Honeycomb Mould : a light and delicious dessert mouthful

Not my photograph : borrowed from t'internet

Honeycomb Mould was a long-lost dessert from my childhood.  I can remember my Mum making it to go with our dinner on Sunday.  She would rope me in to help and I can remember doing a lot of stirring and making sure nothing boiled over.

Although I could remember the dessert, I couldn't really remember what it tasted like.  All I knew was that I liked it - I remember that much!

So when I tripped over a recipe for Lemon Honeycomb Mould, of course it had to be done.

Regrettably, I don't have a photograph of the end result.  This is largely because we were all too keen to eat it and I plain old forgot, but also it is because it didn't look terribly pretty as I don't have a jelly mould (yet) in which to put it.  Consequently, it was made in a Pyrex pudding basin - which left something to be desired where the aesthetics were concerned!

The moment I took the first taste, the flavour brought sensory memories rushing back.  All of a sudden, I was 12 again.  I was also surprised at its delicacy and creaminess, considering there is no cream other than that contained in the milk.  The texture is deliciously foamy and light - and we all came back for second helpings.

This is definitely a dessert that will feature in my son's memories of "dinners with Mum & Dad".  :) 

26 July 2015 : Well, time has slipped past without my making another of these gorgeous desserts.  However, my Mum was coming over for dinner at the weekend and I thought it would be nice to give her a little bit of dessert nostalgia.  I even remembered to take a photograph. 

She loved it.  In fact, we all liked it - even my hubby who can be quite sensitive to the textures of food.  He liked the light and airy nature of the dessert and particularly liked the contrast between the fluffy honeycomb part and the more lemony jelly part.  It certainly does stand the test of time, this recipe!

HONEYCOMB MOULD 

Ingredients :

600 ml full fat milk (I used Jersey milk)

zest of 1 lemon, half thinly pared, half finely grated

4.5 sheets of leaf gelatine

2 eggs, separated

40g caster sugar

2 tbsp runny honey.

Method :

Pour the milk into a saucepan and add the lemon zest.  Heat the milk in the pan on a low heat until it is steaming hot, but not boiling.  Remove from the heat, cover and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.

Place the gelatine sheets into a bowl of cold water, to soften.

Lightly whisk the egg yolks, sugar and honey together in a bowl until pale in colour.

Remove the pared lemon zest from the milk and reheat the milk to boiling point. 

Slowly pour the milk into the egg yolk mixture, whisking all the time.  Return the mixture to the pan, pick up the gelatine from the water, allow the worst of the water to drip off and add to the custard mix, discarding the water.  Cook the custard over a low heat, stirring continuously, until lightly thickened.

Allow the custard to cool, stirring frequently to prevent a skin forming.  (A good way is to put some cold water into the sink and stand the saucepan in it).

Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until they stand in stiff peaks, then gently fold them into the custard.

Pour the mixture into a wetted 1 litre mould.  Chill in the fridge overnight until set.

To turn out the honeycomb mould, quickly dip the mould, right up to the rim, in a bowl of hot water.  Place a serving plate on top then invert the mould and the plate together, giving the mould a sharp tap.  Grate a small amount of lemon zest over, to decorate.

Chill until ready to serve.

Printable version

Reviewing "The Himachol" : Indian Takeaway Restaurant in Poole

I produced this Review for the Bournemouth Echo, for inclusion within their "Taste" online pages.

The Himachol, 381 Ashley Road, Parkstone, Poole, BH14 0AT.

Tuesday should have been Bacon & Leek Pasta.  However, I had a sudden attack of "meh!" and could hardly be bothered to pick up the telephone and ring for a curry.  So hubby did.  

I consulted the Twitterverse first and asked for recommendations in our area.  Quite categorically, the vote was 7:1 for the Himachol on the Ashley Road, Poole.  We couldn't ignore such a vote of confidence, and ordered our favourites on the reckoning that if a Restaurant can turn out your favourite dish well, then getting adventurous next time around would be a potentially rewarding experience.

They had a lot to live up to, as every takeaway we've had since being in Poole (and it's not many over the three years!) has always been measured against our nirvana of Takeaways, the Golden Curry in Chatham.

A muddle of plates and takeaway containers
Isn't that the only way?

I ordered a Lamb Tikka Masala, son had a chicken version and hubby had a Chicken Dansak.  We ordered a mushroom rice, a plain pilau rice, a saag bhajee (fried spinach & onion) and a Peshwari naan (flat bread, filled with almonds & fruit).   The lamb used in the Tikka Masala was tough and quite a workout for the jaws, but tasty in that it had been marinated - which is always a good sign.  The sauce wasn't quite up to the standard of the Golden Curry, in that it lacked a smidgen of the depth of flavour together with the creaminess, but it was by far and away the best we've had in this area and a very good effort.  The chicken version was slightly sweeter and the chicken was again marinated but soft to the bite.  I was pleased to find that the two Tikka Masala dishes had a definite difference in flavour.  It would have been so easy for the Chef to have just given the different marinated meat the same sauce.

