In the Bag: Cooking the Month of June

Mmm…mmm…mmm. I enjoyed this month’s challenge, with succulent British lamb, new potatoes and broad beans, all in season now.

This is my entry for the event, hosted this month by the lovely Cherry– roasted leg of lamb, minted new potatoes and broad bean puree.

The potatoes were boiled with a few sprigs of fresh mint and the puree was made by boiling the beans just for a few minutes then blending them with salt, pepper and lemon olive oil. Even Rob liked it, and he’s not a bean lover.

The Taste of Summer

Rain is lashing down on this grey and miserable day in June but as far as my taste buds are concerned it’s a gloriously hot summer’s day. I’m eating ripe English strawberries; the epitome of the British summer. Think of English strawberries and you’ll think of strawberries and cream, Wimbledon, Eton mess, strawberry jam.

We may have a love-hate relationship with the British weather, but our climate is perfect for growing soft fruits and this is what makes our strawberries taste so good. Up there with asparagus, they put Britain on the culinary map. They are at their best when they come into season in June and through July, and they tell us summer has arrived - even if the weather doesn’t.

There are a few things you should not do to strawberries, to avoid spoiling their taste. As with mushrooms they should not be washed as they are porous and will absorb the water - so it’s best to buy organic - and they should be served at room temperature, not chilled.

Most often you will see strawberries served with cream and sprinkled with sugar. I personally love them with thick clotted cream, or simply as they are so that I can pick them out of the bag or bowl and bite into their red juiciness. Oranges bring out their flavour, so orange liquor or orange flower water is good to sprinkle over them. As, perhaps surprisingly, is balsamic vinegar. Just a little though. I made the mistake of using too much when serving them to my family once and their screwed-up faces told me what words didn’t need to. They remain unconvinced to this day of how balsamic vinegar brings out the flavour of strawberries. But I have something that may change their minds.

On the Borough Market Tour I attended a week ago we tried some white balsamic vinegar which was deliciously sweet, almost syrupy so. My first thought was that it would be perfect with strawberries and I wasn’t wrong. Use just a dash, along with a sprinkling of sugar, over the strawberries and leave them to marinade until you can’t smell the vinegar anymore. The taste is heavenly.

A Food-lover’s Feast

Spanish ham carved from the bone this afternoon, ciabatta, parmesan cheese, comté cheese and oak-smoked tomatoes; all from Borough Market, along with sugar snap peas, olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping, a few other cheeses and a bottle of chilled Pinot Grigio to wash it all down.

Mushroom and New Potato Salad

The white wine, butter and garlic in this dish bring the mushrooms alive while the white truffle oil deepens and intensifies their flavour.

Never wash mushrooms as they are porous and will absorb the water. Just wipe them with a cloth to remove any dirt.

Boil some new potatoes in salted water. When they are cooked through drain and allow them to cool slightly before slicing and laying them on a bed of salad leaves. Sprinkle the potatoes with sea salt.

Next melt a knob of butter in a frying pan then sauté a selection of good mushrooms, roughly chopped with little ones left whole, with a sliced garlic clove for about 5 minutes. Add a slosh of white wine and reduce down until it disappears completely. Season right at the end – if you add salt at the beginning it will draw out the juices from the mushrooms, which you don’t want.

Top the salad with the mushrooms and drizzle over some white truffle oil.

A Gastro Tour of Borough Market

Last Friday afternoon I took the tube from work to London Bridge to take a ‘Gastro Tour’ of London’s famous Borough Market. The tour had been arranged by Walid from Trusted Places and was led by Celia Brooks Brown, who runs these tours on a regular basis. Walid had kindly invited me along with several other food bloggers and a few food journalists from The Guardian and Waitrose Illustrated. I’d never met another food blogger before and it was wonderful to meet like minded people, as passionate about food as I am, who I’d talked to via email and through comments on our blogs but never met.

