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The beautiful beetroots caught my eye, jewel like in the vegetable isle, and I simply had to have them.
It's more the kind of thing you'd hear a women utter when it comes to shoes / handbags / clothes (delete as appropriate), but I get just as (and sometimes more) excited by interesting ingredients. Perhaps its a sigh of age. More likely it's my gluttony.
Today was Mathews birthday and I wanted to do something for him I've not done before. Hmmm, am sure in other households when a wife says this on her husbands birthday she means something different...but in my world it means cooking something new and interesting, and the colourful beetroots certainly tick that box.
These flavours and textures work brilliantly together - earthy, sweet, creamy and fragrant, plus the overall dish has a bit of a special feel about it in that it doesn't feel overly familiar, and the combination of ingredients are a little different.
For two:
10 scallops (preferably with roe, I had to get a mix but go for with roe if you can)
1 can canellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 can haricot beans, rinsed and drained
Good quality extra virgin olive oil
A handful each of fresh mint and basil leaves, picked from their stems
Juice of half a juicy lemon
A fresh bunch of small heritage beetroots
A small handful of watercress leaves, picked from their stems
Sea salt and black pepper
Unsalted butter and olive oil for frying
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 190 degrees. Top and tail the beetroots and rinse them to remove and dirt and place them on to a baking tray, then into the oven for 45 minutes
- Put your herbs, a generous glug of extra virgin and a scrunch of salt into a food processor, give it a squeeze of lemon juice and blitz for a minute until the herbs are as blended as they'll get
- Place the drained beans into a saucepan and cover with just enough water to cover them, put the lid on the pan
- Wash your scallops to clean them of any grit or nasty membrane bits, then set aside to keep them dry
- Put a knob of butter and a little glug of olive oil into a frying pan ready for cooking
- When you're 10 minutes off the beetroot being ready, turn the pan on to get them cooking. Once they are boiling which should take about 5 minutes, cook for a couple of minutes then drain them and pop into a food processor. Add a generous glug of extra virgin, scrunch of salt, grind of pepper and the remaining juice from the lemon, then blitz for a minute or two. Put the bean puree into a bowl and put it in the oven to keep warm
- Turn the oven off, remove the beetroot from the oven and (with your asbestos fingers!) gently rub the skins to peel off the beetroot skins. Then place them in a bowl, give a light drizzle of extra virgin and scrunch of salt and mix together, then half each with a knife. Pop the bowl into the oven just to keep them warm
- Put the frying pan with the butter onto a high heat and once the butter begins to foam place the scallops into the pan. Cook on one side for 1.5 minutes ish, then turn over, cook for a further 30 seconds then turn the heat off
- Leaving the scallops in the cooling pan (the residual pan heat will continue to cook the scallops until they are ready) get ready to plate up
- Take your plates and using a spoon drizzle on the herb oil, followed by the bean puree, then the halved beets, then the scallops dotted amongst them, and finally the watercress leaves on top.
- Eat and enjoy with a glass of something very cold and slightly dry - we had a rioja rose that worked perfectly
Heady, fragrant, aromatic and cleansing - pho is one of my top noodle dishes of all time.
And it's this favourite dish of mine I decided to break the blog silence with - what else would do? You see, for the last four weeks we've been a bit busy...living like hobos...out of bags and boxes...at my grandmas.
I know how it sounds, but grandma is a rather cool lady. Nifty in her little Mercedes, off out with her girlfriends from the golf club whenever she has the chance, and she likes a good glass of wine or two. Being here is really quite good fun. Plus I get to use all her antique dinnerware (see pics for a lovely duck egg blue set).
But, this isn't a move for the long term - it's temporary whilst we find our next house. This time up north in Manchester where I've been offered a fantastic new job, so I'm soon again to be Hannah-the-Planner, I can't wait.
Enough of me, on to the dish...
Given I'm still off the chillies, this is the ideal noodle dish for me to devour because that the dish itself is entirely without heat- if you want a dose of the hot stuff you simply add some shredded red chilli before eating.
There are a couple of ways you can make it; as a labour of love, or a quick hit - and both ways yield excellent results.
The long way:
If you have the time to get hold of some beef bones and oxtail, then roast, boil, skim and simmer with peppercorns, carrots, celery, peeled onions and the aromatics for several hours before clarifying with egg whites, you'll create an intense, rich, deeply flavoured stock.
