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.

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

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.

Chickpea and chorizo stew

I don't know about you, but one of the things I love most about cooking is that moment when the stress and worries of the day just melt away. Whether it be in the therapeutic stirring of a risotto or just the shear concentration and enjoyment of following a new recipe. For me there is something therapeutic about food and cooking. There's nothing more relaxing than curling up with a new or old favorite cookbook, getting lost in the kitchen in the cooking process and the smells or sitting down with a warming bowl of comfort food.
After repeated talk of chickpea and chorizo stew on twitter I decided it was about time I tried it. I had also just purchased Joanna Weinberg's How to feed your friends with relish, which includes a recipe for this dish. The only down side is that the recipe in the book serves 25! However I discovered that Essex eating has scaled the recipe down on his website to feed 4-6 - find it here. I cooked the recipe tonight after a particularly hectic day at work and was not disappointed. The smells of this stew bubbling away on the stove were divine and the taste was literally bursting with flavours. We have half the recipe in the fridge ready for a quick meal tomorrow night and I have been led to believe that the flavours will improve! If you haven't tried this dish by now (& provided you like chorizo) I urge you to give this recipe ago.

It's night like these that leave me feeling inspired and determined to try new recipes more often. Maybe some time soon I'll scale down the recipe in the same book for cottage pie with chorizo, which feeds 40!

Cookbook review - Supper for a song - Tamasin Day-lewis

First off I have to admit to having never read another Tamasin Day-lewis cookbook so I can't compare this latest book to her usual style. This latest release is another in a long line of books clearly written with the more cost conscious cook in mind. In it Tamasin provides recipes for making the most of the food we buy and in some cases encourages the reader to cook extra food so there are left overs to be made in to some mouth watering recipe the following day. Yes the book is called Supper for a song but this doesn't involve buying the cheapest food in the supermarket. This book is about using good quality ingredients and making sure you waste none of it. Recession or no recession this book (and the others similar to it) are designed to help us make the most of the food we buy and in the processes eat delicious food.

This book is packed with ideas for using up left over potatoes, bread, meats, chickpeas and fruits (to name just a few). It is filled with delicious looking photos, mouth watering recipes and tips from the author. There are recipes for roasting a chicken and making stock and risotto with the left overs, Shepard's or cottage pie with leftover roast beef or lamb, potato bread and cakes and hummus and chick pea soups and stews. There is a chapter on meat using the cheaper (but more flavourful) cuts of meat such as braised belly of pork, brisket with pickled walnuts and oxtail stewed with grapes. There are also plenty of recipes for those who love to bake such as carrot cake, Earl Grey fruit tea loaf and chocolate brownies.

One thing I would warn some people about is that the title may make you think this is 'budget' cooking. It's not! Its about buying the best quality ingredients you can afford and using them wisely. Recipes use organic ingredients, wild salmon, vanilla pods and many different types of alcohol including Marsala, Creme de cassis and Madeira (so clearly not aimed at those on a tight budget!).

Further information:
Supper for a song. Tamasin Day-Lewis
Published by Quadrille publishing, September 2009
Hardback, full colour photography, pages 192
ISBN 978 1 84400 743 1
£20

Cookbook review - John Torode's Chicken and other birds

Chicken used to be one of my favorite meats and I used to cook it at least once a week. Right now though I can't remember the last time I cooked it. Its not that I've gone off chicken but more that I'm a less fussy eater and cook a wider range of dishes. However this book could hold the next chicken recipe I cook. 256 pages on chicken and other birds, cooked in a variety of different styles and cuisines, with this book you'll never be short of inspiration for chicken again! But this book is more than a book of chicken, there are also lots of recipes and information on cooking game birds too.

The first thing I liked about this book was the removable jacket sleeve with a flow diagram of what to do with your chicken. From poaching or roasting it whole, to jointing and grilling it or using the meat in curries, pies or kebabs. This diagram inspires you to turn to the book for recipes, ideas and tips for getting the most out of your chicken. As well as the recipes which I will cover in a minute, there is lots of other useful information such as a calendar of the game seasons so you know what to eat when its at its best, a brief guide to all the types of bird you might wish to cook, what to look for when shopping for chicken (no not the 2 for £5 stickers), jointing a bird and a list of poultry and game dealers.

So on to the recipes. The book is split in to chapters on the following topics soups and stocks, snacks and starters, legs and breasts, salads, curries, barbecues, roasts, one pot wonders, tarts, pies and pasties, pasta, noodles and grains and finally confit, terrines, pates and pastrami. Each chapter has a brief introduction by John which will inspire you to try the recipes. Some of the recipes that I want to try include chicken Cesar salad, some of the 8 different chicken kebab ideas (oregano and garlic, chicken and prawns with pancetta, Chinese chicken with sesame seeds), the roast chicken with olives and lemons, and the chicken paella. There are nearly as many game bird recipes as their are chicken ones such as penne with ragout of game sausage and red wine, guinea fowl tagine, five-spiced Chinese duck with bok choy and oyster sauce and pheasant wrapped in proscuitto with polenta. I've never eaten game, let alone cooked it but should I ever decide to this will be the book I reach for. Scattered throughout the recipes John also offers lots of useful advice and tips.

