recipe of the week: rhubarb fool

this serves 4 people

6-8 stalks of rhubarb, cut into equal sized sticks
1-3 spoonfuls of sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
splash of water
carton of whipping cream


heat the rhubarb, sugar and water in a pan over medium heat, stir and turn the rhubarb gently and often.
remove 2 sticks of rhubarb per person when they are cooked and soft but are able to keep their shape.
cook the remaining rhubarb until completely soft and gooey, allow to cool.
whip the cream until soft peaks are formed.
spoon in a dollop of the cooked and cooled rhubarb into the cream and fold together.
spoon remaining cooked rhubarb into dessert cups, top with whipped cream and place the 2 partially cooked rhubarb sticks on top.
chill until you are ready to eat.


oh my this is good. i suspect any fruit would work nicely but have only tried it with rhubarb. people will make a fuss over the prettiness and it's really quite simple.

suggestions

happy valentines!

1. make this apple puff pastry tart. everyday can be valentines with this treat! this recipe makes 4 tarts.

pack of puff pastry at room temperature
flour for dusting
1 pink lady apple
4t of caramel sauce
1/4t cinommon
1T icing sugar
whipping cream (optional)

preheat the oven to 200C/390F.
roll out the pastry until 4 8x10cm hearts will fit. the recipe suggests making a template but i just guessed.
quater and core the apple and slice each quarter into 6 pieces.
lay out 6 apple slices in a heart shape on the pastry.
cut around the apple heart leaving a good sized (1cm) boarder (repeat for all 4 tarts).
spoon 1t of caramel sauce over each pastry heart and spread around leaving the boarder free of sauce.
arrange the apples on top of the sauce.
dust all 4 tarts with the the cinommon and icing sugar.
place on a large baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

whip some cream and swirl with some more caramel sauce, if you want.

eat warm! yum.

2. if you live in london go and see la clique, a melange of cabaret, new burlesque, and circus sideshow. for your pleasure are the talented..

Captain Frodo, Norway’s outrageously bendy man, hula hoop’s finest exponent Yulia Pikhtina, the PVC-clad Miss Behave who has a penchant for swallowing pointy objects.

not mentioned was my favourite guy, mario queen of the circus. a leather clad, juggling, queen fanatic. and miss behave didn't swallow anything for our show, but she did reveal some lovely crystals she had been hiding upon her person at the end of the act. she was naked save 3 small strategically placed hearts, a treat for the valentine's show. there's also the wet rope dancer as pictured above. yum.

la clique was fantastic! i would like to go again as i think each show is probably a little bit different.


3. if you live in bath go to jamie's italian, jamie oliver's new restaurant. i cannot gush enough about how much i enjoyed this restaurant. it was a tough decision on what to eat as the whole menu made our mouths water. there are a few locations, if you live near one you must go! if you're visiting england factor this restaurant into your plans. check out my flickr for the meal play-by-play.

recipe of the week: christmas left over pie

i love jamie oliver. every recipe i have made of his has been a triumph, i have learned so much from his shows.

here's his recipe for turkey and sweet leek pie, i used the basic principals to make my own christmas left over pie. as jamie says, 'this isn't a pretty boy pie, this is a proper english pie', i've never made one before and i will certainly be trying this one again. it may seem like a lot of work but it's not, not much washing up either.

christmas left over pie

1C left over goose meat
2 rashers of bacon chopped
knob of butter
salt and pepper
sprig fresh thyme, leaves removed
4 small potatoes thinly sliced
handful green beans
1 head of broccoli
4C stock
heaped spoonful of flour
2 heaped spoonfuls creme fresh
puff pastry, thawed
roasted chestnuts
1 egg, beaten
fine strainer

preheat the oven to 190/375 degrees
fry the bacon in the knob of butter until brown, add the thyme leaves and fry for a minute.
add the thinly sliced potatoes, salt and pepper and toss well.
add enough stock to cover the potatoes and allow to bubble away until almost all the liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally.
test the potatoes with a fork, if they are not soft add more stock and continue to cook until potatoes done and most of the liquid is absorbed.
add the beans and broccoli and goose meat and toss.
dust the mixture with the flour and mix up vigorously.
add the rest of the stock, or water if you've used all the stock and stir it up.
mix in the creme fresh and bring back up to the boil.
place the whole mixture into the fine strainer over another pot and allow the gravy to drip down while you roll out the pastry.

lightly flour your counter and roll out the puff pastry into a large rectangle until it's quite thin.
crush the roasted chestnuts over half of the pastry and then fold the pastry over.
gently roll out the pastry again to a size that will fit your baking dish, don't worry if chestnuts poke through.

place the goose and potato mixture into a baking dish.
cover with the puff pastry and tuck the edges under like your tucking a child into bed.
score the pastry with the back of the knife into a criss cross diamond pattern.
paint the egg over the pastry.
bake for 30-45 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden brown and the filling is bubbly.

reheat the gravy. i didn't have enough gravy so i added water, gravy granules and more creme fresh to bulk it up a bit.

serve immediately! yum-oh! it keeps well too. i made a second pie for lunch today and it reheated, covered in tin foil in 40 minutes. it was just as tastey.

