All That I'm Eating

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

Elderflower and Lemon Ice Lollies

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Elderflower and Lemon Ice Lollies
We’ve been so lucky with the weather recently, fingers crossed it continues! Sat outside in the sun on a lovely day there’s nothing quite as refreshing as an ice lolly; especially one you can slurp enthusiastically at being ever so proud that you’ve made it yourself. My elderflower and lemon ice lollies are subtly flavoured and just the thing to enjoy on a summer day. I find that adding cordial to an ice lolly inevitably results in much stronger concentrations of cordial at the bottom and faint flavour at the top. The added lemon zest in these elderflower lollies means they have flavour throughout.

Ingredients

You will need (I made enough for six ice lollies):

  • Ice lolly mould
  • Elderflower cordial (homemade or shop bought)
  • Zest of 1 lemon

Method

Make up the elderflower cordial a little stronger than you would if you were drinking it.

Put the lemon zest into the bottom of each mould and top up with the diluted cordial.

You could add the fresh lemon juice to the elderflower mix before pouring it in if you want the lemon flavour a little stronger.

Freeze, wait and enjoy!

You might have to try and convince people that it’s not just water you’ve frozen but as soon as they try them they’ll be glad they did! Elderflower is such a distinctive flavour and the lemon and lemongrass that were in my homemade cordial work so well with the added lemon zest. Shop bought elderflower cordial will work just as well, whichever you use just make sure you mix it up a little stronger than you would for drinking it. Floral, easy, zesty and refreshing, like a little piece of frozen summer. read more

Smörgåsbord with Swedish Salad

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Smörgåsbord with Swedish Salad

Scandinavian food interests me; cured salmon, pickles and dark rye are the things that immediately spring to mind. By coincidence I was sent two different crispbreads to try; some from Finn Crisp and some from Plain Tasty so it seemed the perfect opportunity to try and make a Smörgåsbord with a Swedish salad; Swedish style anyway! Something very different for dinner in the ATIE household.

Ingredients

You will need (make as many as you need): 

  • Pickles
  • Cheese and cream cheese
  • Crispbreads


For the salad:

  • 1/2 cucumber, diced
  • 1 small fennel, sliced
  • 1 carrot, peeled into ribbons
  • Handful fresh dill and parsley, chopped
  • 3-4 spring onions, sliced
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • Salt and pepper

Method

I took inspiration for the salad from the Jamie Does book. Put all the prepared salad vegetables into a bowl and mix it together. Whisk the olive oil, vinegar, mustard and salt and pepper together then dress the salad. read more

Elderflower and Blueberry Jelly

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elderflower and blueberry jelly
I do like a jelly; easy to make, it doesn’t need many ingredients, it looks lovely and it makes for great entertainment when trying to serve it into smaller bowls. You might have seen I made some elderflower cordial recently and other than trying it with sparkling water in the evenings this elderflower and blueberry jelly was what I rustled up to take to a Sunday evening BBQ with my parents. A fantastic dessert to make in advance and forget about in the fridge.

Ingredients

You will need (to make enough for four generous servings):
  • 150g blueberries
  • 1 pint water and elderflower cordial, mix it slightly stronger than you would to drink
  • 1 sachet powdered gelatine
  • 8 tbsp boiling water (or whatever your gelatine says!)

Method

Put the blueberries into the bowl you will serve the jelly in. Add the hot water to a large measuring jug and sprinkle the gelatine on top. Stir to make sure the gelatine is well mixed in and fully dissolved. I ended up adding a little more water to help the gelatine along. Pour in the elderflower cordial mix and stir together well. Add the elderflower mix to the blueberries and refrigerate until set.

I’m not sure why some of the blueberries sank but the majority floated; it didn’t matter at all, if anything it added a slight curiosity to the dessert. A large serving spoon is your friend when serving this up lest it wobble its way off a smaller spoon onto the table or floor. I made it in a bowl as I thought it looked pretty but you could divide it between glasses or jars as I did for my blackberry and perry jelly previously. I love the delicate colour of the elderflower jelly broken up with the little blueberries. The flavours worked really nicely together too; a light bowl of summer perfect for the warm evenings. read more

Homemade Elderflower Cordial

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picking wild elderflower
If you’ve been reading my blog over the years you’ll know I love anything elderflower. This year I was invited to go foraging in the grounds at Audley Inglewood, home to restaurant The Walmesley, and to knock up a batch of homemade elderflower cordial with their head chef Gert Pienaar. It was great to go out to the fields, pick the elderflowers and have a good old chat about food at the same time. I’ve not made elderflower cordial before; syrup and sugar yes but this was my first cordial attempt.