Whilst I would not normal buy cookbooks that focus on one type of meat I do think this is a good book. Its stuffed full of mouth watering pictures and John's useful hints and tips. Although you may glance over this book on the shelf if your not a fan of chicken or think you know all there is to know as chicken I think this book is a great introduction to cooking other types of birds.

Thanks to Quadrille publishing for sending me a copy of this book to review.

Further information:
John Torode's chicken and other birds.
Published by Quadrille publishing, September 2009
Hardback, full colour photography, pages 256
ISBN 978 1 84400 715 8
£20

Kidney disease cookbook

Since I started this blog I receive a lot of emails from people wanting me to promote their offers or latest campaigns but I have never really been keen on turning my blog in to free advertising space. However the email I got today was different and it is something that I am willing to make available to you and tell you about. Basically I was asked to help make a cookbook for people with kidney disease available on my website and I have agree to do just that.

One in 10 people will develop chronic kidney disease in their lifetimes in the UK alone. Some of you may be familiar with the chef Lawrence Keogh from BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen but may not be aware that he had to have a kidney transplant at the age of 35, and as a result is now limited to what foods he can consume i.e. minimal amounts of salt, sugar and fat. On the back of this he developed a cookbook especially tailored for people who have or have had problems with their kidneys.
The book contains 16 recipes and is designed to help people cook meals that are still exciting and flavourful but move away from the quite often dull low phosphate diets that many sufferers have to contend with. He wrote the book in conjunction with a renal dietician who includes information throughout the book on why each recipe is suitable in kidney disease. I think this is a great little booklet for patients suffering from kidney disease and as such I am happy to support this campaign. Currently the booklet is only available free of charge from renal dieticians. However the aim is to make this cookbook available to as many kidney disease suffers as possible, so if you or someone you know suffers from kidney disease send me an email (purelyfood @ gmail.com) and I will email you a copy of the PDF.

Cook book review - Easy tasty Italian - Laura Santtini

Another great Italian cook book! I know I have only just reviewed Antonio Carluccio's simple cooking but what can I say I love cook books and I love Italian food. However this cook book is completely different to Antonio Carluccio's so there is room on my bookshelf and in my kitchen for both! This book is completely different to any cook book (Italian or otherwise) I have browsed through before. Its very unique in style and a little bit quirky too. This book claims that after reading this book your cooking will never be the same again! Quite a big statement perhaps but I suspect it maybe true. I've read my fair share of Italian cook books but I can definitely say I have learnt a thing or two already from this book (which has only been in my possession a couple of days). It's much more than a collection of recipes, this book aims to teach you how to create flavour bombs that make even simple food sensational.





























The secret - umami. This is the fifth taste, discovered by the Japanese in 1908 but only recently accepted by Western scientists. Umami means deliciousness and refers to intensely savoury tastes. Laura has christened umami in the Italian kitchen 'u-mamma!'. Classic umami flavours in the Italian larder include tomatoes, Parmesan, white truffles and balsamic vinegar to name just a few. Reading this chapter on umami helped me understand why dishes as simple as Antonio Carluccio's cart driver spaghetti can taste so delicious (porcini mushrooms are another Italian umami flavour) and why the soffritto base (onions, carrot and celery) are such a key component of Italian cooking.

As well as the umami larder, there are details of the typical Italian larder (a comprehensive list of typical ingredients like beans and pulses, pastas, cheeses and seasonings) and of the alchemic larder. This alchemic larder suggests adding edible metals, dried flowers, nuts and seeds and many other ingredients designed to add magic to dishes.

The next chapter has basic recipes and procedures to prepare flavour bombs, "using ingredients as a writer uses words and an artist uses paints". These include flavoured mayonnaise's, pestos, flavoured butters and pastes as well as marinades. There are serving suggestions for each flavour enhancer. For example she suggests adding chilli, chocolate, wine paste to rich stews, marinading red meat in red u-mamma! marinade, serving sweet and sour carrots with honey & thyme as a side dish or stirring a spoonful of basic basil pesto in to minestrone soup.

The second section of the book contains the main recipes which are divided in to 4 sections Air 'I am raw', Water 'I was cooked', Fire 'I was burned' and Earth 'I am tasty'. Each chapter describes different techniques used in Italian cooking and has a selection of recipes with suggestions for variations and which taste bombs can be added.

