All That I'm Eating

Recipe ideas for budget meals, everyday cooking and a little indulgence. Travel inspiration and restaurant reviews too.

Christmas Couscous

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Christmas Couscous
Around every corner there seems to be some sort of turkey and cranberry and/or stuffing sandwich. All those crazy festive sandwich fillings come out now for us to enjoy in an intense but short space of time; some more questionable than others. It seems you can put almost anything in a sandwich; I’m waiting for one to come out with a Brussels sprout and mincemeat filling. It is nice to be able to take in all the flavours of Christmas in one mouthful but what about when you just don’t want any more bread? Have no fear because you can have all the tastes of a festive lunch in my Christmas Couscous.

Ingredients

You will need (as a light lunch for 4):
150g couscous
250ml chicken (or turkey) stock
50g walnuts, chopped and lightly toasted
4-5 rashers smoked, streaky bacon
10 sprouts, shredded
50g dried cranberries
Salt and pepper
Oil for frying

Method

Put the couscous into a large bowl. Bring the stock to a boil and pour over the couscous. Cover and put to one side for five minutes.

Add a little oil to a frying pan on a medium heat and add the bacon. Fry until golden brown.

While the bacon cooks add the walnuts and dried cranberries to the couscous with some salt and pepper and give it all a good mix together to fluff up the couscous. read more

Cinnamon Spiced Stained Glass Window Biscuits

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Cinnamon Spiced Stained Glass Window Biscuits
I vaguely remember making these biscuits before, many years ago, but I can’t remember what they tasted like. It was about time I tried them again because I love the idea of them hanging on the tree catching the light. What I didn’t anticipate was the sheet brute force needed to break the boiled sweets up. I thought it would simply involve a swift whack with a rolling pin but after several increasingly ferocious attempts they just wouldn’t break. So I used my mini blender to reduce the sweets to a fine crumb. It made a hell of a racket but it did a great job.

Ingredients

You will need (for around 24 biscuits):
180g plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
110g butter
50g caster sugar
1-2 tbsp milk
Boiled sweets, different colours and flavours
Greaseproof paper
Ribbon, string or other hanging devices

Method

Preheat an oven to 180C and line two baking trays with grease proof paper.

Rub together the flour, cinnamon and butter until you have a breadcrumb texture. Stir through the sugar and then bring the mixture together with drops of milk until it forms a ball.

Knead the mix lightly then chill for 30 minutes. read more

Granny’s Sage, Chestnut, Apple and Onion Stuffing for Sausage Rolls

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apple onion and chestnut stuffing sausage rolls
A few years ago a friend of mine bought me one of those blank cookery books that you write up your recipes in over time. I had always cooked with my Granny and this seemed the perfect place for her to store some of her recipes for me to refer to in the future. One of the recipes she included was one for Sage, Chestnut, Apple and Onion stuffing which had a rather festive feel to it. She had also included a recipe for sausage rolls a few pages along so it seemed right to merge these two recipes together and create ‘Granny’s Sage, Chestnut, Apple and Onion Stuffing for Sausage Rolls’.

Ingredients

You will need for 16 sausage rolls:
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small apple, peeled and finely chopped
80g cooked and peeled chestnuts, finely chopped
400g good quality sausages
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh sage
Butter or oil for frying
Salt and pepper
1 pack readymade and rolled puff pastry
Milk or egg for brushing

Method

Melt a large knob of butter in a large frying pan on a medium heat. Add the onion, apple and sage and fry for 5-6 minutes or until softened.

Add the chestnuts, salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes longer. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. read more

Spiced Turkey Mini Meatballs with Chillied Cranberry Sauce

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Spiced Turkey Mini Meatballs with Chillied Cranberry Sauce
Although not my favourite meat you can’t very well ignore a turkey at this time of year. I’m not going to be cooking a whole turkey (there’s only two of us!) so instead, to make a nod to this festive bird, I made these spiced turkey meatballs. They are great with the chillied cranberry sauce. This recipe does have a whiff of a turkey curry about it but it’s an ideal dish to make for party finger food.

Ingredients

You will need (for a good platter of nibbles):
500g turkey mince (not lean)
1 1/2 tbsp garam masala

200g cranberries
125g granulated sugar
250ml water
1 red chilli, finely chopped

Method

Mix the garam masala into the turkey mince until well distributed and well mixed together. Form into mini meatballs then cover and refrigerate until needed.

Put the water and sugar into a pan and heat slowly until the sugar dissolves. Add the cranberries and chilli and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes or until thickened and the cranberries have burst.
Put the sauce to one side to cool. read more

Outrageously Orange Mince Pies

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Outrageously Orange Mince Pies
Confession time. I’m not a great fan of mincemeat. It’s just a bit too strong for me. Having said that I am a big fan of the mince pie; so long as there’s more pastry than mince. To mellow the minciness of these mince pies I have mixed the mincemeat half and half with marmalade. There’s also some orange zest in the pastry to give them a real citrus zing. I think if someone had given me this less intense mince pie as a child I would have been more inclined to eat the whole thing rather than just the pastry.

