Category: Uncategorized

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Canapes Lunch Starters and Salads Uncategorized Vegetarian

BORLOTTI BEAN HUMMUS

Surely the prettiest of the bean family, these Italian supermodels of the veg patch provides stunning colour and if growing conditions are right, an endless supply of beans that are so versatile in the kitchen. Add to salads, soups, stews or ratatouille or simply boil until tender and toss in oil, lemon, salt & pepper and enjoy just on their own. I think this hummus recip is a great way to us them. It is so simple – like any hummus it’s just a case of blending the cooked tender beans with your chosen flavourings and keeping it as smooth or chunky as you like. I think borlotti go wonderfully with sage so I have added a little here, but parsley would do as well.

Serves Four

150g fresh borlotti beans, prodded weight
Bayleaf
Fresh sage leaves
One lemon
Tahini
Natural yoghurt (Yeo valley is my top favourite, green pot)
Clove garlic (optional)
Sea salt
Black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Simmer the beans in enough cold water to cover them with a bay leaf, sprig of sage and some salt until tender. This could be twenty to forty minutes depending on how big the beans are. I tend to go for medium sized ones that are a lovely pistachio green colour. Try to keep them evenly sized and reserve any tiny ones for decoration.

Drain the beans, discard the herbs and reserve the cooking liquid. Put the beans into a small food processor or mini chopper. Add a spoonful of tahini, the same of natural yoghurt, the rind of the lemon and juice of half, some finely shredded young sage (about a teaspoon), lots of sea salt and black pepper and the garlic if using. Blend until smooth. Add either some of the cooking liquid or some cold water to help soften the texture. You will need at least two or three tablespoons. Add a tablespoon of the oil and more lemon juice as required. Check the seasoning.

Turn into a bowl and add a few very tiny borlotti beans if you have any, along with more shredded sage and a drizzle of extra virgin oil.

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Categories
Dinner Lunch Puddings Uncategorized

BLACKBERRY & PLUM JELLIES with CREME ANGLAISE & LITTLE BISCUITS

It has certainly been a wonderful year for blackberries. The best are the cultivated sort – these are the ones you will find growing in peoples gardens and allotments. They tend to be larger, juicier and I think more flavoursome than the wild variety found in practically every mixed hedgerow. I have always loved making a classic blackberry jelly that you keep in a jar and spread on toast but lately I have been revisiting that old nursery favourite and serving it as a pudding. Marry it with some home made custard and serve in a pretty glass or tea light and you will have something that can hold its own in the most sophisticated of company.

Make these jellies with just blackberries or add in some plums. The flavours work marvellously together. Raspberries would be delicious as well and at the end of July, when blackcurrants are in season you can use those. Their extraordinary depth of colour and intense flavour is quite wonderful.

This recipe is very simple. Gelatine leaves are very easy to use and as long as you measure the liquid accurately and use 1 gelatine leaf per 100ml of liquid you will have a perfect set. The jellies last for a good few days in the fridge so are brilliant for a dinner party as you can get them made well in advance. The custard is best made the day before so that it has time to chill and thicken before settling on top of the set jellies. Flavour with lemon verbena, vanilla, cardamon, citrus rind or cinnamon.

Serves Eight

JELLIES

400g blackberries
4 plums, chopped and stoned
400ml water
180g – 200G caster sugar
Dash of cassis or creme de mure (optional)
Gelatine sheets (about six)

Put the fruit in a saucepan and cover with the cold water. Add the sugar (save a couple of tablespoons for later) and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer very gently for about ten minutes until the fruit is very soft. Add the cassis or creme de mure. Taste the liquid and if you like add a little more sugar. Strain into a big jug and let any excess liquid drip through. Do not press the fruit as this will result in a cloudy jelly.

See how much liquid you have and take one sheet of gelatine for every 100 ml of liquid. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for a few minutes. Squeeze out in your hands and put into the hot strained liquid. Stir with a whisk and then divide between eight glasses or whatever container you are using. Cool and put in the fridge to set.

