Recipe ideas for budget meals, everyday cooking and a little indulgence. Travel inspiration and restaurant reviews too.
I know I’m guilty of flicking through all my recipe books and thinking how good the recipes sound but knowing full well it’s pretty unlikely I’ll ever give it a try because I’ll either forget or not have the time. This challenge suited me because I was forced not to turn the page to find something quicker, easier or less expensive. I stuck to the rules and ended up opening Rick Stein’s Spain to Canalons de ternera, cerdo, jamón y boletus or Veal, Pork, Serrano Ham and Porcini Cannelloni.
You will need:
I prepared the butter before I left by crushing three garlic cloves into about 50g butter and mixing it together with a few sprigs of chopped parsley and some black pepper.
Take the mushrooms and wrap them (gill side up) in some foil so they are completely covered. Put the parcel onto the edge of the BBQ, so it is not directly over the heat, and leave them to soften in their own juices for about 20 minutes. When they are soft put a little of the garlic butter onto the mushroom gills and leave the parcel open so that some of the moisture evaporates. After about five minutes toast the buns on the BBQ and put a mushroom in each bun.
Celeriac has a wonderful flavour, sweetness and crunch and it is at its best (in my opinion) when raw. Uncooked root vegetables must be dressed, it would be rude otherwise, and a classic celeriac remoulade is something I’ve always wanted to try. For me the remoulade needs to have creaminess, some acidity, freshness and a little mustard heat. Combine that with some lovely venison, peppery rocket and tangy sourdough and you’ve got yourself a match made in heaven.
Foraging in Greece would be an amazingly acidulated affair; lemons, limes, olives, figs and pomegranates were dripping from the roadsides. I loved the fresh herbs that were used in all of the hot food I had and that no matter where you went bread and dessert were obligatory and free of charge. I had a great time and I can’t wait to try and recreate some of the great flavours I tried while I was over there. Here is my interpretation of one of my favourite dishes.
You will need (for two):
Olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 fat clove garlic, chopped
400g cherry tomatoes
Small handful of basil and parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper
170g spaghetti
200g feta
A few juicy stems of wet garlic arrived in my vegetable box. I knew they would be pretty powerful and pungent and it seemed only right to make garlic bread. However, garlic bread alone does not a meal make and fortunately I had some brilliant tiger tomatoes that I picked up from the farmers’ market. I’m not sure how clearly you can see the tomatoes but they are glorious; vibrant red flesh, green seeds and dark green striped skin.
You will need, a light lunch for two:
Start by making the dough. I confess that since the acquisition of my food mixer, making bread dough is simple and carefree. Put all of the ingredients into the bowl, turn the dough hook on and come back 10 minutes later to perfectly kneaded dough. Lazy? Perhaps. Easy? Definitely. Leave the dough in the bowl, cover the top and leave until doubled in size; an hour or so.
First and foremost make the pastry. Rub the butter into the flour until you have breadcrumbs and then add drops of water until it comes together. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or so. Roll the pastry out and divide into four pieces. Line each tart tin with the pastry and prick the base with a fork. I thought I’d make a right mess of lining the tins but it was really quick and simple; no holes and no patching up required.
I tried that trick of pushing the rolling pin over the pastry when it’s in the case to remove the excess pastry from the edges and it worked brilliantly. Line the tarts with some baking paper and fill the tart cases with baking beans. Bake in a preheated oven at 200C for 15 minutes then remove the baking beans. I don’t think I was quite firm enough pushing my beans down as I did get a few air bubbles so I’ll be sure to be more forceful next time.The fiddliest part was the unfortunate but necessary step of removing the skins from the chorizo. They may be natural skins and fine to eat but I’d had them before and ended up having to pull the skins off after cooking and out of my teeth. I wasn’t prepared to spend the evening flossing so skin removal was essential. Once the skins are removed, chop the chorizo and fry on a medium heat so the oil runs out of the chorizo and it gets nice and crispy. Remove the chorizo from the pan leaving some of the oil and put the onion in. Fry the onion until soft and going brown at the edges; the smell was divine.
Originally I was just going to put a few caramelised onions in with the sausage meat but then I started thinking of other flavours; rosemary and fennel to start. With these new found thoughts I made a batch of eight sausage rolls, two of each of the following flavours; caramelised onion, herbs, fennel and olive. I think a nice spicy tomato chutney would have been brilliant too.
First of all make the caramelised onions. I used a whole onion, fried gently in butter for 20 minutes until soft and starting to brown then added sugar, salt and pepper. They were wonderfully sticky. While the onions are cooking; crush some fennel seeds, chop a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, parsley and chives and finely chop a few olives.
Sometimes carrots can be taken for granted. The base of a soup or stew, added to stock or shoved on the side of the plate. What a shame. They are such glorious things in their own right and there is no carrot sweeter than a home grown carrot. I planted these little beauties a few months back expecting them to be riddled with carrot fly and a complete disaster. The results have been quite the opposite. I am now inundated.
Before you ask, the one second from right is not a parsnip, it is a white carrot. The two on each end are orange and the other is a yellow carrot. I didn’t know what a rainbow I had underground until I pulled them up.
Whether you’re using home grown or bought carrots, a lovely subtle carrot soup has to be the way to go. Carrot soup is one of my favourite soups but the carrots can sometimes be overshadowed with what they are paired with. Sometimes coriander can be a little too much or the orange overwhelms the humble sweet carrot flavours. Not this time though.
I can’t tell you how simple it was. What I thought would be a right kerfuffle turned out to be one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done. Once the skin was off, the meat just fell off the bone and I was left with a pile of meat and a complete pile of bones. There were a few strays that I found amidst the pile but I got the blighters.
During my adventures with the trout, a pan full of potatoes had been merrily bubbling away in the background. Once cooked they were drained and left to cool while the dressing was made.
