Competition alert!

Just to let you people know, I've a competition hoving into view! 

 ~excitement~

The lovely people at CSN Stores are offering a £25 voucher as prize for a competition which will go live on Monday.  So, in the meantime, if you like you can have a browse around their websites :

http://www.cookwarebycsn.co.uk/

http://www.allmodern.co.uk/

http://www.furniturebycsn.co.uk/

all of which have such lovely things, I'd be spoiled for choice as to what to spend the voucher on!

So - watch this space for the competition details. 

Prawn & Peanut Noodle Stir Fry

Calming my quavering nerves, I sallied forth last night to make the above noodle dish.  Now I'd been craving noodles for days and had managed to soothe the craving somewhat by purchasing a pack of Mi Goreng noodles (complete with flavouring and seasoning) from the local Supermarket.  Add a one-egg omelette and you've got lunch in under 5 minutes.  Brilliant.

However, I was still keen for a whopping great pile of steaming, fragrant noodles to cross my path.  Son had had a large lunch at school and had opted not to join in the noodle bonanza, so it was just myself and hubby.  Re-reading the recipe again, it just seemed too easy to be THAT nice, but I put my trust in the BBC's Good Food recipes and got cracking.

You can find the original recipe at www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/6175 however, you'll see that my version of it changed a bit, owing to the fact that mange tout were in excess of £1 in the supermarket, whereas they did a fresh stir-fry mix which contained mange tout along with butternut squash and beanshoots (amongst a whole host of other veg) for £1.  I also had a yellow pepper going bukshee in the fridge, so that got pressganged into use.

A word of warning - when I mixed the "dressing" together, it behaved somewhat unexpectedly in that it whisked together well but then suddenly set to a very stiff consistency.  I couldn't help but think that it was supposed to be looser than that, but I noticed that the frozen prawns - which I'd just put into the pan with the veggies - had released a lot of water and everything was in danger of going very soupy.  So, I added the "dressing", which combined beautifully with the liquid that was already in the pan and the situation was saved.  *phew*  This turned out to be a delicious combination, which I'd be very happy to serve again - and I'd simply add more noodles, vegetables and perhaps an omelette, to feed 3.

PEANUT & PRAWN NOODLE STIR-FRY (serves 2)

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp chilli sauce
100g egg noodles
200g cooked peeled prawns, defrosted and drained if frozen
A stir-fry pack of vegetables of your choice
2 spring onions, shredded, if not in the vegetable pack
a quarter of a bell pepper, sliced finely, if not in the vegetable pack.

Method :

1.  Put a pot of salted water on to boil.
2.  Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan and add all the vegetables, leaving them to colour slightly, then turning.
3.  When the water boils, add the noodles and cook as pack instructions.
4.  When the vegetables are almost cooked, add the prawns and heat through.
5.  Whisk together the peanut butter, sesame oil, soy sauce and chilli sauce with 2 tbsp boiling water, season with salt and add to the vegetables & prawns.  Mix through.
6.  Add the noodles and stir to combine.
7.  Serve.

Chilli, Bacon & Sweetcorn Cornbread

As detailed in my earlier blog, hubby set to on Wednesday and made us a beautiful batch of Cornbread to accompany the Chilli he'd made earlier in the day.  I used to make Cornbread regularly at the weekend and we'd just munch on some when the mood took us.  A lack of the right kind of Polenta (or maize flour) stopped those sorts of shenanigans (which is probably just as well, consider the calories involved) and we sort of forgot about it for ages - literally, years.

His sudden bright idea about making it again was a stroke of brilliance, as we knew it would go beautifully with the chilli - which indeed it did.  Instead of a plain Cornbread, he made one with red chilli, bacon and sweetcorn.  For me, the bacon flavour seemed to disappear, with the chilli standing up bravely against those in the meat part of the dish and the sweetcorn providing a lovely sweet, crunchy counterpoint.  As always, the best part of the Cornbread is the corners with their gorgeously crunchy stickiness, which makes me wonder about producing it in Muffin tins in future, so as to maximise the "corner effect".  Mind you, with the melted butter glistening on the top surface, I'm thinking that this is one that doesn't bear repeating too often!

You've heard about it - now here's the recipe! Smoked Haddock Chowder.

I've been building up a little collection of Smoked Haddock recipes, such as Kedgeree, or Russian Fish Pie, because we all really enjoy that type of fish - and, it can often be a very economical price.