The short way:
But if you're lacking time you can use a fantastic cheat ingredient instead - canned beef consomme. Its flavour still delivers the beefy taste you need and mixes well with the additional aromatics and you don't have to go through any of the pain to get there.
Perhaps one version is for weekend eating - put it on in late morning then eat it early evening, and the other version is post work - cooked and on the table within an hour.
The recipe below is the short version, which isn't completely authentic I know pho aficionados will say, but is still incredibly aromatic and delicious.
Pho for two:
10 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick
2 lemongrass stalks, halved through their centres
1 very large thumb of ginger, cut roughly into stalks
2 teaspoons of whole peppercorns
1 heaped tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
2 cans beef consomme (Baxters one is very good)
800mls water
A small handful coriander
A small handful fresh mint
A small handful Thai holy basil
Rice noodles - I like the wide variety for this, however many you like for two
2 sirloin steaks
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
Black pepper - ground
5 radishes, sliced very finely (and carefully) on a mandolin
A couple of handfuls of beansprouts
One lime, cut into quarters
Method:- In a large saucepan combine the consomme, ginger, lemongrass, cinnamon, star anise, sugar, fish sauce and lime juice. Simmer for 20-30 minutes with the lid on
- Whilst this is happening heat a dry frying pan until its very hot, and season your steaks on one side with a sprinkling of the sesame seeds, salt and black pepper before putting them seasoned side down in the pan. Now season the other sides whilst they're cooking ready for when you turn them. Cook them for 3 minutes before turning over. Cook for 3 minutes this side then remove them from the pan and set aside on a chopping board. Leave for 5 minutes before slicing thinly with a knife
- When you're around 10 minutes from the pho being ready, cook your rice noodles as per the pack instructions, by the time the water has boiled and they've cooked you should have both things ready at the same time
- Strain the noodles and separate them into two large pre-warmed bowls
- Strain the pho and all its contents through a sieve into another saucepan, then pick out a few of the star anise and the ginger from the colander, and put them back into the saucepan with the liquor (I like to do this for decoration, they shouldn't be eaten)
- Add the radishes and bring it back to the boil
- Place the sliced steak over the rice noodles along with a handful each of the bean shoots, holy basil, mint and coriander, then ladle over the hot liquor
A classic dish given an international slant, now that's what I like. This flavour fusion really tickled my taste buds, I hope it does yours too.
To surround each petite and delicate soft boiled quails egg I've used a single fresh basil leaf, Italian sausage meat - quality pork with lots of fat and fennel seeds, then encased it in a double layer (yeah baby, the double-dip technique) of my beloved Japanese panko breadcrumbs.
These are a lovely naughty little snack and would also make a great canape or pre dinner party nibble - why not serve them inside closed egg boxes for a bit of playful table theatre.
For 10 Scotch eggs:
10 quails eggs, each pierced at one end
250g panko breadcrumbs, given a scrunch of sea salt and generous grind of black pepper
3 chickens eggs, in a bowl and beaten
100g plain flour
10 large basil leaves
400g Italian sausage meat - if you cant get hold of it buy a high pork content quality sausage, remove its skins and mix into the meat by hand a tablespoon of fennel seeds
Around 1.5l oil for frying, groundnut or vegetable
Kitchen paper
Rocket leaves, Parmesan shavings and a little extra virgin olive oil to serve
Sea salt
Method:
- Taking a pin carefully pierce the more pointed end of each of the quails eggs - it's easiest to do this with a pin rather than the tip of a knife given the eggs are so small and fragile
- Fill a small pan with a couple of inches of water and bring to a light simmer, then carefully slide the eggs in and leave there for 1.45 minutes - a rather exact times I know, but they are very small and getting them to that softish boiled point means being precise
- Once they're ready remove them and empty the pan, then put them back into the pan and let it sit in the sink with the cold tap running gently into it to cool them down. Leave the eggs cooling like this for around 5 minutes