Air uses only raw ingredients. So this chapter covers antipasti, carpaccio, ceviche & tartare and dips. Recipes include wild mushroom trifolata, crab salad with pomegranate and mint, tuna and orange carpaccio and aubergine and lavender dip.

Water covers the techniques of boiling, absorption and reduction (risottos), poaching and bagno-maria (gentle cooking in water that is merely hot). There are recipes for sweet potato soup which can be enhanced in several ways including the addition of the flavour bomb of tomato, pepper, orange and cinnamon paste. Pasta is of course included with notes on cooking pasta, making pasta sauces and recipes for the top 10 classic pasta sauces of all time. Risotto is also included, teaching the basic method and lots of tasty ways to transform the basic recipe. Other recipes include sea bass santini and u-mamma! meatloaf.
Fire covers grilling, frying and hob stews with a step by step guide to good grilling, suggestions for rubs and seasoning and recipes including a delicious looking lamb chops with u-mamma! grapes and no-fuss roasted sea bream.

Earth is all about creating delicious food through slow cooking including tender and moist looking rib of beef al barolo and leg-over lamb. There are also recipes for the top 10 Italian vegetable dishes and 12 quick and easy desserts.

This book is bursting with delicious looking and sounding recipes but more than I believe that Laura Santtini is right when she says it can transform your life in the kitchen. I already feel inspired to not only try some of the recipes in the book but also to try out the pastes and butters etc in dishes I already cook to give them the u-mamma! deliciousness they deserve.

Its not out in the shops until the 2nd October but I would recommend to anyone who enjoys cooking Italian food even if you thought you had all the Italian cookbooks you needed.

Thank you to Quadrille publishing for sending me this great book to review and tell you all about.

Further information:
Easy tasty Italian - Laura Santtini
Published by Quadrille publishing 2nd October 2009
Hardback, full colour photography, 192 pages
ISBN 978 184400 755 4
£20

Cookbook review -- Antonio Carluccio's simple cooking

I'm sure any regular readers of this blog will be well aware I am a huge fan of Italian cooking, so it will come as no surprise that I love the latest cook book by Antonio Carluccio. In this book Antonio Carluccio is pulling together all the 'secrets' he has learned from over 50 years of professional experience. In his introduction to the book he describes his love of Italian food and the principles of using the best ingredients possible, cooking them simply and not letting anything go to waste. These principles are evident through out the book. Most recipe contains ideas on how to make them more special or how to use up left overs. All the recipes are simple, usually no more than a page each including the a brief introduction to each dish, an ingredients lists, the method and any variations and tips.

The book has chapters on starters and salads, soups, pasta, gnocchi, polenta and rice, meat, fish, vegetables and deserts. Each chapter has a brief introduction and the recipes then follow, most of them illustrated with stunning photos. Extra information is also provided on cooking pasta, polenta and rice and there is also a good section on pasta sauces and the best type of pasta to pair with them.

Beetroot salad with mint is simplicity at its best and looks stunning and delicious. Pasta and bean soup, cep and cannellini bean veloute and simple fish soup are just a few of the soups that I look forward to cooking this autumn/winter. All the pasta recipes look stunningly simple, as do the risottos. Neapolitan beef olive stew, chicken baked with rosemary and garlic and tiramisu all look delicious and simple.

I tried my first recipe from the book one night last week after work - Cart-driver's spaghetti. It was incredibly simple and quick to cook and tasted fantastic. It's a simple pasta dish of tomatoes, tinned tuna and dried porcini. As I was cooking the recipe I wondered if it would be tasty as there were no herbs etc in it but I needn't of worried as it was delicious (my review of Easy tasty Italian coming up tomorrow will explain how a dish this simple can taste so much better than expected). UK readers may have seen Antonio Carluccio cook this recipe last night on Market kitchen where you will have seen just how simple it is to prepare. Great as a simple, week night supper and the recipe is included at the end of this post.

This book is a great, simple cook book for those new to cooking with an interest in Italian cuisine. It is also good for any Italian cooking enthusiasts (like myself) will also appreciate the simplicity of all the dishes and Antonio Carluccio's fantastic knowledge and passion for Italian food and cooking.

Cart-driver spaghetti
Serves 2

200g spaghetti
salt and pepper

Sauce
1 small onion, peeled and finely sliced
4 tbsp olive oil
2 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
25g dried porcini (ceps), rehydrated and finely sliced
100g canned tuna in oil, drained

For the sauce, fry the onion in a pan with the olive oil until soft, about 5-6 minutes, then add the tomatoes and fry for 15 minutes. Add the sliced porcini and some of the liquid, along with the tuna and some salt and pepper to taste.

Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente, about 5-6 minutes. Drain, mix with the sauce and serve immediately.

Thanks to Quadrille publishing for sending me this book to review.

Further information:
Antonio Carluccio's Simple cooking
Published by Quadrille publishing in 2009.
Hardback, full colour photographs, 176 pages.
ISBN 978 184400 734 9
Price £20
Available to buy now.

