Ingredients Method Heat oven to 180 degrees celsius and line two 20 x 30cm baking trays with baking paper In a medium bowl, mix together masa flour, seeds and the teaspoon of sea salt. Add the olive oil and boiling water. Mix together until all …
Ingredients Method Place all ingredients into a food processor or a blender. Process on high speed until it forms a wet, loose texture. If it is dry and clumpy, add a little more olive oil and process again. Taste and add a little more salt …
I am just back from a truly fabulous trip away overseas, so please do forgive my gap in posting. While I recover from jet lag and make my way through a substantial stack of dirty socks and other clothing (why does one half of a pair of socks go missing SO OFTEN?!) I’m sharing some happy tummy highlights.
We carved out a decent chunk of Ireland on a map, hired a car and set to it. What a delight. Warm people, stunning scenery and delicious eating. I could not get enough of the Irish brown bread – every place has its own home-made version. Always hearty with a substantial chew and generous side of butter. Dela in Galway was a particular meal highlight with a plate-heaving vege breakfast and mimosa – their home grown tomatoes starred in the relish and my mouth still waters at the memory. Dublin’s 3fe provided very welcome relief for jet lag with excellent coffee and even better food; there were return visits.
A pit stop in Birmingham introduced me to Saint Kitchen…if you’re in Birmingham, go there! I can still taste the delicious avocado smash; I don’t know what they put in it but rest assured I will be trying to recreate it this summer.
A week in Berlin and I feel we barely touched the surface of this extraordinary city…we did give our best shot at eating as much of the excellent food as possible though. Cheap, varied and dependably great are the words that spring to mind and I have too many photos of all of it to bore you with, but please tolerate some snaps of Wen Cheng’s biang biang noodles, coffee and pastry at Godshot and of course excellent beer at Braugier and Prater beer garden.
I missed cooking and have been back in my beloved kitchen so some more of my own food and recipes will be with you soon.
Ingredients: Method: Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees celsius. Cut the tomatoes, eggplants and garlic in half lengthways. Spray a large roasting tin with olive oil spray, or drizzle with olive oil. Place the tomatoes and eggplants in a single layer in the tin. Place the …
This is truly a store cupboard staple as it requires things I bet you already have to hand. Even better, it’s a delight for chilly Winter days – it’s warming and filling with a healthy dose of things that will keep you well, including vitamin …
My parents are amazing gardeners and I couldn’t resist this little scallopini left over from their crop. Mainly because, what a cute vegetable, everyone! How could you not want to take it home? Little and frilly and kind of like a flying saucer. I’ve eaten them before but not prepared them myself; they are not unlike a courgette to deal with but they are sweeter and firmer on the eating side of things. So, if you find courgettes can be a little bitter for your taste, let me recommend the scallopini to you.
If you’ve read my blog before you’ll know I am a fan of providing a little historical background on my food. Writing this post has lead to me to a veritable treasure trove of information on the Louis Bonduelle Foundation website with its vegetable ABC section. I learned from the website that Scallopini are also known as patty pan squash and, along with promising you a “healthy vacation glow,” they from Central America and are a member of the mighty Curcubitaceace family. Their French name is Pâtisson, taken from the name of a cake baked in a scalloped mould. They are suited to numerous preparation styles, including roasting, sautéing and baking with cheese (although what food does that not improve, I’d like to know).
My method here is summery – fresh herbs and lemon, and you could pop this on the BBQ or, like I did, just in a grill pan on the stove top. Good as a side and hearty enough for a small meal with some bread on the side.
For one scallopini (increase according to number of scallopini you are grilling):
1 scallopini, cut into lengthways slices of no more than 1cm thickness
1 T olive oil
1 T fresh mint, chopped
1 t goats cheese (could also use feta)
1/4 lemon
Fresh cracked pepper to taste
Heat the grill to medium hot. While it is warming up, rub the scallopini slices in the oil (I find it easy to use a shallow bowl to do this).