Hubby's Chicken Dansak was quite excitingly spiced, with the type of heat that gave you cause to pause.  I think I'd have had problems eating it all, if I'd have had the Dansak.  The rices were absolutely fine, with the mushroom rice tasting delicately of cloves.  The naan was big and fluffy - just the job.  However, the true star (for me) of the entire show was the Saag Bhajee.  I'd have happily had two of those and forgotten about any ideas of having curry.  There was just something attractively salty involved with it, together with the fried onion and subtle spicing within the spinach itself.  My one complaint was that there just wasn't enough for all three of us in the one dish!

We were all agreed that at £30 for the three of us, even though we'd had to wait for an hour and a quarter before getting our food, we'd be going back to the Himachol the next time we're looking for a takeaway - or the next time I have an attack of "meh!". 

Greek Lamb & Orzo Bake - what a triumph!

I just couldn't wait to tell you all about tonight's dinner.  It was such a success!

It was one of those dishes that starts smelling wonderful and continues to get better and better the more of its ingredients you add.  Just so with this Bake.

Now I'd seen Orzo in various recipes on t'internet and got curious about what it was.  So that led me to discovering that it was a particular type of pasta-like carbohydrate, shaped like tiny grains of rice.  Curious!  As is my wont, I'd "tucked it behind my ear for later" and kept an eye out for it in the shops, along with dozens of other things.  It just so happened that while I was browsing the World Foods aisle in our local supermarket, amongst all the other noodles and tiny pastas, there it was - Orzo!  Now I knew where I could get it, all I had to do was find a recipe that looked delicious enough to warrant its use.

So along came "Greek Lamb & Orzo Bake".  I found the recipe in a general type of cookbook that I borrowed from the Library.  I had taken two or three recipes from it, but on the whole it was a book that I wouldn't bother taking out again.  However, I am so glad I found it in the first place, or I would never have discovered how well this collection of ingredients could shape up!

I was amused, when cooking the Orzo, to discover how slippery they can be!  The first time I tasted some (to work out whether they were soft enough to be included in the casserole) I took four or five of them into my mouth and bit down - only to have two of the little devils shoot out from between my lips and disappear into the farthest reaches of the kitchen!  They're like tiny torpedoes.

The mince mixture, as you combine each ingredient, tastes rather gorgeous right up until you include the chopped mint - whereupon it is just lifted somewhere up into the stratosphere.  Now we all know that mint and lamb are a match made in heaven - but my goodness, doesn't this recipe just demonstrate this!

Son was, initially, a teeny bit challenged by the Aubergine pieces.  Right up until I told him that they were just sponges full of the tasty gravy.  That encouraged him to stop picking them out and eat them instead.  Hubby loved the whole thing and, like me, wondered about including a little Feta cheese in the yoghurt/egg mixture.  Son was appalled by that idea, saying it would render the mix too sour.  He may have a point there - but I think it's rather worth trying!

 Edited to say that I included the Greek Lamb & Orzo dish on the menu list again, in April 2011.


This time, I used two eggs in the yoghurt/egg mixture which covered rather better - and I left it in the oven to brown a little more.


You'll see how lovely it looked when it came out of the oven from the picture here.


I can confirm that it was no less tasty, with lots of "mmmnn's" and much eye-rolling of appreciation as the first forkfulls went in.
 

As you can see, this time I served it with  baby corn and sugar snap peas, which were lovely.

It may look as though it has the possibility of being a little dry, but in fact the tomato sauce is just hiding under there.  We didn't require anything more than a little butter on the vegetables, to make a perfect meal.

GREEK LAMB & ORZO BAKE (serves 5)

Ingredients :

500g lean minced lamb

1 onion finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 aubergine, cut into 1cm chunks

200ml lamb or vegetable stock

400g tin chopped tomatoes

15g fresh mint, chopped

300g orzo

300g natural low-fat yoghurt

1 large egg

salt & pepper

half a tsp sugar

Method :

Brown the lamb in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and remove the fat once it has rendered.

Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft.  Then add the garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Then add the aubergine pieces and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes or until the aubergine is tender.

Stir in the stock, tomatoes and the mint.  Season -including a little sugar if the tomatoes need it - and bring to the boil.  Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the lamb is tender.

Preheat the oven to 180deg C/gas 4.

Meanwhile, cook the orzo according to manufacturers’ instructions, until al dente.  Drain.

Beat together the yoghurt and egg in a small bowl.

Stir the drained pasta into the lamb mixture, then spoon into a large lasagne dish.  Spoon the yoghurt mixture over the top and bake for 20-25 minutes until piping hot.

Serve with green beans & baby corn, or for summer dining, a green bean salad with a fresh lemony dressing.

A week of two halves.

Our Back Garden - 7.30am 2 Dec 10

That's what this week is proving to be, for varying reasons that I won't bother going into here.  Between one thing and another, we have only shopped for the first three days of the week and are planning on doing the shopping for the rest of the week on Friday.  Snow permitting!

So, after last week's menu culminating in the singularly disgusting effort which was supposed to be Lemon & Chilli Chicken Noodles, but which turned out to be Yuk-in-a-bowl (see illustration), I'm not holding out much hope.  Some Twitter pals have asked what the problem was with the Chicken Noodles and all I can put it down to is that the stir-fried vegetables, in retrospect, should have been removed from the pan prior to cooking down the sauce.