Ingredients

You will need (for 12 mince pies):
225g plain flour
120g butter
Zest of one orange
Cold water

130g mince meat
130g marmalade (all the better if it’s a whisky marmalade)

Milk or egg for brushing

Method

Make the pastry by rubbing the butter into the flour until you have a breadcrumb texture.
Stir through the orange zest.
Bring the mixture together with little drops of cold water until it forms a ball. Knead quickly on a floured surface then wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll the pastry out on a floured surface until just less than the thickness of a £1 coin. Cut out 12 rounds (fluted or plain) with a cutter that will fit your tin and then 12 smaller rounds for the lids. I used an 8.5cm and 6.5cm cutter.
Preheat the oven to 220C.
Use the larger rounds to line bun tins. read more

Chicory, Walnut and Pomegranate Salad with Walnut and Clementine Dressing

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chicory walnut pomegranate salad with clementine dressing
At this most wonderful time of year I would estimate that I’m around 10% booze, 20% pastry, 40% cheese, 10% bacon wrapped sausages and 20% mince meat. It’s not a good look. The thought of tucking into a cucumber really doesn’t appeal to me. Not at all. No. If I am in need of some cleansing and a break from all the indulgence it still has to be in keeping with the season. Hence walnuts, clementines and pomegranates all become great mates through the vehicle of chicory.

Ingredients

You will need (for 2 as a light main, for 4 as a side):
2 chicory heads
Small handful walnuts
1/2 pomegranate
2 tbsp walnut oil
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 clementine
Salt and pepper

Method

Chop up the chicory so you have individual leaves. Arrange these on a large plate so everyone can dig in.

Roughly chop the walnuts and toast these in a dry frying pan. Once toasted sprinkle these over the chicory.

Bash the seeds out from the pomegranate (or whatever method you choose) and add these to the salad.

Mix together the walnut and olive oil then squeeze in the juice of the clementine. Stir through some salt and pepper before pouring the dressing over the salad. read more

Damson Gin, Lychee and Champagne Cocktail

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Damson Gin, Lychee and Champagne Cocktail
As much as it’s lovely to have plenty of ideas for food to cook with a festive feel you can’t very well just make do with mulled wine for the month of December. No indeed. At some point in my life I went from having no spirits in the house to being on the verge of opening a drinks emporium. It seems to have crept up on me (I’m sure it has to everyone) and I have all sorts of odds and ends to do something with. The brandy is being used to make sloe or damson port but the four different gins I have going on need to be used up. It’s getting ridiculous.

Ingredients

You will need (per drink):

37.5ml damson (or sloe) gin
1 lychee from a can plus 3 tsp of the syrup
Champagne to top up

Method

It’s not particularly complicated but who can be bothered with all that exuberant shaking when you’ve just eaten a disgraceful amount of roast potatoes?

Pour the gin into a glass; over ice if you’d like. Plonk the lychee in with the syrup then top it up with Champagne.

You might want to play around with this recipe a little; if your gin is particularly sweet or sharp you may need a little more or less lychee syrup. read more

Baked Vacherin Mont D’or with Rosemary Flatbreads

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garlic baked camembert with rosemary flatbreads allthatimeating (1 of 3)
I do like a bit of cheese. Sometimes it’s best with crackers and pickles, sometimes it’s best melted onto or into something but then there are those times where you bake a whole cheese and then spoon it all out, all runny and lovely, mostly into your mouth and somewhat on the table. I’m not sure why I associate a Vacherin Mont D’or with Christmas but it doesn’t get much better than warm, melted, faintly garlicky cheese scooped out with delicious homemade (and quick) bread.

Ingredients

You will need (for two):
1 Vacherin Mont D’or (or Camembert)
1 clove garlic

250g strong white bread flour
1 tsp fresh chopped rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
60ml extra virgin olive oil
100ml water

Method

Mix together the flour, salt and rosemary. Mix in the olive oil and water. Using your hands, bring it all together into a ball then knead on a floured surface for a few minutes. Set it to one side for a few minutes more.

Preheat an oven to 200C. Slice the garlic and then cut slits in the top of the cheese. Put the slices of garlic into the cheese and then put into the oven for around 10 minutes. read more

My 12 favourite recipes of 2012

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Golden Beetroot Soup

I’ve never done a ’round-up’ post before so I’m very excited. I’ve made all sorts of things this year. Some that I have carried on making and some others which I will never make again; mayonnaise being my disaster of the year. And so, below, are my favourite recipes that I have made this year; one for each month.

January
Golden Beetroot Soup

This is my favourite post from January because there’s not much else around in the winter months that can give you a bowl of pure sunshine. It’s an odd one to eat because it doesn’t look like it will taste of beetroot. read more

Mushroom Soup with Grilled Wild Mushrooms and Blue Cheese Croutons

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Mushroom Soup with Grilled Wild Mushrooms and Blue Cheese Croutons
There’s plenty of inspiration around at the moment for your Brussels sprouts, turkey, leftovers and the like. The thing I find my fridge full of, at this time of year particularly is cheese. Don’t get me wrong I will happily eat it all on its own or with copious pickled onions but when you’re preparing for a week of non-stop eating it’s nice to have something light and fresh to get things going. This recipe also helps to make a small dent in the side of any cheese mountain you may be harbouring.

You will need (for 2 bowls):
1 onion, roughly chopped
Butter
300g mushrooms, any will do but I used Portobello
A few sprigs of thyme, leaves removed
400ml vegetable stock
150ml milk
Salt and pepper
Small handful wild mushrooms
1 small baguette
Blue cheese

Start by frying the onion in a small knob of butter until softened. If using Portobello mushrooms I always peel them; mostly because I immensely enjoy doing it. Chop the mushrooms and add them to the onion and cook for a few minutes until they release some of their water. Add the thyme leaves, vegetable stock and milk, cover and cook for about 10 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft. Blend the soup, season and then return to the heat to keep warm while you make the croutons. read more

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