All That I'm Eating

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

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 Recipes of Christmas

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I have always made a small nod to festive recipes but have never gone particularly all out, tinsel everywhere, baubles all over the shop type thing. The truth is I’m too busy humming carols, doing a bit of sewing (it’s the only time of year I attempt to get crafty) and generally being the anti-Scrooge to devote much time to creating new recipes.
This year however, I am very excited to present my 12 recipes of Christmas. There are no roast turkeys, no bubbles or squeaks and no curry leftover recipes. No, these 12 recipes are the things that will suit your festive plans no matter what. There’s ideas for party food, light meals, a take on a mince pie and some drinks too.
So whether you’re planning on being Elvis or Bing I hope there’ll be something to wet your whistle (I wish there was some jingle bell alternative I could slip in there).
Starting on December 1st and continuing every other day until the 23rd I’ll be popping up a recipe. Savoury, sweet, indulgent or light there’s a right old mix. It’s just like the song, the 12 Days of Christmas, except that it’s all edible. Enjoy! read more

Review: Hello Fresh

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Hello Fresh Recipe Box Review
Hello Fresh is a box delivery company who deliver full meals to your door. You can choose if you’d like it for two or four people and for three or five meals. It sounded like an interesting idea so when they asked if I’d like to try one I was looking forward to it. I quite like the Hello Fresh personality; the email they sent to me to confirm my delivery made me chuckle and the box itself was adorned with a ‘Caution: contents may be extremely delicious’. The box I was sent to try was for two for three meals and costs £39.

The ingredients in the box were packed nicely with the chilled ingredients well wrapped to stop anything else getting damp. When you unpack it it’s like playing a detective; what’s this ingredient for, what does that go in to? The recipe cards are easy to follow with good pictures. The only trouble is knowing what to cook first.

We started with the Chicken Tinga (above) which was easy to make and used some of the Wahaca sauce which smelt great. We had to poach the chicken and then shred it and poaching chicken isn’t something I’ve done for many years so I was glad to give it another go. It worked well with the brown rice and was spicy without being too hot.

After that we had Chorizo and Halloumi skewers with Tabbouleh. For this they had sent a different kind of chorizo than the recipe stated (sausages rather than slices)  so they emailed the recipe amendment across. This was really good too; the pungent chorizo and salty, creamy cheese were nice with the fresh and citrusy tabbouleh. read more

Gnocchi with Broccoli, Toasted Walnuts and Blue Cheese Sauce

By 16 Comments

gnocchi with creamy blue cheese sauce allthatimeating (1 of 2)
Apparently we are due for one of the coldest winters ever; don’t they say that every year though? Either way it’s the same story for me; thick socks, snuggly jumpers and consuming an astonishing amount of cheese. When you’re having to defrost your car windscreen every morning the thought of coming home to a nice salad just doesn’t quite cut it. What is needed is lots of stodge; carbohydrates, cream and cheese. Dauphinoise is a classic choice but it’s not quite a meal. So to fulfil this instinctive desire for filling food, on a budget for four people, this gnocchi with broccoli, toasted walnuts and blue cheese sauce is perfect.

Ingredients

You will need (for four):
2 500g packs of gnocchi (not the refrigerated ones)
£1.30
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
£0.80
1 small onion, finely chopped
£0.10
Oil or butter for frying
£0.02
300ml double cream
£1.10
150g creamy blue cheese (I used Blue Monday)
£1.20
75g walnuts, roughly chopped
£0.85
Salt and pepper
£0.02
Total
£5.39

Method

Start by getting a frying pan on a low to medium heat and adding a glug of oil or knob of butter. Add the onion and fry slowly for around 20 minutes or until softened but not browned. While the onion is frying get another small frying pan on a medium to high heat. Add the chopped walnuts and toast them in the dry pan for a few minutes until you can smell they are toasted. Watch them carefully though as they can burn easily. Put to one side when done. When the onion is around five minutes from ready bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the broccoli and boil for two to three minutes.

When the onion is soft, pour in the cream and stir frequently until it just starts to simmer. 

Add the gnocchi to the pan with the broccoli and continue to boil for one to two minutes more or until the gnocchi floats to the top.

Crumble the blue cheese into the cream sauce, reduce the heat to its lowest setting and stir frequently.

Drain the broccoli and gnocchi and put to one side.

Ensure the cheese has melted into the cream and then add plenty of black pepper. Taste the sauce and add a little salt if needed; it will depend how salty your cheese is. read more

Sharp’s Brewery Tour

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sharps brewery beers
You may already know that I went to Bruges earlier this year and for the first time realised that beer is actually rather nice. My affection for beer only really extended to the Belgian kind at first. Not that easy to get hold of the more unusual brands I started venturing into beers unknown. A local pub of ours sells Doombar, which is brewed in Cornwall by Sharp’s Brewery, and I thought this was finally a British beer that I liked. Then I discovered (thanks to a Belgian-ish beer bar in London) that Sharp’s made Belgian style beer in Cornwall. We were planning a trip down to Cornwall anyway so after tasting one of the Connoisseurs beers I asked them if they wouldn’t mind giving us a tour, thinking it would be like some of the other tourist orientated factories. It turns out they don’t actually do tours so it was very kind of them to take the time and effort to show us round. As it happened we were shown around by Stewart Howe who is the head brewer and he has won many awards and accolades for his beers. It was fascinating. We were able to taste some of the different malts; from the pale and reminiscent of maltesers to the very dark Guinness-esque ones. They were surprisingly chewy and I wouldn’t have minded a handful to snack on! Next we were running our hands through some of the different hops that are used; British, European and American, I was so surprised how different they smelt and the fruitiness of them too. We got to see inside one of the tanks in action; it was covered in a thick layer of yeasty bubbles and had a great aroma. Sharp’s make such a range of beers and in all sorts of different bottles and barrels and if there’s anything Stuart doesn’t know about beer it’s not worth knowing.