The Smoked Haddock Chowder took a few goes to perfect.  First couple of goes, it was too thin for hubby's preference.  He likes his Chowder to be really thick and creamy, which is fair enough, as having tasted the two versions I have to agree.  The thick and creamy version is way more indulgent than it's alternative.  Having cracked that aspect of it (by increasing the amount of flour), he then announced that the potato in the soup was unpalatable for him.  So, out went the traditional potato and in came Cannelini beans.  I have to say that I'm happy with it either way, but the Cannelini beans are a perfect replacement for the potato, so that's fine.

From the cook's perspective, I love making this soup.  It's a one-pot deal (well, if you don't count heating up some bread!) which, provided you get all your preparation done before you start cooking, means that you can stand (or sit, in my case) and stir and add lovely ingredients, then stir some more, then add some more, tasting all the time.  The soup, once you're past the roux stage, tastes great but just keeps on getting better with every new ingredient you add.  Until, the culmination of them all, you add the fish and suddenly the flavour is just out of this world.

I've decided that, if ever I'm called upon to demonstrate any cooking skills, this is the one I'd make!  It is one of those soups that, once the family start eating, all that can be heard is "mmmmn...".

I have, since posting this, developed the recipe a little.  For the new, healthier and quicker version (complete with printable recipe) see here!

SMOKED HADDOCK CHOWDER  (serves 3-4)

 Ingredients :

• knob of butter
• 3 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 leek, sliced fine
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 2 pints full cream milk
• 200g tin of Cannelini beans in water, drained
• 400g skinned & de-boned smoked haddock fillets (about 2)
• 140g sweetcorn from a tin or frozen
• a handful of frozen peas
• 100ml fish stock (cube is fine)
• lots of freshly ground black pepper
• a pinch of cayenne pepper
• salt
• chopped parsley, to serve

Method : 

Heat the butter in a large saucepan. Tip in the bacon, then cook until starting to brown. Add the onion, cook for 2-3 mins, then the leek and sweat until soft.

Sprinkle over the 3 tbsp flour and mix through.  Cook for 1 minute or so.

Pour in the stock and whisk gently, adding the milk bit by bit, stirring like mad to remove any lumps.

Add the beans and bring to the boil, stirring all the time to prevent it sticking and ultimately burning.  Season, including adding the cayenne pepper, to taste.  Simmer for 5 mins stirring all the time.

Add the sweetcorn and peas and cook for 2-3 minutes, bringing back up to heat, still stirring. You may well find that you need to keep adding milk as you go, to maintain the consistency you like.  I usually have around a quarter of a pint left from 2 pints.

It is good if the soup is slightly thick when you add the fish, as sometimes it can release water.  So, add the haddock, turn the heat right down to tickover, then leave to gently poach for another 5-10 mins. As it cooks, break it into large chunks and slowly increase the heat to bring back up to temperature – but don’t forget to stir!

Scatter over parsley, if using.

Serve in warmed bowls, with plenty of crusty bread.

Gorgeous!

Printable version
.

Book Review : "I Love Curry" by Anjum Anand

When our son was still very little, we began feeding him curry.  This was for two very good reasons, as the both of us like little better than a great curry and the thought of it being off-menu because our son didn't like it, was too great a sacrifice.  As a consequence and one would hope, needless to say, we had to endure some fairly uninterestingly quiet and well-behaved curries but it was worth it, as today our son is as much a curryhound as the rest of us.

So, when the opportunity came up to take a look at Anjum Anand's new book "I Love Curry", of course I jumped at the chance.  I already had confidence in Anjum Anand, having seen her cook on the t.v. and having already made dishes that carried her name beside the recipe.

It's a jolly book, with recipes that fit well with the brightly coloured cover.  It carries a classic layout, being divided up into sections such as meat, fish and vegetable, so no difficulties there.  The photography, by Jonathan Gregson, is particularly enjoyable with most dishes depicted (except maybe the Sweet & Sour Squash, page 144) seeming to urge you to sample their flavours and textures.

One thing I will say, is that I thank goodness I live close to an ethnic shop where I can seek out some of the less well-known herbs and spices.  As I read through the book, I was muttering things like "well what the heck is Chaat Masala?" or "Panch Phoran? Whaaa?", however confidence was restored when I reached page 171 where Anjum has set out a "Spices 101", giving descriptions of the majority of spices and herbs mentioned in the book.  *phew*  That's a relief.

