Fridge Food

Oh so Italian Salad

2011-11-24T17:13:00.001-08:00

I had buffalo mozzarella, I had prosciutto, I had fresh figs, I had rocket. All I needed was to slice the figs, tear up the mozzarella, peel apart the wafer thin prosciutto and mix it up with a generous helping of rocket and that was it. Drizzle over copious amounts of good olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a twist of salt and pepper - and you have a meal made in heaven. Italian heaven.

Simple Cottage Pie

2011-11-14T15:06:00.001-08:00

Can there be any humbler dish than Cottage Pie? Or indeed any nobler dish than Cottage Pie? For me it is its tasty simplicity which raises it to loftier heights than its humble origins suggest.

It derives from the frugal idea of mincing left-over roast meat and combining it with mashed potato. The word 'cottage' is supposedly used to imply the impoverished nature of those concocting and eating it - and the need to 'waste not want not'. 'Shepherd's Pie' is of course just a variation on the theme and usually, as the name suggests, indicates that the meat used is lamb rather than beef.

So it was that I found myself opening the fridge door and looking at the unused, unopened beef mince packs left over from the weekend; at the dish of leftover mash and veg from Sunday's roast gammon; and at a jugful of rich tasty gravy from a meal I made when my parents were staying last week. All I had to do was chop an onion, boil and mash a few more potatoes and that was almost it.

I dug out my newest Rissoli dish - a rectangular, non-stick, heavy based little number - and warmed some olive oil before throwing in the chopped onion to soften. Then in went the meat (c.1kg) which I seasoned with salt. Once that was all browned I added a hefty squeeze of tomato puree, a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, some generous shakes of Worcestershire Sauce, the chopped up leftover veg (runner beans, broccoli and carrots), and the jugful of rich gravy. (If I had not had the gravy I would have had to add stock and wine and let the whole lot reduce down which is, of course, much more time-consuming.)

I took the leftover mash and added creamy milk to soften it and when the extra potatoes I'd peeled and cooked were ready, I mashed them in with it. By now the meat was all ready to go, so I simply spread the mash over the top, forked it up a bit and added a thin layer of grated cheddar. It then went into the hot oven to thoroughly heat it through and brown the topping.

Very quick, very easy, very delicious. Clean plates from all the children and requests for seconds. Job done!

Quick Healthy Lunch

2011-03-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

On Tuesdays I go down to our village infant school to run the Gardening Club which we do during the children's lunch break from about 12.30 to 1.00pm - though I am frequently there till 2.30 or 3pm finishing off what we started together, tidying up, writing our activities up on the blackboard etc etc. So by the time I get back home, if I haven't managed to eat before going down there, I am usually pretty hungry.

This week I got home about 2.30pm and went straight to the fridge. It is full at the moment with little plastic tubs of leftovers - leftover roast potatoes, leftover greens, leftover baked beans and leftover salad to name just a few. One of my preferred quick meals is toast, baked beans and a fried egg on top. This was what I decided I fancied - especially as I had some lovely brown bread in the bread bin. But today I would give it a twist on my usual - I would use up the dog-end of green salad (rocket, watercress and spinach) too.

So I popped the bread in the toaster, microwaved the baked beans (since they were already in a plastic container and it would save washing up a saucepan), fried the egg on the Aga, buttered the toast, put the beans on top, then the salad and perched the fried egg on top of all that. A twist of salt and pepper and there you have an incredibly quick, reasonably healthy and suitably nutritious lunch. I was tempted to pour the wine, but decided I'd better stick with milk. And voila! I was fully replete all in the space of 15 minutes of getting home.

Quick 'Gourmet' Dinner for One

2011-03-02T15:14:00.000-08:00

Unexpectedly home alone tonight. So I binned the idea of fish fillets, new potatoes and salad and opened the fridge door. Cheese on toast came to mind as I eyed the Morrison's Mature Gruyere lying neatly on top of the Cathedral City Mature (But Mild) cheddar.

I removed the Waitrose sliced white from the breadbin and decided to use the crust - mainly because that was all that was left. It was thin and soft so it seemed a shame to just to give it to the birds. I got out a small non-stick saucepan and lopped in a teaspoon of Co-Op sour cream which was also hanging around the fridge looking lost and unloved. I then broke off a lump of the gruyere and grated it into the warming sour cream. Ditto with some larger chunks of cheddar. I then sprinkled in some shakes of Worcestershire sauce and stirred it all round with a wooden spoon. Meanwhile I toasted the crust on the Aga and when it was ready put it on a plate and spread the hot melting cheese onto it.

Voila, gourmet (I use the term loosely!) dinner for one achieved in about 5 minutes. Delicious if you like cheese on toast or variation on Welsh Rarebit. A green salad next to it would have prettied it up but I decided to just get on and tuck in and eat the salad later.

Sometimes it's great when your husband decides to eat out with colleagues...

PS: you will notice that I am also fairly eclectic when it comes to the supermarkets I visit - variety is the spice of life, I've always believed.

Taglierini with a Lemon, Cream and Watercress Sauce

2011-01-21T00:51:00.000-08:00

All You Need:-

Taglierini (or fettucini or vermicelli) pasta
Fresh double cream
Fresh lemon juice
Watercress

We landed at Manchester airport after our week’s skiing and decided to have lunch in a pub on the way home just to delay the inevitable i.e the fact that the holidays were finally over and that the real world was going to hit hard again the next day. It also saved me having to go and slog round a supermarket on a Sunday afternoon.

So, come the evening, thanks to our lunch out, we did not have huge appetites – we just needed a little something to cheer us up. I peered into the fridge, as usual, and it wasn’t as bad as sometimes after a holiday. I had decided on a small bowl of pasta and just needed some ingredients to knock together a light sauce. There was some cream left over from Christmas and, rather miraculously, a bag of watercress which was still seemingly whole and appetising (as opposed to liquefied and disgusting). I had lemons. I had the remains of a packet of taglierini (fine ribboned pasta). So that was it then, I would do taglierini with a lemon, cream and watercress sauce. Easy.

I put a large pan of water on to boil and finished up the packet of taglierini – a thinner version of fettucini (which, in turn, are a thinner version of tagliatelle – you see, there is a sliding scale in pasta!). I always buy DeCecco if I can. It is, quite simply, the best pasta on the market in terms of flavour and holding its structure during cooking. (If you click the link it will show you the exact pasta I used and you can buy it from their website too. I find it in Waitrose, if you have one near you - or if you click here you can get it from Ocado - the Waitrose delivery service).

Meanwhile, I got out another smaller non-stick saucepan and put 3 or 4 tablespoons of cream into it and started to warm it gently. I then rummaged in the watercress bag and got out the bits which were still most wholesome and chopped them up. This then went into the cream sauce with the juice of about half to three-quarters of a lemon. (Do this by taste.)

The taglierini, being so thin, only took a couple of minutes to cook and the sauce, likewise, took just minutes. All you have to do then is put a little cold water into the pasta before draining it (to help wash off the starch without cooling it down too much) and then toss it in the sauce and maybe add a twist of pepper and a scattering of parmesan if that’s what you fancy. So quick - and remarkably tasty.

Easy Pot Roast Lamb

2010-12-21T00:38:00.000-08:00

This blog is in danger of growing mould, so long it is now since I have written anything! My apologies. I have countless photographs on my computer of food I have taken pictures of because it has been a successful little number I've knocked up from the contents of my fridge on a casual weekday evening for my work-weary husband. The trouble is, I have not written down what I did. I think I am going to remember simply by looking at the photographs, but of course I never do.

So, enough excuses. Here I am now, when I should be doing a thousand things to get ready for Christmas (badly out of control with sick children to boot), writing down the pot roast lamb we had on Sunday.

I had been busy making a Christmas cake with my eldest daughter (a combination of two recipes - if it proves tasty and successful, I will let you know) and the day was ticking away. I'd got as far as taking a small shoulder of lamb out of the freezer which needed eating up (God knows how long it had been in there). I chose the small one because two out of three daughters were ill so I knew there would only be three non-ill member of the family eating it for supper. Even frozen it was giving off a slightly alarming smell (compared to the newly frozen lamb - bought from a local farming friend - which I had bagged up only a short time ago) I perservered and defrosted it in the microwave. Once thawed I took it out of its smelly polythene bag and ran it under the tap. I decided that all I was really smelling was old blood and that All Would Be Well. Rest assured, it was.

