Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

January, eating well in pyjamas!

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

I LOVE January. Detoxing comes easily and relaxing in new Christmas pyjamas on the sofa seems like the fitting reward for staying in drinking green tea evening after evening.

Exercise is not a chore, it’s promoted everywhere and it’s what we DO in January to fight the festive flab. Besides, it’s chilly at this time of year so working up a sweat is a reward! But the true reward for me in January is that by detoxing and working out I can cook and eat as much food as I like – as long as it’s healthy.

Thick and creamy leek and potato soup, homemade bread, oat and honey cookies, vibrant green, slightly salty pea and ham soup, cheese straws with crispy bacon snacks, sherry and caramelised onion tart, roasted pumpkin puree risotto, fish pie with parsley sauce, porridge and nuts, ham with piles of garlic sautéed sweetheart cabbage, avocados on toast, oh I am in January heaven.

 

Sherry and caramelised onion tart

  • Line an 8 in tart case with pastry and bake blind.
  • 3 onions
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • A small knob of butter
  • A splash of olive oil
  • A good slurp of sherry or marsala
  • 2 eggs
  • Salt, pepper
  • Fresh chopped parsley,thyme or sage
- Thinly slice the onion with a sharp knife and mince the garlic.
- Gently heat olive oil and butter in a heavy based pan and chuck in the onions and garlic.
- Season well and allow to cook on a low heat for about 20 minutes.
- The onions will begin to go light and then slightly darker brown as the sugars come out and caramelise.
- Stir often, scraping the brown bits. Caramelising is good, burning is bad!
- Add the sherry and cook on for a further few minutes.
- Add the fresh herbs and taste, you may need to add a little more salt.
- Allow to cool. Beat the eggs and add to the cooled onion and place into the blind baked pastry case.
- Cover the top with grated parmesan cheese and bake in the oven for 15 minutes until crispy and brown.
- Delicious warm with salad or cold the next day as the flavours really mature

 

 

Oat and honey cookies

Makes about 15 cookies

  • 1.5 oz soft butter
  • 2oz soft dark brown sugar
  • Tablespoon runny honey
  • 1 egg
  • 2 oz plain flour
  • Pinch of salt and baking powder
  • 6oz good quality oats
  • 2 oz chopped apricots

 

- Put the butter, sugar, honey and egg into a bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk.
- Sieve in the flour and baking powder.
- Add the oats with the apricots and combine well with a wooden spoon.
- Cover a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Form small balls of the mixture with a teaspoon, dropping them onto the greaseproof.
- Leave a good space between the cookies as they will spread and bake for about 10 – 12 minutes at 160C.
- Cool them slightly but I recommend eating them while still warm and gooey in the middle.

And if this is not working for you in January try highlights!

 

 

 

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STOLLEN, all the spice of a Nordic Christmas

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

STOLLEN is a delicious German or Nordic heavily spiced loaf, brushed with melted butter, rum and dusted generously with icing sugar.

It is filled with fruit, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and a twist of marzipan running through it. It is traditionally made with yeast but this quick recipe of mine is easy and has none of the rising elements in it. Stollen improves with age so  make it this weekend and it will be perfect for Christmas Eve.

The history of stollen dates back to the 15th century when bakers were told by law that during Christmas the use of butter was not allowed, only oil, but this made the cake hard and tasteless. Prince Elector Ernst of Brandenburg and his brother Duke Albrecht wrote to the Pope in Rome in 1450 asking for the use of butter. Oil was also expensive and hard to come by. Pope Nicholas V denied their request. Five popes later, Pope Innocent VIII, in 1490 sent a letter known as the Butter-Letter to the prince which granted the use of butter without having to pay a fine, but only for the Prince Elector and his family and household. The ban on butter was completely removed when Saxony became Protestant in the 16th century.

 

Merry cherry berry Christmas stollen.

- Beat the butter, sugar, zest, spices and salt until a smooth paste and then beat in the egg and fromage frais. Sieve in the flour, baking powder, ground almonds and berries and mix to form a soft, slightly sticky dough.

- On a floured surface pat out to an oblong shape about 20cm/10cm. Roll the marzipan into a thick sausage shape with your hands and lay it in the middle of the dough. Roll the dough over the marzipan and stick the edges together with a little water. Place on a non stick baking tray and bake in a pre heated oven at 170C for about 40 minutes.

- Push a skewer into the loaf and remove from the oven if the skewer comes out clean. The stollen should be golden brown and slightly cracked on the top. Remove from the oven and immediately brush with rum and then lashings of melted butter, the cake drinks these in easily. I find it very pleasing!

