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Claire

Preserved lemons

Like many of you out there, I have been enjoying spending my Wednesday evenings traveling Europe with Jamie Oliver. So far we've been to Marrakesh, Andalucia and Stockholm with Venice, French Pyrenees and Athens still to come. I have to say he has to be up there as one of my favorite TV chefs, he's just so enthusiastic and his recipes are very accessible (and always delicious), that he never fails to inspiring me to get in the kitchen. I particularly liked the look of the Moroccan tagines (especially the lamb and the chicken ones), the selection of tapas, paella, fish baked in salt and last nights Swedish buns.

I have that many cookbooks that I was trying to resist buying his new one but after only the second episode I cracked and bought it with my weekly shop! The book has all the recipes from the show and more so I wasn't disappointed. First up I decided to prepare my own preserved lemons so that I can have a go at the Moroccan tagines. The recipe is simple, with the only draw back being the wait of one month for them to be ready. I won't copy the recipe here but here is a similar one.

Homemade baked beans recipe

A couple of weeks back I got a phone call from my boyfriend whilst he was at work. Nothing unusual there you might think but he was ringing to tell me he had bought half a lamb from a work colleague and could I find room in the freezer for it. His colleagues brother has his own farm only 30 minutes from where we live and was selling half lambs and with the memory of the Lancashire hotpot still fresh in his mind my boyfriend jumped at the chance. You can't get much more local!

Now we don't have a chest freezer or anything like that, just your average tall fridge/freezer, so creating room for a half a lamb would be no easy task. We decided the best thing would be to split it with his parents, leaving us each with a quarter of a lamb. I set about sorting through our well packed, mostly unlabelled freezer (I know, I know I should label things but only one mystery item was unearthed). I managed to empty one and a half drawers and luckily it all fitted in one draw in the end. The only problem we had when the meat arrived was that none of it was labelled with the cut! Thankfully my boyfriends mum was able to identify it all and we labelled it all up and split the lamb between us. So expect plenty of lamb recipes over the coming months.

First up I decided to slow roast the shoulder of lamb over the Easter weekend. During the week leading up to Easter I saw an episode of Market kitchen where they cooked Sheppard's pie with homemade baked beans. The baked beans looked really easy to make and from the comments the dinners were making they sounded delicious. I've been meaning to make my own bake beans for some time but never quiet got round to it and on top of that I had an unopened bottle of pomegranate molasses waiting to be put to good use. The recipe was easy, the beans were delicious (perhaps a little too sweet for my liking so will tweak the recipe a little next time) and worked perfectly with the slow roast lamb and crusty baguettes still warm from the oven. If you thought there was no point making baked beans think again! these have a million times more flavour than any you can find in a tin.

Homemade baked beans
serves 4

100g lardons bacon
2 shallots, chopped
150ml tomato ketchup
100ml beer
50ml pomegranate molasses
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 x 400g cans haricot beans, drained and rinsed

fry the bacon and shallots in a large pan over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes, or until golden-brown. Add all of the remaining baked bean ingredients and bring to a simmer. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and bake for 1 hour, or until the mixture is thickened.

Easter cupcakes

Happy Easter, I hope you all have had a great weekend and eaten lots of chocolate! I have a few posts planned for the next few days featuring some of the cooking and baking I have done this bank holiday weekend (we need more long weekends!). First up I have some Easter cupcakes to show you. Then tomorrow I will be blogging about the delicious homemade bake beans I served with delicious slow roast shoulder of lamb and crusty baguettes fresh from the oven. Finally I hope to share with you a recipe using left over roast lamb to make Shepard's pie.