Banana muffins

Do you have two blackened bananas sitting in your fruit bowls just crying out to be turned into banana bread? Yes, then this is the post for you.
Every year in the UK we throw out 6.7 million tonnes of food, most of which could have been eaten. 40% of this is fresh fruit and vegetables (and bananas are in the top 5 fruit and veg we throw away). These facts are just a few of the facts on Love food, hate waste campaign website. The website is jam packed with ideas and tips for reducing waste and saving money as well as lots of great recipes for using up leftovers.

I've blogged in the past about some of the ways I reduce waste which as a nice side effect also saves money. For example making the most of a chicken, meal planning and using this as a basis for a shopping list and freezing leftovers. There are also a growing number of cook books on the market about making the most of the food we buy. The basic principle most of these book encourage is buying the best quality food you can afford and making sure you get the best out of it and don't waste any. One such book is The new English Kitchen by Rose Prince which is full of tips and recipes to help you get the most of the food you buy. It covers everything from baking your own bread, making your own stock, cooking with cheaper cuts of meat and the principle of making food in to more than one meal. Another similar book is The thrifty cookbook 476 ways to eat well with leftovers by Kate Colquhoun. These two books aren't full of mouth watering colour photographs of the recipes but instead they are packed full of great advice and recipe ideas and the authors passion for food and making the most of it are evident.

The other day I had a very sad looking fruit bowl, a couple of blackened bananas and a few apples that had seen better days. So I decided to turn the bananas in to banana bread and the apples combined with a few cooking apples I stewed and turned in to a crumble. For the crumble topping I used a mixture of the left over topping (stored in the freezer) from making the blueberry muffins, porridge oats and broken up pecan nuts. The crumble was delicious served with some natural yogurt. The banana muffins were also very tasty and a great nutritious treat to add to our lunch boxes. Kate gives a basic banana cake recipe in her book and lists a few variations. I like mine with mixed spice and chopped nuts to give it plenty of flavour and the nuts give a bit of texture. I have made it as a loaf and as muffins and I love both. Two delicious treats from one neglected fruit bowl.

Banana cake
The thrifty cookbook

2 bananas, past there best, the blacker the better. Mashed with a fork.
1 egg
130g Self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
55g very soft butter
100g caster sugar

Optional:
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 tsp mixed spice

• Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Line a small loaf tin, about 22x12cm. Lining with parchment paper to make the cake easier to remove.
• Put all the ingredients in a bowl, mix together and combine well with a fork. Depending on how mushy the bananas are, you might need to add a dessertspoon of warm water or milk to give the mixture a thick dropping consistency.
• Put the whole lot in the loaf tin and bake for 35-40 minutes. If the cake gets too brown on top, you might need to cover it with a piece of foil for the last 5 minutes or so.
• When a fine metal skewer or piece of raw spaghetti poked into the centre comes out clean the cake is done. Let it cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edges to loosen them and turn the cake out on to a wire rack to cool.
• Alternatively, you could spoon the mixture into a muffin tray lined with paper cases, in which case reduce the cooking time to 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Cookbook review - The ultimate student cookbook - Fiona Beckett

This is the forth student cookbook by Fiona Beckett following on from the Beyond bake beans series. This forth book is a compilation of the most popular recipes from the three previous books along with some new recipes by three student cooks. The students are Signe Johansen, Guy Million and James Ramsden who are all university students with a keen interset in cooking. They all have their own food blogs and are regular contributors on the beyond bake bean website and facebook page. As well as contributing their own recipes to the book they have added really useful comments and tips throughout the whole book. There is even a foreword by Heston Blumenthal.
The book starts off with some really useful information on basic kitchen kit, store cupboard ingredients, shopping on a budget, healthy eating and drinking and food hygiene and safety. The book then moves on to its collection of over 200 recipes. They are divided into 4 chapters; quick and easy recipes for 1 or 2, cheap and tasty meals for 3 or 4, flashy show-off recipes and yummy puds, cakes and cocktails. Through out the book there are lots of mouthwatering pictures of the recipes and lots of tips. Tips at the end of the recipes from the three students include useful advice such as money saving tips, ideas for left overs and extra tips on how to do certain steps of the recipe. Many of the recipes also have a handy list of variations you can try so you'll never be stuck for inspiration.

The recipes cover the basics such as the perfect mash potato, how to cook rice and pasta, as well as many delicious sounding recipes for everything from chilli con carne, homemade kebabs, curries and pasta sauces to delicious desserts like strawberry pavlova and chocolate mousse. All in all this is a very comprehensive collection of student recipes with lots of great tips and advice. And even better it is great value for money too.

