It's been a while and once again we tumble towards winteriness

Yes, wintriness is a word! I was shocked too... A few people have asked recently what happened to Titch so having a little more time on my hands at present I decided to resurrect this miniscule cooking lady. So here follows a round up of the last few months of life in a sort of highlight form.  A tour of the more memorable moments if you will...

In a fit of summer dizziness I decided to cook a meal for some friends from my church back home. This was all going well and was to be an unplanned birthday dinner for the lovely Barbara. I knocked out some pastry for the first time in months and took advantage of the short-lived greengage season and made a Greengage and vanilla custard tart. This, to follow a stuffed roast leg of lamb served with cabbage, mash and gravy. Classic. Thank God that I had done most of the prep for it earlier that day because in a lapse of concentration, enthralled by the mumblings of the Test Match Special commentary I managed to miss the cabbage I was shredding completely and cleanly remove the tip of my left thumb, 30 minutes before the lovely Barbara and David were due to arrive. A few hasty calls made, I ended up in A&E and having been cauterised and bandaged, returned home to finish dinner with the help of the lovely Barbara. Tart and thumb now side by side pictured below. Sorry for the squeamish of you, skip down - skip down!

Sad thumb :(

Greengage and Vanilla Tart :)

The next development to report is that I have slowly come around to the idea of regular coffee drinking. Much to the consternation of true coffee devotees I will drink almost any kind. Instant or avant-garde third-wave coffee, and to be honest I still don't really know what an aeropress is... but I do appreciate the chilled out coffee house tracks, uber cool wooden tables and pretty patterns in the creme of the latest brew. See exhibit A.

I'm exhibit A...

More contemporary than the aforementioned happenings is the onset of Autumn - sorry guys nothing to do with me... But now there is excuse to bake and roast incessantly and indulge in stodgy carb-filled dinners. Indeed squash season arrived and with it the challenge to incorporate these wonderful, sweet peculiarities into as many meals as possible. My foolhardy flatmate of five years celebrates the coming of fall with near constant pumpkin or squash-based conversation, inventing ways of never being more than a few hours from her next dose. I'm sure her blood transforms into an oxygenated orangey flow the second the clocks go back. Of late our best creation to this end has been a butternut squash lasagne with layers of 'payday fresh egg pasta' as a treat, and of course obscene quantities of cheese. 

Ooo er.

Such is the time of year that cosy nights, draped in woollen garments and candlelight are inevitable. And of course a crackling fire, this year courtesy of YouTube. 

TTFN :)x

Having my birthday cake - twice. And eating it too!

Another month passes and I have tumbled somewhat ungracefully into another year of adulthood. I have made two discoveries this week. First that the decline in optic health has already arrested my eyes according to the optician who calmly informed me that this is the reason I can no longer see my toes clearly without spectacles. Thanks chum - encouraging! The second however is that I can still make a half decent slice or two of cake.  

My inner control freak now dictates that I make my own birthday cake. This is only true in part, but I do relish the opportunity to cook when back with Mum and Dad and their shiny kitchen. So I have been experimenting and concocting. The first cake is homage to my love of stripes, dots and childhood. A chocolate and vanilla spot cake, complete with cherry and vanilla jam and buttercream. All the best things from birthdays past. The warm fuzzy haze of butterfly cakes, clumsily oozing with cream and icing sugar and jam and chocolate at birthday parties. On a practical note it's just a 6oz standard cake mix, split and one half flavoured with chocolate and coffee and the other with vanilla. Then piped dottily into cake tins and baked. A dab or two of jam and Bob's your uncle. (He ACTUALLY IS!)

The other cake is a bit of posh. One of those flour-less cake with ground almonds in and oodles of chocolate and butter. But also containing a handful of fruit so you don't feel as wracked with guilt. The recipe is adapted from the Red magazine site and with a flourish of pistachios and praline to dress it up, quite the stunner. I served it as a plated dinner party pudding, but you could definitely attack it with a spoon straight from the oven or with your face depending on how committed you're feeling... You know who you are. Yes, I am referring to you! And the other fun fact about this cake is it is gluten free!

Anyhow here's how you make it. Just sharing the joy!