So on to the Easter baking. Silver spoon recently sent me a selection of their new range of edible cake decorations to try out and tell you all about. I regularly use items from the Silver spoon range and have always been happy with them so jumped at the chance to try their new range. The parcel included a yellow icing pen, chocolate chips, food colourings, orange and lemon extract and a couple of tubes of sprinkles. Since there was only the two of us this weekend to eat them and what with all the Easter eggs I decided to make cupcakes rather than a cake. Cupcakes also meant I could try out a few of the sprinkles/icing as each cake could be different. Since it was Easter I also bought a bag of mini eggs to add to the decorations. I haven't used the natural lemon or orange extract yet as I haven't been able to find a recipe using them, so if any one knows any please leave me a comment.
The icing pens are a great idea. I have used them before and have always been happy with the colour, consistency and ease of use. The decorations were also tasty to eat and produced great results. This is the first time I have used this cupcake recipe which is from Gorgeous cakes by Annie Bell, a recent addition to my bookshelf. The book is packed full of stunning cakes which I can't wait for an excuse to bake them all! This recipe will definitely be used again as it is much nicer than the ones I've used before and so quick to prepare (30 minutes from weighing ingredients to coming out of the oven, helped by my trusty kitchenAid).

Cupcakes
Adapted from Gorgeous cakes by Annie Bell
Makes 6 cupcakes

110g unsalted butter,
110g golden caster sugar,
110g plain flour,
2 large eggs,
1 teaspoon baking powder.

Preheat the oven to 180C fan/200C/ gas mark 6. Line a muffin tray with 6 cupcake of muffin paper cases.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixer. Add the eggs, flour and baking powder and mix well.

Fill the cases by two-thirds with the cake mixture.

Bake for 17-20 minutes until risen, springy to the touch and lightly golden. Leave to cool before icing.

Have fun and decorate the cupcakes with your choice of icings and decorations. See here for the great range of decorations available from silver spoon. Thank you to Silver spoon for providing me with the samples to write this review.

Fresh from the oven - March 2010 - Kringel

This month's Fresh from the oven Challenge was hosted by Jo from Jo's Kitchen. She chose Kringel (an Estonian sweet or savoury bread) that has recently been featured in the Hairy Biker's programme, Mum's Know Best. Thank you Jo for hosting this months challenge.
It's been a while since I updated the blog and even longer since I took part in a challenge so hopefully this challenge will see me back to regular blogging and taking part in challenges. I ended up baking this bread today! as it was the only totally free day I have had at home in ages. I also baked a wholemeal loaf for this weeks lunch. It has been so long since I baked I had to get my bread book out to check on all the quantities which I used to know by heart!

Since there is only the two of us to eat this sweet bread I halved the recipe and we also decided to make it a little healthier and omit the chocolate topping (partly as we had none in the house). The recipe was simple and relatively quick and the end result was like nothing I have baked before. I do think that the chocolate topping would have improved it. I used dried yeast and just halved the quantity. There were also a few comments from members that 1tsp salt was missing from the recipe and the original recipe stated 'flour' and we decided it meant white bread flour. I have added these additions to the recipe below but have heard the some members struggled with this recipe as they stuck to the original recipe which perhaps has a few flaws. I couldn't make my mind up from the recipe instructions for platting the dough in which direction to cut the dough in half. I went for length wise which made the platting easier but the bread didn't turn out like the picture!

Kringel
(adapted from The Hairy Bikers, mums know best)

Ingredients (Makes 1 Loaf)

Dough

• 40g fresh yeast
• 1tbsp sugar
• 250ml milk, lukewarm
• 2 egg yolks
• 50g butter, melted
• 1tsp salt
  
• 600-700g white bread flour
  

Filing

• 100g butter, softened
• 3 handfuls of raisins
• 10 tsp sugar

Topping

• 150g dark chocolate (at least 50% cocoa solids)
• 75g butter

Method

Mix the yeast and sugar in a bowl. Add the lukewarm milk and egg yolks, then mix in the flour, salt and melted butter and knead well. Shape the dough into a ball, cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200°c/Gas 6. Dust your work surface with flour. Take the dough out of the bow, knock it back and roll out to a thickness of 1cm. Spread the softened butter evenly over the rolled sheet of pastry, then sprinkle with raisins and finally sugar.

Roll up the dough like a swiss roll and cut it in half with a sharp knife. Starting from the uncut end, plait the dough, lifting each half over the other in turn. Finally, shape the plaited bread into a B shape and transfer to a buttered baking tray. Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden.

In the meantime, prepare the chocolate topping by melting the chocolate and butter in a bowl over boiling water. Once out of the oven, let the bread cool down a bit, place on a serving plate and drizzle with chocolate sauce.