When ready to serve, top with the cooled custard and serve with crisp little biscuit (recipes below)

CREME ANGLAISE

250ml whole milk
250ml double cream
Vanilla pod, seeds scraped out or big handful of lemon verbena
or use a dash of vanilla essence or vanilla powder
50g caster sugar
5 large egg yolks

Heat the milk and cream together in a saucepan with your vanilla pod or lemon verbena leaves. Leave to infuse for about an hour.

Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until thick and creamy. Re-heat the milk/cream mixture and pour through a sieve onto the yolks, whisking gently as you go. Clean out the saucepan and return the custard mixture to it.

Cook over a VERY gentle heat, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon. Do not boil or let it get too hot. You will end up with scrambled custard which will have to go in the bin!! It will take about eight minutes of patient stirring. Always make sure you are able to put your have on the base of the saucepan. Also have a bowl of iced water to hand in case you have to cool the mix down quickly. If it does look as if it is going a bit grainy plunge the base of the pan into iced water and whisk like mad until you have a smooth custard again. Better to do it longer and slower or if in doubt, use a bowl over a pan of simmering water. It takes a while but you will have a smooth result. The custard is ready when it coats the back of a spoon. Then take off the heat and continue stirring for a few minutes. Transfer to a bowl and stir every time you walk past until cold enough to put in the fridge. Cover and leave until it is time to serve your jellies. Or put in an ice cream machine and turn into ice cream!

Divide amongst the jelly glasses so there is a good thick layer on top. It is quite nice to have a bit left over so people can help themselves to more if they like.

LITTLE CRISP BISCUITS

90g plain flour
60g unsalted butter
30g golden caster sugar
Pinch of vanilla powder or dash of essence

Heat oven to 180c

Whizz everything together in a food processor until just coming together. Turn out and knead to a dough.

Roll out thinly. I use clingfilm to help me do this otherwise it just sticks in a very unfortunate way to the rolling pin. If the dough is getting too warm, just pop back in the fridge for a few minutes and it will be easier to handle.

Use a small fluted cutter to stamp out rounds of biscuit dough and put onto a flat baking sheet. Bake for about eight minutes until just turning lightly golden. Take out and cool on a rack. Store in an airtight tin until needed.

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Categories
Lunch Quick and Easy Starters Quick and Easy Suppers Starters and Salads Uncategorized

ROAST BEETROOT and CARROT SALAD with HARISSA AND MINTED YOGHURT DRESSING

It has been said many times that in order to stay healthy you should eat colour – lots of it. This easy salad is a great way to get a vitamin hit with maximum taste. Not only is it the prettiest plateful for your summer or autumn table, it also packs a punch with the harissa annointed vegetables and these, combined with the cooling minty dressing are seriously delicious. Serve it on it’s own, the veg warm from the oven or as a hearty but healthy side with grilled chicken or lamb. It makes a great starter or pack it into a tortilla wrap or pitta if you want lunch on the go.

The puy lentils could be left out but they add a lovely bite and make the whole thing a little more substantial. Add as many or as few as you like. The walnuts add a wonderful earthy crunch but you could just use pine nuts instead if you prefer. Add a tablespoon or two of tahini to the yoghurt dressing for a suggestion of sesame. This is a salad that you can play around with and make your own. Mint, yoghurt, harissa, root veg – it’s a marriage made in culinary heaven.

Use whatever beetroot you can find – the classic dark red are easily available in every supermarket but golden beetroot would work well here in combination with the red. Buy the smaller, more tender bulbs if you can.

Serves 4 for lunch, 6 as a starter250g small carrots (e.g. chantenay)

Four beetroot (or eight very small)
1 dessertspoon of harissa paste
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Squeeze honey
A little lemon juice
Salt and pepper
1 tsp. fennel, toasted and crushed
50g toasted chopped walnuts
Fresh Rocket
4 tablespoons cooked puy lentils, tossed in a little oil and lemon juice
Handful of fresh mint
1 lemon
Four tablespoons natural yoghurt

Pre-heat the oven to 220c (200c fan oven)

Cut the carrots into small lengths. Peel the beetroot and cut into small chunks.

Take a shallow roasting tin. Mix the harissa, oil, lemon juice and honey. Toss through the beetroot and carrot and turn into the roasting tin. Add seasoning and roast for 30 – 40 minutes until well roasted.