- One by one peel the eggs now. Do this on kitchen paper and basically using your palm press gently and firmly on the egg that's lying on its side until its shell just cracks (just be careful not to press too hard) now there is a crack in the shell you can peel the shell back on its very thin membrane - it's easy enough. Once you've done them all rinse them too to get rid of any shell bits
- Take your Italian sausage meat and place around a meatball sized amount in the palm of your hand, using the heel of your other hand flatten this sausage meat until you have a thinnish layer of it over your hand, now place on the basil leaf, the egg on top of that
- Now gently close your hand, effectively beginning to wrap the egg and leaf up in the meat, bring the edges together and the sides, totally sealing the egg inside. If there are any holes or gaps patch these in with a little more of the meat, finally, roll them gently between your palms like you would a meatball, making the shape as round and compact as you can. Repeat the process with all 10 and then place them in the fridge for half an hour
- When you're ready to cook them, get your production line ready with the flour in a bowl at one end, panko in a bowl at the other end and the whisked eggs in another bowl in the middle
- Go through the process of coating each first in the flour, then the egg, then the panko, then back to the egg, and into the panko once more. Repeat until all of them have been done
- Place the oil in a deep bottomed saucepan and heat it up for around 10 minutes on a medium heat, you don't want to fry the eggs on too high a heat as they'll cook too fast on the outside and wont cook the meat all the way through. To test the temperature of the oil drop a scrunch of the panko breadcrumbs into it, they should just lightly sizzle
- Cook the eggs in two or three batches so you don't crowd the pan and make them steam, cook them and turn them over if the oil doesn't cover them, cooking them until golden on all sides which should take around 8 minutes or a bit longer
- Remove and drain on kitchen paper, then serve with a simple rocket and Parmesan salad
If cakes had personalities this one would be moody, dark and intense. Not surprising given its ingredients; Guinness, cocoa, buttermilk, mascarpone, white chocolate, dark chocolate and vanilla pods.
I made this damp and rather sophisticated creation not just because my husband is a cake addict and as a wife I like to please him, nor because I'd been dying to use some of the 50 giant vanilla pods my dad sent me from France, but because today at work it was my turn in this weeks Rate My Cake.
I introduced Rate My Cake at the office to give us some tasty, playful fun once a week, bringing us ladies together over sweet baked treats. But what began as a light hearted (WI style) affair quickly turned rather serious and competitive (army style - strategic and deadly), and I've since heard it referred to as Cake Wars.
You don't need to introduce this game at work in order to make this cake though, fear not. But, it is rather impressive tasting so would lend itself well to a dinner party, or it would perhaps make a nice gift for a cake or chocolate loving friend. Alternatively, bake it and scoff the lot yourself.
You can't really taste the Guinness in it once its cooled, but its partly the black stuff that gives it its colour and damp darkness. The base is dense but not overly so, and the white ganache coating perfectly balances the darkness with a spike of vanilla infused sweetness.
PS...I originally got the recipe for this from the gorgeous Hummingbird Bakery on Stylist.co.uk and have adapted it a bit and changed the frosting - and in case you're wondering, I'm currently in the lead in Rate My Cake!
For one cake, 23" diameter:
1 fat vanilla pod
250mls Guinness
250g unsalted butter
80g cocoa powder, sieved
400g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
140mls buttermilk
280g plain flour
2tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2tsp baking powder
A scrunch of sea salt
The ganache frosting
1 fat vanilla pod
120g mascarpone
100g cream cheese
100g good quality white chocolate, broken into pieces
3 heaped tablespoons icing sugar, sieved
25g unsalted butter
Dark chocolate for grating
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 170degrees
- In a saucepan place your Guinness, deseeded vanilla pod and stem and butter and cook on a low heat until the butter has melted, then remove from the heat
- Add the beaten eggs and buttermilk to the pan and stir to combine, then add the sugar and sieved cocoa
- In a large mixing bowl combine the sieved flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt and then pour over the pan contents
- Using a hand blender (or do it all in your Kenwood if you have one) bring the mixture together until its all combined and is nice and glossy and thick
Top Jamie Oliver tip alert...