Given that I did not have time to fiddle, I decided to pot roast it and put all the vegetables in to cook alongside it in the slow oven. I got my trusty non-stick, glass-lidded casserole dish out of the cupboard and put the shoulder joint in, fatty side down. I then placed this on the hob to brown it off together with a thickly sliced large white onion in a very small amount of olive oil just to stop the onions catching and going brown. I sprinkled the joint with some sea salt and ground black pepper and after just a minute or two I added a good slug of white wine (an inferior bottle of Portuguese vinho verde which I had lurking in the fridge just for this sort of purpose), making sure I poured it over the meat too. I let this bubble away for a bit and turned the meat over when the fatty side had started to brown, just to sear the other side too. Meanwhile I peeled four or five carrots, cut them into thirds and sliced them down the middle. I did likewise with a leek which needed eating up and threw both in the pot. I also had a stick of celery about my person which I de-strung (i.e peeled off the worst of the stringy bits), cut in half and threw in the pot too. I also added some fresh sprigs of rosemary from the garden, about 6 small bulbs of garlic (peeled) and a bouquet garni. I then added the rest of the wine (probably about a third of a bottle in total) and a 2 pints (just over a litre) of chicken stock (I always keep loads in the freezer - making it every time we have roast chicken - as nothing beats a good fresh homemade chicken stock). Finally I dug around and found a packet of baby new potatoes which I also threw in the pot. Once that had all bubbled away for a bit I took it off the hob and put it in the simmering oven of the Aga (or on a low heat in a conventional oven) and left it to do its thing for the next five and a half hours.

So the whole thing only took about half an hour and used up lots of bits I had lying around the fridge, leaving me time to get on with my Christmas chores AND go out to a candlelit carol service in one of our local churches.

When I got back all I had to do was whisk the pot out of the oven, leave it to rest while I laid the table and poured some wine (a nice chilled bottle of Rioja Riserva 2001) and voila! Having cooked slowly in all that liquid the meat was fabulousy tender and fell of the shoulder bone (yet did not fall apart - we were able to carve lovely slices which were even slightly pink still rather than that rather off-putting shade of grey which you can sometimes get with meat which has been cooked slowly over a long period). I remembered I had some celariac and potato mash left over in the fridge from the previous evening's meal, so whipped that out and shoved it in the microwave - it was the perfect extra accompaniment and helped soak up all that lovely broth. As a final touch, I got a jar or homemade rhubarb and mint jelly out of the fridge and stuck a large spoonful on the side of my plate to dip the lamb into. Perfect.

Husband and eldest daughter announced it all 'delicious' - even suggesting I serve it up on Christmas Day as an infinitely less labour intensive alternative to the dreaded turkey. So you see, even a humble shoulder of slightly old lamb can be turned into a simple feast with the right treatment. 'Waste not, want not' could never have been more appropriate.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Tomato, bacon and chorizo pasta

2010-09-29T15:38:00.000-07:00

Gosh, it's been a while, hasn't it, since I wrote something here? Please do not think that I have lost interest - far from it. It is just the usual story of 'too much to do, too little time.'

As proof that I am still alive and kicking, I just wanted to write a quick post about the supper I threw together tonight. Husband comes home from work and, while emptying dishwasher, casually asks what I might be planning for supper. So I casually lay my iron to rest on the board for a moment, and ask, equally casually, what he had for lunch (he had a client lunch so it was squid followed by a roast beef salad somewhere posh rather than the more mundane option of a sandwich on the hoof). Feeling a little weary having been out all day and still with three recalcitrant children to get to bed, I peered into the fridge, checked a few sell-by dates and suggested baked potatoes and coleslaw. I may as well have suggested a cup of cold sick, such was the tepid reaction. 'Ok then', I say brightly, 'how about pasta with chorizo, bacon and tomato sauce?' This met with a warmer reception. Pasta it was then.

Once children dispatched, finally, to bed and a glass of white wine poured, I set about my task. I cut off a chunk of chorizo, sliced it thickly and then cut these slices into quarters. I then opened a packet of rindless, unsmoked bacon, removed half of it and cut it into 3cm sections which I then separated before chucking into a heavy based non-stick saute pan with a sliced red onion. I would have chopped up garlic and thrown it in but I had none, so that was that. I let all this cook down nicely before adding a tub of ready-made Neapolitana tomato sauce (from Tesco as it happens, but many shops have this - a tin of chopped tomatoes would have done just as well). I kept this on the heat for a few minutes to thoroughly warm through and absorb the flavours and juices of the chorizo and bacon. Meanwhile I cooked some tubular pasta - but any good pasta shape or spaghetti or linguine or whatever takes your fancy would do - which I then drained and tossed in butter before stirring in the tomato and meat sauce. I ripped up a clutch of fresh basil leaves before spooning it into bowls. All it needed was a bit of freshly grated parmesan and a drizzle of good quality olive oil and Bob's your Uncle. A perfect little pasta dish made from storecupboard and fridge inmates. It was so good we gobbled the entire saucepan-full. More than was strictly needed at 10 o'clock at night and for a woman of a certain age with a waistline to consider...(but you only live once, don't you?).

Ps: no photo I'm afraid as I wasn't expecting it to be anything special. Just goes to show.

Monday’s Menu

2010-07-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

Lunch:
Beetroot and Goat’s Cheese Salad

I had a mixed leaf salad (including some baby beetroot leaves, as it happens), some cooked beetroot (natural, not the awful vinegar stuff), some lovely multi-seed brown bread and some English goat’s cheese (specifically ‘Kidderton Ash Handmade Goats Cheese’ from Tesco’s Finest range - the ‘Handmade’ bit made me smile, by the by. It doesn’t seem quite necessary or appropriate on a cheese, somehow). Anyway, it claimed to be smooth and creamy, and the description was admirably correct – I hate those soapy tasting, over-strong goats’ cheeses which you often get in France.

So I put the salad on a plate, together with two beetroots. Then I cut a slice of brown bread (removing the slightly dry crusts), cut three slices of cheese and put them on the bread, drizzled some clear honey over the cheese slices and popped it in the oven to grill. I took it out a few minutes later when the cheese was just starting to melt and the bread was browned and perched it artfully on top of the beetroot, at a jaunty little angle. A twist of salt, a twist of pepper, a drizzle of smooth green olive oil and a flourish with a bottle of Balsamic Glaze (sweeter and thicker than plain balsamic vinegar, but if that’s all you have it would do just fine).

I can tell you, it was really tasty and so simple.

Supper:
Monkfish fillets with flageolet beans and chorizo

I have to say, this really came out of the blue. I happened to notice I had a couple of monkfish fillets (courtesy of Waitrose) in the freezer when I was scrabbling around for something else. I also need to open a few tins this week as I need some empty ones to make a ‘Tin Can Alley’ at the girls’ summer party on Sunday. I seem to have a large quantity of tins of flageolet beans, so it was good to use one up. I also happened to have some ready cubed chorizo (something I spotted at Sainsbury’s last week) about my person and I was thinking about the various ways I could use it e.g omelette, with pasta or whatever. Suddenly the unassuming taste of the flageolet beans with the kick in the face taste of the chorizo seemed like a good combo.

I defrosted the fillets in the microwave for a couple of minutes and drained them, then put them in an ovenproof dish with some white wine (decent slug of Pinot Grigio), a little milk, some lemon juice (I squeezed just over half a lemon and poured in most of it, saving just a little back – about a teaspoon or so), salt, black pepper, dried herbs (a fish mix), fresh herbs (I remembered the fennel I have growing in the garden and picked a healthy bunch of its soft, feathery, aniseed-scented fronds together with some lemon balm – which grows like a weed here) and a dollop of garlic butter (Lurpak’s version). I then covered the dish with tin foil and popped it in the middle of the top oven of the Aga (i.e. medium heat) for 10 to 15 minutes. You don’t want the fish to dry out too much, but with all that juice, and covered up, it’s hard to spoil it completely.

Just before the end of the cooking time, I put the diced chorizo into a heavy based, non-stick skillet (or frying pan) and let it cook off for a minute or so. I then opened the tin of flageolet beans, rinsed them and then mixed them in with the chorizo. I then took the remainder of the lemon juice and poured it over the mix and gave it a good stir round.

I then spooned the bean and chorizo mix onto the warmed plates, placed the monkfish fillets on top and poured all the juices over the whole. It tasted fantastic – promise – and again, so easy.

Monday Lunch, 24th May

2010-05-28T05:41:00.000-07:00

I’m in full clearing-out-the-fridge-before-we-go-on-holiday mode. It was a beautiful day today – sunny and warm but not energy-sapping hot. Just perfect English summer heat. I’d been working away in the garden (as I have been for weeks), the lawns had just been cut, the birds were singing, the sheep were bleating. Given I’m trying to lose a pound or two before having to bear flesh next week, a salad outside in the sunshine was what the doctor ordered.

I peered into the fridge: dog-end tub of ordinary houmous, new tub of Moroccan houmous, cherry tomatoes, tenderleaf salad (half a bag full), bag of prettily purple bean shoot salad, quarter of a red pepper (slightly flaccid), some chicory left over from yesterday’s lunch. I suddenly thought (in a small wattage lightbulb sort of way) what I could do, so:

I chopped up the pepper and chicory and mixed them in with the houmous (finished off one tub and added 1 spoonful of Moroccan to it) and put it in a bowl.

If you were being posh you could drizzle some olive oil and/or pesto on top of it.

I then halved the tomatoes and mixed them in with the tenderleaf salad and some bean-shoots and dressed them with some oil and balsamic vinegar. It didn’t need salt as there were so many strong, earthy flavours in there.