Remove from the oven. Allow to cool a bit for a few minutes. Toss into a bowl and mix with the lentils, walnuts and rocket. Check the seasoning.

Mix the yoghurt with lots of mint and lemon juice. Season to taste.

Pile onto plates and drizzle over the minted yoghurt or serve that separately.

carrot and beetroot salad

Categories
Fish and Seafood Lunch Starters and Salads Uncategorized

CRAB SOURDOUGH TOASTS

One of the wonderful things about our admittedly variable British summer is the fabulous produce available, harvested not only from the land but also the sea. Crab is for us one of the highlights and there is nowhere in the world that can better the sweet, delicate crabmeat that is found in the waters off our coastline.
Some people adore both the white and brown meat, others like me are more inclined towards the white. They are very different, the brown intense, rich, strongly flavoured and with a much softer texture. I find it useful in pate or a crab tart. The white, however is just so light, fragrant, flavourful and sweetly delicious. It is wonderful with asian flavours; equally good with just a squeeze of lemon and a little salt and pepper. Here I am making the most of it but combining it with a small amount of mayonnaise (more for the sticking quality than anything else!), enhancing it with a little chilli and marrying in some herbs that partner the crabmeat beautifully without in any way overpowering it. The crab must and does remain the star of the show.

Try these little toasts for a simple but spoiling lunch alongside your favourite chilled summer soup or they are great with my garden gazpacho.

Serves Four

3 slices of white sourdough bread, a classic loaf shape if you can find it
2 tubs white crabmeat
1 red or green chilli
Handful of chives, finely chopped
Fennel fronds, finely chopped
1 lemon, rind and juice
4 teaspoons mayonnaise
Salt and pepper

Finely chop about half of the chilli. Put the crabmeat into a bowl and add all the other ingredients. Go easy on the lemon juice, add it to taste. Check the seasoning.

Just before serving toast the bread. Pile on the crab and cut off the crusts. Slice into fingers, about three from each slice so you can adjust the amount on the last piece as you want to end up with eight pieces.

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Categories
Lunch Quick and Easy Suppers Uncategorized

SPAGHETTI with BACON, LEEK, CHARD & PESTO

Everyone has their own favourite spaghetti recipe. It is the go to dish for those evenings when you are feeling a little bit jaded and in need of some food love without too much effort involved. This is one of ours – it is eminently adaptable to whatever you have lying around in the vegetable drawer or in the garden but the thing is that it isn’t too heavy – no rich cream or too much cheese and so you can really enjoy it without too much guilt. If you really want to make it a dish worthy of a health halo then make half the amount of pasta and top that up with some courgetti or sweet potatotti or similar. But personally, I find that a bit of pasta now and then never did anyone any harm and it is a sure fire way to ensure a good nights sleep. Apparently carbohydrates do that.

A word on the use of swiss chard – you can replace this with spinach but the advantage of the chard is that it doesn’t contain nearly as much water as spinach and consequently what you put in the pan does cook down, but stays more intense and doesn’t release very much liquid.

If you do want to use spinach then put a lot of it in a colander, pour over a kettle full of boiling water and squeeze out a lot of excess liquid with the back of a wooden spoon. Then add it as per the recipe.

Serves 2

1 tablespoon rapeseed or light olive oil
1 leek
1 small stick celery
Finely chopped oregano or a large pinch of dried provencal herbs
1 clove garlic
2 slices of unsmoked back bacon or streaky bacon
2 giant handfuls of swiss chard
1 small courgette or whatever you have lying around
a green pesto or any sort
1 ripe tomato, chopped, core removed
Parmesan to grate
Salt & pepper
150g dried spaghetti or other pasta
Extra virgin olive oil

Have a large pan of salted water on to boil while you get on with the sauce.

Finely chop the leek and celery. Heat the oil in a shallow frying pan and gently fry for a few minutes until soft, along with the herbs. I add a little water at this point to sort of fry/steam. This stops the veg colouring too much and once the water evaporates you are left with softened leeks and celery that haven’t absorbed so much oil. Now add the bacon and garlic and stir around until nicely browned and cooked.