Another few pages of note begin at just page 8, where Anjum sets out some of the "secrets" to making a successful curry.  To my way of thinking, the book is valuable simply for some of the learning that is set out in these two pages!  As an example, the difference between Nigella and Mustard Seeds when placed in hot oil.  These are things that you could pick up through trial and error, but why go through the error, when Anjum has explained it all for you?  Sheer brilliance.

I've already marked out four dishes that I'll be including on our menu lists in the future - Tarka Dhal, Chickpea Curry, Prawn Patia and Mussels with Saffron.  I've also got several of the "Bites" in mind for the Christmas buffet.  You see, a "curry" covers a multitude of different recipes - and this book will help you to cook your way to an understanding of some of the major differences.

The book holds itself out as a recipe book for both the experienced cook and the beginner, but I'd say that it would be at it's most valuable in the hands of an "improving" cook.  One who had enough confidence with the genre to be able to play with the recipes and tweak them to their own personal taste, because there's plenty of room to be able to do just that.

Tuesday again and the new week's menu is up!

Oh, I had such a job organising this week's menu list!  I had two dishes that I really wanted to do, but after that .. nothing.

In a "usual" week, I cook on a Tues/Fri/Sat/Sun and hubby cooks on a Wed/Thurs/Mon.

This routine has come about because I ordinarily work on the days when hubby cooks - he's good enough to relieve me of the task of setting to after what can, some days, be a somewhat brain boggling day (well, 4 hours) at work.  For those of you reading this who are thinking "four hours?  She's got it made!", can I just say that I've done my time of working from 8.30am through to 8.30pm and it darned near killed me at the time and having very nearly been given my honorary harp and cloud again, some two years ago, four hours three days a week is plenty for me thankyou.

Anyway, I digress.

So there I was with five day left to fill, two of which were "my" days.  I immediately consulted my "Recipes I haven't tried yet, but want to" folder and found one candidate.  That left my "Tried and Tested Recipes" folder, where I found another admirable candidate.  Next stop was hubby, to see what he fancied cooking.  Unfortunately, he had even less idea than I did (which is odd, because normally we've each got at least two recipes hovering on the background).  One day was easily filled owing to our local Supermarket having meatballs on special offer.  The next was a stroke of brilliance on hubby's part.  Having suggested the age-old Chilli Con Carne (*groan*), he had the bright idea of making some Cornbread to go along with it instead of the rice.  What a cracking idea!  I used to make Cornbread a few years ago and I loved it, especially with Chilli.  So that was a definite.  That just left one day to fill.  We pondered on what we'd got lurking in the cupboards, what was on special offer at the supermarket - trying desperately to find something other than the ubiquitous Spaghetti Bolognese, which is our usual fallback position.  After much deliberation as to the relative merits of home-made -v- shop bought, (price -v- quality, the usual story), we opted for the price argument and decided to have shop bought Cornish Pasties.  Hey ho!

So, here's what we're having this week :

Tues : (today) Smoked Haddock Chowder.  This is just a bowl full of gorgeousness, which I'll blog about during the week.

Wed : Cornish Pasties, potato waffles and beans.  Ah well, at least hubby and son like them!

Thurs : Chilli and Cornbread.  Yay!

Fri : Prawn & Peanut noodles.  I've a few reservations over this one, but I've put my trust in BBC Good Food and hopefully it'll be lovely.  If nothing else, it'll soothe my desire for a noodle stir fry!

Sat : Honey & Lemon Chicken, carrots, peas & broccoli.  Oooh, now this is a really delicious meal, which uses two lemons together with chicken portions and potatoes.  Everything comes out all caramelised and sticky.  Makes my mouth water just thinking about it!

Sun : Pot Roast Chicken, roast potatoes & parsnips, carrots and peas.  I've never done a pot roast chicken, so now's my chance!

Mon : Meatballs and Spirali Pasta.  It's a meatball, tomato and cheesefest.  Who wouldn't like it?

Pirozhki, Sweet Potato Wedges with Red Cabbage & Apple

I had been looking forward to this dinner ever since we'd decided to include it on the Menu list.  Hubby - who was cooking it - was losing faith in it the closer he got to the day.