I then poured myself a glass of grapefruit juice (resisting wine after a big boozy day on Saturday and with a mind to feeble attempts at slimming a little) and went outside where I ate and contemplated the sun-filled garden while the cat sat in the shade looking slightly weary (it was a little warm for fur). This simple, but healthy and filling little repast, was then followed by some home-picked Moroccan mint tea. Perfect.

(PS: if this all sounds rather sickeningly idyllic, you should know that I had previously removed the hind leg and muzzle – complete with whiskers – of a rabbit from the terrace as it was attracting hideous amounts of flies and rather off-putting to have beside one’s lunch table. No wonder the cat didn’t eat her breakfast – she was clearly full of rabbit).

It couldn't be more simple...

2010-05-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

Italian Salad for lunch. English pub food for supper. What more could you want?

I'd spent most of the morning in the garden in warm sunshine, albeit with ridiculously cold ambient air for the time of year. I came in to watch the news and the unfolding drama of our new Government, and to eat. I opened the fridge door. Slim pickings, but enough: dolce rosso tomatoes (small, outrageously sweet, still my favourite), mozzarella, a bag of mixed salad leaves (rocket, watercress and spinach). Perfect. All I needed to add was a few slices of toasted ciabatta (which I also happened to have about my person). I toasted them on the Aga so they had a touch of the 'char-grill' about them. I then arranged them artfully on the plate with my chopped up mozzarella, tomatoes and salad - and then all I had to do was drizzle over posh olive oil and balsamic vinegar and it was pretty as a picture. And good enough to eat...

Supper was no less easy. After a hard day's labouring, I searched my mind and remembered a bag of scampi in the freezer. I threw the contents of the bag onto a tray and grilled them for 10 minutes or so, together with the remains of a bag of thick-cut freezer chips. I had half a tub of tartare sauce in the fridge (a remnant from a meal long past, but still fresh as a daisy) and the remains of the bag of salad I'd used at lunch. I also had some already squeezed fresh lemon juice to throw over the salad with the olive oil. Et voila! All done in a trice and just as scrummy as lunch. Oh, and healthy too. Job done.

Cauliflower Cheese with a Twist

2010-04-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

Cauliflower cheese has to be one of the great quick meals - nutritious and filling and the kids love it. I usually add bacon or ham (depending on what's in the fridge and most needs eating up) to give it some extra interest. But over the Easter holidays, when I had myself and just one child to feed (the older two were on a school ski trip) one lunchtime, I looked in the fridge and decided on an extra twist: Gruyere cheese rather than Cheddar cheese. Such a small adjustment to the traditional recipe, but such a big result. The addition of this nutty Swiss cheese adds a whole new dimension of flavour, and is great for a change, if nothing else.

Ingredients

Cauliflower
Gruyere cheese (c.100g grated)
2 rashers of smoked bacon

Quarter of a pint (c.125ml ) of milk

2 or 3 heaped teaspoons of cornflour

Large knob of unsalted butter.

I make my white sauce using cornflour (but if you prefer flour that's fine): I melt the butter over a low heat, add the cornflour and mix it into a roux (smooth paste), then slowly add the milk, stirring all the time. I do all this over a very low heat - and you must not stop stirring. Once the white sauce has formed, add the grated gruyere (I used the leftovers of a pre-grated packet in the fridge).

Check the cauliflower is clean and cut off the florets and just a few of the palest, tenderest leaves. Get a pan of water boiling and then add the florets (or use a steamer over the pan, as I do). Do not overcook them - they should still have an element of bite rather than be waterlogged.

Meanwhile, cut up the bacon rashers and fry in a frying pan for a minute or two, then add to the white sauce.

Once the cauliflower is cooked, put it into bowls, pour over the white sauce, sprinkle on a bit more of the grated cheese and add some generous twists of black pepper. Easy! And if you're being posh, you could put the cauliflower and sauce into a pretty oven-proof dish, grate more cheese over the top and grill it till the cheese is melted and forms a golden crust. The choice is yours.

Veal Escalope with Marsala, Saute Potatoes and Green Salad

2010-02-19T15:06:00.000-08:00

I had a busy week for half term which included two families coming to stay for a total of four days and another family coming over to supper on the eve of our departure for the weekend in London. I found myself in Waitrose the afternoon of the Friday that Family No.1 were arriving utterly devoid of inspiration as to what to cook over the coming days. Normally I have a reasonable idea - something I haven't cooked for a while, something inspired by a recipe, or an old favourite. But this day - nothing. Utterly blank mind. With just a few hours to go before I was due to be serving up that first Welcome Meal I simply couldn't think what to do. My decisions were not helped by the fact that I was not entirely clear what time everyone was arriving (wife and children were travelling up from London, husband was already up in Manchester for work and would be coming home with mine after an obligatory stop at the village pub), nor indeed, whether we were all eating together or whether children would eat earlier than us etc etc etc.

The one meal I had decided on was the duck breast favourite which I wrote about a few posts back. But hey, because I had got to the supermarket about six hours later than intended, they were, of course, all out of duck breasts. Well, they had two. So I put those into the trolley and stood there feeling frustrated and perplexed. Without knowing what meat you are cooking, how can you possibly choose the vegetables? I threw things in randomly - cabbage, salad, green beens, broccoli - and hoped that somehow a menu would suggest itself to me. I picked up chicken thighs and wings for a possible coq au vin - or lemon chicken with ratatouille; I got in extra minced meat for spag bol or shepherd's pie, and sausages and bacon and ham for our Sunday brunch before they headed back for London (the only other sure meal as this was what they had specifically suggested). I had a whole chicken to roast in my hand, as well as a huge piece of roasting beef - both of which ended up back on the shelf. Instead I spotted veal escalopes (very rare to find up here) and knew they would be a good option for a quick-to-assemble meal. Even if I didn't eat it with family No.1 it might do for Family No.2.

After all this indecision, I suddenly found myself up against it to get back to the bus stop in time to pick up the girls. I abandoned all other culinary plans and needs and unloaded my trolley as quickly as I could. The checkout girl asked me how I was so, as is my wont, I told her (never ask me how I am unless you really want to know - and never do so if you have a train to catch!). At the point at which I was expostulating about the lack of duck breast, she asked me if I had asked anyone if they 'had any more out back'. I replied, no, I had not. I never think of doing that. She called a supervisor who was pleased to confirm that, no, ,they had no more, BUT - had I seen the Duck Crown they had on special offer for £5? I had to admit that no, I had not. So she comes back clutching one and I add it to the teetering pile of muscle in my trolley. I could certainly cut two very generous breasts off that - and all for less than the ready-prepared duck breasts which I'd already paid for. Humph.

Where is all this going, you may be asking yourself? Fair point. Absolutely nowhere beyond the fact that we had cottage pie the first night, kids included, at about 10pm (dreadful traffic coming up from London, boys delayed in pub - so same old same old); we had the duck the following night and the brunch on Sunday with a pub lunch out on Saturday after a hearty hike up Crowden Clough. The chicken became coq au vin on the first night that our following guests stayed while with the veal became their last night finale and the one I have chosen to set out below. I love it for it's simplicity of preparation and simplicity of favours. It is, of course, Italian.

Ingredients for Veal Escalope with Marsala, saute potatoes and salad

4 Veal escalopes
Button mushrooms (about 200 -250g)
Single or double cream (tablespoon or two)
Marsala (about a good sized wine glass)
Garlic - 3 or 4 fat cloves, crushed
1 medium to large onion, sliced

unsalted butter

olive oil

lemon juice
salt and pepper

Extra fine asparagus tips (but ordinary size would do just as well)

Waxy potatoes

Green salad

The Saute Potatoes

The veal takes barely a few minutes to cook, so you start with the potatoes. Peel them, cut them into quarters and boil them in a a saucepan of salted water so they are cooked through but still firm. Drain them and rinse them in cold water and leave to cool. When you can handle them, slice them into about 4-5mm thick slices and lay them out evenly over the base of a saute pan where you have melted a knob of butter with a slug of olive oil (you will probably need two pans for this if you are doing enough for 4 people). Let them turn golden on one side before turning each slice over individually to brown on the other side (do not let them over cook as you will have something more akin to chips - not a disaster, but slightly less good with this dish). Have a serving dish warming so that as the potatoes reach perfection you can take them out of the pan but still keep them warm in the oven as you finish the rest of them off.

The Sauce

Ok, that's the most labour intensive bit of the meal. Now for the sauce. First, peel and slice the onion. Fry it gently in a saute pan or large frying pan with a little more butter and oil - you can use the ones you were doing the potatoes in to save washing up. While this is happening, take the mushrooms, clean them if necessary and then slice. Add them to the pan when the onions are soft and clear. Add a little more butter if necessary as the mushrooms absorb a lot. Let them cook for a minute or two before adding a good slug of marsala (about a wine glass full) and the juice of half a lemon. Let this reduce for a few minutes then add the veal escalopes having first seasoned them (I divided the meat and the sauce into two frying pans so they fitted easily). They will only need a couple of minutes on each side (depending on their thickness of course - mine were very thin). Turn them half way through cooking to do the other side. At this point you can add the cream (a couple of tablespoon fulls) and let it all bubble away until the meat is cooked, and add the juice of half a lemon towards the end of cooking.