Further information:
The ultimate student cookbook - Fiona Beckett with student cooks Signe Johansen, Guy Million and James Ramsden.
Published by Absolute Press in 2009.
Hardback, full colour illustrations, 288 pages.
ISBN 9781906650070
Price £10
Available to buy now.

Thanks to Absolute Press for sending me a review copy of this book.

Cook book review - The Jewish princess guide to fabulosity

You might be thinking this doesn't sound like a recipe book and you'd be right. It's sold as a guide to being fabulous for all princesses but it does have a collection of delicious recipes in every section. I don't think this book is purely aimed at Jewish women either. The vast majority of the tips and articles relate to any woman, whatever her religion.I have to be honest this is not a book I would normally pick up in a book shop. I've never really read/bought any of these books that claim to be lifestyle guides for modern day women. However I'd heard good things about The Jewish princess cook books and knew this book also contained recipes so I volunteered to review the book. In the spirit of reviewing the book fairly I didn't just read the recipes but also the guides and hints and tips.

The book is beautifully illustrated throughout in full colour and the authors style is fun and witty. There are chapters on fabulous families, shopping, travel, dating and self maintenance to name just a few of the chapters. Each chapter also has 5 recipes at the end of each chapter that some how relate to the chapter. For example the chapter on dating has recipes entitled "a fabulous dinner for two". Recipes include chocolate fudge cake (which sounds divine), mousaka and roast maple duck. I tried out miso lime salmon at the weekend which was simple to make and flavourful.

In my opinion, if you like the lifestyle guide style of book you can't go far wrong with this book. It is feminine, witty and beautifully illustrated and as an add bonus there are some simple, delicious recipes included.

Further information:
The Jewish princess guide to fabulosity, Tracy Fine & Georgie Tarn
Published by Quadrille publishing in 2009.
Hardback, full colour illustrations, 192 pages.
ISBN 13 978 184400754 7
Price £12.99
Available to buy now.

Thanks to Quadrille publishing for sending me a review copy of this book.

The best blueberry muffin recipe?

This might just be the most delicious blueberry muffin recipe around. It's from Ottolenghi the cookbook. If you haven't seen this cookbook it is definitely worth a read. The baking section alone is fantastic but there are also lots of delicious sounding/looking vegetable, meat and fish dishes. This is the first recipe I have tried from the book and it was a difficult choice picking which one to try first. The pictures throughout the book are absolutely stunning and will have your mouth watering. My copy at the moment is from my local library but it is definitely going on my wish list of books I want to own.


I baked these the other day and they are simply delicious. They taste of blueberries, lemon and a hint of apple and they have a delicious crumble topping. Like all muffin recipes they are simple to make. The trick is to keep stirring to a minimum when mixing the wet and dry ingredients together. There should still be some unmixed lumps. The recipe says it should make 10-12 muffins. I ran out of muffin cases after making 6 and the mixture went on to make a further 18! mini muffins. I think even if I hadn't run out of muffin cases it would have made a few more than 12.

Blueberry crumble muffins
Ottolenghi the cookbook

Crumble
300g plain flour
100g caster sugar
200g cold butter, cut into small cubes

1. Put the flour, sugar and butter in a bowl and mix with your hands to work into a uniform breadcrumb consistency. Make sure there are no lumps of butter left.
2. Transfer to a plastic container. It will keep it the fridge for up to 5 days or for ages in the freezer.

Blueberry crumble muffins
Makes 10-12

540g plain flour
5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 free-range eggs
340g caster sugar
140g unsalted butter, melted
380ml milk
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 Granny Smith apple (unpeeled), cut into 1cm dice
200g fresh blueberries, plus a few extra for the topping.
1/2 quantity of crumble

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/Gas mark 3. Line a muffin tray with paper cases.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, lightly whisk together the eggs, sugar and melted butter (make sure it is not too hot). Whisk in the milk and lemon zest, then gently fold in the fruit.
3. Add the sifted dry ingredients and fold together very gently. Make sure you stir just enough to combine; it should remain lumpy and rough.
4. Spoon the mixture into muffin cases to fill them up. Generously cover with the crumble topping to form small domes over the batter, then dot with a few extra blueberries. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean. Take out of the tins while still warm.

Enjoy!

Cookbook review - Cake chic, Peggy Porschen

This beautiful book by Peggy Porschen will be equally as at home on your coffee table as it is in the kitchen, perhaps even more so. It is full of stunning cakes and exquisite cookies that I can only dream of one day being able to recreate. From cookies shaped and decorated like little black dresses and ballet pumps to three tier cakes decorated in various styles. There are even cakes decorated to look like handbags and hat boxes. It is a sophisticated, girly book that I love to pick up and browse through.Peggy Porschen has had two highly successful books before this - Pretty party cakes and Romantic cakes. She has made cakes for the likes of Madonna, Stella McCartney and Sir Anthony Hopkins. She also supplies Fortnum and Mason with seasonal ranges of decorated cookies and cakes.