However, for me, it turned out to be a complete triumph and I would be very happy to see any one of the three recipes he used, trotted out for another go.  I think Hubby would agree that, for him, the Pirozhki's were a bit disappointing as he'd expected the pastry to be lighter and more flaky than it was, plus the filling was a tad on the bland side for him.  Mind you - I had the leftover filling on toast for breakfast this morning after we'd been shopping.  With a teensy bit of Ancona Chilli Sauce, it was gorgeous!  Son loved the Pirozhki's, liked the Sweet Potato Wedges and hated the Cabbage.  That's not altogether surprising though, as son has a marked sensitivity to anything (that's not a pickled onion) that involves vinegar.

I don't think hubby would be too keen on reproducing the three recipes all in one go again - as he needed a lie down in a darkened room by the end of it.  However, he'd be keen enough to make the Pirozhki's again for a buffet supper, the Cabbage dish would be divine with sausages or gammon ham and the Sweet Potato wedges would go with just about anything and were decreed to be streets ahead of a normal potato wedge.  All in all, pretty darned successful.

If you don't find the recipe you're looking for straight away, keep on scrolling down, as all three are in this post.

PIROZHKI (could make from 15-30, depending on how big you make them)

This is an adaptation of one of Silvena Rowe's recipes, taken from her book "Feasts".

Ingredients for sour-cream pastry
225g plain flour
half a tsp salt
half a tsp baking powder
100g butter, chilled and cubed
2 large egg yolks, beaten
125ml sour cream

Ingredients for filling
200g minced cooked chicken (we used the other half of a roast chicken)
your choice of vegetables like onion, celery, swede - whatever you want, but diced finely
or - and this is what we used - some leftover Spicy Red Lentils.
Salt & Pepper.

To make up the filling, saute your vegetables until soft and add any herbs or spices you might want.  Chop the chicken until it is in fine dice, but not a paste, to retain some texture.  Combine the chicken with your vegetables, season to taste and leave to cool.

To make the pastry, place the flour, salt and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.  Add the butter cubes and, using your fingers, mix it all together rubbing the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Add the beaten egg yolks and sour cream to the pastry a little at a time, working it all together to achieve a smooth and elastic pastry.  Knead for 2-3 minutes then wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 190deg C/375deg F/gas mark 5.

When ready to make the pirozhki, roll out half the dough to abut 3-4mm thick.  Using a pastry cutter or a glass about 8cm (3 inches) in diameter, stamp out as many rounds as you can.

Brush the edges of the pastry rounds with beaten egg yolk, and place a spoonful of filling in the middle of each.  Press the edges gently together to make a half-moon shape.  Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling.

Place the pirozhki on a baking sheet, brush the tops with egg yolk and bake for 25 minutes.

SWEET POTATO WEDGES

Ingredients :

Sweet potato, enough for your purposes
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Seasonings of your choice, such as garlic & herb, cajun spices or cumin & coriander.

Method :

Peel the sweet potato and cut into wedge shapes of around 1 cm at their widest part.  Place into a bowl.

Add 2 tbsp or so of oil, sufficient to coat each wedge.

Add your seasonings of choice and thoroughly mix to ensure every wedge has a good coating.

Tip onto a roasting tray and roast at min. 190degC, max 200deg C, for 25-30 mins or until the potato feels tender to the knife tip and the edges appear caramelised.

BRAISED RED CABBAGE WITH APPLES & CARAWAY SEEDS

Recipe is adapted from Orangette blog.

Ingredients :

2 tbs olive oil
3 tbs finely chopped red onion
1 small head red cabbage (about two pounds), quartered, cored, and very thinly sliced
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced
3 tbs apple cider vinegar
2 tbs honey
1 tsp salt
1/8 to ¼ tsp caraway seeds

Method :

Heat oil in a large, nonreactive saucepan over a medium-low heat.

Add onions and cook until translucent and slightly golden.

Add cabbage, apple, vinegar, honey, salt, and caraway seeds; then cover pan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is very soft but not falling apart, about an hour.

Serves roughly 4. Delicious warm, at room temperature, or cold, straight from the fridge.
Oh - and I can verify the "cold, straight from the fridge" thing, as I had the leftovers for my lunch today.  Delicious!

Spice Rubbed Chicken with Spiced Red Lentils

Now this meal was brought about by the need to do something other than just plain old roast a chicken for dinner on a Sunday.  Not that I've got anything against just plain old roast chicken, it's one of my favourite meals.  It's just that you can have too much of a good thing and I was looking for a bit of variation.