Lancashire hotpot recipe

I've been full of cold and generally feeling under the weather for the past week or so (hence the lack of posts on either of my blogs). I haven't felt up to cooking much but once I started to feel better this weekend I have been planning what to cook and craving good homely comfort food. This dish fitted the bill perfectly. Lancashire hotpot is a traditional British dish which is essentially a lamb stew topped with sliced potatoes on top. Its simple to prepare and the flavours are delicious. But not the easiest dish to make look pretty!
Lancashire hotpot

Serves 4
1-2tbsp olive oil
500g Lamb neck fillet, diced
4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm thick discs
1 onion, diced
1tbsp plain flour
250ml lamb stock
1tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1tbsp dried thyme (or a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme)
2 bay leaves
4 baking potatoes, peeled and cut into thin slices
few small cubes of butter (optional)

Preheat the oven to 170C
Heat the olive oil in a cast iron casserole dish over a medium heat. Add the lamb and carrots. Stir occasionally until the meat has browned and the carrots softened slightly. Set aside on a plate.
Sweat the onion in the meat juices (add more oil if necessary) for a couple of minutes.
Add the flour and stir well.
Add the stock, Worcestershire sauce, thyme and bay leaves and stir until the flour mixes into the gravy.
Make a layer of potatoes under the gravy (place in the gravy and use your wooden spoon to push them under the surface. Add the meat and carrots back to the gravy.
Arrange the remaining potatoes over the top. Add some small butter cubes around the top.
Put the lid on and cook in the oven for 1 hour with the lid on and 20-30 minutes at the end without the lid until the potatoes are golden.

Tomato, sausage and fennel seed ragu with gnocchi

Recently my thoughts have been turning even more than usual towards Italy, Tuscany in particular (see here if you haven't heard why). The recipe below uses a typical combination of fennel seeds and pork. The recipe is simple to prepare and delicious to eat. It is from a great book I got for Christmas, The Italian cookery course. This book is fast becoming one of my favorite cookbooks. So far I have cooked a winter minestrone soup from it (which was the best I've tasted) and this delicious tomato, sausage and fennel seed ragu with gnocchi. I can't wait to find more time to cook more of the recipes. I also look forward to finding time to read this book cover to cover. The book includes lots of information on the ingredients used and traditional cooking in Italy and all it diverse regions. There are also lots of useful masterclasses on everything from breads, fresh pasta and risotto to stuffing a leg of lamb and how to bone a chicken or rabbit. To anyone who loves Italian food as much as I do this is 500 pages of wonderful writing, stunning photos of Italy and the food, lots of masterclasses and helpful techniques, not to mention several hundred delicious recipes. I am especially looking forward to spending some time trying out the bread recipes and masterclasses and also fresh pasta.

Back to the sausage ragu. I love the combination of fennel seeds and pork and this ragu works well with gnocchi as suggested in the book but I believe it would work equally as well with a pasta such as penne. I have only recently discovered gnocchi, its a nice change to pasta and very simple to cook (I love the way it floats to the top of the pan when it is ready). I really must find time to have a go at making my own gnocchi sometime soon. This recipe serves 6-8 and freezes well.

Tomato, sausage and fennel seed ragu with gnocchi
Serves 6-8

12 lean best-quality pork sausages
olive oil
4 whole garlic cloves, lightly crushed
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
4 bay leaves
250ml red wine
800g Italian tinned plum tomatoes
6 heaped teaspoons tomato puree
grated Parmesan to serve
Packed of gnocchi to serve 6-8

Remove the sausage meat from the skins and chop up the meat to break it up.
Put the olive oil in a large frying pan (I used a cast iron casserole pot) over a medium heat and add the garlic, salt and pepper. Fry for about 2 minutes until the garlic becomes light gold.
Add the onion and fry for a few minutes, until translucent.
Stir in the fennel seeds and bay leaves.
Add the meat and fry for 6-7 minutes or until cooked through. Use a wood spoon to break up the mince and stop it sticking to the pan.
Add the wine and allow to reduce for a couple of minutes, then add the tinned tomatoes and tomato puree and stir well.
Leave the ragu to simmer for 10 minutes.
Cook the ragu according to the packet instructions.
Once cooked, drain the gnocchi and toss in the ragu.
Serve with Parmesan scattered over the top.

cookbook review: New urban Farmer, Celia Brooks Brown

First impressions of this part gardening, part cook book were very positive. The book is full of stunning, brightly coloured photographs of Celia's allotment, vegetables and recipes.