Chocolate, raspberry and pistachio cake (served with pistachio praline, crumb, lime and honey creme fraiche)

Cake (12 portions)
200g dark chocolate 
4 egg yolks
175g caster sugar
4 egg whites
200g butter, melted
200g ground almonds
50g pistachios, roasted and shelled
200g caster sugar for caramel200g raspberries, plus extra for decorating the cake
Icing sugar, for dusting

To serve: Creme fraiche mixed with lime zest and a little honey.

1) Preheat oven to 180C/375F/Gas 4. Grease and then line a 23cm loose-bottomed cake tin with baking parchment.
2) In a food processor blitz the chocolate down into  small pieces. Add 50g of pistachios and blitz until chopped up. Then set aside.
3) Melt the butter and then leave to cool a little.
4) Whisk up the egg yolks with the sugar until it forms a pale yellow mousse. Then carefully and efficiently fold in the ground almonds, chopped chocolate and pistachios and melted butter. 
5) In a clean, separate bowl whisk up the egg whites until white, thick and increased in volume. They should form medium stiff peaks. Then fold through the cake mix gently and working quickly to keep as much air possible in the cake. This is what is going to make it rise! Finally add the raspberries and turn them through the mixture a couple of times.
6) Carefully turn the mix out into the prepared cake tin and make sure it covers the pan evenly. Then bake for 45-50mins until firm to the touch and set.
7) Once baked, cool in the tin for 30mins before removing it to a cooling rack. This is a delicate cake, so even when cold you will need to move/cut it with respect!

While the cake is cooking you can clear down and get on with some bells and whistles to make it sing, especially if you are cooking for a special occasion.

Pistachio Praline
200g granulated sugar
100g pistachios, roasted and shelled

1) Grease a baking sheet lightly with a flavourless oil, like sunflower/veg oil.
2) Pop the sugar in a saucepan on a medium-high heat and allow it to melt. Shake the pan now and again to allow the melting sugar to mix with the unmelted and help it to dissolve. As the sugar melt it will begin to caramelise. 
3) Let in develop to a deep brown, with all the sugar crystals melted, then add in the pistachios. Shake/swirl them carefully in the caramel then pour the mixture out onto the baking sheet and leave to cool completely. This will take a while because sugar gets very hot!
4) Once cold you can break it up into shards to decorate, and also blitz some in a food processor to make a funky little crumb.

Plating desserts means you can have a bit of fun with what in this instance really is just a bit of cake. But with a bit of sugary nutty dust and cream you can make something that will knock people's socks off. Enjoy :) 

The finished articles.

Swineherd pie, anyone? Porky discoveries and most importantly - PIE.

Sounds weirdly unappetising somehow, doesn't it? Like swineflu... Or a herd of pigs smothered in mashed potato. (What a waste! - of both pig and mash.) Or perhaps wrapped in pastry - who's fancies a cheeky pig wellington?

A little while ago one of my best friends came to stay and so naturally I wanted to put on a spread to communicate 'Yay! You're here. I am happy about this!' But I am trying to be thrifty... and I also hoped to justify a couple of decent pints, having reacquired my pub buddy. Obviously this leads me to Google for inspiration.  Having searched several different combinations of 'weekend dinner', I stumbled upon this Swineherd pie recipe peeping out from the dusty archives of a well known newspaper website.

Inevitably I made a few tweaks here and there and knocked out what is in effect a porky Shepherd's Pie. It was tasty and mostly true to the principle of Swineherd pie. Simple, yet satisfying. More to the point, this humble little recipe drew my attention to the wonder that is pork mince. It's at least a couple of quid cheaper than beef. It's lighter, packed with flavour and quite frankly a great change. Yes, ok this is not exactly a startling revelation, but branch out a bit and try bolognese made with pork instead of beef. Here follows the 'how to' section.


Swineherd Pie (serves 4)

1kg potatoes, peeled or 500g puff pastry
500g minced pork
1 onion, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1 celery stick, finely diced
150g celeriac, diced
1 eating apple, cored and diced
2tsps fennel seeds
1tsp ground coriander
600ml water
Salt and pepper
2 tbsps plain flour (can substitute with 2tbsps cornflour made up to make GF)
Oil

1) Preheat the oven to 190 C/Gas 5/375 F.
2) In a heavy-based pan, ideally one that you can then put in the oven, brown the mince in batches on a medium high heat so that it takes on colour and is sealed. Then set aside the meat.
3) In the same pan sweat off the onions for a couple of minutes and then add the carrot, celery and celeriac. Turn the heat up and so that the veg develops a bit of colour around the edges. At this stage add in the fennel seeds, ground coriander and let that cook out for a few minutes before adding the mince back to the pan.
4) Stir in the flour and cook out for 2-3 minutes then add the apple and seasoning and the water. Cover and lower the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 15-20mins. Meanwhile boil the potatoes in salted water and when cooked, drain and mash with milk and butter.
5) Once the liquid has reduced and the meat mix looks shiny and homogenous, remove from the heat, check the seasoning and then top with mashed potato. Drizzle with oil or pop a few knobs of butter on the top and bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with greens and a light red wine or a fruity white, or why not a cheeky cider!