As you know, I have had my head inside the two Ottolenghi recipe books quite a bit recently (you're probably fed up with hearing about them!) and had noted a recipe for Spiced Red Lentils.  So somewhere in my subconscious, the idea of doing a spice rub on the chicken and marrying that with the spiced lentils was born.  Having swum to the surface, the idea took shape and with the addition of a vegetable rice, became our Sunday meal.

The spice rub for the chicken was a fairly simple thing which left the bird looking very dramatic.  I simply added together in a small bowl 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp ground cumin, half a tsp ground cinnamon and half a tsp of allspice with salt & pepper and enough olive oil to make it mobile.  This got rubbed all over the chicken before putting it into the oven to roast for an hour and a half.  I always give my roast chickens around a half hour to rest, which gave me two hours to prepare the vegetables.  Even for me, that was achievable.

The vegetable rice took the form of one chopped onion, four slices of courgette (left over from the curry on Friday) which I'd diced finely, a mushroom (left over from the Stuffed Peppers) also diced finely and some chopped fresh coriander.  I fried off the first three things, added some washed rice and enough water to cover, brought it to the boil and put a lid on it and let it rest for some 7-9 minutes.  Once the rice was cooked and all the water had been soaked up, I added the coriander, seasoned and fluffed the whole thing up with a fork.

The Spiced Red Lentils, however, were a rather different matter and I felt a teeny bit how Chefs must feel when they're under pressure to turn out a dish for a particular time, doing it.  Here's the recipe - taken from Ottolenghi's book "Plenty" - and you'll probably see why!

SPICED RED LENTILS with CUCUMBER YOGHURT (feeds 5-6)

Ingredients :

200g split red lentils

350ml water

50g bunch of coriander, plus extra leaves to garnish

1 small onion, peeled

40g peeled root ginger

3 garlic cloves, peeled

1 mild green chilli

1½ black mustard seeds

4 tbsp sunflower oil

1½ tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground turmeric

¼ tsp sweet paprika

10 curry leaves

300g tin chopped tomatoes

2 tsp caster sugar

70g unsalted butter

1½ tbps lime juice

150g Greek yoghurt

75g cucumber, finely diced

1½ tbsp olive oil

salt

Method :

Wash the lentils under plenty of cold running water, then soak in the 350ml of water for 30 minutes.

Cut the coriander bunch somewhere around its centre to get a leafy top half and a stalk and root half.  Chop up the leaves roughly and side aside.  Place the stalk ends in a food processor and add the onion, ginger, garlic and chilli, all roughly broken.  Pulse a few times to chop everything up, without turning them into a paste.

Put the mustard seeds in a heavy-based pot and set on a medium heat.  When they begin to pop add the chopped onion mix and the sunflower oil.  Cook and stir on a low heat for about 10mins.

Add the ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, paprika and curry leaves and continue cooking and stirring for 5 minutes.

Next add the lentils and their soaking water, the tomatoes, sugar and some salt.  Cover and simmer for around 30 minutes, or until the lentils are fully cooked.

Meanwhile, whisk together the yoghurt, cucumber, olive oil and some salt.

Stir the butter, lime juice and chopped coriander into the lentils, taste and season generously with salt.

Serve with the yoghurt on top and garnished with coriander leaves.

The end result is a highly flavoured Dahl-type dish, which - for my taste - I would leave the lime juice out of, the next time I try it.  We all felt that the lime tipped the balance between sweet -v- acidic a little too much in favour of the acidic.  The dish had been tasting so gorgeous without the lime juice, it was a shame to spoil the velvety thing it had going on.  It didn't detract from our enjoyment of the dish, in fact son liked it so much he was quite prepared to take some to school for his breaktime snack until he realised there wasn't any way of a) keeping it warm or b) warming it up.  (Note to self : get a small vacuum flask with a wide neck!).  Ultimately, a percentage of the lentils got used in the Pierozhki dish we made the following day and the remainder formed part of a lovely lunch for me on Tuesday.  Nothing ever goes to waste around here!  Even the yoghurt, which I made and completely forgot about, I ate instead of dessert.  Jolly nice it was too.

I'm Back! New blog post on "Taste" with the Bournemouth Echo.

I'm back!