The book is divided in to the four seasons and takes you through the full gardening year providing advice on what jobs need doing when, which vegetables to plant and suggesting recipes to cook with the crops in season each month.

Celia has her own allotment in London and this book is about a year on that plot and what she has learnt. I only have a very small area for planting, a small raised bed and room for a few containers but the book offers advice and encouragement for growing your own in your garden and in containers as well as on allotments. For each month there is a useful 2 page table of all the veg you can harvest and sow that month. It includes information on which ones are suitable for containers and points you in the direction of recipes in the book using each vegetable.

The recipes are simple and the photo's make your mouth water just looking at them. I particularly like the look of warm courgette salad with parmesan crackling, allotment bbq platter with two sauces and the chocolate upright pear cake.

I for one can not wait until March (where the book starts the new gardening year) to get started on my own small veg plot. I can see this book being a well used book in both the garden and the kitchen.

Thanks to Quadrille publishing for sending me this book to review.
paperback, £14.99
ISBN: 978-1-84400817-9

Lake district foodie finds and wedding planning

Last week we went to Keswick for a couple of nights during which my boyfriend proposed. I have set up a separate wedding planning blog, somewhere I can bookmark and save ideas and inspiration for the big day. You can read all about the proposal here.

We are currently looking in to getting married in Tuscany, Italy. We do not know anyone else that has done this so if any of you do and you have any advice to share with us please contact me, I would love to hear from you.

Anyway back to foodie talk! I wanted to share with you a few foodie finds in Keswick. First up there was the B&B we stayed in - Howe Keld. It has won awards for it's breakfasts and it wasn't hard to see why. Check out the menu here. There was fresh smoothies every day, a great selection of cereal, yogurts, fruit (fresh and dried), nuts and seeds to start. Then wholemeal bread, banana bread or malt loaf (all home made). Cooked breakfast choices included a locally sourced full English (with a vegetarian option), smoked salmon and scrambled eggs or pancakes with maple syrup. The rooms are also very well decorated/designed and the staff friendly and helpful.

Next up was a little cafe/deli called good taste cafe. This cafe is run by a chef and the food is excellent. There are daily specials as well as a regular menu. I can highly recommend the pork and fennel seed meatball with mozzarella panini. On Saturdays the shop window is full of home baked breads which all look fantastic. Upstairs in the seating area there is a warming wood burning stove tables and chairs, comfy sofa's and books shelves stuffed full of cookbooks! They also run a selection of cookery classes which are listed on their website with everything from bread making to butchery (and a Tuscan inspired Italian class that sounds right up my street).

Finally I want to share with you a great restaurant in Keswick called Morrels. I had the Chorizo, Smoked Bacon, Peppered Salami & Tomato Risotto to start followed by Rump of Lamb with Minted Lamb Sausages, Boulangere Potatoes, Redcurrant & Thyme Jus. Finished off with a bramble, apple and flaked almond clafoutif. The lamb was perfectly cooked and all the dishes were delicious and flavoursome.

Daring cooks February 2010 - Mezze!

I was quiet excited by this months Daring cooks challenge chosen by Michele from Veggie Num Nums. The challenge was to prepare a mezze table. The compulsory element was to make homemade pita breads and hummus. The rest of the mezze was left completely open to us to get creative.

I've not cooked very much Middle Eastern food as yet but hummus and baked falafels have been things I have thought about attempting. Only a few days before the challenge I talked about making preserved lemons after reading an article about them. Obviously homemade bread is a regular feature in my house but I had not made my own pittas but again it was on my never ending list of recipes to try.