- Take your cake tin or silicone mould (make sure its a deep one as otherwise the mixture will overflow) and tear off enough baking parchment so that it will fit inside and give a good overhang. Now scrunch the parchment up into a ball and run it under the tap, soaking it through
- Now straighten it out on your work surface and butter one side of it, and now you can lay it into the baking tin with the butter side up. The paper being wet will mean you can get it into the corners properly and it wont pop out
- Pour the mixture into the tin and pop into the oven for 40 minutes. Depending on how your oven behaves 40 minutes might be enough, but mine needed an extra 12 on top - basically check it at 40, if there is no wobble in the centre then spear it with a knife and if it comes out clean its done. If not keep going and check and spear it regularly - you want to remove it as soon as its done and the knife comes out clear
- Leave it for around 20 minutes before lifting it out by its paper (with the help of someone else so that you have all four corners covered and don't make it crack down the centre) and pop it onto a cooling rack
- If your cake sinks in the middle don't worry, simply use a bread knife to cut some of the top off to even it up
- Once its totally cooled (don't frost it or move it until it is) pop a plate on the top and turn it over, peel off the baking parchment and then turn it back onto the rack, now put your cake stand or whatever its going to be staying on over the top and turn it back over ready for icing )you will effectively be icing its bottom)
- Into a glass bowl over simmering water (that isn't touching the glass) break your chocolate and scrape the seeds out of your other vanilla pod
- Once the chocolate has melted take it off the pan of water and onto a work surface. Add to the bowl the icing sugar, butter, mascarpone and cream cheese and using your hand blender bring it together until its all combined
- Now its time to get plastering (don't worry if you cant get it smooth its all part of its charm). Using a spatula smooth the ganache over the top of the cake and then around the sides until its been covered, finally give it a liberal grating of dark chocolate and then set it aside for the ganace to set a little - this will take around 30 minutes
- Devour - goes well with a cup of tea or a slug of dessert wine.
I didn't decide to cook this just because I wanted to use my new serving dish (a charity shop bargain purchased this weekend for just £3) though it was a bit of an extra incentive.
The dish actually started with the halibut, samphire and chorizo, and I'm so pleased with how the combination of flavours turned out I can see it making a regular appearance at our dining table.
The fennel and lemon base is a fantastic accompaniment to all kinds of baked fish, in this case I used halibut but you could use any other firm fleshed fish if you cant get hold of it. It's well worth hunting out the samphire, it tastes of the sea and has a succulent, crunchy texture that is complemented very nicely by the mint butter.
For two:
Two fillets of halibut
2 cooking chorizos (these are around 3 inches each in length) diced and dry fried in a pan until crisp, then set aside
One large fennel bulb, finely sliced on the mandolins finest setting
One large red onion, finely sliced on the mandolins finest setting
Juice of three lemons
150mls extra virgin olive oil
A small handful of fresh chervil, or if you cant get it, use the fennel tops
2 cloves of smoked garlic, if you cant get smoked then use regular, one finely sliced the other left whole and peeled
A handful of fresh mint leaves
A large knob of butter (unsalted)
100g fresh samphire, rinsed in cold water and drained
As many Jersey royal potatoes as you want to eat
Black pepper
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 200degrees
- Add the butter, whole clove of garlic and fresh mint to your food processor and blitz to create your mint butter, set aside
- To a roasting tin or pot with a lid combine your fennel, red onion, sliced garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and several scrunches of black pepper and combine together with your hands, put a lid on or cover it with foil and then place into the oven for 15 minutes
- Place your potatoes into a pan and cover with water and a bit of salt
- When there are 5 minutes left on the fennel and onion mixture turn the potatoes on to boil with the lid on the pan
- Remove the dish from the oven and take the lid off, mix together and add the chorizo to the pan, then lay the fish fillets over the top and put the lid back on, put back in the oven for 10 minutes
- Once the potatoes are done (they should be ready a good few minutes before the fish) remove and drain them and let them sit steaming in a colander
- Heat a frying pan on a high heat and add a small knob of unsalted butter, add the samphire and toss in the butter heating them through. Now add the potatoes to the pan and toss together with the samphire and add the mint butter to the pan, keep tossing the pan until the mint butter has melted and covered the potatoes and samphire, don't worry if the potatoes break up a little, it will help get the buttery flavour into them
- Remove the potatoes from the heat and then the fish from the oven
- Tip the potatoes and samphire into a serving dish, then carefully take the fish and fennel out and decant onto plates or a serving dish
- Top the fish with the fresh chervil or fennel tops and eat
Who fancies joining a food movement requiring little effort? I'm convinced that this dish could rescue the cauliflower from plummeting popularity and sliding sales.
Try it, I guarantee you'll never have thought this knobbly white vegetable could taste this incredible - it's soft textured inside but has deliciously chewy edges, with the olive oil and seasoning making it very luxurious and moreish indeed.
Leave the feta out and have it as a side dish to joints of meat, feta in and have it with baked fish, or eat it as we did for late lunch today and enjoy it all on its own - there are lots of possibilities.
Plus it's very easy and inexpensive - another couple of reasons this recipe is a winner and a must try. I hope you give it a go - if you do why not pass the recipe on to a friend, I wonder how far it could get and if we could help save the poor old cauliflower from being forgotten.