New blog post on the Bournemouth Echo

If the link won't take you there : http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/blogs/taste/8623725.Jenny_s_Week__I_m_back_/

Stuffed Peppers

I'm not quite sure which came first in my mind, the stuffed peppers or the Ottolenghi Fennel gratin, but they seemed to be compatible, so that's what we had.

I have tried making stuffed peppers in the past - a long, long, time ago, so long in fact that it could well have been in another life.  These attempts weren't terribly successful, as they involved a Bolognese-type mince mixture stuffing which turned out to be quite one-dimensional.  I'd since given the idea up as lost, however just recently the germ of an idea had been growing in my mind.  This time, I'd go for a relatively dry stuffing mixture - one involving rice, still with beef mince however this time mince which had been caramelised to promote that lovely beefy flavour.  Beyond that, I ran out of definite ideas.  All I had was an impression of how I wanted the flavours to be.

So, I reached for my computer keyboard and consulted t'internet.  Various stuffing mixes floated past, each one had its merits but wasn't the one I was looking for.  I liked the goat's cheese versions, but that didn't help with my desire to include beef.  Then, I lit upon a recipe for stuffed butternut squash - which didn't include beef but sounded so wacky, it had definite potential.  So thankyou, Foodista, for the original idea - here's what it turned into.

I recommend you do all the chopping and vegetable preparation before you get cooking, as everything happens fairly quickly.  Oh, and many apologies - like the Ottolenghi Fennel dish, we were too keen to get tucked in and completely forgot to take a photograph.  Next time!

STUFFED PEPPERS (feeds 3-4)

Ingredients :

3-4 big fat red or yellow peppers, top removed and bottom levelled

400g beef mince

2 celery stalks, chopped fine

1 medium leek, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3-4 mushrooms, diced

2 cups cooked white rice

2 cups crisp breadcrumbs

handful of raisins or cherries or cranberries

1-2  tsp Worcester sauce

1 full to heaped tsp dried sage

olive oil

 Method :

1. Pre-heat the oven at 190deg C.

2. Put the mince on to brown in a deep frying pan, using a teaspoon of vegetable oil, to prevent sticking.

3. Meanwhile, rub some olive oil inside and out of the peppers, season and place in a roasting dish.  Bake for as long as it takes to prepare the stuffing mix.

4. Sauté celery and leek until soft.

5. Add garlic and mushrooms and continue cooking for some 5 minutes.

6. Add rice, breadcrumbs, raisins, Worcester sauce and sage and mix to combine.

7. Stuff and bake for 30 mins turning once or twice to ensure even baking.

Ottolenghi's Fennel, Cherry Tomato & Crumble Gratin

All cooked and gloriously lovely

"Ottolenghi" seems to be taking up pole position for the word which gets bandied about in conversations the most here, at the moment.

You know how some styles of cuisine just hit you right between the eyes as being just beyond brilliant and totally in accord with the way you'd like to be able to cook?  Well that's Ottolenghi for me.

I had spotted this recipe when I first browsed through "The Cookbook" as it seemed a) achievable financially and b) achievable where the cooking was concerned.  I have to be careful which recipes I choose, as I just don't have the stamina in my legs for recipes that have you galloping all over the kitchen for hours.  Hence, I particularly like recipes that demand input at the beginning, then you get a rest while they're in the oven, with a final burst of activity prior to plating up - which hubby gets to do, while I give my back a rest and compose myself.  Otherwise I'm just too stressed, what with the pain, finishing the dish and making sure the plating up happens neatly, to eat comfortably.

Aaaanyway, all that aside, this is by far and away the most delicious fennel dish I have ever had the good fortune to encounter.  The juxtaposition of the savoury fennel with its creaminess and hints of garlic and thyme, set against the sweet but cheesy crumble, is just amazing.  Hubby really really liked this dish and would be very happy to see it appear on the menu list again really quite soon.  Son was rather less committed to it, but then he doesn't like cooked tomatoes, which were integral to the character of the dish.  However, to give him his due, he did eat it all - which says quite a bit about it's acceptability.

Halfway through cooking : just added crumble and tomatoes

I have tweaked the recipe's quantities, as the original recipe was designed to feed 6.  Also, the fennel bulbs we managed to find didn't, unfortunately, have any of their fluffy fennel tops left on or I would have sprinkled a little of that, chopped, onto the top of the gratin instead of parsley, before serving.