Meanwhile, about half way through the cooking of the meat, I took the fine asparagus tips and put them in a non-stick dish in the oven havng sprinkled sea salt, olive oil and lemon juice on them. The idea is to roast them in the hot oven for a few minutes - if you don't have an Aga you can also do this on top of the hob.

When the meat was done I transferred it to a warm platter and kept it in the warming oven (or a warm oven if you don't have an Aga). Remember this is where the potatoes are too - in a different serving dish. When the sauce had thickened and reduced (add some arrowroot to quicken the process if necessary) I took the meat platter back out of the warming oven and poured the sauce over and around the meat. The final touch was laying the asparagus on top with some quarters of lemon around the edges.

I put out a bowl of rocket and spinach to follow the meal (or accompany - as you choose), before the cheese course. I left out good olive oil and balsamic vinegar for people to dress their own.

The wines we chose to accompany this were a white Gavi and a red Barbera d'Asti.

Buon appetito!

Sea Bass with Fennel, Leeks and Grapes

2010-02-04T16:26:00.000-08:00

I had two sea bass fillets, some leeks and a bulb of fennel. I also had the remains of a bag of new potatoes and a handful of green grapes. These are the full ingredients (very simple), and this is what I did:-

2 sea bass fillets
Half a bulb of fennel
1 leek
8-10 green seedless grapes
Butter
Olive oil
White wine
Lime juice
Salt
Pepper

I put a pan of salted water on to boil and while that was heating I thinly sliced the leek and the fennel. I melted a large knob of butter in a heavy based pan, together with a good slug of olive oil, and then added the sliced leeks and fennel.

I let these soften and then added the sea bass fillets, skin side down, and sprinkled them with sea salt and pepper. (About now the pan of water was boiling and I threw the baby new potatoes into it.) I then added about a glass full of white wine and about a tablespoon of freshly squeezed lime together with the juice of a lemon and the grapes. I let the juices reduce down a bit and then turned the fish so it was skin side up and put the pan in the middle of the roasting oven for about 10 minutes to get the skin browned and more crispy.

The end result was unexpectedly good – moist, flavoursome fish with a lovely fresh sauce.

Given that the sea bass fillets were quite small, we were still feeling a little peckish afterwards. So there’s nothing like a good rocket salad to fill the hole. I had half a bag of the wild stuff (stronger and more peppery) in the fridge, so we took a couple of handfuls each and dumped it on our used plates, sprinkled on some fresh parmesan, some good olive oil and some quality balsamic vinegar and it really did the trick – there were some traces of juices from the fish dish which mingled in with the salad and the whole was really surprising – something about the lime and the balsamic worked really well together.

Hope you enjoy it too.

Christmas Chutney

2009-12-22T00:39:00.000-08:00

I had meant to post this weeks ago but time has escaped me again. If you have no time left to make it this year, then there's always next!

It's a recipe I made up having read the ingredients lists of other shop-bought chutneys or in recipe books, and then looked in my fridge and in my larder to see what I had and what needed using up. This is what I came up with:-

One and a half Coxes apples (but any apples will do)
c.250g onion (I used one large and half of a small one that was in the fridge)

600g red plums

300g sultanas

Juice of one orange

Zest of one orange
100g cranberries

Half a teaspoon of salt

200ml of water

375 ml of vinegar (I mixed 100ml sherry vinegar with 100ml of white balsamic vinegar, 100ml of malt vinegar and 75ml of malt vinegar - because they were all in the larder and needed using up!)

Mulled wine spice bag

Grated fresh ginger (about 2cm of a root)

250g light brown sugar

Spice bag (a few cloves, mustard seeds, 3 bits of orange peel, sechuan pepper - any peppercorns would do - and a chunk of peeled ginger all tied up in a small square of muslin)

Half a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes

Half a teaspoon of ground ginger

Half a teaspoon of ground coriander

Shake of Allspice

Grind of nutmeg

Shake of cinnamon

Two chunks of stem ginger, chopped

Phew! Right, all you then have to do is dice the onion and peel, core and chop the apples into small chunks. Half the plums, twist to remove the stone then cut into small chunks too. Put all this into a big preserving pan and add all the other ingredients. Of course, if you didn't have some of them, I'm sure it wouldn't matter. That's the fun of it. Just use your imagination.

You then bring the whole lot to a good old boil and then let it simmer for a number of hours, uncovered for preference to help it reduce down. The kitchen will be filled with the tantalising spicy smells of Christmas. Lovely.

Once it is sticky and gloopy and you can pass a wooden spoon along the bottom of the pan to create a small channel without it instantly filling with liquid, then it is ready.

Sterilise some jars (this quantity filled about 6 average size jars) and then get transferring your chutney into them. If you then make them look pretty, it can even be given as a gift or stocking filler.

Have fun!

Duck Breasts in plum sauce with green beans and garlic roasted potatoes

2009-12-03T14:36:00.000-08:00

I love duck breast. So much better than a whole duck which, unless you roast about three, leaves guests hungry.

We eat a lot of duck when we're in France, our location being in the south west - natural home of Magret de Canard and its sister, Confit de Canard.

I had mother-in-law and brother-in-law staying the weekend. What to cook? Well, I knew the boys wouldn't miss the Friday night opportunity to linger at the pub, so I thought I would do something which I could whip up relatively quickly and which was adaptable to a flexible time frame. Knew I had a couple of duck's breast in the freezer so got them out, defrosted them and supplemented them with another couple from Morrisons (which, certainly in my local store, has a surprisingly good butchery).

There was a major flicker of lights as I was leaving the supermarket but it was only when I passed the pub in the village that I realised we had a village-wide power cut. I noticed the Lord and Master's car outside the pub. Of course. Much as I would have liked to join them in a tipple, I realised my priority was to rescue mother-in-law and children from blackout back at the house. I burst through the door, expecting high degrees of agitation, only to find the place lit up like Santa's grotto and them all happily and cosily having a candlelit supper in the kitchen of Heinz tomato soup and bread and butter!

With the return of the boys from the hostelry and the dispatching of children towards bed, the power thankfully returned as did my mind toward supper. Brother-in-law helpfully offered to do the potatoes. I gave him pan, goose fat, Maris Piper potatoes and two heads of garlic and left him to it (he peeled the potatoes, chopped them into smallish chunks and scattered the garlic liberally around, tossing them all in melted goose fat and a sprinkle of sea salt). The potatoes needed about 40 to 50 minutes in the roasting oven, so I had all the time in the world to do the duck and green beans. Prosecco was cracked open with some locally smoked mackerel pate and oatcakes (brother-in-law turned up culinary nose but when persuaded to taste conceded it was actually rather good and not the cat food he'd expected).

About 20 minutes before the potatoes were ready I took the duck breasts out of the packet and lay them skin-side down in the saute pan. I let them cook on that side for about 10 minutes until gently golden and then turned them flesh side down. Meanwhile I took a saucepan and a few slightly wrinkly plums I had lying around (about six I think, maybe less). I cut them in half, twisted them to separate, hoiked out the stone and then cut the remaining flesh into small chunks. I put these in a saucepan with a large knob of melted unsalted butter, the contents of a miniature bottle of red port which I happened to have about my person, and the remaining third of a small jar of Tesco's Finest Redcurrant and Port jelly which I came across in the fridge door. I also found an unopened jar of red onion marmalade in my larder so I added a tablespoon or two of this as well (and possibly a small slug of red wine, though I can't quite remember). I let this reduce right down until it became shiny ruby red and unctuous. (If it tastes too sharp add more butter before adding any sugar.)

By now about 10 more minutes had passed so I put the duck breasts back onto their skin to really brown off. At the same time I put the green beans into the steamer and gave them about five minutes so they were still bright green and had some bite. I then put them into a dish and into the warming oven with a big knob of garlic butter on top of them. I let the duck breasts rest off the heat for about five minutes, then the whole - duck breast, potatoes, green beans - were served on the plate and the plum sauce poured over the meat.

Great teamwork. Great taste. Easy. Try it.

PS: the best wine to accompany this is a reasonably full-bodied red. A good Bordeaux, or a spicy Rioja work well. Having opened and tasted three different bottles of Bordeaux, we plumped for a smooth and rounded Campo Viejo Rioja Crianza 2006 available from most supermarkets including Waitrose, Tesco and Morrisons.

PPS: Sorry, no photos again - we were too eager to eat to think about getting the camera out!

Sausages, Red Cabbage and Fried New Potatoes.

2009-12-03T14:34:00.000-08:00

Was struggling to think what to do for the Lord and Master for supper. Had two packets (Buy One Get One Free!) of organic pork sausages from Morrisons in the fridge. Had new potatoes. Had left-over red cabbage from the Sunday roast.

