Another 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Me

I’ve been tagged by Scott at Real Epicurean for this meme. I’ve done this one before so this time I turned to Rob for my 5 things. With little hesitation he came up with:

1. I once dyed my hair blonde. (I also dyed it black when I was a teenager - you could say I like extremes! But hey, you’ve got to try everything once.)
2. I have a thing for handbags (which is a rather expensive habit).
3. I’m messy (I tell Rob it’s my creative streak but I don’t think he’s buying it).
4. I once owned a red MGF (I loved that car, driving it in the summer with the roof down was exhilarating).
5. My favourite colour is blue.

I tag:
Rice and Noodles
Tartelette
Hannah's Country Kitchen
Cafe Lynnylu
Hooked on Heat

Old Friends, Familiar Places

I met a good friend, Viv, for dinner earlier in the week. We met through work and although we no longer work together our friendship remains, as does the restaurant we’ve been frequenting over the years. We regularly went there for lunch when we worked nearby and since then, when we meet for dinner, we meet there. It’s become our place. There are several practical factors in this, it’s central so convenient for us both, it’s reasonably priced for a night out and importantly, of course, we like the food and drink that’s served there. But more than this, we feel comfortable in this restaurant. I love its familiarity and how we are immediately relaxed in our environment.

Viv told me of one of her favourite times at this restaurant when she lunched with another friend there. They shared several bottles of wine and before they knew it day turned to evening and they were given the evening menus, so they stayed for dinner too. What a great story - that is feeling relaxed and at home in a restaurant.

There is so much we often associate with restaurants and so many memories we make in them. First date, old friends, new friends, family celebrations, etc. I can think of several restaurants that I associate with different people in my life and different times in my life. There is so much more to restaurant dining than simply feeding ourselves, as with food in general. This is life in the making.

Clams with Linguini

Fry 1 finely chopped shallot and 1 garlic clove in butter for a few minutes in a saucepan. Next add about 200ml white wine and the clams. Turn the heat up high and put a lid on. Remove from the heat when the shells open. At this point remove the clams from the pan and add 100ml cream, salt, pepper and juice of half a lemon to the pan. Bring to a boil and simmer until it is reduced to a sauce consistency. Meanwhile cook the linguini and once the sauce is ready and the linguini to the pan along with the clams to reheat them.

How to Cook the Perfect…

The latest in my cookbook collection is ‘How to Cook the Perfect…’ by Marcus Wareing, Chef Patron of two London hotel restaurants; The Savoy Grill at the Savoy Hotel on the Strand and Pétrus at The Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge.

With a title such as ‘How to Cook the Perfect…’ and written by a chef of Marcus’s calibre, you may be forgiven for expecting a little pretension and complex dishes from this book. But this is far from the case. Marcus offers his professional expertise in a very down-to-earth, easy to follow way and the book is packed full of classics you would want to cook at home and want tips for perfection on. In fact, the more I flicked through the book, the more pleasantly surprised I was to see homely, rather than restaurant style, dishes; fish pie; roast chicken; apple pie; fish cakes and even ‘Mum’s Pork Chops’. Marcus was inspired by his mother’s home cooking and is father to two young sons, so home cooking is clearly important to him. He’s successfully combined this with his professional skills in this book.

Of course, as fabulous as it is to sit back and read a new cookbook, the true test of a good cookbook is in the cooking. So into the kitchen I went with the book opened at ‘Roast Belly of Pork with Crackling’. Now, I consider myself able to cook good belly of pork with crispy crackling; it’s one of Rob and my favourites and we cook it a lot so I’ve had a lot of practice. I therefore wasn’t really expecting to learn anything new, but I was once again surprised. Marcus uses two textures of sea salt to create a crispy crackling; fine salt to get right into the scored skin, and coarser salt to create a crust. It makes perfect sense when you think about it, but thankfully the thinking has been done for you here. The recipe was easy to follow and the end result absolutely delicious. The roasted onion and apple infuse each other with their taste and the pork also; its juices dripping into the fruit and vegetables and their juices in turn flavouring the pork. The crackling, as promised, was fantastically crispy and the meat underneath was tender and moist with no trace of fattiness.

Watch Marcus making the perfect custard tart here

In the Pink

Deliciously tart and comforting like a hug, Rhubarb is surely one of the feel-good foods. Just look at it - food this beautiful has got to lift your mood. It tastes fabulous on it's own, simply sweetened with sugar, but complimentary flavours such as orange, ginger, cinnamon or vanilla lift it to divine heights. You can poach it, roast it, serve it with ice cream, custard, Greek yoghurt or under a layer of crumble. There are so many ways to enjoy these fabulous pink sticks!