FENNEL, CHERRY TOMATO & CRUMBLE GRATIN (feeds 3)

Ingredients :

2 Fennel bulbs, sliced

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried thyme leaves

2 garlic cloves, crushed

coarse sea salt

black pepper
200ml double cream

enough crumble to cover

50g Parmesan cheese, grated

150g cherry tomatoes – on the vine if possible

1 tsp chopped parsley to garnish

Method :

1.  Preheat oven to 200degC/Gas mark 6.   Trim off the fennel stalks and cut each bulb lengthways in half.  Cut each half into slices.  Place in a large bowl with the olive oil, thyme leaves, garlic, salt & pepper and toss together.

2.  Transfer to an ovenproof dish and pour the cream over the fennel.

3.  Mix the crumble with the grated parmesan and scatter evenly on top.

4.  Cover the dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove the foil and arrange the tomatoes on top.  Scatter a few fresh thyme springs on top and return to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes.

5.  Fennel should feel soft when poked with a knife & gratin should have a golden colour.

6.  Remove from the oven and allow to rest for a few minutes then sprinkle with chopped parsley prior to serving.

Book Review : "My Kitchen : Real Food From Near And Far" by Stevie Parle

I was sent this book to review by the lovely people at Quadrille Publishing Ltd.  I am quite sure that, given some cash in my pocket and finding myself in a bookshop, I wouldn't pick this one up to bring it home.

However, if I were to trip over it at the Library, I'd definitely take it home to have a read of - not necessarily to cook anything from though.  I can't help but think that if a recipe book doesn't motivate the reader to cook anything from it, then it's a definite fail as a recipe book.

There are flickers of gold in the book with interesting new pieces of information to tuck behind one's ear for later - like the fact that small British Quinces are just as useable as the big plump ones that come in from abroad and what the heck Banh Mi is (a Vietnamese sandwich, apparently).

I have to say that I hate the unfinished feel of the cover.  I can't imagine the state it would get into in the kitchen, although the thought of handing on a dog-eared, oil-stained, half pickled recipe book to one's progeny does have an attractive air about it.  Much as I'd like to believe otherwise, I don't think this book has got the longevity factor required to become anyone's family heirloom.

The illustrations throughout are beautifully drawn by Ros Shiers, such as the fish for May, although the crabs depicted for April put me in mind of one of Giger's sketches for the Alien.

Having sat down and read through this book from cover to cover, I understand the layout of it - being a "cooking year" with recipes and anecdotes taken from all areas of the author's life.  However I do agree with my hubby in that the recipes do appear to be confusingly random.  Although there's no reason why recipes should appear all together under the heading "Pasta" or "Eggs" etc. as in a classic recipe book and I'm all for a bit of free-thinking, it seems to me to be extraordinarily difficult to refer back to the book once you've left it for a few days.  If you'd not looked at it for a few months and then tried to re-find a recipe that caught your eye, I suspect you might find yourself turning to alternative recipes via the internet, rather than have to trawl through the book looking - Index or no Index.

I have a slight issue with the ingredients used, too.  Although I can appreciate that bringing new ingredients to the forefront of people's minds is no bad thing - and we're all looking for variety - I have to take issue with Stevie's comment that "the truly delicious things are not always those that cost a lot", which could lead you to thinking that most of his recipes would be affordable.  I guess my "affordable" isn't his "affordable".  However, I do thank him for introducing me to a Nespole (aka Nefles or Loquats).  I have seen these in the ethnic shops locally and now I know what they are and what potential they have for cooking.

So you see, it's not all bad.  At a price of £14.99 I think I'd rather find a book which contains more appeal.  Having said that, however, I do think that the book is pitched at a bohemian audience which doesn't include me - even though I did spend 9 years living on a houseboat!

Home made Pizza

The final articles

In days gone by, when we still lived in Kent, I would make pizza from scratch on a regular basis.  However, with the advent of frozen pizza becoming £3.00 for 3 in Asda, I just couldn't compete with that kind of price and home made pizza became too expensive to produce.

Recently though, the frozen pizzas have become sickly and more than a little bit yuk, which has put us off from buying them and leaving us pizza-less.  With a 12 year old boy in the house, this is something of a critical situation to be in.

So, hubby decided to have another go at making them from scratch.

Three pizza bases, ready for action
They look alright to me!