Cake chic is a collection of recipes and step by step cake decorating instructions with lots of gorgeous pictures. As well as designs for decorating cookies, mini cakes (including cup cakes) and large cakes there is a very useful chapter on the basics. This section goes through the basic tools required (a fairly extensive list actually), recipes for cakes, cookie, icings and frostings and tutorials on how to layer cakes, cover cake boards and piping techniques amongst other things. Although I don't feel experienced/talented enough to attempt any of these stunning designs I will be trying out the cake/cookie recipes and using the basics section to learn how to marble cakes, dip cup cakes and learn basic piping techniques.

Perhaps one day I will be brave enough to attempt some of the simpler designs in this book but I'm not sure I would be able to do them justice. For now I will be happy admiring the cakes and using the basics section as a resource when baking.

Further information:
Cake chic, Peggy Porschen
Published by Quadrille publishing in 2009.
Hardback, full colour illustrations, 144 pages.
ISBN 978 184400 710 3
Price £20
Available to buy now.

Cookbook review - The Eagle cookbook - David Eyre & The Eagle chefs

I'm going to start this review being totally honest with you:

• I've never eaten at The Eagle,
• Up until hearing about this book on Twitter I wasn't even aware of this gastropub,
• I haven't seen the original recipe book (which this new book is an update and redesign of) - Big flavours and rough edges,
• I received this book free in order to review it from Absolute Press.

So for those of you like me that aren't aware of The Eagle, it is a gastropub in Farringdon London which was taken over by chefs David Eyre and Michael Belben in 1991. This was the first gastropub, revolutionising the way we British eat out. Since then gastropubs have sprung up all over the country, offering great quality food in a relaxed environment.

Anyway on to the cookbook. There are chapters on:

• soups (including Andalucian garlic soup with soft boiled egg and spicy mussel soup),
• salads (roasted pumpkin and red onion salad and Spanish roast vegetable salad),
• meals on toast (bruschetta),
• eggs for dinner,
• pasta (penne with sausage, tomato and sage and egg fettuccine with ricotta, peas and smoked pancetta),
• rice (risottos and paellas),
• fish (Baked sea bass with tomatoes),
• meat (grilled leg of venison and braised garlic chicken)
• and side dishes (Sicillian aubergine relish and celeriac mash)

Each chapter includes an introduction to the chapter including such topics as what to pair fish with, grilling and roasting meat and a particularly good page on risotto law and rules. I especially like the way each recipe has a short introductory paragraph or two including a description of the flavours or the look of the dish, its origin and helpful hints and tips. Beautiful photographs are used throughout the book, not only to illustrate the mouthwatering, delicious looking food but also of The Eagle pub. I loved the writing style and the layout of the book as well. I may have only cooked one recipe from the book so far but I have read much more of the book and learnt alot.

On my first flick through of the book I thought the recipes were going to be complex, the types of recipes that are great to cook when you want to impress but not much good for everyday cooking. Although these recipes look and sound like they would certainly impress, on closer inspection many of them are not as complicated as I imagined. There is a good mixture of relatively simple dishes (some quick, some not so quick) and some that are a bit more complicated but the emphasis of the book is very much on using good quality ingredients, maximising the flavours and cooking great food in a relatively simple manner. I tried out one recipe from the book which with the permission of the publishers I have included below. It was simple, quick and tasty. I will definitely cooking this recipe again and I am already looking forward to trying out more recipes from the book. In particular I can see myself trying out some of the pasta dishes, the soups and stews in the autumn/winter and the next time I do want to cook something a bit special this will be the first book off the shelf.Grilled chicken breasts with oregano, lemon and black pepper
David Eyre

Serves 4
4 large free range chicken breasts
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh oregano (or marjoram) - you could use dried for a different result, but use less than half the quantity
3 tbsp olive oil
1 small dried chilli, crushed
More freshly ground black pepper than you would expect - about 1 level tablespoon
2 lemons
Sea salt

Wash and dry the chicken breasts. Mix with the oreagano, oil, chilli, black pepper and grated zest of one of the lemons and leave to marinate whilst the grill heats up or the charcoal dies down to an even medium heat.
when ready to cook, salt the chicken and squeeze one of the lemons all over them.
Cook the breasts, turning them 90 degrees once on each side, then remove from the heat.
Squeeze the juice of the other lemon over them, sprinkle with a little more olive oil and leave to rest for a moment. If you happen to have some truffle oil, now is the time to make good use of it.
Serve with a mixed leaf salad containing chives, parsley and spring onions.

My version:
I used dried oregano and didn't use any truffle oil. I cooked mine on a griddle pan after leaving the chicken to marinade for about one hour (there was no length of time specified in the recipe so I don't know if this was too long or too short). I served mine with new potatoes, griddled courgettes and oyster mushrooms.