Unappetising, innit?

What happened was that the sauce took a lot longer than I was expecting to thicken, and over-cooked the vegetables.  Also, the balance of sour/sweet between the lemon and honey weren't balanced.  The lemon was too lemony and the honey too sweet.  All in all, it was pretty disgusting and we won't be attempting it again.

Tuesday should have been Bacon & Leek Pasta.  However, I had a sudden attack of "meh!" and could hardly be bothered to pick up the telephone and ring for a curry.  So hubby did.  LOL  I consulted the Twitterverse first and asked for recommendations in our area.  Quite categorically, the vote was 7:1 for the Himachol on the Ashley Road, Poole.  We couldn't ignore such a vote of confidence, and ordered our favourites on the reckoning that if a Restaurant can turn out your favourite dish well, then getting adventurous next time around would be a potentially rewarding experience.  They had a lot to live up to, as every takeaway we've had since being in Poole (and it's not many!) has always been measured against our nirvana of Takeaways, the Golden Curry in Chatham.

Curry c/o The Himachol : recommended!

I ordered a Lamb Tikka Masala, son had a chicken version and hubby had a Chicken Dansak.  We ordered a mushroom rice, a plain pilau rice, a saag bhajee (fried spinach & onion) and a Peshwari naan (flat bread, filled with almonds & fruit).   The lamb used in the Tikka Masala was tough and quite a workout for the jaws, but tasty in that it had been marinated - which is always a good sign.  The sauce wasn't quite up to the standard of the Golden Curry, in that it lacked a smidgen of the depth of flavour together with the creaminess, but it was by far and away the best we've had in this area and a very good effort.  The chicken version was slightly sweeter and the chicken was again marinated and soft to the bite.  I was pleased to find that the two Tikka Masala dishes had a definite difference in flavour.  It would have been so easy for the Chef to have just given the different marinated meat the same sauce.  Hubby's Chicken Dansak was quite excitingly spiced, with the type of heat that made your nose run!  I think I'd have had problems eating it all, if I'd have had the Dansak.  The rices were absolutely fine, with the mushroom rice tasting delicately of cloves.  The naan was big and fluffy - just the job.  However, the true star (for me) of the entire show was the Saag Bhajee.  I'd have happily had two of those and forgotten about any ideas of having curry.  There was just something attractively salty involved with it, together with the fried onion and subtle spicing within the spinach itself.  My one complaint was that there just wasn't enough for all three of us in the one dish!

We were all agreed that we'd be going back to the Himachol, the next time we're looking for a takeaway - or the next time I have an attack of "meh!".  *chuckle*

What a whopper!

It was back to the Menu list for Wednesday, when - just in time for the start of the snow - we had home-made Chicken & Vegetable Soup with home-made bread.  Hubby excelled himself with the bread, making an enormous wholemeal Cob Loaf that wouldn't have been out of place on any Artisan Baker's produce table.

Rather than having to buy some chicken breasts for the soup, I made it using drumsticks and thighs.  I browned the pieces before sweating off the onion and garlic, adding the glorious stock I'd made at the weekend and all the vegetables.  We had leek, celery, a turnip, potato, red lentils and parsnip, all of which combined in a wonderfully chickeny soup.  I think because I poached the chicken  bone in, removing the bones prior to serving and breaking up the chicken, it all added to the chicken flavour.  I do think that a chicken soup should taste of chicken!  Hubby and son were a bit challenged by the leg meat of the chicken, which if I do the same thing again, I'll chop a lot more finely.  I can also confirm that the soup tasted just as good the next day, when I ate the leftovers for lunch.

Thursday - or tonight, as I write this post - is a "boys night", when they are having Spicy Chicken portions with potato waffles and peas.  I'm having a Southern Fried Chicken rather than the spicy version, which always leaves me feeling a teensy bit nauseous.  It's an easy dinner to prepare, which will be nice considering we've been having a relaxing "nothing" kind of day, spent watching it snow!

Presuming the snow will either have gone, or the roads will be clear, tomorrow we'll head off for some more shopping with Alfie the Skoda singing Skoda War Songs as he forges his way through the snow.  It doesn't matter if we don't get to shop until Saturday, as we can just have the Bacon & Leek Pasta that we were due to have on Tuesday!

Orzo - rice shaped pasta

Friday is due to be Greek Lamb & Orzo Bake, served with green beans.  The recipe came from a book which I borrowed from the Library a while ago, so I've regrettably forgotten it's name.  However, the photograph looked like it would provide everything we enjoy in a meal, with the added bonus of being able to play with Orzo for the first time.  For those of you who are left scratching their heads and wondering what, or who, Orzo is - it's a pasta which is finely shaped into small rice-like pieces and which can be used in either rice or pasta dishes.  I spotted some in our local Asda the other day, having been keeping my eye open for it for some months now.