Ingredients

The recipe we used was written down in Gert’s secret black book but it was very similar to this one on the BBC Good Food site. Apart from the added ingredients below.

You will need (for around 1.5 litres of finished cordial):

  • 20 elderflower heads
  • Sugar – all the recipes I’ve seen vary so much in sugar quantity so it’s how sweet you like it
  • 1.5 litres boiling water
  • 2 lemons, zest and juice
  • 50g citric acid
  • 1 stalk lemongrass

Method

Tap the elderflower heads on the side of a bowl to get rid of any insects then put them into a bowl with the sugar, lemon zest and juice and citric acid. 

Pour over the boiling water and whisk everything together well.

Add everything to a sterilised jar, whack the lemongrass with a knife and add this to the jar too. read more

Pulled Pork Ribs with Carrot & Ginger Slaw

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I’m often a bit slow on the uptake. Pulled food, more specifically pulled pork, has been doing the rounds for some time now and it’s not something that I had attempted. Yet. I wanted to make an Asian coleslaw that used some spring carrots (I demoed this at Eat Reading Live) but wasn’t too sure what to serve it with. It seemed an ideal time to attempt some sort of pulled pork. If, like me, you can’t be bothered with pulling anything I think this would be fantastic with some leftover roast pork or chicken in a nice soft roll. read more

Barber’s Cheese Toastie Off and Pastichio

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Last year I went to the BBC Good Food Show courtesy of Barber’s Cheese and got to try their lovely cheese for the first time. This year, things got a bit more serious and I was invited to The Bath and West Show to take part in a cheese toastie off (as well as having a good nose around the show). For my toastie recipe I wanted to keep it simple so I went for a sort of croque-monsieur; smoked ham, Barber’s Cheese, English mustard and plenty of butter on both sides of the bread. You can’t go wrong with butter. read more

Spring Carrots with Crème Fraîche and Herbs

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spring carrots
Carrots seem to be in my fridge no matter what time of year it is. Earlier in the year and around this time they are skinny spring carrots bought or delivered with their huge green fronds still attached. In the autumn and winter months they are the sturdier, larger carrots which are essential for roasting, stewing and making into a hot soup. I do sometimes find myself at a loss for what to do with spring carrots; other than nibbling on them as they are or serving simply with butter. I needed to find something new to try, something to cut through but complement their sweetness: a recipe for spring carrots with crème fraîche and herbs. 

Ingredients

You will need (as a side dish for two):

  • 1 small bunch spring carrots
  • 3-4 spring onions
  • Few sprigs fresh oregano, dill and parsley
  • Olive oil for cooking
  • Juice 1/2 lemon
  • 100ml crème fraîche
  • Salt and pepper

Method

Scrub the carrots. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the carrots. Boil for around 10 minutes or until soft but still with a little bite.

While the carrots are cooking, slice the spring onions finely and then gently fry in a small frying pan in a little olive oil until softened but not brown.

Drain the carrots and put to one side.

Add the lemon juice, herbs and salt and pepper to the spring onions, keeping it on a low heat, then mix in the crème fraîche. Allow it to warm through a little. read more

Dark Chocolate, Orange and Hazelnut Brownies

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Gooey orange and hazelnut dark chocolate brownies
I sit at home sometimes, nothing unusual there, and things pop into my head and then I can’t get them out. If I have a hankering for a particular food, place to go or thing to do nothing else will suffice until I lay my hands on that thing. One evening last week I really needed some chocolate. I didn’t want wishy washy unsatisfying chocolate I wanted full on, one slice is enough, complete chocolate indulgence. The kind where you feel like you have a chocolate hangover when you’re halfway through the first bite. My dark chocolate, orange and hazelnut brownies were created out of desire and the need to use up some hazelnuts in the back of the cupboard. I’ve been practising my brownie recipe for some years now so I thought I’d try a variation on my plain recipe.