12 drummers drumming

it's christmas eve! let the feasts begin.

i suggest roasting a ham with a side order of scalloped potatoes.

i have no pictures as we ate it too fast...but trust me, these are winners.

10 lords a leaping

yum yum yum, turn on the christmas carols and make yourself a holiday treat.

mulled wine

2 glasses red wine
1 glass apple juice
pinch of cinnamon or 1 stick
pinch of ground cloves or a few whole ones
small grating of nutmeg
1 clementine cut into rounds

bring everything to a simmer, take off the heat and allow to steep while you prepare the chestnuts.

chestnuts not roasted on an open fire

take as many chestnuts as you think you can eat and cut an X into the skin of each. place in a baking tray and roast in a preheated 200c/390f degree oven for 15 minutes.

reheat the muled wine if it's cooled down too much and eat everything immediately.

8 maids a milking (who stop to eat black forest cookies)

black forest cookies

3/4C flour
3/4C sugar
3/4t baking powder
1/4t salt
4T butter, melted
1/3C cocoa powder
1 egg
2T coffee or water
1/3C chocolate chips
1/3C dried sour cherries, chopped
some sifted powdered sugar

preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking tray with parchment.
mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
whisk melted butter and cocoa in separate bowl.
mix in the egg, coffee (or water) and blend well.
fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture, do not over mix.
fold in the chocolate chips and cherries.
scoop 1T of the mixture and roll into balls.
roll the balls around in the powdered sugar twice.
place balls on baking tray, 2 inches apart.
bake for 10-14 minutes or until the cookies are cracked yet soft, do not overbake!
cool the cookies on the baking tray for 5 minutes before fully cooling on a rack.

yum! these are great and they keep really well in a tin. have some milk for drinking handy...

5 go-old rings

here's an easy cookie/sweet recipe for children to make this holiday season. chocolate reindeer!

melt some chocolate and spoon it onto grease proof paper in a round shape.

then add a cherry nose, chocolate ears and eyes and licorice antlers.

4 calling birds

tis the season for baking.

i ran out of eggs this weekend and looked for an egg-less sugar cookie recipe. if you make sugar cookies without eggs this is what happens....

you'll have to clean your oven and probably hoover around your oven like me. it was a total and complete disaster.

don't believe a sugar cookie recipe that says you don't need an egg. let this be a lesson to you all.

on the bright side i just made some fantastic black forest cookies...watch this space.

i don't know if this really worked

lydia is always posting pictures of her yummy, pastry school treats on her flickr. this lemony pinwheel caught my eye.

i don't think mine turned out all that well. the first major difference is lydia made her own puff pastry and i used the ready made puff pastry in my freezer. lydia made her own lemon filling, i used the blueberry and cherry jam in my fridge. lydia sprinkled hers with course sugar, i had none. my attempt wasn't never going to win out.

i enjoyed making these though, the geometry is pleasing, and by using all the ready made bits these took me about 5 minutes from start to finish.

they could have used a few more minutes on the oven as the centres, under the jam was a little doughy still. and my cherry jam was apparently too runny and didn't stay in the middle. my next try will be more successful...i'll keep you updated.

these were pretty tasty even with the runny jam and slightly under cooked centres.

recipe of the week: squash and prawn stir fry

half a butter nut squash, peeled and cubed
handful of prawns, cooked or raw
2T fish sauce plus some to splash
1T sugar
2 garlic cloves, grated or minced
cooked rice to serve

cook some rice.
boil the cubed squash for 6-10 or until just cooked.
mix the fish sauce, sugar and garlic.
splash some fish sauce over the prawns.
heat the fish sauce mixture in a large frying pan until the garlic begins to sizzle and add the cooked squash, stir fry for 5 minutes or so.
add the prawns and cook through.
serve with rice.

yum.

recipe of the week: lemonade x2

when it's hot outside, make lemonade.

basil lemonade

3 lemons, zested and juiced
handful of fresh basil, chopped roughly
2 spoonfuls of honey
2 spoonfuls of sugar
jug of water

pour some of the water into a pot, add sugar and honey and boil for a few minutes, everything needs to be dissolved.
take off the heat and add the zest and basil, allow to cool completely.
pour lemon juice into a large bowl, strain the zesty, sugary water into the bowl and taste.
add more water or sugar or lemon or anything it needs.