Now Saturday is going to be a terribly exciting day, as we're off to Tansy Austin's Pop-Up Restaurant in her living room.  For further details, see her blog here.  I'm really looking forward to this, as I love the idea of pop-up restaurants and it will be such fun to be at Tansy's inaugural one.  I have also never tried Enchiladas, or Mole, or Tamales - so it will be such a voyage of experience.  You all know how much we enjoy spicy food, so we've no worries about the degree of chilli that's being employed!  We'll hopefully be meeting up with Sam from the Bournemouth Echo there, too - which for me, just puts the icing on the cake.

[Shoot! I've just visited Tansy's blog to discover she's cancelling owing to the weather.  Darn!  Maybe that Bacon & Leek Pasta will get trotted out after all.]

Sunday and I'm planning a Bacon Pot Roast, with roast potatoes & parsnips together with carrot & swede mash and a green vegetable yet to be decided.  This week, I must try not to let the roast parsnips dehydrate to the state of small pointy biscuits!

I'm also going to have a go at a Honeycomb Mould for dessert.  Now this is something that harks back to my childhood, as I can remember my Mum making Honeycomb Mould quite regularly.  I discovered the recipe in a book and am curious to see whether I can turn out something that rings those bells from so long ago.

Finally, Monday brings hubby back to the kitchen when he's planning a Prawn & Wilted Little Gem Lettuce risotto.  This is a recipe all of his own, which sounds absolutely delicious.  Let's hope he doesn't lose faith in his recipe and we wind up having the Bacon & Leek!  I'm sure it would be very nice - but nothing like as nice as the Prawn recipe he's got in mind!

So there we have it - a busy, flexible-of-necessity week!

Cheese Straws

Bet they'll be gone before they've cooled down!

As promised earlier in the blog, here's Hubby's recipe for the Cheese Straws, which are singularly different to the Bread sticks, or Grissini.

Personally, I prefer the Cheese Straws - and have very great difficulty leaving them alone once they're baked!  LOL  I defy anyone to eat more than one at any one go.

CHEESE STRAWS  (makes around 20, depending on how big you cut them)

Ingredients :

50g Self Raising flour
25g softened butter
80g grated mature Cheddar
20g grated parmesan
pinch of smoked paprika
A little milk if needed to bring the dough together

Method :

Heat the oven to 200deg C.

Put a pinch of paprika into the flour and then rub in the butter.

Put the cheeses into the bowl and incorporate with the flour, using a little (tiny amount) of milk if the mix is too dry.

Roll out onto a floured board to about 3mm thick & then cut out fingers to your desired size.  Alternatively, use small shaped cutters for variety.

Place fingers/shapes onto a tray lined with baking parchment and place into the oven
for ten minutes, rotating the tray halfway through if your oven has hotspots.  Once cooked, cool on a wire rack.

For extra lovelynessess, brush with milk & dust with more parmesan or sea salt, prior to baking.  Personally, I adore the sea salt versions.

Note : "Hotspots"  - this is where an oven has areas which cook the food more quickly then others.  In our oven, the very front of the oven space will brown food far more quickly than the back, which I take to be because our is a fan oven.  Hence, we always need to turn our baking, in order to achieve an "all over" browning.

Non-Rissoles, yummy Devilled Chicken & new Sausage & Mozzarella Pasta Bake photo!

You might remember from my overview of the week's menus, that we were going to endeavour a trip back in time by way of the Rissole.  Well, it didn't happen.  That's not to say we didn't TRY to make it happen - it just appeared to be doomed from the start and definitely didn't get any better as time went by.

It was a Delia Smith recipe, so we had confidence in that most of Delia's recipes work absolutely fine and give perfectly acceptable results.

Pork & Apple
normally works!

Hubby was cooking this one, but its success or failure wasn't anything to do with him, as right from the word go when he combined the first few ingredients, it was looking ropey.  The resultant mush, from which one was supposed to be able to form little patty shapes, ran through his fingers.  Having firmed it up with judicious use of flour, his suspicions were aroused and so he pan-fried some of the mixture as a test.  The flavours just didn't work.  The pork was overwhelmed by both the apple and the mace, plus the apple had made the mix far too wet.

However, he persevered and gave it the benefit of the doubt.  You see the cooking was long and slow oven cooking, covered, and so we thought that perhaps the flavours would meld better in the cooking.  Certainly the sharpness of the apple had mellowed somewhat, but the pork was indeed completely lost and quite apart from anything else, they had welded themselves to the roasting tin.  We got a pack of sausages out of the freezer and the rissole mix went into the bin.  Irritating, when it involved £2-worth of pork mince and a cooking apple, not to mention the energy it took to make and cook them.

However, it would be amazing if one didn't experience a flop every now and then!

The Devilled Chicken recipe was markedly more successful - although I don't have a photograph to prove the issue, as I hadn't realised that the memory card wasn't in the camera when I took the photographs!  However, I'm quite sure that it won't be long before we re-visit this recipe and I'll update with photographs and blog the recipe then.

Here's a new photograph of a family favourite, our Sausage & Mozzarella Bake.  This one shows the underside of the lovely gooey Mozzarella, where the pasta, broccoli and sausage hide.  With the lovely rich tomato & chilli sauce, it is just the job for these chilly winter evenings.