That all works together, thought I. So I got out the sauté pan and slapped in some sausages. Meanwhile I sliced the new potatoes and then cut them up further into small bits, together with half an onion, and put them into the pan with the sausages. They all sizzled away happily together while I got the leftover, already cooked (in butter, spices and redcurrant and port jelly) cabbage and bunged it into a saucepan. I added more butter and some redcurrant and mint jelly (the redcurrant and port had run out). I found a couple of half mouldy apples in the fruit bowl, removed the mouldy half and peeled and thinly sliced the remaining good bits and threw them in with the cabbage. I think I also added a small slug of red wine and then let it reduce until it became syrupy.

Simple. Tasty. Lord and Master declared it very good. I licked my plate. Job done.

(Sorry, no pix for this one as was not expecting it to be as good as it was!)

Mushroom Risotto

2009-10-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, risotto, the heart of northern Italian regional cooking. Before I lived in the Veneto and, later, Lombardy, my exposure to risotto was limited to long-grain rice (often saffron yellow) with a ramshackle assortment of diced vegetables in it. Probably out of a 1970s packet. (Not that my larder contains food QUITE that out-of-date – rather that I was likely to have first been presented with that sort of thing somewhere in the food doldrums of that decade in England). Enough to put you off for life. Luckily, I went to Italy, was re-educated, and now risotto holds a thousand memories for me in that deliciously unctuous flavour-packed carbohydrate mix that is a true Italian risotto.

So where do we begin? What are the secrets to a perfect risotto? Well, to start with, you need the right rice: Carnaroli, Vialone Nero or Arborio (the most easy to find in the UK – but if you are desperate, pudding rice will do too). Rice crops are a staple of the flatlands of the river Po Valley which stretches across Northern Italy from Lombardy in the west, to Veneto in the east. As you track along the autostrada in spring, you could be forgiven for thinking you are in China…endless vistas of bright green shoots poking through rectangles of water reflecting the wide skies and the mountains behind. The other key thing about risotto is to keep stirring. This coaxes the starch out of the grains and provides the creamy texture you are looking for in the perfect risotto. Dry is not good. When the rice is aldente (after about 20 minutes of continuous cooking and stirring), it should be put in shallow based bowls, where it will spread gently to the sides, and eaten immediately. Leave it too long in the pan, even off the heat, and it will continue cooking and drying out, so that you are left with something far claggier and really not very pleasant.

So, this being Autumn and the season of funghi and all things earthy, it seemed a good idea to do a mushroom risotto (another joy of risotto being the infinite variety of seasonal ingredients you can match it with – peas, asparagus, squash, pumpkin, radicchio to name but a few). It helped that I had two packets (Buy One Get One Free) of mushrooms in my fridge when the moment took me as well as some rich chicken stock which has been made from the weekend roast.

This is what you need:-
unsalted butter
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped
2 cups risotto rice
¾ pint (400ml)stock
¼ pint (100ml) white wine
Marsala (or medium dry sherry)
c.400g mushrooms
chopped parsley
grated parmesan
1 egg yolk
salt and pepper

And this is what you do:-
Slice or chop about 400g of clean mushrooms. Rummage around in your cupboards and find your best, most heavy based saucepan. Pour in a good slug of olive oil (extra virgin or normal) and add an unhealthy sized knob of real butter (unsalted for preference and butter substitutes simply won’t do) and warm them on a low heat. Meanwhile, take a medium sized onion (white is traditional but if all you have is red, that will do fine) and chop it finely. When the butter has melted and the combined fats are warmed, add the chopped onion. Allow it to go transparent . Chop or crush a couple of peeled chunky garlic cloves and add them to the onion. Now add two cups of risotto rice (see above) – this will be more than enough for two people as a main meal. Select your favourite long wooden spoon and start stirring, gently coating the rice grains with the fat, onion and garlic.

Do this for a minute or two before adding about 250ml of white wine (about a glass full). Let the rice absorb this, continuing to stir gently. Add a little salt and pepper at this point (less if you are using a stock cube rather than fresh stock – good quality fresh stock is preferable though) and the sliced mushrooms. Because this is a mushroom risotto, I add a slug of Marsala or Amontillado sherry at this point. [If you were doing something fresher or lighter, like an asparagus risotto or a fish risotto, I would substitute the Marsala/sherry for dry vermouth. Both these spirits just add an extra dimension to the finished flavours – but, if you have neither of them it is not the end of the world. Just add more wine instead!]

Make up your stock now if you are using a cube (3/4 pint) or put the same quantity of fresh stock in an adjacent pan to heat through. When the wine has been absorbed, you will need to start adding the stock, about a ladle full at a time. Stir, wait till the rice has absorbed the liquid, then add another ladle full. Continue like this until all the stock has been absorbed.

I happened to have some dried porcini mushrooms in my store cupboard, so I took a handful, soaked them for a few minutes in boiling water and added them (and a small amount of the soaking water) to the rice. If you don’t have them, it’s not the end of the world, but they are a nice addition if you do.

Now, here come the crucial touches that add to the layers of flavour. Just before all the stock has been absorbed, chuck in about a cupful of grated parmesan (the ready grated will do just fine if that’s all you have – but FRESH ready-grated mind, not any of that dreadful processed sawdust stuff which would RUIN it!). Stir it in. And then, to really add to the creamy intensity of the risotto, take the yolk of an egg and add that at the last minute, stirring lightly so it coats all the rice.

Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary (the parmesan should have added considerably to this, so don’t go overboard with the salt beforehand). If in doubt, add more parmesan rather than just more salt. Then take another unhealthy knob of unsalted butter, drop it into the rice and stir. This gives the risotto a lovely gleam when you put it in the bowls and, again, adds an extra layer of flavour and richness.

Ladle the risotto into shallow bowls, grate more fresh parmesan on the top, add a scattering of freshly chopped flat-leafed parsley, grind over some black pepper and, for the final flourish, get your best best best extra virgin olive oil and drizzle over the risotto in the bowl.

Mmm, delish. The ultimate comfort food on a chill autumn night, ideally washed down with a hearty glass of northern Italian red wine – Valpolicella, Dolcetto d’Alba, Barbera d'Asti, Bardolino or Barbaresco all spring to mind.

Buon appetito!

Autumnal Beef Casserole

2009-10-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

Gosh, the last post was waxing lyrical about summer suppers - now here we are in Autumn. Where have I been? Well, I have passed my time at home in the summer winds and rain, and in France in a little gallic sunshine. Today, as I went about my business, I noticed the rustle of the dried out little brown leaves being blown around the edges of the house - a sure sign that the season has changed. I take no notice of temperature - where I live it is irrelevant (i.e always cold). It is more subtle details which give the seasonal game away: the smell of woodsmoke, the sharpness of air, the shortened days and a more golden light.

'Tis time for a casserole, thought I. Salads no longer seemed appropriate (if they ever were). I dug around in the freezer and unearthed some beef chunks. I knew I had parsnips and carrots. What more could a girl want? The meat was stuck in the microwave to defrost and then I was ready to go.

Took an onion, peeled and sliced. Threw it into a casserole dish warming with mild olive oil. Peeled and sliced two fat cloves of garlic. Threw them in with the meat and a good shake of plain flour. Browned the meat off, added sea salt flakes and twists of black pepper. Finished off a jar of dried oregano, popped in a bay leaf and a sprig of fresh rosemary from the garden and then bathed the meat in about 250ml of red wine. I then pottered back to the freezer and found a tub of homemade stock from some long forgotten roast chicken. Defrosted it in the microwave and poured it in (about 500ml). A squeeze of tomato puree (about 1 tablespoon); a shake of balsamic vinegar (but a teaspoon or two of sugar would have been fine too); a slug of orange juice. What have I forgotten? Ah yes, some dried porcini mushrooms: I boiled the kettle and put them to soak for a few minutes in about 200ml of hot water. The whole lot then got sploshed into the casserole. I peeled a good sized parsnip, halved it down the middle then chopped it into chunks; ditto a large carrot. Both then went in with everything else. Lid on, and thence to the floor of the Aga roasting oven. (I would imagine this would equate to a medium hot ordinary oven). All you want to do now is reduce the juices and cook the carrot and parsnip - so just keep an eye on it till you are happy that this is done.

Meanwhile, I peeled a large potato and two small ones and did likewise with a sweet potato. Chopped them all into chunks and brought to the boil in salted water. 20 minutes later I drained them, added a generous knob of butter and about two tablespoons of soured cream and gave them a good mash. Perfect, creamy, flavoursome. Over the pan of boiling potatoes, I had steamed chopped cabbage. This I now sauteed for a moment or two with butter and sprinkled with salt and ground pink peppercorns. Slap onto a warm plate and there you have it. Full of flavour, very nourishing - and hugely comforting, with a glass of red wine, on a cool autumnal night.