After we had seen the whole process we were able to try some of the bottled beers; 11 in total we tried on our visit. It was similar to wine tasting with the water swishing out in between each one. The photo shows the beers we tried from our favourite (on the left) to the ones less for us (on the right). The range of colour and flavour between them was remarkable; from light and citrusy to deep and honeyed. For someone who used to think all beer tasted the same this was eye opening.
The best bit was when they brought out the chocolate. The two bars of chocolate have been created specially to pair with the Honey Spice beer (white chocolate with lemon meringue) and the Quadrupel (70% dark chocolate). Beer and chocolate I tried in Bruges but it was beer that had the chocolate (or flavour) in it. This was different, not least because the chocolate had other flavours, but because you could make it as strong or faint in chocolate flavour as you liked by nibbling.
One of the more intriguing beers was one called Land Shrimp. I kid you not when I tell you that it was made with woodlice, hence the name. It was quite a bitter beer I thought but I couldn’t tell you if that was down to the woodlice or not. Apparently you can add almost anything to beer! read more

A Trip to Cornwall

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Cornwall
It’s a few hours in the car for us to get down to Cornwall. My other half’s grandmother lives there so it’s always nice to go down to see her and smell the sea air. On this particular adventure we arrived to the smell of fresh baking in the house and discovered that we were to be treated to a Cornish feast. The first evening comprised saffron buns (bready, a glorious orange and with saffron and dried fruit), figgy hobbin (sultanas wrapped in pastry coated in sugar) and sausage rolls. We were informed that the sausage rolls were a test bake to check that the pastry would be good enough for the incredible and massive pasties that we had the next day. What a welcome.

I like all the names of places you see as you drive around Cornwall. My particular favourite is the ‘Atlantic Highway’ as it conjures up such optimistic visions of an incredible road surrounded by sea but in reality it’s just like any other bit of tarmac. Still, good to say you’ve been on it. The views (as you can see) are good from wherever you are; blue skies (we were quite lucky), sea and green fields. As we were only down for a few days we tried to cram as much in as possible. We started with a trip to the Wadebridge Wine Shop which sells some amazing wines from all over the world, beers, ciders and spirits; they have two Cornish gins available there too. read more

Chicken Tikka Wraps with Cucumber and Onion Salsa

By 18 Comments

chicken tikka filling
I wanted to make something with meat for my next frugal recipe but I didn’t want to compromise on the quality of the chicken I decided to use. I bought two free range chicken breasts from my local farmers’ market as they are much more reasonable than buying them anywhere else. In order for this recipe for four to cost less than £6 the chicken needed to be bulked out with plenty of other bits. Enter the wrap; it looks like it’s not that filling but after just two of them I am stuffed! This recipe is fresh, vibrant and full of flavour and makes a light, quick and easy meal.

Ingredients

You will need (for four):
2 free range chicken breasts
£3.42
2 tbsp tikka paste
£0.20
150g organic natural yoghurt
£0.49
1/2 large lettuce
£0.25
1/2 cucumber
£0.33
1 small red onion
£0.10
Small handful fresh coriander
£0.15
8 wraps
£1.00
Salt and pepper
£0.02
Oil (for frying)
£0.02
Total
£5.98

Method

Start by slicing the chicken breasts into thin, inch sized pieces. Put these into a bowl with the tikka paste and 1 tbsp of yoghurt. Mix together and then cover and leave in the fridge to marinate for at least 30 minutes.

While the chicken marinates prepare the rest of the meal.
Wash the lettuce and drain well before shredding it.
To make the salsa finely chop the cucumber and the onion. Put half of the onion and all of the cucumber into a bowl. Tear in the coriander and then mix it all together with some salt and pepper. Put this to one side.

When you are ready to cook the chicken get a large frying pan on a medium heat. Add a little oil and the other half of the chopped onion. Fry the onion for around five minutes to get a little colour then add the chicken and all the marinade.
Continue to fry it all together for around ten minutes or until the chicken is cooked and some of the edges of the chicken have started to catch. Leaving the chicken to catch really adds to the flavour. read more

Cider making at Ciderniks

By 21 Comments

bags of apples

I prefer cider in either hot weather so I can have it nice and cold, or when it’s cold outside so I can have it nice and warm. How do you prefer yours? There seems to have been much more interest recently in cider with lots of new brands popping up so it was great to have a chance to see behind the scenes with a cider maker himself. Ciderniks is a small cider maker based in Kintbury and Nick opened up his cider making empire for the curious to have a look around.

Nick’s garden was absolutely full of bags of apples; some from here, some from there but he knew where each bag had come from. It was remarkable how many apples he already had with the promise of more on the way. It was also very surprising how much juice each bag will give you; I thought it would have been a lot less. read more

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