I won't go into the pizza bread base, as I know that hubby wasn't terribly pleased with it, although both son and myself had no problem with it and declared the whole thing just gorgeous.  However, I know there's no point in giving you the recipe until he's completely happy with it.

Ooooh, you saucy things!

He made the tomato sauce himself, comprising a tin of tomatoes to which he added a teensy bit, like a quarter of a teaspoon, of dried mixed herbs, dried oregano, salt & pepper to season, a teaspoon of tomato ketchup and a couple of drops of Worcestershire Sauce.  He then simmered it until it had reduced to the consistency of a thick passata and allowed it to cool.

Of course, everyone had different ideas about what they wanted on their pizzas.  Son was the easy one, as he just wanted pepperoni, plus mozzarella and cheddar cheeses.  However to make it a bit more meaty, we'd bought a Pepperami which hubby had sliced up for adding to the pizzas.

Mine (left) and hubby's (right)
all ready for the oven.

Hubby had pepperoni, pepperami, green pepper, mushroom, green olive, mozzarella and cheddar.  I had all that, plus a leetle bit of black pudding, sprinkled here and there.

Gosh, but they were good.  :)

I don't mind having Pizza more often, if they're going to wind up being THIS good.

Chilli Chicken Curry with Courgettes

The recipe for this curry has changed quite a bit since I first decided to include it on the menu list for this week.  The first big change came when I reviewed the recipe and noticed that it included potato.  This is a big no-no, as hubby has decreed that potato is the no-legged spawn of the devil and if he eats another one, it will be far too soon.  So, I try to avoid the little chaps - which is tricky as I'm a complete potatophile.  So that explains why they keep on appearing!

So anyway, the potato was out and I wanted to find something that would be nice to include in a curry, but wouldn't cost the earth.  Enter one courgette (zucchini).  So that was change no. 1.

Change no. 2 came about in the supermarket today when we discovered that a huge pack of fresh curry leaves were less than a pound in price.  Because the recipe I'm using on Sunday - the Spicy Lentils - include curry leaves we got them.  This, of course, meant that I could play with them for the first time ever, in tonight's curry before committing them to the Ottolenghi recipe on Sunday.

Change no. 3 came about when I realised that the curry recipe I had dealt in chilli powder, rather than fresh chillis - which are always my preferred route.  So chilli powder was out and fresh chilli was in.

Change no. 4 came about when I realised that we had no brown sugar in the house with which to sweeten the tomatoes.  Rather than use the relatively flavourless granulated sugar, I opted for honey instead.

Change no. 5 came about when, after tasting the sauce, I realised that it was a little "light" and needed something to give it a richness and depth.  After a bit of pondering, I opted for two tablespoons of double cream.

So hence, the recipe we wound up eating bore very little resemblance to the one I intended to start out cooking.  Still, the end result was worth it.  Chillibob declared that it was very, very close to "the perfect curry" - and that is quite some accolade from him!

CHILLI CHICKEN CURRY (feeds 3)

Ingredients :

To make the paste :

2 medium onion , quartered

1 cm root ginger, quartered

2 garlic cloves, halved and green shoot removed

1 red chilli, quartered and seeds removed.

A knob of butter

a tbsp olive oil

a courgette or 2 baby aubergines

1 tsp cumin seeds

14 curry leaves

½ tsp turmeric

230g can chopped tomatoes

500g boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3cm chunks

½ tsp garam masala

2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

2 tbsp double cream

2 tsp runny honey

METHOD : 

Slice the courgette into fairly chunky slices, melt the butter in a deep frying pan and add the oil, heat until the courgettes sizzle when you put them in and fry until browned, then set aside.

Meanwhile, make the paste by blitzing in a food processor the onion, ginger, garlic and chilli to a fine paste.

Fry the cumin seeds and curry leaves in the leftover oil from the courgettes for a few seconds.

Add the onion paste and brown over a medium heat.

Add the chicken and brown (or “white”) for a few minutes.

Sprinkle in the turmeric and garam masala.

Add the tomatoes and fry for 5 minutes. Add a little water to promote the creation of the sauce.

Season and allow to simmer for 30 mins or so.  Add the honey to taste and the double cream, continue to simmer for as long as it takes for the sauce to reduce to your liking.

Finally, and at the very last minute, add the courgettes and the coriander and stir through.

Serve with white rice.