The tour itself started with a history of the market and then we were led around it, meeting various stall holders and tasting fabulous wares as we went. We got to try wheat grass – one small shot of which contains the same amount of vitamins as a week’s worth of fruit and veg - the amazing parmesan cheese from The Parmesan Cheese Company – the owners of which had made it their lifetime’s work to find the very best parmesan cheese to sell right here in London - the sweetest white balsamic vinegar and the extraodinary (and perhaps not to everybody’s taste) truffle honey. We also got to hold an ostridge egg (did you know one egg feeds 5-6 people? That’s a big omelette.), taste wines from Bedales (hot tip coming up: chilled reds are going to be big this Summer) and eat scallops cooked for us at the Shellseekers stall.

The tour was nicely rounded up with a glass of chilled white wine and oysters at Roast restaurant, which offers food from the very market it overlooks.

Super Pomegranate Juice!

Not only are pomegranates beautiful and sweet, but with their juice bursting with antioxidants and vitamins they are hailed as one of the ‘superfoods’. Studies show that pomegranate juice helps to combat prostrate cancer, decreases the risk of heart disease and is better for you than red wine, orange juice and green tea. Of course, with claims like this it's widely popular and has a cult celebrity following. And in addition to the fantastic health benefits, the juice is light, refreshing and could be quite addictive - particularly if served over ice through the long, hot summer days.

Asparagus, Avocado and Parma Ham Salad

Simplicity at its best.

Summer Roast Poussin

This is a colourful and flavoursome dish, and I expect it would go nicely with a leafy green salad on the side, or perhaps some asparagus. The tomatoes burst during cooking and the juice seeps from the lemons, mixing together at the bottom of the roasting tray with juices from the birds to form a tangy sauce. You can squeeze the rest of the juice from the lemons over the poussins.

Ingredients
2 poussins
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 red onion
1 lemon
A handful of cherry tomatoes
Spanish smoked paprika
Olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Rub the paprika over the poussins so that they are well covered. Chop the peppers and onion into bite sized pieces and cut the lemon into eights. Put these into the dish with the tomatoes and poussins and sprinkle over some sea salt, pepper and olive oil. Roast at 200c for 40-50 minutes until the poussins are cooked through.

Serves 2

Burning the Charcoal

OK, you’re just going to have to bear with me on the barbeque posts. It’s early summer, we’ve got a long way to go yet, and I have to warn you now – there are going to be a lot of them. I’m sure I’m not alone, no scrap that, I know I’m not alone in loving a barbeque in the summer months. Really, what’s not to love? That smell; the fresh air; the relaxed; party atmosphere; the easy cooking with big rewards.

The weather was rather temperamental in London town today. I walked to the station feeling hot in the muggy air, despite the early hour, but then by the time I got into town I was feeling decidedly chilly, wishing I’d brought a jacket. By mid afternoon the weather had turned again and I walked back to my office from a meeting with the sun beating down on my back. I had to cool off with a Starbucks frappuccino – had to, you understand.

My journey home on the train was unbearably hot and uncomfortable, and when Rob picked me up from the station and suggested barbequing the chicken we had in the fridge I lit up. What a great idea and why not? Sure, it’s only the two of us and it’s an otherwise average Tuesday evening, but I have to tell you, sitting here in the garden in my shorts, typing away whilst sipping a glass of rose and smelling the charcoal slowly burning, I feel in the holiday mood. You should try it – don’t wait for an occasion or friends to come over to light the coals.

So what’s cooking tonight? We have the usual offering of sausages, burgers and salad, and the chicken is currently marinating in a little barbeque mix I cooked up. I’ll share it with you now, but I should warn you this is only the second time I’ve tried it. I mixed it together the other weekend and it tasted pretty good, so I’m giving it another go tonight.

Barbeque Marinade

Ingredients
1 chopped onion
2 crushed garlic cloves
200ml tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons of runny honey
The juice of ½ a lemon
1 teaspoon of Worcester sauce
2 tablespoons of Jack Daniels, bourbon or whisky

Sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes. Next stir in the rest of the ingredients, mix well and simmer for a few minutes. Allow to cool, then smother it over meat and allow to marinade for at least half an hour (but the longer the better).

