
Small handful chopped parsley
Sprinkle of chopped dill
Squeeze of lemon
Salt and pepper
300g potatoes
Peel the potatoes. Cook in salted water then mash. Use a little of the yoghurt sauce from the fish mix (see below) to moisten the mash so that it binds together rather than adding extra butter. (You can use butter & milk if you prefer, but this makes it slightly lighter on the calories.)
Chop the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and cook in salted boiling water. Drain and put to one side to cool slightly.
Chop the leeks and poach for a few minutes in boiling water until softened. Drain and put to one side.
Chop the smoked salmon into strips.
Mix the yoghurt, garlic, herbs, raw prawns, smoked salmon together in a bowl. Add the leek, cauliflower and a squeeze of lemon. Mix again, then add the cheese, season and stir.
Put the fish mixture in the bottom of an oven proof dish. Top with an even coating of mashed potato.
Bake in a preheated oven 180C for half an hour.
I served it with green beans, but peas would be nice too.
Particularly cheese, cream, and yoghurt. Not a fan, and they always seem to make my stomach hurt. (Although occasionally its worth the risk for a nice bowl of icecream or a slice of cheesecake!)
However, I have been gradually trying to introduce small quantities of milk based products into my diet. With the amount of running I do each week I think my bones probably need a little extra help from the increased calcium.
I've found that goat and sheep products don't give me the same problems as cows' milk, so have been using small amounts of sheeps yoghurt, goats milk, and sheep and goat cheeses.
Although I still wouldn't eat a bowl of yoghurt, not being keen on the taste, I do find it a very good cooking ingredient, particularly with fish. I've been using this fairly regularly of late:
This week I came over all ambitious with a smoked fish lasagne from my 'Nearly Vegetarian' cook book (really old-fashioned but fantastic recipes) - using yoghurt, milk AND cheese in the sauce. Goodness me. Tempting fate.
But hurrah - no tummy ache!
I aquired the cheese at the Chipping Norton Farmers Market a couple of weeks ago - a lovely smooth and creamy cheese. Not too strong flavoured for a cheese novice like me, but nonetheless not mass-produced and flavourless.
I followed this minor miracle with an improvised fish pie along the same lines a few days later (we still had the pot of yoghurt & it needed using!). Again, no problem...
The yoghurt gave the pie a nice tang, and it was lighter than using a traditional white sauce or cream. The cauliflower is in there because we had a load in our vegetable box, but it was a good addition.
Prawn and Cauliflower Pie
enough for 2 fairly generous portions
250g raw king prawns
50g smoked salmon (Dan filched some fom his parents' fridge when he went home for a visit so I threw it in)
100g chopped leek
175g cauliflower
2 cloves garlic - crushed
150g yogurt
25g hard sheeps cheese - grated or finely sliced
Small handful chopped parsley
Sprinkle of chopped dill
Squeeze of lemon
Salt and pepper
300g potatoes
Peel the potatoes. Cook in salted water then mash. Use a little of the yoghurt sauce from the fish mix (see below) to moisten the mash so that it binds together rather than adding extra butter. (You can use butter & milk if you prefer, but this makes it slightly lighter on the calories.)
Chop the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and cook in salted boiling water. Drain and put to one side to cool slightly.
Chop the leeks and poach for a few minutes in boiling water until softened. Drain and put to one side.
Chop the smoked salmon into strips.
Mix the yoghurt, garlic, herbs, raw prawns, smoked salmon together in a bowl. Add the leek, cauliflower and a squeeze of lemon. Mix again, then add the cheese, season and stir.
Put the fish mixture in the bottom of an oven proof dish. Top with an even coating of mashed potato.
Bake in a preheated oven 180C for half an hour.
I served it with green beans, but peas would be nice too.
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