Middle Eastern flavours include olives, lemons, feta cheese, cumin, chickpeas, yogurt, beetroot, garlic, aubergines, tahini, paprika, lentils and mint. After a bit of research (and a very well timed mezze section on Market Kitchen) I decided to make a beetroot dip, baked falafels, feta cheese, olives and kebabs to go with the pita breads and hummus.

The pita breads were easier to make than I imagined and puffed up beautifully. They tasted delicious too. They were slightly thicker than shop bought ones which I found worked well. The hummus was also simple to make. You can find the recipes for these compulsory elements at the end of the post.First up these baked sweet potato falafels from Allegra McEverdy seemed the perfect choice for me. Falafels are usually deep fried but since I mostly try to cook healthier options, baked was the perfect solution. Sweet potatoes are also one of the most nutritious vegetables around. They are a great source of vitamins A, B6 and C, fibre, magnesium, copper, potassium and iron. The recipe can be found here on 101 cookbooks a fantastic healthy eating blog (most recipes based on natural, whole foods and ingredients) I have only recently discovered. The resulting falafels have great flavours and are delicious hot or cold, dipped in hummus or in a pita sandwich.
The kebab recipe comes from here another new find for me. This blog is full of straight forward recipes for Mediterranean food that all look delicious. The kebabs were delicious in the pita breads with some of the tomato paste from the same recipe and much healthier than the take away versions!The beetroot dip recipe was one I saw on Market Kitchen and can be found on there website here. The flavours worked well together and I preferred this to the hummus for dipping pita bread in. Finally I marinaded some cubes of feta cheese and some black olives in some extra virgin olive oil and dried oregano.

Pita Bread – Recipe adapted from Flatbreads & Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid
Prep time: 20 minutes to make, 90 minutes to rise and about 45 minutes to cook

2 teaspoons regular dry yeast (.43 ounces/12.1 grams)
2.5 cups lukewarm water (21 ounces/591 grams)
5-6 cups all-purpose flour (may use a combination of 50% whole wheat and 50% all-purpose, or a combination of alternative flours for gluten free pita) (17.5 -21 ounces/497-596 grams)
1 tablespoon table salt (.50 ounces/15 grams)
2 tablespoons olive oil (.95 ounces/29 ml)

Directions:
1. In a large bread bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water. Stir to dissolve. Stir in 3 cups flour, a cup at a time, and then stir 100 times, about 1 minute, in the same direction to activate the gluten. Let this sponge rest for at least 10 minutes, or as long as 2 hours.
2. Sprinkle the salt over the sponge and stir in the olive oil. Mix well. Add more flour, a cup at a time, until the dough is too stiff to stir. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 to 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Rinse out the bowl, dry, and lightly oil. Return the dough to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until at least doubled in size, approximately 1 1/2 hours.
3. Place a pizza stone, or two small baking sheets, on the bottom rack of your oven, leaving a 1-inch gap all around between the stone or sheets and the oven walls to allow heat to circulate. Preheat the oven to 450F (230C).
4. Gently punch down the dough. Divide the dough in half, and then set half aside, covered, while you work with the rest. Divide the other half into 8 equal pieces and flatten each piece with lightly floured hands. Roll out each piece to a circle 8 to 9 inches in diameter and less than 1/4 inch thick. Keep the rolled-out breads covered until ready to bake, but do not stack.
5. Place 2 breads, or more if your oven is large enough, on the stone or baking sheets, and bake for 2 to 3 minutes, or until each bread has gone into a full balloon. If for some reason your bread doesn't puff up, don't worry it should still taste delicious. Wrap the baked breads together in a large kitchen towel to keep them warm and soft while you bake the remaining rolled-out breads. Then repeat with the rest of the dough.

Hummus – Recipe adapted from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden
Prep Time: Hummus can be made in about 15 minutes once the beans are cooked. If you’re using dried beans you need to soak them overnight and then cook them the next day which takes about 90 minutes.