Easy Summer Supper for Friends

2009-07-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

Pan fried king prawns in garlic, butter and lemon

Roast Corn-Fed Chicken with cannellini bean mash and fresh steamed asparagus

Lemon drizzle cake with Italian-style strawberries

Some friends came to stay the other Friday who we haven’t seen for four years and I was really struggling with what to give them for supper. We have Italy in common – indeed, they are largely responsible for the four years N and I spent in Italy as they, too, had spent formative working years in Milan and Bologna and couldn’t recommend the experience more highly – so I contemplated doing something Italian. Italian is usually quick and easy with great results; the weather had perked up from the wintry stuff we’d been enduring; and, finally, I didn’t have much time to prepare a fancy meal as I was going to be out of the house, involved with a school summer fayre, until about half an hour before they were due to arrive. And I still had their room to prepare, flowers to cut and arrange and a whole load of tidying up to do! Yes, ‘quick’ and ‘easy’ were going to be vital ingredients in the meal.

Having felt totally uninspired all morning, I opened a few cupboards and peered in the fridge and suddenly decided. I would do roast chicken with cannellini bean mash (instead of potatoes, to make it more interesting – and I had no potatoes in the house anyway!) and asparagus. So, with renewed vigour, I scuttled off to the supermarket and found two very presentable corn-fed free-range chickens, some more asparagus to add to the bunch I already had in the fridge (more time and I’d have gone to our local florist who has a fantastic range of fresh fruit and veg and a fabulous new range of Italian, French, Spanish, you-name-it quality food products) and an extra can of cannellini beans to add to the two I already had in the larder. I then threw in about 300 other items for good measure before scooping up youngest child and dashing off to Summer Fun Friday half an hour away at her big sisters’ school. A frantic hour and a half ensued while the children threw themselves around bouncy castles; while we were blasted out by music from the Cheerleading displays; while I tried to catch up with all the mothers I don’t normally get to see because my girls usually take the school bus; while I tried to keep track of my three daughters who scattered in every direction; and while I tried to feed them hotdogs (and resisted their pleas for ice-cream – monstrous queue, no way) so I didn’t have to bother feeding them when I got home and shoved one down my own gullet in un-comely haste as I’d had no time for lunch. By the end of all that and a hot journey home, the clock ticking, I had a screaming headache.

I burst through the door and went straight to make up beds and make the place look presentable – flowers, clean towels, soap, shower gel, loo paper, all that ‘preparing for guests’ kind of thing – and finally, 15 minutes before their arrival, got to the kitchen. I grabbed the two chickens with their gorgeous yellow corn-fed hue, and put them in the roasting tin. I stuffed their cavities with half a lemon, half an onion, some peeled garlic cloves and a whole bunch of rosemary and thyme from the garden. I poured a good slug of white wine over them, rubbed in rosemary sea salt and finished them off with an equally large slug of olive oil and popped them in the centre of the roasting oven. I think I probably chucked some quarters of onion and unpeeled garlic cloves round the edges, but can’t quite remember. Good if you do, doesn’t matter if you don’t. Right, they would be good for an hour, so I concentrated on the cannellini bean mash.

Now, this was inspired from a recipe in a magazine but, as usual, I adapted it to my own palate and designs (largely because I could no longer find the magazine!). I opened three cans of cannellini beans, emptying each into a sieve and sticking them under the cold tap to wash off the can juices. I took some fresh rosemary sprigs (about 3 good sized ones) and about 3 large peeled and slightly squidged garlic cloves and put them in a saucepan with about 400ml of milk and a sprinkling of salt and brought it to the boil before reducing to a simmer. At this point I added the beans and let them soak in the simmering milk for about 10 minutes. I removed the rosemary sprigs and chopped them finally and put them back in the saucepan with the other ingredients. Then I mashed the beans with a hand-masher and adjusted the flavourings. This meant adding many twists of my tropical mix pepper grinder (the original recipe suggested pink pepper corns but I couldn’t find any locally – subsequently found out that Waitrose stock them) and the juice of a lemon to add some bite. I also poured in a generous amount of quality extra-virgin olive oil and stirred in a large handful of rocket leaves which I had lying around the fridge. Eventually satisfied, I put the mash into a bowl and poured some more good greeny olive oil over the top with a few more twists of pepper and salt and a sprig of rosemary to make it look pretty.

By now, of course, the guests had arrived. We’d walked round the garden and were making in-roads into our second bottle of fizz and all was well with the world. I popped the mash into the warming oven to join the chickens which I’d put in there after about an hour of roasting and which were looking golden and gorgeous and smelling divine, as only chicken can.

While this was all resting I set about knocking up a first course. I remembered I had some frozen king prawns in the freezer, so took them out, defrosted them in the microwave and chucked them in a frying pan with some melted butter, crushed garlic, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce (the magic ingredient – a trick I learned eating fried prawns like this on the beach in Portugal) and torn up leaves of parsley. They were done in a trice and put on a plate with a handful of lambs lettuce salad which I also had lurking in the fridge and needing eating.

While the first course plates were cleared I steamed a couple of bunches of asparagus. After a few minutes when they were al dente and bright green, I put them into a serving dish and poured the ubiquitous quality extra-virgin olive oil over them with generous twists of salt and pepper from the grinders. The chickens were ceremoniously removed from the warming oven and placed on a board for carving. I told N to do it ‘rustically’ – i.e not slicing like you would a normal English Sunday Roast chicken, but effectively cutting each bird into quarters. The lovely juices which came out of the roasting tin – with just a little white wine, milk, butter and bouillon added - were poured into a jug and there you have it, a tasty gravy.

The third course was just as easy. Having eaten a little Italian and local cheese for good measure, I got out the home-made lemon drizzle cake I’d bought at the school summer fayre (deliciously heavy and moist) and married it with Italian style chopped strawberries. To do this you take a punnet of strawberries, hull them, chop or slice them up, add about 4 or 5 tablespoons of caster sugar and the juice of a lemon and let the mixture rest for 20 minutes or so. This produces a lovely sweet syrup around the chopped strawberries which goes beautifully with icecream, cake, anything chocolately or just on its own. And to be really Italian, you would add a twist of black pepper. Optional, but worth a try - it's surprisingly good!

There. Job done. They seemed to like it. Hope you do too.

PS: I would have loved to have shown you pictures but it seemed a bit much to get the camera out in the middle of the meal so you’ll just have to use your imaginations!

Sausage and Bacon Casserole

2009-06-19T16:37:00.000-07:00

My parents are coming this evening to stay for a few days and I’m going to do a sausage and bacon casserole for them. There are two reasons for this: firstly, because it is easy to prepare in advance; and secondly, because my mother does a mean sausage casserole herself and I know it is one of their favourites. My mother’s version is usually gentler and paler looking than mine and she doesn’t add bacon. Instead she often cooks sliced potato in with it, so it is a real one-pot meal. You could certainly try that, but I think I will do mash with mine. Here’s what you need (and what I also happen to have in the fridge – of course!):-

Pack of 10 chipolata sausages (or whatever type you have)
2 large rashers of smoked bacon (or more if you only have small – or diced pancetta would do just as well if that’s what you happen to have about your person)
2 medium white or red onions
1 washed leek
2 small apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
Beer (Fosters in our case, but any would do) or cider
Apple juice
Flour
Salt and pepper

Method

Peel and slice the onion and fry in just a little olive oil in the base of a good solid casserole dish.
Cut the chipolatas in half and throw in.
Chop up the bacon rashers and add to the pot.
Slice the leek thinly and add (but if you don't have any leeks, this casserole is just as tasty without)
Peel and core your apple and chop into large chunks (use one large apple or two small, depending on the supplies in your fruit bowl – this is a good way to use slightly-past-their-best apples. I tend to use coxes because they are strong in flavour and sweet, but a good green apple or Braeburn or something would do. Floury red apples or golden delicious are slightly less good, but if that’s all you’ve got, just go with them).
Grab the flour packet and give a good shake (about a tablespoon?) over what’s in the pot so it will thicken the juices.
Season to taste.

Once all this has browned and softened a bit, add about 200ml of lager/beer/cider and about 200ml of apple juice.

Put the lid on the casserole dish and place in the middle of the roasting oven (for those not using Agas, then just the normal temperature you would cook a casserole i.e moderately hot) for about three quarters of an hour or until the sausages are browned up nicely and the juices are thickening. If you have an Aga, you can put it in the roasting oven for about half an hour, then move down to the simmering oven until you are ready to eat it. If the juices over-reduce, just add a little hot water and give it a good stir.

I like to serve this with steamed or sautéed cabbage (savoy, sweetheart or white are my favourite cabbages for this) and a lovely creamy, buttery mash to soak up the juices.

Now all you have to do is open a good bottle of red wine and....eat!

Two Hearty Soups

2009-05-22T03:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, since the weather's gone vile again and you'd be forgiven for thinking it's December, I thought we needed to have something on here a little more warming than salad!

Here are two: one quick and easy involving opening a tin and enhancing it with chicken and rice; the other requiring a little more input but still incredibly easy.