- When the Stollen is cool brush again with melted butter and dust heavily with icing sugar. It now looks very much like a German or Nordic cake. Wrap it in greaseproof paper and tin foil for three to four days. Place it on a wooden board, lightly dust again with fresh icing sugar and garnish with a sprig of holly.

Eat it with a cup of tea or spiced mulled warm wine. It’s the perfect start to the festive few days.

 

 

 

 

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Meat balls, a truly versatile dish

Thursday, November 17th, 2011

MEATBALLS are not just made of pork or beef. Traditionally yes, the Swedes have made pork meatballs with a delicious cream sauce, the Italians have beef ones with a rich tomato ragu but why don’t you have a go at experimenting with your own favourite flavours.

Go left field. It could be rabbit meatballs braised with prunes and cinnamon, or a Thai chicken meatball flavoured with lemon grass, ginger, chilli, finished with coriander. You could even make Christmas meatballs from turkey mince flavoured with cranberry, star anise, in a redcurrant and port sauce

In Afghanistan, they make meatballs and call them koftas, serving them in soups, like a dumpling. The Vietnamese call them pho, in the Philippines they call them bloa bloa and in Brazil they are almôndegas. As far as I can tell every country makes them, using the simple technique and flavouring them to suit their tastes and the ingredients they have around them. They can be fried, braised, steamed or poached, you can’t fail.

Recently I had friends coming for dinner and some turkey mince in the fridge

I’d had a busy week and had not made the shops so I went to ej walk in fridge with the had none of the chilli and lemongrass I had in mind. But I did find shallots, button mushroom , sage, parsley and pancetta. I was not disappointed, in fact I was inspired.

Turkey meatballs

 

- Smash the garlic, shred half the sage and parsley, slice the pancetta really thinly and add to the mince along with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the flour onto your board or worktop.  Squidge the mince with your hands and shape into small balls, drop them onto the floured board. Roll them again, if the process gets sticky flour your hands too.

- In a pan heat the oil and butter and fry the balls. I add them seven or eight at a time and shake the pan rather than trying to turn them with a spoon as this could make them break up.  When brown remove them and continue cooking the batches  until all are done.

- Deglaze the pan, this just means adding a splash of wine or water to release the caramelised bits on the bottom. Splash the pan again with olive oil and butter and fry the shallots and        button mushrooms, chuck the meat balls back in and add a half pint of stock, simmer for 20 minutes.

- Turn off the heat and add the creme fraiche. Add the rest of the chopped sage and parsley and serve with mash, spaghetti or rice. What a truly versatile dish!

ejcatering meatballs

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Home made Marsh Mallows

Thursday, October 20th, 2011

I made these last night after the kids had gone to bed, Its based on a James Martin recipe and it is really easy and really satisfying to hand cut your very own creamy, soft,  bouncy Marsh mallow.  They also make lovely gifts or perfect skewered with fresh fruit and a hot chocolate dipping sauce

It is basically Italian meringue set with gelatine and lightly flavoured with vanilla.  Don’t be put off by the words Italian Meringue, don’t be put off by the sugar thermometer, if you like cooking give it a go, I was a mallow virgin too!

Ingredients

 

- Lightly oil a shallow baking tray, about 20 x 10cm and dust it with sieved icing sugar and cornflour.

- Knock out any excess

- Soak the gelatine in 70ml cold water. I added one at a time till all the leafs were soft and in the small amount of water.

- Put the sugar, glucose and water into a heavy-based pan. Bring to the boil and continue cooking for about 12-15 minutes  until the mixture reaches 127C on a sugar thermometer.

- When the syrup is up to temperature, carefully slide in the softened gelatine sheets  one at a time and their soaking water into the syrup.

- Watch out it will bubble up so take. Pour the syrup into a heat proof jug.

- Whisk the egg white until stiff, preferably with an electric whisk in a mixing bowl, but i used a hand whisk. Continue whisking while slowly pouring in the hot syrup.

- The mixture will become shiny and start to thicken. Add the vanilla extract and continue whisking for a good 10 minutes, the mixture will become so  stiff it will hold its shape on the whisk.

- Spoon ½ the mixture into one end of the prepared tin.  Add a splash of red food colouring to the other half and whisk for another minute.

- Spoon the pink marsh mallow into the other end and smooth with a wet palette knife if necessary.

- Leave for a couple of hours to set.

- Dust the work surface with icing sugar and cornflour.

- Loosen the marshmallow around the sides of the tray with a palette knife, and then turn it out on to the dusted surface.

- Cut into squares and roll in the sugar and cornflour.

- Store the marshmallows in an airtight container.  I am not sure for how long it would last as I only made mine last night but I don’t think they will last that long anyway When I told Molly this morning there was Home made marsh mallow down stairs she did her excited dance, a bit like the Hakka only faster!!