Place the slices onto the heated grill. Turn a few times initially to avoid sticking. Cook for a three to four minutes per side, until grilled to your liking.
Lay the grilled scallopini slices onto a plate or platter. Crumble the goats cheese and scatter over. Add the mint and cracked pepper over the top. Serve with lemon slices to be squeezed over just before eating.
Savoury cheesy beery sauce on toast, that is my delicious experience with Welsh Rarebit to date. And my, this lovely little cheese-on-toast treat is scrumptious.
Today we greet the last entry in the ‘Almonds’ section of the Edmonds Cookbook, Broccoli with Almonds. And can I say, what a delight. Lightly cooked broccoli covered with lemony butter and toasted sliced almonds. Oh yum.
Is it a bird, is it a plane, is it something else entirely ungodly?
We’ll go for the third option here.
It was Midwinter Christmas and, following a decision a few weeks earlier and most likely assisted by the fine beers available at Goldings Freedive, Turducken was the dish of the day.
I like to think of Turducken more as a Frankenducken. An unwitting turkey becomes host to both an entire chicken and, in our case, four duck breasts, evolving into a bulging meat sack that is neither bird nor beast, but is definitely dinner.
I have to say our Frankenducken may never have got off the ground (so to speak…sadly for all birds involved, their flying days were well and truly over) had it not been for the wisdom and generosity of YouTube, in particular this aptly named ‘How To Make A Turducken’ clip by Armand Ferrante, who happened to be crowned Wholefoods Best Butcher in the US in 2012.
And thus, all research was completed, the de-boned and de-frosted poultry was collected from the butcher, a poultry lacer was purchased, and the hour of truth had arrived. Our merry Mid Winter Christmas party gathered in the rented holiday home’s kitchen to look on in horrified fascination. A hush fell over the group.
Constructing a turducken is not pretty to watch, but it certainly is interesting. We were blessed with the culinary skills and can-do attitude of Chef and Chief Sommelier Jeremy, who began by splaying out the deboned turkey on the bench and generously slathering the upturned surface with stuffing.
Next, the chicken is laid out across the turkey, with more slathering of stuffing, and finally the four duck breasts (de-skinned) are laid out across the top.
Here’s the bit where you need the poultry lacer. No, I had never heard of such a thing either, but we concluded it sounded much more sophisticated than’meat needle,’ the name we had assigned to this tool in earlier planning sessions. The Frankenducken comes to be when the turkey is sewn back up together with the chicken, stuffing and duck inside. The poultry lacer works a little like a corset, with the metal spikes pinning each half of the unfortunate bird together and providing eyelets for the twine that sews it up. The chef will need some willing helpers at this point.
The appearance of the metal spikes and stitching does nothing to dispel any thoughts of Frankenstein’s monster. Here we have our final product, pre-cooking. There was much sniggering, the exact cause of which I will leave to your imagination as you gaze upon this sight.
There are a number of schools of thought on how one should cook one’s Frankenducken. My main concern was reliability. I did not want a raw bird on our hands, nor a house of Christmas revellers struck down with salmonella. And so, I found myself tiptoeing around the kitchen like a little Christmas elf early in the morning, putting our Frankenducken in the oven at roughly 110 degrees celsius.
This seemed terribly low to me, but it was most effective. Our turducken took about 4 and a half hours to reach the recommended internal temperature of 165 degrees farenheit and maintained its heat for several hours happily nestled in a layer of foil.
Now, for the most important question that is no doubt on everyone’s minds…how did it taste? Quite delicious! The low temperature cooking left all meat moist and tender, with bacon layers on the turkey breast crisping up pleasingly.
I’m wondering if we should try a goose next year.
It was time to slay the mighty parsley-beasts. I felt a little regretful about this, as they had done me proud by growing all green and bountiful, despite my doing very little to help them. But, many leaves had been picked for many dishes, and …