Both use up leftovers.

Ok, let's go.

ENHANCED TINNED CHICKEN SOUP

I opened the fridge one day and found that I had some leftover chicken and a small amount of white rice sitting there unloved. I think the girls were around and I wanted to make a quick, but not totally unhealthy, lunch. They love tinned chicken soup - but by opening it, shoving it in a saucepan to warm through, adding the cooked rice, some chopped up chicken and the dog ends of a bottle of milk, you suddenly have a reasonably nutritious, and certainly, tasty bowl of soup. With a slice of bread or toast it was also nicely filling. Job done.

(And for me the best bit was getting rid of a milk bottle which had been hanging around to leave space for something more interesting - like a nice chilled bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, for instance!)

CABBAGE, POTATO AND BACON SOUP

This is another favourite with the children. In fact we even included it in suggestions for a Brownie Recipe book. It is a very good way to use up leftover potato and cabbage from the Sunday Roast. Here it is:-

Ingredients

8 medium sized roast potatoes or the rough equivalent in mashed or boiled potatoes
Half a green cabbage, already chopped and cooked
Two rashers of bacon (smoked or unsmoked)
Half a pint of milk
400ml chicken stock

Method

1. Chop the bacon rashers then lightly fry them in a pan
2. Roughly chop the roast (or boiled) potatoes (no need if using mash, of course)
3. Put the bacon, potato and cabbage in blender and add the chicken stock and milk
4. Blend until reasonably smooth in consistency (more if using roast potatoes)
5. Adjust seasoning to taste

May that warm the cockles (not to mention feet and hands)!

Two Italian Salads

2009-05-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

It is now generally pretty well known and understood that the worldwide popularity of Italian cuisine lies with its simplicity.

Simple combinations + ingredients packed with flavour = a recipe for success.

I was lucky enough to start my domestic cooking career in Italy. My mother is a great cook but my scant interest as a teenager was quickly dampened by the fact that whenever I offered to help in the kitchen she always started interfering with what I was trying to do. Nothing more annoying! (I now, of course, find myself falling into the same trap – sneaking into the kitchen when hubby’s not looking to taste his Bolognese sauce and asking, with as much nonchalance as I can muster, infuriating questions like, ‘Did you put a bay leaf in? And a touch of brown sugar?’ He steadfastly refuses to do the classic Italian base mix of chopped onion, chopped celery and chopped carrot – but I guess I’ll have to let him off that. It tastes pretty good without – and I don’t want to put him off as it’s the only thing he cooks!)

So, yes, my interest in cooking really began when I first went to live in Italy as a 27 year old, courtesy of Boring Accountant’s career (not so boring accountant, after all?). We were based in a small apartment in Padova (Padua) in the Veneto region of North East Italy, just down the train line from Venice. Not a bad place to start one’s culinary journey.

Venice has a cuisine all of its own – largely based around seafood from the Adriatic of course, but infused with more exotic elements, too, which were embraced during the glory days of the mighty Venetian Republic and its status as Europe’s foremost trading post with the East. So alongside dishes of salt cod, seafood risottos and pasta infused with the black ink of cuttlefish, you will find the Eastern accents of cloves, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. The Veneto region, meanwhile, has its roots firmly in its farming past despite the prosperity it now enjoys from its manufacturing revolution (more on this another time, perhaps – it’s a fascinating story). As such, the basis of its cuisine is simple, wholesome, unfussy food centring around the famous Arborio and Carnaroli rice that it produces on its plains, and the potatoes and cured meat dishes which stem from the stunning mountainous region of the Dolomites. Put this together with a magnificent array of cheeses from myriad small producers and the famous, and unique, gem-red radicchio of Treviso, and you have a banquet fit for a king.

One of the things that I loved most about Padova was its three ancient central piazzas. On the Piazza della Frutta there was a daily market with stalls exquisitely displaying the fruit and vegetables of the moment. In Autumn it would be earthy scented mushrooms of every variety, with porcini being the most prized; in Winter bright orange clementines and red radicchio dominated; in Spring there would be a sea of bright green asparagus, artichokes and peas and in summer the heady scent of basil and tomatoes – another explosion of green and red. Now, put these last two together with the white of creamy mozzarella and you not only have the colours of the Italian flag, but one of the simplest and tastiest combinations you could ever hope to find. It simply sings with the optimism of summer, bursting with flavour generated by the heat of the sun.

Ah yes, the sun. This is why I have chosen to write about salads today. At the beginning of the week we had the most glorious Spring sunshine, imbuing everything with the most extraordinary clarity of light which had one rushing outdoors to soak it all in. Salad was the only thing I could think of to eat at my table outside on the terrace, the sounds of nature all around me. I wanted something quick, easy, healthy and flavoursome. I had some dolce rosso (small and sweet - available at Morrisons) tomatoes and the remains of a bag of rocket (rucola) in the fridge, basil on the windowsill, onions in my vegetable store and tinned cannellini beans and a tin of tuna in the larder. All I had to do was throw them all together – and this is how:

Chop one small white onion into small cubes (or throw it in the blender).
Open the cannellini beans (pinto beans would do too) and drain them.
Open and drain the tin of tuna.
Slice about 10 to 12 tomatoes in half.
Throw all that in a mixing bowl.
Add a generous slug of good quality extra virgin olive oil.
Squeeze a small lemon and add.
Add a touch of good quality balsamic vinegar (a good shake or two) but if you don’t have this a decent quality red wine vinegar would probably do.
Salt and pepper.
Pick off a handful of basil leaves, tear and add to the mix, together with a little fresh flat leafed parsley if you have it – but not to worry if you don’t, it’s just as tasty without.
Give it a good stir round, taste and adjust flavours/seasoning as necessary.

When you are happy with the balance of flavours, put into a bowl, put a handful of rocket on top and Bob’s your uncle (or should that be Roberto e il tuo zio?).

I went outside, laid up a place setting for one, opened a bottle of Italian pinot grigio from Trentino, the northern neighbour of the Veneto, (acquired from Waitrose, half price), slopped on some more olive oil and feasted like a king. It was only Monday, but it was a fantastic start to the week.

The second salad I had recently was just as simple:

It was comprised of two of the same ingredients as above – rocket and dolce rosso tomatoes. The addition was a couple of big chunks of mozzarella di bufala (FAR superior to the cheap rubbery flavourless stuff – click the link for more information) and some fine spears of asparagus, lightly grilled (they could also be steamed).

Again, all you need do is season the whole with ground salt and black pepper to taste, then drizzle with quality olive oil and either lemon or balsamic vinegar. Simplicity itself.

Footnote: for these recipes to work, you really do need quality Mozzarella (see above)and tomatoes. I used Dolce Rosso, but any small cherry or plum tomato from a hot country (but preferably Italy - fewer air miles than Israel) should do. Good quality extra virgin olive oil is also a must. I was using Jamie Oliver's, available in Sainsbury's and elsewhere.

Spanish Omelette Primavera

2009-05-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

Spanish Omelette Primavera
[For any linguists out there, this could sound a bit confusing, but I can’t think what the word for ‘Spring’ is in Spanish, so Italian will have to do!]

You can probably guess the ingredients – eggs, potatoes, onions, peas, green beans, that sort of Springy thing.

I had been down at the village school creating raised vegetable beds all morning which required much digging and lugging heavy things around. I then went to the supermarket as my cupboard was bare after the Easter holidays, and by the time I came home I felt sick and faint from hunger with a headache building. I had a house full of plumbers putting a new boiler in and I was dreading one of them accosting me with some problem or other before I’d had a chance to put any food down my throat. So I snuck in the back way, grabbed the first thing I could find out of the shopping bags (smoked mackerel pate), ripped open a packet of breadsticks which were lurking handily by the breadbin, and dug into it in the sort of fevered and uncouth manner that you see in films when people who haven’t eaten for weeks - having endured some horror or other - are finally presented with sustenance.

After I’d devoured half the tub and spluttered a mouthfully sort of apology to one of the plumbers who’d emerged from the cellar to check for intruders (having heard a bit of clattering about above), I suddenly remembered (brain reacting to food) that I was meant to be having omelette for lunch: I had some potatoes, dwarf green beans, peas and sugar snaps left over from the Sunday roast – add sliced onion and egg and you had a healthy, filling meal and got rid of the bowl of dog-ends cluttering up the place too. So, regarding my mackerel gobbling activity simply as a little hors d’oeuvre, I set to work:-

I took a half used red onion out of the fridge and sliced a chunk off it which I then chopped and put in a non-stick sauté pan (frying pan would be fine too) with about a teaspoon (= small slug) of olive oil. While they were softening I took the three roast potatoes and cut them into chunks, and also chopped up the sugar snaps and beans and chucked them in the pan (a large handful of each, to give you an idea), together with the leftover peas.