 

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It is the season of little oranges. Do you pick a tangerine, clementine or satsuma?

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Are you one of those who picks the one which looks like it will be easiest to peel and what are the differences?

They are all varieties of the mandarin family, originating in Japan, and are in season in the northern hemisphere from October to February.  The trees are all evergreens and the fruits very low in calories, high in anti-oxidants, vitamin A and vitamin C and, as we all know, they are excellent pocket food – just don’t leave them in your pocket!

The mandarin grows best in subtropical areas and is often sold with a leaf still intact. It has tight segments, a strong smell, and is sweet and juicy.

A clementine has a deep orange colour with a smooth, glossy appearance. Clementines separate easily into between seven and 14 fat, juicy segments. They are very easy to peel and are almost always seedless. They are the smallest of the family and have the least acidity. Their skins are full of complex aromatic oils used in aromatherapy. Clementines are good for cooking.

The satsuma is also usually seedless and slightly larger than the mandarin or clementine. One of the distinguishing features of the satsuma is the thin, leathery skin dotted with large and prominent oil glands, which is lightly attached around the fruit, enabling it to be peeled very easily. The satsuma has particularly delicate flesh and bruises easily. Satsumas hate the cold!

The tangerine is the middle size of the small orange family. Again it’s easy to peel but it often contain pips, its firm segments are heavy for their size. Fresh tangerine juice and frozen juice concentrate are commonly available in the United States. Tangerines are often used in salads and desserts. The peel is dried and used in Sichuan cuisine.

The tangelo, widely known as the honeybell, is a hybrid of a tangerine and a grapefruit. They are very juicy and are easily distinguished from the others by a characteristic “nose” at the top of the fruit.

 

Sticky Clementine cake

This cake contains no flour, it’s gluten free and has a great tangy flavour as it uses the whole fruit,

 

Method

Boil the whole clementines, skins and all for two hours making sure the water doesn’t boil dry. Allow to cool and place in a blender. Whizz to a puree and crack in the eggs, add the sugar and whizz again to dissolve the sugar. Add the ground almonds and baking powder and whizz one more time.

Pour into a greased, lined 10 inch cake tin and put in the oven at 140C for 30-40 mins. The cake should be firm but not coloured. Allow to cool before turning out and serve with crème fraiche or fromage frais.

Whichever pocket snack you choose this season, make sure its a firm fruit with a good smell and check for bruises.

 

 

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From hunter gatherer, to super markets and back to Crab apples in 500 words!

Sunday, October 2nd, 2011

We used to be hunter gatherers foraging the hedgerows.

Autumn is a great time for berries, herbs, seeds and fungus to name a few and the hunting season is about to begin, even though most of us get our food from shops these days. Shops too have changed considerable over the last 50 years. Remember the days when items were kept behind the counter and weighed, measured and wrapped in brown paper parcels tied up with string.

I have to admit I’m too young but I can picture it in a good Western movie. When I did a little research I was surprised that it was not until 1916 that an American entrepreneur called Clarence Saunders developed the first self service store called Piggly Wiggly. It was widely regarded as a concept of genius!

The first proper supermarket was not opened until 1930.  Packing high, pricing low was the slogan and separate aisles and departments within stores began to develop. The Americans closely followed by the Canadians fast tracked towards today’s individual plastic wrapped vegetables. We Brits were a little slower to understand this consumer trend and it was not until 1947 that we began to see a few supermarkets in our larger cities.  In 1951 ex-US Navy sailor Patrick Galvani, opened a chain of supermarkets across the country but he lost out to a little known fledgling company called Tesco in 1960 and the rest is history.

Back to last weekend when I was out gathering. We were staying at a cottage in the Cotswolds and in the garden was a laden crab apple. They are beautiful mini red apples about the size of a cherry tomato.  I recognised them instantly as we have been buying them, dipping them in caramel and serving them as a fun sweet canapé or dessert garnish.  I rallied my troops (better know as kids), we picked three kilos and made jelly.

We washed the apples and removed the blossom heads.  We put them all into a large saucepan, covered them in water and brought them to the boil, then simmered them for about half an hour.  We allowed to cool a little before handling.  I lined a sieve with muslin and whilst still warm poured the pulp through it.  I placed a bowl below to allow it to drip overnight.

In the morning we had about a litre of juice.  We put it all back in the saucepan and added the sugar and lemon juice to taste, the measurements are guidelines.  We stirred to dissolve the sugar and brought it back to the boil before keeping it on a good rolling boil for a good half an hour. We skimmed off any froth and tested whether the jelly was ready to set  by dipping a clean spoon into the boiling jam and chilling in the fridge.  When it solidified on the back of the spoon it was ready.