Self-saucing Lemon Pudding

Photo from BBC Good Food

Regrettably, I don't have a photograph of my version of this one - although it was completely gorgeous and well worth a photograph.  The recipe stated baking it for 45-50 mins, but when I looked at it after 40 minutes, the top was incinerated!  I could have kicked myself all around the kitchen and back (had I have been capable of doing so).

Still, I managed to cut the burned top off and there was still around two-thirds of the sponge left - and it didn't taste burned at all - so we ate it anyway, just minus it's lovely brown crunchy top.

Once we've replaced our weighing scales (which have melted in some bizarre and unknown heat-induced accident that no-one can lay claim to), I'll have another go at this one.

The sponge is as light as a feather, owing to the whipped egg whites.  It put me in mind of Floating Islands, although floating on a sea of lemon curd.  The flavour was beautifully lemony - and not so lemony that it made your eyes cross and your saliva glands go into overdrive.  Just a balmy lemon curd that was completely yummy.

SELF-SAUCING LEMON PUDDING (serves 4)

Ingredients :

50g butter
200g caster sugar
1 lemon, zested
100ml lemon juice (include the juice from the zested lemon)
3 eggs, separated
50g plain flour, sifted
250ml milk
icing sugar for dusting

Method :

1.  Heat the oven to 180deg C/fan 160deg/gas mark 4.

2.  In a bowl, whisk the butter and sugar together until they are creamy.  Add the lemon zest and whisk again to combine.

3.  One by one, add the lemon juice, egg yolks, flour and milk until you have a smooth batter.

4.  Whisk the egg whites until firm but not stiff, and fold the two mixtures together.

5.  Pour into a buttered oven proof souffle or baking dish and put it in a baking tray half-filled with hot water.

6.  Bake for 30-40 minutes until the top is browned (check after 30 minutes) and set and there is a gooey lemon curd below.

7.  Remove the dish from the tray, dust with icing sugar and serve hot, with or without cream.

New blog post on "Jenny's Week", Bournemouth Echo "Taste" Supplement

I won't put the whole blog post out here, as you will have read the majority

of it before, in the blog posts regarding the Quince, Apple & Carrot Muffins

and the Creamy Kabanos Pasta.

However, if you're curious, click on :

"Fancy Fruit and Smoky Sausage"

Oh noes! Curryless in Curry Week!

Well that was spectacularly bad planning on my part.  It's National Curry Week this week (21st - 27th November) and I haven't scheduled a curry - at all!  ~gasp~

Is there a calendar somewhere that shows when National <insert foodstuff here> week is?  At least then I'd be prepared - and you all know how I love to be prepared!  There has to be some boy scout somewhere back in my lineage somewhere.

Although - have you heard (or even seen) some of the weird and wonderful dishes that Cobra Beer have cooked up in honour of National Curry Week?

Devonshire Cream Chai
with cardamom cream and chilli jam

Having teamed up with currinary (*snicker*) talent and Indian cookery writer Pat Chapman, made-for-curry beer Cobra conducted a survey which identified the nation’s top ten favourite regional foods. Various ‘Br-Indian’ versions were then created of each of the nation’s ten favourite traditional dishes. While the humble Yorkshire pudding has been named Britain’s number one favourite regional dish (not surprisingly, perhaps), the results of the survey also includes the Cornish pasty, the Devonshire cream tea, the Bakewell tart, Haggis and Welsh rarebit – all of which have been ‘curried’ in celebration of Cobra National Curry Week 2010.  The mind boggles at how they have managed to "curry up" a Devon Cream Tea, for instance.

Ha-ghee-s
*snort*

So, the ten new delicious recipes – including ‘Devonshire cream chai’, a spice-infused take on the teatime classic served with chilli jam; ‘ha-ghee-s’ (my personal favourite), traditional haggis served with curry sauce; and ‘pie, madras & liquor’, an Eastern twist on the East end favourite –will be sold in participating regional Indian restaurants across the country throughout Cobra National Curry Week 2010, 200 years on since the very first curry house opened in Britain in 1810.For those after more traditional dishes, Cobra has also teamed up with 500 restaurants across Britain to offer a two for one promotion on main meals from Monday 21st November to Thursday 25th November with the purchase of Cobra Beer.
 Log onto www.cobrabeer.com (where you can find pictures of all 10 "curried up" dishes) or www.facebook.com/welovecurry for details of the nearest participating curry house as well as the recipes and details of the curry houses selling the special dishes during National Curry Week.

Now, if only we could afford to go out for a curry .... *sigh* .... ah well, I guess we'll just have to "curry up" something at home!

What's for dinner this week, then?

Very good question!

This week's menu's have largely been brought to you care of Delia Smith's "Frugal Food" and the BBC Good Food website, with one element of Jamie Oliver.  The week's programme began to write itself fairly early on in the previous week, when I got down to having a serious (as opposed to a quick flick through) look through Delia's recipe book.

Incidentally, can anyone tell me the difference between a "cookery book" and a "recipe book"?  The Cambridge Dictionary defines a "cookbook" as "a book containing recipes which tell you how to prepare and cook particular dishes", whereas it doesn't carry a definition for "recipe book".  I'd have thought that a "cookery book" contained paragraphs on "how to" as well as recipes (as with "The Constance Spry Cookery Book"), whereas a "recipe book" is just the recipes.  Maybe I'm wrong in that, though?  There seems to be almost as many descriptions for books regarding cookery as there are books!

