I didn’t realise how much rice I had been eating until I thought about the last time I ate pasta or potatoes and I can’t remember when that was. I like rice as a plain side to something, a herb encrusted rice salad or as a risotto. This quick and easy rice dish (or a cheat paella) is not a paella by any means but it’s a great dish to knock up after a hectic day with a nice bit of chorizo for a mid-week Spanish pick me up. Get out your flamenco.
Luxury Leek and Potato Soup with Homemade Soda Bread
Ingredients
| You will need (for two big bowls of soup): | |
|
1 medium onion, sliced
|
£ 0.10
|
|
2 large leeks
|
£ 0.90
|
|
Large knob of butter
|
£ 0.15
|
|
2 large potatoes (around 500g)
|
£ 0.50
|
|
100ml double cream
|
£ 0.40
|
|
850ml vegetable stock
|
£ 0.10
|
|
Small handful chives
|
£ 0.25
|
|
Salt and pepper
|
£ 0.02
|
|
For the soda bread:
|
|
|
300g spelt flour
|
£ 0.66
|
|
10g baking powder
|
£ 0.06
|
|
5g salt
|
£ 0.01
|
|
230ml buttermilk
|
£ 0.75
|
|
Total
|
£ 3.90
|
method
Wash the leeks and then slice them thinly. Heat the butter in a saucepan on a low to medium heat and fry the onion and leeks for around 15 minutes until softened but not brown. Peel and dice the potato then add this to the leeks and put the lid on the pan. Leave the potatoes to soften for around 10 minutes.
Add the stock to the pan and bring to the boil. Boil with the lid on until the potatoes are tender then add the cream and some salt and pepper. Let the soup cool down before blending the soup until smooth. Return to the pan to warm through and then chop up the chives and use them to top the soup.
Review: Barber’s 1833 Cheddar and Twice Baked Cheddar Soufflés
Barber’s kindly invited me to the BBC Good Food Show last year in Birmingham and I really enjoyed it. I had a good old chat to Barber’s about their cheese; they use their own starter cultures to make their cheese and I was amazed at the difference each culture can make to the end flavour of the cheese. Some will give it an earthy, Marmite flavour and others will give a slight sweetness. In order to enjoy their cheese Barber’s gave me all the ingredients and a recipe to make a delicious twice baked cheese soufflé.
ingredients
You will need (for 6 soufflés):- 225ml milk
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 6 black peppercorns
- 40g butter, plus extra for greasing
- 40g plain flour
- 125g Barber’s 1833 Vintage Cheddar, plus extra for sprinkling
- 3 large eggs, separated
- 1 tbsp. chopped chives
- Salt and pepper
- 150ml double cream
method
Preheat an oven to 180C and butter six individual ramekins.
Put the milk, shallot, bay leaf and peppercorns in a saucepan and bring to the boil then strain into a jug. I always enjoy doing this as it smells so good.
Melt the butter in a saucepan then add the flour and cook for a few minutes. Gradually whisk in the milk then simmer for a few more minutes. Remove from the heat and add the cheese before adding the egg yolks, chives and a little salt and pepper.
Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks then fold these into the cheese mixture. Divide between the buttered ramekins.
Citrus Carpaccio with Champagne Sabayon
Ingredients
You will need (for two):1 blood orange 1 pink grapefruit 1 white grapefruit Pomegranate seeds Mint leaves 3 egg yolks 3 tbsp caster sugar 150ml Champagne
Method
Start by peeling and slicing the citrus fruits as thinly as possible. Put to one side.
To make the sabayon put a bowl over a pan of lightly simmering water taking care that the bowl and water do not touch. Whisk together the eggs yolks and sugar in the bowl until combined and then whisk in the Champagne. Keep whisking for around 10 minutes until it is completely frothy and doubled in size.
Serve the slices of fruit on a big plate, spoon over the sabayon and top with some pomegranate seeds and mint leaves.
Blood Orange Bucks Fizz
A new house and a new kitchen, a tricky transition I find. What will the oven be like; a brute or a wimp? It turns out the oven is a pretty good one although I am yet to bake a cake and discover its true character. We have managed to save enough space to have a pantry; something I’ve always wanted. There are a few boxes yet to be unpacked and a few more bits of furniture to be put in place but progress has been good. So, with all the unpacking, swearing, cleaning and tidying there had to be time for a beautiful breakfast.
Ploughman’s; is there a better luncheon?
On a cold winter’s day after having the wind whip around your face for a few hours it is essential to come back to a fantastic lunch. Perhaps a bowl of warm soup and crusty bread, maybe a lovely pasty or pie. For me, there is no better lunch than a ploughman’s. I’m not sure why it’s called as such but I’m guessing it’s something to do with ploughing. Which, incidentally I have tried my hand at before and it’s safe to say I won’t be quitting my day job.
Zillionaire’s Shortbread
The New Year is always full of optimism, resolutions and excitement. What is your resolution this year? Some people choose dieting/getting healthy/losing weight as their resolution and to those of you reading this who may have just started their path to a healthier lifestyle, I apologise. This recipe is not for those who strive for a smaller waist. This is pure, unashamed indulgence; layers of buttery shortbread sandwiched with dulce de leche, topped with salted caramel and dark chocolate. Not millionaire’s shortbread, but Zillionaire’s Shortbread.
Rhubarb and Custard with Blood Orange Sauce
I was one of those children who would pick out the sourest, most mouth puckering and sharpest of sweets. Sherbert wasn’t quite tart enough for me and so rhubarb and custard sweets were my saviour when all the sour apple ones had gone. They soon became my favourite; when you were turning the sweet over in your mouth you never knew if you were going to get a burst of sour or a shot of sweet. Although I do enjoy one of these sweets occasionally I have moved on to a more grown up version.
This is the very first of the English forced rhubarb I could get my hands on. It was nestled amongst a load of potatoes, swedes and cabbages; poking its pink feet out asking to be picked up. Admittedly my first thought was crumble but on my travels I walked past a sweet shop and my thoughts turned to rhubarb and custard.
Golden Beetroot Soup
Beetroot soup has always had a whiff of borscht about it and I’m not one for cold soup. Not even the most delicate of gazpacho can tempt me to more than a few spoonfuls. I wanted a warming, hearty soup but I did not want to redecorate the kitchen in varying shades of fuchsia while trying to achieve this. Purple beetroot is a glorious colour but there’s always varying degrees of risk when cooking with it. Every person, pet and piece of kitchen equipment is playing beetroot roulette.
There’s not much point in wasting the striped beetroot in a soup either. Rumour has it that instead of being the baby pink you envisaged it goes more of an off-grey. The only other off-grey thing I can think of is gruel. Nobody wants to eat gruel. By happy chance there is another shade of beetroot that can save all this heartache. A beetroot that results in soup that looks like a bowl of sunshine. Not only does the golden beetroot look happy, it makes you happy because there’s much less messing around.
Purple Cabbage Soup
Cooked cabbage and a wet flannel have an unfortunate amount of textures in common. Particularly if, like me, you were put off cabbage at school where it was boiled to what can only be described as wallpaper paste. Things have moved on since then and I wanted to give the cabbage a chance. I’ve baked it, boiled it, steamed it and fried it. Apart from frying, none of these yielded any spectacular, life changing results. Nevertheless I wasn’t about to give up on them; they are pretty much the only thing in season right now so I have no choice. If I have learnt anything about the cabbage it is that determination is key.