We poured the jam into warm, sterilised preserving jars and tightly sealed them while still slightly warm.
It is good served with baked ham, in a cheese sandwich or to make a cream sauce to serve with roasted pork tenderloin.  Delicious  foraging!

 

 

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Could you be a locavore for lent?

Friday, March 11th, 2011

We all know a carnivore eats meat, a herbivore eats vegetables and an omnivore eats both but the other day my mum walked in saying she was going to try to be a locavore. It seems it’s an American term for shopping and eating only local foods.

A few days later I bumped into an old friend on Cardiff’s Lower Cathedral Road whose New Year resolution was to shop and eat only from local sources for a year to see how it would change his eating habits. The results are changing far more than just his eating habits.  He shops more regularly as it is often on foot and involves carrying bags.  As the journey on foot is slower and more purposeful he makes sure he never forgets his bag for life and so very proudly has not taken a new plastic bag this year.

Menu planning has become much more important and he finds himself reading lots of food related articles, recipe books and magazines.  His cooking is more efficient and creative, he is eating a lot more vegetarian meals, treating meat as a treat.  But the best of all is the social aspect, regularly shopping locally on foot he is meeting all sorts of old friends, work colleagues, it is doing wonders for business networking and making new friends.  Financially it is probably similar, what he is buying is a little more expensive but the quality more than makes up for it and he is not wasting any food.  Plus as the allotments begin to yield he is on a good few promises. He is well and truly becoming a character of the high street!

The Riverside Sunday market in Cardiff is a buzz of creative local suppliers. Standards and quality is high, food miles are low.  You follow the seasonal vegetables at their best .  I have recently starting juicing regularly. The yield, flavour, smell and colour is so superior from local seasonal vegetables I am in danger of becoming a carrot snob!

Here are a couple of my favourite juices:

Detox and Vitamin C pick me up:

Power and Irons

Each recipe makes about a glass of juice

A year may be too much of a commitment for most of us to become locavores but we can try to be mindful about what and where we buy.  Maybe try buying vegetables only from a grocers for a month, there are lots of good ones. Be healthy, be a locavore this Lent!

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Pancake Day – Shrove Tuesday

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

Here’s Emma’s recipe for perfect pancakes.

Heat a non stick frying pan with a small splash of oil and spoon in individual serving spoons of mixture at a time. This will make a small drop scone pancake. Cook on each side for a minute and repeat.

For starters serve with bacon and sweet corn and for pudding serve with chocolate ice cream, hot chocolate sauce with a flake in the top and dust with icing sugar. Or just simple lemon juice and good quality honey.

However you eat them, enjoy!

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Valentine Special – Take Away Dinner for Two

Friday, February 11th, 2011

Surprise your loved one to fine dining at home. Ready for collection on Monday 14th February pm.

- Starter -

Scallops with a tarragon and butter sauce, served with homemade bread
(Served in a half shell with a brioche crust, all you need to do is flash them under the grill and lightly warm the bread)

- Main -

Slow braised pork belly with bang bang sauce served with garlic mash and stir fried bok choy
V- Pressed aubergine, tofu & courgette terrine with bang bang sauce served with garlic mash and stir fried bok choy

(Flash the pork belly also under the grill or in the oven, re heat the mash in the micro wave or oven, re heat the boc choy in the microwave or a quick toss in a hot pan).

-Dessert-

Mini homemade doughnuts with 3 dipping pots
Dark chocolate and fresh mint
Merry berry splashed with brandy
Dreamy creamy White chocolate

£35 per couple

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Foodie News – Menus of the Week 11th February and Valentine’s Day

Friday, January 28th, 2011

We are running two extra special ‘menus of the week’.  If you wish to give someone a treat, or have guests coming to town, why not give this delicious menu a try.  You relax with your guests and let us do the cooking!

Home Counties – Take Away Dinner –

Collection on Friday 11th February 2011

Scottish Starter Canapés

Scottish smoked salmon with caper and lemon butter

Arbroth smokie pate on teeny tiny toasts

Fillet of Aberdeen Angus with horseradish cream

Creamy Arran blue tartlets

Welsh Main – Course please choose one

Cawl Cymru with winter roots – served with rustic garlic spuds

Welsh beef braised in brains SA with flat field mushrooms and shallots – served with creamy mashed potatoes

(V) Gooie leek and goat’s cheese strudel

Irish Pudding

Irish chocolate coffee shot mousse

English petit four

Crab apple toffee apples

£22 a head (collection only)

Valentines Take Away Menu –

treat your loved one to a romantic dinner at home – ready for collection on Valentine’s Day – please see the Valentine’s Menu under ej @ Home.

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