Thank you to Absolute Press for sending me a review copy of this fantastic book.

Further information:
The Eagle cookbook - David Eyre & The Eagle chefs.
Published by Absolute Press in 2009.
Hardback, full colour illustrations, 192 pages.
ISBN 9781906650056
Price £20
Available to buy now.

Cook book review - Tiffany Goodall Form pasta to pancakes The ultimate student cookbook.

This is a great introductory cookbook for students. It's the kind of book I would have like to have when I was at university. I left university only 4 years ago so remember my student days quiet well. I never had a student cookbook or any cookbook for that matter. Don't get me wrong, I didn't live on take aways and pot noodles! I think I ate quiet well for a student (I dread to think what my boyfriend lived off!) but I didn't cook anything which required a recipe either. My mum taught me the basics of how to cook meat and 2 veg before I left home. In addition to this I ate pasta with sauces from jars, frozen pizzas and the occasional ready meal (yes I'm a shamed to say I even ate the frozen Sunday roast ready meals!).

I received my review copy of this cookbook one morning last week and had a quick flick through the book before heading off to work. First impressions were good, lots of bright, colourful pictures and the food all looked delicious. I did initially think some of the recipes were very basic (boiled egg and soldiers, boiling pasta and baking jacket potatoes) but then I remembered my flatmate who set a jacket potato on fire in the microwave! or my boyfriend who admits that his parents tried to teach him to cook before going off to uni but he just wasn't interested in learning.

Since those initial first impressions I have had time to sit down and have a good read through the book and also my boyfriend tested a couple of recipes. This is a really good book for students or anyone moving out of home for the first time and having to learn to cook for themselves. As well as the real basics there is a good variety of recipes. From risottos to curries, smoothies to vodka watermellon and even a birthday cake. All meals are covered breakfasts, packed lunches, quick suppers, meals for friends and baking. There is even an introduction to basic kitchen equipment, store cupboard ingredients and basic hygiene. The format of the book is very unique with easy to follow comic strip style recipes with photos of every step of the process. Great for anyone completely new to the kitchen.

At the weekend my boyfriend tested out the chilli con carne recipe and followed the instructions in the book for cooking rice (something he had not cooked before). The chilli recipe serves 8 so is great for cooking for a group of friends or in our case freezing in to portions of 2 for when time is short. The result was delicious and his feed back was that the recipes were very clear and easy to understand.I would not hesitate to recommend this book to some one heading off to university this autumn. It's easy to follow, assumes no prior cooking skills (yet doesn't sound patronising or preachy) and is packed full of delicious recipes for every eventuality.

For more previews of the book see here.
Thanks to Quadrille Publishing for sending me my first review cookbook!

Baked chicken with lemon, potato & green olives

I love Bill Granger's relaxed, laid back style of cooking (catch him this week on UKTV foods Market kitchen). His books and TV shows always remind be of summer and he always inspires me to cook simple tasty food. The only down side is that they never seem quiet right during the cold British winter. It's always around this time of year I like to revisit his recipes again for the summer.

I bought his latest book (Feed me now!) a few weeks back looking forward to new inspiration for the upcoming spring/summer. However his latest book is a bit different from his previous offerings. All the photos are shot in this country and it gives the book a completely different feel. I can quiet easily see myself cooking from this book all year round. The recipes are divided in to easy to navigate sections. All the usual sections are there - Breakfast (for which he is famous for), lunch, afternoon treats, family dinners, after work dinners, budget cooking, freeze ahead dishes, entertaining and desserts.

The first recipe I tried was his baked chicken with lemon, potato & green olives. It also meant I got to try out my new poultry shears. As I was only cooking for 2 people I halved all the ingredients and only used the chicken thighs, legs and wings. This is an incredibly simple dish to prepare after work and since it is a one pot dish there is very little washing up (I cooked some green beans separately as I wanted some extra veg so this did increased the washing up by 1 pan!). The only downside is that it takes just over 1 hour from starting preparing to hitting the table. However most of this hour is oven baking time leaving you free to do other things. The result was well worth the wait and I can see this becoming a regular feature on my meal planner. The chicken was moist and the flavours worked really well together (the lemon and the balsamic flavour worked well with the salty flavours of the bacon and olives). I'm really looking forward to trying more recipes from this book.

Baked chicken with lemon, potato & green olives


Serves 4
1kg roasting potatoes, such as Desiree (I used baby new potatoes and the roasted a treat)
1 red onion, peeled and cut into wedges
75g green olives
1 lemon
50g pancetta, cut into strips (I substituted this with smokey bacon)
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
120ml chicken stock
1 x 1.7kg chicken, jointed
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

• Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.
• Cut the potatoes in to small chunks and put them in a roasting tin or ovenproof dish.
• Scatter over the onion wedges, olives, lemon slices, pancetta and bay leaves.
• Add the tomato paste and balsamic vinegar to the chicken stock and stir to dissolve/mix.
• Pour the stock over the potato mixture.
• Put the chicken pieces on top.
• Drizzle over the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
• Roast in the oven for 50 minutes or until the chicken is cooked/golden.
• Remove the chicken pieces, cover and allow to rest.
• Turn the oven up to 220C/Gas 7 and return the dish to the oven for 10 minutes or until everything is well coloured and the potatoes are cooked.
• Place the chicken back in the dish (remove the bay leaves) and serve.