Put the pasta on to boil for however long it says on the packet (normally around ten minutes). Chop up all the chard and put in the pan, stalks first if you can but it’s not crucial. Cook for a few minutes until well softened. Drain your pasta and reserve a little of the cooking liquid. Add a couple of tablespoons of this to the pan with the chard etc in it and stir around. Add the pasta and then grate in the courgette using a coarse grater. Then add the tomato, as much pesto as you like and season well. Soften off with a bit more cooking liquid and pile into big warmed bowls, drizzle with extra virgin oil and eat with a good grating of parmesan.

A green salad made from leaves and avocado is good with this.

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Lunch Meat Quick and Easy Suppers Starters and Salads Uncategorized

ASIAN BEEF SALAD

As the weather warms up things change in the kitchen too. At this time of year its all about lighter, fresh flavours that refresh and revive rather than comfort and warm. Recipes need to be easy too. There is so much to do outside and no one wants to spent hours in the kitchen with the sun (hopefully) beaming down in the garden. This is a lovely salad for a weekend lunch or supper on a warm evening and will satisfy even the biggest appetites if you are generous with the beef. I often buy tail cuts of beef fillet from the butcher for this. They are much cheaper than the perfect centre cut and just as good. Sirloin is more flavoursome and a very good alternative, just slightly less tender but no less the worse for that. I have used rump steak to great effect here too – just make sure you rest it properly and you will have lovely tender pieces. You can ring the changes to fit whatever veg/salad you have to hand. I like to make it as colourful as I can – red radish is useful here, but green beans, sugar snaps, yellow peppers, cucumber etc etc or even a few bean sprouts wouldn’t go amiss at all. Mint is essential.

Serves four to six

1 red pepper
1 small red onion
A few radishes
1 small punnet of cherry tomatoes
2 handfuls each of fresh mint and coriander
110g roasted, unsalted peanuts
Bag of green leaves
4 asparagus spears (optional)
2 Spring onions
800g beef fillet/sirloin
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Dressing

2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 red chillies, de-seeded and finely chopped
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 generous tablespoon fish sauce
30g palm sugar (or soft light brown)

Pound the garlic and chillies together in a pestle and mortar. Put into a bowl and add the rest of the dressing ingredients. Mix well. Check how it tastes and adjust with more chilli/fish sauce if necessary. Set aside.

Quarter the peppers. Slice thinly. Slice the red onions thinly and the spring onions. Halve or quarter the cherry tomatoes. Toss in a bowl with the peanuts and herbs.

Heat a grill pan. Cut the beef into thick slices. Sprinkle with a little olive oil and sear until just medium rare.

Rest for a few minutes before thinly slicing. Add to the other ingredients. Spoon the dressing over the salad and serve immediately, on a bed of green leaves if liked. Sprinkle the spring onions over the top with extra herbs.
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Categories
Lunch Meat Uncategorized

THE ULTIMATE SAUSAGE ROLL

There is absolutely nothing elegant about a sausage roll. However, it is pure comfort picnic food, has stood the test of time and needs make no apologies for the fact that it is exactly what it says in the title – sausage, rolled. But it is a beloved and essential part of our family picnics, particularly those spent on a blowy beach or windy hillside. And there have been many of those over the years. We have changed and grown up, this recipe hasn’t and I hope you will agree that it is perfection the way it is. Make them small, medium or large and enjoy either on their own or with a good dollop of a fruity chutney. They freeze brilliantly either before or after cooking and I guarantee that you will be making these again. Just make sure you use an excellent quality free range sausagemeat and a pure butter puff pastry. These sausage rolls will be only as good as your ingredients. The gold jus-rol packet is the best,

Makes six – ten depending on how large you cut them

450g free range pork sausagemeat
1 egg (free range)
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
Good handful of fresh white breadcrumbs (quantity can be quite approximate)
Salt & pepper
Sesame seeds (optional
1 pack of jus roll all butter puff pastry

Pre-heat oven to 180c

Take the sausagemeat and put into a bowl. Beat the egg and pour in most of it, leaving a tablespoon to brush over the finished rolls later. Add the breadcrumbs, tomato puree and worcestershire sauce and a good grinding of seasalt and black pepper. Squish it all together until well mixed. Your hands are the best tool for this.