EDITED: On a second attempt at this I changed the 4 tablespoons of tomato puree to 200ml tomato ketchup to give more sauce.

Delectable Posts

More gorgeous posts to devour from my fellow food bloggers:

Almond Pavlova with the Season's First Cherries from Becks & Posh

Baked, Not fried from Milk and Cookies

Herbal Flavors-Part 1: Lemon Balm Honey.html from Cafe Lynnelu

Banana Jam from Abstract Gourmet

White Bean Salad from 101 Cookbooks

Beef Strogonoff

How’s this for a quick, easy and quite spectacular mid-week meal?



I’ve been dying to try beef stroganoff for ages and I wasn’t disappointed; I can see this becoming a regular in my kitchen. Not only is it very tasty, but it is so quick and just needs a little chopping, stirring and some boiling of rice. It would be a great way to feed a crowd when you’ve been at work all day and want something good, filling and effortless.

I loosely followed this recipe, but my measurements were no more accurate than: a couple of fillet steaks, a good sprinkle of paprika then another sprinkle at the end, a small tub of sour cream, a handful of button mushrooms, an onion, a squeeze of lemon juice, salt and pepper and a little flat leafed parsley. I’d imagine this is a forgiving dish – just don’t overcook the steak, it only needs a quick flash fry over a high heat.

Butternut Squash, Potato and Pork Cheesy Bake

This was something I threw together last night. I started with the chops which I'd bought at the butchers earlier, then looked in the fridge to see what I could team them with for a one-pot roast. As is often the case with this type of ‘throw it together’ cooking, you can come up with a real gem of a dish without any effort at all. The butternut squash was really good with the pork - definitely a combination I recommend - and Rob loved the melted cheese over everything.

Quantities really aren’t important here; use however much potatoes, squash and pork chops you want. Simply peel some potatoes and butternut squash, cut them into similar sizes chunks then put them into a baking tray with some pork chops. Sprinkle over a little fresh thyme, olive oil, sea salt and pepper.

Roast at 200c for about 40-45 minutes, turning the chops and vegetables half way through. Once everything is cooked through, sprinkle some mature cheddar cheese over the pork and vegetables and pop the tray back in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese melts.

In the Bag: Cooking the Month of June

It’s time for the second ‘In the Bag’ event, run by myself, Cherry and Scott! This month Cherry is hosting the event and our chosen ingredients are:

Lamb
Broad Beans
Baby or New Season Potatoes

Get yourself over to Cherry's English Kitchen to find out more!

Ice Cream Shots

The best thing about the training course I'm on this week? The little ice creams we got during our afternoon break today. How cute are they? They tasted great too.

Grilling in the Sunshine

Hey the sun’s out - party time!

Clear blue skies and bright sunshine on a weekend call for lighting the barbeque, marinating the meat and chilling the beers. Petrol stations stock up on charcoal, shop shelves clear of sausages, burger buns and salads, and that distinct smell of char-grilling comes from gardens all over the country. We go crazy for barbeques in this country because when the weather is good you have to seize the moment - before the skies cloud over and rain comes – they’re relaxed, they’re fun, they’re a great way of cooking for friends, and the food tastes so damn good!



Rob and I make a good team when it comes to barbeques. Like many men, he’s in his element when it comes to setting the charcoal alight and throwing on the meat. He’s quite happy at his post manning the grilling station with a beer in the hand whilst I happily marinade, chop and assemble salads. We have fat sausages from the butcher, marinated chicken, beef burgers or sometimes lemony chicken breast burgers, wedged into burger buns or ciabatta rolls, sometimes sticky ribs, sometimes chargrilled fish with salad.



Today has been beautiful and I’ve spent most of it in the garden in my shorts. The barbeque came out just for us this afternoon but it was so worth it. Cooking and eating in the garden together was relaxed and fun. I see many more days like this coming over the summer.

Stop the Clock

In this fast-paced, high-technology world it’s sometimes nice to slow everything down and go back to basics. The convenience foods and flamboyant dishes on restaurant menus are part of the norm nowadays and sometimes it’s nice to strip all that away and return to a simpler, slower pace, even if it’s just once in a while.

