The busy run-up to Christmas is paved with good intentions, namely my intention to publish this post. So forgive me for missing the boat a little with this one. I think we can still consider this timely though, as many of us will have tin-foiled lumps …
You all know how much I love a good, old-fashioned cookbook. So I was naturally delighted when this little gem, ‘The Cookin’ Woman: Irish Country Recipes’ arrived in my letter box, thanks to my little sister (Science teacher extraordinaire and blogger at Einstein’s Kitchen). It’s …
It’s truly wonderful to be writing about asparagus. The appearance of these little green spears of joy means it must be spring. I’m sure you’ve all enjoyed my endless assault of stodge and apples as much as I have, but there are few things in life as heartening as these green signs of life presented to us after a long winter.
Risotto is a favourite dish of mine. My husband describes it as a labour of love and one that he couldn’t be bothered with, because risotto takes a certain degree of patience as one gently stirs the rice and waits for the stock to slowly absorb. But this is exactly why I love it – it affords plenty of contemplative time and an excuse to mooch around in the kitchen.
I was inspired to make this particular little dish as I am taking every chance to make use of the all-too-short asparagus season, but spring being the perverse season it is, we are still getting some rather miserable days and cold nights. Asparagus risotto is the perfect antidote – another chance to make use of asparagus, with all the heartening loveliness of risotto you need on those windy, nasty days. The streaky bacon in this takes the savoury hit up a notch, but you could have it vegetarian-styles and it would still be rather tasty, I believe.
This is what you need for 2-3 large bowls of risotto:
Put your chicken stock into a saucepan and get it gently heated, perhaps the odd bubble but definitely not boiling.
While it warms up, put a heavy-bottomed pot or saucepan on low-medium heat. Add the olive oil and let it warm up.
Once the oil is a little warm and swish-able around the base of your pot or pan, add the bacon and asparagus. Cook it gently for up to 5 minutes, letting the asparagus soften slightly.
Tip in the rice and stir it around so all the grains are coated in the oil. When the rice grains start to go translucent, add a ladle of stock to the pot. Stir until the stock has been absorbed, and then repeat with another ladle of stock, stirring until all the stock is absorbed.
Repeat until the stock is all used up. This process should take 20 – 30 minutes. Be vigilant and keep stirring throughout! There is nothing worse than having your lovely risotto cemented all over the base of the pan.
Once your stock is all gone and your rice cooked you’re nearly ready to gobble. At this stage, I grate in a liberal amount of parmesan cheese (I have not specified an amount because too much is never enough when it comes to me and cheese) and dot the risotto all over with butter. Season as you like and give it another good stir, then serve immediately.
A friend in need is a friend indeed, do you think? I don’t know the exact origin of this phrase (although the finger is pointed at a certain Quintus Ennius), but I do know that anyone in any kind of need can do with a tasty …
How do you like them apples? That’s how I feel I should be addressing you, because we really have had a lot of apply recipes by this point in the Edmonds A section. But I love a good flan and this little number is easy …
It started a sunny beautiful Saturday and how nice to spend it having brunch chez nous with old friends. The majority of today’s spread was very traditional British breakfast fare….bacon, sausages from our excellent Ngaio butcher, some croissants and jam for a sweet, and a token green salad as I felt we’d best eat something from a plant. I made sure we had a generous assortment of appropriate condiments, including my Mum’s excellent relishes and some H&P sauce in a nod to those at the table hailing from Old Blighty.
I had eggs on the menu too, and to juice them up a bit, did my favourite feta scrambled eggs. I’ve been inspired by the delicious feta scrambled eggs served up in mouth-watering perfection every time by the Ministry of Food. I can’t promise my version to be as perfect as theirs, but I can promise it’s pleasingly reliable when you are looking for a little pep with your eggs.
You will need:
Put a frying pan over moderately high heat and melt the butter. Meanwhile, whisk your eggs with a dash of milk, salt, pepper and chilli flakes.
When the butter is runny and bubbling, add the egg mixture. There is a wide divergence in how one should scramble one’s eggs; my preferred method is to run a spatula or wooden spoon through the mixture, turning up sections as they cook and letting the uncooked mixture flow into the gaps.
When you have been doing this for a few minutes and the whole pan is starting to cook and solidify into chunks, add the feta. I choose this point in proceedings for the feta, as this way it doesn’t melt entirely and you get pleasing, half-gooey chunks throughout the eggs.
This may be against the egg-scrambling rules; however at this point I turn up the heat and toss the eggs through the pan so they finish off cooking and are not too soggy.
Serve immediately and sprinkle with chopped herbs if you wish…the eggs picture are covered with my sister’s most lustrous fresh parsley, which she kindly gave me as part of the lovely big bunch of herbs pictured, as we are in our new house now and I have yet to return my parsley plot to past glories.
Enjoy and happy eating!
You may be a bit tired of my Winter and Autumn range of stodgy, warming things that include root crops and apples, and trust me, I’m just tired of Winter, but this is quite a pleasing little loaf and really easy to make. Don’t be …
Well, we are winding through the bitter bones of Winter and it seems like Spring is trying to be sprung. It may even have managed it in some corners of the hemisphere. In my little neck of the woods, there is an undeniable lightening of the evenings …
You know something’s a winner, don’t you, when you’ve adapted from our national treasure, Dame Alison Holst. As you’ll all know, I have a bit of a thing for old-school cook books and recipes. So you can imagine I could not leave Alison Holst’s Simply Delicious cookbook, circa 1975, behind when I found it for three dollars at a Star Boating Club book sale.
I don’t mean to imply, of course, that you need or want to be adapting Alison’s recipes. It’s just that the original of this one, Lemon Cream Cake, calls for a cup of cream. I like my cholesterol as much as anyone, but these days you’re just much more likely to have yoghurt in the fridge.
It’s a great cake for this time of year, when although the dark of winter is lifting a bit, you still want something moreish and warming. And, just to be helpful, lemons happen to be in season, so the rest is common sense. I whipped this up recently to go with a cup of tea following a family roast lunch; it’s so easy that you can get it in and out of the oven before you need to worry about getting any mains cooked.
I generously slathered this one with lemon icing and passionfruit pulp, but it also works very pleasingly with a little stewed fruit. It’s another of my lazy all-in-one bowl baking jobs, and perhaps this is what I like about it most of all.
Ingredients:
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Grease a 23cm round cake tin and line the bottom.
Put the eggs, sugar and yoghurt into a medium-sized bowl. Beat them together until thick and creamy.
Sprinkle the lemon rind over the top and fold in the self-raising flour.
Bake for 45 minutes or until the centre springs back when pressed.
When it is cold, ice it if you fancy.
Who doesn’t welcome a splash of colour for lunch at this grey and freezing time of year? I know I do. This spiced bean and tomato soup is on high rotation in my kitchen at the moment. When it gets to Sunday night and I need to think …