Cut your pastry in half. You will only need half for this quantity. Keep the rest as you will be making more very soon. Roll out (do not turn the pastry over and use minimum of flour) into a long strip about 4 inches wide and 18 inches long. The pastry should be thin. Put the sausagemeat mix down the centre. You will think there is too much sausagemeat to pastry but this is important. Put as high a roll of sausage as you dare. Roll the pastry over using the side of your hand to help it all the way over to meet and seal with a little water. Use a fork to squish the edges together.

Brush the whole roll with beaten egg and then cut into however many sausage rolls you want. Put two diagonal slits in the top of each one and if you like sprinkle each with some sesame seeds.

Put onto a baking sheet and into the oven for fifteen minutes for small rolls up to thirty minutes if they are very long. Check after fifteen minutes and see how golden they are going. Once they are dark golden and piping hot in the centre remove from the oven and use a palette knife to put them onto a wire rack to cool.

Store in an airtight tin, not a plastic container.

Eat on a windy British beach in the driving rain huddled under a rock.

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Categories
Dinner Fish and Seafood Lunch Quick and Easy Suppers Uncategorized

SEARED FILLET OF SALMON with a TOMATO SAUCE VIERGE and COURGETTI

Quite often, an awful lot of time and effort needs to be spent in the kitchen to create something rather beautiful, extremely delicious and very elegant. For those of you who simply do not have the time, inclination or energy to spare then look no further than this gorgeous recipe. I am using a fillet of salmon here but any fish will work well. The sauce is a simple warm dressing that originates in France – perfectly diced tomato concasse combine with the best olive oil and piquant shallots that bring the fish and vegetables to life and looks so pretty against the green courgette and pale pink salmon. If you can find fresh chervil then that is lovely here, either on its own or with the basil but it isn’t that easily available.

I often finish this with a little spoonful of fresh pesto but it looks lovely unadorned. For those with heartier appetites, some crushed new potatoes under the courgetti will make it more substantial but for a summer lunch or supper I find this carb free version is enough.

Serves Four

4 fillets of salmon (approx 160 – 180g) skinless
4 small firm courgette
2 handfuls swiss chard
2 shallots (approx 50g)
A couple of sprigs of fresh thyme
Four medium tomatoes, very good quality
1 large clove garlic
100ml good extra virgin olive oil
2 lemons
2 tablespoons of shredded fresh basil/chervil
Rapeseed/light olive oil
Sea salt & black pepper
Fresh pesto (optional)

Pre-heat the oven to 200c

First finely shred the chard, leaves only and either use a spiralizer to create your courgetti or finely shred them with a julienne peeler. Set aside.

Make the sauce vierge. Finely chop the shallots and garlic. Skin and deseed the tomatoes. Finely chop the flesh into small dice. Heat the extra virgin oil in a small saucepan and add the shallot, thyme and garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes over a gentle heat and then remove and keep to one side. Stir in the tomato and season well with salt and pepper.

Heat a medium sized saucepan and also a frying pan for your salmon. Season the salmon. Pour a little rapeseed or olive oil into each and once hot put the salmon, presentation side down into the frying pan and the chard into the saucepan. Cook both for a couple of minutes, then flip the salmon over (it should be a pale golden colour) and put the pan into the oven for a further three minutes (maybe four if it is very thick). Add the courgetti to the chard, season and stir over a high heat for a minute or two. Remove from the heat and add a squeeze of lemon. Check the seasoning. Remove the salmon from the oven and leave to rest for a minute or two. The tip of a sharp knife should feel warm when pushed right into the centre. Squeeze a little lemon over each piece.

Have ready four warm plates. Divide the courgette and chard between the plates sit the salmon on top. Add juice of a lemon and the basil to the sauce vierge and warm it through gently. Check and adjust the seasoning. Spoon the sauce around the fish and courgette. If you like and have some fresh pesto to hand, a little teaspoonful on top looks pretty and goes well. Alternatively you could stir a little through the sauce.

Serve as soon as you can, although it is not a dish to be served piping hot and therefore quite useful if your guests are slow in coming through to the table!