minty melon lemonade

half a melon (i used cantaloupe) puree with a splash of water using a hand blender
1 lemon, zested and juiced
handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped
jug of water
2 spoonfuls of sugar

boil some of the water with the sugar until dissolved, take off the heat and add the zest and mint, cool completely.
strain the blended melon into a bowl and add lemon juice.
strain cooled mint water into the melon and lemon juice.
add more water or lemon or sugar to taste.

first recipe using my produce: vegetarian cannelloni

ok, so it's only using some basil from my garden, but it's basil that i grow. i don't have any measurements for this recipe.

soya mince
bottle of tomato juice, sauce or puree
cherry tomatoes
garlic cloves, finely chopped/grated
grated cheese - i used parmesan and mozzarella
basil leaves, half chopped half left whole
dried cannelloni pasta.

preheat oven to 175C or 350F, bring a pot of water up to the boil.
slit and X into the bottom skin of each tomato and pop into boiling water for 30 seconds. the skin slips right off when slightly squeezed.
fry the vege mince until wamred, add skinned cherry tomoatoes and a sploosh of tomato sauce. cook for a few minutes and then allow to cool a little.
pour 1/3 of the tomato sauce into a deep baking dish, making sure the whole surface is covered.
sprinkle the chopped garlic and basil over the top.
spoon the mince filling into the pasta tubes and lay the tubes into the sauced dish. fill the dish with as many cannelloni's as you can.
pour the remaining tomato sauce over the pasta, ensuring good spreading and coverage.
grate the parmesan over the top and rip pieces of mozzarella over the top.
place the whole basil leaves on top of the cheese because it's pretty.
bake for 30 minutes covered and then uncovered for another 15 minutes or until the cheese is gooey and brown.

recipe of the week: broccoli soup

have you ever seen a recipe and thought, 'that could be good, i think i'll try it'? and then you make it and you almost fall over because it's so good. this is what just happened to me. and i'm going to take full credit for this soup...i got the idea for adding nutmeg from a recipe but everything else is me.

broccoli soup
dab of butter
good grating of nutmeg
1 large head of broccoli, chopped (stalks and florets separated)
1L of vegetable stock
lashing of double cream
2 large handfuls of pea shoots (or watercress or some other green leaf/shoot)

optional additions
bacon rashers, chopped and fried crisp
goat's cheese, crumbled
parmesan twists

heat the butter in a large soup pot.
fry the nutmeg and the chopped broccoli stalks for a few minutes until almost tender and slightly golden brown.
add the florets, stock and double cream and simmer for 10 minutes or until everything is tender.
*if you're keeping this as vegetarian soup remove a few scoops of broccoli florets so the soup will have some bite, if you're adding bacon bits later keep all the broccoli in the pot*
remove from the heat and stir in the pea shoots.
blitz with a hand blender until smooth.
serve immediately with some bacon bits and goat's cheese sprinkled in and some parmesan twists for dipping.

recipe of the week: fishcakes

do you have some left over fish or potato that you don't know what to do with? make fishcakes. ensure everything is cooked before assembling, this way you just need to get a bit of colour on the fishcakes without worrying about getting them cooked through. use this recipe as a bit of inspiration and put anything that you have leftover into them.

1 or 2 potatoes, cooked and mashed with some butter and salt
1 or 2 fillets of cooked fish, flaked (i used a lovely smoked haddock)
2-4 bacon rashers, chopped and fried crispy
handful chives, chopped
2T capers, chopped
1 lemon or lime, juiced and zested

mix everything together, gently.
form into patties.
chill for 15 minutes or overnight.
heat a splash of butter and olive oil in a large fry pan until sizzling.
add the fishcakes and fry for 3-4 minutes a side, ensuring a nice golden brown crust.
serve with a herby, creamy sauce. *add a variety of fresh chopped herbs - like dill, parsley and mint - along with a good squeeze of lime or lemon, plus the zest to some creme fresh or sour cream or mayonnaise.

recipe of the week: pancetta wrapped salmon stuffed with saffron rice

this amount of effort required for this dish is not justified by the taste. it's very tastey, but you could really avoid stuffing the salmon and just serving the rice on the side. but that would probably effect cooking times, so be warned. and the lovely coral colour of the rice is lost when it's cooked for a second time in the salmon.

saffron rice

400ml of vegetable stock
large pinch of saffron
190-200ml of long grain rice
dollop of butter
pinch of salt
3T chopped fresh herbs of your choice (like tarragon, chives, and mint)
1 lime, zested and juiced

bring the stock, saffron and salt to a boil.
stir in rice and bring back to a boil, stir, cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes.
remove from the heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes, still covered.
uncover and fork through butter, lime and herbs.