For two as a main:
1 large head of cauliflower, cut into florets
Good quality extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper
Half a block of feta, crumbled
A handful of fresh mint leaves, laid on top of each other, rolled up and then finely cut (this is called chiffonading)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
- Place the florets into a large bowl and pour over several generous glugs of extra virgin olive oil, now add a few scrunches of sea salt and black pepper to the florets, and toss together with your hands, add more olive oil if it's disappeared and you have sides of the florets that have none on them
- Transfer the florets to a roasting tin and bake for 40 minutes, turning over every 10-15 minutes so that they become nice and dark evenly around them
- When they are golden, soft and have some quite dark edges it's time to remove them
- Put them into a serving dish and crumble over the feta, then sprinkle on the mint and toss together
- Serve
Who says being good means suffering at the altar of self denial? Spelt flatbreads topped with bright green loveliness are a great way to pack in the goodness when you've overdone things somewhat.
Last Saturday night I had a bit of a crazy one. I didn't intend for it to be quite so wild, but sometimes these nights take you by surprise don't they.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect not to drink a drop, and I suppose when seeing a very old friend who can really put it away that going overboard is a distinct possibility. But last Saturday night the-princess-of-darkness-Ciara-O'Reilly and I really went to town and drank six bottles of fizz.
Yes you read that correctly - six bottles. Between just the two of us. It's obscene. Especially considering we didn't have a scrap of food to eat either.
I had a really great night, the kind that makes me wistful about old times and longing to live closer to good friends. But Sunday came and went with me in bed feeling wretched, and by bank holiday Monday I still had an enormous hangover and struggled to do anything.
Needless to say food this week has been that of ease and virtue. Next time with Miss O'Reilly, I shall make sure to tread a more reasonable path to enjoyment.
The brief when considering what to make for supper this evening was to cram in as much greenery to feed my poor body and mind as possible, but often when forcing as much 'good' stuff inside me as I can leaves me feeling a bit bored and uninspired. Not today - this green spelt 'pizza' is a seriously tasty way of being good.
For two, and with two flatbreads left for something else:
A couple of handfuls of rocket
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 small red onion, shaved very finely on the mandolin
1 fennel bulb, shaved very finely on the mandolin
A couple of tablespoons walnuts, lightly crushed
Around 70g crumbled Roquefort
The juice of one juicy lemon
1 ripe avocado
100g shelled broad beans (easiest done after boiling briefly and then cooling in cold water)
2 tablespoons natural yogurt
A handful of fresh mint
Good quality extra virgin olive oil
A heaped teaspoon black onion seeds
Sea salt and black pepper
340g white spelt flour
1 teaspoon yeast granules
1 teaspoon honey
1 cup of warm water
Method:
Start with making the dough - which is rather soft and wibbly before cooking so needs lots of extra flour on your work top to stop it from sticking - Add 2 scrunches of salt, honey and the yeast to the cup of warm water and leave for 10 minutes
- In a mixing bowl place the flour and onion seeds, make a hole in the centre of the dough (reserving a bit for kneading) and pour the water in, then using your hands mix it all together until you've formed a ball of dough
- Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently for a couple of minutes, then place it into a floured bowl and cover with cling film for an hour
- Take the dough out of the bowl and turn it out onto a floured surface, cut into quarters and roll each out each in turn into as round a shape as you can make
- Lay them one at a time on a lightly oiled baking sheet on a baking tray and bake for 11 minutes until you've baked all four. Remove them from the oven and turn the oven off
- Pile them up separated by baking paper, this will stop them cooling down and getting stuck to each other, and will keep them just crisp enough
- In a food processor combine the broad beans, avocado, yogurt, mint, a scrunch of sea salt and a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil, and blitz until its formed a smooth paste
- Into a mixing bowl combine the razor thin red onion, spring onion, razor thin fennel, lemon juice and a scrunch of sea salt and mix together with your fingers, then add the rocket and combine gently again - you want to keep the rocket from going soggy
- Use half the avocado mixture on each of the 2 flatbreads and smear it over the breads like you would a tomato sauce on a pizza
- Cut the breads up on a chopping board and move them to a plate (I find it easier to cut them up before piling everything on them)
- Now pile up the fennel and rocket mixture onto each of the slices
- Top with the crushed walnuts and dots of the Roquefort cheese, then eat