This is not the only porky dinner I have been working on. In an attempt to revive my rusty pastry skills I made this Pork, apple and parsnip pie. Although as you will see, it looks more like a cobbler, but I assure you it was very nearly pastry. Who cares, it had lots of butter in and tasted good! Anyway my feeling with this one is that I should have finished the pie base with a little cream and made a larger quantity of pastry. Possibly even splashed out and made some puff instead of the mediocre rich shortcrust you see before you, but in the absence of a picture for the Swineherd, here's a teeny photo to make you feel hungry.

P.S The moral of my pastry woes is really, just get in the kitchen, have fun, make mistakes occasionally but just keep tweaking! Over and out :)

The midget kitchen dweller is back!

So it's been a while folks, and my life resembles that of Miranda more closely as each day passes. But I am back! Today I have been on a little food safari, east and across the river.  An artisan loaf from E5 Bakehouse at London Fields and some smoked back bacon and Gloucester Old Spot sausages from an ACTUAL butcher. More specifically from the rather wonderful Ginger Pig. The bread and bacon combined for the most delightful bacon sarnie I have ever had. If you are short on cash but want to indulge a for brunchtime treat, some decent bread and bacon is a surefire pick-me-up. I did a little weep, overwhelmed as I was by it's beauty, and the BBQ sauce that had caught the back of my throat and made my eyes water. Then I started thinking about dinner.

Of late I have been somewhat lacking kitchen inspiration. The tide is turning and with it a renewed enthusiasm for fruit in savoury food - controverial I know, but bear with me a little while longer... The classic mango/mackerel/pomegranate combo for instance. Fab. But of late it is the humble plum and leek that has me captivated. Over Christmas I made a chicken, leek and plum bake which turned out a treat and with the January health kick in mind, can still claim to be low on the calorie counter. But the newest addition to the recipe bank consist of sausage, plum and sweet leeks, topped with creamy mashed potato and baked golden.  Plums are only for crumble and pie, I hear you say? Unless they're actually damsons, which are far better in gin. Please bear with me and give it a go.  It's a bit quirky and easy on the wallet, perfect for a snuggly night in or a  relaxed winter dinner with the ever-faithful urban family. (Awkward Bridget Jones reference). 

Anyway the main deal is I am back and here with foodie fun and inane banter. Enjoy chums!

P.S. Sorry about the lack of picture. Look at these pretty things from Borough Market instead.

Sausage, plum and leek pie (serves 4)

2-4 large, good-quality sausages

2 large leeks, washed and sliced

4 plums, washed, de-stoned and sliced 

1/4 tsp gr. coriander

Pinch of gr. allspice

1kg potatoes, peeled

Milk 

Butter

Oil for frying

Salt and Pepper

1) Preheat oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 5. Fry the sausages on a medium heat until browned and then pop onto a tray and bake in the oven for 15-20mins until cooked through.

2) Meanwhile, on a medium-low heat, cover and sweat the leeks in a little oil and season.  This will take at least 15 mins, the slower the better.  The leeks should be soft, sweet and jammy in texture.

3) Boil the potatoes until cooked through.  Then drain and return to the pan and allow to steam off for a few minutes. This means there is less water in the finished mashed which improves texture and flavour.
Push the potatoes through a sieve or potato ricer for best results. Otherwise just mash and add milk and butter until smooth and spreadable.

4) Add the spices to the leek mixture and stir through. Then in with the sliced plums and cover for a few minutes.

5) When the sausages are cooked, slice them and stir through the leeks. check the seasoning. Top the pie mixture with the mashed potato and bake at 200C for 20-30mins or until golden brown on top. (If your feeling naughty a few knobs of butter on top before you stick it in the oven make it extra special).

Serve with veg. We went for carrots and peas to make our parents proud of our vegetable consumption.