So, anyway, I digress.

Here's what's on the menu this week :

Tuesday (which is tonight, as I write this blog) : this is a Delia night.  We had Devilled Chicken Pieces with onion rice.

This is the photo that went with the
recipe - but it's not how they looked
when I'd finished making them!

This was an experiment on two counts.  Firstly, as a first go at Delia's recipe for Devilled Chicken Drumsticks (albeit we had pieces) and secondly, as a first go at having chicken pieces (i.e. drumsticks & thighs) instead of breast fillets.  Because of the hike in price of frozen breast of chicken fillets, it has now become almost impossible for us to afford them and, because we have so many chicken recipes, I was keen to find a replacement.  I pondered on buying a whole chicken and jointing it - but I could immediately see that would be a non-starter on a busy day.  A bag of frozen drumsticks and thighs cost less than an entire chicken (and provide you with 5 of each, drumstick and thigh) and have the benefit of being extra-tasty in comparison to a breast fillet.  Of course, you can't stuff them, but you can use them in casseroles and stand-alone roast type dishes such as the Devilled Chicken.

Well, it proved a success.  Not exactly a resounding success - but that was down to Son's difficulty with handling chicken on the bone, rather than any other problem.  The recipe is a good one (I'll blog it eventually!) and although - next time - I might add a little more spiciness to the devilling, it was suitably finger-licking good.  I gave Son a drumstick and a thigh.  The drumstick he coped with just fine, the thigh was a little more challenging.  However, it's nothing that a little practice won't cure.

The onion rice, however, was more than a little ho-hum.  I won't bother blogging that one as we definitely won't be trying it again.  It was just too bland and uninteresting, even though I tarted it up with some cinnamon bark and broad beans.  I'm sure I can make a vegetable rice that will provide more interest.

Wednesday : Spirali al Pesto Rosso

Please don't pick me up on my Italian - it's just a humorous "at home" name for Spirali pasta with Red Pesto and Kielbasa sausage.  I'm looking forward to this one, as we've bought a red pesto which involves walnut and which should go with the Kielbasa (Hunter's Sausage) really well.  It's hubby's first cooking night, so fingers crossed it goes well for him!

[Edited on Wednesday evening, to say that the Kielbasa sausage (Hunter's Sausage) is TDF (to die for) and the Pesto (Red Pepper and Walnut, made by Dress Italian) is absolutely lovely.  I have rarely seen such a simple pasta dish wolfed in shorter time!]

Mace, bagged up
and ready for export

Thursday : Rissoles, potato wedges and peas

Thursday is hubby's second cooking night and tonight he's attempting to re-create a taste from his past - Rissoles.  The recipe he's using is another Delia one, which also uses ground Mace.  Now, I can't remember the last time I ever used Mace in anything so I was intrigued to have a sniff once we'd bought some.  Immediately my mind travelled to Rice Pudding, not Rissoles, so it'll be interesting to see what the Mace brings to the Pork Mince that is being used.

Friday : Sausage & Mozzarella Pasta Bake

By dint of the frequent requests, not to mention the puppy-dog eyes that accompany them, we will be indulging in gorgeously spicy tomatoey pasta with sausage pieces, broccoli and that creamy, gooey, cheesy mass that is melted mozzarella.  *sigh*  Happy happy.

This is the Jamie Oliver inspired one, which I have blogged about on a previous occasion back in September, but you can find its recipe here.

Saturday : Tuna & Lemon Pasta with garlic bread

Photo from BBC Good Food
Wonder what my version will look like?

It's another "eat on your lap, whilst watching Strictly Come Dancing" job again.  We've not had this one before and the idea of tuna alongside lemon, with fine green beans and pasta shells, appeals to my taste buds.  In fact, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Sunday : Pot Roast Chicken, roast potatoes & parsnips, carrots & green vegetables with Yorkshire Puddings.

I just have to try the pot roasting method on another chicken.  It was SUCH a resounding success the first time, I have to check and see whether that was just a fluke!

I'm also going to attempt to make my own yorkshire puddings.  I haven't told you about the disaster, nay tragedy, that was my Toad in the Hole - and I never will.  Suffice to say that I'm not holding out much hope for wonderfully risen Yorkies.  However, I'll keep on trying because one day - one day - I'll make it.  One day.

Photo from BBC Good Food

Monday : Lemon & Chilli Chicken Noodles

I think maybe I'm coming down with a cold or something, because I have a serious yearning for all things lemony at the moment.  I'm not sure what a yearning for noodles means, but I seem to have a constant hankering for those, too!  This is another BBC Good Food recipe which makes admirably good use of the other half of the chicken from Sunday.  I just hope that the fresh stir-fry mix I buy on Friday will last until Monday!

Apart from a marked lean towards the pasta, I think this week's dishes are a little more balanced than last week's "heavy on the Yorkshire pudding" week!

Creamy Kabanos Pasta

This is a Rachel Allen recipe, which I have tweaked slightly to appeal to our taste in tomato sauces - which is that a tomato based sauce should taste of tomato.