You could either slice some garlic at this point and add it with a knob of butter, or use garlic butter if you have some in the fridge (Lurpak do ready made garlic butter which I always keep by me for those lazy moments). Meanwhile I cracked three small eggs (or two large/medium) into a bowl and whisked them up with a fork. When the veg were warmed through and the onions soft (after a few minutes), I poured in the beaten eggs and added a good twist of salt and pepper from the grinders. I let it cook a little on the hob and then transferred it to the middle shelf in the Aga roasting oven to cook it from the top for a few minutes. (You could try putting it in a conventional oven, but if the oven’s not already on and heated, it is probably quickest and easiest just to cook it on the hob.)

When it was looking nice and golden, and gently firm but not too spongy, I took it out and put it on a plate with some rocket slopped over with good quality extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Of course, dressing for the salad, if you choose to have that with it, is au choix. A French dressing would be just as nice. Also, entirely up to you whether you leave the omelette open, or choose to fold it over.

And when you’ve finished you’ll be bouncing around like a Spring lamb. Promise! (well, depending on how much wine you drink with it of course, in which case you might be feeling a bit snoozy!)

Magic Mushrooms

2009-03-29T03:15:00.000-07:00

Good grief, where does the time go? My apologies for taking so long to write another post, but I have been hors de combat with sick children, then I was away for five days (re-sampling the joys of Italian food), then I had family staying. Anyway, before Easter hits and I am on the road again, I knew I just HAD to post something. So, although I have more recent ideas, I thought I would post something I first wrote, before actually setting up the blog, nigh on a year ago (13th April 2008, to be exact). This came about while searching for a very simple but tasty, quick supper with husband returning late from his daily toils with his calculator. (I’d obviously been on the sherry when I wrote it, but don’t let that put you off!).

As with all the things that I will be writing here, these are not ground-breaking recipes, just ideas to bear in mind and stimulate your own creativity as you peer into the recesses of your fridge wondering what you might be able to knock up from the eclectic mix of bits and pieces which lurk within.

Ok, so here it is…(and please read the footnote at the end):

Magic Mushrooms 1

[Opens fridge] Hmm, what have we got today?
1 packet of chestnut mushrooms. Sell by date 2nd April (it’s now the 13th).
1 packet of large flat mushrooms, sell by date 5th April (bit better).
Tub of crème fraiche – full fat, none of that rubbishy half fat stuff that lends no density of flavour and usually splits on cooking anyway.

Opens packet of chestnut mushrooms. Phwaw! Ok, maybe not! Bit slimey and smell like something died in there. Ok, let’s try the flat ones. Yep, they’re still firm and smell of earth not death. They’ll do. So, chop up into large chunks. Find a heavy saucepan or frying pan – preferably non-stick for easy washing [Aga did a fab range of casseroles with a combined sauté lid – German of origin I believe. It is ALWAYS worth spending money on high quality pans – they last a lifetime. Fissler (German again) are fantastic. I saw a demonstration in Harrods when I was compiling my wedding list and they, together with my Henckels knives, are still going strong 17 years down the line, still looking good as new]. Ok, where was I? Right, melt healthy slab of unsalted butter (c.25g). Take two fat cloves of garlic and crush into pan. Add mushrooms (3 of the large flat ones chopped is good for two people of moderate appetite, 4 for a little more than you really need for a light lunch/supper).

Let them sizzle gently, absorbing butter and garlic for a few minutes. Add a slug of white wine (also always lurking in fridge) and some big shakes form the fresh lemon juice bottle (or about half a small lemon squeezed if you can be bothered).

Leave to reduce for five minutes while tuck kids up. Come back down and add slug of amontillado sherry, together with a good shake of the Worcestershire sauce bottle (store cupboard must-have) and a teaspoon of sugar (caster, brown, granulated or soft – who cares, whatever you have), a twist of salt and pepper, and a tablespoon of crème fraiche. Let this bubble some more while you try and make head or tail of strange subtitled Spanish film on T.V. Absent-mindedly put two slices of toast in the toaster – or on the Aga if you have one. Butter when done. Turn attention away from toast and TV back to mushrooms. Pick some parsley from the windowsill/garden/packet and tear onto mushrooms. Give a stir and divide onto the two slices of toast. Serve to mesmerised husband/partner/friend in front of weird Spanish film.
-----------------------------
Footnote:
I’m also keen to stress that while sell-by dates are obviously to be respected to a certain degree and in some cases more than others (chicken, an obvious example), I think we all know that in this new world order that we live in, a little lee-way is actually built in to the dates so that companies aren’t getting sued left right and centre if a consumer gets ill. I think we just have to use a little common sense – and it is certainly madness (and against the interests of food waste) to be chucking out things which if prodded, poked and smelt, are actually still ok, despite the dreaded sell by date. (To really scare you, I had a strawberry mousse in the fridge the other day with a sell by date of November ’08 – I chucked it in the bin, thought again, took it out, opened it, and for interest stuck my finger in, tasted it and you know what? It was just fine…I ate the lot with no repercussions! Ok, so that’s a bit extreme, but it makes the point about flexible sell-by dates!)
28th March 2009
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Magic Mushrooms 2

Below is a more recent variation of the above that I made when I had some radicchio in the fridge that needed eating up, together with a dog end of gorgonzola and three rashers of bacon. This time I used chestnut mushrooms as they were all I had and, unlike the previous time, they were still reasonably fit and healthy, albeit slightly shrivelled!

You follow the method as above, simply putting the chopped bacon rashers in the pan first to get going, then adding the chopped mushrooms and finally the chopped radicchio and gorgonzola a minute or so after the mushrooms hit the pan. When I did this one, I lacked crème fraiche. It was tasty without, but if you have it, add it – or even a small amount of cream – it just balances the flavours a little and melds them all together nicely.

All you need to go with it now is a glass of the red stuff...

Buon appetito!

In The Beginning...

2009-02-28T15:50:00.000-08:00

You may be wondering why I have been a bit silent on this ‘great new blog idea’ of mine. Well, having decided to set it up and give it a go, I noticed just days later that a) Delia got there before me in the 1970s with Frugal Food, the book that has recently been republished and appeared on the shelves again and b) there’s another book also recently published called ‘The Frugal Cook’ which I noticed in the ‘Gifts for the Girls’ catalogue while flicking through for inspiration for Christmas presents. I have since discovered that this is the book of the blog (yes, another blog-turned-book success story, but sadly not mine!). As ever, I’ve missed the boat again. Story of my life: having great ideas, not acting on them quickly enough and so someone gets there before me.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about it and have decided to say ‘Sod it’ and carry on regardless. No-one has the copyright over ideas as broad as trying to be creative with food while saving money and waste at the same time. It’s a good cause so I may as well contribute in my own small way.

So if anyone accuses me of ‘copy cat’, then accuse away. My conscience is clear, knowing that I have been thinking about this (and even talked with my mother - an excellent cook - some years ago now, about joining forces with her as it was an idea she’d also toyed with) way before we all became recession and credit crunch obsessed at the end of last year.

There’s another crucial difference between me and the other two above: I’m not an established cookery writer. I’m just a plain old mother at home cooking two meals an evening: one for my children, another for me and my husband. I have lots of cookery books, but most of them I refer to simply for ideas. I’ve never been good at following instructions. I’d rather trust my own instincts. And that, I would say, is one of the ingredients for making a good cook. The others are Confidence, Creativity and, it goes without saying, A Good Palate. No good being creative if it tastes like shit.

Since I moved to this house I cook with an Aga. I didn’t grow up with one, but I always wanted one. Initially I was drawn to them because I loved the idea of them being the (clichéd) ‘Heart of the Home’. I loved the idea of coming down to a warm kitchen and a permanent source of heat to cuddle up to and dry your socks on. Now, the eco warriors may at this point click their mouse and bog off somewhere else with much tut-tutting and rolling of eyes. Yet I can assure you that the Aga is not the monster it has been portrayed as being. Most of the critics just simply have no idea how to make the best and most efficient use of them. Because, trust me, it is one of the best and most efficient ways of cooking food which has ever been invented. And since they were invented by a physicist, I think you can take my word for that. But for me, another of the key reasons I love cooking with an Aga is because I am a confident cook. Timings and temperatures freak me out. I use my senses to cook: sight, smell, taste. That is all you need. They are the best and most reliable guides you have.

(At which point I have to throw in a quick caveat: I’m no baker or pastry chef! Logically enough, this is because baking requires precision and I am not a naturally precise person. I also do not have a very sweet tooth. I’m a starters and main course kinda gal. So, all those of you who can’t pass a patisserie without slavering may as well leave the room now!)

I have a feeling this will not be a conventional food blog because I don’t do conventional, but if you fancy coming along for the ride, then Welcome Aboard!

As the world tips into recession....

2008-11-08T08:48:00.000-08:00

I have long been thinking about writing a cookery book based on being creative with the contents of your fridge. There seems no time like the present.

Since I currently have only a limited track record with any publishers (I provided some of the key photography in Classic Pasta Sauces by Anness Publishing), I decided to start this project as a blog and see where it took me.

So, watch this space - I shall be back soon....!