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Categories
Dinner Lunch Quick and Easy Starters Starters and Salads Uncategorized

GRIDDLED COURGETTE, POMEGRANATE, FETA and MINT with SUMAC

If you are after a quick lunch or easy starter that delivers on flavour, is big on nutrition and looks beautiful into the bargain then look no further than this easy and delicious courgette salad. It is also very useful as a side dish – try with some simple chicken or lamb and it will turn the mundane into something special. Pomegranates combine brilliantly with the salty feta and the ruby jewel seeds bring this simple salad alive. To remove the seeds simply slice the fruit in half and bash hard with a rolling pin over a bowl. The seeds will just fall out (up to a point!). Try and pick the firmest courgette you can – the bigger they are the more water they contain and you will lose both texture and flavour.

There are lots of different feta cheeses to buy out there. My favourite is the Greek barrel aged feta made from ewe’s and goat’s milk and stored in brine. It is worth paying that little bit extra as it will make all the difference to your finished dish.

Sumac is a dried and ground berry from a bush grown mainly in the Middle East and is an essential ingredient in many recipes from that region. Slightly acidic and reminiscent of lemon, it not only adds a lovely flavour but looks very pretty as well with its deep red colour.

If you want a truly healthy salad then just make courgette ‘carpaccio’ but slicing very fresh and firm courgette with a potato peeler into ribbons. Leave to sit in the lemon & oil for a few minutes before eating.

Serves Four

Four small or two medium courgette
200g good quality feta
Large handful of washed fresh mint leaves
One lemon
Rapeseed or light olive oil for griddling
One pomegranate or a handy pack of ready done seeds
Sea salt & black pepper
Sumac
Extra virgin olive oil

For this recipe you will ideally have a ridged grill pan, nice and shallow.

Cut the courgettes on the diagonal into long pieces about 2mm thick.

Heat a little oil in your grill pan and once hot lay on the courgette slices, a few at a time. Sear on each side so that they have pretty brown marks and remove to a plate lined with kitchen towel while you cook the rest. Finely chop the mint, crumble the feta and remove the seeds from the pomegranate.

Take either one large plate or four smallish. Layer up the courgette, feta, mint and pomegranate, seasoning as you go and sprinkling each layer with lemon juice. Finish with a final flurry of mint and pomegranate and drizzle over extra virgin olive oil. Finally, sprinkle over some sumac and serve with flatbread.

courgette and pomegranate salad

Categories
Dinner Meat Uncategorized

SLOW ROAST FILLET OF BEEF with a RED WINE JUS Serves Four

For years we have been cooking beef fillet to precise timings and nervously standing by the oven waiting for precisely the right moment to take it out of the oven.

This recipe provides a wonderfully relaxed approach to cooking what for many is a special occasion piece of beef and produces a beautifully even, perfectly pink piece of beef that cannot overcook and is almost trouble free.

One fillet of beef, about 800g to 1kg (centre cut if possible)
Two cloves garlic
Fresh thyme
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and Pepper

For the jus

One onion
One stick celery
One carrot
One clove garlic
A little oil (olive or sunflower)
One bay leaf
Fresh thyme
500ml red wine
400ml fresh beef stock/consomme
50g unsalted butter
Salt & pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 75C or similar.

Crush the garlic up with the thyme and salt and rub into the beef with the oil. Cover with a good grinding of black pepper and dust over a little more sea salt. Sear in a hot pan to colour all over. Put into a roasting tin (best have it ready warming) and put in the oven for about 1 ¼ – 1 ½ hours. Take out of the oven and cover with foil. Leave for about half an hour or so in a warm place. It should be soft and very pink all the way through.

Chop the vegetables and sauté gently in a little oil until beginning to soften and caramelise. Add the red wine and reduce by half. Add the stock, the herbs and seasoning. Simmer for about half an hour or until very well reduced.

When you are ready to serve, strain the liquid into a clean pan. Bring up to a simmer and make sure the jus is well seasoned. Add any juices that have come out of the beef whilst resting. Whisk in cubes of chilled butter and serve with the beef.

Or

Serve with a delicious salsa verde and roast or boiled new potatoes.
beef & salsa verde