1.5 cups dried chickpeas, soaked in cold water overnight (or substitute well drained canned chickpeas and omit the cooking) (10 ounces/301 grams)
2-2.5 lemons, juiced (3 ounces/89ml)
2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
a big pinch of salt
4 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste) OR use peanut butter or any other nut butter—feel free to experiment) (1.5 ounces/45 grams)
additional flavorings (optional) I would use about 1/3 cup or a few ounces to start, and add more to taste

Directions:
1. Drain and boil the soaked chickpeas in fresh water for about 1 ½ hours, or until tender. Drain, but reserve the cooking liquid.
2. Puree the beans in a food processor (or you can use a potato masher) adding the cooking water as needed until you have a smooth paste.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Adjust the seasonings to taste.

The 2010 February Daring COOKs challenge was hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid.

Jordan's Country crisp - muffins

This is a long over due blog post! Just before Christmas I was sent a couple of boxes of Jordan's country crisp to try.I'm a great believer in having a good breakfast to set you up for the day. For me this usually involves a bowl of porridge (all year round!). I'm a bit strange when it comes to cereal as I don't like milk! Weird I know but I never have (not even as a baby). This can cause problems at breakfast as I won't eat cereals where the milk is obvious. Porridge fits the bill perfectly plus it's healthy and I like to play around adding different toppings (mostly raisins or blueberries at the moment). I do sometimes wish that I liked milk so I could eat delicious looking granola, muesli and these country crisps.

Jordan's country crisp are delicious oat clusters, made from UK grown, conservation grade oats and no preservatives, artificial colours or salt is added. I tried the strawberry and the chocolate varieties and thought both were delicious added to a bowl of natural yogurt to add a bit of crunch and flavour. My boyfriend also tried both in the traditional way (with milk!) and loved both. Chocolate for breakfast though did seem like something that should be saved as a weekend treat!I also decided to try out one of the recipes supplied by Jordan's and finally settled on these delicious muffins. Probably not the healthiest recipe but delicious as an occasional treat. They were moist but with bits of texture from the country crisp and the nuts and also tasted of caramel due to the butter and brown sugar being melted together.

Country crisp muffins
(find this and other recipes on The Country Crisp Appreciation Society website)
Makes 6
Prep time: 10 mins, plus cooling
Cook time: 25-30 mins

120g unsalted butter
120g light brown soft sugar
2tbsp milk
75g self-raising flour
50g pecans, roughly chopped
50g sweetened dried cranberries
2 medium eggs, beaten
½ tsp vanilla extract (optional)
100g Jordans Dark Chocolate Country Crisp

1. Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4/180C/160C fan. Line a muffin tin with 6 muffin cases.
2. In a small pan, melt butter and sugar over a medium heat until the sugar is no longer grainy. Add the milk and leave to cool for 15 mins before whisking in the eggs and if using the vanilla, add it now.
3. Mix together the flour, pecans and cranberries in a large bowl, then pour in the cooled butter mixture. Beat until smooth before folding through the Jordans Dark Chocolate Country Crisp.
4. Using two dessertspoons, fill the muffin cases about ¾ full with the batter. Bake for 25-30 mins until the muffins are springy to the touch. Remove from the oven. Leave to cool for 10 mins in the tin, before transferring to a wire rack.

My favorite ingredients - Skye Gyngell

Asparagus, cherries, fish and shellfish, olive oil, leaves, citrus, pulses & grains, tomatoes, nuts, vinegar, garlic, game, apples, cheese, honey and chocolate. These are Skye Gyngell's favorite ingredients and the titles of the chapters in her second book. The book is beautifully written and illustrated with stunning photography throughout.

In this book Skye writes about her love of cooking fresh, seasonal food. It's all about welcoming seasonal in to her cooking when the ingredients are at their best and her passion for seasonality and food in general is evident throughout.

In each chapter she shares her love of that particular food, memories and lots of useful advice on buying and cooking with these ingredients to really show them off at their best. There are also a collection of recipes in each chapter, many of which are part of her restaurants repertoire. Some of the recipes are straight forward. Others are more complex but I have no doubt that all are achievable for the right occasion by an enthusiastic home cook. Examples include slow-cooked shoulder of lamb with red wine vinegar, goat's cheese souffle with lemon thyme and chocolate panna cotta with warm berries and honey.

This book is more than a collection of recipes to simply be recreated in kitchens all around the country. It is an inspiring book that will fill you with passion to eat seasonally, be more creative in the kitchen and to really get the best flavours out of the ingredients you buy.