Enjoy!

Olive and pumpkin seed bread

I think I have mentioned before that I make the majority of my own bread but I have only blogged a few types. The reason being that the majority of the time I bake a basic wholemeal loaf which I mix in my bread machine, shape and then bake in the oven. Nothing too fancy or worth blogging. I occasionally top the loaf with some seeds for added texture but that's about as interesting as it get a lot of the time.

The last few weeks time hasn't been on my side and as such we have resorted to buying a loaf with our weekly supermarket shop. So when I had two days off this week and wanted to spend some time in the kitchen I decided to find a recipe for bread that was just a little bit special as a treat (not only a treat eating wise but baking wise for me). So I started flicking through Andrew Whitley's Bread matters. Lots of the recipes took my fancy but I finally settled on his olive and pumpkin seed bread. I was a little nervous about his 16-48 hour fermentation stage as I have tried to make sourdough before Christmas (from one of Jamie Oliver's books) and also a ciabatta (can't remember the name of the bread book) and failed miserably both times. The results were always wet, runny doughs that didn't support their shape. I decided to give it a go anyway, ignoring the look of horror on my boyfriend's face (he was imagining the mess in the kitchen from previous times!).

So my bread started life on Monday evening (quickly mixed up after finding the recipe and discovering how long I needed to leave it and just before 24 came on TV). The sponge was simple to make and was covered and put in our back bedroom (the warmest room in the house) for 16-48 hours. I left it alone on Tuesday, the smell alone was enough to reassure me something was going on! Then on Wednesday I used the sponge to make the basic dough and then added the flavourings before baking.

So was it worth the effort? yes, the bread is very tasty (so long as you like olives!) in its own right (sandwich fillings would need to be kept simple) and has a really nice texture. I really enjoyed shaping the bread (the swiss roll style filling and shaping - see below) and enjoyed the whole baking experience. I will definitely be trying more recipes from his book (sun-dried tomato and red onion bread with tamari-roasted sunflower seeds sounds fantastic) but he has yet to convert me to baking bread in his slow fashion all the time. I can see that I could fit this into my bread baking e.g. make the sponge on a Friday night and bake the bread on a Sunday but there is just something convenient (well in bread terms anyway) about being able to bake bread in 3-4 hours.

Is the book worth reading? Absolutely. I have outlined the basic recipe below but in the book Andrew explains how to refresh the sponge and turn it in to a leaven. He also explains about the temperature of the dough being important and how to get it right (I don't have a thermometer yet so just used 'warm' water and it worked out fine). There are plenty of recipes to keep you going and lots to read about the whole baking process.

I will of course be entering this in to Yeastspotting.

Olive and pumpkin seed breadThe sponge
3 g fresh yeast (or a little less than 1g dried fast acting yeast in my case)
150g water (at 20C)
75g Strong white flour
75g stoneground wholemeal flour

• Dissolve the yeast in the water.
• Add to the flours in a large bowl (sponge may expand to up to 3 times its volume).
• Mix to form a soft sponge (no need for vigorous kneading).
• leave at room temperature to ferment for 16-48 hours. The sponge should rise and collapse in this time.

The final dough
225g Sponge from above
150g strong white flour
75g stonegroune wholemeal flour
4g sea salt
15g olive oil
105g water (fairly warm if the final dough is quiet cool)

• Mix all ingredients together.
• Knead until the dough is stretchy and silky
• Cover and allow to rise for 1 hour

Olive and pumpkin seed bread
Makes 2 small loaves
30g pumpkin seeds
20g olive oil
Basic bread dough from above
100g black olive paste (can be made by blending olives in a food processor with a little olive oil, drained first if they have been stored in brine)
12 black or green olives
Olive oil for brushing

• Work the olive oil and pumpkin seeds into the dough.
• Divide the dough in half.
• Dust the work surface with a little flour
• Roll or stretch each piece into an oblong around 20x15cm.
• Spread the black olive paste over almost all the surface of each piece.
• Roll up like a swiss roll.
• Fold the ends under the loaf so they meet in the middle, reducing the length by half.
• Firmly push olives into each loaf so they disappear in to the loaf.
• Place on a baking tray and brush with olive oil.
• Cover and leave to prove (around 20 minutes).
• Bake in a moderate oven (190C) for 20-25 minutes until golden.

Enjoy!