Regarding the Kabanos sausage, we are fortunate in that Bournemouth Asda stocks a good range of Polish ingredients (Indian, too!) and in their delicatessen range are these Kabanos.  Asda used to stock their own version, but replaced it with the much more authentic type.  If however, you can't find Kabanos in your locality, do not despair as Chorizo would do just as well, as would Kielbasa.  In fact, we've got our eye on some of the Polish Kielbasa (known as "Hunter's Sausages") for a dish next week.

I chose this recipe for this day because it appeared to be simple to prepare, didn't make much washing-up and could be eaten whilst sitting in an armchair watching Strictly Come Dancing.  *chuckle*  As it was, it fitted all those requirements admirably!

I was a teensy bit worried about how the cream would amalgamate with the tomatoes without a) splitting and b) tasting disgusting, but in fact it mixed in without a problem and turned what was beginning to be a quite aggressive tomato sauce into a toothless tiger of a sauce (but not in a derogatory way!).  Once you add the sausage and it has bled its flavour into the surroundings, the whole thing comes together in a delicious amalgamation that was right up there in the flavour stakes, but without any of the tummy-curling acidity that can sometimes come with tomatoes and chillies in the same spoonful.

Definitely a do-again, in our house!

CREAMY KABANOS PASTA (serves 3)

Ingredients :

A knob of butter or 2 tbsp olive oil
225g tin of chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, grated or crushed
1 tsp chopped rosemary
1-2 tsp sugar
225g kabanos sausage sliced into small logs
pinch dried red chilli flakes
80ml single cream
a few drops of Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp chopped parsley
300g spirali pasta
4 tbsp grated parmesan

Method :

Melt the butter or olive oil in a large saucepan and add the garlic & rosemary and allow to infuse.

Add the chopped tomatoes and season with salt & pepper and to taste with the sugar.  Cook the tomatoes until they have begun to soften, or for about 5 minutes.

Add the sausage to the pan with the chilli flakes, cream, chopped parsley, worcestershire sauce and tomato ketchup.  Simmer with the lid off until the mixture has reduced by half, 10-20 minutes, stirring frequently.  Take off the heat and check and adjust the seasoning.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pan of salted boiling water until it is slightly al dente (according to pack instructions).  Once cooked, drain and toss with the sauce.

Scatter each serving with the grated parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Good with garlic bread!

Quince, Carrot & Apple Muffins

On the way to work the other day, I was sat at traffic lights when I was aware that there, in the hedge to a piece of common land, were several small golden globes.  I suddenly woke up to the fact that I was, in all probability, looking at a quince bush.  There was a slight possibility that they were apples, but either way they required further inspection.  So, when I left for home, I had a quick peep and sure enough they were quince.  It didn't take very long at all for me to pick them and pop them into a bag (I always carry a plastic bag, just in case of foraging bounty!) and away home they came.

I still had half of Laura's quinces in the freezer, so what to do with these?  I had found all kinds of savoury uses for quince, but wanted to explore using them in a sweet context.  They are quite tongue-curlingly sour, so my mind began to travel down the lemon route.  After all, lemons are equally sour yet we use them in lemon tarts, lemon drizzle cakes - all kinds of sweet contexts.

I had a recipe for lemon drizzle muffins, which fitted with the ingredients I had to hand.  However, I felt that the quince on their own might not have enough "oomph" to stand up to the relatively rough handling that a muffin mix receives, although there would certainly be enough sugar involved.  So I remembered my recipe for carrot & apple muffins.  Quince goes admirably well with apple, they have a certain similarity in flavour.  Hence, the Quince, Carrot & Apple Muffins were born.

A tip for grating quinces - don't cut them into quarters and try to remove the core (as I began to do), instead just grate them down to the core (which is so hard, it doesn't grate easily by hand anyway), turn and grate again, turn and grate again, until the quince is done.

The muffins are truly delicious, with a light fluffy texture that retains the moistness of the fruit & carrot content and a very definite flavour of quince which lends them a mysterious air.  Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee.

QUINCE, CARROT & APPLE MUFFINS (makes 12 medium sized muffins)

Ingredients :

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch salt
half a cup of raisins, or sultanas, or mixed fruit
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup grated carrot
1 cup grated apple
1 cup grated quince
three quarters of a cup of vegetable oil
3 eggs

Method :

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 180deg/gas mark 4.  Mix all the dry ingredients together, then add the wet fruit and carrot and stir briefly with a fork, to combine.

2.  In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and oil together, then add to the flour/fruit mixture and stir lightly with a fork.  You're not looking for a well-mixed texture, as muffins seem to benefit from the odd lump and bump!

3.  Spoon into muffin cases (silicone versions are great) and bake for 20-25 mins or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

4.  Try not to eat them all before they've cooled down.

Pasta Ratatouille Bake and how time flies!

I woke up this morning with two priorities in mind.  One was to bake some Muffins involving Quince in some way.  The other was to blog on the Ratatouille Bake we ate for dinner last night.