At its most basic, cooking is a natural survival instinct: the hunting; the gathering; the lighting of the fire. That survival instinct has evolved – it’s had to – and it now often tells us to grab food on the go, eat for fuel – to keep us going rather than for pleasure. Yesterday I watched the talk Clotilde gave at Google and she mentioned this when talking about the differences between the French and American take on food. She said in France it is very unusual to see someone eating out on the street whilst walking; generally the French take the time to sit down and eat properly and really enjoy the process of cooking and eating.

Unfortunately the reality, certainly for many full time professionals working in busy cities, is that it just isn’t possible to find the time to do that in the whirlwind of the daily grind. It’s therefore all the more pleasurable, and precious, when we do get the opportunity and take the time to slow down and enjoy our food, whether alone or in company, at the kitchen table or on a blanket in a park. The enjoyment of simple, good quality, produce used in a no-frills, hearty and unassuming meal can sometimes be more satisfying than the most complex, the most acclaimed, the most expensive, procession of dishes - and certainly more satisfying than convenience food eaten so fast on the go you risk indigestion.

On the bank holiday weekend just gone Rob and I did exactly what I’ve described; we took the time out to slow down, get off the treadmill and go back to basics. We headed for Rob’s parent’s caravan for a weekend with my cousin, his wife and our adorable 8 month old God Daughter-to-be. It rained, the temperature dropped, it rained some more, but the weather didn’t bother us; we were just and happy to be together and step out of our busy daily cycles for a few days.

When you’re staying in a caravan you really do have to go back to basics if you’re going to cook for yourself. Of course, you could eat out, which is nice once in a while, but in a way it goes against the point of staying in a caravan. If you’re really going to embrace this type of holiday you need to experience the fun of cooking in a tiny space using basic equipment – and I promise you, it is fun. You really do need to forget fancy cooking; we’re talking two hobs, electric not gas, the risk of blowing a fuse if you plug more than one appliance in at once. Throw away the electric whisk and leave the cordon bleu cookbook at home.

The weather last weekend, along with the limited space and a need to cook for 4, called for a big pot of vegetable soup with thick crusty bread. My cousin’s wife was particularly taken with this idea as she’d never made soup before so was keen to learn. So, off we went to buy the ingredients.

Cooking with someone else can be an intimate thing; you’re putting your own style and taste into the pot along with that other persons, mixing it up and seeing what you can create together. It can also be extremely fun. It’s not something I often have the opportunity to experience but it's one I’d like to repeat more often. Guiding my cousin’s wife through the process reminded me of the wonder in cooking and of the sense of achievement to be felt in transforming raw ingredients into a satisfying, hot meal for a group of family or friends. Together we carefully chose our ingredients, we chopped, we stirred, we tasted. It was easy and relaxed - the only thing I insisted on was that she had a glass of wine with me as we cooked - and it was immensely satisfying for us all. My cousin’s wife learned how easy it is to make soup, which she can now repeat in her own kitchen, I felt great for being able to pass on what I know and help someone else to become a more confident cook, and all four of us enjoyed the hot, tasty and nutritious soup.

As with all good things, the weekend had to come to an end, but when we got back on that treadmill we were relaxed, refreshed and happy.

Another Slice of Pie?

Each month Delicious magazine interviews a food blogger in their ‘Foodie File’ section. I buy the magazine each month and this is the first section I turn to, excited to see which of my fellow bloggers is featured this month. I’m delighted that, for the July edition - which is out now - the featured blogger was myself! I feel very privileged to be in such good company - previous bloggers who have been interviewed include Sam from Becks & Posh and Aun from Chubby Hubby.

I’d like to extend a very warm welcome to new readers who have found 'A Slice of Cherry Pie' through Delicious magazine. If you scroll down the left-hand side of the blog you can view the archives, posts by category, search the blog and take a look through some specially selected highlights. I hope you enjoy reading the blog as much as I enjoy writing it.