An apology followed by a summer of Kitchen-based experimentation.

Well I feel that first I must offer an apology-come-explanation for the total absence of culinary ramblings over the last two months.  Holidays, graduation, life and flat hunting have consumed more of me than I have succeeded in consuming yummy treats.  However whilst many of these things still rumble on, I can take it no longer and have succumbed to a near full immersion into the twists and turns of the kitchen.

Order of the day presently is to practice as many random different things as I can bring myself to try in  an attempt to adjust more easily to life as a chef in training.  However this has begun with the somewhat underwhelming realisation that not only do I rarely use the oven (being more naturally a hob-top cook) but that I had in fact only baked potatoes on one previous occasion.  Therefore to rectify such an embarrassing reality for a prospective cookery school student, this first summer edition will record a baked potato recipe, which bravely seeks to revive the humble and often maligned topping, cottage cheese.

Get your jacket on!

Ingredients (serves 4)

4 x baking potatoes, washed, scrubbed and rubbed with salt

1 standard tub of plain cottage cheese

A handful of parsley, finely chopped

The juice of half a lemon (although add to taste)

1 spring onion finely sliced

1 tomato, finely chopped

1/2 red chilli finely diced

Salt and Pepper to taste

A knob of butter for each potato (really makes the difference!)

Method

1) Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 4-5.  Prick each of the potatoes all over with a fork and then place on a baking tray.  Bake for about 45minutes -1 hour, or until cooked through, soft in the middle and the skins crispy.

2) Meanwhile tip the cottage cheese into a bowl, add the chopped parsley and lemon juice, and season. The cheesy filling is done.

3) Mix the tomato and chilli together, add a little salt to taste.  This little salsa will finish the potatoes.

4) Once the potatoes are cooked, remove from the oven and set on each serving plate.  Cut a cross across the top of the potato and pinch between the cuts until it puckers up and reveals the fluffy flesh inside.  Pop the butter into each potato top and then add a tablespoonful or two of the cheesy filling and top with a teaspoon of the tomatoey salsa.

Serve with a little side salad and enjoy.  The lemon and parsley make the humble cottage cheese a light and refreshing summer topping for the cheap and wonderfully cheerful baked potato.  Give it a try, I don't like cottage cheese and I loved it.  Healthy too!

Summer Crumbles bringing a touch of sunshine!

Summer signals the arrival of the soft fruit season and even in this unreasonably soggy weather, provides a proper taste of British produce.  This week I decided to dabble with a couple of crumble recipes using fruits that should be available fairly locally.  However for me once you have some quality fruit, the most important thing about a cracking crumble is the topping.  So here's the recipe I've come up with and use for all my crumble cravings.

Tasty Crumble Topping (serves 4)

4oz Butter, cold and cubed

40z Demerara Sugar

5oz Plain Flour

2-3oz Rolled oats (Porridge Oats)

Method:

1) Put all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl, reserving half of the oats.  Rub the ingredients together between your fingertips until the butter is combined with the dry ingredients and resembles chunky breadcrumbs. Then fold through the remaining oats.

2) If you have time, chill the topping in the fridge while you prepare the fruit, or if it is more convenient you can prepare this up to 6 hours in advance.  It is well worth doing this as chilling really helps to improve the texture and the final crunchy surface of the cooked crumble and helps to reduce the likelihood of your crumble being soggy. Now for the fruity fillings...

Crumble Number One: Apricot, Raspberry and Nutmeg

Sublime.

1 x Tasty Crumble Topping mix

4-6 Fresh Apricots, washed and quartered

120g Fresh strawberries, quartered/halved depending on size (just make sure they are all cut to similar sizes)

1/4 Freshly grated nutmeg

2 tbsps Honey

2-3tbsps Water

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5.

2) Arrange the fruit evenly in an ovenproof dish, drizzle over the honey to sweeten and add the water.

3) Sprinkle over the crumble topping, so that all of the fruit is covered.

4) Grate over a little nutmeg and bake for 30-40 minutes, checking after 30minutes. When you check the crumble, light fork over the top to mix up the crispy surface and to allow more of the crumble mixture to crisp up. It is ready when the fruit is soft and cooked through, when prodded and top is golden brown.