Thanks to Quadrille publishing for sending me this book to review.
First published 2008 in hardback
Now available in paper back £14.99
ISBN: 978 184400 822 3

Nigel Slater's grilled gammon with baked onions

It's been a while since my last post. I've been suffering with a cough/cold which left me with limited energy to do much more than working and the basics around the house. It was strange really, I never lost my appetite but I did lose interest in cooking. My blog reader and sky + filled up with blog posts and foodie programmes. I'm feeling a lot better now and normal service will hopefully be resumed on the blog.

One thing I have found myself craving a lot whilst I have been ill is mashed potato. Now that I am feeling better I took the first opportunity I could to cook some. I decided to serve it with a recipe I had bookmarked in Nigel Slater's Tender. I love this book. It is the first of his books I have read and will not be the last. I love his style of writing and Tender is full of lots of delicious sounding recipes and advice on both cooking and growing your own vegetables. Even better, it's the first of two volumes. The recipe I chose to cook was grilled gammon with baked onions. I never imagined that onions could taste so good served as a side dish. The taste was so unbelievably mild and they melted in the mouth. The sauce was delicious too and worked really well with both the onions and the gammon.Grilled gammon and baked onions
Nigel Slater - Tender, volume 1

Serves 2 with second helpings of onions
6 medium onions
a thick slice of butter (about 30g)
a heaped tablespoon of flour
250ml, light stock (tsp Marigold vegetable stock powder dissolved in 250ml water), hot
250ml hot milk
3 bay leaves
nutmeg
2 teaspoons grain mustard
small handful of parsley leaves
a little oil
2 gammon steaks (about 150-175g each)
dried oregano

• Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4
• Bring a deep pan of water to the boil. Peel the onions, add to the pan, turn down the heat and simmer until they are tender enough to take the point of a kitchen knife (around 20-25 minutes). Drain them and discard the water.
• Put the pan back on the heat, melt the butter and stir in the flour, keeping the heat low to moderate). Let the flour and butter cook for a couple of minutes, stirring often so the mixture doesn't burn. Turn up the heat and add the milk and stock. Whisk together for a few minutes until there are no lumps.
• Season the sauce with salt, pepper, bay leaves,, a gentle grating of nutmeg and the mustard. Let the sauce simmer gently for a good 10 minutes or more, stirring regularly so it does not catch on the bottom.
• Cut the onions in half from stem to dip (they will be slippery) and place them flat side down in a shallow baking dish.
• Chop the parsley and stir in to the sauce, pour over the onions.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes until the sauce is bubbling.
• Turn the oven off, but leave the onions in the oven whilst you cook the gammon. If your grill is in the oven, move the onions to the bottom and put the grill pan two-thirds of the way up, so that it blocks the onions from the grill.
• Oil the steaks and season with pepper and a light sprinkling of oregano. Grill for 3-4 minutes on each side, till golden.
• Serve the gammon with the baked onions and their sauce.

Whats in season - January

Happy new year!

My first post of 2010 is a whats in season guide to January. January is the heart of the winter months. It's cold and often snowy so comforting pies and stews are often on the menu. Christmas has led most of us to over indulging and the new year for many brings new years resolutions to eat healthy, lose weight or to eat more seasonally. So I figured today I would continue my whats in season series and also sit down with new and old favorite cook books to plan some comforting, seasonal and healthy meals for the next month.

I compiled this list using:
Eat the seasons
The river cottage year, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
River cottage seasonal guide - The Guardian
What's in season?

January

Vegetables: Beetroot, Brussels sprouts, Brussels tops, cabbage (red, white and various greens), carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chicory, greens (spring and winter), Jerusalem artichokes, kale, leeks, onions, parsnips, potatoes, purple sprouting broccoli, shallots, swede, turnip

Fruit: apples, pears, forced rhubarb, mandarins, oranges, satsumas, tangerines, Seville orange, blood oranges, pomegranate

Fish: cockles, cod, crab, mackerel, mussels, oysters, pollack, salmon, scallops, whiting

Game: Duck, hare, partridge, pheasant, venison