Saturday 15 February - Sunshine Food

Challenge on the food group this week was 'Sunshine Food' and as I happen to have a Sophie Grigson book by that very name I hunted through that to find some recipe. Not all of this meal went down too well with us, but having taken the photos I thought it was worth blogging.

Course one was something that reminds me of our family holidays in France in the 1970s  - plain artichoke with some thick, mustardy dressing. I love these, the others ate theirs but weren't really fussed about it.

For the main course, the bit that none of us were really that keen on was the chicken - this was spatchcocked and stuffed with a puree of black olives, garlic, and parsley under the skin, before roasting .

The dish of Provencal Tomatoes that went with it, however, were a huge success.

I did a tomato sniff test when buying them to get the ones that actually smelled of something. These were then halved and fried cut side down until brown, then placed in the serving dish. cut side up.

They were then seasoned andsprinkled with breadcrumbs mixed with chopped garlic, parsley and tarragon, drizzled with olive oil and baked for about half an hour.

These were served with the chicken and some new potatoes.

For Dessert, a 'Trio' of things that all of us like.

Lemon Panacotta - I added a splash of limoncello to this along with the gelatine to give it a bit more of a lemony flavour.

An orange compote made with sliced oranges and tangerines, in a caramel syrup with a touch of cinnamon, and a dash of Grand Marnier.

To go with these, a bit of a treat - some homemade Baklava - this is surprisingly easy to make.

Layers of butter brushed filo, topped with plain chopped nuts - I used pistachios and almonds and pulsed them in the food processor. Then another 4 or 5 layers of filo on the top.

The pasty was scored and then baked until crisp. While still warm a syrup of sugar and water was made - I added some rose water and a good squeeze of honey to this, although it wasn't in the recipe.

The syrups was then poured over the still warm pastry.

Once all three components were cold they were served - and went down a lot better than the main course!

Sunday 2 February - Mezze and Greek Walnut Cake

Inspired by a visit to Akram, I decided to have a go for the first time to make proper homemade falafel.

Chick peas were soaked overnight and then into the processor (raw) with onions, garlic and various spices and pulsed until a paste formed.

This paste was then popped in the fridge to chill for a couple of hours.

While it was chilling I made some Mezze style dips to serve alongside.

Roasted aubergines were turned into Baba ganoush by adding tahini, olive oil lemon juice and spices - the horrible grey flesh turns into a silky smooth dip when whizzed.

I also made some hummous out of tinned chickpeas.

The chilled pasted was formed into patties, and then shallow fried - the bit I was anxious about - what was going to hold the mixture together?

But they worked!! I served them with the dips, flatbread and a greek salad on the side.

 

For afters a delicious greek walnut cake - this was a bit like a meringue, with no fat in it, and just a little bit of flour. Once it was cooked a syrup infused with cinnamon was poured over.

I served this with frozen greek yoghurt which I sweetened with a touch of honey.

 

Sunday 26 January - Cheesemaking

We love trying to make things from scratch - it's even better if Bob gets to make a bit of equipment to help with the cooking. It's a horrible wet weekend, so we decided to make some cheese.

The first stage began yesterday - a litre of milk was warmed , and a pack of starter added to it. This then had to ripen for 24 hours before it could be used. The spare starter has gone into the freezer in icecube bags for next time.

Here is the equipment needed to make cheese  -  the press is Bobs contribution. A thermometer is probably the most vital bit of kit to ensure success.

The ingredients we used - we used gold top milk this time, hoping to get a nice rich end result.

Stage one is to warm the milk very slightly, and add the starter to it - it's then left for 45 minutes.

\Next the rennet goes in - 5 drops in a bit of cooled boiled water.

Then it is left to form the curds - we went shopping and came home to find it was ready.

Once the curds have set, a pallet knife is used to cut them.

\Next stage is to very, very slowly warm the pan, whilst stirring by hand.

Then drain the curds through some cheesecloth in a colander.

\Next, drain the curds by hanging and leaving to drip - this took as long as a weeks worth of ironing!

The firm block of curds is then sliced and layered.

It is then chopped into small pieces and salted.

Finally, it's scooped into a cheese mould lined with muslin, and placed in the cheese press.

It will stay in the press for a couple of days - with the pressure gradually being increased.
Then it will be brined, and wrapped, and left to mature - we should get to taste this in 2 to 3 months.