pancetta wrapped salmon

4 skinless, boneless salmon fillets (pay the extra to have the fish skinned as skinning raw fish is not fun)
14-18 strips of pancetta
some of the saffron rice

preheat the oven to 200C/392F.
lay 5-7 pancetta slices on your cutting board so that they overlap.
place 1 salmon fillet on the pancetta.
place a few spoonfuls of saffron rice on the fillets and press down, top with another salmon fillet.
wrap the pancetta up around the salmon and rice parcels, using an extra pancetta slice or 2 to ensure everything meets up.
bake for 35-40 minutes or until cooked through.
cover in foil once removed from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
cut into thick slices and serve with extra rice.

recipe of the week: coriander and cashew pesto

lydia provided a great link in a recent post for ideas about what to do with left over fresh herbs. this coincides nicely with my lastest cooking triumph as idea number 8 is to make your own pesto. i saw this recipe on a cooking show the other day. you don't need a blender to make pesto, although it quickens the process. you just need a large shrap knife and my pestle and mortar did come in handy for the nuts.

large bunch of coriander
large handful of cashews
goodly grating of hard italian cheese (i used romano)
splash of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

chop the coriander as finely as you can stand.
crush or chop the cahsews quite finely but leaving some chunky texture.
mix the chopped coriander, cashews, cheese and salt and pepper.
stir in enough olive oil to loosen the mixture without making it soupy.
serve with pasta or grilled fish or meat.

recipe of the week: coronation chicken

if you ever come to england and see coronation chicken sandwich advertised in a greasy spoon, i'd recommend passing it over in favour of a bacon or chip butty. but if you have some spare curry paste at home that you don't know what to do with then i would suggest making new age coronation chicken. this whole meal took me less than an hour from getting everything out of the fridge to sitting and eating. it's ridiculously flavourful and a meal that will impress anyone you make it for as it seems so much more difficult than it is.

1T medium curry paste (i used a beautiful thai green curry paste)
1 lemon, juiced and zested
8 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
enough rice for everyone you're cooking for
2T double cream (or mayonaise or sour cream or creme fresh)
1 to 5 spoonfuls of mango chutney (or as much as you like depending on how sweet you want the sauce)
150g pot of natural yogurt
12 dried apricots, chopped
1/2 apple, cored, chopped
handful of coriander, chopped

preheat the oven to 230C/445F. i know that's hot...but it works.
mix half the curry paste with the lemon juice and toss with the chicken, rubbing in well.
roast chicken, skin side up, for 25 minutes or until cooked through.
cook the rice according to the package.
mix remaining curry paste in a bowl with double cream, chutney and yogurt.
mix cooked rice with lemon zest, apricot, apple and coriander.
serve chicken, drizzled with sauce, and a heap of rice.

this recipe will not disappoint you.

easter appetizer: apricots wrapped in bacon

on easter sunday the final episode of the bbc drama 'the passion' was on and i got a little wrapped up in it (jesus did resurrect after all) and forgot about the things in the oven...so some of it got a little over cooked. nothing was burned to in-edible...just pleasantly charred. let that be a lesson to you all.

5 dried apricots per person
bacon rashers cut in half, one rasher per 2 apricots
sprinkling of dried oregano

preheat oven to 165C/325F.
sprinkle the oregano over the apricots.
wrap each apricot in a bacon rasher.
slow roast them in the oven for the last 30-45 minutes of the lamb's cooking time.
crank up the oven to 200C/395F and finish roasting the bacon and apricots for 10 minutes or until crispy.

easter dinner: beans, basil and cashews

this can mostly be made well in advance and finished at the last minute.

handful of green beans per person, trimmed
handful of fresh basil, chopped
handful of salted cashews, chopped
knob of butter for frying

steam the beans until tender.
melt the butter in a fry pan, take off the heat.
add the beans, basil and cashews to the pan and reheat for a few minutes when everything else is just about ready.

easter dinner: courgette and potato fritters

once again, i got a little distracted while these were in the oven...

1 large courgette, grated
2-3 large potatoes, grated
handful of fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper
lemon. zested and juiced
splash of oil for frying

place grated potato and courgette in a tea towel and squeeze out as much moisture as you can.
mix courgette, potato, basil, lemon, salt and pepper.
form into palm sized patties and fry on both sides until browned.
place on a baking tray and bake for the last 30-45 minutes of the lamb's time.
crank the oven up to 200C/395F to crisp up the fritters for 10 minutes while the lamb rests.