So far, it's got to 1.50pm and I've had a shower, had breakfast, been to Sainsbury's (extra-curricular trip, for flour), returned and caught up with my email whilst having a coffee, then had lunch, then had an extra-curricular trip to the Ashley Road to drop hubby off.  Only now, am I getting to one of those priorities.  Does this happen to everyone, or is it just me?

Yes, I could have got out of bed before 9 a.m. but I have been so totally dog-tired for the last two days that having a bit of a long sleep through was getting to be vital.  I'm always scared to become too tired, just in case - one day - my brain decides to melt as it did some 2 years ago when I had a mini stroke.  Don't want that to happen again, just in case next time it decides not to be mini!  Anyway.  Enough rambling about not having time - let's get on and tell you about the Pasta Ratatouille Bake.

I had tripped over this recipe on the Good Food Channel's website and it appealed to me for the following reasons :

1.  It provided three of your five-a-day vegetables in what appeared to be extremely palatable form;
2.  It used pasta, so was potentially a good alternative to using potatoes in a dish;
3.  It was oven baked with cheese melted over the top, which is very palatable for young Son.

I knew Son wouldn't enjoy the courgettes, but they were big enough for him to avoid.  I had hope that he would enjoy the broad beans, as they were a relatively new vegetable for him and, coming in frozen form, were easy to keep handy.

As it turned out, the dish was delicious and baked well with the pasta.  I used Spirali instead of the classic macaroni, largely because we already had some Spirali in the cupboard.  I also used Thyme instead of Basil, as my Basil plant had died over the last two days of sharp overnight frosts.  Even being kept in the kitchen didn't help it.  I admit that I also added a tablespoon of tomato ketchup to the sauce, just to add that little tang that the fresh tomato wasn't providing.  The last adjustment was that I grated over some sharp Cheddar cheese as well as the Parmesan, in order to up the cheese quota so as to appeal to Son.  The recipe makes a fair amount - way more than would feed 4 people - but nil desperandum as it made a lovely lunch the following day.

PASTA RATATOUILLE BAKE  (feeds 5-6)

Ingredients :

200g pasta (Spirali or Macaroni are good)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 courgettes, sliced (you may need 3, depending on how many you're feeding & the size of the courgettes.  Mine were big!)
200g broad beans (fresh, frozen or tinned)
1 tbps tomato ketchup
125ml vegetable stock (from a cube is fine, just don't add too much extra salt)
25g parmesan cheese, grated
10g sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Method :

1.  Preheat the oven to 180deg c/gas mark 4.

2.  Cook the pasta according to the instructions given on the packet and drain.

3.  Meanwhile, in a deep frying pan, heat the oil and cook the onion for 5-10 mins, until it's tender and golden.

4.  Add the garlic for the last 2-3 minutes and cook through.

5.  Stir in the herbs, tomatoes, courgettes, beans, stock, tomato ketchup and seasoning and simmer for 5 minutes.

6.  Combine the pasta with the vegetables and stir gently, then decant into a warmed casserole dish.

7.  Grate the cheese over the top, then oven-bake for 30-35 mins.

Excellent served with Sausages, Gammon, Pork Chops.

Grissini

While I was at work yesterday, hubby was busy in the kitchen working on a new bread product - Grissini.

Now this is his first go at Grissini and he's not terribly happy with the results, but I am!  I ate four (at least) of them last night, as did our son.  I can understand his dissatisfaction with them, as being a bit of a perfectionist ~koff - putting it mildly - koff~ the fact that they wound up slightly hard rather than crisp, wasn't how he imagined they would result.  However, I could very easily see them working beautifully well with a pot of Green Pea Dip, or Hummous - one of those rather more substantial dips that wafer-like dipping equipment quail at.

I'm sure he'll have another go, as he definitely won't be beaten by a Grissini.  However, until then, here's the recipe if anyone wants to have a try :

GRISSINI (Breadsticks) Makes 20 x 6" grissini

Ingredients :

200g white bread flour
50g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary or ½ tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2  tsp pepper
7g of fresh yeast or 1/2 tsp easy-blend dried yeast
140ml lukewarm water
4 tbsp semolina or polenta
1 tsp olive oil

Method

Dissolve the sugar into the water and then mix in the yeast.
Add the remaining flour to form a soft dough then dust a work surface with flour.
Turn the dough on to the floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic, working in more flour if needed, to keep the dough from sticking.  Cover with a damp tea towel and rest for 10 minutes.
Cut a sheet of greaseproof paper and sprinkle with 1 tbsp semolina or polenta.
Roll out the dough into a large rectangle, then fold in four and repeat four or five times.
Finally, roll into a large rectangular sheet 3mm thick.  Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes or until doubled.
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F, gas mark 6). Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and sprinkle with semolina or polenta.
Cut the dough sheet across into 20 equal strips. Holding each strip by the ends, twist and stretch until it the desired shape is reached. Place the twists on the baking sheet. Leave to rise, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
Lightly coat the strips of dough with cooking spray or a little olive oil. Bake for 10 minutes.
Remove the breadsticks from the oven and lightly coat again with cooking spray or brush with a teaspoon of olive oil. Bake for a further 8 minutes or until golden and crisp. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.Mix 100g of the flour with the parmesan, rosemary and pepper in a large bowl.