Ingredients

You will need (for nine brownies):

  • 100g salted butter
  • 180g golden caster sugar
  • 70g light muscovado sugar
  • 120g dark chocolate with orange (the stuff I used had caramelised orange peel in)
  • 1 tbsp golden syrup
  • 2 eggs
  • Splash vanilla extract
  • 100g plain flour
  • 2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 50g roughly chopped hazelnuts (mine were blanched)

Method

Line a (roughly) 20cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper. You could grease the tin but anything for a life of easier washing up. Melt the butter, sugars, chocolate and golden syrup together in a pan over a low heat until melted and well combined. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Beat the eggs and vanilla extract together then whisk in the cooled chocolate mixture. Mix the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together then fold this into the chocolate mix. Gently mix in the hazelnuts. Pour the brownie mix into the tin then bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 25-30 minutes. Mark into pieces while still hot.

I think everyone likes their brownies differently; some prefer them cakier, some want them still gooey and others will have them like fudge. The thing I like about this recipe is the corner pieces are cakier than the edge pieces which are fudgier and the (best) centre brownie which is still slightly liquid. The middle piece is my favourite and I try to take it out when it’s fresh from the oven to enjoy hot. This of course is somewhat awkward as you need all manner of kitchen implements to try and extract it; it’s like culinary Operation but well worth the effort. The chocolate is just intense enough, the orange is more of a whisper and the hazelnuts add a welcome texture. Exactly what I wanted. read more

Pea, Carrot and Paneer Pilaf

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Pilaf with peas, carrots and paneer

I hadn’t done a vegetarian option for my Feed 4 for £6 series for a little while so I thought it was about time I did. I am a big fan of recipes which involve putting ingredients into a pan, putting a lid on and leaving it to its own devices and this is one of those. If you can’t find paneer for this recipe you can use halloumi but it’s saltier. All you need otherwise is onions, carrots, peas, curry powder and rice. Sorted.

Ingredients

You will need (for 4):
Rapeseed oil for frying  £0.02
1 medium onion, diced  £0.10
2 medium carrots, diced  £0.18
200g frozen peas  £0.25
250g basmati rice  £0.45
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped  £0.05
2 heaped tsp curry powder  £0.05
700ml hot vegetable stock  £0.10
Salt and pepper  £0.02
225g paneer, cubed  £1.54
Total  £2.76

 Method

Heat around 1 tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat and add the onion, carrot and garlic. Fry for around 10 minutes or until softened.  Add the curry powder and rice and cook for a further minute. Add the frozen peas and pour in the hot stock. Bring the pan to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer, put on a loose fitting lid.  Simmer the rice for 15-20 minutes or until the rice is tender and the stock has been absorbed. Check on the level of stock while it’s cooking and top up a little if needed. While the pilaf cooks heat a pan up on a medium heat and add a little bit of oil. Season the paneer all over with salt and plenty of pepper before adding it to the pan. Fry the paneer until golden brown. Check the seasoning before dishing up the pilaf and divide the cheese between the plates.

Rice is always welcome on my table in whatever form it comes. In this it’s got a lovely curried flavour along with the sweet carrot, peas and onion and the peppery slightly salted cheese. My favourite bits are the golden edges of the paneer. I have to say that this has to be one of the most filling things I have ever made, I almost couldn’t eat it all (but I had just had some cake!). This costs less than £3 for four, is very satisfying and is easy to make. Ideal weeknight grub. read more

Wild Garlic Gnocchi with Mozzarella and Wild Garlic Oil

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wild garlic gnocchi with wild garlic oil
It all got a bit serious last weekend. I went all out for a foraging expedition; books, bags to carry what I picked and bigger bag to carry all my things, wellies, I was prepared for anything. While out I found a few new things I didn’t realise were edible but I headed straight to my favourite patch of wild garlic to get picking before the season is over. I did have to travel a little downstream to get to the good stuff and there was a wobbly moment where I thought I might have to go for an accidental swim but otherwise it was a very successful trip. I carried home my bounty and set to work on some Wild Garlic Gnocchi.

Ingredients

You will need (for two):

  • 300g waxy potatoes
  • Small handful (roughly 20-30 leaves) wild garlic, blended or very finely chopped
  • 100g plain flour
  • Salt and pepper
  • 25g Parmesan, grated
  • 125g mozzarella
  • 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

If you’re not sure where to find some take a look at this to find places where wild garlic grows near you.

Method

Peel and dice the potatoes to roughly the same size then boil them in salted water until tender.

Drain the potatoes then leave them to cool (take the lid off the pan to allow steam to escape). 

Mash the potatoes well then add the flour, most of the wild garlic, plenty of salt and pepper and the Parmesan. Mix together until you have a dough.

Knead the dough lightly then roll into sausage shapes and cut into roughly inch sized pieces. I pressed the top of each gnocchi with a fork, for looks more than anything. read more

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