Crumble Number Two: Rhubarb and Raspberry

1 x Tasty Crumble Topping mix
4-6 sticks of Fresh rhubarb, washed and diced into 1 inch pieces
200g Fresh Raspberries
2 tbsps Honey
3 tbsps Water
Optional: Sprinkle of ground ginger or cinnamon


Method:


1) Preheat oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5.
2) Arrange the fruit evenly in an ovenproof dish, drizzle over the honey to sweeten and add the water.
3) Sprinkle over the crumble topping, so that all of the fruit is covered.
4) If adding the ginger/cinnamon sprinkle that over the top, and bake for 30-40 minutes, checking after 30 minutes and running a fork over to increase the amount of topping that is able to brown.   It is ready when the fruit is soft and cooked through, when prodded and top is golden and the luscious fruit juices are bubbling up the sides.

Delightfully Rhubarby!

Both of these are wonderful served up with a generous scoop of good vanilla ice cream or if the British summer has really excelled itself, a large helping of custard to warm you up! Indulge away, and let us know what you think!

Spears, peas and green beans: the natural victory call!

Late spring heralds the arrival of some truly spectacular edible delights, specifically the humble British-grown asparagus.  Perhaps testament only to the geekish thrill that locally grown produce evokes within me, or exposing my deep affection for vegetables in general, but for me the asparagus encapsulates everything I love about food...  Bear with me.  First and foremost because it is only at its peak in Britain from late April to May the window of time to appreciate such an incredible green heightens its desirability.  Eating it at this stage, it's at its best.  Secondly, its flavour is pretty unique.  But the way it just erupts straight up out of the ground, one stem at a time, declaring its arrival with all the deportment of royalty.  That is just magnificent. Google it if you don't believe me! Anyway, enough ruminating about the greater merits of vegetables - exam season would appear to have rather overcooked my imagination... In light of my new found freedom I made this spring vegetable risotto with a group of mates as my victory cry!  Simple and stunning to look at and devour, this is a proper belter.  Especially if you are looking to impress!

The finished article...

Speartastic Spring vegetable risotto (serves 4)


Asparagus spears (about 3 per person), woody ends broken off, stems finely sliced but spear tops reserved
A handful of fine green beans, trimmed and cut into 4cm pieces
Two handfuls of frozen peas (if you have fresh ones - amazing!)
4 garlic cloves, finely diced
1 glass of white wine
1 litre of chicken stock (vegetable stock works fine too)
Arborio risotto rice,  4 handfuls (1 per person) and then 1 extra handful for luck.
A small handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped
30g grated cheddar
A small knob of butter
Some grated parmesan for serving
Salt and Pepper to taste.
A good lug of olive oil to get things started...


1)  Sweat off the garlic in a heavy bottomed saucepan, on a medium heat for a minute or two until it begins to soften and then add the rice.  Stir constantly so it doesn't burn, and fry it off for a couple of minutes until it begins to look slightly translucent.  At this stage add the glass of wine.  It will hiss at you as the liquid hits the pan, stir constantly.  Turn the heat to a gentle simmer.
2)  As soon as the harsh alcoholic smell has dissipated and the rice has soaked up the wine, add your first ladle full of stock.  The key with risotto is to add the liquid gradually letting each new addition of stock be absorbed before adding the next, and continuous stirring.  By keeping the risotto rice moving you are massaging the starch out of the grains and it is the high starch content which gives risotto the creamy, unctuous consistency.
3)  Repeat this process until the rice is tender to eat but holds its shape, in fancy wording - until it's al dente.  It should take between 15-20 mins to reach this point.
4)  While the risotto is forming, in a separate saucepan bring some slightly salted water to the boil.  As soon as the rice is tender, take it off the heat, add the butter and cheddar and cover with a lid.  While the rice is resting, firstly add the frozen peas to the pan of water, they go in at minute 5 (it's an imperfect count down 5-3-2-1).  Then at minute 3 add the green beans. At 2 minutes the asparagus spears and finally with 1 minute to go the sliced asparagus discs. Then after a minute all the veg should be cooked through.  Drain the greens and rinse immediately with cold water - this helps to preserve the vibrant green colour.
5)  Once drained, remove the asparagus spears and set aside for serving.  Fold the remaining veg into the risotto mixture and also add the chopped basil. Taste and season with salt and pepper as required.
6)  Spoon the risotto out into serving dishes, top with the spears and finish with a scattering of grated parmesan.

Risotto is so easily adaptable, so get searching for recipe inspiration and create your own! I get my basic method from Jamie Oliver and it's worked for years.  Love it!