English Food is Pretty Damn Good...

...and so say all of us.

Check out Sam's 'Fish & Quips' round-up of no less than 65 bloggers who prove that English food is not a joke.

Making the Most of a Lazy Spring Sunday

Bluebells in my garden

Ahh…this is the life. I’m writing to you from the bench in my garden with the sun gloriously shining down on me. The washing is blowing in the breeze on the line and I have a pile of cook books and a glass of cava next to me. It feels like mid-June rather than April and I’m enjoying every minute of it because who knows when the unpredictable British weather may change?

I have a busy week ahead of me, meetings at work, cocktails with colleagues after work, meeting friends old and new outside of work (which you’ll hear more about later in the week), and to round things off a hen day and night on Saturday. I’ll need good organisation for my meals this week, to make sure I don’t skip them or just eat junk. I think a few hearty lunches will be in order to prepare me for the evenings out.

There are the usual takeaway lunch offerings near where I work and although the selection is good they can become a little tiring. I’m very lucky to be able to work from home a few days a week so I can make myself luch at home. For the days that I am in the office I really need to start making me own lunch to bring into work with me again. We have a fridge to keep food fresh and I have plenty of time in the evenings or even the mornings to prepare a lunch so there’s really no excuse for not doing so.

There are so many benefits of bringing in your own lunch in, to name but a few it’s so much cheaper than the often extortionate London prices; you can use what you have at home including leftovers; you can make something you really want to eat; you know what’s gone into your lunch and where the produce has come from. I also quite like the idea of bringing a little piece of home into the office; home cooked food has to be better than anything even the best of food shops can offer.

The options are endless; pasta salads, cous cous or rice speckled with roasted vegetables or meat from last nights dinner, herbs from the garden, lemon or lime juice; soups; homemade fruit salads with fresh, exotic fruits at half the price; quiche, tarts, hummus with vegetables to dip; thick sandwiches or wraps; and so it goes on.

I’m sure you have plenty of ideas for your own lunches; perhaps you’d like to share them?

Warm Goats Cheese, Pancetta and Avocado Salad

I made myself this lovely salad for lunch yesterday. The richness and creaminess of the avocado and goats cheese along with the salty pancetta make this a rather indulgent salad, which is surprisingly filling too.

I cut some pancetta into cubes and fried them until crispy. You don’t need any oil in the pan for this as the pancetta has enough of its own fat. Meanwhile I scooped out half an avocado and lay it on a bed of rocket, spinach and watercress. I then tipped the pancetta out onto kitchen paper to soak up the excess fat and added it to the salad.

Next I fried some rounds of goats cheese just for a few minutes to gently warm them through. Make sure you use a cheese with a rind, otherwise it will just melt in the pan. They were then placed onto the salad and to finish it off I made up a dressing to drizzle over with 3 parts extra virgin olive oil, 1 part white wine vinegar and a pinch of sea salt.

It was quite delicious and for a salad it felt rather naughty!

A Relaxed, Girlie Dinner

My good friend Faye came over for dinner last night. It was another warm day and I wanted to cook something summery and casual. I also wanted it to be quick and easy as I’d been in the office all day so wouldn’t have much time when I came home and I didn’t want to neglect my friend whilst concentrating in the kitchen. So, I went for a big plateful of spaghetti with a creamy lemon sauce and beautiful pink salmon. We chatted in the kitchen over a glass of rosé wine while I assembled the dish, which took no time at all.

Salmon and Lemon Spaghetti



I didn’t measure my ingredients, I just went by taste. For the lemon sauce I used maybe 4 tablespoons of cream, a knob of butter, the juice of a lemon and about half the zest. I heated this gently until thickened, stirring occasionally.

I fried the salmon fillets in a little olive oil and cooked the spaghetti. To assemble, I drained the spaghetti and put it back in the saucepan, then added the sauce and tossed the spaghetti to coat it before flaking in the salmon and throwing in some chopped flat leaf parsley. A quick mix together and it was ready to serve with some more parsley, a wedge of parmesan and a grater!

Roast Rack of Lamb with Crushed Potatoes and Caramelised Garlic

This recipe from ‘Rick Stein's French Odyssey’ is fabulous for tender, succulent spring lamb. The caramlised garlic is mild enough to not overpower yet strong enough to give a complimentary kick to the dish.



I’m sure there are a million other users for this delicious garlic; served with chicken, over roasted vegetables, spooned over salad or perhaps even spread on thick, crusty bread.