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This is the cheese after two weeks maturing - the second one is a week younger and has annatto added for colour.

Bit of an update as the first of the cheese was sampled on 3rd April - it has quite a mild flavour, a bit like a Lancashire. Quite pleased with the results!

Saturday 25 January - Tom Kerridge Cookathon

Another Cookathon night for the Facebook Group, and the chosen chef for this week was Tom Kerridge. I chose the Belly Pork with Cavolo Nero Salsa and Lentils  - mainly because I had most of the ingredients in, and this fabulous Cavolo Nero is about the only thing flourishing on the allotment at the moment.

The belly pork was placed in brine for 24 hours - there is an error in the recipe book as it has far too much salt in it - fortunately I was aware of this as Jen had spotted a tweet from Tom Kerridge about this. The brine was salt, brown sugar and some herbs and spices.

Once brined the pork was slow roasted.

The lentils were cooked with white wine, bacon and onion until tender.

Finally the Salsa, which was the star of the whole meal. The cabbage and was blanched and drained, along with mint and parsley. This was then finely chopped with capers, garlic and anchovies.

The chopped ingredients were added to lemon zest and chopped shallot, seasoned with cayenne and olive oil was added to make a rough salsa.

I didn't feel the brining added a lot to the final dish, but the Salsa was definitely one to do again.

Sunday 5 January - Sausage and Black Pudding Plait

We caught part of an episode of a Paul Hollywood programme where he was making this - George announced it looked nice, and as this doesn't happen often decided to make it.

I didn't however make the pastry, as no time to do this, or really any reason to make puff pastry.

There were three layers to the plait - the first one was finely chopped mushrooms - dry fried until the moisture had evaporated.

 

Next the sausage meat mixed with chunks of Bury Black Pudding.

 

and finally a layer of caramelised red onions

The pastry was rolled out and the layers were  placed in the middle.

 

Then came the fun part with the plaiting - not quite how we saw it done on TV but it seemed to work ok...

 

Once it was all plaited up, it was brushed with egg and sprinkled with sesame seeds before baking and slicing. This made enough to have for two meals so it will be used up with jacket spuds and baked beans during the week.

Saturday 14 December - Christmas Chelsea Buns

Some festive ingredients to make some festive Chelsea Buns

I started off by making some bread dough in the bread machine (it's a bit too cold in my kitchen for dough to rise at the moment). I enriched a basic bread dough by adding egg and milk instead of water.
Once risen it was rolled out into a rectangle, and sprinkled with some brown sugar, cinnamon, and the cranberries and pecan nuts. I also dotted a bit of butter of the dry ingredients

The dough was rolled tightly from the long side -

and then cut into nine even slices. I've found the best way to cook this sort of bun is in a square cake tin, but with some reusable silicon liner at the bottom.

The buns were left to rise again, then cooked in a hot oven.

Icing was drizzled over while still warm - I mixed some icing sugar, cinnamon and a dash of maple syrup, then added warm water until it was thin enough to drizzle over the buns.

They need to be eaten the day they are cooked really, as go stale quite quickly.

Friday 13 December - Chicken Makhani (Butter Chicken)

We often like a curry on a Friday night, and this one from the Hairy Bikers book has proved to be a popular choice in this house.
It's similar to a Tikka Massala in that the chicken pieces are cooked separately in a marinade before being added to a cream and tomato sauce.

The spice mix first - whole spices were roasted and then whizzed in our spice grinder - cloves, cumin, coriander, fenugreek, cardamom and black pepper.
 

To this the powdered spices were added - hot chilli powder, paprika, turmeric and salt

Half of this spice mix was stirred into some thick yoghurt along with ginger and garlic paste and the cubed chicken was left to marinate for as long as possible.

Once marinated the chicken was threaded onto skewers and grilled.

For the sauce - onions, garlic and ginger were fried, then the remaining spice powder was added along with tomatoes, tomato puree and some water and it was left to simmer until soft. The sauce was pureed until smooth and a tub of creme fraiche was added, along with the cooked chicken.

We also made some naan bread to serve with the curry, which we cooked on a pizza stone in a very hot oven.

The finished dish went down very well, although there seemed to be rather too much sauce for the meat.