Scrambled Eggs

When scrambled eggs are cooked well they are a far cry from the little rubbery balls of egg that all too often go by the same name. I think perhaps the name should be changed to ‘Softly Scrambled Eggs’, with emphasis on the word softly, in order to bring attention to the key to this dish. It takes a matter of seconds to overcook the eggs and this will instantly ruin them, turning them rubbery. You need to watch them constantly, but that really is no hardship as they take just minutes to cook.

I used duck eggs when I made this, simply because I had some and I’ve become somewhat evangelical about their richness since discovering them. You would use exactly the same method for hen eggs.

Scrambled Eggs with Crispy Bacon

Serves 1
Ingredients
2 rashes of bacon
2 or 3 eggs
2 tablespoons of double cream
Salt and freshly ground pepper
A knob of butter

Fry the bacon until crispy and keep warm in the pan while you cook the eggs.

Lightly beat together the eggs and cream just to combine and then add in a pinch of salt and pepper.

Heat the butter over a medium heat in a non-stick saucepan and when it starts to sizzle add in the eggs. Stir the eggs continuously with a wooden spoon (to avoid scratching the pan), until they are of a creamy texture and still a little liquid in places. At this point take the pan off the heat as the eggs will continue to cook a little in the heat of the pan.

Lay the bacon on some kitchen paper to remove excess fat and then serve it on top of the eggs.

Easter Cake Bake Round up!

Wow, just look at those fabulous cakes. If you click on each picture you'll be taken to the blog that it came from.

I’m absolutely delighted by all the entries, each one was just delectable. You’ve made my job in finding a winner very difficult indeed, really you’re all winners to be able to produce such stunning cakes. But an overall winner there must be and after a lot of consideration I can say that the person is…………

Cheryl at Gruel Omelet for this fabulous creation:

Isn't it fantastic? Even the pot was made by Chery's talented hands. Check out how she made it here.

Here's a list of all the participants:

Rachel from Baltimore, MD at Coconut & Lime
Sus from Griesheim in Germany at CorumBlog
Margaret from the West Midlands, UK at Kitchen Delights
Veronica from Rome, Italy at La Testa nel piatto
Helen at Tartelette
Y from Sydney, Australia at Lemonpi
Belinda from Wales. Belinda doesn’t have a blog but wanted to join in the fun.
Victoria from Melbourne at OOOH!Cake
Eliza from Oregon, USA at Notes from My Food Diary
Minko from Canberra, Australia at Couture Cupcakes
Kelly-Jane from Aberdeenshire, Scotland at Cooking the Books
Sabrina from San Francisco, CA at YumSugar
Kazari at I think I have a recipe for that...
Cheryl from New Jersey, USA at Gruel Omelet
Brigitte from Singapore at Küchendunst aus Singapur
Chris from outside Atlanta, USA at Mele Cotte
Andrew from Henley-on-Thames at Spitton Extra
Swee San from Sydney, at A Self-Proclaimed Foodaholic
Myriam from zürich, Switzerland at Once Upon a Tart
Hannah from Bedfordshire, UK at Hannah's Country Kitchen
Susan from New York, USA at The Well-Seasoned Cook
Rachel from Paris, France at R Khooks
Melody from Illinois, USA at Fruittart
Zorra from Andalucia, Spain at 1x umruehren bitte aka kochtopf
Betsy from Seattle, Washington USA at Ovens to Betsy
Sus from Griesheim, Germany at Porcini Chronicles
Anne from Sweden at Anne’s Food
Ulrike from Kronshagen, Germany at Küchenlatein
Brilynn from Canada at Jumbo Empanadas

Thank you all for taking part and making my first event so very enjoyable.

P.S. I do hope I haven't missed anyone or got anyone's details wrong - please do contact me if I have.

The Perfect Bacon Butty

Having spent more than 1,000 hours testing 700 variations, scientists at Leeds University claim to have come up with a formula for the perfect bacon butty.

This was an in-depth study, with fifty volunteers judging each sandwich according to its taste, texture and flavour. The results show that the key is the crispiness and the crunch of the bacon. Dr Graham Clayton, who led the research team, said "We often think that it's the taste and smell of bacon that consumers find most attractive. But our research proves that texture and sound is just as, if not more, important".

The team's findings are that two or three back bacon rashers should be cooked under a preheated oven grill for seven minutes at about 240C (475F). The bacon should then be placed between two slices of farmhouse bread, 1cm to 2cm thick.

I am surprised that there is no mention of the all important sauce and although quality and type of bacon was studied there is no conclusion given on that rather important point. I think I’m just going to have to keep making and eating bacon butties until I find the answer myself. It’s a hard life.

Oh, by the way, here’s the winning formula:

N = C + {fb (cm) . fb (tc)} + fb (Ts) + fc . ta, where N=force in Newtons required to break the cooked bacon, fb=function of the bacon type, fc=function of the condiment/filling effect, Ts=serving temperature, tc=cooking time, ta=time or duration of application of condiment/filling, cm=cooking method, C=Newtons required to break uncooked bacon.

I’ll let you study that while I tuck into the rest of this butty.

Source: BBC News

In the Bag: Cooking the Month of May!

I’m delighted to announce that I’ve teamed up with Cherry from Cherry's English Kitchen and Scott at Real Epicurean for a regular blogging event based around seasonal produce. Each month we will select three seasonal products and put them in a bag for you to create your own dish with. We will be hosting the event in rotation and I’ll be hosting the first one, which will be held in May.

The May bag contains:

Asparagus
Eagerly awaited by foodies all over the country, asparagus is surely the cream of the crop of spring vegetables. English asparagus is considered to be among the best in the world so we are very fortunate to have such easy access to it. The Asparagus season runs from May to June.

Sea Trout
This pink-fleshed fish is full of flavour and in season from March to July.

Spring Onions
These are delicate young onions with a mild flavour. They are perfect raw in salads and are in season from May until September.

Entry Details

Send an email with ‘In the Bag in the subject line to asliceofcherrypie@yahoo.co.uk by Saturday 26th May with the following information:

• your name
• the name of your blog
• a link to your post
• the name of your dish
• a picture of your dish

I’ll post a round up of all entries by Thursday 31st May.

Rules

Here are the rather loose rules - remember the objective is to have fun whilst highlighting seasonal food:

1. Entries must use (or attempt to use) all of the ingredients "in the bag" for that particular month. The dish should be based around the seasonal ingredient, rather then just including it as an afterthought.

2. Participants can include any "extra" ingredients that they see fit.

3. Entries should include a link back to the host for that month, and the post should be tagged "in the bag" and "itb". Use of the "In The Bag" logo is allowed (and encouraged) but not required.

4. Entries can be written any time during the month, as long as the URL is emailed to that month's host before the round up date.

5. Particpants from outside of the UK are most welcome to join in and substitute an item from their own local seasonal produce if necessary.

That's all! Any deviations from the above are at the discretion of the host. Have fun!

"In The Bag" is a food even ran monthly by Real Epicurean, A Slice of Cherry Pie, and Cherry's English Kitchen.

A Long, Hot Soak and a Speedy, Tasty Dinner

After immersing myself for some time in a steaming bath full of rose-scented water with a book and a glass of merlot, I wrapped myself in a bath robe and padded into the kitchen to cook a quick and effortless dinner.

I took the lamb leg steaks from the fridge and marinated them in olive oil with fresh rosemary while I heated a griddle pan and sliced a courgette, red onion and yellow pepper. A brush of oil and in went the vegetables to char grill. The lamb steaks went into another pan with the rosemary and oil from the marinade. Ten minutes later dinner was ready to go.

Ahh…that’s better.

Two Ingredients, One Light Brunch

Simmered purple sprouting broccoli, poached egg with a soft and creamy yolk, a sprinkling of sea salt, eaten in the garden late morning on a sunny bank holiday Monday. Perfect.

Spring Sunshine and Seafood

Well I'm back after a gorgeous few days down by the coast. Britain has been blessed with exceptionally good weather this weekend and it looks set to continue into Easter Monday.

I've eaten a lot of seafood, as I always do when I go down to the coast; clams, dressed crab, fish soup, langoustines. It's my big treat as Rob doesn't like shell fish. On Friday we brought some fresh live mussels (and a slab of tuna steak for Rob) back to the caravan and I cooked up the following dish.

Mussels with Garlic, Saffron and Linguini



Clean the mussels well, scrubbing off any barnacles and pulling out the ‘beards’, the threads that protrude from between the shells. The rule with mussels is simple – before cooking discard any that are open and don't close when you tap them, and after cooking discard any that remain closed. You should also throw away any that have broken or damaged shells.

Gently fry a chopped shallot and chopped garlic clove in a knob of butter for a few minutes. Turn the heat right up and add a pinch of saffron, the mussels and a glass of white wine, then put on a lid and cook until all the mussels have opened. Remove the mussels and reserve the liquid in the pan.

You can serve the mussels as they are with the broth in which they were cooked, but they are also fabulous with linguini. If you choose the linguini option rapidly simmer the mussel liquid to reduce it before pouring over the linguini and mussels. Be warned, this is messy to eat, but deliciously so.

Eating mussels in polite company can seem a little daunting for the first time when faced with a bowlful of broth and mussels in shells. But it’s easy when you know how. Break the shells apart and use the shell with the mussel still in it as a spoon to scoop up the broth.